Every year I make us a holiday schedule with one fun thing for us to do together each day (I got the idea from a friend several years ago). Mondays are baking, Tuesdays are movie, Wednesday is craft, Thursday is a fun outing and then Friday, Saturday and Sunday's are usually already full anyway with church activities, birthday parties, work parties, etc. So, yesterday was movie day!
We packed up our old pick-up and drove about an hour south and went to a drive in movie!! It was sooooo fun!! We brought pillows and our camping sleeping bags to keep us warm. I had the little ones in long-johns and footie pj's and everyone else just dressed really warm! We got there about 30 minutes before the movies started and we got our pallet made in the bed of the truck, ordered our food and were ready to go! After the first movie, Emi got cold and wanted to sit inside the truck, so William sat inside with her. Kalli ended up falling asleep soon into the second feature. It was cold, but nothing unbearable! There was only one other car there. We saw two shooting stars! It was awesome!! I highly recommend it to anyone with kids :)
Of course, today, Emi has a fever and a tummy ache! Can't win 'em all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Tree Day!
I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We were able to visit with family and have an awesome, relaxing few days!
It has been our tradition for the past 7 years to go and cut our Christmas tree down the day after Thanksgiving. Boy has that added some excitement to the season. The first year we did not realize how big the trees would actually be once we got them home and our first one took up half of our living room! A couple of years later we got one on which spiders had gone into winter rest on and once the warmth of the house toasted them up, up they awoke!! They were everywhere!! Last year we decided on a smaller tree and we all said after that that this year we would choose the biggest one we could find.
In case you have never seen my house, it is very small for a family of 6, barely coming in over 1400 square feet! (but I must admit that I love my house!!) We do not have a huge living room, but we like Christmas trees! Some may think us crazy, but it is something we enjoy doing and having for a month every year. (another note is that it comes down at sunset on Christmas day!! I can only take it for so long :)
So on Friday we all bundled up in our winter gear.
Now there have been a few years that we were able to go in shorts, so it was nice for it to feel seasonable!! We headed to the tree farm about an hour away. Our normal trip ended up taking an hour and a half because Kalli realised that if she said she had to potty, it would get her out of her car seat!!
So we get there and head out on the tractor ride to find our tree. This is the first year that within 10 minutes we found "the one"!!
We knew it was big, but it was exactly what we wanted!! So William got the saw and begin to cut...and cut...and cut...and cut! It took a while to get this one down, but with one good, hard shove from the girls, down it came.
We hauled it to the road so we could be picked up by the tractor!
They shook it and put a hole in the bottom so that it would fit in our stand and we headed home!
Friday evening we drug it in and attached it to the stand and sat her up! Down she came!! It was so tall that it pulled over our stand. We laid it down and drilled another hole to try and steady it. Again, down it came! I was beginning to fret at this time! So we took it down one more time and cut about six inches off of the bottom and drilled a new hole again and this time it remained standing, but it was really, really, really crooked!! I was so upset and this is where our evening went from funny bad, to stinky bad! I took a day God had blessed us with and messed it up! I was a bit at the end of my rope and the tree fiasco was not helping. I can't remember now what happened, but I said something completely unnecessary, very hurtful and I broke my girls heart. I said in my exasperation with whatever happened that because of their actions, I did not like our tradition anymore. Actually, I was not even that nice about it! I knew as the words were coming out of my mouth that I should clamp down, but the deed was done.
Now, did I quickly admit my wrong and ask for forgiveness?? Nooooo, I had to go into the kitchen and pout a bit and try and convenience myself that it was not as horrible as it sounded! I soon apologized and told them what I said was a result of my choosing to act irrational and my feelings were my choice and had nothing to do with them. They forgave me and we had fun, but oh, how I know I broke a little something in their heart that I can't change no matter how much I say I am sorry. I know we all mess up, but sometimes I forget that my mess ups are affecting someones life and are not to be looked upon lightly. It still makes me so sad to remember that instant of my mouth spouting off and the look of hurt in their eyes!
On to happier things! We were able to fix the tree, sorta! We decided that since it was a bit on the tilted side, we would work with it by allowing it to become a natural, homemade tree! We made all of the ornaments on it today! We had so much fun. We started before lunch and worked all day!
Every year on the Saturday after we cut our tree, we have a tree decorating party in the evening. We share a dinner of little sandwiches, chips and dip, fruit, crackers and cheese, punch and some yummy sweet!! Then the girls decorate the tree. We had a great time this year and the homemade ornaments look great! The girls worked really hard and God was able to take us off of the path that my hurtful mouth could have put us on and led us down a path of fellowship and a great time being together!
Kalli reminds us that family is a gift from God!!
This is a picture of our beautiful tree, made with love from God above and decorated with love by our family!!
It has been our tradition for the past 7 years to go and cut our Christmas tree down the day after Thanksgiving. Boy has that added some excitement to the season. The first year we did not realize how big the trees would actually be once we got them home and our first one took up half of our living room! A couple of years later we got one on which spiders had gone into winter rest on and once the warmth of the house toasted them up, up they awoke!! They were everywhere!! Last year we decided on a smaller tree and we all said after that that this year we would choose the biggest one we could find.
In case you have never seen my house, it is very small for a family of 6, barely coming in over 1400 square feet! (but I must admit that I love my house!!) We do not have a huge living room, but we like Christmas trees! Some may think us crazy, but it is something we enjoy doing and having for a month every year. (another note is that it comes down at sunset on Christmas day!! I can only take it for so long :)
So on Friday we all bundled up in our winter gear.
Now there have been a few years that we were able to go in shorts, so it was nice for it to feel seasonable!! We headed to the tree farm about an hour away. Our normal trip ended up taking an hour and a half because Kalli realised that if she said she had to potty, it would get her out of her car seat!!
So we get there and head out on the tractor ride to find our tree. This is the first year that within 10 minutes we found "the one"!!
We knew it was big, but it was exactly what we wanted!! So William got the saw and begin to cut...and cut...and cut...and cut! It took a while to get this one down, but with one good, hard shove from the girls, down it came.
We hauled it to the road so we could be picked up by the tractor!
They shook it and put a hole in the bottom so that it would fit in our stand and we headed home!
Friday evening we drug it in and attached it to the stand and sat her up! Down she came!! It was so tall that it pulled over our stand. We laid it down and drilled another hole to try and steady it. Again, down it came! I was beginning to fret at this time! So we took it down one more time and cut about six inches off of the bottom and drilled a new hole again and this time it remained standing, but it was really, really, really crooked!! I was so upset and this is where our evening went from funny bad, to stinky bad! I took a day God had blessed us with and messed it up! I was a bit at the end of my rope and the tree fiasco was not helping. I can't remember now what happened, but I said something completely unnecessary, very hurtful and I broke my girls heart. I said in my exasperation with whatever happened that because of their actions, I did not like our tradition anymore. Actually, I was not even that nice about it! I knew as the words were coming out of my mouth that I should clamp down, but the deed was done.
Now, did I quickly admit my wrong and ask for forgiveness?? Nooooo, I had to go into the kitchen and pout a bit and try and convenience myself that it was not as horrible as it sounded! I soon apologized and told them what I said was a result of my choosing to act irrational and my feelings were my choice and had nothing to do with them. They forgave me and we had fun, but oh, how I know I broke a little something in their heart that I can't change no matter how much I say I am sorry. I know we all mess up, but sometimes I forget that my mess ups are affecting someones life and are not to be looked upon lightly. It still makes me so sad to remember that instant of my mouth spouting off and the look of hurt in their eyes!
On to happier things! We were able to fix the tree, sorta! We decided that since it was a bit on the tilted side, we would work with it by allowing it to become a natural, homemade tree! We made all of the ornaments on it today! We had so much fun. We started before lunch and worked all day!
Every year on the Saturday after we cut our tree, we have a tree decorating party in the evening. We share a dinner of little sandwiches, chips and dip, fruit, crackers and cheese, punch and some yummy sweet!! Then the girls decorate the tree. We had a great time this year and the homemade ornaments look great! The girls worked really hard and God was able to take us off of the path that my hurtful mouth could have put us on and led us down a path of fellowship and a great time being together!
Kalli reminds us that family is a gift from God!!
This is a picture of our beautiful tree, made with love from God above and decorated with love by our family!!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Gooble, Gooble!
I Am Blessed
I am blessed everyday
By a creator who chooses to look my way
From the screams of my children,
To the mess in my room,
I am blessed today.
I wake to see another sunrise
I wake to hear another child cry
From the dirty laundry,
To the money that is not there,
I am blessed today.
Struggles and heartache seem to pour down
Bringing with them a tear and a frown
Today I will choose to reach for His hand
For He is the pier that leads to dry land
The land is full of the struggles above
But the laundry, mess and money (or lack thereof)
They are but blessings from my Father who knows
That it is here where a child grows.
My girls will learn from my struggles and heartache in a way
That will point them to Jesus everyday
From the squeak in the car
To the mess on the floor,
I am blessed today!
I pray everyone has a wonderful celebration with their family! Let some things roll off of your back, let nothing roll off of your tongue, and let much yummy food roll into your tummy!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
I am blessed everyday
By a creator who chooses to look my way
From the screams of my children,
To the mess in my room,
I am blessed today.
I wake to see another sunrise
I wake to hear another child cry
From the dirty laundry,
To the money that is not there,
I am blessed today.
Struggles and heartache seem to pour down
Bringing with them a tear and a frown
Today I will choose to reach for His hand
For He is the pier that leads to dry land
The land is full of the struggles above
But the laundry, mess and money (or lack thereof)
They are but blessings from my Father who knows
That it is here where a child grows.
My girls will learn from my struggles and heartache in a way
That will point them to Jesus everyday
From the squeak in the car
To the mess on the floor,
I am blessed today!
I pray everyone has a wonderful celebration with their family! Let some things roll off of your back, let nothing roll off of your tongue, and let much yummy food roll into your tummy!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
When Push Comes to Shove!
What a weekend! Tori and Emi left on Friday to spend the weekend with my dad and step mom. They were meeting my stepsister and her family for a fun weekend at a state park in a cabin. Last I talked to them, my dad had both girls out right before sunset on the look for some wild animals! They are having a blast.
Yesterday Brianna attended a high school enrichment seminar put on by one of the colleges in the area. She and two of her friends were attending and she was really excited. When I went to pick her up, she looked so excited, like she had just received some huge surprise. Well, it was the physics class. She went on and on forever about how much she loved it. She told me that she went up after the class to tell the professors how much she LOVED the class and they talked with her a while and told her she was a natural. You would have thought the child won homecoming queen! Ever since they covered a little bit of physics in her chemistry class, she had been asking to take Biology over the summer so she could do physics next year and now she is an official physics fool!!
