More of that "adult" stuff

You know the "adult" stuff I'm talking about...

...like paying bills and 'taking care of business' kinds of things.

We had an unexpected home maintenance issue come up this past weekend. Friday we had been home, and the house was fine, totally normal. Then we went out to eat and came home to a HOT house! Like 80 degrees kind of hot...it was gross!

We immediately started trying to figure out what the problem was. Steven headed out to the breaker box and flipped the air conditioners breaker and let it sit a few minutes, then flipped it back on. Came in and felt the air coming from the vent and it was warm air. So he went out and looked at he outdoor ac unit, and said it was totally quiet, and the fan on it wasn't running, though the blower inside was going.

So we turned everything off and put ina call to our normal HVAC company. They told us they were out on a call right them (at around 9:45 pm) and would call when someone was available. By 12 midnight we gave up on anyone getting to us that evening, and went scrounging up fans, and went to bed, HOT!

The next morning I called our company back as soon as I woke up (around 7am). Was told that someone would head to our house as soon as they finished the call they were on. We waited...and waited. I put a complaint post up on facebook, and got some pity, and an old college friend offered her hubby saying he does freelance HVAC service on the weekends. I waited...and waited... and at about 10:45, after hearing nothing still from our usual company, gave my friends hubby a call. He was at our house within about 20 minutes. Had the problem identified, and was working on fixing is with in another 15 minutes. And with in the hour of calling him, we had nice, cool air conditioning again! Praise God it was an easy fix, the power supply to our AC unit had burned off, so he spliced in a new wire, and reattached all the pieces, and replaced the piece the power supply "plugs" into. All said and done, we only spent about $120. Another thing I was thankful for, since when we first started discussing what could be wrong we were talking about how a whole new unit costs sooo many thousands of dollars, if ours happened to have been crapped out, but, thankfully, its not, and still works like nearly new we were told!

Friends are Blessings

Friends are such blessings, am I right?

Its so great to have good friends who love you, care about you, and who think of you when they decide to get rid of their old stuff! You know what they say, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

Steven and I have been really wanting to get a decent swing/play set for our backyard, but they are just so dang expensive! We had been looking around, but just decided we couldn't afford one, at least not right now. Then a few days after "giving up" I got a call from a dear friend, Shelly, asking if we would be interested in their old swing set with play tower. Their son, Cole, has outgrown it and it just taking up space in their backyard now. Oh boy were we interested!

It took several weekends until we were actually able to make the move due to bad weather or schedule conflicts, but today, before the rain resumed, we got our new (new to us) swing set, moved, and reassembled in our back yard!

Isn't it great?!

Daddy('s) Day

Baby L woke up at 3 am this morning fussing and not happy, so Steven and I decided right then that he didn't need to go back to daycare yet, then we had a round of Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who would stay him with him this time...just kidding, Steven said he would so I could get back to my students...because, you know, he's a great husband like that!

So Daddy and Baby L had a sick day today together. I think they both enjoyed the one on one time. And both took a morning nap. But, while L took his afternoon nap, Daddy scored himself some points by unloading and reloading the dishwasher, and putting away two loads of laundry. I'm not quite sure what his angle is on this yet...I am sure he is wanting something...but if he continues helping out around the house like he has been, he is well on the way to earning whatever it is! :)

------------------------------------------
On a different note: Baby E, our first foster son, who now lives with our dear friends the Erwin's (aka "The Middle Mom"--google her) had his TPR hearing scheduled for today. I have been praying so hard for the courts to do the right thing in this case...what that is is not for me to decide, but I know the Lord has a great plan for sweet little E's life, and I have such a great fear that if he returns to his mother, it would be the last chance the courts had to save him, that the next time he is brought in to the ER by his mom, he will be dead. I know that is horrible to say, and to even think about, but it is really what I am fearful of for him.
Anywho, the courts decided not to let the hearing today be TPR, instead they gave a continuance, and said the TPR would be in July. I know to many that sounds like a loss for our (the foster parents) side, but trust me, as a foster parent: hearing that things are just going to continue as they are, and that your sweet baby is not leaving, at least not yet, is always a win!

