The dark ages

No pics again tonight.  Still working from the ghetto old laptop.  Gonna research a new power supply for the computer tomorrow.

Good day today, went to work.  I feel basically all better, and the boys seem almost normal.  Baby Bear was stuffy yesterday and a little this morning, but basically seems okay now.  She went to bed a little early, yay!

The boys got to play with cousins Storm and Freedom today at Grammy's, and it sounds like they all had a blast.  They are actually the sons of Brandon's cousin, and I'm sick of trying to figure out what that makes them to my kids.  Auntie Donna and the boys were visiting at Grammy's and it was nice to see them for a minute when I dropped the kids off.

Brandon got paid today!  I tell you what, that is gonna help us get through these last two weeks of his trip.  God is good.

Making lots of fun plans for our St. Augustine vacation, which begins the very day after he returns!  We are gonna wear him out, but he's super excited too.

Stellan's doing better, his situation is less immediately urgent.  They are still making the plans to get him to Boston for his surgery.  He's an amazing boy!

Dell really stinks! I wanted to say something else, but Popo has already picked up on "Crap!", so I'm trying to be better.

Short and Sweet

(Three boys with threes - not thirty three, but super cute!)

(Super cute 34 - I lost a day last week when I was without internet, miscounted days)

Stayed home from work, eventually took the kids to Grammy's, took an extremely overdue shower (had been wearing the same shirt for two days), took a nap, stopped at Target, picked up the kids, had dinner, got everyone to bed (WOOHOO!), blogged...

And throughout, prayed for Stellan and his family.  He has been in the hospital because of his heart condition since Friday and things have been getting worse for him medically.  His sweet family is hanging in there watching him wane.  God has been preparing them, making them strong and full of faith, but that doesn't take the pain away from watching your child suffer.  He will be heading to Boston for an emergency, dangerous surgery as soon as they can get him up in the air.

Beyond praying for the family's patience, peace, and rest, I've really been focusing on praising God.  There is a much larger, more important battle going on here than the one in Stellan's little body.  I see angels and demons fighting it out.  Despite Satan's best effort, God will gain great glory from this situation, no matter the earthly outcome.  He is great and worthy to be praised.  He is all there is.  He is all there is.  He is the only thing that's real and the only thing that matters.  This is all by Him, of Him, for Him.  Thank you God, for using each of us in your plans, big, small, easy, breathtakingly painful, whatever.

Crud

I feel like crud.  I'm sick, the boys are sick, and Baby Bear has been warm today.  I have been a psycho mommy tonight and I'm sick of freaking out at the boys' issues.

Popo stopped paying attention to what he was doing and dumped his potty-chair bowl, full of peepee, on the way to dump it in the big potty.  All over himself and the floor.  While Baby Bear was in the kitchen crying for her cereal meal that was interrupted and Bubby was in the living room asking me over and over to fix something.  Or something.  That was the worst one of a few freakouts.  Bubby knows to stay out of my way now when I'm like that.  It's actually kinda cute, he runs in his exaggerated haste in a zig-zag pattern like he's panicking, all in a silly way.

I was worried; she wasn't taking in the cereal quite as easily when we first started tonight.  But she sure remembered how it works quickly.  She wolfed it down and was very disappointed when it was gone.  I'm so excited, I can't wait to try another new food soon.

We didn't make it to church because of our germs.  I'm not sure I'll make it to work tomorrow.  It's strange; it's actually a somewhat mild cold, but it hits in waves.  And when it's yucky, it's pretty yucky.  And I clearly need all the energy I can get right now.  These last two weeks are gonna be the killers, apparently.

(Any time anyone wants some free kids to take home and play with for a few hours, I've got two really cute ones ready to go!)

We are almost out of the boys' Tylenol, and I really don't think I'm gonna get us out to the store to get more.  So maybe they'll share with the baby.

