Yesterday..

Yesterday morning we loaded up the car very early and headed to the big hospital in town.  It was something that I had wanted to kinda forget about...nothing bad was going to happen, but I did feel like if I went, it just made the whole process more real.

Peanut is going to have surgery.  He is going to be put to sleep for about a hr.  A surgeon will do a very simple and quick operation on him.  And then, Lord willing, everything will be A-OK.  It makes me sick to even think about his little body being put to sleep...motionless....

We met the surgeon and the physician assistant.  They were both very kind.  The P.A. happened to be one of Hubbie's co-workers mothers.  The lead physician's wife is one of my mother's clients.  Its amazing how intertwined we are to this practice of surgeons- the only pediatric surgeons in the area.  I feel very VERY sure that God is walking us through this whole process.

I have decided that I will not blog about my baby's surgery.  Again, it is nothing drastic or life shattering, but it IS something that must be done.  Please don't think I'm being mean or uppity but I just don't think this needs to be aired out for the world to see....  its something that years from now, he may have not wanted me to blog about....so I thought about it for a long time and decided that only close friends and family would find out.

In the pit of my stomach, its something that I just KNEW we would have to do eventually and I'm angry that we have to.  But I can't go back......so we are gonna quietly take my precious middle boy to the hospital in about a month to have this procedure done.

It will take about a month for him to be fully recovered.  That is another part that scares me.  My baby in, not necessarily pain, but discomfort.  I just pray that he doesn't remember all this and I am trying to think that God allowed us to notice the issue before he got too much older.

Lord willing, after this, we can put this behind us and we will be good to go!  There is a reason this happened  There is a reason this is happening now- while we are desperately trying to knock out this last debt.  This is definitely not a good time for us to be paying for surgeries or any extras!  But, again, it must be done, so we will do it!

My Days

My days are filled with nursing, dinosaur growls...from all three, snot, a few too many diaper and clothing changes, Dora, screaming, tickles, peek-a-boo, lots of laughing, PBS kids, a little too much fighting, hugs, required I'm sorrys, getting kiddos fed and satisfied and tons of kisses thrown in there.

Old episodes of Pink Panther are Bubbie's favorite show....  it warms my heart to hear him cracking up laughing at that show.  He is my big helper and loves jokes, all things numbers and wants to be a weatherman when he grows up.  Today on the way home from school he sang me the mother days production song that the kids will sing their mothers.  After he was finished, I said "I am not sure you were suppose to sing it to me already.  It might have been a surprise!"  He said, "Mom, I just had to let you see it!"  I hope I never EVER forget his sweet precious face when he was singing the song with all his heart to his Mommy!  

Buggy(aka Baby Bean) LOVES peek-a-boo and all things Daddy and big brothers.  Especially his oldest brother.  They have a very special bond.  He is pulling up on EVERYTHING.  Its amazing how early this is all happening.  He has the best personality and is so social.  When seeing someone for the first time, his gaze is fixed on that person's face until they make eye contact with him!  Once he has it, he "woos" you and you are forever hooked into those gorgeous sea blue eyes!  

Peanut is saying the most hilarious phrases... such as "hold you" which means pick him up, "climb high" which is what he says when he is climbing onto something.. and normally its something he shouldn't or the latest one that made us all almost wet our pants at dinner last night was "poot mouth" which meant he had burped, but I guess he was comparing it the other bodily function.  He is such a ham.

As for me, I have been quite productive over the past few weeks(YAY! me!).  I have cleaned out drawers, closets, clothing, desks....getting ready for yard sales and a cleaner, organized and more spacious home!  It helped Hubbie being gone for a few days.  As miserable as it was, I did get lots of stuff done!  Of course, now that I've been focusing on the house so much, the laundry is now backed up again!  The story of my life.... I am organizing in hopes of having a cleaned and organized home for the summer.  I have the big boys signed up for 2 days a week "summer school".  I cannot wait!  I am hoping for a few hours of crafting and reading time and of course, some alone time with my cutest bug-a-boo!  

