Christmas Eve

As I've mentioned before, we don't do Santa at our house and each year Jason and I are more convinced that is the right decision for our family. People have said I am robbing my kids- to which I don't agree...

All day long the kids were jumping up and down yelling that "tomorrow is Jesus' birthday!" In H's prayers tonight she ended it with, "and Merry Christmas, God."

They talk non stop about Jesus and celebrating his birthday! Every time Jonah sees a Santa he calls him Joseph! Ha!

We did take them to Bass Pro Shop the other day and there was a Santa... We let them sit on their lap and when he asked my kids what they wanted for Christmas Havana said a bike and Jonah said bread! Ha- guess he was hungry!

They are all geared up for the birthday party tomorrow... So much so that Havana couldn't fall asleep. She kept asking what time could she get up... How many minutes until morning. I loved watching her get so excited and am certainly expecting an early morning! I love my family and our little traditions!!

Feeling discouraged

Feeling a little discouraged tonight...

Baby breech- don't like the idea of a c-section

Jason goes back to work tomorrow - baby coming in 13 days and Jason works 10 of those days.

Don't have a name, clothes, car seat, or room ready for the baby yet.

Kids bathroom is leaking making that bathroom out of commission- same for master bath- the thought of 2 bathrooms being gutted and repaired in a house with 4 kids makes me want to cry.

Trying to remember:
I've got a roof over my head
3.5 healthy children
An incredible husband
The Words of hope promised to me in the Bible...

Time to put my big girl panties on and face tomorrow! :)

Baby Coop!

Well, I'm 36.5 weeks pregnant and today we confirmed my husband's suspicions that the baby is breech! Not just breech, but in a "u" shape with his head and his feet pointing up. I am a little disappointed by the news as I don't want a c-section, but it looks like I might have to have one. They will check again next week when I'm one day shy of 38 weeks and will make an offical plan from there.

The painters came on Monday and started painted the children's room - We are painting Selah's room from the nursery green (that was her room, Jonah's room, and Havana's room as an infant) to a light sage with hot pink closets and black trim. She has moved into H's old crib and H is in a new bed that Jason built (she isn't in it yet... waiting on the painters... so she is sleeping on the floor). Once the room and bed are painted havana will move in there and the girls will be sharing a room.

Jonah will be moving into H's old room. It was pink, but the painters are painting it blue with red trim and we are putting up pictures of fire trucks, airplanes, and other modes of transportations because Jonah is obsessed with them! He will keep his same crib for a while.

After he moves into that room, we can begin getting ready for baby coop. Coop will sleep in our infant crib (which all the kids have slept in) and will be in Jonah's old room (blue walls with a sports theme). I haven't washed any clothes or gotten anything ready for the baby because I feel like I can't until the other children are all moved into their rooms. Hoping the painters finish soon! Lots to do and it looks like only 2 weeks or so to complete it in! Ah! Praying little breech man doesn't come early. ha.

Selah Update

I don't think I have posted most on my baby girl. She is soooo big! She thinks she is a teenager, I'm sure of it. She is known for throwing fits in the car, giving me big grins when she disobeys, pouring on the sugar with lots of kisses, and laughing hysterically. She is all around wonderful. ha.

She loves to give kisses and hugs to me, daddy, her siblings, tucker, and her dolls. She is very maternal and loves all her "babies" and always wants to check in on Baby Coop. I wonder if she will grow up to have about 15 children. ha.

She is so funny... she laughs as she runs or disobeys or whatever. She enjoys her life (or she hates it and is throwing a fit --- hot/cold is her personality... wonder where she gets that. ha).

She is sure she can do anything havana and jonah can do...

She can say a lot: this, stuck, oh-no, mama, daddy, tucker, havana, jonah, baby, downstairs, diaper, cracker (her name for every snack), water (which is her name for every drink), etc. She also loves to sign eat, please, etc.

When she is throwing a huge fit I will make her say, "mama, I will gain self control." And if I feed her one word at a time she will try to mimic each sound. Such a big girl.

She has the most kissable cheeks.  She loves to dance and play dress up.

Overall, I'm in love!

Jonah loves Clocks

Not sure if I posted this before, but Jonah LOVES clocks - he is obsessed. The other day we were playing wtih shapes and I asked him if he knew which one was a circle and he said, "this one. It reminds me of a clock."

I'm frustrated!

Havana's new phrase is "I'm Frustrated" --  this morning she was frustrated because the painters didn't talk to her this morning (they did say hi, but I guess she wanted a deeper conversation).

She gets "frustrated" at her siblings a lot.

The other day I had to park FAR AWAY at church and she said from the back seat, "Oh I am so frustrated."

Apparently, that is her new word. :)

The Past 8 Years in Photos!

Jason and I are celebrating our 8th wedding anniversary... here is a look down memory lane!

Photo from wedding reception! 2004!

One year photo! 2005- celebrated in South Carolina!

Two year photo - 2006 - celebrated in North Carolina!

Year Three! 2007! Date night in Indy - went to the Melting Pot!

4th Anniversary - 2008 - first date night without Havana - went to Ruth Chris.

5th Anniversary - 2009 - Pregnant with Jonah - went to the Eagle's Nest in Indy.

6th Anniversary - 2010- living in New Albany and pregnant with Selah - date night to Melting Pot.

7th Anniversary - 2011- went out to eat at Jack Frys!

