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Normal Days

Just realized that I've posted ONCE for 2011 so far... and while I was journaling on my iPhone, I didn't put those on here, so... hum. Everything has just been normal. Each day seems to bleed into the next, and so on, and so forth. I can't tell you where the past three months have gone because it's just one big blur. All three boys are so on-the-go all the time that I have a rough time keeping up. Well, that's not ENTIRELY true. haha! I usually manage to be able to squeeze in one episode of some DVR'd show during the morning or afternoon. But pretty much the rest of the day, I'm chasing some boy or another trying to get them to stop doing whatever they just did.

Brayden is just HUGE... he's so tall and his feet are about 3/4 the size of mine. He's doing pretty well in Pre-K... All of his progress reports show him excelling in all the areas. But he has a hard time being good in class more often than not. He likes to do things his "own way." Which means that he wants to be in charge and let you know what he is planning on doing. Not the other way around. He also has a streak of wild energy that he can't contain. It usually comes out in thrashing wiggles and a loud shriek of some kind. He and I are constantly butting heads... probably because he is so much like me. He's beginning to read, which is very exciting.

Tyler is going to be 4 next week! I can't believe he's already that old. We are going to enroll him in Pre-K in a few weeks!! We have a lot of trouble understanding him when he talks. He has a hard time with "s" "f" and "l." Everything sounds like "w." But Mrs. Jennings said that they will start speech therapy with him this fall if he's still having trouble.

Logan is FULL of words. He can say: ma-ma, da-da, ba-ba (Brayden), ta-ta (Tyler), bye-bye, look, go, pa-pa, maw-maw, stop, and he'll try to say anything else that you throw at him (Erin, Jenn, baby, car, shoe, etc). He's a terror around the house, though. He's the troublemaker, instigator, and daredevil. But he will usually listen to me when I tell him to stop. So that's really a great thing. He's a pretty happy baby most of the time.

A MOMMY'S FRUSTRATION

If you are anything like me, when shopping for clothes you've noticed that no matter what store you walk into, the little girls' department heavily outweighs the little boys' department. And not only that, but the things that most stores DO have for boys are the same style just in different colors (e.g. polos, tees, tanks) or maybe a variation between solids and stripes. Today I got the Children's Place flyer in the mail. It was for the spring "stock up and save" promotion. On the first page, it has SIX girls to two boys. Then the next four pages are things for girls. Then there are two pages for boys. And that's it. *Sigh* I was so excited to see this flyer, but the only thing *new* for the boys in it were the polos - which aren't new, just different colors and stripe styles. The other things are their mix and match tees and tanks - which they've had for the last few years.

So I grabbed my phone and gave TCP a call (1-877-PLACE USA). I told the guy how frustrating it is to be a mom to boys and to not have any selection. That every time I walk into their store, I get upset at how the girls' choices outweigh the boys'. I'm figuring that if I can get some other moms to call them and perhaps a few other stores, maybe we can get our boys some cute clothes too. :)

Week Three - Fail

Oh my word. I don't think this week could have been much more eventful. Not to mention stressful. I am just thankful that Mom and Dad had Brayden for the week. But I don't really feelike rehashing all the failed points, so I will say how I really feel about
everything. I feel like God has taken care of and provided for me this week in more ways than I failed. It was a truely trying week, but I feel as though I came through it stronger and more trusting.

A few things I do want to remember about this week... Logan started waving and pointing. And just yeaterday he started immitating kisses - like just popping his lips, but he does it back to someone doing it to him. He is also standing unassisted a lot more often. Tyler swam all by himself this week. He still has a life jacket but I was able to watch him from out of the pool which was very nice. Brayden has been at VBS all week, but I hear he is having a good time. Guess that is all for now.

Whew!

So I just spent way too much time trying to make a new blog background and banner. I think it's cute, but... well, I ended up just having to stop and say, "that's enough." HA!

Today was another flylady day. So far, thanks to the lady, I've been motivated to actually mop my kitchen floor (gasp!), organize my bookshelf (double gasp!), and clean the guest room where Jeremy was staying and move Logan in there!! I also mopped the bathroom floors! Woah, there Nelly! If you keep this up, your family's gonna start expecting it of you! But that's fine. I've been getting on to myself for about 2 years now about how I just don't really have the housewife gene that keeps me cleaning... But I'm trying to get into a routine to where this isn't as bad as I make it all out to be. My sink is still shiny, by the way.

