Busy, busy, dreadfully busy...

We have been busy this summer. I'm not sure what we've been doing exactly. But we've been doing a lot of it. :)

June went by in a blur! Here are some highlights (each of which I intended to blog about but it's just not going to happen):

• free ice cream at Friendly's Restaurant,
  
• scored big time at a Used Curriculum sale,
• had lunch with Daddy at his office,
  
• painted Ellie's room,
  
• attended a meeting about the Home School Co-op we will participate in this fall.

July is gearing up to be just as busy! Already we have watched fireworks Friday, July 3 from a nearby beach (see pics of Ben & family), and celebrated the 4th by letterboxing (see pic of Daddys & kids) and picnicing at Beavertail Lighthouse with our friends A2M3.

As I write we are looking forward to:

• Celebrating our friend, Mia's 4th birthday with a Backwards Party,
• Going to Maine for a mini-vacation,
• Attending a tour of our local library,
• Painting the boys' room.

That's just JULY!!

My August calendar includes:

• A short visit from my mom,Pediatrician appointment for Sam & Ellie,
• A Zoo members night,
• A visit from my brother, sis-in-law and niece,
• Working on our half bathroom and kitchen,
  
• Ellie's 3rd birthday party!

Whew!! No wondering I'm feeling tired!!

Added to all of this is caring for 4 children, a home, a husband and me. Contrary to popular opinion, I do not have my act together all the time. In fact, right now I have laundry in the washer, clean laundry in a basket for several days, dishes in my sink, and piles of stuff everywhere. I have no idea what we will be eating next week.

Basically, my home and family are in chaos. And that's because of me. I'm in chaos. Before this summer is over I need to evaluate and implement some new priorities around here. Or maybe I just need to make my behavior line up with what I say my priorities are.

Regardless, I need to clear my plate of some good things that are distracting me from God's best. For now that's blogging, FaceBook, and Twitter. So, I am officially taking the rest of the summer off from all things computer.

I have a couple of book review commitments that I'll be blogging about and I may hop on here to post vacation pictures, but beyond that I'm taking a break for the rest of the summer.

I'm not unplugging from email, so feel free to drop me a note when you think of me!

See you in Autumn!

Ps. Can you name the video I took the title from?

I love you, Sweet!

I am thankful for my husband of eleven-and-a-half years, Joel.He works hard for our family every day in a job that is stressful and less than fulfilling. After dealing with difficult people at work he comes home to love on the five of us, and often finds us a bit difficult as well.
He is the spontaneous adult in our family. He likes to spend Saturdays on family outings such as our day at Beavertail Lighthouse. As you can see, he leads our children in making life an adventure and encourages them to have fun.
He is also patient when our children are afraid and gently leads them to overcome their fears. Will quickly overcame his fear of the water on our trip to Connecticut but Ben clung to Joel's back for most of our time in the pool. That meant Joel sacrificed real swimming to make sure his son had fun and felt safe.

Sweet, you have given up much to care for us this year. I appreciate your sacrifices and hard work on my behalf. Thank you for loving us, protecting us, guiding us to follow Jesus, and leading us on "Adventures." You are a terrific husband and fantastic daddy!

I am so thankful and glad that God gave you to me!!!

Post Ideas, Interesting Visitors and a Basic Monthly Menu Plan.

I really have posts in my head other than book reviews.

1. I've been trying to work on a series of posts about home making but can't seem to catch a writing time break.
2. I've also FINALLY received notification that my 35 mm (which takes better pictures than my digital) film can be viewed (and thus downloaded) at Snapfish so I'll have some pictures of our trip to Mystic Aquarium up in a day or two.
3. On the same rolls of film are some ADORABLE pictures of my guys and girl playing in puddles. That's coming soon.
4. In the meantime, some interesting visitors wandered by this weekend. Go here to see their pictures.
5. I have my August menu plan up over at Stephanie's Mommy Brain in the Kitchen. If you need dinner ideas I even have recipes over there.

So, which do you want to see first? The puddles or the fish?

Boys experiment with scissors. Baby Girl does NOT appreciate experiment.

This morning, about 11:00 AM Eastern time to be more precise, I strapped Ellie into her booster seat at the kitchen table and told the boys to sit in their chairs. I handed the boys our plastic tub of crayons, each a pair of what I believed were children's safety scissors, a glue stick and blank paper.

This arrangement usually provides me with 15-20 minutes of uninterrupted chore time. I keep half an ear on the kitchen and go about my work. And so I did today. But the 15 minutes ended up costing me the rest of the afternoon.

My subconscious mind realized the boys were up to mischief with Ellie. I could hear it in their voices. But it didn't sink into my conscious mind to go check on them. And then Ellie yelled. The kind of yell that means "I'm hurt!!!" The yell that causes all mommas to drop what they are doing and hurry to the source of the yell.

When I walked into the kitchen both boys were kneeling on chairs on either side of Ellie and leaning towards her. Each had a pair of scissors in his hand. By this time she'd taken a huge deep breath and then proceeded to wail at the top of her lungs like she was being beat.

Only she wasn't being beat. She had been cut!! I could see blood pouring from her chubby little palm. One of her "loving" big brothers had cut her little hand!! Will quickly threw Ben under the bus for the deed. I sent both boys to sit on their beds until I had Ellie calmed down and cleaned up.

I grabbed my trusty "Blood" washcloth. (It's a dark purple so no stains show.) And pressed it on her hand. The cut is on her right hand. Palm side. Over the knuckle area. Just between the pointer and middle finger.

After about 5 minutes Ellie had calmed down enough she no longer wanted to sit on my lap. I managed to get a band-aid on her and then she was off again to play. You can't keep that girl down for long!

At that point I called Ben to the bathroom (where we minister "discipline" to the "seat of correction"). I think he now understands that you do NOT cut Sister, or anyone else for that matter, with scissors. Then I called Will into the bathroom. It didn't take long for him to confess to TELLING BEN TO CUT ELLIE. Needless to say he received a little correction, as well as a lecture on how telling someone to do something wrong is just as bad as doing it yourself.

A few minutes later I noticed Ellie's band-aid needed to be replaced. As I looked at the cut I couldn't tell if it needed stitches or not. So I called the pediatrician's office and spoke to the nurse. By this time it was 12:08. She said to come in at 1:00. You have to like a doctor's office that will fit you in like that! So I called Joel who agreed to drive home (he had the van). We loaded everyone up, took daddy back to work and then drove to the pedi's office. And made it there right at 1:00.

