Charlotte Janae-Part 1

So after my last post I finally go to go to an OB checkup.  I got all my paperwork filled out and turned in and saw a Nurse Practitioner at the hospital.  I told her about how uncomfortable I had been and all the contractions that I had been having. So she checked me and I was still no where near going into labor.  No surprise really...I've never progressed on my own.  I was still hoping though! I had never been in so much discomfort and pain at the end of any of my pregnancies.  The baby and I looked good, and the NP put in a referral for me to have an ultrasound done at around 38 weeks to check the fluid, since Savannah's fluid was low at the end.  The clinic at our base didn't have any openings for an ultrasound, so I ended up having to schedule one at the Naval hospital 45 min away.  Boo.
 I finally got to see a midwife at my next appointment, at 38 weeks. Two weeks before my due date and that's the first time I got to see anyone that might actually deliver my baby.  For your appointments you see whichever midwife can see you, and when it comes time to deliver it's kinda the same thing. you don't have a set Dr unless you are a special case. I liked this midwife a lot.  She was super nice. She wasn't planning to do an exam to check and see if I'd progressed any, but I asked her to anyway.  Again, I had been having a ton of pressure and contractions and so much discomfort!  She measured me and then checked the baby's position.  While feeling for Charlotte, she said that her head must be way down "there", because she couldn't feel it, or... she thought she felt her head up by my ribs.  A few minutes and a quick peek with an ultrasound later and we discovered that we had a breech baby in there!  Suddenly everything about my birth plan changed.  The midwife brought in a doctor to explain my options to me.  There were a few.  They could do a procedure where they physically try and turn the baby. (Called an External cephalic version, or version. ECV) Then if the baby turned, they would go ahead and induce me so that she could be delivered while she was in the right position so we didn't risk her turning back breach. If the baby wouldn't turn, I'd have a c-section. Or I could just have a c-section.  I felt like a deer caught in the headlights...I went in expecting an uneventful checkup where I would find out that I was still forever away from going into labor.  Tony wasn't with me, as he had to stay with the girls. I suddenly had to decide what the plan was.  The wanted to schedule it for the following week, if they waited too long I could go into labor on my own. If I went into labor on my own and she was breech, It would require an emergency c section.  The Doctor that was going to be working on the day that they wanted to deliver was in the clinic that day and I got to meet and talk to her.  She actually had the most experience delivering breech babies! She felt that she could do a vaginal delivery with her being breech, but she didn't have enough people with that experience to be on her team.  And legally she couldn't knowingly do a breech delivery unless it was in more of an emergency situation. I immediately rejected the idea of just going in for a c-section.  So we made a plan to try the procedure first. I had a friend in Hawaii that almost had to have the procedure done so I knew that it was risky.  I asked the Drs about the risks, what little I knew to ask anyway. (If something went wrong with the procedure, I would end up with an emergency c-section)  They said that the risk was small and that they hadn't seen it happen often.  The Doctor scheduled me to come in the next week (at 39 weeks) and I left.
For the next few days I did as much research as I could on getting a breech baby to turn on it's own, and the ECV procedure. I was also feeling pretty silly for not knowing that she was breech!  It all made so much sense now.  There were lots of times that I told Tony I could feel her kicking my cervix...only to correct myself and say that I guess she was punching it instead? LOL.  All the pain and discomfort and the fact that she felt so much different that the others...I just blamed it on the stress and the move, and the fact that she was #4.  I had also told Tony that it felt like she hadn't gotten the memo that she was supposed to be curled up in there.  It felt like she was all stretched out.  Well, she WAS!  ha ha.  It gust never occurred to me that she was head up. 
In my research on the ECV I came across a couple of friends that had had the procedure done...and it ended horribly with traumatic emergency c-sections! (baby's heart rate suddenly dropping ) The Doctors said it was rare...but how had it happened to two people that I knew??!  I also learned that the procedure was best done no later than 37 weeks, so the baby wouldn't be so big. It was more dangerous if you had an anterior placenta, and if the baby was foot long breech. (Feet by the cervix vs. bottom next to it.)
 I had my ultrasound to check the fluid a few days after the check up.  The fluid was fine.  Baby was measuring over 8 lbs already  and a week ahead.  She had a foot lodged in my cervix and her placenta was on the top.  Her head was tucked behind my ribs so much so that the technician doing the ultrasound couldn't see any of her face, and couldn't get her to move at all.  The technician kept saying that she was squished in there.  This was on Monday, before I was scheduled for the ECV the following Friday.  After the ultrasound I was more nervous about the procedure than ever. I had a final check up on Thursday. I  saw a midwife first who told me that the ultrasound results that had been sent to them from the other hospital said that Charlotte was in the correct, head down position. What?!!  I told her that she definitely was not, and she could also tell by feeling that she was still breech.  So she brought in the little in office machine and check real quick.  Yep, still breech.  The hospital that did the ultrasound just failed to get that little piece of information correct. (government healthcare at it's finest)
I had to wait quite awhile to be able to see the Dr that was going to be seeing me for the procedure and delivery.  I finally saw her asked her about the risk, now that we knew all these things about Charlotte. Tony was able to be with me for this appointment so we both asked all that we could think of.  At this point I was leaning toward not having the procedure done.  The Dr still said that we could "try anyway"
I appreciated the fact that she seemed confident, but she had only met me once before.  She had never given me an exam or seen a sonogram of the baby.  She knew nothing about me, and seemed to dismiss all of the risk factors a little too easily, I thought. I really didn't know what to do.  The only things I knew for sure...I did NOT want an emergency c-section, and I didn't want to risk anything going wrong on Charlotte's end.  At all. We had no idea the position of the cord, or why she wasn't turning in the first place. Even if they could get her out within moments if something went wrong, even moments without oxygen could affect her for the rest of her life.  I wasn't afraid of the procedure on my end so much, even though I'd heard how very painful and awful it could be. The only risk to me was the placement of the placenta.  With it being anterior, it increased the risk of placental abruption which was dangerous for both of us.  Even after much prayer, I just didn't feel at peace with the procedure.  I didn't care at all about a scar from a c-section, but I was concerned about the recovery time.  I had 4 children to care for, and we were in a new town where we knew practically no one.  A long recovery time just wasn't an option. I couldn't get past the fact that I didn't have peace about it though, and my instincts were telling me not to do it. ( My intuition is almost always right)  So...two words that I never thought would apply to me, were suddenly my plan. C-Section. 
I suddenly had to be at peace with that.

It Is What It Is

Today has been a rough week. I don't really know why.  Nothing major, just a lot of those little frustrating things that add up. It has also been a very long week!  Today is the first day this week that hasn't started out like a Monday.  Thank goodness for that. However, I have yet to really get anything good accomplished either. It's also the first day this week that I don't have anywhere that I NEED to go.  Having too many days on the go is not something I enjoy.  I kinda need to go to Target...but it's not absolutely necessary to do it today.  So maybe I won't.  We'll see... 
I had high hopes for this week too.  So far it is letting me down.  I really hope that it finishes out the way that I want it to though!