Lovely Thoughts on a Beautiful Day

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.  

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.  

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.  

For beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day.  

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. 

 People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed.  

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.  

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself and the other for helping others."  

                                                                     -Audrey Hepburn

Menu Plan Monday- Last wk of April, 2010

Monday night- Mini meat loaf cups, mashed potatoes, green beans and biscuits

Tuesday night- Leftovers 

Wednesday night- Chicken tenders, home fries and carrots

Thursday night- BBQ chicken quesadillas with chips (salsa, guacamole, sour cream)

Friday night- Homemade Pizza and salad 

Saturday lunch- Easy and quick/perhaps sandwiches, chips, fruit

Saturday night- Leftovers

Sunday lunch- Out/after church

Sunday night- Italian casserole, french bread and salad 

I've been MIA the last few weeks from posting our menu.  We've still been eating at home, but the meals have tended to be old stand bys and things that don't take a lot of thought.  We've also been trying to eat up some of our "reserves".  I haven't "couponed" faithfully in over a month... just been way too busy and too much on my plate.  So, because of that, I decided to eat up some of the millions of boxes of noodles I have stashed away and was able to purchase for 50 cents or less!  I've also made a few meals for friends which have made evenings more hectic than normal and we have gotten a lot of Little Ceasars pizza ($5 a pizza and we always have leftovers!!!)  OOPS!  ;o)  The name of the game the last week or two has been SIMPLE!  I need to get back on the bandwagon of couponing "religiously" again because it does pay off for some items that we use a lot!  

This week several meals are from E-Mealz menu.  So lots of new recipes to try out!  I'll post the recipes  of our favorites from the week over at the recipe blog.  

For more menu ideas, visit here.  

Days Off, Ice Cream and Fun

I love when my husband takes a day or two off.  He does a wonderful job of taking days off in order to help me out with appointments or in order to go do some fun family activities.

 A few weeks ago, Hubbie took off the day before and the day of my birthday and the weather was gorgeous, so we decided to pack up some lunch and head to one of our favorite spots!

We spent a few hours wandering around and eating lunch.  The kids had fun being free to run and play.  Unfortunately our lunch was shortened by an attack of black carpenter ants!  AHHHH!  Needless to say, our drama king oldest did not enjoy lunch as much as he would have and made sure every ant in the state was aware of our presence!  (who says you need girls for drama?!)  It was all good and we survived the ordeal!

Once we were finished looking for wildlife, we decided to walk the 3 or 4 blocks...some of it uphill..... to our favorite ice cream parlor.  Hubbie wanted me to work for my ice cream!  We made it without any issues even though the streets were quite busy!  The ice cream tasted SO good...maybe even better because we were hot and needing a pick-me-up!?!  On our way to get ice cream, we called Uncle Mookie, who had just finished (and passed!!! Way to go!!) his GRE and he came and met us!

 We were trying to wait for Aunt Lindsey, who was coming home from class (who is graduating with a BSN next week!!!  Congrats sweet sister!) but our two year decided to show his age.  Oh my word!  He threw a fit and it was a BIG one.  It was probably the biggest temper tantrum he had ever thrown.  I took him outside and I thought he had calmed down, but once we got back inside, he just got worse.  I knew it was passed nap time and he was hot and tired, but this just wasn't like him..... so we had to leave before Aunt Lindsey could meet up with us.  :o(

Despite the temper tantrum ending, it was a great family day!  We love our outings "over there" and the kids have a blast!

Hubbie's 1/2 Marathon- April 2010

My husband ran his second half marathon on Saturday morning.  He and my parents drove up to Nashville on Friday in order for my Dad and Hubbie to run.  This was my Daddy's first half marathon.  Both guys did excellent in a very difficult and HILLY course!  Hubbie beat his personal record from the last half that he ran- coming in at 1:51:59.  He was so happy and so pumped!  Those 16 weeks of training paid off!

