Month: July 2010

Mack has really gotten into a habit of saying, “But I am your BABY.”  He says it when he is asked to do something he doesn’t want to do.

“Mack, go upstairs and get your underwear on.”

“I CAN’T GO UP THE STAIRS CUZ I AM YOUR BABY.”

This morning he stood at the top of the stairs asking me to come and get him.

“Mack, you can come on down those stairs.”

“BUT I CAN’T COME DOWN THE STAIRS UCUZ I AM YOUR BABY!!!!!!!”

Oh my.  He is my baby though.  He does have that right, but he must start doing some things on his own.  I can’t believe he starts being a Cubbie in a couple of weeks.  How on earth am I gonna teach him to memorize a verse?  Lord, help me!

Gran and PawPaw decided to take a trip up here to visit all of us this past Thursday.  We enjoyed having them here.  They were so very nice and took the kids to see Toy Story 3 again.  Popcorn and all!  They also took them to lunch afterwards.  What did I do with myself, you ask?  I read in a quiet house and then decided to go get a manicure and pedicure.  It was heavenly.  That night they said Josh and I could go on a date while they stayed here with the kids.  Again–heavenly.  We went to Milton’s Restaurant and then roamed around the mall and talked.   They got to eat with Jason and Merrilee on Saturday morning.  We visited with all of them Saturday afternoon and then they left that evening.

It was sad to see them go.  The kids cried and said that they missed them and that “they said they weren’t leaving until night.”  It stays light outside until nearly 9:00pm, so the kids thought they were staying until it was dark outside.

Here are a couple of pictures I snapped right before they left.

Thanks for coming to visit, Gran and PawPaw!  Y’all are so good to the kids AND to me and Josh!   We will see you again soon.

This week we went to the Bounce House.  The kids loved it and were exhausted after we got home.  The Barsh family met us up there; their family has 2 girls and a boy like us.  They are all in the same grades, too.  They had a ton of fun together.  Molly loves GiGi and talks about her a lot.  GiGi is a very independent little girl and has a fun time wherever she is.  Here is a picture GiGi’s mom got of them together.  Can you see the love???

And side note, I think Molly is looking more like me.  If you feel differently, just lie to me, OK?

Mack was chomping on popcorn while we watched NEMO this evening.  He spotted my cup of water and said, “Ooooh, I want some water.”  And he proceeded to gulp every bit of it down.  I said, “Well, Mack, you need to go get Mama some more water.”  He thought about it, then handed me the empty cup and said, in an adult-talking-to-a-kid voice, “You can go get the water.  You are a big girl.”

Oh my goodness.  What am I going to do with that little stinker?!

I had a Gynecologist appointment this morning.  I had put it off for as long as I should have.  When you go a million times in three years, this is not an appointment you get excited about making!  My appointment was at 7:30 am so that Josh could stay home with the kids.  Ain’t much worse than being in your birthday suit and trying to make kids sit still on a chair….goodness forbid that you would have to jump up to stop one of the little ones from touching something and the doctor walking in on you!  Always a nightmare for me during my pregnancy days.

There is a point to this post, but as a side note, why do I undress and hide my undergarments under my clothes, not wanting the doctor to catch a glimpse of something so personal….only to have him, well…you know.  Crazy how the mind works.

Ok.  Such wonderful memories flood my mind as I park and walk into the building where I spent many pregnant hours!  I see young couples with their babies and with pregnant bellies come in and out.  I see millions of pictures of newborns on Dr. Bills’ bulletin boards.  Such exciting times.  One young girl caught my attention.  She was a beautiful pregnant gal.  She looked well-rested.  Her make-up was done.  Her outfit was so cute.  Her hair looked clean and thick and gorgeous.  She was by herself.  I asked her how far along she was; she said, “7 months” and smiled.  Boy or Girl?  “Boy.”  Oh, how sweet.  I wanted to talk more with her, but she wasn’t very talkative.  I halfway thought to myself, “Girl, I could tell you a thing or two that might be helpful.”  We listened to a video on a tv about breastfeeding….”Here are some helpful hints for breastfeeding.  #1-Read a book about breastfeeding, #2-Don’t get discouraged.  It doesn’t always go as easy as you think.”  Tell ME about it.  And the book might as well have been in German for as much as it helped me.  The cute little lady at the end, while breastfeeding her baby, said, “Breastfeeding is so simple–you don’t have to have bottles or measure or…” blah, blah….”as long as your baby is with you, you can breast feed.” I laughed so hard inside.  Because she is right.  And I must say, for me, I was ok with someone else getting to be with my baby.  Some people love it and thrive on it.  It went so bad for me the first time, that I never tried again.  And I have not looked back.  I just wanted to tell that girl that it was ok if it didn’t work out.  Don’t pressure yourself.  Yes, it is best for the baby in most cases.  Yes, it is how God designed it.  BUT, it isn’t the only way.  It just isn’t.

