Sunday, February 22, 2009
"You Light Up My Life" Sunday 2/22/09
That's right, after a couple of weeks off, it's back! :)
This person is very thoughtful.
This person is a good cook.
This person would do just about anything her kids asked of her.
This person enjoys her Sunday afternoon naps after the grandkids leave. :)
She is a great mother & grandmother.
She is a great neighbor to have too.
She loves to garden & helps to keep her kids stocked with homemade canned goods.
She is a wonderful babysitter!
She loves to read & is always offering me some kind of book to read.
She is a good wife to her husband.
So here's to my mother-in-law, Debra~I love ya!
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Where was the Papparazi?
What do you get when you combine a movie/rock star, a bottomless pit & a never resting organizer/hair stylist/eye checker together?
Answer: US, this weekend attempting to go to church with 3 toddlers on Saturday night!
The weekend as a whole with all of the kids went very smoothly, but we had no idea that the hardest part of the whole weekend would be taking these kids to Mass! Let me give you the rundown.
We arrived at one of the neighboring churches about 10 mins early where we then met up with my sister, Beth, & her husband. It was agreed that we would all try to sit together in order to help with all of the kids (4 adults against 3 kids-we thought for sure that we had them beat~little did we know just how tough our opposition was!) :)
We all sat together Beth & Neil in one pew & the rest of us sitting behind them in then next pew.
We thought that we were prepared with the best of weapons-drinks & crackers, but then the 1 1/2 year old bottomless pit made her first move with a polite sounding "Dink?" (drink)
So I gave it to her-she then proceeded to CHUG down the drink at which point the almost 3 year old movie/rock star asked for a drink (Oh no, I realized at this point we might be up against tougher odds than I initially thought!) & I forced the bottomless pit to share her drink. She then proceeded to get upset so I distracted her with a cracker-pheeewww, 2 happy toddlers. Until I realized that now the movie/rock star was chugging the drink like there was no tomorrow! I got her distracted with a cracker too & hid the cup, just in time for church to start (that's right-our weapons of "Mass" distraction were down to almost no drinks left & a few crackers BEFORE church had even started!)
Church starts-I notice that all of the readings were very short this week-God forgive me, but I was thankful because I knew that church might be shorter this way-little did I know that God had other plans in mind. The priest announced that he wouldn't have a homily, but instead that we would be watching a video sent from the bishop (I knew we were in for it then because there was NO way that would be short!) After about 20-30 mins of viewing that, the priest then conducted a baptism before going on with Mass. Meanwhile, during all of these activities, I was trying to ration the crackers between the movie star & the bottomless pit while Scott was trying to wrangle the 1 1/2 year old never resting organizer/hair stylist/eyechecker who couldn't decide whether the books should be IN or OUT of the book holder.
I somehow managed to get the bottomless pit distracted AND handed off to Beth, where she remained for the rest of church wonderfully distracted by all of the activity going on in the pew behind her (us!) Scott passes the never resting organizer to me who then morphs into the hair stylist/eyechecker. He proceeds to try to poke my eyes out with his fingers while saying "Eyes" & then pull/mess up my hair to give me some very intense hugs all while the bottomless pit in the pew in front of us giggles away. The movie star pulls her sunglasses out of the diaper bag & puts them on just in time for communion, you betcha, she walked up the aisle in true movie star fashion with her sunglasses on & one lens missing~classy :)
The priest gave me a glance & just smiled (somehow I think he knew we had our hands full & were losing the battle) & the movie star enjoyed her adoring audience as we walked back to our pew in the middle of church. Thank heavens, church had finally ended & we still had a few swallows left in the sippy cups & some cracker crumbs left in my coat pocket (where I had tried to hide them at some point during all of this chaos.) We soon realized that our normal 45 mins Mass was actually 1 hour & 15 mins long! No wonder we lost the fight ;) (yeah right, who am I kidding-we would have lost no matter what!)
It was definitely an eye opening experience & hopefully we'll be better prepared the next time around, but at least we were all there together which in the end was the most important part of all! :)
Answer: US, this weekend attempting to go to church with 3 toddlers on Saturday night!
The weekend as a whole with all of the kids went very smoothly, but we had no idea that the hardest part of the whole weekend would be taking these kids to Mass! Let me give you the rundown.