Lovely Day

We went to Grammy's house for lunch and to swim in the pool.  It was a beautiful day, and the pool felt great.  Grammy swam with us, and the boys are getting really good floating around and working on swimming (thanks, Aunt Jen!)  I took a break from taking pictures, sorry!

We are all getting sick, so that was stinky.  We rested a little this afternoon, thank goodness.  Not much actual sleep, but rest.  Then we had one of those leftover-smorgasbord dinners, it was fun.

I'm off to get some rest before helping in the nursery.  Oh shoot, I can't do that if I'm sick.  I guess I'm off to get some rest from being sick.

Soooooooooooooo

Tired!

Fun day.  Jennifer came and saved my life by taking the boys to our pool for a while, then we all went to Chick-fil-a for lunch.  They played on the playground there and had a blast.  My boys hadn't played on one yet, because I haven't been at a restaurant with one with another adult, and I wasn't ready to tackle letting them both go in, alone.  They loved it.  We rushed out eventually because a snotty kid was rubbing his hands all over Baby Bear and blowing raspberries in the boys' faces.  I almost had a germ breakdown.  Yes, I've turned into that mom.  I don't care though.  I'm the one that has to deal with two or three whiney kids and watch them suffer, so I'm the one that gets to remove yucky kids from my kids' faces.

Serious crafty-work

Mr. Fishy - he's a great swimmer now!

Yummy!

Unfortunately, I've not had the best attitude or supply of patience.  Cause: 5.5 hours of sleep.  Nights have been getting progressively worse for me lately.  I was up late updating this blog and dealing with Comcast (more to follow on that in an upcoming post), then my princess decided she needed a snack at 5:30 am.  That would have been okay - it happens once in a while - but she decided she was up for the day.  Just like yesterday, she refused to nap until I wrapped her on me and completely covered her head.  At 9 am!

Baby Bear had a big milestone today:  she had her first taste of food!  She had some rice cereal in breastmilk, very thin.  She did a great job!  I felt pretty sure she'd been somewhat ready for a little while now, but hadn't had the chance to get her started.  With her sleep issues and some slightly strange eating schedule changes, I got desperate.  She was more than ready.  She didn't push it out at all, was opening her mouth big for the spoon, and grabbing for the spoon and bowl.  The only problem is that she is really struggling with keeping her head up for long.  I've been saying it's because she wants to dive to munch on her hands, which is true, but I'm almost starting to get concerned her little neck muscles are a little delayed in strength because of it.  She was hunched over for most of the meal.

But what a mobile girl!  This just happened in five minutes while I was here on the computer.  She was laid in the center of her flower mat.  I guess that thing's pointless now.  Hmm, I guess I should be concerned for her little bare body on this yucky carpet.

Okay, so I'm sooooooooooooooooooooo tired.  Goodnight.

The Fun Never Ends

Okay, so how cool is that picture? At the beach Tuesday, someone had built this neato seat (that's the back of it, where we carved 29), complete with ottoman. So we did a little photo shoot there.

That post title sounds sarcastic, but it's not. I feel like every day is just jammed with fun lately. God is so good. Even on the most stressful, exhausting days lately, I feel joy oozing out of my pores.

Anyway...........

Okay so this post is going to have lots of rambling in it. Get over it.

So we went to Publix today for groceries because I felt like we were totally out of everything. Then, walking each aisle because I didn't even bother to make a list, I was that sure we needed everything, I realized I already had most of the stuff I buy. I'm still very confused about this.

Anyway...........

I took us to a Publix slightly further from our usual one because it's really big and has insanely huge aisles. I'm so sick of squeezing the giant kid-cart through the tiny aisles at my older Publix and getting the evil eye from fellow shoppers, like I purposely had kids so I could drive them crazy at the grocery store. Well, we get there and there are no kid-carts left! So I had to let my hyper 3-year-olds roam the aisles with me. Not stressful at all. Oh, and that store is much more expensive than my usual one. I'm not imagining it. No, I'm not!

They actually behaved pretty well, but I'm working on such a thin thread of patience. We all dealt with each other as well as we could. Dang, I love them. It really feels like we're a team here, getting through the rough stuff together.

