Baby Update: Week 30

30 weeks.... seems like forever since I announced it and yet 10 weeks still seems so far away.  I'm trying really hard to enjoy this since this is more than likely our last pregnancy. But yet I am still wishing away the days.
I would love to:

• be able to bend down without groaning
• sleep all night without getting up to pee or having crazy leg cramps
• eat whatever I want
• drink whatever I want

Not that I don't want this pregnancy but I just want it to be over. I'm done already and I still have 10 more weeks.  I have lots to keep me busy in the next 2 1/2 months but that's even more of the problem. I just can't go at the same speed I have been. I pay for it the next day for sure.  So at this point I'm just tired. I need to do some major revamping of our lives and simplifying even more.  My Lilla Rose business is taking off and while I'm excited it is tiring.... hoping to push now and then spend some down time once the baby comes.

Mr Micah is super active... for those who have had boys and girls - do you remember a difference in their activity level while in the womb? I sure do. Boys are WAY more active then girls.... and they hurt a lot more - just stronger with their kicks and punches... I'm pretty sure I'm bruised in one spot already.  I passed my glucose testing which I almost always do but am still having some blood issues - my platelet numbers are jumping all over the place so that's annoying and frustrating.... researching ways to bring them back up naturally so that I don't have to have steroids or be induced. Two things I really detest!

I have to give a huge shout-out to my hubby though - we make such an awesome team and in his words 'we'd be screwed without each other'. :)

So we're plugging on and focusing on the end prize.... a sweet baby boy. How do I not wish these days away right now?

When you've been had

I wasn't planning on posting today.  This cold has been taking a toll on our house and this mama is struggling in more ways then one. 

Every since Christmas when we took a full two-weeks off from school and Lydia's program it's been hard... oh so hard getting back in to the rhythm of things.  And when it gets hard the easiest thing is to just give in and give up.... plug a movie in for the kids, make a cup of tea and surf the net....

or is it?

Because the same problems are going to come up again shortly... probably even before the movie is over and then what.

This morning I struggled greatly with my little ones - they don't feel good (so I do try to extend a bit of extra grace), I don't feel good (where's my grace), and we are all tired.  I had a math sheet for Lydia to do and she started to fuss that she didn't want to do it, I told her no she had to do it. So she picked it up and looked at the other side and said 'can I do this one'..... sure I answered... hey at least she was doing something.

but wait.

She still got her way. She did not have to do what I asked her to do. oh man... She still 'had' me and ended up not having to do what I asked.  boo

I just sat on the floor and teared up. I realized that so often even though I didn't realize or mean to do it I was still giving in to my children just so we could get the work done, so we could 'check' off the box and move on.  But they were not obeying with the right heart or attitude.

It's not going to be easy, and the easy way is never really the easy way in the end.... but oh how I'd love to plug a movie in and make a cup of tea right now. I won't... I can't.... I sit here listening to the fighting and yelling (Josiah is singing and Lydia is NOT happy about that), Naomi is calling out to me and not napping because well that's just her.  I am struggling particularly with Josiah because he's too big now and I can't easily carry him upstairs and put him in his room.

Oh how he can make my blood boil.  It makes me so sad and angry at myself.

Just keeping it real.... life is hard right now and even harder when you realize you've been being 'had' by your children even when you were trying so hard not to. blah

Baby Update: Week 26

How time flies... it seems like just yesterday I was announcing.  It's the first Tuesday of the month so time for a quick update.

Even though 26 weeks still seems so far away from 40 weeks. And then I say - 14 weeks left and suddenly 14 is a whole lot less than 26 so it seems pretty close.

14 sundays... 7 more pay days....oh my goodness.... even though 3 months seems so far away. When you break it down it really doesn't seem that long.

Lydia has a calendar she marks off each night - last night it read 99 days... we are less than 100 days away!

I'm still in my pregnancy prime as Nathan calls it.  So I am really enjoying this time. Although my leg cramps and heart burn make some evenings less enjoyable then other.  I am also suffering from horrible ligament pains... in the middle of the night. I get awake crying from them and there isn't a darn thing to do except wait them out.

The kids are so excited and have been trying to feel him move whenever they can.  Of course he doesn't obey timley so they get bored easily. It's pretty cute when Naomi calls him Bicah, She also just learned to say 'Siah' and screams this constantly until her brother responds to her.

