what does spring break mean to you?

Nearing the close of my spring break, I find myself reflecting on the past few years.  I remember those fun spring breaks in college.  It meant staying out even later, trying to start the summer tan, working extra hours, catching up on school work, just about anything to help me get a head.  This year I realized that I have grown up a little more and wanted to make note of this personal milestone.

Two years ago I was getting very pregnant!  We were preparing and anticipating the arrival of our third child not knowing the gender.  I think I took the kids to Houston, but like I said it was two years ago and I cannot remember specifics like that!

One year ago I do remember taking the kids to Houston.  We took my three plus my nephew to the Houston LS&R.  It was one big family day of fun.  We made our way back home and Aunt Christy and Emma came for a visit.  It was during that visit that my baby girl had drained me dry.  Yes I had my last time to nurse my baby girl.  One big crazy mess of mixed emotions over the last few days of that spring break.  In a sense it was my baby girl growing up as well as myself.  I knew it was my last time to care for my child in such a way since they are growing up and their needs change.  I had to grow up a little more too.

Now here we are to spring break 2011, another milestone you say?  Why yes indeed.  Up hiding in my attic were all things baby that were once celebrated.  I remember the excitement of the baby shower my old friend Angela threw for Brady.  It was one big celebration over my first child, the family, friends and gifts I will never forget.  I remember those sleepless nights of wondering if I laid him down just right, did I feed him enough, how long will he sleep, how long can I sleep, when will I cook, do laundry, praying that the batteries in the swing or bouncy seat would last forever...all those worrisome thoughts of a first time mother.  Through it all, I was truly grateful for all those wonderful gifts and blessed to have some of the best friends ever.  I wouldn't have made it through this first born if I didn't have my old high school girlfriend Ginny.  We were going through the same things at the same time.  I would have been lost without her.  Adding a sweet little girl to the mix brought on more of the same feelings.  I remember feeling relieved that I had most items I would need for her.  Little did  I know this little darling would only want her momma, no matter what swing, bouncy seat, baby carrier, etc I tried for her.  This time I really learned the value of buying batteries in bulk at Sam's.  She required me to stretch what I learned from the first born and then ask the experts too.  I would have been lost without my neighbor Shannon.  She was truly a hop and a skip away or mostly just a phone call.  And when the third little blessing came along I had it all, or most of it I thought.  After raising two very different infants I felt prepared for whatever God was willing to give.  Thankfully God was very kind and blessed us with a sweet, easy-to-please little girl.  All those gifts from the first and second were once again put to use.  This time they were packed up and moved more times than I preferred, but it was what we had to do.  We moved out of our first home when she was about 2 1/2 months old, then into our new house when she was about 7 1/2 months old.  All those fun little baby things were put to use and found their place in the new house.  Throughout the past year they've become outgrown and found their way to the attic.  Recently the last item found its way up there and I realized that the "baby" section in my attic was no longer of use for me.  We will not be adding anymore little people around here, so why am I holding onto this baby stuff?  Well, I spent an entire day devoted to all those things that I once ripped open the packaging and put them together.  I took off liners, washed, put pieces back together, dusted, cleaned and stepped back.  I had to ask myself if I was ready to do this?  Was I ready to just give it all away?  The things that changed me from just a girl, to a wife, to a mother?  And the answer was yes.  Yes it was time to move forward.  I loaded up the truck and tearfully drove it away.  I took such ownership of my stuff.  It kind of made me mad that the lady at the resale shop just waved some items off and said "this is too old", "this is out of date", "there's a recall on this", and "sorry we can't take that".  It just made me angry for a second.  How dare she say that to me.  Those "things" are perfectly fine to make some mother or grandmother perfectly happy.  Out of the whole truck bed, they only accepted 4 items that they could sell.  Fine by me.  I reloaded my stuff and drove the full truck bed to Goodwill.  I was happy to hand over my perfectly cleaned up baby items that once made my children oh so happy.  I had thoughts of some young mother trying to get on her feet and finding my matching stroller and car seat set in nearly mint condition.  I thought of how happy that would make her feel.  And that is why I knew it was time to hand over my baby items that were treated with lots of TLC the past 5 1/2 years.

