Want to Hug Me?

As I started typing this there is conversation going on in the other room. Michael, "Don't go back upstairs! Go give your mom a hug." I knew better than to even attempt a guess at what that was about. The next thing I hear is the pitter patter of little Gabi feet running to come see me. In she comes naked as could be. "Hi, MOM! Want to hug me?" Yes, I did give her a hug through my laughter.

I'm hoping that once I get settled into more of a routine with school and life, I will blog more than once a week. Once a week is better than nothing right? Things are going well. I've been able to slowly get my feet wet this semester in all my classes, and I've been doing a pretty decent job with keeping my house fairly in order. For those who know me well, keeping up with house by itself is huge!

The girls are doing well. Allisyn is still up tonight trying to finish her reading. She has been stalling all evening. I even heard her try to claim that this reading was boring. Usually she does not resist it this much. She has decided that she is not going to play soccer this spring. We asked her why; wanting to make sure she really didn't want to. Her response was, "Because it is outside, and sometimes it is so cold." We laughed at that one and told her that might not be the best reason not to play especially since the season doesn't start until March. She did say that she didn't think that soccer was really her sport and that she liked basketball more.

Piper on the other hand is ready to play soccer again. When she isn't actually playing basketball, she loves it and thinks she is awesome. When it comes time to play, it is hard for her and soccer is easier. It was kind of funny this weekend at her game she was standing right under the goal and got hit on the head, she looked down at me while rubbing her head. I gave her the double thumbs up she likes to give, and she frowned at me and shook her head no. She called out, "It's not cool, it hit my head!" I told her to shake it off and keep playing.  

We could have signed Gabi up for soccer since they let them play up a year, but we decided to wait. Piper's soccer and basketball coach is going to coach soccer for both of his boys and Gabi could have been on his other team. I know she will love it when she does start, but we decided for the lighter schedule this season.

 I need to start making notes of the funny things that happen during the week if I'm unable to blog more often because by the time I sit down to do it on the weekend, I don't remember too much. I think it is safe to say that Gabi is now officially out of our bed. We did have one night where after the sixth time of getting up with her, I tossed her on Michael's side of the bed and let her sleep with me, but we haven't had any repeats since then.

 

 

 

Ummm, where did the week go?

So we are now back into the swing of our regular routine. Everyone is back in school. I survived my first week back. I'm even a little ahead! I'm sure that won't last long, but it feels nice! It is going to be a pretty intense semester, but I think I have some good professors so that calms me down a bit.

The girls are doing well. Allisyn is in a sassy period and is driving me nuts. She also seems to think it is okay to wear the same socks for three days in a row. Yes, I did tell her that this was not a great idea. I am fairly certain we have discussed the importance of changing things like our socks and underwear daily, but apparently she needed a refresher in that lesson. She is doing well with school. We have some things she needs to work on, most of those have to do with more attention to detail and giving more effort. Her reading is doing really well, and her teacher wants her to start reading at a higher level to keep herself challenged. It's so awesome to see them make the connections and see their minds grow!

Piper is in a wonderful, loving phase. She likes to tell us that she has God and her family in her heart. It's beautiful and makes my heart very happy. The other day when I picked her up from school she was covered in grass. I asked why and her teacher explained they were rolling down a small hill outside. I asked Piper if it was fun, and she yelled yes! I love the way she loves life and enjoys the little things.

Gabi's speech is doing so well! The other day when we got home from Sonshine School, she told me she wanted to go swimming. I told her it was a nice idea, but we had two big problems. First it was too cold, and the second was we don't have a pool. She was pretty insistent that we could make it happen. The next she brought it up again, and I was forced to burst the bubble once more. I told her, we didn't have anywhere we could go swimming. She retorted that her daddy would find a place for her to swim. I wished her good luck on that. She has yet to bring it up with him. Right now she is in her room and I occasionally hear her yelling out Spanish words along with Dora.

