Catching Up

At some point I had wonderful posts all blogged out in my mind for the following activities. And those posts are still there - in my mind. Since most of these events took place months ago, and since today is Christmas with many more fun things to blog upon, I need to just move on. But not before a token picture and comment for the Ghost of Blog Posts Past!

First we have a trip to Valentine Park, with an autumn walk in the woods:






Soon after we made one last trip to the Memphis Zoo before our yearly membership expired. This is Audrey, who honestly believed she had escaped from me in "Once Upon a Farm."



Another highlight was the birth of Isaac, my sweet new nephew. Over 9 lbs. but supposedly three weeks early! LOL!



Couldn't pass up this cute one of the cousins!

Catching Up, Part 2

Katie has a very keen sense of smell.



I promise I'm not playing favorites; Owen just does funny stuff all the time! Just like his Daddy, that boy. First, a cute one:



Next....Owen thinks he's a guitar!



And I just had to include this one. It is funny on it's own, but even funnier when you know the context. Owen got NEW SHOES. LOL!



I love this one because it is so typical! She is "screamy," but sweet.

Humor Amid Sadness

My grandpa, George Oakman, died Sunday night from a swift and intense struggle with cancer. He had been blessed to live in mostly good health for two years beyond an inoperable aneurism when it had been predicted that he would not make it through the night.

I have a few special memories of Grandpa. My favorite is from the year that I was a big Duke fan. Notice I said "year," as I am sporadic with my sports fanaticism. Grandpa went out in the beginning of an unusual April snow storm to get a Duke jacket for me for my birthday. Why? Because I connected with him when I talked basketball. It gave us a common ground.

Ole Miss. Sardines and mustard. The newspaper. Barney Miller. Underwear bands recycled as sweatbands, great for mowing the lawn. I have actually seen him water ski AND dance the jitterbug. Not too shabby for a grandpa! We will miss him.

But I had to share a funny story. Hopefully this won't be taken as irreverent, because I am sure that Grandpa would have laughed.

My niece and nephew came up to the front, near the casket. My niece, who is nine, looked in and loudly announced, "Look! He's wearing a suit!"

Nephew, age seven, was hesitant. He wanted to see but wasn't so sure about getting close. So he just stood where he was and got on his tiptoes. Then he backed up and looked at me with a smile on his face. In his best southern drawl he asked me, "Did he die lookin' like that?" I wasn't sure what he meant, so I said, "Like what?" Nephew answered, "Did he die in that suit?" I tried to keep a straight face and told him no, that they had dressed him up so that he would look nice. He said, "Nice, like all these people here are lookin' nice?"

"Yes, boy, like these people are lookin' nice...and like YOU are lookin' nice."

Everyday Providence

Katie

Background: This afternoon, Katie was “skiing” on the kitchen floor in her socks. She abruptly ran into Owen’s room…

K - Owen, do you want to ski with me?
O - No, I don’t.

(Insert more attempts at convincing Owen, escalating into louder and louder conversation. I‘d type it but I was trying to ignore it at the time.)

K - Owen, you are going to grow up to be a BAD MAN and no girls will marry you because you are SO SELFISH!

(Katie then runs into the living room to persuade me to help her get her way.)

K - Mama, Owen does NOT love God. I mean it! He does NOT! You need to go in there and talk to him about it!
J - I don’t think that Owen said that, Katie. Go back and work it out yourself, the RIGHT way.

(Katie returns to Owen’s room, speaking sweetly but urgently.)

K - Tell me if you really hate God. Just tell me. OWEN! Do you hate God?
O - No. I wike God.
K - If you love God, would you please ski with me?
O - I wike God, but I do not want to ski.

(She finally gives up.)

Owen

Background - Owen loves Looney Tunes, especially the one where Yosemite Sam is in the desert, riding that camel. “Whoa, camel! Whoa! When I say whoa, I mean WHOA!”

Owen, to Audrey, who was grabbing his Hot Wheels cars: “No, Audrey, no! When I say no, I mean NO!”

