Oh Baby!

Oh gosh.  Did I have a little girl crying like a baby yesterday.  Everyone else took it well, but my sweet little girl, who didn't get the sister of her dreams?  Not so well.  It did not go as planned. : (

I had picked up Ethan and his friend from preschool, and after I dropped off Andrew, I told Ethan about our Boy News.  He still thought it was a girl, so I had to explain that it was indeed a boy!  He was all excited, and I drove home.  Right before we got home, Andrew's mom called to tell me Andrew's bag was still in my car...and then we pulled in the driveway.  There were the big kids off the bus.  And what did Ethan do?

He rolled down his window, leaned out his head, and yelled, "It's a Boy Baby!"  Of course, I had to get off the phone to field the disaster I'd started. : (  Mary Claire ran in the house crying, and Clay plugged his ears.  He'd told me that he wanted Me to tell him after school, and Mary Claire?  Mad.  Sad.  Annoyed.  Extremely disappointed. : (

I knew I should've waited to tell them all at once.  I was mad at myself.  I ran in-and Clay was fine.  He just wanted to hear it from me.  But Mary Claire was on the loveseat crying her eyes out.  I had to sit and love on her for a while.  She just doesn't understand why she can't have a sister.  I told her that she kept praying for a sweet girl just like her, and that God can't make two girls just alike-she's an individual!  She'll be special, and still be my only little girl.  Nothing seemed to help, but then she asked in a wee voice if she could have some baby blue ice cream.  (This would be Braum's birthday cake ice cream with chunks of real birthday cake and blue frosting.)  Umm..could I say no?

We had to take some girl clothes back anyway, and sooner was better than later, so we all went for ice cream, then back to Carters.  We did some exchanging (and the boys did some chasing in the store..), a restroom visit, and we were on our way.  Here are some of the outfits we got:

Clay picked this one out. ; )

Mary Claire chose this one...she has a thing for tigers!  I can't imagine the bright orange, but she REALLY wanted it, and gave me the sad puppy dog eyes.  Guilt bought this one.

Obviously we have a thing for the little pictures on the bottoms.  I guess they are either on their tummies, or all hunched over your shoulder when you burp them, so you have something cute to look at. : )

We asked Mary Claire if this was offensive before we bought it, but she said no. : )

Today is a new day, and I think the dust has cleared.  Now the big dilemma is the baby's name (the boys voted Zachary, and Mary Claire insists on Maximilian).  I can't decide.  I prefer Carter, but Ches doesn't like it.  (could it be Carters having an impact on my pregnant brain?)

Here are a couple of bad pictures from my ultrasound (If you use a flash, there is a glare.  If you don't, it's blurry!):

This is our undebatable boy picture.  No Doubt.  (It's a picture looking from below, and his legs are pointing to the left, and up to the right, with his boy parts in the middle.)

This is a profile-with his hand by his face, and the white by his chin is the left elbow kind of at a distance.  He kept moving, so we couldn't get a perfect one!!

Life does move on, and now Mary Claire is already thinking about her next birthday (and showing her new brother to her friends!).  I think the ice cream/shopping combo works really well!  (I've always had great success with it myself.)  ; )

And..I got Denise's towels done! : )  Here is a picture:

I did the white with pale colors first, but then..needed some lime and red (and it photographs so much better!) ; )

Today I'm just thankful.  Thankful for floors to clean, crumbs to clean up, carpets to vacuum, and laundry to wash.  Thankful for more movement today.  Thankful for our friends' and families' prayers.  Thankful for another pregnant day.  God bless you where you are today. : )

Unicorn Prep

I am in full-on (is that a word?) cleaning mode.  I've cleaned things that didn't know Pledge existed heretofore (that one is a word.  I googled to be sure I wasn't making things up.  Totally Possible.)
I have dusted backs of chairs, corners behind drapes, windowsills, and I'm packing up all the I Need To Do's and Good Intentions.

