My niece...the life of the party!!!

This post is about my niece. If any of you know my niece, you know she's the life of the party. She's so funny. She always has something funny to say and she can laugh at herself too which is a GREAT quality in a kid. She is friendly. She loves people so much. She befriends the friendless and jumps right in to include herself in everything. A friend of mine told me a story about when Jacob was supposed to start going to the Encounter Kids class at church. He turned 4 and he was finally moving up from the nursery. We didn't go that night, but my friend said she told her, "we can't start yet we have to wait for Jacob." How sweet that she would care so much about him that she wanted to make sure he didn't miss anything.

She has such a love for life. She asks a million different questions about everything, because she desires so much to know so much. The world is her oyster and she wants to soak it all up!!!! All the stories my brother and sister in law tell me about her are just amazing!!!!

But....this story is really about how my 5 year old niece has it right!!! She was at our house on Wednesday night. I made them breakfast for dinner. We were eating dinner and I said "I forgot to call you on your first day of school to ask you how your day went. I'm so sorry."

Her response to me was, "Aimster, that's alright sometimes things come up."

What a true example of unconditional love, unwavering forgiveness and the heart of a child.

Today I thank God for my niece and nephews. They keep you on your feet but also keep your mind on the good and teach the ability to throw out the bad.

Raise your cups....a toast.....

Yesterday was my last day of work. After what seemed like an eternity, I am FINALLY a stay-at-home mom again. So today I want to tribute this post to my sister. Who, through her unselfishness has taken my kids in every day for what seemed like an eternity that neither one of us really thought was ever going to come to an end. Mostly because we really didn't think I would have the courage to quit....but it did come to an end.

Every day we had lunch together, and every day she listened to me say "I hate working...well, I like my job so if I need a job this is the one I want" and every day she watched as I would start to talk about getting ready to leave 15 minutes before I was really supposed to start and she would count down the time until I finally got up to leave 5 minutes after I was supposed to start (my boss and I had an agreement...my start time was somewhat flexible)...and every day at that 5 minute point she would try to convince me to call in sick. She taught the kids a song....not go not go not diggity go...to the theme of the hot dog song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse....which only made it so much harder to leave my kids and go to work. :(

She told me about times when she would sit on the couch with Jacob during everyone elses nap and he would let her know all the things we have at our house that she doesn't have at her house. :) She spoiled him with popcorn and movies practically everyday....and turned him on to the world of chocolate milk. She has touched his life in more ways that I can describe.

I am really not sure that my sister knows how much she helped us out by watching our kids. She made a lot of things possible for us. We both appreciate her willingness so much! I know it was hard at times and though she loves our kids, they can be VERY frustrating. But she did it day after day...so today....I'm thankful for my sister, who over the past few years has become more than just my sister, she's my friend and I love her.

Hit the Road Jake.....

I haven’t written in so long. There is so much going on at our house that would entertain you….but I’ll give you the highlights to catch you up…..

Jacob LOVES school. He loves his teachers. He is doing very well at school. His teacher said he is the best cutter in his class and he can write his name….yes I’m a very proud mama!!! He has grown into such a great little man.

Lyla is doing really well. She has 4 teeth now. She is rolling over, scooting, sitting up on her own, crawling backwards and starting to crawl forwards. She laughs…only at her brother though…which is horrible….I’m so funny…why won’t she laugh at me?!?!?! :) She’s such a sweet little girl. She LOVES her brother and her glow worm. Jonathan is her favorite. She could be crying and crabby all night….the minute he walks in the door…her whole demeanor changes….this has honestly happened. He was at Bible Study one night…she was so cranky and inconsolable he walked in while I was getting her ready for bed and she stopped mid-cry and smiled a huge heart-melting smile!!! It’s so cute.

We have teams in our house. When we go out, we talk about how we have teams now and how our family is perfect. Jonathan and Jacob are on a team and Lyla and I are on a team. But….Jacob and I are practically inseparable and Lyla loves Jonathan much more….we should switch the teams. Jacob told me the other day “mom we’re a team.” I LOVED to hear that. I’m not sure why. But I just thought it was so cute that he likes being a team.

Jacob loves Lyla. He loves everything about her. The other day I went into the shower and came out to hear him giving her treats to try to get her to stop crying. He said “here open your mouth you have this. I have one too.” He is always taking care of her. I hear him go into her room in the morning and wake her up…. “good morning Lyla…it’s Jacob” I love how he loves her.