One of the classes she went to was over college admittance. She said at one point they were talking about scholarships for the top 10% and she raised her hand to ask how that worked for homeschoolers. She said the entire class went quiet (for the first time) and the teacher said she did not know. One kid in the back raised his hand to ask what she had asked. She said it was really funny and then after that all of the kids came up to ask her about homeschooling. She said all she did was smile when they talked about how cool it would be to be able to sleep all day and stay in pj's (she starts Latin at 6am T - Fri and we stay in Pj's maybe 4 times a year!).
She found a couple of things troublesome. First was the fact that there were so many kids that talked during the classes making it, at times, hard to hear. And the biggest thing was walking between classes. She said it was pretty funny to see her and her friends walking and every time someone would bump into them they would say sorry and excuse me and everyone else, for the most part, just pushed their way through. She asked if this is how it is in high school when they change classes and I told her it was, for the most part and she thought that would make for a really stressful day. I told her she would get used to it.
I worry sometimes when she does stuff like this that she will feel uncomfortable or out of place being that she homeschools. It always make me happy when it turns out good. I also find it interesting the new perspective that it brings. I never would have thought twice about the pushing between classes, that is just how it is.
Anyway, it went very well. She had a great time, made some new friends and learned a lot of really neat stuff!
While Brianna was at her seminar, the two other mom's and I planned to grab breakfast and do some shopping. We ended up staying at the breakfast restaurant and visiting for 5 hours!! It was great! I did not know either of them very well and I enjoyed the time to know them better.
Last night Kalli and Bri spent the night with my mom and stepdad so William and I spent the evening alone! We had a really good time. William is such a good man and I take him for granted way too often. I am praying to change that.
Yesterday Brianna attended a high school enrichment seminar put on by one of the colleges in the area. She and two of her friends were attending and she was really excited. When I went to pick her up, she looked so excited, like she had just received some huge surprise. Well, it was the physics class. She went on and on forever about how much she loved it. She told me that she went up after the class to tell the professors how much she LOVED the class and they talked with her a while and told her she was a natural. You would have thought the child won homecoming queen! Ever since they covered a little bit of physics in her chemistry class, she had been asking to take Biology over the summer so she could do physics next year and now she is an official physics fool!!
One of the classes she went to was over college admittance. She said at one point they were talking about scholarships for the top 10% and she raised her hand to ask how that worked for homeschoolers. She said the entire class went quiet (for the first time) and the teacher said she did not know. One kid in the back raised his hand to ask what she had asked. She said it was really funny and then after that all of the kids came up to ask her about homeschooling. She said all she did was smile when they talked about how cool it would be to be able to sleep all day and stay in pj's (she starts Latin at 6am T - Fri and we stay in Pj's maybe 4 times a year!).
She found a couple of things troublesome. First was the fact that there were so many kids that talked during the classes making it, at times, hard to hear. And the biggest thing was walking between classes. She said it was pretty funny to see her and her friends walking and every time someone would bump into them they would say sorry and excuse me and everyone else, for the most part, just pushed their way through. She asked if this is how it is in high school when they change classes and I told her it was, for the most part and she thought that would make for a really stressful day. I told her she would get used to it.
I worry sometimes when she does stuff like this that she will feel uncomfortable or out of place being that she homeschools. It always make me happy when it turns out good. I also find it interesting the new perspective that it brings. I never would have thought twice about the pushing between classes, that is just how it is.
Anyway, it went very well. She had a great time, made some new friends and learned a lot of really neat stuff!
While Brianna was at her seminar, the two other mom's and I planned to grab breakfast and do some shopping. We ended up staying at the breakfast restaurant and visiting for 5 hours!! It was great! I did not know either of them very well and I enjoyed the time to know them better.
Last night Kalli and Bri spent the night with my mom and stepdad so William and I spent the evening alone! We had a really good time. William is such a good man and I take him for granted way too often. I am praying to change that.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Parenting Rules
When Brianna was born, I think I read every parenting book ever written. I was overwhelmed by the differences in the advice and the research that backed everyone up. After Tori was born I read all the books again and it was then that we decided no more books (parenting books that is :). Each book had seemingly great advice, but each book had different advice. I did not know what I should be doing or not doing! Over the years we have come up with our own general parenting guidelines. We have also become acutely aware of the fact that each child is different and if one way of consequences works on one child, great! It probably will not work on the next one!!
Our rules as parents are:
1. Always let the child know that without God, we know, succeed, teach nothing! We let them know that all we do for and to them is something that we have prayed about, it is not just to torture them. He is the ultimate parenting authority.
2. Respond to needs in some way immediatley, teach that wants can be put on hold.
3. Never let them win during a power of wills until they are old enough to have the ability of reason, then you can work out a compromise. Pick and choose the battle of wills carefully as a parent.
4. Allow them to make as many choices as possible while their choices will not have life-changing consequences. This allows them to experience consequences and work on better choices while they can. Begin early to teach them to proper way to make a choice.
5. Don't let them make a choice if you are not willing to let them face the consequence of that choice. If they make a bad choice and you pull them out of it, it starts a really bad pattern!
6. Listen! If you listen when they talk when they are young, they will be more likely to talk to you when they are older.
7. Teach them early on that we, the parents, are not all knowing and all powerfull, but God is. We will not always be there to help them, but He will.
8. Allow home to be a safe place. If home is a peaceful place to come, they will be more inclined to come!
9. Pray about and know when to allow for independance. If they do not learn how to be independant until they are out of the home, you will not be there to help guide them.
10. Don't just tell them that they are special and capable, show them! Chores are great for showing children that they are needed in a family and are capable. Find something they are successful in (like a sport, or a hobby) and be their encourager.
These, by all means, don't cover everything and they will not be good for everyone, but it is what works for us as general guidelines. We are not successful in all of them all of the time, but it is good to know what we are striving for!!
Our rules as parents are:
1. Always let the child know that without God, we know, succeed, teach nothing! We let them know that all we do for and to them is something that we have prayed about, it is not just to torture them. He is the ultimate parenting authority.
2. Respond to needs in some way immediatley, teach that wants can be put on hold.
3. Never let them win during a power of wills until they are old enough to have the ability of reason, then you can work out a compromise. Pick and choose the battle of wills carefully as a parent.
4. Allow them to make as many choices as possible while their choices will not have life-changing consequences. This allows them to experience consequences and work on better choices while they can. Begin early to teach them to proper way to make a choice.
5. Don't let them make a choice if you are not willing to let them face the consequence of that choice. If they make a bad choice and you pull them out of it, it starts a really bad pattern!
6. Listen! If you listen when they talk when they are young, they will be more likely to talk to you when they are older.
7. Teach them early on that we, the parents, are not all knowing and all powerfull, but God is. We will not always be there to help them, but He will.
8. Allow home to be a safe place. If home is a peaceful place to come, they will be more inclined to come!
9. Pray about and know when to allow for independance. If they do not learn how to be independant until they are out of the home, you will not be there to help guide them.
10. Don't just tell them that they are special and capable, show them! Chores are great for showing children that they are needed in a family and are capable. Find something they are successful in (like a sport, or a hobby) and be their encourager.
These, by all means, don't cover everything and they will not be good for everyone, but it is what works for us as general guidelines. We are not successful in all of them all of the time, but it is good to know what we are striving for!!
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Toothpicks!
Kalli swallowed a piece of a toothpick today, or we are pretty sure that is what she swallowed! She was mildly choking, she could breath, but you could tell that something was in there. We tried to figure out what it was, found out and called the doctor who wanted us to go to the ER. We decided to try CareNow as I know they can take Xrays there.
Apparently there is a risk when you swallow a toothpick that it can puncture something. They took Xrays and talked to a doctor at Children's who wanted her to go there for a scopey thing. The doctor from Care Now, someone from my church by the way (how cool was that!), wanted to contact a specialist to make sure before she sent us to do something so invasive (good thing cause there was no way I was going to do that without some symptoms or a really good explanation to help me understand, especially after all Bri went through a couple of years ago!). We talked to the specialist, he explained things to us very well and said he was comfortable with us just watching her at home for symptoms of a puncture to develop and to go on poop patrol to watch for the little booger to come out!! She has to go in in two days for another Xray to check again on the progress of the toothpick!! So we are to keep a close watch on her today and tomorrow...fun!! By the way, the toothpicks were for an art project we did yesterday making sculptures with marshmallows and toothpicks. Did not think about choking on it!!
Anyways, we had to miss REVOLVE tonight which I am really bummed about! Have a good night!!
Apparently there is a risk when you swallow a toothpick that it can puncture something. They took Xrays and talked to a doctor at Children's who wanted her to go there for a scopey thing. The doctor from Care Now, someone from my church by the way (how cool was that!), wanted to contact a specialist to make sure before she sent us to do something so invasive (good thing cause there was no way I was going to do that without some symptoms or a really good explanation to help me understand, especially after all Bri went through a couple of years ago!). We talked to the specialist, he explained things to us very well and said he was comfortable with us just watching her at home for symptoms of a puncture to develop and to go on poop patrol to watch for the little booger to come out!! She has to go in in two days for another Xray to check again on the progress of the toothpick!! So we are to keep a close watch on her today and tomorrow...fun!! By the way, the toothpicks were for an art project we did yesterday making sculptures with marshmallows and toothpicks. Did not think about choking on it!!
Anyways, we had to miss REVOLVE tonight which I am really bummed about! Have a good night!!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
It's Over!
I did it! I went in today and not only was it okay, but it was much better than I expected. It was a blessing that I would have missed if I had not gone and there was a change of plan, but all is good.
My leg is feeling better today. Not completely better, but better! Hooray :)
Everything I have filled this page with so far has just been mush and I have taken advantage of the delete key, so I think I will leave it at this for tonight!
Have an outstanding evening!
My leg is feeling better today. Not completely better, but better! Hooray :)
Everything I have filled this page with so far has just been mush and I have taken advantage of the delete key, so I think I will leave it at this for tonight!
Have an outstanding evening!
Giant Purple People Pleaser!
Yup, that is me! But today, I am going to do something that I feel will make someone upset with me.
Tori is switching gymnastics teams. There are several reasons for the switch, but we are very excited for her to begin working with her new team today. My first inclination is to pull Kalli from her class as well so I don't have to face the gym anymore. But Kalli loves her class sooo much.
William called yesterday to inform them, but I am going to go in today for Kalli's class. I know this sounds like no big deal, but for me, it is huge! I am terrified. I know it is just a business and I am a customer, but these people there have become my friends and I don't think they will completely understand why we are doing what we are, but that is okay. I know they will not be rude or throw things at me, but it is the silent uneasiness that I dread!!
