Ashley Learning to Crawl

I found this old video from a year ago when Ashley was learning how to crawl. Look for the prize she is aiming for that you see at the end! LOL. It's so funny how fast they grow!

OB Update and 3D Ultrasound

Today was my 30 week OB visit and I was really looking forward to it because I wanted to talk about my kidneys (I know, who doesn't? ha ha). I don't have the same pain I used to have but sometimes my kidney is still sore. My doctor said that although the kidney infection is gone, it's probably kidney stones I have in there and they won't pass until I have Caleb. The reason is because my stomach is squishing that area and it can't flow properly. She prescribed me these patches for pain. You just put the patch where the pain is. Awesome! Last time I had a baby, I passed several kidney stones at the same time. That was not a fun time. :( On a light note! I got to have another 3D ultrasound and those are just so much fun! The second picture shows Caleb all squished up because you are looking at him from the top of my stomach down. From his feet and legs, down toward his head. The other ones are just all head shots. Oh, I was excited to get weighed today because I wanted to see a change in my weight. Before I had only gained 5lbs this whole pregnancy. I've been able to eat more now. I have to admit, I was a tad worried that all of a sudden I gained a lot. Then part of me thought, "Well, that would be okay. Besides, Big Macs are so yummy." I got on the scale and it said I lost 3lbs since two weeks ago in my last visit! So now I've only gained 2lbs this pregnancy! How odd. She said I'm gaining baby but losing my own weight because Caleb is fine and growing great. Sheesh la weez. Well, that is good news then. This is a fantastic doctor. I'll be going back in two weeks for another ultrasound at 32 weeks. I just love her positive attitude and she's really kept me up beat after everything I went through at the hospital. I told her she was my angel who came and rescued me. An angel wearing a stethoscope. ;)

30 Weeks Pregnant with Caleb!

I know I still have 8-10 weeks left but I have been preparing for his arrival. I had no baby stuff. Why do I always do that? I get rid of stuff or give it away only to have to turn around and buy it again. I have no boy clothes because I gave it away. It's okay though because it all goes in a circle. I've given away boy clothes but I've been blessed by others giving me girl clothes. The little bassinet goes in my bedroom and the big one that's also a playpen goes in the living room so I can keep him nearby. :D I saw a little newborn at church the other day (there is always a newborn because we have so many pregnant ladies all the time) and I got excited because it reminded me that soon I was gonna have my own. Yay! The kids are excited too. They come up and rub my tummy, kiss it, and talk to Caleb. On bad days though I tell them, "Okay, that's it guys! Caleb is our last baby." They are like "NOOOO, Mom! Okay, I'll go do my chores right now! I'm gonna be the best kid!" LOL. You know how it is? You have your really great days but then you have that bad day(s) and you are wondering what the heck you're doing? LOL. I really do have sweet kids. They are just on the hyper side. So when I look at a couple of my friends at church that have all these calm kids, I get jealous at times. If I had kids that were that calm I could have 10! Ha ha. Then again, I love how our boys run around the house together and play swords (and fly through the house in my Sketchers skates). As long as the loudness is a good loud, then it's fun. If it's a fighting loud, then it's not fun at all. Really though, because all my kids do their chores twice a day, I tell them they are my Hero Helpers because it makes my job so much easier. :)

Aagh! I'm Sinking Under the Laundry

It's so crazy how hot it's been outside! (114 degrees). My a/c has been working overtime and so to keep our bills down, I haven't been washing clothes too much. Just the bare minimum. Like when my husband says, "um, babe, I am down to my last pair (of you know). Actually, I hate these ones." Then I go wash a load of whites for him. Or if we're in church and I notice that the boy's socks are mismatched. I'll ask them why they didn't bother to match them properly. They'll say "but mom, it was all I could find!". Then I wash them a load. My loads are totally last. That's okay though. Girls have more clothes! It takes me longer to go through them. That's what happens when we pass a store in the mall and Charles insists on me going inside and trying something on that he saw in the window. (I love this guy). He's even like that with shoes. He'll MAKE me try on a pair of shoes he thinks will look good on me. Once he even bought me the matching purse. But being that times have changed some for us and my husband is not working in his usual field of expertise, that doesn't happen as often. When he gets a chance though, he'll do something like that every now and then. I don't care about less money! As long as we can pay our bills then I am more than blessed!!!! There is all sorts of fun stuff we can do together that doesn't cost hardly anything. Okay, for example. Every great now and then we'll go to Gameworks and play games. Mine and Charles' favorite is the basketball one. It's so fun I finally quit when I feel like my arms are gonna fall off. Well, we save our tickets. We finally had 3500 so we got a cool gel like ant farm the other day. The green gel glows (has lights that shine through from the bottom) and the gel serves also has their nutrition. So as they are digging tunnels, the gel gives them their food and water. We just watch the fun tunnels forming. I will take a pic soon. You know me, I rarely ever post any pictures so I don't want to leave you guys hanging. :P