I have to say, my motivation has also meant less TV time for myself, which is super great. It also helps that Dave Ramsey motivated me to downgrade our cable package - so we're basically not getting any channels anyway. ;) But I've been trying to read more, clean more, and play with the boys more. They LIVE outside, though, and I hate nature. So it's been a challenge, but I'm trying to compromise. Today we were going to go to the library, but I stopped in at sonic for a limeaide. The boys decided they'd rather play on the playground there. So they played for an hour while I sat and read some of my book. It was kinda nice.

I still have some random things to do today to go to bed happy, but I think I'll get there... I made two meals at lunch, so dinner is already ready - I just have to heat it up and make some rolls to go with it. YUM.

So... on to that, I guess. :)

My kitchen sink...

So last night a YM friend's wife posted on Facebook about this site called "FlyLady." I've heard of it before and know of a lot of girls who have used her site to get their house in order... WELL... I decided to go check it out for myself. And lo and behold, it all seems like a pretty good idea. So I started with baby step #1 last night - Make Your Sink Shine! I spent the time necessary and finally went to bed with a shiny sink.

This morning was baby step #2... Get up and get your self showered and dressed. Now, to most people, you'd think - Well DUH! But to a mommy of three young boys, usually a shower is something that gets put off and put off and put off until Daddy comes home and can give me a few free minutes. This morning, though, I got up and tackled my shower before John left home. Of course my hair is in pigtails, but as I start getting better at this routine thing, maybe I'll be able to work in fixing my hair and stuff.

Made lunch for everyone, and because of my shiny sink, I didn't want to leave my kitchen dirty - so I actually CLEANED UP after lunch! And wiped down my sink so it stayed shiny. Dishwasher is already being run for the day - along with laundry!!! I feel so accomplished. Baby step #3 tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.

Logan's 7 Months!

So today rolls around, and I can't even begin to say how weird it is to think that it's been 7 months since Logan was born. He's such a little joy!! He's still not back to sleeping through the night - quite the opposite, acutally. He's been going on spurts of waking up every 2-3 hours. It seems like about the time I get him back to bed for the hundredth time, Brayden wanders in asking for a new pair of underwear... I don't feel like I ever get any sleep anymore... But that's kind of the life of a Mommy, I guess.

Anyway - at 7 months old, Logan is pulling up on EVERYTHING. Tonight, he was fussing in his pack-n-play and I came in to check on him and he's pulled up on the side with his little head over the top just crying his little heart out. It was almost more cute than anything else. He's still not properly crawling - I'm beginning to think that he's going to be walking before he gets that figured out - but he sits up very well by himself. He can even get himself into a sitting position! He's starting to mimic sounds - he was fake coughing like Tyler today. I'm totally convinced that we have another boy out of the Brayden book on our hands. I don't know what it'll do to my sanity, but it's kind of interesting.

Speaking of Brayden, I got him pre-enrolled for Pre-K this week. Can't believe he'll be starting school this fall. He's REALLY excited about it, though. I think he's going to have a good time.

Tyler turned three this past week. He's growing up too fast, too. He had a really good check-up at the doctor. He was 37.5 inches tall and weighed a little over 30 lbs. 50th percentile for both.

Well, Brayden just came in crying - he had a bad dream... So I'm going to try to get him settled down and back to sleep. :)

Logan's 6 Months Old!

Oh my goodness, where does the time go? My life seems like it's blowing by me... But it's also very odd how each day seems to never end. Life isn't a walk in the park with three boys at home, but it's not dull. I usually end up laughing and crying almost every day. Like right now, Brayden is standing beside me with little stickers stuck all over his face. Now it's post-its. Of course they are all coming off of pictures that I'm trying to organize, so I'm exasperated at the same time.

