Beautiful Blessings...

Time Goes By

2011-03-18T21:44:00.003-04:00

Today I was reminded all day that it was one year ago that I was on bed rest in the hospital. I went in to the hospital just to receive the steroid shot and never came home..well not at least until Hunter was born. I have thought about that time quite a bit the past year. It was a long four weeks without my family. There were days that I just sat in the bed and felt relatively OK. Then there were days that all I could think about was what were my boys doing at home? Were they OK without mommy? Would they understand why I wasn't there? My friend reminded me that there was going to be an end. I would go home. I wasn't terminally ill...this did help me at times. The Lord taught me a lesson those four weeks..."you are not in control, Annie." I had no control over my life...no control at my house, no control over my boys and what they were doing, no control over my own body!

Now, here I am a year later with a beautiful baby boy who is almost one! I am not sure where the year went. It makes me sad to think Hunter will be one in three weeks. My baby boy will be one! I try to remember to cherish every day and not get caught up in the daily stress of keeping up with the house or the bills. Every day is a precious blessing from the Lord. We are not guaranteed tomorrow, all we have is today. What will my children remember about today? Did I hug them enough? Did I tell them that I love them? Did we laugh together?

I pray that I always remember this...that this becomes my daily motto.

2011-03-14T21:50:00.005-04:00

I know, I know...it has been a few weeks again! I can't help it...my four boys keep me busy. Actually busy is an understatement. The past few weeks have been filled with ups and downs but we are still on the crazy ride of our life. Jonah successfully gave up his pacifier. He cried the first night wanting it back which is to be expected. He wanted me to go back the to dentist office to get them. If that wasn't going to work he wanted me to find the "lost" orange one that we never found. Well, his loving older brother found that gross orange one under the couch about a week later. Jonah came walking up the stairs with the thing in his mouth with a huge grin. "Mom, look what E found for me!" Fabulous! My wheels started turning..."how was I going to get this one away from him?" Then I got the idea...I said,"Oh, I was just going to say that I have been so proud of you this past week. I thought we could go out for ice cream." Jonah's eyes got big, "I will throw it in the trash right now." And that was it....now we had to go out for ice cream at 7pm on a school night. But that was ok...the pacifier was gone.

Hunter had surgery about a month ago for tubes in his ears. Not only does he favor Jonah in looks but also in ear infections, apparently. After having 6 infections, we decided surgery was a good thing. Rather have the 5 minute procedure than more antibiotics. He was a trooper. They took him back at 7:52, I was in the holding room waiting for the doctor at 7:55 and the doctor was in the room at 7:59 telling me he did great. By 8:15 I was back in the recovery room with him. He never cried once. I could hear him whining when I was walking back but as soon as he saw his mama, he gave me his usual smile. Such a good baby! I am having a hard time with the fact that he is almost one! Where did this year go? My little baby...I keep telling him that he is supposed to stay this age. He is so easy going and so darn cute! He is crawling everywhere, standing up and making all sorts of sounds. The boys fight over who gets to hold him... I have to tell them to just let him be and crawl around. Just let him play....

Another realization I had the other day is that my Liam is almost 3! I still call him a baby...but he is a little boy. I a hate that time is going by so fast. I keep telling myself to just enjoy each day. Don't think about tomorrow or the past just cherish the moment. I am really trying to remember that the house will be here, the mess will be here but the boys won't always be here or want to play. This is definitely something I could use prayer on...I have a hard time not letting the house mess get to me. This is the case especially so now that the house is on the market again. We have had 6 showings in the past 10 days...no offers though. I am getting pretty good at throwing stuff places. Now if I could just find that stuff after the showing when I need it!

Mike has been busy this past month. He went to the New Orleans Mardi Gras outreach that he has gone to the past two years. He had another great experience this year. He went with about 23 co-workers and friends...in a caravan of 4 vehicles (sounds like fun...15 hours in a car). Another big announcement, he received a promotion at work. He is now the Service Operations Director. We are so proud of him and all the hard work he does for our family.

Ethan is getting through is Kindergarten year. He has learned to read and is working on math now. His writing has greatly improved. He is really working hard...we are proud of him. Everyday though on the way to school he asks me to homeschool him next year. I tell him that we are considering it..somedays it sounds more doable than others. It is something that I desire to do just have to get my head around the how of doing it. I am going to go to the homeschool conference at the end of the month. Hopefully that will help. Ethan started his fifth season of soccer tonight. He is already thinking long term and says that he will be a professional soccer player when he is older and will be on t.v. I guess it is good to have goals, right?

I will try to add photos tomorrow...tried tonight but its not working and I am tired!

Lights Out!

2011-02-02T15:28:00.007-05:00

We started the day off at 5:30 today with the power going out. I actually started at 5:00 with Jonah waking up. I laid with him in his bed and he fell back to sleep. Once I got back in bed, I could hear the wind outside. Right when I was about to fall asleep again, the power went out. I know this because the humming sound of all three sound machines stopped instantaneously. My first thought was the power is out...my next thought was how quickly are the boys going to wake up without the humming of their sound machines. It took Liam two minutes. He started crying and screaming...of course with the power out, the night light was out as well. He was scared! I went into his room and he said, "Eyes...can't see mama!" Poor thing. I brought him to bed thinking that he may fall back to sleep. About five minutes later, I hear Jonah crying. So in ten minutes after the lights were out, I had all three boys with me in bed. I tried to convince them it was still early and to go back to sleep, but of course, that didn't work.