Looking Back

Hey, I found these pictures on my camera. This was at least 6 months ago! It's at the zoo, one of our favorite hangouts. We usually get a zoo membership and come here all throughout the year. I have to renew it though. I think I'll wait a bit anyway because it's been so hot out, it wouldn't be much fun to walk around in the heat.

Choose Your Friends Wisely

*Note: When reading this, please don't think I'm talking about having a variety of friends and family that have different beliefs or think differently than you. This blog was mostly about being careful who you hang around because some times you can have a friend(s) that makes it a point to always pull you down. When you are around them, you never leave encouraged. Someone who is not healthy to be around, for you or your family. When he makes those 3 points, another way to state it is: 1.) Do they continually put down your pastor, your friends, or put you down? When they can't just hang out, have fun, and be pleasant, it can be wearisome after awhile.

An evangelist that we had at revival with this last week preached such an excellent sermon that really confirmed things in my heart. It was on a Wednesday night. He said that he really felt like God was dealing with him to talk about choosing our friends wisely. He made 3 points that stood out to me.
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Do your friends
1. Make you feel good about the pastor you love?
2. Make you feel good about the people in church you love?
3. Do they make you feel good about yourself?
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When you hang out with them, ask yourself those 3 questions. I love my church and my friends there. They are encouraging to me and really lift me up. I love my pastor and the preaching he gives 3 times a week. But... if you are hanging out with someone that constantly picks on those things you love, your mind can be warped into thinking negatively all the time. Not only that, you can become a cynical person yourself. Have you ever hung out with someone that mocks you over little mistakes you say or a blunder in your speech all the time? They look for the little thing. When you are done hanging out with them, you feel more stupid than anything.
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An excellent quote I read in the Duggar book 20 and Counting.
"Show me your friends and I'll show you your future".
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Wow! That really spoke to me. After hearing that sermon on Wednesday night, I am determined to have friends that encourage me to live for God, love my family, and to have a positive outlook on life. I don't want to go around knowing everyone's problems all the time. It makes it kind of hard to walk up to someone and talk to them if you've had someone just tell you two days ago something bad about them. I wouldn't want someone doing that to me. :P So I guess treating others as you would want to be treated is a good way to live after all. :D

I Hate The Blahs! McDonalds To The Rescue!

Oh man. Yesterday and today I had the major blahs. I didn't want to clean, cook, organize, play. Nothing. Any ideas I could come up with in my head I just thought, "nah." Two days in a row. Finally, we were gonna head out to outreach on Saturday night for our church and so we all got ready. I called my dad and found out that it was pretty far and a storm was approaching. We decided to cancel that and the boys were so bummed! Kyle (my 5 year old) said, "But mommy, we need to go worship God!" I wasn't sure what to do. I just wanted to go lay down. I decided that enough was enough. I need to get out of the blahs so I forced myself to have everyone load up and we headed to McDonalds. That was enough to get me out of the weird mood! The kids had a blast and Charles and I just talked. Charles kept getting frustrated at this guy he said was checking me out. I seriously doubt he was checking out a pregnant lady. Some people just stare, you know? LOL. Charles, being my hubby though, was trying to give him the eye so he'd stop. I was like "Goodness gracious, Charles. Just ignore him." There were some bully boys who started hurting Ivy, my 4 year old. Once we saw what was going on, Ryan already ran over and got the boys away from her and starting, um, pounding on them. He said, "stop hitting my sister!". I'm not sure how that should have been handled because we've always taught out boys to protect their sisters. One thing is for sure, the boys left Ivy alone. I mean, come on, they were bigger and the parents were just sitting there doing nothing. Ivy was crying really hard from them hurting her and they were even laughing! Those boys were creating all kinds of havoc and saying garbage to adults in there. Finally the parents left with them and gave us all a break. After that, all was peaceful. Some things that bug me the most are destructive kids that don't respect property, kids that flip their mouth off at adults, and parents who are just too busy to care or intervene. Goodness gracious.

