Time...

The past couple of weeks have proven to be very challenging for me. What have been my challenges, you ask? Maybe you should ask, what haven't been challenges.

Actually, that isn't totally accurate. I think most everything boils down to time. I need more time in the day...time for God...time for the kids...time for cleaning the house...time for cooking our meals...time for preparing lessons for church...time to fellowship with friends & family...time for photography...time to minister to neighbors, friends, family, and acquaintances...time to put more thought & time into growing our ladies' ministry at church...time to spend actually holding those deep, special conversations with the love of my life...time to read...time to work on unfinished projects, of which I have many...time for me...just TIME!

And, I know, sometimes you take on too much to fulfill your duties, and you have to learn to say "No", but I don't feel that I've done that. There is not one ministry that God has given me, either inside or outside of the home, that I feel He would have me lay aside at this point. Actually, I am burdened for so many other ministries...so many other things that need attention...need a willing heart...but, most of all, need time.

My prayer is that God would open my eyes to see how I could save time, make better use of my time, or even multiply my time! My heart is heavy with things that need more attention...but I struggle to know how to even begin to give more attention to anything when I can't even complete a few necessary tasks a day to keep our household running smoothly. So, for all of you prayer warriors out there...would you pray with me this week that God would show me what I can change to be a better time manager, so I can minister to my family and others the way that He would have me to?

"Not Me" Monday

Monday, already??? Time to confess what I did not do this week...

We did not start the process of updating Katie's room with her choice of decor...Princess Ariel, The Little Mermaid. (This was her reward for potty training). Bedding...this week; pink walls...soon! Katie was not so excited to have this change that we let her stay up later than normal just to wash it before bed!

I did not re-embrace my naturally curly hair this weekend after spending most of my life fighting with it. I would never do this, because I always have plenty of time to dry and straighten my hair on a daily basis with my little ones. But, after doing so, I certainly did not realize that I actually like the style and the quickness of it, even if it isn't perfect! (Mark took a picture for me to show you, though I should have had him take a side picture, because you really can't even see the curl in this one...it's there, I promise! What do you think?)

I have not had a really long week of feeling like I have accomplished nothing, no matter how hard I tried. And I'm not actually happy that tomorrow is Monday, so I can have a fresh start to try again this week!

As for Austin...I did not "lose" him several times throughout the week...within a 1-2 minute (if that) time frame. I did not find him trying to eat a lamp cord behind the corner rocker/recliner twice! I did not find him searching the floor for every hidden piece of grass or leaves to eat!! And, I certainly would not find him (after an actually challenging search) hidden completely under the twin bed in his room, getting into who knows what!!!

Katie has not really been testing me and Mark lately. She's definitely not being defiant in most all aspects of life, from even the simplest request. And we are not praying for lots of wisdom right now because of it! Would you pray with us? I really need God to show me how to get through to her...so far, that has not happened, regardless of what we have tried.

I did not spend two nights this weekend sleeping lying on the couch to be sure I could hear my little ones while the power was out, while wishing they made monitors with battery back-ups!

Thankfully, we did not (no, we really did NOT have) any destruction after either of the severe thunderstorms that went through our area. Praise the Lord for that!

That's all of my "Not Me" Monday...until next Monday! :)

Photographic Randomness of my Precious Ones!

I know I haven't posted as many pictures as normal lately...so, I'm making up for it! Hope you enjoy this post full of random pictures from our week so far.

Bet you guess what Katie is doing!

You've gotta love the creative play that toddlers can come up with! Katie transformed my vacuum cleaner into a giant telescope to "spy" things. The second picture, she was very excited because she finally found....drum roll please..."GOOFY...ON MARS!" :) I love it!!

Katie is really enjoying Austin being able to crawl around and play in the floor with her...except when he's grabbing her hair...snatching her cup...pulling her clothes...taking her toys...well, you get the picture! She loves it when he stays beside her...doing nothing...which only happens for like .5 seconds, but none-the-less, she still loves it :)

And Austin is definitely enjoying his mobility freedom. He knows exactly where to find his toys, and he's great at dumping out the basket. The problem comes in when he doesn't want to play with his toys...he wants to chew on my basket! :)

Introducing...The DROOL MONSTER! Don't you just love those drool-soaked clothes, high-fives in the face right out of Drool Monster's mouth, and drool kisses begging to find a home on your freshly fixed make-up?! I know I do :)

And one more shot of my sweet girl! She is facinated with getting her picture made now. Every time I take one picture, I must be prepared to take 20 more of her! YES, that is chocolate on her chin...that means she did a GREAT job pottying like a big girl today! :D I love you, Princess!

