Rambling

I should be doing something to help us be more settled into our house right now but instead I am "trapped" in Paige's room helping her sleep. We are trying to start some sleep training with her helping her sleep on her own, she is a great sleeper at night but her naps leave a little to be desired. Kim's suggested as he walked out the door that we both snuggle up together and take a nap. As lovely as that sounds, that will not solve the long term problem of helping her learn to sleep. I don't like this part of parenting an infant. But, it must be done. With Natalie the process seemed hopeless until it worked. And work it did, she is a GREAT sleeper. As least I have that to look forward to with Paige. So, as I am typing away I am taking lots of breaks to retrieve her passie, etc. Does she not realize that if she would just leave it in her mouth her/my life right now would be a lot easier. When she finally drifts off to sleep she is so peaceful. Is there anything in this world sweeter than a sleeping baby??
So, what else have we been up to? Unpacking lots of boxes!!! Natalie got her big girl bed and we have been decorating her room, the first room that we are "finishing". Next is Paige's room, then their bathroom.
We had a great trip to Florida to visit Dave. 11 hours in the car with the girls but we all survived. We drove with my mom and dad so that made the time in the care more fun! We had several days to play on the beach. Natalie LOVES the beach, loves it! She loves the ocean, doesn't care at all when she has sand all over her little body, loves digging, loves it. We also went to Sea World one day since Dave is only an hour from Orlando. Sea World was, well, an adventure. The low points:

• It was 120 degrees. not really 120, but it was HOT.
• Natalie got sunscreen in her eyes and was a little tired already not a good combo.
• Kim had a migraine, the world's worst place to have a migraine!

The high points:

• The shows were awesome! The dolphin show made my mom cry. Natalie is still doing the Shamu cheer.
• Natalie had a great time, especially after a nap in the stroller. She is probably a bit too young to get the most out of it.
• The Budweiser Hospitality Pavilion.
• My mom had an awesome time, she loves animals. loves them.
• Sea World has roller coasters now, I was not aware and I did not get to ride them but they looked really cool and when we go back, I will.

What else...we have having a great time getting back into life in Winston. I do love it here. This is home. I realized that I don't have ANY pictures of Paige developed. Perhaps I should stop blogging and hop on over to Shutterfly. Or perhaps Paige is finally "sound asleep" and I can leave...

Time with friends, pray answered

Wow, it was a long time ago that I posted this.
One of the perks of being back in Winston is that we get to hang out with the Lenham family again. We had dinner with them last night and I cannot believe how well Claire is doing!! She has been seizure free for 7 weeks. She is so interactive. She wants to be hugged and sit on your lap. She is a sweet, sweet girl and you can tell that she is really trying to communicate with others. What an amazing thing to witness and see. Praise God! Claire and I had a neat relationship when her seizures started. She would see me come through the door and say, "It's Wee!!" She seemed so excited to see me. When we were coming into their house last night she pointed at me with delight in her eyes and it melted my heart. She does point at lots of things these days but to feel like she remember me made me feel great!!
On a selfish note, Jeanne went out of her way to buy me dairy free ice cream Yes, there is such a thing. She is an awesome friend!

Natalie Quote

Natalie: Mommie, may I hold Paige on the boppy?
Me: Sure, that sounds great.
Natalie: I'm not going to feed her.
Me: OK.
Natalie: My num-nums don't have any milk in them.
Me: Nope, they sure don't.
Natalie: We should go to the store and buy some to put them so I can feed Paige.
Me: Well....

What a week

I wish I had better news to report. I don't. Chief is no longer with us, he is with Jesus.

He died at the same moment I was leaving to drive to North Carolina. I had made the decision that if he was alive when it was time for me to leave that I would head south but if he had passed away I would head north. For some reason, he was pushing me South. I had not driven a tenth of a mile and my phone rang. It was my mom. I knew from the tone in her voice that he was gone. At first, I did a u-turn. Then, I did another u-turn. I knew that I had to keep heading south. Natalie would not survive another change in plans, it was getting too late in the day, I just needed to keep driving. Thankfully Natalie had already fallen asleep when I got the call and I could cry as much as I wanted/needed to.

We knew that his death was coming. His body never got strong enough for surgery. They made him a hospice patient on Monday afternoon and told us that he would live about 24-48 hours. He lived about 49 more, he had to fight. He clinged to life until all of my dad's brothers and sisters were there with him. He passed away about a minute after the last one arrived.

I love my Chief. He was a great man. I am going to miss him.

There are still LOTS of boxes to unpack. Unpacking with two children around while you are emotionally and physically exhausted is not easy. Right now I feel like I will be unpacking for the next 10 years!

