So. I haven't blogged in a while. I've got these two kids here keeping me on my toes. And, if I let my guard down for fifteen minutes, then I'm behind on housework. I know the saying goes, "A clean house is a sign of a wasted life," but y'all, I just can't function in a messy, cluttered, dirty house. I crave the order.
So, anyways. Here's what's been going on in the past few weeks...
We dedicated both of the babies in church on Mother's Day. I don't have any pictures at the moment, my mom (ahem) hasn't emailed any to me of the dedication. It was so nice, though! I know Andrew technically isn't a 'baby' anymore (he's my baby) but we had never dedicated him. When he was born we weren't going to church, well, we went to church, occasionally, but we hadn't found one we both liked. It took us a while to find this one, First Baptist of Batesburg. We love the church. Lots of people our age and lots of little children, with a good, very good, youth program. Andrew attends Mother's Morning Out there, two days a week. Back to the dedication...The kids got a little certificate and a little New Testament. Which brings us to a total of 5 or 6 copies of the New Testament just for the kids. We'll never be at a loss for the story of Jesus around here!
The week of my birthday we went over to Atlanta while Brian was working 12 hour shifts for a week. That makes for a long, long day for me. And I'm not saying that Brian doesn't have a long day either. I'm just saying we all get more rest (and are in general, happier parents) when I take the kids to my parent's when he works those shifts. My parents enjoy it, anyhow. While we were there we drove over to Birmingham again to see my grandparents. Again, there are photos but my mother (ahem) hasn't emailed those to me either. (What does she DO all day?!) Kidding, Mom. I know you're not sitting on the couch eating bon bons. A mother never rests. I love going to see my grandparents. They're very important to me and I love them very much. I have many, many childhood memories that involve them. While it's a bit stressful driving the kids over there for the day, I know they cherish the visit.
We've got our vegetable garden up and going. I have a feeling we may have overdone it this time. Did we really need eight cherry tomatoes? Or nine tomatoes? Or the ten pepper plants? Hmmm. I guess we'll be eating lots of salsa and spaghetti. I've also got lots of beans and squash planted, and loads of sweet potatoes. My great vision is to grow and make all of Emily's baby food. We've got about two months until she starts, so I think we're right on time. It'll be fun. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
Speaking of Emily, she's FOUR months old this week! It hurts to say it, and think it. She's started rice cereal. I do have very funny pictures of her eating cereal for the first time. But, yes, you've got it, Mom hasn't emailed those to me, either. (Ahem. AHEM!) She's just in the past two days really gotten the hang of it. I'd say about 65% of the cereal that goes in her mouth stays there. The other 35% is either on her bib or on me. I had no idea breast milk was so sticky! And, it may or may not be a coincidence, but the very same night that she had cereal (and kept it in her mouth) was the same night she SLEPT!! I put her down with her last feeding around 9:30 ish, and I had to wake her up at 7:45!!! I had to. It hurt, but I woke her up. I had to nurse. In a bad, bad way! Not to mention we had to get Andrew to school. But, Lord, she slept. I think I went in around 2:30ish to give her her paci back and cover her up, but that was it. I think it was a combination of not having a long nap that day and the cereal. But, when I went in today when she was taking a nap, I saw her. Sucking. Her. Thumb. So, that may be another reason she slept. Because she was soothing herself with her little thumb. Tonight I have put mittens on her hands.
On one hand I feel like I should just let her do it, because, hey, if it helps her sleep all night, then go to it. But on the other hand, it's a very hard habit to break. It's not like you can just throw away the thumb. It's stuck on there for good. So we'll see if the mittens help.
She's a mess. 100% mess. She adores her brother, laughs at everything he does, watches his every move. She's a very happy little girl. She's now starting to grab toys and shake them, putting everything into her mouth. When she's on her tummy, she pushes all the way up, straightening her arms. If you put pressure under her feet when she's on her tummy, she pushes herself forward. Lord help us all, as soon as she gets that tummy off the ground...she'll be gone in a flash. Andrew did not crawl. He butt scooted. So we don't know what we'll do with a crawling baby. In fact, tonight, Andrew and daddy were wrestling on the floor, and Emmy was sitting in her chair watching. She was fussing and whining, so I went to sit next to her. I got her out of her chair and sat her on my legs, and she started wiggling and smiling. I realized that she was fussing because she wanted to wrestle, too! I let her play around with daddy a bit, and roll her around. She loved every minute. Tomboy, anyone?