Urgent Prayer Request!

I have a prayer request for us to pray about. I have been following a sweet christian mom's blog for the past several months. Most know her as MckMama. She has 4children, one of which (Stellan) is Austin's age. She was told during pregnancy with him that he would not make it due to heart problems. He not only made it full term, but was delivered and cleared of all possible heart problems. However, this past weekend, he had some trouble breathing, so they decided to take him to the ER, just to be sure it was indeed just a bad cold. To make a long long story short, he is in ICU with SVT. I don't know much about it, but from my understanding it's a very critical heart condition that is keeping his heart beating 220-300 bpm, and they can't get it to stop beating that fast regardless of all of the scary things they have done to him.

Anyway...she is trying very hard to stay strong...praying and trusting God's plan for Stellan, but I cannot IMAGINE all that she and her family are going through right now! Especially to have something like this happen without any warning. Stellan is miserable with all of the steroids, IVs, and medications he is on right now, and refuses to eat or nurse at all. My heart goes out to her! I couldn't help but cry reading all of her posts on this since Friday (I just saw them last night). If you want to follow, her blog is www.mycharmingkids.net.

Just please remember them in your prayers!

"Not Me" Monday

It's that time again... Time to confess all of the things we did not do this week!

I did not find it impossible to get any housework done this week, regardless of how hard I tried. Because I certainly do not have two kids that are always either needing something or getting into something that they shouldn't be!


Speaking of getting into things...I did not leave Austin in the floor playing with his toys long enough to put away a few dishes, only to find that he had crawled across the floor and figured out how to get into the bottom of the exersaucer! He definitely could not do that on his own! But just in case he could, this would be how he'd look...


Katie has not convinced Daddy to paint her room pink by reminding him that he promised that after she started pottying like a big girl, she could redecorate her room! And she is not the least bit excited about choosing Ariel, The Little Mermaid as her theme. She is not only a couple of days away from being accident free for a whole week, which means Ariel bedding comes home with us, and Daddy's fun begins...


I did not catch Austin eating...our living room rug, a computer cord, our family Bible, my flip flops, Katie's shoes, and Katie's "too small for Austin" toys...ALL in about 3 minutes time! Oh, the joy of having a crawling baby!!


I am not cutting this "Not Me" Monday very short today to clean house while the kids are napping...because I certainly do not have a dirty, unorganized house right now that needs weeks of one-on-one time without interruption! Definitely not me!

New Motto ;)

I found a new poem that I need to hang in my home, as a new motto... it definitely fits at this stage of my life, as I am sure it would most moms with little ones...ENJOY!

Excuse this Home

Author Unknown

Some homes try to hide the fact
That children shelter there;
Ours boasts of it quite openly,
The signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the door
I should apologize, I guess
For toys strewn on the floor.
But I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read;
And if the doorbell doesn’t shine
Their eyes will shine instead.

A FULL House!

For the last several days, our house has been full! My mom, sisters, and niece came to stay with us. Though it was often interesting having a 6 week old baby, a 6 month old infant, and a 2 1/2 year old toddler, in addition to 5 adults, we had a great time! Katie really enjoyed spending time with everyone, even though she is going through those "terrible" two stages right now. This is the first time she actually cried for 20 minutes after they left, begging for me to go get them. Here are a few snapshots taken...we somehow missed taking a picture of Megan! But if you were in our house with all of the kiddos, you'd be proud that we got even a few! It was great, but CRAZY...at ALL times! :D

Katie and Aunt Heather

Sweet Sydney

Sydney and Katie

Austin


Mimi and all the grandbabies :)

We are looking forward to getting to see everyone again, soon!! We love you all!

"Not Me" Monday

It's that time again...to confess all of those things we did not do this week!

• Austin did not start trying to crawl this week at only 6 months old! He's definitely not mobile enough just with his rolling and back scooting. And, I certainly did not get lucky enough to catch his new attempts on camera!! (ENJOY!)

