Answered prayers

Yesterday my mom bought me and Morgan lunch, which was really nice. Today she fixed me breakfast while I was at her house. Jack's preschool is about 5 minutes from her house, but about 25 minutes from mine, so to keep from making the drive twice in one day, I hang out with her and my dad for the three hours he's in school twice a week. It's been really nice to spend some time with them. Today I asked her to be intentional about praying specifically that God would send me just an abundance of craft orders over the next few weeks to cover Christmas this year. (I would love it if you would do the same if you think of it). Not even an hour later a lady who ordered some felt Christmas tree sets from me a few weeks ago messaged me to order two more plus a felt Thanksgiving play set. She won't be picking them up and paying for a couple of weeks, but it was really neat to see such a quick answer. 

Speaking of God's blessings, yesterday I was kind of freaking out. I opened up my laptop to burn an image DVD for a photography client, and I got a message that my cooling fan was not working and my computer would be shutting down in 15 seconds to prevent loss of data or damage to the computer. Whaaaaat?? Guys, I NEED my laptop. Without it I can't do photography, blogging, a great deal of my crafting, etc, etc.You'd better believe I started praying! I started it back up, hoping to just keep it running long enough to burn the DVD since I was due to meet my client in about 30 minutes. No joy. After about 30 seconds it got scary hot, so I shut it back down. I decided to try to take the back off and see if there was some obvious obstruction to the fan, maybe dust buildup or something. But I couldn't figure out how to get the back off. I replaced all the tiny screws, popped back in the battery, flipped it over and opened it up, then said one more fervent prayer and turned it back on. The fan fired right up, and it's been running well since!

Tomorrow I've got a photo shoot for Kelly, who's 37 weeks pregnant and ready to pop. I don't think it will be a paid shoot, since it's family, but I've done all of her maternity pics, and I'm excited to be part of pregnancy #3 for her. The next day is my nephew's 3rd birthday party, and I'm doing his three year shoot that afternoon. It's going to be a busy weekend, but full of family, fun, and love!

Just an Update

I am so, so ridiculously tired, and I should be heading up to bed, which I plan to do in just a minute, but I wanted to take a kid free moment to post really quick.

Life is lovely, super busy always it seems. I want to apologize for being so awful about replying to comments. I truly do love getting each and every one of them, and I very much appreciate it each time one of you takes the time to leave me a word or two. My biggest issue is that I usually get them via email on my phone when I'm on the go and don't have the opportunity to reply right then, and by the time I have a chance to sit down, it's slipped my very scattered mind. But I do love you all!

Since I last posted, I managed (with Nick's help) to get all the class reunion CDs made and mailed out. Our church has a couple of CD burners that burn 10 CDs at once (well, one burns 9, because one drive doesn't work, but anyway), so I brought in my own CDs, and Nick burned them for me. My mom graciously filled out my address on all the CD envelopes while she was waiting at the hospital (baby!), and we took them to the post office Friday. And a happy surprise was that it cost me quite a bit less to mail them than I thought it would.

So about that baby...Faith did indeed go into the hospital Wednesday night. They started her on the Cervidil, which started her contractions pretty hard and fast pretty quickly. She labored hard for several hours, and finally decided to have an epidural. It had been her original intention to go without one, but she just wasn't getting any break at all from the pain, and the nurse told her there were hours and hours left to go. I left the hospital around 2:30 Thursday morning with plans to be back at 7:00 AM. 

I got back around 7:30, and had just enough time to sit down and eat my breakfast when Robert sent for me to come to the room because it was time to push! Faith did so great, and little Liam (on here anyway) popped out at 9:58 AM. He weighed 6lb 6.5oz, and was 20 inches long. He is so incredibly precious, and it was such an amazing honor and such a sweet experience to get to be there to see his arrival. I took almost 1000 pictures over the whole event, and I'm trying to wade through editing them between other responsibilities.

I got home just a little while ago, because I ended up taking Morgan to the ER tonight. She'd been complaining of abdominal pain for about a day and a half, but she was on her period, so I kind of thought it was maybe just cramps. But then it moved into her lower right abdomen, and I got concerned that maybe it was her appendix. Anyway, long story short, 5 hours at the ER and a $50 copay to be billed later, it turns out she was dealing with some internal blockage, although not anything serious. Basically she just needed to poop lol. So they did what they needed to to treat that, and now we're finally home, worn out but grateful it wasn't her appendix. Daisy actually had the exact same issue a couple of months ago and we ended up taking her to the ER as well with the same result, so I'm going to do some serious reevaluating of their fiber intake!

When I got home I had to make deviled eggs for Nick's Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and work on the Etsy order I have to mail out, also tomorrow (or today, I guess). And now I'm all done, and I'm headed to bed! Good night all!

Soon to arrive...

Well, it looks like Robert and Faith's sweet baby boy will likely be here on Wednesday. She's not due until the 28th, but she's dealing with some of the same things I did with Jack, like low blood flow to the placenta and a tiny little guy as a result. They think he's perfectly healthy, praise God, just small. They're estimating somewhere around 4 pounds right now, which is about what they thought Jack would be, although he turned out to be 3lb 11oz. And to tell you the truth, I can't wait to get that itty bitty baby in my arms! I really never thought I'd get my hands on another one that small, so it will be a treat to snuggle him up.

To give you an idea, this was Jack snuggled up in Morgan's American Girl sized bed when he was about 3 weeks old:

I did their maternity pictures on Monday, and I really think they turned out great! This Saturday I'll be doing Brandon and Melanie's, and I've had a couple of other people interested in shoots as well, so that's definitely something to be grateful for!

Catching up

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day! We didn't really do anything on the day of because Nick had to work (boo!), but on Saturday we joined a good friend of his for a family cookout/camp out by the river. The kids had a blast, and we all really enjoyed ourselves. 

Daisy rocked her new hot pink tankini from Aunt Kate, Morgan made a few new friends, and this guy ran and ran and ran and picked up and threw every ball he came across. We usually get his hair cut every couple of weeks but Nana (Nick's stepmom, who cuts our hair) was on vacation last week, so he missed a cut. I think I'm going to have her start leaving it a little longer on top, because this fuzzy baby head charmed people for miles around, his mama included!