Thankfully, the doctor said the cut is a "flesh wound" and doesn't need stitches. We just have to keep it clean and covered for the next few days.

There are days I tell Joel at supper, "You still have three children. It was a good day." Today was one of those days.

Happy New Year! And pass the painkiller, please.

In case I haven't mentioned it, and you don't read my husband's blog, Joel had oral surgery today. Yes, indeed. Let's cut on your gums and by the way, Happy New Year!

So this morning we all headed off to the oral surgeon's office. I say "all" because 1. Joel couldn't have the anesthesia without someone there to drive him home and 2. I didn't have any simple childcare options, though our self-sacrificing friends, Amy and Andy, did offer to watch the kids but it would have taken me longer to drop them off at their house and get to the doctor's office than the actual surgery took.

So, we all headed to the doctor's office. The kids had been threatened admonished to behave themselves in the waiting room. I counted on two things to help me keep them under control: the small waiting room on New Year's Eve with only one doctor in the office was bound to be pretty empty and a large bag of books, toys, & Cheerios to keep them distracted. I must say they all did really well considering they are going stir-crazy from being indoors and sick for over two weeks!

The surgery only took about 45 minutes. The oral surgeon thinks it was a success. He cut the gums, cleaned out a lot of infection (between the size of a pea and a grape! Ewww!!) under and around a tooth, filled the abscess and stitched Joel back up. He thinks the tooth was "sound." After Joel felt awake enough to walk to the van, we loaded up and headed to Wal-Mart (again!) to fill his prescriptions for penicillin and percoset.

I left Joel and Ellie in the van and rushed the boys into the store. I knew things were not going to go well when the woman kept asking me what kind of prescription coverage we have while SHE held the insurance card and looked at it and her computer.

Once she determined that Joel is in their computers and the information is still the same she asked if I would be waiting for the medicine to be filled. I explained that we had come straight from the doctor and my poor husband, was waiting in the van - my explanation was interrupted several times as I hissed threats of bodily harm strongly encouraged my eldest son to stop choking his younger brother. She then informed me it would be at least a thirty minute wait as they were very busy today and she couldn't possibly put me ahead of the others.

My aggravation level escalated several times during this interchange but when she said they wouldn't have any percoset until next week I almost lost my religion. What!?! How does a busy pharmacy run out of such a common drug?! A pharmacy with good customer relations would have offered to call the doctor to see if a different medicine in the same class would be OK. Not this lady. Clearly she did not want my business. And since the percoset is the painkiller, which I knew Joel would need when the Novocaine wore off in a couple of hours, I picked up the prescriptions and marched my kids back to the van.

I explained the situation to Joel and quickly developed a new plan. We took off for another pharmacy where I dropped off the prescription (another 20 minute wait!) and took the troops home. After settling Joel in bed I fed the kids lunch and then put them down for naps. I thought they were all drifting off to sleep and ran out to pick up the medicine. When I returned I found Ben in the living room instead of his bed.

O joy. Let the battle over nap time begin. I think I put him back to bed 4 or 5 times. Finally he stayed put and I actually got about an hour long nap myself. I may have mentioned that I have a cold. I have gone through a box of tissues in 5 days all by myself and alternate between blowing my nose and hacking up a lung. In fact, I've been coughing so much my ab muscles are actually sore! Maybe if I'm sick long enough I'll get in shape. After all, coughing is much less work than sit-ups.

After nap time I loaded up the kids for a trip to "Old McDonald's." Yes, ma'am. I'm the one who brought snotty-nosed and coughing children to play on the playground because I couldn't keep them quiet at home so their daddy can rest. Look at it this way, it's just a virus. If your kids pick it up it'll run it's course in 7-10 days. And if you catch it from them you will have an opportunity to work off some of that "pregnancy" weight. = )

We arrived home to find Daddy alert and in the kitchen scrounging for food. He informed me his empty stomach (he hadn't eaten since last night) wanted a steak and baked potato. Naturally his swollen gums do not agree. He settled for leftover mashed potatoes.

I asked when he'd last taken the percoset. "About a half-hour ago." This answer after he sat down in a chair because he felt woozy. "I think you should go back to bed." He promptly agreed. He now understands how I feel after my c-sections when the hospital nurses keep me pumped full of percoset. = )

That is how we have ended 2007. Sick children. Sick Momma. Teething AND sick baby girl. And oral surgery for Daddy. Bring on 2008! I can handle it. Especially if Joel has any of those percoset pills leftover. Don't even think I'm kidding!

Could I have a little cheese with my whine, please?

Warning: what follows is just plain ol' whining.

Christmas Eve: opened all our presents (that would be the KIDS presents) in the morning. Will's favorite present was his real (adult-sized) sleeping bag. Ben liked his so well he immediately wanted to lay in it. Ellie has enjoyed playing with not 1 but THREE new baby dolls this week.

Christmas Eve afternoon I picked up our Christmas meal at Stop-and-Shop. O yes, I certainly did. When I called to order the meal they didn't have turkey dinners left, only ham. No problem. I asked if the sides are the same and was assured they are. They are not. $60 got me a ham, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, a dozen rolls and an apple pie. To say I feel gyped is an understate-ment. I discovered this definite lack in our meal about 2 hours before the store closed. It had been a madhouse earlier in the day. No way was I going back. So I looked through my pantry to see what I could find to go with a ham dinner. I whipped up some cornbread dressing and carrot casserole and added a can of green beans to our menu.

And I prayed. I prayed "loaves and fishes" as my friend, Gina, would say. Cause as of Sunday I had 4 confirmed guests. Monday night I had 6 confirmed guests. I had no idea how many people would show up.

Christmas Day we had 11 guests in my 1200 sq. foot house. To add to my food prayers, both boys were sick. I thought their colds were mostly gone by Christmas Day. Ha! They hacked and hacked all morning. The coughing was disturbing because they coughed up stuff and then gagged on it. So you thought they are going to vomit with each hard cough. By the end of the day, both boys threw up not once but TWICE. Will did it in front of guests and all over himself and me. Merry Christmas everyone. Or not. The hilarious thing is that the puke all over him and me didn't stop anyone from eating. They just kept right on enjoying the pumpkin pie!

By Thursday Ellie and I caught the same cold. Lucky for me I already had a check-up scheduled with my doctor. Joel worked from home so I could visit the doctor then Price Rite and Wal-Mart. Of course she said I have a virus and it will run it's course. Glad I saved my $25 co-pay and didn't take the boys to the pediatrician. Let me just say shopping while sick and weaving around after-Christmas-sales shoppers is so NOT my idea of a good time.

