Maybe This Will Help You Too! :-)

I am really crackin' the whip on getting Christmas presents early! I'm not about to get stuck at the mall with 3 little kids waiting in the lines of all the people shopping at the last second! The only reason we're even able to start was because my hard-working husband refinished some doors to earn some Christmas cash!! We....I mean, he came up with a budget to figure out what we were working with! And as soon as the $$ was available (in a separate account, of course) I started brainstorming!

Now, I'm a horrible gift giver. I can NEVER think of something good to give people...especially when the pressure is on. I'll see stuff in stores during the year and say, "Oh, so-and-so would LOVE this!" But do those things come to mind when I really need a gift?.....you guess it....big fat NO!!!

Now, seeing as I have 3 small children, I am not about to drag them to the mall however many times a week during this CRAZY holiday season to shop. But it's really hard for me to just...POOF...think of something in my head! I have to see what's out there.

So I found a couple of websites that helped me SO much in coming up with ideas!! I couldn't believe how many I came up with just by surfing the internet!

Gifts.com and Surprise.com are the two that were the most helpful. I got so many great ideas that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. And the sites help you narrow down your recipient! They do all the hard "thinking work" for you! Especially since my brain has fallen out since Lillian's been born! HA!

So, if you're anything like me and have a hard time finding the perfect gift, check out those sites! I had no clue fun gifts like those even existed!

Good luck with everyone's Christmas shopping! Remember......it's supposed to be FUN!!!

Prune Juice + Fussy Baby = Angel Baby

We were lucky enough to get to go to the lake again this past weekend with my parents and then my sister and her husband! It's so fun when we all get together but it's chaos pretty much the whole time. We all cram in there and with babies, it gets cozy to say the least.

We put Lillian in the den this time and it was much better!! :-) But Saturday, she was super fussy. And I could NOT get her to go down for a nap!! I knew that I had been eating a lot of food I don't eat on a daily basis but I had no clue how to narrow it down to know what was bothering her. At one point I couldn't even get her to eat!! All she would do was arch her back and scream in pain. Well, I know gassy babies (Landon was an extremely gassy baby) and I knew her tummy was hurting her but I didn't know how to help her! I also remember that she hadn't boo-booed in a while.....but I've read that breastfed babies don't get constipated. Ok..........

My sweet father could tell I was reaching my limit - you know that limit before you go off the deep end??? I had tried to go to sleep twice and was woken up by a screaming baby. And let me tell you, that doesn't put you in a great mood! I knew she was tired and that her tummy hurt....but I was failing miserably at attempting to help her!

SO.....he came to me and said, "What can I do??" We sat down and brainstormed. I told my dad she'd probably sleep in the car...that way she'd at least not be too strung out by evening due to lack of sleep. I also mentioned that she hadn't gone to the bathroom in a while.

So Robert and my Dad jumped in the car, loaded up the baby and drove to town! By the time they came back it had been a good hour or so. I had (THANKFULLY) fallen asleep and gotten a good nap. Of course, I woke up a hour and a half later to a crying baby! Sonic ears we mothers have!!!

I was updated on Lillian's condition and they said she slept in the car and they had also given her some apple/prune juice in the parking lot of the grocery store!!! Way to think ahead, Dad!!! Give that stuff time to WORK!!

So when I went and got her after I woke up to her screaming - SHE HAD POOED!!!! You have never seen so many adults get SO excited to see a "BM"!!!! I quickly changed her and it was like NIGHT AND DAY!!

The child turned into cute little angel baby and cooed, laughed and entertained us with her sweet personality that is sometimes masked by very loud screaming!!

Who knew that a little juice could make all the difference in her attitude. But hey, I ain't so happy when my tummy hurts either!! :-) She crashed early that night and even slept through everyone watching the Alabama vs. Auburn game on the 50-something inch TV and I will tell you that we weren't quiet! She was just exhausted!!!

People say the weirdest things.....

I know I'm not the only one getting stopped in stores about their kids. But here are a couple I think are funny.

Ok, so I was grocery shopping late in the afternoon at Publix the other day. I had all the kids..duh. Anyways....I was leaning over and checking out the "stinky cheese" (yes, I love 'stinky cheese') and a well dressed man in his business suit comments something to me. Well, I kinda look around to see if he's even talking to me because I definitely wasn't 'inviting' any conversation. So here's how it went.