My parents unexpectedly took the girls overnight tonight, so after Nick got off work we went and had dinner using a gift card he got as a tenure gift from work. Money is crazy tight right now, so this was a really neat blessing, and I loved the time with just my guys.

Nick's hands are still not healed, but I got that spanking tonight. It turns out that his left (dominant) hand is not nearly as bad, and his problem is more with his pinch grip than his ability to hold onto something (like a paddle) with his whole hand. Either way, he was plenty able to get his point across.

When he was ready for bed he asked me if I was ready for the spanking, and after minimal hemming and hawing I obeyed and followed him upstairs. He pulled out one of the paddles he made - this one:

He had me bend over the bed, and he gave me 51 over my jeans (because he seems to think "one to grow on" is not just for birthday spankings). He spanked hard, as always, but I managed to stay in place through the whole thing. Then as he was putting the paddle back in the chest he spotted a riding crop and gave me one quick hard lick with it, just because he "hadn't used it in a while."

Afterwards, he apologized for making me wait so long, and I apologized for making him need to do it at all, and we snuggled up till he fell asleep, which is where I'm headed now, because it's bedtime!

A minute to breathe

I feel like it's been forever since I've put up a real post. It's just been so busy here. But right now Jack (sweet, busy, unstoppable, into-everything-even-stuff-you-didn't-know-you-had Jack) is passed out asleep on the couch, Morgan is at school, Daisy is painting a picture in the kitchen, the ground beef for supper is thawing in the microwave, and there's a load of laundry in both the washer and the dryer. So I'm going to sit down for a minute with my big tumbler of sweet tea and blog for a -

***We interrupt this peaceful moment to bring you the following real life sequence of events: Daisy got done painting and wanted a bath urgently. At this point my mom called to chat. Approximately one minute into the conversation Daisy got too impatient to wait any longer for her bath, so she began frantically yelling from the kitchen and leaning on the baby gate, which immediately fell, and the resulting crash woke Jack. I got off the phone with my mom, got Daisy in the bath, and got a fresh bottle for Jack, who of course showed zero interest in going back to sleep at this point. He wanted nothing more in life than to sit on my lap and drink his milk. So I attempted to pick the computer back up, but he wasn't having it, and at this point I could see Morgan walking home from the bus stop, so I had to go unlock the front door for her. 

She came in and started rummaging for a snack. She brought me our sole carton of strawberry yogurt and asked if she could have it, which Daisy heard from the bathroom and began loudly demanding that she wanted it for herself. She's honestly not usually this rude and demanding, but I guess every three year old has a selfish day now and then. I asked Morgan if she would rather have a brownie instead of the yogurt, which she was happy to do. 

This is when Daisy decided she needed out of the tub, so Morgan went and got her out for me since I had Jack. When Daisy followed Morgan to the living room wrapped in a towel and saw Morgan with the last of the brownies she decided to try to rip them out of her sister's hands. I immediately stopped her and made her apologize.***

 That's been up to the last few minutes. Currently Jack has allowed Morgan to settle him down with his bottle and blanket on the other couch, Morgan is playing music on her iPad, and Daisy is climbing back and forth from the back of the chair to the stairs. 

Me? I'm just trying not to attract any of their attention. I know that this is one of the hardest seasons of parenting, and just knowing that makes it a little easier. But I'm pretty stressed and exhausted these days. Nick has started going on bike rides after work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Wednesday nights we have church, and of course all day on Sunday. Saturdays if he's off, he's busy doing things like working on cars or taking off the trash, or mowing the yard, all things I understand and appreciate. He's also studying for his ASE tests right now, which takes up the rest of his free time, and it's absolutely essential that he has this time to prepare.

The truth of it though is that I'm seriously needing some down time.

***Just got back from cleaning up the mostly full cup of strawberry yogurt, which Daisy left on the entertainment center and Jack dumped completely upside down on the floor, splattering the whole side of the couch in the process.***

Money has been very tight lately, but what I wouldn't give for $25 and a whole kid free day to spend thrift store hopping! Less expensively, but no less costly, I know I could use a good spanking, but it's not in me to ask right now, and Nick has enough to deal with as it is. 

***Pause to put Jack's diaper back on.***

I'm not managing my time or my stress very well, although I have been sticking with my bedtime pretty closely, at least as far as actually getting in bed.

***Pause to put Jack's diaper back on again. Try to locate the ringing cordless phone. Try to locate the no longer ringing cordless phone. Page the phone. Find it in my pocket. Call my mom back. Pass the phone to Morgan and try unsuccessfully to convince Jack and Daisy that the other couch would be much more comfortable than Mommy's lap. Change Jack's diaper. Watch helplessly as Daisy knocks my Macbook off the couch. Get up and go put Jack on the other couch. Daisy runs off to try to climb the baby gate in front of the stairs. Jack gets up to join her. ***

On another topic, did everyone have a nice Mother's Day? Mine was good. Nick took us out to lunch after church, and Morgan helped me cook the hamburgers that night for dinner. I made all the gifts this year. Excuse my crappy photo backdrops - I was just trying to grab a few quick shots before bedtime the night before:

Infinity scarves for Mom and Nick's stepmom.

 Burlap wreath with handmade flowers for Nick's stepmom.

 Burlap wreath with handmade flowers for Mom using the fabrics from her kitchen makeover.

 You are my sunshine canvas art for Kelly.

 Upcycled mason jar vases for Mom (the blue one) and Nick's stepmom (clear).

***Pause to put Jack's diaper on......again, this time a fresh one.***

Pillow covers (I made one for both) for Faith and Melanie who are both due end of November/beginning of December.

***Pause to run upstairs to retrieve Jack, who bypassed the baby gate by wriggling through the banister.***

I sent Kate this leather and suede banner (which can also be found in my shop).

***Pause to get Jack down from the surround sound box and reset the controls so that the TV works again. Run to the kitchen to retrieve the bottle he tossed through the window.***

Not pictured was Nick's grandmother's gift, which consisted of a set of 16 blank notecards similar to these:

Source

Except mine were bigger and a little more elaborate. I used hearts, flowers, and butterflies, and each one was unique with multiple shapes. I made her some for Christmas, and she asked me if she could buy some more from me (like I'm going to charge her). 

