10 Days and Counting down...

Today is day 10 on our countdown, and boy, am I ever feeling the time crunch!  Kiera's birthday is this weekend, along with the Kiddie Parade.  We are trying to make a co-birthday happen with Isabel's birthday on Sunday (Izzy's is Tuesday).  I need to schedule a day for my painting helps to come and climb the ladder for me in the boys' room.  I'd really like to fit in a pedicure (a VERY rare treat, my third ever!), plus my massage and ob appt's next week, then Apple Blossom festivities... and the norms- CoOp, karate, Awana, schooling.... OI!  At least I don't have to work next week; that will really help!

And I haven't shared this here yet, but we are attempting to bring a new option to C-section moms here at CWH.  If everything goes smoothly (healthy mom- healthy baby) we will be the first "gentle" cesarean!  This would change the practice of taking the baby away to the warming table for the Apgar tests and cleaning process to placing baby on mom's chest and making available this option for a more "natural" experience (if so desired).  But for this to happen, Dr P had to get the right head nursery nurse and anesthesiologist to be on board... and that means baby boy may NOT come early!  So your prayers for a "planned" birth would be appreciated.  And that planned birth is Monday May 7th, 7:30am.

Whew- one day at a time, right?  One day at a time!

Please Pray

Please pray for the Clarks, Harrises, and everyone who knew Katie Clark.  I am just reeling this morning with the news that a sweet sweet friend from Costco has died.  It just seems so surreal...  But I'm so glad I know that she knows Jesus.

Big Resolutions, and a funny quote

Our (my, but I can't do it alone) main resolution is to simplify our lives by decluttering.  I know I've said that before... but we are both unorganized and scatterbrained, so I feel like if I could choose one area of our lives that would effect all the others, this would be it.  We would save money and time and energy by not having so much stuff!  And being able to find the important stuff we have!  I'm hoping to fit in a date night soon so we can really make some goals and hard plans... cause baby is only 18 weeks away! 

***************************************************
Yesterday the toothpaste moved from the kids' bathroom to a kitchen cupboard (thanks to a post by Tammy a while back) because I caught Melia with a mouthful of it... just because she liked it.  (Another reason they really shouldn't make it taste so good...)  Thankfully, she hadn't swallowed any of it, but she really had a lot in there.  After reiterating to Gabe this particular event, he said "She needs a swat every time she forgets to think."  I thought that was awesome... Although if you have any suggestions about lack of "thinking" punishments/consequences, I'd love to hear them.  I was completely lost as to how to respond to this incident, since she knows not to swallow the toothpaste...  and while Gabe's thought was accurate, we totally recognize that sometimes swatting is not the answer.  (Emphasis on sometimes :-)

So Hard

It's so hard not to get depressed that Gabe had to cancel his suprise overnight plans for my birthday because the kids aren't well.

So so hard.

Sad

Missing church two weeks in a row makes my heart sad... :-(

Pepsi and peanuts with Jesus

Tears fell today as my heart began saying goodbye to my grandpa. My mind said goodbye months ago as he was diagnosed with Alzheimers and stopped recognizing us. But now to know he's whole again is a sigh of relief through the sadness.

Melia has such a tender heart. She ran to her bed and cried when we told her. Her grief breaks my own heart so much more.

Mrs. Choate

Melia: Dear Jesus, please help Mrs Choate to get better. Please just fix her blood and make her back to the way she was.


Please be praying for our dear Mrs. Choate- she's the girls' Sunday School teacher, and today she was flown to Harborview to be seen by a neurosurgeon due to "spilled blood" on her brain. Thank you.

A New Milestone

Melia definitely has a loose tooth! She's been saying she did for a while, but I couldn't really feel it until now :-) Now, to get that next set fixed on Wednesday. Last Wednesday she had the worst set of cavities fixed. It was a VERY large check to write, but the good thing is that she didn't have to have a mini-root canal. That saved us a bit. But I have to write another one this Wednesday... Ouch. It's one of those parenting mistakes that's really costing us, but at least it can be fixed.

(If you don't know what I mean, last spring when we took her in and thought she was on our insurance, we found out she wasn't, and got an estimate on what it was going to cost us then... well, now it was even worse because we tried to wait until she was on the insurance, plus trying to find a better deal. Ugh.)

