Random pictures from August

Daddy forgot his sunglasses on the way to church one Sunday, so he had to borrow Emerson's.  He seriously drove the whole way like this. 

The kids and I braved the heat early one morning for some roller skating in the driveway.  Too bad the surface of our driveway is corroded and full of loose gravel.  One more thing on our never-ending to-do list!  

Underwear on the head.  Hopefully they got baths that night.  

Emerson loves for me to take her picture while she's doing a silly face.  She looks at the finished product and belly laughs.  

First day of preschool. 

Braving the heat at the park on a Saturday morning.  

I love Jaxeypoo's sweet expression in this one.  

The three stooges.  Hayden's face is saying, 'For the love, please get me outta here.'  And I think Jax has underwear on, but I'm not certain.  There are days when he prefers nakedness. 

This little girl is just askin' for a snuggle.  Oooh, I can't take it!  

Well, whadda ya know?  More underwear on the head.  I'm just glad I got this shot from the waist up!  

6-month comparisons

Looking at these pictures, I feel like Hayden is a total combination of her sister and brother.  Her eyes are a little more like Jax's, but her smile is just like Emerson's. 

Her sixth month has been so much fun!  She's starting to verbalize some consonant sounds and shrieks at the top of her lungs all the time.  I remember Emerson doing the same thing.  Hayden's single dimple is still one of the best things I've ever seen.  I kind of thought it was a fluke at birth and that it was just going to disappear.  Don't ask me why, I just did.  I love that dimple.  It makes her so special and unique.

I'm trying not to think about crawling being right around the corner.  Or walking.  Or anything that requires her to be independent of me.  This is my favorite stage, and I don't want it to end!  *Sniff, sniff.*

We had a wonderfully chill Saturday today.  This morning I went for a quick 1-mile run then came back and did a 25-minute Jillian Michaels workout on the free exercise channel through our cable provider.  Love the free workouts, and there are a ton to choose from.  There are even belly dancing and stripper-type workouts.  And NO, I haven't tried them.  Yet.  :)  Lisa, no commenting please.  Hahahahaha.

Jason exercised after me, then he joined the kids in the kiddie pool for an hour.  They have a blast in that thing.  It's like a little rectangle of daddy/kid bonding.  We had Ron's hamburgers for lunch, then after naptime the kids proceeded to throw all of their blankets over the stairs onto the floor below.  It's one of their favorite games, and they run to the first floor and lay among the blankies, pretending to sleep.

Tomorrow we are working in the kids' class at church (which they think is SO fun), and they're going over to MeMaw and Pa-Pa's house after naptime.  Daddy needs to do some major studying, and Momma needs some retail therapy.  Steinmart & Old Navy are on my radar, but I may just end up coming home to a quiet house and working on some projects.  Wow, that last sentence makes me sound really exciting. 

Happy weekend to you!

 

Elaine

This morning I had an appointment with my midwife, just an annual checkup.  The kids were at preschool, and I had dropped Hayden off with Pa-Pa who is still home recovering from his knee replacement.  As I was leaving the parking lot of the office building, I had to slow down for a woman crossing the street near the hospital entrance.

Nothing about her caught my attention until she gave me a little wave as she passed in front of my car.  I could see her lip quivering and tears falling down her cheeks.  I was immediately struck by her emotion, and I suddenly realized I was supposed to talk to her.  It's interesting how the Holy Spirit works, isn't it? 

I did a U-turn and pulled up beside her.  Not knowing how she was going to react, I hesitantly asked if she was okay.  She told me her name was Elaine and that her husband had died a month ago and that she was at the hospital picking up his records.  Oh wow, did the waterworks start for me.  I grabbed her hand and asked if I could pray for her. 

When I finished, she thanked me and told me that she and her husband had accepted Christ just a few weeks before he passed away.  She said she was just still so sad and missed him so much.  They had been married for twelve years, and her teenage daughter had started her senior year late because she was still grieving. 

