Peace

And the peace of slumbering babes makes everything alright...

 

 

Decisions, Decisions...

I made bean soup and cornbread tonight for supper. It smelled so good. I'm not a big bean fan so I didn't eat any, but John said it was delicious. ANYWAY...Yvette decided that she wanted to try some too.

Rethinking her request....

"Dad seems to like it"

"I wonder what it feels like....."

"Nah....I'll just pose with my soup and pretend I ate it..."

THE END

3 MInutes Alone...

This is what happens when an overgrown 7 month old in a walker is left alone for 3 minutes. 3 minutes!!! All I did was took a couple of the crib pieces upstairs. I pushed Wyatt into the livingroom because I didn't think he could move very well on the plush carpet. I was wrong. This is what I found when I came down......I heard him laughing before I saw him.....he was having quite the time....

 

HI MOM!!!

Things I've Been Working On...

I took a knitting class last March before Wyatt was born. I LOVED IT! You can't get the needles out of my hands! Here are a few things I've been working on the past couple of weeks:

 

Yvette loved this hat!...though it actually fits me much better. It wasn't meant to be a slouchy hat, but it looks kinda cute as one, don't you think?

"Yvette, look at me and SMILE!"

She thought it needed some embellishment....

.....more to come.....

I LOVE MY LIFE!!!!

I'll take 3 more please....

(just kidding, not yet)

;-)

Happy Birthday Hayden

And the story goes something like this.....:

Hayden: "Cool boots!"

Yvette: "Sweet!...another pair of shoes!"

Hayden: "Great movie!"

Yvette: "Lemee hold that for you.."

Hayden: "Hey!....I've never played this game before...."

Yvette: "I'll take that!"

Hayden: "WHOA!!!....a race track!"

Hayden: ("There's no way in hell I'm letting her touch this!......")

 

No Comment...

I Remember Today....

I remember today 4 years ago Hayden was baptized.

I remember today 3 years ago we lost our John Stephen.

Our Life: Prayers Needed...

From The Mouth Of Babes...

Pointing at the door Hayden says, "Mom, look who's here!"
"Nobody is here, Hayden."
"Ohhh!...Hi, Nobody....come on it!" He says as he gestures for "nobody" to follow him.

(hmmm)........................................

Sitting around the dinner table Hayden breaks a moment of silence with a little gas.
"Dad....my butt is talking," he says so innocently and with great excitement.
Trying not to burst into laughter John says, "What did it say?"
"mmm.....I'm not really sure," as he continues to eat his supper (in deep thought).
....................................................

"Mom, what in the world do you think you are doing?" Hayden says to me as I am rearranging some furniture.

...................................................

He has definitely been my comic relief lately. ;-)

Time Flies...

April 2009

October 2009

p.s. a lot happens in 6 months!

"Assy Wa-Wan"

All she wants is "Assy Wa-Wan". It took me a while to figure it out. She's been talking about it in her sleep, crying for it when she wakes up, carrying the box around all day like it was her best friend. And currently she is sleeping with the movie box. Is there some subliminal message in this movie? She's never been like that before. Hmmm.....

Going on 12 days...

This has been our life for 12 days. Just when I thought the kids were on the mend, they decide to spike fevers (again) last night and this morning. Second round of Tylenol and Motrin here we come. Hayden has become very good at taking everyone's temp...even Wyatt's. Praying for some consistent recovery.....

Meet My Wyatt

Doesn't he just make you melt?!

Wyatt Leonard

born: April 21, 2009

Of Her Own Initiative...

I am a firm believer in NOT pushing potty training. Encourage but not push. Almost everyday since Wyatt was born I'd ask Yvette, "Do you want to sit on the potty?" I'd get a very decisive "No." Okay. Subject closed (for now). Then she turned 2. My mother, being the smarty that she is, found a life like dolly that came with a potty chair and gave it to Yvette for her birthday. Genius! For a few days Yvette was all about dolly going potty on the mini potty chair. Great. Then a few days after that Yvette would pretend to sit on the mini dolly potty and do her business in her diaper. Then the wonderous day arrived a couple weeks ago when she came up to me, pushed down her pants, started ripping off her diaper, and said, "Mom....I go potty-a-toewet." Done. We pulled out the little potty seat and she sat there. She sat there for a while. Then I hear, "Mom....I need a book."
Enough said.

Helping Dad

Preparing for winter is an ongoing project. John spent the afternoon foam insulating the pump house in an attempt to reduce energy use. He's such a smart guy. ;-)

My Husband the Hero...part 3

Ready for another one?....

Today was John's first day back at work after our bout with the flu. He is scheduled to work days today and tomorrow. Well, over the past 24 hours we have been hit with yet another winter storm which has gifted us about 14 inches PLUS nasty wind chills. Before going to bed last night John bundled up and ventured out to shovel out his car and make a path wide enough to get his car out to the road. You see, our driveway is probably at least 100 feet long and when John works days he has to leave the house by 5:00am. Our plow guy doesn't usually get here until at least 7am sometimes later. We went to bed last night not knowing if he could even get out or down the 3 mile bare naked stretch of highway that goes into town. The roads were closed all day yesterday because of the storm.

This morning he woke up extra early to make sure he could get out on time. He bundled himself up again, brought in two loads of wood for us, and proceeded to reshovel around his car because the wind blew some of the snow back. Well....his car wouldn't start. And wouldn't you know, it was parked directly in front of the side of the garage where my van is parked. Did that stop him? NOPE!!!! Not even at 4:30 in the morning! He managed to manuevor the van around his car, through some snow bank, and down the driveway to work. He was only 15 minutes late. Talk about doing what needed to be done!!!!!