Man: You deserve an award for this.

Me: (looking around) Are you talking to me?

Man: Yes, you deserve an award for this.

Me: What...for dragging 3 kids to the grocery store at 5:00???? kinda laughing

Man: Yes, and so soon!!!! (I think referencing to the Lillian so young). But I'm sure you're used to it.

Me: Well...yes...but they're pretty good kids. I can take them almost anywhere.

Man: Well, you're doing a great job. I have 20 month old twins and a 8 week old at home!!!!!

Me THINKING: WOW, well, mine aren't that young!!! I've got nothin' on you!!

I just think it's so funny that people are amazed that I bring my kids WITH my where I go. I'm not supposed to cater to my kids, per say. I had kids and brought them into MY life - Robert and I were a family before they were born.

So we made courteous banter for 30 more seconds or so. I think he was mainly empathizing with me on the fact that I even attempted to BRING 3 young kids to the grocery store!!
Well, I must credit the EZZOS and Growing Kids God's Way to the way my kids sometimes act. At least that's the parenting format that I'd like to say I enforce on a daily basis.....but I'm not always that consistent.


Then again in Walmart I was stopped TWICE! ::I mean...does this happen to you moms out there:: Once by a VERY elderly old woman in a "go-ped" that you can ride in while you shop...you know what I mean?? Ok, she was in a MUMU (nuf said) and had more facial hair than my husband. The whole time I was thinking..........."Lord, please don't let my kids comment out loud....please don't let my kids comment out loud...." Because I could just hear them blatantly asking her..."Why do you have so much hair on your face...OR...Why are you in that funny cart??"

But she just insisted on grabbing them and telling me how pretty they were. (I actually had a hard time getting away from her - but we just smiled and hopefully were a little bright light in her day). She also had to make sure they were ALL mine and just had to ask if Olivia and Landon were related......another topic in itself.

Then when I was in the check out line, I had another nice elderly woman (she was actually pushing her own cart) come OUT OF HER LINE to tell me how nice and pretty my kids were. I have to say, they were all acting very obedient and courteous at the current time. BUT....

Don't get me wrong...of course I think my kids are GORGEOUS and always well behave ::achhemmm:: ...but I'm a little biased! :-)

And you know what Olivia actually said when we walked away from the woman in the go-ped? She asked me why she had "white hair". Of ALL the questions that girl could have inquired about (because there were many and I was asking myself in my own head) she asked that one.

I responded...well, why do you have brown hair. And we got to discuss how God makes us all different and special. Olivia then proceeded to tell me the girls in her class that have "white hair" - I think she meant blonde.

I just have so many comments thrown my way theses days. Even the salvation army bell ringer comment twice to me. The first time was "BOY, you've got your hands full!"

And I kindly replied...."And so is my heart!"

He Really is Wearing THE "B"

This is a follow up to this post HERE So we've been working with Landon on not biting since our now infamous church nursery incident. I believe we have to train him in what is right and wrong behavior. I do not think he'll just grow out of it. So we're working hard to get him to talk his feelings out and he also gets NO "chances", if you will, when he bites - it's straight to consequence. And we've been 100% consistent thus far. It's going pretty good.

So we met a few friends at the park today (BEAUTIFUL weather by the way!). A couple of them work in the church nursery. They all know what happened that morning with Landon and knew I was keeping a close eye on his behavior at the park. So my friend Rachael got an email from the church nursery just updating everyone on what's been going on. I joked, "Oh goodness....Landon's been mentioned, huh" or something like that. I just knew she was going to tell me it said something about his BITING! :-)

She giggled and said they don't name names, but they were warning the nursery workers that some kids have been biting. (I pretty sure we're not the ONLY ones - I hope) She said that they were going to be labeling the kids name tags with a "B" beside their name!!!!!!! HAHAHA

Landon really is branded with a "B"! We all got a really good laugh out of it, especially since I had written a blog post about it! I guess it's a good way to warn the workers without the mother's reminding them, "Umm...my son bites!" every single Sunday.