***Pause for Jack to climb up on my lap and shove his whole hand in my mouth.***

I also included a 3x5 magnet of Jack (free from Shutterfly) three singed satin poppy pins, and three 8x10 photo collages (free from Walgreens), one of my kids, one of Kelly's baby, and one of Kate's kids. I packaged everything but the 8x10s up in a handmade felt zipper pouch. 

We gave her stuff to her on Friday. We all had hair appointments with Nick's stepmom, and she always has the appointment right before us, so I knew we'd see her then. Speaking of hair appointments, I got mine cut short (which I always end up doing come spring), and we got Daisy's cut too. This was her first major haircut. It's just above her shoulders, and it's SO CUTE!.

In other news, I've got these in my shop now:

***Pause to answer the phone, which Daisy has just taken away from Jack. It was my mom calling to let me know that Jack had managed to turn the phone on and dial her.***

And it's now a solid three hours since I started this blog post, so I'm going to say goodbye and try to get dinner done before Nick gets home from his bike ride.

So it was a long day...

Today was a long day. It started out with Morgan missing the bus. This is far from the first time this has happened, but I can't blame it entirely on her. Apparently she asked me multiple times if I would drive her in, and in my fairly unconscious state I agreed. Of course I have no recollection at all of this. What I do recall is her waking me again at 7:42 asking if I was ready to take her. The bus leaves at about 7:45. I was still trying to fight my way out of sleep, and had no idea what she was talking about. And of course Jack (whom she had brought up a little while earlier) was sound asleep on my arm. Poor little guy has been feeling puny the last few days, and I had no intention of dragging him out for no good reason.

Anyway, I sent her out the door, but the bus was pulling away without her as she walked out. Honestly I didn't feel awake enough to safely drive her, and like I said, I didn't want to get Jack out, so I had her ask her best friend Lola's grandmother across the street (Lola lives with her) to take her in. That sounds really presumptuous when I write it, but she leaves about that time of morning anyway, and we help each other out frequently when one or the other of us needs help with the kids. Anyway, she was kind enough to help me out, which I made sure to call and thank her for later in the day.

Daisy spent the night with my parents last night (it was her first sleepover without her sister I think). She's still battling her virus, but I think my mom wanted to give me a break since Jack is not feeling well either. He's been dealing with digestive issues since he's recently switched over to whole milk (as opposed to formula), plus he's had a fever off and on and seems like he might have picked up what Daisy has.

Daisy has also been dealing with problems with her teeth. This is something that runs in my family. My dad told me that his dentist told him that he has calcium deposits in his teeth that make them weaker and more prone to cavities. I've had to have extensive work myself. 

When Morgan was five she had enough problems that they wanted to send her to the local children's hospital so she could be put to sleep and have all the work done at once. We were ready to do it, but the balance not covered by insurance was due up front. It was $1800, and they wouldn't take payments. Unfortunately we just didn't have it, so we had to pass on the procedures. We're paying for it now as she's had about 5 appointments for fillings so far this year.

Anyway, Daisy has multiple problem teeth (we brush, I swear!), and when we took her to the dentist she was too scared to even let him properly examine her. Even with that he could see several things that need to be addressed. The only real option is to go the children's hospital route again, so at that visit plans were made to submit the request to her insurance. They told me it would take about 30 days to hear back. At the time she wasn't having any pain, so we waited. And waited. And waited. And a couple of weeks ago she started occasionally complaining that something sweet would make her tooth hurt. Then this week it suddenly got much worse. To the point that she's having problems eating much of anything that isn't super soft and lukewarm.

I called the dentist's office yesterday. It's been a couple of months since that first visit, but it turns out that their initial request for pre-approval was inexplicably rejected. They resubmitted it (which is what took so long), and had coincidentally just gotten back an approval that day. It's the same situation this time around, only this time the balance due is $1200. Fortunately my parents are able to let us borrow the money, and the office is going to call the hospital in the morning to schedule a date. The worrisome part is that they told us the average wait time is two weeks to a month. Please be in prayer that they can get her in much sooner, because I can't imagine her having to suffer through this for very long.

My dad brought her home about 12:30 today, and she napped a lot of the afternoon. Then about 3:40 I got a call. It was Morgan (who should have been on the bus by this time). She was calling to tell me the strap on her sandal had broken and asking if I would come pick her up since she had missed the bus (because she didn't want to ride it with a broken shoe and went to call me instead of getting on the bus like she should have). Okay, this really pissed me off, because, good grief, why would she think me coming to get her would be any better than just riding the freaking bus home?! Anyway, I had to load both sick littles up and drive to school to get her. 

We've dealt with the bus issue multiple times. She hates riding the bus because she doesn't like some of the kids on there. And we've checked and double checked that it's not a situation where anyone is hurting her or threatening her. That we would definitely be on top of. It's really just random kids being obnoxious (and not just to her), and like it or not, there are jerks everywhere, and she just has to learn to deal with them. Profanity and typical junior high boys humor bothers her, but she's going to face that one way or another. Nick and I have talked about it, and we both feel that just so long as it's not directed at her or manifesting itself in bullying, it's best for her to learn to handle herself, knowing that if she faces anything that needs adult attention she can most certainly come to us for support. 

I opted not to go to church tonight with two sick babies, and instead spent the time trying to unbury my kitchen table from underneath my crafting supplies, but it was a swim upstream between Jack and Daisy. Nick goes straight to church from work on Wednesdays, and today was Faith's birthday, which meant cake and ice cream after the service. All of this put him coming home around 9:00, and man was I glad to see him!

