Happenings from our Heart

35 years

2012-01-27T23:35:00.001-06:00

I turned 35 today. Wow, I just keep getting older and older…crazy how that works-ha!

The one thing that kept running through my head today was:when Rives turns 35, I will be almost 70. Yikes! Halfway to the nursing home, I guess.

It was a great day! Last night, Matthew and I kept our New Years Resolution, part 1 of 12, by going on a date. We went to see Extremely Loud and Incredible Close. I read the book a few months ago and have been excited about the movie coming out. It did not disappoint either. Well, that’s a lie. I was disappointed that some of the details were skewed but basically, the beginning and end were the same…kind of.

Really, the movie wasn’t as important as the date. I just love, love spending time alone with Matthew. I wish we could do it WAY more often. In 18 years, we will get a lot of time together, one-on-one. Until that time, once a month will have to do.

We woke up this morning and began the typical “get ready while running around 100 miles an hour”…I’m sure you can all relate. I had committed a sin last night and did not fix lunches. So, when I commit such a sin, I am punished. Punished by the chaos that is happening around me…I bring it on myself. This morning it was a bit more chaotic because Nora was crying, “I didn’t make you a card and we didn’t get you a present!!!!!!” No matter how often we told her to CALM DOWN RIGHT NOW, she continued to remind me that I had been forgotten. I was starting to believe that I was about to wrap a bow on last nights date and call that my present. Amid the crying, peanut butter flying around on knives and breakfast being thrown at children, I was surprised with three gift bags.

I had mentioned once or forty times that I really wanted a set of rings with all three of our kids names on them…

The chaos slowed down for a few seconds while I opened my present and cried all over them. (And Nora said, “Oh, yeah, I remember those…we DID get you a present.” Ha ha! Silly girl.) How perfect is this present!?!? That husband of mine, he is a good man!

And yes, my hands are also 35 years old. Wow.

After the school bus (me) dropped everyone off at school I met a good friend at Starbucks for a deliciously sweet coffee. Such a nice morning!

Rives and I hung out together for the rest of the day and enjoyed doing a lot of nothing.

After the school bus (me) picked everyone up we headed home. It has been a long week for Nora!

Doesn’t your whole body just hurt watching her sleep that way!

We went our to dinner, to a restaurant we had never been to before but one that is local to our area. It was delish and the kids were all really good!

I got a free dessert, because I am exceptionally old. But I didn’t eat very much of it because I had this waiting for me at home:

Check out the flame on this thing:

It’s a wonder the smoke alarms didn’t go off.

After the kids went to bed Matthew and I watched Midnight in Paris. I love to watch the movies nominated for a best picture Oscar before the Oscars. So far we have seen: Midnight in Paris, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help and Moneyball. We still have 5 more to see. I’m sure we won’t see them all before the Oscars happen, but I hope to see them all before next year.

It was a great day. I am so thankful that I was able to spend most of it with my family! I am amazed at how Facebook makes a birthday seem so special….thank you to anyone who wished me a happy birthday on FB! I love you!

Okay, I better get to bed. I’m a whole year older now…granny needs her sleep!

Wordless Wednesday-sweet sister edition

2012-01-25T19:58:00.001-06:00

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My take on a Parents Magazine article

2012-01-24T13:10:00.001-06:00

So, while catching up on my news, on Twitter (because isn’t that how we all keep up with current news these days), I came across an article that is in Parents Magazine.

11 Ways Your Body Changes After Pregnancy

My first thought-ONLY ELEVEN ways the body changes?

I would like to discuss all eleven of these but I have sensitive readers who might be embarrassed by the material discussed (my mother and those younger ladies who have not experienced the joy of being pregnant) (you’ll notice I didn’t include “men”. That’s because I don’t know many men who get embarrassed by bodily functions. And if I do have any men that read my blog, chances are they are married and chances are they have kids. They are VERY aware of the changes that happens to a body…heck, they probably have a list of 20 they can say right off the top of their head.) Just so you know though, I will be discussing breasts.

You’ve been warned.

My comments will be in italics and in red.

Hair Loss

A few weeks after delivery, you may start losing large amounts of hair. Like you think you are going bald, that amount of hair. I literally pull out clumps of hair when I am in the shower. After I had Rives, I had 5 inches of hair cut off because I was tired of seeing the blonde/brown/grey hair everywhere. The average person loses 100 hairs a day, but during pregnancy you were losing far less than that due to those raging hormones. Yes, raging hormones is probably an accurate description of pregnancy. Now that the pregnancy is over, your body will have to compensate and lose extra hair for the first six months after delivery. But don't worry -- your hair will soon return to its normal growth cycle. What the article failed to mention was that, even though your hair will “return to its normal growth cycle”, it will NEVER be the same. Mine is now darker, wavier (not a good kind of wavy either, kind of a “she forgot to fix her hair for two days” wavy), more prone to grey hair (I blame the kids, not the pregnancies) and in a ponytail more times than I care to mention. And I should mention that because of the “raging hormones” you will now, most likely, grow hair in places that used to be bald.

Skin Discoloration

Some women develop what's called the "mask of pregnancy." That tan-colored area around your eyes will start to fade. I think this is a typo. What the author meant to say was “That tan-colored area around your eyes will start to darken right around the time the baby is born, from lack of sleep.” Over the next 6 weeks the darkness will settle in causing an increase in the amount of concealer that you will buy at the store. By the time the baby reaches one-year of age, the dark circles might fade back to a tan-colored shade, which will remain on your face for the next 18 years. Because you are SO TIRED…all the time, SO TIRED. Women who suffered from severe acne during pregnancy should see their skin start to clear up. The opposite is true for me. My skin is AMAZING during pregnancy…enviable really. And then I have a baby and turn into a teenager again. However, other women will begin to experience a red rash that around their mouth and chin or suffer from extremely dry skin. Both of these conditions should be gone within weeks.

And here we go…

Breast Changes

Your breasts will probably become flushed, swollen, sore, and engorged with milk for a day or two after the birth. Did a man write this article? This sentence makes it sound like your breasts will be swollen, sore and engorged for ONLY a day or two after the birth. Once this swelling goes down, in about three to four days (oh, here it is and again, did a man write this article? FALSE. Swelling does not go down in three to four days.) (or until you stop breastfeeding), your breasts will probably begin to sag as a result of the stretched skin. This should read “your breasts will DEFINITELY begin to sag”. I am sure, if you are a parent of one child, you might have never had to deal with massive saginess (is that a word?). However, if your body has gone through multiple ~~beatings~~ pregnancies, you are VERY familiar with saginess. I have nursed all three of my babies and I have LOVED it (well, not the first week, the first toe curling week). I am still nursing Rives and will for the next 4-5 months. I am NOT looking forward to seeing the damage that is done to my body when I wean him. I am going to have to invest in a serious bra. Y’all, my boobs may or may not reach to my belly button by the time I am done feeding Rives. I know this because, the summer before my senior year of college, I spent the summer in Africa. It was a great experience. I learned so much from that trip! One of the very first things I learned in Africa was that nursing multiple babies can have a VERY adverse reaction to breast tissue. We arrived in Africa on a Saturday and headed to a church service the very next morning. I will never ever ever ever ever forget watching an African mom nurse her young child at that church service. Picture a baseball in a tube sock. Oh, I wish I was kidding. My innocent little eyes could barely take in the sight. And those African women, well, they didn’t have “udder covers” or “hooter hiders” to use. Oh no, those babies were experts at getting what they wanted and would reach right into their mamas dresses and pull out what they were looking for. I have never seen so many college-aged boys jerk their eyes heavenwards and start blushing. What those college-aged boys probably didn’t realize at the time is that they were getting a glimpse of their future…get ready boys, if your wife has multiple kiddos and nourishes them with her body, this is what she will look like-an African woman at a Sunday morning church service. You may also experience milk leakage for several weeks, even if you don't breastfeed. Once again, the time frame is way off. If you breastfeed, you will probably wear nursing pads for at least 3 months to keep your shirt for becoming soaked each time you feed your precious offspring. It’s delightful. And when you finally do wean your ~~piranha~~ baby, you can expect it to take several months for the milk to completely dry up. I have heard some women say that it took at least a year, AFTER WEANING, for them to not have “leakage”. Good news, if you run out of food at your house and all of the grocery stores shut down in your state, you will be able to continue feeding your child for at least a year after you quit.

Stomach Changes

Just after giving birth, your uterus is still hard and round (weighing about 2 1/2 pounds) and can be felt just by touching your naval. It will also contract and make you feel like they left a baby inside of you when you nurse your newborn for the first few days. I’m not kidding about this one either. While I was in the hospital with Rives I would nurse him and have to do “labor breathing” during his feedings. “They” say that by nursing your baby it helps your uterus to contract and get smaller quicker. What “they” don’t say is that an epidural would be extremely helpful during this process. If you are a parent of one child and are eagerly anticipating the arrival of your second child, good news…my nurse told me that the contracting uterus is more severe with each birth during nursing. In about six weeks, it will weigh only 2 ounces and will no longer be felt by pressing on your abdomen. Then why in the heck was I still wearing maternity clothes when my baby was EIGHT weeks old? That mysterious brown line that you may have had down the center of your lower abdomen during pregnancy will disappear. False, still have it. But, unfortunately, those stretch marks you developed aren't going anywhere in the near future. Stretch marks tend to be bright red during and shortly after pregnancy, but they will eventually become more of a silver color and begin to blend in with your skin. I’m going to go ahead a do a little bragging here. My body has experienced so much with my three pregnancies. I am sure I will never be back to my original weight (and I have made peace with that), I have saggy skin where I didn’t think saggy skin was possible, tucking in shirts are probably a thing of the past, my feet are bigger for goodness sake! But I don’t have stretch marks!!!!!!! I should embroider myself a shirt that says that. I didn’t do anything during my pregnancies to prevent them either. I think my skin is just able to accommodate a large amount of weight. Hmmmmm, that doesn’t sound like a good thing now that I hear it out loud. Also, even the fittest moms will experience some flabbiness in the midsection after giving birth. Sit-ups, certain yoga poses, and other abdominal exercises can get your tummy as flat as it once was. Or a tummy tuck.

Swollen legs and varicose veins

The swelling and puffiness in your legs that you may have experienced during pregnancy will lessen very quickly after you give birth. If you are thinking 30 minutes is “very quickly” then I am sorry to disappoint you. It is more like one and a half WEEKS (depending on how long your labor is and how much fluid they pumped into your system during the process). I left the hospital, after I had Nora, more swollen and puffy than I had been during the 39 weeks I was pregnant with her. Shoes barely fit on my feet. Now, I peed like a race horse most of the time because I was so full of fluid but my face still looked like a beach ball in most post partum pictures. However, some women begin experiencing twitchiness in their legs postpartum. If this happens to you, walking can provide some relief. I’ve heard that walking also helps to get rid of the 40 pounds that are gained during pregnancy. Wait, what? Not everyone gains 40 pounds? Oh. Spider veins and varicose veins will probably improve with postpartum weight loss, but they will never go away completely. True statement. Your legs will be purple, in spots, for the rest of your life. Your new battle scars.

Sweating

You may start experiencing excessive sweating at night after giving birth. Or from the 2nd week of pregnancy, which is when I started getting “excessively hot” and sweating. Those were some good times at our house…and good for the electric bill. This is because your body needs to get rid of all the extra fluids it accumulated during your pregnancy. See above, ‘peed like a race horse’. I should mention that I have always enjoyed the house a touch cooler than most people prefer their homes. I will not apologize for that. If you come over, bring a sweater….I am still getting “rid of extra fluids accumulated during pregnancy.”

Energy Levels

Some new mothers say that they feel more energetic than they ever did before pregnancy. And they are liars. And probably 18. Or, they have a gun held to their head and are being threatened with lifelong torture…that torture is life with a newborn. In fact, a woman's aerobic capacity can increase up to 20 percent in the first six weeks postpartum. I do not understand this AT ALL. As a recipient THREE c-sections I was under strict orders to do nothing for 6 weeks. I am a girl who follows rules. And when I had my third c-section, it literally felt like my organs were going to slide out of my incision if I lay on my side. I am not kidding about that at all. In my case the statement should read “a woman’s aerobic capacity can increase up to 2 percent in the first six months postpartum”…that’s more my speed. Other women say that the sheer exhaustion of childbirth, caring for a newborn, and excess body weight makes them feel sluggish and moody. Yes, Amen. Those are real women, those “other women”. They must have two or more kids and are in their late 20’s or early 30’s. These are the ones I trust.

The last section is completely my own

Heart

I know you have all heard it before, but before kids, you have the heart like the Grinch, before Christmas. And after you have kids, your heart grows three sizes (just like the Grinch, after Christmas)…I’m almost positive that is one of the reasons why a new moms boobs get so big, their heart has grown so much. Every time I saw one of my kids, fresh from delivery, I could not believe how intense the feeling was…hearing the cry for the first time and then seeing their puffed up, crying little face-well, it’s amazing! But your heart never stops growing (much like my rear end). Each new thing that your baby does makes you love them all over again. I want to pick Rives up and eat him (and moms understand that sentence). I love Nora and Elyn so much and my heart literally hurts when I think that one day, they will not need me or want to tell me something first. Ugh. Is all the damage to my body worth it? Yes. Okay, mostly worth it. Ha ha-kidding, totally worth it. The damage has made me a better person and grown my heart into the heart of a mom.

Well done, Parents magazine, on your article…even if you left a few key points out. I was happy to add them in…for a little bit of a more realistic perspective of motherhood.

Long nights

2012-01-19T21:40:00.001-06:00

My sweet boy has been sick. He cried on and off all night. I never went into his room because he would only cry for about 10 seconds every hour or two.

He woke up at 6am, so I nursed him and put him back to bed. I fed him in the dark and kept my eyes closed for the majority of the feeding. I was basically asleep-ha!

He went back to sleep until 7:45am. When I got him up I noticed that he had little red bumps all over his face. And he was crying. Poor baby! I took his temp and it was 101.

I am NOT a panicky mom and remain pretty calm (most of the time). So, I did not panic. I figured it was just a virus. Of course, the nurse asks me if he had been exposed to chicken pox when I called to make an appointment for Rives to see our doctor. Was that necessary? (Not chicken pox, btw)

Turns out he has a virus and an ear infection. I had no idea that his ear was even bothering him. Hmmmmmm, I felt like mother of the year. We’re really hoping that the $40 prescription will clear up the ear infection quickly and Rives can get back to his happy self.