As she and I talked, we held hands, and can I just say that her tight grip said more to me than her words.  All she needed right then was someone to listen, to feel her pain, to grieve with her.  And grieve I did.  For the rest of the day, I thought about her and I thought about what it would be like to lose my precious husband after only 12 short years of marriage.  I'm still thinking about her.   

I guess I'm blogging about this encounter today because of what it taught me.  I'm not telling the story to boast or somehow build myself up.  I'm telling the story because I think we can all be reminded to stop and listen and let God work through us.  Had I had all of my kids in the car, I probably wouldn't have stopped.  I would've come up with all kinds of excuses to ignore the voice telling me to talk to her.  I'm thankful I was alone in the car and that God put her in my path.  Literally. 

So today I had a very real reminder that life is fragile, that at any moment my world could be turned upside down and I could be the one walking into the hospital to pick up records.  More than ever, I want to treasure my husband and fully live in the moment when we're together.  Because going through this journey without him is incomprehensible.  He's the glue that makes us work. 

 

Momma's Been...

1) Making lots of baby food.  Hayden has now consumed avocado, banana, sweet potato, carrots, green beans, squash, prunes, peaches, and pears.  I've made it all from scratch except for the prunes, and freezing portions in ice cube trays makes my life simple.  Talk about saving money, too! 

2) Soothing a teether.  She finally cut one of her bottom teeth this weekend.  She cried every 2-3 hours through the night on Friday, and I'm having a hard time letting her cry it out like I would've with the other two.  So I sneak in her room, pick her up and rock her in the rocking chair until she calms down.  Okay, so maybe I nurse her too, but only once.  I promise.  Dadgummit it's really affecting this momma's heart knowing her sweet little toothless gums are going away.  Baby smiles with all gums are quite possibly the cutest things known to man. 

3) Meeting new preschool teachers.  Preschool starts this week for Emerson & Jax, two days a week.  I cannot wait!  I think the blasted heat of this summer really took its toll on me.  We couldn't go outside much, and days and days on end with your children with not many breaks makes you a little nuts.  Thank God for playdates with friends this summer and Daddy taking half days on Thursday or I might have officially lost my mind. 

4) Rooting on the husband.  He is currently studying for his financial services licenses so that he can expand his business, and he's also got a few other possible ventures up his sleeve.  The man never ceases to amaze me!  Calling him forward-thinking is putting is mildly.  I love his competitive nature... it's what first attracted me to him when I used to secretly watch him during baseball practice from my dorm window.  Well, that and his butt in his baseball pants.  Yowzers.

5) Gathering ideas for rugs, window treatments, etc.  Sometime in the fall, we are going to start doing some home decor shopping, and I'm getting really excited just thinking about it.  I'm also getting overwhelmed, but I've asked, no begged, my friend Leslie to help me put everything together.  I wouldn't call myself gifted in the design/decor department, and she truly is.  So instead of making myself miserable, I'm just gonna have her lend me her mad decorating skillz.  Word. 

6) Watching my three play together.  Hayden thinks her sister and brother's sole purposes in life are to entertain her.  When Emerson walks into a room, Hayden shrieks with delight and starts kicking her chubby little legs.  One of their favorite things to do is get on a blanket in her nursery and see who can make her laugh the most.  I'm really loving the fact that she can sit up now and really interact with them. 

    

Why you should use Ebates

If you shop online, you should be using Ebates.  It's that simple.  I've used it for about a year now and love getting my Big Fat Checks in the mail (that's actually what they're called).  What is it?  Plain and simple, if you shop online, all you have to do is log onto Ebates first, then select your store through the Ebates site.  Ebates makes commissions from your selected store for bringing them your business, then Ebates gives you a percentage back of your total. 

It's a win/win, joining is absolutely free, and I figure if I'm online shopping anyway, why not make cash back doing it?  It's a reputable site, very well organized, and easy to use.  Of course, not every store is partnered with them, but the majority of them are.  Gap, Old Navy, Sephora, you name it... the percentages they offer in cash back always vary, and each day a new store will offer double cash back.   