So all in all, we're just plugging away and keeping up with doctor appointments.  As tiring as this is I also feel in pretty good shape because well I have three other ones at home..... I am staying pretty active. But I will say Thank Goodness for computers.... I really need a mid-afternoon snooze to get me through the evening so that has been a life saver for me ;) 

Just a day in our life....

So here I sit at 10:05pm with one very awake little girl.  But let me tell you how our day started.

It was 8:25am this morning and we were running around like crazy trying to get out of the house by 8:30 for Sunday school.  I was multi-tasking and brushing my teeth and decided to try and put Naomi's socks on at the same time.  Pulled her up into my lap.

She was holding a small plastic hair dryer.

Josiah went to grab it off of her.

She reared back and smacked me square in the nose with the toy.

I yelled. loud. and pushed her off of my lap on to the floor.

And yelled again (with a toothbrush still in my mouth).

The look of pure terror on my son's face quickly arose and I broke.

Naomi was laying on the floor crying, Josiah was standing there in terror of his own mother, and I was running for the sick because I was dripping gunk all over the place.  Started to tear up and just about was completely bawling.

Nathan came down stairs to find all three of us crying, and when he picked Naomi up found her lip was split from hitting the toy and that really sent me over the edge! I was sobbing by then. I hurt my daughter and my poor son was terrified of me. 

Gathered everyone in to the car and headed out to church. On the way my sweet son called my name and when I answered he responded 'I love you'.  fresh tears.

Church.  Fellowship lunch. Afternoon service.

Then a wonderful and amazing bible study with a sweet group of girls.  Called home when I left and found out that Lydia had just woken up from a very long afternoon nap. NOT normal.  Arrived home and found out she was in bed again.  Oh boy.  She woke up about 6:30ish and we got some Tylenol and toast into one very warm little girl.  We both fell back asleep about 7:30ish, and she just woke me up about 9:30... and she's WIDE awake now.  She literally had been sleeping off and on all day. 

Anyone want to guess when we'll get to go back to sleep??? :)

New focus

Some of you may follow me on facebook and saw my message about blowing our budget last month.  I am a numbers girl and when I sat down to balance everything out I was shocked (and saddened) to see how bad things were.

The month before we had a big financial thing happen.... we paid off our house.  It wasn't something that was easy but had been a goal for us for awhile.  Before I quit working, during that year of 'trying' to see if we could make it on one salary we put my entire paychecks (minus giving) towards our mortgage and quickly whittled it down.  So for a solid year we made probably three extra payments each month.  It made a HUGE difference.  It wasn't easy but our house is OURS now.  It's a good feeling to know that if something would happen to Nathan or our income, we are not threatened with a payment hanging over our heads to keep the house... we should always have a roof over us now.... heating it may be another question. ha

But because of that I knew coming into December that we had some 'extra' wiggle room and didn't pay as close attention as I would have before.  It really wasn't a good idea. I overspent.  I made a mistake.  But I only did it for one month, I've realized it, and now we are re-focusing for the new year.  I honestly believe that every so often making mistakes are good and teachable moments - they help you to refocus and gain new traction in meeting your goals. 

This year our goal is to pay off my student loans. To easily do that we would need to put each mortgage payment towards my loans each month.  I said to 'easily' do that.....  we also have a couple large expenses we are looking at that isn't going to make it easy.  So I'm going to being pinching pennies... planning ahead better, and really watching every dollar that comes in and goes out.  And I hope to blog soon on our budget and how that works in our house.

I hope and plan to blog more intensely on this and how we are doing each month.  What are your goals for the coming year? Do you have big ones or small ones? Having a goal (no matter how big or small) is the first step towards making a change. :)

***My dear friend who tried to contact me in a comment the other day, because my blog is so basic I wasn't notified and not sure you were notified that I responded......  email me at njbish5 @ gmail (dot) com

Crunch Time

It's crunch time.... T-8 days till Christmas. good gravy. Seriously one week from today is Christmas Eve.  Where did the time go, I thought I had so much time to prepare and then boom, here it is.

I haven't wrapped one gift yet (except for the ones that had to be wrapped for events already taken place) but not one person in my house has their gifts wrapped, nor next door, nor down the street.  Yep I am totally behind! Looking like an all nighter at some point.

