Wordless Wednesday...Halloween style 2010

I don't know why Emmie was being so silly,

but the pics are cute anyway!! ;)

TTFN,

P.S. just in case you were wondering, the

older 2 didn't dress up this year. :(

And...

For those of you who don't know via Facebook...

We're super excited and can't wait to meet her!! :)

And just a little sweet...

When I was getting dressed Friday, Noah asked where I

was going. When I said I was going to the Dr, in typical Noah

fashion he suddenly had a cough and insisted he needed to

go to the Dr too. I explained that I was not sick, but I had to

go and let the Dr check out the baby. When we got back, he

looked at me expectantly, then looked all around me.

Then he looked up at me curiously and said,

"But where's the new baby?? I thought you were going to get it!"

He's very ready for his new baby to get here. :)

TTFN,

18 weeks-belly shot

Yes, this is my messy bedroom and my unmade bed.

Don't judge me.

And this is my 18 week belly. Not even 5 months, and I

feel HUGE! LOL!!

Yeah, I didn't do my hair or makeup today, so no face shot.

Don't judge me.

I'm feeling much better this week, and am very excited to

go to the Dr. on Friday and find out what our little nudger is.

Pink or blue??? :)

On a serious note, I would covet your prayers for my friend,

Konnie, whose mom has bone cancer and is going through a

huge ordeal. The whole family has really been through it the

last year and a half or so, and I know they would all appreciate

any prayers lifted up on their behalf.

I guess blogging once a week is better than once every

3 months or so!! Hope everyone's having a great Monday.

TTFN,

P.S. Just wanted to thank Julie for the phrase 'Don't judge me.'

It comes in handy. ;)

I make no promises...

Ok, the fact that the last time I posted I was 4 weeks PG

is pretty sad considering I am 17 weeks today.

{SIGH}

Where have I been? Mostly on my couch-

Nauseous and exhausted like I've never been before.

This has been the hardest pregnancy so far.

Seriously. Bad. Stuff.

I might have posted sooner, you know, if I could have

picked my head up.

Now that the nasties have subsided enough, maybe I will

be able to post more frequently. But I make no promises.

Other than that, the pregnancy is going fine. I've lost weight-

no big surprise-and the baby sounds fine. We have 'the' ultrasound

a week from Friday to find out the sex of the baby. I don't have

any feelings one way or the other about what I think it might be-

that's pretty unusual too. Not that it matters at this point! ;)

I've been in maternity clothes for a few weeks now...I guess they're

not kidding when they say you get bigger earlier with each

pregnancy...I'm a whale already. I can't wait to see just how

huge I get by the end! <--insert sarcasm here--

Anyway, I just thought I'd update. And I really will try to

keep posting. I do read everyone's blogs still, and I even comment

now and then. Miss y'all! :)

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday...wanna see what I saw??

Sorry the lines are so faint...I didn't take the picture right away

and they faded!! The Dr. did confirm it today, though! We are

officially 4 weeks and 2 days pregnant! :)

TTFN,

Waiting for Michael...

The concert was amazing-as usual, Michael didn't disappoint!

This was only our 3rd time to see him! :)

Our 'romantic' night out turned out a little less than romantic.

I forget how stressful it can be to NOT know exactly where

you're going in NOLA-I guess that since I've been sick,

I wasn't in my right brain...I didn't use mapquest to

make sure I knew where the Arena was,

and I didn't make dinner plans.

We were running just a bit later than we wanted, so we

called and had Ashton do mapquest for us, and after

driving to the Arena first to make sure I was certain

of where it was, (I had no idea it was part of the SuperDome)

we set off toward Canal to find some grub.

Ever been to NOLA and tried to drive much? It's a city of one way

streets, it's definitely much better walking, and we just didn't have time

to find a parking place, walk somewhere to eat,

and make it back before the show started.

So I dropped Paul off at the corner McDonald's and circled the block

5 times before picking him up on the same corner. We drove back to

the Arena and ate our McD's in the parking garage.

Yeah, I know, every girl's dream, right?

SOOOOO romantic!!