Except Baby Bear. She doesn't quite get the teamwork thing. I put her down for her nap this morning, obviously because she was tired. She was quiet for a short time, then fussed some, then belted out bloody murder for 30 minutes. I finally went in there to help her, and twice she woke up screaming as I tried to lay her down. I had a very tense conversation with God. He didn't respond much because I was being irrational. I gave up and she came and helped me on the computer. She didn't fall asleep until much later in the grocery store. I had her wrapped on me, facing me, and I had to pull the cover completely over her head to get her to shut her eyes. She's so dang nosey! And stubborn.

Oh my goodness! I got my BabyLegs today! I got these, these, and these for Baby Bear. I got these for Mady. They'll really come in handy for her because her knees have been getting pretty roughed up from crawling like a maniac. They are so freaking cute and delicious and yummy. (The leggings, not the red knees.) The only things I've noticed so far that weren't perfection are: 1) the colors on some of them aren't as vibrant as online, and 2) the organic pair (Tides), though they are super soft, are way too tight in the elastic, even on the baby.

Baby Bear's second-bestest friend (after me, of course):




They were really tickled by each other tonight. As is to be expected with little ones, the best action took place immediately before and after the camera was on.

I bought pizza dough at the grocery store today and went to Mom's to fry it and eat it up with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese. PERFECTION!

Okay, okay. I guess that's enough for now. Oh, yesterday was my sister's birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mustard

Okay, missed days...

Last Thursday Memaw came to town.  We went to Mom's house to greet her and have dinner and such.  It was a really lovely time.  The boys "caught" some fish in the pond again.  Dad catches one, then tortures it by leaving it on the line to let the boys keep catching it.  They think it's the neatest thing ever, and Popo even touched it.  Popo, of all boys.

Memaw spent most of the day Friday here at our house, helping me and the kids.  We got to talk a lot, and she helped me by dealing with one age group when I had to deal with the other.  That was also a very nice time.

Saturday...  Umm...  I've forgotten this stuff already.  Oh, we went to Mom's again, hoping to do something fun outside.  Then it rained.  SURPRISE SURPRISE!  So we went and walked around the mall with Mom and Memaw.

Sunday we went to church, then out to lunch with my parents and Memaw.  That was fun and filling.  After we all took naps, we... did... something.  Umm...  Okay, I don't think I'm going to remember.

Monday I went to work, but left a little early to come get our modem and take it to the local Comcast shop.  They swapped it out for me, no big deal, but then it took me a long time to get it all set up at home.  We seem to be having issues with the signal coming through all the wires required to get to the modem, so there was a lot of trial and error.  Then Comcast was trying to make me activate my account again, so I had to call customer service to fix that.  DON'T call Comcast's 800 number!  It has a ridiculous set of menus, and just when you think you'll get to someone, you get the local number's menu anyway.  FYI, the local Jax number is 374-8000.  I have it memorized, just like Dad.  Once you have to deal with them, you'll understand.  (P.S., now our cable doesn't work right, and the girl on the phone just told me I have to swap out my cable box too.  I'm fairly convinced this is a larger issue, but I want a new box anyway.  So I think I'll have to do that tomorrow, install it, have it still not work right, then call to have them send someone out.  I think this Comcast junk has been the most stressful part of Brandon's time away...)

Then we ate dinner at Keith and Laurie's.  We had yummy tilapia, and Popo actually ate a little!  Bubby ate basically nothing.  So when we pulled up to the house, he was asking me for lunch.  Sorry Bubb!

I'm planning on posting the beach pictures tomorrow.  Today I've been some of the most exhausted yet.

Oh, I'll share about a big scare soon too.

Those were the days...

So incredibly exhausted again.  I promise I'll lay out the scoop of all those super-exciting (don't worry, they were just regular-exciting) days you missed out on.