Nathan totally hates this time of year. He despises how everything is crazy, and everyone is off schedule, and grumpy, and tired, and naughty, and greedy..... the list goes on.  I think it's made that much worse because we come right off of hunting season.  Which means he's already tired coming into the holiday season.  He's already run raggad because of getting up early, tramping through woods for hours on end, dragging deer out, staying up late cutting and processing the meat.  The kids are crazy cause they haven't seen him in two weeks, they miss him, they aren't sleeping.... it's a vicious cycle for at least a month. whew.

I really attempt to keep things normal and moving along, but the house work, extra baking, shopping, wrapping, visiting, parties, normal school work. It can just get overwhelming for sure.

But the freedom I have in Christ allows me to walk away from some things and NOT feel guilty about it.  To realize that sometimes I have to make choices and when they feel right for my family and our situation I answer to no one but my God and my husband.

So these are the things I have walked away or simplified from:

• Christmas Cards - my mom had 10 left over picture cards that she gave me. I sent out 10 cards this year. If you are upset because you didn't get one then come see me and see the picture in person.
• Baking - I was very selective with my baking this year, I made easy and freezable items. I started sorta early and made big batches of a few things. 
• Gifts - a couple very hard to buy for people are getting food this year. Sure it's the easy way out and a little more expensive, but instead of just buying 'stuff' I know they won't use they will receive something they will enjoy and use! 
• My gift list - it's normally a spreadsheet very detailed, not this year. One little piece with scribbles wrote all over it. Oh and that list that I had for the kids that had everything sorted and organized.... totally lost that. But I decided last night that I'm going to significantly cut down on how many gifts we give them anyhow... which means I already have birthday shopping done. woot! 
• My media fast is still going on and I am really enjoying it. I am taking the time to let my kids paint, complete crafts, and just enjoy them during this time of year. It's a wonderful opportunity to really explain the season. 

Our school memory verse for last week was: Phil 4:4 and I have been repeating it many times through out the day and finding joy in the little things.

I will rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say: Rejoice. 

Amen.

Finding Joy

As we come into a very busy week at our house, followed by another busy week, and then suddenly Christmas I am starting to feel things unravel. I am starting to feel like I'm losing control.  but.... I know that I do have control, I just have to grab it.  I have to focus on finding joy.

Here's what our week holds.

Monday: Daddy at work, late because of holiday party, will miss dinner at home, must stay up and finish church treasury stuff.
Tuesday: Daddy at work, church board meeting in the evening. Will miss bedtime.
Wednesday: Daddy at work, deer hanging in garage that must be cut up and processed, probably will miss bedtime.
Thursday: Daddy off - hunting all day, arrival time is completely dependent on whet,her the crew gets another deer.  Which also leads to when he might get to go to sleep. :)
Friday: Same as Thursday.
Saturday: Same as Thursday.

And that's just his stuff (I still have all my things that I have to do or attend and participate in), but having him gone really makes the week harder on mama for sure.  And I don't think it's because I have three children, I think it would feel the same if we only had one.  It just that our normal routine is going to be completely off and that makes the entire week rough for families of any size.

Joy.... about that joy thing.  I am trying to focus on the good things and have thanksgiving to see if it helps to brighten my days.

• I am thankful Daddy has a job and can work AND take off to hunt.
• I am thankful for his willingness to serve in the church and take on jobs that no one else wants. 
• I am thankful for the deer hanging and the prospect of having meat for our family in the coming year.
• I am thankful that because Daddy works and hunts I am able to stay home, imagine how bad this week would be if I was also working full-time. By Saturday I'd be in the fetal position. 
• I am thankful that I am not resentful or angry about the time he spends away from us for good things... there could be a whole lot worse things he could be away from the house for. 
• I am thankful that he struggles as well - that he too misses us and wishes he could be home but knows that these are things he must do so because of that I try hard to not complain or be grumpy. I try to put a smile on my face and move forward as much as I can. So that the precious few minutes he may have with me or the children and calm and enjoyable, not adding more stress to him already.
• I am thankful for my friends and family who support me and do listen to me when I am on the verge of going crazy since I'll be spending almost the entire week alone with 3 children ages 6 and under. :) Oh and this pregnant belly I keep forgetting I have which means I end up overdoing it. blah! 

How do you find joy in the every day things?

Working on my heart

There are some days I really wonder what God is up to and what big plan He has in store for me.  Not sure if any of you are active in a small group, very intimate bible study with other ladies but I am. And I am SO thankful for them.  God has been slowly working and tweaking things in my heart over the past couple months but boy last night.  Have you ever had one where you just sat and cried... sobbing cries where you couldn't even talk about what you were crying about?

