Blessing upon blessing! I love being a mother of 3. My favorite moment after meeting our new baby girl was having her and both boys crowded on my hospital bed. I don't know why I have always wanted a big family. I guess partly because it was just my brother and me growing up, and being opposite sex, my mom had to time us to get us to play together (I didn't want to play GI Joe, Mike didn't want to play with Barbie dolls). We lived in a small, rural town, and unless my mom felt like carting us to friends' homes, we just hung out at home; I remember being bored a lot. Anyway, for whatever reason or maybe just because it's part of God's calling on Tim & I's lives, we have wanted a relatively big family.
And I love having a girl. I see why it's so fun to dress her up. She craves having her brothers within hearing distance and likes being held at all times (of course!). I love the baby phase, even the late sleepless nights (you know, while I don't have the responsibility to get the boys dressed in the mornings until this Monday). I do wish my babies weren't so big, so I could enjoy them being little longer (it only takes a few weeks to go from newborn to 3 months clothes), but can't discount the thankfulness I have that they are healthy.
I guess other than fully enjoying my whole family being home this week together, there is not much news. While my husband is counting the hours until he gets to go back to work after mediating the boys all week, I am dreading him leaving me so soon! I am thankful to be past the first several days of pain, though, and our little girl figuring out the whole eating thing; I think we're getting settled - slowly - into a routine with her feeding, and a mother always feels a little more normal when that happens. :)
Friday, December 12, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Countdown
I am getting really excited. I don't know if it's because I finally know exactly how my delivery will go (planned C-section) and that I know recovery will definitely be better than it was with LJ. Or if it's because I have 2 other delightful boys who make me laugh despite all of their sassiness lately and I look forward to more intimate family funny moments. Or if after 9 months of carrying her in my belly, I am longing to just hold her and feed her and see her. In any case, one of my problems with a scheduled delivery is, it's like leaving for a trip. You get so excited, you can't sleep. Now, on a trip, where usually my husband does the driving or I can at least have a Starbucks, it doesn't really matter if I get sleep the night or 2 before. However, as most of you know, you prefer being well rested before having a newborn to take care of - especially if your body is also recovering from surgery at the same time. I just don't know, though, if I will be able to sleep tonight or tomorrow night! Some things are just too fun to think about! :)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Note to Self: Cranky parents lead to cranky children
Whew! What a day. Is it possible for everyone in the family to be tired, cranky and whiny? This is one of those days you wish you could just start over. No one has anything nice to say. LJ is cranky because his parents woke up late and he knows his parents are tired and cranky. JD is cranky because his parents are too tired to keep up with his hefty appetite by getting up 5 times to get him something else to eat or drink and he has been cooped up in a car all morning running errands. Husband is cranky because he worked 7 days in a row, is sleep deprived, and worked at the hospital all of Thanksgiving weekend. No one in the family gives any sympathy to the mother who is delivering child 3 in 3 days; no, they whine, criticize, and fight over the grilled cheese she made for HERSELF for lunch (literally, all 3 boys were). Instead, she leaves to take a nap and told them to "duke it out" while she goes hungry. She especially loves how her husband seems to think the problem is all her. Or LJ. As if he were not tired and cranky and critical at all. As if she had not spent the first 2 hours of the day letting him sleep in and have time to himself while she got the kids up despite her own fatigue.
So, needless to say, we will be eating a frozen dinner and going to bed early tonight. If we don't answer our phone tonight, you'll know we're sleeping. :)
So, needless to say, we will be eating a frozen dinner and going to bed early tonight. If we don't answer our phone tonight, you'll know we're sleeping. :)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Pictures update
Okay, I finally updated my pictures on facebook, attempted to email some Halloween pictures to my extended family (& failed), and found the greatest picture of LJ smiling a true smile! He hates cameras, attention, etc except for that rare moment you can catch him being silly and free. I love it! The last few days with him have been better, and I am going to bed at like 8:30pm, which is helping me catch up on some much needed sleep (especially with the continued middle of the night crying). I am finding that resting in God's grace is getting harder and harder the closer we get to delivery date, as my greatest desire right now is being in our usual routine, sleeping well, and staying healthy - none of which have been going on under our roof for the last month.
