Thankful for Kyler

So, I haven't been too good at keeping up with the thankful posts for the month. Something about having 3 kids, a dog, a husband, and a house to run...

Speaking of kids, I thought I'd post about how thankful I am for our three beautiful children that God, in His infinite wisdom, decided to bless us with.

Kyler is our only boy. I never thought in a million years that I would only have one boy! I was all psyched up to have a house full of boys when we got married. He is 5 years old going on 15! He is so smart and creative (he knew how to work the DVD player at 9 months old!). He tests my limits with the way he thinks. He can always find a loophole and a way out of something I have told him to do. He can sit down with a box of K'nex and spend a good hour or two just figuring out different things to create and making up a story to go with each creation. He loves his family and friends so much. He is sensitive but loves to wrestle with daddy. He remembers things I never thought he would (which is great becuase he remembers who his great-grandma was) and forgets things when it's convenient (male thing). :) I love him with all my heart and he will always be special to me. After all, he did make me a mommy!

Wow, has it really been that long??

So sorry to the three people who actually read this blog! I haven't posted since the summer for good reason. Well, partly b/c I was lazy, but mostly b/c life just gets in the way sometimes. I need an outlet again for my feelings and a place to vent and share life, so I'm back up and running. Let's see...what has happened since I last posted.
Oh, yeah.
I HAD A BABY!!!



Juliana Isaias was born on Oct. 11 @ 4:54 am. She was 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 20 1/2 in. It was a quick labor and I had her all natural (and almost without the doctor...again). She is now 5 1/2 weeks old and beautiful. She is more of a snuggler than Aaliyah was, but not near as much as Kyler was. Her brother and sister love her so much that they can't seem to keep their hands off her, which bugs me to high heaven! There isn't much jealousy at all and I am thankful for that. We were worried that Aaliyah would have serious problems if we had another girl, but she has adjusted great. We are slowly getting back into a routine around here and I hope to have Juliana on a semi-predictable schedule soon.
What else is going on, you may ask? Well, in August we moved into a nice little house not far from where we were living before. It's smaller, but works great for us. I'm already looking around for projects to do in the spring. :)
We have also started dabbling in photography...and by "we" I mean my husband. I'm learning a little bit from what he's telling me from classes, websites, books, and discussions with other photographers. We will just have to see where it goes, but so far it's looking promising.
I'm on maternity leave from Walmart and looking to get back in the classroom in the fall, God willing. If His plan is to keep me at home, I'm up for that, too (as long as I can start singing again somewhere).
That's all I can think of for now. I have a Thanksgiving-type post mulling around in my head so maybe I'll get that down before next year! ;)

Have a wonderfully blessed fall day!

My weekend in TX

I just got back from a quick weekend in Dallas to see my grandpa. This was my last chance to fly before I needed a doctor's note and getting away with three kids will be nearly impossible. I wrote down some thoughts about the weekend, but I will have to post that later. It was hard to process and I'm sure the flight attendant and other passengers near me thought I was crazy when I started crying halfway through the flight. Of course, I could always just claim pregnancy hormones! :) I'll post later about the visit...until then...

Last weekend

Despite the feelings vented in my last post (I said I would be open and honest), my husband really is a great guy. I was reminded of that last weekend on our anniversary. 6 years of marriage and we finally got to celebrate our anniversary with something other than a dinner out! I was so excited. A weekend without our kids is what I wanted, but I got sooooooo much more!

My mom came and got the kiddos on her way home from work on Friday then I was free! Hubby wasn't able to come and get me so I drove to downtown Nashville to meet him at our hotel for the weekend. The Hutton Hotel was awesome! It's this cute little boutique hotel that used to be an office building. We were on the 11th floor facing downtown.

This was our view


This is the office building he used to work in.


When I walked into the room he had just one of many surprises for the weekend. A brand new Nikon D40 camera!! I was beyond shocked and excited!!!!!!!!! I have just begun to scratch the surface of what all this camera can do. Let's just say that we won't need another camera for many, many, many years.
After getting a little freshened up (it was REALLY hot that day) we decided to go downtown and have some dinner. The storm that came through canceled our plans to go dancing in the park so I chose The Melting Pot for dinner. I have always wanted to go there and now was our chance. It was great and so was the walk to the Riverfront afterward. He did have to remind me to stop talking about the kids, but that was the last time for the whole weekend. :)
Saturday we went to Green Hills mall for some shopping...after all, I needed a dress for the symphony that night! We found a great dress at Macy's that we got an excellent deal on and I'll be able to wear it post-baby, too! I was able to get a pedicure since we got such a great deal on the dress and spend the whole day just being with my husband as his wife. I will never underestimate the power of having some time without the kids ever again! That evening we got dressed up and made our way to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center to see the Nashville Symphony play Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.