Yep happened to me last night.

But I also learned lots just from sitting and listening to wiser and more experienced women. I realized that it's my choice to feel this way. It's my choice to be depressed and unhappy with things. It's MY choice to do something about it.

So today I am. I am embracing the day with joy and grace. I am preparing and mentally focusing on a good day. I am going to enjoy my children and the things we do.

In fact I'm throwing school out the window and we are going to bake Christmas cookies today. And by gosh we're going to enjoy it. ha! :)

Praying for each of you and the struggle you may be going through today.

Some Days

I had a dear friend tell me the other day that what she treasures about me is my honesty.... well girls wait till you read this post. 

Yesterday on Facebook I posted a link to a blog post called - Desperate Housewives–No Laughing Matter: Why Young Mothers Don’t Need God, They Need Help.  It's excellent and I had tears in my eyes while reading it. Even though my blog is supposed to be 'Along the Way to becoming a Proverbs 31 woman' I know that I will NEVER come close to being her. And this post speaks to that directly... that in our culture we are so pressured to be on our own and be responsible for the children we have birthed (I'm not talking about the # of children, just that we had them). There is so little support and encouragement that we often feel very alone during the long days of being home with our babies. 

This is such a brief section of her post but she could have been reading my inner thoughts exactly:

Once a woman with such a tender outlook on marriage and motherhood, of being a willing helpmate for a man and raising up precious babes, slowly over time, warping into an unrecognizable person, inside and out.

Crying.  Weeping.  Yelling.  Throwing things.  Coming closer to beating my children than I ever thought possible.  Sitting on the couch completely numb.  Looking out the window at the woman freely walking her dog outside, my heart lusting after the freedom, of being able to walk, of being able to leave the house without having to find shoes, pack a diaper bag, put on coats, buckle little people into carseats…

Years of living–no–not living–SURVIVING.

And then while conversing with dear friends on fb about this post I got distracted.  About 45 minutes earlier my mom had come over to get something and I thought I heard Naomi wake up from her nap but never came downstairs so I assumed she had fallen back to sleep.  As I was walking out to the garage to get dinner out of the freezer (don't judge), I heard something and immediately my stomach dropped.  This child is like the ones you only read about.... seriously.  I walk upstairs and find her on my dresser covered in lotion and Dr. Scholl's rough heel cream. c.o.v.e.r.e.d. her face, her hair, her clothes, my dresser, everything on my dresser.  She immediately covers her face and starts crying. I didn't even have to say anything - there were no words. It was like looking at those pictures of kids who got into baby powder and decorate the room just pure disbelief.

Let me explain that she was locked in her room for her nap because we've had this issue before when she was supposed to be going to sleep, I thought once she was asleep I was safe to unlock the door. guess not. Again please don't judge... but locking her in her room keeps her safe after some of her prior escapades she's been on while she was supposed to be napping - I think she's part ninja. With having a two story house and two other children I can't exactly sit outside her room for 2 hours while she naps.


While I don't completely agree with her title - I think we still need God because some ok most days He's the only way I get through it. I think it needs to say that we need Godly women to help us, minister to us, guide and teach us.

Baby Update Week 17

It's been another month and time for an update!

Things are finally going good - morning sickness is gone, energy levels are back up, and food intake has increased dramatically - just in time for the holidays. Yum Yum.

Which means that I must stick with my exercising if I don't plan on gaining way too much weight. I have been trying to walk at least one mile a day and on days all the kids cooperate I work towards 1.5 - 2 miles.  It's not easy and I would rather give up - but I'm also a total lover of sweets and baked goods and did I mention the holidays are coming up? yes... so I need to keep walking.

I'm in that stage where depending on what I have on I can either look really pregnant if I want to or I can just look like I've let myself go.  No one has asked me 'are you pregnant? or when are you due yet?' so I haven't hit that stage yet.

We are slowly getting more excited and my little ones are beyond excited! Naomi tried to shove her baby doll first up my shirt yesterday during Sunday school so the baby could be in my belly and after I said no to that - she tried to put it down my shirt so it could eat. :)  Going to get interesting for sure.  Lydia and Josiah are just anxious for the snow to come because they know once it melts the baby will be here.... um they are in for a rude realization though. 

