I.Love.This.Man!

I know some of you read my last FB post, but I just really have to give it up to my sweet husband. Friday was basically my day (for almost the ENTIRE day) and I got to spend it doing whatever I wanted. Theo was off from work and even though he has a final essay exam this weekend, he let me go do my thing while he stayed home with all three kids. I know this may not seem like a big deal, but for this tired, worn out momma who rarely gets a break from her kids, this was HUGE for me. I'm so grateful for an amazing husband who recognizes my need for a little time alone. And yes, he gets his fair share of alone time too. Not so much recently as he's trying to finish up grad school but whenever he needs some time away, I almost always oblige. We have a good system going on and now that Isaiah is regularly taking a bottle, you can bet I'll have a little more time to myself!

I hope all of you young mommas out there have a break every now and then. I didn't realize how much I needed some alone time until I had several hours of it. It made me feel refreshed and eager to want to spend time with the little ones again. If I don't take care of myself every now and then, then it's much harder for me to care for everyone else. Olivia's awake...motherhood calls!

Wordless Wednesday

Goodwill to Men Me

I recently stumbled across this blog and I have been hooked! She has given me inspiration to make the most of what I have, not covet what other's have, spend less and save more.  With that said, I made my first trip to our local Goodwill store on Friday. I will admit, I had never shopped there before mainly because I didn't want to be perceived as someone who couldn't afford to shop elsewhere. Shallow of me, I know. But I am trying to change for the better but that's a whole different post! :)

And while there was a lot of pure junk there, I did score me some new shirts for my boys. The girls selection yielded nothing for Olivia but I got some Tommy Hilfiger shirts for Isaiah (when he's older) and a Ralph Lauren shirt for him also and get this, they were each 99 cents! Can I get a heck yeah?!!

The shirt on the bottom right is a brand new Gap shirt with tags still on for $1.99 for Carter!

I also found a big wicker type basket to put all of Carter's moon dough/crayons, etc on top of the fridge. It was $5. I'm pretty sure something like that at Michaels would be close to $50 so another score for me!

Saturday morning, our neighborhood had a community garage sale. It's been a long time since I've been garage saling (can I make that a verb?) but it was GREAT! I went looking for a couple of specific things which I didn't find. But I did end up with the one thing I most certainly did NOT need.....a bag full of toys! I couldn't help it. I got a tickle me Elmo for Olivia for 50 cents that I know go for quite a bit of money at sores, some other miscellaneous toys, a Dora DVD and an Elmo DVD all for a total of $5!

This might become a problem for me. I love, love, LOVE getting good deals and am to the point in my life finally where I don't care if they are used things are not. When I go back to work eventually, I will feel less guilty about spending full price for things and will probably shop at Pottery Barn a lot more :) but for now, I am scaling back!

Roly Poly

Isaiah is officially rolling over (front to back)! Much more quickly than his older siblings...he's advanced like that! Ha!  We've been trying to do some tummy time and so today, he got propped up on his forearms and then flip, he was on his back.

Here....

 I......

Go!

And my attempt to take a group photo:

In other news, pink eye is running it's course through our house. I'm pretty sure I will get it at some point. Olivia's isn't as bad as Carter's was but she is coughing so much at night that none of us are sleeping. I finally came downstairs with her last night and propped her up on the couch and slept next to her. I'm surprisingly in a fairly good mood today considering I got maybe two hours of sleep last night.

I am ready for the weather to get nice and stay nice. I've been turning on the fireplace and the heat in my car and it's almost Memorial Day for crying out loud! We've been really cooped up for the past week almost. Fortunately Carter made it to his last day of school so that put him in better spirits. But the little ones and I have been holed up like bears hibernating. I haven't been to the gym in a week so my daily dose of alone time has been missing! I really, REALLY need that time. Maybe tomorrow if Olivia is doing better.

Not much on the agenda for the rest of the week with one sick kiddo to take care of. It's supposed to be nice Sunday so hopefully we can get out and do something fun then. Hope you all have a good rest of the week!

Kindergarten Bound!!

Carter's last day of preschool was today! I can't believe my firstborn is going to be a kindergartener in three short months. The moms and I were laughing today because we all said we were going to cry but not for sentimental reasons :)

I've been really struggling with my role as a mother lately. I am so exhausted that all I want to do is let my kids watch t.v. all day just so I can get a little bit of a break. I've gotten lazy in my parenting because I am just that tired. I feel like I used to teach Carter things all the time but since Isaiah has come along, and since Olivia has demanded much of my attention the past couple of months, that I've really let myself get into a rut of not teaching him anymore. So I am so thankful for the wonderful teacher (and helpers) Carter had this past year. He has made so much progress in such a short amount of time. I will be eternally grateful to his teacher for all that she taught him. His desire to learn has skyrocketed since starting preschool and I have absolutely no doubt that he is ready for kindergarten.

His class made "All about me" books and I laughed and cried as I read it. The book basically showed the progress they made over the school year. The pages that I thought were the best were these:

In case you can't see it: The first one is a self-portrait. He's definitely come a long way!

 This one is what he wants to be when he grows up. In October, he wanted to be Diego. Six months later, he wants to be a doctor and a teacher. Thank the Lord for that! I don't know how I would explain to him when he went off to college that he couldn't major in cartoons!! :)

I wish every class would do this. It brought so much joy to my heart seeing how far my big guy has come.

