It's been a while!!

Well clearly a lot has happened since my last post!! Most importantly baby no. 3 made her arrival August, 2011!! Hadli Chase has brought lots of pink and frills into our boy filled world!! Along with Hadli came my new role as stay at home mommy!! Yikes, she will b two in a little more than a month and I still haven't mastered this role yet! It is much more challenging than employment law, mass torts & any trial I ever prepared for!! Rewarding but difficult!! When we found out we were expecting number 3 lots of "large family" friends tried to reassure us by saying adding number 3 to the mix will b no more difficult than going from 1 baby to 2!! Well let me just tell you these people are liars!! We love them but they LIED! Three children ranging in age from newborn to 4 yrs old is absolute insanity inducing chaos! Do not let anyone tell you different!! We are blessed to have three beautiful healthy bright children but we are crazy!! Crazy tired, crazy stressed, crazy overwhelmed but crazy in love with all of our crazy blessings!!

25 weeks down 15 to do

SO I don’t remember being this exhausted the last time I was pregnant. I haven’t had as many complications as I did with Jackson and Cooper but WHOA I could use a nap, a nanny, a maid, etc.! SO far I’ve only gained 7 lbs but it feels (and looks) like forty!! It is crazy hot already. My children have to wear winter footy pajamas at night so I don’t freeze them out of the house.

Here is hoping it is more like 12 weeks to go!!

half way there

Twenty weeks left and I was able to convince Travis to find out what we're having. Jackson and Cooper will have a little sister this August! Lord help us. We don't know what to do with girls!!

19 weeks down 21 to go!!

So the countdown has begun. Baby # 3 will be here in August (hopefully early August)!! Right now I am still trying to convince Travis to find out what we are having, I am scheduled to go next week and he’s being stubborn but I’m still trying to win this one. I am going to pull a Grey’s Anatomy and say I get three votes on this one – you fans will know what I’m talking about it!! Seriously, I have acid reflux round the clock, morning (all day long) sickness still not mention all the other horrid things that come with being pregnant --I’ve earned the right know “what” is causing me such discomfort and emotional distress!! Jackson understands that there is a baby in my belly and regularly has me open my mouth so he can look down my throat to see if the baby is “ready” yet!! He also believes that Jesus needs a spanking for putting the baby in my belly. He is a bit distressed about what we plan to do with Cooper once the new baby is “ready”. I’m not sure why he thinks we must do away with Cooper in order to have another baby. My guess is he’s wondering where the heck we are going to put another person and all the crap that comes along with them. (let’s be serious aren’t we all wondering) so the only option in his mind is someone must go and that must be Cooper since he’s the newbie of the clan. Cooper doesn’t really understand what is happening and it is best that he just be surprised because any warning that he will no longer be the littlest/newest member for whom all of our worlds stop might cause severe trauma that I am not equipped to handle just yet. He is a momma’s baby and it is going to be U-G-L-Y!! That’s all for now!!

11 Lessons to Learn for Those Thinking of Having Children

THIS IS TOO FUNNY NOT TO POST!!

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.
Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive) Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.2
. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out. Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side
.3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

BAH HUMBUG

WELL, my Christmas Tree lasted all of four days. I had to take her down last night and box her up (know that I wanted to set her on fire so boxing her up was much kinder.) Four times between 5:15 and 6:00 I had to pick her up off the floor and stand her back up (this is no easy task-she is 5 ft around at the bottom and 8 ft tall.) The first time I believe was an accident (however, they had no business doing whatever it was they were doing) the next three times were intentional. Once they realized they could knock her over they just kept doing it. Since I do not have a Xanax salt lick this move was absolutely necessary!! I do have a 3 foot tabletop tree that I will pull out and somehow hang from the ceiling to keep them from picking her up and throwing her at each other or using her as some sort of weapon. So for now we are treeless and I’m okay with that. Judge me if you like - I do not care!!

AND if one more person tells me “things will get better”, “cherish these days you will miss them one day” or” they aren’t little forever” I may set myself on fire or have myself voluntarily committed.

At least I got the christmas pics taken before I had to box her up!! I have not intentions of pulling her out again until 2015!!