Being an adult...

...is soooooo not always fun!

Like now...in anticipation of (hopefully) adopting Baby L, maybe as soon as later this summer, Steven and I have been talking, and figuring, and trying to work out how we will pay for childcare at that point. It just doesn't feel like we are going to have an extra $500 a month or so available anytime soon. We do trust God to provide, and we know we'll figure it all out...

But, in the way of trying to figure it out, we have decided to look into refinancing our house; with interest rates SO low right now, we are hoping that could help us save maybe a couple hundred dollars a month.

Of course though, shopping our mortgage around to idfferent banks, and sitting and talking with loan officers and mortgage originators is just an overwhelming task. Its hard to know who is really giving you the bet deal when you have to look at fees and such on top of all the interest rates. BLAH!

I think we have made a decision though. I went and had a second meeting this afternoon with a very nice guy, David Taylor, over at NBA in Maumelle. I really enjoyed visiting with him before today, and even got a chance to mention of motive (adopting out of foster care) and he shared that fostering is something he and his wife have talked about some...He pretty much had me at that point! Ha!!! But he really is going to do the best deal for us I think, I hope at least...I gave him the green light today to begin the underwriting and I provided him all the info he said he would need. And, after prayerful consideration, I was able to spend about 20 minutes of my 45 minutes of so in his office, sharing about our foster care journey, what got us here, what its been like, and how great the need for more loving stable families to step up and love these hurting kids. I was actually in tears at a couple of points as I poured my heart out and tried to minister to David.
He listened intently, and asked me lots of questions, really good, specific questions that showed me he had been really mulling the topic over.

Please take some time to pray for David Taylor and his wife. He seems like such a great man to me. And knowing that their hearts have already felt a pull to foster care was so encouraging...I would love it if I could be a catalyst to help guide them to truely, prayerfully considering becoming foster parents.

We serve such a BIG, and AWESOME God! I love how He works, and uses us, even when we don't realize it, to help bring honor and glory to Himself.

Blessed

I am in a great mood this morning!
It might have something to do with the fact that I begin my Spring Break after today, I can't rightly say, thats just a guess:).

I am also excited because A arrives at our house this evening. If you recall, I shared several posts ago that I would be having a 15-y-o girl (foster) to be joining us for the coming week, while her foster parents make a trip to go visit thier grandson in Colorado. I am so pumped! I have cleaned out and reorganized my guest room and bathroom for her (and just because it was in need of a good spring cleaning). And I've made several plans for us that I hope she will enjoy, like going to get Mani's and Pedi's next Tuesday afternoon. :)

I'm still praying and trusting in God to sustain me through until we return to Court next Monday afternoon. I'm nervous, and ready to learn what the judge is going to decide, so we can begin adjusting to whatever changes any decision he makes will bring to our lives. Leaning on the Lord to get me through any possible way this could turn out.

Welcome Caitlyn

Caitlyn Elizabeth Richey is "due" to arrive on March 16 (same day as we go back to court for Baby L). So today we showered her mom, my sis, Lauren. She got lots of great gifts, and it was a fun time for everyone.


Lauren looks so good...she has seven more weeks to go and she is just glowing right now. This is the sister I blogged prayer requests for last summer (here). Prayers were answered...well, we don't yet know if or how much Caitlyn was affected by Lauren's indiscretions, but so far no tests have indicated reasons for concern. I do believe the Lord intervened in the womb and protected my soon-to-be niece. Lauren is doing so well right now, she always will be an addict, and she has to continue wanting to be healthy and sober in order to be that...but man, she is just such a different person today than she was less than 7 months ago...that is a praise to Jesus, for His mercy, and the grace He has exemplified in her life these last few months.