Broken Tooth

Well, Linda B, I think you and Gabe now have a sympathetic experience. He broke his tooth eating a Subway sandwich! He filed it down so it's not so sharp, but pieces kept breaking off in the sink! And the filler stuff we bought at the local Walgreens wouldn't stick! Ouch! But he does say that it won't keep him from enjoying his coffee in the morning! Especially since we'll sure need the caffeine to keep our brains absorbent and soaking up all the lessons the Lord has for us this weekend! (Prayers for pain relief appreciated! :-)

Prayer Request

For those of you who read this, will you please pray for me? I am feeling very overwhelmed lately; from cleaning the house to yard work to making sure school gets done, I just feel like something has to give, and I'm not sure what it is. Gabe and I have discussed it, but we haven't found a conclusion or plan yet.

Thanks.

Yea! Gabe's Home!

He's been gone since early Sunday morning to Utah for some work training, but now he's back! He even brought me Larry's at work tonight when he got back to town :-)

If you think of it, pray for him. His co-workers are not supportive of this new computer system they've got, and because Gabe's one of the admins, he kinda gets the brunt of the grouchiness. (I just want to tell them to grow up and use their nice words, but...)

Now off for a very busy weekend hosting a campout w/ some out of town friends! I'm hoping life will slow down after this weekend!

Wow. She could have fooled me, if I didn't know better.

Melia and I had a little trouble over reading today. Tonight, when Gabe got home, I sat her down, wrote out the word, and asked her if she knew what it said. The word was JEEP. She said "VEHICLE." We were rolling with laughter... She shouts, "I got you!!!"

On that note, I feel like we've hit a road block. She knows almost all her sounds. We quizzed tonight and she knew all but 5 in the whole alphabet, and knew 3 of those 5's names, but not the sound. But when we put the sounds together into a word, it's almost like it overwhelms her. She can read several words by sight, but cannot sound them out. And she's SO easily distracted by anything... especially the pictures that often accompany the words. (She starts asking why that Horse is wearing a Hat and a Hula Hoop....Or why that Mouse does Magic...or when, what, etc) It's really hard not to get frustrated. Oh, and the YAWNS!!! They start up almost immediately when we sit down and she actually has to think about school work! (If its cutting or coloring or anything fun or creative- different story... but reading wears her out fast!)

Anyway, I just had to vent. I know this is all normal, but I just know she'll love reading SOOO much, and want that love I had for reading for her... It's hard not to push. And she gets a bit testy when we do things she already knows... Like copying/writing the letters... This schooling stuff is hard!!! But worth it, I know. Like parenting. I wouldn't miss it for anything, but some days I wish I could miss it :-)

Gettin' all worked up...

I don't want to put too much out here, as this is a public blog, but our vacation is coming up soon, and I am struggling between out-of-control nerves, and pure excitement! I am really nervous about Isaac's sleeping in a trailer, but I'm glad we are going to be gone long enough that he will have to learn how to do it... or we might be stark raving mad by the time we make it home. I am also nervous because I'm unsure of how much activity to plan for this age group (mainly the 4/6 age.) We'll be driving a lot, with a day here and there of no driving, and I'm not sure how they will handle it.

For those sweet friends of mine who've already undertaken road trips with their children, I would love some advice!
We do have the leapfrog and lap ColorWonder boards, and we're considering purchasing a Netbook to use for videos and pictures (we've been thinking about this for a while, so it's not a "whim" purchase ;-) We are planning on going to the Oregon Zoo, Voodoo Donuts, AC Gilbert's Discovery Village, Rogue Creamery, Scienceworks Hanson Museum, and the Oregon Coast Aquarium, give or take a few. Those are just one's I've picked out that the kids would be able to enjoy.

Following Karalee's advice: Our Needs/Wants List :-)

Karalee commented on my yard sale post and recommended that I post on here things we are looking for, so I am following that bit of advice. Here's a list of items we are looking for- if you know of somewhere we can find them used and cheap (!) please let us know! Thank you!

Needs:
Toddler carseat for Isaac (have one to use for now, but still looking for another cheap one)
Wagon, preferably plastic
(Taken!) Bicycle Helmets for Melia and Kiera
A neutral toned sectional sofa (would love if it had a hidabed!)

Update: Wow- that worked well :-) I think I'll post this link on the sidebar so if you ever have stuff to get rid of, you can check our needs list! Thanks!!

I think we're doing better...

This week was a hard one. Isaac was extra moody :-) and was taking lots of naps. Or lots of quiet time in his room. I was full to the brim of screaming cranky boy, so he spent some alone time in his crib :-)

I think he's better today. He actually was up for a while before going back down this morning.

On the positive note, I was able to hit Joann's sale and got enough fabric for a dress and three skirts for each little lady for $20! I'm gonna try to drag the kiddos back in today to see if any of their $.99 patterns inspire me. If not, I definitely need more elastic.

I need to feel like I've at least accomplished something this week! (You know, other than working two days, co-op one day, cleaning and laundry. It's just all so "normal" that it doesn't seem to count!)