Merry “Treeless” Christmas

So once upon a time, long ago and far away I always thought it would be fun and magical to have children especially during the Christmas season; well my boys have knocked this fantasy right out of me and are snickering in the corner because I ever thought it possible. Really don’t we all want the Hallmark Movie Channel Family Christmas??? Well, mine are more like Griswold Family Christmas. I stayed up late Friday night putting the humungous artificial tree up; I went ahead and put the lights on so I could take pictures of the boys “decorating” the tree Saturday morning. The plan was to really decorate once daddy got home from work on Saturday. Why is it that I refuse to accept that I am no longer aloud to make plans?? Any who, so after breakfast we changed into our super cute Christmas outfits that mother made for the boys and began (note: this is the second attempt at Christmas pics-first time was at mothers-NOT GOOD) so after an hour and a half, lots of tears and three broken ornaments later I gave up. Here are a few of the good takes.


I think once we get closer to Christmas and all the festivities begin I will feel better about the holidays but right now it is just a lot of unnecessary crazy!! Like I don’t already say no, stop and don’t enough!! Now I have a giant tree in the living room teasing my children and begging for trouble—I hear it calling their names and they can’t resist. The lights have already been pulled out and shoved back in there like I wouldn’t notice and all the ornaments that I felt safe putting on the tree are now just at the top so there is nothing attractive about this tree maybe it knows it’s unattractive and that is why it is taunting the boys??

CUTENESS

So Jackson is pretty chatty especially at bed time the other night I was tucking him in and laying with him trying to convince him to shut his eyes and his mouth below is the conversation that took place after we said our prayers:

Jackson-Momma, I love you!
ME-I love you too Jackson!
Jackson-I love daddy!
Me-I love daddy too!
Jackson-No you don’t! You can’t or you would have a map to the ocean!
Pause for laughter
Me-Do you have a map to the ocean??
Jackson-I do, there are sheshells, wish(fish), whales and sharks. I don’t like sharks.
Me-I don’t like sharks either!
Jackson-Me eiter!
Jackson-You my favorite Kristy!!
Me-You are my favorite Jackson!

Last night I asked Jackson who pulled on the Christmas lights and he said Cooper (Cooper was asleep and had been asleep for at least an hour) so I then asked Jackson if he was telling me a story (lying) and he proceeded to tell me the story of the Goldilocks and the three bears???

JESUS, SANTA AND THE ELF ON THE SHELF

Don’t be confused-I am in no way trying to imply that Jesus is in any way similar to the others listed above. Understand this is all coming from the mind of a 3 year old. We tell him Santa is watching so you better behave, we must be sweet to our little brother because it makes Jesus sad when we are ugly to others. Now Jackson is asking about the Elf on the Shelf. He saw one at Aba’s (Ava’s) the other night and he has asked a few times about it so I was explaining that “Fred” Aba’s Elf hides and watches and reports to Santa. Well this just baffles him and he wants to know why, where is he hiding, where is Santa and why can’t he see him and is Jesus hiding too?? Then the next questions are how will Santa get in the door? it is locked? and the gate is up? etc. etc. So each night at bedtime his little mind is in over drive trying to come up with good questions to keep him from having to go to bed so after what seemed like hours of questions the other night I finally tell him “enough, go to sleep I am not going to sit in here anymore if you keep on talking“--his response to that is “please momma don’t leave me in here alone with Jesus.” Of everyone hiding and watching why has he decided Jesus is the most frightening?? Seriously, a strange little man with crazy ears wearing tights is hiding on the shelf and a fat man wearing a red suit is breaking into peoples houses leaving toys and taking cookies and Jesus is who concerns him?? This is something we must work on!!

That’s all for now!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Things I am thankful for!!

1. My Lord and Savior and his presence in my life.

2. My wonderful husband/best friend and all he does and puts up with for me and the boys

3. Jackson –my wild sweet boy who will either teach me to be patient or put me in the state hospital

4. Cooper –my tenderhearted little monster who had to toughen up quick in order to survive the last 18 months with his big brother

5. My parents and brother and all they have taught me and all the help they have given with my crazy kids

6. My in-laws and all their support and encouragement

7. My grandparents and their kindness and patience with my children-AND granny cookies of course.

8. My extended family and all the crazy memories and stories we have;

9. My friends who I don’t get to see or spend as much time with as I would like but they are always there when I need them.;