Anyway... back to Logan. He's now 16.5 lbs (40th%) and 27" long (75th%). He seems a little skinnier than the other boys at this age, but that's probably because he's pretty active. He doesn't hold still when he's awake. We got him a jumper exersaucer thingy and he just goes to town in that thing. He's enamored with his big brothers - you can just tell that he is longing to run around the house with them. He's especially fond of Brayden. Brayden can make him laugh at just about anything. I think Brayden is a little rough with him sometimes, but he's always laughing, and Brayden will then tell me, "It's okay. Logie likes it." He's a happy little guy. He loves to talk and giggle, but when he gets upset, it's like it's the end of the world. He's a sneaky little fellow - he can manage to get into things and places in a heartbeat when you leave a room. He's also a drama king... He can be playing happily, but if you walk into the room, he'll start crying. The second you pick him up, it's all smiles... but don't put him back down, or all gehena will break loose. He's still working on sleeping through the night, but at least he's sleeping in his own bed - neither of the other boys slept in a bed by themselves until they were a year old! He's a pretty good napper, too. But the funniest thing... he LOOOOOVES the tv. He will angle himself to see it wherever he is in a room. It's quite funny. Here are a few pics of us on his half birthday.

Some 2010 Goals

Of course with the new year come new goals (resolutions, if you will). I have never been one to really make these said resolutions, but I figure why not try? haha!!! So here are some of my goals for this year.

1) To read through the entire Bible before June. I was trying the P90X, but it's kind of hard with three small kids. I think I'll do the P180X. ;)

2) To lose that last 5 lbs of baby weight. Of course, this entails eating a little less and drinking a more reasonable amount of Dr. Pepper... 3-5 cans a day is NOT a good thing for one complaining about the size of their remaining baby pooch.

3) To be a more attentive mom to my three boys. I have a tendancy to just let them do whatever during the day... I'd like to try to be organized enough to "do" something at least once every 2-3 days. After all, B starts pre-K this fall and after that, I won't have him all to myself anymore.

4) To scrapbook/journal more! My scrapbooking pages are pretty much how I get my journaling done these days, and if I'm not doing pages, I'm not really journaling!! EEK!!!

5) To stick with Mr. Dave Ramsey through the year and be out of debt by next spring!

6) To try learning some new dishes to throw into the menu mix. The same 21 dishes are getting kind of old.

7) To keep up with friends more. It's been a while since college now, and sometimes I feel like I've kind of lost touch with some of those that I love dearly.

8) TO LEARN HOW TO USE MY EXPENSIVE CAMERA!!!! But I'm getting there with this one... And just to show you, and because he's just so darn cute, here's proof. (This is Logan at almost 4 months old now!)

...and B is for Brayden

God has to help me, cause I know I can't do this on my own. I have one of "those" kids. The ones that throw fits in the middle of a store and cause everyone to stop and see what parent isn't doing their job. The ones that hide cookies under their beds so that they can have them later. The ones that find markers and decide to put their own brand of graffiti on their great grandma's walls. Yep, that's my kid. And the thing is, he is NOT undisciplined. He is NOT allowed to have his heart's whim with the throwing of a tantrum. But yet he behaves as if those things were so. I have a friend that has said that youth ministers make horrible toddlers. If that's so, my kid is going to be the youth minister to head all youth ministers. But seriously, John and I pray constantly that these things that make us pull our hair out right now will be gifts for our oldest in the future. God gave Brayden this trying personality, and we have a job to mold it, but like I said, God help me!!! I have no idea what to do with a kid like this. I can't constantly be monitoring every single thing he does all day long... Well, I COULD, but I'd have one starving child, and I'd probably smell bad. He manages to even get into things in his sleep... *sigh*

But in deeper thoughts.......

I was sitting in bed last night after dealing with a fussy baby, a sick toddler and a typical Brayden and the thought came to me about what love is... Paul says that love is patient, kind and keeps no record of wrongs (among a list of other things). I guess I have some work to do on figuring out how to truly love my big boy. I tend to be short tempered with him, a little on the rough side when he's misbehaving, and have a running tally of how many things he's gotten in trouble for that day so I can complain to John about it all later. Thank goodness that God loves me with a true love. I can't even imagine how similar I can be in my life to that of my trying child. God help me; God love me. Thank you for teachable moments.

Logan Andrew's Birth Story

Yes, Logan is now here!! He made his arrival on September 9th as "scheduled." Here's how everything went down...

