8 Weeks

I am sitting here with a baby in my arms just as I was 8 weeks ago at this time.
Except then I was only an hour post-delivery and couldn't stop looking at this precious gift God had blessed me with...now I still can't take my  eyes off this precious gift but I'm also looking forward to being able to enjoy another one of God's most precious gifts again at some point- a full  night's sleep!  :)
It will come.  Someday it will come again!
Until then I will just do the best I can and and bask in the wonderfulness of all the smiles he has been handing out to me this week!  :)

He's Here!!!!

I'm a little behind but....

It's a BOY! :)

Don Bernard entered into this world last Thursday (the 15th)!  He is officially 1 week old today and has forever changed our lives already :)

He weighed in at 8 lbs 3 oz and was 20 in long.  I just look at him and think "I can't believe all of you was in me!"

I apologize for the delay in delivering this news and I blame sleep deprivation for anything that may seem incoherent/ramblingish in this or near future posts ;)

One thing I am sure of though...my heart could not be more full!!!

Ego Booster or Buster?

Actually, at this point in time, I don't really have much of an ego to boost or bust in regards to my body, but my little guy Luke does his best to unintenionally try! :)

1st scenario:

We were sitting close together and he pokes my arm to get my attention.

Luke:  "Mommy!  Your arm jiggles!"

Me:  "Yes, it does.  I'll have to work on that after the baby arrives."

Luke:  "Your arm jiggles!  You have arm fat!  Lots of arm fat!  I LOOOOVE arm fat!!!!"

(I'm sure glad someone does :)

2nd scenario:

Somehow I found myself in a restaurant bathroom stall with both of the oldest children.  Luke took his turn in a separate stall while Big Sis took her turn in my stall.  Both children were in the stall as I took my turn.  As I go to pull up my maternity pants to cover up my belly Luke declares...

"Wow Mom!  You sure have one BIG belly!  I love it!"

"Gee Thanks!"  was about the only thing I could come up with to say at this point. :)

"Spitach" Anyone?

Last night Little Sis decided to hang out with me as I was making supper.  I was making a ravioli/spinach lasagna type of meal and explaining the steps as I went.  Please keep in mind that she is just one month away from turning 2 while reading this! :)

Me:  "Now it is time to put on the spinach."

Little Sis:  "Puuuuh!" (she spit on the floor!)

Me:  "No spit!  We don't spit in the house.  First, I need to drain the spinach."

Little Sis:  "Puuuh!"

Me:  "No spitting!"

Little Sis just smiles ornery-like at me.  Then I have a realization...

Me:  "Spinach"

Little Sis:  "Puuuh!"

Me:  "Spitting"

Little Sis:  "Puuuh!"

Me:  "Spinach"

Little Sis:  "Puuuh!"

Yep!  She thinks the word spinach is the same as the word spitting :)  Just to test my theory, I told Scott the story when he got home and every.single.time. the word "spinach" came out of my mouth during the retelling...you guessed it-she would spit!  Every.single.time! :)

Irony

As I was leaving the grocery store, I had to wait at a red light for a bit.  It seemed like it had been quite awhile when finally I noticed that the opposite light had finally turned red.  I glanced up at my light to see it turn green and then saw the truck zipping past in front of me before I had ever even lifted my foot off of the brake (I'm sure that he definitely did not have time to slow down when the light had turned yellow...sure he didn't! ;)
As he zipped through his "yellowish" light, I read the sign that was being pulled behind the truck which said...

USE CAUTION

Maybe that driver forgot to read his sign before climbing into his truck for the day! :)

Ace or Base?

No Kidding!

In the last two weeks, three people whom I know personally have had babies.  This is really not that shocking in the grand scheme of things nor has it never happened before, but...

Baby #1 (my cousin's) was named Jase

Baby #2 (my friend/coworker's) was named Case

Baby #3 (friend of the family) was named Jace

My wonderful friend, Lora, who is an aunt to that last baby suggested (after I told her this phenomenon) that maybe we should name this baby Ace!  I also suggested that maybe we should just pick a random consonant and add it to the front of Ace or Ase to make a name that sticks with the trend (e.g. Mace, Base, Dace, Lace, etc.)  We laughed about it, but later that evening as I was perusing some celebrity news, I learned that someone else has already beat us to the punch!