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Story: One time the school called because Kyle had did something they considered naughty. I asked them what happened. There has been this big kid at school who picked on Chaz every single day. He would never stop. We tried to come talk to the bully nicely at one time to see if we could get him to stop. He just called us names. I mean, nasty names. So, a few days later, the bully was picking on Chaz again. Kyle came up and kicked him in the nards and told him to leave his brother alone. This is a five year old sticking up for his older brother who was eight at the time. Pretty awesome. Kyle had to kick up high too because this was an older boy. So when the school told me why Kyle was in the office, of course I didn't punish Kyle. We were so proud of him sticking up for his brother like that. I still amazed to think he's so little and he stood up to a kid so much bigger than him.

Tough Times With Chaz

http://meetchaz.blogspot.com

These last few months have been very hard with my oldest son. He is almost nine next month. He had been diagnosed with Aspergers a few years ago. He has his good days and his bad days. Lately, there have been a lot of bad days. I love him so much. He's very special to me. Sometimes you have to have so much patience to deal with him though that it can really wear you down. I called my pastor tonight, before church, and told him some things that Chaz has been doing. He's been punching himself in the face a lot. Calling himself names. When he really gets mad at his siblings, I have to always intervene because he can get pretty violent. His doctor had told me before that with Chaz you have to "unwind" him when he's upset. Don't get mad back. Take him aside, talk to him really calm while you have him alone. Give him a few minutes to relax. This is why public school isn't good for him. He already has a tough time being set in a big classroom. 

 I found out he was having outbursts again in his classroom. They told me they were dealing with it but later I found out he was just being put out in the hallway, outside his classroom and left there. They would take his whole desk and put him out there. Talk about rejection. My son LOVES music. He responds well to it. That was the class Chaz was excellent in. The music teacher could never understand why he was out in the hallway. The difference with this teacher was how he talked to Chaz. I've put Chaz in SO many schools and rarely have a found a place that works good with him. Everybody wants the funding they get from the government for him. He brings good money to a school because of his Aspergers. But they DON'T go out of their way to find what works for him. It's so frustrating.

After church tonight, my husband brought Chaz up to pastor so they could talk. My pastor knows how to talk to Chaz and they have a good relationship. Pastor told Charles that he really felt quickened to share a story to him about when he was little. When pastor was little was he would suffer from asthma attacks. The only way his father could calm him down to help him was by holding him and putting his ear to his chest. Hearing his father's heartbeat helped him enough to calm down and breathe. One time it saved his life. When pastor shared that, Charles got it. In Chaz's freak out moments, instead of getting frustrated with him, he needed love. He needed one of us to sit with him, hug him, and tell him everything is going to be okay. After church, there came our opportunity. Chaz started to flip out at the table. Charles at first responded like who would before. Of course it didn't work. Then he remembered pastor's words. He tried it with Chaz and instantly Chaz calmed down. It worked so well that Chaz was calm the rest of the evening. He just needs that extra love and patience. 

 Sometimes we can get so busy we don't want to stop what we're doing. But in real life, a counter can wait to be wiped, the phone can be left ringing, email can be checked later, the dishes can sit in the sink a little longer. Just stop and take time for a hug or something that will help someone. In reality, some things won't slow down for us. Our children growing up, our parents growing older, a friend that needs a good word. etc. You can't make those things stand still.

My Life Back As a Mom

Here is Ivy trying her best to ballet dance. Daddy put on some beautiful piano music just to relax to and Ivy went to go put on her "princess dress" and starting twirling around real slow. LOL. She must've danced for a half hour straight.

