Thankful Thursday ~ 2.24.11

You are probably getting tired of hearing about how amazing my husband is by now.  But really, I do not know how we would have made it through this pregnancy without his amazingness!

He is so caring and loving and protective of myself and our little Cupcake!  We found out yesterday that I am starting to dialate just a little and that I needed to 'chill out' so he is checking up on me and once again has taken over all household responsibilities.  I basically just run my daycare during the day and rest in the evenings.  Though for how often I get up I am seriously considering going to bed right after work and doing the up and down thing until morning!  Haaha!

He is making sure with the melting snow and then freezing ice that I do not walk without a good grip on his arm and making sure I am eating well to provide enough nutrition for Cupcake.  Tonight even though he has been busy every night this week instead of relaxing he will be hanging up the wall decor for the nursery because this pregnant lady cannot dream of bringing a baby home to an 'unfinished' nursery (and my parents are coming this weekend {as long as they can get through the snow} and I would really like to show off the mostly completed nursery to them!

Anyway, I am thankful for the amazing husband that God has blessed me with.  I do not know why I was so fortunate to be the woman to marry this man....but seriously, I don't deserve how amazing he is. 

I love you Handsome...you are the most AMAZING husband and AWESOME daddy anyone could ask for!

People Around

Today I have been thinking a lot about the people around my life.  When we have been through different adoption/foster care trainings we have been told to make a dot (that was me) make a small circle around the dot (immediate family) make a larger circle around that one (close friends, non immediate family) and to start making little circles that interact with each of the other circles.

A person can quickly have a very messy, busy page!  I look at the fact that we have been in 6 churches officially since we have been married (not counting the ones that Handsome just preached in and we met wonderful people there too!) But also friends through family or business or adoption or foster care or the list goes on and on!

As you look at your social network how many friends do you have?  Does that even begin to touch the number of people in your life?  Mine doesn't, I used to have close to 600 friends on there but have since realized I would rather just keep in touch with those that are not 'negactive connections.'  So have cut it down a great deal.

But still, I have 2 parents a married brother, 5 Aunts & Uncles, 12 cousins (7 of whom are married w/17 total children), Elementary & High School Classmates, church friends from back in the day, College friends, Opera House friends, friends of the family...etc etc etc.  The list could go on and on.

So where is this going?  Well, I have been thinking about how terrible it is that we do not connect with people more...with all the latest and greatest technology it should be easy to keep in touch with as many people as you would like.  I look at pictures of family and friends often and rarely comment.  (Though lately it has been in the middle of the night when my mind is not exactly clear so who knows what the comment would say!)  BUT, still, why should we go so long in between 'coversations' with people.  I am thinking specifically of my cousins and their famlies right now....I have a picture in my 5 picture rom on FB of my cousins on my Dad's side and myself at our Grandpa's gravesite.  I look at it every day and wonder how they are all doing, yet I do not communicate with them often!  Granted we range in age alot!  My oldest cousin is probably around 45 and my youngest is 22 and with me being 28 there is a pretty good difference! 

BUT, again, that shouldn't stop me from interacting with them! 

I am going to try harder to stay in touch with family and friends!  (Not my smartest time to decide this with a new baby coming soon and possible adoption this summer!)  But I will try!

34/36 Weeks!

 14 weeks!

 15 weeks!

 16 weeks!

 17 weeks!

 18 weeks!

 20 weeks!

 22 weeks!

 23 weeks!

 24 weeks!

 25 weeks!

 28 weeks!

 29 weeks!

 30 weeks!

 32 weeks!

33 weeks!

The weeks until we get to meet Cupcake are getting less and less!  What an amazing thought to have!  The weeks listed under the pictures coordinate with our April 2nd due date, but would could be 2 weeks farther along than that so that is why the post title says '34/36 weeks!'  We are trying to be patient in waiting for her arrival, but it is getting more and more difficult!  Just cannot wait to see our chubby little Cupcake!