{insert sarcasm. LOTS of sarcasm.}

It was really funny, though, even then, and with the free

tickets and the cheap meal, we've been

joking about our cheap date ever since.

I'd do it again just to spend time with my honey.

Oh, and Paul too.

BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday-Wheeeeeeeee!!!

TTFN,

betcha thought...

that I'd disappeared again, didn't ya??

Well, I (sort of) did.

I've spent 3 of the last 5 days quarantined in our

upstairs room sick. Again. With strep. AGAIN.

UGH.

And just because strep twice in one month isn't enough,

remember that horrific mouth infection Emmie had?

Yep. Got that too.

I'm just barely beginning to feel human again. I did let Paul

go back to work yesterday, and I did spend most of yesterday

laying on the couch wondering how people who don't have

a 13 and 11 year old function with littles when

they're sick!!

Thank you, Ashton and Sydney

BTW, the fever blister on the outside of my mouth is SCARY.

Seriously, I'd post a pic, but it would make people sick.

I've never seen one like this. It's freaky.

The worst part is that Paul and I have a hot date tomorrow

night. Yeah, it's the middle of the week, but we don't

plan the concert schedule of Michael Buble. Cause, ya know,

if I did, he'd get real tired of performing in my living room.

I'm just sayin.

We're driving almost an hour and a half to NOLA to see

Michael Buble, enjoying a night out together, dressing up,

and I look like someone tried to take off my bottom lip

with a flame thrower!

Anyway, it'll be fine.

Did I mention we're seeing Michael Buble?

(again)

Did I mention I WON the tickets??

(again)

Did I mention that Michael Buble doesn't actually have to

see ME, and that makes it all better?!?!?

BWAHAHAHA.

Ahem

The only way it could be any better

(other than having a normal lip, that it is)

is if we had a whole day to spend

in NOLA, but oh, well. Maybe next time!!

I'll let you know how it goes!

TTFN,

Wordy Wednesday...

I'm so far behind I think I'm about to lap myself!!

I'm here, and I'm thankful for those of you who are

still here too!!

Here's a brief rundown/catch up. We...

Celebrated our 14 year anniversary!!

Spent two weeks in Disney...had a fantastic time-BUT-

found out that my two littles can be crazy stressful when

naps exit the scene and are replaced by long,

miserably hot days.

I got the sickest I think I've ever been with strep throat

just days after we got back from Disney. For the first time

in our marriage, Paul had to stay home from work to take care

of me and the kids. I spent a full 48 hours closed up in our upstairs

room with no contact with the kids-approx 16 straight hours

of that time were spent unconscious-lots of fever and meds.

I don't remember most of that week.

Had a second and a sixth birthday!

(well, they weren't MINE, of course, but you know)

Had some dramatic GARBAGE go on with some friends and

some people that I thought were friends. I'm not gonna

name any names, but one of the gossip/drama causers

is a pretty popular blogger around here...

and a (former?) IRL friend.

I am saddened to find out that she is NOT the person

I thought she was...or who she pretends to be.

Found out we do not have a special souvenir in the making.

A little disappointed about that, but

we'll keep working on it! ;)

Work on the upstairs addition has come to a temporary halt...

it's very hard to work in the non-air-conditioned attic when the

temps up there get close to 130 degrees cause it's so stinkin hot here!

I lost a friend to an overdose. It was unbelievably hard for me to

wrap my mind around. And just hard. Very hard.

Emmie has been running fever since last Wednesday. I took her

to the Dr. Friday just because I wanted her seen before the holiday

so if she needed meds she could get on them and we could go about

our weekend. The Dr. told me what I already knew...it was viral.

But said if she was still running fever Sunday or Monday to bring

her back. I hate that. Really? You will be able to do something with

her virus then that you can't do now??

Anyway, by Monday she was still running

fever, but had a new symptom...her gums were swollen and bleeding.

This worried me a bit and after looking into her mouth, I thought

her front teeth looked funny, so I made her another appt. Paul wanted

me to take her to the dentist instead, and I tried to get her an appt

there, but with no luck. I loaded her up for her Dr's appt knowing that

I just needed to hear what the problem was...I'm not a worrier, but I

felt that there was more to her symptoms than just her teeth and fever.