Takes a little embarrassment out of it! :-)

Priceless

I just had to post this when my mom sent this to me. This is a great family friend singing "Old Rugged Cross" to Olivia when she was around 6 weeks old!!

I love it! Thanks Mr. Mike!!!

Too Much Family???????

So 'tis the season to start planning all the family get togethers for Christmas and Thanksgiving! I know that for me it can start to make my head hurt just by having to think so hard on how we're going to please everyone! It's hard!

So my mom and I were talking last night on all the little details of who's going to be where on Christmas and Thanksgiving. We have to work around my sister and her husband. And they have to go see his family too. We have to travel to Jackson, MS to see Robert's family for Christmas and then fit my family in too. Which is harder than it sounds - considering Christmas falls on a Tuesday this year and Robert has to work Christmas Eve (I know, don't get me started!). Throw in 3 kiddos and it gets CRAZY!!!!


So in the midst of still not knowing what days we're going to do what for Christmas, my mom said, "It's so hard to plan everything because we are BLESSED with so much FAMILY!!!"

AMEN! Even though it seems like such a headache to try and make it everywhere, it really shouldn't be thought of as a dilemma!! We have so much family that wants to spend time with us and see us!! How awesome!

So, if you're anything like us and trying to go so many places over the holidays - feel BLESSED by so many people that wants to spend time with you!

Feel the love - and then pass some on!

This is what kids are good for! :-)

You know those days where you just get the urge to CLEAN clean? Well, they don't come around very often for me! OR not as often as I'd like. Especially these days when the kids mess up the house 3 times faster than I can clean it up!

Well, I had one of those urges today. And I just knew I had to go with it. So, I got Olivia excited to help me clean. It's so great that she doesn't know it's a chore yet! :-) She couldn't wait to get her hands on the Windex bottle! (score!)

But what I really wanted to do was to roll rugs up, move furniture and vacuum/dust underneath everything. So we rock and rolled! I gave Olivia the hand-held vacuum and I had the big one and we worked together cleaning all the rooms of the house! Then she would spray the floor cleaner in front of me and I mopped the floors! She was actually a HUGE help! Hmmmmm........so this is what kids are good for!! hehehe

Here she is vacuuming underneath her bed!


Here she's got the hose of the vacuum running it up and down the baseboards! :-)


We found all sorts of things underneath the beds! Including a rotted banana someone (I think his name is Landon) stashed away one day! Gross.

But it's done and it feels really good.

Now if only my house would STAY clean.

The Scarlet "B"

It's been a while. Sorry for those who like a new post almost everyday!! It's hard to blog and take care of 3 kids!! I get tired sometimes!! :-)

We've had a bunch going on. Robert's been working late (for Christmas!) which means there is a lot more for me to do. I'm so grateful when he does come home with a "servant heart" and helps me out so much. I can definitely tell when I'm alone, how much he actually helps out!! Thanks babe!!

So, I have something to talk about and maybe people can help me out with it! Let me set the scene.

We went to church and put all the kids in the nursery! We cut out a little early from our Sunday school because we're meeting my family out for lunch. Robert goes and gets Landon while I go get the baby. I come back down and Robert (who looks infuriated!) just tells me Landon bit a kid on the cheek! Those of you without kids - this is REALLY serious. Kids get kicked out of places for biting!

We scanned around for the kid, but couldn't find him. It was also hectic since everyone else was picking up their children too! THANK GOD my friend was working in Landon's room and could tell me what happened.

She said that there were a few little boys around her feet at the door and Landon went over to take a truck from another little boy and (surprise) he didn't want to give it up, so Landon bit him. Now, she said she didn't actually see him do it but heard the scream. I also learned that many of the parents trying to pick up their kids witnessed what went on too. Great. Now, I'm "that mom with the kid who bites!". I joke that I am now branded with a "B" for biting on my back!! :-)

Everything was settled, it was handled great by the nursery. They made Landon apologize and sit in time out! My friend was able to tell the other mom that she knew this kid, and that the parents were aware of this happening before, and she knew we were working on this.

Well, we BEE-LINED it home and Robert handled the situation before we went to lunch.

SOOOOOO........now we're analyzing the situation and trying to figure out what is going on. My friend who was there when it happened and I talked for a while about the "whys" and what to do.