**WARNING: I try not to be graphic, but I also want you to realize that I don't water things down and this could be a little too much information for you if you aren't comfortable with that kind of stuff...**

(the following takes place on)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9th, 2009

MIDNIGHT
John and I arrive at Norman Regional Hospital to get checked in for our induction. As we pull into the parking lot (and we got a VERY good spot), I notice another car pulling in beside us. I jokingly told John that they were probably here for induction as well. Come to find out, they were. Anyway... We get up to the desk and sign all the papers and they put us in our room (3516 - which I really think is the room we had Brayden in, but I can't be sure). I get the gown on, use the bathroom, and get all "hooked up." John and I are both already kind of tired (it IS midnight, you know), but my adrenaline is keeping me going. The nurse checks me and verifies that I am still at one centimeter and goes ahead with the Cytotec (a little pill thingy that is used to soften the cervix and get contractions going). This is a three dose thing that will be done every four hours and THEN we'll start the Pitocin. Almost immediately contractions get regular - 3 to 5 minutes apart - and I'm breathing through them conciously. It's not really HARD, but it is uncomfortable, and I'm having to remind myself to relax. The nurse keeps telling me to get some sleep, but with the monitors on my belly, I just couldn't really get in a comfortable position. Finally I turned on my iPod and for some reason, that really worked, and I went to sleep by the 2nd or 3rd song. So I slept off and on until about 6:30ish...

6:30 AM
My nurse came in to check my progress... By this time I was about 4 cm and she was going to put in another dose of Cytotec, but decided that she should call Dr. Waterman and find out if maybe we could just go ahead and start the Pitocin. She comes back in a little later to let me know that we are gonna just go with the Pitocin and checks me again... This time while she's checking, Logan kicks and my water breaks. Meanwhile, I'm still having fairly hard contractions and decide that maybe I DO want the epidural at this point. So I tell my nurse that and she calls the man with the relief. He gets to my room about 7:30ish. The actual putting IN of the epidural is NOT fun, but I survive by reminding myself that it's gonna make things a lot easier. I ask him to not make it very strong, but he says that he always starts it at a "set" level and then later, if I'm not liking it, he can up it or back it off. So I settle with that answer.

8:15ish am
Epidural is in, Pitocin is running, and I'm feeling pretty good - but the epidural has made my legs kinda more numb than I'd like (at least I'm not feeling the contractions, though). John has been up for a little bit now and is waiting for the room to clear so he can take a shower. In between people in the room, I tell him that I can feel things changing and maybe he might wanna go ahead and get in the shower. So he starts getting all his stuff together for his shower and heads in there. I call Mom and let her know that I am doing pretty well and still think it'll be around noon when Logan comes.

8:30 am
The nurse comes in to check me right after John's gotten into the shower. She informs me that "there is a little lip of cervix left... OH, wait, nope - it's gone. Time to push!" Um. Okay. So the scrambling begins right as I'm thinking - yeah, I think she's right, I can feel the pushing sensation coming on. I ask the nurse to let John know; I call Mom real quick like to say they better hit the road. As I'm on the phone with her, I get the urge to push, so I hang up quickly. I notice John's out of the shower and dressed with a kind of dazed look on his face - like "is this really happening RIGHT NOW?"

8:45 am
Dr. Waterman gets there to "catch" Logan. Seems like the room is full of people. There are two nurses at the warmer, two more for I don't know what, my nurse and Dr. Waterman. Plus John. And me, of course. My legs are still SUPER numb so they have to lift them up for me. The nurse lets me know that I'm having a contraction and I can push... I kind of had this thought of, "Well, I can't FEEL the contraction, but whatever - sure, I'll push."

8:51 am
So I give one push and Dr. Waterman says, "Well, there's the head!" Seriously??? So one more push and wham, I have a baby on my tummy. I'm shocked. Completely and totally. First, I really didn't think I'd have Logan so early in the day. Secondly, I never in my wildest thoughts would've imagined him coming out in TWO pushes (John says it's more like one and a half, really). But I come out of my little shocked world when I hear them ask John to cut the cord... I piped up and requested that I get to do it. John's done it twice and I kind of wanted to get to see what it was like. So I awkwardly cut Logan's cord and then they take him to weigh and measure him. He's 7 lbs, 13 oz, 19.5 inches long and got an 8/9 on his APGARs. He looks JUST like Tyler.