I have piles all over that are intended for friends (clothes that my kids have outgrown, shoes I made a friend's daughter, cd's to return), clothes to donate, returns for Lowe's, Wal-Mart, Target, Academy Sports, Hobby Lobby (and yes, I'm so serious-I have piles of returns!).  They take up space in my house, and they mentally haunt me.  So, today, I made a list as I loaded each thing in my van, they aren't coming back in my house.  I've also accumulated some extra furniture since I got a couple new things, so I'm getting those moved to new homes too!

Feels fresh and clean, like when you walk into your house and there are lines (the good vacuumy kind) in the carpet, and you can smell Clean (not stinky Pine-Sol, but clean laundry!).  I've got much more to do, but piles just rob my joy, and I don't need the stuff.  I even have two new decorating things, but I've let them sit for so long, I don't know if the store will take them back anymore.  I just want to give them to the store to resell at this point!  They're just taking up space here. : P

Ok, so no help on Twitter?  Maybe that's why I haven't been on it before! : )  I'll keep trudging along..but Misty!  How did you post your blog?  Really!  That's something. : )

Ok, I'll leave you with my latest.  Mary Claire requested a unicorn.  She wanted purple and pink (ack!  I know, she's 9).  (and I didn't have lavendar embroidery thread to match a pale fabric, and dark purple seemed really harsh, and then I had to do something that either matched the hot pink or totally was opposite...it was hard, Really.  I couldn't monogram her name in hot pink or white because of the stripes, so..) I decided to make it a little preppy unicorn.  Haha-hope she likes it!  (Guess I can always make another?)  It's lime on a hot pink towel (she did pick the towel) : )

I will not be making another.  It took three hours.  The fluffy white hair is mostly to blame.

What we do to make our children "happy" can really do a number on us!  Hope you make your babies happy, and appreciate the freedom to do it. heehee  Happy Independence Day!  Enjoy some sun, water, sparklers, big booms, and friends! : )

Tweet, Tweet!

I must tell you, I have NO idea what I'm doing, but they let me in the Club.  Ha!  I'm now on "the Twitter"!  My login/name/ID/cutesy hashtag thing/whatchamacalit is (do I have to use the @ sign?) @1blessedholly

I have thus figured out how to:
1.)  Post thoughts, a.k.a. Tweet (but only on my computer).  (good start, huh?)
2.)  Find people I don't know, a.k.a. Famous People
3.)  Add a photo of me.
4.)  Add a dorky bio.
5.)  Add the Twitter app on my phone!

I have not figured out how to do these things (and may need that Twitter For Dummies book):
1.)  Find people I know IRL (Mom, it means In Real Life)
2.)  Figure out what all the # and @'s mean.
3.)  Figure out how to talk to people.
4.)  Tweet from my phone.
5.)  Pretend like I know what I'm doing, ya'll.


Let's just say you are my friend.  You should totally give me a tutorial (of the briefy type), and tell me why we tweet.  I'm not selling anything, I don't need you to buy the book, I have no real wisdom/news to impart (besides don't drink the kool-aid and a-l-w-a-y-s carry extra diapers and maxi pads), but if the Pope can do it, by golly, I can too! : )


So, seriously.  Help me out here.


Oh...and guess what I made last night? (preTwitter, when I still felt intelligent and knowledgeable)  A totally cute, beach towel!  I found this super cute (I promise to think of more creative, scholarly words tomorrow) robot applique, and added Ethan's name!

I can bet you know what grabbed me.  The heart...I *heart* this robot!

I just love it.  I let him pick out his fabric and thread color.  He would've chosen green on green with green thread (but I convinced him the robot would be camoflauged!)  Ches went to get two more towels (for the other two kids), so they can have Special Towels too.  Mary Claire has requested a unicorn, and Clay could care less (not official, I didn't actually ask..but he'd prefer a magnifying glass to sun-zap his water droplets I think).