I wanted to give her a small suggestion.  Have someone in the delivery room to just take pictures.  A professional who you don’t know who can capture those moments.

Use the nursery at the hospital if they have one.  Like that wise nurse told this guilt-ridden mother, “You got the rest of your life to bond with your baby.  Get a good night’s sleep, girl.”  Yes ma’am.

Don’t let your belly scare you once you get home and take your first shower back at home.  Either it will change dramatically as the days go by or you will get used to it.  ha!

Splurge on a video monitor.  I hear that they come in handy for years after the newborn stage!  It would have been fun to watch them in their crib/toddler bed/ big kid bed.

Journal.

Keep a Bible and devotion book in the nursery.  When you are sitting and feeding at all times of the day or night, you can find encouragement and strength in The Word.  Without it, you’ll starve your soul.  It is easy to do during these busy, new times.

Go for strolls outside once you feel like it.  It will help keep the “crazies” at bay.

There’s more.  There’s much more I would shared with her.

I would suggest that she go and roam the mall, eat an ice cream cone alone, go to Barnes N Noble and sit and read, meet your husband for lunch whenever you want to and even when you don’t want to, go to the movies, take a nap or two, read a book…….

And I would probably say, “Enjoy every minute with your sweet little one.  They grow up so fast.  You”ll blink and they’ll be in Kindergarten.”

I always hated it when people said that to me.  I felt a bit guilty because I didn’t think that them being in Kindergarten was all that bad.  I mean, then I would have some time to myself!  Well, while that is sort of true, it doesn’t take away that they do grow fast and I did blink and all of a sudden my first baby was finished with Kindergarten!

So I left that appointment happy that all checked out well, for the most part.  Happy that I have three healthy kids at home and that I don’t have one on the way right now. (We’re all in different seasons, so don’t take that the wrong way.)  I know I am not as young and cute as I once may have been, but I am wiser, though I still have much more to learn! And I discovered the “pink pencil,” which helps tremendously with dark circles under your eyes!  I don’t have my pre-baby waist and never will and my hips are a bit wider, but I have been able to hold three kids on these hips and now the cutie-pies can grab around my waist for a hug.  I love it.

Oh, the thoughts provoked from one silly doctor’s appointment.

I hope this isn’t a “guess you had to be there” story…but I have two funny stories to share.

#1- As I was taking the kids into Kroger to pick up a few things, I found a touch Blackberry phone on the ground.  I was talking outloud and to myself and said, “Oh, some poor lady just lost her phone, probably because she had kids with her at the grocery store and got distracted….”  Molly and I were talking about it, and I told her to hold the phone and give it to me if it rang.  She kept asking me, “How do you know it is a poor woman’s phone?”  I kept answering her and saying, “oh, it may not be a poor woman.  Just because you lose your phone doesn’t mean you’re poor.”  I didn’t know why she wanted an answer to that question until she said, “YOU SAID it was a POOR woman who lost this phone.”  I laughed so hard at her.

#2- Before the grocery store we were in the library just to do get out of the house and do something free.  Well, Mack came over and told me he had a headache in his belly.  Molly and I just looked at each other and laughed at him.  I told him he could go potty if he needed.  He said he didn’t.  After getting home, unloading the groceries and trying to figure out how to find whose phone this is…I hear from the potty, “I FINISH POO-POOING, MOM.  I FINISHED.”  I went to the potty to do what moms all across the world do, and I said, “Oh, my Mack!  You did have a headache in your belly, didn’t you?”  He said, in a very matter- of- fact tone, “Yup.  There it is.” (as he looked in the potty)

So funny, these kids!

So the American Girl Doll magazine came in the mail yesterday.  Ruby found it this morning.  She was so excited.  She was telling me all about it, and then she said, “My doll is in the garage,” with a guilty look on her face.  See, we bought the Target GENERATIONS doll.  It costs about $25.00.  The American Girl doll costs about $100.  I said to Ruby, “Yeah, I am glad we didn’t spend $100 dollars on that kind of doll.  It seems like you don’t like the doll all that much.”  She told me that when it was her birthday she “really liked the doll though.”  That meant that for the week of her birthday she thought the doll was incredibly fun to play with.  As time passed, she got bored with it.  I just reiterated to her that it was fine for that to happen, especially since we got her doll from Target.  She said, “Thank goodness for Target, huh?”