People pleasing is a selfish act. On the outside it sounds like a nice person who wants everyone to be happy, but it is selfish. It makes everything about me and I am really working on getting rid of that in my life.
On Sunday's, I help with a children's chorus at my church. We are having adults come in and sing two of the songs with us this year. I am very excited about it for several reasons. First, I think it shows the children how important they are! Second, I like the idea of involving more than just one group of people.
I took on doing this because I love music! Seriously, I way love music and I wanted to share that with the kids. On Sunday when the adults came for the first time to practice with us, I was so nervous about what they would think or how I might make myself look like a dork, that I completely messed the kids up several times! Everyone had to suffer for my selfishness. I should not care if I look like a dork, but I did and I do!
Anyway, I just wanted to share that I am going to be more intentional with my actions in this area, or at least I am going to try. Hopefully I will still have some friends when I get it all worked out!!
Tori is switching gymnastics teams. There are several reasons for the switch, but we are very excited for her to begin working with her new team today. My first inclination is to pull Kalli from her class as well so I don't have to face the gym anymore. But Kalli loves her class sooo much.
William called yesterday to inform them, but I am going to go in today for Kalli's class. I know this sounds like no big deal, but for me, it is huge! I am terrified. I know it is just a business and I am a customer, but these people there have become my friends and I don't think they will completely understand why we are doing what we are, but that is okay. I know they will not be rude or throw things at me, but it is the silent uneasiness that I dread!!
People pleasing is a selfish act. On the outside it sounds like a nice person who wants everyone to be happy, but it is selfish. It makes everything about me and I am really working on getting rid of that in my life.
On Sunday's, I help with a children's chorus at my church. We are having adults come in and sing two of the songs with us this year. I am very excited about it for several reasons. First, I think it shows the children how important they are! Second, I like the idea of involving more than just one group of people.
I took on doing this because I love music! Seriously, I way love music and I wanted to share that with the kids. On Sunday when the adults came for the first time to practice with us, I was so nervous about what they would think or how I might make myself look like a dork, that I completely messed the kids up several times! Everyone had to suffer for my selfishness. I should not care if I look like a dork, but I did and I do!
Anyway, I just wanted to share that I am going to be more intentional with my actions in this area, or at least I am going to try. Hopefully I will still have some friends when I get it all worked out!!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Birth Story #4 Cont'd
If you are just starting, go and read the post below this one so you will know what has been going on!! I have a little spare time so in order to not keep Heather waiting...:)
Once again, I want to clarify something. Anything I mention here that I was against or felt was wrong for me is pertaining just to that situation and just to me. It is nothing I am against or feel is wrong, but it was not the plan and I was fighting the plan! Different pregnancy, different time, different plan and things could have been much different. I am not talking here about opinion, just retelling a story. I hope you all understand what I am saying.
Okay, we have this wreck...
Everyone is okay and we begin the insurancy stuff! It was such an easy process that it was just another way we were able to see God encouraging us to rest in His plan. I go to the rental car place to pick up some transportation while our SUV is being fixed. The lady offers me a Jeep SUV. I felt funny about this so I asked her if she had anything else because I was a little afraid of driving after having the wreck and she offered us a minivan. Great! We took it. I took out that insurance that they always offer you, called my insurance agent the next day and was assured that statistically I would probably never use it so to drop it. I did.
Several days later we meet my dad for a nutritious Taco Bueno dinner before Girl Scouts. As we leave the restaurant, Emaleigh cries that she does not want to get in the car, she is scared of another wreck. After we get in, I explain to her that she should not be afraid because we were safer then than we were two weeks ago because it was a statistic improbability that we would have two wrecks in one week (Huge Mistake!!). Once again I look at my plan and my boundaries and my stats!
As we are on our way, all of a sudden a car comes out of a parking lot going around 30 mph. Witnesses say she was on a cell phone and did not slow down to look whatsoever. We were in the center lane of three. She slammed into us where the passenger door is. This sent us into the far lane of traffic where we were hit on that side by another van. I looked over after the other van hit us and I saw a lady driving the second before she slammed head on into one of those huge metal utility poles. The original lady that hit us had spun around after impact and hit us a third time from behind. The girls were all screaming, I was crying and trying to get out of the car to get to the girls. I panicked and needed out! William was in the drivers seat and he was able to get out on his side and get the girls out and then I climbed out. We were all settled on the side of the road...again and the sirens came. On a funny note, our wreck was close to the city line so we had two sets of emergency help arrive.
People are helping the other van unload their four kids as well and other people gathered to make sure the lady that caused it all did not leave. I guess as she sped through the parking lot, she had already made several people mad. They were yelling at her and I felt really sorry for her. Anyway...our rental van was totalled. It almost sheared the drivers door completely off. The other van's front was cut in half by the pole. One driver had rib pain due to the airbag and I had hit my head on the side of the van, but we were all okay...again! We were terrified, but okay! God has a plan. I thought again about this baby that I was carrying and felt so blessed.
We got a ride home after the accident and as I walked into the door, the phone was ringing. It was Williams brother calling to tell us that Williams dad had unexpectedly died. Honestly, I thought it was a joke, but it was not. I can only imagine the emotions that William had to deal with. His mom had died 9 months before, his wife was pregnant, we had 2 wrecks and no car. We are blessed. It did not feel like it, but we were blessed.
There was a message on the answering machine from the auto shop that was fixing our car. They had told us it would take around three weeks to fix our car, but they were leaving a message saying it was done early. We had transportation to William's hometown. I had a sonogram scheduled for the next day because they had been unable to find the baby's heartbeat after the first wreck, they found it, we were blessed! If we had been driving an SUV instead of the van, the impact would have caused us to roll and we would have gone into oncoming traffic, we were blessed.
I could not see all of the blessings at the time. In fact, there were times that I felt very alone, but God was showing us His plan. When you are in His plan, there are blessings, there is grace and there is love.
Things eventually calmed down. The pregnancy was going pretty good. I enjoyed it like I had not enjoyed any of the other ones. I appreciated every day and celebrated the life that was growing. The past pregnancies, I was so caught up in how I did or did not feel, what I needed to do and stuff like that, that I did not take the time to appreciate the miracle of it all. I prayed and prayed for the baby.
No preeclampsia this time! My perinatologist kept telling me it would come back, but I knew better! All was well until...my selfish ego stepped in...again :)
I did not want to be induced again. I had prayed about this and really felt that it was important. One day after my due date, my wonderful doctor wanted to induce. If I had been courageous and less concerned about what she would think about me, I would have asked her to wait. I did not and I had barely made it out of her office before I knew that I had sinned. (I think I need to clarify here that my sin was in my not stepping up and being bold, not the induction itself) I knew this was not in what part of God's plan that He had revealed to me, but I was selfish and let my ego control.
After getting home, I talked to William and I found many ways to justify following what my doctor said, but deep down, I knew I should call her...I did not.
Induction day arrives and they get things started. After 8 hours there was no progress, she broke my water and nothing, but muconium (which is not the best thing). We keep on, but eventually she comes to me and says that the baby will not drop at all, she is showing signs of distress and I needed a c-section. She explained that she knew I did not want one, but the baby's well being depended on it and she would be back with papers for me to sign. I cried and cried. William suggested that we pray.
I am praying and begging God to fix this, please let the baby drop! I was angry and told God that I had stood on His word throughout this time and He was not helping me! I told Him that this was not part of the plan!
I instantly felt His reply. No, this was not part of His plan, but I had decided to go with my plan. "Oh God!" I prayed, "please forgive me. I know it was sinful of me and I am so sorry!" I repented with every fiber of my being. Many times I repent because I have been caught, but with this, with this I felt shame. He had carried me and blessed me so much and I had, yet again, taken a hammer and pounded the nails in Him. I was so sorry!
At that instant, I felt the baby drop. William was still praying and I told Him to get the nurse. He tried to reassure me that the surgery would be fine, but I told him he was misunderstanding me, the baby was coming.
The nurse and doctor came in with the paper work. I told her what I felt, she checked and out came Kalli! They had nothing prepared in the room, it was awesome! It was the most beautiful thing. I held her and cried and cried! She had swallowed a bit of meconium, but she was fine.
Not only did God teach me about His plan through this pregnancy, but He taught me about true repentance and grace.
When this began, it was not part of the plan and I could not see how it ever would be. Now, I can't imagine any other plan! I am blessed!!
Once again, I want to clarify something. Anything I mention here that I was against or felt was wrong for me is pertaining just to that situation and just to me. It is nothing I am against or feel is wrong, but it was not the plan and I was fighting the plan! Different pregnancy, different time, different plan and things could have been much different. I am not talking here about opinion, just retelling a story. I hope you all understand what I am saying.
Okay, we have this wreck...
Everyone is okay and we begin the insurancy stuff! It was such an easy process that it was just another way we were able to see God encouraging us to rest in His plan. I go to the rental car place to pick up some transportation while our SUV is being fixed. The lady offers me a Jeep SUV. I felt funny about this so I asked her if she had anything else because I was a little afraid of driving after having the wreck and she offered us a minivan. Great! We took it. I took out that insurance that they always offer you, called my insurance agent the next day and was assured that statistically I would probably never use it so to drop it. I did.
Several days later we meet my dad for a nutritious Taco Bueno dinner before Girl Scouts. As we leave the restaurant, Emaleigh cries that she does not want to get in the car, she is scared of another wreck. After we get in, I explain to her that she should not be afraid because we were safer then than we were two weeks ago because it was a statistic improbability that we would have two wrecks in one week (Huge Mistake!!). Once again I look at my plan and my boundaries and my stats!
As we are on our way, all of a sudden a car comes out of a parking lot going around 30 mph. Witnesses say she was on a cell phone and did not slow down to look whatsoever. We were in the center lane of three. She slammed into us where the passenger door is. This sent us into the far lane of traffic where we were hit on that side by another van. I looked over after the other van hit us and I saw a lady driving the second before she slammed head on into one of those huge metal utility poles. The original lady that hit us had spun around after impact and hit us a third time from behind. The girls were all screaming, I was crying and trying to get out of the car to get to the girls. I panicked and needed out! William was in the drivers seat and he was able to get out on his side and get the girls out and then I climbed out. We were all settled on the side of the road...again and the sirens came. On a funny note, our wreck was close to the city line so we had two sets of emergency help arrive.