You know it’s bad when…

I saw the lady who cuts my hair in Wal-Mart last weekend. As she checked out, she gave me a big smile and said hello. I returned the greeting, then told her it was about time for me to come in for a hair cut. She then abruptly turned to the cashier and never did look back at me. At first I thought that she must have been in a hurry. But back home, after catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I realized the awful truth. SHE WAS IGNORING ME BECAUSE SHE DID NOT WANT ANYONE TO THINK SHE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT WAS GROWING FROM MY SCALP.

What do you do when you’ve had stick-straight hair your whole life but after baby #3 it turns into a frizzy, curly mess? And don’t tell me to stop washing it. I already tried that and it just became a frizzy, curly, dirty mess. Although I will say that through that little escapade I realized I was washing it way too much. Still, I think I had better dig in my heels and keep growing it out. It does need a trim, but maybe I can hold out until Herbal Essences sends me my free haircut voucher.

The Tastiest Planet and Other Adventures

Aggravation!

Here is a common sight on a Friday night at Casa Hinton. After a sing-along accompanied by both guitar and bass and multiple bedtime stories for the little ones, it is time for a bit of fun. It's about 10:00 and the coffee is brewing. The smell of delicious (previously frozen) peach cobbler lingers in the air. Friends Roger and Elisabeth now sit with Kevin and me at our homey kitchen table. Roger says....."Kill her!"

WHAT?!?! No, we are not into some new cult. We are playing Aggravation, known to some as Texas Hot Seat. The game board was a wedding gift from my grandpa. The main problem is that Elisabeth and I have not been "providentially blessed." I might dare to use the term "unlucky" for something this serious. I can't even keep track anymore....the guys probably lead by over twenty games.

So, Elisabeth, I have come up with a possible solution. I am teaching Katie and Owen to play. We can probably cheat our way into a win without them even knowing. Bwahaha!!! Seriously, though, the kids really like this game. I counted it as school, since it involves lots of counting and logic. And dice rolling. All good Baptists know how to cast lots, right? (R and E, you can easily see Owen's logic...bring 'em ALL out at once!)



Growing Pains...for ME

Audrey has been walking for about three or four weeks now. She immediately followed this up with climbing the bookshelf, climbing up on the kitchen table, throwing Katie's socks in the trash, playing in the toilet, and this:



But I don't want to take a nap!

(I wonder if Owen will still be sleeping with Spot dog when he's married?)



Pee B and J

Owen woke up on Tuesday, walked into the living room, and announced the following: "Fust I'm gonna get cwose on, den eat wunch, den go spen da night at Gwanma's house." He then proceeded to dress himself. I went to get Audrey up and dressed. When I came back he was standing in his Little Tykes chair in a puddle of pee, eating a heel of bread. He had the knife, peanut butter, and jelly out for making his "wunch." After his bath he insisted on the sandwich, so after chanting my current mantra of "choose your battles" I told him to go for it. Here he is licking the peanut butter, wet hair and all.



Eating Mercury

Katie took almost an hour to help me make gray salt dough and then sculpt her model of Mercury. Audrey took less than two minutes to climb on the table and make a crater of her own. Mmmmm.....Salty Mercury. (Kevin, there's a Simpsons reference for ya!)

A Veritable Hotbed of Viral Disease

Earlier this week, my friend B.J. at Blind Man's Fancy posted some thoughts regarding Communion. I read it eagerly with the anticipation of partaking in the Lord's supper today. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to church. There has been a major stomach virus traveling around this community and my family was not immmune.

Apparently, Unity's fellowship meal last Sunday evening was one that will go down in church history. I have only spoken to some our church family this week, but the percentage of sick Unity-ites (started to type Unitarians...THAT would get some rumors flying!) is staggering. Let's see. Paul, Alex, Hunter, Heath, Daniel, Dalton, Joe, Trish, Krystal, both of Kevin's parents, Kevin, myself, Katie, Audrey, and some of Dax and Christi's family who were in town for a visit. Todd tops the list by having to go in and get IVs, although some of that might have been from the test tubes of protein he's been living on. Could it have been a germy football? Contaminated Legos in the boys' class? Whatever it was, we will just call it the PotUNLuck. (Yeah, yeah, I know; we don't believe in luck. But Pot Providence just doesn't have the same ring to it.)