I don't take the time to make my kids things that often (hmm..aside from Mary Claire I guess!), so it's been fun to see them all excited.  It's why I bought the machine after all.


Now...I've found my next toy.  If you hear all about it, you'll want one too! : )  It's a Silhouette SD, and it cuts anything (fabric, vinyl, paper, etc.)  It attaches to your computer (think...printer), you can use pictures or fonts on your computer, and it CUTS THEM OUT! : )  I want it to cut sticky vinyl (that can go through the dishwasher) to put on glasses, dishes, windows, walls, notebooks, you name it!  How cool is that?


I'm petitioning my sweet husband. : )  But, I'm also asking for an ice cream maker (I dream of chocolate Reese's ice cream), so we'll see what happens.  My birthday isn't for awhile, so I'll have to dream up a holiday. ; )

Smells Good!

Mmmm...Laundry.  I'm just sure Tide and Downy were invented to make laundry enjoyable.  ("Hey-I have an idea!  If their clothes smell all fresh, and their endorphins are triggered with happy memories of these smells, they'll like laundry, and wash more often..and buy more detergent!")  Is there anything better than fresh, clean-smelling clothes? (I know it's perfume, not the shiny clean-ness making them smell so amazing-but ahhh...)  It does make me love pulling clean clothes out ten times more...and bear the folding and hanging up that must happen immediately, or I have to wash again (to get the smell action going again!)

I have the kids wear their jammies two times, to save on wear and tear, laundry (take that, Tide!), and so they have to practice folding every other morning (and because they aren't dirty after one night of a clean body in them!).  Totally personal choice, but anyway.  We are just phasing Ethan into twice-jammies (he's four and finally takes them off before breakfast!). (since I crave the way the tight jammies make him look like the baby I remember, plus he smells all sweet and clean laundry-ish)  Last night we were too lazy to go upstairs to get him clean jammies, so we pulled on Saturday night's jammies (still on the loveseat after getting him dressed for church downstairs!) since they aren't the tight ones and still looked great, and he put them on reluctantly, then told us, "they don't smell clean" (sadface).  (Umm..have I messed up somewhere?  Now he thinks clean smells like Tide/Downy)  Maybe that's why the kids push their jammies into the dirty clothes instead of folding them...


There was a funky-feet or rubbery smell in our coat closet last week (stale coats?), so I washed all the jackets/coats, and I'm just finishing up!  But the closet still doesn't smell amazing..and then I saw them-the snow boots.  I think I found the skeleton in the closet-eww!  But where do you keep them if not in the bottom of the coat closet? (and I have no mud room!)  Seriously?


-------------We have to commercial break between Downy commercials here. heehee : ) Yesterday was Mary Claire's bridging ceremony from Girl Scout Brownies to Juniors!  She was so excited.  We took Clay to baseball practice, and drove to Wilson Park.  I was so thankful so many people came-it was awesome! : )  The girls were all excited.  They should be-they are growing up!

Ethan chose to bring wear his Buzz getup.

And look what this can do!  It can shoot red sucker arrows!

Now..let's go save the galaxy!

Mary Claire's troop ready to bridge! : )

with her certificate and yummy cookie!

Check that thing out!  Beautiful! (recognize that sweet writing??)

On the bridge (obviously staged on the way back across!)

and then ice cream to celebrate-with chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and sprinkles

!

I'm super thankful she wasn't too high to eat-we'd eaten out for lunch, but I checked her right before we left for the park-187.  Celebrations can throw her off-all the excitement and adrenaline.  This morning, Ches just brought up that she eats more sugar than she should with diabetes.  We all eat too much sugar.  We don't go out and get it exactly.  And I can't say no at an event, and make her different.  So, what do we do?  All I know to do is let her live her life (as normally as possible), and fight for a CURE.  I refuse to let it get me down.  I lived down there for two years, and I won't go back.  I didn't get mail there, and makeup didn't stay on my face, and it was awful.  I choose to live in Today.  With a pump. And a fight-back attitude.

