What do you want to get accomplished today?

For awhile I was struggling with getting things done. I had a bit of an issue with this as we adjusted to being a family of 5 but then we settled in and got into a routine and everything was running smoothly. I was getting up early, going to the gym, starting our homeschool day…my little guy would nap and play peacefully and we would go on. And then he became mobile. Everything changed. I feel like I am constantly chasing him everywhere and trying to get things done, then getting ready to go to all of our activities with my chores half completed around the house. All the while I’m frustrated that I’m not getting my workouts in that keep me sane.

I refuse to be that mom, the one who is crazy busy and stressed, and never taking care of herself, frustrated with her children, her husband and her life. I understand that life changes and seasons like this happen, but I’m determined not to get stuck in them, and to be aware enough to realize when I’m in a rut like this and make some changes. So, I came across a blog where a woman listed the things she needs to get done each day and the amount of time that these things realistically took up. Not fun things, chores that need to be done. Non-negotiable, and I have some control over my non-negotiables. For me this daily list was:

Bible reading
Exercise
Cook 3 meals and clean up
Clean floor (I don’t know which one, but it never fails that some floor will need cleaning 😉
Get my children ready for the day
Get my children ready for bed
Feed my son and put him down for a nap
Play with my children and be present
Pay bills/add items to budget
Do a load of laundry
Feed dogs
Get myself ready for the day

When I added the realistic time slots in for these activities, I came up with about 9 hours. My day is full. Without any homeschool or any extra-curricular activities, or volunteer activities. This doesn’t include any of the time I spend on the race I direct with a group of friends or the time I spend volunteering or helping out others if they need it. It means that at this time in my life, with 3 small children, I need to do some SERIOUS re-evaluating of our schedule and need a bit more practice saying no. There isn’t even any time in there to chat with my husband. Remember that man I chose to marry to spend my life with?

I think as mamas we are so busy and especially as Christian mamas we forget to take care of ourselves. The past few weeks, I have been taking time to get up early and make myself run, (more like Clint attempts to wake me up several times because I ask him to the night before) because once I get out of it, it takes me awhile to enjoy it again, and now that I’ve made it non-negotiable, I am loving it again. Running is a part of me and I’ve missed it. My husband and I spend time talking when he gets home from work where we don’t allow our children to interrupt us at all (really…they spend the entire day with me, they can keep themselves busy for 15 minutes!) and I cherish that time. I get him all to myself. Because honestly, at the end of the day, he and I are spent! I’m not saying, start being selfish, go shopping, spend hours at the gym, and do date nights each week, but you’ve got to figure out what it is for you that helps you to function best as a mommy. Because if you’re angry, frustrated, tired and aren’t doing anything to your best ability, you’re honestly doing more damage to your family than you are caring for them.

I’d love to know what you do for yourself to make sure you stay on top of being a blessing for your family! Let’s pray for eachother to continue in the right direction and be realistic about our priorities and time 🙂

Meet me in St. Louis

When my husband and I made the decision that I would be staying at home it made a significant cut in our income. Luckily God was a few steps ahead of us and we had just signed up to take Dave Ramsey’s financial peace university where we would be introduced to a budget. For the past few years we have been living on a pretty tight budget and working very diligently to pay off debt. For us this has meant sacrificing some fun family trips. Bummer. We LOVE fun family trips. I was thrilled when I found out that Clint had been planning a Mother’s Day weekend trip to St. Louis with my cousin and her family because we needed it. A little vacay had been a long time coming for us and the weather was set to be beautiful. We happen to adore this particular family we would be traveling with. They are always a good time. Exhibit A: They show up at our door with walkie talkies; awesome right? They are the coolest aunt and uncle to my children ever. (Yes we realize that because this is my cousin, technically this couple wouldn’t qualify as an aunt and uncle but that’s how we have adopted them in our family and there they are staying in the hearts of my little ones.) If you can’t all ride together you should definitely get walkie talkies. We had so much fun with these.

* If you’re working on paying off debt one of my favorite parts of the vacation was that we were prepared financially. In addition to our emergency fund, we have been saving a summer vacation fund. So we had cash set aside for the trip. This took so much anxiety away for me. I wasn’t waking up each morning checking our bank account to be sure money was there. We don’t have a credit card anymore so there wasn’t even an option of using one so that temptation is gone which means there is no guilt afterward or paying for a weekend trip for 2 years. Just know that you will get there if you keep at it! It was awesome!

Okay, I’m back…Along the way our little man got a nap in, we completed our final day of homeschool for the year (YAY!!!), we watched some Blaze and the Monster Machines and highlighted our route along the map. When we got to St. Louis it was so exciting to listen to our kids as they got their first glimpse of the Arch. This was their first road trip to such a cool landmark. Clint and I both looked at each other and instantly knew we made the right decision by coming. “Mom, Dad I can’t believe my eyes!!!!!!! Give me the walkie talkie now!!!!!!”

Our first glimpse of the arch!

Not completely happy waiting in line at the zoo

Our first stop when we arrived in town was the St. Louis Zoo. I had only been there once in high school and I remembered loving it. We got there and were stuck in traffic for over an hour just to get into the zoo’s parking lot. I decided that was the price we paid for visiting a free zoo on a Saturday…but none of us were excited or prepared for the “opportunity” to practice our patience. At one point we even had to take a potty break using a cup. (So is life with 3 little ones in a traffic jam) I read aloud to the girls for awhile from one of their chapter books until Clint finally decided we were good with walking a bit to the zoo. He navigated a new route for us and we parked on a side road and found a path worth exploring. We were all grateful to get out of the car, stretch our legs and be heading towards our destination. Once we got into the zoo we met up with our buddies and ventured out. It was the most gorgeous day, about 87 and sunny, and this zoo is landscaped and set up beautifully. Our kids are all pretty close in age so we were able to stop and take breaks and of course get some air and cool off at the misters. The majority of our day was spent there until a chance of severe weather forced us out.