People are helping the other van unload their four kids as well and other people gathered to make sure the lady that caused it all did not leave. I guess as she sped through the parking lot, she had already made several people mad. They were yelling at her and I felt really sorry for her. Anyway...our rental van was totalled. It almost sheared the drivers door completely off. The other van's front was cut in half by the pole. One driver had rib pain due to the airbag and I had hit my head on the side of the van, but we were all okay...again! We were terrified, but okay! God has a plan. I thought again about this baby that I was carrying and felt so blessed.
We got a ride home after the accident and as I walked into the door, the phone was ringing. It was Williams brother calling to tell us that Williams dad had unexpectedly died. Honestly, I thought it was a joke, but it was not. I can only imagine the emotions that William had to deal with. His mom had died 9 months before, his wife was pregnant, we had 2 wrecks and no car. We are blessed. It did not feel like it, but we were blessed.
There was a message on the answering machine from the auto shop that was fixing our car. They had told us it would take around three weeks to fix our car, but they were leaving a message saying it was done early. We had transportation to William's hometown. I had a sonogram scheduled for the next day because they had been unable to find the baby's heartbeat after the first wreck, they found it, we were blessed! If we had been driving an SUV instead of the van, the impact would have caused us to roll and we would have gone into oncoming traffic, we were blessed.
I could not see all of the blessings at the time. In fact, there were times that I felt very alone, but God was showing us His plan. When you are in His plan, there are blessings, there is grace and there is love.
Things eventually calmed down. The pregnancy was going pretty good. I enjoyed it like I had not enjoyed any of the other ones. I appreciated every day and celebrated the life that was growing. The past pregnancies, I was so caught up in how I did or did not feel, what I needed to do and stuff like that, that I did not take the time to appreciate the miracle of it all. I prayed and prayed for the baby.
No preeclampsia this time! My perinatologist kept telling me it would come back, but I knew better! All was well until...my selfish ego stepped in...again :)
I did not want to be induced again. I had prayed about this and really felt that it was important. One day after my due date, my wonderful doctor wanted to induce. If I had been courageous and less concerned about what she would think about me, I would have asked her to wait. I did not and I had barely made it out of her office before I knew that I had sinned. (I think I need to clarify here that my sin was in my not stepping up and being bold, not the induction itself) I knew this was not in what part of God's plan that He had revealed to me, but I was selfish and let my ego control.
After getting home, I talked to William and I found many ways to justify following what my doctor said, but deep down, I knew I should call her...I did not.
Induction day arrives and they get things started. After 8 hours there was no progress, she broke my water and nothing, but muconium (which is not the best thing). We keep on, but eventually she comes to me and says that the baby will not drop at all, she is showing signs of distress and I needed a c-section. She explained that she knew I did not want one, but the baby's well being depended on it and she would be back with papers for me to sign. I cried and cried. William suggested that we pray.
I am praying and begging God to fix this, please let the baby drop! I was angry and told God that I had stood on His word throughout this time and He was not helping me! I told Him that this was not part of the plan!
I instantly felt His reply. No, this was not part of His plan, but I had decided to go with my plan. "Oh God!" I prayed, "please forgive me. I know it was sinful of me and I am so sorry!" I repented with every fiber of my being. Many times I repent because I have been caught, but with this, with this I felt shame. He had carried me and blessed me so much and I had, yet again, taken a hammer and pounded the nails in Him. I was so sorry!
At that instant, I felt the baby drop. William was still praying and I told Him to get the nurse. He tried to reassure me that the surgery would be fine, but I told him he was misunderstanding me, the baby was coming.
The nurse and doctor came in with the paper work. I told her what I felt, she checked and out came Kalli! They had nothing prepared in the room, it was awesome! It was the most beautiful thing. I held her and cried and cried! She had swallowed a bit of meconium, but she was fine.
Not only did God teach me about His plan through this pregnancy, but He taught me about true repentance and grace.
When this began, it was not part of the plan and I could not see how it ever would be. Now, I can't imagine any other plan! I am blessed!!
Leg and Birth Story #4
Wow, those so do not go together!! I made it through the day, thanks for the prayers! It hurts on the upside of a step, you know when you put most of the pressure on the balls of your foot. I guess somehow I pulled a muscle, can talking too much do that? Oh, I know, it was yesterday when I inserted my foot into my mouth! :) I think I will give it a couple of days to see if I can get around any better and then I will have to go to the doctor. Hopefully tomorrow it will feel better!
Okay, this is my final birth story! Here goes....
We were done after three! Yup, I again gave away all of my baby stuff. Emi was three and life was getting really easy! We could sleep late again and go out to eat like normal people, all was good! Now, not getting into details but we were VERY careful to not get pregnant again. It was not in our plan (I know, I know!! God always loves a good laugh when I have a plan!)
I was up one morning having my Bible study and for some reason I opened and read a random (again, big laugh) verse... Children are a blessing from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward." Psalms 127:3. I knew in my heart that God was telling me I was pregnant. I called William at work in tears. He said I was imagining it and it was nearly impossible. "Don't worry!" he said.
About three weeks later he woke me up at 1am with a pregnancy test and asked me to take it. I did, I was...plan interupted! What I about to say may sound bad, but please understand I am talking about a plan and a pregnancy, not the child. I was devestated. I cried all night. I had just lost 55 pounds and had been working so hard to lose weight, I felt my life was so good and I thought this would mess it up. Again, hear me saying a pregnancy...I am sooo not talking about the child. Also hear my selfishness!
I hate reading this as it sound horrible. But I think it is very important to share. At this time in my life, God was showing me that even if I have a very good plan, it still needs to be only His plan. About two months before I found out I was pregnant, I was asked to help with something in the women's ministry at our church and I REALLY wanted to do it. I more or less said yes, but the lady who asked suggested I pray over it. I did, but I went into it thinking it was what God wanted. The more I prayed, the more He said not a good idea. Finally He showed me a verse and I was certain of His will and I declined doing it. It is one of the only times in my life I have said no and I really wanted to do it. I could not see why that would be a bad idea!
Two months later, during what would have been the beginning of the volunteer job, I found out I was pregnant. Like I said, it was not my plan and I spent many weeks pouting and whining about it (sooo selfish)!! Then my life came to a screech...literally!
One morning as the girls and I were leaving the gym and were driving home a lady made a left hand turn in front of me. It happened so fast that there was no way to even slow down and I hit her going 40mph. She flipped twice and ended up on top of another car that was waiting to pull out of a parking lot. I don't remember anything about the impact. I just looked up and the underside of her car was sitting on my front windshield and liquid was going everywhere. I immediately thought that the car was going to catch on fire, yelled for Bri to unbuckle Emaleigh, I grabbed her and carried her to the side of the road, ran back and grabbed Bri and Tori. I got them settled under the tree on the side of the road, looked up and saw the lady in the car I hit hanging upside down in her SUV, then I lost it. I very kind lady had stopped and calmed me down while another lady sat with the girls. Then the sirens started coming and coming. That nice lady called William and he was on his way. Then I thought...I am pregnant, what about my baby.
This is where in my mind this "event" changed from an interuption to my plan, into a blessing of a child from God. Another note to add to this story is that about 3 days before I was driving somewhere and it was laid on my heart that I needed to switch Emi back into a carseat and out of a booster seat. This feeling was very strong and I prayed on the trip that God would keep us safe and that I would change it when we got home. I did.
Our seatbelts saved our lives. Emaleigh's carseat left her with no physical sign of the accident. I felt nothing. No neck pain, nothing. Brianna had some abdominal issues from wearing the lap belt only and Tori had burns from her seat belt, but we were all okay. Not just a little okay, but very okay, so was the lady in the other car. She was cut up and bruised, but okay. We were blessed, God had a plan. He prepared us for this even when I did not know.
There is so much more to this birth story, but if I keep on it will be so long you won't want to read it! You will never believe what happened one week following our accident....
Okay, this is my final birth story! Here goes....
We were done after three! Yup, I again gave away all of my baby stuff. Emi was three and life was getting really easy! We could sleep late again and go out to eat like normal people, all was good! Now, not getting into details but we were VERY careful to not get pregnant again. It was not in our plan (I know, I know!! God always loves a good laugh when I have a plan!)
I was up one morning having my Bible study and for some reason I opened and read a random (again, big laugh) verse... Children are a blessing from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward." Psalms 127:3. I knew in my heart that God was telling me I was pregnant. I called William at work in tears. He said I was imagining it and it was nearly impossible. "Don't worry!" he said.
About three weeks later he woke me up at 1am with a pregnancy test and asked me to take it. I did, I was...plan interupted! What I about to say may sound bad, but please understand I am talking about a plan and a pregnancy, not the child. I was devestated. I cried all night. I had just lost 55 pounds and had been working so hard to lose weight, I felt my life was so good and I thought this would mess it up. Again, hear me saying a pregnancy...I am sooo not talking about the child. Also hear my selfishness!
I hate reading this as it sound horrible. But I think it is very important to share. At this time in my life, God was showing me that even if I have a very good plan, it still needs to be only His plan. About two months before I found out I was pregnant, I was asked to help with something in the women's ministry at our church and I REALLY wanted to do it. I more or less said yes, but the lady who asked suggested I pray over it. I did, but I went into it thinking it was what God wanted. The more I prayed, the more He said not a good idea. Finally He showed me a verse and I was certain of His will and I declined doing it. It is one of the only times in my life I have said no and I really wanted to do it. I could not see why that would be a bad idea!
Two months later, during what would have been the beginning of the volunteer job, I found out I was pregnant. Like I said, it was not my plan and I spent many weeks pouting and whining about it (sooo selfish)!! Then my life came to a screech...literally!
One morning as the girls and I were leaving the gym and were driving home a lady made a left hand turn in front of me. It happened so fast that there was no way to even slow down and I hit her going 40mph. She flipped twice and ended up on top of another car that was waiting to pull out of a parking lot. I don't remember anything about the impact. I just looked up and the underside of her car was sitting on my front windshield and liquid was going everywhere. I immediately thought that the car was going to catch on fire, yelled for Bri to unbuckle Emaleigh, I grabbed her and carried her to the side of the road, ran back and grabbed Bri and Tori. I got them settled under the tree on the side of the road, looked up and saw the lady in the car I hit hanging upside down in her SUV, then I lost it. I very kind lady had stopped and calmed me down while another lady sat with the girls. Then the sirens started coming and coming. That nice lady called William and he was on his way. Then I thought...I am pregnant, what about my baby.
This is where in my mind this "event" changed from an interuption to my plan, into a blessing of a child from God. Another note to add to this story is that about 3 days before I was driving somewhere and it was laid on my heart that I needed to switch Emi back into a carseat and out of a booster seat. This feeling was very strong and I prayed on the trip that God would keep us safe and that I would change it when we got home. I did.