We are 4 weeks from delivering!! I am getting really excited about meeting our baby girl, and losing some of the bulky pregnant belly so I can better hug my family! The boys are getting along a lot better lately and I'm seeing more brotherly love with the sharing, even if it means a soaking wet bathroom floor at the end of the day. :) I think it was all the wrestling they did with Daddy that finally helped bridge the gap.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Blessings and Dry Bones
We have had several prayer requests lately in our church that have struck very close to home, reminding Tim and myself how blessed we really are. They have also served as heart warnings, reminding us to pray for our family, guard against sin and evil, and cling to God always. I wish I could describe the situations, but out of respect for them, I will just say that I crawl into bed at the end of the day and am humbled that today was so blessed, and I am not promised any of it tomorrow. There is a reason we are called as Christians to live in and take joy in today, because sin continues to bring grief and sorrow into our lives, and oftentimes it takes us off guard unexpectedly.
However, in case you sometimes think my life is all joy and gladness, I am as human as the rest, and I am exhausted. Baby girl is sitting high so I have had a hard time breathing for 3 days, my husband works through this coming weekend and the resident is out of town, so he will be working nonstop for the next 2 weeks again, and daylight savings time is brutal with LJ who woke up the last 2 mornings at 5:45am (2 weeks ago he slept till 7:45!). While LJ has shown signs of improving the last few days, I have no energy right now to minister to him even at better. This is a season, but it is a tiring season for me. I didn't realize how easy or better LJ had gotten until the last few weeks have been so hard, and I find myself desperately wishing that he would be seemingly healed for the next few weeks, just so I can selfishly get sleep and peace before I have more sleepless nights!
So yesterday I read the following and the Holy Spirit spoke to me encouragement (bear with me here, this is going to seem really out of left field):
Ezekiel 37
The Valley of Dry Bones
1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."
4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.' "
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.' "
Now, I realize there are all kinds of prophetic messages here, but when I was a little girl, a musician named Michael Card wrote a song about this passage. I don't remember the tone of it, but I remember thinking - Wow! God can bring dry bones to life and breathe air into them so they are a vast army. It is a great visual of how powerful God is. For today, it encourages me that when I am dry, when I have nothing left to give my family, my boys, my friends, He can breathe new life into me. He can restore me to the living. He has already put His (Holy) Spirit into me, who continues to daily teach me God's mercy and grace, and show me how He is becoming my everything. Having children has increasingly made me aware of how little I can do of myself. Many mornings I wake up and think, "God, I can't do this - You have to do it." That is not the same self-controlled, self-sufficient woman of 3 years ago. It is interesting to me how God uses such an everyday thing like being a mom to teach me full dependence on Him, and how He may use something so much more drastic to teach someone else. This Ezekial passage may seem a bit of an extreme example, since I am obviously a very healthy person with a healthy family; but I think there are days we all feel that dry, that unwell, and some of us are fighting diseases or losses around us that affect us that deeply. May our hope ever be in the Lord!
However, in case you sometimes think my life is all joy and gladness, I am as human as the rest, and I am exhausted. Baby girl is sitting high so I have had a hard time breathing for 3 days, my husband works through this coming weekend and the resident is out of town, so he will be working nonstop for the next 2 weeks again, and daylight savings time is brutal with LJ who woke up the last 2 mornings at 5:45am (2 weeks ago he slept till 7:45!). While LJ has shown signs of improving the last few days, I have no energy right now to minister to him even at better. This is a season, but it is a tiring season for me. I didn't realize how easy or better LJ had gotten until the last few weeks have been so hard, and I find myself desperately wishing that he would be seemingly healed for the next few weeks, just so I can selfishly get sleep and peace before I have more sleepless nights!
So yesterday I read the following and the Holy Spirit spoke to me encouragement (bear with me here, this is going to seem really out of left field):
Ezekiel 37
The Valley of Dry Bones
1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I said, "O Sovereign Lord, you alone know."