----You are hereby notified that commercial is over.-----  You're welcome!  (and you didn't get to skip with a DVR!) hahaha!  : )

I've been doing load after load of laundry since yesterday since we moved Clay's room around, and bunked his beds again!  I washed all the bedding, including blankets and quilts, and those all have to be washed separately-so our house smelled good all day (excepting the coat closet).  And my son?  Thrilled to have a clean room and room for his O-gauge train set!!  He was up before seven this morning, and when I went up to tell him it was time to shower-he was running his train (little bro watching), with shower-wet hair, his clothes on, and his towel hung up.  Awesome kid! : )  I was so proud of him.  I think we do the same thing-don't you perform better in a clean, happy environment? (Or was it the overabundance of detergenty smell going to his head?)  (I love it either way!)

Love these kids-all Buzz'd, jammied, sugared, and clean-they are a blessing! : )

ps-here is the winning towel from Saturday:

Heidi, it's in the mail!

Don't forget to register for the next one to be given away tomorrow after 9pm!  Be sure you are following the blog, and leave your first name in a comment! : )
(You'll pick your towel color, fabric for letter, and thread color!)

Contest Continues!

Christmas was wonderful-family, games (we played a great game of Monopoly!), good food, playing with new toys, sewing, heehee.  What a day!  What did you do?

I have to review whenever I finally upload pictures from my camera-I remember what we've been up to!  I forgot to post our finished gingerbread cookies-we only found red squeezy frosting at Wal-Mart, so we used it, plus some white we made with confectioners sugar and milk (2.5 cups sugar to 3 T. milk)-it set up stiff too!

Yes, I see the spotty brown bananas up there too-I was going to make banana bread.. Ok, so we had tons of white frosting, and the kids had lost interest, so I did the last couple of cookies with big smears & zigzags of white frosting, don't look at those.

I have to say, they ate the smears of white frosting first-they were so thick with frosting!

On Christmas Eve, we went to the Children's Mass at church.  There was a year where I was making dinner for everyone, and it got crazy and stressful, and I couldn't figure out how we were going to make it to church plus get dinner on the table for guests (and we were trying to get pregnant I might add-with Ethan-and it didn't go well that month!), and it was the worst Christmas-Ches was MaD we didn't make it to church, and we vowed to never miss church on Christmas again.  We changed our plans up, we make Christmas DAY dinner, or we have pizza on Christmas Eve.  It has realigned our priorities, and I'm glad he put his foot down (he very rarely does this, so I listened!).  I think when your kids are young, you are still figuring out how to make it all work.  By the time they are older, you have a plan, and small things get easier.
We made it to Children's Mass, and the kids chose to not be shepherds and angels this year.  They are getting so big!  It was fine with me, I'm sure they'll join in next year again.
Here they are after Mass, our annual picture:

Mary Claire sat up so nicely, and Clay always wants to be right with Ethan, so it makes her look older!  Something else to work on for next year!  Last year we got a family picture, but we can skip one year. : )

We saw some friends after church (with grown kids), and the mom told me that I hadn't changed a bit since she met me (she just needs new glasses, I'm sure), and then her husband told me that you wouldn't even know I'd had three kids, and then she said, "4" to him, and I corrected and said, "3", and she said four again.  I can't decide what to make of that.  She got our Christmas picture card (with three kids), but Ches thinks maybe she means he's the fourth kid.  Of course to me it's cryptic, and means one of my babies in Heaven.  I could've added them all up and corrected again, but I didn't.  Some times you have to shut up and let go.  (Life Lesson 18)

One of our "make life easier on Christmas Eve" resolutions this year was to make dinner reservations-out.  We all went to PF Chang's for dinner (it was crowded! so I think other people have our idea? or we just caught on to theirs?), and it was wonderful!  Ethan was kinda walking/climbing around our booth-he was so hyper and excited for Christmas!  We couldn't get super mad-it was Christmas Eve!
Then we came back, and had ice cream cake for Ches' birthday.  Since we'd spent the day out alone on his actual birthday, we hadn't celebrated with the kids yet.  We like to do both for them.  Even on their birthday, we let them pick somewhere to eat, and that's usually separate from their parties.
Here's our birthday man:

Ethan couldn't take time to take off his coat-there was a cake on the counter!