I think it's a culmination of things. I think we need to be more consistent in our discipline. When you're training your kids at this age, you really can't let things slide. Consistency is the key!! And having consequences as well! I think he's been getting away with too many things these days. My friend also pointed out that, hello, we just had a baby!! There's a huge change for him. I do remember Olivia going through a "crazy time" after Landon was born. So I'm sure that has a bit to do with it as well. Then Olivia started going to school - another change for him. He's not used to being away from her. And then also, I think he needs some special dad time. Boys are VERY different than girls (not that you didn't know that already!). But they physically NEED some rough play time!!

I think Landon is learning that he has feelings and isn't confident in how to express them all the time. I think he is testing his boundaries, and inadvertently testing our love for him. Boundaries show our children how much we love them!!! Boundaries are a GOOD thing for us! :-)

So we're really cracking down on him. And also it was a healthy wake up call for Robert to spend more time with him. :-)

Oh yeah, we're also remembering that he's 2 1/2!! I'm sure this is associated with his age as well!

I've been talking to friends that have had "biters" and I've gotten a lot of helpful things. And surprisingly, I've had a few people tell me to bite him back. Not to be mean but to show him how it feels! Isn't that funny! Well, I though it was funny that more than one person has told me this. But Landon reaslly doesn't bite us. Anyway, needless to say, he's on a short leash these days and he'll have to win back his liberties!

Of course, as soon as we figure this out, something new to figure out will come along. Funny how life is!

"Third Child" Syndrome

Poor third babies....and probably fourth and fifth kids too. I find myself saying or thinking about Lillian, "Oh....she's fine!" all the time! I'm so much more laid back about everything with her. Which I think can be good and bad. The Bad: I think I've only thrown her pacifiers in the dishwasher a handful of times since she's been born. The Good: I know that if she has to cry in her crib while I cook dinner, she's not going to die - or even remember it! :-)

Third babies have to go with the flow. They have no choice! :-) I think Lillian knew that in my tummy. She knew life wasn't going to slow down that much for her when she was born. With Olivia, we didn't really go anywhere with her very much as a baby. With Lillian, we took her to the movie theater twice before she was 2 months old. We also were a Cheesecake Factory when she was only 4 days old! And church when she was 5 days old! She's only missed a few Sundays in her short life! Olivia wasn't so lucky. I guess you're still just figuring it all out in the beginning! I even has someone say to me, "I can't believe you just had a baby 4 months ago and you're a church all these Sundays!" Then he asked me about putting them in the nursery! I didn't hesitate much putting her in. But I remember being cautious with Olivia. I need to be careful when I talk to first time paretns. I don't want to come off insensitive! It has just gotten so much easier for me that I forget how challenging it can be at first!

With Landon, I was determined to nurse him for at least 6 months before I gave him any taste of any other food. With Lillian, I've already added a little bit of rice cereal to bottles I've pumped. And last night, while I was cooking dinner, I handed her a saltine. I knew she was hungry but I can't do everything at once. I know, I know, surprise, huh! :-) just kidding


Here she is trying to chow down on it! I really don't think she got any of it in her mouth - notice most of it on her chest. But at least it kept her occupied for a bit while I got dinner on the table! :-)

I'm glad God makes it a little easier each time - or at least He did for me!

This Time of Year

It's funny how the changing of seasons bring out different desires of food and activities. At least in my family anyhow. So, ever since it started getting cooler, my body automatically craves things like sausage balls, Santa Fe soup, and roasted root veggies! I never think of eating sausage balls in June - only in the fall/winter! Weird, huh.

Saturday Robert worked a side job (tryin' to earn some cash for the FAST approaching holidays!) and I knew that I had to entertain the kiddos! We decided to make sausage balls and play dough! I knew Olivia would get into it and be able to hand-roll out tons of little balls of sausage, cheese, and Bisquick. But I wasn't sure how much it would hold Landon's attention. Well, he did GREAT!! He actually rolled out about half a pan! So for 3 hours Saturday morning we just cooked away in the kitchen!