Then Saturday Joel took Will out for a breakfast date. They had a good time. Which was nice for them because Ellie cried all but 20 minutes that they were gone. Not so nice for me. In the afternoon we made a trip to the mall for new glasses. Well 5 minutes in LensCrafters convinced us we needed to look somewhere else. Seriously, $250 for frames!!! I don't care who designed them, they are not worth that kind of money! So to Sears Optical we went where we each got nice frames for a reasonable price. The price was made even more reasonable by our vision insurance (using the insurance before the year ran out was the reason for this family outing!).

Today, Sunday, I just didn't have it in me to go to church. Especially since it's a family Sunday and I would have spent the sermon wrestling Ellie in the hallway. So she and I stayed home and the boys went to church.

I am ready for this week to be over. The kids all feel well enough to torture each other (and me) but not well enough to take the torture without wailing and gnashing of teeth. Joel says I sound miserable (my voice and coughing). I told him I feel too well to stay in bed but not well enough to do anything out of bed. Which means my house is a wreck and I feel just good enough to care but not good enough to do anything about it.

Let's just conclude by saying Christmas 2007 was one for the history books. I don't think I'll forget it soon!

Today's happenings...

Our church is very small by SBC/southern standards. We've only been in existence for about 6 or 7 years (I'm not sure exactly how long since we've only attended for 2 years). We meet in a hotel conference room in down city Providence. The adult service is in one room and the children's church/nursery/Sunday School meets in an adjoining room.

For holiday Sundays the children join the adult service and we have a "Family Service." This usually consists of the pastor or his wife doing a short children's sermon and the pastor preaching a shorter than normal adult sermon (2 of the 7 children who attend are his so he understand the need for short!).

Today was a Family Service. Amy, the pastor's wife, led the children in a retelling of the Nativity Story. She asked what animals would have been in the stable when Baby Jesus was born. Among the answers were a lion (from Will), a duck (from N.), and I think I heard a giraffe mentioned (from Micah). That was one exciting stable!

Then Amy involved the crowd. What a smart idea! We only had about 50 (?) people there so you can imagine the excitement this caused. Mary and Joseph were played by a dignified couple (married only a year-and-a-half). The two shepherds looked pretty much like trouble waiting to happen. And the three wise men were more like the three wise guys.

Everyone enjoyed our own GHCC version of the Nativity! Then during the song service the children all sang the first verse of Away in the Manger. Or rather, Will sang a solo while everyone else looked really cute. Must remember not to let him hold the microphone next time! Here's a picture of Will & Ben warming up for their song before everyone else came into the room for church. See how Will's holding the mic? That's pretty much what the real thing looked like, too.

Tomorrow (Christmas Eve) we will open all of our presents and then Tuesday (Christmas Day) we're having folks from church join us for a late lunch (which I am totally buying from Stop and Shop!!!).

Self-inflicted, NOT wife inflicted.

See what my husband did to himself? Buzzed it off. All. And this is a week after the fact. You can go here to read his account. The picture really doesn't do it justice.

Rambling on and on and on and on...

*** Edited to say I have the date wrong for Joel's surgery. The correct date is Dec. 31. New Year's Eve.

The past week has been wild and crazy. Well, wild and crazy for me anyway. It started Thursday with the dentist appointment, shopping marathon, and an optometrist appointment all mixed in with a snow storm.

Saturday afternoon I headed over to a friend's house for our church's Annual Ladies Cookie Exchange. Tea was drank. Way too many cookies were consumed. Most ladies got lost trying to find Lori's house. And a great deal of talking, not to mention laughing, took place.

Sunday morning we woke up to a rain, sleet, snow mix. Another 4-6 inches piled on top of our already white lawn. And, once again, the plows did a lousy job. And, once again, activities and organizations canceled for the day. Our church, which meets in down city Providence, joined many churches across the state in canceling services. I confess to being excited about a day spent at home. I even stayed in my pajamas until 2 PM!! Poor Joel cannot make the same claim. He resigned himself to the snow, pulled on work boots, coat, and gloves and shoveled out the driveway one more time.

Monday morning we left the house about 8:30 AM. I dropped Joel off at work and continued to the Mall (not the same one that closed Thursday but very near it) where I spent a JC Penney's "Spend $10 Get $10 Off Coupon. Naturally they priced everything in the toddler girls section $4.99 or $9.99. Believe me, I tried to use the coupon on 2 $4.99 items (a total of $9.98) and for the want of two pennies they would not redeem the coupon! Argh! Frustrating! In the end, I paid a total of $4.99 for a pair of dark brown corduroy pants and a navy with pink flowers cardigan sweater. Still not a bad deal but it's the principle of the thing that irks me.

From Penney's we continued to Bath and Body Works where the boys walked around with their hands inside their pockets. I took no chances of little hands reaching out to "look." Our purchases made, a brief pit stop in the bathroom, and we climbed in the van again to drive north of Providence (we live and work south of the city).

A birthday party for Jesus at a friend's house was our next stop. Games. Presents. Lunch. Cupcakes. A few tears. And lots of fun. After 3:30 the kids and I headed south again. Through the city. On I95. O fun. Not. At least Ben & Ellie fell asleep before we ever made it to the Interstate.

At 4:15 I finally neared our exit. Not much point in going home for an hour. So we turned right instead of left at the exit and went to Wal-Mart. I always tell Joel we'd have money if I could stay out of Wal-Mart. After killing an hour or so I called Joel to tell him we were headed his way, I was tired, and where did he want to eat supper. = ) He kindly left the choice up to me. Any guesses on where we went?

We finally arrived home after 7 PM. I left at 8:30 AM. I don't remember the last time the kids and I were away from home an entire day like that. Boy was I tired the next day!

The rest of the week has mainly seen the arrival of packages via UPS, USPS, and FedEx. Since the first week of December we have received, by best recollection, 23 boxes! I'm still waiting for 2 more Christmas presents and my new laptop (that's a whole other post) to arrive.

Today, Thursday, returned us to crazy mode. Joel saw an oral surgeon at 1:30 (a visit resulting from the dentist last week). He will have "surgery" to try and save his tooth on December 29. (If anyone is available to watch my children at my house from 9:30 am until lunch I'd surely appreciate it!! I might even pay real money!)