As for my own family, Kevin woke up sick in the middle of the night on Monday. He missed Tuesday and half of Wednesday at Guardsmark. Audrey was sick on Wednesday and was recovering on Thursday. I got sick on Friday morning and recovered on Saturday. Katie woke up with it this morning and has thrown up six - scratch that....SEVEN - times in about three hours. (I feel especially badly for her because she had fever and croup last week.) Owen has been spared so far but I predict he will get it Tuesday, just when Katie wraps up. He did wake up with his first cold sore this morning but I'm not sure if that means anything. Kevin went on to church this morning but we decided to keep all the kiddos home today, just in case.

So blogging has gone by the wayside, replaced by spraying Lysol, squirting Germ-X, emptying trashes, cleaning toilets, washing bedding and other contaminated laundry, changing lots of diapers...and of course, dealing with my own battle for two days.

Reflecting on a quote from B.J.s article:

(Might serving one loaf and from one cup help us better celebrate Christ?)

Unity had better stick with shot glasses this week!

This and That

I warned you all that I post in spurts. Kevin is off work tomorrow so we can take Katie and Owen to the Mid-South Fair. So I am just staying up WAY too late and posting to my heart's content! I'm sure the kids will make me pay when they get up earlier than usual tomorrow. (That's how they roll.)

Congratulations to my friend Teresa S., who tried my grocery tips and saved over $90 at Kroger last week. Her prize is a package of Soleil disposable razors that I got for $1.99, since Teresa had some issues with redeeming the combination of manufacturer and store coupons for said razors at the Millington Walgreens (should have gone to Atoka!).

It was so cloudy last Friday that Katie informed me that it was a "dimsal day." Meanwhile, Owen announced that "Gran-ma is gonna haf a bay-be." When I asked him if it was in her tummy, he said, "Almost!"

Unity's basketball team won last week. Here's a pic of Kevin leading the halftime devotional. I think he spoke on Supralapsarianism vs. Infralapsarianism. (Just kidding!)



Seriously, the devotional was about loving your wives. Chris looks mighty interested. Todd looks....well, like he has a light saber sticking out of his scalp.



Chris in action....



....and John.



Ridin' the pines. And checkin' the odor.



Post-game commentary. For the record, Jason just wanted to go eat!



(Yeah, I am dangerous with this Photoshop thing....time for BED!)

I'm Back!

It's good to be back. Sort of. I had 103 emails to either read or delete. Honestly, I was in total withdrawal for about two days. After that, the time I had devoted to being online was absorbed by other things. With or without the computer, I end the day with things still not crossed off my to do list. You make time for what you want to do, I suppose.

Highlights of the past week include, but are not limited to, the following.

I told Owen that he couldn't play with his food. He screamed, "You are EVIL to me!" Knowing that his daddy has been letting him watch Star Wars, I replied, "Do you mean I am evil, like Darth Vader?" Owen's face went from angry to contemplative. "Yes, Dark Vader is MAD."

Audrey is terrified of the vaccum cleaner. The really bad part is that she won't crawl away from it - she wants ME! She crawls right to me and hangs on me until I pick her up. So the next time you are vaccuming and thinking how tired you are, just imagine doing it with a kid on your hip.

I took my last prenatal/postnatal vitamin. I've been on those babies for years now. CRAZY! I suppose my hair will fall out. Maybe it will be an improvement.

Owen loves coffee. Ms. Teri got him started on that when he was the only kid in the nursery. For the Sunday School hour they would share biscotti and coffee. So a few days ago I made him his own cup (1/4 coffee and 3/4 milk). He was sitting at the table, watching me rush around to get breakfast going. Then he pulled out the chair beside his and patted it, asking, "You want to sit by me and drink coffee, Mama?" How can a Mama say no to THAT?!?!

Kevin is reading "The Apple and The Arrow" to Katie at night. She likes to act out the parts. So when William Tell was about to shoot the arrow from Walter's head, Katie was stretching her arms out, too. Kevin read, "Tell stretched the bow out before him, with muscles rippling on his brown arm." Katie squinted her eyes and stared at her arm. Hilarious. (Guess you had to be there.)

Mom Hinton got her hair cut. When Owen saw her he exclaimed, "Grandma! You comb you hair?!?!"