We also made homemade playdough! All it is, is 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, 2 TBSP Cream of Tarter, 2 TBSP Oil, and 1 cup of water! You cook it over the stove and it just clumps into play dough! SO EASY! We made 4 batches of each color of food coloring that we got! Then I divided each in half so they could play with 4 colors now, and I stashed away the other halves of the colors for when those dry out! This kept them occupied almost all day. And then I know the play dough will come in handy when I need them to sit still for a while at the table while I cook dinner or something!

As far as the roasted root veggies, well, I roasted and acorn squash and sweet potatoes for dinner the other night! YUM!!

I love how our bodies work with the seasons!!

Now if my body would only get in gear for Christmas!!! I realized I wasn't quite ready when I heard "The First Noel" playing in Walmart Saturday morning!! AAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

Lovey's Birthday

The main purpose for getting together at the lake was to celebrate my mom's birthday! My sister and her husband came up from Orange Beach and my brother at Auburn joined us Sunday. It's so hard to get us all together these days, so a weekend all together is a big deal.

Friday night we decided to celebrate. Mac, our resident gourmet chef cooked the meal. Ok, I gotta brag a little here. Mac is INCREDIBLE with food. He's worked at Hot 'n Hot Fish Club, and Ross Bridge - both delicious restaurants! It is an art for him. He loves pairing unique flavors together and then topping it off with a glass of wine to compliment the meal just perfectly....mmmm...it's AMAZING! I'm not quite sure how he went from record breaking quarter back at Hampton Sydney to the gourmet next door, but hey, it works! And we LOVE it - and him too!

Anyway, Robert helped Mac in the kitchen. I was hoping he could memorize everything he did so we could cook it again and impress some friends. But Robert said he just shook the tomatoes when he was told and obeyed orders from Mac.

There's our boys cookin' away!!

Here's the BIRTHDAY DINNER!! Let me see if I can remember. It was balsamic infused pasta tossed with Parmesan cheese, basil, and blistered cherry tomatoes. On top was a Gorgonzola crusted beef tenderloin with a little more balsamic sauce. Lacey, correct me if any of this is wrong!

We were all OOING and AHHHING!!!

For desert, Lacey made a homemade pumpkin bread pudding with a rum raisin sauce! YUM!

Then we all sat around and reminisced about Mom. During which Robert, my amazingly creative husband (I had no idea!) whips out this card for Mom.

Get this, he had called my grandmother and asked her for some pictures of Mom that she might not have really seen before. He also asked for details of when she was born and got her to write them down! The he hand made a card for MY mom! How thoughtful!

Of course, the first thing I said when I saw the pictures was , "WOW - that looks like me!" I had never realized how much I looked like my mom!



I just hope I'm half as pretty as her when I turn 50!! But more importantly, I hope I can have a heart like hers!! She's an amazing godly woman! Love you Mom!!

Can We Keep It Mom????

Oh boy. I think "those days" are approaching fast. And by "those days", I mean the time of life where your kids want to keep every animal they find. Sure, they've been interested in little critters they find outside and like to put them in their "critter cages". But this past weekend at the lake they found......dun dun dun.........a TURTLE. Now that's a step up from a salamander.

They found it on their "nature walk" with my Mom. Olivia wanted to feed it some graham crackers and juice. Then Lovey tells them that turtles drink water, better yet, she decides to take it up to the house and get it some water!!! :-) Thanks mom - they would have never thought of that on their own! :-) Ok, so what's a little water in a box gonna do?? We let her bring it up and she "played" with it for a while.



Here she is feeding it her cracker and orange juice!! Yummy!

Here they are touching the poor turtle! Can we say...PURELL!! I have to say that I'm a little happy they weren't terrified of it. I'm glad they trusted us when we told them to touch the hard shell. (We were of course using this to teach them that God made turtles with a shell to protect them, etc - gotta get any learning opportunity in!)

We took it up to the house and put it in a box for her. Little did we know that during her nap, my brother-in-law took it down by the lake to "let it go" for us. He had heard me say that it wasn't coming home with us! :-) Poor Olivia, she woke up from nap, went straight outside to the box, only to realize that her turtle was GONE! She cried a little, but we explained that it would be much happier out where God intended it!

Of course, now I keep hearing that she wants another animal - what......is our crazy poodle not enough?? :-)