Today I told Jacob “hit the road” then I told him I have a song to sing to you. So I sang “hit the road Jack…” after I finished he said I’m not Jack I’m Jacob. So he said “Mom I have a song for you. Hit the Road Jacob and don’t come back no more…more…more” SOOOOO Funny!!!!

We have a vcr in our van. Currently we watch only Barney in the car. I have never taken other movies out to the van. Jacob got this Geo Traxx airport for Christmas and it came with a dvd. Jacob loves it. He asked if I can bring Geo Traxx to the car, he said “it’s my flavite :)” Then he started singing the song….so Jonathan told him he doesn’t need it in the car because he knows the whole thing. Jacob responded “you so silly da!!!”

Yesterday I was thinking about the kids and thinking about how much I love them. Then I started thinking about how much God loves us. It’s completely incomprehensible. I think “How could He possibly have more love to give than I love these kids?!?!” That’s the amazing part of it. He does. I LOVE the words to the song :
How deep that Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That he should give his only son
And make a wretch his treasure
Today, I’m thankful for love. Where is life without love? You love your husband, boyfriend or girlfriend, kids, parents, siblings, friends….that being said…where is your love for God? Everyday, people show their love for other people. There is a million dollar industry for people to publicly proclaim their love for each other. Today, publicly proclaim your love for God. I’m not saying you need to be one of those people who stand on the corner screaming at the cars passing by…but you know what you need to, so for lack of a better term….JUST DO IT!!!!

Unchartered Territory

Up until this weekend, our lives have been pretty easy. We've, more or less, been able to control Jacob in public. Of course that's with the help of certain things. We usually have Jacob in his stroller or when we're in the store, he sits in the shopping cart. But this weekend was our first weekend in public with two kids.

As we sit in the house or in our van, I think how absolutely blessed we are. I think "I have a picture perfect, all-American family." Dad and Mom, boy and girl and dog. How wonderful?!?!? So many people don't have that. I get so excited when I look at our little family.

So, last week, I was sitting at home, bored out of my mind, trying to find somewhere to go. I started thinking I could really use some groceries. So I thought I should take the kids and go do some shopping. HAULT.......ummm.....I have NO IDEA how to go shopping with two kids. I talked to Jonathan and I told him my concerns. So, we decided we would do some practice runs this weekend while we're all together.

So Friday we went to Walmart. I tried the approach of making (well, trying to make) Jacob hold on to the cart as we walked. Jacob touched every single rack we passed as we walked around the store. Socks, sunglasses, jewelry, diapers. The funny part was that, according to Jacob, someone in our family needed everything. Mom needed socks and jewelry, dad needed sunglasses, Lyla needed diapers and soap and Jacob needed EVERYTHING in the toy section.

After we left Walmart, I gave Jacob a score..C+...softy dad gave Jacob a B-...everyone knows there's really no difference between B- and C+ but dad is a softy so he had to give him a better grade than mom did.

Saturday afternoon we went to Target. This went a LOT worse than Walmart did. Jacob was crawling on the racks and putting things in the cart. By the time we left the store, I became one of those crazy out of control moms that I HATE in the store. The ones who are growling under their breath to their children. I absolutely hated that about me. I gave Jacob a solid D at Target. No popcorn, no treat, no toy....nothing.

Today (Sunday) we had to go to Sams Club. We were really supposed to go after Target, but I was so cranky after the debacle at Target I said we're going straight home. Today I wised up...Jacob sat in the bucket of the cart..a big no-no but I didn't have another choice. Jacob did so well. He sat there and rode in the cart and didn't act up. Lyla on the other hand....F.

If it's not one, I guess it's the other...my life has officially changed...for the better. Today I thank God for that!

God of Wonders!

We live 5 minutes for the airport, 2 minutes from the train tracks and on the corner of a major-side street in Des Plaines. That means, that our son is within minutes of all his favorites. He constantly hears the planes, trains and buses…and we constantly get to hear that he hears them. Quite often we go out for a walk to the end of the block so we can see the choo-choo train tracks, and we always go out of the way to make sure we are driving over the tracks.

Jacob is so excited every time he sees or hears any of those 3 items. He has recently started to become enamored with fire trucks and “cop cars.” Jonathan and I actually have no idea where he learned the term cop cars. We have always told him police cars. Maybe he watches too much NYPD Blue. (I’m joking….we don’t let him watch that kind of stuff!!!)

