Random

CHRISTMAS CARDS Canon T3 12.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS II Lens - (Google Affiliate Ad)
So...I've been working on Christmas cards. Why do I always feel like I have to do these on my own and do them handmade? Oh my. I have spent hours today, just me and the Cricut and the paper cutter, and I'm not even a quarter of the way done. Regretting not going the Shutterfly route! Oh well...if you get a card from us, please appreciate it!! :)

DISNEY
A week from Monday, we head to Disney! So excited!! We are surprising the kids. I want to have a bunch of little "hints" wrapped up to give to them every hour or so ( a Mickey coloring book, a new Disney movie, a t-shirt, etc) but my husband just wants them to see the entrance when we drive in. What do you suggest??

 
 I am seriously like a kid when it comes to Disney. I am sooo excited!!! This is where we are staying:

Can.Not.Wait!!! I have heard the animals will just walk up to our balcony. AHHH!!!!

 If you have any tips or advice for me, please share!!

ELF ON THE SHELF

This morning, my daughter came running in to my room declaring she couldn't brush her teeth because Eff had her toothpaste!! Good try, sister!

And here's what ol' Eff is up to tonight:

Silly Elf!!

MY BABIES

They are getting so big!! I had my sweet photographer friend take some pictures of them by themselves when we took Christmas card pics. Thought I'd share some with ya....

Sam, 7 years old

Meri Hobbs, 5 years old

Eli, 3

Noah, 2

I am SO blessed!!!

Soccer Cleats and a Grandparent's Love

My friend saw Sam in his tall black socks with white stripes at the top. She innocently asked the question, "Do you play soccer, Sam?"

What a normal assumption! But, alas, no. Sam doesn't play soccer. What's more, he has never lived in a town that even OFFERS soccer.

Hmm. So why was he wearing tall black socks?? Another good question. And this is where the grandparents enter the story.

Of course I know grandparents love their grandkids. I mean, that's just what they do. But sometimes, when you see it in action, you realize HOW MUCH they love them (and how cookoo they can get over them). (I know that may or may not be a word and that it may or may not be spelled correctly.)

Ok, back to Sam. One day when he was probably 3-maybe 4-he told my parents he wished he had a soccer uniform. Honestly, he was at the age where he wished he had everything he saw. He wished for a helicopter. And a 4 wheeler. And play dough. And a pillow pet. That's what kids do, right? Want everything they see?

So this particular day, his wish was heard out loud by the grandparents. (side note: he has since learned that the grandparents can be, ahem, suckers pushovers generous and has learned to wish aloud in front of them more often!)

So what does any loving grandparent do? Why...run out and buy Sam a soccer uniform, of course! And by uniform, I mean....shorts, a jersey with his name and a number printed on the back, tall socks, shin guards, cleats...the whole nine.

Sam loved that uniform. Obviously, he still wears the socks. But more than anything, Sam (and all my kids) KNOW they are loved by both sets of their grandparents. And not just because they buy them anything they mention (which they do), but because they show it in a million different ways. I am so thankful that my children will never have to doubt that love. And that they will grow up knowing the unconditional love of a grandparent...and learning how to sucker them into getting more stuff! ;)

Sam with my parents at his first Ole Miss football game, October 2005

Birth Story - Sam, Part 2

*Read Part 1 here*

So, we get to the hospital and the super duper friendly lady at admissions got us checked in. We got in a "room" and were told to wait. I asked the nurse if I could at least wait while sitting on the potty. This was getting kinda gross! So I did.

They finally came and hooked me up to monitors, etc. I was still thinking ahead to my mortification if they told me I had just peed my pants...and to go back home and quit wasting their time. It didn't help any when Eddie asked her, "Has anyone ever come in here and been mistaken like that?" Her response: "Every day." Yikes!

They tested me to see if my water had broken by placing some sort of strip thing against the water. If it turned a certain color, it was confirmed. If not, it was urine. But I passed...my water had broken. I was relieved I wasn't being sent back home, but I was so scared, too! We were about to have a baby! A week and half early!!!

We were then moved to a Labor & Delivery room and made all the calls letting everyone know.

I progressed very slowly and they finally decided to give me pitocin to speed up the process. I had heard horror stories about that evil drug, so I wasn't pumped, but at least we were getting the show on the road. I also got my epidural, so all was well.