We spent the afternoon at St. Augustine beach.  It was really nice out today, perfect in fact, and Mom had the day off so we sped down there to hang out.  A great time was had by all.  Again, pictures to follow.  Falling asleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..................

Oh, sorry.  Mom brought me some oldie-goodies today and I am so glad to share them here.

For real, our first actual date, at the Jax Fair.  (Other than the one were we awkwardly drove around trying to find something to do.  And failing.)

A work Christmas party, from back in the days when companies threw Christmas parties.

Ketchup

I love the expression on all three goobers' faces, in all different directions...

I'm not going to get into all the comings and goings you've missed out on tonight.  I'm very very tired, and technology is not my friend.  I've had every electronic device I've touched go bad on me, except this computer.  (That tried to go bad, but I overcame...)

Aaarrggghhhhh

Our internet is broken.  I mean really broken.  For two days now.  I'm at my mom's house now.

I'm going to have to call Comcast today, yuck.

Yesterday's post?  I texted a post from my phone and got a confirmation text back, but trust me, that's not what I texted.

I'll be back with updates and number pictures as soon as I can.

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Picassos

You can tell he really misses you...

Is that how you'd spell the plural of Picasso?

They just love their bathtub crayons!  Mom, did you get them these, or did we?  They've used them a couple of times now, including in the shower.  Tonight they really went all out.

Bubby's "C"s

Popo's "L" collection

Teamwork

Yes, it was fun to clean up!

Oh, and take a look at this doozy:

Yeah, I tried to remove the top half of my thumb with this one this morning.  Yes, of course I'm exhaggerating, that's what I do.  But it was scary.  I had to talk myself down from a freakout.  Out loud.  If I didn't, I think I would have been ill.  For reals, y'all.  It's healing up some already though, four band-aids later.  At least I found out our Neosporin is three years expired!

Cleanliness

Don't worry, I'm gonna get serious about getting caught up on the real number pictures soon.

I made some "special" oatmeal chocolate chip cookies today. Popo can't make up his mind if he likes it or not, but Bubby sure does. He finished off his brother's for him. I'm so very excited, because if having a somewhat healthy dessert every day is what it takes to get vegetables into them, I'll take it. I'm not telling what veggies are in these cookies, because I want everyone to try it first, tell me how much they love them, then guess what's in them.

Oh, the joy of a clean half-house!  Mom and I worked pretty hard (of course, she worked harder, that's what she does) for much of the day today, and my downstairs looks pretty spiffy.  And the bestest part of all is the upstairs bathroom.  She overhauled it, and finally, you'd never know it was the cat's room for three years...

Honey, you'll want to spend the night in there when you get back, it's so wonderful.  And the clearest this counter's been... ever!

I can't resist mentioning it again:  my kids have turned back into the most behaved kids I've ever known.  Yes, they still can have attitudes and are working on proper responses to me sometimes, but really, I have zero complaints!  (Okay, maybe that whole potty training mess.)  They are making a real effort to obey me again, and even when they (mostly one of them, you know who) are rude to me, they are actually trying sometimes to correct themselves as they're told, even though they really really don't want to!  I know it's not permanent, and we'll have ups and downs, but I've been so very impressed with them the last few days.

I had heard about a year ago about some doctor's theory that most young kids behave better in the months around their birthdays, and tend to struggle more with their behaviors around their half-birthdays.  I figured it was bunk, but this year has me almost convinced.  We'll have to pay attention throughout the next year.

What to do for their birthdays next month????

Headache

Yes, clearly I'm desperate for pictures. Hey, he's your idol, right? And he told me he was more than happy to send you a long-distance shout-out. He really admires what you're doing for your family. In fact, he's quite jealous. He even made a pass at me and tried to run off with our awesome kids. But I karate-chopped him, he cried, there was a whole thing...

Weird, I can't think of anything to post about. I have to post something though, or else someone gets worried. :)

Mom's coming over tomorrow to help me clean up. It'll be so great to have my housework finally caught up! I despise that it takes someone helping me, but I can almost forgive myself since I'm all alone with the angels.

