January 30, 2011

In A Word...

So I've seen several posts on different blogs about picking a word for the year. I hadn't really thought that much about it at first(although it was interesting to see what everyone picked)but then it seemed like the past few days it just kept popping into my mind. Along with a word that is exactly where we are right now in our lives. Thought I'd just do a quick post and share it with all of you! So without further ado, here it is.

Change: to make different, transform. to give a completely different appearance to. to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc...of something different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone. (these were just a few of my favorite definitions)

There's so many things we've been praying for the Lord to change in our lives for what seems like a long time now. I truly believe that this year will hold many changes for our family and although it can be a little scary to think about, I'm also excited to see what's in store. I'm so thankful to serve a God who can and will change things when we seek Him. Even if it's not always in the way we expect. Will you join us in praying for whatever change He wants for us this year?

January 22, 2011

Baby Bloopers!

This post will probably be a little scattered and probably more than a little silly so just consider yourself forewarned! :)

Adjusting to life with a newborn after so long has been quite a pain, ahem, I mean an adventure these past few weeks. Lack of sleep, stress over her being sick and requiring constant care, and just overall changes have made things pretty crazy around here at times. (to be honest, that's putting it a little mildly...but I digress) Okay, where was I? Oh, yeah, craziness....here's just a few little things that have happened or been said lately that I thought was funny. Figured I would share so you all could get a laugh too! Cause sometimes when life is rough you might as well just laugh instead of cry, right?! :)

You know the saying, "don't cry over spilt milk"? (actually, sometimes that reaction is totally appropiate in my opinion, especially when you're paying $9 a can for it!) But when you try pouring it into a bottle without a liner in it and it goes everywhere, it really is more funny than sad I have to admit. I mean, who would do something like that anyway? lol Or maybe when for no apparent reason you pick up the jar and it drops out of your hand to run all over the cabinets and into the drawers and you stand there thinking how in the world did that just happen? I don't think I've mentioned how clumsy I got with this last pregnancy(which I read is perfectly normal, but I think is debatable depending on what you consider normal!). Well, unfortunately the clumsiness has stayed with me and doesn't look like it's gonna get better anytime soon. Which is probably why I managed to somehow slam the cabinet door extremely loud the other day....right after we had commented on the fact that Darcey had just fallen asleep in her swing for the first time ever! Can anyone say frustrating?! (and in case you wondered, yes, she did wake up. immediately. crying.) I think that's enough about my awful lack of gracefulness slight clumsiness for now though. I'm making myself upset all over again. lol

As for funny things that the kids have said here's a couple that come to mind at the moment. Dathan told me a couple weeks ago that my stomach was so much smaller since I'd had Darcey. Yeah, I was really encouraged...until he continued with saying that now I only look maybe 2 or 3 months pregnant! I did try to have a heart to heart about considering what you say and if it might hurt someone's feelings(not for myself but in case he did it to someone else!) but I have to admit it was more than a little comical cause he was just so cute and honest. I couldn't help but laugh and just agree since it was true anyway. haha
Delancey's funniest thing was when she told mom about how we were getting ready to go somewhere one day and that Darcey had been so good, but then before we could leave 'she started to scream bloody murder!'. Then she thought about it for a second and said, "No, it was worse than bloody murder!" lol There's nothing like the things kids say sometimes. It's priceless! :)

Last but not least is the funniest thing by far that has happened since Darcey was born. (well, I think so anyway... Blake might not fully agree. haha) We had finally gotten to where we were attempting to lay Darcey down propped up on pillows between us some at night a few weeks ago. It was still very challenging to get her to sleep and her actually stay that way for very long though so sometimes I would bounce the bed a little after I laid her on it to hopefully keep her settled. This particular night she was pretty fussy and I had been up with her for awhile before trying to lay her down. Blake was already in bed and had fallen asleep sometime before.(I should probably note at this point that he has been notorious for doing things in his sleep ever since we've been married...starting with on our honeymoon...which is a story for another day) So anyway as I started to bounce on the bed he jumps up, pushes away the sleep mask he had on, and with a rather wild look started to run to...well, somewhere I guess. I'm still desperately trying to keep Darcey asleep but not let him go running off all crazy so I start whisper yelling(ya'll know what that is, right?)at him to lay back down. Surprisingly enough he actually stopped and listened long enough to sit back on the bed and stare kinda blankly at me, albeit still with a rather panicked expression on his face. I quietly ask him what he was doing and he whispers back,"Getting out of bed!". And when I said why he looked at me like I was crazy and said,"Cause it was shaking!" You would have thought there was an earthquake or something the way he sounded. I had to really get a grip on myself to not laugh out loud and wake up Darcey myself at this point. lol I finally was able to reply long enough to tell him that I knew it was because I was the one doing it! haha He sat there for another minute and then evidently decided that things were safe enough so he could lay back down. After which he was immediately back asleep of course. And the funniest part?! He doesn't remember one little thing about it..... :-)

Okay, so there's some of the insanely crazy stuff that's been going on at our house lately. Hope you all got a kick out of reading it, if you managed to make it to the end of this impossibly long post that is!