We must hear at least 20 planes a day and 10 trains and he is still ecstatic every time he hears them. I actually told Jonathan the other day we’re going to have to make him more pessimistic because people are going to make fun of him soon.

What a sad thought that he would get made fun of because he gets excited about the little things in life. If only, as adults we could be more like that. Maybe then traffic wouldn’t be such a problem….or getting stopped by a train…Jacob LOVES it when we get stopped by the trains.

I found my optimistic ecstatic thing the other day. We were driving in a car and I saw a rainbow. I SCREAMED out “GUYS LOOK AT THE RAINBOW!!!!!” So they looked.

There are some things in your life that no matter how much you want to or how hard you try you just can’t help but remember things. Jonathan grew up at camp. His dad was the director while Jonathan was a kid. Quite often, Jonathan will smell something and it will bring him right back to his childhood at camp.

The 24 hours we spent in the hospital having Emma are the clearest 24 hours in my life. I honestly think if I tried I couldn’t shake some of the thoughts and feelings, not that I want to, but I don’t think I could if I did. Those 24 hours are precious and heart wrenching to me all at the same time. But what we saw in the next 24 hours is what, in my opinion actually made that experience somewhat tolerable.

Jonathan and I were lying in our hospital beds (yes they gave Jonathan his own hospital bed for the week that we were there, and food tray and toiletries and everything either of us could possibly need), and almost simultaneously said “Wow look at that. Where did that come from?” You see, a rainbow appeared right outside our hospital window. It was the brightest, biggest, most beautiful rainbow I have ever seen. I don’t know a lot of about science, but it hadn’t even rained. I really thought it had to rain for a rainbow to come so I’m not sure where the rainbow came from. It was AMAZING!!!! So that is where our journey began. A journey that was so incomprehensible yet filled with God’s goodness and blessings.

That rainbow reminded us of God’s promises to us. His promise to guide us and provide for us. His promise that we WOULD go through tough times but his promise that we definitely wouldn’t go through them alone. It's not to say that we didn't have many cries and rough times but it was a journey that was filled with an indescribable peace that only God could give us and that as Christians we know why we have it, but other than saying its from God, there is really no other way to explain it…and quite frankly why would we want to explain it any other way?

But now, the rainbow is my ecstatic thing. The thing that brings me back to my most peaceful time. A time in my life I felt closer to God than ever. A time of uncertainty, filled with a lot of questions but a lot of peace. A time where one night we laid in bed crying thinking that neither of us really knew how we were going to get through this but the very next day, God reassured us that we weren’t going to go through it alone. A time in my life where I felt the hand of God holding us and carrying us through. So the rainbow will always be my thing. My thing where if anyone else was in the car with us, they would have probably made fun of me….and you know what?!?!?! I don’t care.

So today, I’m thankful for my son who is optimistic and excitable about silly little every day things that he sees and hears all day long. I wish I could have a fraction of his attitude about that. But more than that, I’m thankful for rainbows and God’s promises. I’m thankful for a loving, caring God who knows us inside and out. A God who we can know personally and actually feel him in our life. Our God isn’t just a god, he’s our God. Today, I’m thankful for that!

"NOTEBOOK! NOTEBOOK!"

In case you don't remember from my previous post, Blues Clues is Jacobs newest favorite show. So for Easter this year, we wanted to put the Blues Clues notebook in Jacobs Easter basket. I found them on ebay for like $75-$100.00. I said ummmmm no…. So then I looked on Amazon and for $25.00 they had a Blue beanie baby and the notebook. So we bought that for Jacob. I didn’t know why it was so cheap but when we got it, it was NOT the notebook that was pictured. It was a little notebook shaped like a chair. We didn’t have time to send it back or even complain (yes I waited until last minute to buy it), so we gave it to him. He, of course, LOVED it. He carried it around day and night and carried crayons with it. He was as happy as could be….so I thought.

On Sunday my brother told Jacob that he bought him a present. I had no idea what it was. On Tuesday we went over to my brothers house and he gave him an envelope to open. Inside was the GENUINE notebook, straight from Blues Clues. It was the notebook that Steve has, the square one with the picture of the Thinking Chair on the front.