When we got back from the doctors office, it was GORGEOUS outside. Poor Elyn had been cooped up in the house with me and her fussy brother all day, so we got out of the van and started playing in the front yard, we didn’t even take our stuff inside. She was so happy!

Eventually, I did go inside to get Rives exersaucer, so he play.

We are praying that Rives sleeps better tonight and that he starts feeling better soon. I hate it when one of my kids doesn’t feel good!

On the upside to Rives not feeling well and both girls getting up at 6:30, all 3 kids were in bed by 7:00! And asleep by 7:01. We love early nights at this house.

The weather is so unusual! I am a little sad that we are not having a winter. I adore a snow day and want the girls to experience a fun day sledding and making snow people and having snow ball fights. But I’m also a little concerned about how many bugs are going to be around this summer. yea.

I am really enjoying the extra play days outside though!

8 months old

2012-01-17T22:32:00.001-06:00

EIGHT MONTHS OLD!!!! Wow. I say it every month, but I cannot believe it! Please slow down time, just a little bit.

What are you up to?

You, obviously, had a recent haircut (your fourth). We are not crazy about the haircut and didn’t think it would be quite so short. Ah well, guess it will be a while until number 5.
You are moving everywhere! You have not mastered crawling forward yet, we think it is going to happen ANY SECOND. You can get up on all fours and rock forward, like you are ready to take off and then, you fall on your tummy. You are a master backwards scooter. I am constantly rescuing you from underneath tables and dressers. You are also really good at scooting on your bottom. I think this next month you are going to take off and prove that we are not prepared at all for your mobility.
You have two teeth (on the bottom) and I am pretty sure you are working on another one. You are soaking wet all the time because of drool and have been a little fussy lately. The only other time in your life you were really fussy was when you got the other teeth. Sadly, when you got two teeth, you also got two ear infections. I really, really, really hope that this is not the case this time.

You have a definite preference for your mommy! Tonight, I got home from teaching and walked through the door and said, “Hi!” Daddy had you upstairs, getting your pajamas on and you immediately started talking and calling out. He said you were so excited the entire way downstairs to find me.
You continue to be extremely adaptable. I am amazed at how good natured you are if you miss a nap or don’t eat when it is time. You don’t mind taking one of your naps in the car and thank goodness for that because you get at least one nap a day while in route to get your sisters.
If I am making dinner or folding laundry, you are content to sit on the floor and play with your toys, as long as I am nearby.
You love your sisters and light up when you see them. You tolerate them pretty good when they over love you. Oh, Rives, they do love you so much! They want nothing more than to see you laugh and for you to smile at them. They NEVER complain if I ask them to sit with your or help you out in some way. They love you!
You constantly make me think that it would be easy to have a fourth baby. However, we will NOT be having a fourth baby (unless God has a greater sense of humor than I think). Because you will be a toddler one day. A moving, active toddler. I am so thankful that God gave us you for our final child…our boy.

You are not the best eater in the family (your daddy still holds that title). Actually, you are the worst. Sorry buddy. You’re a great nurser, and I’m pretty sure you will never want to give that up, but not a big fan of real food. I “slave” over your food, making it for you with my own hands (geez, already with the “mom guilt”). You like to spit the food at me…not funny mister. I will continue to make you GOURMET baby food and cross my fingers that your palate improves.
You weigh (total guess here) about 18 pounds. You wear 6-9 month clothes and a size 3 diaper. Even though you are much bigger at 8 months than your sisters were, you are still in the lowish percentile for boys. Everyone thinks you look like your daddy so you will probably get his crazy metabolism too. Lucky duck.
The past two times I have been gone at your bedtime, you won’t take a bottle. Uh oh. Looks like I better not get too far away from you for the next few months. Good thing you’re cute.
You babble a lot. Your favorite thing to repeat is “dadadadadadadada”. Eh, maybe referring to your daddy. Maybe. I think I heard you say “ma” yesterday. If you want to call me “Ma”…well, that won’t work. So, let’s start saying “mamamamamamamama”.

Can you believe you are almost one? ME EITHER!!!!! Let’s enjoy this month, ok! I love you buddy!

It's really January?????

2012-01-16T14:25:00.001-06:00

Because today is Martin Luther King, Jr day and he had a dream that all families spend the day together, we did!

We got up this morning and took a family "run". I was super impressed with my girls! (Rives took the lazy way out and lounged in the stroller the entire time.). Nora rode her scooter for almost 3 miles and Elyn ran/walked for the same distance. Way to go girls! They will be running literal circles around me very soon! Ok, who am I kidding....they already do!

After the exercise, Matthew and Rives went for a haircut (Rives' fourth!)

Such a cute kid!

After lunch, we came home and Matthew and the girls went outside to rake leaves and dump them in the ditch by our house:

I cannot believe it is the middle of January!

I really, really, really love a snow day. Not 11 snow days, but at least one or two. With the way the weather has been acting lately, my snow days don't look like they are going to happen, sigh.

We are enjoying our time outside though....even if it's the leaves we are playing in and not the snow.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The differences between boys and girls

2012-01-13T11:18:00.001-06:00

I have had several people ask me in the past 7 months if I have noticed a big difference between girls and boys.

Well, other than the obvious anatomy, no, I haven’t seen many differences. (And I stand firm in my belief that changing a girl diaper is easier/quicker than changing a boy diaper.)

I mean, he’s 7 (almost 8!) months old. He does pretty much the exact same things the girls did at the same age. He is eating, sleeping, moving, trying to put EVERYTHING in his mouth, laughing, fussing, experiencing.

When Elyn was born, 19 months after Nora, I wasn’t too far from the infant/baby stage. I remember how DIFFERENT they were as babies!

Nora-high maintenance, FABULOUS sleeper and eater, slow to roll over, crawl and walk (well, slowish), no arguments with what she wore, great in the car, only had to be told once not to do something, would sit on the floor with her toys or books and be content for quite a while all alone, very cautious to do anything new.

Elyn-such a good baby…rarely cried, didn’t mind going to other people, ok sleeper and eater, quick to roll over, crawl and walk (well, quickish), ALWAYS argued with what she wore, good in the car but gets antsy pretty quickly…she needed a LOT of activities to keep her occupied on long trips, had to be told multiple times to quit doing something and even then would step right up to the line of disobedience many, many times, would play with toys or books for approximately 30 seconds by herself before she wanted to be around other humans, would dive head first into a new experience.

Hmmm, both girls are still the same.

My girls are SO different from each other! And I am so thankful for that! I love that they each have their own, unique personality. I remember when Elyn was a toddler and was so active and defiant, mothers of boys would say, “Just wait until you have a boy!” When they said that to me I would think, I’m sure a boy will be different from Elyn…just like Elyn is different from Nora!

I realize that once Rives hits mobility and toddlerhood, he will be different from the girls. I know that as he grows, his mood swings and temperament will be completely different from his sisters’. I understand that as a teenager his mind will work differently (and thank you God for his daddy who will be there to relate that teenage boy mind) from a female teenager. I am aware that as an adult, as a man, he will react and act with a slower, more deliberate manner than his adult sisters’ will.

God created man and woman differently-again, thank you God for Your wisdom, You knew what we needed.

I have been thinking recently, if I would have had a girl and then a boy, would I equate the differences in my children as differences between a girl and a boy? I will never know, obviously. God gave us two girls first. I see the differences in my girls as differences in PERSONALITY.

And, at 7 months of age (almost 8!) I see the differences in Rives and the girls as differences in HIS personality. I am confident that I will see girl/boy differences as he gets bigger, and I really look forward to that! I am excited to parent both genders and feel honored that God has blessed me with girls and a boy.

Boys and girls…God is so creative!

2012-01-10T22:09:00.003-06:00

I started teaching again tonight!!!!! I was so excited! And my voice is killing me-ha!!!! I didn't realize how much talking I usually do on the first night with going over the syllabus and answering the 1 million questions that are inevitable. Two of my students are brand new to the program, so bless their hearts, they have questions they don't even know about yet-ha!

Don't you just love that little smile...such a sweet boy! He is getting ready to go on a jog with Matthew. Matthew is training for a marathon with our friends Michael and Josh. They are crazy. I am always amazed at matthew's athleticism! I don't know why because I know he is very athletic, but EVERY SINGLE TIME he does something requiring some "skilz", he delivers. Yeah, I know, you're jealous. I'm really hoping that our kids get a good ratio of his Athletic genes to my drama genes (my high school extra curricular).

Rives has not eaten in the middle of the night the past two nights-woo hoo! While I really do not mind getting up with him at night (most of the time) I was getting a little bit frustrated because he is at least 18 pounds and, when he was eating, it was mostly just to soothe him back to sleep. So, when he has woken up the past two nights, I have gone in a made sure he had his paci and then have exited the room...to much crying. Kind of breaks my heart, but I am TIRED! He usually quiets down in about 10 minutes and then sleeps until 6am...see, he doesn't need to eat! I'm hoping there will just be a few more nights (fingers crossed, maybe zero!) of him waking and crying before he realizes that I mean business.

Nora is doing such a good job with her reading! I am so proud of her! She is such a perfectionist and that makes me sad. I hate when she is hard on herself and when she doubts herself and her abilities. I feel like I need to do a better job of building her up and all that. Sigh. Never ending guilt! She is such good girl! We have been dealing with some very human things lately. The thing that comes to my mind immediately is "lying". They have been very insignificant lies in the grand scheme of things, but a lie is a lie!!!! I've had some good advice with how to deal with the lying. I am so prayerful that her sweet heart is convicted and she realizes how hurtful and destructive lying can be. She is a precious girl and is loves to be loved.

She is also a budding party planner! Her sixth birthday is February 23 and she has been planning her party since November!!!!! She has a cardboard box, that she keeps in the hall closet, with all of her plans and invitation lists and decorating ideas. She looks in it and adds stuff to it about once a week. Now that we have entered 2012, the party talk and planning has really stepped up a notch. She will frequently get in the car after school and the first words out of her mouth have to do with another idea. I'm starting to get a little nervous that I might not deliver her dreams!!! She made another list of people to invite last night. This time it was a list of the adults. (yes, we know her numbers are backwards and reversed...developmental people.). Look at the left side of the picture and then at the close up on the right side. She didn't want anyone to be left out!

Sweet girl!Elyn is still as fun as ever! She is such a good big sister to Rives (and so is Nora, Elyn is just around him more and I am able to witness more one-on-one time between the two of them). Rives has started crawling backwards and it is hilarious to me when Elyn gets on the floor beside him and starts talking to him and crawling backwards with him. She'll reposition him if he gets in a bind too. So sweet!!! She really wants to go jogging with Matthew, i bet she would make it pretty far too.

She is still super particular about what she will wear each day and it drives me nuts-haha! There are so many cute dresses hanging in her closet but she would rather wear jeans tucked into boots over anything else. Hmmmmm, perhaps she has seen mommy wear that same thing a lot recently. Maybe if I wore more cute dresses she would too. She is her own person and nothing I can say will change that...I am so very thankful for that character trait (even if it does make me want to pull my hair out DAILY).

I look at our three kids and CANNOT BELIEVE that we have them! I am exhausted at the end of the day. My house is a wreck at the end of every day. I can either play with my kids, let them play with their toys, have conversations with them while I cook and enjoy my family OR I can make sure everything is constantly picked up. I choose the first one. Now, do I flip out about every six days at the state of our house? absolutely. It's a favorite of Matthew and the kids, I'm sure-ha! But I try to have the girls pick up their toys before they go to bed and after they are in bed, I will try and pick up the rest of the stuff that has somehow scattered all over the house. I swear little gremlins come in during the day and make the stuff multiply. And then nights like tonight, I sit on the couch and Matthew picks up everything. I over nights like that!We're supposed to have a dusting of snow this week...yea! But then it's going to get warmer next week-boo! I am excited for at least one or two good snow days!!!!-Dallas

Location:Back to normal, I think

The video

2012-01-05T21:37:00.001-06:00

Here he is, figuring it all out. He has already done so much more since I took this video.

He has been a bit of a stinker the last few nights. I do not know what is wrong with him, but sleeping is not his favorite. Matthew and I probably each got about 3 hours of sleep last night. From the hours of 4-6 I just camped out on the floor of his room with some pillows from my bed and a blanket from the guest room. I woke up with a pain in my neck. I am hopeful that tonight will be better! He is not running any fever, does not appear to be teething, his nose is not stopped up. He’s a mystery.

But, when I went in this morning to get him up, he laughed and smiled when he saw me. Precious boy! Worth the missed sleep!

Is it okay to knock him down?

2012-01-02T22:04:00.001-06:00

Rives is 7.5 months old! I KNOW!!!!!!! How did that happen? I cannot believe he is going to be ONE this year!!! Excuse me while I go weep...Ok, I'm back.Rives has been pretty active lately (insert cute picture):

He has been sitting for quite a while (Although, who knows how long because I couldn't get it together to write it down in my blog and we all know I don't keep a baby book...beating myself up over it!). He has recently started crawling backwards (army crawl) and would find himself trapped under furniture which led to a piercing cry like his legs were being cut off. Well, tonight he decided to go from tummy to all fours to sitting-ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!!!!I have it on video but am not smart enough to figure out how to upload it from my iPad.We are going to start baby proofing things around here PRONTO! And if he makes it to the age of one without chocking on a Barbie accessory, I will consider it a small miracle! Dallas

Twenty-twelve

2012-01-01T23:19:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year! My new years resolutions include paying more attention to my blog, I really REALLY want to focus on documenting my kids lives. I did such a good job until 7 months ago...I'm excited about writing again. It is very therapeutic for me and I have missed it!

Another resolution that I have made for me and Matthew is to have a date night at least once a month. We always spend time together after the kids go to bed but we need to be more deliberate in our alone time together. There is no one in this world I would rather spend time with! If you would like to sign up to watch our kids for us, I will get a spreadsheet going-ha!

We have one more day of vacation and then it is back to routine, I love a routine but I will be honest, I am not looking forward to the alarm clock going off, dragging kids out of bed, making lunches or having arguments about what are appropriate school clothes. I know the girls are excited about getting back to school and seeing their friends again.

Ok, good first post. Tomorrow-pictures!