9:00 am
I get Logan back to nurse him. None of our family has made it to the hospital yet because everything happened so quickly. John and I actually get about an hour with Logan - just the three of us. John gets a few pictures and a little cuddle time. I'm still sitting there in shock.

10:00 am
The nursery nurses come to take Logan and give him his first bath. Neither family has arrived yet!! I'm kind of not wanting them to take him, but we have no idea how long it'll be before everyone gets here. So I turn the precious little bundle over. And wouldn't you know - everyone gets there like 10 minutes later. They all go to the nursery to watch Logan get his bath. I get reports that Logan did NOT like the bath at all.

10:45ish am
Logan comes back and the pass-around begins. Brayden is actually the first one to hold him. He is a VERY proud big brother. Tyler on the other hand is tired and is just sitting on my bed with a very worried face. I ask him what's wrong, but he doesn't answer. Finally I ask him if he's scared and he nods yes. I ask him if he's scared that he's gonna get taken away - he nods and repeats, "Taken away" in the most sad, pathetic little voice I've ever heard. So I let him crawl up beside me and I cuddle him so he doesn't feel left out. About this time, Andy & Amy show up with Paige & Abby - and a Papa John's pizza!!! They all get to see Logan and Brayden & Abby run around the room. It's a riot in there, I'll tell ya.

Noon-ish
Tyler is now sleeping on me in my bed (as is Logan). Everyone else takes off to eat some Braum's for lunch. I enjoy my Papa John's and the peace and quiet.

4 pm
The boys are getting restless and are getting in trouble more often than naught. So Greg & Rhonda start packing them up and take them home. Mom & Dad head off to walmart to get some stuff and get us some dinner.

6 pm
Mom and Dad leave and it's just John, Logan and me. We all just have a nice peaceful night of watching tv and cuddling. It's been a long day, but a very, VERY good one. I can't believe I'm the mom of THREE boys.

No Baby

So I'm resigned to the fact that I'm gonna go until Wednesday. Which is fine, I guess. I told John I just really want to have that "THIS IS IT!!!" moment when I get to tell him to grab the bags cause my water just broke or what have you. It seems like everyone on TV (like on Baby Story) and in the movies (although it can't be a more laughable farce about how most movies portray labor) gets to have that moment... I just wish I could. It's not that I don't appreciate the scheduled induction - I mean, my doctors COULD just let me go a few extra weeks trying to see "if..." Thankfully that's never been the case. But there seems to be some part of the birth excitement that I've missed out on with my last two pregnancies. And on top of all that, I'm just so darn uncomfortable and these contractions are killing me. I went for a solid TWO HOURS yesterday with contractions being 10 minutes apart. They weren't necessarily hard ones, but they weren't exactly light either. I kept thinking that sooner or later they'd pick up, get closer together, and we'd be having a baby. Which I was REALLY hoping for since we'd had such a bad night with football... I kinda thought having a baby would releive some of the pain (how's that for irony?).

But we're still here. With no Logan. But it's nice to have a peacefully quiet house that is actually CLEAN (minus the dirty dishes that really just need to be put in the dishwasher, but I have to empty the dishwasher first, and I haven't yet found the motivation to do step one of two). Not to mention the fact that there is a sense of profound enjoyment in knowing that it's going to STAY clean. But I've got my bag packed (mostly), and I would welcome a birth day at any given moment. I'm just sooooo ready to have my little baby in my arms. It's been a super long nine months. But I can now almost count down HOURS... If this labor is as quick as both Brayden & Tyler were, less than 72 hours from now, we'll be third time parents. EEEEKK!!!!!! How exciting is that?!?!?!?!?!?

The Big Fletcher Parade

Every year for Labor Day weekend the massive town of Fletcher has a fair. We also have hugely impressive parade to celebrate the occasion. Of course, we don't have our own marching band, so we "borrow" Elgin's. And until about 12 years ago, we didn't really have floats... But that's all beside the point. It's a fun chance for the entire school - K through 12 - to walk (or ride as the case may be) down Main Street. Growing up, I remember being a lightbulb, a soldier, an enticing female, and Thing (that hand from The Addam's Family). I know I was a ton of other things, but those are what I think of off the top of my head. If I had pictures here at my house, I'd share. But alas (and thank goodness), I do not. Every year our parade has a theme. Sometimes fairly vague (like "heroes") and sometimes fairly specific (like "musicals"). If there's something big going on, you can bet the fair parade will revolve around that - like the state centennial or the Olympics. The floats have gotten more and more impressive as the years have gone on... But this year they put some major restrictions on them - they had a budget and actual RULES!! Eeek. The floats turned out okay, but the parade just didn't have that fun pop it usually has. Not to mention the theme was "candy." (Huh?)