Last Friday we finally got our assignment from the Air Force.  We are going to Langley AFB in Virginia next.  I was disappointed when I found out.  It was very last on our list.  Our last assignment was the one that was very last on our list too. (Hawaii was not our original assignment)  I'm thinking that next time we make our list we should put where we really want to go at the bottom!  We weren't really surprised that we got it though.  The work that he will be doing there is going to be a lot of the same stuff he is doing here.  We knew that the AF tries to match that first, when it comes to moving people.  So no surprise that he was selected to go there.   Langley is definitely better than some of the other places that we could have been sent to, so I continue to focus on that and be grateful. There are really a lot of positives about there.  It's a great area.  Rich in history.  Three hours from D.C, super close to Colonial Williamsburg, and really just a TON to do in the area.  Not that we will have the money to do many of these cool things...but it's there anyway. Ha Ha.   We will be only about 2 hours from Tony's parents.  I am excited about that. They are already talking about getting a bigger car so that all the girls will fit in it, and getting a swing set. ;o)   The rest of his family is along the East coast, so he will be semi close to them also.  In the last 9 years, he's seen most of them only a couple of times or so.  I know he is looking forward to seeing them more.  Knowing that we will be 1600 miles from my family still makes my heart hurt.  I was really hoping to be within a 10-12 hour drive from there.  I have to remind myself that 1600 is still a lot better than the 3700 miles away that we are now.  Even though a 3 day drive will be NEXT to impossible with 4 young children, at least it IS possible, since there isn't an ocean in between.  And hopefully flying will be a lot cheaper too.  Not to mention shorter.  An eight hour plane ride  is not very much fun!  Seeing my family at least once a year will be better than only once in a 3 year period. Trying to stay positive!

  I'm really looking forward to seasons, and Chick-Fil-A, and craft stores, and just being back on the mainland again. Being close to Tony's family will be awesome.  Especially around the holidays.  Three years in a row we haven't been able to see family for the holidays and it is really hard.  We have some great friends here, so I'm grateful for that, but it's still not the same.  Hopefully we will get to see my family at the holidays soon too! And I am pretty excited that we will still be near the beach.  Every time I leave my house I see the ocean or Pearl Harbor.  I've gotten used to seeing the water, and I think I would miss it if I couldn't see it.  My girls will also get to say that they have been in both the Pacific and Atlantic ocean. (well, the first 3 of my children)  How cool is that??  My first time to ever see the ocean was when I was 20...So I think it's pretty awesome.



 I continue to be worried about the cost of living there, and how it will affect us.  We will be taking a $850 a month pay cut when we leave here, and I'll be honest and say I don't know where in our budget it will come from!!  We already live very frugally, with very little extra expenses.  If we can get in military housing that will help a LOT.  However, since it is a high cost area, housing usually has quite a bit of a wait list.  Because the baby is due soon after we move, we don't have a lot of time to wait.  I figure the latest that I want to wait on a house is April first.  Hopefully that will give me time to get unpacked and settled by my May 3rd due date.  Fortunately we are able to get on the wait list now, so hopefully in the next 4-5 months something will come open for us.  Please pray with us on that, will you?  It is a really big deal to me.  When we moved here we lived in a hotel for 2 full months.  It was unpleasant, but totally worth it.  However, stateside bases don't pay for you to live in lodging for that long.  They will pay for you to stay there for 10 days.  I figure that we will be able to pay for the rest of the month with the money that would normally go toward our rent.  After that...We don't know. Hopefully we won't have to find out!

We are still waiting to find out if the date change for our move has been approved.  Tony submitted the paperwork 2-3 weeks ago.  They told him that it would take about 2 weeks to know.  And about a week ago they told him the part that would take the longest was already done.  Hmmm....We're still waiting.  lol.  We know that it has been approved by his commander, but it has to go to 2 more commanders that are above him.  Tony has asked for a DEROS (Date of Estimated Return from Overseas) date of Feb 15th.  Which would mean that we would be leaving here by then, or possibly earlier in February.  We hope to spend a few weeks in Texas and get to VA the first or second week of March.  There are a lot of details to learn and figure out, so I hope we get our date approval soon!!!  The possibility that we have just started our last full 3 months here is crazy!!  It's very exciting, but like I said, LOTS to figure out in that short time and we are looking at the holidays coming up too.  That always slows things down a bit.  I'm already dreading the move.  It's such an ordeal.  Any move is a hassle, but with an overseas move it takes 6-8 weeks to get your car and all of you stuff to where you are going.  Since we are going all the way to the east coast I'm thinking it will take the full 8 weeks or more.  So you are homeless and living out of a suitcase for at least 2 months.  That is NOT easy with young children.   No address, so mail is on hold and everything. And that flight is long.  8-9 hours in the airplane just to get to Texas.   Then you add the time zone difference, and you get a bit of jet lag on top of going close to 24 hours with no sleep. I'm just ready to get it over with! :o)  But first...we need that date!  Come on Air Force!


Hopefully this week ending will bring the news that we are waiting for.  Also, Saturday we have an appointment for a sonogram to hopefully find out if we are having girl #4, or if everything in our house will be tipped upside down with a boy!  It's about the earliest that they can try to see gender, so I'm really trying not to get my hopes up in case the baby is still too small or uncooperative. If we can't tell, we will go back the following week.  With the way my week has been going, I would not be surprised if we are disappointed this week.  Ha Ha!  Trying to stay positive though, because surely something good has to happen this week!

I've Been Busy...

As usual it's been longer than I would like since I last blogged. However, this time I feel like I have a good excuse. I've been busy. Here's an overview of what has been keeping me from spending more than a few minutes at a time on the computer.

On July 6th, Baby girl #3 joined our family. Savannah Juliet was born at 3:59 AM, and was 6lbs, 8oz. 19in long. I was induced with both of the other girls, and really wanted to experience what it was like to go into labor on my own. I was about to give up on that, as I was told at my 39 week check up that I still wasn't really making any progress in that direction. I was very disappointed, as I was more than ready for her to be here. However I was also measuring smaller than I did at my previous appt, so after a quick sonogram, they discovered that my fluid was low. The Dr came in and said
"Congratulations, you're having a baby tonight!"
Me: "uuhhh, ok. Can I go home and get my husband and bag?"
Dr. "No. You have to go be admitted right away."
I think I had a dazed look on my face, because the Doctors and nurses kept asking me if I was ok. Ha ha!
Induced again. I'm totally convinced that my body does not know how to go into labor on it's own.

Everything went fine, and about 12 hours later Savannah was here. I did learn one thing...you can go from only being dilated to a 5, to holding your baby in your arms in less than 30 min. Surprise! :o) Savannah was over 1lb smaller than her sisters were at birth, so it was so fun to have such a tiny newborn!
She is a super good, happy baby. She is 9 weeks old now, and has been sleeping through the night since she was about 4 or 5 weeks old. Her big sisters adore her, and are huge helps to me.

