Kidism

Anytime Little A. gets hurt she'll come up to me and say: 

"I got fell!"

Loving It

The other night it was just me and the girls driving to go pick up ML.  My E. started asking all sorts of fun questions and I absolutely enjoyed it.  We were next to a motorcycle that had a guy and girl on it.  

E. wanted to know if she could ride on the back of her boyfriends motorcycle - that was a quick NO.  

She started talking about where she would work while in college - she wants to work at the mall and G. wants to work at Toys R Us.  

She wanted to know how old she would be when we got her a cell phone - I said 16, ML said 13-14.  

She asked at what age we would buy her a chihuahua - I told her 16, but then if she is going off to college then she would have to wait because mommy and daddy won't want to take care of it :).

Just some fun, silly questions, that were obviously important to her.  Through it, I felt like a new chapter of my mommy book was opened and I was finding a completely new way to connect with My E.  I have been thinking about the moment of the conversation and it completely makes me smile and I am excited as to what the future holds.  Even though I am still deal with toddler hood, a new stage has opened.

This stage will be a great learning period for me and an enormous teaching time. My E. is starting to form her own opinions and thoughts.  I must use this opportunity to impress our family values and Christian principles.  We will never get this time back and I must use it wisely.  I so look forward to more conversations with my girls.

Mommy Moment

I just love it when my little A. says  

"Mommy, cover me up me"  

when she is going to bed at night.

Boy or Girl?

My little A. is at such a fun age and she is learning new things and saying the cutest things.  We were at the park today and here is a conversation with A. and a girl she met at the park:

G: Is your dog a girl?

A: No

G:  Is it a boy?

A: No, he's Marley

I just love the way their brains work.  I'm going to try and capture some of her fun comments and wish I had more of the other two.

Fibro Friday: Allergies

Wow, so I haven't done a Fibro Friday in forever.  It just seems as though you go from one flare-up to another.  And I am in a big one now, and just feel horrible (on Tuesday I didn't get out of bed until 1:15 pm).  There are times where I feel like I am getting sick and then boom, a flare-up starts.  Lately, I have been wondering if I am getting sick or is it allergies.  

I have never officially been diagnosed with allergies... until today!  Last week we were at the allergist for our oldest.  And by asking him a few questions, it really made me wonder if all these years I have also been suffering from allergies.  I went to the family doc today and he confirmed it so far.. YES I am suffering from allergies.  And YES allergies and infections can bring on a flare-up.  (I always knew that infections could, but just never thought about allergies.)

The doc gave me some meds to start taking to see if I can get it under control, but I am definitely going to follow up with the allergist.  Just think, it's been 9 years since I was diagnosed at I have probably had allergies all this time and never knew it!

Night Fun

So this night after ML took his "fun pill" he decided he was hungry and he went to the kitchen for a snack.  He comes back with a bowl of something that smelled horrendous, but he was raving about it.  He proceeds to go through what is in the bowl:

• 4 hour old Mac n Cheese
• 4 hour old kernal corn
• cut up Salomi
• Ranch dressing
• Hot sauce

He was so excited about his concoction that he was going to market it and everything.  Of course, the next morning he only remembered the mac n cheese.  And once I filled him in on the rest of the ingredients he was quiet surprised to say the least.

Neighbor Nightmare

Thankfully we live in a neighborhood with tons of girls for our girls to play with, most of the street, up and down, is all girls.  During Spring Break, we were outside a lot playing with all the kids.  We camp ourselves in our neighbors front yard for better views on all the kids.  One day as we were sitting there, I see something dart out of our open garage.  I realize that it is one of the neighbor girls running as fast as she could.  It appeared as though she was holding something in her hand and as she got closer to home, she started to scream.  We were completely confused as to what was wrong, so I follow the girl to her house.

When I get there, they say that she is bleeding on her hand and she doesn't know why.  She claims that she was just sitting in a chair and the next thing she knew she was bleeding.  So I leave and head to our garage and there I found it... a discharged Epi Pen.  (My oldest is allergic to nuts so that's why we would have one).  I'm not sure what the girl did with it, but the tip of the needle was completely bent and the medicine was all gone.