10. My job and their patience with my having to be out with my sickly children;

11. My co-workers for taking up the slack when I have to be out;

12. My babysitters for not killing my children;

13. AND again for my wonderful husband for taking over in the mornings so I can go work out;

14. Freedom-to read the bible, to go to church, to write this blog, vote, etc., etc., etc.;

15. Electricity (a/c & heat)

16. Coffee-oh how I love it;

17. My Camera and all the wonderful memories I have been able to capture (hush it I know I haven’t uploaded them but promise that I will);

18. OxyClean;

19. Washable Crayons/Markers;

20. Goldfish/Smiles/Cheetos -aka bribes for a few minutes of silence;

21. DVR –especially the pause button;

22. Bedtime;

23. Music-all kinds-it’s good for the soul;

24. disposable diapers/pull ups;

25. Bathrooms (most bathrooms) more specifically indoor plumbing; AND toilet paper

26. The Bradford Pear in front of the Sones' house;

27. AGAIN, my husband for understanding that sometimes I need to go to bed before the kids

28. Frozen lasagna or really all frozen food-so convenient when momma is tired!!

29. Dr. Pepper (I miss this but know that if I must have one I can easily go purchase one)

30. Pay at the Pump

31. Yoga pants

32. 0 point foods

33. Big fat warm boot socks;

34. Birth Control

35. Flip Flops

36. Extra Dessert Delights (Key lime Pie and Strawberry Shortcake) YUM!!

37. Beth Moore-books, videos, bible studies, devotional-all things Beth; hope to see her live one day!!

38. Razors (and my husband’s ability to use one despite the fact that he hasn’t in weeks) what is that about-not so thankful for the full beard he now has but…what do you do?

39. Cell phones-my sitter and husband can reach me at anytime (as we as everyone else)

40. The Future-Jeremiah 29:11

CATCH UP!!

My house is a wreck and filled with chaos if you were to listen in you would hear lots of, screaming, crying, chasing, stomping, threatening, random things flying through the air and crashing against the floor/wall/someone but mixed in there is also lots of laughter and love. Every day is crazy no matter how much time I spend organizing and preparing nothing goes as it should (or how I want.)

Yes, selfishly I would love for things to run smoothly but if this were to happen that would mean that everyone, including myself, would have to wake up in a good mood every day. Really?? I can’t do it how can I ask that of my husband and children? Travis works 6 days a week ten hours a day, most weeks, I can’t expect him to always come home in a good mood ready to take on our two wild boys and keep our house spotless when I can’t do it and I only work 5 days a week 8 hours a day(on a good week.) I’m sure if you were to ask Jackson he rarely gets what he wants (candy for breakfast, play in the snow in September, mommy stay home all day every day, play in the street, drive a fire truck) same goes for Cooper who would be a happy camper all day every day if he were allowed to walk around sucking on a tube of toothpaste. I also have to consider everyone that the four of us come in contact with through out the day and the moods and bad attitudes that come with that.

I am realizing that I am not only placing unrealistic expectations on myself, my husband and my children but also on every random person we come in contact with.

SO, my house will remain a hot mess, my kids will continue to run wild and scream and my husband is forgiven for occasionally being moody after working approximately 60 hours a week. I will not complain I will do my best not to complain because I’m blessed that my husband is willing and capable of working so hard for us, my children have voices so that they can scream, legs to run, feet to stomp, arms to flail and hands to throw. I am grateful that this beautiful chaos is MINE.
Blessed are you when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule. (Matthew 5:3-The Message)
For God Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. I will not, I will not, I will not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down or relax My hold on you! (Hebrews 13:5-Amplified Bible)
August

Well let’s see if I can remember!! Jackson started preschool and I started back to work full time. Two weeks in I get a call from the school to come check on Jackson. It was obvious a trip to the clinic was necessary. Jackson was having a full blown asthma attack. No we’ve never been diagnosed with asthma. So we spend the next three days in the hospital and the next two weeks jacked up on albuterol treatments every four hours. Our scratch test is scheduled for the end of November. THAT should be an interesting day. Pre-school is a no go this semester hopefully we will be back in January and I may never work a full forty hour week until my children are grown.

Cooper never stops talking-we can’t understand most of what he is saying but it doesn’t stop him. Jackson is incredibly jealous of Cooper and tries to kill him every chance he gets. Cooper is just as mean and provokes Jackson as often as he can. I need a referee. They are very entertaining until someone gets hurt.

September

Well I’ve obviously blocked this month out entirely the only thing I remember is Travis turned 37!!

