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.

Happiness is

Your sweet baby sleeping on your tummy smiling in her sleep.

My mom and sister are moving into their rental house tomorrow. Yay!! This means Gabriella's room is no longer occupied. Her bed is made up in her new bedding. There really isn't any reason why she shouldn't be trying out her new bed. Yet here she is, using my tummy as a pillow while I'm in an uncomfortable positioned leaning against the headboard. The other two didn't start sleeping in their rooms until closer to 2 and she is my baby and therefore I'm not going to rush it.



We seem to be making a little progress with Piper and her #2 training. Today was a total bust, but the previous days have been better.

Allisyn was being a big helper today and went and picked up Gabbie's room by herself without being asked and she told me, "It was a lot of work mom, but I used perseverance to get it done." It wasn't that much, but I loved the way she is using her vocabulary!

I'm hoping to order the little girls' Christmas presents this week and after that, I will only have to start gathering pictures for Great Grandparent's calendars and figure out what to get my dad. We aren't going overboard on Christmas this year. It's the first year in 6 years I won't be pregnant or be celebrating a 1st Christmas. I'm pretty excited about the holidays this year! Michael's work schedule sucks hard, but we will make it work for the best.

Well I should get to sleep so I'm not dragging for church in the morning. Hopefully everyone is feeling well enough to go, Poor Gabbie's tummy has been kind of questionable today.


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Hello

Every time I go to open my iPod I open up Blogger. I know right away I do it and usually close out before it even loads. Today I decided to let it load and give a few updates.

Alli lost her first tooth two days ago at school. She absolutely loves school and is devastated to have to stay home today because she is sick. She is such a great big sister and is growing up way too fast.

Piper had her teeth fixed, same thing Alli had done only it was 2 teeth instead of four. I think they genetically have bad teeth because we were very cautious and even if we had to sit on her (not with all our weight!) we would get those teeth brushed. After a seemingly rough transition to her new speech therapy she seems to be improving again! I think moving her to MDO at our church with her friends is helping too. If we can just get her to start doing her dirty business in the toilet instead of her pull-ups we will be happy. No amount of bribery or punishment has worked so far. I'm open to ideas if anyone has any.

Gabbie is growing up WAY to fast! I know, I know, they all do. She is walking and running everywhere. She hasn't started saying much yet. She is so loving and is a master manipulator. Everyone tells us it's because she is the baby. She really knows how to work her big sister. Allisyn tries to tell us "just give her what she wants." All the time. Piper isn't so easy to work over.

School is going well for me. I am going to have another small load hour-wise next semester. I don't consider Statistics 2 a small load, especially considering I took Stats I over 7 years ago. I'm not going to be able to start my Forensics classes until next fall due to scheduling, but we knew when I got started, I would be taking it slow.

Michael is still working nights and being the awesome husband and father that he is. We are truly blessed to have him in our lives.

My mom and sister have found a house (FINALLY) to rent here in Edmond. They will be moving up next weekend. We are so excited! With mom not occupying Gabbie's bed, we will start transitioning her to her bed. I'm excited for that!

Other random tidbits, we had to return our boxer to the rescue because she wouldn't get along with our lab. We miss her. We are going to try another boxer because they are great dogs and really good with kids.

I really miss my big brother. I am so thankful he is in Kuwait instead of Afghanistan like he was supposed to originally. I'm excited he gets to go Hawaii on leave, but I'm jealous we won't get to see him.

Well, that is an update.

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A long overdo update

Wow! It's been a while since I've been here. I'll try to keep the update short, but I know a few people really like to know what we have been up to.

Allisyn turned 5! For her birthday she and I took a trip to Dallas and stayed overnight. We went to the American Girl Store and she picked her first American Girl doll. She has started kindergarten and is going all day. We love her teacher and she enjoys riding the bus home. Even after getting put on the wrong bus, she still wants to ride. She has a few friends in her class and is making more each day.

Piper turned 3! She and Gabbie both celebrated their birthdays while we were on vacation to South Padre. On our way down, we stopped at the American Girl store again. This time so Alli could spend a gift card from Uncle Dustin and the little girls could get their bitty babies. Piper graduated out of Sooner Start and is transitioning into the Edmond School system for her speech therapy. During her evaluations to transition over we heard mAy times that she is really smart, and her testing shows she it at or above the curve on everything except for expressive speech. Hopefully we will continue on with her therapy soon. We are still working on her potty training. She had the number one down, always has issues with number 2, and is regressing a little with number one. Hopefully we will get that straightened out soon.

Gabriella turned 1! Our sweet baby is growing up. She still isn't walking, though she could if she would quit over thinking it. She takes 2-4 steps here and there and then realizes what she is doing. She has 3 teeth and is working on more. She and Piper will be starting MDO at our church next month. I think Gabbie is going to greatly benefit from it. We know Piper loves it. She is such a joy. She has Alli's flair for drama and some of Piper's ability to be a "mess!"

We just got the big girls bunk beds. So far is has improved sleeping habits. Piper is the one who needed improvement. She still tries to come to our bed every now and then, but not as much.

My mom has fount a job here in the city! She and my sister are looking for a place to rent and they will be moving here. Right now, mom is staying with us during the week.

We really enjoyed our first family vacation to the beach. We can't wait to do it again. It was really nice not having anything we had to do, or anywhere we had to be.

I started back to school. I'm only taking 6 hours this semester to help ease back into it. My first week in and I love it!

Michael and I celebrated our 7th anniversary! I'm so thankful God blessed me with him as my husband. He does so much for our family, and does it without complaint. We are definitely blessed to have him in our lives.

I'll try to post pictures soon.

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Thirty and a day!

So yesterday was my 30th birthday and it was pretty wonderful. I got to sleep in, had birthday cake for breakfast, got 3 singing cards! When a Man Loves a Woman from Michael, Somewhere Over the Rainbow from Alli, and You'll Be In My Heart from Piper and Gabbie. They were strategically placed throughout the day! My gift was a beautiful charm picture frame holder that was engraved.

We went to Friday's for lunch, mainly because we knew we had a decent shot of the girls eating. It was nice.

Our day then had a sour ending with an uber cranky Gabbie, and Piper pooping in my floor which caused us to miss church. Then Michael had to go back to work after having a week and a half off.

The very end had a sweet surprise as my friend Jen had her sweet baby Cole on my birthday! Ha! It was actually a huge blessing for them as his daddy has to go out town for a week and they were worried he might decide to come when his daddy was gone.

Well my little miss cranky pants is demanding all my attention. Must go try to appease her. I'm so glad she got a slot into Sonshine school in the fall. She'll be in the smaller class, but she needs to learn to be happy away from momma!









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Tomorrow I turn 30

And I embrace it! I am in such a happy place with my family. God has blessed me beyond measure. Tomorrow, I am going to try my hardest to forget about the hurts of those close to me and totally enjoy my family and my blessings.

To celebrate turning 30, I chopped off and donated my hair. I got about 8 inches which they won't use, but they will sell to help with costs. I love it!



Before




After

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