Day 12: Thankful

I've debated on how to go about writing this post since this is for the kiddos, I really don't want them to be fearful of certain things but I also want them to be reminded of how precious each day is. Life is truly a gift and not to be taken for granted. Since there was nothing really special happening today, I felt it would be a good time to say once again - I LOVE YOU BABIES! Please remember to tell your sister(s) and brother daily how much you love them and how thankful you are for them. Please.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine from high school had a stroke which has left her unable to speak or move. This sounds awful but she is alive when the doctors didn't think she would be so PRAISE GOD for that. I don't know the full story so I don't want to spend time guessing as to what triggered it or what the future holds. What I will say is that since the incident happened, I can't go one day without thinking about her and her family. I think about the day it happened..did her husband say I love you? Did she hug her kids on her way to work? These moments that each of us take for granted could very well be taken from us so fast. I've also spent a great deal thinking about how I could help or more importantly, how could Skylar and I help? I know at this age - she is very young to understand such things but just to be there, to see the unity taking place amongst her family and community, I would think Skylar would understand what it means to help. This friend of mine also has 3 small children...in fact the order of her children are girl, boy, girl and their ages are very similar to my own kids. It's very close to home for me. My heart aches at the thought of it all. I know that our God is bigger and I've personally seen miracles in my own family so I know that it IS possible for her as well. We just have to all be faithful servants and continue praying. In the midst of all of this confusion and pain, there has been such an outreach on her behalf. I've seen so many people come together and quote scriptures, prayers, and well wishes. Another friend of mine posted that she has been thinking a lot about rivers and rushing waters and that God impressed upon her that our friend is this river of water representing Christ, and the rest of us are drinking from it and gaining a deeper relationship in Him. Its things like this that when I read them, it gives me chills. How great is our God. I have struggled in praying for her because at first, my prayers were for instant recovery that she return to normal as soon as possible. Now I feel compelled to pray not only for her recovery but more importantly that she continue to be used as a vessel of God's love and mercy.

My sweet babies - there's so much hurt in this world and I would be a fool to think I could protect you from it for all of your life. I ask that you trust in God that he knows what tomorrow holds and has a divine plan for each of you. No matter what, always know that I love you more today then yesterday and you will always be my greatest accomplishment in life. I've often wondered what I was made for...to be a nurse? a school teacher? what? I, with all of my heart believe that I was created to be YOUR mama and to love you as He loves you - unconditionally! Remember - yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, and today is a gift - that's why its called the present. I love you to the moon.

Day 11: TGIF

No really, thank God it's FRIDAY because this mama is pooped.

Today was a pretty interesting day. I decided once again to give potty training another go which means staying at home and near a potty. He did very well this time around. I tried several months ago in hopes that he'd be trained before Eva came but no such luck. Boys and girls really are different especially when it comes to potty training. Skylar really never needed any kind of reward system because she picked it up SO fast. Bryce however needs more then just an 'at-a-boy and a silly dance. My intentions were to give him a sticker for each time he goes and when he gets 5 stickers, he could pick a treat from the candy jar buuuuuut since big sis was also involved in the fun she decided to tell him after his second potty trip that he gets a prize so the rest is history. He now gets a sticker and a prize for EACH time he goes but you know what? It's working because he hasn't had any accidents. And because I can't very well give Bryce something and not reward Skylar, she has been VERY helpful in encouraging him to go or to at least try even if it's only been 5 minutes since his last trip. So fingers crossed that he's still doing as well tomorrow...

Oh and about yesterdays post...he still seems to be a bit under the weather and his nose is getting more and more stuffy so again, I'm praying HARD that it's nothing serious because we don't have the time to be sick.

Anyway, so since we were home for most of the day...Skylar and Bryce had a lot of free time on their hands and at one point it was really quiet which of course makes me panic. I darted to the playroom - empty, went to their bedrooms and again - empty, ran to my bedroom and find them in my bathroom playing "hair cuts." Hair by Skylar anyone??

I love seeing the two of them play like this and was relieved it wasn't make-up by Skylar instead.

Friday's are also are days to go to ballet and what an ordeal that was. As we were getting ready to load up, our neighbors were outside playing and Skylar of course wanted to say "hi" which turned into a meltdown because she no longer wanted to go to ballet but wanted to play with her friends instead. After wrestling her into the car and telling her a gazillion times to stop crying, we were finally on the road. We made it to ballet and she had the saddest look on her face about being there but just like always, she fights me every time we go but has a blast once she's there. Today she learned "shuffle-stomp" (no clue) and got to practice her cartwheels some more. I swear I need to upload a video of that because it's quite entertaining. I think at this point it's safe to say she got her coordination from her daddy.

Now that we have everyone off to bed, mama's going to go enjoy some daddy time and also an uninterrupted shower...a very rare pleasure in this house! Good night moon.