Speaking of birthdays, Ethan's is on Monday!  He got his first card in the mail from his great-great aunt and uncle-they NeVeR forget my kids' birthdays, and we take pictures of them opening their cards and mail them pictures and thank you notes!  We love them soo much! : )

Big Four-Year-Old! (on Monday!)

And then, they stayed up late watching A Christmas Story (we knew they wouldn't sleep in their beds early anyway-they'd just play that rubber ball game of getting up fifteen times, so we let them stay up till almost ten!)


And Christmas!  They woke up around 2am, Ches sent them back to bed, then they got up around 6:30-good enough for me.  We got Ches up, and he video'd, and I took a couple pictures.  It's so much more fun to put down the camera, open, untie, add batteries, unscrew, add batteries, put together, add batteries, cut tape, pull things from stiff plastic, and add batteries!  Seriously, I went to Sam's on Thursday just to buy batteries-a big package of AA, and a mixed set of all sizes (including AA).  Guess what we don't have enough of?  Yep, AA.  We have to get more to make sure everyone's things work at once!  We were "sharing" to let everyone get a turn with their toys!

Ethan playing with Criss-Cross-Crash, his M&M's and opening his gum!

Did a pink bomb explode?  That little heart tin is my gift card from Brighton! : )  Can you see my new pans over to the right?

Thanks for taking a minute to smile!

And then yesterday morning, I remembered that my sister-in-law had asked for some towels..and I hadn't made them yet!  I got out my embroidery machine and hauled it up to my desk.  In transit, I accidentally hit the USB jump drive, bent it, and the little USB part (pretty integral to it communicating the designs with my sewing machine), broke off!  I was sad.  All those designs, fonts, etc. were gone.  I couldn't access the drive with the plug-thing broken off!  So, I sat and did two new designs for her: a lower case T (from my new baby alphabet!) in a double-frame, and the Love design (redone, so not exactly the same).  Then I started sewing in between making dressing, taking pictures, and getting ready!  The little T kept giving me trouble-the stitches were so tight and close together, the bobbin thread kept stressing out and breaking-good thing I didn't. : )  They are fine, and done! : )  She didn't look at them on Christmas, but I hope she likes them anyway-they took me almost four hours!  Maybe I need more practice.

Oh, I forgot-Ches and Mary Claire got their eyes checked on Friday (Mary Claire has to get her eyes dilated every year to have the blood vessels checked), and Ches needs driving glasses, I think he's farsighted?  He reads fine, but has trouble seeing far away.  I told him to wait so I could pick out his glasses! : )  I want cute rectangle ones-he'll be adorable in them!

Speaking of her yucky diabetes, she's been high!  I know, I know, it's the food.  But, I changed her site this morning, and she's still high.  It's so hard to get it right-especially on holidays!  She got lots of non-candy in her stocking: gum packs, chocolate-covered pretzels, juice, fruit snacks, Ken clothes, a movie, Build-a-Bear panties and purse, chapstick, new toothbrush head (she has a special toothbrush for her braces!), and yes, one "candy": an M&M tube.  I really think it's all the desserts and extras.  I'm praying we'll pull it together in the next day-she's high and irritable! (and it's contagious!)

**Don't forget to leave a comment to win our contest for a monogrammed acrylic tumbler to be given away on December 31st!  I have found a site that will randomize a winner based on an uploaded list.  It generates a drawing (or winner) for me, so it's fair!  All you have to do is leave a comment with your name, the color cup you want and what it should say (name, letter, quote, etc.).  How easy is that? : )