Make a Smilebox photobook

Never Done!!

A mother's work is never done... seriously! I swear I clean my house like 27 hours a day every day and it is still a wreck. How is this possible. Just when I think I have everything clean, I turn around and it looks just like it did when I started. I don't get it. Also, where did that cheerio come from when we haven't even had cheerios in the house for a month. I promise I clean much more often than monthly, though you would never guess it by looking at my house. I had decided to just throw in the towel, give up and just live with it. I thought "well, my house will be clean when my kids are grown". Yea right!! I will still have a husband. And honestly, I don't think he's going to turn into a neat freak (like me) over the next 20 years. In his defense, I will say that he has recently learned how to load the dishwasher and will actually practice his new skill on occasion. Needless to say I am thrilled. Today I decided to actually write down my "to do" list. In my mind it didn't seem to be sooooo long. After 2 pages I decided to stop writing and just continue when I had cleared this one. If that ever happens. I will say that I have already marked off 2 of my 35 items. I got my oil changed in the Jeep and I finally placed my order w/ Strasburg for Caleigh and Zoe's pics in June.

Zoe is growing up soo fast. She adds more and more words to her little vocabulary every single day. Right now she has addagies(allergies), loves to eat wapples (waffles), would like to have a beer (I bet I know where she learned that one), will pretend to burp and say macamay (excuse me), loves doggies,kitties,fishies,pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo. She knows a lot of her body parts, partly because she has boo-boos on most of them. But she knows her eyes (which she likes to poke), her nose (which she has to beep every time), ears,mouth,teeth and tongue, her big belly (she thinks there is a baby in hers too) and she kinda has an obsession with toes (aka piggies)... I don't really know what that's about. Her favorite # is 6 but she has recently started counting from 1 and then stops. That's a start though. Tomorrow she will get to see her uncle Honey(Hunter) when we take Dad to B'ham to fly back to Oklahoma. The plan is to meet Hunter for lunch before Dad's flight. Mom is going to stay in Decatur for now, although she really doesn't want to. I think she was beginning to like it out there. Crazy!!

Caleigh is also growing like a weed. Her legs go up to her neck. Where she got that from I will never know. Well, maybe my grandmother, she's like 5'10" or 5'11". I'm just a runt I guess. Anyway, she is ready for summer and Point Mallard. I just hope I survive it. I went ahead and bought our passes online the other day because I had a coupon for buy 2 get 1 free.... GREAT DEAL!!! She informed me on Monday that she wants to be called Caleigh Blaine now, so we will see how that goes. My only gripe with that is how will she know when she's in trouble now?!! I'm hoping that we will get to have a "girls day" Saturday with lunch and pedicures. Yes, she loves the full spa treatment pedicure just like me. If the other 2 do too, which I'm sure they will, we will definately be broke. What am I talking about... we are going to be broke no matter what with 3 girls. Oh well!

Pregnancy Update

Everything is going really well right now. I am finally starting to feel very pregnant. My old friend heartburn has returned with a vengeance and a new one has appeared this time... varicose veins!! Yuck!! This one I kinda freaked about. First of all, I thought I must've had a deadly blood clot in my leg. I have to say that when the Doc informed me it was just varicose veins I really didn't feel much better. I thought only old ladies had varicose veins. Anyway, I would appreciate it if everyone prayed for them to go away because believe me, you do not want to ever see them. On the upside, Heidi is really becoming active. This is one of my fave things about being pregnant. It's just so amazing to me still!! I go back in 2 weeks for my 28 week check up and I will have another sonogram. This is mainly to check to see if the Placenta Previa has corrected itself or not. I hope that it has, but if not we will deal with it. I was really upset at first about not being able to exercise but I have pretty much come to terms with it and basically have no desire whatsoever to exercise now. It's almost summer. I am going to be swollen up and have cankles anyway so why bother. Besides, I am already complaining about the heat and it's really not even HOT yet. Just 3 more months! Maybe I will have my "to do" list done by then... MAYBE!

Have a GREAT day and God Bless!!!

I Have Been Blessed!!

I have truly been blessed. I don't have any particular reason for writing this today. No major event or "blessing" has occurred recently to inspire this. I just think it is something we all need to stop and reflect on each and every day. I have realized that is is so very easy, too easy, to pay attention to all the bad things that happen to us. We focus on that unexpected bill, or the leak in the laundry room or that tennant that just wont pay their rent on time. Yes, these are all issues that have to be handled, one way or another, but they don't have to determine how we look at the day or life in general. These are not the things that define us and make us who we are. Well... they do some people and those people are usually pretty cranky and unpleasant to be around... who want's that?! I have decided to take time out every single day and count my blessings. I have a wonderful husband who loves me, 2 beautiful little girls that are happy and healthy and a roof over my head. I have another little girl expected to be here in August who so far appears to be thriving in the womb. How lucky am I? So many people don't have these same things that seem so simple, things that we take for granted. My heart truly goes out to those who can't have children or who have trouble keeping a pregnancy or worst of all, lose a child so soon after receiving them. When I think about that, I don't feel like I have a right to even complain about back aches or ligament pain or those painful little jabs to my ribs from that precious little life inside of me. I thank God every day for these pains now. I take a moment to thank God for every tiny little blessing He has given me. And believe it or not, it's really not that hard. In fact, I do this several times a day. It makes a huge difference on how I look at things and how I handle those trying moments that are going to occur no matter what. It helps me to soak in every amazing moment with my children. Moments that are firsts for Zoe and all the intelligent insights Caleigh has already. Cherished moments that I could miss and never get back again if I were worrying over something that I won't even remember at all tomorrow. Cody has a very stressful job with waaaay to many responsibilities and he sometimes brings that home with him. I understand that he needs to vent sometimes, and I let him. But, I have reminded him that if he hangs on to all that stress all the time he may be missing out on something wonderful. We will never get this time back with our children and I believe that I will someday look back on this time as the absolute best time of my life. I won't remember how much money we had ( or didn't have) or the leaky faucet or that pesky tennant. So, remember to count your blessings.... you will feel so much better.