After the zoo it was time to check into the hotel. In my girls’ opinion, this is usually the most fun part of any trip. As a matter of fact, if we solely spend time at a hotel, they are content. Swimming and hanging out in a hotel room, they are cool with that. Let it be known that earlier in the week when I was assessing my preschooler on her days of the week she told me: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, (with hands in the air) hotel party!!! We knew that we were staying at a Drury Inn but weren’t positive which one, so we headed towards the Arch and followed the GPS on my phone but wouldn’t you know, as my hubby goes to check in and we are at the wrong one. I’m telling you, the devil did everything in his power to attempt to ruin our trip….on the way down the van starting leaking some type of fluid…that hour wait for the zoo just about drove us nutso…we find out there are 8 Drury Inns in St. Louis…goodness!!!!! But we hadn’t been away like I said in a few years, and we were determined to have a blast! So we found the correct address and headed for our “hotel party” 🙂 When we finally arrived, the hotel was great, our room included snacks which served as dinner for us; hot dogs, mac n cheese, nachos, salad, and free drinks, so we filled up those kiddos and headed right to the pool. I appreciated that the pool was on the 8th floor so we didn’t have to be in the lobby in our swimming suits. I always feel awkward with my kids walking through hotel lobbies in wet swimsuits and bare feet when we are mixed amongst a wedding party or something. It just doesn’t feel appropriate. Children in wet swimmingsuits on the elevator with the maid of honor…anyway back to the point. Also, the shallow end was 2 foot 6 inches so my girls could touch and “swim” on their own in a large section of it without floaties. We didn’t have the chance to spend much time in them but there were 2 hot tubs! How cool is that?

We woke up the next morning, mommies and daddies drank their coffee, kids ate breakfast and got our little ladies and Coleman geared up for their first visit to the Arch!

The Old Courthouse was just down the block and that was where we needed to purchase tickets as the area surrounding the Arch was under construction. (PS if you are heading there it will be under construction until 2017 so check online before you walk down to the Arch!) Downtown St. Louis was so lively compared to the small rural town we call home. Our children were able to see people walking all over, music playing, plenty of restaurants; horse drawn carriages along the streets and experience sights and sounds that were completely new to them. We walked along the river, squeezed into the white tram to go up the Arch and were all in awe at the craftsmanship and the view from “2 statues of liberty” tall in the air as my oldest daughter recalls.

Then we took a carriage ride downtown for lunch at Sugarfire, a DELICIOUS BBQ smokehouse. Seriously, if you are in St. Louis, you should absolutely try it out. Between the ten of us we probably had everything on the menu and it was all fantastic. There were plans in the making of heading to the museum, but it was Sunday night and we all had reality to return to, so the grownups made the unpopular decision to head back home. About an hour into the drive back we had 3 sleeping babies…because we call our kids all babies when they sleep, they look so precious then 🙂 And it felt like Clint and I were on a road trip by ourselves. We were able to chat the entire way home and we loved it. I told him the perfect way to end the trip would be if we could find a little hidden bakery and get some lemon meringue pie. And wouldn’t you know, he made that happen for me? Good man.

Home

So yummy and a fun atmosphere for kids! It was nice that they had sauce for us to take home and to go containers and bags out and available for us so we didn’t have to wait on that when we were ready. The cheesy cauliflower was delicious! Who am I kidding, it was ALL delicious!

We didn’t ever find a little bakery on the way home, but my hubby did secretly call ahead and find a Bob Evans…which doesn’t carry Lemon Meringue anymore, but they do carry a lemon cheesecake pie which we all came home and ate together around our kitchen table. Perfect ending to a sweet weekend.

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day,, more importantly, I hope you are working towards being a better mommy each day and appreciating and honoring the mothers in your life and sharing the wisdom you have with those mothers around you that need it.

“Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also and he praises her.”

Proverbs 31:28

If you’d like to listen to an awesome sermon on what it’s like to be a good mama, one of my friends spoke about this at our church this past week. See what she has to say!

Streaming Live!

Get out there!

I feel like it’s been forever since I’ve posted a blog! I’ve missed it. Something big has happened in our home since I was last on my site…my daughters helped me babysit a friend’s little girl who is just one day older than my little guy who is now about 13 months old. She came over and was walking/running all over the place. She’s a complete doll. Coleman was not walking yet that day. You could say he was toddling around, maybe taking a few steps here and there, who needs to walk when you have two big sisters to do everything for you? But then he woke up the next morning and apparently he realized something. If she can walk…why can’t I? So our days have been a bit overwhelming with homeschool, cooking, cleaning, extra curricular activities, volunteer activities, gearing up for the race we coordinate sprinkled with saving Coleman from climbing up the stairs, unlocking our baby gate, opening the doors, sticking things into the electrical sockets, throwing toys into the toilets, poking the dogs eyes, falling off the treadmill, and too much more to list! Man…I have never been at home full time with a one year old and it is EXHAUSTING!

Anyway…that was not the point of this post. The point of this post is the gorgeous weather that has made its appearance that is the happiness of my year! I absolutely LOVE spring, summer, fall. We won’t mention the other season of the year since it is so very far away at the moment. I love that since I’m able to be home with my children all day we have no excuse not to get out each day, and it is a huge help in combatting the stress of being a busy mommy during this season of my life! Please don’t confuse overwhelming as negative when I use it in reference to my children. I love homeschooling and being home with my babies! Training for the half marathon a few years ago was overwhelming but completely rewarding, as I was working towards an awesome goal, same thing here 😉

A few weeks ago our entire family spent the day outside and it was fantastic. One of the best days ever. We even took our dogs with us and I’m sure they would agree it was pretty fantastic. A friend of ours let us go hiking in his woods and let the doggies go for a swim. Watching my kids walk around and explore is one of my favorite things to do. I love seeing how their different personalities observe and what they each notice. One of them is completely detail oriented while the other takes in the whole picture and just wants to see as much as she can. Then we’ve got this little guy who is just excited to be out of his car seat!