We are doing pretty well following our meal plan. The hardest part is coming up with the plan. It's pretty easy to follow it once we come up with it. We had another possible big hit with the budget. Allisyn knocked my backpack off a chair and ended up splashing my laptop with water from the pets' water dish. When it happened, I didn't think it did anything because it didn't get that wet. None of my books in the same pocket got wet. The fall wasn't that far and it was surrounded by books so it didn't take all the impact. Unfortunately, when I went to pull it out later it wouldn't power up. We are hoping we can take it in and it will be something small and easy. Thankfully, I don't have anything I would hate to loose on it. Things need to chill out so I can start saving money for a trip to Minnesota! There is definitely going to be one this summer, but I would love to try to go before then!

Tomorrow night will be two weeks of Gabi sleeping in her own bed. She is doing such a great job! It is helping her work on being a big girl in other areas too! Still not showing much interest in losing the diapers, but I'm hoping it won't be long! That will be a nice break on the budget.

I'm really excited that school is out tomorrow! We should all get to sleep in and not have to get up and go somewhere right away. Hopefully it will be a peaceful day!

Ready, Set, Breath

We had a nice weekend. Miss Gabi is doing great at sleeping in her bed and has started referring to herself as a big girl instead of insisting that she is a baby. This morning her daddy brought her in to lay down with me when he was running Allisyn to school because she missed the bus. She slept for another 3 hours! Tonight will mark a week of her out of our bed and sleeping in her own! We have to get up and settle her back down and change diapers, but everyone falls back to sleep pretty quickly. Now if I could just Michael and the dog to stop snoring, I should be doing great with the sleep! Overall I feel a lot better since I have been getting more sleep, praise the LORD!!

The big girls both had basketball games this weekend. I missed Piper's game because I was picking up Allisyn from a birthday party. Michael said Piper did a great job and had a lot of energy. This is a great improvement for her. In the past she has been kind of sour and reluctant to play.  Allisyn is doing great with her basketball. We need to practice with her more to help her boost her confidence, but she has a lot of fun.

Saturday, Gabi had a really restless night. We weren't sure if she was coming down with something or what her problem was so we kept her home from church. Michael and the big girls went to Bible class and early worship. Gabi and I stayed home. When she finally woke up, she was really clingy and wanted to be close to mom. Allisyn and I went to the evening worship. We also accomplished our 2-week meal plan. Does anyone else have a problem with this? We have tried e-Meals in the past, but we didn't follow it too closely, partly because I'm a picky eater.

Today started the new semester. I logged into my online Nutrition class. I immediately wanted to log out and log back in to see if it would change.  It will be a heavier load than I was mentally prepared for, but I feel confident that I can do it! Tomorrow will be first Chemistry lecture. I'm trying not to psyche myself out. I know I can do it, I should have passed the first time around. Wednesday will be first nursing class and Chemistry lab. I'm more concerned with the lab part because the instructor I chose did not get the best reviews. I'm glad my first week of being gone all day the little girls will be with their dad. I hope it makes it easier for them.

Tonight began the first of our 9-week FPU refresher. Hopefully the third time is a charm and we will be able to permanently make the changes we need, to become better stewards of what God has blessed us with. Hopefully we will also keep up with Monday for the Master when FPU is finished. It's a great place for a cheap family meal with great fellowship and the opportunity to do service work for the Lord. It puts us home past bedtimes, but tonight Gabi was out when we got home.

Well time to shut it down and watch some Thunder basketball!! THUNDER UP!

The cleaning continued

Another successful night for Little Miss Trouble! It was a bit of a rougher night. Michael and I both had to get up with her a few times, but she slept and woke up in her bed!

This morning, while I was working on our budget, I walked into to the bedroom to get the laptop and I saw Michael pulling out the drawers of our dresser. It has not functioned properly for quite a while now. If you  know Michael, you know that being handy isn't really his thing. He will be one of the first to tell you that. So I was very proud and impressed when he was able to fix it. Now all the drawers slide in and out and can be used again! Since the clothes were out and need to be sorted and refolded anyway, I took the opportunity to do a little weeding out of my clothes. I have two trash bags ready to donate. While doing my weeding, I was thinking of a conversation we have going on on one of my mom boards. It helped me realize I really need to invest in some quality timeless pieces for my wardrobe. Pieces that will last. I have a not so great trend going on of buying cheaper, lower quality pieces, thinking I'm saving money, but then they wear out pretty quickly and I have to replace them. For now, I am going to make due with what I have and try to make it through the winter. I'm sure the clothing budget will be going towards the girls as they continue to sprout up.