He arrived home and I left with a huge list of places to go and things to buy. Price Rite. Barnes & Noble. Christmas Tree Shop "Don't you just love a bargain?" It was there that I lost my mind. 12 mugs, a box of tea, a 2 tier plate stand, a 3 section rectangular tray, two round serving dishes, 3 mini muffin pans, 12 decorated paper bags (for the mugs), and assorted paper goods later I finally left the store. I couldn't help myself. They had the cutest snow man pattern!! And I heart snowmen!

Did you know God cares about paper goods? Last Thursday I bought the paper goods for Christmas dinner. I could only find napkins for the pattern I liked and settled for plain plates. Then Lori had my plates at the Cookie Exchange! We had bumped into each other at the store last Thursday and if I had seen those plates in her cart we would have thrown down right there in the aisle! Anyway... over the weekend I realized I didn't have enough plates. God graciously allowed me to find more napkins, dessert plates and dinner plates in the exact pattern that I liked and already bought!! Yippee!

So, after the reality check of paying for my shopping spree, I returned home long enough to unload the van, visit the water closet and hand Joel a frozen pizza. Then I headed for the Mall. Again. Once more to Bath and Body Works where I bought a nice set for Joel's boss (a woman) and a small set for me. Once that item was checked off my list I drove the quarter of a mile to Wal-Mart. Yes, that's the THIRD time in a week.

Do you know I could not find a candy cane in the whole store. And I walked all over. Food section, holiday section, seasonal section. Checked the aisle end displays. Checked the middle of the aisle displays. Nothing but Spiderman candy canes. Those would NOT have matched my snowman mugs. I talked with 3 other ladies who were also looking for candy canes. What is up with not having candy canes?!

Anyway, I paid for my items and have returned home. After eating cold pizza and putting the boys to bed I have spent the rest of my evening writing this extremely long and pointless blog post. Don't you feel better after reading it? I know I do now that I've written it. I can check off all those things I've been trying to remember to tell you. = )

One more thing and then I'm done. Will's made-up joke for the day: "Why did the turtle cross the road? So he could get some gas." hahahahahahahahaha!

O What A Day!!!

Yesterday, Thursday, I woke up with a clear plan for the day.
1. 8:45 AM. Back-to-back appointments at the dentist for Joel and I.
2. Drop the family back at home so Ellie could nap. Grab my list of what to buy where.
3. Shop until I almost dropped.
4. Return home for lunch.
5. 1:30 PM. Back-to-back appointments at the eye doctor for Joel and I.
6. Complete shopping.
7. Return home for late naps.
8. Eat early supper.
9. 7:00 PM Joel attend a Men Only outing with our church.
10. Kids in bed early so I could blog.

Ask me how well my plans worked. Pretty well until lunch. Then the master plan went out the window.

The dentist had CNN airing on the t.v. in the waiting room. I watched the weather report predicting 2-4 inches of snow for NYC, 4-6 inches for Boston. That could mean anything for us. We could get the 6 inches or we could get nothing. Ah, the joy that is Rhode Island weather.

Undaunted, I dropped the family at home and headed off for my 2+ hours of kid-free shopping. Over an hour later I emerged from the Christmas Tree Shop. (How do I even describe this store?! Don't let the name fool ya, they sell way more than Christmas things.) I drove across the parking lot to Stop and Shop (major supermarket chain) and noticed a few tiny sputtering flakes. "Hey, maybe we'll get some snow after all," I thought.

Half an hour later (give or take) I rushed out of Stop and Shop to see large flakes falling slowly to the ground. Hmm.. not good. Ten years of living in Rhode Island has taught me that Rhode Islanders believe all snow storms will turn into blizzards which will cause life as we know it to stop and they will be housebound for weeks. Thus they must leave work early and go buy milk and bread on their way home.

I had intended to visit another grocery store (where milk and bread are MUCH cheaper) after our eye doctor appointments. Through experience I have learned waiting a few hours may mean no milk and bread and since I had NONE of these two items in my house I decided I'd rush through Price Rite on my way home.

So, up Route 2 I schlepped. Through the snow and the traffic. I quickly navigated my way through the aisles grabbing things that were on my list. When I came out of the store the flakes were huge and falling fast. My normally 8 minute drive home took 25. This did not bode well for our drive to the eye doctor.

I arrived home in time to unload the van, put away perishables, wolf down a PB&J and suit up the kids for the trip to the eye doctor. Again, a drive that normally takes me 8 minutes took 40!! Insanity I tell you! I saw plows and sand trucks several times but none were plowing. What's up with that?!

I had planned to do a bit of shopping next door in the mall while Joel endured his eye exam. (Our optometrist is at the Sears Optical which is on one end of the mall.) Imagine my surprise to find the mall CLOSED!! For a little snow people! During the Christmas season!! It shows you just how dead that particular mall is (2 levels, on the lower level there is a dollar store, video game store, scary witches store, crazy statue store, the DMV, and a snack bar; I kid you not 75 percent of the shop spaces are empty.).

We returned to the doctor's office and waited on Joel to finish. Then the kids and I walked to the other end of the mall (through the snow) to Wal-Mart. If you have 3 kids you understand why I walked them and let Joel move the van. Anyway. I finished up my shopping that I'd wanted to do at the dollar store and we headed home.

An HOUR later we arrived home. An hour. To go 3 miles. You may recall Joel's walk home from Wal-Mart a couple of months ago. He walked the same route in the same amount of time it took us to drive it last night.

I think we were both relived to hear Joel's Man outing for church was cancelled. Instead he had the pleasure of shoveling the driveway and sidewalk leading up to our house (it's required for the mailman to deliver the mail). The boys had a great time "helping" him but I'm not sure how much fun Joel had. Thankfully it didn't snow much more during the night so he only had about an inch to contend with this morning before work.

I'm not sure what the official totals were for the snow but my yard has about four inches in it. Up to Ben's knees. = ) The kids and I played in the snow for a little while today. Or rather the boys and I played. Ellie just cried. And cried. And cried. I was surprised she cried so much. She loves being outside and brought me her coat to go out. In her defense she has about 4 teeth in varying states of coming through the gums. And she had shots last week at the pediatrician. He warned me that they might not "kick in" until this week. Yesterday she ran a low grade temperature. Hopefully tomorrow she'll be more enthusiastic about the snow.

Wedding Vows

Please click over and visit my friend Alicia. She posted recently about her 7 year wedding anniversary.

If you've been married for awhile you'll probably find yourself nodding and saying "amen!"

If you are a newlywed or dreaming of that not-so-sparkly ring (Rachel and Jess) TAKE NOTES!!! = ) Said with love, of course.