After this last month of being down, health wise, I feel like I got my Mommy Life back. Being able to get out of bed to give my kids cereal. Just the little stuff. The kids would have to always come see me in bed. They would ask me when I would be able to play with them again. They would tell me it's okay because they knew mommy was sick. There were good days and bad days. After Jesus healed my kidney, I've had all good days again. :D It's so wonderful. I know Charles is happy! He tells me all the time, "I got my wife back"! Ha ha. I know he was so worn down.

I'm 29 weeks pregnant now (7 months) and now I can enjoy the rest of my pregnancy. Now Caleb's kicks are starting to catch me off guard! A couple of times in church, I accidentally yelped out loud because the kick really hurt. Not so loud that heads all turned, but loud enough that my husband would say "are you okay??!!" LOL. I'm glad that I am back on my feet because we changed out the rooms. The girls are now where the playroom was. There is no longer a playroom. My husband's office is now where the girl's room once was. Their room was just waaay too small. Plus, when my husband was working at home, he was trying to concentrate right in the middle of the house where kids were running past him. Finally I begged him to give me a shot at switching the rooms around. Once I put his office in the back room, which is carpeted, he was able to get a project out fast. He loved it so now it's staying! The girl's room is just all torn apart though. I have to switch out the fans because I don't think Charles wants a pretty pink an in his office. Ha ha.

Jesus' Healing

I was surprised to find out we were going to have revival this week at church. I had been out most of this last month because of health problems with my kidneys. Revival started Sunday morning so of course we were gonna be there. At 5am, Sunday morning, I woke up in horrible pain again in my kidney. I took about 5 medications to be able to go back to sleep. I wasn't able to make it to Sunday School at 9:30am because the pain was so bad. I finally decided to take more medicine and take a bath hoping to feel better to make it to regular service. Somehow I made it but it was agony sitting through the service. After the preaching, the evangelist called out for different conditions he felt God had put on his heart. Mine was one of them so I went to the front. He prayed for us and immediately I could feel a difference. Afterward, we took my daughter to Chuck E. Cheese. I was able to have fun with my kids. My kidney was still a little sore but it was slowly fading. It's now been 3 days since that prayer and I haven't even touched my pain meds. That is a total miracle. Just read my previous blogs of my whole ordeal and "eating pain pills for lunch". That was still happening to me every single day. I haven't touched my pain pills since. :D I'm NOT even sore. Jesus healed me.

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Also, you can see kids in the front getting their certificates for completing VBS the last week. My kids are all 4 together in the center.

Ivy's 4th Birthday! ***Added Video***

The first picture is of my sister Jodee holding Ivy when she was six months old. :D


The next day, after Build A Bear, My dad, sister, and nephews joined us at Chuck E. Cheese. My mom couldn't be with us because she is in Seattle but she was really wanting to be there. She is gonna celebrate with Ivy when she gets back. :D I can't believe Ivy is 4! She thinks she's going to school this year but she's not. Ha ha. I told her she can school with me if she wants. I feel like just yesterday I was having an ultrasound finding out I was having my very first little girl!

I love silly pictures of Charles with the kids. Ha ha.

Build A Bear For Ivy

Ivy's actual birthday is today but because of Revival this week, last Saturday we all took her to Build A Bear because this what she requested for her birthday.

It was fun watching her pick out her bear, put music in it, and have her brothers all pick out a red heart to kiss and put in her bear. So sweet! We let her pick out some accessories for her bear and then we headed to the play area where she was having fun with her bear on the slide and stuff. :) Chaz's turn is next in two weeks! They all want to experience Build A Bear at least one time.

Make Me Laugh!

My son Ryan (7) was upset today when he saw me putting nuts in the two loaves of Banana nut bread that I was baking. When they were done, I told him to just take a bite and try it. He took one bite and said:

"Mmmm....this is good! Your job is safe mom."