This afternoon Michael took Forrest, our 9-year-old lab into the vet for his check-up. He has to take medicine to help his thyroid keep up. When we first took him in 2008 he weighed in at 96 lbs. We thought he was looking a little thinner and today he weighed in at 63 lbs. He had dropped about 8 since his last visit, but it's not a cause for concern. She suggested we up his food a little to see if he can put back on a pound or two. Other than that, everything looked good! He is such a great dog and loves the girls so much. Piper and Gabi can occasionally be found laying on him like a pillow. It is pretty precious!

I also got us signed up for our church's annual marriage retreat! We always enjoy getting to go and the girls always enjoy a weekend with Mamaw and Katy.

Well Little Miss Trouble is sitting on my elliptical having a meltdown because I told her Allisyn couldn't help her ride it. Her new favorite word, "WHY?" is being yelled at me. I'm pretty sure she started earlier than the other two. Good times.

The recovery of a seahorse, a turtle, and over 20 hair ties

Tonight is the fourth night of my final move to get Gabriella to sleep in her own bed. The past three nights have been successful! She did try to test the waters to see if her daddy was on board with the plan. When he held his ground and let her know that he was indeed on board, she went to bed without a fuss. About 1 a.m. the poor thing woke up with a dirty diaper and I think it took a minute to hear her because she was sitting on the end of her bed crying like she was wanting to come get someone. I felt bad, but at least I heard her. Michael had no clue that I had to get up with her or Piper last night. Thankfully both settled back to sleep quickly and I did not lose too much sleep.

So yesterday, being my last free Wednesday this semester save for Spring Break, I decided to straighten and clean the living room. No big deal, right? Well it started out as no big deal, but by the time we needed to get Piper ready for speech my brain was turning and ideas were formed. I FINALLY had an epiphany on how we could change up our living room. The way our cable is wired, it limits us to where the TV stuff can go. Add that limitation to the layout of our living room, and we got stuck for a while. Yesterday was the day that I had a breakthrough! Luckily, Michael agreed and he helped me out.

While we were moving some of the stuff around, we found two missing pieces to a favorite puzzle, the seahorse and the turtle. We also found over 20 hair ties. Our cat Molly is obsessed with hair ties. She sneaks into the bathroom every chance she gets to try to steal them. Apparently most of them get knocked under the entertainment center and bookshelves. She was very excited to see them again, but that excitement was deflated when we took them all away.  We finished up the living room this afternoon and I love it. The girls seem pretty excited about it too, which is always fun when they get excited about things.

Today was a lovely day. We dropped the little girls off at Sonshine School, had a quick breakfast, and we finally made it see The Hobbit! The day was made even better with all three girls having great days at school.  There were no visits to the office  today by Miss Piper who did not explain the situation very well at all. She was being very defiant to her teachers and was given the option to change her behavior or to go to the office. She chose the office. I seriously almost busted out in laughter when her teacher told me that. First, because I can totally see her doing that. Second, because I can see a little me doing the exact same thing at that age. I'm not exactly sure what took place at the office, but she now knows it is not a good thing to have to go.

Well Michael and Allisyn should be getting back from Allisyn's basketball practice soon, and I hear Miss Gabi up out of bed playing. Time to go remind her of the new rules.

Night Two Goes To MOM!

It is now 8 a.m. Allisyn is off to school, Michael is crashing around in the kitchen, and the little girls are still asleep. In their OWN beds!! Gabi fell asleep in her bed again last night! I changed her diaper before I went to bed and I did not hear anything from her all night. She did fuss a little when Allisyn slammed her bedroom door this morning, but then again so did I. I slept really well last night!

