Sleep Well

I had some pics of Erk playing football with the boys earlier but I accidentally deleted them off my camera! Nice, NOT! Ohh well, maybe I'll have some to share tomorrow. I did get the video camera out tonight though, the boys and Erk were really cute playing outside. Rare - they just laugh...

Molly has been a huge sleepyhead today - not really awake much at all! Here's to hoping she'll do as well tonight as she did last night, was up at 3:15a then woke up and made some noise at 6:15a, but then fell back asleep on her own until 7a. Gotta like that! We all went to Ry's football game this morning and then home for naps - all of us crashed hard! I laid on the bed to "relax" on my stomach and next thing I knew it was 1 1/2 hours later. To me there is no better sleep position than my belly, I missed that all those months I was big and round! Hope you sleep well tonight!

Boy I'm feeling some tension in my neck and rather tired tonight. Not sure why, I don't really feel tense? Maybe it's just those muscles getting used to holding a baby all the time again :)

Mol is laying here on my lap wide awake right now. Poor child tossed her cookies so to speak, in the bath this afternoon! I was washing her up in her tub over the sink and she "lost" her previous feeding. Crazy, she did that in the night last night too, spit up so bad I wouldn't even call it spitting up - it was honest to goodness "hoarking." Huh... Maybe this little cold she has lingering is making her belly unsettled. Of course I mention that she puked to the boys and they both seperately asked where it was cause they wanted to see it! Funny boys... Her last feeding is at 9:30p and I'm anxious to catch some z's. Glad we opted to stick around this weekend, I'm pooped. It just seemed that the week flew by so fast - camping seemed to be a lot of work all of a sudden. But we're going to shoot for next weekend - should be nice weather!

Bathtime, baby!

This pic is for you Grandma S :) She's wearing it!

I don't think these dudes care for their sister at all!?

Bean dog helps in her own way - hogging the couch, sitting (practically) on the bottles...

This child SO has my hands and feet :)

The Sound of Silence

The house is super quiet right now - ahhh… and on a day where I don’t feel the need for a nap – ahhh :) Molly did SO well last night, it was the first time I was only up once with her in the night and the time she got up “for the day” was at a GOOD time, 7am. I was thrilled! She went down after her 10p feeding and slept until 2:30a, then wasn’t up til 7am. That right there my friend is a beautiful thing!

Jack had fun at school this morning – they are learning about the letter “B” right now. He’s so funny, he does so well. Here we worried over nothing, thinking he wouldn’t want to go back, that he’d cry. Nope. Just a big kid, we’re so proud of him. He’s told me about a little girl who cries every time her moms drops her off – well, I witnessed it today and it was more than just crying! This girl threw herself on the floor and was kicking and grabbing and lurching at her mom. The teacher looked over at me (cause I was watching this go down in sort of shock) and she made a face like “here we go” and sure enough, Jack’s teacher tries to grab the little girl and distract her with a puzzle, all the while getting smacked and punched herself. Yikes. And to think the thought of teaching preschool has appealed to me? HA! Needless to say, I think the child (and the teacher) survived. When Mikie, Molly and I went to pick Jack up, we sat in the back of the church sanctuary and watched the kids in “chapel.” A few minutes after we had been there, Jack turned around and saw we were waiting. He started waving and smiling as big as his mouth would allow :) It was so cute…

Once we were home from school, we had lunch and the boys were both “draggin.” I could tell Jack was whipped, so up they headed for bed. I fed Molly while putting them down and told them no screwing around today. Well, I came down here with Mol and heard footsteps. I assumed both boys were dinking around – nope, just Jack was up. Mikie is zonked. So I’m hoping now that I brought Jack back up there 10 minutes ago that he’s going to sleep. While I was up there, I laid Molly down too. Again I say, ahh the sound of silence :)

PTO is NFM (Not For Me)