Frugal deal of the week: I went to Kroger and bought two boxes of Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats, two boxes of Kellogg's Corn Pops, two boxes of Rice Krispy Treats, two boxes of Nutrigrain Eggo Frozen Waffles, and two packages of Keebler Fudge Shopppe cookes - for $11.54. Then I went home and ripped of the ten UPC codes and mailed it in for a $10 rebate check. FREE FOOD.

Random thought for today: It is my opinion that there should be two versions of nutritional content for Cheetos Puffs - one for the top of the bag, and one for the bottom.

And...I added a couple of new Bad Church Signs, below right.

That is all. I have no time to be witty. Carry on.

Everyday Providence

Katie

Yesterday I caught her staring at herself in the bathroom mirror, with her head tilted back. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "Don't move me, Mama. I see my nose hairs and I'm looking at them."

Owen

I was making PBJs and Owen was beating Katie up. I told him to stop, but he continued. As I walked over to him, he yelled, "Don't cut me, Mama! Don't cut me, Mama!" (I suppose the spreading knife looked dangerous when combined with the look on my face.)

Audrey

When she doesn't get her way she crawls away from you and then throws her legs and arms out, landing hard on her stomach. This is accompanied by what I assume is an infant cuss word.

I Knew They'd End Up Killing Each Other

Last night I told the kids to play outside. That lasted five minutes. So I took homemade cookies out to them. Another five minutes. Okay, so strip down to your undies and get in the baby pool. Five minutes. By this point I had to join them outside (with Audrey) because the water requires a bit more supervision than watching from the French doors.

Audrey just crawled around the deck (and up and down the stairs) in her diaper, but Katie and Owen wanted to get in the big pool. I sent Katie in for Owen's float suit and told them to go for it. Then I called Kevin, who had to work late (he got home at 11:20!!!).

Audrey was about ready for bed, so I decided to get everyone out. First I stuck Audrey inside. She smashed her face against the glass and screamed at me. Then I turned my attention towards the pool.

Katie, who can touch the bottom if she submurges herself to her eyes, was not wearing a float suit and had swam over to Owen on the other side of the pool. They were several feet from the edge, and Katie is a beginning swimmer. Owen decided that it would be a good idea to ask Katie to catch him....and so he JUMPED on her. She went under. Then she crawled up his body - and float suit - dunking HIM under. They began to take turns pushing each other down. I was still on the phone, yelling for Katie to turn Owen loose and swim to the side, but they were both too panicked. So I said to Kevin, "They are drowning each other, got to go." Click. Then I jumped in with all my clothes on.

Of course everyone was fine. Audrey was still howling at the door (naked at this point). WHAT A NIGHT!

Bringing Down the Neighborhood

I couldn't believe my eyes...

The guy with the pine tree fence has killed a snake and hung it over the fence. I actually made Kevin pull over today so I could jump out of the van and take a picture.





And this is a postal worker's nightmare. Would you want to put your hand inside a broken fish mouth every day?

Everyday Providence

Rustic Pine Fence

I really hate this fence that a guy down the road made. He chopped down a row of pine trees that were just off the road. But he left big stumps, around three feet high. Then he cut all the branches off of the top part of the trees and nailed them to the top of the stumps. It looks terrible!

Very Fishy

And speaking of things that get on my nerves, I really dislike the broken fish mail box that someone down the road from me owns. It looks like that "Big Mouth Billy the Bass" singing thing that Grandpa Oakman bought.

Katie

I have been thinking more about Katie's personality lately. It is a lot like mine. Neither of us like new things. I like to watch people play a game for a bit before I join in. I want to practice before I sing in front of people. Katie doesn't like the doctor or getting her picture made. She won't even try fun things until she feels it is "safe." When we go to the park, she tells me she is scared of the other kids, but after she watches for a bit she is right in there with them. She wouldn't even eat some Jello jigglers we made the other day until she watched me eat a couple.

(Mostly) Funny Stories

Lost at the Zoo

About two months ago I took Katie, Owen, Lissa, Abby, Ivan, and Jesse to the zoo. When we finished seeing the animals we decided to get some drinks (sodas!) and ice cream at the playground area. Katie immediately headed for the slide and the other kids got out money and went inside the building to get food.

