Perfect timing

Just the other day, I was thinking that I'd like to get some more nursing shirts and/or dresses for when Evie is born, so I don't have to struggle with nursing at church like I did with Marc-Adam. I couldn't wear any of my dresses that I had because I would have to half undress in order to nurse. But I didn't want to wear shirts and pants all the time, because I felt I would be too dressed down most of the time. And the only nursing shirts I really had were t-shirt type shirts that I got when I was nursing Stephen and the nursing wear they offer these days are SO MUCH better.

ANYWAY, Motherwear is giving away a $50 gift certificate! I think this is one of my favorite items from Motherwear, if I have to choose one.

This gift card would be such a blessing to me right now!!

So in love, I almost can't stand it

Obviously, I love all my children dearly and for different reasons. They all have qualities that make me thank the Lord every day that I get to be their mom. Lately, though, Marc-Adam has just been so amazing and so cute, that this morning at church, I told Sweet Hubby that if M-A weren't already ours, I think I would have to take him so that he could be ours. He walked the halls at church smiling at and saying hello to everyone and was yelling about what a fun time he had at church.

Yesterday morning, he completely took apart a flashlight--screw-on top, batteries and springy thing and all. And then, within just a few minutes, he had put it all back together again--correctly--and was walking down the hall shining it in to all the small rooms. I thought for sure that Sweet Hubby had put it back together, but Marc-Adam assured me that he did it himself.

Lately, as we have our last snuggle of the evening, when I ask him what song he wants to sing (as in which lullaby), he asks for Jingle Bells. Every.Single.Time. Then halfway before I'm done, he insists on switching to You Are My Sunshine. Every.Single.Time.

He's very excited about Evie, and he's especially excited about one particular pair of shoes that she'll get to wear when she's born. Everytime we go to her room, he picks them up and asks if they are Evie's and tells me she'll wear them when she comes out.

He sings and talks and carries on for what seems like for.ev.er after we put them to bed at night. The other two boys don't seem to mind and they pass out long before he does. He'll talk to his lovey and sing to Dadoo (a little stuffed dog) and then when he's all done, he'll call me in to cover him back up and then he goes to sleep. It cracks me up.

He is my most high-maintenance child. But he steals my heart every day.

I forgot to give this post a title the first time I published it...

...that's a sure sign that it's a random post.

I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately. Things have been kind of crazy, and my brain is so full and overwhelmed that I feel like I wouldn't even be able to put together a coherent post. So we'll stick with bullet points today and hope that I can come up with some better posting in the next few days.

• Stephen had some weird symptoms earlier this week, so I took him to the doctor. Turns out he had strep. Weird. Even the doctor was confused. He said he'd never seen strep present that way. But he went ahead and put him on antibiotics and Stephen's all better now.
  

• I've been feeling a little under the weather. Hoping I'm not coming down with strep, too.

• Sweet Hubby's still dealing with quite a bit of pain. He's on pain meds that seem to help a little, but not completely. Hopefully he'll be able to function better after we get these other tests done.
  

• The boys are finally getting over a cough that kept us up at night for several nights. And then once they got over it and we had the possibility of a good night's sleep, a thunderstorm blew in that kept the kids and I up for a while. We finally started getting some better rest a couple nights ago.

• I've finally found us some new curriculum that I'm excited about. I'm in the planning stages this week, and we hope to start on Monday. We're also going to try our hand at lapbooking. Even Sweet Hubby is excited about that. I'll post our progress and results next week.

• Sciatica sucks. That's all I have to say about that.

• My in-laws are opening a little home decor shop for the first time tomorrow. I'm super-excited for them and we've been there helping out quite a bit this week. It's been great because my mother-in-law asked me to make some pillows for the shop, so I've been able to sew again, which really makes me happy. I always forget how much I love to sew until I'm able to do it again. I really can't get any sewing done on a regular basis, but I've had great fun over the last couple of days getting some pillows together for her.

• Have a great weekend, everyone!
  

Is no news actually good news?

So, after 4 visits to our family doctor, 3 visits to 2 different neurologists, 4 MRIs and 1 CT scan, 2 trips for blood tests we still don't really know what's wrong with Sweet Hubby. His last couple of MRIs did show some bulging disks in his middle and lower back, which might explain the numbness/pain in his legs and feet (and it definitely explains his back pain), but it doesn't explain what's going on in his neck and arms/hands--and what's going on in his arms/hands are the same things that's going on with his legs/feet so it makes me wonder if the bulging disks have anything to do with anything. The bulging disks are too far down to be affecting his arms and hands. We were so frustrated when we left the doctor this morning because we still don't have a solid answer and now he's got to have more (and more invasive) testing. In 2 weeks, he's having an EMG done on all 4 limbs so they can try to pinpoint which nerves are causing the problem and then hopefully we can find the source. In the meantime, he's on an leave of absence from work. Thank goodness his company has a 90 paid leave of absence for management, otherwise we'd be in a world of trouble. They also have an "Associate in Need" program to help out when things like this happen, but unless something really awful or expensive happens, I don't think we'll need it.

On the bright side, we've spent so much on all this that we've almost hit the maximum out of pocket for our insurance. Once I pay for my part on the hospital, Evie will be free. And my hospital stay and all that will only cost us $800. And any other medical costs we have this year will be covered 100% by our insurance.

So that's where we're at. I hadn't updated in a while. We could sure use your prayers if you can squeeze us in.

Anyone care to join me in a dance??

I received some fantastic news a little bit ago. I took my 3 hour glucose test for gestational diabetes on Monday. I didn't have high hopes because I've had GD the last two pregnancies, but all my bloodwork came back NORMAL!! I don't have it this time! YAY! I can eat just about whatever I want, I don't have to prick my fingers or record my numbers or pee on a stick every morning! What a relief.

I'm doing a happy girl dance!

Quick! Send me some e-mail!

Because I feel like I have brain matter coming from my ears from trying to figure out all of our doctor's bills and insurance claims, I figured I would make myself feel better by trying to clean out my e-mail inbox. It desperately needed a cleaning. I had nearly 5000 e-mails dating back to summer of '07. I intended on only purging until I had freed of 50% of my allowable space, but then I couldn't stop and I trashed everything, except for a handful of e-mails that I moved to the "Save" folder. Now my inbox is empty. And now I'm sad. And also slightly crazy. But that's nothing new.

I'm totally kidding about asking y'all to send me e-mail. I'm just surprised by how I feel about my empty inbox.

It feels like freedom!

Yesterday, I ran to Walmart to pick up a few things, and caught myself thinking that I needed to get diapers. But we're diaper-free! This is the first time in 6 years that we've been diaper free. And when Evie is born, it will be the first time since Stephen was born that I won't have a newborn AND a toddler in diapers!

Vindicated

Sweet Hubby saw the new neurologist today and we loved her. She was SO much better than the last guy. She's only a few years older than us, which was comforting and scary all at the same time. But she was fantastic. Believe it or not, we actually spent more time with her than we did waiting on her. We got there early, they got us back early, and we were out of there only 16 minutes past our appt time.

Anyway, she ordered some more blood work and wants to get some MRIs on his neck and spine. After she said that, it was like Sweet Hubby and I both looked at each other and said, "Duh." We wondered why we (or the 2 other doctors we've seen) hadn't thought of that. We'll excuse our family practice doctor from not thinking of it, but seriously, the other neurologist wanted to drug SH up and put him in wrist splints and a neck brace. But I'm not bitter.

She did put him on some new meds, so we'll try it to see if it helps with his symptoms. We're due back to see our family practice doctor on Tuesday and then we'll see the neurologist again in 2 weeks. Hopefully by then, we'll have some real answers.

Six...going on thirty-six

Dear Stephen~

Yesterday, as your Daddy and I stood in front of the cake case at the Walmart (because I forgot to get eggs so I could bake your cake), I asked him how it was possible that we could have a six year old. How is it possible that that little tiny bald-headed baby could already be so tall (you come up to my chest!), so smart, so wise and so loving?

I kind of had to giggle to myself because after I wrote the title to this post, I went and looked back at your 5 year old letter, and I said then that you were 5 going on 35. Obviously, that aspect of your personality has not changed. You astound most of the adults in your life when you use words like 'sarcastic', 'dilemma', and 'assume' in conversation. You don't just say what's on your mind, you say it with intelligence and with style. This year, you also tried your hand at some more "grown-up" language.

One of the things that you started this year that has surprised me is the way you eat. You eat everything. All the time. All day long you want to eat, and you will eat just about anything that I put in front of you. And then you eat what's left on everybody else's plates. You've always been a good eater (my best!), but in the last few months, you've started cleaning your plate. Which no one in our family ever does. It's also obvious, that besides just being hungry all the time and filling up, you also have an appreciation for food. And that makes me glad. I try to give you new foods often because I know now is the time for you to be open-minded and I know now that you are learning what really good food is. You still love you a chicken nugget and mac and cheese, but you're finding all the more grown-up foods are really good, too.