Turns out the little girl lied and she and another neighbor girl had been playing with it.  I went back to the house and told the parents so they would know what might happen to her.  In the end, she turned out fine, but we were so scared that they might come back on us for their little girl finding it and playing with it.  Thank the Lord, we got a ring at our door a few nights later and there they were apologizing for the entire incident.  They completely took the blame and punished the girl for lying and being somewhere she shouldn't have been. 

You just never know how people are going to react these days and I am so thankful that this one turned out good.

My baby is 6!

Gotta love the cross-eyed baby pictures

 

My precious, caring, kindhearted, mischievous, adventurous, middle child G. is 6.  I can't believe how the time has flown.  She still loves to come sit in my lap and cuddle and always brings a smile to our faces (well, not always).  

 Gracey's first haircut

It seems as though with her pregnancy, delivery, and baby years I was very mentally and physically present.  So I am able to remember more and that is very special to me (with my first, the FM and delivery complications made for some foggy months).

I am still so very thankful that the Lord has brought me my 3 girls and I just love them to pieces.  Soon I will have a 9, 6, and 3 year old.  The time is flying by so incredible fast, I am putting my seat belt on and am going to enjoy the ride.

Happy Birthday Gracey-poo.  We love you so much!

Ambien Night Fun

I wanted to start a series on ML's nightly experiences on Ambien.  He has been taking it for about 6 months now to help him sleep and we have had numerous, hilarious stories while he is "under the influence."  Most of the time he only remembers parts of it, so I really have to try and remember the rest so that I can tell him in the morning.  Thank goodness he is a "nice and funny drunk."  And he mainly makes me laugh a lot, but then it does reach a point where he just needs to go lay in bed and fall asleep.

So stay tuned...I have some hilarious stories.

***Ambien is a serious medicine that requires doctors supervision.  It is not for everyone.  We understand the seriousness of it and it's side effects.  I just wanted to share the "exciting" part of the side effects.  So please read for a little laugh only. :)

Why blogging?

I have been thinking lately about why I chose to start a blog.  I was originally wanting to inspire others with FM, other moms with FM, and just plain-old (no emphasis on old at all) mommies like me.  I hope that my words do help others, but in ways the blogging helps me.  It helps me get thoughts out and memories written down.  I don't even know if anyone reads my blog (ok, I know of maybe a few that read it).  And probably for the most part this goes out into the cyber-blog world to never be read again.  Maybe it's not all that I had hoped for my blog (if I'm being completely honest).  But as long as I am trying to glorify God with my life, maybe I have inspired at least one person and if not I feel like it is making me a better mommy.

Spring Break Project #1 - check

So even though I am in a flare-up and feel like crap, I am managing to get an hour or so of energy a day.  And of course with ML doing most of the work, we got our first project done.  It is complete and 100% finished, I just love that feeling.

My neighbor/friend was selling some outdoor fabric in our yard sale and I got the idea of re-doing our bar stools.  It goes great with the decor inside so we bought it at a major discount :) (thanks friend.)  This is the first time we have recovered anything and it was super easy.  With my FM, I don't think I would have had the strength to do it with out ML.  They look so good and we now have some great fabric that will be kid resistant. 

Recommend: Touch n Brush

As Seen on TV

Don't you just love when your kids watch infomercials?  They come running to you saying "Mommy, we need this!" or "Mommy, please can we get this?"  Most of the time you automatically say NO and keep on with what you are doing.  But one day my kids saw this tooth brush dispenser and I thought "Hey, maybe that might actually work."

I had forgotten about it until just recently, when a friend from facebook raved about it.  I had actual, personal testimonies that said it worked.  They no longer had toothpaste all over their counter tops and now I wanted one.  

You don't know how many times we would go into their bathroom and there was toothpaste smeared EVERYWHERE!!!!  And trust me, that is not an exaggeration.  So what did I do?????  I splurged and went and bought one.  (Luckily Fry's/Kroger has had them on sale for a few weeks at $15.99 which is a pretty good price.)  I LOVE this thing.  Absolutely NO MORE toothpaste on the counters.  I love it so much that I am going to get one for our bathroom.  Not that ML and I have a problem smearing toothpaste on the counter tops, but because it keeps the toothpaste up and out of the way.