I dragged a chair over to where I always sit, pushing the stroller as I went. In that short amount of time, Katie had looked back to where I had been standing with the kids, didn't see me, and circled around to the building behind me. I was looking for her on the playground and didn't see her. It was literally seconds, and just as I got that panic-feeling in my stomach, I heard her WAIL "No thank you!" behind me. Some nice lady with a church group saw her wandering around and was trying to get her to come to her. Katie would have NONE OF IT, which is a good thing!

I can't believe how fast she did that. God was gracious to protect her by having her run to the building instead of back out the area where we had come...otherwise, she would have been open to the whole zoo! Just thinking about it makes me shaky again.

Meltdown at Picture Time

We tried twice to get pictures of the kids made. The first time, we took family pictures first and they both did fine with that. Then Katie started getting nasty with the photographer, fussing and whining. Owen was okay until she tried to get him on his stomach. He wasn't really good at that yet and even bashed his head on the prop! So that trip was pretty much wasted. We got a decent family picture, one of Katie crying, and one of Owen looking like a deer caught in headlights. When we left, Kevin actually said he needed to just "let it go" because she had frustrated him so much! He usually never gets ruffled, so you know it was bad.

The second time, the (other) photographer was pretty smart and started by putting out pumpkins, apples, scarecrow, etc. on the platform. Katie was so excited, saying "I want to get up there!" We put her up and she headed for a log to sit on. The manager was in the room with us trying to help, and told Katie that she needed to sit in FRONT of the log. Instead of waiting for her to comply, she picked Katie up and tried to sit her down on the platform. Katie became a stiff board and wouldn't bend in the middle, wailing all the while. (Have I mentioned that she does NOT like strangers?) So we got a few good ones of Owen and later a couple of quick shots of Katie.

That is an awkward situation, because Katie needed to be spanked. But you can't just take her out and spank her and tell her to smile! LOL! And you don't really have time to spank and then wait for her to calm down and be a happy child again, because other people are waiting for their turn. Bribing does nothing for that girl, and threts are useless. So we just do what we can and remember that she is unregenerate. LOL!

Leg Hair and Cold Sores

This week has been exciting. For one, I ended my long leg-shaving ban. It was getting pretty bad, I will admit. Since the hair was so long, I decided to try some wax. HA! Kevin was offended that I said a cuss, but no other word was appropriate for the pain I felt while pulling off that first strip. I tried to talk myself into doing more, but it would have taken some major alcohol, I am guessing.

After that, I thought about just leaving the three waxed parts and let the rest keep growing. My husband didn't seem to find this alluring. So the next day I shaved. The end.

As for Katie, first she had some kind of rash on her, ahem, bottom. We got that cleared up, and a few days later she woke up at 5:00 with fever and puked. Just once, mind you. Later that morning she seemed okay. The next day she got cold/flu symptoms, which lasted a day or two. Then the cold sores came. They were definitely the worst part. She had about four on her top lip, one on the inside of her bottom lip, and later we found that the roof of her mouth was covered! Poor baby couldn't eat much at all. We finally got some food down her by coating the inside with this new stuff by Colgate...and the outside with Abreva twice a day and Herpacin-L (thanks, Michelle!) before meals. She is better now but hates the scabs on her lips.

Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Bad Diaper

We took Katie to see the Were Rabbit movie. It started with a short starring the Madagascar Penguins. Just about the time the penguins showed up, I felt the earth move. Okay, so it was just Owen having a blowout. No problem, I'll just run to the restroom and change him. As I stood up I felt something warm and wet on my hand....NASTY! I scooted as fast as I could to the bathroom.

It had gone out the back of the diaper. His shirt was saved and his pants just had a little spot. But I was COVERED. I had a six-inch spot on each of my thighs, with drips going down to both knees. It was that beautiful mustard color all over my khakkis. I prayed that it would come out because I don't have many pants that fit right now (and it did, thanks to some sun-bleaching).

I had a cardigan on that was great to throw around my waist, but I had not really prepared to be taking it off...underneath I was wearing a white tee-shirt that was rather tight thanks to the fact that I am a supplier of lactose right now. And you could see the two big circles of nursing pads, just like a couple of bulls-eyes. It was great fun, I tell you. But we did make it back to our seat before the show started.