You lost your first tooth this year, and I wasn't even there for it. But I was there for your second tooth, and your daddy was there for your third. Both your two top front teeth are loose now, and I can't wait until that happens. You are cute now, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep from grinning and crying when you lose your two front teeth.

This year, you've really started learning self-control and how to handle stressful situations. You still fly off the handle (I'm afraid to say that I think you have your mama's temper) once in a while, but a lot of times, you will just seperate yourself from the situation, and there's been several times I've found you alone in your room sorting things out in your head, praying, or just taking a few minutes to calm down. I'm so proud of you for this, and I hope it's something you never forget because knowing when to give yourself a "time-out" is a valuable tool to negotiating your way in this world.

You started gymnastics this year, something you love and are getting really good at. Last week, I saw you hold yourself upside down on the rings which astounded me. The first week you tried gymnastics, it was obvious you had little upper body strength, so you've come a long way. Last month, you were evaluated by your coaches and they said that you are doing well at learning all the skills, but that you needed to work on listening skills. Hmmm. It seems that you love gymnastics, but you also love the antics of all the other little boys and have a hard time remembering why you're there. But you love showing off new skills and you and Zachary compare new tricks every week.

And I just have to add quickly, that your knowledge of all things relating to the Star Wars universe is staggering. You don't just know about Yoda and Darth Vader, but every other obscure character and storyline. You know all about the heirarchy of the Jedi and you are quick to correct me when I say something wrong about it all. How you know all this is still a mystery to me, but the fact that you do amazes me.

I talk a lot about how grown-up you are, but there are times you remind me that you are still a little boy. You jump off your bunk bed (and teach your brothers how, too), giggle at cartoons, love a good game of Guess Who?, color outside of the lines with one color on each page, laugh at words like "butt" and "toot", fall out of your chair at the dinner table, run through the house swinging a lightsaber, have an imaginary friend, sleep with stuffed animals, flip-flop all over your bed while you're sleeping, wake up at the crack of dawn, cry when you're overtired, have dirty fingernails all.the.time, can't tie your shoes, love to play in a bubble bath and ask amazingly bizarre questions. You are this perfect balance of little boy and wise, old man.

What's been so amazing about having you as my firstborn, is that you have taught me so much! Sometimes, "firstborn" translates in to "guinea pig", but you take all that in stride. Aside from watching you grow, one of the joys of being your mom is that I have grown with you. I look back to that excited but scared and ignorant 21 year old mom that I was when I held you for the first time, and I can see how much you've taught me and how you've not only made me a better mother every day, but you've also made me a better person. You are joy to have in this family and none of us will ever be able to know how much you've blessed us.



I say it to you all the time, and every time I mean it: I'm so glad God gave us you.
Don't grow up too fast, I'm having too much fun.
I love you,
Mama

Raincheck

Today is my Sweet Stephen's birthday, and I've been stewing a birthday letter in my head all day. But I've just now been able to get in front of the computer and my brain is fried and beyond tired. So let's pretend that the 27th lasts about 12-14 hours longer than any other day, and I'm going to get his letter written tomorrow morning.

And to prove how I'm actually am working at diminished brain capacity, I'll leave you with this. I went to the OB yesterday, and of course as soon as I got there, they asked for a *ahem* sample. So I went to the bathroom to oblige, and forgot to leave the sample. I remembered just as it was too late. I felt like such moron. The nurse was very nice and said I wasn't the only one. She told me that one lady said that she missed the cup completely. That made me feel mildly better. I kept laughing at myself because I knew that I had to keep laughing just to keep from crying. I've been feeling so stupid lately and frustrated with how stupid I feel.

Five and a half hours and $175 later....

This morning, about an hour after Sweet Hubby went to sleep (he works overnights, not sure if I've mentioned that on my blog before), his doctor called and said that the neurologist they normally refer people to can't get us in for 2-3 weeks, but they have another neurologist that could get us in today if went right then. So I woke SH up, and we all ran around trying to get dressed and out of the house. My MIL came and picked up the kids and we left. The office is about 45 minutes away, and we got there at about 11:30am.

At a little before 2pm, we finally saw the doctor. He was, um, curt to put it lightly. He told SH that he wanted to get an EEG right then, so they ushered us into another room where they start hooking him up. At that point we hadn't eaten lunch and SH had had one hour of sleep since 8:30pm last night. And the nurse informs him that he must lay perfectly still with his eyes closed for AN HOUR WITHOUT falling asleep. Okay. This is a man who will fall asleep if he sits still for 5 minutes an hour after waking up. He was able to pull it off, I think, but only because he was starving.

The test was over at 3pm and a little after 4 we finally saw the doctor again. We had written all of the symptoms and such down when we got there, plus we had given them copies of the results of the tests SH has had so far, but the doctor acted like he hadn't even looked at any of it. He asked us several times when SH was having an MRI, like he couldn't remember it from one sentence to the next. He then tells us he doesn't know what's wrong, but then writes out a list of 3 prescriptions he wants SH to take. (As a side note, we are very skeptical of prescription drugs to begin with.) He doesn't explain what any of them are for and I'm just curious what exactly it is that he's treating since he told us he doesn't know what's wrong (he never mentioned the possibility of neuritis). He also told SH to start wearing wrist splints to help with numbness in his hands because he's probably got pinched nerves in his wrists. Which doesn't at all explain what's going on with the numbness in his feet. The doctor also had SH write out "a story" of how all this has happened and when. When SH gave it to him, the doctor started scratching stuff out. That was frustrating...I want a doctor who will take in to account EVERYTHING we say. Oh, and he never did mention anything about the EEG results.

When we finally were done with him, we went to check out where the nurse gives us the prescriptions for the drugs, the wrist splints, and a cervical collar. Um, isn't that one of those neck brace thingies?? The doctor NEVER mentioned anything about that, let alone the fact that he never discussed any of the prescription drugs with us. We have no idea what the purpose of the neck collar was.

So, after five and a half hours and $175, all we got was frustrated and a big fat headache. I hated that doctor. He was very hard to understand, which I can deal with as long as I feel like the doctor is doing his job and is actually listening. This guy was worse than another doctor that I hated...he was the one that we saw when Zachary was baby. He asked if Zachary had a list of issues and when I answered no to all of them, he said, "So. That's just how he looks?" Grrrr.

We probably should have spoken up more. But neither one of us liked him, and he never really gave us chance. I think we were both waiting for him to actually start listening and asking real questions.

Thanks for the vent. We're calling Sweet Hubby's doctor as soon as they are open to tell them and to hopefully get another neurologist. We have no intention of going back to that guy. And we didn't any of the meds he described OR the neck collar or wrist splints. I didn't trust a word out of his mouth.

Here's the deal

Last week (or earlier this week?) I asked you to pray for my Sweet Hubby because he's not been feeling well and we weren't sure why. His blood work came back perfectly normal, which left only the CT results to give us any clues as to what was wrong. And of course, my brain went into "worse case scenario" mode. Add to that that the nurses would not discuss the results of the CT with us over the phone and I was calm on the outside but freaking.out on the inside (but don't tell him that, I was the picture of calm and level-headed with him). We had an appt with his doctor for this coming Tuesday, but Sweet Hubby started having bad pain and more numbness and he called and got in to see the doctor this afternoon. Here's what he told us:

The CT showed that it looks like Sweet Hubby has inflammation of some nerve cells in his brain. It's called neuritis (I'd link it, but I can't find a reliable link to the exact issue he has, apparently there are many types of neuritis...which makes sense because there are many types of nerves). Anyway, this sounds a bit scary, but it's actually the best news we could've gotten. I was afraid that either they would find NOTHING wrong, which meant that Sweet Hubby would be suffering with no answers, or that they would find something horribly wrong and our lives would be drastically changed. For some reason, my mind couldn't find any other scenario somewhere in the middle. But this preliminary diagnosis is good. This will go away on its own with some time (how much, we don't know yet). But just to be sure, the doctor wants Sweet Hubby to have an MRI, which is scheduled for Monday, and then he'll be seeing a neurologist some time next week.

So, thanks for praying if you did and I'll keep you updated.

Just the kind of twisted humor I needed this morning.

This is really funny, if you have a weird sense of humor like me. I wish I were funny enough to come up with that myself.

Honestly.