Christmas Day

At around 8 am our family all arrived to our house to open gifts. We all had a great time and enjoyed each others company so much. Its been a big year for everyone in our family and we all reminisced as we opened gifts about the milestones and events of the past year.

Oliver was acting weird all Christmas morning, we joked that Santa must have scared him when he visited the night before!
Brooke and Justin (the newly weds).
Galen looking handsome in his new hat.
Mom was excited about her new game.

Later in the morning we all headed over to my grandparents house here in Maumelle for lunch, there were like 17+ people squeezed in, and it was great!

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was wonderful this year. We began the day by having over Steven's family for lunch and visiting. Chris, Cathi, and sweet, new baby Sadie came. As did Steve and Suzi (FIL and MIL) and Meliss with Dakota (our 3 month old nephew), and his aunt and uncle Tanya and Gary, who are also foster parents, and they brought their three beautiful kiddos.

We all had a nice time visiting and the food was good (patting myself on the back, and thanking Kevin from Benson's Catering for the fabulous smoked Turkey). Gifts were exchanging, and fun was had by all, except poor Sadie, who was not feeling too well that day, as you can see here:
She was mad at Uncle Steven here, but would have been similar with just about anyone with that gassy belly!

Everyone stayed over for several hours, and when they all left Baby L crashed! He was pooped, he had so much fun playing with all the kids! While he napped, and Steven wrapped his last few gifts, I left and went to Christmas Eve church services with my family, then came home, bathed and fed the boy, and Steven passed out all the gifts (that were delivered to our house right after church).
Brooke and Justin's pile:

Mark, Lauren and Caitlyn's pile:

Steven, Baby L, and my pile:

And Mom and Galen's pile:


To see Baby L playing among the piles, go here.

Candy Making Queens

On Saturday, Mom, Brooke, Lauren, Mama Joan, and I gathered at my house to have our annual Christmas Candy making day. We usually gather at Aunt Marla's, because she has the biggest, and most accommodating kitchen, but she couldn't join us this year (she had to attend the funeral of a 4 year old little girl...so heart breaking).
Mama Joan spent the majoruty of the day dipping the carmel clusters to make millionaires.
Mom showing off the goods as she pulled them from the fridge where they had been cooling.

"drop" candies on the counter setting up...yes, we make enough candy to send an entire army into a diabetic coma...but we share with a lot of people as well. Home made Christmas Candy makes a great gift!

We have to lay out and label all the containers before we begin divying out the goods...don't want to leave anyone out!

On a side note...we were all thrilled to see how relaxed my new brother-in-law is with the family...he assumed they usual male position while the queens make candy, on the couch, watching some sort of sports programing...MEN, grrrr!

"I missed you honey!"

Those words I did NOT hear from Steven while I was away from Tuesday to Sunday in Florida for Brooke's wedding. He did say many times that he missed Baby L, and that he wanted us both back home...though he never said it so explicitly about missing me. But I knew he did, especially when I arrived home to find this:

That's right, its a 'Griswald Christmas' around these parts!

I know he must have missed me, a lot, because I had mentioned wanting lights outside the house a few days before I left town, and he apparently was listening...and taking notes, and when he goes, he goes ALL OUT!

To get the full effect, you need to watch the (short) video below. Turn up your speakers, yes, that is music you hear, blaring out of our house/lights, and the ones around the yard are blinking in time with the tune...pretty cool, huh?

*****************
There are tons of pictures to come from the wonderful festivities in Florida...a teaser/previews can be seen below, on my Wordless Wednesday post...also, check my other blog to see several new posts (that I was sneaky and post dated) on Baby L.

Joy

"I have Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down In My Heart, Down in my Heart to Stay!"

Why do I have such great Joy in my heart on this rainy Tuesday (in which I am at work late, having parent conferences blogging, wasting time, piddling until I can head home--about 5:30, after my last conference) afternoon you ask?

That's easy! Because on Friday this week I have scheduled Molly Maids to come and deep clean my house for me.