Everyday Providence

I wouldn't have the energy to shop at 6:00, but I usually don't have enough to drag my two children around at 1:30 or so, either. Put Katie in the cart, put Katie out of the cart, let Katie "help" put groceries in the cart. Put the pacifier in Owen's mouth, go to the back and nurse Owen. Take Katie to the potty, change a blowout diaper. Just for example, of course.

Kevin is learning "What Child Is This?" on the guitar. He is playing it right now. It really mellows me out when I have a busy, difficult day. Make that WEEK. I am so very, very tired! I hope he learns it by Christmas so he can play it in church.

On Tuesday night I kept Ana and Marcus while Andy and Kevin went to the Grizzlies game. It was kinda a birthday present for Andy. The kids weren't too bad, but Marcus had Return of the Jedi up SO loud. I would make him turn it down, then Owen would cry so Marcus would just turn it up again...and Ana loves Owen so she would come tell me that Owen was crying, as if I didn't notice. I was pretty busy. So busy, in fact, that I forgot to watch OR tape the Amazing Race!

Last weekend we went with my parents to see a movie and then to their house for dinner. It was nice to spend some time with them. The weekend before that was the church Harvest Party. That was lots of fun, with a hayride and bonfire. Kevin also planned some games that the adults and kids could do together (the best was when Cathy Dingman and I were goats...LOL!).

I got Katie some good books and got myself some really nice clothes last weekend at yard sales. American Eagle and Old Navy, mostly. I got some pants that looked new, too, but they say "Sears and Roebuck" on the tag so I think they are probably some old lady's that died. The tag says "pants that fit" but should say "pants that fit someone who has never given birth."

Everyday Providence

Owen is eating food now. On Monday (his four-month birthday) he nursed at 7:30 and then started screaming and putting his fist in his mouth at 10:00. I nursed him again. He drank everything I had and wanted MORE! So I scoured the cabinets and found some baby food that Mom Hinton had bought for his trick-or-treat bag (she can't treat grandkids differently so she had to buy him SOMETHING! LOL!). Owen LOVED the bananas. The next night he had peaches. On Wednesday I finally got groceries and that night he had oatmeal. I think that was his favorite. Now he is sitting in his high-chair and talking baby babble. He is SO cute! He has been sitting there for almost an hour, watching Katie play with some new play doh I bought and watching me clean up around here and get ready for lessons. MUCH more content now. And sleeping better, too. That boy was HUNGRY!

Katie is feeling better. She only threw up once. Now she just has cold symptoms. She is excited to go to Grandma's house today.

I think everyone is sick. The Quicks, Hughes, Crenshaws, Will Hefner, Katie, and the Mays all have this bug. I had half my voice students cancel today. And only five people showed up for church last night!

I got groceries by myself last night while Kevin watched the kids. It was wonderful! I am even considering getting up around 6:00 once a week to get them before Kevin leaves for work. It was much easier this way.

Kevin is the most wonderful husband EVER. I lost my CD that went with my Christmas book for voice lessons, so he drove to Amro for me on his lunch break yesterday to save me a trip to Memphis. Then he even made copies of the songs I needed because the church copier is broken! Then he came home and babysat. What a man!

That's all I have time for. I hope to write a little more tomorrow when I have more time.

Everyday Providence

What a busy week!

Katie's room looks great. I will have to take some pics and post them. The decals make it look like I actually got up there and painted on the wall! Cheap and pretty.

I don't even remember what all I did last week. I know that somewhere in there was 4 month shots for Owen plus a doctor visit for my Katie (suffice it to say...bad rash). Also voice lessons, groceries, picking up family photos at Wolfchase, returning clothes Kevin bought me (size six?!?! LOL!!!! I wish!). Harvest party, playing cards at Mom and Dad's house with the neighbors, cleaning out cabinets. And of course, the usual...washing clothes, especially diapers and bibs!, cooking, cleaning, etc.

This week I have to go to the dentist. BLAH! I hate paying money to get my wisdom teeth out, but I don't see any way around it.

Dax's sermon - excellent. We are not called to love those who are like us. We are called to love all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Only God can bring us peace and unity. And more...those are just the points I need to remember the most.