Needing Suggestions

I need help. Or rather, we need help. We have yellow jackets, wasps, earwigs, and spiders in excess. I can deal with them on my tomatoes and raspberries, but I can't handle them on the kids' yard toys.

Does anyone know of anything "safe" we can use to repell insects off the toys?

I've used peppermint spray in the house before, but I don't know if it would effective where it would be washed off...

Toddler Emotions

Nothing tries my patience like tears. And Kiera has become the waterworks princess.

She turns starts to cry when I say no, she starts to cry when I say yes to sissy, she starts to cry when I get irritated that she's already crying, she starts to cry when she has to pick up something or put something away, she starts to cry when I want her to finish her meal, she starts to cry when I say no more tea/juice, only water. She starts to cry when it's time for bed, she starts to cry when she's tired by 10 am, she starts to cry because she's tired and all of the sudden misses Ezri. (Rose and Cocoa? Not a word.) She starts to cry when she has a wet pull-up or an accident, she starts to cry because she's driving sissy crazy and sissy wants to play by herself, she starts to cry when I say we're staying home today, she starts to cry when her friends aren't home... Get the idea?

Oh yeah, and those new rules I was talking about? Now, she starts to cry when a timer goes off. *sigh*
Patience, Lord. Please grant me lots and lots of patience.

(Then again, you know what they say about praying for patience.... ;-)

Life is So Unfair

Why does the east coast get *feet* of snow, with 10-20 more inches on the way, and we are stuck in the mud? We've had what, 2 inches total, maybe?

Oh yeah, but it's 84 and humid here... Yes. Life is so unfair. *grin* Why can't I just have one of these at my house?

But Isaac is teething terribly. He is certainly an interesting baby. 80% happy, but when he's not, he is basically inconsolable. The key to the peaceful life with him is being able to put him to bed... and shut the door. That does not work at a hotel.... We are struggling...

At this point, any drug suggestions would be helpful. We have teething tablets with us, and haven't tried the tylenol yet, but wondering if anyone has experience with something that is helpful with putting an 8 month old down to sleep. He is easily distracted by any noise or visual, so we have the playpen behind the halfwall in the room, but it's not working so good. Thankfully, we haven't gotten any noise complaints from the front desk, but I'm afraid we might.

Thoughts?
Oh, and Melia really really snores. Really.

Thoughts and Prayers

Please pray for Kiera. Gabe left me a message while I was at work tonight that Kiera had a fever. We are supposed to leave Monday morning to go to Great Wolf Lodge. I rubbed her feet down with Thieves and have RC diffusing in their room. I'm just hoping she pushes through the fever time quickly- I can deal with a cold, but a fever cancels it all. Boo.

Do you find it as intriguing as I do that my Survivor post garnered more comments that anything I've posted about recently. Is it that my ramblings are less interesting that the villianous characters on television? I can be more villianous. Really. I can. I think. Laugh all you want, but I surprised someone at work tonight with an onery comment. It was totally in jest, and she thought it was hilarious, but shocked that it came from me!

A quick update

For those of you who do and don't know what all is happening at our house...

Early Sunday morning, Isaac woke up fussy, and when he cried, he started coughing- croup style. Having never experienced this before, (it's a very scary thing when your baby's airway is restricted) I took him in to the ER. Thankfully Gabe was home and could stay with the girls. We actually were afraid it was some kind of allergic reaction, since he'd had a new kind of food that day.

They explained about croup, gave him a dose of medicine and sent us home. Since Gabe has trouble finding time to do his posts for our KI classes, he volunteered to stay home with Isaac so the girls could still go to church. In Sunday school, Melia told Grandma Nae that her tummy was hurting her like she needed to throw up. So we went back home. Kiera cried and cried. She wanted to sing. (she doesn't really sing, but apparently loves hearing everyone else?)

Melia was basically at about 85% all day. Sometimes her tummy would hurt a little bit, but never enough to slow her down. She did choose to eat toast instead of popcorn when we watched AFV. (For which we finally have a video- her greatest dream. Hopefully I'll get it on here soon.)

Isaac's symptoms have been almost totally more related to teething (he has another coming through) than a cold/virus. We've got a humidifier going and I've been rubbing him down with Lavendar, RC, and Thieves on his toes. No more coughing at all, and he slept all the way through last night with no problem.

Our new odd occurance? Kiera has a 5 inch welt that runs along the edge of her pullup from last night. NO idea. :-P

Oh, and Isaac didn't make top five. They had hundreds of votes! I think we were top 10 though :-) Still don't know what the prizes are!

Have a great Monday! I'm happy just to know I don't have to work until Thursday! :-)