Fun Zone and the Park

One day last week we went with friends (Ms. Jennifer, Zoe, Emily, Madeline, Alex, and Ms. Julie) to the Park at the Old Armory here in Winnsboro and today we went to the Fun Zone in Irmo for the Puppet Playhouse (pictures attached) with Ms. Julie, Madeline, and Alex. It's been great to get out of the house! Can I say that loud enough...to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!

I also was able to go to aerobics tonight, which I have not done in over 4 years since becoming pregnant with Emma Grace. I briefly went to Curves for about a year while trying to get pregnant the second time, but that's when I miscarried and dropped out of exercising all together. So it felt great tonight to get my body MOVING, although I'll pay dearly for it in the morning and for the next few days!

I'm also trying to decide if I should order the Sonlight curriculum for K4/5 and start now before Emma Grace is officially 4 and continue throughout next year and up past her 5th birthday. It's just a big decision for something that costs $400+. Really that's not a lot of money considering how much people pay for private/Christian school tuition and/or daycare!! Well, it's time to head out and get the kids in bed so I can have a few peaceful moments tonight while Jason is at Men's Monday night Bible Study.

Long overdue

Yes, my new Gateway notebook computer took a turn for the worst and so I’m typing away on Jason’s laptop he brings home from work. I have to mail the laptop to Gateway to let them work on what they call the "motherboard" or the brains of the computer. I find that there have been so many things I should have blogged in the last month or so, but at 9:30pm when dinner is put away, meetings are over at church, and kids are bathed and in bed, I just don’t have enough time or the energy to write. So this one will be sort of long….bear with me!

First, Emma Grace has ears!! I mean, she’s listening ALL THE TIME. Don’t be fooled because she doesn’t look at you or appear to be listening. She may not even be in the same room. Rest assured, however, you will hear things you say repeated by an almost 4 year old at some point in the future!

Example #1 (this may be graphic for some of you): “Mommy, Jase has nuts in his hiney.” Do what? What is she talking about? Now I’ve seen carrots come out in the same form as they went in, but we’ve never fed him nuts!! So I pry a little more only to recall that she’s describing his boy parts, specifically his “sac”, which his daddy and I had a conversation about in the nursery a few days (maybe a week) ago when I asked Daddy to please be sure and wipe all the stinky off Jase's nuts. MY FAULT! Completely my fault. Guess I just never thought of it until having a boy and now that the messes are much larger with oatmeal and carrots on the menu! Then, it gets better, except that this time she uses the appropriate terminology….she says, “Why do you have to clean his penis?” She heard that while I was bathing Jase the other night. Well, thank the good Lord that I didn’t say something else for that body part! She was actually helping to scrub Jase in the baby bath that night, but I had no clue with the “nuts” conversation she was even around or taking it in.

Example #2: “Mommy, you shouldn’t talk at the table while you’re eating. Oh, I forgot, you’re finished eating….but I don’t tell you what to do because you’re my mommy and you’re older than me. You tell me what to do.” So I say, “Yes, Emma Grace I am your mommy. You’ve been listening to your daddy, huh?” Then she says, “Yeah, I get truth from Daddy!” I laughed so hard I nearly cried. I had to call Jason at work and tell him. Who said she wasn’t listening at the lunch/dinner table?!

Example #3: “Mommy, this card from Mimi has a jack-o-lantern on it. We don’t celebrate Halloween.” I affirmed her (we’ve had this discussion before about why we celebrate the Harvest, etc.) and then I said, “We’re Christians and we believe Jesus Christ died for our sins. That’s why we put 3 crosses on our pumpkin.” She starts singing, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our looooove.” We had just sung that song at church either last Sunday or the one before. I had no clue she was listening to the words of the song!

Teachable moments!!! And these are the best days of our lives!!! This is why the Lord has lead me to stay home with our children!! May He always give me the words to say (and the actions to go with it) to glorify Him alone! I’m sure I’ll think of other things I have forgotten to blog, but this serves as a good starting point.

The SC State Fair

Yes, we finally took the kiddos to the SC State Fair! It was so much fun!! We will never, I mean NEVER, go back when it's night time knowing how great it was to go during the day when there are very few people there! No lines, no waiting, tables available everywhere to sit down, no teens running around, no nasty cracks hanging out, there seemed to be no one blowing smoke in our faces, etc. Generally, it was just a really fun time watching Emma Grace have the time of her life riding roller coasters I never thought she'd try (it was the dragon one for kids although still very curvy and fairly fast for a 3 year old!) and the tallest ferris wheel at the fair. She loved every minute of it and, had we been made of money, I'm sure she would have ridden a few hundred more. :) As it was, we spent $20 on 22 ride tickets (some require the accompanying parent to use 2 or 3 tickets also). We did the bad thing (good for our pocketbook) and took our uncrustable lunches inside in the diaper bag (that's how small they are!) and ate pretzels, oatmeal cream pies, and a bottle of water, all which we brought in the diaper bag. We asked for one of the vendor stands to give us ice in the cup I usually use to warm Jase's bottle so I could pour my hot caffeine free Pepsi over it.