Hubbie and I had a difficult time making the decision of whether the kids and I would go with him.  At first we were, and then we weren't.  It went that way for several months.  Then, we decided it wasn't a wise decision for a bunch of reasons, but it was a difficult decision to make because I wanted to visit with my grandparents and see my brother/SIL and my nieces and nephew(who I miss terribly).

I still feel very confident that we made the wise decision, but it still broke my heart to miss seeing family and Hubbie finishing the race.  

While Hubbie has been gone, the kids and I kept busy.  On Friday the big boys had school, so Baby Bean and I had a nice and VERY QUIET morning at home....doing laundry!  The rest of the weekend was spent by renting movies and playing outside in the sprinkler.  The boys got really dirty!!!  We read books, did more laundry, played hard and napped.  I even got a little bit of rearranging and organization done!

I tend to not sleep much at all while Hubbie is out of town and this trip was no different.... which is why I am blogging at 2am.  I am really looking forward to having Hubbie home on Sunday!

Babe, we are so proud of you!  You have done an awesome job training for this race!  You are teaching our boys wonderful life lessons of determination, discipline and dedication!  I love you and we are all so very VERY proud of you!  XOXO  

Now!  Hurry home!  And give your wife a break from the grueling training plan!  ;o)

Outside

Today is PJ Day and its a beautiful day!  

As soon as we woke up, I began getting the boys ready to play, because I didn't want to waste a minute of this weather.

Because rain is on the way.  

After breakfast, getting the kitchen cleaned and mopped, all of us headed outside.

The boys played hard.  Lots of dirt.  Lots of running.  Lots of screaming. 

Baby Bean sat in his saucer, happily chewing on a biter biscuit.  

I made phone calls, chatted with a friend, read a little bit and played with my little men.

I even made a few lists.  Have I told you how my world revolves around lists?!  

We ate lunch outside.  I love eating outside.  Especially when you can spray off the tables and chairs!

I had the best morning just BEING with my little men in the good 'ole sunshine.  

Lots of sun and a wonderful breeze is good for the soul.  

For my own personal record, I had to include a little story about Peanut.  After coming in from outside, we had to take showers.  I was getting Peanut dressed and ready for nap when he pointed to his window and said "Outside today!"  I said "Yes, we went outside today!"  He quickly got excited, grabbed my face and gave me a huge smooch on my lips!  I laughed and said, "You glad we spent the morning outside?!"  "Yay!" was Peanut's response....  I think this would make a Momma very eager to take her son outside ANY DAY- ALL DAY LONG!!!    I was thrilled that I made my little men happy.  

Did You See It?

Did you see this post?  

Um, yeah.... can we say embarrassing?!  

But OH SO TRUE! of my life the last month or two.... 

Ok.  Ok.  What am I saying?!  Those pictures represents my life since January!  

Oh well.  I owned it.  I blogged about it for the world to see!  

But, I am proud to say that I have kicked butt the last 24 hrs and slowly, but surely, those piles of laundry are disappearing!  

I got my motivation when I went next door to see my wonderful neighbors.  Ashley had spent all day yesterday cleaning out her garage and getting rid of stuff.  She did a great job!  Once I got home, I started to tackle the clothes, one pile at a time.  When we finally got the kids to bed, my sweet husband did the dishes and then helped me finish up the folding.  We put away everyone's winter clothes.  I got all the stuff that Baby Bean has outgrown into storage bags.  And I went to bed, after midnight, deciding that I was gonna continue to kick butt today too.  And I am glad to say, I did just that!  I took Bubbie to school, got the babies occupied and started to put laundry away.  Slowly, but surely, they all got put away.  Once the babies were down for nap, I took out the ironing board and went to work on the HUGE piles of stuff to be ironed.  At 4pm this afternoon, all the laundry had been ironed and all the boy's stuff had been hung up.  Now its just waiting on hangers for the big people stuff.  