WHEW! You want a headache? Go to a PTO meeting! Tonight was my first one ever at Jack’s preschool and I came away feeling overwhelmed and a huge headache came on. There were only 7 other ladies there (to include the director of the preschool, a board member from the church and a preschool teacher). Lots of sign up sheets being passed around, they need help with rummage sales, fund raisers, yadda yadda and I just felt like my head was spinning. I know they need all of this for the preschool, but sheesh. I don’t think I’m ready for all of that! Even though I do feel I have enough on my plate for the time being, how can you not leave there feeling like you should help? We’ll have to see – as for right now, I just need to take an aspirin :)

No Nap For Momma Today

Ya ever feel like you’re being the mean orge of a mom, but on the inside you’re cracking up? That’s me today – well this afternoon at least… Yesterday was a different story… we were in Target and I was the “mean mom,” the one getting after my kids cause I had gotten to that point where they were driving me bonkers – ya know, that mom you look at in public and think, “gee whiz lady, get it together!” That was me… We had made 2 stops yesterday morning (we, meaning me and all 3 kids) and after Jack had a meltdown in the first store the minute we walked in (asking if we were done yet) I was getting pretty frustrated. Then a few more meltdowns, running to one more store cause it was right across the street and when do I get to that end of town… but by that point I was done. They were done. We were DONE.

Today? It’s kinda funny – but I had hoped in the back of my mind that today we would all nap at the same time. Molly’s feeding lined up to 12noon, which meant a nap at 1pm, and the boys usually go down then. Jack has seemed increasingly tired since starting preschool, even though it’s only 2 mornings a week (he’s doing FANTASTIC by the way, he loves it and we’re SO PROUD!). So today I thought would all come together really nicely. Nope! Mol was no problem initially, down she went right at 1pm, so I put the boys to bed and laid down at 1:10pm myself. I was wide awake but knew I was tired so I told myself “if I don’t zonk by 1:30pm, I’ll get up.” Well, I started to doze but kept hearing the boys screwing around. So I got after them… it continued… more telling them to quit and even getting out of bed 4 different times to lay down the law. Then a few minutes go by, Jack gets up and has to go #2. Mikie in tow – they are laughing in the bathroom – I’m getting after them to quiet down, “Molly is sleeping!” Back in their room they go, screwing around – Molly wakes up and starts to fuss. Then she stops, Mikie has to go #2, but wants the special wipes I had bought at the store. And on and on… let’s just say, no nap for mom today! Ohh well, I’ll survive :) All 3 kiddos are headed to Granny and Gramps tonight for the evening, this is the first time! Crazy! I’ll enjoy some peace to myself. I checked Jack’s backpack this morning and there was a notice of a PTO meeting at his school tonight. That’s where I’ll be heading since Erk is in a work golf outing. Hope you have a nice evening!

Here are the shower pics! Thanks Dad for getting them to me so quick. They really turned out cute -

I'm looking forward to watching the Bachelor tonight! Seems it's been a while since there's been a show I like to watch. Also seems like forever that I willingly sat up late to watch a show :)

Finishing up the birth announcements and hoping to get the last few out tomorrow in the mail. Hope you get yours soon!

Shower Pictures

Isn't this fruit bowl pretty?


Auntie Jane with Molly :)

Dawn and I hanging out on the porch - bless her heart she came from work and had to go back "out" but came to eat and say hello. It was really nice of her to come all that way!

Meg with Miss Mol

Who cut the cheese? :) Thanks Ginger, these turned out so cute!

Abby and Anna eating some cake...

Cute bib from great-grandma :)

Granny bonding with Molly by golly :)

more gifts, you guys are too much!

What do you think of all of this, Molly?

Molly, Meg and Em hangin' out

Ernie and Gramma

Group shot! Some of us ladies...

Emily and Molly - aren't they cute? :)

The afternoon tuckered her out :)

Days Go By Like Minutes

Jack watching the starts of the volleyball game last Wednesday nite...

Nanny and Mol :)

Get a load of this! I caught her smiling!

