Thank you

Thanks to all of you that were so sweet to me during my "yucky week" with your kind comments. The hubby is home now, and all is well. Of course, the kids are all practically better now, only trace signs of them ever being sick still remain. And today despite my husband getting a cold, he told me to write down my "list" of what I wanted done before baby comes.... (You mom's know the list, the nesting list, of stuff that just has to be done before baby comes. Crazy stuff like cleaning out all closets, pulling out all couches, computer desks, piano, and cleaning behind everything....list goes on like that for a while). I don't know why I get that urge to make sure everything is spotless before a new baby, but I just do. Probably cause I know I'll be down and out for a couple weeks and want things spotless. Any way, he already helped me today knock out a few of my to-do items. He's the best! I know inside he's thinking, this is crazy, but he doesn't say a word and he helps me move all the heavy stuff so I can clean behind everything!

Here are 2 pics he sent me from his cell phone from training. He got hit in the face with paint balls, not once, but twice. Poor guy looked beat up when get got home with all the bruises all over his body, but I think he secretly likes it! he he he! ;)

Ick

Well the week is at a close. The hubby will be home tonight or tomorrow morning thankfully. I find myself wondering how it is possible that EVERY SINGLE TIME Darren has left, something happens that tests my strength of being a "single parent" at the time. Last weekend I found myself saying "We have been so lucky that our kids have been so healthy!" We literally have been sick once in almost a year of living here. That's pretty good. And what happens? The next morning Lily wakes up sick. So Darren left Sunday, I had to stay home from church with the sick one and then started the week..... Lily was sick with yucky congestion and coughing for 3 days, next Ashton. He's still in "full sick mode" right now. Non stop coughing and snot pouring. Tons of fun. Yesterday morning Lily was "better" from the cold, but she decided to throw up non stop all over my house most of the day. She is now over that thankfully, and today after nap she woke up with 102 fever! When will this stop? What in the world. I guess I should never be thankful for healthy kids, because someone, somewhere in the universe always hears me and makes sure to put an end to that. Every time Darren has left one of my kids has gotten sick. I kid you not. Every stinking time. Which makes for long nights going solo back and forth from one kids room to the other trying to get them back to sleep, All while being 8 months pregnant mind you. Then Wednesday night, I started having bad contractions all night long. not just the little braxtons either, they were painful and coming every 5 minutes. I was almost at my breaking point, I didn't want Darren to have to leave training just 2 days before it was all over. and this baby needs to cook for at least 3 to 4 more weeks! Any way, after much tears and praying they stopped thankfully, now I have to sit and look at my house that I want to strip down and clean major thoroughly and I can't. I just stare at it. But owell. Any way, that has been our fun week thus far. And as soon as Darren gets home, I'm sure all my children will magically heal and all will be well in wonderland once again!
Here's one quick story of something that happened on one of Darren's deployments in Texas: Mind you, this whole scenario takes place in a matter of 2 minutes:
Okay. Ethan and Ashton are outside playing, I just put Lily in her highchair to feed her (she was probably 8 months old), she is starting to fuss cause she's really hungry. I'm fixing her food and in flies Ethan screaming bloody murder and limping. His big toe is bleeding really bad. I sit him up in the sink, he's screaming so loud, I can't understand a thing he's saying, but I'm rinsing his toe off and it's nasty!!! (come to find out later, he had dropped a cinder block on his foot), As I'm washing his foot, and trying to calm his screams and tell Lily all is okay, in runs Ashton, slips on some water in the front entry way lands on his back smacking his head on the door frame. Now all 3 kids are screaming like they are on deaths door. So now, I must ignore Ethan in the sink, run and pick up Ashton, calm him down, rub his giant goose egg head and sit him on the couch. After about 10 minutes the drama is gone, but you can imagine the wonderful moment that was! That is just one of MANY stories I could share with you, but I won't bore you any more. But I am convinced that mother's are always tried and tested to the core of their ability when they are alone. Could this happen when my husband was home? Heaven's no, that would just be too easy!

One week left

Since we haven't seen Darren that much with him working nights, he would always write us a letter on the board for us to read the next day. I thought this note was funny. Not what Darren wrote, but what Ethan wrote in response. I'll translate, since his spelling still isn't perfect. Ethan's writing is in Red and Green: "I love you too Dad, but mom is kind of being mean. But I have no homework!" I had to laugh when I read that, because I actually felt like I was being extra patient and kind that day, but I guess kids see differently! ;)


Here are the shots I hate taking, but I always do. I always take pics of when Darren has to leave on a deployment. Don't ask, I just do. He's only gone for a week of training this time. I can tell we have been a little too used to him being home, since he hasn't been deployed since we lived in Texas. We were all crying over him being gone just a week!
Here's Ashton playing on his "pile" of stuff to take.