24 hours later—Seriously, I am still stumped!! I feel certain that it is best I can’t remember. Self preservation sometimes requires suppression.

So September is not completely blank I will tell you that Jackson has decided in the past few months to give up on sleep!! He used to go to bed by 8:00 and sleep until 5:30 or 6 but that’s over. He’s now up until ten or later most nights and up and down all through out the night, not sure what is up with this but it is very frustrating especially since I get up at 4:45!! Cooper is my sleeper. He is still sleeping 10 to 12 hours a night and napping a couple of hours during the day.

October

Jackson is wild and moody like a girl and has a temper like you wouldn’t think possible for a little person but there are several times through out each day that he can be the sweetest thing. He pulls chairs out and makes room at the table for his Sunday school friends and tells me at least 7500 times a day that he loves me and at least once a day every day he says “hey, I love you to pieces and put you back together.” AWESOME!! And he never means to do anything and he’s always sorry, especially once he sees the spanking spoon.

Travis and I enjoyed a weekend without the boys, Travis worked Saturday and I cleaned-what does that say about us?? That Saturday afternoon we went to Southern Miss Homecoming!! We haven’t been to a Southern game together in 13 years. We had a blast and weren’t real sure what to do with ourselves without the kids but we did have fun and realized just how old we really are. Not getting home until 1:00 a.m. is for the birds.

Last week was very eventful. Monday afternoon I get a frantic call from the sitter I can barely understand her for all the screaming and panic. I did make out fell and 911. I told her I was on my way and rushed home that two miles of course took FOREVER. I get home to Jackson outside face and shirt covered in blood. It looked like something from a horror movie. Once I got him calmed down and cleaned up he told me a tree fell on his head come to find out the wind had blown a pecan out of the tree and the pointed end caught him right on top of the head. ONLY AT MY HOUSE. Cooper and Jackson fight like we are hosting an event for UFC. Understand they haven’t fully mastered fighting like a man so there is still a lot of hair pulling, scratching and biting along with the head butting and below the belt kicks. Again, I need a referee!!

Madi’s birthday party was this past weekend at Wiggles and Giggles, The boys had a ton of fun until it was time to move from the play room to the party room. Sheriff Rushing was at the party and I almost had to ask him to intervene a few times, Cooper had a meltdown and screamed for at least 20 minutes so we left early and missed out on the cake and presents and I didn’t get to visit like I wanted to but the boys had fun playing and terrorizing me. We are terrible at trick or treating. We only made it to 5 houses in 4 hours and no one left their costumes on for more than 10 minutes at a time so each stop required us redressing everyone before knocking on the door and each stop took at least thirty minutes but we did enjoy visiting with everyone.

Uncle Bill caught some blue crabs and Jackson was fascinated and a bit afraid. If anyone came near he would shout NO, THEY WILL BITE YOUR WINGER (FINGER)! Cooper was not afraid and attempted several times to get inside the giant Styrofoam cooler with the crabs but he managed to keep all of his wingers!!

I have tons of new pictures but no time to upload them all so maybe that’s what I do next year when we get a weekend with no kids!!

Oh AND Travis tore something in his left knee last week and will have to see Dr. Weatherly next week to determine if it will require surgery.

THAT’S ALL!!

Once again it’s been a while. Working part time is WAY harder for me than full time it is almost impossible to find time for anything b/c our schedule is so out of wack and each day is different but we’re making it.

Cooper’s doctor has given us the go ahead to start Jackson back at Easthaven so he will start Pre-School next week. He’s pretty excited. As long as Cooper does well with being exposed to everything Jackson brings home he should be able to start in January. YAY!! I won’t know what to do with both kids in one place. I might get to sleep as late as 5:30!!

RECENT NEWS!!