Jessica Simpson :)

At the end of June (I know I'm always a bit behind with news of any kind), she named her baby, you guessed it, ACE!

Sorry Lora...guess we'll have to stick with some random consonant or NOT! :)

From His Mouth to God's Ear!

Last night Luke came into the house to show me his "treasures"...a baby grasshopper and a baby toad.  Of course, they were only in his hand (not a container) and when he opened his hand to show me the toad-it hopped out.

I quickly went to get a container for the grasshopper so we could catch the toad.  We looked under the recliner where it had hopped-nothing.  We looked under the nearby couch-nothing.  We looked around the nearby toybox-nothing.  He looked behind the TV-nothing.  There was a toad loose in my house!  I am not above having said that if I found the toad it was going to die, which (I should have known better...) brought on panic by the son.

We both calmed down and he continued looking for a few more minutes until bedtime.  Admittedly, he was one very worried little boy as he headed up to bed.  As he was changing in the bathroom, this is the conversation that took place...

Luke:  "Mom, when is God going to come down from Heaven again?"
Me:  "Well, nobody knows that for sure."
Luke:  "Oh...well when God comes down from Heaven, there is something I want to tell him."
Me:  "Is it about your toad?"
Luke:  "Yes"
Me:  "You know that God can hear you all of the time so you can tell him whatever you need to tell him now and he will hear it."
Luke (talking to God):  "God, will you please keep my toad safe and help me find it tomorrow?  Please, God, please."
Me:  "When I said before that the toad would die that is because if it stays stuck in the house-it will die because this isn't the right place for it.  The house doesn't have the right food it needs."
Luke:  "Ok mom.  Will God protect the toad?"
Me:  "If you asked him, he will do his best and we will look for it again tomorrow."

I put him to bed and after a few tosses and turnings and anxiety induced memory moments...he fell asleep.  I went back downstairs and relayed the lost toad information to Scott (who had been outside mowing the grass when all of this occurred) and went to sit down in my recliner.

Lo and behold, out of the corner of my eye, I see something move.  Sitting right there in the middle of the dining room floor is THE TOAD!  I caught it (alive and well mind you) and put it on the fireplace mantel where Luke would see it first thing in the morning.  When he came into our bedroom this morning, I told him that God answered his prayer and there was one happy little boy heading down to the living room to see his what was once "lost" toad! :)

DONE!!

With classes that is :)

Call me a nerd, but I did actually enjoy going back to school and taking classes over the past almost 2 years.   It is, however, also a relief to know that I am done!  Hopefully, I will be getting to spend some more time on here sharing our world with all of you and in the meantime, there is a lot to do in my actual world over the next several weeks too!  It will be great to be able to solely focus on the people and things in my own home knowing that there are no classes hovering in the the near future...at this point too though, it does feel a bit weird to not have a class waiting in the wings! :)

Enjoy the rest of your summers-I will be enjoying mine!!!

10 Years!

Happy Anniversary to my husband Scott today!

We've reached the 10 year milestone, but I think there are good odds that we would both probably call this past year, the craziest of all of them thus far.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought a year ago at this time that our family would double in size in just one year...family of 3 to a family of 6 (coming this August!)

One year ago, I was starting to believe that we would probably never have a foster care placement and even if we did, we were only certified for one child at that time.  How quickly things can change in just a matter of days.  One year ago today, I was feeling disappointed by these thoughts because I KNEW pregnancy was not an option for us as far as building our family.

Sometimes, I really get the feeling that God is looking down on me laughing and saying, "Oh, my dear child, you have NO IDEA the things I have in store for you! hehe"

That is the magic of one year I suppose :)

So, in honor of our 10 years, here is a little list I've made to share with all of you...

1:  Sweet & challenging boy we get to call our son
2:  Sweet & sassy girls whom we've been blessed to share our lives with for the past year
3:  Couches we have gone through thus far (in our defense the first two were already several years old when they came into our possession)
4:  Years of infertility that haunted us in the beginning of our marriage
5:  Semesters of college courses and late night homework
6:  Years of parenthood-we had no idea what I wild ride it would be either
7:  Months of pregnancy now under our belt
8:  Cats & kittens (at the moment anyway) with whom the kids love to play
9:  Equals the combined ages of all of our kids at this point in time (I had to stretch to come up with something for this one ;)
10:  Years of marriage and (hopefully) many more to come!