I mean I have many, many blessing in my life that bring me great Joy each time I think of them: my handsome husband, my precious foster son, my health, great coworkers, fabulous family, the fact that I serve an Awesome God, I could go on and on...

But, on this afternoon, I am focusing on the joy I feel due to my fevered anticipation of paying two lovely ladies to come in to my home, purge it of its dust, grime, and filth, and leave for me a cleansed, clean home to return to after work on Friday afternoon.
I can't wait! I LOVE to have a clean house, I DO NOT love to clean my house. Well, honestly I used to be better about keeping up with my housekeeping, but with a baby to love on a play with, dusting, vacuuming, and scrubbing has moved a bit further down my priority list. But I am hosting my little sister, Brooke's, wedding shower at my house on Sunday afternoon! So my house had to be cleaned. It really isn't messy, I keep things picked up fine, its just grimy. I haven't dusted, mopped, scrubbed, or wiped a baseboard in I don't know how long. Its been long enough that my houses filth has been really getting on my nerves as of late, especially in anticipation of the shower, but every time I tried to think about how to tackle this task, I just got overwhelmed, and the task began looking more and more daunting by the day. So I finally decided once and for all to just pry open my pocket book, and pay to have it done for my cheap (and dirty) self.
Steven and I actually used to have a housekeeper, for about 6 months, but she quit cleaning houses and got a office job, and we decided that with foster babies on our visible horizon at that point that we could probably but that money to good use somewhere else, so we just never found a new housekeeper. I do not intend to hire another maid on a permanent basis, but it will be nice to have established a relationship with a good, reliable cleaning service that I can call on in a pinch, or when I just let it get too far away from me like this again. I won't need as thorough a cleaning as I am having these ladies do for me again though for a good year. I am having them clean baseboard, dust ceiling fans and ficus plants, wipe down air return vents, the works! Basically a "Spring Cleaning" but in the fall!

Weekend Review

We had a really great weekend, one we needed!
We spent lots of time together as a family, and even got some extra time with our good friends, Micah and Ellen who we haven't gotten to see much of over the last few months, so that was extra nice.
We all met for dinner Friday night and got caught up on each other lives. Then I shared our plans to go to the Pumpkin Patch on Saturday, and invited them along.
Steven got up with L and let me sleep in until 8:30 on Saturday (Gross! Whose life is this that 8:30 is sleeping in?...) which I really appreciated! We then lazed around the house for a few hours, playing, eating, and Baby L and I took a nap as well. Then around noon we got ready and went with the Edmond's (Micah and Ellen) to Conway to eat at a place I've been wanting to try. The food was good,and the company and conversation was excellent! Then we headed to Mayflower and out to the pumpkin patch, which is apparently where everybody and their mama' went as well! It was crowded!!! But we still managed to procure a wagon, and proceeded to visit the animals, look around an bit, then down to the business of picking out pumpkins! I bought 16 pumpkins, 4 large and medium ones for the front of the house, 12 small ones for display in my house. I love pumpkins! I love how they look, how they taste, how they smell...and that they indicate my favorite season, fall!
Then we spent that evening with the Edmond's as well, cooking out and visiting at their house. Baby L even went to bed at their house (because he such a good, easy baby! I love me a flexible kiddo!) and slept quietly so mom and dad could visit with the grown ups and feel like normal people with social lives again, even if just for a couple of nights!
Sunday was of course a morning full of worship, fellowship, and teaching toddlers about God's love at our fabulous church Summit.
Then Sunday afternoon we met all of my family out at the farm owned by the lady who did my wedding pictures (Gloria Townsend), and she did family portraits for us. I think they are going to turn out really good. The weather was beautiful, the scenery was great, everyone was in a great mood, and Baby L even smiled when we wanted him too (well, he did some, we also got a lot of serious face from him as well).
Can't wait to see how those turn out, and share they with you all as well!

To see more of this, with the handsome-little-man's face shown, go here.

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival. ~C.S. Lewis

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard

A little of this, and a little of that...