Needless to say we were up at 6:15 ready for day. I built a fire, made breakfast on the stove (since we have gas, I could cook eggs), and we got dressed by flashlight. I told the boys it was like camping out! Liam didn't quite get the concept of the power being out and asked me every few minutes to turn the lights on. Of course, they came back on once I pulled the cord on the electric garage door so I could manually open it to take Ethan to school. Ethan said, "You should have pulled the cord earlier so the lights would come back on."

Another big event for the day was Jonah gave his pacifier to the dentist. He was all set to do it and be a "big boy." I put them in a bag and he basically just tossed them to the dentist. To celebrate this passage to big boyhood, we got a donut at the buskin bakery. He has asked for them a few times so far. Hopefully tonight will not be too much of a disaster!

We are back!

2011-02-01T15:53:00.003-05:00

I am back...I am going to try this blogging thing again. I really want to have this be part of my nightly ritual so that I can capture our daily life. The boys are keeping me busy so I am not going to promise a post every day.

The last time I posted was a year ago when I announced we were having number 4. Seems like longer than a year ago that I was pregnant but then again the year has flown by. Hunter George was born in the Spring arriving ten weeks early. After a month on bed rest in the hospital, he decided it was time to come into the world and free mommy from her prison sentence...actually it was more like my body decided it was done carrying Hunter. Thankfully, both Hunter and mommy were ok.

I feel like I am finally getting into the groove of having four boys. Now don't get me wrong, most days I am running around like a crazy woman, but I think we are falling into a routine. I actually finally started a new daily routine last week. You are probably wondering what I mean by this. About a year ago, I read a book for homeschooling families on how to manage your home...how to use your day effectively and efficiently. The Lord has blessed us with so much time in a day and we are supposed to be good stewards of this time. Also, kids thrive on structure and routine. I have always had my children on feeding and napping schedules, but what came in between those times has always been up in the air. Well not anymore! We are scheduled for our whole day. The boys have room time, free time, quiet time, chore time...they help me prep for dinner, we have devotion time. Some may think this is too restricting, but actually it is the opposite. I have felt so free and liberated since we started. It is really freeing knowing what I am doing and what the kids are doing at any time of the day. It eliminates the boys meandering around wondering what to do, which eventually leads to arguing and discipline issues. Plus I don't find myself looking at my house thinking I need to work on it all day because now I have an allotted time where I do chores. This has freed me up to do more with the boys. After Hunter came home, I felt like all I was doing was cleaning up after the boys rather than enjoying their younger years. Now, I still have days like this but I am excited that this is going to give me more time to spend with them and still feel like I am keeping up with the house. More importantly it is teaching the boys how to manage their time and be diligent people....and good stewards of their time.

Well, with that, I need to go see what they are up to because their video time is over....

Have a blessed day!

Holy Cow!!!!

2009-12-18T13:20:00.003-05:00

It has been a long time since I blogged. Life is so busy I can't keep up. But I am going to do it, I promise...

Well, most everyone knows that we are expecting number 4!!! Yes we are crazy enough to have another child...that will be four kids in 6 years! It will be nice, though, for them to be so close together. The pregnancy started out a little rough with me on bedrest for 3 weeks! I had some bleeding due to placenta previa, but finally after 10 days of spotting, it stopped! For the last 4-5 weeks I have been good. I am supposed to be taking it easy...not sure what that means with three boys 5 and under in my house. Generally, I am trying to only lift Liam nothing heavier....trying to stay as close to home and low key as possible. The boys and I are enjoying being at home and doing things that are fun at HOME.

For Christmas, we decided to make cookies for our neighbors. The boys and I made ginger snaps, decorated cut out cookies and then just did a break-n-bake. I really enjoyed this project with them. I think Ethan enjoyed it the most out of the boys. They liked decorating the cookies with icing and sprinkles. Then we delivered our cookies to our neighbors...which was their first experience with serving other people. I really think that Ethan got a lot from the experience. When we delivered the first one, she was so shocked and thankful. It was a great way for me to talk to the boys about how serving people shows them that the Lord loves them. This is what we are called to do as Christians. I am excited to find more opportunties to serve in our community with the kids. I think this is the only way for them to really get what it means to be selfless and to realize how blessed they are. We can tell them this all the time verbally but until they really witness it with their own eyes and experience it, they won't really grasp what it means.

Liam is getting busier each day...I think he may be walking by 18 months! Within the last week he has been standing on his own and taking a few steps. He loves to bother his brothers while they are playing and tries to be "big" like them all the time. He is such a lovable boy....my little munchkin!!!

I will leave you with my favorite phrase of the week by Jonah Brooks:

Jonah, Liam and I went to the BMV to register my van. When we were leaving, Jonah was trying to open the door for me and holding it with his head (looking at the ground). I told him that he didn't have to hold it anymore because a man was holding it open now. He looked up and stepped away and said, "Holy COW, that man is big!!!!""

He makes me laugh!! Merry Christmas!!

Birthday Weekend!!