-Dallas

1/2 way

2011-11-17T23:55:00.001-06:00

This happened today:

And it makes me so sad. Half way to one year. Sigh. Is he not the most adorable baby you have ever seen? I KNOW!!!!!!! You probably thought your own kids were cute until you saw him (oh, I kid....). And sweet too...he has conned some pretty fierce frowny faces into grins with his bashful expressions. I literally want to eat him up!

Look at far he has come.....and how much cuter he has gotten. I wrote on Facebook that if he keeps up this pace as far as developing cuteness, we are not going to be able to handle it when he turns 1.

He is such a ray of sunshine! My sweet, sweet boy. I didn't know he was missing from my life until, exactly 6 months ago, he entered it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

a frayed rope

2011-11-09T22:14:00.004-06:00

Oh people, I am still here...are any of you still reading? I don't blame you, not at all if you have deleted my blog from your sidebar. Sigh.

I never in a million years thought that I would let this amount of time pass in between posts.

I am going to have serious regret about this fact later on in life.

My baby is the sweetest baby in the entire universe! I am not lying either. He is amazing! How is it possible that we made it this far in life without him? I am so thankful that I am able to enjoy him...God is so gracious to allow us to have 3 babies. Everyone should have a third child, you will not regret!

At times I look at Rives and think-wow, you are so easy, kid! I could very possibly have a fourth kid.

And then his sisters start talking.

Oh, they are precious, precious, precious children. I love them more than words can express. I take GREAT delight in them. I am constantly amazed at what they know, how they love God and how entertaining they are.

But good gracious....they are EXHAUSTING! I feel as if they are constantly bickering, constantly bothering one another, constantly crying, constantly testing the limits, constantly making poor choices. Sigh.

I realize it's not constant. It just feels that way to this frazzled mama.

I went to the Women of Faith conference a few weekends ago and got Lisa Welchel's book, Creative Correction. I have read a bit and am loving it...I really hope this book opens up new parenting techniques and our days/evenings are full of less drama.

Three is our limit...we are done! I cannot think of a single day, since Rives has been born, that I have felt like I have it all together.

Our laundry is either usually in various states of being done. As I am typing this, I have a load in the washer, a load in the dryer, a clean load waiting to be folded and a folded load waiting to be put away. And this is our new normal.

If our house is completely clean, it is only because we are about to have company. And the cleaning is not completely done until about 5 seconds before the guests are set to arrive. Oh, I remember the days when I would clean my house WEEKLY. That just seems excessive these days-ha! This is how I clean now...in bits and pieces.

See what I mean, I do NOT have it together. And I am slowly becoming okay with that. Oh, I have mild anxiety attacks, pretty much weekly, about how terribly disorganized everything is and how I (said in a very loud voice) AM THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS HOUSE THAT KNOWS HOW TO PICK UP THINGS AND WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS WHERE THE DIRTY CLOTHES HAMPERS ARE AND THINGS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS GO TO THE TOP, ARE YOU ALL BLIND? All said with love, of course.

If you drop by our house, there is a VERY good chance it will look like a tornado just passed through leaving a wake of dust in its path. The beds are NOT made, there are probably dishes in the sink, toys are on the living room floor, laundry is sitting in a basket (probably folded), crayons and paper on are the kitchen table and we won't pass the white glove test. But, these three make all of that not very important:

Happy 4th birthday, Elyn!

2011-10-05T22:44:00.001-05:00

I cannot believe that Elyn is four years old! Time has certainly not stood still…it has rushed by at lightening speed.

(Well, if I’m honest, some days it feels like it stops…time does not move, minutes are NOT going by on the clock…the day will NEVER end.)

My sweet Elyn…the 365 days from you turning 3 to you being 4 have had its ups and downs. It was a big year for you! You started preschool and loved it! You would often cry when I would come pick you up last year. You loved Miss Miranda (last year) and are learning to love Mrs. Ostrand (this year).

You are so outgoing at home and when you get to know someone and warm up to them, you are outgoing then also. However, when I drop you off at school or at church, you cling to me and don’t want me (or your daddy) to leave. It definitely takes you a few moments to warm up. Even with family that you haven’t seen in a while…you don’t hand out hugs or kisses with ease. I think you hurt feelings because you are not overly affectionate or friendly but they don’t know you well enough because if they did, they would wait and let you warm up to them and they would have a tremendous surprise waiting…your attention.

You became a big sister this year and gave up your role as “baby” of our family. This was a transition that your daddy and I were nervous about. You LOVED (and still do) being with me and snuggling with me and having me hold you and helping me. We were worried that you would resent Rives when he arrived because he would take up so much of my time. We were silly for worrying! You have been amazing with Rives! You always want to hold him and kiss/hug him. You will drop what you are doing if he is crying and talk to him and try to make him happy. You are so loving with him and have never shown a second of jealousy. He is so lucky to have you (and Nora) because he is so loved!

You are very active and have a difficult time sitting for too long. Your max television watching time is about 30 minutes. Your sister could sit FOR HOURS and watch ANYTHING. You, my dear, need some variety. If asked what you would like to watch, you usually choose Dora or Strawberry Shortcake or My Little Pony but that is it. Nothing over 25 minutes. If a second episode comes on, well, that’s too much.

You are in gymnastics again this year and are so strong! I am amazed at what your little body can do! You seem to really love it and move non-stop when we are there. You tell me that you want to do dance too but you had to choose one and, this year, chose gymnastics. It might change next year.

When we are home together you can most of the time be found directly beside me. Directly. Beside. Me. And I love that you think I’m the best, but I gotta be honest with you kiddo, it wears me out! I feel bad when I hear myself saying, “Hey, Elyn, why don’t you go play with Nora OR why don’t you go to the playroom OR why don’t you head outside and play?” Most times those requests are greeted with a “no” and a smile. What can I do? Hang out with you, I guess.

For the past few months I have been SO looking forward to you turning four. I was so ready for life to get a little easier with you…you know, because it gets easier when kids turn four. You must have not read the same books I have been reading because life has not gotten any easier now that you are four. If anything, it has gotten much more difficult. And I am about to pull my hair out. Just a little over 300 days until you turn five…maybe that’s your magic number.

Getting dressed in the mornings is always a special struggle. Every single morning (EVERY SINGLE MORNING) is a battle. We pick out your clothes the night before and commit to an outfit. 95% of the time you wake up and have a change of heart. Our rule is that once the outfit is chosen it is THE outfit you will wear the next day. We do not have time in the mornings to stand in front of a mirror debating over tops and bottoms, if you want to do that, you need to get up much earlier. I cannot count the number of times your daddy and I have almost carried you out to the car in your pajamas. Right before we do you decide you will wear the chosen clothes. I wonder which day it will be when we actually do have to put you in the car in your pj’s.-that should be a fun ride to school.

I am EXHAUSTED at the end of the day and I think that the main reason for my exhaustion is you. But I know that at the end of the day I have given you my all and have enjoyed my time with you (most of my time with you-ha!). My heart is so full of love for you! You are so funny! You make me laugh all the time. You have a very quick sense of humor and enjoy when we laugh at your little jokes. And smart…I cannot believe the things that you already know. You take in everything Nora is learning in kindergarten and already starting to retain some of the things she is learning. Your kindergarten teacher is going to think we are awesome parents…little will she know that it is ALL you.

We love you Elyn! Thank you for making this life so full and colorful! You are our favorite four year old!

Back to school routines-guest post

2011-09-23T22:04:00.001-05:00

I have, as always, so much to write about and one of my resolutions is to attempt to catch up. Until that happens, guest blogger, Jessica, has a few ideas that might be helpful to you all. Thank you Jessica for these most helpful tips!

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Resolutions for the New School Year: Tips for Getting Organized

If you haven’t made your back to school resolutions yet it’s not too late! As with every New Year’s Eve, the new school year brings many resolutions. They usually include being on time, getting homework done, and getting organized. Getting organized is the most important thing you can do for your child because without organization in your home the atmosphere can seem chaotic making it difficult to concentrate on homework.

Bedroom Organization

Start early and organize your child’s room, closet, and homework space. Then, sit down and organize their morning routine. Enlist their help. This creates a sense of excitement and ownership. If you follow a few simple tips, and prepare early, your child will have a great new start for the school year.

First, organizing your child’s room and closets are imperative. A fresh room equals a fresh start. Clean out all old, worn, and outgrown clothes to make room for school clothes. Move out the play clothes and hang school clothes up front. Freshening up your child’s space will give them a sense of renewal and peace as they start the new school year. It will also give them a jump on getting dressed quickly and efficiently. No more searching for a pair of matching socks through a mountain of clothes in the morning.

A great tip, especially for younger children, is to hang a sweater organizer in their closet. Place a folded shirt, pants or skirt, socks, and underwear in each compartment. Do this at the beginning of each week and your child can just reach in and grab his whole outfit and put it on. This is a great time saver for busy families.

Homework Station

Next, make sure your child has an adequately stocked homework spot. Clean out old school papers and discard any empty pens, dried up glue sticks, or other non-working items. All kids, even big ones, love new school supplies. There is something about a stack of unused notebook paper, new pens, and pencils, which delights most of us, young and old. But remember when shopping for school supplies to buy extras for home. There is no frustration like searching for scissors and glue sticks late Sunday nights because your child left their supply box at school.

A nice paper-stacking organizer on their desk is great for organizing notebook paper, colored paper, folders, and report covers. Purchase a few inexpensive plastic pencil cases and stock them with pencils, pens, colored pencils, and markers.

Don’t forget computer supplies. Plenty of paper and extra ink cartridges are a must. Isn’t it always the way that your printer runs out of ink for that late night paper, the minute after store hours? So, don’t forget the extra ink. Keep extras on hand. Always.

Daily Schedules

Last, sit down with your child and organize their day. You can print it out on the computer or let your child write it out in colorful markers.

1. Make a list for the morning routine.

Include things like brushing their teeth, taking vitamins, and any other item that usually causes you to run back in the morning.

2. Make a list of items to remember to bring and place it by the door that you leave out of every morning.

Include the most common forgotten items such as lunchboxes, glasses, jackets, etc. Having the lists handy allows your child to remember their routine and keeps them from forgetting important items. More importantly, it keeps you; parent, from becoming the morning drill sergeant.

Morning Check List
Wake-up at 7am	x
Wash Face	x
Make Bed
Eat Breakfast	x
Brush Teeth	x
Comb Hair
Get Dressed	x
REMEMBER: lunch boxes, glasses, jacket, homework, and gym clothes

Helping your child get organized for the new school year can be a fun and productive pastime. Being organized will help you keep all of those new school year resolutions. Getting dressed quickly and easily saves time in the mornings. Having their rooms and desks organized will make homework a breeze. The lists to help with the morning routine will keep you from running back in helping you to get to school on time, every morning. Following a few helpful organizing tips will help your child have a peaceful and organized start to the school year.

This guest post was brought to you by PartSelect, the complete online resource for the do-it-yourself repair market and distributor of Jenn-Air parts.

10 years later

2011-09-11T22:25:00.001-05:00

I have not been finding a lot of extra time to write on my blog recently but felt I could not let the day end without reflecting on what today has meant to so many.

I was teaching kindergarten in Murfreesboro, TN on September 11, 2001. I was teaching at a brand new school, we had only been opened for a few weeks. Because it was new, the televisions had not been hooked up yet and I think we only had INTRANET. (How things have changed in 10 years…I think INTERNET is hooked up sometimes before plumbing is completed these days.) My planning period was early in the day, in the 9 o’clock hour. I went to the office after dropping my kids off at music or pe or art. I went in to collect my mail and heard the secretary say that the Pentagon had just had a plane fly into it. It didn’t really mean much to me at the time. I didn’t understand the significance.

The people in the office were talking about how crazy it was that a plane had flown into the Pentagon when we heard reports about the World Trade Centers. Again, I didn’t fully grasp what was happening.

I saw no coverage of the events of the day while I was working that day. I believe someone emailed a picture around of the planes flying into the WTC’s and I saw something similar to the picture at the top of this post. All day long parents were coming to the school to pick up their kids, wanting them to be close to home…everyone was terrified about what would happen next. Yet, I had no real idea what was going on.

I left school pretty immediately that day and headed to my apartment. I don’t remember if my roommate, Clair, was home or she was at her boyfriends house. I do remember talking to my mom and sister. I remember talking to the guy I was dating at the time and asking him to please come over. I remember sitting in front of the television that night and watching the coverage in disbelief. It was so heartbreaking! I finally realized what had happened and how it impacted us all. I listened to the President say that our nation had been attacked and we would not falter or crumble. I, like most everyone else, wondered…would my town be next? I realized that nothing would ever be the same. I grieved as I watched the coverage.

Today was similar in many ways to that day 10 years ago. I was away from my television for most of the day. We had gone to Little Rock this weekend for a wedding and were driving home today. Through Facebook and Twitter I knew that several stations were televising tributes today. Many friends wrote that they could not stop crying from all of the coverage. I, again, felt strangely out of the loop.

But, this is 2011 where everyone has some sort of access to the internet. I pulled my phone out and watched coverage from 10 years ago. As I sat in the car, tears pouring out of my eyes, I realized, this is the first time I had seen this! I had never seen the morning coverage of the attacks, just the replays that evening when I got home from school. To hear the newscasters and their shock when they saw the plane fly into the second tower was amazing. They were professional and stunned/speechless.

The above is a picture of a father touching his son’s name at the memorial in NYC. How much pain has that man endured in the past 10 years? How long did he hold out hope that his son would be found? How has his life changed from 9/11/01? He will never forget!

And I hope that I will never forget! I wish I could remember clearer details from that day, could recall my shock as I saw the events, could remember the general feeling as I watched the television. Although I can’t, I do remember how proud I felt that evening to be an American and how proud I was of other Americans. It seemed to me that everyone truly came together after that Tuesday morning.

September 11, 2001.

Growing

2011-08-26T20:53:00.001-05:00

Look at him grow!

One month, two months, three months

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Getting used to new

2011-08-25T22:47:00.001-05:00

We have had a lot of "new" around here recently. Actually, for the past year we have had a lot of new. For someone (Matthew) who does not like change, we have done a TON of it.