4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.' "
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' " 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.' "
Now, I realize there are all kinds of prophetic messages here, but when I was a little girl, a musician named Michael Card wrote a song about this passage. I don't remember the tone of it, but I remember thinking - Wow! God can bring dry bones to life and breathe air into them so they are a vast army. It is a great visual of how powerful God is. For today, it encourages me that when I am dry, when I have nothing left to give my family, my boys, my friends, He can breathe new life into me. He can restore me to the living. He has already put His (Holy) Spirit into me, who continues to daily teach me God's mercy and grace, and show me how He is becoming my everything. Having children has increasingly made me aware of how little I can do of myself. Many mornings I wake up and think, "God, I can't do this - You have to do it." That is not the same self-controlled, self-sufficient woman of 3 years ago. It is interesting to me how God uses such an everyday thing like being a mom to teach me full dependence on Him, and how He may use something so much more drastic to teach someone else. This Ezekial passage may seem a bit of an extreme example, since I am obviously a very healthy person with a healthy family; but I think there are days we all feel that dry, that unwell, and some of us are fighting diseases or losses around us that affect us that deeply. May our hope ever be in the Lord!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Patience and the Joys of Parenthood
Okay - I'll start with the good news! We have a date! Baby Girl will be born on Friday, December 5th (unless God intervenes). I am very excited about this -- we're about 6 weeks away, and if she were ready, I would do it tomorrow. I am tired of not being able to carry my other children because she's getting so big (or is it ME that's getting so big?)! Needless to say, we're almost done with October, and then I have November, and then I give birth. Although I keep saying I'm ready to settle in, and yet my sick kids are proving me otherwise...
God is teaching me more patience. I thought I was doing pretty well with that lesson, going through the past year and a half with LJ and his OT, and spending the summer resting in God's grace. But over the last 2 weeks, LJ has regressed for multiple possible reasons (all the changes in his room, sharing a room with JD, baby girl getting bigger, change of seasons & weather, Daddy was at work alot...) and JD got sick (and got moved back & forth from LJ's room to the old nursery when JD had coughing spasms). At first, I thought most of LJ's issues was he was getting sick since he tends to sense when he is getting sick and then gets back to "normal" once it hits him. The last week and a half went by, and he showed no outward signs of sickness, but everything was wrong with him. A few coughs late at night, but nothing more. So today, while we had another long morning of resistance, we made it out and about, and he did fine or survived, depending on your definition of fine. They woke up from their naps, JD was in a great mood, LJ seemed in a better mood - I declared us on the road to recovery! I was in such a great mood, I baked some of our apples from the apple orchard trip (I never bake after making dinner). I went to Bible study tonight, and got a call from my husband, who said "Happy 8th anniversary! LJ got sick in bed and I had to change all of his sheets & pj's." (Well, he was more long-winded than that, but that was the gist of it.) I am going stir crazy. They have no fevers, they act well for the most part, but there is this random stomach bug that is nagging at them. And it's not 24 or 48 hours - it's a week to 10 days (or it was with JD)! Ugh! I had resolved that being out and about with friends was helping reduce how many mornings I had to be mediator in sharing between siblings (they share much better with others than they do with their siblings as many of you know), and now I'm stuck! Last week, my Dad made the brilliant comment of how when you have multiple kids, then you get 2 or 3 or 4 rounds of the same bug, so you get to stay at home sometimes for a month while it makes the rounds at your house. Thanks Dad! (He's usually much more encouraging than that.) I think he and mom are very glad they are no longer raising children. Now they go on cruises and abandon me in my time of need (ha,ha).
Does anyone without kids want to come visit me?
Anyway, there's my whining for the day. My great hope out of all of this is that LJ's horrible transitions this past almost 2 weeks will be radically minimized when everyone is feeling better. What day is it? How much longer??? Will I get to sleep before baby girl comes, or will I just see all of you in the spring, when all of my children are well, and I've come out of crazyland....???
Happy 8th anniversary, love. You are the most amazing husband in the world. I couldn't do any of this without you, and I continue to ask God that I won't ever have to...The boys adore you and you continue to show me your love for me in your devotion to God - a blessing that overwhelms me every day. I only pray I show you how much I love you half as much as you do for me.