2009-10-19T20:17:00.003-04:00

Happy Birthday Jonah!!! J turned 3 on Sunday! I can't believe he is three already. He is such a joy to our family...our little ham! As Mike said the other day he is a party on legs. He is constantly singing and dancing to his own little beat. J has such a caring heart...very compassionate and loving. When his brothers get hurt, he is always there ready to rub a back or give a kiss and ask if they are okay. He is our lover boy. A day doesn't go by that he doesn't say "Mommy/Daddy?" "Yes Jonah" Jonah then says "I love you!" This usually happens all day long!!! I love it...I will always welcome him telling me he loves me! For his birthday this year he wants a guitar birthday. He loves to play his guitar and sing...following in his daddy's footsteps. LOVES music! Loves Elmo and Bob the Builder. Loves to play with his tools and fix things like a daddy. He is constantly telling me that he is a daddy. Oh what a JOY and blessing he has been to our lives. I pray that he has a healthy, happy, wonderful next year. I look forward to many kisses and I love yous this year!

On a side note a few quotes from the past few months:

1. E - "Cutting people's hair is dangerous because they could have headlights and fleas."

2. On the way to the park one day....E - "Mommy I have on dirty underwear." Followed by J -"Mommy, I don't have any underwear on at all!"

3. Today a neighbor who we hardly talk to asked to borrow our bike trailer. While he was leaving the driveway Ethan yells "Don't break it!!" I whispered, "he won't break it." E said, "Yes he will...he broke daddy's weed eater!"

AAAWWWWWWW!!!!!!

2009-09-30T22:09:00.002-04:00

Our computer is fixed!!!!! YIPPPEEEE..... This is why I haven't posted in almost two months. We have been without a computer for about that long. Thankfully I have an iphone and can check email on there and browse the Internet if I need something quickly. I figured it wouldn't be a good use of my time to blog on my iphone.

I don't know that I can recap the whole two months. Jonah is potty trained...he was fairly simple to train. So far the first two were easy. Ethan trained himself and Jonah took about 3 days to get consistent. Ethan started school about 5 weeks ago. He is in PreK at the same school he was at last year with the same teacher. He seems to be enjoying it...I don't get too much out of him when I pick him up. This makes my mom (grammy) laugh because I was the same way...never divulged too much information. He has been learning the vowels so far...short sounds and writing. He also has one page of homework a week. Next week he has his first "test". He will be evaluated on his knowledge of the vowels. Pressure is on....have I worked with him enough. I think I am more nervous than he is!

Jonah will be three in a few weeks....which I am having a hard time believing. He is still our little ham and lover boy. He likes to give Ethan's teacher hugs. Ethan has yet to give her a hug...again he had her last year as well! I think he is enjoying his mommy time three days a week while E is at school. He likes to go up in the detached garage and have band practice with me. He tells me which instruments I am to play and what I am to sing. He LOVES music...especially the guitar and singing. He actually decided that he would have a guitar birthday party....topped off with our very own Daddy playing live!!!

Liam is growing...not necessarily physically but getting older. He is almost 15 months old already! And still a little peanut. He isn't quite walking yet. Within the last week he has started walking behind his push toys. So we are moving in the right direction. He definitely knows he is the baby and likes everyone to know as well. If he doesn't get his way, then he will let you know with a ear piercing scream! He is very talkative....reminds me of E. He says "uhh ohh" " doggy" "cheese" when he sees my iphone or camera "please" and pretty much tries to copy alot of what he hears.

Well, I am off to bed. Hopefully I will get back into this with having two months off!

Potty Training

2009-08-05T08:25:00.003-04:00

It is another gloomy day in Cincinnati. The weather this summer has been so mild, I am afraid that means we may have a really cold winter. I am sitting here eating breakfast and figured I would write something since I didn't get to it last night. We have been going to bed pretty early these days since Mike gets up so early for work and, for some odd reason, my two older children feel the need to rise at 6 am.

Yesterday was rainy day...pretty much all day. So I decided it would be a good day to start Jonah's potty training. He has been ready for awhile now. He has gone on the potty various times the past few months but nothing consistent. It is more my fault because I haven't had the time or energy to deal with the training aspect of it. So up to this point if I asked if he wanted to use the potty and he said no I didn't push it. I thought it was time to start...he is ready. So yesterday was the day. He wore underwear the whole day, except for nap time. He did great! He only had one accident in the morning. I made the mistake of asking him if he had to go instead of making him go. So after the accident, I set the timer for every 30 minutes. The first time the timer went off, he asked why it was beeping. I told him it was telling him it was time to go potty. He said, "Otay" and ran into the bathroom announcing he didn't need help. He said, "I do it myself. No help." Then when he was done, he told me he didn't need a potty treat. After that when he heard the timer, I would mention the potty and he would run in there no complaints. So it was a good day! He of course was wearing a pair of underwear that was Ethan's so I promised him that we would go to the store to pick out his own underwear once he kept his pants dry for a few days.

The hard part of potty training is when you leave the house. It is so much easier to just put a pull-up on for the just in case scenario. Today, we are supposed to go to the park for a play date event for our church. I am contemplating the pull-up versus the underwear. I am not sure what to do. So much easier with the pull-up. But I don't want to set him back either.....decisions! I will keep you posted on how it turns out...

We are HOME!!