Let's see, what are some of the changes that have happened in the past three months:

added a new member to our family (the BEST change to date!)
although it may not seem like a big change to you-going from school year to summer and from summer to school year. This is a big change for our family because we are together the whole summer and then all of a sudden, we're not.
Matthew changing jobs
Nora starting kindergarten
Elyn starting a new pre-school
a new schedule of getting up and going to bed

I realize that these changes might seem minor to some (except the addition of a child...that's a biggie) but to us, they mean a lot of readjusting and changing our view of things.

One of the biggest changes, that I did not put in the list, affects me. This is the first semester since Nora has been alive that I have not taught for Harding. It makes me so sad.

I knew it was coming, enrollment has really gone down the past few semesters. I think it is mostly due to the declining economy. I had been watching the numbers for my classes and, when they didn't go up, I figured I would get a call that they were taking those classes off of the fall schedule.

The call came earlier this week and, while I was expecting it, it still hit me hard.

I was at home alone (well, actually, nursing Rives) and took the call. I was all, "Oh, I understand completely...yes, yes, hopefully the numbers will pick up by next semester...again, I understand...thank you for calling!"

Then, I hung up and started crying.

There is nothing worse than sitting on the couch, nursing your baby and crying-wait...that was the first month of Nora's life.

I kid.

Seriously though, I was crying...hard.

This job was important to me in so many ways.

I LOVED going to class each week and talking with ADULTS. When Nora was a baby, and then again when Elyn was a baby, I sometimes felt that the only times I had adult conversations was when I went to class. I know I wasn't the best teacher or the most creative, but I enjoyed it and think my students learned one or two things.

It was also important to me financially. You know the whole "pulling my weight" thing. (Not really, but kind of.) This income was important to our family and our budget. We KNOW that God will help us meet our needs and that we will be FINE. This is probably good for us...it will force us to re-prioritize and spend our money wisely and not frivolously. There is something God is going to teach us through this dip in our income...and I am looking forward to sharing and glorifying His name.

Honestly, it was also important for my pride. Typical conversation: Random person-"So, what do you do? Do you stay at home with your kids?" Me-"Yes, I do stay at home with them BUT I also am an INSTRUCTOR AT A LOCAL UNIVERSITY (pause for effect), I teach GRADUATE LEVEL CLASSES." Random person-"Oh, WOW, you must be the smartest person EVER!" Me-"Yes, I am."

Okay, so it might not have gone exactly like that, but similar. I enjoyed being able to share that I worked at Harding, that I had a "thinking" job outside of my main "job" of watching my children grow.

Again, God might be taking this opportunity for me to slow down and get used to the "new" that this school year has to offer. I am so thankful that my time with my children and my husband will be completely theirs and my mind will not be preoccupied with planning lessons or grading papers.

Listen, I am THE PERSON to find the bright side of things...if you are looking for a "glass half full" kind of person, I'm your gal. I am not looking for you (all two of you) to offer up positive and cheery comments (although, I am not discouraging them either)...I've already thought of all the positive and cheery things that might come out of my unemployment. This was just a writing session for me to get my thoughts down.

This new change has been on my heart quite a bit lately and I need LET IT GO and enjoy my new "freedom". I have told some friends that I am going to be a pro at clipping coupons and my house is going to be super clean...

I just need to get started on both.

3 months old

2011-08-18T23:37:00.001-05:00

This sweet boy turned 3 months old yesterday! I cannot imagine our lives without him!

Do you see that smile that he is showing off in his picture? Well, we are lucky enough to see that smile multiple times a day, sometimes followed by a precious giggle. We love him so much!

He is such a good baby. I tell every single person that comments on his pleasant personality that he is THE BEST BABY EVER! I think I might be giving him a big head already. But he deserves it! He is the best!

His sisters were sweet babies as well but no where as near as easy as he has been. I don’t know if it is because he is a boy or if it is because he is the third and forced to go with the flow, but I’d take 10 more just like him.

He makes me melt with one little look. I could eat him up and steal millions of kisses every day.

I want him to stay exactly this age forever…please Rives, stay just like this.

Here is what he is up to:

Eats during the day, every three hours. Bless his heart. He usually “eats out”. I am either feeding him in the van, a building, a restaurant or someone else’s house. He rarely gets a meal at home. Thankfully, I am ALWAYS with him so his food is readily available.
Quite a few people have asked about his schedule. I have no idea what it is other than he eats every 3 hours. I don’t know what his nap schedule looks like or his optimal play time. I’m horrible. Most of his naps are in his car seat and I throw him on the floor to roll around when we get an opportunity. Poor third kid.
Speaking of rolling around…he has rolled from tummy to back a few times. I have yet to capture one of those times on video though. It seems like every time I pull it out he doesn’t want to perform. Camera shy, I guess.
He is “talking” quite a bit. He imitates us and oohs and ahhs a lot. So sweet!
He is a fabulous sleeper! He typically goes to bed between 8 and 8:30 at night and will sleep until 4:30-5:30. If I went to sleep when he did I would be very well rested. But, I haven’t gotten that smart yet. As far as naps, see above.
His sisters still love him like crazy. Elyn tells me a lot that we have the best baby (possibly because she hears me say it all the time-ha!). They are so good with him! Nora cracks me up because sometimes she’ll be in the living room with him while Matthew and I are in different rooms of the house. She’ll yell, “Mom, can you take care of Rives now?” Ha ha! I didn’t realize I had asked her to babysit.
He has horrible cradle cap! We try to wash his hair at least three times a week with Selsun Blue and a toothbrush. It has gotten better and is starting to flake off (baby dandruff alert) but he still has a bad case!
He is starting to wear 3-6 month clothes. The 0-3 month ones are definitely getting to be too small. I still shove him in them sometimes because I haven’t switched his drawers over. He is also still being shoved into a size one diaper. I am trying to finish up the last box and then I will move on to the super comfy/roomy size two diapers.
He shows no preference of “stationary holders” (bouncy seat, swing, etc.). He’s pretty content to sit in any of them.
I think I’m his favorite because he does light up like I’m a rock star when he sees me…I am the food source, afterall.
He is an excellent car traveler! Thank goodness! We drive many miles a day taking his sisters to and from school. We went on a long trip in June and have made a few shorter trips since then. Again, very laid back personality (fingers crossed it stays that way!)
His eyes have ALREADY turned brown. My dream of having a blue-eyed baby have been destroyed…sigh.
He is able to grab toys that are hanging over his head and enjoys kicking toys with his foot too.
I was singing to him yesterday and he started crying…hmmmmm.

He is such a perfect addition to our family! When the girls are having their dramatic episodes and I am at the end my rope with their emotions, I look at his sweet face and think, “You’re ~~my favorite child~~ such a blessing!”

We love you so much Rives!

First day of school!

2011-08-01T19:31:00.001-05:00

It has begun…school!!!!!

I cannot believe that Nora started kindergarten today! It seems like we were just meeting her in the hospital!

We went to her orientation last week, to meet her teacher and see her classroom…I cried on that day and couldn’t believe it. I really didn’t think I would be so emotional.

I didn’t cry this morning at drop off but waited until we got back in the car. It really hit me that I wouldn’t be with her all day…for the rest of her life. Sigh.

Here are some pictures of our morning. I’ll add more when I download them off my phone.

Sassy girl…

I wish I could insert pictures here of our special breakfast and stellar devotional time BUT we, all 5, had to be in the car and heading down the road by 6:50 and I didn’t even have time to eat breakfast…I’m not sure what everyone else had.

Walking into the school building…

Standing in front of the building

Guess who? It’s GIBSON!!!!! What a blessing that Nora and Gibson are going to the same school! I pray that these sweet girls always have a special bond!

How did this poodle and lobster (along with John David the octopus) go from these babies to…

These big girls looking at an iPhone…sniff, sniff!

Walking with daddy and Rives to her classroom…it was a bit like a red carpet event with all the parents taking pictures and video.

Finding her cubby to hang up her backpack…

First one at her table…

One last picture before we left our baby (and who was in charge of Elyn’s hair? Sigh. I can only do so much…at least she’s not in her pajamas!)

Up until this point, I was holding it together quite nicely. No tears from this mama! Then I got in the car and realized that she was about to experience so much that I might not ever know about. I was no longer there to protect her and watch over her. I cried then.

To ease Elyn (and me) into her first day without her BFF, we went to Krispy Kreme…it helped brighten her morning.

Rives enjoyed his first visit…the girl behind the counter even offered him a “hot now” donut-and she was serious. Really? He’s 2.5 months old…we like to wait until they are 3 months old to start introducing the “donut food group”.

We spent the day without Nora moving Matthew’s stuff from his old school over to his new school…good times.

We got to Nora’s school about 2 minutes after school was supposed to let out, anticipating a super long car rider line and thinking we could beat the traffic and drive right up to collect Nora. We were wrong. We waited in the line for 35 minutes before she got in our car.

Thirty. Five. Minutes.

Worth the wait though…

Coming to the car-

We went out for “first day of school” ice cream. Thankfully it was about 104 degrees here today-perfect for excuse for ice cream (and a heat stroke).

We ate with two of her kindergarten buddies, Alex and Sterling.

It was a great first day for Nora. We pumped her for info (of course) and she was happy to tell all about the day. She liked her class and all the activities they did today. She has already requested that I not walk her in to school tomorrow morning (sorry, I am going to baby) and that she can buy her lunch from the cafeteria (we decided one time a week she can buy). As I type this, Matthew is reading the girls a story and about to put them in bed…and it’s not even 7:30! Welcome back to the real world!

tap, tap, tap…anybody out there?

2011-07-24T15:59:00.001-05:00

Wow. I think this is the longest I have gone without blogging. I’m sorry my children…I will go back and document your lives later.

I have also not spent very much time on the computer either. I know that because I had to log back in to most of my accounts.

We have been busy and relaxed, all at the same time. Just enjoying our summer.

Nora starts kindergarten in a week (year round calendar) and Matthew starts school the week after that.

I might have an emotional break down on her first day of kindergarten…to be determined.

Let me leave with a picture I took of my baby boy today…I think you’ll see, he’s growing!

Oh my goodness, I love him so much! And I really need to blog about our last two months with him because, sadly, this is his baby book.

Hopefully when school starts and we are more in a routine I will get back into the land of blogging and documenting our life!

Happy 4th!!!!!

2011-07-04T23:52:00.002-05:00

Catching up

2011-06-23T22:27:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures of our life lately-not necessarily in order by date:

My razorback boys:

Only half the people in this picture are asleep…can you guess which two-ha?

The girls are so good with Rives and are great about giving him his paci if he is crying…helps a mama out!

Nora continues to LOVE Rives and is always such a helper!

Chillin’ out during some tummy time-

A few Saturday’s ago it was gorgeous outside, the girls got their jeep out of the garage and wanted to drive around. Well, before that could happen it needed a good washing-

One day I was in the kitchen fixing dinner or washing dishes or something productive (I’m sure) and heard nothing but the television. I walked over to the family room and this is what I saw…Rives had fallen asleep right beside his sisters-so sweet!

Last weekend we went over to the Graham’s house for a cookout with our old small group…good times!

My college friend, Joy, came to see me and Rives and bring us some dinner…love Joy!

Gram made the girls some dresses…thanks Gram!

On Matthew’s last day of school (or maybe 2nd to last day of school) he made trashcan milkshakes for all of his 8th graders…delish!

The girls took swim lessons at the beginning of the month. We went to the same swim teacher we had last year and she is AWESOME! This was Elyn’s first year to take lessons from Mrs. Dana. Here she is on her first day:

Elyn did great! However, she had to miss the second week because she was sick (more on that later). Before the swim lessons she was timid about going all the way under the water and wasn’t too sure about jumping off of the diving board. I’m happy to say she is confident with both of those now! She refuses to wear her floaties now-ha!

Nora is an old pro at swim lessons. She is a little fish and loves the water! She was pretty confident in the water last summer and we felt pretty confident letting her loose in the pool. This summer she had to step it up in swim lessons and learn some technique. Actually, the first day, she got back in the van and said, “Swim lessons aren’t any fun…we have to do hard things.” Ha Ha! She wasn’t happy about having to tread water for almost a minute in the middle of the pool.

Here she is on her first day of swim lesson…can you see what she is doing? Trying to get Rives to smile-ha!

Love those chins!

Rives at his 3 week check-up…almost 9 pounds! He had gained a pound in two weeks!

The girls enjoying some TCBY after Rives doctor’s visit…hey, he couldn’t have any.

Drinking his first bottle

Ha ha ha! He’s ready for Cuba and some Latin dancing.

This is what he looks like after a night a sleep and spitting up.

Last Monday we went to our local splash park. It was a great day for it and I just knew the girls would have a blast. Poor Elyn just sat on the side and hardly participated…I thought maybe she was tired.

However, when we got home I took her temp and it was 103! Here she is…sick little girl.

She looks horrible! Her temp stayed between 100 and 103 for 6 days…it was so sad! I felt so bad for her! I took her to the doctor and he said it was probably a fever virus. After the 6th day, the fever was completely gone and she was back to her fun loving self.

The day I took Elyn to the doctor we came home and found Matthew and Nora cleaning the cars. Thankfully Elyn’s Motrin had kicked in, so she went outside and joined in on the fun…you just can’t see her in the picture.

Two of our kitchen chairs now look like this…I really like them!

My little helper-she felt well enough one day to help me pick up a little.

And look, I had 5-6 inches of hair cut off! I was tired of always wearing it in a ponytail and was desperate for something new. Since none of my clothes fit and it is extraordinarily depressing trying on new clothes, I thought this might make me feel better-and it does!

Father’s Day 2011

2011-06-20T22:37:00.001-05:00

I am so happy that Nora, Elyn and Rives have THE BEST DAD EVER! I told Matthew tonight that it is sad that Nora and Elyn are not going to be able to say that their husbands are the best dad that they know…they will have to compete with Matthew and their daddy will always win.

Poor future husbands.

Thank you Matthew for putting your family before everything else, for looking to your FATHER to guide our family and loving Nora, Elyn and Rives. What a blessing you are to them!

Time is flying by…

2011-06-17T17:00:00.001-05:00

Guess who is ONE MONTH OLD???????

This guy! And he is pretty shocked by that fact too!

Absolutely precious!

I literally have no time to blog these days. I have been asked several times how it is having three kids…is it any different?

Yes, it is different and no, it’s not that different either.

It’s different because I now have ZERO “me” time. I am constantly with SOMEONE. In the past month I have been alone once, for about an hour span.

I went to the grocery store…it was awesome.

