Monday, November 22, 2010

It's My Half-Birthday!

I just realized this, even though the day is nearly over. When I was a child, my half-birthday was always a big deal to me. My mom would humor me and throw a little celebration for me. How fun...I should do that for my children, you never know what little things will stick out in their memories when they grow up.

Random Musings.

I'm officially 12 weeks pregnant today. The first trimester is flying by. Officially the 1st trimester ends at 13.3 weeks, since a pregnancy is 40 weeks long. I love it when my Grandma and my Mom would say, "You've got it so easy these days with epidurals and all", to which I reply, "Yeah, but back in YOUR day, a pregnancy was 9 months...these days it's 10!"

I'm feeling a lot better...no real nausea to speak of anymore, Praise God! I'm still very tired...and I think that it's just something I need to learn to adapt to and overcome. I'm not sure I'm going to get much energy back for a while...so I'm trying to rest in the Lord and let Him be my strength (easier said than done as I tend to walk much more by the flesh than by the Spirit).

I'm very excited about Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to traveling to the mountains for some time with the family. It's been exactly 2 months since I was up there, when my Grandma passed away. It'll be good to see everyone again. Unfortunately, they've been getting DUMPED on with snow!! EEK! I cannot even express how happy I am that I don't live up there this year. I think if I never saw snow this year, I'd be thrilled!

Aaron was sleeping pretty well...he was having a few nights where he'd go until 4:30ish without waking up. But lately he's gone back to waking 2-3x a night. Last night he woke up at 11 or 12ish, I really don't remember, then at 2:50am--I decided not to give him a bottle at that time because I didn't want him waking AGAIN at 6ish, so he woke again at 4:30am and I gave him his bottle--which he drank rather quickly, he was HUNGRY! :) I've learned that the whole night waking thing is just something a mommy must endure. It's not fun and I'm sure there is something I could do to "train" him to sleep better, but sleep training in the day is not fun, it's REALLY horrible at night...so I just grin and bear it and trust that the Lord would give me the rest I need, and He always does. Aaron IS napping pretty well. He usually has one short nap and one long nap a day. Some days he has 3 naps, but it's usually 2 a day. It's the afternoon one that's always a bit tricky because I want to be sure that he sleeps past 4:30pm, otherwise the evening is going to be miserable since he doesn't go to bed until 7:30-8pm. He's so cute in his bath these days...he kicks and splashes SO much. It's almost unbearable!! The entire floor is soaked when he's done. It's rather amusing though. He can sit up in his tub like a big boy, but it's still easier to lie him down. It'll be fun when he can bathe with the big kids, I know they'll LOVE that!

Luke can spell AND write his name now. See:


Here is a photo of Aaron from the other day, I just think he's so adorable! I love this little guy SOOOOOO much!


More updates to come soon...right now the tortellini, ravioli, homemade alfredo sauce, sauteed zucchini and garlic bread are calling...and where, oh where is my husband???

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Wilderness Soup

So yesterday the girls come running into the house,
Daughter:"Mommy, mommy, you've got to taste this soup we made! Trista brought over some veggies and it's just delicious!"
Hmmm...what could this mean? I asked for clarification...
Me:"What do you mean you made...SOUP?"
Daughter:"Trista brought over some vegetables and we got a bucket and we made soup! Look!"
Me:"BUCKET? What bucket?"
Daughter:"This bucket..." holding up my disgustingly dirty mop bucket.
Me:"OH MY GOODNESS, DO NOT EAT THAT!!!!"
Daughter (getting teary-eyed): "But we worked REALLY hard on it!"
Me: "DO NOT EAT THAT...there are GERMS all over that bucket!"
Daughter: "No...I washed it."
Me: "You washed it with what?"
Daughter: "I washed it with water...WARM water!"
Me: "Oh my goodness...sweetie, water does not make things clean, there are still germs all over that, DO NOT EAT IT! Besides, how did you cut up those vegetables?"
Daughter: "With a rock!"
Me: "UGGGHHHH...please dump it out!"