My Blogging Friends, I Need Family Advice

Have you ever had family, whether it be close family or in-laws, where no matter what you do, there is always one person who continually insults you? They insult your mothering, insult your decisions, tell you how much they can't stand you, tell you how they've never liked you from the beginning. Imagine at almost every get together, they make sure to make you feel as uncomfortable as possible and give you dagger eyes from across the room. Treat your kids bad or ignore them because they don't like you. Jump at everything you say and somehow twist it to make it a personal insult that you deliberately said to them. In their own mind, it was aimed at them even though you meant it completely different. To top it off, turn the rest of the family against you by constantly spreading lies. Makes family get togethers in general, completely miserable? At least for you? I'm not the first person in the family she has done this to, I'm just the first to not allow the bullying and make a stand.

I made a stand, actually my husband, about 2 months ago. He was tired of seeing the tears when I went home. Tired of seeing the abuse. He cut anyone off that was continually doing this or who had any part in it. Since then, life has been more peaceful. The kids don't ask why they are treated bad when visiting anymore. I don't have this thumb down on me all the time so my heart has been more at peace and so has Charles'. Since shedding all relationships in our life that was continually abusive or exhausting, I can say life has been more enjoyable and relaxing. I am more confident as a mother and wife, which of course affects how you are with them daily. Don't get me wrong, I didn't just CUT them off at first offense. I'm talking 10 years of continual abuse. I did forgive many, many times. We just thought it would be healthier for our family to let go of anyone that was destructive in our lives. Once they are willing to change, we will embrace them with loving arms again. Gladly. That's what we so hope and desire for.

How would you handle it?

Would you do the same?
Would you just say "well, family is family. Just have to keep forgiving and put up with it?
What are your thoughts?

Caleb's 28 Week 3D Ultrasound

Today I went to my doctor's office for my 28 week (7 month) checkup. It's at my new office that I love. My dad offered to take me there since my a/c broke in my van and I was so happy! Plus, my dad has NEVER seen an ultrasound so this would be his first time. At first they were showing us the 2D ultrasound and my dad was just amazed. Then the lady said, "Okay, now lets switch over". Huh? I asked her what she meant. She said that she's switching to 3D. I was so excited! I've always, always wanted one. I saw the look on my dad's face when he saw these snapshots. Wow. It was so neat to see him moving around and looking at it in 3D. Sigh. Such a beautiful experience. Especially since this might have to be my very last pregnancy. My doctor told me that pregnancy is killing my kidneys. My body is not able to handle it and I could end up on Kidney dialysis or needing a transplant she said. I'm taking that seriously, especially after my hospitalization. I didn't even have a warning. Now I'm going through this twice each pregnancy and it's getting worse. So I really cherished this ultrasound. Who knows, in the future, I would love to have one down the road. For now, I have to see a specialist and possibly have surgery once Caleb is born. I have to be able to physically care for the precious 6 children I have. They can't keep having a sick mommy that just keeps getting sicker. I love them too much and they need their mommy. That's why I can't even send them off to school. I cherish every single day that I have with them. I can't handle them being gone all day like that. Time just flies too fast for me. I can have my peace and quiet for many years after they have their own family. For now, I love seeing them run around the house playing together. Or having to jump out of the way become someone is crossing through the living room in skates. Yes, I'm a cool mommy. My house is nice and long and I purposefully have tile. My kids put on their helmets and skates and skate through the long part of the house. Ha ha. Love it! When they get too big though, that might not be an option. I don't know. When I'm not pregnant, my kids have caught me in my Sketchers skates going through the kitchen for fun. Hee hee....

We'll Have Church No Matter What, Mom!

With everything that's been happening, I haven't always been able to make it to church. It depends on my pain levels that night. Well, my boys told me it was time to have church and we were gonna do it right now! Ryan came walking in with his bible, and in his church clothes. How could I say no to that? Charles and I sat down while they went through the order of a service in detail. Do you see the picture of Ryan, as the preacher, and little Ashley sitting in the front with her arm raised while we're singing? Awwwww! Maybe she was the pianist? Kyle, in the dark blue shirt, was the usher. Everyone was totally into the singing and praise. You can see a picture of Kyle with his arms crossed in front of him. He took his job VERY seriously as the usher. He kept hushing any kids who were talking while Ryan was reading from the bible. They even had offering time. I was so proud of them and I love how in the end, everyone was praying during the alter call. It's moments like these that I think "maybe I'm not doing so terrible as a parent after all"? I hope! I always have those nagging thoughts. This was one of the precious moments of just relishing in their sweetness and feeling proud. :D