After a playdate we had this afternoon, Stephen was recounting how many pets his new friend had. He then announced that while he really wanted a dog, he also thought a guinea pig would be nice. Zachary asked him what a guinea pig is and Stephen replied:

"Well. It's kinda like a rat...just a little bit cuter."

Yes, my dear, just a tiny bit cuter. But not enough to convince me we should get one.

Everyone else is doing it

It seems like everyone's doing a bullet point post, so why shouldn't I? I do need to fit in to the bloggy world, right? ;)

• Potty training's going well with M-A. He's got the tee-teeing down pat. #2's not great, but he's had a few successes. He is, however, in underwears full-time during the day. He's still in diapers at night and nap, but that's because I'm not brave enough to do undies at night. He wakes up dry 95% of the time, but he's still in a crib, so we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
• Like I said, Marc-Adam's still in his crib (which I'm hoping I can make last for a few more months at least), but we moved his crib into the boys' room this evening. We tried this once before, but put him in the toddler bed. That went over like a lead balloon, so this is round 2. So far, they're all in there being quiet, and I bet at least 2 of them are already asleep. I have 3 kids in one room. LOL! Ah, the joys of a large family in a small house.
• So, you're probably wondering what's up with what used to be Marc-Adam's room. Well, obviously, it will be Evie's room. I wasn't opposed to having her share with one of her brothers for a little while (hopefully we'll be in a bigger house by the time it's important for her to have her own space), but if we can make this arrangement work, I think it's the best scenario for now. I'm flexible, though, and will mix things up again if we have to.
  
• Speaking of Evie's room, the bedding's here!. It came in and I picked it up from my mom today. Y'all, it's even better in person. It's so well-made, so plush and soft and pretty and girly and....it's just perfect. Mom and I found a lamp that we fell in love with at Target today, and if the colors match the lamp shade, we're so getting it. It's perfect.
• We've decided to go with pink for Evie's room, but I'm worried about that. I'm afraid of it being "too pink" or Pepto Bismol pink, or just nauseating pink. But we've got a limited number of shades to work with out of her bedding. Anybody have any experience painting a room pink? Care to share?
• I feel like this pregnancy has taken FOR.EV.ER. And I still have at least 16 weeks to go. This is by far the slowest pregnancy I've ever had.
  
• I've decided to ditch part of our homeschool curriculum. I've been agonizing over this for days now, but I think I've finally come to the conclusion. It's really a great curriculum, it's just not working for us right now, so we're going to shelve it. I definitely plan on pulling it out again when the kids get a little older, though. I think they'll like it better in a few years.
• So, until I figure out what else we're going to do, I guess we'll just be sticking with the 3 R's: reading, writing, and arithmetic. And lots and lots of play.
  
• Pray for Sweet Hubby if you're the praying sort. He's not been feeling well lately and went to the doctor on Wednesday. They drew a bunch of blood and so far all those tests have come back normal. He had a CT scan today, but we don't have the results of that yet. On the one hand, I'm glad the tests have come back normal so far, but on the other hand, he still feels awful and we have no idea why (and therefor no way to make him better). I would have rathered something come back abnormal in his blood tests than the CT scan. If the CT scan comes back abnormal, then that means there something going on in his head, and well, I don't have to tell you that that scenario's a bit scary. So pray that he either starts feeling better, or that we found out why he feels so crummy to begin with.
• That's all.
  

I wonder...

...if the people on shows like Baby Story and Bringing Home Baby are coached by the producers to be so annoying and clueless.

Or if it's just me.

Well, that was fun!!

Thanks, all, for turning out yesterday and letting me know you are here. Admittedly, I'm feeling a tiny bit embarrassed now. But, it was so much fun to "see" everyone, check out some new blogs, and hear why you're here. There were a few surprises, too. People I know in real life that read my blog (there are very few of those, outside of my family) and people that I haven't really "talked" to in several years. It truly made my day to read all the comments and I'm SO glad you're here.

By my last count, there were 14 comments. Which makes much more sense considering my site meter says I average about 25 hits a day. When I only get 2 or 3 comments on average on a regular basis, I was wondering what was going on.

This has also opened my eyes a little bit, because when I blog, I usually do it with a few people in mind--the few people, mostly family, who I know read my blog (and even some of those are lurkers). Now I know that I'm "writing" for a larger, more general audience. I'm not sure if that realization will change my blogging style (probably not), but it'll probably make me more conscious of what I put "out there". It's not that I want to be more private now that I know who's reading my blog, it's just that I realized that I really have no idea who's reading my blog from day-to-day and for what reasons. And I also will probably try to be more conscious of myself and will make more of an effort to not sound like an idiot. Even though most days lately, I've had a hard time putting words together to form sentences.

So, I know you aren't really here reading this right now to read my reflections on what Delurking Day meant for me. You're ready for a prize! And your odds were pretty good, given that there were "only" 14 comments. I did a very official drawing, wrote the number of comments on pieces of paper, put 'em in a bowl, and let Stephen draw one. If you've been reading here long enough or know me in real life, you should know that you can totally trust me with this process and know that I didn't cheat or give an unfair advantage to anyone. Dishonesty is not the way we roll at "Imperfections".

Without further ado, the winner is comment #14! Sara! Sara and I "knew" each other a few years back from the forums of a baby website that was my lifeline after Stephen was born. Her oldest child and Stephen are very close in age (same month, Sara?) and I had NO IDEA she was reading here! YAY! Sara e-mail me at alligirl1104 at gmail dot com for your address and preference for your gift card!

For everyone else, when Stephen drew the number, I realized that I really wanted to give every single one of you a prize. But if I decided to do that, I would also have to decide which of our family members doesn't get to eat next week. So. I'm not going to do that. I'm sure that you agree that every member of our family should eat. But I want you to know that I'm happy you're here, and hope from now on, you feel comfortable enough to comment once in a while or to just pop in and say "hi". Or not. No pressure. Comment (or not) as you feel comfortable.

Delurk, you lurkers!! There's something in it for you!

So I just found out from Mommy Daisy that today is National Delurking Day! I was wondering when it is and so I'm excited that it's today.

Sooooo.....are you a lurker? Do you read and run? Do I have no idea that you even read my blog?? Well! Now I want to know! I'd love to see who all reads my blog, and I know there are some mysteries out there because I check my sitemeter.

If you read here and never (or rarely) comment, come out today, just this once and leave me a comment to let me know you're here. In fact, I think I'm going to make it interesting by offering a prize! My regular readers and commenters are welcome to join in, too.

Leave me a comment by 8AM CST tomorrow morning, and I'll enter your name in a drawing for a $10 gift card of your choice (assuming that it's a place that we have here in South Texas). One comment/entry per person.

Good luck, and I can't wait to "see" you!

Large and in charge

I'm going to be 22 weeks pregnant tomorrow. That means I have about 17 weeks left until Evie makes her arrival. And y'all. I'm just a little smaller than I was when I had Zachary. I carried Zachary smaller than I did the other two (and he was the biggest baby, go figure), and in another week or two, I'll probably be as big as I was when he was born. One the one hand, I worry about growing for 17 more weeks, but on the other hand, I remember how miserable I was with Zachary because he was taking up every inch of me. I keep thinking that maybe if I carry this baby more out instead of back, then I might be able to eat and you know, breathe at the end.

For a while, I was worried about the baby being too big, but at the ultrasound, she was measuring exactly to her dates. So it's just me. Fourth pregnancy I guess. I actually am measuring about a week and a half ahead of my dates.

I actually can't wait to see what I look like when I'm near the end. I've never had a really big belly.

Another moment of "What are they thinking?"

So have you heard of the new law going in to effect next month? I'm not sure our gov't officials really thought this through very well. It affects everything!

If you haven't heard (or read the article in the link), there's a new law on the books effective Feb 10, 2009, that says that ALL children's items being sold or given away must be tested for safety (free of lead and something else I can't remember the acronym of). So resale shops, handmade items at craft fairs and online and *gasp*, stores that sell used children's books (including homeschool books) will have to have all their items tested. The problem is is that it's quite pricey to have those items tested, and most of the small businesses and work-at-home moms won't be able to afford it. And even our children's libraries will be affected.

This is just craziness. Now I'm feeling compelled to go stock up on clothes for the kids from the great little resale shop I just found. And I need to get the kind of sling that I was planning on buying because the only way you can find them is handmade. AND I'll need to go buy all the baby bows I was planning on getting from a work-at-home mom.

I wonder if our marvelous gov't will bail my behind out with all the debt I may incur before Feb. 10.

At first, I thought this was totally no big deal and just a case of a slow news day and sensationalist reporting on the part of the news station I heard it on (local news, not my precious Fox News). But the more I've heard and read and learned, the stupider this sounds. At a time of 'economic crisis', they choose to enact a law that could shut down an entire industry?? What are they thinking???