I have been so busy since the beginning of school, I have hardly had time to think about posting. I do have lots to share, like the beginning of what looks like a fabulous year in the making. My students seem really great, they are so engaged, I am really enjoying them so far (minus a couple of too silly, off task boys, but I think I'll be able to refocus them once our routine is well established). The days are flying by, I'm hardly making it through my lesson plans, but its always this way a the beginning...I just forget that year to year.

I left school by 3:15 today so I could run by the grocery store and pick up a few things, and still get Baby L home with plenty of time to play and enjoy. I made dinner this evening, and even whipped up some more baby food. Tonight I made Peach, Mango, Pineapple puree. Yum-O! L had some for dinner, and then I froze the rest in ice cube trays to store.

What a productive day I had...especially for a Monday!

This weekend was fabulous too. Saturday my wonderful husband let me sleep in, until 11 am! Hootey Hoo for a hubby who gets up with the baby and entertains him so mommy can catch up on her zzzzzs. Then Saturday we just lazed around the house and enjoyed all of each other company. Sunday was a busy day at church, as usual. We are so excited about the new chapter our wonderful church is about to embark on...and of course teaching our sweet toddlers Sunday School is a blessing as well. Then immediately following church, Mom and Galen came to pick up Baby L to babysit for the afternoon. Steven and I then went our to a leisurely lunch, then made a Sam's run. Then we went home and hit the ground running scrubbing. Our house was seriously getting pretty gross. Lack of time to clean, as well as having our arms full of a busy body baby has kept us from keeping up with the house keeping as well as usual. So we spent like 2 1/2 hours cleaning like mad people, cleansing our home of its filth. Now its so clean you could eat off the floor...well, not the kitchen floor, it was swept, but I ran out of time and haven't mopped it yet...but you get the idea, the house is nice and clean again, just the way I like it. I also did 4 loads of laundry this weekend, to completion, wash, dry, fold, put away. I wish I could say I was now fully caught up on laundry, but I am afraid that that is an impossibility. No matter how hard and fast I was, the dirty clothes, towels, blankies, etc just keep on coming!

Now, I wanted to share with you my favorite part of my day. Its each afternoon, after I have left school, crossed the river bridge, navigated the red lights on Maumelle Boulevard, and am turning into here:

Because this:

is where I go to get him.

3 days down...

Well, we have just ended the first week of school, which was only 3 days long! AND its a good thing because apparently I lost some of my stamina over summer break because I am E-X-H-A-U-S-T-E-D! My feet hurt, my eyes are sore, and I am having trouble thinking straight...
Honestly though...I'm excited about next Monday! I really like my class so far, they seem like a fabulous group of kiddos, and I have truly enjoyed them so far.
Only bad thing about being back at work (besides the tired, over-wrought feeling) is missing Baby L. I did take him to daycare a little this summer, so it wasn't completely shocking to be away from him this week, but it was WAY, WAY more than I am used to. I came home one night and carried him all over with me because I was just in need of cuddle time with him, I even ate dinner holding him (when I didn't have to, he would have been perfectly content in the bumbo, saucer, or even with toys on the floor...).
My house is a mess, I have dead baby frog carcasses on my living room floor, and not the energy to get rid of them tonight. I am praying for rest and revitalization tonight, so I will be able to pick things up around here tomorrow...I mean I would hate for the baby to eat a little dead frog (thanks to our two trusty frog hunters: Oliver and Mandy) that I failed to remove from his path. :) ----I'm only playing of course....sort of.

Favorite Baby Products

I decided to do a post all about what my life has been about the past several months....babies! Specifically baby products that make taking care of a baby easier, more fun, more safe, more efficient, etc...