n

Insomnia Monster Has Got Me

Why, oh, why must I have insomnia now??? It's so weird. It's 1am again, I'm not tired at all, and I keep resorting to getting up and cleaning things here and there around the house every night. I at least get about 6 hours of sleep though. I'll wake up in the morning and just be wide awake, even though I hadn't slept much. I'm not napping in the day because I can't fall asleep then either. Do you think it's my meds? In the hospital, it would put me to sleep which is what they wanted for lots of rest. Now, it seems as if my body is becoming immune to the medicine because I still have lots of pain but now I can't sleep. Today was my last day of my two week treatment of antibiotics. Shouldn't my kidney pain be gone? I was slowly getting away from the medicine but now I have to go back to it and it only takes away the pain for an hour verses 4 hours before. I'm really worried being that I'm pregnant with my little Caleb. I don't like having to do this while he is in m tummy. If I don't take the pain medicine, then I can't walk. Well, taking care of five kids can be really difficult if you can't walk around and you're just lying in bed. Today, my husband came home from work and I was just in my bed in terrible pain. I cried and told him I was so tired of being like this. I just want to be my hyper self and be with my kids, really caring for them. Yesterday was a great day for me, pain wise, so I cleaned the whole house. I was so happy. But then I woke up this morning with my legs killing me (that one was my fault) so I went to take a bath early in the morning (since I can't sleep). I was just finishing with my morning chores and as I bent over to get my homeschooling stuff out of the closet, the kidney and back pain just startled me and I once again had to put the stuff down and just go to my bed. Why? I had such a great morning. I was able to take a peaceful bath, read my bible and pray, and completely relax before the house came alive. I am really, really leaning on God now. He knows how self sufficient I am and how much I hate to be like this. I'm not the kind to sit around and be happy doing nothing. My husband calls me the "hyper bunny"! LOL. Thank goodness he is so patient and has such a huge heart. He deserves such a huge trophy for all he's done for me in the last month. Wow. I love you, Charles. You are the greatest.

Sorry I had to poor out my heart on here! That's why I love my blog so much. :) I love to write.

This Family Could Find Fun Anywhere

I didn't know these pictures were on my camera that Charles took at the hospital. It's so cute seeing my kids camped out around me. Boy, I was out of it. I know Charles and the kids came to visit me but I slept the entire time so I didn't get to talk to them. Charles must've woke me up for that one picture. That's why I look like poo poo there. Except for the hair. ((Commercial Break)) Oh, have to give credit here for Tony & Guy's dry shampoo that I had bought just a day prior to going to the hospital. Charles brought it to me. Well, I was gone for a week and could not take a shower! Doesn't that stuff work great?? Awesome! Some people use it for going camping and stuff like that. It take the grease out of your hair. Big plus for busy moms. ((end of commercial)) Since we don't have a TV, my kids were happy to come and watch cartoons for a few hours while hanging out next to their mommy. It would be totally quiet when the nurses would come in to check on me. They would look at all the kids and say, "Wow, it's quiet in here with all these people"! My husband told her it's because my kids thought it was so cool to be able to watch TV. Ha ha!

Go Go Gadget Mommy

I'm in love. Anyone who is close to me knows that I'm a gadget lover. I had a PDA once that my husband bought me for Christmas 2 1/2 years ago. That baby was my everything. I kept birthdays in there, appointments, my daily wake up alarm, church events, reminders. Just everything. I never forgot appointments because I had alarms that went off to remind me ahead of time. I carried it everywhere! The death of my PDA came by the hands of an innocent child who was visiting and put water on it. I tried to grab it and brush it off right away but it was too soaked.

Well, lo and behold. My mom and dad brought me a (better) New Palm TX with Wi-fi and Bluetooth built right in it. I'm in heaven. I set up all my Facebook, weather, blog, email, IM, Amazon account, etc., to where when I'm home or anywhere within wifi range I can browse around. I love the Mapquest feature since I use that all the time! So Go Go Gadget Mommy is back in the game. I already set my appointments to relieve my overloaded mind. Sigh. Thank you God.