A Little Weekend Review

Caleb has managed to have several weekends of as of late and we are loving it!

 

Friday night we headed out to watch Riverdale and Oakland(two high schools in our town) girls play basketball. Caleb is an Oakland alum and he played basketball and baseball there. Riverdale and Oakland are BIG rivals. Caleb's brother is now the head coach for the Riverdale girls basketball team. I think Caleb was kind of torn on who to cheer for. Ha!

Ignore Brady's silly face. He makes it so difficult to get a good picture. Ahhh!

 

Oakland girls were ranked #10 and Riverdale #2 in one national pole, so it was an intense game. Riverdale ended up winning. It was a packed house and the atmosphere we so fun. The game was so close until the last quarter and both the kids behaved excellent. I actually got to enjoy the game! ;)Presley has had a hard time at the games until now. Over stimulation, I am sure!

 

Saturday we enjoyed a nice day at home. Brady played with all his new toys and we just enjoyed being at home. It is nice to have a day for all of us to just be home occasionally. We decided to venture out for dinner. We made a quick Wal-mart run, then Caleb and I watched a movie at home. A nice little Saturday.

 

Sunday was typical worship service and family time at my mom's. I am stealing these pics form my sister. Mom and I left her with the kiddos so we could take a walk. (She is a few weeks away from her due date, so she would rather stay with the kids obviously, especially if they are napping. We weren't leaving her out or anything. ) 

 

Sunday night/Monday morning about 1-2 am our weekend took a rough turn. Brady woke vomiting. I made a quick trip to Wal-mart at 4 am to get some supplies. He has been so sick and unable to eat or drink since. He finally stopped vomiting about 2 pm Monday, but still doesn't have an appetite. We were at a point of he had to start drinking or going to the ER. He finally started drinking some and quit vomiting. He has been SO sick. 

 

 

This will sound strange, but through out this entire thing I keep thinking, I am thankful it is only a stomach bug. My heart has been so heavy for the families that this kind of thing is a normal occurrence. I can not imagine the struggle parents of a child with cancer or another long term disease have. I find my prayers drifting from my family to those families, because this is temporary for us, but daily life for them.  It has been rough on my boy, but he will come through this and be fine in a few days, those families don't always have that hope. It breaks my heart.

 

I am also praying Presley stays well, if she gets the same thing, we will be in the ER. She is too small to handle all that. So far she seems fine, I am hopeful. I have been bleaching and washing everything in our house. I did at least 8 loads of laundry yesterday, I quit counting at 8. Ha Ha!

 

Well, off to bleach something else and hopefully get some rest.



Baby Shower

Saturday, My mom, sister, and a some friends threw a baby shower for Presley. It was a small shower at my Mom's house with close friends and family.

Mantle decorations

Everything was so sweet!

The tables. They were so pretty.

They did a lot of work, but I think everyone loved it and had a great time.

Some of the flowers.

 The shower was at noon and they had prepared a full lunch and served each guest. Everything was so good. We had salad, chicken casserole, steamed veggies, cream cheese muffins, strawberry pretzel salad, chocolate covered strawberries, cake, and whoopie pies with water, lemonade, fruit tea, and iced coffee to drink. I think that is everything. It was really yummy!

My friend Stephanie made these strawberries. They were just as yummy as they are pretty!!!

My sister made these, that tutu is for baby Presley. :)

Mason jars with pink straws. so cute.

My friend used to make cakes as a side business.  She quit doing it as a business once she started having babies. She does a wonderful job and occasionally still makes them for "special"  people and events. She made this one for my shower.

There were about 20 people there. We got so many sweet things for Presley. She is already so loved by so many.  Baby girl stuff is so cute and fun!!!

Me with my grandmother's, mom, and sister.~pictures taken from my sis~

A few of the guests. ~pic taken from my sis~

guests observing opening of the gifts. ~pic taken from my sis~

My SIL Lauren, Myself, Mom, and sister Amy.
These ladies worked so hard to make the shower a success.
Thank you so much!!!