Our seatbelts saved our lives. Emaleigh's carseat left her with no physical sign of the accident. I felt nothing. No neck pain, nothing. Brianna had some abdominal issues from wearing the lap belt only and Tori had burns from her seat belt, but we were all okay. Not just a little okay, but very okay, so was the lady in the other car. She was cut up and bruised, but okay. We were blessed, God had a plan. He prepared us for this even when I did not know.
There is so much more to this birth story, but if I keep on it will be so long you won't want to read it! You will never believe what happened one week following our accident....
Quick Question :)
I need to ask you guys to pray today for me. My calf was hurting yesterday and by the time I got home it was pretty sore, but I could limp on it fine. I got up this morning and it felt much better. As I was walking from one room to the other it all of a sudden had a horrible tearing/twising pain and now I can't bear any weight on it. I have three classes to teach at coop and a ton of things to do that I can't miss. As I am seriously limping now, when I accidentally move that leg the wrong way or put too much weight on it there is a horrible, drop to the ground type of pain. Please pray that I can get through the day without hurting it more or ending up on the ground unable to get up!! That would be horribly embarassing and I have had enough of those this past week to do without another :)
Thanks guys!!
Thanks guys!!
Friday, November 9, 2007
Birth Story #3
Okay, number 2 was a doosey and this one doesn't compare, but I hope that you will still find it interesting and informative!
My blogging friend Kim has spoken about stirring up the pot and I may do that when I start on this story. If you think I am crazy, join the club!
We tried to get pregnant with child #3 for years! After two years I went and had some testing done. They told me I had secondary infertility and would need medical intervention to have another child. Wow! This was really unexpected. We did not know what to do so we prayed and prayed. We really both were against the intervention and felt God was leading us to this conclusion. Not because we thought it was wrong, but you have to remember, this was our third child. It would have been a different story maybe if we did not have children. Right or wrong, this is what we decided. My doctor said that I would not get pregnant without it so we moved on. I got rid of all of the baby stuff and we were happy with our two blessings.
Around six months after this happened, I was having my prayer time and God spoke to me. Yes, like the speaking where I look up and see who is talking. He said that I would become pregnant that month. You can think I am crazy now, but it was what it was. I ran and told William that he had better make sure he wanted another because God said it was coming! I told several people that God told me that and they probably all thought I had lost it! Several weeks later, tahdah...I was pregnant! We were so happy!
Skip ahead a month and I started bleeding. I went to the doctor and they ran tests and in a nutshell, they said that I needed some shots every other day and to take some medicine and even if I did that the baby only had a 50% chance of surviving. I honestly was not worried because I felt I had assurance that the baby would be fine. Pregnancy goes on...I find an awesome Christian lady to be my doctor. All is well until my preeclampsia tries to come back again.
I also have to mention that during this time we attended RE, but did not really know anyone. Melissa Smith held a baby shower for us through the church and I figured maybe a couple of people would show up because no one knew us! We had 50 people! It was not because I was some nice person they all wanted to celebrate with, it was because we have an awesome church who rallies around its body! I was blessed beyond words!
Okay, back to the preeclampsia. They decided to induce 3 weeks early to try and prevent it from going full blown. I went to the hospital, they start the pitocin and....nothing! They turn it up....nothing! They break my water....nothing. Now we were in a pickle! They broke my water so she had to come out. Her heart rate started to decel so they came and mentioned C section. Now, I know many of you have had them, but I had not and did not want to. I was terrified! I cried and cried. My wonderful, Christian doctor went out in the hall and prayed for me! Twenty minutes later Emaleigh was born! She had the cord wrapped tight around her little neck and breaking the fluid caused it to compress. They had NICU in there waiting, but they were not needed! Praise God I had another, awesome baby girl!
My blogging friend Kim has spoken about stirring up the pot and I may do that when I start on this story. If you think I am crazy, join the club!
We tried to get pregnant with child #3 for years! After two years I went and had some testing done. They told me I had secondary infertility and would need medical intervention to have another child. Wow! This was really unexpected. We did not know what to do so we prayed and prayed. We really both were against the intervention and felt God was leading us to this conclusion. Not because we thought it was wrong, but you have to remember, this was our third child. It would have been a different story maybe if we did not have children. Right or wrong, this is what we decided. My doctor said that I would not get pregnant without it so we moved on. I got rid of all of the baby stuff and we were happy with our two blessings.
Around six months after this happened, I was having my prayer time and God spoke to me. Yes, like the speaking where I look up and see who is talking. He said that I would become pregnant that month. You can think I am crazy now, but it was what it was. I ran and told William that he had better make sure he wanted another because God said it was coming! I told several people that God told me that and they probably all thought I had lost it! Several weeks later, tahdah...I was pregnant! We were so happy!
Skip ahead a month and I started bleeding. I went to the doctor and they ran tests and in a nutshell, they said that I needed some shots every other day and to take some medicine and even if I did that the baby only had a 50% chance of surviving. I honestly was not worried because I felt I had assurance that the baby would be fine. Pregnancy goes on...I find an awesome Christian lady to be my doctor. All is well until my preeclampsia tries to come back again.
I also have to mention that during this time we attended RE, but did not really know anyone. Melissa Smith held a baby shower for us through the church and I figured maybe a couple of people would show up because no one knew us! We had 50 people! It was not because I was some nice person they all wanted to celebrate with, it was because we have an awesome church who rallies around its body! I was blessed beyond words!
Okay, back to the preeclampsia. They decided to induce 3 weeks early to try and prevent it from going full blown. I went to the hospital, they start the pitocin and....nothing! They turn it up....nothing! They break my water....nothing. Now we were in a pickle! They broke my water so she had to come out. Her heart rate started to decel so they came and mentioned C section. Now, I know many of you have had them, but I had not and did not want to. I was terrified! I cried and cried. My wonderful, Christian doctor went out in the hall and prayed for me! Twenty minutes later Emaleigh was born! She had the cord wrapped tight around her little neck and breaking the fluid caused it to compress. They had NICU in there waiting, but they were not needed! Praise God I had another, awesome baby girl!
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Parenting Bites!
Sometimes I really don't like parenting! I love being a Mommy, but the parenting/child rearing part I could live without. Yesterday was one of those days and this morning is already getting there!
My girls have chores that they do each morning. They do the same chores for 3 months and then we switch. Chores are great for children. It gives them confidence, work ethic, responsibility and training. My girls enjoy chores as well...most of the time. One of the girls is struggling with maintaining focus and getting done what needs to be done. She has no trouble focusing on what she wants to do so I expect it to carry over. When William left for work yesterday morning, she was doing her chores. When William got home last night, she was still doing her chores! Our rule is that you finish chores before you do anything else and if that causes you to stay up all night or miss fun things then so be it. Once the chores are finished, you are still responsible for any other work that should have been done like schoolwork, etc. Yesterday she missed visiting with her Mimi. Last night we had planned on the girls and I baking some bread and a cake, she missed it. Finally she was finished and completed schoolwork around 11pm. She is already dragging this morning, but that was her choice and she will deal.
I am okay with all of that, but now, oh now we are to what I can't stand! A couple of my girls have real problems with picking up after themselves. I understand, I am the same way. I struggle with that all of the time and I feel bad getting onto them about it when I do the same thing. But I don't want them to grow and and have that struggle when I can easily help them. One of our newer rules is that if you leave your clothes laying out where they do not belong, you get one warning (per 2 days) and after that I take all of your clothes, shoes, jackets, etc away. We will pick you one pair of pants, shirt, undergarments, jacket and shoes and that is it. If after 24 hours you have demonstrated an ability to be responsible with those, you will get one more of each back and this will go on until they have their clothes back and have learned to be responsible with them.
Okay, above mentioned child left her clothes on the bathroom floor last night after already receiving her warning. I know that she had a horrible day yesterday. Not only did she have the struggle with getting her chores done, but she accidentally put dish soap in the dishwasher and flooded the kitchen with bubbles. No big deal, but she was very upset about it. I hate adding something onto all of this! But we told her it would happen and if we don't do it, that set a really bad precedent. I really don't like doing this!!
If you see one of my children in the same outfit three days in a row, you will know who it is and please give her a hug because she will probably be having a yucky day!
My girls have chores that they do each morning. They do the same chores for 3 months and then we switch. Chores are great for children. It gives them confidence, work ethic, responsibility and training. My girls enjoy chores as well...most of the time. One of the girls is struggling with maintaining focus and getting done what needs to be done. She has no trouble focusing on what she wants to do so I expect it to carry over. When William left for work yesterday morning, she was doing her chores. When William got home last night, she was still doing her chores! Our rule is that you finish chores before you do anything else and if that causes you to stay up all night or miss fun things then so be it. Once the chores are finished, you are still responsible for any other work that should have been done like schoolwork, etc. Yesterday she missed visiting with her Mimi. Last night we had planned on the girls and I baking some bread and a cake, she missed it. Finally she was finished and completed schoolwork around 11pm. She is already dragging this morning, but that was her choice and she will deal.
I am okay with all of that, but now, oh now we are to what I can't stand! A couple of my girls have real problems with picking up after themselves. I understand, I am the same way. I struggle with that all of the time and I feel bad getting onto them about it when I do the same thing. But I don't want them to grow and and have that struggle when I can easily help them. One of our newer rules is that if you leave your clothes laying out where they do not belong, you get one warning (per 2 days) and after that I take all of your clothes, shoes, jackets, etc away. We will pick you one pair of pants, shirt, undergarments, jacket and shoes and that is it. If after 24 hours you have demonstrated an ability to be responsible with those, you will get one more of each back and this will go on until they have their clothes back and have learned to be responsible with them.
Okay, above mentioned child left her clothes on the bathroom floor last night after already receiving her warning. I know that she had a horrible day yesterday. Not only did she have the struggle with getting her chores done, but she accidentally put dish soap in the dishwasher and flooded the kitchen with bubbles. No big deal, but she was very upset about it. I hate adding something onto all of this! But we told her it would happen and if we don't do it, that set a really bad precedent. I really don't like doing this!!
If you see one of my children in the same outfit three days in a row, you will know who it is and please give her a hug because she will probably be having a yucky day!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Birth Story #2
First let me say that Emi had trouble sleeping last night because of her tummy. Heather, we had her jump a little bit ago and she was a bit hesitant, but did it fine. She says this morning that it hurts worse, but she does not act as much like it. No doubling over in pain, so I think she will be fine, but I am keeping a watch on her. I am wondering if she pulled a muscle or something?? Who knows!! Crazy kid :)
Okay now onto story number 2!! This time I am pregnant with Tori. Boy I was sick!! I was taking classes at the university in town and I remember walking to class and puking on the side of the sidewalk several times, it was lovely!!