Since she is the 3rd baby, and 3rd girl, things have been pretty easy for me. I am however using cloth diapers for her. That has been a new adventure, and one that I am finding is more fun than I thought it would be! I wish I had started doing it 2 babies ago...but I didn't. I'm loving how much money we are saving! I had decided to CD before she was born, but all the diapers that I had bought were WAY too big for a tiny newborn. So I used disposable for the first 3 weeks until I got smaller diapers. We used $100 in diapers in just 3 weeks. YIKES! That made me feel good about our decision to CD, and made me feel better about the initial investment of buying the cloth. More on this adventure later. :o)

Natalie is officially in Kindergarten! We decided to home school her this year. Hawaii schools are not so good, and she was already way ahead of what she would be learning at school. So that has been keeping me busy as well. We have recently joined a local home school group and will be doing a co-op twice a month. Fun!

Natalie and Gabbie have been taking swimming lessons all summer. Two weeks every month from June-Sept we walk down to the pool in our neighborhood for lessons. They are having a blast and learning a LOT. They have one session left for this summer. Then hopefully Savannah will be big enough that I can keep taking them to the pool so they can practice and keep up the skills that they have learned.

AWANA has started back up. I now have one in Cubbies and one in Sparks! How am I old enough to have one in Sparks??! I am helping out with the high school group again also. That keeps my Sundays full.

Tony's mom was able to come and visit right before, and right after Savannah was born. We always enjoy her visits! We are planning a trip back home to Texas to visit my family at the end of September. We are super excited! At that point it will be a year and a half since seeing any of my family, or being off this beautiful little rock in the middle of the ocean. I am not looking forward to the 8 hour flight (12+ hours of travel time, AND 5 hours time difference) with a baby and 2 little ones...but it will be worth it. :o)

Well, this is a small overview of what I have been up to these last couple of months. Trust me, it feels crazier than it sounds. My days are filled with laundry, dishes, nursing, feeding the other girls, cleaning up messes, cooking, cleaning again and more laundry. I have such a glamorous exciting life, don't I ? :0)


Her very first bath...she wasn't a fan!
My 3 girls.

Savannah on Left, Natalie on right. I feel like I am repeating myself...

December Already?!

Wow, I can't believe that it is December already. How well I remember last year! It seems like just a few months ago.

I am trying very hard to get in the holiday spirit around here. I have done hardly any Christmas shopping yet, and I just barely got the tree put up. It's hard to feel like Christmas when it is still so hot and green outside. There are no Christmas song about when it's 80 outside and the palm trees are swaying... Although according to the weather people here we are having "winter" weather. Winter here means a few more clouds and rain, and some days the breeze is fairly cool. I'll take it! On the cloudy days I just look out the window, and pretend that it is as cool as it looks outside.

We will not be with family for Christmas either. While this makes me very sad, and I'm missing all the family stuff we usually do on Christmas, at the same time I am looking forward to starting our own family traditions this year! I get the opportunity to start something special that someday my girls will remember about Christmas! And that does make me a little excited. But I am still missing the big family gatherings, with all the food and fun that comes with being with extended family this time of the year.

I am so thankful for my little family. I'm thankful that Tony is here for the holidays. There are many people in his line of work that aren't able to be home for Christmas. And someday, he might be one of those too. So I am very grateful this year, because we have no guarantee on the next years. The girls are very excited for Christmas too! Especially Natalie. Her Christmas list changes everyday I think. Haha! Although there have been a few things that have stayed the same. They love the Christmas tree! They plug it in first thing every morning. When I finally got it put up, Gabbie went running to it and gave it a big hug! There aren't many ornaments on it, and the bottom half is mostly bare. The bead garland is already messed up. But between the girls and the cat, I didn't really expect much different.

We also have the added blessing of a new baby this year! I am 9 weeks pregnant with baby #3. Natalie and Gabbie are VERY excited. They both want another sister. Poor daddy. Ha ha! So far this pregnancy is exactly like the other two. I haven't been sick, just super tired! I have heard from several people that have both boys and girls that their pregnancies were different with the different genders. I have a feeling the girls will get their sister, but of course that remains to be seen! Either way we will be happy.

I better go try and do something productive with my day. Tony is working this weekend, so I am being lazy this morning. Have a blessed December, with much happiness in this special season!

It's been...wow

I know that most of you are probably thinking that I have disappeared by now. I haven't. I have just been busy. And stressed. And had more pressing things to do than update my blog. And every time I set down at the computer I have 2 toddlers crawling all over me. Which makes updating a little hard. But here I am. To spare you the very long post of what's been going on the last 3 or so months, I will just hit the highlights for you.

Tony's mom came to visit. We had a blast. Went shopping, and did some new things on the island. She bought me a sewing machine! I love it, and have been trying to find some time to make some simple clothes for the girls. While she was here the girls got sick. Then Tony and I got sick at the end of her visit. The combination of being sick and Gramma visiting made Gabbie regress in her potty training. BAD. We were back to day 1. Aaannnd, it took us over a month to get trained again! Ugh. (That's one of the things that has been keeping me busy, and kept me from blogging)

Tony and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! Sine we were apart for our last anniversary we had a lot of fun celebrating this year. We went to a luau on the beach. It was a wonderful evening. The Air Force ball was in September. It is to celebrate the Air Force's birthday. It also happens to mark Tony's anniversary in the Air Force! He has been in for a whole year now! I can't believe it!! The time is flying! We had a lot of fun getting dressed up and going to the ball. It was nice to have a kid free night! :o) We have also hit the 6 month mark of being in Hawaii! We REALLY can't believe that one. The time has really been going by so quickly! We still love it here, and haven't even done a fraction of all there is to do on the island.

One night the smoke detector in Gabbie's room started "chirping" You know, the occasional beep like when the batteries are getting low? Only ours are wired into the electricity...so no clue why it was doing this in the middle of the night. Well it scared Gabbie. BAD. She was afraid to be alone, especially in her room. Wouldn't sleep in her room. Naps and nighttime involved me sitting in her room for an hour or more until she fell asleep. Then she would wake up in the middle of the night and I would be outside of her room for 3-4 hours trying to get her back to sleep. It was AWFUL! A very long, sleep deprived month. She is mostly better now. We still have to stay outside her room for a little bit when we put her to bed at night, and she still wakes up in the middle of the night. Every night. BUT, I finally made her a pallet on the floor of our room, and so now she just wakes up and comes in our room to lay down and sleep more. So at least I'm getting sleep. We are still dealing with her separation anxiety though. Not sure if us trying a new church set it off, or if it's just one of those normal stages of life. It's annoying. She won't let us leave her in her class at church now, and she does not sit still and quiet to go to church with us. She even gets upset when I leave her with her daddy! I have to sneak out of the house so that she won't have a meltdown. It's really frustrating! I'm hoping that she will grow out of this phase soon as well.

We are still looking for a church that is "home" for us. We have found a couple that we like, but just don't feel that connection yet. Hopefully soon. We haven't been able to attend the new one very much lately because of Gabbie though. We started going to that church because it has AWANA's that starts at Cubbies. The chapels on base have AWANA's, but they don't start until kindergarten. Natalie has been going to Cubbies. She loves it and is doing very well.

We have been meeting more great people here. We are very thankful for that. I have a small group of moms (and 1 dad) that get together every week most weeks. Three of us live in the same neighborhood, so that's nice. We like to go to the beach, or the splash park, or just have a play date where the kids can play and the adults can have some time with other adults. Ha ha. I'm finding that to be very important.

