Shutterfly Christmas Card Promo

It's Christmas card time again.  I really look forward to doing Christmas cards every year.  It's my little Christmas treat.  It's a little stressful, but once I got three good shots, I headed over to Shutterfly to see what I could find.  Lots, actually.  Endless options.  And because I am doing three different headshots of Ellie, Luke, and Andrew, I was skeptical of what I could find.  But there were actually several that I really liked.

 Obviously not my family, but cute card, right?

 Shop for some more Christmas cards here and here.

I was also glad to find plenty of options that said Merry Christmas.  Check it out this week because there are quite a few Cyber deals.  Not to mention, if you blog about it too-then you can take advantage of their special offer-50 free Christmas cards for bloggers who promote Shutterfly. Click here if you want to know how.

Happy Christmas card making!

First Trimester Woes

So here I am trudging through the first trimester.  I was thinking today that I am very grateful for this pregnancy, but I am not enjoying it.  Those can be two separate things, right?  Because I just really don't love pregnancy.  I love what it means.  I love that God has given life again.  And I am truly grateful for that.  But it is SO not fun.  For example, today we were making our way to a drive-thru for the one millionth time in the past 3 weeks.  I let myself get too hungry and I just couldn't get there in time, so as I was stopped at a red light I reached for a chip bag that was in the car and started throwing up as the light turned green.  I then proceeded to drive through a busy intersection and pull into the parking lot while simultaneously throwing up in the chip bag.  That was a first for me, although I'm sure there are plenty of moms who have done that and much worse.

Steven has been a trooper. He really has picked up the slack.  I think there are parts of it my children prefer, such as eating whatever.  And I really mean, whatever.  On a particularly bad night I was lying down for a bit around dinner time.  Steven said, "What should I feed them for dinner?"  I told him, "I don't care."  He asked if he should try and make it healthy and I repeated, "I don't care, I mean really don't care what they eat."  Just make sure their tummies are full.  So I think in some ways I am a little more laid back and they enjoy climbing in bed with me reading books and watching movies.  Steven is the one to get up every morning and take care of everyone's needs, including mine.  And at night, he is the bath man for now.  I take full advantage of every second he is at home and he has not complained once.  

We enjoyed a few days of some cousin time.  Here are a few quick snapshots from a dress-up session last night.  My camera is broken right now so any pictures on my blog will be stolen from my mother.  

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Great Report

Just wanted to report great news from the doctor's office yesterday.  Little baby was measuring right on at 8 weeks and 3 days.  We listened to a strong heartbeat as well.  Praise the Lord!  Steven, Luke, and Ellie were with me and Luke said the baby looked like a little boat.  He also showed me the stirrups and explained that "Mom, these are for your feet to go in."  Yikes!  Maybe he's been to one too many doctor's appointments.  Hopefully no permanent damage done.  Thanks for all your kind comments and of course prayers. 

Spilling the Beans

Wow.  Alright, two weeks can go by really quickly.  I can't keep up with my constantly blogging family.  There is news to share, and close friends and family already know.  But I will let you in on it too, blog friends-I am pregnant again.  And this time it is looking quite different.  The nausea has hit in full force.  I am so very grateful for it.  But as my dad said, "The good news is you're sick.  The bad news is you're sick."  I was going to wait to announce it until after we had seen a strong heartbeat.  And while I am still very anxious to see that, I am taking the sickness as a good sign. My first doctor's appointment is on Thursday of next week.  I will check back with you for a report then.

Every single time I do this (meaning do a pregnancy and take care of other children), I think, how am I going to do this?  Well, the answer is you just do it, but also, I have a lot of help.  If you check out my mom's blog, you will see that we had crashed over there for a couple of days while Steven was gone to a missions' conference in Ohio.  Oh, I am so thankful for my mom on lots of days, but especially days when my husband is gone. 

Because...you just never know what the day holds.  Last week, we had the privilege of having the Roells' here in town.  Remember this post,  and when we traveled to Ohio in July, for their son's funeral?  Well, Kendra, just a few short months later, traveled here to speak at a women's luncheon we had at church.  She was phenomenal and we had the best time with them.  Anyway...We hadn't been at the luncheon long and Ellie said her tummy was hurting.  Long story short, Ellie threw up while Kendra was speaking.  I froze for a second and it was one of those "You have GOT to be kidding me" moments.  Got that situation under control(Ellie ended up being pretty sick with a severe cold).  And then on Monday, early around 5 a.m., Luke is screaming from his bed.  I assumed he had already thrown up.  I made my way up there, with the garbage can in hand, sat down on his bed, and threw up myself.  He ended up being fine.  All that to say, when Steven is gone, for obvious reasons, I need back up.

I am well aware that there are so many moms with little ones, who have not much help if there husbands have to be gone, or even if there husbands are not gone.  There just isn't anything like help from your mom :)  

Alright, so that is what is going on.  I look and feel like death warmed over.  My kids are getting cereal or fast food for just about every meal.  But I keep telling myself it is just a few weeks of my life. This will not last.  And I've been thinking about how spoiled I am.  How I hate to be uncomfortable.  And when we are in the midst of any type of suffering we just want "out".  I have not once stopped to ask God to teach me, use me, and show me how He will be sufficient during my time of need.  Although, He already has been sufficent, every minute of every day.  Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of life and for your patience with me!

A Happy Halloween

Here is a quick recap of our Halloween weekend mostly in a few pictures.  I stole these from my mother's blog.  Sorry to any family who were hoping for some different pictures.  My camera is not working.  Maybe Santa will bring me a fabulous camera for Christmas  :) 

I tried to do the Wizard of Oz thing this year.  Andrew and Ellie cooperated.

But Luke insisted on being a superhero.

We went to a party early in the day and for that he was Buzz Lightyear.  But for the second go-round, he went with batman.  I guess it was like a bride who wears one dress for the wedding and another for the reception.

 Mom set up a table in her driveway for the trick-or-treaters.  Ellie and Luke had almost just as much fun handing out candy as they did trick-or-treating.  Mom ran out rather quickly.  Her street is definitely one of the happening ones in town.  And it is one of the streets that people bring trailer loads full of kids and just drop them off.  Not cool.

We had pizza and then lots of sugar.  I ate entirely too much caramel corn.  I made it knowing what I was doing.  But what other day of the year is caramel corn more perfect for than Halloween?  Now we have gobs of Halloween candy and I am constantly having to decide "yes or no" when the kids ask if they can have a piece.  A little while ago I asked Ellie what she had already had.  She said, "Just a small piece of chocolate.  It was only 2 feet."  

My children are really into naming things in measurements or numbers these days.  (And are almost always wrong)  Luke compares everything with 18.  I'm not sure why he is obsessed with that number but he is.  For example, if he asks, "How long until we go to church?"  before I can answer, he will say, "18?".  Not 18 minutes, or hours.  Just 18.  And another thing, a way I remember my mom explaining time to me.  I will give them time frames based on TV shows.  One hour would be like watching two Max and Ruby's.  Then they get it.  Or like sitting through a church service.  Of course, then they think that is forever long. 

Hope your Halloween was happy!