The Dr. looked in her mouth for all of one second and said she has a

severe herpes infection all in her mouth. (the herpes that causes cold sores,

NOT the other kind!!) Ashton and Paul get them all the time, and

Ashton has had one for almost 2 weeks by this time, so I knew where

Emmie got it from. I was relieved to know what was wrong,

but surprised by the severity of Emmie's symptoms.

Apparently babies get it BAD.

Of course, it's still a virus, so the Dr. said there isn't anything we

can do but wait it out. Thankfully she is some better now, I have to

cut her food into tiny bites, and her gums still bleed, but the fever is

mostly gone and she's finally eating!!

She lost 2lbs from Friday to Monday from not eating. She's too tiny as

is it...she didn't need to lose weight!

And now I have my first ever cold sore. Thanks, E.

I had NO IDEA how miserable they are.

I can't even imagine what my poor baby has been through the

last week! I have since found out that a dentist WILL prescribe

meds for it that shortens the duration, and that makes me a little

angry with her pedi, but by the time we went in Monday she was on

the downhill slope, and from what I've read the meds work best if

you catch the virus in the beginning stages.

Next time it's not supposed to be nearly as bad.

We saw Toy Story 3.

I cried.

If I don't see Eclipse soon, I may cry again.

Still here?? LOL...sorry that was so long!! I'm going to try to get

back into the swing of blogging, and in the process also type up and

post-date some back posts. I've missed A LOT that I need to

post about. If you don't want to do all the catch-up posts, I'll

understand. But this blog is also my scrapbook/family record thingy,

so I feel the need to update all the stuff I missed.

It feels good to be back! :)

TTFN,

Wordless Wednesday...'Daddy, that was MY bite!!'

this is just where I'm at...

why am I still awake? life is too tired for me to ponder tonight...or maybe it's just me that's tired and life that's wide awake. too many brain things going on inside my head today...I'll truly never understand the minds of other people...those who don't think the way I do about things. why do they think the way they do? why are things that are repugnant to me alright in their minds?what makes right RIGHT and wrong WRONG...where is the line? why do some feel the need to hurt without considering the repercussions in others lives? a ripple becomes a wave by the time it reaches the edge of the pond...actions by one can affect all...is that too much power over another person? I'm rambling...but spilling...so necessary to clear the cobwebs. tired...yet my brain keeps running...to catch up to those whose brains are fast and furious, weak and wicked...do I want to catch up? do I want to find the devil's playground in the will of those I thought I knew but don't know at all? illusion is a strange friend. do I have the strength to face those demons tonight?? I'll have to go lay on my face a while and let God deal with it...

that's all I have left...
sorry for the ramble...pray for hurt friends...pray for gossipers within our own church family who hurt them with untruths...pray that I can be a help in time of uncertainty.

TTFN,

Say a little prayer for our coast...

Most of you already know that I live on the gulf coast of

Mississippi. Not directly on the coast-we live about 25 miles

inland-but there is something very scary happening

right now on our beautiful coast.

You have certainly all heard about the Deep Horizon off-

shore drilling rig that exploded last week in the Gulf of

Mexico. They originally reported that it was spilling just

a small amount of oil into the Gulf, but now we know that

it is spilling as much as 5000 barrels, or 200,000 gallons

of oil into our water everyday. They are now saying

that it could take as much as 3 months to be able to cap

the leak. And this morning I read that they are expecting

this oil spill to be worse than the worst oil spill in history-

the Exxon Valdez.

I can't even begin to tell you how bad this is for the coast. It

affects every part of life here. The wildlife is in horrific danger,

the people who make their living fishing and shrimping are in

danger of losing their livelihoods, and the seafood industry as

a whole-epecially the local restaurants and markets are in a

really bad spot.

In addition to praying for the families of the workers lost when the

rig exploded, will you please, please pray for the coast? Especially

this weekend as the oil will actually be hitting the shore as early as

this morning. I will keep you updated as I know more.

Thank you in advance.

TTFN,

Ok, let's try that again...

So that last post was a total flub.

Sorry.

I hit 'enter' when I meant to hit 'tab.'