Of course, one thing I read said that early last year, people were jumping up and down about the safety of our kids' toys after all the recalls. We were all yelling for gov't intervention. That's another moment of, "Be careful what you wish for".

More girly stuff

We've decided on Evie's bedding. It's the sweetest, most girly thing I've ever seen and it's different from most of the stuff out there. And there's very little pink. Which is good because I'm afraid we're going to go on pink overload. Anyway, here it is. I'd love to hear your thoughts. I think we're going to go ahead and paint the walls pink like in the picture in the link. I was trying to avoid painting her room pink (because of pink overload), but that was when most of the bedding we were looking at was mostly pink and brown.

So what do you think? I'd love to hear....except if you hate it, because I'm already in love with it. :)

The Question I wasn't prepared for (and some fun updates)

So this evening, Stephen came to me and asked, "Mom, how did you first know there was a baby in your belly?"

Uhhhh.....

I've been prepared for the "How did the baby get in your belly" question....not quite ready for this one.

So I stalled.

"Well...what do you think?"

"God told you and you heard him?" he asks.

"Ummm...no....not quite..."

"You felt the baby move?"

"Well, I can feel her move now, but not early on."

"Well, then how?"

"Ummm....(freaking out in my head..."COME UP WITH SOMETHING SIMPLE BUT LOGICAL!!")"

So this is what I came up with: "Honey, we'll discuss this more when you are bit older, but there are certain things that happens to ladies. And when those things stop happening, the lady might think..."Hmmm...I wonder if I'm pregnant?" So she takes a little test and the test tells her whether or not she's pregnant."

And to my relief, he said, "Oh! Okay!" and ran back to what he was doing.

Whew. Didn't see that coming. I had no idea what would be appropriate to tell my 6 year old boy. So. What would you have said? I'm sure if I hadn't been blindsided while chopping potatoes, I could have been much quicker on my feet and thought of something wiser, like I usually do.

Annnyway...moving right along. We started potty training Marc-Adam last week. The first two days were okay. He had as many successes as he had accidents. Sunday, he spent all day back in his diapers because of the other stuff we had going on, and yesterday, he spent a good portion of the day in diapers, but still had a few successes. Today is only the third full day and he's done fantastic. He even pooped on the potty all on his own with no coaxing from me. He had one small accident where he started to tee on the couch, stopped himself, ran to the potty and finished. All on his own. He had another, bigger accident, but I'm not sure I'm going to count that one because he was in time-out and I think it was an intentional ploy to get out. He just let loose, never told me he was going, and didn't even stop himself like he usually does. After he was done, he told me he had gone. So, I think he's doing really well. I didn't think it would take him long. If he still progresses this week, I think I'll put him in underwear this weekend.

On the Zachary front, he's really been surprising me with his eating. Zachary's always been a terribly picky eater due to some issues he had when he was about a year old. But the last couple of weeks, he's been eating new foods (even eggs which has always been off-limits for him). He's eating greater amounts of food and actually enjoying it. I'm so proud of him. And I'm a little relieved. His diet has always been a source of concern for me. Today, he ate a whole handful of spinach with only a little bit of encouragement and yesterday, he ate a chicken-pasta dish that a month ago he would have never even looked at it. I'm so glad to finally be making progress in that area with him. His brothers eat circles around him.

Anatomy lessons

The kids stayed the night with my in-laws last night and my MIL relayed this little gem to me this morning.

She said that all the kids had piled up in bed with her when they woke up (too early) this morning. They were flip-flopping around and when they finally got settled, Stephen said, "Zachary? Would you please take your knee out of my thorax?"

The Genevieve Collection

So our little girl is already starting to have a better wardrobe than her mama. I figured that would happen eventually (it wouldn't be too hard to accomplish), I just didn't anticipate it would happen so soon. So here's what she has so far (I apologize for the poor quality of the pictures).





Here's what she's coming home from the hospital in that her daddy bought her:


And just for fun, here are two more pairs of shoes (I still didn't get one cute pair of shoes in this shot, but they're pictured in the first picture in top left corner):


Believe it or not, only the shoes and 3 of the outfits and the onesie are the only things that were bought brand new. We found a baby resale shop that has amazing clothes at even more amazing prices. Several of the things still had brand new tags and we haven't bought anything from there for more than $6.

And just for fun, here's a belly pic (where I have a really strange look on my face...I was focusing on trying to get a good shot...still don't think I accomplished it).

21 weeks

Happy Birthday My Dear

Tomorrow, my Sweet Hubby has a birthday. I keep teasing him that he's "30 minus 1". It's much more fun to say than '29'. I also tease him about how much older he is than me but I also poke fun at him by asking him at what point he plans on actually growing up. He's a good sport about it all.

My hubby, he's a good one. There are many many things that make him great, and most of them are little things that I might take for granted too often. Here are a few.

~I never ever have to ask him to take the trash out. It's always done before it gets too full or starts to smell. And if I've thrown something away that I know will start to smell soon, all I have to say is "I put something smelly in the trash earlier" and before I know it, there's a new fresh bag in the can.

~He's often cleaner than I am. He always hangs up his towel and rarely leaves dirty clothes on the floor. He also picks up his dishes. I'm not always good about any of those things.

~He works hard. He works 13-14 hour days and when he's home, he's always busy doing something...whether it be playing with/tending to the boys, helping with the dishes in the kitchen, mowing the lawn or crawling in the attic to find the source of the noises that have been keeping me up at night. Even when he's "relaxing", he's still doing something with his hobbies. He is the opposite of lazy.

~He worries about me. It's not that I want him to worry or feel uneasy about me, but I like that he worries. If I've been sick or not feeling well, he calls me often to check on me, and he immediately starts telling his bosses/colleagues that if I need him, he'll have to leave and he starts planning for that situation.

~He's just nice. He's a nice guy and anyone that spends any time with him knows that and sees it right away. He's got great manners and is always polite. He's always respectful toward anyone he meets. It's one of the things that I noticed about him right away and I knew then that he was a great guy. And it has not changed one bit.

~We have great conversation. I'm rarely bored with him. Even if it's been weeks since we've been able to really talk or have some alone time, we just pick right up where we left off and never feel like we have nothing to talk about.

~He makes me laugh--that's not always been the case. He didn't have that great of a sense of humor when we first met, but he's really loosened up over the last few years, and now he constantly catches me off guard with one-liners or witty responses. I still don't expect that from him. Which makes it even funnier.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Sweet Hubby! Before we got married, I'd always heard people talk about how they were more in love after 10 or 20 or 30 years of marriage than they were when they first got married. I never really understood how that could happen, but I see it now.



Hubby, I love you for who you are and a little more every day. I hope you have a fantastic birthday and that you accomplish everything you've set out to do this year. You are one in a million and I'm blessed that we get to go through this life together.

*On a side note: I realized yesterday that I've already spent a third of my life loving my Sweet Hubby. So cool.

I think "love of food" is genetic

A few days ago while we were eating lunch, Stephen was explaining a new food he had tried at his Nonny's house.

"Mama, it was so good, I had to close my eyes while I ate it."

That's my boy.

Happy New Year

Wow, I didn't realize it had been several days since I last blogged...this week got away from me.

So, goodbye to 2008. Unlike many, 2008 was actually a pretty great year for us. There were a few things that didn't go our way or like we had planned, but there were many many things that were just plain good. Not "over the top, never gonna happen again" good things, but life in 2008 was a bit more...comfortable. Maybe it's my age and maturity, but I found myself content in 2008. We had a lot of great times, came through a lot and most importantly, found ourselves as a family of almost 6. But above that, I've somehow stumbled upon a peace that I've never experienced before.

I'm really looking forward to 2009. Even if nothing "over the top" great happens this year (besides actually becoming a family of 6), I hope I can continue being content in each and every day. I hope I can be a blessing to my family that they may be content in their days. And I hope this peace lingers, and that I can pass it on.

In 2009, may you find joy in the little things, love in the quiet moments, and peace that you didn't have before.

How 'bout now?

What about the text color now? Easier to read, same, or worse?

Bittersweet

My belly is getting in the way of my favorite way to sit in my computer chair while playing on the computer.

Hmmm....

I'm toying with my blog design....obviously. I'm not sure what I think about this look and there's more I want to do with my header, but I can't figure out what or how. I think I'll live with this a while and see how I feel about it. What do you think? Too much? What about the colors? Any suggestions?

Sugar and spice

Everyone knows our news now. And I'm so glad. It wasn't that I was bursting to tell people, I just wanted to be able to talk about ideas and plans we had been thinking about. Like the bedding I like. Or the swing that is so frivilous but just.so.cute. Or the fact that I might like to try a co-sleeper this time around. It's just good to be able discuss things normally. After we finally spilled the beans, I kept feeling like I was saying too much.