Or, if I’m taking a nap I am usually alone…and asleep. Which means I am missing out on the joy of getting anything accomplished by myself. But I am LOVING the extra sleep that a nap affords.

When my kids are napping I am either doing dishes or laundry or sweeping or picking up clutter (which is NEVER picked up) or staring into space.

Don’t get me wrong, I am really enjoying this new life and figuring it out but it is DIFFERENT not having any “alone” time.

How is it the same? Well, it feels as if Rives has always been with us! He has fit in perfectly with our crazy family and his sisters act as if they have had a baby brother forever.

He has made the transition super easy. Matthew actually said to me last weekend, “You know, 3 kids isn’t so hard. We HAVE this! We could totally have four.” Keep in mind, Rives was 3.5 weeks old and all he had done up to this point was sleep. I quickly reminded Matthew that this was IT, the baby factory was closed.

He is so go with the flow and fits right in…a lot of the same.

I absolutely cannot believe that Rives is one month old! Here is what he is up to:

He is meeting his “milestones” for one month. (Yes, I looked them up because I couldn’t remember what a one month old is supposed to do.) He can lift his head up when he is on his stomach, he stares at lights, responds to sounds, can turn his head from side to side, follows objects from side to side-genius stuff.
He eats precisely every 3 hours…it’s like he has an alarm clock built in. This kid is already telling time, in 3 hour increments. It’s crazy.
He also goes to sleep pretty much immediately after eating. It’s awesome. Seriously. At nights when I am in zombie mode he will go to sleep after eating and I LOVE THAT!
He spits up ALL THE TIME. ALL.THE. TIME. I am constantly doing laundry. We go through about 10 burp cloths a day and about 4-5 different outfits. The spitting does not seem to bother him though. He never appears in pain and seems to be gaining lots of weight. It’s just a pesky problem that will go away with time, I’m sure. His sisters were the exact same way.
He is still sleeping in a bassinet in our room…because we still haven’t gotten his room put together. We are horrible, horrible, horrible parents. Sigh. Hopefully soon.
He is wearing 0-3 month clothing and size 1 diapers
He has had 2 bottles of pumped milk. I am teaching 2 classes for Harding in the fall and am teaching them on the same night. I will be gone from home for about 6 hours on that night. Rives might starve to death if he won’t take a bottle (and Matthew might lose his mind). Nora and Elyn never took a bottle because it was never really necessary. He takes a bottle like a champ…I am so thankful for that!
He takes a pacifier, thank goodness!
Has no real preference about sleeping spots. He will sleep in his bassinet (swaddled), in his bouncy seat, in his swing, in his car seat, or, where he is right now-right beside me on the couch.
Doesn’t seem to have lost any hair at all…I wonder if it will all fall out like Nora and Elyn’s hair did.
He enjoys bath time…which are necessary quite often because of all the spitting.
He doesn’t seem bothered AT ALL with all the sisterly attention his is constantly receiving. THANK GOODNESS!
He has proven to be a decent car traveler. We have gone to McAlister twice, it is about a 3 hour drive. He has traveled great both times. We are doing some MAJOR traveling next month and I hope to write the same thing in his 2 month update.

He is such a blessing to our family and we are so thankful that God knew how perfect he would be for our family. We are also so thankful for God’s perfect timing!

It’s still hard to believe we have THREE kids!

A quiet week

2011-06-04T23:58:00.001-05:00

The girls have been in Texas for the past week. And it has been QUIET at our house! I was afraid that Rives might freak out because of the lack of noise, but he behaved as usual…very laid back and super good.

Everyone should have a third baby!

(Especially if your first was extremely high strung and required massive amounts of attention and your second cried for the first four weeks of her life. Then definitely have a third baby. They are great!)

Since the girls were gone I thought I would get a ton of things done and catch up on blog posts and dedicated massive amounts of time cleaning and sorting and decorating.

But I didn’t. I spent a lot of time holding my baby and rocking him and nursing him and sleeping in and running a few errands and spending time with my husband and watching some movies.

It was a good week…but I missed my pals while they were in Texas and I’m glad they are home!

What I didn’t do was to take a lot of pictures of Rives and I could just kick myself for that! I will have to make up for it in the next few days.

Even though I was a slacker on taking pictures this past week, I have taken some in the past…here they are:

Rives first Sunday of life…he didn’t make it to church (and neither did I-ha). He really was glad to see his sisters, despite was his face is showing…

That same day we had really bad storms with tornadoes in the area (it was the same night those in Joplin, MO were hit). The tornado sirens went off twice and we all took shelter in a hall closet. Let me tell you, I am NOT comfortable! Rives was 5 days old at this point…I am still swollen and my c-section incision was hurting as I was sitting, scrunched in the closet. Good memories.

One week after he was born, we went to see Dr. N for the very first time. Rives weighed 7 lbs 12 oz when we left the hospital (he lost 12 oz from birth) and he was back up to 8 lbs even by one week! We go to see Dr. N again this coming Tuesday, Rives 3 week birthday. I’m curious to see what his weight is up to.

Nora had a little “carnival” at her school as an end of year party. I was ZERO help in planning or helping bring stuff in…slacker-ha! I did make it to the party though and took a few pictures. One of the games that Nora liked was a bean bag toss…

Her first experience with Twister…

Look, no hands!

Rives enjoyed the party too…this is what he did the whole time.

Sweet girl…ready for kindergarten, sniff, sniff!

Nora got her picture made with each girl in her class…

Annabelle-

Hadlee-

Callie-

Zyra Lynn-

snack time!

How cute is that little bottom, up in the air! I was changing his clothes and put him down to unsnap this little outfit and he put his hands under his chin…so precious!

Julia, Brian, Noah and Esther and Beth came to visit us! Esther and Rives are a little over 3 months apart in age…here they are at almost 2 weeks and almost 4 months.

All 5 cousins…the oldest is 5 and the youngest is two weeks. I pray they grow up good friends!

Rives and Esther hanging out Sunday morning before church

Our first Sunday at church as a family of five.

And now to iPhone pics…so much easier to take these days.

Nora and Elyn in the closet during our “tornado drill”. Cracks me up! Nora looks terrified and Elyn looks like she is having the time of her life-ha!

First “faux” hawk

Nora and Mrs. O. Nora painted a flowerpot for a gift for Mrs. O and picked out some flowers to give her.

Look at that cute froggy bottom…

baby burrito

I went to the grocery store one day and this is what my cart looked like when I was ready to check out…it was a little crowded with the baby in the middle of everything!

Thankfully Julia brought me her Moby Wrap…shopping has been much easier since I learned how to use this thing!

And to show you that Rives looks like Elyn…Rives on top, Elyn on bottom. It’s crazy!

I told Matthew, I find myself holding Rives and calling him “Elyn” because they are so similar. I hope I’m not damaging him-ha!

What Rives does all day long…

Woooo, Mom, that is a lot of pictures…maybe you should do a better job of updating your blog…

It’s hard to believe that we have had Rives for almost three weeks! He is so great! I feel like our family is complete. It’s amazing because I don’t dread the middle of the night feedings like I did with the girls.

I remember with Nora, as soon as the sun would go down, I would start to get sad. I knew that she would wake up throughout the night and I would feel like I was the only person on Earth awake at that time. I could not wait until she was sleeping through the night!

With Elyn I was less panicked about it because I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel. However, I was exhausted all the time because, in addition to my infant, I had a 19 month old to deal with every day. I was ready for a good nights sleep!

Now, knowing Rives is our last baby, I am not wishing the every 3 hour meals away. (Now if he is still not sleeping through the night at 8 months old, my tune might change). I don’t feel as tired during the day either…granted, it hasn’t been that long and I did just have a week of just him. I am realizing at how quickly time flies…sleep is not as important to me as it was 5 years ago. Spending time with my babies is more important.

The girls start swim lessons next week and Matthew is FINALLY done with school next Wednesday (snow days really don’t seem so “snowy” when school goes into June). I am so looking forward to our summer together!

End of the school year

2011-05-30T21:46:00.001-05:00

Both of the girls had their end of the school year programs last week. It’s hard to believe that their school year is done and I don’t have to drive 25 minutes to take them to school any longer-ha! Even though the drive was a beating, it was so worth it! We loved both of the schools the girls went to and are saddened that they won’t be attending them in the fall.

Even harder to believe though is that this was Nora’s last year of preschool…I do not even want to think about how I will cry on her first day of kindergarten (once I get back to the car, of course). Her year at Life Way Christian School has been amazing. She loved, loved, loved her teacher and got to be such good friends with all of the kids in her class. I will say, I cried on her last day. Was it hormones? Probably. But, I am still sad that she won’t be able to go there for kindergarten.

Her program was so cute and she has already taught all of us one of the songs that she sang.

Walking into the program and spotting Matthew (I was in the back row feeding Rives (6 days old)…she couldn’t see me).

Walking in, waving at all of the parents

She was one of the shorter ones in her class-ha!

All the boys and girls

Her class, receiving their certificates

Getting hers…

We had a picnic lunch afterwards…it was originally scheduled to be outside, but it was pouring down rain, so it was moved indoors.

Nora and Mrs. Ostrand…we will miss her!

Later that week, it was time for Elyn’s program. She has loved her time at school this year! Most days, she was sad when I came to pick her up. She loved her friends and LOVED her teacher! I think it will be a shock to her system to be home with boring ol’ me this summer. She learned a ton and has amazed us all year by the things she has picked up on and brought home to share.

When we got to Elyn’s program we realized that the big camera was out of battery power and the card on the flipcam was full…mom of the year. Thankfully I had my little camera in the diaper bag and it salvaged the night. I should mention that Rives was 10 days old at this point (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it-ha!)

Here is the back of Elyn’s head, waiting with her friends for the program to begin:

The 3-year-old and 4-year-old classes…they did such a great job singing all of their songs!

Getting her certificate from Miss Miranda…she loves Miss Miranda and so do we!

Elyn and all the kids and staff…such a sweet group!

What a great school year for both girls! I am looking forward to our summer though…our last summer before “real life” begins with our sweet kindergartener…sniff, sniff. Sunrise, sunset.

My time lately...

2011-05-26T21:18:00.001-05:00

My time lately has been spent nursing my sweet baby every 2.5 to 3 hours...and I couldn't be happier about it either!

Rives is so sweet and so good. He tolerates his crazy sisters pretty well and seems laid back-just like everyone told me a third baby would be.

We all love him so much!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The first few days

2011-05-21T22:18:00.001-05:00

We’ve been home a few days and are doing pretty great! I think it is in large part to Rives being such a great baby! He either has us fooled or he is going to be pretty laid back. He has made the transition to three kids very easy. Okay, I’m going to knock on wood now-ha!

Here is Rives with the doctor who pulled him out…my doctor, Dr. J. He is so great and we were blessed to have him take care of both of us for the past 9 months!

The morning we went home from the hospital…I had gone to get a shower and came out to find Matthew and Rives like this-

The only picture of Rives in his going home outfit. The nurses were ready to get rid of us and I felt the pressure to speed things up…oh well, it looks like Rives is a little flustered here too-ha!

About two seconds after this picture, he quit crying…phew!

Ready to head home…look at Nora, she has been crying very dramatically and made last few moments in the hospital less than wonderful. It was very frustrating for me because I could not understand why she was crying like the baby while Rives was sleeping peacefully in his car seat. Oh well, this is our life and Nora got a two hour nap when we got home.

And this is me saying-WHAT IN THE WORLD, this is my life now! Ha ha ha ha!

Heading the elevator…I love that Elyn is holding the boppy! And the girls got to pick out their own clothes for the day…and Elyn chose her favorite pants, of course.

Three kids in the van now-wow!

Welcome home Rives!

This is pretty much what the girls have done since Rives has come home…crowded around him, wanting to see everything that he is doing (which is mostly sleeping).

It’s hard to believe she was this little just 5 years ago!

One tired mama and her three kids

First night at home…a little burrito baby.

The next day, Matthew took the girls to school and my mom and sister went home. So it was just Rives, me and Matthew for the day. It was so nice and peaceful. Rives is so chilled out…

But we were so happy to have the girls back that afternoon to play!!!!!! Elyn loves Rives so much! I was so worried about how she would respond to him and she has surprised me! She is great with him, wanting to be involved in absolutely everything! She thinks it is fascinating when I nurse him and asked me once already if she could feed him-ha!

Elyn took this picture of Rives with my phone…it makes me laugh every time I see it!

Matthew and Nora doing some exercises with Rives.

Silly daddy and his three kids…

My four favorites-

This morning, while Matthew was painting our bathroom, the girls and I played with some play-doh. Rives slept through the whole thing.

Hard to believe she is not our “baby” any longer. She seems so big!

We have had a nice two days at home as a family of five. Rives has slept great, ate great and is peeing and pooping great…he has his job down! The girls have had a few moments of breakdown, but for the most part are adjusting to him beautifully. And, of course, Matthew and I are just in awe that we now have three kids and feel so very, very blessed!

Welcome!

2011-05-18T23:44:00.001-05:00

It has been a joy to welcome our baby boy to our family! It has been a fast few days and honestly, I wish our time in the hospital was longer and slower! I have enjoyed the one on one time with Rives and having all these other people wait on us-ha! Seriously though, I know things are going to speed up once we get home and my devotion will not be solely focused on the newest member…I’ll miss this special time!

We had a scheduled c-section for yesterday. It was supposed to happen at noon but due to an emergency, we were bumped back to 1:00. No biggie, I got to hang out with my girls a little longer…

Once they started the surgery, it took a little bit longer than expected because of a lot of scarring. I was pretty anxious the entire time, but thankfully Matthew was there, holding my hand and the doctors were great about telling me what was going on. Because of all the scarring, it took longer than I expected to get him out but once he came out, he was crying and perfect! My doctor said, “He’s a shaggy boy” because of all of his hair-ha!

He did a few little respiration issues at the beginning because of some fluid that was inhaled and on his lungs. Thankfully, they cleared him out pretty quickly and we were able to get a few pictures:

While I was finishing up in the OR, Matthew went with Rives back to the nursery and they girls got to see him, through the blinds:

After they cleaned him up and made sure his breathing was okay, I finally got to hold him!

And so did big sister Nora…she was so proud!

Big sister Elyn did not want to hold him…she just wanted to hang out with me. Sweet girl, her world is so different now!

My two boys…

Our family of FIVE!