Last Sunday I made the mistake of giving Jackson change for his offering. We discussed putting it in his pocket and leaving it there-that should have been the end of it right-HA!! So about fifteen minutes later I hear Travis freaking out and Jackson has the change in his mouth and has now swallowed it. So we made a few calls and asked some nurse friends of ours what to do and they assured us all should be fine but take him in ASAP if he starts complaining or throwing up. WELL OF COURSE first thing Monday morning he’s finding me in the kitchen crying about his tummy hurting so I rush around and get him ready and head to the ER for x-rays and dirty looks. Trav only saw him put two coins in his mouth and took the rest away from him. I didn’t think to count what he had taken from him so when they x-ray Jackson’s belly they find four coins stacked perfectly one on top of the other. Seriously, as we’re waiting I am expecting social services to come in the door at any second. Swallowing coins is pretty common and usually not cause for alarm but when you have four coins stacked that can be a problem if they pass that way so they admitted us to the hospital for observation-OH THE JOY!! Being trapped in a confined space with a three year old is miserable for all involved. He found the call button for the nurses with in minutes of being admitted so every 4 ½ seconds they were being buzzed. So after 4,765 calls the nurses are wishing we weren’t there and I am certain they were already thinking we were crazy and this only confirmed it. After numerous x-rays this week the coins are still in his tummy but are no longer stacked so now we just wait and hopefully next week when we go back for x-rays we will be all clear.

Never a dull moment!!

TIME

I know I’ve said it a million times before but there really is never enough time in the day. Especially now that I am part-time, I still have the same work load and responsibilities just fewer hours to accomplish everything I need to accomplish in a work week. The days I am home I am running around trying to get caught up on house work and squeeze in something fun and some quality time with the kids. We plan play dates and fun activities which are great for the kids and I enjoy them too but once it’s over and we are home I am overwhelmed and exhausted which then leads to things getting out of control in the house again meaning another day will have to be spent catching up from all that was left behind and to do. I can no longer take both of my children to the grocery with me, IMPOSSIBLE, so I have to wait for a time when Trav is home to watch one of them which leads to one or both screaming and throwing a fit, after they go to sleep or before they wake up. Understand, that my kids go to bed around 7:30 and this is the time I spend getting their bags ready for the next day, taking a bath, spending time with Trav, reading, enjoying the quiet. Since my kids go to bed at 7:30 they are up pretty early, on the days we have to get up and get moving I have to wake them up and neither one is happy about it, the days we can sleep in-no one does, we are all up by 6:30 ALWAYS. So to grocery shop after they are in bed cuts in the time I need to recharge and to go in the morning before they wake up and before Trav has to leave for work means I need to get up at the crack of dawn. I don’t mind waking up at the crack of dawn, I have always done it and it really isn’t so bad especially if it means I get to have alone time even if the alone time is spent in Wal-Mart with dozens of other people. So if you are ever in Wal-Mart at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, please pretend that you don’t see me, b/c your assumption would be right-Yes, I did just roll out of bed, brush my teeth and put some shoes on and I am pretending I am alone, you see--the tons of people stocking the shelves, the giant loud machine buffing the floors, the fork lifts and pallets lining every aisle, those things have nothing on the volume of my two children and the obstacles they are able to create.

Enough ranting-the boys are fabulous-ALL BOY but fabulous!!

Cooper 1st birthday was May 5th, we had a check up which went well, he weighs 20lbs and is 30 ½ inches long, freakishly tall and freakishly skinny. We’ve switched to whole milk (which is seriously close to being as expensive as formula) and are working on weaning him off the bottle. He will eat anything we will let him, he loves grilled pork chops, chicken, hamburger, peas, granny’s chicken and dumplins, grits, pancakes, sausage, sweet potatoes, rice, green beans, the list goes on, this means we are no longer having to buy baby food, WHOO HOO!! He never stops talking, constant jabbering. He’s been saying ma ma, da da, dog, ball, Jackson and thank you for many months; now he says lots of other things that we aren’t real sure of. He has been walking since he was 9/10 months old. He waves bye and pretends to go to sleep. He doesn’t like it when Jackson gets in trouble (but he’s getting pretty accustom to it since it happens frequently.) In case you didn’t know, the world revolves around him and if anyone forgets this he is quick to remind them. This leads to many fight bt/w him and Jax because as far as Jackson is concerned the world revolves around him.

Jackson will be turning 3, July 6th; this blows my mind b/c I vividly remember his delivery and it does seem like it was just the other day. He is growing so fast and learning so much. He never stops talking and asking why, how, what, when, you name it he’s asking about it. Let me brag- he is already super talented when it comes to sports, he’s mastered dribbling the basketball while standing still, moving forward, backward, and to the side, he’s learning the alphabet and numbers and he never forgets anything. NOTHING!! The other day a man pulled into the parking lot as we were leaving and he hit us-no one was hurt not even the Tahoe. Now every time we pass that parking lot he asks “what did that man do?” He is real concerned with when Santa is coming and would rather not have any part of the Easter Bunny ever again, when he plays with the toys the Easter Bunny brought him he is quick to remind me that he does not like the Easter Bunny and does not want to see him again.

