Words That Start with 'M'

The Girl and The Boy started back to school this past week. I am sure they are loving being with their friends and doing all sorts of fun activities, and of course Mommy is loving only having one non-mobile child at home with her :) The Girl had her very first homework assignment sent home to her to complete over the weekend: Cut out 3 pictures from magazines of things that begin with the letter 'M.' So, fast forward to today... we were shopping in Wal-mart, my brigade of children and I. The Girl had the great idea to start naming things that start with 'M.'

"Mouse."

"Magazine."

"Mushrooms."

Great, fine and dandy. It kept everyone happy and occupied for 20 minutes. Then Bitty began crying which alerted me to the full stinky diaper he was wearing. So we made our way back to the restroom.

"Marbles."

"Meat."

"Marshmallows."

And of course the bathrooms were being cleaned. So there were benches back there and so being the resourceful army wife I am, I used them as a makeshift changing table(yes I did have a blanket and a changing pad lol.) I noticed there was another family sitting on the opposite wall from us, but I was too busy to take not of any specifics about them.

Just then The Girl yells out, "MEXICANS!!!"

*Me looking over and realizing that the lovely sweet family is of hispanic decent and wondering if there was anyway they could have not heard that*

"That starts with M, right Mommy?"

*Me trying to hush her as quickly as possible and try to somehow camoflage myself into the wooden chair*

"Mommy, did you hear me? MEXICAN?!?!?! Did I get one?"

"Shhhhhh, (whispering now) Yes sweetie, Mexican does start with M, good job. Shhhhh"

"Ok, YAY!!! I told you(yelling at The Boy) that I knew it was Mexican!! Mexican, Mexican!!"

*me trying to figure out my plan of escape from this torturous moment*

The very nice sweet family gets up, walks by us, sweetly looks over at me and my beautiful children... and gives me the stare of death.


Just another trip to Wal-mart for us.

Long Time No Taco

I know I know... I haven't updated in about a million years... ok more like 1/6th of a year but who's counting? LOL

I figure whats a better time to get back into the swing of things then now??

(Probably anytime BUT now... as I currently have 5 kids ages 5 and under in my living room having a sleepover... but I digress)

Anyways... I'm baaaaa-aaaaaaaaaack :)

Best Shot Monday

Here ya go folks... it's Monday again. Time for BSM. Head over to Tracey's to check out other great shots.

Mine is a picture of Bitty, just enjoying his crib. Peacefully. You know, before he realizes my boob isn't in his mouth giving him a continual supply of milk.

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

- This week I did not run out of bug spray so I did not use what every resourceful mom uses to kill ants... Windex! lol

- I did not take my stressful week out on my husband, who of course has a much more stress-filled week that I do. I mean it's not like I am in a war zone or anything! Sheesh! I would never get snippy with him(and yes he finally called me back... we talked for TWO hours yesterday!)

- I did NOT eat pizza for dinner, then for lunch AND dinner the next day. Nope. Not I said the fly.

- I most certainly did NOT keep my kids up an hour after their bedtime just to go get free root beer floats at Sonic.

- And I of course I would never tease them and tell them that root beer floats had onions in them since they had never had them before. And I did not feel kinda bad when they almost started crying and whining that they didn't want to eat onions LOL (Don't worry... they got their non-onion-filled floats and loved them)

- I have NOT taken over 1,000 pictures in one week with my new T1i. That would be In. Sane.

- And I would never drizzle chocolate syrup on my cereal. Just because I'm a grown-up and I can. Nope.

;)

Enjoying My Babies and the Amazing Story of Bitty Boy

My friend Vera's post about enjoying her girls really made me think this week about enjoying every moment with my kids while they are young, because some day they will grown up and won't want to snuggle with me on the couch or have me rock them to sleep. These past few days I have been getting in extra snuggles with my babies, just taking mental snapshots(along with many many digital ones!) of how they are at this exact moment in their lives, and telling them how very special and loved they are by me, their Daddy and by Jesus. I told The Girl that God made her so very special, and she wanted me to name off all the ways she was special LOL! Ahhh a girl after my own heart... Words of Affirmation is her Love Language!

Bitty especially I have just been trying to soak up every ounce of his babyness he has. I feel like it passed by so quickly with the older two that I just want to savor it with him. They grow up so fast. Oh how I wish I could just make it stop sometimes. I do very much love watching my children mature and become their own little people with personalities and humor, but babies... ahhh babies.... they are just the sweetest little glimpses of heaven. I often find myself just breathing in Bitty... kissing his soft cheek ever so gently... telling him how much his Mama loves him. All babies are mircles.

He especially is a miracle.

GI Joe and I had TTC(tried to conceive) for about 5 months before we became pregnant with Bitty Boy. I had suffered a miscarriage the month prior, so we were both very apprehensive about the new pregnancy. I worried over every ache and pain, prayed constantly that this new little life would thrive and continue to grow inside of me.

As the date of our 20 week ultrasound grew closer, GI Joe and I were excited that we had passed the crucial stages of pregnancy loss. We were looking forward to finding out the gender of our newest blessing that Thursday morning. During the ultrasound, the technician was very quiet and didn't say much. I was a little worried but I chocked it up to my normal apprension. I saw her measure something in the baby's brain, which I didn't remember from my other two pregnancies. After she was done and we found out we were expected another boy(GI Joe was elated! More soldiers to protect his princess lol) I asked if everything was ok. Oh yes she said... but she needed to go talk with the doctor to see if he wanted to take a closer look at anything.

That's when I knew something wasn't right.

I got scared and I asked GI Joe if he thought everything was ok. I told him they didn't do that with the other two(because of his job, he wasn't able to make it to the other kids' ultrasounds.) I remember feeling so scared, but then the tech came back in and said we could go. I still felt uneasy, but I tried to brush it off and just rejoice in a "healthy" baby boy.