Tony finally has a set schedule. He works 12 hour shifts. 3 days on, 2 days off, 2 days on, 3 days off. It's confusing, and has been hard for me to get used to! I never know what day of the week it is. I have to write everything down on a calendar. It's hard but he has about 1/2 the time off, which is nice. He works every-other weekend, which I don't like, but he has some weekdays off which is nice. We like to avoid the crowds when we do stuff around the island. He got Airman of the Quarter, which is a very good thing. It will look good when promotion time comes, and hopefully it will help him get promoted 6 months early!

We have been fighting sickness around our house! We have all taken our turns. Yes, multiple. lol The girls have had stomach bugs, and colds. Tony and I have been passing colds back and forth. I even had a fever with one of my rounds, so not sure what it was. We are starting to all get cleared up, and I hope it stays that way!

While the rest of the country is enjoying fall, things here aren't much different. I planted some new herbs and flowers the other day. I didn't think I would mind warm weather all year, but I am missing Fall! "Winter"is the rainy time of year here on the island, so we have been having a little more clouds and rain than we have been. That helps it to be a little cooler, but not much.
It's hard for me to believe that the holidays are upon us...I still think it's summer! This is strange to me for sure. All the stores have winter clothes like on the mainland though! Are you kidding me?! We don't need fleece, sweaters, coats, and boots! Even gloves and hats! I didn't know this would happen, or I would have bought the girls shoes while summer stuff was still out. It's going to be an interesting "winter".

Speaking of holidays...they are almost here! Yikes! This will be the first holidays that we won't be spending with my side of the family. That will be really hard. However, we are looking forward to starting our own traditions for our little family here. :o) Although...if nothing changes with Tony's schedule, he will be working on Thanksgiving. I'm having a hard time with that. It will be an interesting Thanksgiving...

And another thing that's been keeping me busy...I have started selling Scentsy! If you aren't familiar with the products you should get acquainted! I LOVE it! I've only been doing it a little over 2 months now, but I'm already making a profit. :o) I'm not getting rich yet... ;o) but it's nice to have a little extra spending money.

Well that's probably enough stuff to make you bored. If you are still reading hopefully you can see why it's been so long since my last post and forgive me for it. It won't be that long before my next one, hopefully!

Hello 2010

I hope that this new year has gotten off to a great start for all of you. 2009 was a year of many changes for us, and there are a few in store for us in 2010 as well.

This time last year we had just decided that Tony would join the Air Force. Look how far we have come in 1 year! We survived the 2 month separation with limited contact for Basic Training. The girls and I moved 300 miles to be with him at Tech school. We are now half-way done with tech school. This time last year I would not have believed that I could go for 2 months without my husband, and move pretty much by myself! While it wasn't fun or easy, I wouldn't change anything about it. Everything we went through was used for learning and putting things in perspective. Our marriage and family as a whole has been made stronger and better because if it.

We look forward to our big move in the Spring. There is a possibility that we may not be moving to California after all. A guy that is in Tony's class came to him wanting to trade bases. He wants to go to the base in California that we have been assigned to. In exchange we would be going to the base that he was assigned. The base that he was assigned is Hickam AFB. I'll save you the time of Googling it and just tell you where it is....It's in Hawaii.

There are pros and cons to being in Hawaii instead of California. (More pros in my opinion.) :o) The biggest pros (aside from the fact that well, it's Hawaii) - are that I already have a friend there, and it would be a lot easier to see Tony's parents more often. They live in Okinawa. In the 6 years that we have been together Tony only sees his parents on average of once a year. They have seen Natalie 4 times, and Gabbie only twice. It would be harder to see my family, ( big con) but I would love the opportunity to spend more time with his parents. We would also make a little more money living in Hawaii as opposed to California. In the end we decided that you just don't turn a chance like that down. It may not happen again. SO, we are in the process of waiting to see if the trade will be approved. It may or may not be approved, but at least we aren't passing the opportunity up! We hope to know in the next week or two what the outcome is. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much...but some days it's really hard! :o)

Either way- whether we move to California or Hawaii- we have a big adventure awaiting us in about 3 months! I'm excited to get to our base and get settled. I'm ready to find a good church and make some friends. Natalie has also been asking about going to gymnastics lately-I think she misses it! Once we get settled we hope to get her back into it. She really loved it, and can still do some flips even though she hasn't had any classes in a long time.

I don't make resolutions, I never keep them so what's the point? Ha ha. My goals are pretty much the same every year. *Try to be a better friend, wife and mother than last year. *Learn to trust and follow God more. *Manage my time better. Those are a few of the basics. This year for sure I plan to... Do new things, see new places, and make new friends!

Blessings to you in 2010! Thanks for checking in with me as we start this year off. I hope we can end it together as well!

I'm Still Here

As usual it has been way too long since I have posted. I have been busy.

The move went well. The movers didn't break anything. So far the only thing that I am missing is the front tray from my double stroller. I am not saying that they lost it yet, I need to look for it some more. However the more time that passes, the more it looks like I may not see it again and it must be riding around the country on a big orange truck or maybe one of the other military families got something new in their household shipment. I will be sad if I don't find it. It doesn't affect my ability to use the stroller, but it sure is nice to have.

I love our new tiny house. It is only 900-something sq feet, but somehow we have all the room we need. We even have a little bit left over! Its like one of the several miracles in the Bible where God caused something to multiply. (bread and fish, widow's oil, etc.) The space in my little miracle house just kept multiplying until I had all that I need. Somehow we have 3 walk-in closets. I love that, as do the girls. It's like an extra room to play in! I'm sure that I love the house more because we are all together here, but it really is a pretty nice house. It is old, and a lot of people complain about them. Maybe I've just never lived anywhere super nice, but I don't see what's so bad about it. The kitchen has been remodeled and it has new paint and crown molding. Other than the bad carpet and dishwasher I have no real complaints. The base is tiny, but I love it too. The Commissary and BX are super close and sometimes I will go at least a week without even leaving the base. My gas tank has lasted a month!! This again is something to love. We live withing walking distance to the playground, and the weather here is wonderful! We are still able to go to the playground often. It is (until this week anyway) still in the mid to high 70s during the day...and the wind doesn't blow!!!! I love that for sure!
It is a lot more wet here than in Amarillo. There are more trees too. There are Pecan trees everywhere on the base. There is mistletoe all over the town as well. I may have to go get me some for Christmas!
The day we finally got here. Yay, living in the same town again! (We were tired....not sure about the look on Tony's face!)

Our house. The pictures are a little blurry, they were taken with my phone.


Living room
Girls' room Dining room
Kitchen

Tony is doing great in school...no big surprise there. I'm so proud of him. His classes are not easy for most people, but he is sailing through them. He is enjoying most of what he is learning so far, and is looking forward to actually doing the job.

Natalie loves the new house and going to the playground. I have started her in preschool (home school) We haven't done it very much yet, but she likes it so far. She already knows most of what is taught in preschool, and she is only 3. So by starting now I am able to take our time and not push her. I don't have to worry about getting behind when we move in the spring either. We have a year and a half until kindergarten to learn the rest of what she doesn't know. We are working on writing letters and their sounds right now. I am amazed with how much she already knows and how easy it is for her to learn things. She loves it. Just like her Daddy. I hope she is always this way!