We are really looking forward to summer and spending time with good friends and hopefully making lots of trips to the river. The boys love it. I will post pictures later.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

OVERWHLEMED

So...i haven't had much time to post here and i do have tons of pictures that i keep promising to upload-one day-hopefully soon that will actually happen.

I had to take a few minutes to blog about my morning. I got up extra early in order to make certain that I had enough time for
a)both of my boys to procrastinate
b)Jackson to take extra potty breaks
c) Jackson to have time to fall down and dust off; and
d) so I would not have to speed on the way to the sitters

This worked out really well, we were ahead of schedule and getting ready to load up when I realize my keys are MIA--no where to be found. I looked in all of Jackson's usual hiding places, dumped my purse and both bags out, finally found them in the kitchen drawer-WOW!!

During my frantic run around the house searching for the keys Jackson decides it is the perfect time to rearrange the living room-he pushes the couch back up against the wall revealing all sorts of hidden treasures, one of which is an orange crayon which Cooper falls madly in love with, needless to say the child's face and hands are ORANGE. I pry the frickin crayon out of Cooper's hands, scoop him up and throw him on my hip as I continue running through the house calling for the keys, I find the keys & turn to tell Jackson to load up and see him slam the giant plastic bouncy ball into the floor and watch it as it collides with the the glass globe in the dinning room!! YES IT SHATTERED INTO A MILLION PIECES. REALLY?? somehow we all manage to survive with all of our eyes intact and no one bleeding and out the door we run. Jackson, as always, wasn't paying attention and fell face first on the way to the truck-he's fine!! We all made it to where we were suppose to be ON TIME!! How?? I do not know but it all worked out and Travis cleaned up the mess from the broken globe!!!

IS IT BEDTIME YET??

SO FAR SO GOOD-I think!!

This is week 2 of me working part-time. I have not killed anyone or myself yet so things are going pretty well. That is not to say that I haven’t thought about it.

So far since this started:
• Jackson got mad and peed on the floor, once last week and once this week;
• Cooper busted his lip-TWICE;
• laundry seems to never be caught up;
• kitchen is a never ending task;
• when I lose my patience I try to hide in the bathroom until I can get it together;
• Jackson has decided he doesn’t need to nap which means mommy hides in the bathroom seeking patience more often than she should;
• the boys sleep until 7:00/7:30 which means I can either have alone time or sleep late;
• we have had a play date at the park with Madi;
• we go to the walking park regularly and Jackson is fairly well behaved;
• daddy comes home to dinner on the table rather than having to wait for me to get there to cook;
• No naps for Jackson=fairly early bedtime with no fuss
AND
• Next week we are planning a trip to the zoo!!

It is still too soon to tell but we may survive this and actually end up enjoying it. Now I just need to get brave enough to take them both to Jackson alone to catch up with our out of town friends.

10 Random Things

1. I believe in the power of prayer and spend more time in prayer each day than I do anything else.

2. I love living close to my family but not so close that they are in my business-far enough away that I have to hop in the car but close enough that I don’t have to wait long if I need them.

3. My husband is my best friend and has been for more than 10 years. He is the first person I want to talk to when something good, bad, scary, funny, etc. happens.

4. I have no pets and I want no pets. I’m certain that one day the boys will want a dog or something and I absolutely dread it.

5. I love love love to exercise but have been horrible about making the time to do it regularly since Jackson was born.

6. I love watching Jackson figure things out. He is so much like his daddy.

7. I love reading my favorite books over and over at least once each year.

8. I love the Office. It is my guilty pleasure.

9. I have an incredibly high tolerance for pain that is countered by an incredible fear of it. The anxiety worrying over the pain is much worse for me than the actual pain.