Anyway, at then end of the day, I'm awfully glad I got to be here for my kiddos (even the one that can't seem to catch a bus!), and I'm happy to haven gotten to put a hot meal in front of my amazing, hardworking husband. And now I'm happy everyone is asleep. :)

100 Random Facts

I've done a post like a couple of times before, but I had fun with it, so I thought I'd do it again, and see if I can come up with 100 all new ones. I'm not all that interesting myself, so they won't all be about me. :)

1. Jack is addicted to Yo Gabba Gabba.

2. I can't decide if I really like the show or am totally creeped out by it.

3. I think 2 of the characters look like sex toys.

4. And that DJ Lance Rock guy looks like a French tickler.

5. My Macbook came about a week and a half ago and I loooove it.
6. My mom and dad watched Jack and Daisy for me Thursday while Morgan was at school.
7. Because of this, I was able to finish cleaning Jack and Daisy's room.
8. This was a huge relief for me, because if I hadn't finished it by today I was going to get a serious spanking.
9. I love to read, but I hadn't been to the library since 2001.
10. We went and took the kids for their first time yesterday.
11. Nick found out why I hadn't been in so long when he had to pay my outstanding late fees (from 12 years ago!)
12. He was less than happy about it.
13. He's planning to spank me for it, but we've not had kid free time to deal with it as of yet.
14. In the meme I did like this last April I mentioned a house we'd love to be able to someday buy. The owner's son called Nick yesterday and told him it looks like his mom has decided to put it on the market.
15. There are a number of obstacles standing in the way of us buying it.
16. First we would have to sell our house.
17. The house we want is also worth more than ours, so our house payment would increase.
18. Despite all this, I know that if this is the house God has for us, He will make a way.
19. We would really appreciate your prayers that His will be done in this situation, and that we are faithful in praising Him even if His plan doesn't include this house for us.
20. When I got the Macbook from Kate, there were a bunch of pictures on there they didn't realize were still on there, and when I installed Picasa, it pulled them all up.
21. None of them were questionable, but they did include some scans of paperwork from when they bought their house, including the details of Will's monthly income.
22. The figures left me a little lightheaded.
23. I don't feel so bad about the amount of money they spend on us for Christmas anymore!
24. My best friend Ann, who was diagnosed with Friedreich's Ataxia 6 years ago, had to quit her job and apply for disability benefits a little over a week ago. Her doctor also ordered her a wheelchair as her cane is no longer sufficient.
25. I'm heartbroken that it's already reached this point for her, but grateful that she has a supportive husband and will be able to spend this time home with her kids.
26. I'm also, selfishly, glad that she will have time free for us to visit each other.
27. She lives about an hour away, and I've only seen her a couple of times since Jack was born, so I'm really excited that she plans on coming to visit me this week. (Before anyone thinks I'm too awful, I offered to go to her house, but she wanted to come here).
28. I'm planning on taking Jack and Daisy up to church camp with Nick and Morgan this summer and staying all week.
29. When Ann called me a couple of weeks ago to tell me she was quitting her job, I shared this plan with her.
30. She told me she was possibly planning to come and stay with me all week.
31. I might have screamed like a preteen girl at a One Direction concert at this news.
32. I get excited every time I think about it, and it's going to take some serious getting over for me if it doesn't happen.
33. Ann and I practically lived at each other's houses in our late teens, and we were each other's maid/matron of honor.
34. I've had a number of close girlfriends over the years, but none like her.
35. Daisy has pretty much mastered potty training now.
36. As she turned 3 five months ago, it seemed like we were never going to get there.
37. The one (very important) thing she still needs to conquer is using a regular toilet.
38. Right now she's convinced she'll fall in, even with a child size seat attached, so we're kind of dependent on the "small potty" right now.
39. Jack slept in his own bed all night last night!
40. Unfortunately he took a long Sunday afternoon (into evening) nap with me, so there was no putting him down at his regular bedtime tonight.
41. Daisy was super excited to go to the "lye-berry", especially when she saw that they had a giant stuffed bear in the children's section and two Llama Llama books she'd never seen.
42. Jack was more interested in exploring.

43. At 14 months, he weighs 18 pounds and is officially too tall for 6 month sleepers.
44. I just got him these shoes for Easter at Target, and the cuteness is killing me!