So all in all things are going well and we'll have our next ultrasound next week and those are always fun.  I am so thankful that the sickness has passed and the energy as returned... these are those good couple months before everything gets uncomfortable again.  I'm also thrilled to be going on this journey again with so many friends and family - God is good!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

A big day and I wasn't even here

A couple weeks ago we went to the dentist and he informed Lydia that she had her first loose tooth. She was so excited about this.... us not so much. We know how she normally reacts so we were not looking forward to the event.

Then the time came for us to leave for the conference and we just prayed that her tooth would not fall out while we were gone.... truly we figured she would send the grandparents crazy if it happened.

Friday morning I called to check in and was told that she had pulled her tooth out. WHAT???? Seriously? yep, she just figured it was loose enough so she yanked it out with no prompting or anything. :) I guess Grandma was running the girls bath and Lydia just pulled it out.

Oh my. All went well and she hardly fussed I guess. While I'm sad I wasn't here for it I'm even more happy and proud that she handled it so well.

*update* - found out the 'real' story from Grandma! :) Guess she was running the bath but Lydia wanted to see her loose tooth so climbed on top of the bathroom counter and was messing with her tooth in front of the mirror and it fell out... and she completely started to panic and nearly hyperventilate - not sure why, maybe she thought she was in trouble? But Grandma saved the day by telling her that she was an official six-year old since her first tooth fell out and she calmed right down. :) 

So this is what I came home to..... my big six year old with her first tooth gone!

A treat - no trick

Today I was suffering with a headache. I was tired. I was just frazzled with packing and prepping... I've been emotionally drained for a couple weeks now.

I had to make a trip into the chiropractor. I did not want to but knew it was needed for the next couple days to go well and so that I was productive enough to leave tomorrow.

The kids were great. They behaved themselves at the doctor's, they played quietly and just over all were good.

So I decided to treat.  Took them to the big M and let them get a happy meal (which I hardly ever do - do you know how much they are now??? geez). Then I sat back and let them just be happy.  I did not rush, I did not yell, I did not push to eat all the food so we could go.... I just let them be.  And oh were they happy.  I even heard a 'happy, happy, happy' come out of one of them.  It was joy.  Every time that sentence wanted to slip out I forced myself to stop and just enjoy them. I vowed to not rush them because I had no legitimate reason to rush them. I had no where I had to be, I had no appointments waiting for me, I had no good reason to rush. And I was not going to do it.

They ate the best they have ever ate... in fact I had to go order more food and I was thrilled with that. I was joyed beyond belief they had such a good time. The joy will get me through the next couple days. It was well worth the $20 bucks.

And you know what. I feel great now. The headache isn't gone but for some reason it's just not bothering me quite as much as it was earlier. It was a great day. :)

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Follow me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter

Times are changing

My little baby Naomi isn't so much a baby anymore... and it happened so fast. She's been keeping us on our toes since she was born. You might remember the sudden and traumatic (for me) end to nursing that happened? Well she's done it again.

Last Thursday night she suddenly became absolutely petrified of her crib.  About 3am she learned how to crawl out of her crib and proceeded to stand in the middle of her room screaming. She wasn't so much crying as much as just screaming.  And if you would attempt to put her back into her crib well she reacted as though the crib was full of venomous snakes.  It was crazy to be honest. For almost 2 years she has been our star sleeper for the most part. Something else was going on but try to tell that to yourself when you're so tired you're crying on Friday morning.

We tried to put her into bed with us at some point on Thursday just so we could get some sleep but you see our children are very well sleep trained in that they have only ever slept in their cribs or beds... never with us. We may occasionally lay down with them in the evening but it's hardly ever until they actually fall asleep.  Which is terrific.... until you need them to sleep with you and then it's just a mess because they don't know how to sleep with you (that's why traveling is soooo hard for us - they only know how to sleep in their own beds by themselves).

So starting out Friday morning I was pretty much dreading the day because 1) I was tired and 2) I had no idea how I was going to get her nap because 1) she hated her crib and 2) she was able to crawl out of it now. 

*Side note this is and was not a disobedience problem - she was honestly terrified of her crib I am very cautious of trying to make sure I don't make excuses for my children but also having grace and understanding when things are just not right and it's definitely not the normal for my child.