All in all, my labor was pretty boring. It totaled about 12 hours, with a couple of that being used for pushing.  I ended up having Sam at 6:50 am. I tried to rest during the night, but my brother, who had driven over from Arkansas for the event, dubbed himself the official cameraman. He came in hourly to film us. He would also film the waiting room. And the clock. And offer commentary. Thanks, Uncle Hendu.

My doctor was not the one that was on call, but had told the nurses to call him when I was ready to deliver. They called him around 5:30, then proceeded to ask me not to push until he got there. Umm, what?! I passed on that plan, had a different doctor deliver for me, and my sweet doctor walked in just as they were cutting the umbilical cord! Oops!

Sam arrived weighing 8 lbs, 6 oz. He was a bundle of perfection. He is our precious gift from God after wondering if we would ever have a baby. (Read that here).  Our verse for this child was so fitting, as it was the same prayer of thanksgiving that Hannah said after receiving her Samuel in the midst of a struggle with barrenness. 

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him." (II Samuel 1:27)

Our desire is to, like Hannah, dedicate this child to the Lord that he may be used of Him all the days of his life.

Birth Stories - Sam

Before my memory is completely gone, I am going to share the birth stories of my children so they will have them.

We'll start with Sam. As I shared here, we had tried to have a baby with no luck so far. After the miscarriage, we took some time off from actively trying to have a baby to let ourselves grieve. Then, we tried another few rounds of Clomid with no luck. We tried combining Clomid with Glucophage, again with no luck. We tried adding progesterone suppositories (oh, what fun!). Nada. It had been about a year since the miscarriage and our doctor referred us to Nashville Fertility Clinic. That was so overwhelming. I don't remember a whole lot of details. Just a bunch of shots, sonograms, tests, and loads of information! Long story short, we did IUI and were pregnant on the first try! Score! Of course, we were terrified about another miscarriage, and I went in for WAY too many sonograms just to make sure everything was ok. Which, praise God, it was!!

I loved being pregnant! I loved feeling every kick and wiggle. I complained my fair share about my back hurting and not getting enough sleep and having to pee too often. But I was loving every second of this miracle inside me!

At that point, I was teaching school. I only had an assistant part-time, so that was fun trying to NOT have to use the restroom when she wasn't with me. But my students and my team teacher were very understanding. (They really had no choice, huh?!) Sam was due on December 30, 2004. I had put in my resignation to my principal and was only going to work up until the kids got out for Christmas break, which was Friday, December 17. The last day of school came and went.  I had worked extra hard to get everything ready for the new teacher that would take my place the next semester. I had 6 weeks worth of lesson plans for her and tried to get everything organized. I was tired! But, I would have almost two weeks to rest and get everything ready for the baby.

That Sunday, after church, I was going to take a nap. I wasn't resting real well in the bed, so I was sleeping in the recliner. Eddie had a church council meeting at the church, so he wasn't home.  About 4:00, I woke up from my nap with a strong urge to use the restroom. Like, an oops, I'm too late. I called the church just hoping someone would hear the phone and answer.  The other minister at the church left the meeting to answer the phone, which annoyed Eddie at the time! ha! But I'm so glad he did!

He got Eddie on the phone, and I told him, "Either I just peed my pants or my water just broke." Of course, neither of us knew which it was, so he put me on the phone with an experienced mom! She couldn't officially diagnose me either, so she told me to go to the hospital. YIKES! I had been to the hospital once before with Braxton Hicks contractions and was so embarrassed when they sent me home. So I was not feeling being turned away again. But I didn't know what else to do.

Eddie came home to pick me up and while he was on his way, I packed my bag. (I planned on having two weeks to get this done!) I was so nervous as I sat there and waited on him.

To be continued....

Sam's First Deer Hunt/Thankfulness day #12

Sam went hunting with Eddie for the first time this morning. He wakes up at 5:15 without too much complaint. He comes to my bathroom to take a no-scent shower. I hear him whisper to Eddie when they got in here that he wants to give me a hug. Eddie's response? "OK, but don't wake her up." Yeah, since that's possible. He hugs me and scurries to the bathroom.