So. We're having a girl! Her name will be Genevieve, and we will call her Evie (I'd tell you her middle name, but it's a family name with a unique spelling and I don't feel good about announcing it on the blog...if you know me well enough to know my first name, it's also going to be her middle name). We're all over the moon about it. Sweet Hubby is elated. He keeps talking about "our little girl" and about how we're going to have a daughter. He even bought her her first dress and shoes. She'll be wearing them home from the hospital. A couple times a day, Stephen will stop what he's doing to come over and tell me, "I just can't wait to have a baby sister." I can't keep myself away from the dresses and bows and tights and Mary Janes whenever we go to the store.

It's a whole new adventure for us. I just can't wait to meet our little girl.

The new ornament on our tree

Soooo...? How's it going??

Merry Christmas everyone! I know that these days life can be very busy, but I've noticed that many of my favorite bloggers aren't around much. I'm really interested in how the holiday plans are going and what your plans are for the next two days (or a week if you're the New Year's kinda partier). I'm used to getting little glimpses into your daily lives and not knowing how things are going during the holidays is making me miss you.

So. Leave a comment on my blog to let me know how your holidays are shaping up or you know, BLOG about it and leave your link in the comment section. ;)

Love all around.

The gift that starts giving before you even open it

I feel safe in posting this here right now because Sweet Hubby never reads my blog. Ever. And I'm not bitter. *ahem*

Anyway, last night as I was finally dozing off wayyyy past my bedtime, I woke up to Stephen calling to me from across the hall. "Mom. Mom!"

"What is it, Stephen?" I respond, slightly annoyed.

"THAT!"

I then realize "THAT" is some sort of noise coming from somewhere in the house. And in my fog of sleep I can't figure what the heck it is. So I lay there for a second hoping it will stop on its own trying to figure out what it is. When I figure that it's some sort of alarm and probably a watch alarm, I haul myself out of bed to investigate. This is when I remember that I've bought Sweet Hubby a watch for Christmas. Standing at the watches in the Walmart, I vacillated between an analog and a digital and finally decided on a digital. A decision I was cursing at about 11:52pm last night. And oh yeah, I've already wrapped all the presents, so the thing is under the tree WRAPPED. Among about 30 other presents. In the dark. So I crawl under the tree, dig for the tiny box in which the watch is wrapped and finally lay my hands on it. Thank goodness I didn't wrap the watch in another box, or else I wouldn't have been able to desperately start pushing the buttons THROUGH the wrapping paper to get the darn thing to stop. Something I did worked and it shut off. I crawl back to bed and try to go back to sleep.

Except about 3.5 minutes later, it starts going off again. I go through the same process, and the third time it goes off, I was actually asleep again. This is when I decide to bring the thing to bed with me in case it does it again. Which it does. At which point I tear the wrapping paper off and inspect the darn thing by its own little light which stays on for about 2 and one quarter seconds. Just long enough for me to accomplish nothing. So I flip open my cell phone for some light and begin trying to methodically push buttons to figure out how to turn the alarm (which seems to be set for every 3.5 minutes, a function of which I don't understand the usefullness) off. When it starts beeping in my hands, I realize that I'm going to have to actually OPEN one of Sweet Hubby's Christmas present, which makes me very sad. I finally got the instructions out and figured out how to turn the alarm off.

It was then that I realized what a sorry little watch this is. And I feel bad for that. I guess it's not too late to take it back. At least that would ensure that we don't go through a night like that again.

Anybody watch Friends? I felt like Phoebe.

Squirt Baby

I ran across this while looking at baby stuff online and thought it was so funny! What will they come up with (for lazy parents) next?

Elfed

My parents "Elfed" the kids. Here's the result. The kids were laughing so loud and hard that I couldn't even hear the music.

Have you heard this?

I heard this the first time yesterday on the radio and was cracking up....but listen to the end! It's GREAT! Be sure to gather the kids.

Christmas Food

I'm really excited about our Christmas menu. It doesn't seem to be too much work, but we're also going to be eating very well Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My plan is that we'll have our nice big meal on Christmas Eve and then take it easy Christmas Day. So here are the menus:

Christmas Eve Dinner
Herb Roasted Pork Roast
Sweet Potato Souffle (from Honey Baked Ham Co)
Lemon Pepper Green Beans
Some kind of white potatoes (MIL is bringing those, I'm not quite sure yet what she's planning)
Cornbread dressing
Cranberry sauce

Dessert:
Cobbler and ice cream
Pumpkin Pie
Spiced Cider
Hot Chocolate


Christmas Day Menu
Breakfast:
Tater tot casserole (tater tots, bacon, green onions, eggs and cheese--layered in that order)
fruit medley (berries and peaches)
sausage and gravy
biscuits
muffins ("cupcakes" for kids to decorate)

Lunch:
Leftover Christmas Eve dinner
Leftover Spaghetti from Tuesday night (the night before Christmas Eve


Snacks (for snacking on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day)
Chocolate chip cookies
Peanut butter fudge
Rice crispie treats
Chex peanut buddies
sausage balls (mmmmm....)
fiesta crescents (some more mmmmmm...)
chips and dips


I'm so hungry.

So what do you think? Am I missing anything? Got any more ideas for me?

Perfection

Well, we had our ultrasound yesterday afternoon. The tech lady told me to drink lots of water and I did (over 30 oz!) and then she was 30 minutes late for my appointment. I felt like going postal on the waiting room full people just so I could get the ultrasound and go to the bathroom already! Just as I was threatening whining to the receptionist, the tech came out to take me back. She told me she just needed to get a few good pictures and then I could go empty my bladder. But a few minutes in to the ultrasound, she announced that I was too small to be able to get good pictures, so I needed to keep the full bladder. Another 30 minutes later (let's count this...pregnant lady needing to use the bathroom for over an HOUR now), she was finally done and and I waddled and danced to the bathroom, afraid to run. It made it really hard to enjoy all the awesome looks we were getting at the baby when I all I could think about was that I might wet myself if she pressed just a little harder with that wand thingy.

But all in all, it was great. It was such a relief to see this little child and he or she is absolutely perfect. All the little parts are there and Baby looks just like the older brothers did at this point. I forgot to scan the pictures while I was at my parents' house yesterday evening, so I don't have any to share here. But take my word for it, Baby is precious and I can't wait to meet this little person.

And no, I'm not telling pink or blue yet. We're waiting to be able to tell our parents and kids at the same time at Christmas. I'm really looking forward to that. It'll be great to have everyone together to find out at the same time.

Comedic relief

Earlier this evening, Sweet Hubby had to run into the Wal*mart for a few things while the kids and I stayed in the car (brrrr...baby, it's cold outside). Stephen started to tell me something, then asked me to turn the radio down so he could concentrate. I did and he said, "Toads have dry, rough skin and frogs have smooth, wet skin." I told him he was exactly right.

He immediately followed up with, "And did Jesus have teeth?"

I would rather throw a tantrum, but instead I'll write this short post

Just a quick note to say that in case you were wondering, I do not and will not have any good news to report at this time like I had hoped I would in yesterday's post. Things didn't exactly come through.

But the ultrasound is tomorrow. I'm thinking of scanning the ultrasound pic at my parents tomorrow so I can post it here. So you can ooh and ahh over the black and white 2-D picture of my baby who looks like every other baby in those kinds of pictures.

Whatever.

Oops.

Last night, the entire family was in here in the bedroom with me while I was doing some e-mails on the computer. I glanced over and realized that Zachary had our closet door open and was peeking into the mirror that's on the inside of the closet door. I suddenly remembered that we still had a few Christmas gifts left in there that we don't plan on wrapping and immediately and loudly told him to shut the door. I startled him, which was my intention, and he quickly shut it. He then walked up to me all grins and informed that earlier in the day while Stephen had been playing on the computer, he spied a batman scooter and he said he walked up to look and saw it WAS a batman scooter. There's a batman scooter in there mama! Sweet Hubby starts telling Z to be quiet and quit talking about it like he was afraid that Z was going to let the secret go. But the secret was already gone. So I said, "Well, it's for HIM!" Zachary's eyes lit up, "The batman scooter's for ME?!"

We had a good laugh and Z didn't stop grinning and talking about it all night long. I told him that he should try to forget so that he would be surprised on Christmas morning and he said, "I AM surprised, mama!"

I'm glad he's so happy about it. I'm also glad that we weren't trying to reserve this for a Santa gift because we would be so screwed right now.

Sweet Hubby remembers when he found out about Santa--after he spied his wrestling ring playset in his parent's closet and then got it from Santa for Christmas.