2009-08-02T21:31:00.009-04:00

Well, after two weeks in Florida, the boys and I are now home. Mike is also home from his mission trip in Guatemala. I haven't blogged in a long time...again, of course, I can't remember everything that happened in the last two weeks. The boys and I had a wonderful time in at Grammy and Papa's house. In the course of two weeks, E became a VERY good swimmer. When we first got there, he was a little uncomfortable in the pool. He would swim but only to the point where he could either reach the side, stand or swim to somebody. I like to say that he made a lot of "noise" but really didn't get anywhere...meaning he would kick and move his arms but not really move. He was trying to kick his legs by bending his knees rather than moving his legs from his hips. But nonetheless he jumped in on his own and practiced everyday! By the third day, he was 110% better! Casey and Ty came to visit from Orlando and I think that really helped him get more comfortable...by watching them swim.

Casey and Ty came on Thursday evening and were going to leave on Sunday. When Sunday came, the kids were not ready to leave. So they decided to stay until Thursday! It was so much fun having them stay a week. Typically we only see them for 2-3 days at a time when we visit...usually over a weekend. The kids had such a blast together. The boys would play in the pool and play "surviving" in the backyard. The built quite a hut for themselves using old palm branches. Casey was a huge help with Liam. She always loves taking care of the babies. I enjoyed spending the time with Tracy....it was nice to have time to chat and relax.

J came back to Ohio looking like a native from Florida...very tan and with blond highlights in his hair. I put 50 SPF sunscreen on the boys everyday and still he became the tannest of us all. He had a lot of fun in the pool as well. He would jump into the water and stick his face in the water. He also enjoyed lounging on the rafts in the pools. As always, his favorite thing to do in Florida was to play his tennis racquet guitar and carry his case. He also liked looking for the iguanas...everyday that we found one, he would say it was his favorite one. He picked up two new phrases while in FL...."Oh, WOW!" and "Oh, Mannnnn!" The funniest story was one night we had pasta for dinner and then went to get ice cream. When we got home, J looked for his pasta on the dinner table. I said that we were done with dinner and I threw it away. He looked at me and said "Oh, MANNNNN!" and walked over to the garbage and lifted the lid. It was classic!

So our trip pretty much consisted of the pool everyday, visiting with friends and we went to the beach 2 times. E did really well in the ocean. The first day we went there was a sandbar way out. He was able to go out far and still stand. I was surprised with how comfortable he was with swimming in the ocean...after only being in Florida for 4 days! He was riding the waves and swimming and letting them go over him while he was swimming. J's favorite thing at the beach was to build sand castles and play at the edge of the water. He would get knocked down by a wave and just laugh! It was a really good vacation as always!

Mike had an awesome time in Guatemala. He came back with raw fingertips because he lead the group in worship everyday...about 20+ songs a day! They went to two churches in the ghetto and helped fix it up as well as work with the kids. Also during the day they would go to people's homes and pray with them. On Wed & Thursday, Mike worked with two of our high school students and built a roof for a homeless man. This man "lived" in front of the school, so he built a roof for him to sleep under. It was an impactful trip for Mike...one that he will remember. Obviously he can speak more on it...hopefully I will get him to post on here about it!

Laundry, Laundry & More Laundry

2009-07-12T21:31:00.004-04:00

I have spent the weekend catching up on laundry before the boys and I head to Florida on Tuesday. Every time I fall behind on laundry and get caught back up, I swear that I will not get behind again. In order to do that, I probably need to do at least 3 loads a day! We have way too many clothes!

E is so excited to go to Florida. Everyday he asks how many more days until we leave and after I tell him he says, "I am so excited, mommy." Mike is getting ready to go on his mission trip with the church. They are going to Guatemala. I am sure it will be a great experience. The boys would rather he be going with us to Florida.

The other day while E and I were outside he told me he loved Jesus and God the most. I said that is good...that is the way it is supposed to be. He said he loved Jesus the most because Jesus died on the cross for him to be his Savior. Today he asked me if bushes really burn. I said they can, why? He said they were learning about Moses in church today. I told him I was proud of him for listening and paying attention in class. I love hearing him talking about Jesus! He also told me the other day he wanted to be an orthodontist when he grew up so he could fix people's teeth. He has been very interested in braces lately...ever since Isabel was here. Later the same day he decided he wanted to be an animal man on the show Zaboomafoo and work with animals.

Well, I don't think that J will need surgery. His nose is still swollen but the ENT said the inside was fine and that it appears crooked because of the swelling. He told me to come in on Monday if I wanted him to look at it if I was still unsure and then he could do surgery if needed later in the week. I told him I would be in Florida later in the week. He suggested making an appointment anyway and I could always cancel it. When he left the room, his nurse came in with pre-op papers. I said, "We are having surgery." She said, "He said you were scheduling it for Monday." So needless to say, I have a surgery schedule for 1:30 tomorrow for just in case. Which I really don't want to go to the hospital to have the doctor look at it to find out he doesn't need surgery....the day before we fly to Florida.

We went to watch Mike's indoor soccer game tonight. They had a double header..we were able to see the first game before we had to leave for bedtime. His team is getting better with each game...they won their first game tonight!!! At the end of the game, the fans decided we would make a tunnel for the team to walk through as they came off the field. It is fun to watch them play...in between watching the kids.