My first pick is a product I mentioned on my other blog recently. Its Baby L's new car seat, the Graco My Ride 65. This is a convertible car seat that is rated for children from 5 lbs, all the way through 65 lbs, and its a safe seat for rear facing riders up until 40 lbs...way more that your average seat that says to turn around by 20 to 25 lbs. We are loving this seat so far. L seems to like it, at least as much as he is going to like anything that straps him down and holds him still (he's in a super wiggly, squirmy stage right now). He has fallen asleep in it many times, even though we have only used it on short rides so far. My only complaint about it is how huge it is. It keeps my passenger seat from being able to go back as far as most people consider comfortable for riding, its sides ("wings") are also so high that I can't see L in it from my seat. But, though its size is a bit gargantuan, that is also part of its safety, a large seat to protect little ones better, high 'wings' for better side impact protection, etc.

My second pick for favorite baby product is our Diaper Genie II. We initially tried to take a different approach to diaper disposal, we thought we would be green and 'ReUse' old grocery sacks to bag diapers, thEn just toss them into a regular garbage pail in the closet in our nursery. What a stinky plan that was! Actually, poopy diapers weren't even the problems, becasue we double bagged those, but our whole nursery bagan to have a musty, amonia like odor, which was caused by the wet diapers. Even when emptying the pail every couple of days, the room just got more and more smelly. So I began research on diaper pails, looking for the one with the best reviews. This was what I found. The Diaper Genie II, which has been improved from the Diaper Genie I, they have eliminated the twisting feature, and replaced it with the automatic levers that you shove the old diaper through, then they snap back into place and seal off the inner bag that contains the diapers. The bag inside the genie will hold about 15 to 20 diapers before you need to remove it, so for us that means we have to change the bag in the genie about every 5-7 days. And best of all, no more stink! Now our nursery smells like Johnson and Johnson, just like a nursery should!

The next baby product I am loving is our inchbug labels. These are the stretchy, labels that I ordered with our family name monogramed (engraved, carved in relief?) into it, to fit onto bottles, cups, bowls, and any other items that are about the circumference of a bottle to be sure it stays with my child. These are really cute, and come in four different color choices, and you can even put little shapes on to decorate them, I choose a heart since it goes with our name. These are ordered from inchbug.com.

The fourth item I have that is a favorite of all of our baby products is our collection of Praise Baby DVD's. These videos are very similar to Baby Einstein products (which we also have several of their DVDs) in the items that are shown on the screen are simple, large objects to catch babies eye, but what sets these apart is the music the videos are done to. They images and such are set to Praise music, just like what we sing at church, and what I listen to in the car. Think songs like "God of Wonders," "I Could Sing of Your Love Forever," "Open the Eyes of My Heart," "Shout to the Lord," etc. These are fabulous videos, that we all enjoy, I love to sing along to them, L loves watching them, and Steven even seems to like them.

The next baby product that has become a favorite of ours is the ExerSaucer. This is another Graco product, we have the Baby Einstein Stationary Entertainer. This thing it so cool, it is full of fun, colorful, entertaining toys that L spends tons of time spinning around in this playing with each different one as he goes around. Another thing I really like about this is that the toys on it are some of the same toys you see on the Baby Einstin videos, so they are familiar and extra fun to baby.

The sixth (and last) baby product we would have trouble living without around here is our Boon bath toys. We actually purchased this whole pack of Boon products ar SAMS, I had looked at these items individually at Babys'r Us and Target, but found this bundle pack at SAMS for less. This included the Frog Pod, the Flo, and the bath toys. The Frog Pod is this cool frog shaped toy holder that attaches to the bathtub wall, and serves many purposes; it holds all the bath toys and has a drain so they can dry our and not get moldy, slimy, it has toes that you can hook washclothes and such too to dry out between baths, and the top of it has a shelf to hold baby bath products, oh, and the scoop part (the frogs back) detaches to use to scoop and play with water, rinse soapy bodies and heads, and gather up toys at the end of bath time. These items have been especially fun for us since Baby L is such a huge fan of bath time.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

On an unrelated note: if you would like a daily dose of lesson in cuteness, go check out Baby L over here.

Tuesday's Adventures

Tuesday was a big day for Baby L and I. We had big plans, and big fun!!!