Our family does this often during the warm weather months. We are really blessed to have friends that own property and they let us go on adventures to spend the day wandering through it! My husband and I would love to own some of our own one day. I think it would be awesome to be able to homeschool in the country. The conversations that come about on these days are the best. Mom, how do you make a fire? What’s that in the pond? Dad, why do all the ducks stay together? My kids just think their daddy knows everything there is to know about the wilderness and he pretty much does. It’s really cool to watch them follow him around in the woods and ask him all sorts of questions. Some of the things my little ladies learned this day that were nowhere to be found on a lesson plan were:

Streams lead to the river
How to identify poison ivy
How to stack firewood for a fire
That toadstools were in super Mario brothers (VERY important )
What ducks can and can’t eat
Some items that float and sink in water
Identifying different animal tracks
The woods look very different in the spring than in the fall, less leaves on the ground, the grass is bright green, buds are on the trees
Identifying types of fish
Teamwork to cross streams or get through thickets
Directionality

As I was writing this post I was looking up some of the benefits of outdoor play for children. When I taught first grade and kindergarten, I literally always had a print out of these in my desk just in case I was ever questioned for taking the kids out for recess or for allowing them to have free time. Allowing for movement is so important for little minds. Just in case you need a little justification to get outdoors here it is. I promise you will never find as many benefits for watching TV on your couch.

Benefits of getting outdoors for your children and yourself!

Vitamin D: So many people take Vitamin D supplements when they could simply get this naturally from the sunlight. I have actually taken this in the winter and I do notice a difference. But when the sunshine is there use it! Vitamin D protects from bone diseases, diabetes and heart disease.
Stress reduction: You know you need this. Just getting outdoors for a few minutes helps reduce stress. What’s sad is that there are so many studies showing that the busy lives parents lead really are affecting the stress levels of our children. If we are going to take them along with us during our busy schedules the least we can do is take responsibility for their health and be sure to give them some time to de-stress. De-stress and children just doesn’t seem like it should be in the same sentence does it?
Collaborate: Do you remember playing outside as a child? Building sandcastles, working with your friends to make mud pies, playing a game of baseball in the backyard? These are the settings where kids naturally learn to problem solve. We shouldn’t have to teach them how to do this they learn through play. This is why so many pre schools are play based. When children play appropriately, they are amazing problem solvers.
Increases attention span: Some studies have shown that children who spend more time in nature are able to focus longer and can spend time in self directed play for a longer amount of time. They can spend more time observing and assessing situations.
Sensory stimulation: It would make sense that children who play outside more often have more experience using their 5 senses than those who don’t. They are hearing birds chirping, feeling different textures, beings exposed to different scents, and are seeing so much more than the same rooms and walls each day. Because of this they are more aware than other children when it comes to noticing differences in these areas.

For us, this is all awesome, but honestly, we just enjoy it. We all like to be outside and we love spending time together. The old saying holds true, the family that plays together, stays together. And we haven’t ever spent a day outside and wished we would have spent it sitting on the couch, it just doesn’t work that way in our home. If it’s nice out today in your area and you have a house to clean or cooking to do, just take 20 minutes and get out there! You’ll be glad you did and your kids will be too!

Some info from :

https://www.care.com/a/5-health-benefits-of-playing-outside-131104115840

If you put your mind to it…

One of my absolute favorite parts of being a stay at home mom is the amount of time I get to spend eating meals with my children. If I’m being perfectly honest with you here, I usually don’t actually eat with my children. The truth is I’m a coffee for breakfast girl and by the time they wake up, I’ve been up for hours so I sit and chat while they eat and I feed little man, it works perfectly for us. Regardless, I’m present and in the kitchen during mealtimes. And I love the conversations that go down during these special times of the day. We play silly games like “Would you rather”, “What’s your favorite…anything” , “I spy”, and we are now experts at going around the table and putting all kinds of things in alphabetical order, foods, animals, names of friends, you name it. But sometimes we just chat and I cherish that the most because you never know what is going to come up.

The other day a topic came up that does frequently at our home, life in the country. When we first got married, my husband and I bought a home in the country. We genuinely loved it. We put a lot of work into it and so did our friends and family. We had campfires out there, hayrack rides and we talk about it often and fondly with our kids. Our oldest daughter has quite a few memories of it and our youngest daughter (who was just 2 when we moved into town) shares along in them when we chat about our old house. Our oldest remembers going for walks down gravels roads to take our dogs swimming in the creek, our “neighbors” who lived about a mile over riding their horses down and being able to feed them apples. I loved the sound of them coming down the road. And all kinds of antics. One day we came home late and there was a cow standing in the middle of our driveway that wouldn’t budge; it had gotten loose from a farm down the road, we could sit out on our porch and watch fireworks from all the surrounding rural towns, we once had a raccoon that couldn’t get down from the rafters in our building, you know normal country stuff, kids love that. 😉 The interesting part of lunch the other day wasn’t that the normal stories came up it was that I heard a new one. The conversation went a little bit like this:

(M is my oldest, K was only 2 when we moved from our old house)

M: “Mom, remember how we used to play and hide in the pine trees at the old house?”

Me: “Yea, I loved that”

K: “Mom, remember how I was sick on my first birthday at the old house?”

Me: “Yea, that was so sad, your sister had to open your presents you were super sick”

M: “I just loved that old house when the horses would come visit us, didn’t you?”

Me: ” Yes, I did, you both loved to feed them apples, the dogs were so scared of the horses.”

K: ” I loved the old house, remember we could just put on our hunting clothes and walk out on the porch and shoot a big buck?”