Today is my last Wednesday until spring break that I will get to be home with the girls. I have a three hour class then Chemistry lab starting next week. My wonderful sister Katy is going to help us out with the little girls the weeks that Michael needs to sleep. I am a bit saddened by this. This is the first time that we have had to get help watching the girls since I started back to school. I haven't felt too guilty about going back to school knowing the girls have been with their dad. I am very thankful that Katy can help out and they will be with someone they know and love, but it's still kind of hard.

I'm still waiting on one textbook to come in the mail, after that comes in, I will have all my books. Yesterday we got our new Financial Peace set in the mail. It looks kind of snazzy. We start back up next Monday. I am hoping and praying that we can stick with it this time.

Well I am off to read the two devotionals I am following. I think I am going to read one in the morning and one in the afternoon to help me stretch out my Bible studying over the day. Baby steps right?

Apparently my editing skills are better in the morning after 8 plus hours of sleep than they are before those 8 hours and running on only 4 hours of sleep from the night before. Michael didn't find anything that really needed to be changed this morning!

Night One Went to Me!

So last night was the beginning of me putting my foot down firmly for the LAST time about Gabi sleeping in her own bed. There have been a few attempts before. Some of those attempts had decent starts but something always happened that took us back to square one. Not this time. I may not get a whole lot of sleep this week, but I'm prepared. I think. At least I do not have anything needing great attention to detail this week. That is a plus.

So last night we left off with our conversation where Gabi tried to say she was still a baby, so she could sleep in our bed. I told her this was mom and dad's bed and Gabi had her own nice bed and she was going to start sleeping in it. She left in tears and returned to the movie she had playing in her room. I checked on her once and told her she needed to lay down on her pillow instead of sitting at the end of the bed. She begrudgingly complied. The next time I checked on her she was out cold!

Then of course I couldn't get to sleep. The first time I got myself settled she fussed, I went in, laid her back down and covered her back up and she went back to sleep before I left the room. Then when I was almost asleep at 2:30, she woke up again. This time I had to change the diaper, and get her some more water. This time she had a meltdown. She wanted momma. It was the moment I had to decide if I was really going to be strong, or if I was going to crack like I had all those times before. I took a deep breath, gave her a big hug, told her she was NOT coming to my bed. Tears came streaming, cries pierced the silence. I was afraid Piper would wake up. Thankfully, she slept through it all. I let her cry for a little bit while I sat on the stairs. Then I went back in and gave her another hug and  told her how much I loved her. Then I turned on her Leap Frog dog Violet and set her to 10 minutes of bedtime music. There were still screams and tears, but she calmed herself down. When the ten minutes were up, she asked for it again. She was almost asleep, so I turned it on one more time and went to bed.

I did not hear anything from her until I had to wake her up for Sonshine School. We praised her quite a bit for being such a big girl today. Hopefully we will get the same results tonight with fewer tears and screams. Hopefully I am not too tired to stand my ground if I need to.

Both of the little girls had a great first day back to Sonshine School. I have to talk to Piper's teachers on Thursday because she said she had to go to the office today yet I was told nothing. Something happened with a boy in her class, Piper's head, and her teacher not seeing what happened. I'm sure if it was something serious they would have let me know, but I feel bad not being able to help Piper feel better about it because I do not know what happened.

After I dropped them off, I stopped by campus to pick up a book I'm renting for the semester. My parking pass was in the other car so I had to park in the pay lot. It is a dollar for your first hour. Since I was only there for ten minutes, the guy at the pay booth let me go for free! It made my day. Since sleep was minimal for me last night, I just came home and did a few small things around the house and then watched four episodes of Doctor Who.

Tuesdays are Gabi's speech days with the wonderful Miss Nita. We were blessed to have her work with both Piper and Gabi. Today Piper and Gabi were working together and both of them were doing really well. It is exciting to see them improve. I wish we would have been more proactive when Piper was younger instead of listening to our pediatrician and waiting. Piper is making great improvements too, but I wish she would have had the same advantage as Gabi starting earlier.

Well, I'm off to try to convince the little one it is time to stop talking to her Pooh movie and lay down for the night.

Who doesn't eat sausage in the bathtub?