Gift table. The framed dress is the dress my mom brought me home from the hospital in.

I woke up at 3 am(my normal wake-up time these days) with one eye swollen shut! I moved to the recliner and finally fell back asleep around 4 am. I woke again around 6:30 with my eye still swollen. I took a hot shower and took some allergy medicine a NP friend had told me would be fine if needed. The swelling went down a lot, but my eye was still irritated and red. I was so frustrated, because it was shower day. I had bought a new dress and was so excited. It takes a lot to feel good about yourself when 33 weeks preggers; a swollen, red, lazy eye does not help matters.

You can see how one eye is smaller than the other in this picture. This is typical for my life. It is a good think I have a good sense of humor or I would have been mortified. Ha Ha!

waiting to open gifts

By the way, it was just irritated from sinus/allergy problems. It is completely better now, but the sinus/allergy problems are not. It wasn't pink eye, in case you were worried. :)

I am so thankful for such sweet friends and family. They love our family so well. Caleb, Brady, Presley, and myself are so very blessed to have some many people who love and care for us. My love language is by far gifts, so I am always left feeling so overwhelmingly loved and blessed after showers.

I made these pretzels as favors for all the guests to take home.

I can not wait for our baby girl to officially join our family and use all of her sweet things.

For more pictures and details you can go to my sister's blog here.

 

"I like you"

Today was a busy day.

A wonderfully, busy day.

We woke up and got ready. Then took a quick trip to Target to pick up something for my mom and some snacks to share at play group.

We went from there to my sister's house for play group. This was mine and Brady's first play date and to say it was crazy would be an understatement. It was crazy, loud, and crowded, but it was beautiful. Sixteen sweet babies sharing, loving, and enjoying each other.

Lunch was eaten, toys were played with, laughs were laughed, tears were shed, apologies accepted, and love was shared. It isn't always perfect with little ones, but it is always worth it!

From there we ran by my mom's work to drop off the thing from Target and say hi.

We left there and decided to stop by Caleb's parents house, because it was a snow day here and his parents would be home. We visited and played with Gigi and Papa for a while.

After we wore them out, we headed to the grocery store for some shopping. We made it home, turned on Cars 2, and put the groceries away.

Finally, I heated up some left overs as Brady and I sat on the couch around 6 pm and watched the rest of the movie.

It was fun. It was crazy. It was wonderful. I was tired. Brady was tired.

Today was a busy day for us. My life has drastically slowed down over the past few months that I have been home with Brady. I like busy and miss it most days(not the going to work, the busy). I think I am better with a busier schedule, not necessarily a stressful schedule, but a busy one. I am an on the go person. I just am.

After we finished our left-over dinner on the couch, Brady wrapped his sweet, 3 year old arms around me and said, "Mommy, I like you!"

He says he loves me all the time, but this is the first time I remember him saying he likes me. I like him, too! When I quit my job, several people told me I would be begging to get away from Brady and want to be back at work. Although sometimes this lifestyle is a little slow and low-key for my taste, I honestly don't want to be away from Brady. I like him. He is funny. He is sweet. I miss him when he is away. He is fun. I like him.

Don't get me wrong, it is not perfect and we have rough days and some days he tells Caleb when he gets home from work, "I am driving Mommy crazy." Some days he does drive me crazy. But even our worst possible day is mild compared to some families I dealt with at work or observe at McDonald's. Ha! You know the ones I am talking about....

Today was busy.

It was wonderfully, busy.

Today is what makes the slow, low-key lifestyle worth it.

I pray Brady and I can like each other more days than not throughout our lives.

 

An Act of Kindness

Yesterday, we had a pretty amazing thing happen. A crazy, unexpected, undeserving, humbling thing.
It is a long story, so I will try to only hit the important parts. Hang with me, I am not good at para-phrasing. I like details.