That is not all.....

This afternoon I had a little bit of a scare. I woke from a short nap with a very intense feeling of dizziness that would NOT go away. It continued for almost an hour before I called John. He told me to call the clinic, check WebMD, and call him back. The degree of dizziness was starting to scare me because I had NEVER experienced anything like that with any of my pregnancies. So I knew it was NOT normal for ME...and so did John. And I also KNEW I wasn't dehydrated either because I made it a point to drink as much as possible after having the flu a couple days ago. The nurse told me to rest, don't lift anything, and eat some protein (I may be short on protein since recovering from the flu). If the dizziness continue after 45 minutes then I should go in to get checked. I called John and he had already clocked out and was on his way home (3 hours early). Thank goodness for my friend Kristin too because she came over to take my blood pressure and sat with me until John got home. Once John was here, everything was fine. The dizziness didn't quite go away, but it definitely got better. He spent the rest of the evening insisting on me remaining on the couch and off my feet. He wouldn't let me do hardly anything even though as the night went on I felt better and better.

A gem. I married a diamond in the rough.......

My Husband the Hero...part 2

We have been plagued with our first ever family-shared flu. Yup. YUCKEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It began Saturday night when Hayden just started vomitting every hour starting at 8:00pm and commencing around 3:30am. Not fun. The poor kid was miserable, but he was a champ. He had never experienced the flu before so I am certain it probably scared him. But he was brave and strong and made it through. John was scheduled to work the weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday nights) and got home Sunday morning around 6:30am and went right to sleep. He came racing downstairs and into the bathroom at about 11:30am. He called in sick shortly after.

All throughout Sunday I nursed Hayden and John back to health with lots of love, lots of ice chips and Powerade, and insisted on continued rest.

The kids went to bed by 7:30pm and by 8:00pm I was sitting on the recliner in tears. I KNEW it was coming. I could feel the build up. And I dreaded it because, well...#1 it's the flu! and #2 I was absolutely exhausted at that point. So was Hayden. And John was recovering from his 8 hours of sickness PLUS working an overnight the night before. 10:30pm rolled around and I found myself hugging the toilet bowl as only 9mos pregnant women can do with the flu. Miserable. Just miserable. I proceeded to empty my stomach every 45 minutes until about 6:00am. Now understand that throughout the entire night, John was sleeping with Hayden just in case Hayden got sick again. But about 3 times during the night I called out to John for help. I needed him to hold me to calm me down because my body was literally convulsing from the heaves. That was scary and almost awarded me a trip to the ER. And being the absolutely selfless loving husband that he was, he submitted to every request....going above and beyond what I needed in the moment.

I woke up this morning (Monday) at about 8:00am feeling better but terribly sore. My whole body ached! And I was exhausted! I had my cup of ice, said my "good mornings", and John sent me right back to bed. What a guy. I slept until 1:00pm. And though I don't feel quite up to par yet, I definitely am seeing an end in sight.

My husband. THE BEST MAN!!!!!

Told you my last post wouldn't be the end of me singing his praises..... ;-)

Coffee Dilemma

I love my coffee. I NEED my coffee. The only time I don't drink my coffee in the morning is if I'm sick or I've got the nastiest pregnancy heartburn in the world. My routine is: up by 6:30am or 7:00am (at the latest) and by 9:00am I usually have my usual 2 cups of coffee. Sometimes, if I really really need it to stay sane, I'll have a third cup before noon.

My dilemma is this:
I never liked coffee before. Not coffee that tasted like coffee anyway. I usually splurged on Starbucks every once in a while, but that was it. Never liked the taste. But over the past couple years....well, actually since Steve died, I've taken to not only liking coffee, but needing it. Now, having established my "history of drinking", I have recently been plagued with thoughts of having to quit. Why? I'm afraid it may affect the baby's sleep patterns, diet, etc because I plan on exclusively breastfeeding him. I never had this issue with either Hayden or Yvette.

I don't want to quit. But I will if necessary. My logic is this: I've been drinking it throughout this whole pregnancy. Why stop now? Would he go through "withdrawal" with me? If that is the case then it would be best to NOT quit, right?

Twisted logic, but needing some advice......

(sigh)

Dreaming Of Him

Last night I didn't sleep well because the kids kept waking up. They have both been sick with nasty little colds for the past 2 days. But the strange thing is that even though I woke up several times throughout the night, when I slept I still returned to dreaming of Stephen. I dreamed of memories. I dreamed that he was still here and visiting us in our new house. I dreamed about going through pictures of him with my dad and starting to cry, "I miss him so much," I'd say. And my dad would cry too and say, "I know...me too."

Simple Pleasures

I have been without an oven since just before New Years. Yes...that would be almost 2 months without an oven. What have I been doing?, you ask. Well, I've exhausted every crockpot recipe TWICE. To the point that John told me "NO MORE CROCKPOT." Thank goodness I had some already made meals in the freezer that only needed to be heated up. We've done fried foods, sandwiches, wraps, salads, "brenners" (breakfast for dinner), etc. But now...NOW I have an oven. John figured out what was wrong with it and fixed it!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!

My first meal in the oven was baked fish. Homemade baked fish. Understand that in the past I never successfully made fish in the oven, on the stove, on the grill, or otherwise. But tonight...on Ash Wednesday, I succeeded. And what a success!!!! It was delicious. It was in the oven. And it was a wonderful wonderful feeling to really cook again.

Oh, how I missed my oven. Lent is supposed to be a time of sacrifice and fasting. I'm going to have a hard time NOT baking up a storm...NOT feasting on wonderous foods that we've been without. Perhaps the sacrifice can be in extending the deliciousness to others....generosity. Yes....generosity.