Day 10: Safety First

Today was a pretty slow day with nothing exciting happening. Thursdays both babies are in school and its usually my time for bootcamp and chores. Well since I didn't much feel up to bootcamp today and Eva had a bit of a runny nose, we decided to go for a jog instead. I did a lot of running early in my pregnancy with her and she still seems to enjoy it as much now as she did then. She snooze-cruised. I get a little scared running these days because recently, I had a friend harassed by some weirdo while she was out on a jog. He said some unpleasant things to her and at one point was actually running after her. Scary stuff. I told Matthew the story and he immediately went out and bought me a stock pile of mace. I swear between break-ins and friends being chased down...I'm not sure I ever want to leave the house. But since the weather was perfect and I needed to get in some kind of workout, we went...but we went protected.

So you better watch out bad guys because these girls are prepared! It's a terrible pic of me but I always look near death after a run. But there ya have it...from now on, I will be carrying this bad boy with me always.

Later that afternoon we went to pick up the kiddos from school...oh, and I didn't get much of anything done today because all I wanted to do was snuggle this precious girl...

...back to school...so we get there and since Bryce gets out 45 minutes earlier then Skylar, we usually go to the park or drive around. Oh but not today. Today little dude was not happy and also not feeling too well. I'm hoping he was just tired and that there's not in impending bug about to hit my family because if one baby has it, we all start dropping like flies. Here's my sweet squish...acting not so sweet..

I'll update more on that tomorrow. For now, this mama is pooped. Signing off..

Day 9: School Surprises, Bring Your Buddy to Work Day, and Family Planning

As you can tell from the title, today has been a very busy day...

First, Aunt Susie and Jack went to tour Skylar's school because he may be making a switch and while they were there they ran into Skylar. I know this made her day because she has yet to stop talking about it! I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that he joins her school because it will be like having a big brother on campus and what mama wouldn't want that for her little girl?!

 

Can you see how excited and in love she is?!! I love this picture! So pretty please Auntie let "Josh" come to school with meeeee!!!! Her school has such big plans and it would be so great to see my baby cousin and my baby girl go to school together!

 

While Skylar was having fun running into her cousin, Brycie got to go to work with daddy! The original plan was to only pop in for a quick sec and then Matthew was going to bring him home. Well, daddy got caught up doing stuff and the breakroom had donuts so - they stayed for a while longer. Just long enough for Bryce to start running up and down the halls then trying to smear donut glaze on the owner of the company. Good times. Daddy did snap a quick photo for me though and I wanted to cry...

 

When did my baby boy get so big? I love that he has his "cah-pee" and everything. Daddy's little shadow. I was very relieved to have him come back home because as crazy as it sounds, my life ceases to function when my kids arent around. Its like I thrive on the chaos! I'm so glad that they had this time together but DONT tell Skylar because she has yet to have a daddy/daughter work day. ;)

 

Later that afternoon I had to go to my overdue post partum check up. Seems I put it off long enough and the nurses were giving me kind threats to get my biscuits up there ASAP! I've been through this twice already so I knew what to expect. What I didn't expect was to answer the question of "do you think you're done?" with - we'll see. Whaaaaaat?!!! I'm crazy - it's confirmed. I still opted for preventative measures for the now but to think that I'm even *thinking* about more....aye. I need more sleep! Ask me again when sweet Eva-cakes is mobile and I bet I have a different answer!

 

Speaking of Eva...today she turned 8 weeks old. Isn't she a bundle of sweetness...





Day 8: Back to School

The holidays are over and it's finally time to be back at school. I was very excited last Sunday at the thought of school starting up again because it meant no more trying to find ways to entertain them while also trying to care for a newborn. Don't get me wrong, the past couple of weeks have been great but there's only so much a mama can do! Plus school is good for them too! However, now that they're gone - I feel lonely. Funny how that happens. The house feels empty and I feel out of sorts about what to do with my time. Eva and I did manage to go to bootcamp this morning and wowzers, I'll be paying for that tonight I can already tell. Rain is moving in which makes me want my babies home that much more! Really today is such a blah kind of day but it'll get better once ALL my loves are back in my arms - daddy too!

PM post -
The kids are home safe and sound but I had to pop back in because Skylar received her 2nd qtr report card and she did GREAT!!! Mostly E's with only a few S's. This is a huge improvement from first semester. Here are both notes from the teacher (you know in case I can't keep up with the actual report cards):

Mrs. Cooper T1 Comments: "Skylar is a living baby doll. Her smile lights up the world! Skylar is beautifully expressive and shares an element of excitement when she is motivated by our lessons. Taking this into consideration, Skylar is also sensitive and is easily frustrated by her inability to control what goes on here at school. She prefers doing what she wants to do, versus what she is asked to do and often times this ends with tears. Written work does not excite her in the same way that our fun "hands-on" lessons do. I am working diligently to encourage Skylar to demonstrate her knowledge in written form, as well as verbally. Please join me in aiding Skylar in making advancements academically. Three days a week is such a small amount of time to teach her all the wonderful things God has given us to learn about. I am extremely intrigued to see Skylar's potential realized this year. May God bless your family with beauty and grace. Heavenly hugs, Mrs. Cooper"