Little Builder

My Sunshine has been working very hard at figuring out how to build stable structures with his Lincoln.Logs for over a month now!  This is by far not the most impressive piece he has built, but the one Mama finally woke up and took a picture of!  As you can see he is very proud of himself for accomplishing what he does accomplish!  One time he had a goal of using as many of the logs as he could in his building and he used most of them, another time he tried to build what he saw on the box and did a great job!  So proud of my little Sunshine!

Hugs

Some people think hugs are just something little...I think a hug is a huge encouragment and a way to share your love (whatever love it may be) with someone.  You can tell someone you are concerned, you understand, you love them, you hurt for them, you celebrate with them, and many other things through a simple hug.  Nothing has to be said, but a hug can say it all!

Our Pastor gives me a hug often and asks, "how are you doing/feeling"...do you know that really says something to me!?!?

A 'almost' family member that has been around our family since my dad was a little boy is this tiny little lady but she gives the most amazing hugs!  Whenever we get 'home' and go to church in LB I always look forward to seeing Judy and getting caught up in the strong grip of her hugs!  It amazes me how strong she is! 

I get hugs from my little Pumpkins often, just tonight two sisters were going out the door and I asked if I could have a hug and before I knew it I was getting hugs from them and another little boy! 

A friend of mine who has a 6 week old baby while she was still pregnant would hug me and wiggle and joke about how our babies were playing together! 

My husband just last weekend, I was sitting on our bed crying because of some hurt that was caused by another person and while he didn't know what to say...Handsome came beside me and held me in a tight hug and let me cry.  Sometimes you don't need words, you just need a hug!

Princess has taken to hugging my belly so Cupcake doesn't get left out!

The list can go on and on about what a hug can do.  I will never forget some peoples hugs...my Grandma A used to pat me on the back every time she hugged me.  My Grandpa D used to squeeze very tight while saying 'bye-bye now'at the same time.  I will never forget how my little Pumpkin R squeezes my neck so hard when he wakes up I almost think I need to make a chiropractor appointment!  Or Judy's hug...or how my cousin C hugged me on my wedding day and whispered 'you look beautiful'...I don't remember ever getting a hug from him before! 

Hugs are amazing...and while I do not suggest just running up to random strangers and giving them a hug to boost their day, I do suggest maybe adding a hug here and there to friends and family that you love 'just because!' 

Yes, I am thankful for HUGS!

Our Cupcake!

 We were able to have another look at Cupcake on Valentines day to see if she was still measuring ahead...she was!  She is beautiful!  We cannot wait to meet her!

 The ultrasound tech. said she could see hair on her head and that she is 'plump!'  I can clearly see she has chubby cheeks!  So basically we could have a baby any time or we could have another month left to go!  We are on pins and needles waiting to meet her!

Valentines Weekend pt 2

 We closed out the weekend playing Hi Ho Cherry-O and Candy Land!  Our kids thought it was a beautiful way to do it, though the getting ready for bed when we were done wasn't the easiest of nights...but we had fun while it lastest!

 Concentrate!

Cannot wait to see if we are a family of FIVE or SIX for Valentines 2012!

Valentines Weekend

 Pottery 2 Paint ~ Princess making a pizza plate!

 Sunshine making a piggy bank!

 Hard work on everyone's part!

 She put red 'polk-E-dots' on top for pepperoni!

 Sunshine thought his piggie needed glasses, so Handsome put some on...would have been a really cute pig without them!

 Psalm 119:105 is their very first Sunday School memory verse! 

Every Valentines weekend for the last 3 or maybe even 4 years we have had a 'family weekend.'  We usually take the Friday before V-day off and get a hotel for two nights so we can swim and just have a fun family day!  This year with me being SO pregnant I didn't want to sleep in a bed other than my own and really didn't feel like swimming so we just spent Saturday together as a family.  We went to the local pottery store and the kids each picked a project...Daddy broke the rules by helping Sunshine way MORE than he was supposed to, but the kids had fun any way!  We were given OliveGarden giftcards for Christmas so we used them for our lunch date and then we did a little shopping!  It was a fun LONG day (we actually closed down the mall!) 