Yeah, thank goodness for Target.

Oh, these Summer days really cannot pass quick enough.  For many reasons, I am ready to get back into school, back to some structure, back to some productivity.  With the house on the market, I am feeling very much like a maid.  I am finding comfort in anything chocolate and afternoon ice cream cones on the front porch…not good….not good at all.  Gotta get a grip someway, somehow.

Moving on.  This afternoon I was up in Mack’s room making up his bed.  He seems to have a tee-tee problem.  We have been out of his “belt” for a week and it is clear that he is not past ridiculousness in the night….there is a story there for any one who is wondering what in the world we are talking about…I am just not at liberty to share on a blog.  SO, when he wets his bed and himself, he just takes off his pajamas and then sleeps under his bed.  I found him this way the other morning and it happened again today.  I asked him why he gets under his bed, and he said, “It is fun.  I like to play with my trucks under there.”

And this is what under his bed looks like after a night of “sleeping” under it.

He and I were playing trucks this afternoon.  He calls the Indians, “Idiots.”

He also says that this cowboy is shooting people on his skateboard.  That’s a talented cowboy!

He got bored with the idiots and the cowboys and trucks, so he started doing this:

And just for fun, does anyone remember these little things from Hardees?  The Dorminys brought some stuff from their house that they found in their garage.  These were in the stuff:

Today we met a friend at Chick-fil-a.

Sounds innocent enough.

It wasn’t.

Melissa and I just wanted to let the kids play a bit, then order some yummy food and leave.  When I pulled into the parking lot I knew immediately that this was not going to be an ordinary lunch.  Everyone was dressed as cows.  You get free food for dressing as a cow.  Mary told me about this yesterday, but I didn’t put it together that it was THIS Friday or even here in Georgia, since she lives in Tennessee now.  I don’t know why I didn’t put it together, but I did not.

So Melissa, me and our kids were surrounded by a million “cows” that ate free food while we had to endure all of them AND pay full price for our food.

BOO!

Or should I say MOO?!

Home-made peach ice cream…yum.

Ruby was much more adventurous in the pool this year!

Mack helped the men work outside…he was black from head to toe!

This is how we spent every afternoon.  I don’t know how we’ll ever get back into a normal routine!

The Dorminys graciously let Josh and I stay out in the pool house while the kids slept in the house with them.  It was heavenly not to be awakened at 6:55am with someone in your face asking for breakfast!  On the contrary, we slept until 8:30 or 9:00!!!!

The kids all enjoyed the pool so very much.  It was so nice outside.  Hot, but not miserable and there was a nice breeze that helped keep us all cool.  The guys put up a make-do shade area for us, which helped so much.  And Uncle Jason threw the kids around in the pool for a very long time, and they all loved that!

The food was phenomenal, of course.  We ate a lot of delicious stuff!  Mervin never fails to keep us fed well.  My favorite were the little lemon cupcakes he made.  They were tiny, so you can easily find yourself popping them in your mouth like popcorn.  Between me and Ruby, a whole bunch of them were gone in an embarrassingly short amount of time!

GG and Papa Mac were with us a lot, too.  It was so nice to catch up with every body.  Mack loved GG showing him the garden.  Mack got both of them in trouble though when he took the okra he picked and threw it in the trash!  Shameful.

Gran played numerous card games with the kids each day.  She said Molly was great at SNAP.  It takes concentration and focus.  Ruby didn’t do so well.  She was always ready to get in the pool.

It wouldn’t be a trip to Gran and PawPaw’s house (or Sweetie and PawPaw’s house!) without a few rounds on the golf cart.  They went out several times, but one time I was driving Molly and Mack.  She did not stop talking.  It has hilarious.  Mack was just sitting there, as was I….then she said, “Mack sure is being quiet.”  Then, without missing a beat, she continued to talk, talk, talk.  Asking questions an answering them all on her own.

Mack got her back at dinner on Monday when he talked the entire time.  And I do mean the entire time.

Thankfully, Josh picked up a dvd player with two screens that hook on the seats for the ride there and back.  No one talked our ears off in the car since they were watching a movie.  It was a nice change.

So now we are home and must get back to work…laundry and cooking and more laundry!  No pool either.  What a hard life.  🙂