Jacob took it out of the package and went WILD!!!! He was so unbelievably happy to receive this notebook. He started screaming and saying “Notebook! Notebook!” Honestly, I can’t even do justice to describe how excited he was to get this notebook. He asked me to open it up and he hasn’t put it down since then. This of course made my brother his new best friend. On the way out of his house, Jacob said “Goo-Bye Uncle Rob!” (He RARELY says his name let alone a whole sentence with “Uncle Rob” in it….even now I ask him who got him his notebook and he says “Uncle Rob and Ti-Ti.”

Tuesday night he slept with his notebook. For about an hour over the monitor we heard him talking about clues and his notebook. The first thing he said when he woke up Tuesday morning was “Mom, Where’s my notebook?” He cries everytime we leave the house when I don’t let him take his notebook with him. He again slept with his notebook last night. This morning when he came in he brought his notebook and asked to watch Blues Clues. He now “draws” the clues with Steve in his notebook.

Unfortunately, I have honestly NEVER seen him so excited about anything. It was so exciting for me to see him so excited about this notebook. So today, I give thanks for my brother and sister-in-law. Their thoughtfulness brings tears to my eyes (of course I am pregnant so I do tend to cry a lot easier now). It was so kind of them to buy this notebook for him. His joy about this notebook is valued at well over the $75.00-$100.00 it cost on ebay (not that I would EVER pay that much for this notebook….and my brother said he didn’t pay that much either) but I do think if we could see how excited he would have gotten about this notebook, both us and my brother and sister-in-law would seriously contemplate purchasing it at that price, just because of how happy he was to get it. So, with all my heart….THANKS!

Major Milestone

Today I hit a MAJOR milestone. After 18 ultrasounds, 15 progesterone shots, 9 lbs and what I can only think is well over 35 (not at all an exaggeration) trips to the dr, I hit 30 weeks!!!!!!! YAY me!!!!! This has been an incredible journey thus far.

God in his pure graciousness has protected me and Lyla Jane tremendously. There have been so many ups and downs and all I can think is that God has this whole pregnancy in his hands and is in complete control of it. It seems so silly that I actually spent nights crying in fear of losing another baby. It’s amazing what Satan will use to turn your eyes off Gods greatness and shake your faith.

Now (and for a while now) I can feel the baby moving around in there what seems like constantly. What an incredible reminder of how awesome God is. Pregnancy amazes me start to finish. We have ALWAYS had a hard time getting pregnant and I think that people who can get pregnant (seemingly) at the drop of a hat, never really have to contemplate all the things that HAVE to go right in order to sustain a pregnancy. But, all-in-all, it has to do with one thing. God. God is the master behind all of it. No pregnancy is too tough or too “high-risk” for God.

God, in his infinite wisdom, has granted women the ability to create and carry a baby in their bodies. God, has allowed women the joy of feeling, for probably at least 5 months, their baby kick and squirm and even have the hiccups. In my opinion, no words can express the feeling of that baby moving around in there. There is no way to even do justice to it when I try to describe it to Jonathan. Putting your hand on my belly and feeling the baby kick does not even come close to comparing to the actual feeling of it.

We are so excited about this baby. Jacob picked her name out. Out of our list of 4 names he picked out Lyla Jane. However, I was talking to him the other day because Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper (from Blue's Clues) had a baby (Cinnamon), and I said “Jacob, Mommy’s going to have a baby” and he said “Oh no!” So hopefully he’ll like the baby better when she gets here. And when he feels the baby move, he asks if my tummy is hungry.

Jonathan on the other hand has maybe felt the baby move twice. Every single time the baby is moving I tell Jonathan to feel her…and she stops moving completely….every single time. So hopefully she’ll like him better when she gets here. :)

So as of right now, 30 weeks, my blood pressure is great, my weight gain is great, my blood sugar level is fantastic and really everything is looking wonderful. I am still on my restricted activity and still taking my progesterone shots, but, all in all, we’re having what seems to be a pretty normal pregnancy (with the exception of going to the dr once or twice a week…which is down from two to three times a week). We’re all hanging in there. I’m a bit uncomfortable and having some hard times sleeping but we’re hanging in there. Most importantly, Lyla is hanging in there and hopefully she’ll be hanging in there for at least 6 more weeks. (only 6 weeks….can you believe it?!?!?!?)

So, today I’m thankful for a loving, caring God. A God who comforts and protects. A God who gave me the ability, that so many woman don’t have, the ability to get pregnant and carry out a pregnancy (though I have some problems and need a little assistance). And a God who I know will work out this pregnancy out for His good.