Sooo...what is a mommy to do with a disheartened child who worked "SO HARD" on wilderness soup? After a brief lesson about how germs are microscopic and you cannot see them or taste them but they can still KILL YOU, I gave them a clean cutting board, knives, washed their dirty vegetables (literally covered in DIRT) and had them wash their hands. I cleaned the table outside and let them have at it. They cut up an amazing amount of veggies...we threw them into a pot with some chicken bouillon and at the end threw in some alphabet noodles and viola, it was DELICIOUS--and edible!"

Children crack me up with the things they come up with, and the things that they thing are totally appropriate! I have to admit, it was very cute...very disgusting, but very cute. I'm glad I took the time to help them create a soup that they could actually eat because they were so proud of themselves. It was at the time when I should have been napping (both boys were snoozing), but I decided for a change I'd forgo my nap and help these girls do something creative...I'm so glad I did. Plus, then I didn't have to make dinner! :)

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

First Vomit.

Yes, poor Aaron had his first vomiting episode this afternoon. :( He woke from his nap and coughed and threw up...I at first thought it was a big burp because he ate alot before his nap and didn't burp...then he did it again, and again. You know you're a mommy when you don't care how much they throw up on you as long as they're okay. I even switched shoulders from the yucky one to the clean one so he wouldn't put his face in the yuck. Poor sweet baby. He was happy in between bouts, and he hasn't done it for about an hour, but it's so heartbreaking to see a little baby get sick.

Monday, November 15, 2010

5 Months Old!

Today Aaron is 5 months old. He's getting so big and is just so cute. He has been a little on the fussy side lately, not so much fussy as he will go from happy to unhappy in a very short time and then he gets absolutely hysterical. I'm not quite sure what that's all about, he seriously acts like he's teething, but I cannot believe that one of my children would be teething so early. You never know though because I'd never guess that one of my children would be sitting up so early and guess what?!?! Here he is:

What a big guy!

He has also been sleeping from bedtime until about 4:30am the past couple of nights, which is FANTASTIC! I'll take all the sleep I can get. I'm still swaddling and will probably do it until he's around 6 months, that's what I did with my other children and it seems like a good time because the novelty of rolling over onto their tummy wears off and if they DO roll onto their tummy, they can either get cozy or roll back over to their back.

I've started feeling better--Thank God! I've been pretty much nausea free for a week now! It's fantastic to feel mostly human again.

Our weather has been CRAZY lately. Yesterday and today we had a high of about 80 degrees. WAY too hot for this time of year if you ask me, but apparently no one is asking me because no matter how much I dislike it, it doesn't change a thing. Thankfully the evenings are cool, but I could enjoy some cooler days, not that I want it cold or anything. Man, I'm so picky!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Facebook...

I've noticed that I spend way too much time on Facebook, updating my status for people who don't really care and in the future, I'll have no record of all of the wonderful little things that I post on there...so I'm going to make an effort to come HERE instead and write updates, so that when I come back days, months or years from now, I can read about what was going on! I love having this as a record...whether anyone reads it or not, I love being able to go back in time and see how life was. I only wish I would have started earlier, but it is pretty fun that I've got posts from before I had LUKE!

I'm now 11 weeks pregnant. I'm starting to feel human again, I just noticed that as I finished the last drops of my morning cup of coffee, I'm enjoying the flavor again--Praise God! :) I had a bit of a rough time this pregnancy...it flew by, I have to admit...not because it was shorter, but I think more because I was so incredibly busy that the days just fly by anyway. But I felt so incredibly nauseous this time. It's funny how in my past 3 (including this one) pregnancies, the nausea seems to last EXACTLY 4 weeks. With Luke and Aaron, I remember it starting at 8 weeks and being gone by 12 weeks. This time it started at 7 weeks and was pretty much fully gone at 11 weeks. I'm definitely exhausted, I could sleep all day I think, but at least I'm feeling well again. I've been going to bed at 9pm and sleeping to at least 7am...albeit with many wakings...and it feels SO good. I've had a few days this past week without a nap, but I still feel like I NEED a nap. Other than that, I still find it hard to believe that I'm not only pregnant, but nearly done with my first trimester already. It's amazing how quickly time passes when you're super busy.