Dirty face Mikie, these boys... :)

Seems the days keep going by like minutes! We’re doing well – everyone is pretty healthy (although Mikie has the starts of a cold and now it’s making its rounds – let’s hope it doesn’t lead to something as crazy as 2 weeks ago with Molly by golly)!

There was a family baby shower for me and Molly yesterday and that was fun. Great to see everyone and very, very nice of all to give us such nice things. I had fun last night snipping tags off everything and doing laundry :) Let’s just say this baby is SET for a while! Very nice… I’ll post some pics when I have them – I thought I had forgotten my camera so I used mom and dad’s to snap some pics, Molly (cousin Mol) also willingly snapped some. Then as we were getting ready to leave, I found my stinkin’ camera sitting in the carseat! Figures. Oh well, mom’s camera takes really nice pics. Once I get those I’ll share…

Here are a few pics from the past few days. I hope all is well with you! A beautiful weekend weather wise – if it’s nice next weekend we may be camping!

A Little Imagination...

The boys were bored so we put together a little road map with a highway and some houses, even a fire department and football field with parking all the way around. They are so funny :) I hope washable markers come off the pavement as easily as chalk does!

CLASSIC

So Mikie and I were getting out of the truck today (we had been at the park with our friends and Mikie had to go poop, so we left Molly with our friends and ran to Taco Bell to use the restroom, Jack was at school) and I say...

"I need to fix my bra" (quietly as I adjusted myself) and Mikie asks,

"Do you need some tools?"

Ahh, There's Just One Guy In There...

Have you ever been in a men’s room? Obviously a question for the ladies :) Well, I was last night and let’s just say, I have no desire to go back into one. See, here’s the deal... We went to Molly’s volleyball game last night, it was great to be back – it’s funny to think I wasn’t pregnant last year when the volleyball was going on, and here as it’s getting started, I had a baby in between!

Anywho, there we are, the boys had been running all over the place, beat red in the face, looking like they could conk at any time. Mikie has to go potty – he opted for the men’s room so I asked Jack to go in with him since “mommy isn’t allowed in.” For some reason, Jack thought they couldn’t go in alone or they’d “get in trouble,” so he was crabby holding the door open into the men’s room telling me he didn’t want to go in. Mikie was already deep within the depths and I’m standing outside the door feeding Molly. I’m telling Jack to just ‘go in!’ and help his brother. Just then a young college student walks up and says what a cute baby, how old is she, etc. I told him and he sees me talking to Jack, then we hear Mikie yell, “Mommy! I peed, Mommy, where are you?” Thinking Mikie can just fix the problem, I smile at the college student and hope the yelling will stop. Well, it continues, so this college kid says “do you need to go in? I can check to see if anyone is in there for you?” So he walks in, comes out and says “ahh, there’s just one guy in there, you’re fine,” I thought he was kidding! Then he says “go on in, the guy is just washing his hands.” So in the men’s room I go, Mikie is in the stall calling out to me, this other college kid is asking if I need help (gotta love Christian college students :) but I told him no and asked Mikie to come on out. Mikie is drenched. His volleyball t-shirt is way too long and wouldn’t you know it got in the way? So he’s covered in pee, undies and shorts around his ankles, I’m holding Molly in my left arm feeding her holding the bottle with my chin trying to help Mikie with my right arm to get his freaking shorts off. Then he slips and falls, then he’s crying, I’m trying not to jam the bottle into poor Mol’s head all the while sweating cause it’s SO HOT in the gym and even hotter in the bathrooms, AND I’m sweating cause it’s the MEN’S ROOM. Knowing my college buddy is standing outside the door telling other dudes not to go in is just making me sweat more. Tug, tug, pull, finally get Mikie’s shorts off over his sandals – and out into the seating area of the gym we head with peed on shorts in one hand, Molly in the other still drinking her bottle, Mikie with no shorts. I quickly swoop Molly down to my Mom in the stands and grab the diaper bag… into the ladies room we head. SHEESH. Good thing I had a change of clothes for Picky! Did I mention it was hot in there? :) And even with as much as I griped and complained about how hot it was, that didn’t make it any cooler :) Wouldn’t you think they would have a/c in a college gym? Nope, hotter than a beak.