We have had lots of family and several visitors…all such blessings:

When Elyn came back last night, after dinner, she was ready to hold Rives!

Yea! She loves him!

And how could she not? Look at how sweet he is…

The girls came by the hospital to visit after school today…Elyn colored,

Nora watched t.v.-ha!

Our three babies…what gifts they all are!

Rives Matthew Henderson

2011-05-18T09:42:00.001-05:00

Our sweet baby boy arrived yesterday afternoon! He was born at 1:33 pm, weighing in at 8 pounds 8 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches long.

He had a head FULL of dark black hair and is so, so sweet!!!!

Here are two quick pictures...I will try to add more info and pictures later on today.

Praise God for a healthy baby boy!!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I wonder who he will look like…

2011-05-16T22:20:00.001-05:00

This little girl (Nora)…

Or this little girl (Elyn)…

Of course, minus the bows-ha ha!

We are so excited to meet Rives Matthew Henderson and wonder if he will have a headful of dark hair, like his sisters. His sisters are thrilled to get to hold him and tickle him…they think he will laugh.

We are very prayerful that he will be healthy and happy. We are prayerful for a healthy delivery…thank you for praying for our family too!

Spring 2011 Soccer pictures

2011-05-15T19:45:00.001-05:00

Here are Nora’s soccer pictures from this spring season. How cute are these girls? And the coach!

Girls day

2011-05-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

I had been planning for a while to have a “girl day” with Nora and Elyn before Mr. Rives arrives. It is kind of funny to me because, really, every single Tuesday and Thursday is “girl day” around here. We spend ALL DAY together on those days, but I wanted to make it a little special for them.

They both got up about 7:30 and came to snuggle up in bed with me…while I was showering they watched a little t.v.-

We ate breakfast and got dressed and headed out for our first stop…

Manicures and Pedicures-this is something we NEVER do! They loved it and, although some of the nail polish has already chipped off, are very proud of their nails. They told the ladies that were doing our nails that when Rives comes, he has to stay at home with daddy because boys can’t get their nails done-ha ha!

After getting our nails done, we did a little shopping. We discovered Thursday morning that Nora has exactly TWO sundresses to tide her over for the rest of the summer-not going to cut it! Elyn has approximately 200 sundresses, sometimes being the youngest really is awesome! Thankfully, Wal-Mart is the perfect place for Nora to pick out dresses, she’s not too picky-YET.

We had to get some end of year teacher gifts but BOTH places that I went to had been relocated! What are the chances? One place is scheduled to reopen next week-not going to work for this new mama…

To get over the disappointment of two closed stores we went for lunch. I asked the girls where they wanted to eat…they could choose ANY PLACE to go…

Chick fil A was the choice-really?

Elyn closed her eyes on purpose-ha ha!

It’s actually a good thing they chose Chick fil A because Nora saw one of her friends from school there…a BOY! He must be her favorite boy in her class because last week, on the way home from school she asked me if he could come over and spend the night. Oh my goodness! I explained that he could come over and play but could NOT come over and spend the night. She didn’t quite understand why girls can come over and spend the night but not boys. Oh brother.

Well, this little boy must like Nora too because while we were at Chick fil A I heard him tell another little boy, “Nora is my girlfriend.” Good grief! I called Matthew and told him. He said he was going to have to meet the boy-ha!

It’s all begun…and we are NOT ready for it!

After lunch we went to another store so the girls could get a present for Rives, to give to him in the hospital. It was sweet, them picking out the little gift. Elyn got him a stuffed baby chick and Nora picked out a stuffed giraffe. And then they wanted to know what they were getting. Um, hello, do you not remember the mani/pedi from earlier?

We came home, they got a nap and then tried one more store for the teacher gift-success! If only I would have thought about that store first…ah, hindsight, always clearer!

It was a good day with my girls…remarkably normal. I know that I will still have alone days with them, especially when they are older, but it’s weird to think that in a few days we are adding another little (needy) person to our mix. I think Nora will adjust decently, it’s Elyn that I am worried about. She is definitely a mama’s girl and requires alone time with me…I will have to figure out how to work that in when Rives comes.

I love you girls!

Mowing

2011-05-13T12:02:00.001-05:00

When we moved to our new house last summer, we upgraded BIG TIME in terms of a yard. Our old house had sufficient yard for what we needed, but it was always our desire to have a bit of land for our girls to run around on and have the “country feel”.

Well, we now have 2.25 acres and we LOVE it! We also have a million trees. Most of them were damaged in an ice storm a few years ago and no one took the time to shape them back up. That’s our early fall goal.

The leaves were insane in November and twenty people wielding rakes still wouldn’t have made a dent in the brown leaves. We hired some friends to come and mulch them for us and make me not scared to walk around in the backyard and get attacked by snakes.

Well, with all of the rain we have had this spring, I’m sure you can imagine how high our weeds have been (because really, that is what our yard consists of right now…sporadically dotted with tufts of grass).

(Project Yard is scheduled for next spring/summer)

I have no idea how long it would take to mow our yard with a push mower…I’m guessing 5 to 6 hours. And that’s probably a low estimate. Matthew wasn’t looking forward to devoting that amount of time to mowing weeds.

We bit the bullet and invested in a riding lawn mower. It’s kind of like we live on a farm-ha! The lawn mower is also referred to as Nora and Elyn’s future car.

Let me say, a riding lawn mower is AWESOME! Matthew knocked out our yard in about an hour and a half…the entire thing! And he was able to do it in the semi-darkness because, guess what, it has HEAD LIGHTS!

He LOVES it!

He had a little spring in his step when he parked the mower in the garage (ahem, the ONLY “vehicle” that resides in our garage right now…along with a TON of tools, plywood, wainscoting, sheet rock, two sinks, a toilet and about a million other “home improvement” goods). He said he felt like he was at camp-the ultimate happiness for my husband. I didn’t even care how much that mower cost after he said that…it’s like this guy and his mower:

He loves it so much, if you needed your lawn mowed, he might do it for free. (I haven’t actually asked Matthew about that, but if Forrest can do it, why can’t he-ha!).

Welcome newest Henderson…the craftsman.

So, lately…

2011-05-10T21:06:00.001-05:00

We did a lot of things…let’s catch up, shall we…

Easter was a little bit crazy around here. First of all, it had been raining for about 2 months solid so everything was a teeny bit wet. Secondly, we had been out of town all weekend due to a death in the family and the girls were TIRED! Thirdly, it was our month to sing on our praise team at church and we had to be there at the CRACK of 8:15. Leaving our house by 7:55 on the same morning that the Easter Bunny came AND looking for all of the eggs that he hid was a rush…but it was a great Easter despite the craziness!

Waking up to see what EB brought…

Notice Elyn doesn’t have rollers in her hair…yeah, she had a rough night and the first thing that went were the rollers in an effort to make her feel better.

Hunting for eggs…in a messy house. It’s real life people.

The view of the top of Nora and Elyn’s heads before the Easter egg hunt at church-the indoor Easter egg hunt at church. Remember…2 months of rain?

Grabbing as much candy as they can…

Check out the loot…

Elyn, Nora and Gibson

Josh, Michael and Matthew…next year Michael is going to wear green seersucker pants so he “fits in”-ha!

That night, we went to the Walker’s house for an Easter dinner. Before dinner, the kids got to participate in another egg hunt. Here is Elyn in her “heat”…

She fell asleep on the way to the Walker’s house…can you tell. She really was happy, just had a hard time waking up.

Nora, in the older division. She did not want to change out of her dress…

It was a great Easter!

Matthew got these pictures one night…it’s hail. I wanted to include them as a reminder to us about how much hail we have had this spring…it has been crazy! Thankfully our cars have survived and our roof has too. However, some people around our area have not had a much luck and have had totaled cars and roofs…so sad!

This past weekend, as I mentioned in the last post, Julia and her kids, Noah and Esther, came to visit. Julia’s husband, Brian, was on call and she was ready to break up the “everyday”. We are so glad that they came for a visit…it’s always fun to get the kids together!

The first night they were here, we headed to a local event at one of our downtowns called “First Friday”. And it was PACKED! It was a beautiful evening and apparently, most of the area had the same idea. We didn’t lose a kid and they had a good time, for the most part-success!

What we did not realize was how pricey everything was going to be. I think we assumed every activity would be free. We were dead wrong.

The girls wanted to ride the ponies. Well, before I saw how much it cost to ride the ponies, I said Of Course! Well, it was 5 dollars each and the ride took approximately 2 minutes. I am not kidding. Rip. Off. Sigh. But they liked it.

They also got to slide down an inflatable slide and jump in a bounce house, get a balloon animal and eat cotton candy…see how happy they are!

The next morning, Nora had her final soccer game. We all packed up and hit the fields. Gram and Grandpa joined us at the final game too…

Nora’s fan club…

Nora really loved soccer! She did a pretty good job, in spite of being the youngest on the team. We are having the “trophy” part of the season this week and Nora is most excited about that-ha!

Noah and Elyn, understandably, had a hard time being nice and still spectators and spent the majority of the game doing this…

After lunch, we came home and played outside…Nora requested I take her picture because look-

after MANY MANY MANY practice lessons, she is finally swinging on her own! Hallelujah! I think she has been able to do it for a while now, she was just lazy. She does need a good push at the beginning to get her started but after that, she is on her own! YEA!!!!!!

Noah enjoyed digging in the sandbox

And the girls enjoyed playing in the standing water (gross)

Ah, the trampoline. It only took them about 5 times to put it together too. Someone (Matthew) decided he didn’t need the directions. Someone (Matthew) discovered that a little bit of reading on the front end would have saved A LOT of taking apart and putting back together in the long run. Oh well, now we have a good story to tell and the trampoline is put together.

And the girls absolutely love it! We put it together Saturday and Nora woke up Sunday morning asking if she could go jump-ha! They have jumped on it everyday and I hope it maintains it’s appeal throughout the summer and many years to come!

And let’s not forget Esther! These were taken right before they went home. Esther is the BEST baby! She rarely cries and when she does, if you feed her, change her diaper or lay her down, she instantly quits crying. I ordered a baby just like her…we’ll see if my order is placed correctly in a little while. Nora and Elyn LOVE Esther so much! Especially Nora, she was always wanting to be beside her, give her a bottle or make her laugh.

A few weeks ago, Elyn went to her first birthday party. Oh sure, she has been to a ton of birthday parties, but they are all ones that she AND Nora have been invited to. This is the first one she has gone to where it has been JUST Elyn. She was so excited to go and informed Nora several times, “You are going to stay at home and hang out with Daddy. Me and Mommy are going to go to a party!”

The party was at a craft place where the kids got to paint a small piece of pottery. It’s a “working party”…the parents are heavily involved in the entire process.

Look how happy she is! There is her masterpiece…a cup and saucer. She didn’t paint the entire thing but this is how she wanted it to look.

One of the activities was getting their hands painted…

Elyn chose a rainbow.

Eating cake…Elyn had a great time and I was so glad that she was able to do something all on her own. With the two girls being so close in age (1.5 years), I often find myself treating them the same. It is awesome when I am able to spend one on one time with each girl and get to enjoy the individual personalities!

There is a story to go with this picture:

You might notice just one plate at the table…it’s Elyn’s. She REFUSED to eat dinner this night. Did I serve her liver or brussell sprouts or an entire fish, eyes and all? Nope, it was chicken and rice. CHICKEN AND RICE. The rice was wild rice and that was enough for Elyn to insist she didn’t like dinner and was not going to eat it. Well, we had already planned on going to get ice cream and swing by our second home, Home Depot. Matthew repeatedly told Elyn that if she did not eat her dinner she was not going to get ice cream. Multiple times this phrase was uttered to her.

Guess what? She didn’t get ice cream. Matthew, Nora and I enjoyed our ice cream while Elyn sat and cried and said she wanted some. Sigh. A girl at the ice cream place said we were so mean because we weren’t giving her any. Really? It’s called FOLLOWING THROUGH teenage girl. Maybe next time she will eat her dinner. But knowing how stubborn she is, I doubt it. But, she’s fine and actually reminds us about that night. She’s funny.

And finally, my sweet husband washing and massaging my swollen feet. How did I get so lucky? I can tell you it is one of his LEAST favorite things to do but he took pity on my potato feet and helped me out.

Okay, I think I am caught up! We got a riding lawn mower today…yea! More on that tomorrow…

Oh geez…so far behind

2011-05-08T22:25:00.001-05:00

I am really far behind on my blog. Now, I know that I am not going to have a ton of free time once Rives is born, so I might as well spend the next few days catching up.

I’ll start with today…not really catching up, am I? I’ll start that tomorrow…

Mother’s Day! What a sweet day! I could not be happier to be a mom, especially to the two most precious girls that I know:

This is by far the most difficult thing I have ever done…being a mommy. It is full of joy, frustration, love (mostly love), heartache, pride and exhaustion. Most days I feel as if I have completely blown it, I have given them sufficient fuel for countless therapy sessions (and I probably have). But they surprise me each and every morning by loving me all over again.

I am under no assumption that all of the years with my girls are going to be easy breasy…we will have our moments, but I couldn’t be happier and feel more blessed that God has allowed me to be the mother of these sweet girls!

What is CUH-RAZEE is that in less than 2 weeks I will be a Mommy to THREE kids! Neither Matthew nor I can believe it! Praise God that I will be going through this journey with him though…the best man in the entire world!

Here we are after lunch today, my family…it’s kind of hard to miss Rives. And my swollen ankles and hands. But how sweet is my family.

I received some great presents…all exactly what I wanted! I have been wanting an iron bench for our front porch and Matthew delivered it up for me!

We went to lunch with our friends, the Walkers, and then came home for NAPS! Although sleeping is a little bit of a joke these days! I want to sleep but I only get a good hour before my little sleeping buddy starts moving around and interrupts my slumber-much like the next few months will be.

Yesterday Matthew and friends (Aunt Julia and Grandpa) put together our trampoline…which has been in the box since February. More on that in a coming post…

Well, today after our naps we went outside for several hours to enjoy the GORGEOUS day. Matthew and the girls played on the trampoline for a while and I was sad I was missing out…so I got on…get ready for a ridiculous picture of the belly. Remember, LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AWAY FROM DELIVERY…and I am already measuring at 40 weeks.

Sigh. I know, it’s insane. My favorite part is how the trampoline is practically touching the ground and my legs look 2 inches long. Matthew told me not long after this picture was taken, “Hey, you look cute.” Cute? Not my adjective but glad that I still have him fooled-ha!