Katie is almost done learning the Apostle's Creed. She starts breaking up around "the communion of saints" but should have it down by next week.

Owen is 15 lbs. 12 1/2 oz and 26". That is the 75% for weight and 90% for height. My little linebacker.

Kevin and I need some time together, but I don't know when that will come. I guess we will have to snatch a few minutes here and there when we can. Sigh.

Random, I know, but that will have to do for the day because I have stuff to do!

Everyday Providence

Busy weekend. I kept Ana and Marcus on Friday night so that Andy and Lena could go see "My Fair Lady." Ironically, Katie was spending the night with Grandma. We had fun, though. Ana and I played beauty parlor, then Marcus and I played Battleship and Uno.

Saturday was the yard sale at Mom's house. It was pretty lame. No one came. I think we made maybe 30 bucks. And because I had stayed up late and then gotten up early (with a 3:00 snack, thankyouverymuchMr.Owen) I was just exhausted. I had to hype myself up on coffee for Sunday morning service. But that was okay, because Betty plays fast! We made quite the team, lol!

And David Kemper did a super job for offertory. He has been hiding his light under a bushel for too long, but no more. Kerry outed him!

Katie still doesn't seem to be herself. (shrug)

Owen is fat and happy.

Kevin is, well, he is playing Playstation. HA!

And now I need to finish Katie's wall decals so that I can beautify her room. I'll post pics when I finish.

Andy and Lena are coming to church tonight. I hope they enjoy it. We have great discussion on Sunday nights and right now we are in 1 John. Conviction city. Loving the unlovable. UGH. Oh well, what can you do? Confess, repent, and ask God to change your heart, I guess.

Health Issues

I am going to post and run, because I am supposed to have my leg up...I got a blood clot in my leg and now I have to rest. Grrr! I was up and running around because I was feeling so much better than last week. I even led the music at church last Sunday, 3 days post-partum! But now I am forced to rest. Sigh. At least it is superficial. If it were in the deep tissue, I could throw it to my lungs and die. My sisters are coming to help me next week, so I won't be alone. I guess if that is the least of my worries, then I am doing good.

Everyday Providence

This is just to bump and to say that I have made PROGRESS! YAY! The OB says that Owen's head is really low and engaged, so hopefully he will come early. I have never in my life thought that a baby in-utero could move like he does. He is so wild that he actually scared my cousin. She JUMPED when he stuck his foot out!

I didn't get the pictures made last Friday, so I am supposed to do that tomorrow.

The weekend was really busy.

On Saturday we had the whole snake saga. I will have to type more about this later, because it would take all night to tell about the snakes and I need to go to bed. But the shower was great and I got a lot of practical stuff that I really needed. Luckily not too many people bought clothes, since my friend Shana sent me lots of really nice ones.

Then on Sunday afternoon Kevin and I hosted a church fellowship meal at our house. We had around 20 people over for sandwiches (everyone brought food), croquet, and swimming. It was a lot of fun, and everyone was great about cleaning up afterwards so it wasn't much work for me.

Monday was groceries. I kinda go blank after that.

On Tuesday my sister Abby came over and we did the great baby clothing sorting and washing day. Owen's room and clothes are all clean and organized now, which had really been stressing me out. Abby also watched Katie for an hour so I could go see Wilma - that massage was nice!

Then my other sister Melissa came over on Wednesday and helped me clean - she did my floors and played a lot with Katie. That evening, Lee Anne came over and gave me a manicure and foot massage. I don't call her my best friend for nothing!

I have also been sorting out stuff for Saturday - we are having a yard sale to get rid of some of our junk before the baby comes. Hopefully we will get a little spending money from it, too.

Today was the OB appointment AND I got Owen's curtains made! YAY! I have been trying to do this for at least a month.

Okay, time for bed. I have no idea when I will get back here.

Everyday Providence

The Owen Report, Week 36

No progress yet, but baby is head-down.

Weight is up to 151 - not bad! It looks like I won't get up to 170 this time like I did with Katie.

BP was 103/70 and hopefully will stay low so induction will not be necessary.

Swelling is minimal, another pleasant surprise. With Katie I looked like a blimp. The only time it gets bad with Owen is if I am in the heat and on my feet for to long.