Thanks for sticking with us through all of the crazy! :)

An "F" for creativity...

is what grade this post would receive :)

The summer grind begins with my last class officially starting today.  I shall do my best to check in here as often as I can and to even post something worthwhile maybe ;)

Creativity can be hard to come by with five research article reviews plus a research paper to write over the next 3-4 weeks (along with a few other assignments)...a little creativity would make those research articles so much nicer to read too.  Alas, that is not meant to be!

I will do my best to suck some creativity from life to share with you here over the next few weeks.  I will try not to sink to the level of posting research information just for the sake of "having something to post" :)  If creativity eludes me, then I will try to at least come up with a few nice rants to share along the way...even better, I know! ;)

So, even if this post would fail miserably, at least I feel confident in the fact that my research reviews and paper will probably fair much better if past performance can be counted on as an indicator of future performance...even though they are terrible suckers of creativity!

We Be Jammin'

On Memorial Day Monday, Luke and I went strawberry picking.  Keep in mind that this was something I despised doing as a kid.  Early morning, picking and sweating, bugs, then coming home to clean and prepare them.  A common argument heard in our house was "We don't even like strawberries!  Why do we have to help with this?"  Mom would always respond with (keep in mind too that she knew that we knew that she also did not like strawberries) "Your dad likes them and he has to work.  Sometimes when you're an adult you do things you don't like for someone else."  or "You'll understand when you grow up."  Another often heard expression was, "Sometimes when you're an adult, your tastes change and you like things that you did not like as a kid."

At the time, all of these logics seemed quite illogical, but DANG-I hope I'm the mom that was always right someday! ;)

I honestly admit that I had yet to go strawberry picking as an adult until Monday.  I obviously did not know what I was doing at first either...

*We got all the way to our row with our metal trays and the guy says..."You're going to need baskets to put the berries in..."  I obviously misunderstood the people at the front-I thought it was either one or the other, not both the basket and the metal tray.

*As we get settled back into our row with BOTH items, the lady at the front starts yelling..."WE NEED THE PERSON IN THE BLUE VAN TO MOVE IT!  YOU CAN'T PARK IT HERE!" Repeat (5 dozen times-well, maybe it was only 4 or 5 times, but geez...she didn't give anyone much of a chance to claim it!)

Finally, after moving my car and walking back to our row, we got the chance to actually pick some strawberries.  Luke stuck with it fairly well for about 1/2 a tray and then he got tired so he chose to keep the conversation going while I finished the picking.  I wondered quite often if everyone gets to have such a diverse coversation when picking strawberries.  Some of our topics included:  people in Mexico speaking Spanish; people in France speaking French; people in both countries probably also speaking English; dolphins; orcas aka "killer whales;  traveling for a family wedding next summer; hotels; and why there was straw in the strawberry patch.

I worked up the strawberries a couple nights later.  The following day Luke and Big Sis helped me to make our first ever batch of strawberry freezer jam.  They were wonderful helpers and the jam has turned out quite well.  I'm looking forward to the upcoming blueberry and peach seasons to try our hands at some other jams, but I think I may have to study up before I take Luke fruit picking again!  I barely survived being able to answer all of his strawberry picking questions! :)

She Will Survive...

but maybe not when left to her own devices :)

She just turned 21 months and loves to try new things...foods & non-foods that is.

Many things go to Little Sis's mouth throughout the course of a typical day, but today the list also included the following outside items:

*cat food
*dandelions
*a random "daisy like" weed flower (that was immediately taken away because I had no idea if it was "safe" or not-I need a reference books for which weeds are okay to eat and which ones are not I think ;)
*a stick
*attempt to drink from the cat bowl

It's definitely going to be a tiring summer trying to keep my eyes on all three of them, especially with the next one wearing me out from the inside too :)

I wouldn't have it any other way though...unless maybe I could chase them around on a Hoveround with my feet propped up along the way! ;)

Mrs. Obama vs. Great-Grandma

Conversation you could have overheard when we did our Mother's Day visiting a few weeks back...