A Week in Review

We had quite the whirlwind week for Thanksgiving. On Monday (November 19) my parents flew up from Arkansas. (Go here if you missed their travel adventure.) Monday night after meeting them at the airport we ate a late supper at Chili's.

Tuesday my Mom and I went shopping. Of course we did! Did you doubt that would happen? Partly we shopped for their Christmas gifts to my children. We had planned in advance to exchange Christmas gifts and Mom felt she hadn't bought enough presents yet. You know Grandmas. The other purpose for our shopping was for ME! I managed to score a nice brown (fake) leather jacket, black dress slacks, and a soft pink turtleneck sweater.

After all our shopping we returned home to find my dad on Grandpa Duty, my kids having a fantastic time, and my husband extremely frustrated. (The short version is that Joel replaced the insides of one of our very old toilets. A short project turned into an all day project when he couldn't get the water to stop leaking on the floor. It has since been fixed. Yeah for a handy husband!) We loaded up the van, left Joel to tend the leaky toilet and ate supper at McDonald's, or "Old McDonald's" as my guys call it. After letting my guys burn off some energy we returned home and exchanged our presents.

Wednesday was my birthday. 33. Can you believe it?! This was the first time I remember being with my parents on my birthday since my senior year in high school. And that was a long time ago. To celebrate my birthday the grown-ups followed the kids around Providence Children's Museum. A very fun place that never fails to excite my boys. Then I got to pick where to eat supper. On the Border. Is there any place else? Joel tells me he's pretty burnt out and one more trip there just might be my last. I just can't help myself. I think I'm addicted to their salsa.

After a delicious and spicy meal we returned home to the cake Grandma and Will made earlier in the morning. And I opened my presents from Joel and the kids. Snugly fleece Tweety Bird pajamas. The Princess Bride on DVD and with the book. Matching hat, scarf, & gloves. And some pleasant scented candles. I made out like a bandit!

Thursday was Thanksgiving. What more can I say about that? We did the usual meal and lounged around the house.

Friday my parents left for a road trip to Niagara Falls. My Mom has always wanted to go there and this was the perfect opportunity. While there they celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. They returned to us on Monday night and we ate supper at Friendly's. Then they flew home Tuesday morning.

Let's see: Chili's, McDonald's, On the Border, Turkey, Leftovers, Leftovers, Leftovers, Friendly's. Boy, did I have a good week! = )

This week I've been restoring order to my home. And washing laundry. The never ending job. I've also been trying to figure out how to get out of cooking. I haven't come up with any creative plans, yet. But I'll let you know if I do. = )

Emily: Homeward Bound & First Week

For those who aren't familiar with Emily's story her parents are close friends of ours. Emily was born October 10, 2007. She has been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. The following emails came November 19 and November 26.

Hello y'all,

Today was a banner day in the [last name deleted] household! Emily Rose is finally home! We can not begin to express our joy! I didn't believe it was going to happen until we finally had her in the car and we were driving away. I didn't want to get my hopes up too high because they have been shot down so many times before. She is asleep right now and has been a little fussy at times, but nothing we can't handle.

Only time will tell how well she does with sleeping tonight. The nurses told us that the other night she woke up around 4:00 am and began fussing. They turned on the TV to VH1 (certainly not our first choice!) and she quieted down...until it came to a commercial; then she cried until the music came on again. I guess she likes her
music. At least from now on Dawn and I can monitor the kind of music she listens to. It's only Christian music with a dash of country once in a while; but no Toby Keith.

We realize that many of you will want to come and see little Emily, but we ask that you follow a few rules that Dawn and I have agreed upon. First and foremost, please don't drop by unannounced. We prefer you call and set up a time that works for us. She has a lot of doctors appointments, so we may not even be home. We also want to schedule your time when she will be most alert and not interfering with her sleeping schedule...although she can sleep through a train wreck.

Second, we ask that you refrain from bringing your children (12 and under) with you for a visit. Because of her surgery and the medications that she is on, her immune system is not fully developed and we want to keep her as healthy as possible for as long as we can. This also refers to you, as the visitor. If you are experiencing cold symptoms, please hold off your visits until you are feeling better.

On a different note...God has poured His blessings upon us in the past month through our friends and family, and Dawn and I want to give back. What we have decided to do is purchase hooded sweatshirts for the homeless in downtown Louisville. So, if you were planning on buying something for Dawn, me or even Emily this Christmas we ask that you refrain! Emily has enough outfits in various sizes to last us until late spring, so resist the desire to buy her more. She doesn't need any more toys, stuffed animals or things that squeak. What we ask that you do instead, is make a donation to a charity in her name; you could send us a check and we will put it towards a sweatshirt, or you could give to another cause of your choice. If you desire, you could mail us a sweatshirt that you don't wear any more and we will add it to our collection. My goal is to give away between 50 and 100 hooded sweatshirts.

Again, we want to thank you all for the outpouring of love, prayers and support. Our cup overfloweth! Not a day goes by that we don't get a card or package in the mail and we know it is God providing for our every need.

We love you all and covet your continued prayers as we begin to find out what it is really like being a full time parent.

Al for His glory,

Mike
Eph 2:4-7

PS Enjoy the picture of Emily on her first day at home.

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Hello all,

As I always do, I would like to first say that we thank you all for your continued prayers and blessings that continue to come in. God has provided for our every need and our cup is overflowing with blessings from above. We give God the glory for every good thing that we receive because we know that it ultimately came from Him.

Our week started off very quiet and uneventful. I took the beginning part of the week off from work so that Dawn and I could get adjusted to our new lifestyle. We got our first real taste of parenthood and enjoyed the fact that we were finally in control of how Emily was being treated. Our biggest frustration with the hospital was the fact that she had a different nurse every day. Each nurse had a different way of doing things and Emily didn't always like the way she was treated.

It took us a few days to figure things out and get Emily adjusted to the way we do things. Our biggest problem was and still is the fact that she doesn't sleep during the day. She wakes up at 6:00 for her feeding and can stay up until 4:00 in the afternoon sometimes. We are trying to break her of this habit, but it may take some time.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day! First and foremost, we were thankful that we got to spend the day with our new daughter. A few ladies from our church made us a turkey dinner and all the fixin's, and Dawn and Emily and I enjoyed our day watching the parade and It's a Wonderful Life. We have seen the movie a hundred times, but this year it hit home a lot more. At the end when the whole community comes to the rescue of George Bailey by showering him with love and gifts...that's how we have felt for the past month. You never know how much you are loved and appreciated until you have a tragedy in your life and you find out how many people really love you and care for you. We are truly blessed!