We arrived at one of the neighboring churches about 10 mins early where we then met up with my sister, Beth, & her husband. It was agreed that we would all try to sit together in order to help with all of the kids (4 adults against 3 kids-we thought for sure that we had them beat~little did we know just how tough our opposition was!) :)
We all sat together Beth & Neil in one pew & the rest of us sitting behind them in then next pew.
We thought that we were prepared with the best of weapons-drinks & crackers, but then the 1 1/2 year old bottomless pit made her first move with a polite sounding "Dink?" (drink)
So I gave it to her-she then proceeded to CHUG down the drink at which point the almost 3 year old movie/rock star asked for a drink (Oh no, I realized at this point we might be up against tougher odds than I initially thought!) & I forced the bottomless pit to share her drink. She then proceeded to get upset so I distracted her with a cracker-pheeewww, 2 happy toddlers. Until I realized that now the movie/rock star was chugging the drink like there was no tomorrow! I got her distracted with a cracker too & hid the cup, just in time for church to start (that's right-our weapons of "Mass" distraction were down to almost no drinks left & a few crackers BEFORE church had even started!)
Church starts-I notice that all of the readings were very short this week-God forgive me, but I was thankful because I knew that church might be shorter this way-little did I know that God had other plans in mind. The priest announced that he wouldn't have a homily, but instead that we would be watching a video sent from the bishop (I knew we were in for it then because there was NO way that would be short!) After about 20-30 mins of viewing that, the priest then conducted a baptism before going on with Mass. Meanwhile, during all of these activities, I was trying to ration the crackers between the movie star & the bottomless pit while Scott was trying to wrangle the 1 1/2 year old never resting organizer/hair stylist/eyechecker who couldn't decide whether the books should be IN or OUT of the book holder.
I somehow managed to get the bottomless pit distracted AND handed off to Beth, where she remained for the rest of church wonderfully distracted by all of the activity going on in the pew behind her (us!) Scott passes the never resting organizer to me who then morphs into the hair stylist/eyechecker. He proceeds to try to poke my eyes out with his fingers while saying "Eyes" & then pull/mess up my hair to give me some very intense hugs all while the bottomless pit in the pew in front of us giggles away. The movie star pulls her sunglasses out of the diaper bag & puts them on just in time for communion, you betcha, she walked up the aisle in true movie star fashion with her sunglasses on & one lens missing~classy :)
The priest gave me a glance & just smiled (somehow I think he knew we had our hands full & were losing the battle) & the movie star enjoyed her adoring audience as we walked back to our pew in the middle of church. Thank heavens, church had finally ended & we still had a few swallows left in the sippy cups & some cracker crumbs left in my coat pocket (where I had tried to hide them at some point during all of this chaos.) We soon realized that our normal 45 mins Mass was actually 1 hour & 15 mins long! No wonder we lost the fight ;) (yeah right, who am I kidding-we would have lost no matter what!)
It was definitely an eye opening experience & hopefully we'll be better prepared the next time around, but at least we were all there together which in the end was the most important part of all! :)
Monday, February 16, 2009
Blessed
This past week has been filled with all kinds of emotions & loads of anxiety, but one thing has shown true through all of it-our family has truly been blessed in more ways than one. Rachel is putting up a strong fight & progressing a little more each day. We're hopeful that each day will continue to bring more improvements, no matter how tiny, so that we can continue to pour our love on her in the comforts of her home sometime in the future. She still has a long road ahead of her, but she has already shown much more strength in just her few short days here on Earth than I think I have in my entire lifetime! Now I am by no means much of a poet, but occasionally I am inspired & this past week has done just that. Any professionals out there, please pardon the quality, but it does come straight from the heart :)
Blessings Abound
Blessed by one little baby's birth
Shown the power of prayer's real worth
Blessed by thoughts of people both near & far
Some don't even know who we are
Blessed by one little baby's might
We hold her dear to our hearts so tight
Hoping the power of our love she'll feel
And by God's grace she will be healed
Thanks to all of you who have been following along on this journey in blogland & in real life. Our family can never thank you enough for the support given & prayers said.
