The Past Three Days

Forget goals, we are back to just surviving.  But here's why:

T woke up "dizzy" and had an upset stomach, so off we went to our second home, the doctor's office.  Turns out he has strep throat.  Again.  Have I mentioned our recent history with strep?  6 weeks ago, T had a terrible case of it.  A week after that, I came down with it and was absolutely and completely miserable.  So sick!  A week after that, my sister came to visit and guess what... got strep.  That's when I decided to take L in to see if he was the carrier, even though he had NO symptoms whatsoever.  He tested positive.  Yay!  We know why it's going around our family and we can finally get rid of it.  Right?  WRONG!  A week later, we were visiting Stacy and had to make a trip to urgent care for...you guessed it, strep.  Thankfully I wasn't as sick this time as last, but sick none the less.  A week after that, I had to take Princess in for a tick bite and she was put on antibiotics.  So we are up to five weeks in a row of someone being up on antibiotics.  But I was happy because we went a whole week without someone coming down with strep!  We finally beat it once and for all!  Then comes this week, and this appointment, and strep again.  Exhausting.  At this point, I am SICK AND TIRED of strep going from person to person.  So after T's test came back positive, I asked them to test C.  She's negative.  I scheduled an appointment for L even though again, he was acting perfectly normal.  Positive.  Two down in one day.  I also scheduled appointments for J and me.  I had mentioned having everyone tested last time I had strep (two weeks ago), but this time, J decided to give in and go this time.  I had my appointment first.  Negative!  Yeah!  J is the ONLY one who hasn't been on antibiotics.  He has felt fine, no symptoms, nothing.  His test came back...POSITIVE!  The man has been getting us sick for the past SIX WEEKS!  He's lucky we love him so much ;-)  I afraid to "jinx" it, but hopefully, prayerfully, this is the end of strep throat for our poor, poor family!  C is still on the antibiotics for that tick bite, so I'm currently the only one not on them!  I'm a little worried they pasted it onto me and it just hasn't had time to settle before my test yesterday.  But I'm praying THIS IS IT!  So, that's why I haven't been setting goals or blogging.  I've spent my days at doctor's offices and pharmacies.  Today's goals are:

1. give kids medicine
2. don't get sick
3. enjoy my family
4. don't get sick
5. make dinner

and a bonus goal again- don't get sick!!!!

July 23

I did well on yesterday's goals.

1. swim lessons went well.
2. laundry-check!
3. Hubby was pleased with the amount of dishes I did (I HATE dishes!!!!  Hubby has always done them, but with his crazy work load lately, he's asked me to step up and do a few.  Ick)
4. Made ham and potatoes for dinner.  I was planning to make something else, but accidentally forgot to take the meat out of the freezer.
5. I packed most of the bag last night for swimming today.  So my list wasn't completely done, but I'm happy :)
I also did my bonus goal.  Well, half of it.  I stuff a lot of diapers.  Again, not all, but most.

Today's goals:

1. Be on time for swim lessons, and then stay late to do extra swimming.
2. Wash diapers AND one load of laundry.
3. Make dinner.
4. Pack bag for tomorrow.
5. Dishes :(

I'll be honest, swimming is done, dinner is done, the diapers are drying and the regular laundry is in the wash.  I added them anyway!  I've also done a few dishes.  I know I need to do more before J gets home (in the next 15 minutes...), but it's a start.  I'm really tired again today.  Thankfully, Princess slept 8 hours last night.  Meaning.... this Mommy slept 8 hours!!!  I'm praying she has another amazing night!

Today's Top 5

I feel like I've been living in survival mode for the past several months.  I have a friend who is now pregnant with baby #5 and said told me once that it takes a good 6 months to adjust to a new baby.  Everyone in the family has to figure out their new roles and routines and it just takes a while.  I think she's right.  Princess is almost 5 months old, so we have about another month to go.  I have to admit, I'm tired of just surviving.  I want some order to my life again, some type of control (I realize I cannot control life, but I would like to be able to go to sleep when I'm ready to go to sleep instead of when C allows me, or to sit down and eat an entire meal instead of two bites before someone starts screaming. or at the very least, to pee when I have to pee!).  In an attempt to try to get a little, just a teeny tiny bit, of control back into my life, I'm going to write out my top 5 goals for the day.  Some won't seem like much.  Don't judge.  I'm tired and not wanting to stress myself out even more!  So, here goes!