I decided to go back to work on Friday and that's when things took a turn for the worst. I came home for lunch (I work a mile down the road) and everything was fine, although Dawn still had not had time to take a shower. I ate and went back to work. About 2:30, I got a call from Dawn to come home now! The feeding tube came out of Emily's chest! When we left the NICU, the nurse told us not to panic if this happened because most likely it would; but who can help panicking when you know that your baby has a hole in her chest and now you have to go to the emergency room to have the tube put back in.

I rushed home, packed up Emily and Dawn and sped to the Children's Hospital. The funny thing is that Emily was more calm than Dawn and I. She cried a little, but I think Dawn was crying more. After waiting about an hour, we were finally seen by a doctor. He tried to put a tube in and couldn't get it in the hole because it had closed up. This is not what we wanted to hear! Emily didn't want to hear that either!

A little blurb about the feeding tube. There are three different tubes she can get. The first is a dark yellow tube that you may have seen if you have ever given blood. They tie a tube around your arm to stop the flow of blood so they can find a vein. This is what the tube looked like that she had in her. At the end of the tube was an expandable tip to keep it in the body; but it is made of rubber, so it comes out easily. The next tube, which is what she has now, is a clear plastic and has a balloon on the end. The doctor inserts the tube and then fills the balloon with a little water to keep it in place. The tube comes out of the chest, just below the rib cage, (just like the first one) but this one has a rubber washer on the outside of the chest to hold it in place. So the balloon keeps it from coming out and the washer keeps it from going in. The third and final tube is a button. This tube will lay flat to the skin and will pop open when it is time to feed her. This is the thing that will be put on when the hole completely heals. Think of it like an earring. If you take the earring out too early, the hole will close up, but once it heals, you can go a few days without an earring and it won't close on you. We are waiting for it to completely heal!

Back to the story...because the tube wouldn't go in, the doctor decided to sedate her and reopen the hole. In order to sedate her, they had to put an IV in to give her the drugs and to test her blood. It took three nurses and six tries before they got a successful IV. They tried her two hands, her two arms (one arm twice) and finally had to put it in her foot. Every time they tried, they had to hold her down and listen to her scream until they finished. This was a long and exhausting hour and a half!

With the IV in and the drugs flowing, they were able to expand her hole. They did this by inserting metal rods into the hole. A small one, then a bigger one, and a bigger one, until they got their desired width. It was a good thing that she was out cold for this. It was hard to watch! They put the tube in and blew up the balloon and showed us how to take care of it. She was then taken to have x-rays to make sure it was in the right place...then more x-rays 20 minutes later and then we fed her to make sure it worked. Six hours later, we left the emergency room physically and emotionally exhausted!

Saturday was another tough day. With the first tube, it was easy for Emily to push out the food. If she was experiencing gas, she would tighten up her stomach and she could burp through the tube. This new tube is not as easy; she has to work to push out and the first day of feeding, she couldn't do it. So, after every feeding she had an upset stomach and would cry uncontrollably for an hour or two. Needless to say, we were discouraged and not too excited about this new tube.

Sunday took a turn for the better. She learned how to push out with the new tube, so gas was less of an issue. She was more calm after feeding and was actually a joy to be around again. We think we are past the worst of it and the future looks bright. We know that at every turn, there are going to be trials that will test our faith and our patience, but we serve a mighty God who is in control of all things and He will not give us more than we can handle.

Today, Dawn spent the day alone with Emily and did a great job!

I feel like I have so much more to say, but I am experiencing writers block. I will give you another update later in the week to add all that I may have wanted to say, but didn't have the words for it tonight.

We love you all,

Mike

Eph 2:4-7

I'm Back.

I wish I could say my absence has been due to a vacation on a remote tropical island where Internet connections are impossible. Lush flora, warm gentle waves and colorful fish for snorkeling sounds heavenly right now. Unfortunately, that is far from the reality I call life.

The reality is that my parents flew in on the 19th for a week long visit. In my home. Where not one, not two, but three little people live. As you can imagine I spent the week leading up to their arrival cleaning and washing laundry. And cleaning some more. And washing laundry some more. Monday morning saw me as ready as I was going to be for their arrival.

My parents left Arkansas at 6 AM central time Monday morning. Their simple itinerary should have had them at my house in time to eat lunch and then put the children to bed for slightly delayed naps. Operative words: should have.

Due to fog in Atlanta and low fuel in their plane, they diverted to Chattanooga where they had the pleasure of sitting on a runway for over an hour waiting to go back to Atlanta. It goes without saying that they passed their connecting flight to Rhode Island on the return trip to Atlanta.

A couple hours after finally making it to Atlanta my Dad called on his cell phone (he called a couple of times from Tennessee, too) to say they were finally boarding. Yeah! We would try to squeeze in a short nap for all the kiddos before meeting them at the airport in two-and-a-half hours. Mom and Dad would still be able to rest before we picked up Joel for supper (why we had to pick up Joel is a whole other story, the short version is his truck is unreliable). About 20 minutes later Dad called again.

"The nightmare continues" were his exact words. Due to mechanical difficulties they had to UNLOAD the plane. This regularly scheduled flight should have left around 12:30 EST. Anyone who has flown knows how it goes. "We'll take off in an hour." "Go to XYZ gate." "It's going to be another hour." "Go to ABC gate." Etc...etc...etc..

They finally left Atlanta after 4:30 PM and arrived here about 7:00 PM. In case you are counting, that's 11 hours from start to finish. ELEVEN hours for a trip that should have taken 5. I told Dad they could have come and gone back again in the same amount of time.

And so began our Thanksgiving Week. Three excited grandchildren. Two travel weary grandparents. And one momma who can't help wondering how much a plane ticket to that tropical island costs.

The Latest News on Emily

Hello all,

Just wanted to update you on Emily and let you know about the news that we have received today.

Yesterday, I talked to the cardiologist and here is the scoop in the plainest English I can muster): As Mike mentioned, they are not concerned about the valve in Emily's heart that did not close - the opening is not big enough to cause issues for her. However, when they did the echo-cardiogram they did discover something odd. It looks like she has a Partial Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Return. That means that one of the veins that is supposed to go from her lungs to the left side of her heart appears to be going to the right side of the heart instead. This causes the right side of her heart to work harder than it should and can cause it to get bigger than the left side. Many people live with this condition for a long time & don't even know that they have it. Since Emily's symptoms are not that serious they are not going to take action right now. She may need to have this corrected surgically as she gets older (maybe when she is 6 or 7). So in the meantime, Emily will have one more doctor to visit on a regular basis as the cardiologists keeps an eye on her heart to make sure things do not get worse.