I'm feeling the superwoman "I can do a million things in 24 hours" thing coming on. My energy and motivation ride a sinusoidal wave, with pretty regular ups and downs. If I had the time and attention span, I should keep track of it - I bet it'd be shocking how regular it is. And I know what you're thinking... No, it's not on the schedule you're assuming it's on!

***Oh my goodness, I'm so tired of going upstairs to tell them to quiet down and go to sleep! I start to get panicky when they won't calm down by 10pm...***

I'm just starting to pray about some changes... No, I'm not going to tell you, it's a secret. No reason to get anyone worked up if nothing actually changes. Nobody panic, it's nothing shocking. You know me, I just have to announce these things to make them real to myself. Or just to talk more about myself, whatever.

I can't get anything out of Cake Boss. I find it boring. I think the Little Couple are cool though, funny peeps. Goodnight, I'm getting loopy.

Handsome boys. Looking a lot like Daddy.

And here's this one again, just because it's just about my favorite picture ever...

Fun Weekend

(That's a 19 on the right.  Hey, it's hard to pull these things off with little babes!)

We've had a great weekend.

Saturday the boys had a great half-day at Nana's house.  Then for dinner, we met Grammy and Pops at the beach.  I wasn't really expecting anyone to get wet, but Bubby went all out.  I should have known.  Popo entertained himself with sand work.  Baby Bear was a very good girl.

It was pretty difficult after that, though.  She cried half the way home, then cried while I got the boys into their bath.  She was starving.  I tried to feed her while they played in the bath, but she was too distracted by the splashing.  So she cried more while I tried to hurry them through their bath, which I'd accidentally made really cold.  Eventually everything worked out, but it was a challenge!

Today, we made it to church and the boys had a great time.  Baby Bear got bumped to an overflow room again, but this time I think she was well taken care of because of it.  She got some extra attention.  I left the service a little early to feed her, but she was sound asleep when I got there.  So I decided to get the boys, then go back for her, and just pack up and go early.  Of course, when I got there, she'd awoken and was pretty upset for her lunch.  So we all went to the nursing room together.  The other mommies were patient, and the boys were actually really good.  Their sweet Sunday School teacher had given them goodie bags, so they explored those.

Then we had breakfast for lunch - very yummy!  Then a miracle of miracles happened!  We ALL napped!  And I don't mean I got to close my eyes for 10 minutes until the baby decided it was too quiet in the house.  I mean for two hours!  It was glorious.

Then we went grocery shopping, with no near-crashes with the giant kid's shopping cart, and had a fun dinner.  A lovely time overall.

My kids were so well behaved this weekend.  I feel like we've come out of the behavior funk we've been in lately, and I'm so grateful.  We will survive!

Oops!

I totally forgot to post this picture of the sweet doggie last night. My neighbor is having him boarded until she comes back from vacation next week. She's going to attempt to find the owner, but she's all set to keep him.

Here are the beautiful roses my wonderful husband had sent to me at work for my birthday. Aren't they gorgeous? Thank you, baby! I'm posting several versions of one shot to see how they turned out and get your opinions. I did different neato effects to them in Picasa.

We had a fun day. Nana came over and we went out to lunch and then to Target. The boys missed their nap again. I feel neglectful. Mom took the boys to sleep at her house tonight.

Good thing she did too. I thought I was going to use that time to catch up on housework and go grocery shoppng. PSSHHHHHHH! Baby Bear had other plans! She cried, screamed, or ate for almost three hours. Tylenol and a bath didn't help. She finally fell asleep, for a short time. I'm feeding her again now.

I'm theorizing that it's caffeine. I had cut it out of my diet because I was pretty sure she was having withdrawal issues on the days I wasn't having it, but treated myself to Dr. Pepper. That's the only thing that was different lately, and she wasn't showing signs of teething. So I guess caffeine is out for good. Sigh.

She was super-mohawk-adorable after her bath though...