Broken Nose?!

2009-07-08T20:52:00.003-04:00

Well, I am finally going to post on the weekend festivities as well as what we have done so far this week. On the 4th of July, Mike bought ALOT of fireworks. So he put on our fourth of July show...it lasted for almost an hour. It was really good!! We had a few friends over to enjoy the fireworks. He had everything from ones that just stay on the ground and light up to the full blown "real" fireworks you see when you go somewhere. I think he and his brother, Bill, enjoyed "playing" with the fireworks as much as we enjoyed watching them. Again, it made me think about what we were doing last year on the 4th...this year was less eventful!

On the 5th we celebrated little Liam's birthday! He woke up in the night around 3am (like usual), but this time I actually enjoyed it because I picked him up and said "happy birthday, munchkin!" That is what I call him since he is my little guy. He really is turning into an older baby...interacting with his brothers and trying to make us laugh. He pretty much stands whenever he gets the chance, but he has yet to figure out how to get back down which makes bedtime fun with mommy going in a few times to lay him back down. Anyway, back to his birthday party. His party was great! We had our close friends over. It was the perfect size party. With the older boys, the parties were bigger and seemed more chaotic. L's was really quite nice. The older kids that came mainly played outside on the playset. The theme of the party was little cowboy. I found the cutest plates a while back with a little cowboy on them with the number 1. I pretty much decided then that he would have a cowboy theme. I thought he was adorable in his overalls and red bandana. And E's old rocking horse just completed the look. I ended up buying foam cowboy hats for the older kids to decorate. That is the hat that J has on his head in the picture in the other post. They put foam stickers on their hat when they came to the party. L actually had 3 "little" friends at the party. I think the highlights for the party for L were his balloons and cake. He enjoyed the cake for quite sometime, but when he decided he was done, he was done...as you can see from the crying picture I posted! It was a really nice day...as Mike said before the party, it was a big day. Not just because of his first birthday but because of what it meant and what we had gone through to get to this point.

E has swim lessons again this week. He is enjoying them and can't wait to go to Grammy and Papa's to practice. He told Grammy the other day that she could swim with him. It makes for a hectic week but I definitely think they are useful and worth it. After this week of lessons, I have pretty much have the weekend to get ready to go away for two weeks. That means I need to do ALOT of laundry since I am behind...as always.

Yesterday, J decided to pull a weight bar down on his face. His nose instantly swelled up and is now a little asymmetrical as the doctor put it. I took him to the doctor today and was told that we need to go to the ENT tomorrow to see if it is in fact broken and to possible get it reset. That should be fun! He also has to get some blood work done to see if he has a immune deficiency that is causing all of his sinus issues. He is going to have a rough day tomorrow! I think that I am going to do something special for him after the doctor's. Lately I have been feeling really guilty that he is not getting enough of my attention. It is so easy to just "lump" him in with E. He really doesn't get an opportunity to be with me by himself very often. E does in the afternoon while the younger boys are napping. I need to make an effort to carve out time each day where it is just J and mommy time.

Well, I know that the boys have said many cute and funny things that past few days but of course I can't think of them now. Isn't that the whole point of this blog! I really need to do this everyday probably more than once a day to truely capture it all. Maybe I should write the stuff down on paper and then do the blog later. I will need to work that out. At least I am writing something down...I am one step ahead of where I was a month ago, right!

Happy Birthday!!!

2009-07-05T21:15:00.009-04:00

It was Liam's birthday today. I am going to post photos for now....I am too tired to write anything...I can't think clearly right now. But I know that Grammy and Papa were anxious to see photos of the birthday party so here are a few...

Zoo

2009-07-03T22:29:00.003-04:00

Yesterday the boys and I went to the zoo. We have yearly passes so I thought it would be a good thing to do for the morning that wouldn't cost us anything since we already have passes. It was perfect weather for July...high of 68! Since we go to the zoo frequently, we have our usual routine that we follow. This time we changed it up a bit. When we first got in the zoo, we went to the nocturnal house. We saw a barn owl, an anteater, bats, flying fox, and other night animals. We like this house a lot! I think that was the new favorite spot for the boys. I liked the owl the best and the bats the least!!! We then went to the insect house which was another new spot for us. We spent a lot of time in there. E liked this room and was excited that he was able to final see what a scorpion looked like. For some reason he has been talking about scorpions for the past few weeks so it was nice to finally show him one in person. And yes all the insects were alive. We saw a Japanese horned beetle. This thing was HUGE...at least 3 inches long and about 1 1/2 inches wide with a big horny hook thing on its nose. After these two new stops for us, we saw the usual animals and had some lunch. We did see the African animals this time...we usually miss them for some reason...these are Mike's favorite. Another new stop for us was the children's zoo where the kids could play a little bit sit on statues of animals and pet big turtles that were walking around. After that we went to the petting zoo, where they feed the goats. This was a treat for the boys. They have never done that...J thought it was funny and E thought they were soft to touch. Mom asked me if L likes to see the animals, and I said "I don't know..actually most of the time I have the strollers pointed toward a wall or bush so he is out of the way." Poor guy!!!

