So far...

...so good! Since Silas has felt better, no one has been sick. Avery said that he didn't feel well this morning, but has proceeded with his day normally. He's eaten both breakfast and lunch and is no longer complaining.

I haven't felt very well myself, but I haven't been miserably sick either. I'm just not feeling like eating much... Maybe I'm gun shy knowing what is going around :o) Oh well, if I am, it is good for my diet! This morning I was down 10 lbs. so far this year! I've been drinking lots but not eating, so I hope that wasn't a "dehydrated" weight loss!

Well, It is naptime at this house. Time for me to be productive. Just wanted to update on the illness, and let everyone know that we are doing better (as of now!) I'll update more later!

The bug

The stomach flu has hit our home. So far, only Silas has had it. But if I were a betting woman, I would put my money on Nolan next. He's very whiny today, and keeps asking for more to eat. Experience tells me that sick children mistake an upset tummy for hunger. But, I'm obviously praying that this is a "one and done" kind of deal. Once again, though experience tells me not to get my hopes up :)

Silas first complained of an upset stomach right at bedtime. So we were up off and on with him in the night. He finally fell asleep at a little after 3 and slept until after his brothers got up at 7:30. He says this morning that he feels better. I'm still leery of giving him any food. He's gonna have to prove it with liquids first!

I kept Avery home today for 2 reasons. First, Silas complained of feeling poorly and within the hour was vomiting. And second, Taking Avery to school and picking him up would mean that I had to take Silas out twice. Even if it is a short trip, I don't find it worth it. Now we are just praying that Avery stays healthy so that he doesn't miss 100's day tomorrow. If he does, he'll be crushed. Pray with me that Avery (and the rest of us) stays healthy!

Humility

I've been debating whether or not to share what is on my heart. But I decided, in Christian humility, to share in case this is something that others (particularly other mothers) struggle with... So bear with me as I once again become step outside of my comfort zone to become transparent.

I often get so many compliments on how well behaved the children are. And we are pretty strict on them for the most part. But honestly, we are just blessed to have wonderful, thoughtful, well behaved children. And because we are blessed with children like that, it is easy for me to hide behind them, appearing to be the "good" mom.

But I'm flawed. Greatly flawed. And lately I've been so distracted from my priorities that I'm ashamed to admit it. Technology and friendships have taken over and I've allowed myself to make them so important that I let my children feel as if they are little interruptions instead of little blessings. I went from looking for validity in the value of having friends of my own, to making those friends so important that the children have to interrupt me for attention. I'm so sad to say it. And I'm sad that I couldn't just overcome it at first notice.

I've actually had to set limitations for myself. Rediculous! But I've had to eliminate some of the distractions by MAKING myself. Because every morning I would just say "I'm going to stay off of the phone today & the computer too." But the moment the phone would ring or the moment that there was down time where I could jump on the computer, off I went. I fell right into the habit of letting these distractions "suck me in..." How embarassing to admit this.

It was the last straw for me this afternoon at nap time. I had plenty that I should be doing, but instead I hopped on my favorite social networking site (facebook) and got sidetracked. Before I knew it, naptime was more than half over and I hadn't done a thing. Then, Avery brought something to read to me. But I was already busy reading something online. I'm hanging my head in shame as I admit to you... I turned him away and told him to read it to himself and that I would read it with him later. OH... MY... GOODNESS... I have tears thinking about how rude and awful this was. I let my selfish ambition over something of ZERO importance keep me from doing the right thing. I've let satan into my life, and he has disguised himself well.

No, I don't think that facebook is the devil. But the things in our lives that we let control us or keep us from fulfilling our responsibilities as Christian wives and mothers, those are. For now, I'll fill you in on how I'm getting myself back on track:

I've logged off of facebook indefinitely. At least for a week, and after that I'm going to only use it after the kids go to bed at night. That's it. If it invades my life after that, I'm done with it. I'm a grown adult and I shouldn't suffer with this kind of childish problem. I'm embarassed.

I've also committed to screening my phone calls. If I know that it is probably someone just wanting to "chat," I'm only going to do so at times when it doesn't affect my ability to give my children the attention they need. So mostly, I will be available to chat at naptime or after they go to bed. Once again, I'm ashamed that I have to set limitations for myself publicly. I've lost my sense of control lately.

I'll finish by letting you know why I am sharing this. I'm sharing this humbling truth because I know that I'm not the only person out there who lets "distractions" stand in the way of who they want to be. Your "distractions" may not be of the same nature, but you may have some too. Maybe you are lazy and like to make excuses. Maybe the television is your distraction. Maybe your distraction is chatty co-workers. I'll challenge you here... If you have "distractions" of any sort that keep you from being who you want to be, or from being the Christian woman you would like, I challenge you to take measures like me to get away from them. Allow yourself to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entagles" (Hebrews 12:1) and find yourself thriving instead of surviving. That is my hope.

Happy Day!

Well, the day has arrived. My thirtieth birthday. And it has been a wonderful day so far! Avery said that he did several things for me today in honor of my birthday. Namely, he has tried to stay clean all day and he colored his cake pink today (for C week at school) in my honor. I think it is so sweet how he finds ways to make my day special, even though there isn't a lot that he has control over.

I don't feel any different today than yesterday. I didn't gain any new wisdom or insight magically overnight. And I didn't expect that becoming 30 would "feel" different really. But I am excited still about what the thirties have in store for me. I look forward to the chance to spend another decade with the man I love and our beautiful children! And I don't at all resent aging. I mean, there really is only one alternative!