Stay tuned for next week!

Okay, one thing happened that made this a sad, sad week. I don't know how many of you know my cousin Michelle, but her mama passed away Monday night at the age of 47 from bone cancer. We are glad she is no longer in pain (which was severe), but will miss her so much.

I already had a busy week going, but I had made the decision to get groceries AND meet with two of my voice students (they are singing at church on Sunday) all on Tuesday and just stay home and rest on Monday. This turned out to be for the best.

I rested and puttered around here on Monday.

On Tuesday, I picked up Abby (my 13 year old sister) and met with my two students, then got groceries. When I got home I found out that my aunt's viewing was from 5-8 that afternoon, so it was very convenient that my sister was already here (and that I had dinner already in the crock pot!). I was able to spend most of the evening at the funeral home, which although emotionally tiring, was not physically demanding.

Then late Tuesday night, Katie ran a fever. She was HOT! We gave her Tylenol and it broke; then she woke up at 5:30 with more fever, which was also taken care of with Tylenol. I was supposed to take Dad for his PT in Southaven on Wednesday morning, but Kevin said that he didn't want me dragging Katie out when she might be sick. Oddly enough, she was fine the rest of the day! And she had no other symptoms of sickness besides the fever! I think that God was just taking care of me so I didn't have to drive so far and then attend the funeral.

The funeral was at 4:00 on Wednesday. I sat with my parents. It was very sad, but nice. What was really weird is that my ex-fiance preached the funeral service! I hadn't seen him since college, and it wasn't a happy parting (not that it was bitter, just sad). So I thought that was going to be awkward, but he did an incredible job. Later at the gravesite, I told him so! And we chatted for a bit. It was good to resolve some issues...not that we really talked about what went on back then or anything - there was no need to. It was, what, over 10 years ago? And we are now both very happy, married with kids. So the closure came just from getting past the awkwardness of seeing each other and saying hey, I am glad you are happy. As he put it, "God has a way of working things out for our good."

On Wednesday night, after the funeral, Mom called and said that Dad decided he didn't need any more PT.

Then I had my OB appointment today, which was fine. And now I am going to make my son some curtains and get the pink ones down out of his room.

I also wanted to say that Monday night and last night were both really nice. On Monday Kevin took me and Katie to Sonic, got ice cream, and went to the playground at the elementary school. It was a beautiful night and we had a great time together as a family.

Then last night we went swimming after dinner. It was dark, and we lit the tikki torches and just floated around the pool. So relaxing! I have a floating lounge that kinda puts you slightly under the water, and I got this great idea to lie on my stomach - WONDERFUL! I could have slept out there, floating on my stomach under the stars.

Tomorrow my friend Christi is going to take some nice pictures of me and my big belly with Katie. That should be fun.

That's all for now!

Everyday Providence

Ugh. I am not sure how much longer I can do this….

I left the house at 8:30 and got back at 3:00, and since Katie had a pee-pee accident in the middle of the night and I was exhausted, I just got up from a nap around 4:00. Now I have a ton of stuff to do before Kevin gets home. So I guess I need to go.

I am just so exhausted. I want Owen to come early so I can be done with it all.

I doubt I will be on here much until after Owen is born. I keep thinking that things will slow down, but I have something going every day this week and had to tell two people "no" to things I even WANTED to do. It is insane. Thing after thing keeps piling on. I have no idea when I am going to finish getting ready for Owen. The only word for what I feel is "overwhelmed."

So goodbye journal and lurkers for the next couple of weeks, at least.

Oh, I almost forgot. My plan to cope:

1. Pray for strength, ask God for help, acknowledge that I cannot do this on my own strength.
2. Rest when I need to rest.
3. Get help. My siblings are out of school and love to come over. The boys can help by playing with Katie, and the girls can do housework and help go through clothes, etc.
4. Organize, prioritize, and plan ahead.
5. Have a cheerful attitude. Talking like the whole week is going to stink before it even happens doesn't do any good now, does it?
6. Don't get into this mess again next week; remember that I only have a couple more weeks before Owen comes to spend time with Katie and get ready for Owen's arrival and keep that on the top of my priority list.