Sunday was just a lazy day. We got up and around kind of late, ate breakfast, and checked out of the hotel. The plan was to go to Arrington Vineyards for a picnic and some jazz, but it was just too hot! We went to a movie instead.

It was a relaxing, wonderful weekend of just being with my husband. I think we realized how important it is for us to have regular dates. We need that for us and the kids need to know that they are not our first priority all the time. Our marriage came first. I think we also realized that raising kids is extremely stressful. Without them, there was no screaming, no fighting, no cross words to each other. If we disagreed about anything (and I don't think we did) we just talked about it and stayed calm. That's the kind of marriage I want all the time!

To my husband:
I love you with all my heart and thank you so much for the wonderful, thoughtful things you did for us this weekend. There is no one else in this world that I would want to be married to or have children with. You really are the love of my life.

Pardon me while I vent

Before I start, let me say that I love my family. There are days that I just sit back and marvel at what God has blessed me with.
Then there are days that I just want to go back to college and start all over. I go through these phases where I just get so frustrated with being a mom and wife. Why are we expected to do EVERYTHING for EVERYONE in the house? It came about again yesterday after picking up the same mess for the 10th time this week (literally, I counted). When I left for work last night at 5:00 the living room and dining room were fairly picked up. Yes, there was still stuff around and in the floor, but nothing that wouldn't take 5 seconds to pick up and put in it's place...then I came home...at 11:30 pm. I DO NOT understand how my husband, who hates a messy house, can go to bed with it looking like that! There were crayons on the stairs, papers all over the living room, dinner dishes piled up in the sink (at least they were in the sink), my new camera in the floor, my hairbrush on the floor, and various other things scattered around. I picked it all up and tried to go to bed. I couldn't because my mind was racing with everything that has to be done in the next week and a half. (You see, we are moving...again...twice in a year. I won't go into details, but let's just say that we've been here before and I don't like it. It makes it extremely hard to get motivated to start packing up stuff now when I'm picking up two children's and an ADULT'S mess every day.)
Fast forward to today. Here I am looking around at the mess...again. So I send my kids out to play in the backyard. My son decides to make a mud pie and use his little shovel (smart, stay as clean as possible) and my daughter decides to use her hands. She is covered in mud and now they are complaining that they are hot and want to come in...muddy. I look outside and see my daughter's skirt from yesterday wet and covered in mud laying on the deck. Left there by daddy after their trip to the lake last night. AAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Is it really too much to ask that the other adult who lives here and helps raise his children clean up just a little??? Really??? I can only take so much of this before I lose my mind.

Did I mention that we have another baby coming in 3 months???!!!! Like I need more messes to clean up and be responsible for!

Coffee

What is it about coffee that draws me in? I started my coffee habit after my daughter was born (just like mom said I would!). It started as a way to calm the extreme anger I had in the mornings and throughout the day. It helped my depression on those dark winter days and perked me up when I just wanted to crawl back in bed. Well...after I found out I was pregnant a third time, I continued to drink my one cup a day that you are "allowed." However, I realized after a process of elimination that the coffee was making my morning/afternoon/evening sickness ever worse. So, I stopped. This was the first of March. Just last week I had another cup on a day when I was so tired and worn out I didn't think I could stay awake to drive to church, much less teach VBS and then drive home! WOW!! I'd forgotten how much better I felt with that wonderful goodness in my system! :) My husband had been frustrated with my attitude in the mornings, but I haven't received any complaints in the last week since I started drinking coffee again.
Here's my question:
What is it about the coffee that makes me feel this way? It can't be the caffeine, b/c I was drinking a soda in it's place and that didn't do it for me. Is there something else in coffee that picks me up and puts me in a better mood?
How do you feel about coffee?

Sad day

Not in my life, but in the world of entertainment.

Ed McMahon died today. :( My memories are from the Publisher's Clearing House commercials and Star Search. Most people have great memories of him on Johnny Carson, but, alas, I am too young to have those memories (it was on too late for me).

Jon and Kate have announced they are splitting up. Now I don't know if they are just separating or filing for divorce; the media is using those terms interchangeably (they are not the same thing in my mind). I don't watch this show on a regular basis b/c we don't have cable, but I have seen a few episodes. I'm sad because it looks, from this side, that they have let pride and hurt hinder them from reconciling. In my opinion, as soon as they realized that things were getting off track, they should have cut back on filming (can't stop completely b/c they are under contract and the show is their income) and began to seek help whether from their church or a counselor. Marriages have survived much worse and been healed thanks to God's grace and forgiveness. Only they know what truly happened, but I do hope that they return to God's feet and put Him back at the center of their family. I always hurt for a couple when they decide that divorce is better than staying married. I have not been married for long (compared to some) but we have already been through some very stressful events and come through closer because of it. I hate to see people give up before trying to heal the relationship. My prayers are with this family and their children who, no doubt, know exactly what it going on by this point.