Me: ” Hmmmm”

M: Making crazy eyes at me ” What Mom? K, I don’t think we did that”

K: ” Remember when we could just walk right out into the woods from our old house?”

M: ” We didn’t have woods at our old house”

Me: ” We didn’t babe, but we did go to the woods for walks all the time, and if we ever move back out into the country we’ll move to a house where we’ll be able to walk out into the woods.”

And mom saves the day! Ha. Isn’t it funny how she had listened to us all talk about our wonderful memories of the country so many times that she had created some of her own? I know when my daughter is lying and she genuinely wasn’t. She had created this little schema in her mind of what her life in the country had been like. And some of it was true and some of it wasn’t.

I got to thinking about the various goals that my friends and family have ahead of them right now. Some are trying to lose weight, some are facing illnesses and are just trying to get through today, some are an integral part of committees working to plan events with specific goals, some are looking to the future and applying for promotions or beginning new jobs, ending a school year, prepping for the next one. Whatever your goal may be, consider the mental imagery techniques of my 5 year old. She has obviously placed herself on that front porch, in her camo, with her daddy. She can picture the old wooden planks that fit together to create a porch, she has worn her hunting gear before, she knows her daddy and has been to the woods with him, she knows exactly what to do, and she can picture what she would do in order to get a big buck as she’s heard him talk about it in detail with excitement many times before. Clearly, she pays close attention when he speaks. Mental imagery is used to help professional athletes, patients with severe anxiety, pain management, stress reduction and people working towards just about any goal and it works. What if we could all do the same thing to meet the goals we are working towards. What if I stopped what I was doing today just for 5 minutes to pictures myself running the lake route that I’ll be doing this May? Or teaching 2 children at home full time successfully next year? Try to carve out some time today to imagine yourself meeting your goal. Imagine where you will be when you get there, who will be with you? What will your surroundings be? How will you get there? What steps will you have taken in order to get there? What will it feel like, look like, smell like, taste like?

ican

And if it’s a new goal and you aren’t sure what it will look like, do what the 5 year olds do, talk to some people who have been there, and make it up! Maybe one day my little K will be able to walk off her porch into the woods and shoot a big buck, who knows?!

Peace in the NICU

My husband and I started dating in junior high, if you can call it dating then. More like you chat on the phone every once in awhile in the kitchen while your parents listen in, maybe sit near each other on the school bus on the way to track meets, write notes and leave them in each others’ lockers during passing periods, and in my husband’s case, write I heart Jami all over his hand. It was pretty serious.

That didn’t last too long but we eventually became a serious “item” when we were juniors in high school. We had this amazing teacher/football coach (his football coach not mine) who brought his son with him to just about every practice. This man was a mentor to everyone in our small, rural school. He was a great person who took the time to talk with you, laugh with you and genuinely cared. His adopted son was named Coleman. Oddly enough, my then boyfriend and I loved that name and that boy. He was pure boy, a little man who loved football, dirt and all things, well…boy. I distinctly remember us saying that if we ever had a son we would name him Coleman. When my husband was away at basic training Coleman’s father (the football coach/teacher) passed away. It was devastating. Extra devastating because we were told we had to keep it from him so he could focus on the task at hand of completing boot camp.

I’m gonna fast forward here big time…like 10 years. It was the most terrible year of my marriage. My husband and I had been through some major struggles. Like the for better or worse part? We had about 5 years of worse. So it didn’t surprise me when a couple of my very close friends were hesitant when I let them know we wanted to try for another baby. I appreciate their honesty over talking behind my back any day of the week. The best part is that they were supportive of me, my husband and our marriage through it all. But our family was leaving the past there and moving forward. Turns out, when we found out we were pregnant, the timing showed that our little baby was developing even before we began trying! Then, on our 8th wedding anniversary we went to find out what we were having. My husband decided to let the nurse tell him then keep it a secret from me until our reveal party. I’d tried to tell by the look on his face but couldn’t . Since he didn’t seem overly excited I was sure we were having another girl. Right as we got to the car, he shut the door and asked if I wanted to know.

Me ” I don’t know do you wanna tell me?!”

Clint: “Maybe we should wait, what do you think?”

Me: ” Well, make up your mind! It’s a girl isn’t it?”

Clint:(eyes are watery now) “NO!!!!!!!” (Shows me the picture)

Me: ” OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!”

And we are both crying in the parking lot while our daughters are looking at us like we are crazy people.

I mean God’s timing is so cool. We didn’t make that appointment on our anniversary. And we didn’t decide that all of those struggles would happen before we would be blessed with a son. We stopped right there and prayed as a family to thank God for our beautiful daughters and the boy that we would soon be able to meet.

Here’s the part of the story that makes me cry. April 10th, 2015. My baby boy is born. Every one of my children’s birthdays were so special and that’s why I am a big believer in celebrating birthdays ESPECIALLY if you are blessed with healthy children. Don’t you take your healthy child for granted, not for a second. With my little ladies I thought breastfeeding was disgusting. Like it made me gag, you could not pay me a million dollars to try it disgusting. With Coleman I thought, hey, I’m staying at home, what the heck? (people change) Man is it a JOB. So I stayed in the hospital an extra day to figure that out. As we are getting ready to go home the doctor comes in to check him out and they ask me if I’ve noticed this large lump on his head, and it’s large. Probably about the size of a golf ball. Looking like an idiot I say no. They ask me if it was there yesterday, I say no. Had to stay that extra day didn’t I?! My hubby is gone to get my girls so we can all go home as a family so I have no back up here. Then more doctors and nurses. I’m overwhelmed and I’m getting anxious. My husband arrives with my daughters and everything is prepared for us to go home. And then they tell us my new baby boy is going to the NICU.

They explain to me that he has a pool of blood outside of his skull that could do one of two things.

It could go away.
It could go into his brain.