God is teaching me more patience. I thought I was doing pretty well with that lesson, going through the past year and a half with LJ and his OT, and spending the summer resting in God's grace. But over the last 2 weeks, LJ has regressed for multiple possible reasons (all the changes in his room, sharing a room with JD, baby girl getting bigger, change of seasons & weather, Daddy was at work alot...) and JD got sick (and got moved back & forth from LJ's room to the old nursery when JD had coughing spasms). At first, I thought most of LJ's issues was he was getting sick since he tends to sense when he is getting sick and then gets back to "normal" once it hits him. The last week and a half went by, and he showed no outward signs of sickness, but everything was wrong with him. A few coughs late at night, but nothing more. So today, while we had another long morning of resistance, we made it out and about, and he did fine or survived, depending on your definition of fine. They woke up from their naps, JD was in a great mood, LJ seemed in a better mood - I declared us on the road to recovery! I was in such a great mood, I baked some of our apples from the apple orchard trip (I never bake after making dinner). I went to Bible study tonight, and got a call from my husband, who said "Happy 8th anniversary! LJ got sick in bed and I had to change all of his sheets & pj's." (Well, he was more long-winded than that, but that was the gist of it.) I am going stir crazy. They have no fevers, they act well for the most part, but there is this random stomach bug that is nagging at them. And it's not 24 or 48 hours - it's a week to 10 days (or it was with JD)! Ugh! I had resolved that being out and about with friends was helping reduce how many mornings I had to be mediator in sharing between siblings (they share much better with others than they do with their siblings as many of you know), and now I'm stuck! Last week, my Dad made the brilliant comment of how when you have multiple kids, then you get 2 or 3 or 4 rounds of the same bug, so you get to stay at home sometimes for a month while it makes the rounds at your house. Thanks Dad! (He's usually much more encouraging than that.) I think he and mom are very glad they are no longer raising children. Now they go on cruises and abandon me in my time of need (ha,ha).
Does anyone without kids want to come visit me?
Anyway, there's my whining for the day. My great hope out of all of this is that LJ's horrible transitions this past almost 2 weeks will be radically minimized when everyone is feeling better. What day is it? How much longer??? Will I get to sleep before baby girl comes, or will I just see all of you in the spring, when all of my children are well, and I've come out of crazyland....???
Happy 8th anniversary, love. You are the most amazing husband in the world. I couldn't do any of this without you, and I continue to ask God that I won't ever have to...The boys adore you and you continue to show me your love for me in your devotion to God - a blessing that overwhelms me every day. I only pray I show you how much I love you half as much as you do for me.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Nesting
Okay, so I have spent the last few weeks "nesting". I had decided that I am one of those pregnant women that never really nests as compared to what I think nesting is; but then, on my 3rd pregnancy, I finally figured out why. I am so tired, that I have great intentions of nesting and all that it entails - organizing, cleaning, getting it all "together" - but I am so tired by the end of my 2nd & 3rd trimesters when my nesting tends to hit, I feel like I don't get to do the nesting us pregnant women crave.
However, my house was in such a state of affairs, both my husband & I agreed it had to be done. So we have taken several date nights to go out to eat, come home, and clean & organize the house. And I have forced myself to organize instead of take naps. I think I have finally gotten the house down to one area of chaos. The girl's clothes are in the nursery, the boys socks & shoes are sorted, and now it's down to me!
Honestly, my list is still so long of things to do and none of it includes house cleaning - when do all of you women do all of these things? I am very thankful that 80% of the time I'm okay with the stacks. My husband may throw me out with the stacks someday, though. :) He would say, stop blogging and get to work!
However, my house was in such a state of affairs, both my husband & I agreed it had to be done. So we have taken several date nights to go out to eat, come home, and clean & organize the house. And I have forced myself to organize instead of take naps. I think I have finally gotten the house down to one area of chaos. The girl's clothes are in the nursery, the boys socks & shoes are sorted, and now it's down to me!
Honestly, my list is still so long of things to do and none of it includes house cleaning - when do all of you women do all of these things? I am very thankful that 80% of the time I'm okay with the stacks. My husband may throw me out with the stacks someday, though. :) He would say, stop blogging and get to work!
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