I think I feel a little more grown up this spring break.  It is for I realize that it wasn't the patterns and colors I fretted over or the exact model or design I wanted for my child.  Over the years, it was the love that grew, the bonds that were made and all the memories that I will cherish forever.  Thank you to all that ever gave me a baby shower gift, card, mommy tips, etc.  I realized that I am a better person because of it all.  And now I look forward to what gifts God has in store for my family in our many more spring breaks.  I know there will be more pivotal moments and most of all, lots of love and memories to cherish.

brushing their teeth

Tonight I have to record this precious moment of time with my children.  Baby K is now 20 months old and wants to do EVERYTHING her big sis and bro do, no matter what.   Tonight baby K was in A's bathroom and A wanted to brush K's teeth.  I got the toothbrush ready and handed it off.  K let her do it for a minute and then she was done.  In the meantime, I got A's toothbrush ready for her to brush her own teeth.  A starts brushing her own and I look down to see K just moving her arm back and forth like she is really "brushing" her teeth like an adult.  It's the cutest thing ever.  It took me back to when B and A were the same way...they want to brush their own teeth so badly, but they just aren't really "brushing" them.  I'm having a bit of a mommy moment, when K takes the toothbrush out of her mouth, leans over (she's just standing in the middle of the bathroom floor) and proceeds to make a spitting sound.  She stands back upright and continues to brush away.  She brushes for a few seconds and repeats the faux "spitting" several more times.  I just crack up silently not to distract the cuteness that I am observing.  B comes in to check on his sisters and sees what I'm silently giggling about and he just starts laughing too.  Before you know it, the 4 of us are watching her "brush" her own teeth and "spit" on the floor (luckily there was never any spit that came out of her mouth).  She is just cracking up and continues to entertain us.  By the end, she is up on the counter (me holding her) and really practicing how to rinse and spit.
It's nights like tonight that make me so thankful to have been blessed with my three beautiful, healthy children that have brought so many wonderful gifts to the family.  Tonight was truly a gift of laughter that brought joy to us all from Baby K.  Makes me wonder what life will be like when she is no longer a toddler.  I do know one thing, this does NOT make we want to have a fourth child.  Just want to clear up any confusion.

I DID IT!

I feel so tech savvy about now.  I created my new blog, then exported and imported my old blog and it worked!  woo hoo.  See what happens when the herniated disc enables you to do anything active, I catch up on my internet stuff.

Now that I'm back up and into the blogging world, please don't set any high expectations for me.  I'll do what I can to keep this thing updated.

Much Love,
Jenny

what to do

well, here's my problem. i had an sbcglobal email when we lived in FW which i used to start my blog account. with our move to the country and no DSL service, i was going to lose my sbcglobal account for a few months. i thought since i had an iphone and love google and they work so well together, i'll go with a gmail account so it will work nicely together. then, i realized that the gmail and sbcglobal accounts don't get along. help! i can't link my blog to my gmail account. it just won't let me. i've even had the compulsive addict herself look into it and she can't figure it out. ugh.

why is this a drag?

well i no longer use the sbcglobal account so any email notifications for my blogger go to that account, can't change it. and if i am logged into google chrome or gmail and i go to my blog, it kicks me out of my google accounts. i have to keep logging in and out to get it all done. i need them all to work seamlessly. at this point, the only thing i know to do is end this blog and create brand new one with my gmail account. but, what do i do with this blog? delete it? no way! can i keep it open? anyone out there know?

with 4 snow days in a row, i thought i should check into this.....but we are having so much fun just lounging around!!

testing...1, 2, 3...

just wanted to see if this thing still works. ha. it's been exactly 4 months now and WOW how things change. let me think back...
early december--Baby K turned 6 months and I think she was 16 lbs...95th-100th percentile, eating baby food well and started on some formula, trying hard to crawl
christmas--yes it was a white one and it was awesome! if i had lots of free time on my hands i would insert some white christmas eve pictures, but i don't. i'm doing good to get this typed out. anyway, the best pictures of our christmas eve from 2009 are in the memories we made as a family that night. there was tons of wonderful snow on the ground for snowball fights. the four of us and K in the stroller (highly bundled up) played snowball fights and made tons of snow angels for a very long time. A just loved the snow. i will never forget her running and plopping herself right into a pile of snow completely fearless. B is more timid than, but he still had a blast. for the first time he didn't freak out about getting all wet from the snow. when our frozen noses, numb fingers and toes couldn't take it anymore we made our way inside. it was so fun to actually lay our gloves and mittens by the fire to dry while we had popcorn and watched the polar express. i felt like i lived up north, at least not in Texas on Christmas Eve. Writing this 4 months late, i know that we played in the snow like it wasn't going to snow again for a few more years. little did we know it would be the second most snowiest winter for north texas.

