Catching Up

My baby girl can sit up all by herself! This video is from TONIGHT.

So, it’s been a while, huh?

Ever feel like you just can get caught up?

I know I do. Often...

It used to happen even more frequently, too.

A few years ago, I found myself pregnant before I was married. Not the "right" order. I got married.

So, then I found myself married before I had finished school. Again, not the "right" order. I (kind of) finished school.

I took the easy way out and got a Bachelor's Degree in psychology from our local university, because I was sure I needed a degree. Academia wise, it was too easy. I didn't even walk. It did have it's price though. My marriage suffered, as did my poor husband. It took me two years to loose 20 pounds of baby weight. I visited the family that lived around me A LOT like you're "supposed" to do, and was resentful for never having time to myself. My house was always clean and sanitized.

I was generally stressed out, exhausted, and never really GOOD at anything.

I missed a lot of good things “catching up” though; I just didn't know it until I realized (tonight) I don’t have video of the first time Noah sat up.

I'm sitting here at my computer and I just want to cry, one of those big crys where you wake up with a headache and your nose runs for the rest of the week. My husband already thinks I'm crazy though.


My mother-in-law, one of the smartest women I know, told me this poem one time:

“Cleaning and scrubbing can wait until tomorrow,
because babies grow up, I've learned to my sorrow.
So hush-a-bye cobwebs, dust, go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep!”

These days, I hardly ever answer my phone the first time it rings unless I'm expecting my husband to call or someone else is watching my babies. I currently have 18 voicemail I haven’t listened to. I don't look at emails that have the word "FWD" in the message line.

I’ve always been pretty good at saying “No”, but I’ve essentially beaten the castle at this point.

I have an entire list of things I neglect, but my marriage and my children aren't on it.

I have a ton of pictures from the holidays I’m going to post. I will blog again, but sometimes it's just "on the list". It can wait until another night, because I’m about to go watch a movie with my husband.


Go ahead….Neglect some things. You’ve got my permission.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Ava was four months old yesterday....and yesterday she found her feet. It's like she just never knew they were there before. I can't believe she's already 4 months old.

Saturday we went to the Niceville Christmas Parade, but we didn't stay long because it was so cold and we walked there. Husband's idea...

Here's Ava all bundled up:


Here's Noah and Daddy:


Sunday Noah had another singing concert. They called it "Christmas Hangups". It was for the children 3yrs to 5th grade, so it was really cute all around. I am the WORST videographer, but he's the one in the red, cowboy hat.

Here's Noah singing "Away In A Manger":


Here they are signing "Jingle Bells":


All I can say is, Christmas is so much better when you have children!

I Need A Time Out

Ever had a day where you have to constantly remind yourself to be nice?

Today was that kind of day for me. I guess I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Nearly everything was a struggle, and I know that makes it hard on my family.

Steven went to Powell Agency (insurance company) this morning and changed the value of his jeep from Blue Book to stated. Essentially, his jeep is now worth about $7,000 in an accident. Oddly enough, it saved us money because his car is now labeled a "collectible" instead of "recreational". Labels, labels...



Then he took me to Cracker Barrel, which is one of my favorite places to eat. We drove his car to Tilberg's house to get repainted, and then we came home and helped Noah with his Christmas tree for school. We cleaned the agency, which I love getting done on Friday nights. Now my lovely children are sleeping soundly in their rooms, and Steven and I will be able to have a little bit of a date night.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. Why was I so grumpy?

I will tell you one thing, Noah had one heck of a time out today which is always a good attitude adjustment for him. He stood in our corner for about 10 minutes yelling, screaming, and crying. It's like he just had something going on he needed to have a little bit of a breakdown about.

While I was listening to him I thought, "That's what I'd like to do". I thought, "I just need to stand in a corner and not worry about who's watching me and yell, and scream, and cry". I didn't, of course. My husband may have thought that was a little weird.

I was thinking though that we just don't take enough "time outs" for ourselves as we get older, do we?

Homework For Moms . . .?

I feel like Noah's school (society in general, really) is asking a lot of us moms. It's not that I don't want to be involved with my child's schooling or anything, but really...homework at three? He already do some crafts at home. He's in school 4 hours a day, 2 days a week. Who do they think ends up with the work when they send homework?

Tuesday they sent us home with poster board to cut out paper candy canes. So, this morning I'm rushing around trying to get my "homework" together before I can go drop Noah off. I got 20 of them out of one poster board, but it took me like 35 minutes.

Today they sent him home with a poster board of a Christmas tree to cut out and decorate. Have I mentioned I feel like I live at Walmart...?

No big deal for me really, because I'm not officially doing anything else. I clean my Dad's office on the weekend, but that's about the extent of my contribution to working society right now. To me, it really seems like I do a lot though...and what if I was working....? I can't imagine being a mom who works full-time, has children (we'll add a husband to this item on the list), and then has to come home and help them with their homework.