About 6 weeks before Tori was due I went for my appointment and my blood pressure was up. They did some other labs and told me that it looked like I was trying to develop preeclampsia, so to go home and watch for certain things.
I go home and the next day develp a horrible headache and I felt really bad. I called the base hospital/doctor and they said they were closed (this time I knew to expect that so I was not quite so shocked!). They told me to go into town to the hospital there. I go and they send me up to L & D. The doctor there started freaking out saying that he can't believe they sent me home and he told me that more than likely within 24 hours I would have the baby. The immediately put me on a medicine called magnezium sulfate. That is one whopper of a drug! They had to put a catheter in and would not let me out of bed. I had a nurse sitting beside me bed the entire night. William and I had no idea what was going on, I just knew that I was feeling horrible about leaving my 2 year old Brianna overnight!
The next morning they called the base hospital for my records and the base told them that they wanted me transferred back to the base. Why??? No one know! We found out later that it was a mistake. So, they transfer me by ambulance to the base. We were terrified at this point!
I arrive at the base hospital and they get me in a room. A couple of hours after getting there and seeing my nurse only once, they finally inform me that they had started me on Pitocin to induce labor. No one had even let us know! William had left to pick my mom up from the airport (she was so worried that she hopped a flight and headed up). Again I was worried I would have the baby without him being there.
They arrive back from the airport just as I started having contractions. The doctor came in and asked if I would like an epidural (they nomally would not let you have one in this hospital) and I started crying. I really had not wanted one, but I was so tired and felt so yucky from the mag I was on that I said yes. They put it in and it was great! William decided he would go to the waiting room to take a nap and I was going to try and get some sleep.
A nurse had come in and all of a sudden I felt like the baby was coming. I told her and she said that it was not, first of all I would not feel it and second, they had just checked and I had made no progress. She left and I told my mom to just glance under the blanket because I was either having the baby or had done something that would be embarrissing! She looked and Tori's head was laying on the table. She screamed down the hall for someone and they came and got Tori and she was born! William ran in the door right as they were pulling the rest of her out, God is good! I did hemmorage again with this one, but the pitocin helped and it was not as much.
Unfortunately this story does not end there and as I go on, you really are not going to believe me! I promise this is true, you can ask my mom or William!!
Tori was 6 weeks early and would not cry. They tried for 30 minutes to get her to cry before they finally decided to call the pediatrician on call (no, that is not a typo!). They ended up poking her with a needle and that got her going, but she had to go on oxygen for a while, nothing major though. Through this I started to feel funny. I can't really describe it. My tongue started to feel really dry and like it was swelling. I thought I was having trouble breathing. I told the nurse, she checked my oxygen and said I was fine. Suddenely, according to my mom, my eyes rolled back in my head and I fell back on the table and started having some type of seizure. My mom ran out in the hall...again...and called for a doctor. They decided I was having an allergic reaction to some medicine they had given me, but there were no Benedryl shots on the floor!! I could hear everyone during all of this. I remember trying to focus my eyes on a ceiling tile above me and to keep them open thinking if I closed my eyes I would die. I could not breath. The doctor kept telling me that he knew I could hear him and I would be fine. He said my body thought I could not breath, but I really could (I still don't know what that means!). I was very reassured by his talking to me. I do remember that he was telling a kid that was training that I was having a rare side effect to one of the drug and the kid said "Cool". I was not impressed with that comment!
They gave me so many drugs to stop whatever it was that was going on that I slept for the next 12 hours. I remember them bringing my mom in to see me and telling me she was really worried. They wanted me to open my eyes. I could speak so I mummbled that I was fine, but they wanted me to open my eyes. I tried really hard and I think I got one open a little bit. The next thing I remember was a nurse coming in with Tori saying that if I did not wake up and nurse her they were going to put a tube down her throat and feed her, nice huh! I really worked to wake up and feed her.
They told me that I would need to be in a private room because I was still on the mag medicine, they put me in with another lady!! One thing I have not mentioned yet was that this hospital was not equipped with a NICU or any nursery for that matter. I can't remember what it is called, but it was a level hospital that could only take babies 3 weeks early and later. I could not care for Tori yet, so I could hear the nurse wheeling her bassinet up and down the hall with her to check on the mom's, poor Tori! They let me go home two days later with Tori. She weighed 4 pounds and 6 ounces when we left and was not eating. The doctor that was on call though was a great lady who knew me from helping me to get Brianna to nurse and she thought things would go better at home. We just had to check in with her each day.
Like I said earlier, the transfer back to the base was a mistake. They never could really tell me what happened after she was born with my seizure. One doctor said it was an allergic reaction to an antinausea drug they gave me, one said it was a side effect and another said it was from the pre eclampsia. Now I always put down I am allergic to that drug just in case! Praise God we all ended up safe and at home, but it was so crazy, just a series of little mistakes, but the outcome was the same. I had my beatiful, but a bit small, little baby Tori!
Okay now onto story number 2!! This time I am pregnant with Tori. Boy I was sick!! I was taking classes at the university in town and I remember walking to class and puking on the side of the sidewalk several times, it was lovely!!
About 6 weeks before Tori was due I went for my appointment and my blood pressure was up. They did some other labs and told me that it looked like I was trying to develop preeclampsia, so to go home and watch for certain things.
I go home and the next day develp a horrible headache and I felt really bad. I called the base hospital/doctor and they said they were closed (this time I knew to expect that so I was not quite so shocked!). They told me to go into town to the hospital there. I go and they send me up to L & D. The doctor there started freaking out saying that he can't believe they sent me home and he told me that more than likely within 24 hours I would have the baby. The immediately put me on a medicine called magnezium sulfate. That is one whopper of a drug! They had to put a catheter in and would not let me out of bed. I had a nurse sitting beside me bed the entire night. William and I had no idea what was going on, I just knew that I was feeling horrible about leaving my 2 year old Brianna overnight!
The next morning they called the base hospital for my records and the base told them that they wanted me transferred back to the base. Why??? No one know! We found out later that it was a mistake. So, they transfer me by ambulance to the base. We were terrified at this point!
I arrive at the base hospital and they get me in a room. A couple of hours after getting there and seeing my nurse only once, they finally inform me that they had started me on Pitocin to induce labor. No one had even let us know! William had left to pick my mom up from the airport (she was so worried that she hopped a flight and headed up). Again I was worried I would have the baby without him being there.
They arrive back from the airport just as I started having contractions. The doctor came in and asked if I would like an epidural (they nomally would not let you have one in this hospital) and I started crying. I really had not wanted one, but I was so tired and felt so yucky from the mag I was on that I said yes. They put it in and it was great! William decided he would go to the waiting room to take a nap and I was going to try and get some sleep.
A nurse had come in and all of a sudden I felt like the baby was coming. I told her and she said that it was not, first of all I would not feel it and second, they had just checked and I had made no progress. She left and I told my mom to just glance under the blanket because I was either having the baby or had done something that would be embarrissing! She looked and Tori's head was laying on the table. She screamed down the hall for someone and they came and got Tori and she was born! William ran in the door right as they were pulling the rest of her out, God is good! I did hemmorage again with this one, but the pitocin helped and it was not as much.
Unfortunately this story does not end there and as I go on, you really are not going to believe me! I promise this is true, you can ask my mom or William!!
Tori was 6 weeks early and would not cry. They tried for 30 minutes to get her to cry before they finally decided to call the pediatrician on call (no, that is not a typo!). They ended up poking her with a needle and that got her going, but she had to go on oxygen for a while, nothing major though. Through this I started to feel funny. I can't really describe it. My tongue started to feel really dry and like it was swelling. I thought I was having trouble breathing. I told the nurse, she checked my oxygen and said I was fine. Suddenely, according to my mom, my eyes rolled back in my head and I fell back on the table and started having some type of seizure. My mom ran out in the hall...again...and called for a doctor. They decided I was having an allergic reaction to some medicine they had given me, but there were no Benedryl shots on the floor!! I could hear everyone during all of this. I remember trying to focus my eyes on a ceiling tile above me and to keep them open thinking if I closed my eyes I would die. I could not breath. The doctor kept telling me that he knew I could hear him and I would be fine. He said my body thought I could not breath, but I really could (I still don't know what that means!). I was very reassured by his talking to me. I do remember that he was telling a kid that was training that I was having a rare side effect to one of the drug and the kid said "Cool". I was not impressed with that comment!
They gave me so many drugs to stop whatever it was that was going on that I slept for the next 12 hours. I remember them bringing my mom in to see me and telling me she was really worried. They wanted me to open my eyes. I could speak so I mummbled that I was fine, but they wanted me to open my eyes. I tried really hard and I think I got one open a little bit. The next thing I remember was a nurse coming in with Tori saying that if I did not wake up and nurse her they were going to put a tube down her throat and feed her, nice huh! I really worked to wake up and feed her.
They told me that I would need to be in a private room because I was still on the mag medicine, they put me in with another lady!! One thing I have not mentioned yet was that this hospital was not equipped with a NICU or any nursery for that matter. I can't remember what it is called, but it was a level hospital that could only take babies 3 weeks early and later. I could not care for Tori yet, so I could hear the nurse wheeling her bassinet up and down the hall with her to check on the mom's, poor Tori! They let me go home two days later with Tori. She weighed 4 pounds and 6 ounces when we left and was not eating. The doctor that was on call though was a great lady who knew me from helping me to get Brianna to nurse and she thought things would go better at home. We just had to check in with her each day.
Like I said earlier, the transfer back to the base was a mistake. They never could really tell me what happened after she was born with my seizure. One doctor said it was an allergic reaction to an antinausea drug they gave me, one said it was a side effect and another said it was from the pre eclampsia. Now I always put down I am allergic to that drug just in case! Praise God we all ended up safe and at home, but it was so crazy, just a series of little mistakes, but the outcome was the same. I had my beatiful, but a bit small, little baby Tori!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Crazy Day
What a day! What a blessed day!!
I joined a thing called the Grocery Game about six weeks ago. It is a site that you pay for (not much) and once a week she posts an email about which grocery stores to shop at and which coupons to use for maximum savings. I have always hated coupons! Way too much work and I never saw much savings! But this, this is sooo cool! Today I bought about $140 worth of groceries and spent only $17. It was really fun and even better because William was able to come with me!
We did sculpting today in art with our friends and that was really fun! Followed by gymnastics. I love this particular gymnastics class because it is full of my friends, so we have about an hour to sit and visit while the kids all get tired out and have a blast!!