She did eventually nap because well she just passed out she was as tired as I.  We were also able to get her to go to sleep in her crib on Friday night until she woke us up at 12:30 when she threw herself out of the crib. Thankfully she did settle back down and sleep with us until about 6 on Saturday when she decided it was time to start the day. *yawn* 

Saturday brought a whole change of plans when we decided it was time to just put the crib away (for awhile anyhow) and bring on the big girl bed.  Knowing the trouble we would probably have getting her used to a new bed we just went straight to a twin bed so that there was room for one of us to sleep with her for awhile.  Now I have absolutely no problem sleeping with my children and can sleep with them pretty darn well.  Nathan - not so much. He truly hasn't had any sleep in almost 4 days.  Things are getting a little cranky around here.

So it's Monday and here I sit in her room as she struggles to settle down and nap on her own. We are not going to because well I just can't get into the habit of laying down with her but knowing new habits take awhile to form we are giving her some grace and staying in the room with her until she's asleep - this was we can also make sure she stays in her bed. She is our climber.

What a whirlwind it's been lately..... but I am super thankful this happened now and not 2 weeks before the baby came, at least it's still manageable and hopefully in 7 months she'll get it out of her system. ha!

Old Schedule vs New Schedule

One day a couple weeks ago Nathan and I sat down to have a talk because evenings were not going well and everyone ended up fighting (us), pouting (kids), and just miserable (everyone).

We decided to revamp our evening routine and see if that made a difference.  It will soon be changing again because he starts winter hours (he works at a local university) but while the timing may our new routine won't.


Our old schedule was that he got home from work and I am frantically trying to have dinner ready and on the table, so therefore I'd have one or two or even three crying kids wanting something - a snack, to help, etc.  I'd try to send them off to play but that's when chaos would ensue and something would happen that I'd have to stop what I was doing and stop a fight, clean up a mess, etc.  Nathan would get home, dinner would be ready, the kids would want to be seeing him, I'd be yelling that dinner is ready let's eat and it was just craziness. pure craziness.  Then because dinner was early the kids wouldn't really be hungry, so they wouldn't want to eat, soon they would be begging to get down from the table and we would let them just to enjoy peace while we ate.  Then we'd clean up and all of a sudden one of them would be hungry, and we'd get distracted with something outside or a project. Soon the evening is gone and the most important thing had not been done - Bible lessons with daddy.

It just was not working out.

So we decided to revamp things a bit. 

Now when Nathan gets home, he greets everyone with a hug and kiss. And we have our 10 minutes of couch time to catch up on the day.  Really that's just where I spend 10 minutes recapping our day here at home, who behaved well, who did I have problems with, funny things happened, etc.  This way he feels like he was part of our day and knows what to expect throughout the evening (no nap=cranky baby or something along that line).  Then after couch time, he heads upstairs to change clothes and teach Bible lessons with the three little ones while I uninterrupted make dinner.  It's wonderful! So dinner is being pushed back about an hour but it's working well.  The children are hungrier so they are eating better, which means snack time before bed is truly that a snack and not another meal.  One thing we are finding with this new schedule is that we are more apt to leave the dishes in the sink after dinner because once we are all done eating it's easier to just go enjoy family time outside instead of rushing to lessons while I clean up.  But summer will be gone before we know it so for now I'm ok with leaving the dishes until after bedtime I'm sure in the winter when activities are inside it will be easier for one of us to clean up quicker.

We are both thrilled with how well this is going, of course not every night is going to happen this way and Thursdays for instance don't because I have ladies bible study that I attend. But knowing that this is our new normal has been extremely helpful in getting things accomplished and makes the entire evening more enjoyable.

It won't work for everyone and that's fine. You have to find what works best for YOU and your family.  I was trying to fit my family into an ideal that I thought I had to and it was a disaster. You as a family have to stand on your own two feet because each of you is so unique that it makes your own family unique and special.

Just another example of how thankful I am for Nathan and our open lines of communication, if we hadn't been willing to sit down and admit that something wasn't working and we needed to fix it our evenings would still be a mess and everyone would be miserable. Praise God for that!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Our special treat!

As most of you know our family is a one-income family.  We weren't always like this and when it happened we had to make some big changes.  One of them is doing fun (expensive) things as a family, but in the past years God has continued to provide for us.  We are annually invited to an event at Idlewild and we look forward to it every year.  This year was especially fun - it was the first time in 6 straight years I wasn't nursing a baby or pregnant with another one.  So we had very little restrictions or restraints to deal with.  It was awesome.