However, it won't be something I'll have to imagine in two or so years when I join the ranks of the gainfully employed. I do find the longer I stay out of work, the more nervous I get about going back. Pre-children I had a really good job, too. I was an assistant internal auditor at a local bank and probably could have moved up to a cushy position with an even more cushy paycheck. I don't regret making the decision I made to stay at home at all though.

My children have helped me learn more real world skills than my little job ever did. I was never really good with things like multi-tasking, thinking on my feet (lets just say poop happens), accepting help, congeniality, or not sweating the small stuff. Hopefully, by the time I'm looking for work again, the economy will pick back up. Lets just say I'll be more qualified this time around . . .

Since I've been at home I have been trying to come up with ways to make money without leaving my child with someone else. There are a ton of scams out there, aren't there? I have found a few ways that are LEGIT though, and I'll be sharing more as I have time and as I find them.

Here's two:

http://www.focusonservice.com/
This one gets you a free meal (plus $10, I think) at Longhorns twice a year.

http://www.mysteryshopperservices.com/
This one is affiliated with multiple businesses. You can look up assignments by your zip code. Each assignment tells what it pays ahead of time.

It's awesome because you can bring your children! As for my family, we're just sitting at home anyways. May as well get a free meal (or whatever) and a little extra spending money.




Here's some pictures of my son being industrious today. You may have noticed he doesn't like to wear a shirt. It's Florida....what can I say?

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
She is worth more than precious rubies.
Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life.
She will not hinder him but help him all her life.
She finds wool and flax and busily spins it.
She is like a merchant's ship; she brings her food from afar.
She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for her servant girls.
She goes out to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard.
She is energetic and strong, a hard worker.
She watches for bargains: her lights burn late into the night.
Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting like fiber.
She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy.
She has no fear of winter for her household because all of them have warm clothes. She quilts her own bedspreads.
She dresses like royalty in gowns of finest cloth.
Her husband is well known, for he sits in the council meeting with the other civic leaders.
She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants.
She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs with no fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and kindness is the rule when she gives instructions.
She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness.
Her children stand and bless her.
Her husband praises her: "There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!"
Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.

So, I'm not an early riser, and I don't know how to sew....I'm a work-in-progress.

Brums....and more...

It's December 2nd. I haven't posted anything in a week, because this week has been a blur. I forgot my camera during Thanksgiving, the house is trashed even more than usual, I missed my bible study yesterday, and I still have a ton of errands to run today even though that's what I did all day yesterday.

I haven’t been walking either so I think I may be having withdrawls.

Even so, this was probably the best Thanksgiving we've had as a family. I normally tire of holidays because it always feels like we're rushing from one place to the next to "see", but not actually get to hang out with everyone. For some reason this Thanksgiving was just better. I feel like our little family is complete in some way . . .it's relaxing.

First we went to Aunt Janet's house. Then we made the drive to Mom's house in Panama City. Even though Ava can't stand being in the car, she was so worn out from visiting with everyone that she slept almost the whole way. Mom was enjoying the holidays by playing poker with all her friends. If you ask me (even though we don't really gamble), that's an awesome way to spend a holiday. Allen gave us some more of his tasty oranges. Can't wait to eat some! Steven got some last Christmas, and he was on a orange kick that last like 8 months or something.

We got most of our Christmas shopping done the week before last, but Noah wanted this gift we had gotten for Aslan. Drums. I LOVE THEM! Now that he's used them though, we'll probably get something a little different for Aslan. They are loud, and do take up a lot of space in his little room.





He calls them brums....haha.

Steven is so cute about it. Every time we start Noah doing something new he says, "It'd be so cool if he learned how to (insert hobby turned pro here....i.e. dancing, drum playing, windsurfing, soccer). I loved that when I was younger."



Noah has finally decided that Ava is allowed to watch tv with him. She's just not allowed to touch his chair.



Grandpa and Grandma Harding sent us about 60 box tops in the mail. I knew I should have waited until his Daddy was home to open them, but I let him open them anyway. His face was better than on Halloween or Christmas! He was so excited. We printed out sheets for him to tape them to bring them to school on. He colored them and I taped them all on.



We cleaned out Noah's toys in preparation for Christmas, and we sent three boxes to Gavin. We also took some bigger things to the Methodist box. I can't believe he had that many toys in his room. It's so clean now. I'm washing his sheets now, but I'll post pictures later to prove it can be clean!

Ava can officially put her passie in her mouth. In this video, she never actually gets it all the way in, but you get the idea.



Oh, and Noah can write and type his name now. Pretty cool. I wish they could have kindergarten on computers because he's much better at typing than writing.

I'm sure there's a ton more I'd like to write about, but these were the highlights!