Let’s just say, after that I had some pretty tired kids and an even more tired mom. They all 3 conked on the way home and I was glad Erk was here to help carry them all in.

Showin' Some Love

Mikie in inside out undies :)

These boys LOVE their sista!

Mol...

Strike a pose :) Molly was really interested in America's Next Top Model, as you can tell...

What is it I do all day (and night)?

Mol is nice and clean - she didn't like her first "tub" bath though!

Where Does The Time Go?

I thought I'd say hello real quick before Mol's next feeding. Whew, what a weekend, very nice and relaxing here at home. Molly and I chilled out and watched America's Next Top Model back to back last night (some kind of marathon, we weren't in it for the long haul though :). I have some pics from her and my first "slumber party" but I'll have to upload those later. I'm pooped, I won't lie. I went to bed right after her 9pm feeding last night, but of course was up every 3 hours almost on the nose (she woke me up each time). Broken sleep like that just isn't the same as a full night :)

I have to tell ya, Mikie is a freaking CHAMP. That kid... Erk of course took the boys camping this weekend and Mikie did not have ONE accident the whole time. He even pooped on the potty for the very first time yesterday in the trailer, and has now pooped on the potty 3 times! He goes in the bathroom all on his own and tells us he needs some "piracy." He's so comical this kid. We are so proud of him... He woke up from his nap feeling bad that he had peed in his pullup during the nap. HUH? Ohh and tonight after both boys were all tucked in bed, he came downstairs with his jammy bottoms around his ankles saying he had peed on the potty, could we help him get the diaper back on. What a guy :)

And Jack - all of a sudden he seems SO big. He looks old, he talks like an old man - where does the time go? My boys are potty training and in school - what the beak!

Slip and Slide

Our kids are truly my heart walking around outside of my body! I heard that once and really thought that was cute, and so true! I love them so much – even on days like today where, well… they were wearing me thin. Not literally, I have some pounds to go before “I’m back” :) but sheesh, was my patience down to nothin’…

Let’s see, hmm, what could have possibly helped get me there? Was it Mikie who is doing really well with the potty, despite the 4 accidents today – no biggie. EXCEPT for when he came down the stairs to tell me “I pooped in the hallway and my bedroom!” HUH? I picked him up and stood him on the counter and looked him straight in the eye and told him Mommy wasn’t happy with that and up the stairs I went with the 409 and paper towel. Fortunately the “mess” was easy to pick up, but it was in fact spread in the hallway and all beside his bed. Okey dokey.

Perhaps my patience was worn thin because I was told “I don’t wanna hear it!” from both boys repeatedly when I asked them to pick up toys that were strewn in their room, the dining room, family room, kitchen floor. I’ve become quite the ballerina on my toes with the toys, especially when holding Molly and not wanting to slip and slide.

Or tonight when Bean dog went ahead and hopped up on the counter and took my dinner right off the stove. Yeah, I was pleased. Not only that, but she stained the kitchen rug underneath from the sauce. NOT HAPPY.

But on a much brighter note, I am mighty thankful and blessed to have some time to catch up on rest this weekend. Erk took the boys camping! We had this on the books well before Mol was born and the timing couldn’t have been better as it turns out. I need some r & r and it looks like I’ll get some. They’ll be back Sunday afternoon and didn’t go far so it’s a plus all the way around. Hope you have a great relaxing weekend too!