Setting:  Great-Grandma's back porch
Time:  Early Afternoon

Great-Grandma:  Anita, why don't you get your kids some sodee...I bet they are thirsty.

Kids:  YEAH! ME...I AM!

Me:  Ok, any thirsty kids need to come help pick out their drinks.

Great-Grandma:  I bet their hungry too.  I will go get a plate of cookies for them.

A few minutes go by...Anita and kids return with cans of lemonade and soda.  Grandpa is sitting on the porch.  Meanwhile, Luke slips away to the kitchen where Great-Grandma is and so is her ever present stash of M&M's.

Grandpa:  (with a smirk ever present) You're not a very good mother giving your kids all of that sugar.  Mrs. Obama would not be happy with you.

Me:  (insert sarcastic voice) Well, Mrs. Obama will just have to not be happy with me then.  I do my best most of the time, but Great-Grandma's house is a different story.

Overheard from the kitchen...

Luke:  Can I have some more M&M's great-grandma?

Great-Grandma:  You can have all you want.  That's what they are there for.

Me: LUKE...one more handful is plenty then come out here.

Great-Grandma arrives back to the porch with a plateful of chewy chocolate chip cookies.  The kids proceed to chow down.  When Big Sis goes back for cookie number 4...

Me:  Big Sis, I think you have had plenty.  No more cookies.

Great-Grandma:  Oh she can have all she wants.  That's what they are there for.

Me:  (looking at my Dad and speaking sarcastically)  How am I supposed to be a "good" mother when your mother says they can have all that they want.  I would like to see Mrs. Obama go head-to-head with Great-Grandma!

Grandpa shrugs his shoulders and smiles.

My, my...

How easily 3 months can slip by without a post!

I have missed the ole blog and have good intentions of keeping it better updated over the summer.  Now there may be a sporaticness/unintentional hiatus through the end of June while I finish up my last class, but as for the rest of summer and the rest of the year...I have the best of intentions to get back in gear! :)

Quick updates:

Me-one more class to go and I will have my Reading Endorsement for grades K-8 completed!  28 weeks into this pregnancy and trying to comprehend that in about 12 weeks there will be another little body in this family!  Have I been doing any preparing yet...me? the procrastinator...no, but am starting to think about what needs to be done ;)

Luke-made it through kindergarten and currently likes to call himself a first grader :)  He also discovered a LOVE of math towards the end of the year too!  He will be attending a different class/school in the fall...we're all anxious to see how the transition goes and are hopeful that it will be a good fit for him.

Big Sis-broke her arm about 4 1/2 weeks ago.  The cast came off last week and one would think from how she treats it that the arm is worse off than it was when it was broken.  She definitely needs to be stretching it :)  This incident (with its three weekday trips to St. Louis during the last three weeks of school) also just convinces me even more that these children are conspiring ways to make us have to use up all of our sick days too! ;) She also finished up her first couple months of preschool since turning 3.

Little Sis-is just as big and can do anything the older two can do...if it were up to her!  She definitely has a mind of her own and is giving us a taste of what two will be like for her...opinionated and stubborn! :)  She has watched and learned some of the best habits of both of the older ones and is gearing up to use them all...watch out mom & dad-3 more months until she's officially two until then she is practicing up plenty! ;)

Scott-is on the verge of the summer work schedule attack!  It has already been mentioned that there is a possibility he may have to take a turn being out-of-state for at least a week.  Not sure how that would go from my viewpoint, especially considering we'd be 8 months into this pregnancy at that point...maybe some "troops" would be willing to be called in or to take the rest of us in if this happens :)

Looking forward to getting the creative juices flowing again...I have missed writing here on regular basis and am hopeful that I can get back into the groove of it once again.  Hopefully, writing all of those research papers and reading all of those research articles over the past year and a half have not sucked all of the creativity out of me! :)
Enjoy the new look of the blog too!

Remember Me?

Oh yes, we are still here and yes, I have thought that I should write a post on a daily basis since December...but as you know sometimes life has other plans!