Today I ran errands to get ready for L's birtday on Sunday. I had to buy him presents and get lots of groceries. We were out of almost everything. I ordered his cake and his personal "smash" cake. Once again it made me think of how quickly the year has gone by. Tonight when we put the boys to bed, Mike told them we would do fireworks tomorrow night. As he was leaving the room he said, "At least we know that mommy won't go into labor this year." That made me think that technically tonight a year ago was when we went to the hospital. I was reflecting on the fact that everything was in such perfect timing. God's timing. His hand was in all of it...down to what time arrived at the hospital. Had things been 10-15 minutes earlier or later, things could have been drastically different. Today I was thinking about how I felt when I came out of surgery. How scared I was and how releived Mike was. I remember he was just standing at the end of my bed telling me it's ok, you are ok, the baby is fine. Of course, he had already lived through the fear of me in surgery and L being born so early. But he had also seen L already and saw that he was breathing. He saw me in the hopsital bed alive and ok. It was all catching up to me at this point. I was scared before the surgery but more so when I woke up. Awww, the Lord is so awesome! He had me and L in His hands the whole time. He knew exactly what was going to happen. I remember right before I went under, I prayed, "HELP ME, LORD, I am scared." Boy did He answer my prayer!!!

Well, anyway on a lighter note, I will leave you with another one of E's quotes of the day. I was pushing him on the swing tonight telling him that he needed to adjust his attitude a bit because it was more pleasent to be around him when he was happier. He said, "I don't want you to send me away." I said, "I would never send you away." He said, "Yes you would like you said you are going to send Booker away." Booker is our dog who has had diarreha the last two days...which has left me cleaning it up 4 times. I told him that he is my son and Booker is just a dog. I would never send him away. It is amazing what goes through kid's heads!!

Hearts Sing

2009-07-01T20:24:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in a few days. I really need to do it every night because I can't remember what I did two days ago! The weather has been really pleasant the last few days. The boys and I enjoyed the park on Monday night since Mike had a meeting. It was nice just to walk around the park and see the ducks. They enjoy walking on the trails more than they do actually playing on the park. Yesterday I worked out in the morning. My friend Kelly and I exchange babysitting so we can each work out. She comes over with her baby and watches the boys for me. Then I come home and she leaves to work out. It is very nice to have someone like that...gives me a chance to have a moment to myself and stay in shape. I am very sore today after yesterday's work out.... After that the boys and I played outside on our swing set.

Today started out rough. I has one of those days where I didn't feel like a very good mom. I felt like I was doing a lot of yelling. I hate when I get like that, and I am sure my boys do as well! They have probably learned to tune me out. Sometimes once I start, I get on this downward spiral. It seemed like the boys were on a roll and did not want to listen to me....or at least didn't want to listen until I yelled loud enough. I know there is a better way!! I do love watching them play together, though. E & J really do play well together. I love listening to them laugh and pretend together. I am very impressed with how well J pretend plays for his age. The other day they were playing cars together. E said, "Hey dude, do you want to come to my house for dinner?" And J said, "Yeah dude." E said, "Get your family and come in my truck." J took his pointer finger and his thumb and pretended to pick up a tiny person off of the table and "put" them into E's truck. He then took he fingers and got "person" out of his truck to put in E's truck. I think that is impressive for a 2 1/2 year old to pretend that much!

Mike's garden is going well! We are starting to get a lot of cucumbers and zucchini. I am hoping to make some zucchini bread. That is something we did last summer a little bit with our surplus. Just when I was getting into it, though, we were done with our zucchini growth. It makes me think about last summer and what we were doing. I can't believe it has been a year since I was on bed rest and L was born. We are having his party on Sunday...a cowboy theme. I am excited but sad at the same time. I am not ready for him to be one. It seems like once they are one they grow up so fast and out of the baby stage...and I love the baby stage.

Tonight while I was putting the boys to bed, I read them a story and then started to sing them "Amazing Grace." I was laying on the floor singing and E came and laid on me with his ear on my chest. He said, "I can hear your heart beating..." Then he said, "I didn't know hearts could sing!" Priceless!!! I love it...I gave him a huge hug!

Birthday Weekend

2009-06-28T20:21:00.003-04:00

It was Mike's birthday yesterday...33 years old! As he put it, it was a big year for Jesus that ended with Him going out with a bang. He is hoping for a big year, but not one that ends the same way. The boys and I made him one of his favorite desserts...german chocolate cake. E wanted to add M&Ms so we had a little extra touch on the cake. All day long, the boys would say, "Happy Birthday, dad!" It was really cute. J especially found enjoyment in telling Mike happy birthday. Mike would say "Happy Birthday, Jonah!" Then J would say, "No daddy, your birthday. Happy Birthday, dad!" We had a friend over for dinner and he taped J arguing with him about the fact that it was daddy's birthday. It is very funny and cute. I am going to try to attach it to the post. J would say, "no daddy's birthday and then turn to Mike and say happy birthday, dad." But each time you could hear him getting more irritated. Later in the evening our friends' Mike and Kelly came over to hang out. We had a really nice time sitting outside, chatting and drinking a few glasses of wine. It was a good day!!