The surgeon has checked on Emily and says that she looks good - she has been healing well from her g-tube & nissen surgery. He may change the tube that she has before we are sent home, but that is a minor thing and will not hold us up for long.

Now on to the good news...........

Emily will be able to go home on Monday as long as she continues to gain weight on Saturday & Sunday. Mike and I have talked about sneaking her some extra feedings just to make sure this happens! As of last night she weighed 10 lbs. 10 oz. - she put on weight for the first time in quite a few days. She has been losing weight since the surgery even though she has been eating more than 4 ounces at each feeding. They switched her formula to a soy formula. So far this seems to be helping with the weight gain & some other issues she has had (excessive gas & explosive diarrhea - YUCK!).

One thing that we do ask that you pray for (besides her gaining weight ), is her bottle feeding. Since the surgery she has a lot of excess secretions in her mouth & this makes her gag and retch. Because of the nissen she can not throw up, so when she gags it is pretty horrendous to watch. She does OK spitting it out or sometimes swallowing it, but it seems that she will have to learn how to handle this on a long term basis. We think this issue has caused her to lose interest in bottle feeding - she seems to think that she will gag whenever you stick the bottle in her mouth. So we need to work on this with her and the speech therapist. Our hope was that she would do well with the bottle feeding once she went home and right now we are not sure how this will go. So we ask that you pray about this. We are thankful that she can still get the nutrients that she needs through her g-tube & this won't affect her health, but it would be nice if she would eat from a bottle and eventually have the g-tube removed if that is what God wills.

Mike and I have talked a lot recently about how thankful we are. Spending time in the NICU helps us to realize that we really don't have it so bad (although it may sound that way to some of you). God has blessed us with a beautiful girl and we are so grateful. She has some challenges ahead of her, but they are nothing compared to the struggles a lot of others have. And we know that the Lord is with us every step of the way - that brings us such comfort!

We do thank you for all of the support, prayers and love that has been poured out on us. God has provided for us in every way possible. We will continue to keep you posted about Emily's progress.

In HIS strength,

Dawn

Be quick to listen and slow to speak.

***Edited to Add: Please, please, please, please do not take this post personally!!! I am speaking from my heart about what God is teaching ME regarding MY own words and receiving what others say to me. I have not been offended or hurt by the words of others this week. I have considered the heart of each speaker and loved her for sharing with me. I love each of you who have called and emailed and appreciate you!!

"A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver." Proverbs 25:11.

I've been thinking a lot about words today. As you can imagine, I've been on the receiving end of a lot of words this week. Spoken words as well as emailed words. Some words concisely expressed my thoughts and emotions. Some words felt, well, empty. And still others expressed ideas I disagree with, which only resulted in annoyance and irritation.

I know the hearts behind each of these words meant well. Each speaker intended to ease my grief. She desired to offer comfort. She sought, through words, to diminish my pain. From the depths of her own experiences and beliefs she offered her words to me.

It is new for me to be on the receiving end of such an outpouring of love. Frankly, it feels awkward and strange. I am accustomed to being on the giving end. Which also feels awkward and uncomfortable, but in a different kind of way.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have many friends and family members who have walked this path of miscarriage and grief ahead of me. I've thought about each one this week and wondered. Wondered if the words I offered during her time of mourning felt empty, or worse yet, painful. I'm sure to some they did. I prayed about this early in the week, asking God to forgive me for times when I spoke useless or painful words rather than just listening.

You know what? The Lord was gracious to me, as always. On Monday, a friend, who has walked this journey before me, emailed. She reminded me of a time after her own miscarriage when I simply listened to her, didn't try to make the pain go away, but just listened and prayed with her.

"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24. Just as my lack of words had been sweet to her soul, my friend's reminder felt sweet to my own soul.

My Lord reminded me of His own words today. And what could be better than the words of the One who is The Word of Life?

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Matthew 5:4.

"Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver." Psalm 66:8-10.

"For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11.

"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8.

If it ain't one thing, it's another.

The day started off normal enough. Kids eating breakfast. Joel getting ready for work. Me trying to clear the brain fog so I could get going.

All three kids woke up with drippy noses. Ugh. We had a play date scheduled at a new McDonald's for 11 am. I evaluated the drips and decided the time with friends would be worth exposing all the other kids to whatever cold bugs my gang is carrying.

Oh, yes. I am one of THOSE mom's. Lest you judge me too quickly, it's been raining for 3 days. THREE DAYS! That means my boys are climbing the walls around here and so am I. Besides, if I stay home every time one of my 3 has the sniffles I will never go anywhere from October to May. And that just ain't happening people! My advice to you? Carry lots of GermX with you.

Anyway. Back to the morning.

Joel tried to remote start his truck, which I lovingly refer to as "The Behemoth." It's a 1996 GMC Sierra EXTEND CAB with a full size bed. It's big. And NOT fun for me to drive. Joel loves using his remote start on cool mornings so the truck is warm when he gets in. Well, the remote start wouldn't work.

He walked outside and started the truck. It started OK but the clock needed to be reset. Which meant the battery or alternator is fritzing again. He didn't want to risk it NOT starting after work so we decided I (and the 3 kids) would take him to work today.

That's not TOO bad. His office is only a 15-20 minute drive during rush hour time. So we dropped him off and flew home to finish breakfast and get ready for our play date.

The kids had tons of fun playing with their friends in the new indoor playground. I was very impressed (except for the 2 video bicycle games they have the little guys aren't allowed on. Who thought that was a good idea?! And the McDonald's worker who appears to be in charge of supervising the play area. I really hate it when someone like that gets on to my kids for just being kids!). Three hours later we drove home for some semblance of a nap.

At 4:30 Joel called to say his boss was letting them go home early. Yippee!! I loaded up the kids and we picked up Daddy. On the way home I decided to run by Walmart and pick up some cold medicine so my children could sleep tonight. No big deal. The store isn't even out of the way. I ran into the store leaving Joel and the kids in the van. When I came out, they were gone. I correctly assumed Will needed to go to the potty and walked back into the store.

After finding my gang we trooped back to the van. Only to discover that the keys were locked in the van. Oh, yes. They were. I left the keys in the ignition so Joel could listen to music or adjust the temperature. He did not realize this so had neglected to take the keys with him into the store.