I’m alone in the room. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. My husband and little girls just walked in excited to take their sweet baby brother home. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. Tell Clint without telling the girls somehow. The nurses and doctors were super helpful with explaining the situation to him, I honestly have no idea how, I don’t remember but I do remember that they were very kind. Clint and the girls took everything down and I stayed with Coleman. I felt like I was going to vomit when I realized I was leaving the hospital without my baby.

NICU

I stood there not knowing what to say. I’m usually okay at small talk, unbelievably uncomfortable but okay. I felt like I should run with my baby. Who lets a stranger take their newborn? I handed him over. This son I had literally waited my entire life for and I watched them put him in this thing that looked like a suitcase and zip him up. They didn’t even hold him. Then all I could see was his teeny, tiny face through a hole and he turned and stared at me and I broke. It was like he even knew it wasn’t right for his mommy not to be taking him home. I apologized to the nurse for sobbing and she said “Honey, we would think something was wrong with you if you didn’t cry”. To make it worse, I couldn’t even run down to my car, they had to wheel me out, waiting for that elevator took FOREVER. When we got to the truck, my husband was waiting for me and we heard the siren go off for the ambulance and he teared up which upset my girls, ( he never cries, ever) and I remember him saying, “That’s my son”. It was such a raw day for all of us. It was difficult to expect pure joy and have our expectation flipped completely upside down. Not even upside down…upside down, crumpled up into a ball, thrown onto the ground and stepped on, that’s what it felt like.

NICU nurses are part angel. So are our friends and family. So many people stepped up to take care of our girls for an undetermined amount of time while we headed to stay with our little man. When we arrived at the hospital he was asleep peacefully in a onsie that had been donated. We were met by several doctors and nurses who went over his condition, a hematoma on his head that was expected to go away and some severe jaundice, also expected to go away. He would be spending 24 hours a day in a bed which meant I could only hold him to feed him. ( I got in trouble for this often as I fell asleep feeding him:) ) I also loved to reach my hands through those holes and sing to him while holding his little hand and one night the nurse found me asleep with my face smashed against the glass. The nurses were awesome as they made sure we were comfortable, were supportive with breastfeeding (I had no clue what I was doing), and practically tried to push us out the door to make sure we ate. My husband and I were shocked at how much they tried to make us leave. At one point we went down the hall where there was a community refrigerator to eat and as I was crying scared for my little guy as the lump on his head wasn’t getting better, my husband asked if he could pray for me. This marriage that only a year ago had been struggling was now stronger than ever. I was so thankful we were sitting here, together, in the NICU with two healthy daughters, supportive family and friends, our faith, our son, and a great team of doctors and nurses.

Our little man will be one year old Sunday, he has such a special place in my heart. At his baby blessing ceremony a woman at our church let me know that biblically his name means peace….isn’t that interesting?

Happy Birthday Handsome

May the God of hope fill you with all the joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:3

heart

PS- If you are a NICU nurse thank you from the bottom of my heart, I truly hope that you never feel underappreciated

How many days is the messy bun acceptable?

Before you decide on your response to that, let me fill you in on my past week. In our household we are currently remodeling a bathroom…the only bathroom that has an outlet in it. Who builds a house with 3 bathrooms and only one of them has an outlet?! Yes, I’m extremely blessed to have 3 bathrooms but why in the world don’t the others have outlets?! (1st world problems Jami) I know, I COULD be getting ready in one of the other rooms in my house but I have this baby, who happens to be obsessed with cords at the moment, finding them, chewing on them, pulling them out of outlets, putting other things into outlets, anything that could be considered extremely dangerous, it’s his favorite pastime right now. I’m on day 6 of a migraine that is deciding to stay long term….so, messy bun it is. Thank the Lord, they are somewhat in style, and I am somewhat near the age that they are considered cool for….I think 😉

151 — Keeping the little guy safe and contained

Here in the Midwest, there’s a nasty case of the blues going around. Okay, maybe I should say amongst several people I know, I won’t throw an entire section of the country under the bus. I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that we had this fabulous non-existent winter followed by a February/March sprinkled with days that were sunny and near 60 degrees so what would seem logical is that April would consist of warmth and sunshine. But no such luck. I’ve had many conversations that contained sentences like “I’m just not motivated”, “All I want to do is lay around”, “It’s not nice enough to get outside”. And I’ve been guilty of them too.

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So, this week I started thinking…what can I do to change my attitude. I took a few classes when I began teaching that focused on learning to differentiate what you can and can’t control and I will never forget them. Focus on what you CAN control which honestly isn’t as much as you think.

Can I control the weather and the fact that it has A LOT to do with these migraines? nope

Can I control my lack of sleep and my little man’s nasty cold? nope

Can I control the absence of the sunshine also known as my BFF? nope

Can I control anything about this bathroom remodel? nope

Can I go back in time and put outlets into my bathrooms? nope

Can I control my diet, exercise and medication to ease migraines? yes

Can I take advantage of sleep when I can and make it a priority? yes

Can I control my attitude about the bathroom remodel? yes

Can I appreciate the rain? yes (okay maybe)

155 — Even the tulips have gone back into hiding

What do you do to cheer yourself up or get motivated on gloomy days? Spending time outside is always my go to literally to brighten my mood. I used to love spending a day shopping. Not necessarily spending a ton of money but just getting a coffee and browsing around the mall…but a budget and 3 children has definitely changed that! Now I enjoy spending the day baking with my girls, going to the salon, playing games; anything to change up our routine a bit.

My husband and I recently purchased a treadmill and decided we are going to run a half marathon together in a month. Setting a goal always gets me motivated so I’m excited to have that to look forward to! I’d love to hear any tips you have on getting through the “April showers” seasons of your life! Whether it is something you do to motivate yourself personally, within your family, through your career, spiritually, or within any other facet of your life!

Have a great day!

Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God with the harp. He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.