T2 Comments: "WOW! Skylar has made beautiful advancements in being able to verbalize her memory verses. Great job working with Skylar on this skill. WAY TO GO! Please continue to encourage Skylar to obey the teacher right away. Skylar is an adorable little lady and I am enjoying having her in my class. Her precious personality makes me smile consistently. I appreciate her enthusiasm for learning. It is certainly contagious!!!! Heavenly hugs, Mrs. Cooper"

Another catch up -

DAY 2:

This was NOT a fun day. For starters, it was daddy's first day back to work after having a few days off from the holidays so that was tough to say goodbye and then trying to get the kids back into some kind of routine is always a challenge since daddy kind of lets them run around like wild indians. But the worst part of THIS day was we got robbed! That's right. ROBBED. Sometime during the night or early morning, someone came into my van and stole daddy's computer bag and made of a mess of my car. I've always been bad about locking my car doors and I can still here my dad..."one day, it's going to catch up to you." Well...tadaaa - it did. SO babies - LOCK YOUR DOORS! Anyway, Daddy got a call from HPD that they had his computer. The goof ball that had it left his business cards in there while he was carrying it with him so that's how we recovered it. HPD received an anonymous call that there was suspicious drug activity going on (quite a ways from here) so they investigated and sure enough - drug bust! The thought that we not only had a thief but also a drug addict in our driveway, still gives me chills. We got the computer back but since there was a blank checkbook also in the bag we had to switch to a new account which is such a pain but it could have been far worse that's for sure. Thanking God that they didn't decide to hit the garage door button which was also in my car and come right on in the house! EEEEEK! We will be locking it down like a fortress from here on out!

Day 7: Zoo Day

Houston Zoo here we come! So today was a fun day at the zoo with friends. I was a little nervous at first seeing as how it would be my first trip to the zoo with all 3 kids and Bryce is so anti-stroller these days, I was preparing for the worst. Much to my surprise however, all 3 kids did great. Was there stress? Of course. But I'd be a fool to think we could go a whole day without a little bit of stress or drama.

We first started at the aquarium where our favorite thing to see was the eel! It was so pretty in a creepy kind of way.

After that we headed over to the sea otter tank which is always fun. We didn't get to see the show today but just to see them swim around and jump on the sundeck is quite entertaining. Bryce really liked watching them and kept saying "wow! mama look!" Skylar was more concerned with making sure to keep up with one of her closest buddies nicknamed "Koko." In most social circles of ours she is the oldest by a couple of years so she plays babysitter to a lot of the younger ones...her choice. So whenever she can get around a kid older then she, its heaven to her.

We also had a lot of fun feeding the giraffes, seeing Rhino's and monkey's, having lunch, and playing chase. I'm so happy my kids have such a great network of friends and love to see my kids play! Little Eva did well too and slept pretty much the entire trip in her little cave...basically her carseat enclosed in the stroller. There were a lot of favorites from the day such as Skylar walking hand in hand with the boys, or Brycen's excitement upon feeding the giraffes but my favorite was when we got in the car - Skylar said very sweetly, "thank you so much mama for bringing us here. It was SO fun." My heart melted and then I heard "now can we get some hip-hops (cupcake pops)?" Sigh. Some more pics of our fun day...

 Other memorable moments -
In the bathroom they had these cute posters with some zoo humor and my favorite was: What happens when 2 giraffes collide? .....A giraffic jam! I don't know why but I snorted laughing at this. Doesn't take much to make me giggle I guess. And the other was hearing "Koko" go through and let each of us know where every animal was from by reading the sign out front...he saw the Komodo Dragon and came running to his mom to let her know that they are from New Jersey! I died.

Another good day for my little family...

Day 6: Eva's First Church Service

This morning we woke up and decided enough was enough and it was time to get back in church. We stopped going when I was pregnant and having a hard time getting around and more so - getting dressed. Originally my plan was to wait until she had her first round of shots but seeing how that's next week, I felt we were close enough that it would be safe.

It was a great service as it always is and she did great. I think she really enjoyed praise and worship because each time I looked over she was conked out. Pastor Jeff spoke out of 1 Peter and Matthew and I were both really glad that we went even if it meant a few arguments along the way. ;)
Here's our sweet doll listening to the sermon and just chillin in her seat.

 

After church we had lunch, put the kids down for a nap and then it was off to the grocery store for this mama. No matter how many times I say I'll never go shopping on a Sunday, I always seem to put it off until I'm forced to go EVERY Sunday. We had a yummy dinner and then popped off a few more fireworks outside since daddy couldn't go throw his stash with the poor weather. Again, Bryce was not a fan whatsoever.

 

I just ended our night with reading to my sweet 4 year old out of her Veggie Tales Devo for Girls book and each night she says her own prayer. Tonight's prayer was pretty similar to the prayers she's been saying each night... "and God, I cant wait to get to see you and give you a big hug." Obviously this is heart warming that she loves Jesus with all of her heart but at the same time I feel a twinge of pain...No sweet baby, stay here forever. If anyone gets to hug God first, Oh PLEASE let it be me!!