Gabbie is like me when it comes to learning...there is just so many better things to do with your time! She doesn't like to sit still long enough. We are working on potty training. It is a lot harder than it was with Natalie!! So far she has learned to run to the potty AFTER she wets her panties, and to say that she needs to potty when she should be in bed. She will sit on the potty for about 5 seconds before she says "done!" One night we had 2 successful trips to the potty, and I was SO excited! That was I got though. Gabbie knows more than she lets on though. She won't talk much at all, but every now and then she will let a few words out in the form of a sentence! She gets a look on her face like, "oops!" Then she goes back to acting like she doesn't know how to say those words. Silly girl! One of these days she will probably just start talking in perfect sentences and surprise me. Maybe that is her plan with the potty too...someday she will go from acting like she doesn't have a clue, to perfectly trained in 1 day. I can only hope. The military doesn't pay enough at Tony's rank to afford pull-ups, so I hope that day is soon!

The girls love their new big room. They play together all day in it! They get along about 90% of the time too. They love each other. The first thing Gabbie does when she wakes up in the morning is look for "Nat nat".

I am just trying to adjust. Adjusting to my babies getting so big, and adjusting the learning and discipline that goes along with that. Adjusting to the "stupid rules" of the Air Force. Most of the rules make no sense and are harder, more time consuming, and cost more than doing things another way. Nonetheless, we (especially Tony) have to follow them. I don't mind rules if they just had a purpose and made sense! It will be a lot better once we are permanent party in the Spring, but even then there will be things that don't make sense. Oh well, such is my life now. I'm not complaining at all, just trying to get used to it. I'm adjusting to getting up at 5:00am in the morning with Tony to help him get ready to go to class. I'm adjusting to him being gone from 5:20 in the morning until 5:30 or later at night. Some days I feel like I am adjusting better than others! I am adjusting to a new church. I miss Trinity Fellowship SO badly! There isn't really a good selection of churches here, so I am glad that we are only here temporarily! We have found one that will work for now. I am adjusting to a new town. I can make it to Wal-mart and the rest of the shopping I might need (they are on the same street. shhh, don't tell ;o) ) without my GPS now!

We went back to Amarillo for Thanksgiving weekend. It was good. We look forward to going back over Christmas. We had fun with family, and it made me realize that I consider here to be home now. Home is wherever my family (Tony and the girls), and my house is. I can make anywhere be home. That will come in handy over the next several years I think!

We are so blessed and Thankful this Holiday season! It has been a big year for us. We have done things that we never would have imagined for ourselves. In it all we know that we are exactly where God wants us, and we are headed down the path He wants us to travel! We are so happy where we are right now, and excited for where we will be next year!

Enjoy this wonderful, blessed season!

Where Did June Go?!

Wow, this month has gone by so fast for me! I can't believe that it is July already. June seemed even busier than May was, and it definitely went by faster to me!

I want to start by saying hello to my new followers! I now have someone other than family members following my blog, Yay! Now I just need to give them something interesting to read... Hang in there, not all my posts will be about my kids! :o)

We finally got the tubes put in Gabbie's ears. She is doing great.

My parents are in town for awhile, so we are enjoying spending time with them. The girls of course are getting lots of Mimi and Pawpaw time which they love!

Tony's parents came to visit for a few days as well. They lived in South Carolina and came to see us on their way to Japan! Tony's dad is a MGySgt (Master Gunnery Sergeant) in the Marine Corps and they are PCSing (moving) to Okinawa for awhile. It was great to see them. We haven't seen them since March of last year. Gabbie was just a tiny baby last time they saw her! Both girls took to them right away and had so much fun with them. It's hard to believe that Natalie may be 6, and Gabbie will be 4- older than Natalie is now, next time they see them!
Yesterday marked exactly 3 weeks until Tony leaves for BMT! I am only a little nervous so far, but if I think about it too much than I get a lot more nervous! I have plans to visit some of my family while he is gone to help keep me busy, so hopefully those 2 months will go by fast. Right now we are just trying to get everything taken care of that we need to before he leaves. We have a list of stuff we have to get done. Once he leaves, he will not be back here to live! I will be moving everything myself in the fall. That's where things get a little nerve racking!

It seems like I had something on my calender a few days out of every week in June. It was crazy! July so far is pretty empty! That is good though. It will give us a chance to get stuff done and have some family time before Tony leaves. We are leaving on Friday after Tony gets off work to go to Wichita Falls for the weekend. Our good friends moved there several weeks ago, and the guys have days off that line up, so we decided to go! It will be a short trip but I am looking forward to getting out of town. I told Natalie yesterday that we are going to see Katie, her best friend and she is super excited!

Have a happy Fourth of July everyone! Be safe and remember all the men and women that make sacrifices to make this the great country that it is! Thank you!

Long Overdue

Usually my lack of blogging is for lack of something to blog about. That is not the case this time! We have been so incredibly busy the month of May. From Natalie's birthday, and 2 weeks of company, to the garage sale I had this weekend I have stayed very busy. Now I am sick. Not a huge surprise there I guess. The house is a disaster, but I am on light housework(just laundry and dishes) restriction, until tomorrow when I hopefully will feel better. Hopefully I can tackle the disaster zone then.

Here are the highlights:

The 10th was Natalie's 3rd birthday and Mother's day! Her birthday being on Mother's day brought back memories of my FIRST Mother's day- I had been a mother for all of 3 1/2 days! It was defenatly a special mother's day that year, and this year too! Both years there was more focus on Natalie than Mother's day, but then I guess that's kinda what mother's day is all about. The children that make the mothers. Natalie's great-grandparent's from Dumas came over and Auntie Neena, Uncle Clint, and Mimi and Pawpaw all made a trip to visit for the special day. It was a lot of fun, and a very busy weekend. I will put pictures in a separate post.

The week after that I had overnight company for a week straight. For the first couple of days Tony's grandmother from Rhode Island came for a visit. It was her first time meeting Gabbie, and only her second time to see Natalie. Both girls took to her right away. We really enjoyed her time here. My grandparents from Oklahoma came literally 30 min after I dropped her off at the airport. They were here for 3 days, and then a couple of hours after they left our best friends came to visit. They just moved from here to Wichita Falls. It was really good to get to spend another day with them. Natalie and Kaitlyn, their little girl are best friends. They still talk about each other every day, even though they don't get to see each other any more.

In the midst of all this we had been getting out storage trailer cleaned out and ready for a garage sale. That took up most of our evenings off and pretty much all of Tony's days off. We finally got it done, and our part of the storage is almost empty! Which makes me wonder why we even moved and stored all that stuff in the first place!!? Mostly because at the time of our last move we didn't have time to go through it all I guess. I didn't to move it all again, especially twice in a year like we will be doing, so we got rid of it. I had the garage sale this Friday night and Saturday. Tony had to work so I did it ALL BY MYSELF!! Rebecca helped watch the girls, which made it possible for me. Friday I started coming down with something, and Saturday I felt REALLY bad, but I wasn't able to take a break until today...so I crashed hard! I haven't felt this bad in a long time! I am so glad to have it behind me though. I didn't do very well on the sale Saturday. but I have a friend that is having a sale in a couple of weeks. I am going to put what I had that didn't sell in her sale. That one should be a lot easier, and hopefully with that one all of our stuff will be gone!