Although the weather was rainy most of the day and way too cold for the water park, poor Naomi only lasted about 30 minutes before her lips were blue, the day turned out perfect. We left early and didn't get home till late.  Usually Nathan or I would wear out and/or be beat down enough by the children that we would throw in the towel and come home early.  Not this year, we went into the day knowing that this is a special treat that only happens once a year and we need to enjoy it and approach the day with grace and mercy towards our children.  That doesn't mean excusing them for bad behavior or spoiling them, but being understanding of excitement, tiredness (Naomi never did nap), and schedules being off.

You know it's a long day when we finished it with stopping for a meal at 8:30 on the way home. That NEVER happens in our family. ha!

I am so thankful for this special treat and the fact we get to share it with family and friends alike.  Here are some pictures from our day.  Even though Naomi looks scared to death in most pictures she really did love everything. In fact at this age Lydia and Josiah never rode any rides so this truly was a great year because everyone was brave enough to ride! :)

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Follow me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter

Differences

So husbands and wives will always have some differences..... some big some small.  There is one that keeps resurfacing here in our relationship - our views on pets.

I grew up with pets - lots of them, they ranged from a rabbit, couple cats, quite a few dogs, hamsters, horses, a cow one time, a bucket full of baby mice (my mom is still waiting to payback my aunt & uncle for that one).

My husband - not so much. His pets consisted of a hunting dog outside, and two frogs that lived in a small bowl on top of the piano.  That was it.

Of course when we were dating that wasn't an issue cause we didn't live together. I still had my pets I was good.  Then we got married and suddenly there were no more pets.  And I was sad. So I wanted a puppy. No. A kitty? No. A rabbit? No. An elephant??? NO.  I was sad. I was sad for a long time..... and to my embarrassment I badgered a lot until finally I did wear my hubby down to get us a dog. A puppymill rescue puppy that is as dumb as he is cute - Rufus!

I was content for awhile, but I'd still love a cat......

Over the weekend I found a baby bunny in our garden.  Just went to step down and screamed (thought it was a rat at first!), scooped down and picked him up.  Oh I wanted to keep that bunny.  So did my children - I know it was a wild rabbit and we probably would have let him go eventually but he was sooooo cute!  But Nathan said no in more ways than one.... and having a bunny is not worth having marital issues at all.  So I let him go.... about 2 hours later I went back to the garden and found him again beside it. I'm guessing he's still in there somewhere.  I'm not giving him a 3rd chance, if I find him he's mine to keep this time! :)

Then we went to a birthday party yesterday and there were baby kittens.... sweet, adorable fuzzy kittens.  Oh... I wanted one of those. I would have taken one in a heartbeat.  I will admit to being sad, I really wanted a kitty.

So I told Nathan later on that if he ever did anything really really bad and needed to make up for it he could bring me a kitty home to say sorry. His response.

"Ok. I will never do anything wrong!!"

I do love my hubby.  And yes I do love him more than pets so I am willing to let it go (for now!).  I'm hoping that some day one of his little girls comes to him with that question and he has a harder time saying no to them than to me! :) ha ha

 What are some differences that you and your husband have? And how do you manage them?

Our journey

I've posted a bit about the struggles we have with our oldest daughter.  Most people just think she's out of control and unmanageable or we've just push over parents.  She doesn't have visible disabilities but you know that feeling as a mother that you just know something isn't right. That's us. 

After a couple trips to a new doctor, we have recently discovered that she should be left-side dominant but is switching which side she uses so it's confusing her processing system.  For instance she inputs audio on the right side, but visual on the left side - so things are getting completely jumbled in there when they try to be processed back out.  That's why there are such delays in obedience or following through with instructions because the commands are all mixed up and not passing through the right systems.  This was the first week we started her new exercises to help re-train her body to operate on the correct side.

It's not going to be easy and it's going to be a struggle almost every day but we will eventually get there.  In the long run maybe she would have been ok but by doing this it's going to save us a ton of frustration and trials in her future - once we get this figured out her learning and processing should be much easier for everyone.

I am so thankful for discovering this now and not 10 years down the road. This article was also very interesting and reveals some of our struggles for the child who cries the same if she drops a feather on her toe or drops a brick on her toe - Kids who feels too much.

Have any of you ever encountered something like this?

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

 

Follow me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter

Season of my life

so I know this is my current season of my life.  I'm not arguing that. I have three little ones - 5 1/2, 3 1/2, 1 1/2.... my life is busy. Very busy with just the everyday survival.  I spent more Sundays in the nursery then I do in the sanctuary. Granted I get to spend some time fellowshipping and catching up with other moms but boy is it hard sometimes. There are some days I don't have time for quiet time with God, there are some days that my prayers are just to help me get through the day. I look forward to church and being nourished with the Word.