Okay... SO... Not that I really wanted to see the grade school kids walk down the street. Or the not-so-expensive floats. I really wouldn't have gone at all. BUT... Mom and Dad were honorablly named Mr. & Mrs. Fletcher (i.e. the grand marshals of the parade). So even being only a few days from my due date, I did not want to miss the pictures. Erin & Alan kind of stink at taking pictures and documenting things. I guess I got Mom's camera-obessive gene (why did THAT have to be the one thing I got from her?? lol). I was supposed to be meeting the folks later in the day to drop off the boys anyway - they're staying in Fletcher until Logan's arrival... So I just packed up early and took off. I'm so glad I did. The boys really had a good time. I took their little lawn chairs, and they had bags to put all their candy in. Plus, we got them there early enough that they got an extra night at the fair (which, sadly, I didn't stay for so - you got it - no pictures).

I feel SOOOO blessed to have the opportunity to live close enough to "home" that my boys are getting to grow up experiencing some of life's little joys that I had my entire growing up years. It's an amazing thing to know in your head that the Fletcher Free Fair would be a big joke to anyone outside of our little town (you can ask John for his opinion), but to be committed to attending nonetheless. It's a Fletcher thing... And we take it quite seriously - so seriously that I remember writing a paper on the irony of it all during my college composition class. haha!!! So anyway... Here are some of the pictures that were captured during the big day.... Enjoy!

Triage Adventures

Yesterday was my last OB appointment until we go in for induction!! HURRAY!! It's been a fast AND slow 9 months. It's an absolute amazement to me how time can completely slow to a crawl when you are the most wanting it to speed up. This is no more true than at 1:30 in the morning when your hips hurt and you're having trouble getting back to sleep and you really just want the night to pass normally. I'm really looking forward to this hip pain being reduced soon. But anyway... Back to the appointment.... I've had protein in my urine for about 3 months now. Just traces, and it's really honestly because I drink too much pop and not enough water. My doc has scolded me about this, but has just kind of written it off as me being a bad patient. (lol) But this week I've been having low grade headaches (which could very well be sinus junk), and a touch of swelling (which is probably just the weight gain catching up with me), and then my blood pressure was just a tad elevated for my normal rates - 139/90. So all this combined, my doc decided it was better to be safe than sorry and sent me to labor & delivery for some preeclampsia bloodwork. I figured this was an in and out type thing. No way jose. Nothing in pregnancy is EVER that easy. I actually got ADMITTED for a non-stress test and the bloodwork. An hour and a half later, I find out everything is absolutely fine. My BP stayed around 118/72 during that entire time, Logan's heartrate had great rythmn, and the bloodcounts were completely within the normal range. So I was discharged.

This entire time, though.... John, my poor, wonderful husband who was just trying to be supportive and come to our last appointment, was stuck with the two wild children. This probably would've been okay if we'd had any idea how long things were gonna take, but as it were, he didn't want to go anywhere with them (besides to get lunch) because he didn't want to deal with the getting them out of the car only to put them right back in. So he spent the hour & a half in the minivan with the boys. I commend his patience and commitment to being a good daddy - both boys are still alive. haha

So all that said... We are still counting down to induction. No more dilation progress has been made, even with all the contractions (which makes me want to just scream, but whatever), so I've just resigned myself to living out the next week in a state of contentment. The boys are headed to my parents' house tomorrow... I still don't know how I'm getting them there or when. The fair parade is around 1ish I think and Mom & Dad are Mr & Mrs Fletcher this year - so they're actually IN the parade. Which of course I would LOVE to see, but I don't know if I want to handle the boys for the entire parade... add into the equation that I'd be an hour from my hospital... Hum... I just don't know if I'm gonna wait and take them later or WHAT! But no matter what happens, tomorrow night I will be child free and able to relax for a few days. There's not a WHOLE lot that still needs to be done around the house - I've been a major nester this past month - so more than likely I'm just gonna do NOTHING. Sounds absolutely GLORIOUS.