I love being a mom and I love my family! I am so thankful for my mom, my mother-in-laws, grandmothers, and all the women who have influenced my life by being great moms and examples. I pray that my girls rise up and call me blessed but mostly I pray that they see how much I love God and I know that they belong to Him first of all.

Matthew was talking with me this morning, on the way to church, about Hannah (from the Bible) and how she gave her son to God before he was even born. And then, guess what, she actually did it…she gave him to God! I want to be as faithful as Hannah and be as faithful to God. I know, in my heart, that Nora and Elyn (and Rives) are not actually mine…God has loaned them to me, to make me a better woman, to understand His love for me better. If something ever happened to one of my precious children, I would be devastated, but I pray that my heart will be filled with extreme joy, knowing they are right back where they belong and were with me for the exact right amount of time.

I love my life and I love my family and I love being a mom…God has blessed me BEYOND what I ever imagined was possible!

Devastation

2011-04-30T21:19:00.001-05:00

I have been so sad looking at all of the footage and pictures of the tornadoes that swept through much of the south this past week.

I have some very good friends that were right in the path of destruction and are, thankfully, physically fine.

My friend, Leslie, lives in Cullman, AL. Her house is ok and her family is ok. Her husband’s dental practice however, is in need of complete repair. She put a video on her Facebook page that shows aerial footage of Cullman…

When you get to the one minute mark you have entered the heart of town and when you get to about 1:40, you will see her husbands dental practice-to the left of the red roof.

My heart goes out to all who have experienced loss because of these tornadoes! I wish there was something I could do, some way I could go and help. But, for now, I will pray for those who have been affected. I encourage you to pray for those also.

Around here…

2011-04-28T22:50:00.001-05:00

My belly is big. Like crazy big. My shirts don’t stay pulled down. My lap literally rests on my lap. I have to go to the bathroom all the time-but not really. Even though I feel like my bladder is stretched to the extremes, barely anything comes trickling out when I do go…good times.
I still have horrible heartburn. From about 8pm on, I have a fire in my chest. Thank goodness for Tums.
My feet really started swelling this past weekend. Huge. Not pretty. I would look at them and it was as if they were attached to a different body, like a man’s feet were fused to my legs. Crazy.
Good news though. No more swelling this week. Actually none. That’s great!
My back is not hurting too bad…unless I have to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom (which I do, every single night). Thankfully I haven’t fallen down yet. That would be fun.
Cooking is not on my list of things that I really want to do. Like, NOT AT ALL. My poor family. Thankfully, they enjoy peanut butter and jelly.
We are in the middle of having some work done at our house. Well, Matthew is working super hard on our bathroom (he installed the shower last night!) but we also have some workers (neighbors) coming in and finishing our trim. Due to the work (both bathroom and trim), our house is in a constant state of dust. It’s big fun for this nesting gal. Our house is never going to be clean again, I’m convinced of that. Really, it’s never going to be clean. Oh well.
I finish up with my Harding work tomorrow! Yea!!!!! I actually still have final projects to grade, but that can be mostly done from the comfort of my couch. But, I’m glad that I am wrapping up my work!
We are scheduled to meet our baby in 2.5 weeks. I wonder every day if he will come early (and part of me hopes he will although Matthew would have a heart attack if I voiced that)…how exciting to have that surprise! HOWEVER, I was putting his little clothes away in his dresser the other day and putting his diapers in their spot and kind of had a mini-anxiety attack. I am not familiar with changing baby boy diapers. Give me a girl diaper to change, I can do it with my eyes closed. A boy diaper…ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I might break him. Hopefully we have a good nurse at the hospital. But I do know that after a day of changing diapers, I will have it figured out. I will have no choice.
Elyn has been not so fun lately. Pretty much ZERO fun! She has thrown a fit every single day this week (possibly this month, I haven’t kept close enough track of it but I am confident that she has thrown a fit every day this week). I feel like the worst mom in the entire world when we are in the midst of it and I am ready to “loan” her to someone else while it is happening. But, amazingly, she loves me and tells me I’m the best and kisses me all over…and I think the same about her. Sigh. Motherhood-hard stuff.
I can’t sleep. Oh, I mean I WANT to sleep. It sounds so appealing, so wonderful. But, when it’s time to go to bed, I am not tired. I roll over in the middle of the night and I am awake for 30 minutes afterwards. I go to the bathroom and have trouble getting back to sleep. I wake up earlier than I would like…I think all of this is just getting me ready for Rives.

Sorry I’ve been absent from blogging…things are slightly crazy around here lately. I have pictures to share, and for the sake of my children and their memories, I hope to post those soon.

Happy Easter!!!

2011-04-24T08:19:00.001-05:00

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Eggs

2011-04-21T21:40:00.001-05:00

Today started feeling like Easter around here! We went to our Mommy and Me group at church…not a big showing of mommies or their little ones, but the four that were there had a good time. After a pizza lunch, we let them “hunt” the eggs that had been scattered in the grass. It was a beautiful morning/early afternoon…then the torrential downpour started about 2pm this afternoon. Glad we got the hunt done early!

The crew: Kinsley, Elyn, Sterling and Nora

Same crew, just a different arrangement…where is your smile Elyn?

OH, there it is!

Because of the thunderstorms tonight, our soccer game was canceled (yea!) so we were finally able to do something that we had been too busy for…dyeing Easter eggs!!!!!

The Easter egg artists…

The artists, working hard!

Matthew and his masterpiece:

A basketball going through a hoop…I was impressed.

Nora and her masterpiece…it’s hard to tell, but she drew an Easter Bunny on her egg. And when will she start smiling normally again? The first smile she gave me was a half smile, similar to a stroke patient.

Elyn and her yellow egg. She was not as interested in decorating…takes after her mama-ha!

Colorful eggs! It was fun!!!!

As I was cleaning up, I saw my reflection in the window and I though, “WOW! I look like an Easter egg too.” So, I grabbed my phone and took a picture of my reflection. 3.5 weeks to go people. My belly is huge!

A great day, full of eggs!

Recently…

2011-04-17T22:43:00.001-05:00

We are a little over 4 weeks away from meeting our final baby. People keep asking us if we are ready. Ha ha ha! That is so funny to me! Is anyone ever ready for a complete life change?

Physically, I have been feeling better than I have in a long time. Oh sure, I am tired and at the end of the day, I am definitely ready for bed. But, my back isn’t hurting nearly as bad and I haven’t started swelling too bad. For once, my weight gain isn’t too crazy (mostly because I have tried to be aware of what I am putting in my mouth-amazing how that works) and I am feeling pretty healthy. So, physically am I ready to have this baby? Well, I can hold on a few more weeks…I’m not praying for my water to break every day!

My clothes selection is getting smaller. My stomach is expanding and my shirts are getting shorter and shorter. I feel as if I am constantly pulling at the bottom of my shirts to make sure they are covering the skin. Good times. Thankfully, I will be wearing these shirts for a few weeks after Rives comes so I will have the opportunity to not pull down on them.

I also can’t see very much below a certain point due to my girth. The girls are saying to me, all the time, “Mommy, what’s that on your shirt?” Of course, I can’t see what they are talking about because it is out of my line of vision-ha! I usually have to go to the mirror to see what I have done to myself. But, once I have the baby, I won’t have the excuse of being pregnant to not see my shoes…I will need reign in the ‘ole belly.

I get up at least once a night to go to the bathroom. And once, well, that’s not bad at all! Getting out of bed is a different thing…it’s not super easy to heft me and a 5 pound baby, who is attached to me, out of bed. But still, it’s just once a night. When Rives comes, I have a funny feeling we will be up more than once a night and for a much longer time!

But the main reason we are not ready for Rives…well, let me show you some pictorial evidence:

This is the current state of our master bathroom. Because of the construction in our bathroom, we are not sleeping in our room. We are still sleeping in Rives future room…which is also still our closet.

Matthew is working super hard on making sure that the bathroom is done in time so that we can reclaim our bedroom. Will Rives room be done? Probably not. Am I concerned about that. As of right now, nope.

It’s amazing how different my state of mind is now compared to when Nora was born. Like any first time mother, I needed everything to be done and perfect before we brought her home from the hospital. I’m so glad that I did too! I loved putting her room together and making sure that it was ready for her homecoming. I think it is the first part of becoming a mother, getting things ready for your baby. Does she thank me for having a perfect room for her when we brought her home? Does she remember the time that her daddy and I put into her room? Does she remember it at all? Absolutely not! But, Matthew and I do remember.

When Elyn came home, things were a little less ready for her. We knew she was a girl but didn’t share that news with anyone else. We also didn’t get a room ready for her because her big sister was still sleeping in the crib. But, we did have a new bassinet for her and all of her little clothes washed and put away. But even though she didn’t have a special room with her name on the wall, she survived and I think, feels pretty loved today.

With Rives, I realize how little he needs to survive his first few weeks at home. We have a ton of clothes washed and ready for him to wear. We have enough diapers for the first few months of his life. I am nursing him, so we are good on food too. We still have that same bassinet so he won’t have to sleep in a drawer. He’s ready.

Now, due to my constantly changing hormonal state, I might freak out in a few weeks when I look around and see that we are about to bring an infant home to this money pit….but for right now, I am fine with the way things are-they are a work in progress.

So, are we ready for Rives…yes, we are ready to meet this sweet baby! But, are we ready for everything to change and life to be completely different…probably not.

But, ready or not…here he comes!

Showering Rives

2011-04-15T00:00:00.001-05:00

Some friends at church had threw a shower for Rives this past Sunday afternoon. It was so thoughtful of my friends…I really didn’t expect any type of showering to be done for our third baby…what a blessing!

I took the girls with me to the shower because I knew they would love the “party”. Sadly, right after we got to the church, Elyn took a tumble on the sidewalk and scraped up her knees pretty good and she was DONE for the rest of the afternoon.

Here is the table, cake and flowers…love his monogram!

Me and the hostesses…my shirt had side pockets in it. In hindsight, not the best look for a maternity shirt-oh well.

Look at all of my helpers-ha ha! They were RIGHT in front of me the entire time. Just as excited as I was.

Look at all the gifts…all the diapers are AWESOME!

And look at the sweet, wounded baby girl. She NEVER falls asleep when someone is holding her-NEVER. The trauma from the fall did her in!

We are getting closer to meeting our baby boy and excited about finding out all about him!

future Nadia’s

2011-04-14T00:00:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up, one of the movies that my sister and I would regularly rent was “Nadia”. I don’t know if you are familiar with the movie (and shame on you for not being familiar with such a classic!) but it is about Nadia Comaneci and how she scored a ton of perfect 10’s at the Montreal Olympics.

Here is also a clip from YouTube to let you know about the fabulousness of the 1984 movie:

You want to rent it, don’t you?

Well, this past weekend, we had our own little Olympic ceremony to attend.

Elyn was the first to “perform”:

Gathering with the rest of performers to get instructions from their teachers.

Not loving the warm-up so much-ha!

Finally, onto the “meet”…first thing, trampoline-her favorite!

Handstand

Check out the guns-ha ha ha!

Balance beam

Series of a cartwheel…

And this is when my camera quit working…someone (ahem, me) forgot to charge the battery the night before. The rest of the pictures are very poor quality and will more than likely look horrible in the 2011 blog book. Ah well.

All done, tada!

Then, all the kids got to go to the team medal stand and get their “gold” medal. So cute!

Elyn with her teacher, Ms. Karen. She really loves Ms. Karen!

After an hour break and a breakfast at Chick fil A, we headed back for Nora’s portion (which was poorly photographed…I am so sorry Nora).

She liked the warm-up a little bit more than Elyn…

Ready to start the “meet”!

About to flip over on the bar…all alone!

Balance beam…

All done!

Waiting for the medal ceremony…

Her “gold” medal!!!!!!!!

Nora and her teacher, Ms. Maggie.

Our little Nadia’s…perfect 10”s on our book!

Top Heavy

2011-04-13T11:26:00.003-05:00

When we got our dishwasher I was pretty excited about one of the features that it had…

The “top rack” only feature was genius, I thought. Our old dishwasher basically had two settings-off and on. It was the BOTTOM of the barrel as far as dishwashers went. It was noisy and the front popped off from time to time. A new one was excellent and I could not believe all of the options!

Since buying our new dishwasher I have used ONE feature…normal wash. We have been using it since September. We should have just brought our old one with us. But this one is super quiet, that’s nice!

Yesterday morning when I unloaded the dishwasher I realized that we had a ton of cups and bowls to be washed. I thought, hey, this might be the perfect opportunity to utilize one of the features I haven't used before (all features mind you, but one).

I used “top rack only”:

However, when I got finished loading the top rack, I looked over at the sink and this is what greeted me…

Dishes still to wash!

I got to thinking about how non-practical the top rack feature is for our family. I load the dishwasher, to capacity, at least once a day, usually twice a day….I don’t like to leave any open space if I can wedge in a dish or plate. However, if Matthew and I lived alone, the top rack feature might get used quite a bit. I remember going to Matthew’s grandparents house and, when they didn’t have visitors, would go nearly a week in between running the dishwasher. This feature would have worked perfectly for them!

So, note to self, we our kids are gone and we are eating smaller meals, get a dishwasher with a top rack only feature because until that time, I have learned, it is useless.

Getting ready

2011-04-07T22:10:00.001-05:00

Well, we are definitely closing in on the time when we will become a family of five!

And we so far away from being ready to add another member to our little group.

I kind of feel like “nesting” has started. In my head it is NECESSARY that all laundry is done at all times.

Completely opposite of how I have been living for the past 7 months. You might remember this post and the picture that shows my dedication to my laundry.

It’s opposite now.

The main downfall to this new way of living is that Elyn can wear her favorite outfit every other day now (favorite outfit: heart leggings, yellow skirt, birthday shirt). I will be happy to put all three of those things away.

I have made big sister/little brother shirts-two each.

I have purchased new material to make Rives some burp cloths.

I have washed and folded a crazy amount of newborn/0-3 month clothing:

Can you BELIEVE all of these clothes????? My sister-in-law and cousin have loaned us a ton of clothes…about 85% of the clothes in this tub are hand-me-downs. Thank goodness for generous family…and well-dressed kids!