1. Swim lessons for both boys.  Be on time!  (DONE!  Boys did great!  I'm a proud mommy)
2. Cook dinner.
3. Try to have most of the dishes in the dish washer by the time J gets home.
4. One load of laundry.
5. Pack swim stuff for tomorrow.

And Bonus points for me if I stuff diapers ;-D

But for now, all three kids just fell asleep.  This .NEVER. happens.  Forget the list, I'm taking a nap!

Menu Plan- July 21

I'm getting back to menu plans, but only doing dinners for now.  Eventually, I'd like to plan out all of our food.  But for now, just dinners :)

1. Carnitas. Mmm.  I have a friend who had a baby yesterday (YAY!!!) so I'm hoping to bring her some.  I'll cook these whatever day she tells me she wants a meal.
2. Meatloaf
3. Chicken Fried Rice
4. Tatertot Casserole
5. Ham and Potatoes

We usually go out to eat once as a family and then eat out with my parents on Sundays, which is a late lunch due to church.  We end up getting a light snack instead of a meal Sunday evenings.

The boys start swimming lessons tomorrow.  They are very excited.  T has done a great job swimming so far this year and I'm sure he's going to do amazingly well with his lessons.  L has been timid, but has already come a LONG way with being comfortable in the water.  Since he's only 2 and timid, his lessons might be interesting.  But he will love them :)  (Swim pictures are from our visit to my sister's house)

Princess hasn't been sleeping.  I am one tired momma.  Being tired makes me cranky.  Poor kids.  But I keep reminding myself that this phase is temporary.  Hopefully the up-all-night phase will be very, very temporary!  For everyone's sake.....

Where has the time gone?

I realized the other day that it's been forever since I last blogged.  About two and a half years ago, I felt overwhelmed with house work, mothering, and life in general.  Well, baby girl is now the same age L was, and guess what!  I'm overwhelmed with, well, the exact same thing!  My house feels out.of.control!  We have way too much stuff and every time I start to go through it, I feel like we need to keep all of it. I feel guilty getting rid of things that were given to my kids, or things they picked out and bought (like Awana store stuff, or cheap stuff they spent "their" money one.  It's mostly pure junk).  If it's something big, like their basketball hoop, I feel like we spent too much money to just get rid of it!  We haven't gotten our money's worth from it.  But, they don't play with it so we probably never will.  And papers.  Those are the worst.  Stuff. Everywhere.  No where to put it!  Plus, we've decided that we want to pay off our car.  Besides our mortgage, it's our only debt.  BUT, God has convicted us that we need to pay that off.  We shouldn't be in debt to anyone, and while it's unrealistic to try to pay off our house right now, we need to put more effort toward paying off the minivan.  That thought is overwhelming, too.  Especially because I have a hard time passing up a shopping trip!  Those two issues kind of go together for me.  I have all of these grand ideas (thanks, pinterest) for how to organize my life, but those things cost money.  That's why it's overwhelming.  I feel trapped in a cluttered home, a cluttered life, with no way to escape.  God has also been working on my contentedness.  I cannot tell you how many times I have complained about one thing or another over the past couple of months.  The big one is that I feel like we have outgrown our house.  Like I said, we have too much stuff and nowhere to put it all.  I also feel like we NEED a yard.  A big one, with lots of room for two little boys to run and play.  And a driveway to ride bikes, scooters, and play with sidewalk chalk.  And we "need" a garage to store their bikes and scooters.  See, I have a long list of things we "need" and I have allowed myself to dwell on that way too much.  Thankfully, I have an amazing husband who knows when to (gently) call me out on these things and remind me that we have more than many people and we need to be thankful for what we do have instead of focusing on what we don't.  Sure, a yard would be amazing.  But we have parks nearby, a pool that we're members of, and a lake with beaches to swim and play in.  My boys have bikes and fun things, I just need to be creative about where to store them.  They won't feel like they are missing out on anything by not riding them in our driveway, because they're not.  They can ride their bikes other places.  Anyway, enough with my rambling.  I'm hoping that by getting back to this blog, I might become more disciplined and force myself to get my act together.  It worked two and a half years ago, so it should work again, right?  ;-)  But since it's been so long since my last post, I think I'll end this one with a recent picture of my sweet family:

Let's get back to meal plans!