It all worked out wonderfully and cost us a fraction of what most people spend! We did end up buying an elephant ear---I mean, who can go to the fair and NOT buy an elephant ear? Jason also couldn't resist a cup of fries which he added vinegar to (YUCK). So all in all we spent about 3 hours riding rides and seeing the livestock and $48 for the admission, rides, and a little food. Not great, but not bad considering elephant ears cost $6 alone! I guess the cheapest person of all was Jase! He was free all the way around, but I'm sure he enjoyed the lights, roosters cock-a-doodling, cows mooing, and tasted the elephant ear in the 6:30am bottle. OH, and I MUST mention that he was so WHOOPED after a long day and little napping that he slept the ENTIRE NIGHT from 9pm until 6:30 am without a single whimper or whine. :) Or maybe I was just so whooped that I didn't hear a single whimper or whine!! Ha!!!! Let's see if he can do it again tonight (with a little help from Mr. Oatmeal around 7:30!).

A milestone!

I guess it's not as big a deal as turning from laying on back to tummy position, but Jase turned from his tummy over to his back on Tuesday, 10-7-08! I forgot to record it that day and didn't want us to miss recording his first milestone. There will be so many more to come!! First tooth, first sitting up, first crawling, first step, first word, first, first, first!!! I could go on and on all the way up to having his first child! :) He's growing so fast right before our eyes. He also started oatmeal yesterday! Seemed to have liked it better than rice cereal, so I think we might have a winner. I also have only pumped 3X yesterday and will only pump 3X today. I guess you could say I'm weaning myself. Seeing the 80 some bags of frozen milk in the freezer that has to be used by the 6 month date, I just am losing that loving feeling I have for the pump. HA! No shocker to anyone, eh? I think by 6 mos. old (which will be right before Thanksgiving on 11/20/08) Jase will be starting more baby foods and hopefully be down to just 3 bottles a day. I feel that I'll be ready to give up the pumping completely at that time and just use frozen milk even if I have to use the 2 cans of formula I got free in the mail to supplement an ounce or two to the frozen milk and to make the "liquid gold" last longer. Yeah, sounds like a plan...thanks for letting me work this out on the computer and in my thoughts!



Jason and I are headed out for a long awaited date night tonight! Thanks, Mimi, for volunteering to keep the kids and put them to bed while we're gone! We haven't had date night for over 5 months and we really, really need time to be alone! Still hoping for a weekend in the mountains in Nov. or Dec. if it all works out, but we'll suffice for a few hours (6 to be exact--shorter than most people are at work in one day) by ourselves. :) We're going to see the movie "Fireproof" and also go out to dinner probably at Wild Wings. Hope I can keep my eyes open to finish watching the movie---oh the life of a mother!

Teeth, electric poles, and a good night's sleep

Well, today I must go get my teeth cleaned for my 6 month visit--except it's been way past 6 months since I've had to call twice and reschedule my appointment due to various reasons like going to the beach and then my MIL had to schedule an appointment for her arms breaking out. So today I had poppyseed chicken casserole (leftover from last night) and I have to go floss and dig out all those little black seeds before I go. I plan to take EG with me to watch/take notes so when she goes in 2009, she won't be all weirded out. I know how I was petrified of the dentist. Her teeth are exceptional, so I don't expect there to be any reason for her to be scared of the dentist like I was at her age!!

And I had to have the kids in for naps by 12:30 today so we can be up at out of here by 2:30 or 2:45 headed to the dentist, so down they go and....well, here comes Fairfield Electric at 12:40 to put up the new power poles leading to Johnny Boulware's land he bought from Uncle Marion!! Never fails. They don't seem to be making too much racket, so let's hope both of the kids stay asleep until at least 2 or 2:30. :) Which leads me to the reason I'm up and not napping....Bibbi kept Jase last night from about 8:15pm until about 9:15am this morning. And I got a GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP!! So praise be to God and thanks go to Bibbi for volunteering. She knows when she volunteers that I am most likely going to take her up on the offer....so I guess that's why she doesn't volunteer but about once a month or every two months. :) My entire outlook and attitude are different when I have 8 hours of sleep versus the 4 1/2 I got the night before and several weeks leading up to that. It just changes how I deal with the children and I'm able to not "snap" at them and get easily aggravated.