Twiddling my thumbs

I'm feeling a bit anxious today. We have two big things coming up over the next two days and the pressure of waiting on them is starting to wear on me a bit. One should happen today, but I'm not quite ready to go public with that yet. If things go well, hopefully I'll be able to share some great news later this afternoon. But that's all I'll say about that.

The other thing is my should-be-20-week-but-getting-it-at-18.5 weeks ultrasound. We'll get to see the baby on Wednesday. I'm so excited. We've only had one ultrasound so far and that was 2 months ago when Baby still looked like a bean. Now it looks like a little miniature person. By this time in my previous pregnancies, I had had several ultrasounds because of some other health issues. But I've only had one so far and I'm absolutely DYING to get a glimpse at this precious little child. We'll get a glimpse of it's gender, too, but probably won't actually find out until Christmas morning with the whole family. Right now, I just want to see the baby. I'm not even really concerned with finding out boy or girl. I just want to look at it's face.

Oh and also, if you care to share some ideas for boys' names that you wouldn't mind if I ended up using, we could use some suggestions. We keep coming up with names and then deciding against them. We're clear out of good boy names. Our latest one is Grant, but I'm just not sure. It doesn't feel right. We're good on the girl name. That one's been decided for a while, and I think we'll actually stick with it.

*watching the minutes tick by*

I wonder...

...Am I the only one that gets excited when the word verification thingys that you have to do on blogger (and other places, but for me it's mainly blogger) are actual words, or could be actual words? It's fun, but when they are words or common letter combinations, I can also type them out faster. Because those .05 seconds are really important to me. *rolling eyes at self*

Mission: Christmas Food

I finally got my computer hooked back up after our illnesses (mine and the computer's). I didn't start feeling better yesterday until just a little bit before the concert, but I DID start to feel better, so we all made it. It was a great concert and we had an awesome time...if you're even a slight fan of TobyMac, I suggest seeing him if he comes to a town near you. It was a fantastic show. Even though he didn't get on stage until 9:30. And we didn't know the three acts that came before him. And the second act made me think that their music would be good punishment for someone like me. Other than that, we really did have a lot of fun. :)

So now that we've got one more holiday festivity under our belt, I've got my eyes squarely focused on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. The gears in my brain have been squeaking running all afternoon trying to sort out my food plans. I think I might be getting a little overly ambitious with it, but I'm really excited. This year, for the first time, we'll be staying home for Christmas and having my parents and my ILs over. So I'm hosting. Never thought I'd do that. But I can't wait and I want to make it really special and fun as well as relaxing and semi-stress free. One of the things I'm looking forward to most is staying in our jammies for as long as we want on Christmas day.

However. To be able to be relaxed on a day when one is usually frenzied about food and guests and such, it takes some serious planning. Which is why I'm starting to really get things planned 12 days out.

So, after I hit publish here, I'm off to find the recipes I want to use for our special Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day breakfast and all the little treats and snacks I hope to have. Once I get everything figured out, I'll post it here for those of you nosy enough to care. ;)

Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!

Ick.

Well, I've finally been able to crawl off the couch long enough to come update you (I'm pretending you care). Things were NOT pretty for a while here (at one point, Marc-Adam, who also started throwing up, was laying up against me while I was laying up against the toilet....we were a sad sight). It must be something we ate. Zachary dodged this altogether, thank goodness. The rest of us were not so lucky. The last time someone threw up was about noon (it was me....I wasn't able to even keep water down) and we all had some peanut butter toast for dinner. So far, so good.

So, if we can keep getting better, it looks like we're go for our concert tomorrow night. Can't wait!

No, no, no!!!

Great news: Dad located the problem with our computer (it was exactly what I suspected), got the part ordered, and now the ol' 'puter and I are on speaking terms again.

Not so great news: Stephen woke up throwing up last night and I've felt queasy (and not in a normal pregnancy way) for several hours now. I threw up once, but I can't tell if it was illness related or not. Apparently there's a nasty tummy bug that's been going around the area, and until now, I thought we dodged it. I called Sweet Hubby at work and he's not feeling so hot either. So now I'm panicked about tomorrow night. We HAVE to go to that concert. And we have to be the ones to use the tickets. They have our names on them and the tickets say that they may ask for ID at the door to make sure the names match, so if we don't go, my mother-in-law's sweet Christmas present will be a waste.

*thinking healthy thoughts*thinking healthy thoughts*thinking healthy thoughts*

The Last Christmas

I heard this song for the first time the other day and was a puddle of tears by the end of it. I'm sure it's largely due to my current state of affairs, but seriously, this has got to be the sweetest song I've heard in forever.

Cousin Kelli helped me (thanks!), so here goes this try to make it easier.



And don't tell me about it if you were steel enough to not at least get a little moisture in your eye.

Just so you know

We're having issues with our computer and tomorrow I'm taking it to the repair shop, also known as Dad's. Hopefully he can get it back in working condition. Until then, I'll be out of touch on my computer, so if you know me in real life and need to get in touch, you'll have to actually pick up the phone! :) Otherwise, I'll be back ASAP! Have a great weekend!

Proof there's fun and excitement at our house

Marc-Adam's got a new word: WOO-HOO!

Done!

As of this past Sunday, we are done with our Christmas shopping for the boys. From what I hear, Sweet Hubby is done for me, and as soon as he gets paid again, I'll be done with him. And then, we'll be done!

We failed miserably this year in our attempt to only get 3 gifts per child. But the good news is that I still stayed within our budget. I got some really good deals and they each got a couple of books and workbooks and such. They won't be excited about those come Christmas morning, but they're something the kids will enjoy later on. We got the "biggies" that we intended for the kids....Zachary got the Batman Imaginext Batcave, Marc-Adam got the little grocery cart (although, that really can't count as a biggie, but I think it was the most expensive thing we got him) and Stephen got some new wheels. I had intended to get him a Razor scooter, but he told me that he wanted a new bike instead (the $29 blitz ad bike at Wal*mart!). The bike I got him looks huge, and I'm really dreading Christmas morning when he gets on it and I realize that it's just the right size for him.

Everything else they got were little things...a magic kit, play-doh, clearance action figures, fancy-schmancy coloring books. I think Christmas morning is going to be a lot of fun.

Free chocolate? I'm there.

Jana's giving away chocolate, y'all. Free chocolate. Free homemade chocolate. Need I say more? Go put your name in the hat!!

I wonder...

...are we the only family that doesn't decorate the back of the Christmas tree that's backed to the wall or in the corner? The part that no one ever sees?

I went, I shopped, I conquered

Yes, I did it. Not only did Mom and I shop on Black Friday, but we shopped at 4:45am. The hordes of people were astounding. It was more crowded than I imagined it would be. People who found out what I was planning (shopping at 5am) thought I was crazy and said they would never do that....I told them that as long as I don't have to do it with my 3 kids in tow, nothin' scares me.

But my mom and I walked away victorious. We got every "blitz" item we went after and I've just about finished my shopping except for a few things for each of the kids and Sweet Hubby. We had a great time...even though we waited in the check out line for an hour at the Wal*mart.

Oh, and I also have to admit, we went to Wal*mart not once, not twice but three times today. Two stores, three trips. Add a few more drops to my bucket-full of crazy.

And I also have to state that it was wild crazy chaos, but aside from the one lady who (unsuccessfully) attempted to snatch my blitz ad from my basket, all the other bleary-eyed people were very nice, patient and helpful. There were no fights, or disagreements or grown adults wrestling each other to the ground for a $25 talking toy.

And now, excuse me while I collapse in to bed.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I asked this kids this morning what they were each thankful for. Their answers show that either I'm not doing as badly as I thought with them, or that they've been brainwashed well enough to give the "right" answers.

Stephen-my family, that I get to see my family today, my home, that we have food to eat, that God is here.....that's it!

Zachary-you, that's it. (I tried to pry more out of him, but I think there was a glass of milk, a vitamin and a TV show calling his name. I asked him if he was thankful for anything else and he said, "Nope. I just like you." And then he ran into the other room.)

Marc-Adam-here's our conversation:
Me: what are you thankful for, Marc-Adam?
M-A: Dahbee.
Me: What are you thankful for?
M-A: huh?
Me: What are you thankful for?
M-A: uhhhhhh....baby?
Me: Baby?
M-A: uh-huh.
(Stephen, from the other room: it's a racing car!)
M-A (bolting from my lap and running to where Stephen is): Truck!

And I have to add one more thing that I'm thankful for: I'm thankful for the first sweet little nudges and flutters that our newest little turkey is giving me. It's like Baby is making sure that I remember that I have one more blessing to be thankful for.

Thankful

We all have so much to be thankful for.