Aaron has been sleeping pretty well lately. In general, he has one waking a night. This past week he's had 2 nights where he went until 4:30am! GLORIOUS!! :) I've found that if I swaddle him and Jeremy puts him to bed, he will sleep nice and long. If Jeremy swaddles him, he comes loose and wakes up early. Either way, his night sleep is improving significantly. I've been trying to get him to take his naps in his crib as much as possible...the other day he took all of his naps in his crib and one was 2+ hours, so that's fantastic. Normally I'd do the morning one in his crib and the afternoon one in his swing, so I can get a nap in too...but there is no guarantee that his nap will be long in his swing. So I decided to try him with all of his naps in his crib. I can put him in there completely awake, with a pacifier, and he goes to sleep like a dream. He generally takes 2 naps a day, but it has to be timed just right. He seems to do better with 3 shorter naps, but for me it's really nice if he naps at the same time as Luke so I can get a rest (which may or may not actually happen).

I've been searching on Craigslist for an exersaucer for Aaron. He's getting to that age where he doesn't want to lie around all day long...he's rolling over from his back to his tummy now, but there is only so much lying on his tummy that he can tolerate...he's got his bouncy chair that he likes, but again, that's pretty much like lying on his back. He's been SUPER grabby lately, if anything passes by him, he reaches out and tries to grab it. So I thought, he's definitely ready for an exersaucer...he'd enjoy sitting up, playing with stuff, etc. So I found one on craigslist yesterday and Jeremy went out and got it. At first he didn't think it was worth it to spend $30, but this is a deluxe exersaucer and after he saw how Aaron LOVES it, he's a believer! TOTALLY worth the money, especially considering we'll have another one to play with it in no time! The big kids play with him and he just loves it.
He's started pulling his legs up underneath him when he's on his tummy and sticking his little buns up, like he's trying to crawl. I'm sure it's quite a ways off, but it's so fun to see these little developmental things happening. It seems like at the beginning, all of the things they do happen so slowly...then all of a sudden it's sitting, then crawling then walking...and it all goes so fast!





I don't think that I had mentioned that Abby had to have a tooth pulled. I know I wrote about her tooth that had come in behind the other, but when we went to the dentist, he said it would be better if he pulled the baby tooth in order for the adult tooth to come in more "normally". She was a bit apprehensive--for good reason, but the dentist did a great job and she didn't even know he had pulled it! :) It still had a MAJOR root on it, so it was a good thing he did pull it otherwise it would have been a LONG time before that sucker came out on it's own. I'll have to take a photo of her teeth now...the one in the back is slowly moving it's way up to the front. She's most likely going to need braces, hopefully she's our only child. I don't want to think that her crooked teeth are the result of extended pacifier use, but that's probably what happened...I hope Luke doesn't follow suit. He still has his and we'll get rid of it in March when he turns 4. Aaron takes a pacifier but doesn't like it other than if he's not completely asleep when we put him to bed or if he's really tired (like in the car). Hopefully we'll be able to phase it out quickly and we'll have one less child's dental work to worry about.

Well, there is much to do today...it's Sunday, another Sunday we will not be going to church. It seems like since we've been living here, someone has a cough EVERY week. Abby was treated for asthma a few weeks ago...she had a cough that just wouldn't quit. She was put on an antibiotic, a steroid and an inhaler of albuterol. That cleared it right up. Now Savannah has a pretty bad cough and Jeremy and I both have a tickle in our throats. There's definitely something to be said about living in isolation! When we lived in the mountains, we were NEVER sick. I really would like to be going to church, but maybe this is a season in our lives when it's just not going to happen. If only we could get it together and have home church, then I'd feel a lot better.

Get it together, yes...that's what I need to do. There is SO much I feel I need to get together. When we moved in, it was hurry, hurry, hurry and unpack. But when I hit the deadline of school starting after Labor day, I just didn't have the time to do much more. And now that I'm pregnant, even if I have the time, I don't have the desire or the energy. I really need to go through EVERYTHING and organize and eliminate. I'd love nothing more than to have a well-organized home. My pantries are absolutely OVERFLOWING. Not due to an abundance of stuff, but more from a lack of organization. So I guess my prayer this next week or month should be for the energy and opportunity to get things in order. That would do much for my peace of mind.