Thus, the postless post was born.

The 'hahahaha' was not becuase there was nothing

in the post. I promise.

I was laughing at the fact that so many of you guessed

that we are adding on because I'm pregnant.

Because I'm NOT.

{yet}

We ARE adding on...everyone got that part right. We are

a family of 7 living in a 3Br/2Ba house, and things are just tight!

Paul, Emmie, and I share the master, Jacob and Noah share a room,

and Ashton and Sydney share a room.

We are adding 2 bedrooms and a full bath in the unused part of the

attic. We already have a big 'media' room up there.

Ashton and Sydney will have their own (small) rooms, and a (small)

bathroom to share among themselves and with anyone in the

upstairs room who needs to use the facilities but doesn't want

to walk back down the stairs. (read: everyone)

Jacob and Noah will continue to share their room, and Emmie will get

the room Ashton and Sydney share. She may have to share it

one day as well.

As far as me being PG, like I said before, I'm NOT. But we are

going to Disney in a month (a month EXACTLY, as a matter of fact)

and for the first time since our honeymoon, we will have a room to

to ourselves!!

Ahem.

{grin}

Let's just say we'd like to bring back a...shall we say...special...souvenir.

{blush}

And if it doesn't happen then, we will continue trying.

I'll keep you posted on the upstairs building...and

I'll let you know something when I know something! :)

TTFN,

Hahahaha!!

Wordless Wednesday...what in the world...

...is Paul working on in the attic???

TTFN,

P.S. Konnie...you don't get to answer this one cause you

already know!! LOL!! ;)

My other sweet boy...

Jacob's paper he brought home this week;

(verbatim)

Wun deay I wint too The Jungl and I sol a wolf.

and I toold him too sit.

The End.

LOVE IT.

Best story EVA.

TTFN,

Just me and Syd...

Syd and I are in Jackson again, this time for

the All State choir festival. We'll be here till

Saturday. This is my first time away from my

babies for more than a night, and Paul's first

time taking care of them for this long-but he will

have help from his mom, so I'm not too worried.

Missing all my babies (the big ones too) already!

Things were a bit stressful when we got here because

our choir director was running late (as usual*) and

I wasn't sure we could check in, but not only were we

able to, the lady said they had my Marriott number

-which I didn't even know I had-

and they were bumping us up to a concierge room!!

Super cool-even though it's a pretty normal

looking room. Very nice, though, and clean. And the

bath stuff is Bath and Body Works which totally rocks! :)

*just a side note-YES, I am normally late. For everything.

But this guy...OMGosh, he makes me look super organized

and super punctual!! To be a teacher, he's NEVER prepared,

and always the last one to any choir function. Also, I just

wanted to point out (because it's my blog and I can)

that we managed to leave early this morning.

Yep. EARLY! Yay me!

We left before our scheduled time. Maybe a first.

But then, as a super bonus, when our director got here, he

informed me that the choir boosters voted to pay our

entire trip, including meals! Whoo-hoo!!! Praise the Lord!!

Now I can afford the $12.95 per 24hrs on internet I'm

having to pay to type this!!

Hahahahahaha!

I'm so in my element here. I think I had more fun at the first

rehearsal than Sydney did! I was just wishing I had the music

so I could sing along! I'm a total choir nerd! :) I miss all this.

Anyway, I'll be on here as time allows. They've got us

on a pretty tight schedule, but after this evening they

aren't allowing parents into rehearsals so I'll have some free

time here and there. Hope everyone had a great

weekend! I know I am!

TTFN,

P.S. If you're wondering about the title...(it's one thing

on the dashboard and something else when you open

it) 3 words...complete user error. :/

Wordless Wednesday-Sydney sings at the capitol.

TTFN,

Sweet boy...

Last night at bedtime:

Sydney-'Noah, God is watching over us all the time!'

Noah (looking around) 'Where is He?'

Sydney-'Well, He's invisible. We can't see Him.'

Noah-(pouting, with his lip sticking out) 'Aww...but I

wanted to pway hide-and-seet wif Him!'

Not Me Monday-♫Don't You...Forget About Me♪

Not Me Monday!