While we are not huge on traditions, our kids are starting to remember certain things and that is fun to me!  Valentines family weekend, I believe, will be sticking around for years to come! 

Thankful Thursday

*WARNING*

Some people may think I am a little crazy after reading post! 

*WARNING*

Today I am thankful for a four letter word, one that has become rather 'dirty' in many of your minds, especially thins year.  But to me it is so much more than just a four letter word!  You also have to take into account where we live, this four letter word isn't such a curse around here, it is actually welcomed rather nicely around here!  Know what I am talking about yet? 

SNOW!!!!!!

I know, many of you have been hit hard this year but I look at snow as a way to start over; give the world a fresh start.  It is always so beautiful the morning after a snow when you look out and see the sun shining like diamonds across the fresh, white snow!  It is beautiful!  You can also see all of natures tracks and what they have been up to over night.  We have deer, squirls, bunnies, and even mountain lions around here and it is always fun to see their footprints.  Though I must admit when I saw a mountain lions paw prints in the snow last year it kind of freaked me out a little...right through our back yard between the swing and the 'castle' climber.  But other than the fresh start, snow also adds a little bit of brightness to the scene.  In the winter when the trees are bare and brown, the grass is brown, the landscape is rather dreary....along comes beautiful bright white snow to liven things up a little!

The kids always get excited about it too....while they are not huge fans of playing in it for hours on end, they do enjoy it here and there for short periods of time!

But it also reminds me so much of something else that is rather ugly that was made clean!  Our nasty sin is washed 'white as snow' through the blood of Jesus!  He died on the cross for our sins so that all we need to do is accept Him and He will make us pure and give us a home in heaven one day!  How amazing, think of all the terrible things we have done and imagine someone else remove those terrible things from our lives at the cost of their suffering!  We do not even deserve it!

So I am thankful for snow, it is only here for a season (a rather long one) and then it will give way to the beauty that Spring brings with fresh grass, beautiful flowers, and adorable babies of all kinds!  I am also excited that this year we will not only be seeing the baby birds and other animals but we will be seeing our very own baby!  Cupcake! 

What are you thankful for today?

"You Are MY Sunshine"

When Princess and Sunshine were little tiny babies, I sang 'You Are My Sunshine' to them every morning when they first woke up.  Over the years it has become 'Sunshine's Song' so much so that he heard it on my Patch blog the other day and said, "Mommy, it is MY song!"  I think it is cute...we all know the words to the chorus, and maybe the first verse...but did you know there is A LOT more to this song?

You Are My Sunshine

My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away


The other nite, dear,
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
When I awoke, dear,
I was mistaken
And I hung my head and cried.


You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.


I'll always love you
And make you happy
If you will only say the same
But if you leave me
To love another
You'll regret it all some day;


You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.


You told me once, dear
You really loved me
And no one else could come between
But now you've left me
And love another
You have shattered all my dreams;


You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.


Louisiana my Louisiana
the place where I was borne.
White fields of cotton
-- green fields clover,
the best fishing
and long tall corn;


You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.


Crawfish gumbo and jambalaya
the biggest shrimp and sugar cane,
the finest oysters
and sweet strawberries
from Toledo Bend to New Orleans;


You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away


When I first read the rest of the song I was bummed, because it is about two people that go different ways after being in love....how could that be a song I have 'given' to my son.  But then as both are getting excited about being 5 next, they do grow up quickly and before we know it they will be married and not need us as much as they do now!  So it can still apply!  I love that my son and I have this special thing between us.  He is my handsome little man, and his smile really does bring sunshine to my life! 

Love you Sunshine!

My 'Funny' Little Issues

So I have this thing, okay so I have lots of 'things.  But this one in particular is how a smell can instantly bring me back to a certain event, place, time, thought, moment, memory....it can be days, months, or years ago. 

But one 'thing' is how the smell of lavendar brings me back to when my little Princess was a baby.  To me little girl babies should smell like lavendar ~ that just the way it should be!  Any time I smell it I think of the week that her and I stayed in a small little apartment in her birth state many miles away from home and Daddy!  I used lavendar soap and lotion on her from the beginning and now that smell brings me back to her tiny baby days!