Princess C will be a month old tomorrow.  Tomorrow!!!  A month!  Wow, how did that happen???  Anyway, now that she's been here for a month, it's time for us to start cooking for ourselves again.  We are eating our last freezer meal tonight and meals from friends have stopped (but I have been beyond blessed with almost two full weeks of meals from people!).  I really don't want my family eating out a ton, and even if I did, we are very limited with our food allergies...especially now that the Princess is having reflux and we have decided to see if cutting dairy from my diet (which will take it out of my breast milk).  So, it's time to start planning meals.

1. Meatloaf tonight.  Our last freezer meal :)
2. Ground Beef Shepherd's Pie  I have not tried this recipe, but we already have all of the ingredients so I'm going to make it.  Hope it's good!
3. Pot Roast in the crock pot, because I love my crock pot.
4. Hamburgers on the grill.
5. Either chicken tacos or chicken taquitos.  I'll probably decide which one at the last minute.
6. DH's bean, ground beef, and (dairy free) cheese meal.  It's not my favorite, but he loves it.  Plus he will be the one to make it!  Whoop whoop!

I'll end this post with a picture of my beautiful daughter.  I have a DAUGHTER!!!!   Yay!

Our Princess!!!

Our princess was born last week, almost two weeks ago now.  I wrote out her birth story for my facebook friends but decided I wanted it written on my blog, too.  But I think I'll just copy and paste it since my time on the computer is really limited these days.  These three miracles are keeping me BUSY and it's wonderful!  (Baby girl is C)

Princess’s birth story: I decided to go ahead and write this out.  Warning, it is about birth, so don’t read if it grosses you out J  I’ll try to make it short.  Contractions started at 1:30am.  They were not bad but I couldn’t sleep through them so I got up and cleaned the bathroom (looking back, it’s kind of funny since that’s where she was born!).  Around 2:30am, I woke J up and told him I thought I was in labor.  He got up with me and we tried timing them, but still, not consistent at all.  Doctors generally have you come in when contractions are 5 minutes apart, last a minute, and go on like that for an hour.   Some of mine were 2 minutes apart, some were 10.  Some lasted 30 seconds, some got close to a minute.  They stayed that way all morning long.  Around 6:30am, I was beyond frustrated that labor wasn’t progressing at all.  I was tired and wanted it to all be over, but it seemed like I had a looong way to go since the contractions still were not consistent.  I talked to my mom, complained a lot about how frustrated I was, and told her we would drop the boys off at her house once L woke up but that I didn’t think it was any rush.  We got off the phone, I laid down in bed and had the worst contraction of my life (I’ve had both boys without pain meds, but this was by far the worst).  It was awful.  My water broke and the contraction went on forever.  Once it finally stopped, J called my mom and told her she needed to get to our house quickly.  Before he was off the phone, I was screaming to call 911 (by this point, I had moved to the bathroom).  He asked me if I was sure, thought I might be overreacting, but did it anyway.  As he came up the stairs, I heard him telling the operator that I was in labor and felt like the baby was coming, but he wanted to make sure.  As he came into the bathroom, he could already see her head.  The 911 operator told him he needed to get me off the toilet and lying down.  I told him I couldn’t move.   She told him again he had to get me off and lying down.  I refused.  After some back and forth, he put her on speaker phone and the phone on the counter, then picked me up and stood me on the ground  (feel free to laugh.  Looking back, I see how ridiculous this was, but at the time, I couldn’t do it!).  I still couldn’t move and yelled at the poor lady on the phone when she tried insisting I lay down.  There wasn’t time for that and I honestly could.not.move. from all the pain.  C’s head was already out.  She told J to make sure her cord wasn’t wrapped around her neck and to expect the rest of her body to come out in the next couple of contractions, but before she finished her sentence, C was out.  I was finally able to lay down and follow her directions J J wrapped C in a towel, I laid down on the floor, and waited for the firemen, who took care of everything else.  They took me to the hospital, where both C and I looked perfectly healthy.  She weighed in at 7lbs even (half a pound smaller than her preemie brother!), 19 inches, and they are guessing she was born at 6:57, although I’m not sure how they figured that out?  She’s a peanut and absolutely perfect!  A lot of people have asked where the boys were during all of this.  Well, thankfully L was still asleep (he woke up as the firemen rushed into my room).  T was playing ipad on my bed when water broke and told J, “Yep, I think you’re right Dad.  The baby is coming today.”  He is too funny!  J tried to keep him out of the room as best he could during the rest of it, but he kept coming back to see what was going on.  My mom got some pretty interesting questions when she was watching him, but he thought the whole thing was pretty funny.  He’s always been curious about how bodies work (not just how babies come out, but about the whole body).  Maybe he will be a doctor some day J