Some updates

Natalie appears to be on the mend, she still has a low-grade fever but appears to be fine when the Motrin is working.

Chief has decided that he wants to have surgery. I had no idea that he was with it enough to make that decision but evidently he is. I am not surprised. He will not go without a fight, that I am sure of. So, he is getting his chance to fight. They are going to intubate him today to help with his breathing, give him platelets and get him as strong as they can to go to the OR in the morning. Please pray for him.

It's pouring

When it rains, it pours.



I was crying before Kim left for work yesterday morning saying that I didn't want to face the day and that was before I knew everything that the day would have in store. All I knew was that several people would be coming over to say their good-byes and I didn't want to deal with the emotion of that.



Around lunch time my uncle called my dad (mom and dad were here with me to help out and then take Natalie with them while the packers/movers were here). My uncle told my dad that my grandfather was very sick and that they needed to think about heading to NJ. Not good. My grandfather has been in the hospital since late Tuesday because he appeared to have a really bad stomach bug/food poisoning and started having some rectal bleeding. He is 89 years old, has diabetes, not the strongest heart...Yesterday they found out that he appears to have ischemia of the lower intestine, not good. My dad's family is faced with some tough decisions to make, none of which will probably have a good outcome.

Mom and dad were getting ready to leave when Natalie woke up from nap with a fever of 102.2.

I cried a lot yesterday. I am not ready to lose my only remaining grandparent. I love my Chief. Just two weeks ago he walked my cousin down the aisle. None of us are ready for this. I have NO idea how I will get everything done that I was planning on doing with both girls here. But even if I do not, we will make it to NC and sort it out when we get there.

I should be...

• Taking a shower
• Going through closets
• Calling the utility companies
• Working
• Cleaning out the fridge
• Reading a parenting book (Natalie's behavior has been terrible the past few day, TERRIBLE!!)

But I am here blogging. Why? Because it is relaxing me and bringing a little bit of peace to my day.

I am really sad today, really sad. The tears have fallen, lots of them. I know that we will make it through this transition. I am really excited about being back home. But today I am stuck thinking about how much I am going to miss my friend, Sarah.

We have lived life together since I have been here. We see each other nearly everyday. We talk everyday. She is my friend I can talk about anything with, the minor things in life and the major. I know that I have dear friends waiting for me in Winston and that is the only thing getting me through. I can't put into words how much I am going to miss her. She has blessed my life so much.

I am sad for Natalie. I have a feeling her sadness is the root of her TERRIBLE behavior. She and Madeline are best buddies and I know that she will miss her.

Change is hard, not to mention stressful. Stress makes me overly emotional which is not a good combo. Wow, it could be a long week.

Pictures Needed

Yes, I am aware that blog posts are much less interesting without pictures....I will get back to pictures, soon.

Peewee Paddlers

Natalie finished up swim lessons today. I am bummed for her. The way that she improved in just 6 weeks was amazing. The girl is by no means swimming on her own yet but she made great strides and learned to trust herself in the water so much more.

I loved watching her each week and listening to the pride in her voice as she said, "Look at me, Bruce, I did it! I did it!" Or, "you put my belt on and I didn't sink!" I love watching her confidence grow!!

It was good for me too. By the end of the six weeks, I wasn't pacing the pool. Here's to more swimming lessons!!

Father's Day II

Happy Father's Day to the greatest Dads ever!! My hubby and dad.

They both got fabulous t-shirts for the big day. I will have to post a picture of them...

Naps

It happened for the first time today. Both girls napped at the same time for over 2 hours!! Praise God!!
I got lots of work for my job done, woohoo!!
Kim's mom and dad came up this weekend to help us out, i.e. watch the girls so that we could get some stuff done. What a blessing! We were able to get tons done and feel like we might be ready to move in 10 days, wow.
OK, I need to go get some more done.....

Earth to Leigh

So, I stole the title to this post from my dear friend's blog because it seemed so appropriate.

The closing went really well. We had a great time hanging out in our big empty house on air mattresses. We started the weekend with pizza night with our best buddies in town, the Greenes and the Mussers. Since we moved two years ago three children have been added to the mix and we are now a lot of people!!! The girls found a SNAKE in by backyard and for those of you who know me, that didn't go over too well.

My brother, sister-in-law, mom, dad, mother and father-in-law joined in the fun too. Kim had way too much fun mowing the yard and breaking in the new grill. Natalie ran around talking about her "new house" all weekend. On the way back to Virginia she kept saying she didn't want to go to hear "plane house".