Cute shot of daddy with the kiddo's



Silly shot



Sad Ethan! No fun



The kids hate it when he has to leave. And believe it or not, Darren cried this time. He NEVER cries when he leaves. I think he tries to be strong for us, but this time he cried. It shocked me! He said, he thinks he's just stressed because he hasn't seen us for practically a month anyway with the last schedule, and he's stressed because he knows I'm due to have a baby in a month and he was just feeling the emotions stronger than usual. It choked me up to see him cry. Especially when you're used to them being the "strong ones".

It started raining the second we had to go outside and say bye.

Hugs goodbye.

Almost 5 minutes after Darren left it started snowing, really hard and fast! And it only snowed for like 5 minutes. Honestly, if I hadn't been walking by a window we would have missed it. S0 Ethan flew outside as fast as he could to enjoy his 5 minutes of snow fun. The other 2 kids watched from inside, they weren't as excited to freeze outside as Ethan was.

Snow on Yoda

Snow on hair!

Any way, all is good, We'll be excited when Darren can come back at the end of the week. That will mean this crazy training is over and his schedule should be getting back to normal, and we can count down till baby number 4! Hope you all have a good week!

Julian Beever

I've seen this mans art many times before, and I'm always amazed at his ability to create such amazing 3-D pics with just chalk. Thought I'd share a few of his recent creations I got through an email from Steve. Enjoy! (just click on a picture if you want to see it bigger)

Heaven Help Me!

2 days ago the phone rings. I don't recognize who is calling but any way, I say hello. This little girl voice on the other line says... "Is Ethan there?" I pause, kind of stunned, not really knowing who it is. I say "May I ask who is calling?" She says.. "Oh! It's "Jane Doe" from his class!" (named edited just in case they may come across my blog). I said, "um..... Okay.....????? Ethan????? Phone!" He came with a weird look on his face, because he never gets phone calls unless it's from a grandma or something. He says hello and then he just drops the phone and runs off. I said come back here Ethan, you have to at least say good bye! He said "What does she want mom?" I said I don't know, but you have to at least be polite and end the conversation, he then gets back on the phone and says, "what do you want?" I'm dying at this point. One side of me is glad that he's not all giddy and excited to be talking to a girl, the other side of me is embarrassed because he's being really rude to this little girl. But, I still am more proud of him for not being "into this type of thing yet". So he just says, I have to go and hangs up. He then says, "why did she call me mom?" I said, I don't know, how did she get your phone number? He thinks about it for a minute, and then says, "well she asked me for it, but I didn't know why she wanted it and I just told her the number." So I said, "well now you know not to give just anyone your phone number when they ask, that usually means they want to call you!" So needless to say, I am shocked that my 7 year old in 2nd grade is already having girls call. That is way too early! Seriously!!!!! Girls are so crazy now, they are way to forward and I'm freaking out! I told him that I was going to dress him nerdy from here on out! He didn't really care. I'm just glad my son is still into playing with his g.i. joes and playing the computer and wii, and not interested in girls......yet.... Hopefully that will last for many more years! People, harness your young girls! They are growing up too fast! Keep away from my son! ;) ha ha ha!

Interview Me!

“Interview me!” {My friend Kate sent me an interview, here are my answers}

1. Who is your hero?
My hero is any mother who does her job right. Being a good mother is so hard. Any one can be a mom, but to be a “good mom” is different. My mom is my hero for raising 3 kids alone for 30 years. I couldn’t imagine doing it alone. It would be so difficult.

2. Do you collect anything?
Not really. Something that I do have a lot of is cook books. I always love getting a new one and searching for the next best recipe. The only other thing I can think of that I “collect” would be: For each of my children on their birthdays I write them a birthday letter telling them about the previous year of their life, the things I love about them etc… and I stash them away year after year in their baby books. When they leave home I want to be able to give them those letters I wrote each year on their birthday.

3. When you are having a “bad mom day” what is your escape?
As all moms know, it’s hard to ever escape really, bad day or not. To be completely honest my only escape would be a prayer. Especially if I’m being really grumpy and short tempered with the kids, I have to sneak away and just say a prayer to keep it together and be kind. Other wise, I feel bad at night when I do have my “mommy time” and the kids are sleeping, I feel bad if I was a grumpy and impatient mom. But bed time for the kids is my time that I thoroughly enjoy!

4. If you had one “do over” in your life what would it be?
Too many small regrets to list, but a general thing I wish I could “do over” was to know that I am good enough. Good enough to be just me. Kids go through a hard time growing up and especially in school, struggling to “fit in” or be cool enough or good enough. I always wasn’t happy with myself and now that I’m almost 30 I finally am happy with me. I love my fat stretched out body, because it means that I was able to create and grow 4 children and bring them into this world, I love that I’m “too tall”, it means I’m different and I can reach a lot of other stuff others cant, I love that I have small boobs, they never get in the way, and when I run they don’t bounce and flop all over the place, and they won’t be hitting my knees when I’m old. I’ve come to realize that I am good enough and I wish I had come to realize that a lot earlier!