The day began with us both sleeping in until 8 am. That was a pleasant surprise.
Then we got up and around, and met mom over at Mrs. Dawn's house to swim in her pool. We had a blast! I figured L would like it, considering how much he loves his baths, and I was right. He had a big time, and even snuck in a quick nap poolside.

Then, L and I headed to Conway to have lunch with my girlfriends from work. We ate at Mean Bean Cafe, which I hadn't had since college, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Yum-O!!
Then we went back to Lindsey's house to visit, and play with her adorable new puppy, Willow.
Willow is too cute! L and I both enjoyed playing with her.

We came back to Maumelle late int he afternoon, and headed to Kroger, I needed to get groceries to cook for the family cook out Thursday night, and some odds and end for our house, and to pack for our hotel stay this weekend, for the Family Reunion. Then we came home, and cleaned up, I cooked dinner (Hamburger Helper, I was quite the chef!) and L fell asleep early, at 7:30 pm. He slept through until 1:30 am, I got up and gave him his 2 oz bottle to get through the night, but he wanted to play, not go back to sleep. He was being so loud talking into the monitor, so I took him into the guest room and laid down with him. We both passed out and slept until almost 7 am. Pretty good night, if he would have gone back to sleep on his own at 1 in the morning...

Now, I need to get off of here, finish a couple loads of laundry, and cook my dessert for tomorrow night. Laundry is endless these days!!!

To see more pics of Baby L on our adventures, go here.

Lets Call the HOGS!

ALternate Post Title:
"Only in Arkansas"
Anyone in central Arkansas who listens to any kind of media coverage had to have heard this story. Crazy huh? A trailer full of pigs all over a major interstate, literally shutting it down for a time. I wonder what the people who just happened to be traveling through Arkansas on I-40 must have thought. They knew they were in Razorback country, but they probably had no idea just how serious we Arkansasan's take that!


Last Friday, I finally got my carpet fixed! Remember when Oliver did this? Well, a repair guy from Carpet Barn came out last Friday and fixed it! He cleaned up all the torn pieces, then replaced the pad.
He borrowed carpet from the closet, so it would be an exact match, and replaced that with some from their store, it doesn't matter if its an exact match in the closet!
Now, the only way you can tell that there was ever a problem there is that there is a slight color variation, due to the carpet that was in the closet having no wear and discoloration staining over the last couple of years like the carpet in high traffic areas. I'm sure we will have this remedied in no time though!


To see pics of Baby L, go here.

Relaxing Weekend

Baby E has had us busy, so much so that I haven't really had much of a chance to blog since last Wednesday. That and that my laptop is stored in the guestroom, where Oliver's carpet destruction is, so I haven't wanted to venture in there to retrieve it. I've just been trying not to think about that whole issue, is makes me a little sick to my stomach when I do. Which is another thing I didn't need any more of...me, 'Mrs. Healthy as Horse' was nauseated off and on all last week. To the point of needing Phenergen to get some relief...blah, finally that seems to have passed, today I haven't felt nauseous at all. Though since yesterday I have been developing a sore throat and a cough, thanks E for passing that cold you are now getting over along to me!So after a busy and full week, Baby E and I were lazy and stayed in our pajamas most of the day on Saturday... we slept in till 8:30, then took an hour and a half long nap in the morning, and a two hour nap in the afternoon. We sent Steven out to run some errand for us, and we only bothered to get dressed so se could run up the road to get a snocone to eat while we sat on the porch with Steven and he grilled out our the grown-ups dinner. Notice the nice new haircut, we went and got that one afternoon last week! Its so much better than the 'fro he was sporting!
Today we went shopping with Aunt Cathi and Uncle Chris is Conway while Steven went to work out and play basketball. We got a really cute new outfit for church next week, we will be sure to get pics of it to share! Then we came home and tried out a new food: orange slices. He loved them! He was biting and sucking and chomping away on the pieces.(Whoooo, now I am really mad at myself, I must have accidentally erased those cute photos while trying to edit some of the others! Grrrrrrrrrr, I'll feed him more oranges again and get more pics to share, because its really cute!)
Steven and I have discussed it, E has put in his two cents, and we have decided that co sleeping maybe what works for out family. I know some people are very critical of this and think its a bad idea, but to be honest I love the idea of attachment parenting, and If I didn't have to work, I would fully embrace it. But, bringing him to bed with us when he fusses seems to work, he is happy and sleeps better, and when he sleeps so do we...so were just going to go with it. Baby E will start every night in his own bed, and he typically sleeps until about 1 am before he wakes up the first time, that pretty much regardless of when we put him down, but our goal is to have him in bed by no later than 8 each night. We will go to his room to sooth him or replace his pacifier one time, if when he wakes up again crying, he is coming to the big bed. Then we are all happy, and that's what seems most important to us.
A battle we are going to tackle soon though is this pacifier. We are beginning to despise it! He wants it alot, and is very, very attached to it. We aren't liking it though, its hard to keep up with, and he talks (coos and squeaks) less when its in. Also, when its in, and then he looses it, he fusses. So this is a habit we want to break. Were going to wait until he has really settled into a good routine before we begin this process though, we don't want to traumatize him too much!