There we stood in the parking lot. No diaper bag. No jackets. No stroller. And boys hopping all over the place. Thirty minutes after calling taxicabs and friends we were still stuck at Walmart. Can you believe Joel called half a dozen cabs and NONE would come pick us up! We briefly discussed calling AAA but past experience with them left me waiting for at least an hour.

So, Joel hoofed it home. That's 3.23 miles (according to Mapquest). Across several major intersections. Down a busy street. He's never been so glad we live close to Walmart. We were both glad the rain stopped last night and most of the mud was gone. AND that tonight was only cool instead of cold.

After getting home he let himself in the house (he has his desk key and house key on the same key chain!) he grabbed the truck keys and called me on the cell phone. While he enjoyed the brisk walk home, it took an hour, the kids and I ate supper at Subway in Walmart.

Then we walked next door to a Mall. The Mall is mostly dead. There are only about a dozen stores still open. It's a fantastic place to take small children in the winter so they can run and holler and no one will give you dirty looks.

After three tries Joel managed to get the truck started. He quickly drove to the Mall, gave me keys for the van and drove back home again. We all finally made it home after 7:30! UGH!

Needless say, my poor sweet husband is tired. And now he has to figure out what to do about the truck. The children? They have been medicated and hopefully will sleep like babies until 8 am. Hopefully we'll ALL sleep like babies! After a day like today we deserve it.

Here We Go Again

Murphy lives at my house. His laws always rule. You know like "if something can go wrong it will." In our case, "the more simple a house project appears the more difficult it will become."

House projects are just never simple for us (and by that "us" I totally mean JOEL). Case in point, the Plumbing Debacle of Summer '07. This time around it's plumbing, again.

Yesterday Joel decided to work on my kitchen faucet. For the last month the faucet has become more and more difficult to swivel. It's really been a pain when I wash dishes. By the way, I do not have a dish washer and only have a single basin sink. So I need the faucet to swivel.

My sweet husband picked yesterday afternoon to try and fix it for me. We both thought it would be simple. Loosen a screw or a nut. Maybe replace some kind of washer or something in side the faucet and we'd be all set. He set about trying to take the faucet apart. I'll spare you the blow-by-blow account and just say he couldn't get the faucet to disconnect from the sink because he couldn't get a good angle on a screw or something. The solution was to take the whole sink out.

"Hey!," said me, "since you're taking the sink out, which I totally hate, how about we run to Lowe's and pick up a beautiful stainless steel sink to go back in?" It SOUNDED simple. Pull out the old cast iron enamel (which was worn and stained on the inside). Drop in a sparkly stainless steel sink. And hook up a new faucet since the old one wasn't salvageable.

After we bought the sink & faucet I dropped Joel off at home and took the kids to McDonald's to eat supper and play. We HOPED at least the sink would be installed when I returned. Not only was the sink NOT installed, there was sawdust everywhere! The short version is the new sink needed a bigger hole so Joel had to cut, saw and chisel away at the hole in the counter. After all that, the sink still wouldn't fit because it has these clippy deals (how's that for technical terms?) that fasten the sink to the counter and our counter is thicker than the clips.

All that to say, I currently have no kitchen sink and my hubby is working hard to solve this problem. I've suggested that we go buy a new counter top while we're at it but that idea was not met with enthusiasm, as you can well imagine. When the whole thing is finished I'll post some pictures for you to see. Wish me luck on that new counter top! = )

What's in a name?

I've had a couple of fun emails about names. It's got me thinking about fun & interesting name tidbits in my life. I've already explained in the previous post (or here) about my brother and I having the same initials. Here are a couple of other fun things.

1. My mom & mother-in-law have the same name: Linda Kay. How crazy is that?!
2. My brother is the 3rd generation (at least) Lee. Just one more reason why my niece will have that name.
3. One year in college there were four girls in our dorm suite (two bedrooms shared a bathroom and living room area). S. Smith & Shayna S. roomed together. Stephanie R. & R. Smith roomed together. How fun is that?! = )
4. All three of my children have names that traditionally use nicknames that start with "B." William - Bill (we use Will), Benjamin - Ben and Elisabeth - Beth (we use Ellie).
5. One of my dad's cousins also married a Linda. It got confusing at family gatherings to have TWO Linda R.
6. I had a cousin named Jennifer R. (until she got married). My brother married a Jennifer. Thankfully they each go by different nicknames.

Now that I've filled your heads with completely useless information I'll let you go....Oh! One more thing. In our family birthday months are always shared.
January: my dad & my mom's dad
May: my brother, my husband, & Will
June: my mom & my dad's mom
August: my mother-in-law, Joel's grandmother, & Ellie
November: my brother's wife, me

Poor Ben is stuck out in February all by himself... I wonder who will join our family one day with a birthday in February? = )

OK. That's enough useless trivia about Stephanie. Do you have any useless trivia like this in your family? Please share. I love hearing about this kind of stuff! = )

It's a.....

Girl!!! I'm going to be an aunt (again) to a little girl!! Yippee! And Ellie will have a playmate when we visit Arkansas. Yeah!

Stephen & Jennifer aren't set yet on a name. They have one they are leaning towards but aren't a hundred percent yet so I won't put it. Other than the middle name. That will be Lee. Stephen & Jennifer (my brother & his wife) both have "Lee" for middle names. So it's pretty much a given this baby will also.

Did you notice that my brother's name is "Stephen?" Yep. It gets even cuter when you know I'm Stephanie Linda and he's Stephen Lee. Yes, we had the exact same initials until I got married.

I've always thought sibling names like that are cute. Like our friends' children, Micah and Mia. I couldn't do that though. "William" is a family name. My little guy is, I think, the 5th generation to bear the name. How could I not use it?! But to name my daughter "Wilhelmina" would have been going to far. No offense to anyone!

Which reminds me. My cousin is also pregnant and due in January, I think. Anyway. They received so much unsolicited name advice and comments from family members after they named their first daughter that for this one they are telling everyone the baby will be named after my cousin's husband (William Joseph). The baby's name...wait for it...Wilhelmina Josephina. I love it! And all the family, specifically their parents, believe them! Isn't that great? No matter what name they say after the delivery the grandparents are going to love it. = ) Again, no offense to any Wilhelmina Josephina's out there. But ya know, it really is quite a mouth full.

Well, I'm rambling again and my hubby is waiting to pray together so I better get off. Can you tell I'm a little keyed up tonight?