Spring is Here!!

I love spring time. So does Zoe. She would like to be outside every waking minute. The only problem with that is that we literally have to drag her back inside kicking and screaming. Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but we have really been enjoying the outdoors and also there isn't much else going on. Mom left for Oklahoma with Dad last Saturday and seems to be surviving pretty well so far. I know she already can't wait to come back home though. Zoe has started talking up a storm. She has really mastered Peek-a-boo and is now her favorite game since she can say it so perfectly. Also, she likes to point to my facial features and name them, which can be really painful for me since she pokes at my eyes repeatedly. I think she might be our little "tomboy". She likes to climb and play in the rocks and pretty much keeps boo-boos on her little legs. It doesn't bother her a bit. She just shakes it off and keeps on going whenever she gets hurt. Caleigh, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. She will come to me with a little paper cut and pretty much expects me to call an ambulance. It's funny how they have such different, unique personalities. I can't wait to see what baby girl #3 is going to be like. And yes, that is her name as of right now. We are still struggling to come up with the perfect name. I just hope we can figure it out before August gets here.

Last week we went to visit my friend Lila and her new baby Ella Grace. Well, actually she is 4 months old now and it's the first time we have seen her (which I am ashamed to say). I wasn't sure how Zoe was going to react to her since she has never been around such a small baby. She absolutely adored her. She would walk up next to her and give her kisses. I am hoping that she will be the same way with the new baby. I'm sure there will be some jealousy, but hopefully it won't be too bad. Be sure to check out their picture on my smilebox. Also, the little blue dress Zoe is wearing is from Mini Boden and I highly recommend their clothes. They wear very well and are super cute too. They have cute stuff for adults too. I also ordered some custom made clothes from Snugglebug Kids today and when I get them I will post some pics. Hopefully soon!!

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What About Me?

I think all moms need to take a little "me" time. I am probably the world's worst at putting myself last. I will go out of my way for everyone else, wear myself to the bone and never say no. I think that's fine if that's how you are, but only if you take time for yourself somewhere along the way. I KNOW this and I can tell any other mom they need to do this, but for some reason I can't practice it myself. Why? Why do so many of us do this? And not just moms, women in general. Last Friday I asked Cody to watch Zoe for just a little while so that I could go get a pedicure. Didn't happen. And not because of Cody. He said he'd be more than happy to. I just got busy doing so many other things that I decided to skip the ONE thing I had set aside for me. Today I got to spend some much needed adult time with a friend of mine. Mind you, it wasn't anything planned. I actually bumped into her at work. Our families are like mirror images... Dylan and Caleigh are the same age and her 2 youngest are exactly 20 months apart like mine will be. The only difference is that mine are girls and hers are boys. Back to my point... during our wonderful hour long visit she suggested we get together before the baby gets here, just us, and I hesitated. Why? I would love to go out with a girlfriend sans kids. Why do I act like it's so horrible to take the tiniest bit of time for me? So, I have vowed to make time for me. Whether it's going out to lunch with a friend, getting a much needed pedicure or spending 15 minutes alone in my quiet bedroom (did I mention ALONE?). And just maybe Cody will have a better appreciation for me and what I do all day long alone when I get back from my "me" time. We'll see!!

The Longest Night of My Life

Last night Zoe spent the night with my mother-in-law for the first time. Actually, it's the first time she has ever spent the night away from me. I was reluctant to let her go, but I knew I really needed to do it... for both of us. I wanted her to go so that by the time I had the baby in August she wouldn't think I had abandoned her. I decided that I could get a lot of things done that I usually can't do with her around like sew or organize all the baby's clothes. It didn't happen. I basically just moped around. I did get to spend some quality time with Caleigh which was really nice. But even Caleigh said it just wasn't the same without the "little monkey" as she calls her. We played in the water outside, painted her nails and watched a movie. After she went to bed I didn't know what to do with myself. Seriously, I was thinking now what do I do? So... instead of sewing, organizing or cleaning, I just went to bed. I did call my mother-in-law around 8:00 or so to see if Zoe "needed" me to come get her. Unfortunately, she was doing GREAT and having a good time. I called again at 8:00 this morning just to find out that she had a Great night, slept great and really didn't miss me at all. I know I should be glad that she did so well... and I am. And I'm proud that I survived it myself. Maybe now that "we" have it made it past this first time, I can learn to take advantage of the sleepovers in the future. We'll see....

Baby Names

By the way... I am open to suggestions on names for the baby. We are having a hard time agreeing on anything. Please help!!

No Exercise

I found out today that I can no longer exercise. Not that I am an avid exerciser (is that a word?), but I do like to walk a couple miles a day when it's nice. I decided to call the doc this morning to see if there were any restrictions I needed to be aware of due to the previa. At first, the nurse told me I could still walk but no aerobic activity or anything else for that matter. A couple hours later she called me back and said the doc said I couldn't do anything. Also, I can't pick Zoe up as much. I basically have to be really careful and not lift anything or exert myself in any way. This is going to be really hard on me. I already have a hard time putting limits on myself during a normal pregnancy. I'm a "do it myself" kinda person who doesn't ask for help from others for things I probably shouldn't even be doing not pregnant. But, I have to do what's best for the baby. I don't want to create a problem.

I hope you guys like my smilebox. I got the idea from my cousin Wendy who sent me some pics of Hilton's 1st B'day. By the way, really cute pics. I can't believe how fast the kids are growing. Anyway, these are just some recent pics and hopefully I will be posting some more soon.

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