As for my resolutions. Since the first of the year I have lost 7.5 lbs. I'm enjoying my workouts, and the Weight Watchers hasn't been too bad. I still have days where I feel like I'm starving, but most of the time I'm content in that regards. I'm just proud of my commitment to being healthy! I plan to keep this commitment until it becomes a lifestyle. I'd love to get to a point where I can work on maintaining rather than focusing on changing!

Happy Birthday to me! Steve and I had a fun night out on the town Saturday, and I'm looking forward to celebrating with my family tonight! :o)

8 Months!

8 Months Old!

7 Months Old!

6 Months Old!

5 Months Old!

4 Months Old!

3 Months Old!

2 Months Old!

1 Month Old!

May 13, 2009

Table Food and Sledding

What a weird title, huh? But those two words sum up the pictures I'm about to add! First, for the table food. Chaille will be 8 months old tomorrow, and as of last Friday, she bagan eating table food. Her first food was actually a french fry :o) We were at my mom's house and, on a whim, I gave her one to try. She was a little confused about what to do with it, but it didn't take long and she was using her gums to "chew" it up! I can't believe that she is getting so big so fast!!!

Now onto the sledding part... We had a 4 1/2 inch snow last week, which left Avery and Silas out of school on Thursday and Avery delayed 2 hours on Friday. On Sunday, we visited Grandma and Grandpa Shell. Steve took the boys back to the woods to sled. They had a BLAST and all came in trying to talk over one another to tell me about all of the excitement. Here are some pictures and a couple videos of their experience:

And a final cute video of Nolan taking a bath. Mommy was at Bible Study and he and daddy had their talk and tub time once again:

Alvin!

Just a quick note this morning. Avery has his last basketball game in a couple of hours, so I've got to start getting us all ready to go. But first I wanted to share:

The boys are really into Alvin and the Chipmunks. Grandma Debbie took them to see the Squeakquel over their Christmas Break from school. The other night Nolan rode home from the Pizza King Train Station with Grandma Darlene and Papaw Bobby. Mom was talking to him about seeing the movie and was asking him questions about what he saw in the movie. Nolan told them that they said Alvin, Alvin, ALVINNNN! And then the rest of the way home he would say: mamaw, Mamaw, MAMAWWWW!!!

Made me laugh! Hope you get a laugh out of it too!

Turning...

In 11 short days I will reach a milestone that I am trying to embrace... My 30th Birthday. I think that this year I have actually made some firm New Year's resolutions because of this decade that is rapidly approaching.

I'm hoping that my 30's will be a time where I transition out of the stage of life in which I have been living. (I'm fixing to be very transparent here, and it does make me feel vulnerable to post it for everyone to see...)

My 20's was full of some pretty wonderful things and some times of great joy and change. I mean, all four of my blessings were born while I was in my 20's! But I've lived this past decade with pain and afraid to be myself. Up until 20, Iwas a fairly confident, strong individual. For some reason, though, this decade left me feeling uncomfortable in my own skin. I am hesitant to say what I feel and afraid of conflict. I have been a coward and a pessimist (not all of the time) and my emotional life has been littered with negative thoughts. I have been embarassed of my looks, sense of style, and unsure of myself in general.

My thirties WILL be different. I am going to embrace the fact that I no longer feel that I "need" to fit in with the twenty-somethings. I don't need to try to be trendy or wrapped up in my own looks. I'm going to speak with confidence what I believe in or feel. I'm going to really experience life for a change and enjoy the ride, as my children transition into young adults. I'm going to rediscover the optimistic and driven woman that I used to be!

I'm not going to make excuses as to why my twenties were such a hard decade for me. (And not ALL of my twenties were hard...) But I am going to share that I think that post-partum depression played a role. To what extent, I'm not sure. And I will be humble, and admit that my attitude has been very bad in some areas of my life. Te biggest part of what will change about me in this decade needs to be my attitude. I've been in prayer and study, constantly talking to God about changing my inner most workings.

Change doesn't come overnight. And setbacks will occur. But, together with God, and you as my witnesses, I WILL change... my attitude, my outlook, my patience, my temper.

Look out 30's I'm about to become my OWN woman, and a Godly one at that!!! The one that I want to be, and one that I can be proud of!

The Army Crawl

Chaille is learning to crawl forwards finally! She's been getting around nicely by spinning in circles and pushing backwards for quite some time. Now, she's all about the army crawl. I tried to capture it this afternoon, but she was kind of tired, so she was a bit slow. Anyway, enjoy:

Hibernating

Yesterday, I ran out to the store for some milk. My neighbor caught me outside and said "Hadn't seen you in a while. I thought you were hibernating." I got a good laugh out of this. I kind of feel like we have been "hibernating!"

We spent MUCH of our time over the kids' school breaks at home. The kids really enjoyed their new things, and we enjoyed family time where it is warm and cozy. It is plenty cold here lately, and given the choice, I'd rather not go out!

Today both Avery and Silas headed back to school, and Nolan, Chaille, and I are back on our Tuesday grocery routine. Brr... Back to the normal schedule once again. It makes me both glad to get back into it and sad that our family time is over... Guess i can look forward to spring break and summer, and boy do I ever!!!

I'm doing pretty well on my resolutions. I've stuck to working out this week, and have already put in two days (Sunday and Monday). And I'm doing weight watchers too. I'm starving most of the time, but I'm getting used to it! My goal is to lose 25 lbs. by our 10th anniversary in May! So far, I've lost 3.3 lbs according to our Wii fit. And that makes me down 13.3 lbs. from where I started back in the fall. I still have so far to go, and my overall goal is to just be FIT! In shape and able to keep up with the kids!

As soon as we do something exciting and have pictures to share, I'll update with some. Lately we've just been boring, and let me tell you, I have LOVED it. No drama, just good 'ol fashioned life. And I wouldn't change it for the world!

Hope your 2010 is off to a AMAZING start!