For some reason, getting in the shower displeases Sam. He is now full-fledged whiny. He's whining that the shower is too cold, that his pants are too big, that he doesn't know where his hat is, that the "dot" will be too small to shoot. (I guess he thinks there will be a dot on the deer like there was in the paper he shot when he was practicing shooting his gun). Eddie is fussing at him to be quiet just as loud as Sam is being to begin with.

I take their picture to commemorate this big day.

They both looked beyond thrilled, huh?

Sam spends the hunt sleeping while Eddie watches for signs of deer. Of which, there are none. They come home empty-handed and disappointed.

When the hunters return, Meri Hobbs, using her spidey-sense detects a sour mood. So, she turns on her charms. "Sam, you look handsome." Sam mumbles his thanks and skulks to his room to change. I go in and ask him what's wrong. "I don't look handsome," he says, "I look stupid. I just want to go hunting and not wear this." Mm-Kay.

Although the morning wasn't perfect, I am so thankful that my husband spends time with our children!

P.S.  That WAS the end of the story. I was waiting until tonight to upload my the pictures and post this. But, they decided to give it one more try! They went back out this afternoon. About 5:30, my phone rings. It's Sam saying, "Mama...I got a big buck and we see the blood and when we find it we will bring it home and it will be in the back of the truck and you can see it and we can eat it for supper."

And, notice he no longer looks "stupid" but is wearing blue jeans and a hoodie!

So...just for the sake of record-keeping, it weighed 255 lb and scored 140. Way to go, Sam!! :)

And to add to my thankful list, I am thankful my husband and my son have something they both love to do together and hope they will enjoy hanging out and hunting for many years to come! (And Eli and Noah, too, when they are older)

Sam

Finally, let me introduce you to the kids and then we can get to actually blogging!

The eldest, Sam is 6. He is too much fun! From birth, everything has been easy with him. He was my shortest labor (seriously, the first was my shortest. Crazy, huh?!) He slept through the night the earliest (5 weeks). He potty trained in like one day. He is just a smart kid! He can look at his spelling words and know them. He picks things up quickly! He has the most amazing heart, too. God has big things in store for this one! I want to share two recent examples of his heart for God. Got this message from his teacher the first day of school--

I overheard him talking about befriending people who don't believe in Christ so we could let them know the truth and teach them. :-))))

Seriously?! This is what my boy is talking about on the playground the first day of school? Could not be more proud! Then, one day, he came home and asked me if he could be so-and-so's friend. I said, of course you can! He said, "but mama, he said he didn't know if he loved God, so I can't be his best friend." Ahh, he is already learning to make wise choices in his friends...and wants his closest friends to be ones that love God with all their hearts. I sure hope he keeps this frame of mind into high school and college!

He is so funny. He thinks he is the manager of the other kids and can be so bossy to them! He is also a tad bit OCD (or maybe I should say he's a bit of a perfectionist in some things so it doesn't make him sound crazy!) He has gotten better, but would melt down if his covers weren't perfectly pulled up across his neck and straight to the other side of the bed. He will only wear certain socks. His shirts have to be the correct length or he will not wear them. He brushes his hair straight down....don't you dare try to part it! He is quite picky about all his clothes. Before he could tie them himself, he would only let me tie his shoes because I did it best. I could go on....  :)

He is so helpful around the house. He helps with the other kids (buckling Eli into his carseat, helping Eli put his shoes on, fetching diapers and wipes and bottles for me....) and is responsible to pick up his room, bring his dirty clothes to the laundry room, and make up his bed -- which he is so proud of. He "decorates" his bed with stuff from his room...trophies, teddy bears, books, whatever...and calls himself a bed "artist." Whatever, at least he gets it done willingly!

Sam loves sports and wants to play everything he can. And he is a pretty good little athlete so far! It is fun getting to watching him at his games! He is our social butterfly, and constantly wants to go to someone's house or have someone to come to ours. He thinks he is 18 and prefers to hang out with the older kids. He sits right in the middle of the youth group at church on Sunday nights.

He is well mannered and kind and soft hearted and respectful. He is all boy and definitely has his trying moments, but he is a great kid and I am so proud to be his mom! I can't wait to see what kind of man he will grow up to be!


Well, I was gonna do all 4 kiddos in one post, but obviously I'm "that mom" who can ramble about her kids all day. But this is MY blog and I can say what I want!! :) Stay tuned to read how awesome the rest of my crew is....