Every time I contemplate writing a post, there is homework that I should be doing (like at this particular moment) or dishes that should be washed or children who should be played with or any other various numerous household chores that should be done....lots of excuses, but also valid ones too :)

As far as all of us here, well, we are all doing the best that we can at any given moment.

Scott has been eating better, exercising more, and becoming more healthy since the beginning of the year.  He is also doing his best to keep up with his work, despite, these children continuously wanting us to take sick days to stay home with them (at least he has the option of working from home, which has been a wonderful blessing!)

Luke is 1/2 way through his first official year of school.  He is still full of sweetness and spunk.  He is also still adjusting and has his challenges each and every day, but we are also blessed to have a wonderful school and group of teachers to work with and who are all looking out for his needs/best interests!  I would be lying if I didn't say that it does make me envious at times to listen to other parents' "worries" about their kids and their behavior at school (when I am fully aware that they really have no reason to worry/they have no idea that their kids "issues" are NOT really issues :) especially around parent teacher conference times.  If they had to trade places, they would probably be rocked to their core!  But he is our little man and I wouldn't trade him for anyone else and I just say a prayer of thanks for those parents that their worries are only "trivial" (in my book anyway)!  Sorry for my side bar :)  I have faith that with time, maturity, and consistency, our little man will figure it all out and go on to do great things!

Big Sis is talking all of the time!  She has made so much wonderful progress in the time that she has been with us that my heart could not be any more full!  She has a sweet smile, strong will, and a definite flair for the dramatic, but we wouldn't have her any other way (well maybe during some of her tantrums! just kidding ;)  I am also ready to declare her potty trained!  Hip, hip, hooray!  I actually can't believe how relatively easy it was in comparison to our years long experience with the first one, but I'll take it.  She does still have some accidents, but the girl is also independent and likes doing things herself so that has helped a ton!

Little Sis is ornery!  She has a look and a smile that says it all :)  She is also very busy-you can find her in any room at any moment doing her thing!  She loves playing with Big Sis and/or Luke at any given time.  She can play nice and sweet with sister or rough house it up with big brother, Luke.  With her it makes no difference! She is definitely the easy going one of the bunch! :)  Her speech is starting to emerge with a few words (we understand) and she has a wonderful understanding of the things we say to her!  She is a spunky little one who makes us all smile!

As for me, I've been okay.  My back had been bothering me, as of the last time I wrote, so I hadn't been running.  December also brought with it several bouts of illness for me.  A week of slight diarrhea/nausea; a 2-3 day fever after Christmas.  My sister and I started talking about which 1/2 marathon we wanted to do this spring and had sort of decided upon one, but I was still not feeling the best.  My back was better, but after the fever, I was left with tons of snot.  This turned into a sore throat/swollen lymph node in my neck, some nausea and a fatigue that I just couldn't shake.  I was beginning to wonder if I would ever be able to start training again!  I finally called the doctor after the sore throat had been around for several days along with the lymph node issue.  I was fairly certain that I would not be able to do the 1/2 marathon because I had self-diagnosed myself with Mono.  As the doctor started asking routine questions...
Are you pregnant?  "no"
What was the date of your last menstrual cycle?  (counting)...8 weeks?
Is it normal for you to go that long in between? "Well, it used to be because I never had any idea when it would come, but this is the longest it's been in the last 2 years..."
Could you be pregnant?  "I highly doubt it, but I guess maybe..."

I was diagnosed with sinusitis and prescribed antibiotics.  I picked up a pregnancy test along with my prescription and when I got home, I saw something that I had never seen before...

a positive pregnancy test!

I went into shock for a bit and then shared it with Scott (I hadn't said anything to him because I didn't want to give him any false hope.)  He also went into shock! :)

So, as of tomorrow, I will be 14 weeks pregnant and officially in my second trimester and still not completely sure that this is actually happening, but so so happy!  I will also NOT be partaking in the 1/2 marathon, but instead doing the 4 mile walk with my sister, Beth, while Em runs the 1/2 :)

After 9 1/2 years, it is definitely hard to believe that this particular dream is actually happening, but while it does we are cherishing the full house we have already been blessed with over the past 8 months too!  And we'll continue looking forward to a special arrival coming August 2013!