45. Daisy has this toy monkey she named "Mr. Bananners", and I challenge anyone to hear her say his name without smiling.
46. I have a craft show coming up in less than two weeks.
47. I'm hoping that my in-laws will take the two littles for the day again so I can work on adding to my inventory.
48. I've been making lots of wire wrapped glass pearl rings and ribbon hair bows, as well as rings, headbands, brooches, necklaces, and bracelets using leather pieces.
49. If we were to get that house, I would have an actual craft room.
50. I don't let myself think about that too much, because I don't want to get too attached to the idea in case it never happens.
51. I worry a little about how we would transport our giant chest full of paddles, straps, canes, etc. if we move. Last time we moved was 12 years ago, and our collection was considerably smaller.
52. We have a Pack N Play we used with Daisy that we put on Craigslist the other day. It's been packed away in our garage for about a year. It was clean when I put it away, so when a lady wanted to buy it, I encouraged her to open it up and inspect it.
53. I was horrified and embarrassed to find that there had apparently been something spilled on the garage floor that had soaked through the storage bag and badly stained the webbing on the sides.
54. The lady (understandably) passed on it.
55. I'm going to try to clean off whatever is on it with bleach, but that's the last time I assume anything has stayed clean while in storage!
56. A few days ago when I was cleaning Jack and Daisy's room I came across an audio book I got in the free bin at my favorite used bookstore. I nearly tossed it because I've had it for years and I'm never in the car long enough at one time to make listening to it enjoyable.
57. Nick happened to pick it up and pop the first CD in one morning on his way to work.
58. He'd never tried audio books before, but now he's on his 3rd one, and he just checked 4 more out at the library.
59. He said it's made his commute (about 45 minutes there and about an hour back) much better.
60. When my Macbook came the other day, the box also included not only Jack's car seat, but also Daisy's birthday present, which included 3 outfits, a headband, and a swimsuit (her birthday's not till October, but Kate said she already had it, so she just sent it), a toy truck for Jack, and a couple of life jackets that had been at their lake house before they sold it.
61. I'm really grateful they shipped all of that to us, because the box probably weighed 60 pounds.
62. I was super excited to find out that I can check out books from the library using my Kindle.
63. Morgan is currently grounded for her grades.
64. She's really smart, but she's pretty lazy about school.
65. She gets that from her dad. ;)
66. To be fair, she gets her tendency toward a messy room from me.
67. Her dad grew up to be one of the hardest working people I know, so I'm holding out hope for her.
68. I talked to Kate the other day, and she's going through the exact same thing with Kit, which makes me feel a little better.
69. A guy at Nick's job just quit, which means one less person to split the team's earnings with.
70. Nick hated to see the guy go, but he was happy to have what was in effect, a pay raise. We really hope they don't hire anyone to replace him.
71. Randomly enough, Nick's boss hired a masseuse to come in to work and give everyone a 15 minute massage. He had his a couple of weeks ago.
72. I follow a lot of craft bloggers.
73. Recently, a bunch of them started truncating their posts due to site scrapers (people who steal blog content to take advantage of your search engine hits). This means that you only get the first few sentences in your RSS reader, and you have to go to the actual blog to read the rest of the post.
74. I understand where they're coming from (I've been a victim myself in the past), but I really, really hate it.
75. I have several hundred blogs in my RSS reader, and I don't have the time or the desire to click through on every single post, so I've unfollowed most of the blogs that do this.
76. I may have had to add word verification back on, but I promise to continue to give you full access to each post via RSS.
77. I can NOT seem to get in bed on time.
78. Every other Friday Nick, Jack, Daisy, and I attend our church's Senior Saints meeting. This is a ministry geared toward the senior crowd, but about 20% of the people there are under 40. There's a message followed by a meal, and we always enjoy both.
79. Three years ago I could not have imagined my husband volunteering to attend a non-Sunday church service on his day off.
80. For that matter, I could not have imagined me doing it either.
81. God has grown Nick's heart in such an amazing way in the last few years, and I'm overwhelmingly blessed by him as my husband every day.
82. Nick regularly runs the sound booth at church, drives the church van, and helps with youth events. He's also the first to jump up and help clean up after a meal in the life center.
83. I try to make it a point to tell him how much I appreciate all he does, but I wanted to say it here too.
84. After my post the other day mentioning his broken closet door, Nick went to the hardware store and bought a new latch. He fixed it yesterday.
85. This morning we got to church and realized we had forgotten to bring a bottle for Jack. I ran to Target to pick him one up along with some milk and got distracted by the huge wall of hilarious greeting cards they now carry. I couldn't tarry too long, but I spotted quite a few lightly kinky ones, so I bet if you had the time you could find a few spanky ones in there.
86. Two years ago I bought Nick a spanking themed Valentine's card, but I lost my nerve and never gave it to him. It's still in a drawer upstairs. Maybe next year.
87. This is the first year we've watched The Biggest Loser, and we're really into it.
88. I've not, however, watched any of Downton Abbey, although I feel like I should have.
89. I would like for you guys to pray for something (else) for me. We tithe on a regular basis, but it seems like we rarely have anything extra to give to others. My prayer is that God will provide us both means and opportunity, as well as the wisdom and the right heart to help someone in the coming weeks. It may be something small, but it sure would do my heart good!
90. I'm going to give myself a couple of weeks, till I'm past my craft show before I start, but my tentative plan is to cut out tea/sodas on weekdays. I did that just before I got pregnant with Daisy and lost 10 pound in a couple of months without putting any real effort into it.
91. Daisy has a fabulous imagination, and I love watching her play. She has an imaginary friend named "Pretend Layla Friend". A few weeks ago she used her iPad to take a picture of a wall at church. She showed me the shot later and told me it was a picture she had taken of Pretend Layla Friend. The next shot in the gallery was Daisy standing against the same wall with her arm draped convincingly around thin air. This one was a picture of her with Pretend Layla Friend. :)
92. Morgan got her contacts last week, and she's getting better every day at putting them in and taking them out.
93. This is a good thing, because she missed the bus twice last week because it took her so long to get them in.
94. Morgan has started eating healthier and going on walks to get in better shape.
95. This leaves me as the lone couch potato, but I want to change that. As soon as it warms up just a little, I want to start going on walks again.
96. When I was 19 I used to walk 7 miles a day up and down hills.
97. I lost almost 70 pounds doing this.
98. 70 pounds was too much to lose, but at some point I lost my perspective.
99. Looking back on pictures of me then, I think I looked ill. After we got married I gained about 20 pounds and looked much better.
100. I'd like to get back to what I weighed in the first year of our marriage.

Just checking in...

Hey, guys. Not a whole lot going on here - just checking in. We're getting settled into the new year. Morgan went back to school today. It was a busy Christmas break; her best friend next door spent the night 4 or 5 times, and she spent the night over there once. Also, her best friend from her old school spent the night here on Friday, and she and Daisy spent the night with my parents one night last week. 

Jack's first birthday was last Wednesday. I really wanted to do a party for him, like I did for Morgan's and Daisy's first birthdays, but it just wasn't in the budget this year. But my mom got him a cake and bought some ice cream, and we had that after church that night, so that was nice.

It's my intention to establish some better eating/exercising habits this year. I'd love to join a gym; Nick belongs to one and goes almost every day on his lunch break. Unfortunately we've not had the money to add me as of yet. 

I'm also trying (without great success) to get myself in bed earlier. In fact, I'm supposed to be spanked for ignoring my curfew a couple of nights last week, although it hasn't happened yet. I thought he was actually going to let it slide, but he says he still plans to do it. He got a new belt for Christmas, and I think he plans to take the opportunity to break it in. Jack has gotten his days and nights flipped, so that's made it difficult to find time alone.

I had a photo shoot yesterday, which helped tremendously money-wise. It wasn't a huge payout for the sitting fee, but it did get us diapers and gas, which were our two most urgent needs.

Anyway, I'm off to work on the house - Happy New Year!

New Year's Meme 4

I've done this meme 3 years previously, and I always enjoy it, so here it is for this year:

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before?  I gave birth to a baby boy, I took part in a craft show, and I vacationed at a 5 star resort to name a few!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? We wanted to get a bit more organized, and we had some small success at that, although we could have done better. I have to give a shout out to Nick who resolved to lose weight and get healthier, and he's done phenomenally well at that. I know that his resolution is to continue with that, and it's my plan to work toward the same thing myself. I do also want to get the house in really good organizational shape, and just do better at housekeeping in general.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Me! Me! And my sister-in-law Kelly.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Nick's grandfather and my uncle passed away a day apart this month.