• Katie was not "too smart" this week in asking when she could go outside to play. She certainly is not old enough to hold this conversation in front of me without prompting or help of any kind... Katie "Can I go outside now?" Mommy "Not yet, Katie." Katie "Is it raining? NO. Is it cold? NO. Is it warm? YES! NOW can I please go outside?" Now...what could I say to this that she put so much thought into? My excuses were no good this time...she got to play outside in her pj's!


• I did not fail miserably in my work-out routine and cleaning routine this week, and I would never blame it mostly on my busyness and tiredness.


• I am not really enjoying time with my family here. And I'm definitely not at all sad at the thought of them leaving in another day or so.

Early Morning Playtime

You know Katie is enjoying her swing set when I can barely get her to eat breakfast before she is out playing (in her pj's, might I add). Obviously, these pictures don't include Austin...he was still sleeping. Must be nice sleeping in like that :D I can't complain, though...it does allow me to get the kitchen clean much more quickly!! Now all I need is that fence (*hint hint* ahem...Mark...).

Katie in the "tall tower", as she calls it

Drawing Daddy a picture :)

Concentrating hard to figure out how to make the swing go!

Not Me...Monday!

It's that time again...time to confess those things I did not do this week.

• I did not have such a busy week that my house cleaning did not get finished...or probably even started! not me!!
  
  
• I did not survive the first full week of potty-training Katie with only a hand-full of accidents. And she is not successfully staying dry at nap and night time, too!
  
  
• We certainly did not brave a family (extended family) dinner out at a restuarant that was definitely not an hour away. And I did not have two children that were replaced with angels the entire time! That would not happen to us!!
  
  
• Our TV did not suddenly decide to croak just in time for Katie to miss her Saturday morning cartoons. And she did not have to live without a TV for several days. Since she does not like watching movies throughout the week when I'm working in the house, this certainly was not a big thing for her to live without.
  
  
• We did not finally get the kids a swingset! And I certainly did not fail to put sunscreen on Katie and let her get her first sunburn ever while playing on her new swingset. I would not forget something so important!
  
  
• I did not just post this without adding one single picture! But just in case you think I did, please rest assured...they are coming soon!!

Peek into our Wednesday...

Just giving you a peek into our Wednesday...

Katie found her Daddy's Alabama hat and decided that she needed to wear it. I snapped a couple of pictures of her...isn't she precious? ;) They were supposed to be candid, but she saw me taking them and had to pose. ROLL TIDE!

Austin is not so happy...poor thing hasn't done so well with his shots this time. We've seen a lot of this face today. It breaks my heart because I very seldom EVER see this face!

Even Katie dislikes it when Austin is upset. She's trying to make him feel better. "Dr. Katie" to the rescue!!

The closest to a "happy" face that I can get of Austin today... ;)

Babies Don't Keep

I ran across this beautiful poem the other day on another mother's blog page. Although I do not have five children, the message of the poem spoke loudly to me. On those (many) days that I forgo the "to-do" list in order to spend the day focused solely on my little ones, I need to remember that indeed, babies don't keep. I hope you enjoy this sweet reminder as much as I have!

Song for a Fifth Child

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth

empty the dustpan, poison the moth,

hang out the washing and butter the bread,

sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due

(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew

and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo

but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,

for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Check-up Time!

Austin had his 6 month check-up this morning. All good news! He's growing great...doing all of the "milestones" he should be...and getting taller and taller every day! He is now 28" long and 15lb 9oz. To put it into perspective for those of you who haven't had babies recently...28 inches puts him in the 95th percentile for his height. He has to wear 12 month pajamas at 6 months old due to his height! WOW! His weight is between the 25-50 percentile, which is good. He has now been given the "OK" to try table foods with us (one new thing every few days...and only things that can be processed into soft bites, like potatoes, etc.). I know Nana and Mimi will be thrilled to hear that, since they always want to give him a taste of food :)

While we went to the doctor this morning, I braved (alone) taking Katie in her panties...no pull-ups! She did great!! She went to the potty while we were there, and never had an accident! We're in the early stages of potty training, but she's doing it like a pro!! I'm SO proud of my little "BIG" girl :D