You can click HERE to get started. 

Do it!  You'll be glad you did!

Cool Front

Okay, so there wasn't really a cool front today.  I lied.  But it felt like one.  Walking from church to the car today, I realized I wasn't instantly sweating, and with a slight breeze in the air, I couldn't believe how nice it felt.  I checked the temperature when I started driving... it said 95.  That's right, 95 feels GREAT compared to the blasted heat we've had.  I'm not going to know how to act or what to wear when it hits 80. 

I took Emerson and Jax to church by myself this morning and left Daddy and Hayden at home.  Why, you ask?  Well, after nursing Hayden this morning I went back into our room to wake Jason up and he rolled over with quite possibly the sleepiest eyes I've ever seen.  He reported that he had received approximately 2 hours of sleep during the night.  And he gently broke the news that I was the reason he hadn't slept well.  I guess I was a freakazoid in my sleep the entire night, all herky-jerky, pulling the covers violently this way and that.  Every time I would move, he would wake up and his adrenaline would kick in, keeping him from going back to sleep.  I felt so bad!

So I left Hane with him and had a good time with the bigs at church.  It was refreshing to sit through an entire service and not have to nurse.  She, of course, didn't drink an ounce of the bottle I pumped and left for her.  Oh no....that would be too easy!  She wanted the real deal when Momma got home.

Speaking of nursing, the dreaded thrush has come back.  I don't even want to type that word.  The good news, however, is that I noticed it early.  Hayden got it from her round of amoxicillin for her ear infection, and I noticed some early symptoms this weekend on the ta-tas.  I'll spare you the details.  I immediately called Dr. B and then realized I still had some nystatin left over from the 1st round, so I've been giving it to Hayden.  I also called my midwife and have started on medicine myself.  I am praying, praying, PRAYING that I caught it early enough to avoid the hell I went through last time.  So far my symptoms haven't worsened, so we'll see. 

One funny thing that Jax has been saying... "Ladies & gentlemen, boys & girls!"  Like he's doing a grand introduction, then he just stops.  Leaves you hanging.  Such a tease.

Oh my sweet gosh, it's midnight already.  I have GOT to get in bed.  Peace out.  Let's hope I'm a calm sleeper tonight. 

I Heart the 'Mart

I have plenty of friends who absolutely hate shopping at Walmart.  I understand some of their reasons... it's not the most coupon-friendly place to shop (in reality, I think it's that they don't train their cashiers well in this area), it smells weird (I concur with this one... when I was pregnant, it was all I could do to step foot past the fried food deli that greets you at the door), it's louder than Target (a girl I know chalked this one up to the difference in the carts), and the clientele (I'll leave that one up to your interpretation... I, for one, think the people are great as long as you're there before 10 p.m.). 

But let me tell you something.  Walmart's new price-matching policy is the BOMB!  All you have to do is write down the competitor prices on your grocery list, have your competitor ads with you in case they need to verify a price (although technically you don't have to have the ads with you... they say so in writing on the actual policy... but it helps speed things up if you have a grouchy cashier), and VOILA!  Plus they are the only store where I am able to price-match Aldi's produce prices.  That in itself is reason enough for me to continue to frequent the supercenter. 

Check out this stash of groceries I picked up this week.

My total before taxes should've been $40.16, but thanks to price-matching I paid $27.39 before tax.  THANKYOUVERYMUCH.  Disclaimer: The large amount of strawberries is for freezing since the prices are due to start coming back up soon.  The large amount of bananas is for making baby food for Hayden.  The bologna and soft drinks are for my husband.  The Oreos, however?  I'm all about them on a Friday night.  Even with my weight loss (49 pounds now... 6 more lost since last time I posted about it), I always include a night of some type of chocolate indulgence.  And it makes the husband a happy man.  There's almost nothing better than Oreos & milk on the couch with your sweetie.  Almost.  :) 

So back to price-matching.  Give it a shot if you haven't done it before.  Price match and be proud!  Save money and be savvy!  Ignore the smell and the noise and the crazies.  I promise you it'll be worth it.