January 15, 2011

Just a Little Note

I keep promising myself that I will post more on here, but so far that just isn't happening! For today I'll be keeping it short and sweet and hopefully get around to finish the gazillion other posts I have started another day. :)

As I'm sure most of you know by now we've had snow since last Sunday night here in the south. This is the first 'big' snow we've had in years and especially that has stayed around for this long! The kids have been loving it of course, but it's also gotten a little old being so cold and not being able to get out during the day because of Darcey. The roads finally cleared off by Wednesday and Blake had to go back to work but the kids and I didn't go anywhere until yesterday. Can anyone say stir-crazy?! But I'm still glad we got it and the kids were able to enjoy having so much to play in here at home for a change. And I have to admit that I think it's beautiful too.

As for where we went yesterday, the homeschool group we're part of had a field trip at a local museum and since the kids were dying to get out and actually see someone else I decided to try and go. I wasn't sure how Darcey would do and actually it was the first real trip for me alone with all three kids, but it went really well! I was amazed that she hardly cried at all while we were there for over 2 hours....and then not amazed at all when she screamed most of the way home afterwards. Guess you can't have it all easy, right? :)

Well, that wasn't the greatest update in the world but it's late and I'm tired so it'll have to do. (and it's actually longer than I even meant for it to be so that should count for something) Here's hoping for a good night....

January 2, 2011

10 Weeks Old!

Has it really been 10 whole weeks since I gave birth to this wonderful little baby girl?! It doesn't seem possible she could be that old already....although there have been a few days that seemed to go on forever I must admit. :)
I'm working on some of the struggles we've had and how hard it's been in another post though, so for now I'm gonna just focus on the good stuff!

Darcey is sweet and smiling whenever she isn't hurting. I love seeing her wake up in the mornings or from a nap when she isn't in pain and knowing that the bubbly little smiles and interactions are her true personality. (not the constant crying of feeling bad which covers that up!) She's very observant and likes to be held facing out while walking around so she can see everything. She's been grinning and trying to laugh at us for several weeks now. And she never gets tired of being talked to by any of us! She also makes noises and tries to mimic whatever we're doing with our mouths....it's so funny to see her trying to use her tongue and lips....she takes it so seriously! :)
She seems to be developing quickly (or maybe I'm just forgetting how the other two were) and started holding her head up very young. Now she's already trying to sit up whenever she's on the changing table or being held in our laps. I had bought her a Bumbo seat for Christmas, but figured it would be a little while before she could use....she surprised me by already being able o sit in it by herself for a short amount of time! It seems to cause her reflux to get a little worse though (probably too much pressure on her stomach) so I don't sit her in there very often or leave her for very long.
She also sits in her vibrating seat for small intervals every day before getting fussy. It's a little break for me and good for her as well I think! The swing is probably not as much liked by her, but sometimes works for just a minute if she's not already crying when I put her in....which wasn't very surprising since the other two kids didn't swing very much either, so I wasn't getting my hopes up too far. I think maybe when her pain level has gone down even more (which we hope is soon!) she'll be using both seats alot more often. We can always wish for that anyway! :)

Darcey is also growing like crazy and still wants to eat almost 4 ounces about every 2 1/2-3 hours. She's wearing 3 months clothes and size 1 diapers, but is looking like she'll be moving up again before too long! Probably the biggest accomplishment in the past couple weeks is that we've been able to lay her down between us in the bed propped up on some pillows to sleep part of each night. That might sound crazy to most people since it isn't for very long or even in her own bed, but when you've got one who has to be held 24 hours a day any kind of break is wonderful!

This past week has been a little rough with her being even more fussy than normal, but she seems to be doing a little better now so maybe that was just a phase or something. I had ran out of the probiotics I was giving her and got some more of those Friday night so hopefully that'll start helping her stomach again. I also began adding some aloe vera juice to one of her bottles each day again to see if that would help her digestion. Some days it seems like things work and others not so who knows really, but we're trying to do all we can to give her some relief!

Well, I guess that's about enough updating for now. I'll end with saying how thankful we are for this baby girl and how much we all love having her around! She's definitely become a very special addition to our little family.....one which I wouldn't trade for all the peaceful, sleeping nights in the world. And that's saying alot for us right now! :)