Shown the power of prayer's real worth
Blessed by thoughts of people both near & far
Some don't even know who we are
Blessed by one little baby's might
We hold her dear to our hearts so tight
Hoping the power of our love she'll feel
And by God's grace she will be healed
Thanks to all of you who have been following along on this journey in blogland & in real life. Our family can never thank you enough for the support given & prayers said.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Conversation Overheard
Conversations with toddlers or kids in general can be quite entertaining In honor of my nieces staying here at our house for a couple of nights, I am going to share just a few of the conversations that you might have overheard yesterday & today if you were around :)
Yesterday in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) waiting room:
One of the adults: "We could go hang out in the Ronald McDonald house area. There would be more room in there for all of us."
Another adult: "That sounds good-we'll wait for the others to come back from Rachel's room so they know where we are."
Melissa (almost 3): "NO, I want to go to the Old MacDonald room now." :)
This morning at one of our various snack times:
Me: "Megan would you like a drink?"
Megan (age 1 1/2): shakes her head no & then takes her drink anyway
Me: (laughing) "I bet you say no to everything don't you?"
Megan: shakes her head no
Me: "Melissa, does Megan say no to everything at home?"
Melissa: "No"
Me: "Do you say no to everything?"
Melissa: "No"
Me: (smiling) "Well that's good to hear!"
So for the rest of the weekend, Scott & I are officially outnumbered! I think we'll be okay-I'm actually a lot more relaxed by them being here than I imagined I would be & things have gone fairly smoothly thus far considering it's us & an almost 3 year old & 2 1-1/2 year olds! Maybe if things get too hectic, Scott & I can just grab the 1 year olds & leave the almost 3 year old in charge. I'm sure that since she is a "mother hen" like her aunt/godmother that we would all be in very good hands & on a major sugar high from eating candy! :)
Yesterday in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) waiting room:
One of the adults: "We could go hang out in the Ronald McDonald house area. There would be more room in there for all of us."
Another adult: "That sounds good-we'll wait for the others to come back from Rachel's room so they know where we are."
Melissa (almost 3): "NO, I want to go to the Old MacDonald room now." :)
This morning at one of our various snack times:
Me: "Megan would you like a drink?"
Megan (age 1 1/2): shakes her head no & then takes her drink anyway
Me: (laughing) "I bet you say no to everything don't you?"
Megan: shakes her head no
Me: "Melissa, does Megan say no to everything at home?"
Melissa: "No"
Me: "Do you say no to everything?"
Melissa: "No"
Me: (smiling) "Well that's good to hear!"
So for the rest of the weekend, Scott & I are officially outnumbered! I think we'll be okay-I'm actually a lot more relaxed by them being here than I imagined I would be & things have gone fairly smoothly thus far considering it's us & an almost 3 year old & 2 1-1/2 year olds! Maybe if things get too hectic, Scott & I can just grab the 1 year olds & leave the almost 3 year old in charge. I'm sure that since she is a "mother hen" like her aunt/godmother that we would all be in very good hands & on a major sugar high from eating candy! :)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I'm off to see the baby!
Reports are that Rachel had a good night after a pretty rough day yesterday~we're all just hoping for more of the same around here. Today I will finally get to see my little niece for the first time & I can't wait. She's definitely going to feel all kinds of love today with visits from 2 of her super aunts (me & Beth, of course), her 2 sisters & Grandma & Grandpa. I know that we're all looking forward to seeing her & each other again!
Between my evenings being filled up with phone calls back & forth with family & from people checking up on things, I haven't had much time to devote to the poor blog, but I promise that there will be new posts soon. This weekend is going to be full of adventures around here...stay tuned :)
Between my evenings being filled up with phone calls back & forth with family & from people checking up on things, I haven't had much time to devote to the poor blog, but I promise that there will be new posts soon. This weekend is going to be full of adventures around here...stay tuned :)
Monday, February 9, 2009
Welcome to the World...
Rachel!
That's the news I've been waiting to hear all day~another niece! My initial prediction was that it would be a girl, but all of this CDH stuff threw my "baby radar" into turmoil & I started thinking maybe I would get a nephew on my side of the family. So for now, Luke stands alone as the only boy, but I'm sure those 3 little girls will keep him hoppin' :)
Rachel still has a long way to go & I am short on details, but for those of you who are praying with us after my last post~thanks so much & keep up the good work! She is going to need all of the extra help she can get.
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