Gabbie is still having trouble with her ears. We have an appointment with an Ear, Nose and Throat Doctor on the 9th to start the process of getting tubes put in. I can't wait! I am ready for her to be sleeping through the night again. She is WAY too old for me to be going through this again! I want her to be feeling better too, poor thing.
She sure does think she is big stuff. We have moved her out of the highchair to a booster seat at the table, AND she has moved out the the crib into a big bed! We weren't planning to move her into a big bed this early, but we got some bunk beds for the girls. The only bed that we owned for them was the crib, so obviously we needed some for when we move. We decided on bunk beds in case we only get a 2 bedroom house when we move to San Angelo and don't have much room for 2 separate beds. The beds will separate into two beds for when we get a 3 bedroom house though. We were keeping an eye out for one, and found a really good deal, so we went ahead and got it now. We decided to go ahead and put the girls in the new bed so they wouldn't have to adjust to a new house AND new beds when we move. Adjustment to a bunk bed is kinda a big change in and of itself I think. For Natalie sleeping on the top, and Gabbie going from a crib to a bed. Both girls adjusted really well! Gabbie had a little trouble settling down the first night, but she slept great once she did. Natalie of course thinks it is really neat that she gets to climb stairs to get to her bed! We haven't had a bit of trouble with either girl in the new bed. They are both getting so big! Gabbie has started telling me when she is going to the bathroom in her diaper, even when she just pees. So I guess in August when the girls and I get back from visiting some family we will work on potty training. If I can get her to tell me BEFORE she goes, not AS she is going then I think it will be pretty easy. :o) She already is showing more interest in it than Natalie did at the time that I potty trained her! Hopefully I can get it done in that window of time that Tony will be gone and I am not too busy. It will give me something to do to keep me busy!

That's most of the highlights for now I guess!

Quick Update

As usual, it has been awhile since I posted last. Every time that I think I get an opportunity to sit down long enough to do this something else comes up, or somebody wakes up from their nap! I hear snoring coming from the baby monitor, so here goes...

Tony got a job and will be leaving for his basic training on July 21st. He will be in San Antonio from then until the weekend of September 20th. His graduation will be that weekend if anybody will be in the area and wants to come. :o) I think it will be really neat. These dates could possibly change...but this is how it should be. After that he will be going to San Angelo, Tx for more training. He will be there for 19-22 weeks. We aren't sure yet which it is, we have heard both. We are thinking it is more around the 22 weeks. There is a possibility that the Air Force will move the girls and I to San Angelo since he will be there for so long. Even if the Air Force doesn't pay our moving expenses, we are still thinking about moving ourselves-it's only about 6 hours from here. It would be a lot harder (I would have to move by myself!) and cost us a little more, but being apart for 8 months when we don't HAVE to be sounds worse to me! Hopefully we can save up the money to make that possible.

The girls are healthy right now. Natalie goes next month to the Dr for a checkup, so we will see how her weight and iron levels are doing then. She and Gabbie love playing together. Gabbie is getting old enough now where they are having more fun. Gabbie is getting a lot more teeth and saying a lot more words. She is all of a sudden changing into more of a little girl. She is good at following directions and picking up after herself. She is still better at making messes though! She loves to throw trash away...but sometimes things that aren't trash get thrown away as well, so I have to check it all the time. She gets the trash and laundry hamper confused sometimes. Natalie is still loving her gymnastics, and Gabbie is going to be my dancer I think. Every time she hears any kind of music she dances to it. She will even put her hands together above her head and spin around. I have NO IDEA where she learned how to do that! Maybe it just came natural?

I am just trying to stay on top of all the housework and other stuff that is going on around here! Some days all I can do is keep from getting too far behind...forget about getting ahead! I am trying to get more organized and scheduled. It looks like Spring may be here to stay...The forecast for the next couple of weeks looks good! (Except for the wind of course) The weather can of course change overnight without warning, but if it holds like this that will get us into May. Our chances of staying nice are a lot better after that point. I am trying to plan our days so that we can have time to play outside, without me getting behind on what needs to be done inside. It is a work in progress! Hopefully I will get something that works for us in the next few days. I promised Natalie that she could play in the sandbox after her nap, so I have to get some stuff done while she is napping. This will be the first time for Gabbie to play in the "box", so I am scared! :o) Hopefully I can keep her from eating too much of the sand, or getting buried by her sister!

We only have 3 months until Tony leaves, so we are also going to be cleaning out and getting rid of a bunch the junk that we don't need anymore. It's funny how your perspective can be changed and what you thought you just had to have a year ago, now is not important to you. Thinking about moving around a bunch of extra junk helps a lot with that!

We have something going almost every week until July. Another reason for me to get our days organized! We will have family visiting 2 different weekends in May and some family here in June as well. I am glad that we are busy, it will help the time pass until Tony leaves. I am not looking forward to his leaving, it's just the sooner he leaves, the sooner he will be back. That's how I am looking at it any way. I don't know if it is logical or not. :o) I plan to stay pretty busy all Summer. I don't want to summer to go by fast necessarily, but I am ready for September and October to be here. I have heard that it is better to stay busy while Tony will be gone, so that is what I plan to do.

That's it for now. I know I kinda rambled but I am trying to get a lot done in a short amount of time this afternoon. I hope that you are able to make sense of all of it! :o) I have some pictures that I will try to put up soon.

God's Plan for Our Family

Like probably all of you that are reading this, we are always seeking God and His will for our family. Several months ago, we felt Him leading us in a new direction. After months of diligent praying, searching, researching, and numerous confirmations, we are certain of the path God wants us to follow. We believe that God has called Tony to join the Air Force! I know that many of you may not think that this could be from God, or a wise choice for our family, but I promise that we have put MUCH prayer into this, and have nothing but excitement and peace from God! We know that there will be hard times in this path, but are confident that God is faithful and will be with us every step of the way!

Tony swore into the Delayed Entry Program/Inactive Reserves yesterday. He scored a 99 on his ASVAB, which is the highest score possible for the test! That makes it possible for him to pretty much get whatever job he wants that is available. He is hoping to leave at the very end of June, or first of July. We won't know if it will be then or sometime after that. It all depends on when his job will be available. We are supposed to find out in about a month when he will be leaving for training.

We are thankful for all of the love, prayers, and support of our friends and family, and in turn we pray that God will give the same peace about this to them as He has given to us. Everything about this decision has been from God. We are excited about the places that it will take us and the lives that we will have the opportunity to influence for God! We are also looking forward to the benefits that it will have for our family, and believe that they outweigh the struggles we will encounter along the way. We are looking forward to the growth and strength that it will bring to us as well.


We invite you to pray for us and share in our adventures as we "Cross Into the Blue".

Late Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everybody out there that happens to read this. I
know I am late in saying this, but I have been busy!! I have had family here for 11 days. It is great to have everyone here, but it makes it hard for me to do my regular stuff. Now I am trying to get caught up on all those things that I need to do, and get the house cleaned as well. Having extra people in the house makes it hard to stay on top of the housework.