This morning I spent a little time with each child telling him that tomorrow was Thanksgiving and that I was thankful for him and I told each one what I loved about him. And it's more than just being thankful for my husband and kids. I'm thankful for what I have because of them. This love, this life is all because of what I have with them. God has been more than generous to me.

I look around and regardless of the crappy or scary things that are going on in my world and the larger world outside, I know that life is good. Life is good.

And I can't give enough thanks.

I wonder....

...If I'm the only female in the western hemisphere that hasn't jumped aboard the Twilight train? And has no interest in jumping aboard.

Something's not right about this

Their playroom looks like this:


And they spent part of their morning fighting over this:


Something just doesn't add up....

Not enough bleach in the world

So the kids have been sick for several days. Sweet Hubby and I think we're coming down with it, too, and while we tried our "old wives' tale" prevention method on Hubby in hopes that he wouldn't actually come down with it(this is the worst week of all weeks for him to get sick), I didn't have the heart to do it because the kids have really suffered with this and I'll feel badly if I'm able to dodge it by preventing it. (Somehow I don't feel like that sentence makes sense at all....then again, I'm pretty sure the logic doesn't make sense.) I kept the kids home from church yesterday (which I'm glad I did because I found out there's also a tummy bug going around and I'd much rather deal with the snotty noses and hacking coughs than tummy issues). I'm not sure if they're still contagious. No one's really running a fever, but the noses and coughs are terrible. We've been through almost an entire bottle of Children'sMucinex this week and I'm pretty sure there's been enough coughing and germ spreading going on around here to infect a small country. If I had nickel for every time I've said, "Cover your mouth!!" Of course, I also feel kinda bad when I'm telling them to cover their mouth while they sound like they're coughing up a lung.

Over the next few days, I'm going to try to work on disinfecting the house with hopes that they don't reinfect it. And above all, I'm praying that they start to get better and that I don't get it, too, because I'd really really hate to spend Thanksgiving alone. Sweet Hubby has to work the night before Thanksgiving and the night of Thanksgiving, so he'll be sleeping all Thanksgiving day, and the idea of spending all day alone at home with the kids is just really very sad. But there's no way I can feel good about spending the day with Sweet Hubby's family while we are carrying the Plague.

Just in case, I think I'm going to thaw a chicken and have Sweet Hubby pick up our favorite rolls. I've got a can of green beans and a can of sweet potatoes in the pantry. That'll make for a faux Thanksgiving meal, I guess.

I wonder....

I've been thinking about doing this for a while--posting about the funny/strange/random/interesting things that I wonder about. Mainly because I want to share with you a little bit about who I am and I think the things I think about will help to show you. Also, when I wonder something that you might actually know the answer to, you can fill me in. And when I wonder something weird, you can let me know if you wonder that, too, or if I've totally lost it and I need to get out more. So this will be a recurring thing here at Imperfection. Feel free to chime in with your own wonderings, or make a post all your own on your blog (but be sure to let me know, so I can check it out).

So here's what's been on my brain the last week or so:

You know how last summer, gas prices sky-rocketed? And because of that, the price of EVERYTHING else went up, too, especially food prices and all the Big Fat Companies said it was because of rising fuel costs? So I wonder....why am I still paying $4 for a gallon of milk, or $5 dollars for a 1/2 pound of cheese or almost $3.00 for a loaf of bread when gas prices are the lowest they've been for almost 4 years?

And consequently, I also wonder what kind of Christmas bonuses the Big Fat Company CEOs are getting.

Silly and sweet

The kids have been funny and sweet lately. A couple days ago, Marc-Adam was asking for me to pick him up. He just kept saying "UP! Up!". When I asked him what to say, Stephen jumped in trying to be silly and said, "Up, please!" in a baby voice. Marc-Adam pushed him out of the way and yelled "My up please!"

Zachary's got a nasty little bug. Snotty, coughing, irritable...the works. He's slept most of the day today and after playing by himself in the playroom for about 10 minutes, Stephen plopped down next to me on the couch and sighed real big. I said, "What's up, Bud?" He said, in a pouty little tone, "I wish Zachary would get better." I asked him if he missed him and he said yes. He was actually sad for Zachary and himself at the same time. And then when I made Zachary lunch in bed, Stephen was so excited for Zachary. He couldn't quit smiling about it. It was so cute and sweet.

Zachary's convinced that the new baby is going to be a sister for him. When I ask him what her name is, he says, "Gene-VEEEEVE!" Which is right, I just love the way he says it....all the emphasis on "VEEEVE".

Buggy Update

After my post yesterday, the boys, who were still talking about putting the bug in the trash and trying to get rid of it, starting discussing between themselves what the natural predators would be for that kind of roach. When they decided a bird would eat a bug, they started to make bird calls, hoping to scare the bug out of the house. The fact that there was no open door or window didn't seem to bother them.

Before Sweet Hubby got home, my mother-in-law came by to pick us up so we could go run some errands. Zachary immediately reported the situation to her and she disposed of the bug for us.

All is right with the world.

Crazy bug-hater

I walked in to the living room last night after putting the kids to bed, and saw a large semi-dead tree roach in the middle of the floor. Like the completely mature adult that I am, I left it there, hoping it would be more dead in the morning...and also hoping that Sweet Hubby would be home before the kids freaked out too much about it.

When we got up this morning, it was still there. I assumed (wrongly) that it was 100% dead, seeing as how it was still in the same place and position in the living room. (I should probably state here my disgust for just about everything with six legs...add wings to those six legs, and I'm done, acting like a complete fool if it comes anywhere within 20 feet of me--or looks like it might think about coming anywhere within 20 feet of me....and this is a trait I've passed on to my children). After the kids and I stared at it for a while (still assuming it's deadness), Stephen bravely volunteered to pick it up. There was no argument from me as I threw the paper towel at him. He wadded the paper towel, picked it up and headed for the kitchen trash.

And then. It moved.

At which point Stephen threw the paper towel and the roach 5 feet in the air, Zachary and I squealed, leaped out of our skins and landed on the couch. The kids were pretty freaked out, I however, was laughing hysterically. Stephen, in desperate attempts to convince me that I should be the one to pick it up, started telling me that I was the grown-up and all I had to do was pick it up and run to the trash and why don't we get a shoe to kill it first and we could make Zachary do it or maybe Marc-Adam would do it and we had to eat breakfast soon and he wasn't going to eat breakfast with that thing sitting next to the table...and on and on and on. In a completely shameful moment of desperation, I asked Marc-Adam if he wanted to smack the bug with a shoe, to which he replied, "Ew."

The poor bug was actually still moving, twitching it's legs *shudder* and spinning in buggy circles on it's back. I decided it was time to take some action, because seriously, I was hungry and no way was I eating breakfast with the bug looking at me. So, again like the completely mature adult that I am, I retrieved the paper towel, threw it over the bug and pushed the bug and paper towel over to the trash can with a broom. I added in a smack for good measure and that's when the bug came out from underneath paper towel (consequently, it was also when I needed a change of clothes). It wriggled and squirmed in it's feeble attempts to rescue itself from the crazy lady, but eventually flipped back to it's back and spun in a few more buggy circles.

And ladies and gentleman, that's where it still sits as I type this. Sweet Hubby won't be home for another hour or so, but I'm content with the bug's location at this time. I don't have to look at it or think about it (despite the children telling me repeatedly that all I have to do is pick it up and put it the trash).

I'm gonna buy me a lottery ticket!

OK, so not really, since we don't play the lottery, but seriously, I've won two bloggy giveaways in two days!! I won a Yoplait Kids giveaway from Nicole @ As Many as We're Given and a preschool Spanish DVD from Mommy Daisy. I'm so excited! I never win anything. Actually, I won something once....when Sweet Hubby and I were engaged, we won a 4day/3 night stay at a hotel in Hawaii from a bridal show. But we couldn't afford the plane tickets.

I'm going to go see what other giveaways are going on now!! :)

Freak. Out.

That's pretty much what I did in church this morning (literally in front of God and everybody) when Sweet Hubby pointed something out to me. Apparently, this conflicts with the big deal music ministry Christmas program that I'm a part of at our church. I do this kind of thing all the time, where I plan two things to happen at the same time and it never clicks to me that they happen AT THE SAME TIME. I talked briefly to the music director and he told me he would tear me to shreds if I didn't come to the program. Nice. He wasn't mean about it and he was smiling. He wouldn't actually be ugly about it, I'm sure, but I know he really wants every voice there and every single person is important to him. So we're trying to figure out how to make both things work. The kids really really want to go the concert AND the tickets were a gift. The tickets also have our names on them and state that they may ask for ID at the door to make sure that the tickets actually belong to the people presenting them.