Came home and had time to just sit and visit with William for a while. That was really nice! He is a pretty awesome guy and I really enjoyed sharing some time with him. We decided that he was going to take the two older girls tonight to the musical Man of La Mancha instead of me. I tend to do a lot with the older two girls and he tends to do more with the younger two so we thought it would be good to switch it around a bit.
Before they left, Brianna came in and said there were two flashes of light that came up from Kalli's bed. About the same time all of the lights in the house flickered. We went in to find that all of the outlets were out and the circut was blown. After some investigating, we saw that the extension cord that plugs in to the socket next to Kalli's bed had somehow gotten wedged up under her metal bed frame leg and sliced in half. I burned the cord into pieces! The girls were on the bed when it happened and I am so glad that they were not electracuted! Praise God yet again!
Another odd thing about today is Emi. She came into our room last night complaining of a tummy ache. She said it was not a throw up kind of ache, but a sharp pain. As the day progressed, she compained more and more and this evening she will not let anyone touch her tummy and she went to bed at 6:45! The pain is in the upper center area so I really don't know of anything emergent that it could be, but I am hoping it is gone by tomorrow!
I will do birth story #2 later tonight or tomorrow! You don't want to miss it, it is a whopper!!
I joined a thing called the Grocery Game about six weeks ago. It is a site that you pay for (not much) and once a week she posts an email about which grocery stores to shop at and which coupons to use for maximum savings. I have always hated coupons! Way too much work and I never saw much savings! But this, this is sooo cool! Today I bought about $140 worth of groceries and spent only $17. It was really fun and even better because William was able to come with me!
We did sculpting today in art with our friends and that was really fun! Followed by gymnastics. I love this particular gymnastics class because it is full of my friends, so we have about an hour to sit and visit while the kids all get tired out and have a blast!!
Came home and had time to just sit and visit with William for a while. That was really nice! He is a pretty awesome guy and I really enjoyed sharing some time with him. We decided that he was going to take the two older girls tonight to the musical Man of La Mancha instead of me. I tend to do a lot with the older two girls and he tends to do more with the younger two so we thought it would be good to switch it around a bit.
Before they left, Brianna came in and said there were two flashes of light that came up from Kalli's bed. About the same time all of the lights in the house flickered. We went in to find that all of the outlets were out and the circut was blown. After some investigating, we saw that the extension cord that plugs in to the socket next to Kalli's bed had somehow gotten wedged up under her metal bed frame leg and sliced in half. I burned the cord into pieces! The girls were on the bed when it happened and I am so glad that they were not electracuted! Praise God yet again!
Another odd thing about today is Emi. She came into our room last night complaining of a tummy ache. She said it was not a throw up kind of ache, but a sharp pain. As the day progressed, she compained more and more and this evening she will not let anyone touch her tummy and she went to bed at 6:45! The pain is in the upper center area so I really don't know of anything emergent that it could be, but I am hoping it is gone by tomorrow!
I will do birth story #2 later tonight or tomorrow! You don't want to miss it, it is a whopper!!
Monday, November 5, 2007
The Howling and a Birth Story!
Okay, maybe it is not really howling, but I do hear the wind blowing outside. I finally relented and put on long sleeves Sunday after looking like a freak (again) in shorts all last week. Well....no one told me it was going to be a thousand degrees outside!! I really wish it would get cold and stay there. Just for a couple of months!
I looked at the weather online tonight and was so happy when they said the high tomorrow was in the 60's. Then I remembered about when we were living in North Dakota, that would be considered warm! Crazy stuff!!!
I have been thinking quite a bit lately about when my girls were born. Probably has something to do with all of the pregnant ladies at church and the fact that my baby is growing so fast. But, I thought I would share a bit of their birth stories with you. Let's start with Brianna!
I found out I was pregnant with her about a month after William had left for basic training. We had only been married 6 months and in that time we had changed career directions, moved across the state, William left for basic training and was to be gone for 5 months and then...tadah, I am preggers!!
I was thrilled and terrified! When I was in my 6th month he got out of basic and we were moved to Minot, North Dakota. Talk about culture shock! We left here wearing shorts and arrived there four days later to snow. We had no house waiting, knew no one, we really had nothing but a lot of time to pray on the way.
God was so good as He blessed us with awesome friends the first day and A house within 4 days. We really were not able to get established in a church there so we had home church. It was awesome!
Okay, so I am away from our family and pregnant/newly married! Brianna was due a couple of days after our first anniversary! I was sooo scared because with Williams schedule, he was gone for four days and home for three. I was so afraid that I would go into labor when he was gone! It had also crossed my mind numerous times that we could have a blizzard when I was in labor.
Well...I had gone out with some wives from his squadron (he was out in the missile field) for lunch and was feeling pretty yucky! I went home and took a nap, woke up and my water broke. Like big time broke!! What did I do??? I called my mom, who was not home. Then I called my dad's office. His secretary said he was out so I told her. She informed me that there was really nothing she could do and maybe I should call William! Good idea!
I call and he is out on patrol, but they say they are going to radio in for him to head back to the squadron. He should be back on base in 2 - 3 hours! I am not prone to panic (okay, I am, but this is my story and I want to look good!), but I began to worry a bit :) I called my new, awesome friend Jodie. She came to pick me up and take me to the hospital. I felt so bad because remember how my water broke, well, she was in her new car!! We left for the base hospital.
Upon arrival they hooked me up to the monitor and said I was not having contractions, though I really felt like I was. They also did a test and said my water had not broke so they told me to go home. I informed them that either my water had broke or I had completely lost all control of my bladder! Luckily they tested again and said my water had broke, but no contractions so no big deal...but...they were closed for the weekend due to being understaffed and I would need to go in town (30 minutes away), but there was no hurry.
I now had no husband, no hospital and no doctor!! Jodie and I went back to her house to pick up her husband (or course it had started snowing and he was going to drive us into town!). I was really feeling bad at this point, I thought my lunch was making me sick. We went by William squadron office to drop off the car keys so he could drive into town and meet us and as I walked down the halls of the office I was having to hold onto the wall I felt so bad. We also went by Burger King on the way to get me a Sprite hoping I would feel better (remember they told me I was not having contractions:). On the way to the hospital I became a bit agitated that they would not drive faster so I told them I would pay any ticket or fine, but to get me there! I was sooo scared!
We finally go there and walked up to the third floor. A wonderful nurse met me in the hall and said that the base had called, but they had said I was not in labor. She said they were wrong!! Once they got me into a room and picked a midwife for me they informed my she was facing up instead of down..little stinker! They tried to turn her but she did not turn. William finally walked in the door and I tore him up one side and down the other...so they told me! Oh, but I was so happy to see him!
After some awful back labor, Brianna was born facing up just after midnight! She weighed 9 pounds and had a head full of black hair. I started to hemorrhage after she was born and I remember asking the midwife what was going on. She told me I would die if they could not fix it! Can we say drama queen!!
Obviously they stopped it and I was fine. I had the most incredible baby in my arms. They moved William and I into a room where we had a queen bed and he could spend the night with me.
Some things I remember the most were first how hard it was to nurse a baby! No one had ever told me it might be difficult! That is a whole other post! I cried almost the entire first night. I was so tired and needed to sleep, but I felt bad sending her to the nursery. I also had extreme postpartum depression after she was born. That lasted about three months and almost ended our plans of having more children.
Never had anything been so awesome yet so terrifying as being a parent, and little did we know it had just begun!
I looked at the weather online tonight and was so happy when they said the high tomorrow was in the 60's. Then I remembered about when we were living in North Dakota, that would be considered warm! Crazy stuff!!!
I have been thinking quite a bit lately about when my girls were born. Probably has something to do with all of the pregnant ladies at church and the fact that my baby is growing so fast. But, I thought I would share a bit of their birth stories with you. Let's start with Brianna!
I found out I was pregnant with her about a month after William had left for basic training. We had only been married 6 months and in that time we had changed career directions, moved across the state, William left for basic training and was to be gone for 5 months and then...tadah, I am preggers!!
I was thrilled and terrified! When I was in my 6th month he got out of basic and we were moved to Minot, North Dakota. Talk about culture shock! We left here wearing shorts and arrived there four days later to snow. We had no house waiting, knew no one, we really had nothing but a lot of time to pray on the way.
God was so good as He blessed us with awesome friends the first day and A house within 4 days. We really were not able to get established in a church there so we had home church. It was awesome!
Okay, so I am away from our family and pregnant/newly married! Brianna was due a couple of days after our first anniversary! I was sooo scared because with Williams schedule, he was gone for four days and home for three. I was so afraid that I would go into labor when he was gone! It had also crossed my mind numerous times that we could have a blizzard when I was in labor.
Well...I had gone out with some wives from his squadron (he was out in the missile field) for lunch and was feeling pretty yucky! I went home and took a nap, woke up and my water broke. Like big time broke!! What did I do??? I called my mom, who was not home. Then I called my dad's office. His secretary said he was out so I told her. She informed me that there was really nothing she could do and maybe I should call William! Good idea!
I call and he is out on patrol, but they say they are going to radio in for him to head back to the squadron. He should be back on base in 2 - 3 hours! I am not prone to panic (okay, I am, but this is my story and I want to look good!), but I began to worry a bit :) I called my new, awesome friend Jodie. She came to pick me up and take me to the hospital. I felt so bad because remember how my water broke, well, she was in her new car!! We left for the base hospital.
Upon arrival they hooked me up to the monitor and said I was not having contractions, though I really felt like I was. They also did a test and said my water had not broke so they told me to go home. I informed them that either my water had broke or I had completely lost all control of my bladder! Luckily they tested again and said my water had broke, but no contractions so no big deal...but...they were closed for the weekend due to being understaffed and I would need to go in town (30 minutes away), but there was no hurry.
I now had no husband, no hospital and no doctor!! Jodie and I went back to her house to pick up her husband (or course it had started snowing and he was going to drive us into town!). I was really feeling bad at this point, I thought my lunch was making me sick. We went by William squadron office to drop off the car keys so he could drive into town and meet us and as I walked down the halls of the office I was having to hold onto the wall I felt so bad. We also went by Burger King on the way to get me a Sprite hoping I would feel better (remember they told me I was not having contractions:). On the way to the hospital I became a bit agitated that they would not drive faster so I told them I would pay any ticket or fine, but to get me there! I was sooo scared!
We finally go there and walked up to the third floor. A wonderful nurse met me in the hall and said that the base had called, but they had said I was not in labor. She said they were wrong!! Once they got me into a room and picked a midwife for me they informed my she was facing up instead of down..little stinker! They tried to turn her but she did not turn. William finally walked in the door and I tore him up one side and down the other...so they told me! Oh, but I was so happy to see him!