More Big Happenin's 'Round Here

And even more excitement here today - Mikie is now wearing underware! YEP! He's really excited - a bit sooner than I would have guessed simply cause of the... well I'd say BUSY few weeks we've had :), but he was ready today. I have heard that he's peed twice on the potty now and I haven't been around either time (once at my folks and once yesterday before Mol and I were home). So today when I went to change him (after changing his baby sis - man do his buns look huge now :) I asked him if he wanted to go pee on the potty. He said sure and went and stood there for a bit. Probably 3-4 minutes went by but I didn't want to rush him - he said to me "I'm waiting for the pee to come out," and sure enough eventually it did! I was so proud - he gleamed with excitement. So we put some undies on him that Jack picked out and off he went. Granted an hour into it he peed his pants, but hey, what can ya expect?? So we came in from playing outside and I put some different ones on him. He asked me "are you gonna be mad at me now Mom?" Awww, cute little man - of course not. He was of course referring to how Jack gets in trouble for peeing in his pants.

Anywho - we'll see how it goes! Our little man is getting TOO BIG! What a week of happenings around here...

Pics of Molly's Not So Great Few Days

The boys were so cute when they came up Tuesday to see her...



Jack drawing pictures on our "board"...

Around 12:30am on Tuesday night they had to remove Molly's head IV cause it was leaking out. So she had it stuck in her arm. Poor baby, she was so ticked and crying while they had to remove all that tape from her hair :(


Precious baby girl...

Her little "momma" piggies - yep, she has my feet and toes!

Pics From Jack's BIG Day Tuesday

What a little man :) I know he would have loved to go today, but I just couldn't chance getting other kids sick, especially since Jack still had his fever in the night. He seems to be all good now...

We're HOME!

PRAISE THE LORD. We are home now and Molly is doing great. After the long, drawn out, exhausting few days in the hospital, we are home! We were there from Monday night until last night around 11:30pm. We could have opted to stay in the hospital one more night but Molly and I were both SO ready to come home! We didn’t care what time it was. They had to have a full 48 hours to run their series of tests on her to rule out anything and everything major. Fortunately, all of the tests came back negative. She simply had the same virus that Mikie had over the weekend, and wouldn’t you know, Tuesday night Jack came down with it too. He had a high temp even in the night last night poor little dude - so he's missing preschool today :(.

So Erk was Dr. Dad here at home with fevers and puking and I was at the hospital night and day (besides coming home on Tuesday for a little nap). We are so thankful – thank you to all of you who called me, I was so touched by all of the care and concern and genuine heartfelt offers to help in any way you could. WOW, we are so blessed! Thank you too to all who came up to visit us at the hospital, it sure did break up our stay!

I’m not going to lie, I was just plain whipped when we got home last night. But between the beeping machines all day/night, them coming to check her constantly and her bawling her eyes out cause she was so tired of being poked and prodded, it was worth the extra energy and all to come home last night. The night staff at the hospital was top notch, very considerate and kind. The day staff? By the afternoon yesterday I was practically dropping “f” bombs out of frustration for their lack of COMMON SENSE. I swear during the day you have a bunch of young nurses who just stand around and laugh and chat it up all day. There were times where our machines were beeping cause Molly had moved her position in the tiny plastic bed they had her in, or I had moved her to hold her – and it took forever for anyone to come shut the alarms off. One of the machines had 2 flatlines on it for nearly 2 hours cause the electrodes had fallen off her chest and I just sat there wondering how long it would take for someone to notice. Umm, I’m thinking they need to keep on top of that stuff? They would come hit the “hold” button on the IV machine cause it was beeping abnoxiously, and then they would leave the room and it would start up again. The kicker was when I left the room at 7pm to QUICKLY grab a bite in the cafeteria to bring back upstairs to the room. There were 2 nurses in checking Molly over and I told them I was going to slip out and would be right back. So I wasn’t even gone 5 minutes and I come back to Molly screaming her head off all alone in the room with no blanket on cause she had kicked it off. I was PISSED. So frustrated that when the next nurse came in (the only super one all day), I told her I was really irritated. Granted, I am sleep deprived so I felt bad for going off on her about the other staff, but she said she truly appreciated my telling her and she was saying in this world now a days, people lack compassion and common sense. Doesn’t that just sum it up? I was so glad I talked to her and she told me she’d be praying for me and lil’ Molly…

Whew, I just went on and on! I just wanted to say again how thankful we are to the Lord for healing little Molly and all being well. And thank you to all of you for the prayers and concerns and goodies! Take care all!