I hate that I've had to spend a whole day doing all this, but walking into the babies room without seeing piles of winter clothes and the contents of a basket of diapers and clothing all over the place, is a wonderful thing for this Mama.  I don't do well in clutter and mess.  I am the type that straightens her house every evening before going to bed.  I am THAT mom that gets all the dishes done before getting some sleep.  I can say that I get it honestly- two first born parents who are "over achievers"!  ;o)

But I'd rather be uptight than the opposite, so its all good!

Life in April 2010

We eat good

We get dirty 

We get a little annoyed

We pitch fits, break blinds and disobey

We are silly 

Kiddos do things Mama wishes they wouldn't do

And we are behind on laundry....

....and more laundry.....

and MORE laundry!  




Welcome to the world of Lu!  Chaos at every turn.  There is fighting, arguing and bickering.  There are tears and whining and a lot of "corner time".  


Just in case you thought I portrayed a "perfect" life on the blog.  I decided to show you that this is FAR from true.  I am not a super mom.  I am not a super wife.  I am not even a super housekeeper. I use to try to be, but then I learned that there is no way to be perfect at any of those.... so I stopped putting so much pressure on myself- especially at that last one.  


My plate is full.  Well, actually its OVERFLOWING.  Jobs that I didn't know I had to do are being piled onto my plate and this week is PACKED.  Other worries crowd my mind, but deep inside I am screaming for peace and simplicity.  I want to go into the rooms and throw out everything and start from scratch.  I am longing for a clean slate.  I fresh start at this Mommy-thing.  Three kids is a handful- a wonderful and fun handful, but each is having their own issues and its hard to be pulled apart to meet each of those needs, still have something for your husband and then to try and figure out what God is trying to do to me at the same time- is nothing short of overwhelming.  In the end, I piece what I have left and try to make two words make sense when I leave the house for a few minutes of freedom.  I am thankful for my friends who over look my frazzled state and let me be me, talk, vent and just BE.


Life is good- don't get me wrong, but life is full and life is crazy right now.  

Oh and yes, if you've given your maid the day off, send her over here!  I need help!  

New Chicken Recipe

I posted a new chicken recipe on the food blog- courtesy of E-Mealz.  Go here to check it out.

7 Whole Months

My Baby Bean turned 7 months today and boy! he is on the move!  Over the last month he was gone from being able to scoot to sitting up, crawling and pulling up!  Yes, you heard right!  The last few days, my baby has been pulling himself up- at 7 mos?!  Oh my goodness!  Watch out world!

He has done so well with adding new foods to his diet.  We are now eating oatmeals, avocado, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, apricots, apple sauce, biter biscuits, bananas, pumpkin, gerber puffs and yogurt.  Baby Bean has also (finally) started to accept juice!  Woo hoo!  Its a wonderful thing because it helps quench his thirst on warm days and helps to length the time between nursings if we are out and I am unable to feed.  Baby Bean now has an eating schedule and is doing wonderfully.  In the AM he is eating oatmeal and a fruit and usually finishes off with a biter biscuit while we tend to the older boys.  At lunch, he is eating just about anything that we have- usually a veggie combination with some gerber puffs.  For dinner, Baby Bean also eats a combination of a fruit/veggie.  He is nursing wonderfully too.  We are at about 6-8 feedings a day.  Of course, the nursings sessions aren't as long.  As well as loving food and nursing, he also LOVES his toes and fingers!

Baby Bean started off last month being introduced to a sleeping schedule and I can say that we are on that schedule and LOVING it!  He wakes up anywhere between 7-8am.  Likes to doze to sleep during his 10ish feeding and then naps in his crib anywhere between 1-2pm and sleeps 2 or 3 hrs.  He usually gets pretty sleeping between 7-8 and I nurse one last time and we put him to bed.  He is so cute after nap or in the morning when I go to get him.  He is ALL smiles and he is crawling around and sitting up in the crib.  Just a precious sight!