We spent last week recovering from the trip and preparing for another big weekend. My cousin, Stephanie, got married at the Jersey Shore and we made the trip up. So much fun! So much family time!! Natalie had a blast! She kept talking about being FANCY!! I wish I felt like I had the space in my life to write about the weekend more, but I don't...

This week we are recovering from another crazy weekend and preparing to move in just 13 days. The movers will be here on the 24th!! Kim had his first official graduation function last night. I am so proud of him! I know that he is amazing and think that he is great but to hear others talk about him makes my heart swell with pride. i am a lucky woman.

I had emotional breakdown number 1 this morning. I feel so overwhelmed!!! I am moving in 13 days! I am nursing a newborn which means not much wine and she won't let me eat chocolate or ice cream either!!! My biggest indulgence is a italian ice, come on people....

Ok, more random thoughts updates to come. I really need to blog about my trip to the grocery store yesterday but there is no time now.

Tomorrow

We leave today to close on our house tomorrow. I am so excited and nervous. I can hardly believe that tomorrow that house will be ours! We are staying in Winston for the weekend to celebrate. This is will Paige's first roadtrip. We will see how it goes...

Another new baby!

Gabriel David Reames was born yesterday. He weighed 7lbs and 14 oz. Another potential husband for Paige, I love it!

Natalie Quote

Last night in the bathtub...

Mommie, I just blew bubbles with my bottom!!

Suggestion

Dear God,

When you get a moment, I have a suggestion. When you are creating and knitting together our children, I think you should install an LCD screen. A small screen on the forehead would do the trick. I think the screen would do a better job of cluing us clueless parents in than crying uncontrollably. The screen could tell us what to do to solve the problem...

• Feed Me
• Change Me
• Burp Me
• I'm sleepy
• My tummy hurts
• I'm hot
• I'm cold
• My clothes are annoying me
• I'm not sure....

I think it would make everyone's life better!! Thanks for your time!

Woohoo!!

Timothy Reed Musser is here! We can't wait to meet him. He weighs 6lbs and 2oz. Lindsay and Tim are doing well. Congrats!!

I'm excited

So, I have had some up and down, sort of blah days. I am so psyched that SYTYCD starts tonight. Woohoo!! Get the TiVO ready. I will confess that I started watching "Dancing with the Stars". I love dancing shows. I think I will try to talk Kim into ballroom lessons one day....

Updates...

So, here is what has been happening at our house...

1. I had a wonderful Mother's Day. It started with Natalie's sweet little face peeking at me saying, "Happy Mother's Day, Mommie". Then she said "Let's go make mommie's lunch!" Umm, how about breakfast, I didn't sleep in. Sunday was also one of the first days that Paige started giving lots of smiles. So sweet!
   
2. Natalie's behavior is greatly improved. Early last week I was ready to trade her in on a new model...She has also taken to using the potty again, I am so thankful.


3. Paige has some sort of GI distress happening. We are still trying to find the cause. We are not sure if it is coming from a foremilk/hindmilk imbalance caused by my CRAZY oversupply of milk (we are working on that) or some sort of allergy/sensitivity. She already weighs 12lbs and 10 ounces (gained 4 pounds in 5 1/2 weeks) which goes along with my theory of too much milk on my part. I am also eliminating dairy from my diet to see if that helps. It is really hard to eliminate dairy. That mess is in everything!!
   
4. We are getting really excited about our move.
   
5. Natalie started swim classes.
   

Clarification and sweet picture

So, I am realizing after reading the comments from my supportive and loving friends that my last post made me sound a little too pitiful! I am actually doing well, I think, with the Mommie of two thing. I had several other obligations last week that were keeping me busy but they are done now! I had my last MOPS meeting as the Hospitality coordinator and helped to hostess a baby shower for my dear friend, Sarah. Done!! Now, I can concentrate more on my girls, Natalie's behavior could use some concentrating these past couple of days, getting ready to move and my job.

I am doing well, really, but am also starting to understand that lots of changes in our life is meaning lots of added stress. They are all good changes, the addition of a baby, buying our house, getting out of this townhouse which is feeling smaller by the day, Kim finishing training, Kim starting a new job. We are super-excited about all of these things but they are wearing on us. Deep breath. We will make it.

Here's to more blog entries in the next few weeks, getting some pictures organized and ordered, and throwing some crap out so that is doesn't get moved to the new house. I am giving up on Paige's cross-stitch for the next few months, my new goal will be to complete it by, what should we say, Christmas.

Here is a picture of Paige that I should have taken a week and a half ago when she was 4 weeks old, not 51/2 weeks old. Dang, time FLIES with the second child!! (I am beginning to understand some of the second-child complexes that my brother has...)