I want to remember these days. I want in 20 years to not be the grandmother who says 'I've done my time, I did that when my children where that age, I served my time in the nursery'.  I want to be the grandmother or Titus 2 woman who comes along a struggling, tired, and overwhelmed mom and offer to watch her kids so she can have 45 minutes of alone time with God.  To give her some time to be refreshed and encouraged, knowing that on Monday my house will be quiet and empty and I'll be able to spend all day in God's word if I so desire.

I want to be that woman who ministers to young moms, who gives hugs, a surprise meal, and new journal or book, anything to let her know that I am thinking of her, understanding her, and praying for her.  I don't want to look harshly at a mom who's baby or child is fussy and make her feel like a failure. I want to look at her lovingly and say 'it will get better, these days will pass', I want her to know that I understand and I sympathize with her.  I don't want her to ever think that I had perfect children who never screwed up, I want her to know that there were nights I would sit in bed and cry because I just felt like a failure.  I want her to know that I too lost my temper and yelled too much and too often. I want her to know that life is hard and raising child is hard and raising children the right way is even harder.  I want to be there for her to listen and encourage not to tell her what she's doing wrong or the way I used to do it.

I want to remember these days and how I feel so I can be a help to someone in the future.

*Can you tell the children are winning today and I am feeling very discouraged?

Traveling

I am not a traveler.

Neither on my children.

Road trips are not fun in this house.

At one point before we got married Nathan always dreamed of us packing up and just driving for days and doing nothing much planned.... until we went on our first long drive and decided that's just not going to happen...... ever.

I am seriously a horrible traveler - I don't mind the being somewhere but I hate the getting to and coming back.

On Friday we took Lydia to her dr apt (more on that later) and it was just about a 5 hour drive one way.  We did it in one day.... 10+ hours driving... we left at 8:30 and got home at 10:30.... I was willing to walk the last hour it was that bad.  Plus Nathan was not feeling well so that just added insult to injury.  Lydia did great though - she's always been our best traveler.  She was such a trooper with all that traveling and having to go through evaluations at the dr.

I think my worst fault is that I feel like I'm wasting time in the car. I need to be doing something - but you can only read so long, and it's not really practical to take all my coupons and cut them. These are the times I wish I was crafty or handy that I could knit or crochet. I know I wouldn't be able to do that for the entire 10 hours but to split the time up would be so helpful.

What do you do on long trips? Any tips to keep sane when you hate to travel? Or any good tips on how to teach yourself how to be crafty with your hands? :)

My new favorite summer activity!

I have a confession to make.

I am a lazy mom who hates crafts.... painting especially.  It's so darn messy and time consuming for all the longer they ever actually paint. Even water colors.... they mix all the colors, then the colors get runny, and they all look brown eventually... plus you have to leave them out so they can dry before you can actually put them away - just not my cup of tea at all.

Then the other day we got a $10/$10 coupon in the mail for a local department store. I was stoked for something free.  Sent my dear hubby over lunch and after numerous phone calls (do you know how expensive one pair of underwear is anymore??? geesh) I told him to just forget about it.  Disappointed and sad that we had lost out on 10 free bucks.  But he came home with something for the children and I just threw it on the table not really looking at it.

Until today when my son looked up at me with those big blue eyes and asked 'we paint today'..... first reaction was no. Let's find something else to do but then I remembered that the item Nathan had bought were paint with water... ok how messy could they be.

I AM IN LOVE!

These things are so cool - you just rip each page out. Along the top they have 5 little squares of paint - you wet your brush, rub it on the paint square and voila you're painting with water! And the best part.... when they are done you just cut the strip off the top where the paint used to be and throw it away! The sheets still end up being regular size after you cut the strips of used up paint off so they aren't small by any means.  Melissa & Doug make them so you know they are going to be neat but I am seriously impressed.  I don't know how economical they will be in the long run but for this mama who just really doesn't like messing with paints they are perfect.... for vacations or trips to the grandparents they are amazing.... all-in-ones and absolutely wonderful.  I looked them up on Amazon and they have a huge selection of them, more than I realized that's for sure.  Here are just a couple that I'm going to be stocking up on ;)

 Has anyone else tried these - do you like them?

Follow me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter

See my disclosure policy here