I think we're going to try to do both, but it's going to make for a hectic night and we'd miss a large chunk of the concert.

I'm so sad.

Off the market

So. We took the house off the market. Our contract was up next month anyway, and I was just so tired of thinking about it. I didn't figure anyone would be coming to look at it over the holidays and if we keep it on the market till after the first of the year, then it's getting too close to when the baby's coming and I'm just not comfortable with that. I don't want things to be up in the air during that time. I don't want to have to deal with packing and moving all while getting things prepared for a new little person. Besides, I've gotten settled back in to the idea of living here a little bit longer. And the truth is, as much as I don't like the little town we live in, I love our little house. It's just...us. It's home. Even though we do plan on moving within the next few years, I'll be sad to leave it behind.

So we're staying put for a bit longer. Just so you know.

Thankful Thursday

I think the Thankful Thursday thing is nothing new, but Jana has decided to devote the next couple Thursdays to things she's thankful for being that it's November and all. I started to list out the a few of the little, fun things I'm thankful for in the comment section on her blog, but decided to my own post. She asked what non-serious things are you thankful for (other than the serious things like family, home, health, etc.). Here are some of mine:

• A family that lets me nibble food off of their plates--especially since I rarely share food off of mine.
• DVR (Jana said this, too), so I can keep up with my favorite shows...there are a few that come on before the boys are in bed and I otherwise would miss them (the VCR is dead to me).
• Stretchy pants. 'Nuff said.
• Cinammon Cinnammon Cinnamon. I love the smell. I boil cinnamon sticks on the stove and it's the one smell that I can stand anytime and it also eats up the yucky smells I can't stand. It also doesn't stink up the house when I forget that I'm boiling it and it burns.
  
• A hubby that will run out and buy me snacks when I ask.
  
• Phineas and Ferb. Seriously one of the funniest shows I've seen in a while. And it's safe for the boys to watch. Bonus.
• Fox News. I've made my love for Fox News no secret. I realized I might have a problem when I was surfing the Fox News website while having it on the TV.

What are you thankful for? Feel free to leave your list in the comments or make your own post.

Little by little

Besides what I posted a few weeks ago about feeling crabby, I haven't been posting how I've really been feeling. The truth is, for a little while there, things weren't good at all. Not only was I exhausted and nauseous all the time (which in and of itself makes life hard), I think I was also dealing with with some mild, short-term depression. If the fatigue and nausea wasn't enough to lay me out, the depression was. I had hard time doing any of my normal activities and I felt like the kids were really the ones paying the price, so most of the time, I drug myself along to keep things normal for them, even when I would have have rathered just stay in bed, never stepping foot outside my door. Looking back, I'm glad I did, because I think just laying on the couch or in bed all the time would have made me feel worse for longer.

But now, the clouds are starting break a little bit and I'm starting to feel like my normal self. I'm still nauseous most of the time and dealing with all-day sickness. But the fatigue and "blues" have started to fade, so I'm able to actually function, even between dates with my toilet. Normally, this level of nausea would be enough to keep me whining, but now I have a little perspective.

It feels fantastic to feel half-way normal again.

Four

Really? You're four? Zachary, slow down buddy boy. You're getting too big too fast! You are officially a big boy in my mind now.



It's been a great year. You're really growing into your own person, your own personality and you are such joy to be around. I love how you are still a snuggler. Every time I sit down, you immediately fold yourself in to the curve of my side. And today when you did that, you had a bowl of goldfish snacks, so you sat there and fed me goldfish as we snuggled and a watched a little TV. You do that quite a bit. You're very generous with most things when given the chance. However, you do NOT like to have things taken away from you, so it's always better for us to ask first.

This year, you've learned lots of new things. When we started school, I geared most of our activities toward Stephen, but you are keeping up wonderfully and you insist on having your turn at the school table. You know all your letters and numbers now and are beginning to sound out words.

You still talk with a precious little lisp, and when you talk there is such excitement in your voice. You are still a lot like your mama because I've noticed quite a bit lately that when you feel a certain way about something, you feel it intensely. You are either very excited, very happy, very mad or very sad. You are never "just a little" anything.

Yesterday, we started an experiment. You see, you carry your lovey around with you everywhere. Not only does the lovey get filthy, but you constantly have your fingers in your mouth because of it. So starting yesterday, I told you that lovey could not come out of your bed. You could have it at naps and nighttime, but for the rest of the day, you would be lovey-free. You whined quite a bit about it, and at one point, I couldn't find you anywhere in the house. I went in to your room (that was almost completely dark), flipped on the light and found you cuddled in your bed with your lovey. You spent quite a bit of time in your room by yourself yesterday. Today was much better, and you missed lovey a lot less, although, I did notice that lovey somehow snuck out of your room a couple of times.

You are still apprehensive about trying new things in general, but I noticed this year, that you are getting better about it and you are more easily convinced than you used to be. You've also shown that you can be quite the chatty child. Especially when you are by yourself without your brothers around, you are just full of thought and question and conversation. Never a dull a moment. :)

Zachary, you are still my sweet little boy. So laid back and easy-going (most of the time). You march to the beat of your own drum, but once in a while, it seems like it sounds a lot like mine. I'm relieved for you that we have a new baby coming, because you'll no longer be the middle child. I'm not sure what that means for you down the road, but I hope it's a good thing.

I'm so glad God gave us you. And I can't wait to see what we can do together in your 5th year!

Love,
Mama

YAY YAY YAY!!!

On Dec. 12, me and 3 (out of the 4) of my favorite guys are gonna be here.



Did I mention YAY!?

I knew it was coming

I was pretty sure this would be the next thing we would be hearing about.

A lot less talk, and a little more action

Well, it's over now. Thank goodness. I've made it no secret here in my little corner of the bloggy world who we were supporting in the election last night. So obviously, we're not exactly stoked in the Sweet house this morning. I was wrong on how quickly the election would be decided, and I was really surprised at how large the margin was between the two candidates. I thought for sure it would be much much closer, regardless of who won. But I still stick to my thought that about half of the country shares in my disappointment this morning. I also find it--what? strange, funny, ironic?--that our Democrat-run congress has a 9% approval rating, and yet, we've elected more democrats to office. I'm not sure what that says. However, most all the county and state elections went the way that I voted, so I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Saying that I'm skeptical of a President Obama is an understatement. I don't think that he can accomplish everything that he's promised, and honestly, I don't want him to since I don't agree with any of his policies or plans. But I'm trying to keep an open mind and I'm accepting that this has been the decision of our country. It takes every shred of will and maturity that I have within me to do that, though. I'm interested to see what direction the country will take and to see if Americans are happy with the change they've voted for. Honestly, I'm a little nervous. But I'm holding tight to my belief that God is in control of this. So I remain optimistic and hopeful.

I hope that in the next 4 years I'm pleasantly surprised by how this all plays out. But I'm also prepared to quit just talking about politics and half-whining about what I don't want to happen. I decided a couple days ago (before we knew who would be elected) that for the 2012 election, I'm going to do more. I'm still going to talk about it, I'm still going to be listening to everything that's going on, but I'm going to find my politicial cause and the candidates that I back, and I'm going to get involved. I'm not sure why I didn't make that decision 6 months ago. I know it wouldn't have made a difference in this election, but I think I would have felt better about the outcome.

So I'm curious...what are your thoughts today? What do you think the next 4 years has in store for us?

Our civic duty is done for the day

We voted! The kids were excited, even though I don't think they fully comprehended the whole process. But each of the older two boys got to help press our "Cast Ballot" buttons and Stephen helped me spin my little dial to make our selections. I was hoping we'd get some stickers like we have in the past, but we didn't. Darn. I was really in it for the sticker. :)

We had a little scare in our voting process. The place that we normally go to to vote told us that our name wasn't on the list and told us to try another precinct's polling place. I was worried that something had happened to our registration. But we headed over to the other precinct and sure enough, we were on that list. I think the change in polling places has something to do with where we vote in the primaries vs. the general election.

I'm excited and nervous to find out the results, but like I stated a few days ago, I'm relieved that this campaign season is over. I'm not naive enough to believe that this election is over yet, though. I have a feeling this thing might drag for a few days at least. And it is a little disheartening that no matter who wins this election, at least 50% of the country won't be happy. People just feel so strongly about it.

So I hope you've voted. An opportunity to help make such a huge decision doesn't come along every day.

I should have thought this through a little better

The downside to not celebrating Halloween and not taking the kids out to trick-or-treat or, at the very least, taking them to the "Fall Festival"?

There is NO CANDY in the house when I start rummaging at 10:30pm to find something sweet.

I keep thinking of all the booty I could have confiscated for myself for their own good.