Well, anyway... we're heading to Norman to help Andy & Amy move apartments, so I need to get in the shower and get the boys dressed and ready to go.

One Heartbeat

So I was sitting here the other day working on something or another... I think I was making my new desktop wallpaper? Anyway - I had Pandora Radio on in the background. Firstly, let me just share how magical that website is for me!! I have a few stations set up to reflect my daily moods. They are almost all based off of a singular artist that has a style I enjoy with my moods - There's some John Mayer for my secular "just wanna hear some good music" mood; there's John Williams for my cinematically instrumental moods and Hans Zimmer for my more mellow instrumental mood; Frank Sinatra for my classic crooner sound; Broadway for my "belt it out and sing along" days; and finally, Steven Curtis Chapman for the best that's out there. I can't begin to say how much I LOVE SCC's music. I told John the other day that I don't know if I've ever heard a song of his that I don't like. Some are a little more "eh" than others, but there has never been one that I've just shunned.

All that said... Pandora was running in the background and the second song that shuffles up is one I've never heard before. But the lyrics caught me right away - "You're up all night with a screaming baby..." Um... yeah, I was! Two of them, actually!! And so I sat back to listen. And wound up in pouring tears. Tyler wandered in at one point and got worried about me, but of course, his little face being concerned for Mommy made the moment even more intense.

I just wanted to take a minute to put these lyrics out there for my mommy friends. I hope they touch you as much as they did me. (And of course, you can get the song right now, as I did, on iTunes for $.99...haha!)

You're up all night with a screaming baby
You run all day at the speed of life
And every day you feel a little bit less
Like the beautiful woman you are

So you fall into bed when you run out of hours
And you wonder if anything worth doing got done
Oh, maybe you just don't know
Or maybe you've forgotten

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

With every "I know you can do it"
Every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed
They're just like the drops of rain over time
They become a river

You, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh, you, you may not see it now
But I believe that time will tell
How you, you are changing the world
One little heartbeat at a time

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
How you're changing the world
You're changing the world

Positive Thinking

So last night I was trying to go to sleep, and I realized that lately, I've been nothing but complaints about being pregnant. So I decided I'd try to be a little more positive and try to enjoy these last few days of pregnancy. Mainly because I am not 100% sure that they won't be my last for good. So here are some key points I came up with...

-- Being pregnant means you can eat what's in front of you and people don't judge.
-- The clothes are actually pretty cute for the most part - and I can wear sweat pants or athletic shorts and have great reason to!
-- The feeling of a moving baby in your belly is a very unique thing that is actually quite reassuring.
-- I can actually say, "Hey I NEED a nap" and usually get one at some point.

So that may be a measley list to some, but for a "realist" like me, it's actually pretty good. haha I've given up with the thoughts of going early... I am just gonna resign myself to having 11 days to go and try to get as much done as I can in those days.

I made a new desktop today to try and remind myself to not be so negative and to let God into my attitude a little more. I realized that my life has been a pretty good void of Spirit Fruit lately... It's got pictures of my two bigger boys in their first month of life to also remind me that I have two other "babies" that I still need to be focusing daily on. I actually really like it....

Friends

So back in May (and trust me, it already seems like they've been here a lot longer), we got a new youth minister at our church. He came toting two little girls - Abby (who was born the same year as Brayden, but is actually a lot closer in age to Tyler) and Paige (who's the cutest little baby girl in the world - and I can say that cause WE haven't produced any girls yet). So Andy and Amy have just about TOO much in common with us... And every time we hang out together we find out one more thing that is similar! The weirdest being that Amy was actually at our wedding and didn't even know us!!! She came as Nathaniel's date - which is also funny because it means that Amy & I have both dated the same guy, too.

ANYWAY...