I thought Baby Bean was teething because of a few signs (biting, drooling, fussiness) but so far, no teeth.  I guess he will be a late teether like his biggest Bubba.

Speaking of brothers, since Baby Bean is on the move, he is absolutely LOVING the new attention from his brothers.  Baby Bean can be entertained by his brothers for HOURS.  I clear off a spot of carpet for the babe, put down a blanket with some baby toys and he will crawl around, pick up big brother's toys.  Several times I've walked in and two of the boys will be sitting side-by-side- one playing and Baby Bean just watching or "messing up" the train tracks.  It just melts my heart to see my oldest son's loving on their baby brother.

It has been interesting to watch Peanut's interaction with the babe.  I think last month I mentioned how Peanut had finally realized that Bean was a real person.  Well, over the last month, Peanut has started to put his hand down my shirt and point to the "milk machine" and say "Eat".  He hadn't done this EVER and has never EVER tried to nurse again after being weened.  I mean, I really "lucked" out with weening, because I never had issues.  So, I guess Peanut is finally realizing that this "thing" is a person and is feeding on "my" food source!  HAHA!

Baby Bean, since he was become mobile, does not use his bouncing seats any longer.  He does still enjoy the jumper and the saucer in very small increments.

We took Baby Bean to the doc on Monday for his 6 mo doc appt (yes, we are a month behind).  He is doing well in growth- weight and height is great.  The doc gave him a clean bill of health and amazed at his ability to crawl already.

Baby Bean is wearing 6-9 mo/ 9 mo clothing.  There are a few 6 mo outfits that still fit, but he is super long- like the other two boys.

Hubbie and I have really enjoyed watching Baby Bean's personality evolve over the last month or two.  He is very content, but active.  He is so happy especially now that he can move.  He was about to wear me out by not being mobile!  For months he was just ITCHING to get on the move!  I am so thankful that he is finally getting around. He is a precious! precious! baby boy!

We Love Probiotics! Do You?!

Yes, we do!  My husband and I were already a huge supporter of probiotics.  We have purchased Kefir from one of our local grocery stores since Peanut was about 9 mos.   I firmly believe in the power of probiotics which can help regulate your digestive health such IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), colic in babies, diarrhea and even, according to this website- yeast infections!  


To read more and to enter for the giveaway, go here.  

Easter 2010

Long post with LOTS of pictures!  

We had a very nice Easter, celebrating with family.  

We arrived at church LATE so that I could take these pictures!  

But it was worth it to be able to capture this moment in time...

I desperately wanted the reason for the "season" to be taught to our children.  We began by doing Resurrection Eggs-

We started this "tradition" last year.  The kids really enjoying opening an egg each night.  Hubbie did a wonderful job leading our family in a devotional each evening.  I was amazed at how much information Bubbie was able to retain this year.  I was a tad bit concerned about Bubbie and his reason for wanting to celebrate Easter.  I even brought my concerns to a dear friend.  Ya see, about a month or two before Easter, one night at dinner, Bubbie asked us what we were gonna buy him for his Easter gift.  I was mortified....  I KNOW! I KNOW! he knew what Easter was all about, but I was so disappointed in his greediness.  I was on a mission from then on....Anyway, Dana reminded me that I wasn't trying to raise submissive, obedient or even compliant children, but faithful followers of God and my mind was put as ease.  So, we cracked (haha!) into these eggs and began to spend a lot of time discussing Easter and the meaning.  

A few weekends before Easter, the boy's school had an Easter festival.  There were games, food and egg hunts, scavenger hunts and bouncy houses.  Bubbie really enjoyed the scavenger hunt.   We even got to meet the Easter Bunny!  I put Baby Bean in the sling and our family of 5 did the scavenger hunt.  The church did a wonderful job of having each family go through the last few days of Jesus' life.  We were able to take the Lord's supper, hammer in nails on a "cross", hear the Jelly Bean story and tons of other things.  Bubbie was more interested in completing our scavenger hunt card, but it was important for me to get the message of Jesus' death across to the boys in more than one way.  