Today was Allisyn's first day back to school from break. The house felt weird without her. The little girls didn't seem to be bothered by it. They go back to Sonshine School tomorrow. I'm relieved, Piper needs an outlet. She drove us a bit nuts today. Michael went back to work tonight for two nights, then he is off for his regular week off.

Gabi has been really good at playing with herself. Today, while Michael took Piper to speech, Gabi got out her Minnie car and was looking for the Mickey car that goes with it. We went all over the house looking with her calling out, "Poor Mickey Mouse. Where are you?" It was cute for the first 5 minutes, after that, not so much.

Tonight we had breakfast for dinner. With my goal of eating more natural and less processed, we made from scratch. I don't think I will ever buy a mix again. We had sausage to go with the pancakes. When Dustin and Heather watched the girls for us while we went to the Thunder game, they made pancakes. Gabi ate their pancakes. She did not eat ours. We asked her why she was not eating our pancakes and her response was, "You're not Dustin and Heather." Feeling the love. When she got down from her chair she still had a piece of sausage. She loves sausage. First, she was spinning her circles in the living room with it. Then she followed Allisyn into our bathroom and talked Allisyn into helping her get into our bathtub. That is where she finished her sausage. Who does think the bathtub is a great place to finish your dinner? Especially if it is sausage. Then she continued to play in the tub for several minutes.

Right now all the girls are in their rooms watching their before bed movie. Gabi and I have already had our nightly discussion about how she needs to start being a big girl and sleep in her big girl bed. She tried to tell me she was still a baby, so she could sleep in my bed. I came back with this is mommy and daddy's bed, not Gabi's. She did not appreciate it and left the bed and room. We will see how it goes.

A Weekend to Myself and New Year Goals

Michael took the girls to Tulsa to spend the weekend at his parents.  I had bunco on Friday night, and I usually enjoy the weekend to myself. Unfortunately bunco was not all that fun for me this month and it left me in a bit of a funk. I did get some decent sleep both nights so that was a huge plus. I do enjoy a weekend to myself on the occasion, but this whole break from school has been a little weird. I don't feel like I've been completely able to relax. I always feel like I should be studying. Starting in a week, I'll be back to the grind, so I should totally enjoy it while it is available.

After waking up, I took a look at the dreaded budget. Yuck. We got hit with some major unexpected expenses last year, so we are going to have to be more diligent in staying on the budget. We are going to be going through FPU again. Maybe we will get it and stick with it this time? Dave Ramsey has updated it, so at least it will be newish...maybe. Hopefully.

Then I watched Hatfields and McCoys. I'm kind of spoiled. My Uncle Randy wouldn't let anyone else borrow it until I got the chance to. Even though, he knows it will take me a bit to get it back to him. It was really sad. I'm not sure I recommend it because it is very sad how much hatred they had and how much devastation it caused.

Then I returned to Doctor Who. I had taken a hiatus due to school, but I am back and will hopefully make some good progress within the next week. Even if I have to watch on my phone or iPad.

Also excited that Downton Abbey starts tonight! Season 3! So excited!

As I mentioned above, this break has seemed a little weird. I have a huge list of books that I want to read, but for the life of me, I just cannot seem to get into any of them. Totally not like me. I love to read. I love to escape, I love to stay up later than I should be getting lost in a book, but it totally hasn't been happening. I'm not even feeling crafty. I know what's going to happen, as soon as school starts back up and I need to dive into Chemistry and Nutrition and then I'm going to want to do anything but.

So I don't do resolutions because they don't ever hold up. I do try to make a few goals to try to shoot for. Sticking to the budget better is one. Strengthening my walk with God is on my list. I have signed up for a few plans to follow to help me actually get into the word. I've really slacked off on getting into the word. I have noticed a difference and I'm not proud of it. So encouragement and prayers would be appreciated!