This morning we went to church and then were out most of the day. This evening Mike had a soccer game that we went to watch. This morning when I was getting in the car for church, E said that heaven had shiney roads. I asked him how he knew that, and he said at school they learned there were big shiney roads in heaven. I said you are right...golden roads. He said, "When we die, we aren't here anymore." I said, "No, we aren't. But if you believe in Jesus you will be in heaven." He said, "Yep, I believe in Jesus. What do you look like when you are in heaven?" I said, "I am not sure, maybe like Angels." He said, "I am excited to go to heaven to see Jesus and the angels. And to see our dog, Blaze." I said, "Me too. But I am not quite ready for you to go just yet!" His mind has definitely been working these past few weeks. I really need to pray about it and see what I should be doing with it. He remembers everything and really thinks things through it all. He has had lots of questions and a little bit more of a sense of right and wrong, not just knowing what is right and wrong but more of a heart around it...more repentant when he has done something wrong.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful boys! They really are a joy and bring me so much happiness. I need to remind myself to cherish this time and not get so caught up in my daily chores and feeling behind all the time. As the saying goes, "The laundry will always be there, but the kids will not!"

Past Few Days

2009-06-26T21:42:00.002-04:00

It has been a few days since I have posted. My evenings have been consumed with other things and there really isn't time during the day to post. E finished his week of swimming today. Next session starts on July 6th and he will move up to Beginner 1. That is the class he started in this week...so hopefully he feels more ready for it. He did really well this week. Each day he got better...which is the point, right? By the end of the week, he was able to jump in and swim to the steps. When he tries to do his arms and legs together, he gets a little wiggly. So he doesn't move forward a whole lot when he is squirming all over the place. But he is loving it! When the teacher was working with someone else, he would jump off the steps and try to swim back. The other day, he and I played "Olympeics" (as he called it) outside while the younger two slept. It was fun...first we did soccer, then football, baseball, mountain climbing and finally lacrosse. We had a few breaks in between where we would sit in the swing set fort and chat. He really does like his alone time with me or his dad. I am realizing that his love language is quality time. He has a whole new attitude when he gets some alone time with us. I have been struggling this week with keeping him busy, though. He didn't do real well with playing with his, so if I wasn't doing something with him, he was more or less yelling or running around in the house. Something for me to figure out and work on with him.

Lately I have been letting J take a nap in a big boy bed, his brothers. Well, today I put him to bed for his nap. After about 10 minutes I could hear him doing something in his room. I opened the door to find that he had pulled about 15 wooden slats out of the window blinds and had them piled on the bed. He was a little shocked when I opened the door as he always is when he gets caught in the act...with his usually surprised "What?" I was a little irritated because it takes some time to put each individual wooden blind back because you have to weave it through two pieces of thread. I told him that he would have to sleep in his crib for this nap and he said, "But I didn't get out of bed!" Very true! He seems needy to me lately...wanting to be held a lot. I am starting to wonder if he is getting jealous of L because he is getting more mobile. I am not sure...I want to be sure to not ignore it, though. I don't want him to fall in the "middle" child trap.

Last night we had a really big lightning and thunder storm. Probably the worst one I have ever seen. It lasted for a few hours. I couldn't fall asleep for some reason, so I was up watching it until about 1:30. The lightning was continuous with the thunder right on top of the flashes. It was like watching the finale of a fireworks show! At 2:30, J walked in the room and said it hurt his ears...I wish you could hear him say the word because he says it so cute...So after that, both E and J were up for a little bit. We talked about the storm and I had to find a flashlight for them because during the storm their fish tank light stopped working, therefore, they lost their night light. It was definitely a crazy storm and one to remember. Mike was a little upset because his garden was damaged from the winds. Some of the plants that were about to produce their "goods" were blown over. I tried to repair a few this morning for him...we will see if it works!

Good Swim Day!

2009-06-23T21:42:00.003-04:00

Today was a much better swimming day for E. He had a much better attitude about it today. We talked a lot yesterday about the swim lessons and what would happen during the lessons. E was definitely ready to get in the water today. I think he was just tired yesterday. He has three more lessons this week. And then he will go back again the week of the 6th for 5 more lessons.

After his lessons, we all went to the YMCA outside pool....so J could swim and meet up with some friends we haven't seen in a few weeks. The boys had a lot of fun! Once L realized that the water was like his bath he stopped crying and started to splash. He actually cried when I took him out of the water to feed him lunch.

When I was laying with E tonight in bed, he was telling me all the people and things he loved. He then told me that he loved God and Jesus the most then mommy, daddy, J & L. I thought that was awesome! He is getting so grown up!

That was it for the day...it was a water filled day. Goodnight! I need to go put sheets on my bed so we can go to sleep....

Just Another Monday

2009-06-22T21:17:00.002-04:00

Well today was a MONDAY. What do I mean by that...for me Mondays are always an adjustment back to the week. I don't know why, but the boys are crazier on a Monday. I am not sure if it is me because I don't have Mike to help or if it is the boys missing their daddy while he is at work or the combination of them both. We started the day with going to the bank. I told the boys before we went into the bank that my expectation for them was to sit in the seats quietly and not run around and yell like they sometimes do. If they achieved this, then they could get the sacred bank lollipops! Well, when I was done, E asked if he could get a lollipop. I told him "yes" because he had behaved very well. I turned around to tell J the same, only to see that he had stripped down to his shorts! For some reason only known to J, he decided he needed to take his shirt, socks and shoes off and run around in a circle. So, he did not receive a lollipop. On the way home, I thought to myself, I really didn't specify to J that he couldn't take his clothes off. I just said not to yell and run around...I think I may need to be more specific next time!