Psalms 147: 7-9

My love affair….with gluten

Before I even begin this post, can I just say that I fully believe everyone is a bit sensitive to gluten. I don’t know a single person who can eat a ton of pizza or large plate of spaghetti with garlic bread and feel amazing after. If you’re that person, consider yourself lucky!

Growing up I ate A LOT of bread and pasta. I was constantly involved in sports and my mom worked her butt off to chauffer me everywhere along with my little brother while my dad worked nights. That meant a lot of quick meals and going out to eat with whatever sports team was currently in season after our game. I remember going to Burger King with my cousin often after volleyball games and getting a King size fry and pop. As a matter of fact, I related most of my fun experiences with food, especially food containing gluten.

Going to the mall? Better get soft pretzels and cheese.

Movie theatre? Popcorn with lots of butter (and the oil that contains gluten!)

Dates with my boyfriend? Pick up pizza/breadsticks and head to a pond to go fishing.

Friday nights? Pizza, pop and babysitting with my friend

Eventually, when I was in college we would go out for a beer and then later grab some beer nuggets (GO NIU!) which is pretty much just fried bread.

College? Beer nuggets

It wasn’t until that college/early 20’s period in my life that I really started suffering the consequences of my diet. My husband (then fiance) deployed to Iraq for more than a year during that time, there was a terrible shooting at my college, we had some tough divorces within our family, and the stress just kept coming. My stomach was a mess and I was getting severe migraines often.

I couldn’t figure out why I could go to a cookout and have one beer then be completely ill the next day and my friends could drink a few without any consequences. It wasn’t that I wanted to get trashed but the logic of it didn’t make sense to me. It was as if I couldn’t function normally until everything I had eaten was out of my body. I could almost feel it going through my system. Stomachache/bloating, then pain in my lower abdomen along with fogginess and horrible headaches.

The years following were random doctor visits, gallbladder removal, frustration, more visits with migraine specialists, hormone specialists, GI specialists, until finally I felt like someone listened to me. I had some testing done that revealed I did not have celiac disease (thank you God!) but after a trial and error type diet my doctor and I figured out gluten was the culprit. I was “diagnosed” with a gluten sensitivity and I was so glad to have found an answer.

Everything started to make sense to me. I was always terribly ill when my husband left on deployments, military schools, whatever. That was no doubt partially because the night before we would go out for a dinner which usually involved pasta, bread, chicken wings, or other yummy breaded appetizers.

It never failed that I would wake up with a migraine and feeling flu-ish after a night out with my friends even if I only had one drink. Regardless of my active life style, I often felt sluggish and extremely bloated. So, I had to take control.

That might sound easy, okay, so stop eating it. No biggie. Except, gluten is in EVERYTHING. At first, I was very careful, I learned to read labels and was determined to take care of myself. I did research and bought some helpful books. I felt like “The G Free Diet” by Elisabeth Hasselbeck chronicled my life. It was nice to not feel alone. I remember being so happy to find that I could have white rice, broccoli and chicken from my favorite Chinese restaurant, until I got home and became sick. Apparently, the sauce is filled with gluten. I was overwhelmed, frustrated, sad and angry. This is going to sound crazy, but I had to take time to grieve my previous lifestyle. I had to reprogram my brain and it’s associations with food and fun. (Which is still an ongoing process!)

I became extremely anxious when traveling because I never knew when I would become sick. My husband stopped MANY times for me to run out of the car after eating something I shouldn’t. I still always prefer to drive myself places for that very reason. I tried buying everything gluten free which became very expensive and honestly not that healthy. I much prefer just eating “real” food rather than items labeled gluten free.

So, the reason this post came about is my recent chapter in this affair. My 3rd pregnancy I could eat whatever I wanted. I loved it. Bread didn’t bother me, pasta was fine, pizza, chicken wings, you name it. I wasn’t having migraines, and my stomach felt good, so I went back to enjoying foods I hadn’t enjoyed in a long time. I wasn’t extreme but it was nice to not have to watch every little thing and then be consumed with the worry and guilt that follows. I know this wasn’t a great choice as it was still damaging my system but I did it. Now, after baby it’s been tricky getting back to my old lifestyle, especially during the colder months when fresh fruit and veggies are hard to come by. If I have a piece of breaded chicken on my salad, I’m usually okay, but spending the day eating gluten containing foods doesn’t ever work out well for me.

This past week I had a day where I had a bagel for breakfast. ( I never eat these because 1. they used to be one of my faves , 2. I begin my morning feeling sleepy after eating them) I was thinking okay, I’ll have this and no more today. Lunchtime rolled around, we were in a hurry and I had dino chicken nuggets with my girls. My mind is saying SERIOUSLY Jami, you know what is going to happen if you don’t eat well at dinner. I have dinner planned out and change of plans, we go to a friend’s house ….and order pizza. There it is, the day is a loss!

I’ve learned that no matter what the situation compromise almost always leads to more compromise. In the food/workout world this takes me right on the path to destruction. If you are compromising with your spouse, or a partner at work, that’s great! As a matter of fact compromise is necessary in many situations for success. When it comes to taking care of your health, it’s the complete opposite. I have no doubt that if my day had started off with a better choice than a bagel, the following day wouldn’t have involved feeling grouchy, tired, being nauseous and a migraine that was so bad I had to take prescription medication to get rid of it. So, here I am, continuing to work on self control, and remembering food is fuel for my body and it will run based on what I put into it. I”d love to hear what you do to take care of your body or any experiences you have with gluten sensitivity or celiac!

Thanks for reading and be well!