Yesterday we were just sitting here minding our own business when it was announced that they were gonna come bring Papa John's to us for lunch and play for the afternoon. Well, first of all, NO ONE is gonna turn down free Papa John's, so they had a ringer - but I was THRILLED to have the company! It's been a while since we've had friends over... it's been a while since we've had friends... haha. But we had a FANTASTIC time with them. John and Andy got some camp stuff done, and Amy and I stayed in the house and let the kids trash the place. We got them to settle down for about 20 minutes while they watched part of 101 Dalmations, but that ended quickly and they all went back to the "let's see how many toys we can get out at once" game. But it was so much fun. My boys love those girls. And it's so great to have some people to hang out with!!! I didn't realize how friend-deprived we'd been as a couple until they moved here. And the funniest part is... they felt the same way!

One Down....

At the risk of speaking too soon, I want to document this occasion. Brayden has now been accident free for almost a week and a half!! And on top of all that, he's begun going poo in the toilet also!!! He went straight from diapers to underwear - totally skipped pull-ups. How in the world did we accomplish this unseemingly possible task?? Well - I'll just say it was peer pressure. We were in VBS two weeks ago, and Brayden & Tyler were in the preschool class with abotu 4 or 5 other boys and Abby. Pretty much everyone in the class besides my two boys (and Abby) are potty trained. SOOOOO - when the class would take the field trip to the bathroom, Brayden wanted to go to... To get to go, he had to go pee. So pee he did. And that's about the end of that!! He has even mastered getting up in the middle of the night to go if he needs to! I just can't believe it! Three weeks ago, he was telling me that he NEEDED his diaper. Guess he's a "big boy" now.

Tyler on the other hand doesn't really want to have anything to do with going potty on the toilet. Even though we pretty much had him in underwear about a month ago.... *sigh* I guess I can handle it, though... Two in diapers is SOOOOO much better than the prospect of three. And a LOT cheaper too, might I add. Brayden's diapers were getting ready to break the bank.

So all that said... BRING ON BABY NUMBER THREE!!!!!!!!!

How many?????

Okay - 9 months is just too darn many. Six or seven would've done it... But I remind myself that God has this whole wisdom thing going on, and for some odd reason NINE is the magic number that works for us. I'm of the mindset that He made it last this long because by the end of nine months, we're so ready to have this THING out of us that we actually WELCOME the pains of labor. The Braxton-Hicks, the "lightening" (which may I add, my pelvis does not agree with that term), the sore hips and, to top it all off, THE waddle that those really pregnant women get... they're all things that I would bargin away in a HEARTBEAT right now. But this is probably because it's been 2.5 years since my last delivery, and I'm a little shady on how much pain I was actually in before Tyler entered our lives. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I forgot about most of that pain the minute I saw his beautiful little face - and then Brayden's beautiful little face kissing his new little brother. It's all worth it in the end....

But seriously, can I have a baby tonight?

I Want to be John

So.... The boys are at Grandma Laura's... They've been there since Saturday!! It's been quite a pleasant and quiet week (although I am missing them a lot). I've been cleaning (aka "nesting") the bedrooms and rearranging things - trying to get ready for Logan's arrival. It's been quite a task, I assure you. First I had to decide where Logan was going to be sleeping. This was an especially hard task because Tyler is/was still sleeping in the CRIB!!! He's never even attempted a jail break, so we've just left him in there. But he is 2 1/2... probably time to start sleeping in a "real" bed. Only problem there is that the bunks aren't quite ready to be assembled yet. I had told John that he had a lot more time to get them done because I wasn't really planning on myself getting so crazy with the nesting. So we have one bunk almost done and one that hasn't even been started on yet (because it's Brayden's bed currently). SOOOOO... long story short - to make things easier on everyone involoved, we're going to put Logan in the boys' room and move Brayden to his own room. When the bunks get done, we'll assemble them and go from there. Another thing I've had a little time to do is scrapbook!! I spent a few HOURS this morning trying to perfect a layout that focuses on something I've been wanting to blog about...
Here's the video:



So this was actually the SECOND time that Brayden said this... The first time he didn't even say he wanted to be Daddy, he just said he wantd to "be John." It was just too cute to not scrap &/or video and blog!!! So on top of the video, here's my layout that I composed to go with the story:

I figured that you couldn't see the pictures of John & Brayden closely enough, so here are the pics themselves... You can click on the picture to see the larger version. It's just too uncanny - I keep giggling every time I look at them.

And in other news.... we're less than 4 weeks from Logan's arrival!! I can't belive these 9 months have gone by so quickly!!!!!!