E had his first swim lesson for the summer. That didn't go well. For some reason he decided that he wasn't going to swim. I think it ended up being my fault because I signed him up for a class that was too advanced for him. I thought he was ready for it. I also think all of the kids in the class was overwhelming for him. Tomorrow he is going to be in a class that should be better. Hopefully he will swim tomorrow. He has this week of swimming and then the week of the 6th. My hope is that he will be comfortable in the water when we go to Grammy and Papa's house on the 14th. So by the time I left swimming today, I had all three boys crying...I am sure they were glad to see us leave!

This afternoon E and I were playing on the swingset. He asked me if I wanted to play "friends" with him. I asked him what friends was...he said "You know mommy we have played before....girlfriend/boyfriend." I said, "What is that? What is a boyfriend?" He said, "Mommy, you know, a 'special' friend" with a smile on his face. I laughed. He said, "You be Casey and I will be Ty." Too cute!!!!

L pulled himself up again today on the fireplace hearth. I was afraid that he was going to hit his face but was also very excited because this time he went from his knees to his feet!!! He is on his way! I said, "Yeah!!!" and clapped. He got a huge smile on his face!

Father's Day!

2009-06-22T20:59:00.002-04:00

We had a wonderful Father's Day! The day started with breakfast in bed for daddy...pancakes and bacon. Daddy opened his gifts and off to church we went. The boys were very excited for Sunday because we were going to the Reds baseball game after church. L was being watched by our friends for the afternoon. After church we headed downtown to the baseball field. J was excited to go to "his" baseball game. The boys were decked out in their Reds t-shirts and baseball caps. Our seats were in the outfield...left center...four rows up. They were very good seats except it was SOOOO hot!!! We found our seats and sat down...no less than two minutes later J declared he wanted to go home. I thought, "This should be fun!" Well, we made it to the seventh inning....impressing, huh! Once we got popcorn and nachos, the boys were set. The highlight for E was seeing the river with the boats and for J was seeing the Mr. Redlegs mannequin in the store! It was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed going the game with the boys. Usually Mike and E go alone, so it was nice to be a part of it and see J enjoy his first MLB game!

Uneventful Day

2009-06-20T22:09:00.003-04:00

Today was rather uneventful. Mike did a lot of work outside...mowed the lawn, worked in his garden and put shingles on the roof of our wood shed. So I guess I should say, I had an uneventful day. As always, E and J followed their daddy everywhere outside. I ran some errands and spent a good portion of the day trying to get Cincinnati Reds tickets for tomorrow afternoon. I started this whole journey yesterday when I thought it would be fun to do the baseball game for Father's Day. I found awesome tickets on Craigslist and thought I had bought some (well agreed to buy some). So I waited a good portion of the morning waiting to hear from the lady...as you can probably guess, she never called or emailed. So, it was rather tough to find tickets later in the day since most of them had already been sold. BUT, we have tickets! It should be fun...it will be J's first baseball game. We told him we were going and he said, "MY baseball game." E quickly reminded him that we were ALL going. I think that J thinks he is going to play...I hope he isn't dissappointed when he realizes that he gets to sit in seats and not actually be on the field.

On a good note, when I went to get L out of bed after his morning nap, he had pulled himself up to his knees by hanging onto the side. This is huge! At his last Help Me Grow assessment, I was told that if he wasn't pulling up by July 13th that he would have to go to physical therapy. Which wouldn't be a huge surprise since he is a preemie but nonetheless not something I wanted to have to do with our already busy schedule. He really has done very well. He is right on track with this fine motor and his emotional development. He is army crawling everywhere now...sweeping the floor as he moves! Before I know, he will be walking. Then I am in trouble.

My Very First Post!!!!

2009-06-19T22:18:00.002-04:00

Well, here it is, my first posting on our blog. I am hoping to keep this up...I am usually not very good at this sort of thing. But I am hoping the challenge of trying to figure out how to blog will keep me wanting to post something everyday. I really want this to be a place that I can share my families daily life with our family and friends. With L's first birthday almost here, I am realizing that life is going by WAY too quickly for my liking. I keep thinking that this time last year, I was on bed rest in the hospital. It seems like yesterday that I was figuring out how to see L in the NICU and have someone to watch the older boys. It also makes me realize how incredibly blessed I am! I have three beautiful boys, a wonderful husband, a roof over my head, and good health for all of us. The Lord has taken care of us and has carried us through this crazy year.

The other thing that has prompted me to start this post was my sister. She and her family were in town for the ten days visiting us for the first time since they moved to California or 'Californla' has E says. They moved a year ago right before I went on bed rest. It was so nice seeing them and seeing the kids play together again. We had such a wonderful time together. Em and I really had a chance to connect and chat as well as enjoy our kids together. I miss having them 10 minutes from us. E keeps telling me how much he misses them. He says they need to move back to Cincinnati. I asked him where they would live. He said, " They can live in the field next to our house." We miss them sooo much! Love you guys! Anyway, she and I were talking about how we need to have a blog to keep each other updated...so here it goes Em....