Andrew is three. And very, very good at it. Forget that two's thing. This boy can go 180 degrees in one second flat. He's gotten so independent. Which is good, I guess. But it was much easier when he just went with the flow of things. Now getting him to come outside and play is like negotiating a Peace Plan with Iran. There is no simple task. It takes at least five minutes of negotiating, promising, and even a little bit of lying on my part. Overall he's a good little guy. Very smart. Y'all, he can count to 50, without looking at anything. He knows his ABC's, is spelling words, and is learning to write. He recognizes words on sight, which I guess is pre-reading. He loves watching t.v. In fact, the other day he was running around the house saying, "Five dollar footlongs!" The Subway commercial is his favorite. I'll have to start writing the sayings down, I've forgotten half of what he's said.
On a more serious note, I realize I haven't mentioned in a long time how we're doing with our plan to be debt free. It's happening, guys. We're so close. We're two months away from paying off the credit card, and four months away from paying off the car. After those a paid, we'll be rolling that debt snowball towards the student loans. Eighteen months from now, we will have no debt, no debt, except for the mortgage. You can't imagine how this feels!! It's going to enable us to send Andrew to a private 4-year kindergarten next year, it'll enable us to buy a camper. It'll enable us to get a six month emergency fund established. We'll be able to work on our house more. We'll be able to give. I can't wait. All these months of budgeting and scrimping and couponing are paying off. Can't wait!
Well that is it for tonight. I just put Emily down about 20 minutes ago, so if I want to get a good eight hours of sleep I should go now. But I probably jinxed it by talking about it. Which really means I should go to sleep now. Hopefully soon I will have pictures to go with this post. Did I mention my mom has them? On her camera? All she has to do is email them.....
So, anyways. Here's what's been going on in the past few weeks...
We dedicated both of the babies in church on Mother's Day. I don't have any pictures at the moment, my mom (ahem) hasn't emailed any to me of the dedication. It was so nice, though! I know Andrew technically isn't a 'baby' anymore (he's my baby) but we had never dedicated him. When he was born we weren't going to church, well, we went to church, occasionally, but we hadn't found one we both liked. It took us a while to find this one, First Baptist of Batesburg. We love the church. Lots of people our age and lots of little children, with a good, very good, youth program. Andrew attends Mother's Morning Out there, two days a week. Back to the dedication...The kids got a little certificate and a little New Testament. Which brings us to a total of 5 or 6 copies of the New Testament just for the kids. We'll never be at a loss for the story of Jesus around here!
The week of my birthday we went over to Atlanta while Brian was working 12 hour shifts for a week. That makes for a long, long day for me. And I'm not saying that Brian doesn't have a long day either. I'm just saying we all get more rest (and are in general, happier parents) when I take the kids to my parent's when he works those shifts. My parents enjoy it, anyhow. While we were there we drove over to Birmingham again to see my grandparents. Again, there are photos but my mother (ahem) hasn't emailed those to me either. (What does she DO all day?!) Kidding, Mom. I know you're not sitting on the couch eating bon bons. A mother never rests. I love going to see my grandparents. They're very important to me and I love them very much. I have many, many childhood memories that involve them. While it's a bit stressful driving the kids over there for the day, I know they cherish the visit.
We've got our vegetable garden up and going. I have a feeling we may have overdone it this time. Did we really need eight cherry tomatoes? Or nine tomatoes? Or the ten pepper plants? Hmmm. I guess we'll be eating lots of salsa and spaghetti. I've also got lots of beans and squash planted, and loads of sweet potatoes. My great vision is to grow and make all of Emily's baby food. We've got about two months until she starts, so I think we're right on time. It'll be fun. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
Speaking of Emily, she's FOUR months old this week! It hurts to say it, and think it. She's started rice cereal. I do have very funny pictures of her eating cereal for the first time. But, yes, you've got it, Mom hasn't emailed those to me, either. (Ahem. AHEM!) She's just in the past two days really gotten the hang of it. I'd say about 65% of the cereal that goes in her mouth stays there. The other 35% is either on her bib or on me. I had no idea breast milk was so sticky! And, it may or may not be a coincidence, but the very same night that she had cereal (and kept it in her mouth) was the same night she SLEPT!! I put her down with her last feeding around 9:30 ish, and I had to wake her up at 7:45!!! I had to. It hurt, but I woke her up. I had to nurse. In a bad, bad way! Not to mention we had to get Andrew to school. But, Lord, she slept. I think I went in around 2:30ish to give her her paci back and cover her up, but that was it. I think it was a combination of not having a long nap that day and the cereal. But, when I went in today when she was taking a nap, I saw her. Sucking. Her. Thumb. So, that may be another reason she slept. Because she was soothing herself with her little thumb. Tonight I have put mittens on her hands.