We had a wonderful Christmas. We celebrated with my family on the day after Christmas after Kaleena and Clint got here. Our family (Me,Tony and the Girls) had our Christmas, and of course Santa came on Christmas Day. Both girls loved tearing into the packages. Natalie still asks to open Christmas presents every now and then! The new toys have been great at giving them something new and exciting to do.

Kaleena and Clint got married on Jan 3rd! Since they live in Houston all the last minute planning and getting decorations ready came from here. It still looks a little like a craft store here!! It was beautiful and everything went very smoothly. Natalie was the flower girl, and she did great!!! I was surprised and amazed at how well she did. She dropped the petals like she was supposed to and stood on the stage with me for a little while. She got tired of standing, so she just quietly walked down the steps and went and sat with Mimi and Pawpaw. We didn't practice that part, but she did it so perfectly. Hopefully I can put a couple of pictures up here soon. They are on a different computer, so I will go ahead and post this first.
We are glad to officially have Clint in the family. Natalie has really taken to him. She absolutely loves him. Every little girls needs an Uncle that they love. The girls have another Uncle, but Natalie has only met him once, and Gabbie has never met him.

So between Christmas and the wedding and two little girls I have been busy! Things have settled down now, so if I can just get caught up on all the house work, I will be good. My parents are still here but they have their "house" that they are staying in so we are able to get back to our routine for the most part.

The next big event for our house is Gabbie's birthday! I cannot believe that she will be one in just 10 days!!! My baby has grown so fast! She has been walking for about 3 weeks or so, and now she is working on running! She is getting pretty good at that too. The other day I heard quick footsteps come up behind me and I thought it was Natalie. I turned and was surprised to see Gabbie! She can dance and spin in circles too. She has suddenly turned into a toddler. Her personality and actions have changed so much. She and Natalie love to play together! They run through the house just being silly and laughing so hard at each other!

Natalie continues to learn new things every day. Tony and I are constantly amazed. We are always looking at each other and saying, "Has she done that before? I didn't know she knew that!" We are going to sign her up for a gymnastics class at AC this semester. She loves to jump and turn somersaults. I think she will really love the class. It starts in a couple of weeks I think, so we will see how it goes.

We look forward to what 2009 holds for our family. We are trying to figure out what God has planned for us and follow His path. Please pray for us as we prepare for the adventure that lies ahead. We know it won't always be easy, but if we hold on to Him and stay strong as a family it will totally be worth it. We'll keep you posted!

COLD!!!!

Right now it is 26 degrees, the wind is 30mph, and it's trying to snow. By trying I mean a few tiny flakes are flying around in the air, and if you look really hard in the low places of the ground you can see a little white. It's pretty miserable out there. Yesterday was in the 70's! It is not unusual for there to be a big difference in the temperature from day to day here, but I don't remember an almost 50 degree difference!! That's crazy. For those of you that don't live where the weather is crazy like this, I'm sure you can imagine! It is a bit of a shock. At least the cold is making it feel a little more like Christmas time. It was hard to get in the spirit with the 60 degree weather we had been having. My parents and sister live where it is still in the 70's and 80's, so they are really having a hard time!!

Thanksgiving was a great time. Most of the food turned out pretty good! In an attempt to fit all that we needed to in the oven at once, and trying to get it to all cook a little faster, a couple of the casseroles got a little dry, and the jello salad froze in the extra fridge that we were storing it in. Surprisingly the Jello turned out fine when it thawed! We ate it all anyway, and had a great time! My first time cooking Thanksgiving was not a disaster, and I learned some things for next time. I plan to redo some of the dishes that didn't turn out so great when everybody is here for Christmas.

Gabbie took her first steps a day or so after Thanksgiving!! She now walks about 50% of the time. She gets so excited when she does, and she always tries walking first, before she crawls. She can walk for a long way before she falls, and when she does fall, she can stand back up all by herself. She can walk while carrying a toy as well! I think she will be walking 100% by Christmas. I can't believe she started walking at 10 months. I can hardly remember her being a tiny baby. I don't know if it is because I had such a hard time recovering after she was born and I didn't get to enjoy it like I wanted to, or because she has grown up so fast! I told Tony that I can still call her a baby until her birthday, even though she is "toddling"!

Natalie is really getting into being a big sister, sometimes a little too much. Gabbie was messing with the DVD player the other day and Natalie tried to put her in time out and talk to her about what she did, like we do with her! I had to tell her that only Mommy and Daddy can get onto Gabbie. Natalie does pretty good at trying to keep Gabbie out of stuff too. Gabbie was getting into the cabinet with the pots and pans, and Natalie went over to her and said "No,no Gabbie. Can't touch it." Then she put them all back in the cabinet and came and told me what Gabbie was doing! Like I said, I think sometimes she may be a little TOO helpful!
The other day Natalie was talking to herself. I wasn't really listening, until I heard her count to 7...in Spanish!!! I guess Dora gets most of the credit for that one, we really haven't been working on that yet!
Natalie loves to do things by herself, especially getting dressed. She can even button her own shirt. Cooking is one of her new favorite things too. I was hoping that if she cooked the food, she would want to eat more of it. I was wrong. The last two days she has wanted to cook something, so we did, then I asked her if she wanted to eat some of it and she said "No!" and ran away! So much for that plan! She has slowed down eating again, after she was doing do good and gained some weight. I am hoping that she doesn't lose all that she has gained now! I guess we will see.

I have almost all of my Christmas shopping done! I have 3 more to buy for some family members, and a few stocking stuffers for the girls and that is it! I do have a couple of homemade gifts that I need to finish, but I don't have to do any shopping for those. I really want to wrap some and put them under the tree, but I don't think that would be a very good idea. I don't think they would last very long!! I guess I will just have to wrap them and put them back in the closet for now. I even have Christmas cards ready to go in the mail tomorrow. I don't think I have ever really done cards before, so I feel like I am really on top of it this year!!
For now anyway! I know better than to be too proud of myself. I managed to get the girls' Christmas pictures done the other day. That was no small feat let me tell you!! That was all I got done that day and I was not in a very good mood by the time I got finished! I didn't really get any good ones of the two of them together. I decided that it is pretty much impossible to get the two of them still at the same time! I did get some that are pretty good of them separately so I guess those will have to do.

I can't believe that Christmas is just two weeks away!!! Wow! It sure is coming fast. I need to get organized and plan what Christmas cooking I am going to do. Things are going to be crazy this year as Kaleena is getting married on Jan 3rd. We will have family in town for over a week, from Christmas until then, so I probably won't do too much fun stuff since I will be feeding a bunch of extra people.

I need to get back to the house work. I have had projects going on all week and I haven't gotten the normal daily stuff done, so I am a bit behind.