A blog carnival created by

MckMama.

Where we all share our (not so) short comings.

It has not been just over a month since my last post.

I am not horrified at myself for slacking. However, we have

not been pretty busy, and I did not find it easier and easier

to just not blog as the time went on. I am also not horribly

behind on blog reading-I am so sorry!!! I haven't decided

if I'm going to try to catch up or just move on from here.

(If any of you had anything momentous or exciting go on

while I was absent, please add a link in the comments so I

can go read and celebrate with you!! :)

Here are a few things I/we have not been doing:

1. I have become an avid couponer. I had no idea how

time consuming it is! I have been saving lots of money,

though, and it's quite a rush!

2. I sent my youngest to church one Sunday in a dress

that the hem was all the way out of. I may have just

taped it back up with packing tape. Maybe.

3. Ball season has started. It's a bit stressful this year.

Jacob has games on school nights that don't START till 8:15.

That's 15 minutes past his bedtime already, so I'm really not

happy about that. It is what it is, though. Pictures to follow.

4. Paul's dad passed away Sunday the 21st. His funeral was

this past Wednesday. It was a wonderful service, although it was

much harder on Paul than he thought it would be. It was a long,

emotionally and physically tiring week, but we know where he

is and he's not suffering any more. I am thankful that the kids

got to visit him one last time while he was still lucid.

5. I missed my one year blogiversary. Not because I wasn't blogging,

it was back in January when I WAS, but because my blog counter

was wrong. And no matter how many times I try to fix it, the

counter always starts off wrong. This is also my 200th post!!

6. Noah has become obsessed with rocks. He always has rocks, rock

piles, rock buddies, etc. It's really cute...until I step on one, barefoot,

in the middle of the living room floor!

Thanks to those who are still here...I love and miss you all!!

TTFN,

If nautical nonsense is something you wish...

An actual dinner conversation:

Paul and I are eating Subway and the kids are eating

chicken strips from the corner gas station. (at home)

(These strips rival KFC. Seriously.)

Noah seems to realize Paul has something different than

he does and says something I've very rarely heard him say:

"Daddy, I-ona bite-a yours."

After staring at me in disbelief for a moment, Paul leans over

and gives Noah a bite of his Subway club with the works.

As soon as the bite goes in it is promptly yucked back into

Paul's hand.

Noah points at the lettuce on Paul's sub seriously and says,

"Daddy, I dest don't wike your seaweed!"

Maybe we watch too much Spongebob.

TTFN,

Not welcome here.

99.99999% of you are always welcome here.

I ♥ you all, and find some guilty pleasure in knowing

that you like coming here and reading about me and

my family. You leave positive comments and I even chat

with some of you through email and Facebook.

I am so very thankful for the new friendships.

However.

A few days ago I had a visitor who, hiding behind

anonymous, left me a nasty comment about

a fellow blogger whom I consider to be a friend.

The comment was hurtful, used language I don't

use, and even managed to have racism in it.

I will not tolerate this on MY BLOG.

First and foremost, this is my FAMILY blog. It is personally

insulting to me that anyone would comment on a post

that was very special to me in a way that is meant

to hurt someone. My family, and especially my children,

read this blog. No one will leave nasty or inappropriate

comments here. They will be deleted immediately, and

the commenter will be blocked.

Second, the person who was insulted is a friend.

I don't know her personal business because it is just that-

HER BUSINESS.

Anything she is doing or has done in her life that may

(or may not)

be the right thing to do is between her and God.

NOT YOU AND HER.

Especially if you don't buck up and admit who you are.

Hiding behind anonymous is just cowardly.

It is not for me or you to judge, and by you doing so,

I think you are just as much in the wrong as anything

(you think) she might be doing.

Grow up. We're not in high school anymore.

Get over it. Let her live her life and you live yours.

If she is not hurting you personally, move on.

If she is, tell her so-openly so that she knows who you are-

and deal with it.

Know that you and your nasty comments are

not welcome here.

For now I am not turning off my anonymous comments.

I have had some very nice people comment using the

anonymous feature, and I don't want to block that.

But I will.

TTFN,