MOVE, LEARN & EAT

Dooce featured "Move" on her blog this weekend, but you've also got to watch "Learn" & "Eat" which are both in the playlist on the right-hand side.  Quick little videos but fascinating and strangely moving.  Makes me want to jump on a plane with my family right now and see all of these places together. 

http://vimeo.com/27246366

Under-the-Weather Girls

Sweet baby Hayden turned 6 months on Monday, and I'm still reeling.  There's no way she's that old already.  Within the last few weeks, she learned how to sit on her own.  She's still a little wobbly, so I have to be right there to push her back to sitting position when she leans too far one way and topples over.  Emerson laughs like a hyena when that happens.  There's no sympathy or concern for the state of her bonked head... it's just pure hilarity to my first-born. 

On Monday at our pediatrician's office, we discovered Hayden has an ear infection.  Our first one ever!  I was just bragging to someone the other day that none of my kids had ever had one and was attributing it to breastfeeding.  Alas, if it's bound to happen, it's bound to happen to Baby Hane.  She's turning out to be a non-clone of her siblings, and I love her to pieces for it.  Jax was so easy as a baby because he was pretty much just like his sister.  Hayden seems to be following her own path, forging her way into this life hollering and fussing and making sure we know how she feels at all times. 

So anyway, back to the dr's visit.  Dr. B also discovered that she's got a little bit of wheezing.  She's had a runny nose for a while now, so I just assumed it was phlem in her chest, but Dr. B had me take home some albuterol for her.  After four days of treatments, the slight wheezing/rattling is still there, so I'm taking her back in tomorrow morning for reevaluation.

Emerson is on the tail-end of a nasty virus.  She had a mild fever Monday night, and she woke up screaming a few hours after she went to bed.  When Jason and I ran up the stairs, she was plastered to the top of her pillow, convinced there were bugs in her bed trying to get her.  The next day her fever never dropped below 102, even with alternating Tylenol and Advil.  Finally on Tuesday evening I took her to the children's after-hours urgent care, and she tested negative for strep, so we know it's viral.

The bug incident has taken its toll... we have to talk her through her fear before each nap and before bed each night.  She wants to check the sheets and then discuss bugs in general.  Tonight I overheard Daddy talking to her about the fact that God made the bugs so we don't have to be scared of them, that we are protected from bugs getting in our beds.  For the first time since Tuesday, she didn't cry when he left the room, so I think we're on the mend from the bug incident! 

J and I just finished payroll tonight, so I'm off to catch some Zs. 

Emerson said...

At dinner last week, "Mommy, did you know I had a cat named Wilbur?"

"No, Emerson.  I didn't know that." (We have never had a cat, by the way).

"Yeah.  But he's sick.  He has poop in his froat."
_________________________________________________

A few mornings ago, I ran upstairs with Emerson to get her clothes for her first day of music camp. I was wearing just my unmentionables, and as I was leaning over to grab something off the floor, she said, "Mommy, your tummy is SOOO fluffy! You remember when you had the baby in your tummy and it was flat?"

To which I replied, "My tummy wasn't flat, it was very tight when Hayden was in there."

"Oh yeah. Well, Mommy? I like the way your tummy looks."
__________________________________________________

At lunch she said, "Mommy, there's not a hole in our hearts!  You know why?"

"Why?"

"Because God is blocking the hole." 


I've discovered the key to having great conversations with your kids is to sit and eat with them.  It sounds easy, but there are days when I scramble to get food on their plates while eating a sandwich in one hand and holding the baby in the other.  When I take the time to set the baby down, make my own lunch and eat it with them, I find I'm privy to all sorts of interesting topics.  It's great fun to listen to them interact with each other as well.  Emerson basically does everything she can do to force her opinion on her brother.  He usually obliges and complies, but I know there will come a day when he tells her exactly what he thinks of her opinion.