On one hand I feel like I should just let her do it, because, hey, if it helps her sleep all night, then go to it. But on the other hand, it's a very hard habit to break. It's not like you can just throw away the thumb. It's stuck on there for good. So we'll see if the mittens help.
She's a mess. 100% mess. She adores her brother, laughs at everything he does, watches his every move. She's a very happy little girl. She's now starting to grab toys and shake them, putting everything into her mouth. When she's on her tummy, she pushes all the way up, straightening her arms. If you put pressure under her feet when she's on her tummy, she pushes herself forward. Lord help us all, as soon as she gets that tummy off the ground...she'll be gone in a flash. Andrew did not crawl. He butt scooted. So we don't know what we'll do with a crawling baby. In fact, tonight, Andrew and daddy were wrestling on the floor, and Emmy was sitting in her chair watching. She was fussing and whining, so I went to sit next to her. I got her out of her chair and sat her on my legs, and she started wiggling and smiling. I realized that she was fussing because she wanted to wrestle, too! I let her play around with daddy a bit, and roll her around. She loved every minute. Tomboy, anyone?
Andrew is three. And very, very good at it. Forget that two's thing. This boy can go 180 degrees in one second flat. He's gotten so independent. Which is good, I guess. But it was much easier when he just went with the flow of things. Now getting him to come outside and play is like negotiating a Peace Plan with Iran. There is no simple task. It takes at least five minutes of negotiating, promising, and even a little bit of lying on my part. Overall he's a good little guy. Very smart. Y'all, he can count to 50, without looking at anything. He knows his ABC's, is spelling words, and is learning to write. He recognizes words on sight, which I guess is pre-reading. He loves watching t.v. In fact, the other day he was running around the house saying, "Five dollar footlongs!" The Subway commercial is his favorite. I'll have to start writing the sayings down, I've forgotten half of what he's said.
On a more serious note, I realize I haven't mentioned in a long time how we're doing with our plan to be debt free. It's happening, guys. We're so close. We're two months away from paying off the credit card, and four months away from paying off the car. After those a paid, we'll be rolling that debt snowball towards the student loans. Eighteen months from now, we will have no debt, no debt, except for the mortgage. You can't imagine how this feels!! It's going to enable us to send Andrew to a private 4-year kindergarten next year, it'll enable us to buy a camper. It'll enable us to get a six month emergency fund established. We'll be able to work on our house more. We'll be able to give. I can't wait. All these months of budgeting and scrimping and couponing are paying off. Can't wait!
Well that is it for tonight. I just put Emily down about 20 minutes ago, so if I want to get a good eight hours of sleep I should go now. But I probably jinxed it by talking about it. Which really means I should go to sleep now. Hopefully soon I will have pictures to go with this post. Did I mention my mom has them? On her camera? All she has to do is email them.....
UPDATE: I realized after I posted this that I said nothing about Charleston, as mentioned in the title. The weekend after Mother's Day we went down to Charleston with some friends. Audrie's parents live on Isle of Palms, so we went to their house. We mostly spent time hanging out, but we did go to the aquarium, and took Emily to the beach for a quick minute. Here are some photos:
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3 comments:
I really think you should be a little nicer to your mom. She can't remember what she walked upstairs to get much less remember to email pictures. However, I think she may have been humiliated enough in your blog to do it! One can only hope . . .
We went overboard on the garden too and just gave a neighbor half his tomato plants. Way to go on getting debt free too. All we have is our mortgage as well and it is nice. Not that we can afford anything but we have 5 kids and it is a huge accomplishment to just have a mortgage! Now as long as our cars don't break down or anything. Your kids are so adorable! Looks like Andrew is a great big brother. We haven't done baby food at all with our last 3 kids. It is nice. I just start with those little puffed rice things and mashed banana, apple, and sweet potato. But nice that she is sleeping better. Honestly I don't even know if Alex wakes up at night or not, he sleeps next to our bed and I just nurse and go back to sleep and I am usually half asleep. We didn't do that until the 3rd child when I was too exausted to even get out of bed. I would really like to see you guys sometime. How far are you from Lake Hartwell, Anderson, SC? We are going to Myrtle Beach in Aug and could stop by on the way there as well. Hope you are doing good!
Love the footprint pic and the froggy on the bench. Presh!
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