Sleepy Morning

Today is another cold, sleepy morning. The girls woke up EARLY! (8:00am!) Anybody who knows much about my girls knows that anytime before 9:30 is early for them! I guess they decided that it was pretty early too, because Gabbie fell asleep around 9:00 or so while she was having her bottle and I was in the shower. Natalie fell asleep around 10:30 during Veggie Tales! She never falls asleep during those! They are both awake now, and since Natalie only slept about 30 min, it shouldn't mess up her nap.
It is only in the 50's today, and pretty windy for the second day in a row. Yesterday the wind was about 30mph, so it felt really cold! I don't think it is quite as windy today, but still not really a day for being outside.
Last night was our church's fall festival. It is called Lord of the Harvest. This is the first year we have gone, since the girls weren't really big enough to enjoy it. Gabbie is still a little small, but Natalie had a blast. There were a bunch of those big inflatable things to jump and slide on, along with some little games and of course lots of candy! Natalie didn't want to leave, but she was so tired at bed time!
The girls have had runny noses and coughs for a week or more now. Tony and I have been a little sick too for a few days. I guess the weather changing has gotten to all of us. Gabbie had her 9 month check up on Tuesday. I can't believe it has been that long already! She has been here for as long as I was pregnant with her. Boy is goes by a lot faster after they are here!! Her checkup went well, she weighs just over 18 lbs. She got a flu shot, and has to go back in a month for another one. She thinks she is big stuff, playing with all of Natalie's toys, and crawling everywhere. She pulls up and can walk while holding on to something. She still thinks Natalie is the funniest person ever. She finally cut her first tooth on the 12th! It is taking it awhile to come all the way in though, it is still just barely poking through the gum. Her nose is really running bad since she is teething on top of being sick. Poor baby!
Natalie went to the Dr on Tuesday as well, but only to have her weight checked. She has been small for awhile now, so the Dr is keeping an eye on her. She has gained a few ounces since the last visit 3 months ago, but since she is still growing in length she is still dropping on the growth chart. She is now in the bottom 3% for her weight. She weighs 23 lbs. The Dr has put her on an appetite stimulant to try to get her to eat more. She hasn't eaten very much at all in the last 3 days or so. She is not really picky, she just doesn't want anything to eat at all, even of her favorite foods. She usually always wants chicken nuggets and french fries (I know, I'm a GREAT mother), but she won't even eat that lately. We will start the appetite med tonight probably, so we will let you know how that goes. We go back to the Dr in a month for another flu shot for her as well, and to check her weight again. I am constantly trying to get her to eat a bite of something, and the more calories the better. I never thought I would be trying to get my child to eat high calorie foods, or not care if what she eats is healthy or not, as long as she is eating. It is very hard for me! I am also trying hard to not let it become a habit, so that when we are back where she need to be, we won't have unhealthy habits. She still loves being a big sister, and the older Gabbie gets the more fun they have. She calles her "Sister Gabbie" sometimes. They have their own little language too. They jabber all the time and I have no clue what they are talking about, but they seem to understand each other fine. The other day Gabbie was fussing and when I asked her what was wrong Natalie said "Her teeth hurt". I hadn't thought of that at the time, and Natalie was exactly right! Just a little bit ago Gabbie was in her highchair having a snack and Natalie leaned over to talk to her. She said "You want toys Gabbie? Ok!" and then she ran and got her some toys to play with.
Natalie loves to help with the laundry, vaccuming, cooking, and pretty much any housework I am doing. It slowes me down a bit, but I let her help so she can learn. She is crazy about Play-Dough. She playes with it every day.
Now that I have had some caffiene, I think I can get to that never ending housework. Natalie ran down to their room saying "Come on Gabbie, Come on." Gabbie followed her and now they are playing in their room. This is my opportunity since they are occupied.

Lots Happening...

So it has been a LONG time since I have posted last. First it was because nothing much worth posting about was going on, then because TOO much was going on for me to get a chance to get it done! Go figure. So anyway, here is a few highlights of the last few weeks.
Here is a Horney Toad that we found in the yard. We actually saw two different ones over a couple of days! I was excited, I haven't seen any of these since I was a kid. This was actually Tony's first time ever to see one in real life! I guess they don't live up north.





Here is a one antlered deer that came up to graze in our yard. I figured the more it ate, the less we would have to mow. It wasn't afraid of anything, it just looked at us and went on with what it was doing.


This Is Molly. While Pawpaw was in town he found a puppy that he thought the girls needed. Molly is a nine week old, 3 1/2 lb Beagle. She is great with the girls, and Natalie loves her to death. She carries her around with her all the time. Once she catches on to the housebreaking than it will be even better. She loves being outside, so while the weather is still nice she is spending a quite a bit of time outside as well. I think she will be a great pet.




We had family in town for the holiday weekend. My parents, sister, and future brother-in-law were all here. I always love it when everyone is in town, but it always seems to take me a few days to get the house and schedules put back together! :0) It's totally worth it though. It took me a little longer this time, with two kids- both of them mobile- and a puppy. Plus I had several errands and appointments that I had to do, so that is why I am just now getting around to posting. A week later. I am finally pretty much caught up on the extra stuff, so now I am just doing the daily never ending stuff. The girls are on totally opposite naps right now, as soon as Gabbie wakes up from her morning nap, Natalie goes down for her nap. I miss having the break from them, but I guess at least I get time with just one instead of two.
I have gone back to working at Paramount Baptist in their childcare dept. This time I am working for a few hours on Wednesday nights. It is barely worth it with the gas and all, since we live a ways from town. I told them that I would do it through Christmas and see if it was worth me working longer. I don't think it will be, but I figure any little bit extra will help with Christmas and Birthdays coming up. Plus the season is changing, and both girls need new clothes.

All of us together.



Natalie with Auntie Neena, Uncle Clint and of course Molly.





Natalie in the tree.


Natalie, Pawpaw and Molly on the swing.


I guess that's it for now, I have to get back to the laundry and floor mopping.

Family Blessings

It is 11:03 am, still morning to me, although some of you don't really see it that way. Natalie is still asleep, partly because she went to bed very late last night and partly maybe, because of the heavy cloud cover outside. Because of the clouds it is only 67 degrees outside! I thank God for that. The A/C is not running at the moment!
Gabriella is awake and in a great mood jumping and talking in her jumperoo...after spitting up all over my CLEAN pants before I even had them on for 30 min! I Thought she would have waken Natalie up when she woke up but when I went in to get Gabbie, Natalie didn't even stir. I think I hear her waking up now though.
Yesterday my great-grandmother was put in Hospice. Apparently she had a heart attack on Sunday night, and will not recover. So I have family in town. I love having the family around, my mom is flying in today, and my dad is driving in from where they were in CT, so he will be here in a couple of days. I hate that the family has to be here under these circumstances though. My other Great-Grandmother passed away in March of this year. I knew that these days would come, but I never expected them to be within 4 months of each other. I am very fortunate, these are the closest relatives to me to pass away. I also have had the privilege of knowing 3 great-grandmothers. (The other one passed away when I was little, but I still remember her.) My girls have had the GREAT privilege of having 2 living great-great-grandmothers (on my side, there may be one alive on Tony's side, but we aren't sure.) when they were born!! I told my husband that is a lot more than most people get, so we are very blessed. I was not as close to this grandmother as my grandmother that passed away in March, for several reasons, but I will still miss her. I have many happy memories of her.
Today is payday, which means I need to make out my grocery/shopping list of what we need for the next two weeks. Then I have to narrow it down to what we can actually afford, and then figure out how I am going to make that work!
It may be a few days until I can post again, with all the family stuff going on, so until then God Bless you and remember to look for your blessings.