• A few months ago, Caleb's car(the car I got when I was 16) broke down.
• It broke down right in front of a privately owned mechanic shop.
• Caleb and a random stranger pushed the car into the mechanic shop.
• The mechanic said it was dead and would require a lot of work(money) to fix, but they would buy it if we didn't want to spend the money to fix it.
• We sold it. Got the money and went on to purchase a different car.
• Caleb found out this particular mechanic does oil changes for pretty cheap.
• This mechanic got a new customer, as Caleb has been taking our cars their for oil changes.
• Caleb had to return this week to tie up some loose ends with some unexpected paperwork with the car.
• While there, Caleb inquired about new tires for my vehicle.
• This mechanic gave him the name of who they use and to tell them he sent him for a discounted price.
• Caleb did and took down all the information and told them he would call back if/when he decided to get the tires.
• Within an hour or so the tire place called Caleb(he did not give them his phone number) and said the tires have been ordered and he can come in whenever they come in to have them put on.
• Caleb began to get mad because he DID NOT order the tires and DID NOT agree to pay for them.
• The tire company told him that it was all taken care of and all we have to do is show up to have the tires put on. The response to who did this was someone just wanted to make sure you were taken care of.
• wow. shock. thanks. humility. loved. awe. blessed. unworthy. amazed. powerful. unbelievable.

Who does that? Just pays for some one to have new tires put on their vehicle. No questions, no requests, no strings, just kindness. We are fairly certain that the mechanic paid for the tires. NO ONE else even knew he was going. I didn't even know.

I don't know about you, but I feel God was all in this one. He is good. He is in control. He is faithful. He provides. Not always when we expect or in the way we expect, but he provides. 

I mean I did just quit my job and the family budget is quite a bit tighter than it once was. Although we can afford tires for our vehicle, it is a huge blessing to be able to save that money or use it towards something else. After all tires are expensive. Just Amazing.

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you..." James 4:8

Saturday Love.

 I remember thinking as a little girl, if I close my eyes and immediately replay a moment in my mind, I will some how remember it more clearly as life travels on.

I catch myself thinking the same way when it comes to Brady. If I stop what I am doing completely and pause in the moment, I can somehow hold on to it longer and recall it more clearly later.

Saturday, the entire day was filled with these types of moments! 

Not because of anything special we did or said, but because the moments with my boys were so sweet, innocent, and perfect.

So what did we do?

Caleb's parents gave our family a one year family pass to a local discovery center in our town. Saturday was the first chance we have all been able to go.

We had such a great time.

Brady LOVED it!  Really LOVED it!

One of my most favorite things is watching Brady learn and discover new things. The fun and excitement in his eyes just warms my heart!!!

He did not want to leave. In fact, the only way we got him to calm down and willingly get in the car was to promise we could come back as many times as we want.

Then three of us enjoyed lunch at Blue Coast Burrito. A family favorite!

Then we came home and Brady took a nap, while Caleb and I watch a movie together.

Caleb's parents wanted to take Brady out to dinner, so they came and got him around the time he woke from his nap.

Caleb and I were so bored when Brady left. We weren't hungry so we decided to get out and piddle around until they came home.

We ended up at a furniture store and then Barnes and Noble. We didn't really buy anything, just looked around and enjoyed each others company.

It felt like when were dating and we just hanging out until it was time to take me home. No adult problems or concerns, just two people who genuinely love being together.

Look who's 2 Today!

Happy Birthday Brady!



This is the cake I made for Brady for today. I was really nervous about it, but I think it turned out o.k.



I can not believe my little, bity baby is a big 2 year old today.



It seems like just the other day that Caleb and I walked into the hospital to have our sweet baby boy!

And now we are having breakfast picnics in his room!

He has grown so much and is so sweet and so funny!

He has blessed our lives beyond measure!!!

I love this little boy more than he could ever know and can not imagine one day without him!!!



Brady 12-23-2008





Brady 12-23-2009



Brady 12-23-2010

What a difference a year makes!