Miserable Monday

Ok, so I stole the title from a friend (thanks friend.)  But that's what today was for me emotionally and physically.  Just overall miserable.  I am trying to get out of it and deal with the pain that I am in, and I know tomorrow will be better.  

For the past few months, I have been talking about "a storm" that me and my family have been going through.  It has been the toughest, worst, best, most humbling time for me and ML since the beginning of our marriage or ever. Yes, we have had our struggles here and there, but it was time for the Lord to shake it up a bunch and do a huge remodel.  The remodel is on our marriage, ML, me, our parenting, everything.  I don't mean to be so mysterious, one day I will share the actual details of this chapter of our lives.  But for this date and time, they will remain private.

Looking back, it really doesn't matter what the details are.  It's WHO gets you through those details.  And the only person that has gotten me through these details is God.  He has been the one constant, the only unwavering factor, and the light at the end of the tunnel.  My favorite verse these days is  

Psalms 18:18:  But the Lord is my support.

As I write this, I am starting to get out of my miserable Monday.  A friend who is a wonderful writer, was able to put exactly into words what I have been feeling and encouraged me to continue the fight.  Please enjoy her words, they are an inspiration to me and hopefully to you also.

Beware...Work in Progress!

by MommybizKaren

Goodwill, Good Deal

I have really started becoming the Queen of Great Deals.  It has been saving our family hundreds, if maybe even thousands of dollars.  With this economy, most of us have been forced to become stingy creative.  For me, it has been fun and exciting and a challenge that I have absolutely enjoyed.  We have 3 growing girls we have to clothe and it can certainly get expensive.  Yes, would I love to go into any store and buy whatever I want?  Would I love to buy something that isn't on sale?  The answer is actually becoming no on both of these.

And that's where Goodwill comes in.  You can find some awesome deals at Goodwill.  Now some of you may say "Goodwill, no way will I be caught in there."  But tough economic times, calls for drastic measure (not that Goodwill is drastic).  You can find great kids clothes there, some that are new and practically new.  And since kids grow so fast, why not go green and buy used because they will be out of them in no time anyways. 

My best tips for Goodwill are: go on Wednesdays because they have a certain color tag and week at 50% off and go on their 50% off Saturdays.  Everything is 50% off on those days.  We have found great, cheap bikes for our girls.  Awesome clothes, including Old Navy, Children's Place, and other name brands.  I found a practically new pair of capris that were Ann Taylor Loft.  

Another fun thing that I have gotten into is their purses.  I go through and check them all to see if I find any good leather ones or higher name brand ones.  You can also check their jewelry section (usually at the front register) to see if they have any designer stuff.  I keep checking for designer purses, and sometimes they have some great knock-offs too.

Just keep your mind open to new things and help save some money for your family at the same time.  Let me know what great deals you find. 

Mini-Me

When I say that I have a mini-me, I REALLYYY mean it.  Out of 3 girls, I knew that they would have some of my habits or mannerisms.  I do with my mom, and I think it is completely natural.  But wow, little A. just tops the cake right now.  I can't wait for her to turn 3 and I am hoping some of this will settle down a bit (especially the whining which I am cracking down on her about and it's starting to work).

My A. has to go to bed wearing the clothes that match the same color as mine.  She has to wear shoes that match mine.  She has to have her bed side table lamp on like mine.  She shows me her shoes that match the same color of shoes that I have.  She has to have the same utensils as I do.  And the list goes on, and on, and on.

I love the fact that she really likes me, but come on.  I love her to death, but come on.  Mommy is ready for some separation without anxiety.  I think Mommy needs a time out cuz my attitude stinks because I am feeling the love a little too much.

Spring is here

Spring is here, well for the most part, in Arizona.  To me, March brings many enjoyable things.  The weather is getting great to have park play dates, bike riding, and playing outside a little longer.  March also bring the birthday for our middle child, she will be 6 this year.  So bring it on Spring, we are ready for you.

Happy March!