It's been too Long!

Well like the title states, it has been too long since my last post. Life for me sometimes seems to be on fast forward mode and I wish I could slow things down instead. Teaching a new grade has been a real challenge for me. I sometimes feel like I'm a first year teacher again. And being pregnant on top of that is exhausting. I'm finally over the sickness and not nearly as tired as I have been, but since I don't exactly have a lot of time left I'm starting to feel overwhelmed with everything I have to do before he comes. Anyway, with God, I'm making it. I'm now going to post several short posts highlighting the past few months.

Miracle Child

This is my precious miracle niece. My sister-in-law published a picture of her today and I just had to share. A little background: She was born in early April this year at around 1 pound. I can't remember exactly if she was 1 lb 5 oz or 1 lb 7 oz. As you can see in the first picture she was tiny. The ring is a size 6 or 6 1/2 I can't remember that exactly either but it fit over her hand like a bracelet. The last picture is what she looks like today. She is now off all oxygen, weighs over 7 lbs, and is waiting for the day she can come home from the hospital. They are waiting on some test results but we are praying for her homecoming. I know her two sisters and brother are excited to get her home too. This has been such a long exhausting journey for them all but God is good. The Lord decided to take her two triplet brothers home to be with him one before and the other shortly after their birth. Though we are so saddened by the loss we are also thankful and blessed to be able to see the miracle of this sweet Charli girl. What a joy to be able to see fat rolls on a baby!

Welcome surprise

Yesterday when we came home from running around there was a long slithering surprise waiting on our front porch. . . a snake!! It caught me off guard and I thought for a minute that J.J was trying to play a joke on me. I didn't remember seeing it when we left so that made me think differently plus it just looked real. Well I backed away back to the car to call him and see if he was playing a joke. While I was waiting on him to answer the snake moved! I didn't know what to do. It wasn't extremely close to the front door but I still didn't want to take any chances especially since I had my kids with me and it takes a little longer to get inside the house while holding the door open with kids. You Know!? Yuck! I poked it with a very long stick and it barely moved. I thought it might be dying and felt a little safer to get the kids out of the car at that point. I told Elaina I thought the snake was dying so we should be o.k. but we needed to still hurry . . . and that sweet caring thing started thanking God for the snake like she really wanted him to help the snake or something. Doesn't really surprise me b/c this child isn't afraid of anything. This morning she was telling me that she wished we could have caught it to put in her room as her pet. LOL!

Daughter Date

J.J and I decided to take Elaina to see Toy Story 3 the other day just the three of us. Jack got to spend time with Grandma all by himself. The movie was super cute and b/c I'm so sensitive hearted I cried at several parts. I know I know! Crying during Toy Story is a little crazy but there is something about having children to me that makes things even more sentimental. My heart strings get pulled a lot more now that I have kids is what I'm trying to say, and when I see a mom hugging her son and getting emotional because she knows she'll miss him when he goes off to college. . . even if it is an animated character. . . well . . . it's just so sad b/c kids grow up too fast. I know with just a couple more blinks my sweet Elaina will be heading that way herself. Anyway, she loved the movie and laughed through the whole thing. We all three had a great time.

Go to sleep.

A while back a friend of mine tried to show me what her kids taught Jack and he would never do it for me. Well a couple weeks ago he did it for me kind of by accident. I told him it was time for him to go to sleep and he did it on cue. It is really adorable. Don't forget to pause the music so you can hear the video.

Kids and Technology

This is my son using my husbands ipod touch. I find this amazing because it took me longer to learn how to operate it. He's only 22 months! This video is actually the second one. The first one I tried to get to record so fast I just turned it on and off again and didn't realize it. Of course the first one was so much better b/c it showed him searching through the games and selecting different ones to play, but this one is still pretty cute.

Feeling Good

So it has been about a week now since I started my schedule. I'm feeling good ya'll! Here is a general idea of my schedule:

Morning Routine:

6:15 a.m wake up, take a shower, and get my self ready for the day.

(I know that's early to most of you but I'm usually up by 5:45 during the school year and I thought 30 more minutes of sleep each morning is perfect for now)

6:45 start a load of laundry

7:00 my kiddos start making their voices known about now. They're usually good to stay in their beds for about 15 minutes, so that gives me enough time to eat some breakfast and check my email. Then I get them up and feed them.

7:30ish I go finish getting ready (dry hair, fix hair, etc) while the kids watch a T.V show.

8:00 I put the clothes in the dryer and play with my kids for about an hour.

9:00 The kids have quiet time in their room on the bed with some quiet toys and books. This is when I start on one of the "To-Do List" items or eventually (hopefully) a fun project for the house or kids.

10:00-12:00 is pretty much unscheduled time I might run to a store, take the kids to the pool or sprinkler park, or the library, just something that gets us moving and out of the house.

12:00 lunch and T.V show

12:30 or 1:00 nap time for kids. This is my dedicated time for the Lord just Him, me, and the Bible. This is actually perfect timing for me b/c this is when I start getting tired and need a pick me up. Whatever time I end up finishing I then go fold the laundry if I haven't already and do another item on the "To-Do List."

3:00 ish the kids start waking up

3:00-5:30 another unscheduled time, I try to start dinner and just let the kids play a lot during this time. I might have to run somewhere during this time too.

5:30 Husband is HOME!!

Nighttime Routine:

Before I go to bed I make sure I do a couple things. I've been doing them before I sit down in the late evening b/c I know if I wait too long there is a high potential of me falling asleep on the couch. :) LOL then all I'll want to do is make it to the bed and go back to sleep. So anyway, I do these things:

I make sure all the dishes are out of the sink

I set the dirty laundry, that I'll do in the morning, in the laundry room

I fix my kids milk and juice cups

I lay out my outfit for the next day

I check my "hot spot" in my bedroom and put away whatever might have been left there.

I shine the kitchen sink

I know all that sounds like a lot but it hasn't taken me more than 10 minutes any night. I wake up in such a good mood too. There is just something to be said about waking up to a shiny sink. :)

So what all have I accomplished this week you ask? Well. . .

I went through just about everything in one of the "extra" spaces down stairs. It's been a mess since we moved in 5 years ago. YIKES! I started going through my "hobby" space too. Between the two spaces, I gathered 3 large containers of stuff/junk to sell in a yard sale and about the same amount of trash. Yeah me!! I'm also 1 load of laundry away from being all caught up on my laundry. This is just about a miracle. My laundry room was so piled with clothes there was stuff in there, at the bottom of the pile, I hadn't seen in months maybe even 8 months WoW! Another accomplishment was I cleared off the shelf in the laundry room and dusted it and painted a clear coat on it so it'll be easier to get the dust off next time. I won't say how long it had been since I dusted that shelf. Well. . . okay. . never. another Yikes!! I also reorganized the "junk" drawer in the kitchen. That sounds a little funny to say hee hee! organized junk. Let's see. . . what else have I done . . . I can't think of anything else major but I'm still very proud of myself. It hasn't been easy sticking to the schedule but I'm so glad I am. I've forgotten to set the timer each time too. Oops!

Here's what I'll wake up to in the morning!

Do you hear singing?! Maybe that's just me. :) hee hee!!