After some awful back labor, Brianna was born facing up just after midnight! She weighed 9 pounds and had a head full of black hair. I started to hemorrhage after she was born and I remember asking the midwife what was going on. She told me I would die if they could not fix it! Can we say drama queen!!
Obviously they stopped it and I was fine. I had the most incredible baby in my arms. They moved William and I into a room where we had a queen bed and he could spend the night with me.
Some things I remember the most were first how hard it was to nurse a baby! No one had ever told me it might be difficult! That is a whole other post! I cried almost the entire first night. I was so tired and needed to sleep, but I felt bad sending her to the nursery. I also had extreme postpartum depression after she was born. That lasted about three months and almost ended our plans of having more children.
Never had anything been so awesome yet so terrifying as being a parent, and little did we know it had just begun!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Saturday :)
You guys that missed M & M Mom's yesterday missed a good one!! I was so very blessed by hearing Rachel speak. And Terri gave an awesome tips talk and gave out samples!! Oh and the food was sooooo good! While I was at the meeting, William and the girls went and played games at Chuck E Cheese. He does this at least on Saturday a month. They get there at 9am when they open and play until around 10:30am when people start to arrive! We use a coupon online where they get 100 tokens for $12, so they have a blast!
When I got home, I took a 3 hour nap while William played with the girls. I was really tired as I did not sleep well the night before. William is just the best daddy and husband! The girls have a really cool, wooden playhouse out back and some of the wood on their front porch was showing some wear and tear. While I slept, he replaced their porch.
This was all followed by my mom and stepdad coming over for hamburgers and homemade ice cream! Yummy!!
Emaleigh had a rough evening. The girls are allowed one sweet treat a day and she wanted a little pack of M & M's from Chuck E Cheese. William reminded her that if she ate it she could not have ice cream tonight. She cried that she was hungry. He reminded her that there were plenty of things to eat that would not count as something sweet. She said that she would give up ice cream for the M & M's.
Well....when ice cream time rolls around Emi wanted some. We reminded her of her choice and told her no. You can imagine the distress that was displayed :) She ended up being sent to bed 30 minutes early due to the fact that she could not control herself (screaming, wailing, etc!) and still no ice cream!
This situation got me to thinking of how many times I choose the here and now, instant gratification path when God has such a better choice waiting for me if I will just be patient! And how often I choose to kick and scream when I am frustrated thus bringing on more negative consequences in my life.
When I got home, I took a 3 hour nap while William played with the girls. I was really tired as I did not sleep well the night before. William is just the best daddy and husband! The girls have a really cool, wooden playhouse out back and some of the wood on their front porch was showing some wear and tear. While I slept, he replaced their porch.
This was all followed by my mom and stepdad coming over for hamburgers and homemade ice cream! Yummy!!
Emaleigh had a rough evening. The girls are allowed one sweet treat a day and she wanted a little pack of M & M's from Chuck E Cheese. William reminded her that if she ate it she could not have ice cream tonight. She cried that she was hungry. He reminded her that there were plenty of things to eat that would not count as something sweet. She said that she would give up ice cream for the M & M's.
Well....when ice cream time rolls around Emi wanted some. We reminded her of her choice and told her no. You can imagine the distress that was displayed :) She ended up being sent to bed 30 minutes early due to the fact that she could not control herself (screaming, wailing, etc!) and still no ice cream!
This situation got me to thinking of how many times I choose the here and now, instant gratification path when God has such a better choice waiting for me if I will just be patient! And how often I choose to kick and scream when I am frustrated thus bringing on more negative consequences in my life.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
M & M Mom's
Today is the big day!! 10 o'clock marks the time that M & M Mom's meets for the third time! We have a fantastic speaker this morning talking about handling stress during the holidays. Our tips talk is being done by the craftiest woman alive!! And she is bringing samples :)
So as you are reading this and you think, oops, I forgot. Just hop up really quick and get up there!! We will miss you if you don't :)
So as you are reading this and you think, oops, I forgot. Just hop up really quick and get up there!! We will miss you if you don't :)
Friday, November 2, 2007
Deck The Halls...
Everyone's talk about the holidays has me really ready!! I absolutely LOVE this time of year! With all of my blog buddies sharing there Santa stories, I thought I would share ours.
William and I decided when we had kids that as soon as they asked if Santa was real we would ask them if they really are ready to know. If they said yes, then we would tell them.
Brianna asked the first time when she was around 4. We were doing grocery shopping and she just out of the blue asks me if Santa is real. I ask her if she really wants to know, she thinks for a second and says no. So we finish shopping.
The next year she asks again and again I ask her if she really wants to know. Her answer, again, is no. Finally the third year that she asks she says she really is ready to know and we tell her that we, mom and dad, play Santa, Easter Bunny, etc. She says she already knew that anyway and wants to make sure that we continue to do it.
When Tori was around 5 or 6 she asks about whether or not Santa is real. We ask her if she is really ready to know and she says yes. We tell her and she gets the biggest grin across her face. I asked her why she seemed so happy and she said it always scared her to think of some strange man coming into the house while she was asleep!
Emi asked last year and when we asked her if she was really ready to know, she said no, she wanted to play the game longer (telling me she already knew!). Even though at least two of the girls have known for quite some time, we did not stop the cookies and milk, letters to Santa, etc. They had become part of our tradition and we enjoy it!
This year we have all decided to do something different. We are foregoing Christmas presents from Santa. We will trade gifts with our extended family. We started a couple of years ago trading homemade gifts between ourselves. We usually then get up, see what Santa brought and go see a movie together. This year Santa will fill stockings only and we are trying to find a place to serve as a family Christmas morning. We may end up going to a neighborhood nursing home and visiting. We really are not sure how we will serve yet, just that we decided to do it. Of course we will then have a late lunch and go see a movie together.
I have to tell you that the relief I have felt knowing that I do not have to find gifts for the kids has been huge! I never realized how stressful it was because I enjoy doing it, but it has been great. We are trying to take the money we would have spent on gifts and find things to go and do together. Our goal is to truly enjoy the holiday and each other.
Of course my mom thinks we are going to scar the girls forever by this change. My dad thinks we are even more freaky than he already did! I must say though that the girl, William and I are very excited about it! I will let you know how it goes!
I have really enjoyed reading about whay you guys do during the holidays! Now we all just need a little snow!!
William and I decided when we had kids that as soon as they asked if Santa was real we would ask them if they really are ready to know. If they said yes, then we would tell them.
Brianna asked the first time when she was around 4. We were doing grocery shopping and she just out of the blue asks me if Santa is real. I ask her if she really wants to know, she thinks for a second and says no. So we finish shopping.
The next year she asks again and again I ask her if she really wants to know. Her answer, again, is no. Finally the third year that she asks she says she really is ready to know and we tell her that we, mom and dad, play Santa, Easter Bunny, etc. She says she already knew that anyway and wants to make sure that we continue to do it.
When Tori was around 5 or 6 she asks about whether or not Santa is real. We ask her if she is really ready to know and she says yes. We tell her and she gets the biggest grin across her face. I asked her why she seemed so happy and she said it always scared her to think of some strange man coming into the house while she was asleep!
Emi asked last year and when we asked her if she was really ready to know, she said no, she wanted to play the game longer (telling me she already knew!). Even though at least two of the girls have known for quite some time, we did not stop the cookies and milk, letters to Santa, etc. They had become part of our tradition and we enjoy it!
This year we have all decided to do something different. We are foregoing Christmas presents from Santa. We will trade gifts with our extended family. We started a couple of years ago trading homemade gifts between ourselves. We usually then get up, see what Santa brought and go see a movie together. This year Santa will fill stockings only and we are trying to find a place to serve as a family Christmas morning. We may end up going to a neighborhood nursing home and visiting. We really are not sure how we will serve yet, just that we decided to do it. Of course we will then have a late lunch and go see a movie together.
I have to tell you that the relief I have felt knowing that I do not have to find gifts for the kids has been huge! I never realized how stressful it was because I enjoy doing it, but it has been great. We are trying to take the money we would have spent on gifts and find things to go and do together. Our goal is to truly enjoy the holiday and each other.
Of course my mom thinks we are going to scar the girls forever by this change. My dad thinks we are even more freaky than he already did! I must say though that the girl, William and I are very excited about it! I will let you know how it goes!
I have really enjoyed reading about whay you guys do during the holidays! Now we all just need a little snow!!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Trick or Treat!
We had a great time last night going trick or treating. I love our neighborhood as so many people go to great lengths to make it a fun night for the kids. All of the adults get out and are able to visit and everyone has a great time. Here are a few pictures from last night.
Four little monkeys, hanging in the tree!
Kalli is a floating fairy! Notice the hair has already tried to float away. She was so tired that at one of the last houses she went to they put the candy in her basket and when she got back to the sidewalk she took it out and threw it! We knew then that it was time to go home!
Tori is an Air Force soldier! She loved wearing William's uniform. So many people told her she should be so proud to have a daddy that served in the Armed Forces.
Emaleigh was a dancing fairy (or should we call her a hanging fairy!).
And finally we have our thug/spy/thief/cat burglar! She graced us with her presence but has out grown the trick or treating part :(
My mom and stepdad came over and went with us. It was really just a great time! We got home and emptied everything in the middle of the floor. The kids each get to pick 10 pieces of candy to eat whenever they want, the adults get to choose some and then they put it in a basket for the tooth fairy to come and pick up overnight. She leaves them a little treat to thank them for saving their teeth! (and Daddy's office benefits in this arrangement as well!)
Oh, by the way, I want to leave you with the thug/spy/thief/cat burglars mug shot!
Four little monkeys, hanging in the tree!
Kalli is a floating fairy! Notice the hair has already tried to float away. She was so tired that at one of the last houses she went to they put the candy in her basket and when she got back to the sidewalk she took it out and threw it! We knew then that it was time to go home!
Tori is an Air Force soldier! She loved wearing William's uniform. So many people told her she should be so proud to have a daddy that served in the Armed Forces.
Emaleigh was a dancing fairy (or should we call her a hanging fairy!).
And finally we have our thug/spy/thief/cat burglar! She graced us with her presence but has out grown the trick or treating part :(
My mom and stepdad came over and went with us. It was really just a great time! We got home and emptied everything in the middle of the floor. The kids each get to pick 10 pieces of candy to eat whenever they want, the adults get to choose some and then they put it in a basket for the tooth fairy to come and pick up overnight. She leaves them a little treat to thank them for saving their teeth! (and Daddy's office benefits in this arrangement as well!)
Oh, by the way, I want to leave you with the thug/spy/thief/cat burglars mug shot!
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