Matthew has been working on our master bathroom. Last weekend he put up the wall separating the bedroom and bathroom, got the bathroom door hung, new window installed and a ton of demo work done (he did have some help with a few things). This weekend, he is hoping to get some electrical stuff done and the closet framed out.

It’s important that the bathroom/closet gets done because our current closet is Rives bedroom. AND Matthew and I are currently sleeping on a mattress, on the floor, in Rives room/our closet because of the construction happening in OUR bedroom.

A LOT needs to happen before Rives comes to live with us.

And all of a sudden I am a little obsessed with our outdoors. I am on the lookout for a black iron bench for our front porch, I am going to order shutters tomorrow and I think we need someone to come to our house and give us advice on landscaping (I’m the only one that thinks this though).

I know that “Project Outdoors” will not really happen until next spring/summer, but my irrational hormonal thinking is determined that it should happen NOW. Sigh.

I was manic the other night about the playroom, how it is never picked up, the girls rarely play in it, the arrangement is driving me crazy…so, Matthew rearranged the whole room and made it look so much better.

I’m pretty sure he is tired of “pregnant” Dallas…I know she is getting on my nerves!

So, the countdown is on…a little over a month to go. Let’s see how much gets done.

Nora

2011-04-04T22:01:00.001-05:00

Nora is growing so fast and getting so big…it’s so hard to believe.

She, honestly, has been difficult for me to parent recently. I don’t know if it is because I am 6 weeks away from having a baby and a LITTLE on edge or if is just a stage she is going through. Either way, I am worn out by her at the end of the day!

And I hate feeling this way! She is ULTRA emotional and if she does not get a rest/nap during the middle of the day she is miserable by 5:30 in the evening…and in turn, I am usually miserable too. Thankfully, for both of us, Matthew is a ROCK and is able to deal with us both.

She also thinks I’m “kidding” when I give her direction lately. Oh, I don’t know if she actually thinks I’m kidding but she sure is NOT quick to obey. And it is driving me crazy! I will tell her, “Nora don’t (fill in the blank)!” TWO SECONDS later, I will turn around and she is doing (fill in the blank). Grrrrrrrrrr! It’s like she has reverted to being two and I don’t like it AT ALL!!!!!! She has revisited time outs and spankings.

I just pray that she is a kind friend, a loving sister and a thoughtful person. I feel like we are batting 0 for 3 right now. She IS a good girl and I am amazed, at times, how loving she can be…but the good is not being outweighed by the bad right now. I want to parent her and not constantly being saying “no”, “stop it”, “get it together”, “that’s ridiculous!”. I want to love her and have her know that I love her, especially when she is on my last nerve. Sigh.

Parenthood is NOT for cowards or for the weak or for those that tire easily!

I love my girl so much and she is growing so big, like I said at the beginning of this post. To prove that, we went to see our doctor for her well-child check up. Here are her 5 year stats:

Weight: 39.5 pounds (46th percentile)

Height: 42.9 inches (55th percentile)

Pretty average…pretty perfect!

We love our doctor!!!!!! Dr. N declared her ready for kindergarten-a genius-ha!

Here are Nora and Dr. N at her first ever visit with him…sniff, sniff:

Nora also had her first soccer game on Saturday! Again, lately, we never really know what we are going to get with her. Will she play or will she have a mental breakdown? Thankfully, she played! And she loved it! She kept telling us how much fun she at her “soccer game”. And she surprised us by actually being pretty good. She scored 3 points for her team and really hustled up and down the field.

There they are, with their coach. Matthew was recruited to coach when no one else stepped up. What a lucky little girl Nora is to have her daddy coaching her!

Look at the little cheerleader sitting with the team on the bench…bless her heart, she wants to be a part of the “big” girls so bad!

Half-time pep talk from the coach…

Going to score a goal-

Hey, did you see that mom?

Throwing the ball in…

LOVE this picture! The two coaches are showing the girls how to say “good game, good game, good game, good game”.

Team “Dynamo”! The girls did great and won their first game (but, hey, who was keeping score)! Matthew felt HORRIBLE because the other team scored no points. He wasn’t trying to dominate but the other team…well, bless their hearts! Maybe this next weekend will be more evenly matched.

Regardless of Nora’s up and downs and our frustration with this stage of her life, we love her with our whole hearts and couldn’t imagine life without her!

One funny thing that she said on Sunday, coming home from church:

Us: What did you talk about in Sunday school today?

Nora: Leprechauns

Us: What????? Leprechauns?

Nora: You know, people that have leprechauns all over them…

Us: Oh, leprosy!

Hahahahahahaha! She is a joy and I pray that we always make her feel that way. And I pray that we can all get through this stage with minimal damage-ha!

Heading home

2011-04-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

We left a little later than we had planned (like always) but had an easy drive to Hattiesburg on Friday.

It was a lot of the same in the car as when we went-movies, coloring, napping.

Saturday we went with Pops, LeeLee and Uncle Aaron to a little festival that downtown Hattiesburg was having. There were a ton of booths and a ton of wind! I’m surprised that none of the tents fell over that held the booths.

We just walked around for a while and had a corndog and funnel cake (yum!) for lunch. We did let the girls get their faces painted at one of the booths. At one of the SLOWEST face painting booths I have ever been at!

There was a lady that was selling boxer puppies…they were so cute, but they were puppies! I don’t think adult boxers are very “cute”. They were also $500.

It was HOT in Hattiesburg on Saturday (you can see it in the girls faces as they were getting them painted) and the girls really wanted to go swimming. After a non-nap (zero sleeping was involved) they threw on their suits and went to jump in the pool…

But the water was CHILLY! The swim didn’t last as long as I think they thought it would.

Here is Nora jumping in and swimming…this is as much as she would do, she kept saying she was too cold…

Trying to warm up on one of Pops and LeeLee’s lounge chairs…

After getting dressed, we headed out again, this time for the best ribs in Mississippi, at Leatha’s.

It was an early night to bed because we had a 10 hour drive the next day!

On Sunday, we drove home and it seemed to take FOREVER! Matthew wasn’t feeling very good, so I drove for a good portion (and a “good portion” was about 1/4 of the entire drive…I do what I can). I think we were all just ready to be home and back in our own place.

Now that we’re home, the countdown for Rives begins…ahhhhh! We are NO WHERE close to being ready! Poor little guy…his room still has many man hours that need to be put in before we can call it his. Maybe he won’t remember how unprepared we were for him-ha!

Thanks for reading about our spring break…it was a fabulous one!!!

Disney Day Four-Hollywood Studios

2011-03-31T00:00:00.000-05:00

I woke up on our last day at Disney not feeling very well. I was so sad too! I felt like I had done a good job of keeping up and was really looking forward to going out with a bang. Apparently, Rives thought I needed to slow down and made it crystal clear to me Thursday morning.

Good thing we were headed to Hollywood Studios that day! The day was full of shows and sitting.

We got to Hollywood Studios as soon as it opened and it was already CROWDED! We never had to wait to get into a park until we got to Hollywood Studios. We did not realize it was so popular.

While the girls and I went and waited in line for Playhouse Disney Live, Matthew ran over to get a Fast Pass for the most popular ride in all of Disney (or so we heard), Toy Story Mania. He got to the Fast Pass line at 9:15 and received a pass for 12:40. By 11:00 all of the Fast Passes were gone and the shortest standby line was 80 minutes!

We were at the front of the line, which is usually a great thing, but in this case, it wasn’t the best. The girls and Matthew sat at the very front of the audience and had a difficult time seeing the characters. Oh well, you win some, you lose some. (I sat in the back, on a bench…it would have taken me just as much time to get down to the floor and back up again that the show took-ha!)

We got to see…Handy Manny and his tools-

The Little Einstein's-

Jake the Pirate (I have never seen this one)-

The girls dancing-

And of course, Mickey Mouse and his clubhouse!

After Disney Playhouse Live (Elyn LOVED this one!), we met up with my mom and went to The Little Mermaid show. We had read that this show fills up quickly, there is even a Fast Pass line for it. Maybe it has lost a little of its popularity because we walked right in and I don’t think there was a line all day for it. Or maybe it was just an off day…who knows. No pictures of this one though. It was ok…the beginning of it was the best.

We headed to the Beauty and the Beast show. We were pretty excited about seeing this one. We saw the performance at a local high school last year and both girls remember it. The auditorium is HUGE and there was a very nice breeze blowing in from the back.

After the show, we took pictures of the girls outside the theater…Nora was quite the poser!

Then, it was off to the much anticipated Toy Story Mania ride! While we were waiting we saw a few of Woody’s friends…

Green Army Men! They were hilarious! When he signed Nora’s autograph book, he signed it “green army man”-ha ha!

Sadly, when it was time to redeem our Fast Pass, I was feeling awful! I decided to sit this ride out and prop my swollen feet up in the hopes that I would feel better after a breather. I have no idea about these pictures:

Apparently it was the BEST ride of the vacation. Awesome. My mom and Matthew came out praising it and saying over and over that they would gladly stand in the standby line for 80 minutes to ride it again…of all the rides to sit out, I chose this one. Good news, I did feel better after my hiatus and was ready to go again.

It was time to head to our lunch reservation after THE BEST RIDE IN THE WORLD. Here are some of the sights on the way to the diner:

San Francisco skyline:

New York skyline and subway station:

We ate lunch at The Prime Time Café and it was fun, fun, fun! Everything in the place is from the 50’s and 60’s era. My mom loved walking around it saying, “We had that at our house, my friend had that at her house, etc.” The waitresses were pretty funny too. They called everyone “kids” and treated us like we were children. They had rules: no elbows on the tables, say please and thank you and eat all your vegetables.

At the kitchen when you walk in…sigh, my face is SO BIG! (Swallowing pride…)

One of the living rooms

An old t.v. and radio

One of the tables that you can eat at…the one was actually in the same room we were eating in…

Our waitress brought out the plates, napkins and silverware and told us to set the table. Thankfully, that is one of Nora’s favorite things to do, so she jumped right up to do it!

The girls drew pictures on their napkins and the waitress went and put them on the refrigerator…so cute! Nora’s is an actual picture and Elyn’s is just her practicing writing her name-ha!

After lunch, we watched another parade. This one was probably the girls favorite parade. And let me say, I am amazed at how the people who work for Disney can dance and move when they are wearing those costumes and it is close to 90 degrees outside…I am pretty sure I would be PASSED OUT if I was one of them!

The Incredibles

A Bugs Life

Ratatouille

Monsters, Inc..

Toy Story

Watching the parade…they were so hot!

Matthew and the girls “singing in the rain”

Playing at the “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” playground

We left Hollywood Studios around 5 and headed back to our hotel. We had not let the girls swim in the resort pool (actually, the resort we were staying at had 18 pools!) because the days had been so busy. We wanted to be sure and let them swim! So, we left the park early (no nap this day!) and went back to swim.

I stayed in the hotel and put my feet up…do you see how swollen my right foot is?

And here are some pictures of our room…I didn’t think to take pictures until the night before we were leaving. I am in the process of packing up everything and you will see, the girls are sound asleep.

This is the main bedroom, looking from the sliding door that lead to the balcony…(if you look carefully, you will see how Nora laid her clothes out to wear the next day)

Our bedroom from the tub…

The bathroom, you can’t see the shower, but again, look carefully, and you can see a big pregnant woman taking pictures…

the kitchen and washer/dryer…the only thing that was ever “cooked” in this kitchen was instant oatmeal-ha!

The kitchen table…we never sat here.

The living room/bedroom for the girls

View of room from the front door…

We had purchased a week at a timeshare about a year and a half ago. We had the option to use it at any of their locations (Branson, Las Vegas, Gulf Shores, and a whole lot more!). We chose Orlando, obviously, and even though we did not utilize the resort AT ALL, we are really glad we used our time share week there. We would have liked to have had another day in Orlando to use the resort and all the amenities (water park, all the pools, miniature golf, paddle boats, game room, etc.) but, we could only do so much.

Staying “off site” was not an issue either! We drove to the parks each day, paid to park (and we were able to use the parking pass at any of the parks on the day we purchased it) and walked or caught a tram to the entrance. It was nice to come and go as we pleased and having a kitchen and more living area made it feel more like a home.

We really enjoyed our time in Orlando! But 4 parks in 4 days is no vacation-ha! It was definitely a vacation where we had to work! But, I wouldn’t change a minute of it…we got to do everything on our list and I think the girls came away with some good memories.

I know we will return one day, when Rives is finally at the age to enjoy Disney World. I am excited to see how different that Disney experience will be from this one.

Okay, one more spring break post to come…our journey home.

Disney Day Three-Animal Kingdom

2011-03-30T00:00:00.000-05:00

Day three began bright and early too! We figured out from day two that the early bird catches the early lines.

The first thing we did was head to Africa and board the jeeps for the “safari”.

Here we are on the jeep, Elyn, me and Rives. Good golly, my stomach is SO BIG!

Nora, so excited for her first safari!

And now, a bunch of pictures of animals…I’m sorry.

On our way to see The Lion King show we happened upon a princess we had not seen…Pocahontas!

Meeko, her trusty raccoon was there too…Elyn was not too excited about Meeko.

Then, it was off to see The Lion King.

After the Lion King show (which was FAB!) we headed toward the Tree of Life to see The Bugs Life 3-D show…mistake! The books that I had read and the moms forum had said that if you have young children, it might be a tad scary for them.

They were correct.

The girls hated it and say it was their least favorite thing of the entire trip. Awesome.

Hoping to redeem ourselves, we took the girls to the Nemo Musical.

It was really cute! And the auditorium was HUGE, plenty of seating!

After snagging a gigantic turkey leg for a late lunch, we headed back to our hotel for a quick nap before dinner at Rainforest Café.

We met my mom at the café that night. We had never been to a Rainforest Café before, so we were excited about seeing what all the fuss was about.

Yum…our dessert.

Animal Kingdom closes earlier than the other parks (I guess those animals need their rest!) so we had to rush after dinner to see the other things that we wanted to.

Our first stop was The Boneyard, a playground in Dino Land. The girls LOVED it!!!! (Although Nora was a little disappointed that she did not get to actually to dig for dinosaurs-ha!)

After playing on the playground, we had just enough time to ride one more ride before the park closed.

It was the earliest evening we had up to that point so we let the girls have a good time in the big tub at the hotel…

The loved the tub and the early evening…but look how tired three full days at Disney World makes them…

Next up-last day at Disney…Hollywood Studios.