Two of my favorite books related to gluten sensitivity and how it affects your body:

migraine

g free

I’m not a morning person

Instinctively, I am much more of a night owl than a morning person. I can stay up late and enjoy cleaning in peace and I generally don’t get too tired for awhile. The problem with that is, whenever I reach the point of extreme fatigue, it’s too late to just lie down and it takes some time to get my mind to slow down. When we got married, my husband insisted that we go to bed at the same time, which we didn’t do much until we had children. Growing up my parents usually worked opposite shifts so I hadn’t ever really even thought about that as an option. I love ending my day by chatting with him and getting to bed early is more practical for us with 3 little ones. Which means….now I am a morning person. My little man tends to get up at about 4am and it works perfectly for me. I’m loving his longer stretches of sleep and the fact that I’m feeling back to myself and have energy to get going in the morning. Today has been one of those mornings that went perfectly. Rising before my family sets a peaceful tone for the day. I’m not rushing around or feeling lethargic and frantic all morning. I truly feel like I’ve created more hours in the day. For me, staying up late, I don’t accomplish nearly as much as I do when I rise early. And I have a lot to do! I thought I’d share with you what the mornings look like around here.

Mind you….at least half of the time this schedule is interrupted with any of the following options; baby crying, dog puked somewhere in the house, dog got into the garbage, I’m super tired and need more sleep, we don’t hear the early alarm, getting cleaning or schoolwork completed takes priority, I need to take care of something I forgot to do yesterday, our day necessitates an early morning Walmart run, and there are many other options trust me!

3:52a.m. I’m only writing exact time on this one because I clearly remember glancing at the clock and it being just a tad earlier than normal. I hear my little guy crying (which is more like making random noises until someone hears him) and sneak out of bed to get him. He and I play downstairs with his wheels, I feed him, get some dishes and laundry put away, and before I know it it’s 4:45 and my phone alarm is going off upstairs. I feel bad about waking my husband to ask if I can head to the gym this morning because I know he’s been super exhausted this week. But he gets out of bed and takes his turn with our little man.

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I just LOVE my babies’ morning faces. It’s my favorite time of the day, they are still a bit puffy from laying on their pillows all night. So cute!!!

4:57a.m. I head to the gym, thinking “Man I wish it opened at 4:30, when I worked at a gym, I used to have to open at 4:30, I would totally go then, I wonder if they would get enough people to go then?” See my mind wakes up busy! 🙂 I do some weights, run 3 miles and get ready to go home at about 6:00. I try to win a free coffee mug by texting a local Christian radio station, no luck. I was a little extra excited today because I finally got some new workout clothes. I hate buying clothing post baby until I feel like I’m close to the size I want to be, so it’s been a long time since I purchased anything new. But I am loving these new shorts and the shirt!

running

I just ordered this shirt from Carrie Underwood’s line, CALIA and it’s awesome. I’ve worn it to the gym and on runs outdoors, it’s super thin and comfy and not too short! I told my husband I want one in every color! I also got these Nike shorts which I was hesitant about b/c I have a favorite pair of Under Armour running shorts that I have worn for years but I loved the cheetah print on these. They are great to run in, just like my other pair! Thick headbands are best for me. I think the tiny ones are so much cuter, but they are often so tight that I have a terrible headache after wearing them. And of course the Brooks. Love my running shoes.

6:10a.m. Get in the truck to head home. Hear on the radio station they are giving away a coffee mug if you text and say what you have done this morning. I decide to wait until I get home. When I get home I text my morning activities so far, and receive a text back that I didn’t win (should’ve texted while driving lol) but it said God bless you for waking up with your little boy. I thought that was nice!

6:25a.m. When I return home, my husband and son are resting on the couch. Baby asleep, Daddy almost asleep. I quickly make some breakfast for the hubby, put little guy back into his crib and get to take a bath! Usually this is a quick shower but I felt ambitious and wanted to attempt taking a bath. My older girls usually wake up between 6 and 7 so I wasn’t sure if I had enough time.

Indigo Wild’s Zum line is one of my favorite items to keep in my house. Their room sprays are awesome and a friend of mine just started working at a wellness center/spa nearby and they had these bath salts. Perfect way to get refreshed after a workout!

http://www.indigowild.com

6:45 a.m. Just as I got out of the shower and got dressed for the day, my oldest woke up and I let her know I was working on a blog but was almost done. By the time she came down her sister was awake and they went to check on our ducklings. (the ducklings are for another post, ha!) By 7:00 my son is awake and they are all playing in the living room.

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Blogging time. Coffee and computer at the kitchen table. I considered cleaning this off before I took the picture but thought, nah, let’s be realistic here. We played the ninja turtle version of “Trouble” last night and it stayed there all night. Yes, there is dirt on the table from my girls watering their live resurrection garden. I”ll clean it up when I’m done. 🙂

7:15 a.m.I thought that would be the end of my post and I would let you know what my day would entail but nope, couldn’t be that easy. Right about where I was adding the workout clothing pic, my little man came up to me for a hug. I stood up and held him for a minute and realized his leg was wet. Weird, because I had changed him before I went to the gym so I knew he hadn’t peed through his diaper in that short amount of time. Then I smelled my arm….a blowout. ALL down his pj’s and now on my arm. See? I told you, it’s ALWAYS something! So took a break from the blog for a bath for the baby while I did my hair and makeup and returned. None of us are stinky and we have our new clothes on for the day. This is why it is now 7:51a.m. and I am just finishing!

We have a busy day ahead of homeschool, a trip to a museum and visiting some family members. I’m so thankful I woke up early and got a jumpstart on my day. I’d love to hear any tips you have for getting yourself going in the morning or manage your time throughout the day. Have a fantastic day, poopy diapers and all!

Lost sheep

We were fortunate to receive a 6 week Bible study to complete with our children from their Sunday School class and I’m loving the focus on following Jesus as the shepherd. ( Can I just say that the children’s ministry team at my church is FANTASTIC!) One of my favorite verses in the Bible is John 10:27. It gives me goose bumps to read the part that says “neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.” That’s a pretty confident statement.

my voice.jpg

I just think it’s so profound to imagine living in this world and being able to decipher what is God’s voice. That’s a skill that needs practicing. We are being thrown messages from SO many other places. People at work, friends, magazines, the radio, television, the internet, Facebook, blogs ;), and not many of them go along with what I think Jesus wants us to believe about ourselves or how we should live our lives. One of the activities we have completed with this study was to blindfold the girls and see if they could follow each other’s voices in order to get to safety. They did this pretty easily without a problem, but as I was watching them I thought about the way adults try to get through life and all the background noise that accompanies that. Stress, physical illness, financial hardships, temptations with money, food, or anything else.