Thank goodness for Grammy!

Today has been exhausting! Big E is still sick, and had Steven and I up literally all night long. Steven went to him 7 times between 10pm and 1am. I went to him them and we went to sleep in the guest room, and he still woke me up another 5 times between then and 4 am! It was quite a night, and after the four proceeding it being similar, we are worn out to say the least!
I was actually happy to take E to daycare today, and get a rest from him while I was with my classroom full of 8-year-olds today. I was so sleepy this morning that during my planning time I went down to the nurses office and took a nap on one of her cots, and asked her to wake me to go get my kids when my planning time was over! How crazy is that, I was pooped, but the power nap did help, and I made it through the day fine, and really enjoyed my students. But, by the end, I was missing E. So I headed back to Maumelle by around 3:15 to get him. He was resting at daycare when I arrived, so I transported him to the car without waking him, and them to his crib once we were home.
That's when I noticed Oliver was suspiciously not right under foot...and I heard a whimper. So I attempted to open the guest room door, but I had to really shove it, because this was all there catching the door:
My immediate reaction was to yell, scream, and kick be mad at the dog, but I realized it was my mistake that he got trapped in there, and he was only trying to get back out. He had come in the guest room to sleep with E and I this morning and must have stayed in the bed, under the covers when I got up, so when I was closing doors for the day he was mistakenly trapped.

I do not blame Oliver, he is jut a dog, but he was still arrested, and I do intend to press charges, and the punishment I will have to enforce is he is no longer invited to sleep int he guest room with me and E when we crash there for a night. All parties be warned, this dog is obsessive and will stop at nothing to accomplish a task (like digging out from a room with a closed door), don't let him in your house unless you are prepared to clean up his messes and pay to have his destruction fixed.

This was just icing on the cake for the day I had, so Sweet, precious Grammy offered to keep E for tonight, so Steven and I can get some much needed rest and recuperation so we can rejoin the parenting battle ranks tomorrow with rested bodies and renewed energy. Thank you Grammy!

My favorite girls!

We had bible study tonight, and it was back to Ester. We are within two chapters of being through this book. Seems like its taken us a long time, especially for such a short book of the bible, but I have learned so much. It amazes me that there is such a bounty to be learned from a book of the bible in which God is never actually spoken about directly.

We met at Mrs. Cross's house tonight and had yummy tacos for dinner. She lives in this really cool neighborhood along the outskirts of Little Rock. Her house is older and they are fixing it up and it made me miss my old house. I loved the sense of pride I had for all the work we had done in creating that house and making it great. I love my new house as well, and it so suits our needs perfectly for where we are in life, I just don't feel like I have as much ownership for its good qualities.