10. There were a few times last week when I thought I would rather pay someone my entire full time salary to stay at my house with my kids than stay home with them myself. (isn’t that terrible?? And yes I do feel guilty for feeling that way)

RANDOM WORRIES

Today was Jackson's first day at the sitter. We love Miss Kim. She has always been so good to Jackson she loves him like he's her own and I know that when he is there I have nothing to worry about. BUT those of you who know me well know that I WORRY whether it is justified or not it is what I do. I am not worried about how Jackson's day will be with Kim I am worried about how Jackson's day will be without daycare. Will he miss his friends, will he wonder why he is not at school (even though i tried my best to explain), will he miss the play time and stories, will he remember his friends, will it make me sad to see how excited he is to see them when we run into them in Wal-Mart. Random I know but still things I worry about and yes I know worrying is pointless and a waste of time but...don't judge me, this is something I really struggle with. I know that pulling Jackson from daycare is what is best for Cooper but I can't help but be concerned that it will make things harder for Jax when it is time to return.

BEFORE 7a.m.

FIRST THING
So I wake up between 4:30 and 4:45-I like the snooze button what can I say.
Pray I do not wake the boys, get a shower, pray I do not wake the boys, start a load of laundry, pray I do not wake the boys, clean the kitchen/dishes/bottles/sweep/boil water/whatever did not get done before I passed out the night before, pray I do not wake the boys.

5:30ish
hear Cooper stirring around, pray he doesn’t wake Jackson, fix Cooper a bottle, change his diaper and get him dressed while he takes his bottle, pray he doesn’t wake Jackson , put Cooper down to play and “talk” while I put on make up and dry my hair and wait for Jackson to hear all this commotion and wake up on his own,

6:00ish
take Jackson to the potty, fix Jackson a cup of “chocolate no milk,” PRAY ALL THIS NOISE WILL WAKE TRAVIS UP, wash Jackson’s face, move Cooper out of the way, get Jackson dressed, explain to Cooper that it is Jackson’s turn and move him out of the way again, give Jackson his vitamins and explain to him that he can not eat the entire bottle at once and that it is not candy or prizes, help Jackson brush his teeth while Cooper sneaks into my bedroom and smacks Travis in the face and screams da da, quietly laugh and listen to Travis fuss about all the noise

6:30ish
Hear Travis start the shower and pray that all that I have done this morning has not used up all the hot water, listen for him to start screaming, finish getting myself ready, get everyone’s things together, check Cooper’s bag to make sure it has everything, give Jackson stars for his behavior chart, find something to entertain them in their room so I can load the car and make sure all the car seats are in the right place. Find Travis’ wallet, keys, sunglasses, etc. and put them all on the kitchen counter so he can find them. Fix myself a cup of coffee and throw a yogurt in my purse to have at work.

HOPEFULLY BY 7:00
Load every one up and leave the house! Drop everyone off.

7:30ish
In the car alone!! LIE and tell myself tomorrow will be better b/c tonight I will do everything before I go to bed no matter how tired I am and I will not feel as rushed as I did this morning.

Patience

Proverbs 14:1 “The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.”

In an effort to “build” up and gain a little order and peace in my home I have decided to look at myself and see what I need to work on personally. I have been really studying up on patience because I have none therefore, I need to do my homework in order to fully understand what it is I seek and how to capture it. Patience takes faith and practice. I’m not much on biting my tongue or taking a deep breath and counting to ten before reacting but I am working on it. This is one of my new favorite quotes and it is really helping me embrace this character flaw of mine “few of us do patience well and none of us do it naturally.” SO I am not alone with this – WHEW!! It takes work but as all things that do take work it will be worth it. BECAUSE:

1. Patience stops problems in their tracks--praying it will stop or at least slow down my 2 year old;

2. Patience fosters peace and quiet--I love quiet;

3. Patience demonstrates love-one can never show too much love;

4. Patience brings an internal calm during an external storm (a/k/a temper tantrums);

5. Patience brings rewards-we call rewards prizes in my house-we like prizes; AND

6. Practicing patience teaches patience.

What I’ve learned is we aren’t born with patience we work for patience and we are rewarded. I am trying to raise good boys who will one day be great men, loving husbands & wonderful fathers. In my quest for patience my biggest hope is that they will learn from my patience and be slow to respond with love, peace, knowledge and wisdom rather than to quickly react and later regret it.

1 WEEK

Only 1 more week full time and I am overwhelmed. I have so much to do at work in order to get ready to be there fewer hours and so much to do at home in order to get ready to be there more. Just thinking of what all I have to do makes me want to put my head down for a bit but that is not very productive.

A few new pics of the boys playing outside.