I also have the goal of trying to make a meal plan and sticking with it.  Doing more of the cooking instead of letting 95% fall on Michael is one. I'm not holding my breath on this one, but I am going to try to make an effort. I'm not big on cooking. I like to bake, but that's not really great for the whole trying to eat healthier goal. So those are some things I'm going to strive for. Being more active is one too, but I usually stink at that one. We have the elliptical, but Gabi doesn't appreciate anyone using her jungle gym. We are actually considering selling it because we are afraid she will get hurt on it.

Battle of Wills

A lesson that my family would greatly benefit from is that I function better and I am a lot nicer when I get good sleep. I can even run on less sleep if I get good sleep. Gabi has a real hard time getting this. She is under the impression that she can come in, in the middle of the night and sleep with us. Sleeping with us wouldn't be so bad IF she didn't think she had to sleep ON TOP of me.

This morning started out like many others, with me begging Michael to please pull the child off of me so I would not fall off the bed. The picture above was the amount of room I had when I got up to go to the bathroom. Since she is in the parroting phase she repeated her dad's "And that's a problem because?" When I told her she took up too much space.

So today we, okay just me because Michael doesn't seem to be on board with me on this, talked about all the ways Gabi is a big girl and discussed how big girls sleep in big girl beds. Well, my side of the discussion praised her for being a big girl, her side of the conversation consisted of "Go! (No), I baby." It was accompanied by a lot of crawling and grunting since big girls walk and talk.

She wants to do everything her sisters do like painting, and glittering the table. She wants to play with their toys, she want to do things without help. She WANTS to be a big girl, except when it comes to sleeping in her bed. She isn't showing too much interest in potty training either, but after Piper, I'm not pushing that one. I just want some sleep!!

Yes, I admit there are some areas I want her to SLOW down with the growing up, but she can hurry up with the sleeping in her own bed. I woud be able to embrace all her (too big for her) antics if I had the proper energy to!!



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2013 Let's Begin Again

Hello blog world! It's been a while, a long while! Over a year. I've decided to try to give it another go at the blog. Last year was a good year. I'm tracking along at school. I have decided to change my major yet again. I feel that I can do God's work better working as a nurse than I could working in a crime lab or some other similar setting.  Wouldn't it have been nice if I would have stayed on this track in high school? Thankfully the Lord took me on a long detour that put me where I am today.

Our sassy princess is in first grade. She does very well and loves going to school. She is a wonderful big sister and fits the role of oldest child very well! My second to last blog was about her loosing her first tooth in Kindergarten. The new one has just started coming in within the past month! She is playing basketball and has said it is her favorite sport so far. She definitely has the height for it! She now has her own bedroom. We moved her upstairs to the guest room when Dustin moved out. She loves having her own room. It has increased the peace in our house.

Our spunky firecracker is doing her Pre-K at our Mother's Day Out like Miss A did. She is still in speech. She is making great improvements, but still has a long way to go.  She tends to get lazy and not want to put forth the effort needed. She is very detail oriented. She loves doing puzzles and we introduced her to Legos for Christmas. She is playing basketball too, but has not embraced it. She seems to enjoy soccer more. She is very loving and so full of life. She loves that she doesn't have to share a room anymore. Sometimes she takes it too far and doesn't want anyone to come in!

Little Miss Trouble is a handful and a half! She is also in Mother's Day Out and she is having a great year! She is also in speech, but she has made great improvements! I think it is because we had her evaluated as soon as we thought there was a problem instead of following the advice of waiting we were given with Miss P. She picks up so much from MDO and her sisters that she surprises us all the time with what she knows. She knows her colors, can count to 13 by herself, knows most of her alphabet! Neither of her big sisters had these tasks mastered before 2 1/2 so we are super proud!

Michael is still working nights at OU Children's. He still enjoys it. He is an amazing dad and wonderful husband. We are so blessed to have him.  He is very encouraging and patient, because Lord knows, I can be really difficult to live with. Coming up on the 5th we will celebrate 10 years of being together. I thank God for leading me on the path he did and blessing me with this amazing man.

I'm still working on trying to balance everything. Many times, I fail miserably, but there are usually lots of laughs in the process. This semester I will be facing my old nemesis. That's right, I will be taking on Chemistry, and I WILL come out on top this time! I have to, its required! Hehehe.