My youngest little lady is also working on the nursery rhyme “Little Bo Peep” in homeschool. One of her activities for the week will be creating a poster for lost sheep. As we were working on her craft for the day, I was preparing some materials for her poster that she will be creating tomorrow and I was trying to plan some descriptive vocabulary I could give her to add to the poster to distinguish her missing sheep from one another.

sheep

Using reinforcement stickers for sheep wool

This made me start to think about how well the One who created each and every one of us would be able to create a poster for us if we were missing. Not only could He literally add the numbers of hairs on our head and describe us using physical characteristics, He knows our hearts. He could describe us perfectly …..

this sheep struggles with reading my Word
this sheep isn’t always completely content with what I have given them
this sheep doesn’t quite have their priorities straight
when these sheep get together, they make very bad choices
this sheep acts differently depending on what flock it is with
this sheep doesn’t even know their shepherd or care to
this sheep is about to leave their spouse
this sheep is an alcoholic
this sheep is looking for attention in all the wrong places from all the wrong people
this sheep is holding grudges

The list could go on and on. The cool thing about it is, that He NEVER stops pursuing His sheep, no matter how far they have gone. I can’t begin to wrap my mind around God’s grace. How frustrating is it to keep warning your child to not run on the wet floor over and over only to see them wipe out and get hurt. We know what’s best for them if they’d only listen. I know we don’t love thinking about our weaknesses and struggles or talking about them but as it’s the week before Easter, I encourage you to at least think about what your missing poster would look like. Do you need to add something to your life or take some things away to make room for goals or priorities you have set? Then, understand that regardless of what your poster says, someone is looking for you and has never stopped. That’s pretty awesome.

lamb

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a wonderful Easter. I’d love to hear any stories of how grace has impacted your life! I know I’m seriously working on learning my shepherd’s voice!

Time for insects!

Homeschool has been a bit overwhelming lately around here. Our home is a tri-level and I have a little man who is crawling like a maniac and working on his walking skills. His favorite past times are….crawling up the stairs and attempting to go down, emptying out all the drawers in the kitchen then taking off like a bandit, attempting to climb up onto the couch so that he can look out the window, eating dirt, poking the dogs’ eyes and also touching their teeth, loving the fact that he is just able to reach the piano keys and play then pulling the piano bench over on top of himself, and the list goes on and on. This week he’s mastered waking up every hour to scream as his new teeth are coming in. Needless to say, I am currently living in a busy season of mommyhood. Finally on Thursday I slept in his crib with him so I could get some sleep. Yes, I actually did that, good thing I’m barely 5 foot 3!

coffee

Back to the point. I have been blessed with 2 daughters who LOVE the outdoors and critters. My oldest is especially interested in bugs. (I’m not being sarcastic here, I truly find them a blessing, I wouldn’t know what to do with ladies that were disgusted by all things outside!) We have reached the point in our 1st grade Abeka curriculum for science that contains a unit on insects. Knowing my children, I couldn’t only use the content contained in our book. So we now find ourselves in the middle of a full blown unit on insects. This was one of my favorite things to do as a Kindergarten teacher, follow the childrens’ interests and do somewhat of a project approach unit for as long as they wanted. I loved integrating the theme into math, reading, science, writing, social studies, and all parts of our day. It’s even better with homeschool as I can integrate the unit into our life when we are getting groceries, out on a walk, or just about anywhere! This led me to Amazon to order a butterfly kit. (You can order the same one here ) I knew my girls would be excited but had no idea how much! Their excitement as our package arrived really made my week and made me so thankful that my family is able to explore education at home. I’m planning on updating you on our unit but here is what we have done so far with insects!

IMG_1635[1] — We are on week 2 of creating this map. My 4 year old likes to made additions to it herself as you can see she wrote “SMALL”. 🙂 Each color represents a new date, blue sections contain the information we knew before beginning the unit.

The books we have used so far in our insect unit

I absolutely love the book “Ten Little Caterpillars” by Bill Martin Jr. It’s a bit of an easier read than I usually would choose for first grade but the content is excellent. The book shows several different butterflies and what they look like as caterpillars. It also gives information on what they eat. And I just love how Lois Ehlert illustrates books and uses labels.

IMG_1632[1] — The caterpillars we ordered should turn into painted lady butterflies.

IMG_1633[1] — Containing the beast in his high chair!

And here it is the excitement! My girls love when we get packages delivered to our home and this is the one we had been waiting for. A whole week is a long time when you are 4 and 6! I loved that when it came the box had a tiny butterfly printed on it and a sticker letting us know we had to open it right away which was cool for the girls to read.

IMG_1623[1]

The kit was well worth the money to me! It contained:

Spray bottle to fill with water
Live painted lady caterpillars
A hanging habitat for the live butterflies
An eyedropper to feed butterflies
2 sugar packets
A brochure with a ton of info on our specific caterpillars/butterflies and directions
Coupon to order more butterflies
A worksheet on the life cycle of a butterfly

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My ladies got right to work on their page about the life cycle of a butterfly. They worked together to color and I added the time frames for each stage.

I have also been using a bug unit bundle from a blog I LOVE www.teachertothecore.blogspot.com

If you are interested in checking it out visit her site here.

I”ll try to add some updates as we move along into this unit, please share any ideas you have or activities you have used that focus on insects. We are really enjoying the sunshine and what seems like an early spring around here. Perfect timing for this unit. Have a fantastic weekend and thanks for reading!