8th anniversary:

Date #11

November's Date Night was fun! We went the week of Thanksgiving. My original letter to Jason said this,

"Let's go back in time. Think high school... Or middle school.... Let's go ice skating! I can't wait to join the ranks of the middle schoolers as we hold hands and skate around the rink!"

I had planned for us to go ice skating - which is something I haven't done since middle school! However, when I planned this date, I didn't know I would be in my third trimester of pregnancy and the more Jason and I thought about it the more we were uncomfortable with the idea. What if I fell (which would be likely)? Etc.

So... we just went to a movie instead. We grabbed a quick meal at Quiznos and snuck it into the theaters to watch the final Twilight movie. Jason is such a great husband to take me on dates to see such girly movies. :) Everything was fun - except the seats were uncomfortable with my big belly, but it was fun all the same!

Always great to date my man!

Spiritual Little Havana!

My Sweet Havana has a very special relationship with the Lord! I often amazed at what comes out of her mouth. The other day Jonah was throwing a fit and Havana said, "Jonah, when you cry you are not being a peacemaker or doing all things without complaining or disputing." -- she was correcting Jonah with Scripture!

Then, on Friday, we were driving home from the mall and she asked if I wanted to hear about the story she drew. I said sure and she begins to talk about a little girl with a soccer ball who is in heaven and is playing with God. She said that God wanted to play hide-n-seek and that they went down a big slide together. At that moment, I didn't know about the Sandy Hook shooting, but it made me think about Elijah and Jonas and when kids die and I thought about God playing children like games with them. When I found out about the school shooting, I will admit it was a little weird what Havana had drew about, but oh well.

Yesterday one of her toys was broken and I couldn't fix it and so she said, "Mom, what time will God come to our house so he can fix it?" 

I love her sweet faith! She has such a beautiful heart.

Funny and Responsible Jonah! (and an injury)

Jonah is saying some funny things these days. He still loves to play David and Goliath - he loves playing David, but really loves playing Goliath!

At Thanksgiving Dinner, in front of everyone, he passed some gas and then yelled loudly, "It's okay, mom, I just have some gases."

He loves to pull up my shirt, tell me how big my belly is getting, and then ask to see baby Coop.

One day he sat on my lap, stuck out his belly, and said, "Baby Coop is in my belly."

He always talks about Baby Coop and tells us how when baby coop comes the baby will cry and we will say, "It's okay baby coop."


He has also become super responsible. All on his own, he began taking his dishes to the sink after meal times. Now, he can even throw away any trash on his plate before putting it in the sink. He makes my job easy. ha.

The other day he got a "boo-boo" -- this one was pretty bad and it was totally my fault. I had the fireplace on in the morning and then when the children got up I turned it off, but forgot to warn the children the  glass would be hot. Jonah ran down and put his hands on the glass and got a 2nd degree burn on both of his hands. It was so sad. He shook and cried and cried for over 4 hours. I ran his hand under cold water for a while and then gave him just a bowl to keep his hand in... I was on the phone most of the morning with Jason (who was at work) and our doctor. Our DR told me that if I saw blisters to take him to the ER... there are many blisters on his hands, but Jason is just treating him here at home. They haven't popped yet, but apparently soon they will and so I'm working on keeping his hand as clean as possible. My doctor told me that it is actually a good thing that he feels the pain because if he didn't have pain the burn would be worse, but still, this mama feels soooo guilty!

Love my little man!

Potty Training!

Well, I wrote out a blog post to go with this picture, but just realized that the post was deleted when I added the photo. Sorry about that. Last Thursday Jason and I attempted, again, to potty train Havana. This was not the first time... we approached this time very prayerfully and as hard as that day was Jason kept saying he wasn't convicted over how we were training her (unlike in the past when we would give up by 3pm because we didn't have a peace we were handling it correctly). She FINALLY went to the bathroom at 8pm that night and was treated to play-dough! That is the photo below... it was a reward after a very, long and emotional day.

 

The next day, went slightly better, but it was still hard. What was hardest on my heart was to see how happy she was at the end of the day to put on her pull up diaper for bed. Still, a week later, she sings a little song about her diaper when we put it on. But, she is doing well - not having too many accidents and getting the hang of it. She was given treats of special shows, play dough, stamps, a trip to get ice cream, and a trip to the mall. I think she is proud of herself, but she doesn't have a lot of interest in actually going to the bathroom and so will only use it 2-3 times a day. Which seems like a long time to hold it in, but whatever.

 

So, I now have two children potty trained! Strange to be change so few diapers. My big pregnant belly misses the ease of diapers (getting them on and off the toilet and cleaning up accidents don't go well for baby). But, new phase. Children growing up. Can't believe it. I am so proud of my little H for working so hard!

 

Ice Cream treat on day 4 of no diapers!



2 year old con man!

Yesterday at lunch Jonah randomly said out loud, "Daddy, I love you." Jason was taken aback because Jonah just doesn't go around saying this. His voice changed (you could tell he was moved) and he said, "I love you too, Jonah. I love you very much." Jason and I looked at each other with eyes that expressed that we were both touched. About a half a second later, Jonah changes his tone and says, "I have that?" and he pointed to Jason's lemonade.

HAHAHAHA.

Both Jason and I started laughing as we realized we were just "played" by a 2 year old. He wanted a drink of "Daddy's drink" and thought the best way to get it was sweet talk. Sneaky boy!