Please Pray for Molly

I’m home for a quick minute to grab some lunch and take a nap. Today wasn’t what I thought it’d be with Jack’s first day of school and all… He did terrific (Erk took him,I was so sorry to miss it), it wasn’t that at all – it’s just that last night around 9pm, I headed to the Emergency Room with precious Molly. She had a temp of 101.1 and after taking it twice to confirm it wasn’t a broken thermometer, her and I headed in the pouring rain to the hospital. Oh my word, I was nervous, kept feeling back in the backseat to feel her head and just to let her know I was there. I had no idea what we were in for at the hospital once we got there. They did a series of tests, had to put an IV in (they couldn’t find a good vein and despite all the pokes on her tiny little arms, they put it in her HEAD), a chest x-ray, and the worst, a spinal tap :( That’s when I lost my strength and gave in to the emotions of it all. I walked out of the room (they asked me to leave for the spinal tap part) and I bawled my freaking eyes out. Long story short, they will be keeping her until probably Thursday for observation and to rule out all possiblilities. PLEASE PRAY for us, please pray it is the virus Mikie had and that it’ll disappear quickly. It’s so hard to see our precious new baby girl with all the needles and tubes coming out of her little body. Oh if I could take that IV in my head or have the spinal tap for her, I would in an INSTANT. She has continued to have a fever (it reached 103 in the night), but we’re praying it goes away soon. Poor Mol…

I Get So Emotional, Baby

Last Thursday nite Jack and I attended a “Meet the Teacher” meeting at his preschool. His teacher gave us a bunch of handouts, and one was pretty cool with some advice for parents. I thought this was worth sharing…

“Be wise stewards of their lives, but never take ownership. From the beginning, yield the authority in your kids’ lives to God. They’re temporarily “on loan” to you. Ultimately children belong to God, so teach them to trust and obey God – wherever He may lead them.”

Jack starts preschool on Tuesday morning! So hard to believe, I just hope and pray I don’t get all teary eyed when I take him. I had a huge lump in my throat at the meeting the other night but he wasn’t at all sad, a tad shy at first, but once he got acquainted, he didn’t want to leave. I was really happy he felt that way (even though he was stomping his feet in protest to leave) cause we are really hoping he’ll love it and want to go every time. Me? I had to laugh at myself after we left there. I went up to his teacher right before we left and handed in some paperwork. Then I told her that “Jack may have a hard time on Tuesday,” all the while my voice was cracking cause of the freaking lump in my throat! I was trying to swallow it away – but I know his teacher was thinking, “he’ll have a hard time or YOU will?” HA! Funny – I know I will, hey, he’s my first born going to school. I’m proud of him and hating to let go at the same time. Don’t get me wrong, there is no way he won’t go to school (aka: homeschooling is NOT for us), but it’s just a big step in the little man’s life. Please pray for me – that I don’t make a fool of myself, that I at least wait until I’m in the truck to cry my eyes out :) Ohh, I did tell his teacher that we have a 1 ½ week old baby – so I’m sure she figured I’m emotional anyways :)

A Few Pics From Yesterday

Mikie with his mustache :) He's so funny...

Mikie thought this hat would look good on Molly - by the way, this onesie she has on is one that both Jack and Mikie wore too. When the boys wore it, I thought it was a bit girlie, and then she wore it and it looked to boyish to me :)


We meandered over to Ryan's football game yesterday - the boys had fun on the track around the field with cousin Rach. Ry and the other boys (although they are 8 years old) looked like a high school team!