5. Would you rather read the book or see the movie?
Depends. I really hated reading in my younger years. 5 or 10 years ago my answer would have been Movie, but now I’m enjoying reading more and books definitely are more detailed than the movie. It’s fun to do both.


Now, I would love to interview you. So here is what you do.
I will be nice, I promise. It is a great way to get to know you.
Besides it's great way to have something to blog about when you're in a rut.
Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

We got TONS of snow!!!!

Well, maybe not. Just kidding. But we did wake up to the smallest "skiff" of snow ever known to man. But it made my kids day regardless! ha ha ha! Ironically today is Presidents Day, Ethan had to go to school because it was a make up day for the other "snow day". And we wake up to more snow on the ground than the day he missed school for the supposed impending snow storm!

Valentines

As you know the hubby has been on nights for the past couple weeks. He got home Saturday around 3 or 4 am and crawled into bed. I got up as usual and started fixing the kids breakfast. I noticed leaves in the sink and a couple on the floor. I thought that is odd, where did leaves come from, then I go into the dining room to set the table and my hubby had gotten me flowers, despite getting off work in the middle of the night. He is so sweet. I'm not a huge flowers girl and not really huge on Valentines. I think you should be loving and thoughtful all year, and not need a day to be reminded to do so, but despite that, I still get flowers from my hubby, (he's a die hard old fashioned romantic). He had flowers, a card and some chocolate! He is so sweet. I made the kids their favorite "oven pancakes", and we watched movies and chilled while we waited for dad to wake up. Then we just had a low key quiet day all together. We went to the park. Ethan is "training" for the mile run race at his school in March, he really wants to win, so Darren is running with him when he gets a chance to help him get faster. We did that, grabbed pizza for dinner, and made red velvet cupcakes for valentines dessert. (which by the way will freak your kids out when it comes out the "exit door" because it's bright red!) ha ha ha ha! Any way, hope everyone had an enjoyable "love fest day" with their loved ones! Now I have to gear up for another week with the hubby working nights, and then the week after that him leaving entirely for the whole week to finish off the training, but then it will be done and we'll just be awaiting the arrival of our number 4!

Chowing down.....

This is a bite of a champion cup cake eater!

Yum

Oven Pancake. Fun to make!

Pregnancy Brain?

I've heard of pregnancy brain, but never experienced it till today. I had a dr. apt today, I was late cause I couldn't for the life of me find the dumb entrance to the hospital. I parked in the same parking garage I always park in, went into the same elevator, but for some reason when the elevator opened it was all foreign looking to me. Nothing looked familiar, I was lost, didn't know what building I was supposed to be in, and it literally took me 20 minutes of walking here and there to find my dumb appointment! I literally thought I had lost my mind. Then driving home from the apt. I missed my exit, not by mistake, but literally cause my mind was somewhere else! By the time I got home I felt like I needed to be institutionalized! Seriously! I've always been very sharp witted and "quick minded", until now. I swear that every time you get pregnant you get more grey hair and you literally become more stupid! I will swear by this statement! :)
any way. Enough of that. Another concern now, is I'm going to have this huge mammoth baby boy! He is already measuring 5lb's 7oz and I have about 7-8 weeks left! The doctor said he could easily be a 9 or 10 pounder! HOLY COW!!!! I've had 8 pounders but not anything over. And can I just say, Ashton was my most painful delivery. He was huge and had a big head and it was not something I wanted to repeat, so needless to say, I'm nervous that I'm having another boy (which come with bigger heads) and he will be bigger than Ashton???? Oh have mercy on me please! Any way, enough of that. On the good side. Fat babies make good babies. They are more content and happy. I've had both and I prefer the fatter ones, just not during labor! any way enough rambling for now!

Mom, We're Bored!

Darren is on the night shift for the next few weeks which is a PAIN!! If any one's husband has to do this all the time I have great sympathy for you! For 1: your kids never see their dad, 2: You have to tell your kids to be quiet all day while he sleeps, 3: It just sucks! So any way, this morning the kids were less than thrilled to spend their Saturday morning sitting quietly, so I bundled them up and took them to the park for a few hours. Here are some pics from that.


The boys took their toy guns to go "hunting"





Quiet mom, I'm on his trail!


This is Lily's new smile, eye's closed and squinted





Ethan and his dad LOVE to watch "Man-vs-Wild and Survivor Man" on the Discovery Channel, so you'll see Ethan here attempting to make a fire with sticks and bark. He was disappointed that he wasn't as effective as the guy on t.v.


Another Cheesy Grin


Anyone who knows Ashton knows he HATES swings. He's terrified of them. When he was a baby I couldn't get him in a baby swing to save my life. He has never liked being "moved" around. He likes to be firmly planted on the ground. (which is the opposite of Ethan. When Ethan was a baby he loved to be swinging and bouncing, the more the better and even now he loves swings.) So back to my point, this picture was ground breaking! I think it's the first ever of Ashton sitting on a swing and not crying! I was proud of him! ;)




Fishing with sticks




Yoda


Kiddo's

My 3 munchkins