end of january was A's 3rd birthday. she wanted a princess party. i found her a special pink princess dress that was perfect for the occasion. all of the family was able to make it (we missed uncle michael, aunt stacie and uncle mike and aunt christy) and party with us. the princess enjoyed an italian lunch and the homemade pink princess crown cake made by me. i love making their cakes, but i know it does stress me out a little. :)

oh, how can i forget....BEFORE her party, WE MOVED INTO OUR HOUSE! it was MLK weekend and we moved right in. now i am remembering just how crazy it was for 3 weeks straight. we moved in, the next weekend was my father-in-laws surprise 60th birthday party at the farm, then it was A's birthday party. so the house it wonderful. i LOVE it. i was worried how it would all come together and it turned out beautiful. again, i would post a picture but...


i think there was a month called february, but it was so busy....i know we had 4 birthday parties in 2 weeks and lots of fun with the new neighbors. i have to say i love my house, but i really love all of my new neighbors. they are the most kind and giving people and i am blessed to have them as my neighbors. on our move in day we had 3 of them come over and help carry boxes, haul loads and set up furniture! each month we have a much needed girls night and guys night and a couples night...some couples stay home and babysit while the others get to go out and not pay a sitter! it's so fun. we are truly thankful that we made the decision to move out, waaaay out and get away from the city life each day.

and here i am in march. baby K is now 9 months. she is so darn cute. she was 23.12 lbs and really long (i can't find the sheet and i don't remember the number). i just know she was 95th percentile in weight, length and head circumference. she is crawling really well these days and pulling up on anything she can. she has started to cruise a bit once she pulls up! there is still a gumless smile...so cute, just two teeth on the bottom. i am fearing the day when they all decide to come out and party at once. over spring break, my dairy is no more. we were down to nursing morning and night and i quit pumping at work around 7 months (feb). one night she was unusually cranky and seemed very unhappy at bedtime which is NOT likely of her at all. i knew something was wrong. thinking there wasn't enough milk for her, i made her a 6 ouncer and it was gone in less than 10 minutes. so i kissed it good bye. i'm ok with it too. i am thrilled we made it so long with working full time and pumping. high five baby K!

and speaking of spring break....at the beginning of my spring break this year i took all 3 kids by myself to houston. yes, there was prayer before and during the car ride there. we had lots of fun. we spent some great time with Uncle Michael, Aunt Stacie (very pregnant) and cousin A. we hit up chuck e. cheese and the HLS&R carnival. it was a good time by all, but 3 nights away from home is just enough before my kids start to lose it, especially their mother. when we came back home we had doctor's appointments and lots of outside time with some sunshine, at least for one afternoon. then my great friend and her daughter came down from OK. we did some wonderful shopping and relaxing. btw, christy had the baby....6 weeks early, but Baby Emma is here! so darn cute.

oh and i should mention WHY i don't have pictures to post. back in early december my camera was stolen. we had the serial number checked, but nothing showed up at pawn shops. i was devastated because just a few nights prior to it getting stolen was B&A's Christmas program at their school. I had video of A singing and dancing and just taking over with the microphone during her class performance. And B was dressed up like a present for his song. those videos are long gone. i had an older camera that i started using in place of, but it won't connect to the computer to download the pictures. which leads to another prob--our computer died, but it was resurrected thanks to Dell and me spending 3 hours on the phone with them. it works a little better, but it is on the replacement list.

there's the last 4 months. i left out lots of details, but its enought to help me remember what i need to write down in a baby book.

till next time...

anaphlyaxis, huh?

yesterday i took A to her follow up appointment with an allergy doctor after our ER visit. the allergist said the hospital ER did NOT treat her properly. he said they should have given her an epipen immediately rather than waiting on her symptoms to clear. he handed me a sheet on anaphlyaxis and said this is what she did. as i read in my mind i was putting a check mark next to each item on the page. she did all of those things. the more i read, the more scared i became. it leads up to the fact that the next step would have been anaphylactic shock!! i thought that was just something scary that people did in movies or people talked about. oh no, it was all to much a reality to know that my baby girl could have started the shock symptoms! she was so close. the one small dose of benadryl is what may have kept her from going into shock. i am so thankful that the Lord lead me to the benadryl just minutes after her lips started to swell. the doctor explained that the ER just treated her symptoms and not the reaction. he told me if it happens again we need to get her to Cook Children's as quickly as possible. he told me that epipen dose will last 15-20 minutes that is why it is so important to rush her to the ER. if we were ever in this situation we are supposed to do the epipen then a dose of benadryl to help give us a little more time to get to the ER. he did order a blood test to test for food allergies. We will get those results on Dec. 28th. The moral of the story, until we are certain please do NOT let A have any shellfish or fish unless you are prepared with an epipen and know the route to the nearest ER.

how's the house?

i took these on saturday 11/14. they started the brick and stone and should have it all finished up. here's one of the oustide and the bottom pic is my ventahood/cooktop area in the kitchen. more pictures to come soon.