The joy was short lived though, unfortunately.

Tuesday morning rolled around and I was(Thank GOD!) on my way to bible study. I received a call from the doctor who had some upsetting news. There was a choroid plexus cyst on the baby's brain. She told me that sometimes this means nothing and for me to try to stay calm. Yeah right. I asked her what it could possibly mean. She said it could be Trisomy 18, a very serious and fatal condition. She informed me that I needed to make an appointemt with a specialist and get a Level II ultrasound to see if there were any additional markers and to take a closer look at the cyst.

Oh God no was all I could pray.

I tried calling GI Joe. He was out on the field and I couldn't get ahold of him. I left him a sobbing message on his voicemail to call me right away.

I continued praying and driving to bible study. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it inside. By the GRACE OF GOD, my very best friend was late to bible study and she was still in the parking lot. She saw me upset and I told her what happened. She said we needed to go inside and find some prayer warriors and get to work.

Praise and worship time never touched so deep. It is well with my soul. Blessed be Your name. The words pierced me.

After the music, I went up for special prayer and these wonderful annointed ladies laid hands on my belly and prayed fervently for Bitty. I just sobbed and sobbed.

They prayed for His will to be done and for GI Joe and I to have the peace that passes all understanding.

And instantly the peace washed over me.

I was still afraid, yes. Still worried, yes. Still aching for my baby. YES.

But at peace with it. Peaceful knowing it was His will, whatever happens. His will that THIS CHILD was ours. He was our baby boy, no matter what he had or didn't have. That would never change.

Finally GI Joe called me back and I told him the situation. Being the soldier he is, he wanted to know the facts, odds, percentages, options, and what our course of action would be.

But he reiterated what God has spoken to me. This was our baby. No matter what.

A VERY stressful, tiresome and PRAYERFUL 4 weeks later, we were finally at the specialist for our follow up ultrasound. (Delays due to hospital communication, getting insurance approval, records being lost, scheduling conflicts, etc led to the long wait.) GI Joe and I were so nervous. We were both so nervous and scared for our baby.

The Maternal Fetal Specialist put the transducer on my belly and there he was. Such a beautiful little baby.

They looked around. They tried one position, then another, they searched. The cyst was gone.

Not smaller, not larger, it hadn't moved. It was gone. PRAISE BE TO GOD!!

I looked at my husband and our eyes just welled up. It was incredible. This baby boy was going to be born healthy. God had healed him!

He is our little miracle.

Our little miracle is now 4 months old. And his mama is trying to soak up every last little bit of his babyness while it lasts...

A Few Random Late Night Realizations

1. A big swimming pool is AWESOME in the summer heat. It has kept my big kids busy all day long! Just strap on their floaties and they go to town! I think we swam for 7 hours today. I even got in for a while when Bitty was napping. It keeps the kids from being bored and I am a HUGE fan of outdoor play. It gets the kids away from the TV and allows them for physical play along with the use of their imagination! Today the pool was everything from a volcano to a stage to a far off land to a baptismal font. (Yes, my kids proceeded to baptize each other. LOL)

2. I really really really miss just looking at my husband. I miss just watching GI Joe go about his things he does everyday. Get dressed. Shave. Play with the kids. Put his boots and dogtags on. Smile at me. I just miss being able to look at him. Yes I have pictures, lots and LOTS of pictures, but they aren't the same. I just am missing the guy like crazy.

3. Red onion and sausage pizza at midnight after a long day of swimming and missing your husband is really really very extremely good!

Overheard

Background Info: We just bought a 12 ft poot for the backyard. (And as a side note... I love how I still always say 'we' even though GI Joe in no way had anything to do with this purchase since he is 10,000 miles away... heck he doesn't even know we have it yet. Although he did supply the money for said purchase... Thanks babe!) It's one of those big ones that you have a filter for and it's chlorinated etc.

The Scene: The Boy and I went outside this morning to check on the pool since we just filled it up with water last night.

Me: Ewwwww honey, look... the birds pooped on our pool!
The Boy: EWWWWWW Mommy thats gross!!
Me: I know! Why do birds always try to poop on things? Like target practice??
The Boy: I don't know Mommy... but we should ask my sister... she goes to school.

Sadly, I don't think the topic of avian bowel movements are typical preschool topics.

You Wanna Know What Sucks....

...when you haven't talked to your husband in 9 days and then he finally calls at 3:30am, when you have THREE sleeping children in your bed because of an earlier thunderstorm, and you can't talk because you are utterly exhausted, and so he says he will try and call back, and he does 15 hours later, but you are in the car on base, so you have to put him on speaker phone, and you are on your way to Sonic for free root beer float night with the kids, and so you talk to him while ordering through the drive-in and eating said root beer float, and then he talks to the kids after you get home while you are tucking them in and finally, finally finally, when it is your turn to talk, without any interruptions, the cell phone dies.

Yeah, that sucks.

Overheard

I totally forgot to blog this, so here goes...

The Scene: Sitting in the van in a parking lot while I am nursing Bitty. The Boy is playing in the back seat, talking.

The Boy: Mommy...whacha doin'?
Me: Feeding your baby brother. Sit down please.
The Boy: Oh. I see. Booby.... Booby. Booby. Booby!
Me: Shhhh you don't need to yell that out.
The Boy: I just like saying booby. Booby booby.
Me: Shhhhhhh....
The Boy: I just can't help it... one more time, I... have... to... say... it... BOOBY! Ok I'm done.

Seriously... where does this kid get this stuff???

Best Shot Monday

Tracey wants us all to look at things differently this week. I saw this pesky little fruit fly out front. I have been at war with these little creatures all week! But here in this photo, I see it differently. So peaceful, just enjoying it's little leaf.