5. What countries did you visit? Just this one.

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012? A bigger house! And if we're dreaming, a new HE washer and dryer, as well as a new laptop, Photoshop, Lightroom, and a decent lighting setup. Oh, and a new camera bag! :)

7. What dates from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? January 2, the day Jack was born, January 13, the day we brought him home, and October 10, the day Logan was born.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Bringing a healthy baby into the world, although really that was God's accomplishment, not mine. Also, moderate success at my first craft show, and getting all the Christmas gifts done and delivered on time!

9. What was your biggest failure? Oh, this is terribly embarrassing, but Jack's room is still kind of a storage area.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing major. I did get a little sick in August. And with running back and forth to the hospital and playing catch up with Morgan and Daisy I didn't really give myself time to recover from Jack's birth, and I got pretty run down in January.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Well, we love our Samsung Infuse phones we got back in January, but since they were free with our contract renewal, I don't know if that counts. I bought a Lightscoop, for my camera, which I really love. I also got a dual temp glue gun and a wood burning tool to cut ribbon, and both of those have really revolutionized my crafting.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Nick has worked so hard at exercising and losing weight, and I'm so proud of him! Morgan and Daisy have also done wonderfully with their new baby brother. :)

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My friend Elizabeth's ex-husband, along with his girlfriend (also an old friend of ours) pulled some pretty dirty tricks to try to get full custody of his and Elizabeth's kids, although he later had a change of heart. I also recently found out that Morgan's old soccer coach cheated on his wife of 12 years. Less personally, the story of Sandy Hook Elementary was heartbreaking, and I can't even begin to understand the young man responsible.

14. Where did most of your money go? Bills, diapers, formula.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The birth of our son, and our trip to Sea Island, Ga.

16. What song will always remind you of 2012? "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction. Morgan wore us out on anything One Direction, but Daisy sings this particular song all the time, and it is So. Stinking. Cute.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? Probably happier - money is tighter, but I'm not in the hospital. :) b) thinner or fatter? I'm going to have to say thinner since I had a baby inside me this time last year! c) richer or poorer? Definitely poorer, since we had just gotten a nice big Christmas check from Kate and Will this time last year.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Creating

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? aimless online surfing.

20. How did you spend Christmas? With family, eating, opening gifts.

21. Did you fall in love in 2012? Yes, with my husband, my daughters, and my son!

22. What was your favorite TV program? Sons of Anarchy, Criminal Minds, Glee, Haven

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Nah

24. What was the best book you read? I've actually not gotten to read very much this year, which is a lifetime first for me.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? I'm afraid I don't have an answer to this one. 

26. What did you want and get? A healthy baby boy!

27. What did you want and not get? A bigger house, a new laptop.

28. What was your favorite film of this year? The Hunger Games (which was awesome, but come to think of it, I think was the only movie we saw in the theater all year).

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 35, and I stayed home and watched Jack and Daisy. That evening we went to church, and Nick took us all out to eat afterwards.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? More money? More money certainly would have made it easier, but we were inordinately blessed.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012? Same old jeans and cute shirts I'm afraid.

32. What kept you sane? trusting God to take care of us. Also, Nick has shown tremendous spiritual growth over the last year, which has been wonderful for our marriage. He's also made a genuine commitment to leadership in our marriage and disciplining me when I need it in the last few months, and it has helped me tremendously.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Ok, for the last month or so I've been watching The Young Riders on Hulu. When I was 12 and watching this I was all about The Kid, played by Ty Miller. This time around though I'm finding myself much more drawn to James Hickok, played by a 21 year old Josh Brolin. Does it count if it was 23 years in the past?

34. What political issue stirred you the most? I'm more than a little irritated with the continuing health care fiasco.

35. Who did you miss? My friend Ann

36. Who was the best new person you met? Jack!

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012. If I focus on doing what God wants me to do, He will take care of everything else.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. I can't really think of a good answer for this one. 

It's hard for me to believe the year is almost over. Jack will be one in 4 days. FOUR DAYS! Monday will be our 9 year anniversary with DD, which is a little surreal to me. 6 years ago Nick commemorated the day with a long hard spanking and a firm lecture, not as a punishment, but rather to wipe the slate clean on the year, give me a fresh start, and discuss the things he wanted me to concentrate on and expected me to do. It meant a lot to me, and part of me would really like for him to do it again, although I'm also very aware that you should be careful what you wish for!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's 3 in the morning here. Jack finally succumbed to the soporific effect of Play With Me Sesame a couple of hours ago. The chocolate chip banana bread is in the oven, and the cranberry oat bread is rising in my bread machine. The lemon blossoms are baked and will be glazed while the cranberry sauce cooks and the corn casserole bakes, things I will do after I get a few hours of sleep. There's an episode of Friends on TV, one that originally aired 14 years ago, the week we spent our first Thanksgiving as a married couple. 

It's been a busy couple of weeks. Money has been tighter than ever, something that inevitably happens this time of year due to the nature of Nick's work. As the holidays draw closer people tend to put off having their car worked on because they are saving for Christmas/Hanukkah, etc. He also missed a day of work on the this check because he was just too sick to make it in. I can't tell you how many times my sweet husband has gone into work sick,  but by the time he was halfway there he could tell he wasn't going to make it and turned around and came home. Fortunately it only lasted a couple of days, and he just missed the one day, but it hit his paycheck pretty hard. 

Even so, God has provided as always. There are things we've not gotten to pay that we needed to, but we've had food and fuel, and the basics have been provided. I'm really praying hard for next couple of weeks. His check will likely be about $500 short of what we need just to pay the bare minimum of what has to be paid no matter what, not to mention money for gas and groceries. And when I say the bare minimum, that's exactly what I mean - there's nothing I can postpone. Everything is as late as it can be without effecting our credit rating. I don't have anywhere I can go to borrow that money, not do I have a way to earn that much. I don't foresee my Etsy shop producing 25+ orders in the next week, and as far as I know there's no one intending to hire Nick for side work. 