So naturally, since Cupcake is a girl, my thought is that the very same scent should be used for her so I can remember them both as babies by smelling the beautiful purple scent!  So much so that I had to buy a special body wash for myself to use at the hospital and shortly after we get home so that I will be brought back to the very first few days of her life!  While we were shopping today I told Handsome my thoughts and expected him to think I was crazy (I already had some stocked up body wash and lotion packed in my hospital bag...but it wasn't sitting well with me!)  He either didn't want to disagree with a pregnant lady or he really did think it was logical.  He does know how scents bring me back and he knows what 'smell goods' he should stay away from because they bring me back to the other couple of guys I dated before him....not what a husband wants to do!  So we spent 10 minutes in the body wash isle trying to find an adult lavendar body wash and there was only one.  Not one I would have normally chosen because of the brang, but there was one....and we bought it!  My next shopping trip I plan on parking it in the lotion isle to find a same scented lotion to use too! 

Oh the craziness...and I cannot even blame this one on pregnancy!

Thanks Handsome for understanding!

Belly Button Song

My kids have been soaking up all sorts of things lately, and have enjoyed 'silly songs with Larry' on Veggie Tales!  Just Friday we were watching the "God Made You Special" one and they were all of a sudden cracking themselves up while I was making lunch!  I had to peak on them without letting them know I was there to see what was up...it had gotten to the 2:59 part of this video and they were singing the 'UH UH' part and it literally had my kids laying on the floor laughing!  I am thankful that my children still find such sweet and innocent things funny!  I pray it stays that way for a while!

(you may want to pause the music player at the bottom of the blog)

32 weeks! (or 35...)

We are officially at 32 weeks with the possibility of being up to 35 weeks along in our pregnancy. Each day that goes by makes it more and more difficult to wait any longer to meet our precious Cupcake, but I know God is in control and when He knows she is safe He will bring her 'birth'day! I cannot wait for that day, but in the mean time I am enjoying all of the pokes and bumps she is giving me on a regular basis!



Mommy, Daddy, Princess, and Sunshine are waiting for you Cupcake! We love you and cannot wait to meet you!

Churros

Just ran across this and think it sounds good!  Might have to try it sometime! 
*EDIT*Just made them tonight and they are pretty good, at least I think so!*

Churros


Oil for frying
1 cup water
4 ounces butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all purpose flour
3 eggs

Prepare to fry the churros by heating 1 to 1 1/2 inches oil in a deep pan to 360 degrees F.

To make churro dough, heat water, butter and salt to rolling boil in 3-quart saucepan; stir in flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute; remove from the heat. Beat eggs all at once; continue beating until smooth and then add to saucepan while stirring mixture.

Spoon mixture into a piping tube with large star tip. Squeeze 4-inch strips of dough into hot oil. Fry 3 or 4 strips at a time until golden brown, turning once, about 2 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels.

My kids!

I have to say, once again, that I LOVE being a mama!  There are days that are trying and difficult, but at the end of the day when these two precious kiddos say their verses and share what is important to them that we pray about it just melts my heart every time!  Or the best is when they are REALLY tired and do not really know what they are talking about and start saying stuff that doesn't make any sense!

While I have to admit 4 isn't my favorite year, it has been fun so far!  Their minds, imagination, thoughts, hearts, playtime, and love for people and tasks is encouraging and amazing!  I love listening to them play and talk to each other just to hear what is going on in their minds!

I have been blessed beyond measure with these two beautiful people....they are everything to my husband and myself!

February 2011

Happy February! 

*This month is the first of 3 that our daughter COULD be born (since we do not really know our due date!)
*This month Handsome and I will celebrate 8 1/2 years of married life!
*This month holds VALENTINES DAY (a big thing in my book!)
*This month will start off very cold, but we could also see some nice temps too!
*This month holds no negative memories for me! 
*This month will be a good one!