On a different and sad note....I found out today that the mom of one of Carter's classmates passed away this past Friday. She had cancer but I could tell she was fighting it until the end. My heart so grieves for this family. They had two very young daughters and to think they will grow up without their mother is more than my heart can take. It made me hug my kids tighter today, use a kinder voice with them, and let them have an indoor picnic and not worry about the ketchup stains on our picnic blanket. I really feel God speaking to me to cherish this time I have with my kids. Even though the days are often exhausting, often hillarious, these are the only days I have with them. What will they remember about me when I'm gone? Please pray for this family. I can not even fathom the loss they feel. I'm praying God wraps His mighty arms around them.

Fun Run

A couple of weeks ago, Carter's school did a "fund" run. But since I didn't collect or donate any money, I am calling it a fun run...although it would prove to be very NOT fun for Carter. I think the school did this in lieu of field day this year. So the purpose of this run was to collect money for all laps ran. Good thing we didn't solicit any donations because Carter only ran five laps, probably the least amount out of all his classmates but oh well. :) He was all about it at first but then because tired and whiny so we called it quits!

Ready:

Set:

Go!!

I am blogging about this because honestly, I don't have much to blog about. I don't know where this week went. Carter now I'm pretty sure has pink eye so our plans for the weekend are cancelled. Thankfully we have an amazing pediatrician who I e-mailed this morning. She called me right back and then called in some eye drops so I didn't have to take him in. I guess that's one benefit of me being a pediatric nurse practitioner....our pediatrician trusts my ability to diagnose my kids!

Theo has a big HUGE paper due tomorrow so he's basically locked away in his dungeon *aka* office/guest room and we're trying to be quiet but it's hard with three kids four and under.  We went to Target today but it was the shopping trip from you know where. Fortunately we made it all home in one piece. There were no spankings doled out and I didn't spend a lot of money :)

Speaking of Theo, he go into a car accident on his way to work this week. He was rear-ended by someone who apparently wasn't paying attention. There wasn't much damage to the car but he's in quite a bit of pain. He went to the doctor that afternoon and had an x-ray of his neck. And at some point in his life, he has fractured one of his cervical spine bones! He played rugby in college so I'm guessing it was then but he had no idea. He's one tough guy I tell ya! The doctor said his neck looked like that of an 80-year old. We imagine spinal surgery is in his future but hopefully not for a long time.

We are all exhausted in this house. Olivia is back to her old antics and screaming almost all night long. When she's not screaming, Isaiah is up and a little fussy so I'm pretty sure I haven't gotten more than a two hour solid block of sleep at a time for the past couple of weeks. Carter keeps saying "Momma, I wanna have another baby." I tell him we already have a baby and his name is Isaiah. Momma's DONE having babies but I know better than to say never again :) If it's in God's plan for us, than by all means, I'm sure God will make it happen. But if it's up to me, than I say three is more than enough!!!

Please keep us in your prayers. I know that this is something so minor to ask for but we really are so tired. I'm tired of being tired and would like just one night of good sleep. I know these precious babies are more than worth it but I'm so foggy-headed right now that I can hardly think straight. Please pray that our kids will sleep better that way the momma and daddy can sleep better too. And pray for Theo's healing from the accident and also that he'll finish these last two classes successfully and be done with graduate school! Thanks in advance.

7 years

Seven years ago today, Theo and I stood before God, our family and friends and committed our lives to one another. Little did we know what God would have in store for us during those seven years but three little babies later, we feel so completely blessed!

I am so thankful God chose Theo to be my husband, my mate, my best friend, my life companion, the father of my children, the one with whom my soul shares all things. No one knows me quite like he does and he still loves me!

On this mother's day, our anniversary is extra special because not only did Theo make me a wife, he also made me a mother and for that I am eternally grateful.

Happy Mother's Day to my mom! She is the reason I know anything about motherhood and taught me how to love so selflessly my own children. Thank you mom! You mean the world to me.

Before and After

Before

After

3 months old!

Isaiah turned 3 months old yesterday! When I nurse him at night and look down at his sweet little head, I ask myself every single night "When did my baby boy get so big?" He is such a little guy now and is such a happy and social baby most of the time!

At three months old Isaiah, you:

-weigh between 11.5 and 12 pounds

-still nurse every 2-3 hours literally around the clock and are wearing your momma out!

-are not too fond of taking a bottle but we think we may have found one that will work once we find the opportune time to give it to you

-are not needing your reflux medicine much anymore but are still such a gassy baby!

-are such a smiler and cooer and love to look at people's faces

-have made your debut in the church nursery twice in the past month and are now an active member at VillaKids (our new gym) and do quite well there

-go down for naps and nighttime sleep quite well

-take one or two semi-short naps usually and one long nap everday

-finally have a crib on order but are sleeping regularly in the pack-n-play

-love to sleep with your white blanket that Aunt Vickie knitted for you (seen in these pictures)

-are more happy during the witching hours most nights

-love to be in your carseat but also love the bouncy chair and swing still

-almost look like you can roll over from side to tummy but not officially yet :)

-love to wave your arms and kick your legs when you are in the boucy seat. It almost looks like you are riding a bicycle!

-are the apple of momma, daddy, Carter and Olivia's eyes

We love you so much big man! Happy 3 month birthday!!!

Are you ready for some football?

(Sang in my best Hank Williams Jr. voice)

My dad got this hat for little man.

Of course we love all things LSU here! The hat is a little big for this baby head but hopefully he'll grow into it by football season (next year most likely!)

We can't wait to head down to south Louisiana and hang out with grandpa soon! Bring on some real Cajun food :)