The week of Easter, I wanted to make it special also.  On Wednesday I was able to go and spend some time at Bubbie's school- helping with the kids Easter party!  They did a craft, an egg hunt, ate, listened to the Resurrection Egg story and even decorating cookies.  I had a blast being able to watch all the kids learn and have fun.  The kids are the cutest and best kids.... they all know who I am, so if they see me they all holler "Hey Bubbie's Mom!!!"  really loud.  Its so cute!  Bubbie has the best friends and an even greater teacher.  I am so thankful that my mother was able to come watch the babies so that I could focus 100% on my oldest.

On Good Friday, the boys were off from school.  We made a quick trip to Target for a few things to make our day fun and sugar filled and then headed home.  I made the boy's request for lunch- hot dogs! and then we decorated cookies and made Jello Jigglers.  The fun day was cut short when Peanut had a very yucky diaper.  I was concerned that he was beginning to get sick, but thankfully, he just ate too much fruit and nothing else happened!  A HUGE sigh of relief!  

Saturday evening, we made Resurrection Cookies.  We had gotten this recipe last year at MOPS and it was fabulous!  It was very hard to keep Peanut entertained while we did this.  In the future, instead of killing myself to make "memories" I think I'll put the littlest child to bed and focus more on the oldest/oldest ones.  It was not worth the stress of having Peanut awake to do this.  This was probably one of the best things you can do with your children, or at least it was for Bubbie.  He is so visual and hands on- the beating of Jesus, smelling/tasting the vinegar- everything came to life for him...and us!  Very humbling...  Gotta add this funny story for Bubbie....  We decided to use peppermints instead of pecans (I'm cheap!) and they wouldn't crack with the "stick" or "spoon" so Hubbie had to go get the hammer so that they peppermints would crumble!  It was so funny, because half way through beating the candies, Hubbie said- "Bubbie, they didn't really beat Jesus with a hammer!"  We all died laughing... it was a funny memory!  

Sunday morning was very crazy!  Woke up late, looked through the kid's Easter baskets, had to get the cookies out of the oven, cook the pie and casserole for lunch and then great ready for church!  Ahhhhh!!!! 

But, we first opened our last Resurrection Egg... and it was empty!  What a fabulous blessing for Hubbie and I have to be able to share that story with our children.  Then we opened the "grave" (oven) and looked inside the cookies!  The cookies were empty and Bubbie was so excited!  The rest of the morning was filled with Peanut eating WAY WAY WAY too much candy and cookies!  

Anyway, we did everything and made it to church about 20 mins late!  Oops!  Then we headed over to my parents for food and a traditional easter egg hunt!  Lunch was fabulous.  We were able to eat at Mom and Dads.  Uncle Markie was sick, but Aunt Lindsey and her family were able to join us.  It was a fun afternoon, but we were ALL ready for NAP!  

Celebrating any holiday with children is so much fun!  I probably get a tad bit more excited than my kids do about the activities and fun things to do, but I try and capture each and every moment I can.  There will never be another time that I can mold their little hearts and minds like I can right now.  I want these holidays to be fun, memorable, but also, very special because of the reason.  

Jesus died, went to Hell and bore our sins.  That is something that I could never begin to repay, but I am thankful that I can be alive in Him because He rose.... like Bubbie loves to say "3 days later, Mom!" and yes, my precious baby boy... 3 days later, He rose and fulfilled Scripture!  He lives!

To our three precious sons- never ever EVER forget that you are made in the image of our good and perfect Savior.  He died for OUR sins and that can never be taken away from you!  We love you with our WHOLE hearts!  

Happy Easter 2010!