Well, my mom comes this weekend until Monday, so let's hope that she is able to help as well. She doesn't get to see our children that often, so it's a special time when she's up. :) And I don't mind giving up the bottle feeding and diaper changing once or twice a day either (still get the joy of pumping 4X a day!). Isn't that what grandparents delight in? That they can soak it all up for 2-3 days, be part of the insanity, help mold their grandchildren's hearts to know Him, and then go home to their sane life?

Donation to Locks of Love

So I went and did it! I got 10 1/2 inches cut off my hair to donate to Locks of Love! Even I was a little surprised at how short it is (she cut another 1-2 inches off after the ponytail went), but I figure it will grow back. I think Jason was the most surprised, but he seems to like it a lot and think I look much more modern! :) I'm finding it is harder to fix and requires a lot more time and attention. No more ponytails at this point. :( So here are a couple of the before and after pictures.

Garden City Vacation

Yes, I think I've recovered from a week at Garden City Beach. Thanks goes to Bette Pope for allowing us to stay at her beach house! GRACIAS from a one wage earner family! We had a good time! Jase wasn't too hip on the windy/sand being blown in the face, so I spent most of my time inside either on facebook, reading, bathing children, making meals, pumping milk, and just generally doing the things I do at home. O.K. I don't want to sound complainish! I just need some time away from the normal routine with my husband alone...and Lord willing we will get to go away for a weekend in Nov. BY OURSELVES to Michelle's parents' mountain house at Lake Lure. Can you truly relax when you have children of this age? I don't think so. Bottles 6X a day including nights, meals for EG 3X a day, baths for both, help me with this, can I watch that, naptime for Jase 3-4X a day, naptime for EG once a day, whoooo....I'm getting tired thinking of all I do in one day. No kidding.

Facebook at least lets me connect with someone on the outside to know that A.) I'm not the only one out there doing this B.) There are people who have other things they are doing on a daily basis and I like reading what they are up to as if I can live vicariously through these people. :>) Like someone posted photos of their trip to Europe! Fun! Or the biggest stinky video (thanks Cory)! At least made me laugh! Or the fact that there are those upset by the losses in football. Or the obsession with the bailout plan (personally I thought the bailout plan might have been this weekend when I bail out of Winnsboro to the Women's Retreat in Asheville!). Just a fun way to get out of my house without actually leaving 145 Cammack Road.

So I guess I need to get on with the vacation update before I bore everyone....well, we went out on the beach (Jason and EG every day mainly to look for seashells), we ate out much too often, we walked down to the marina, we rode rides at Broadway at the Beach, I went to the outlets for 2 hours by myself on the rainy/windy day, didn't get to go putt-putting, didn't get to take EG to a movie, didn't get to go crabbing with EG, didn't get to eat out without children (except the Chick-fil-A I ate in the van on the way to outlets), didn't get to go see Kelli or Nancy Yongue, no water parks were still open, didn't get to go bike riding....O.K. I'd better stop there b/c I'm realizing that I babysat for an entire week so my daughter and husband could enjoy the beach/sand. Sound jealous? Yes, perhaps. What would my mom say? "This too shall pass." Kids will grow up and we'll be able to do more things, FUN things, with our children. Oh, how I so look forward to that....can I remind those of you reading that I feel we are ready to move out of baby stage and not ever have another baby (maybe adopt one 2-3 years old). Lord knows I'm not built for inactivity...maybe I'm ADHD, but I want to be doing something constructive with my kids....O.K. some of you are repeating in your heads "but this is the best work you could be doing taking care of your little one." And I know this in my head which is why I did it without fussing too much at the beach house and which is why I diligently do it every day. But I so look forward to the fun times riding bikes in the moutains with the 4 of us and camping out the 4 of us, and not worrying about nap times or if we can eat at 8pm. Soon enough...slow down, Karen.

I'll hush now....thanks for letting me work this all out in my head and on the blog (that's why it's called a blog, right?) and thanks to Kira and Luke who feel our pain and are willing to come help take care of our children so we can go to the moutains and focus on our marriage by ourselves. The Lord sends little blessings in life...and I plan to enjoy one of those blessings this weekend at Ridgecrest. Lord, give us rest, a good time fellowshipping with other ladies, and Your Word from Sue Jakes.