But my Father owns the cattle on 1000 hills, and He has promised to provide for us. The same God who fed the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish is the same God who loves and cares for me and my family, and His promises are sure. My job is to pay attention to following His will - my part of the promise. I crave your prayers these next few weeks - for me and for Nick. I know how frustrating it is for him to every week see his hard earned paycheck gone before it hits the bank. But God is teaching us about faith during these hard days, and I'm so grateful that Nick is willing to walk this road with me. My life is filled with so many blessings, and my husband is far from the least of them.

We're having Thanksgiving dinner at Grant and Kelly's house. Last year I was pregnant, and Kelly had not yet conceived. What a precious thing to have these two new baby boys at the table this year! It's so awesome that all three of my kids have 1st cousins close to their age. Morgan and Kit are 16 months apart, Maddox and Daisy 4 months apart, and Jack and Logan 9 months apart. All of my many 1st cousins on both sides (13 in all) were several years older or younger than me, so I was an adult before any of us really became good friends, and I'm so tickled my three will get to grow up with theirs.

I have sold a couple of pillow covers in the last couple of weeks, which was nice. I also made Jack the cutest little turkey onesie to wear tomorrow. It seems like I'm always too busy to sit down and craft unless I'm filling an order for the shop, and it just lifted my spirits so much to get to make that last night! I just used a onesie he already had and appliqued the turkey parts onto it in felt. I got the idea here, and I think it turned out so cute! (Excuse the crappy cell phone photos).

If you look close you might notice that the onesie is a size 3 months. Yep, my handsome boy is still such a little guy to be less than 6 weeks from his first birthday! My girls were always a size or so above their age, so I'm really cherishing this extra tiny time with Jack. He's perfectly healthy and doing everything he should be doing by this age, so I'm just enjoying it. 

It's really funny to see his tiny little body crawling around at top speed. He's learned to climb stairs too. Fortunately he's not discovered the stairs in our house, but he loves to climb the 3 steps up to the stage at church, and he's learned to climb onto the hearth, then up onto the ottoman, then onto the couch to me at home, which scared the crap out of me the first time he did it. He was down playing in the floor and next thing I knew he was climbing up onto my lap! He's also almost mastered the art of blowing kisses, although sometimes he smacks himself in the forehead instead of the mouth, so it looks like he just realized he forgot something important lol.

Anyway, it's time to take the cranberry loaf out now, so I'll say goodnight. Have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving!

First of all, let me issue a warm if slightly late welcome to all the wonderful people who commented on LOL Day. I do apologize for not having a chance to respond sooner, but I appreciate each and every comment, from old friends and new. And I'm sorry about the CAPTCHA. I went without it for a long time, but the flood of spam comments in my email box was getting to be ridiculous.

It's been a busy and blessed weekend. Nick was off on Friday. He went to the doctor that morning, which went well. After he got home he took our trash off and picked up a free Papa John's pizza I won in their recent sweepstakes. He also picked Morgan up from school because she had a stomachache. Of course it got better suspiciously fast once she got home lol. While he was gone my parents stopped by to bring us some food from church. Every Friday our senior ministry has a service and a big meal, and a lot of times there's food left to share with those who couldn't make it. They take a lot of meals to shut ins, and sometimes they bring us some too. That evening my dad and James came over to drop off James' car so that Nick could do some work on it.

I mentioned a few days ago that I got our bedroom mostly clean. Unfortunately I got distracted before I got it finished, and Nick had a thing or two to say about that. We were getting ready for bed, and he was pretty worn out, so he told me he was going to spank me, but he would wake me up early the next day to deal with it. I did, however, manage to keep him awake long enough to have some um, face time with a certain part of his anatomy. He returned the favor, and we both slept very well. 

So well in fact that we didn't get up till the kids were awake, so that kind of put the kibosh on any morning discipline. We both had a busy day ahead. He had not only James' car to work on, but also my aunt's as well as another lady's. This was SUCH a blessing from God, because this week has been especially tight. I had TWO photo shoots scheduled, which was awesome, because I've not done a whole lot of work since Jack was born, and one shoot that I've had scheduled for months was canceled because the event I was supposed to shoot was canceled. My mom called early in the day and offered to watch the kids if we needed her to, which turned out to be a good thing. Nick had to leave to do some of the work he needed to do on the equipment at his job, so I took the kids out to my parents' house. 

Both shoots went well, although my first client was very late, which could have caused a real problem. Fortunately my second client was very cool about giving them a few extra minutes. I did, however, still have to cut it a little short with the first client, but they were willing to hang around and let me shoot a bit more after I finished with client number two. After I finished, I called Nick and let him know I was on my way home. He was at the parts store when I got there, but he got home after a few minutes and directed me upstairs. In the bedroom he pulled out the Leather Thorn AngelBrat paddle and had me bend over the bed.

Conventional wisdom would say that leather is a lot more forgiving, and I suppose it is in a way. It certainly doesn't bruise as easily as wood, and any redness it leaves fades a lot faster. But Nick tends to spank a lot harder with leather, I guess for those very reasons. Leather Thorn pieces are very nice, and this one is quite heavy. It's about 16 inches long, and on impact it wraps across my bottom and kind of sears everything it hits. I've actually not had all that many punishments with this particular paddle, but every one has been memorable. I have no idea how many swats I got, but if I had to guess I would say it was probably somewhere around 40-50.

By the way, those are not affiliate links - I just really like their products. Er, most of the time...

After he finished spanking me he hugged me a bit, then went back down to work on my brother's car some more. I got myself together and went to pick up the kids. By the time I got home he was done with his work and starving. He sent me to Taco Bell with some of his earnings. When I got to the drive through I found that I was $3 short. It wasn't a big deal - I had ordered a few extra things, and I was just going to tell the girl to take them off, but instead she gave me a senior discount, which put the total down below what I had. :) I spent most of the evening filling an order for my Etsy shop, another blessing.

Today we went to church. There was appropriate recognition of the veterans in the congregation, and I want to say thank you to all of you out there who have served, in whatever country you may be! 