A couple of Saturdays ago we spent some time with Madi and Dana (first time in FOREVER) we exchanged Christmas gifts – that is how long it has been. We had a blast. The kids were C-R-A-Z-Y but that is not unusual. Here are few of the pics I managed to get. Hopefully we can do it again VERY SOON!!

Notice the slobber on Jackson’s shirt-yes he still drools and should probably still be wearing a bib!!

Time changes this next weekend and I am so excited. I love the longer days, I am sure I will change my mind once I trapped home with two balls of energy all day.

REALLY???

I day dream/worry A LOT especially at night after my children go to sleep and I have finished with the daily chores (ha! Who am I kidding when are the daily chores ever finished)!! I like to blame it on my self diagnosed ADHD. Anything my husband says after 9:00 p.m. I do not hear. I have gotten pretty good over the years in making him believe I am always listening but in reality I only hear about half of what he has said. This gets me in trouble from time to time. Since I never heard what he said he may as well have not said it. Later when I am questioned about what I think or if I remember what “we” talked about last night-I’m clueless. This brings me to the Lexus and the Play Station 3. Apparently, in my nodding and smiling and responding with uh huh, yeah, we’ll see, I’ll thinking about, I unknowingly agreed to consider purchasing these two items. Yes we are thinking of trading in my car for a “new to me” vehicle but a LEXUS. Please-new or used I don’t want to spend that kind of money right now. End of discussion. Now to the Play Station, REALLY?? As if there isn’t enough SEC, Nascar and UFC interrupting what little peace and quiet my house sees he wants to bring in a game console. This might would fly if the boys were old enough to participate and play with this but I just can’t wrap my head around this purchase--especially since the majority of my time is spent scrubbing, folding, sweeping, mopping, washing, NOT sitting, watching, playing, screaming at the television, asking “why aren’t the jeans I want to wear clean?”, “are you ever gonna finish with the dishes?” followed up with “why don’t you sit down and watch t.v. with me??”

Please, don’t get me wrong, my husband is wonderful to me, he is my best friend and is the BEST father/daddy to our boys and I am blessed to have such an amazing man in my life BUT COME ON NOW!!

MOMMY NEEDS A PLAY DATE

FEELING NOSTALGIC

This morning I bundled up in my husband’s northface (after leaving the house I notice it is covered in snot and what appears to be bananas) run back inside for a cup of water to “defrost” my frozen windshield and make the commute to take Coop to granny’s. As I am scanning the radio and hear the announcer say that today is March whatever we are expected to have sunshine I remember a time when my weeks were spent living for the weekends. Not that I do not live for the weekends now but the weekends are much different. Weekends once consisted of waking up early to finish laundry so I could be sitting in my plastic lawn chair in the creek or river by 9:30 a.m. where I would sit with my besties for hours upon hours talking about everything and absolutely nothing. Some of my best memories are sitting in those chairs in early march freezing my butt off “working on my tan.” The conversation was unstoppable, we all spoke at the same time b/c we couldn’t wait for the other one to shut up before we chimed in, yet we all seemed to know exactly verbatim what the other had said. We wouldn’t budge from these chairs until we were burnt to a crisp and famished some 6 or so hours later. Many a plans for the future were made, we fussed about our men (now our husbands) either b/c they didn’t want to join us or b/c they wouldn’t leave (just depended on the day and the direction of the conversation) and swore we would spend every spring/summer right where we were with kids in tow no matter what. WELL, as we’ve gotten older and gotten married and had babies I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw my plastic lawn chair much less loaded it up for a day out. I find myself longing for the smell of tanning oil and making a run for Chinese food with crispy wet hair, reeking of sweat and tanning oil with beach towels wrapped around our wastes.

Our conversations now are often (who am I kidding) always interrupted by screaming children and are so few and far between that we can’t remember what we’ve caught one another up on. This makes me sad and DETERMINED. Determined to keep the promises we made. We will be back in our plastic lawn chairs at the creek/river/next to the plastic yard pool/WHATEVER this spring/summer kids in tow NO MATTER WHAT!! No matter how many times we find ourselves jumping up to pull apart the children fighting, how many snack breaks they need, how many times we have to wipe away their tears or how ill they get from lack of naps I WILL be digging out my lawn chair and tanning oil and praying it fits in the trunk along with the double stroller, floaties, extra box of diapers, changes of clothes and box of toys because MOMMY NEEDS PLAY DATES TOO!!