After church we met a girl I went to school with who gave me TWELVE cans of baby formula, plus a bunch of jars of baby food! She has a baby boy a month younger than Jack. He was also born at the same point in the pregnancy as Jack (38 days early), but unfortunately, unlike Jack, he has had a number of health problems as a result. His mom also has a huge number of food allergies that she has passed on to him. Because of this their insurance provides them with about 3 cans a week of a formula that is made to  give the needed nutrients without triggering his many allergies. However, he strongly prefers breastfeeding, so she had a huge stockpile of extra formula that needed to be used up, so she passed part of it on to me. I'm going to double check with his doctor tomorrow to make sure that it will be okay for him, but from everything I've researched on this particular brand, it looks like it will be fine.

Kelly also brought me a couple of cans she got in the hospital since she's solely breastfeeding. After we picked up the formula we had a quick lunch at a pizza buffet with Kelly, Grant, Logan, Robert, Faith, Brandon, and Melanie. The plan was to then take advantage of free day at the zoo. We went last year and it was crowded, but not crazy so. This year traffic was crazy, and when we turned onto the road into the zoo, a girl on her way out rolled down her window and told us not to bother, that it was so crowded you couldn't even get close enough to the animals to see. We decided to take her advice since by this time it was only about an hour and a half before closing time anyway. 

The girls were disappointed, but I remembered something that happened when I was a kid. A trip to the circus unexpectedly fell through, so my parents gave James and me (this was before Robert was born) each $5 and took us to a department store to spend it on whatever we wanted. I still remember picking out a soft purple stuffed rabbit in a white basket. So we took the girls to Target and gave them $10 each ($5 doesn't buy what it did almost 30 years ago). Morgan picked out a pair of One Direction headphones, and Daisy chose a toy hairdresser set, which I thought was adorable since her Nana (my MIL) is a hairdresser. They recently opened a craft store right next to our Target, so after we left, Nick stayed in the car with the kids and let me just explore the new store a bit.

When we got back to church Melanie, who is amazing with crochet hooks, had brought Jack the most adorable gift. It was a hat/beard combo, a lot like this:

Source Obviously this one isn't his. His is green, and of course didn't come from this shop. Anyway, she made Logan one too, so I'm hoping we can take their pictures in them together.

Anyway, that's been our weekend - how was yours?

Randomness

I'm sitting here with my fresh clean baby boy. :) Jack really enjoys baths in his little baby sized tub, but he always makes a huge mess splashing. I'm always soaked by the end. The couple of times I've tried bathing him in our tub, he freaked out. So I thought it might be a good idea to get in with him. Not so much. He still freaked out the whole time. But he got clean and tired out, because now my fresh smelling little man is curled up asleep in his car seat on the floor beside me.

Tonight Kelly and Grant came to church and brought Logan. I think Kelly has turned a corner with her postpartum issues. She actually let a couple of the girls in the youth group hold him. :) She also handed me a bag of Milano cookies (my favorite!) and a card with $25 and a $50 Walmart gift card for my birthday. Then she leaned in and whispered that the gift card was a thank you for doing the pictures, that she didn't want me to think I wasn't appreciated. I get the impression someone said something to her about it. I told her she didn't have to do that (she didn't! It really wasn't about money!), but I did really appreciate her doing it. And I have to say, it definitely helped out this week. I wasn't sure where I was going to get the money for gas to drive to my photo shoots on Saturday, and we're almost out of toilet paper. 

I did connect with a friend of an old classmate today who met me and gave me some unopened cans of baby formula. My mom also brought us a container of formula yesterday. And she let me borrow the money to cover what we needed to go in the bank.:) Jack liked the Nido stuff, but it did seem to be constipating him, so I'm thankful to have some formula (which definitely fixed the constipation issue lol).

The new dog is still doing great, which is a relief.

And I made another sale in my Etsy shop! :)

Also, I found Nick a doctor and the kids a dentist. Both kids have needed to go, but with their insurance I was having a hard time finding the right person to take them to. Daisy has never been, and I know she has a couple of cavities, so I knew I needed someone really good with kids. Last week I happened to have a conversation with an acquaintance who mentioned that her son is on the same insurance and loves his dentist. I got his name and number and got them both set up with an appointment for next week. 

And I found Nick a doctor who will take payments. His insurance has a huge deductible, so the whole visit will come out of his pocket, so this was important. He's had some congestion in his ear for several months now that he just can't shake. Plus since he's been losing weight (30 pounds now!) and exercising, he felt like a check up was a good idea. 

Our old doctor was kind of a nut. I guess he was okay as a doctor, but he was obsessed with weight. Neither of us is exactly thin, but we've also never had any health problems related to it. Every time Nick went to him for anything at all, he insisted on checking his blood pressure and cholesterol, then would get really irritated when both came back great. One time he took my blood pressure and told me it was terrible and that if I didn't get it under control I would be on medication for it for the rest of my life. Later on I had pregnancy related hypertension, but when I'm not pregnant I've never had a problem, so I was understandably shaken up. When he stepped out and the nurse came in I asked her what the reading was. She looked at the chart, and it was something like 120/72. "Is that bad?" I asked. She looked surprised. "No! That's actually really good!" It was kind of crazy, so we haven't been back to him in years.

Anyway, that's what's going on around here. How are you guys? 

Restful Saturday

Today was a restful day for a very nice change. For once, no one came upstairs to wake me up to take them to school because she missed the bus, or climbed into bed with me to ask "Is it time for the sun to be up?"

Nick went out to my parents' house this morning to work on my dad's truck for him, and he brought the girls back home with him this afternoon. Jack did wake up early, but when I put him in bed with me he snuggled down and went back to sleep.

After Nick and the girls got home Nick mowed the yard while Morgan played with the neighbor girl and I took Daisy and Jack to the store with me to pick up a couple of things we forgot last night, like hamburger buns and cheese slices. When I got back I fixed pork burgers (a new experience for us, but I think we'll probably have them again some time) and mac n cheese, always a favorite with my two littlest ones.

Jack pushed through tooth number 4 today. He's growing so fast!

After we ate, Nick put in The Avengers. I had a little bit of a headache, so I lay down on the couch, and before I knew it I was asleep. Sleeping in and a nap in one day! And it wasn't even my birthday!

Have a great night!