long time no blog!

hey, all! i am stil alive..... the past few weeks have been hectic. we had aj's party on sat. i had all of my family here. she wanted a diego party at the zoo. it was good and the weather cooperated nicely. now we are moving on to syd's kindergarten graduation. she is so excited. she is like a senior and has kindergartenitis. she thinks she is ready for high school now. tate is growing so fast. she is trying to roll over and is reaching out for things. she eats like a horse and is growing daily.

i am currently working on vbs at our church. what a job! i appreciate all the vbs's i have ever attended so much more after planning one! however all will be over with within three weeks. i am excited to get summer started and to have syd home with us everyday. the summer will bring many fun times and lots and lots of things to do. i have some great pics to post soon. i will do a better job of keeping up!

check in with you all later.

it just sneaks up on you

Well, I have to say I did real well for three days. I was fine on not craving chocolate, or being tempeted by candy and morsels, and all that.You all must have been praying hard for me! Anyways, I messed up without even realizing I was eating or shall I say, drinking chocolate. I hate milk, but every now and then, I crave it. However when I drink it cannot be plain, so I load it down with chocolate powder. So there I was, drinking chocolate milk. THat ruined it for me, so I decided to not give it up totally. I don't eat the things that are "bad" for the hips and gut. I figured though; that I probably should have the milk.

It did make me think - how the devil sneaks in on us daily. I do not ever have to worry about murdering, adultry, stealing, and some of those "BIG" sins. But the devil has a way of sneaking in all those "little" sins without us even know we are sinning. Every time I drink my chocolate milk, I think instead of the things I need to work on like gossiping and some other things we do daily without hesitation. Chocolate milk was once what crashed me and ruined my efforts, but it is also the exact thing that keeps me on the right track. What irony.

Therefore let me sum up: Eat chocolate, one should not deprive the soul, but have the strength to stand strong! I will still refuse to eat a chocolate bunny.

The day I gave up chocolate

Ok, not only has it been a while since my last post - but come on three kids. And I can officially say, I have gone off my rocker. Life has changed and routines are different and yet, I look in the mirror and think, "What has my life come to?" Please do not get me wrong, I find so much joy in my kids and husband; I would not trade anything for them. They are what makes me me, these days at least. Well, the reason for my title: again, looking in the mirror, I see I need to lose more baby weight, 8 pounds from this pregnancy, 15 pounds from the second pregnancy and about 10 from the first. YOU CAN DO THE MATH! So, I am working on my diet, but to do that, I know I am going to have to give up chocolate. Now, I do not eat candy bars or eat tons of cookies or sweets, I eat chocolate. My favorite are bittersweet morsels. They are sweet going in, but bitter once they land on the hips and stomach. I think - I know I have been eating more due to trying to survive life lately. So that has lead me to give up chocolate. There is a hook; though. I can have a bite of sweet at Easter and or if I am at an event. I cannot eat all the little candies my family has in sight everywhere. I am being realistic. Every five pounds I get a reward: CHOCOLATE! and maybe a new outfit........ So, I will need to draw willpower and strength from you all.

Please send encouraging thoughts. (most of you have my email address, or leave a comment)
Please pray for me ( I wish I was kidding!)
Please tell me there is a patch for this.

I heard on the Today show today it takes 21 days to break a bad habit. YIKES!!!!! I can say, I said I was going to give up chocolate today, and I did that - I gave it up today. We will see what happens with tomorrow.

And while my hands are jittery, my head hurts (from thinking about chocolate), and I am excited to lose weight, I will talk about my coke problem another time.

Until then, here's to looking at you chocolate.

Valentine's is all about LOVE

Taytum Lynn - going home from the hospital.
Kirk and his three princesses.....
Our first Valentine's day with our new one.
What a day of love!


We finally had our new baby girl! Taytum Lynn was born February 8, at 6:07pm. She weighed 8 pounds and 6 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. Parents are glad she is fianlly here, Big Sister Sydney is a great help, and Big Sister Alayna is now recognizing her and is working on being a big helper. We are now our complete little Whittle family. Things are going good. She is a big eater so nursing has not been a problem, except that is all I feel I get done during the day is feeding a two week old. Once she gets on a better and longer eating schedule and sleeps for longer periods in the night, all will be great. We are blessed with happy healthy babies that grow up to be beautiful girls!

time to have the baby

We've made it and we can see the light. Only five more days until the baby girl arrives. We have had several moments when we thought "this is it!" However, we endure each time. So as usual, I will probably make it to my inducement date on the 8th. I go to the Dr. on Mon and will get all the facts. Pray that we go into labor on the 7th and beat the date. I have long horrible labors, so I would love this on to be shorter and easier. We are progressing by ourselves this time, so I am still hopeful for a "nature" calls delivery vs. the many many many levels of pitosin(sp?) I normally go through.

Of course when all is done and are back home I will post pics of our new one and of the proud big sisters. Hope you all will come back to see them. It seems so long ago and it seems like it has been more than 9 mos, but we are finally here. YAHOO!!!!!!

Anybody got any labor inducing ideas, email them to me. We have done several of the top notch ones - I cannot walk anymore, eat anymore, and some others are not helping either (you know which other one I am talking about.....) so any fresh and tried and true methods, let me know!

Merry Christmas and another reality check!

Here are my Ninny and AJ. Trying to get the best picture is practically impossible, but aren't they all cute?










Hope everyone has a great holiday - time off. We are travelling to Lubbock and will hopefully see snow! I am ready to be in cold weather. I am excited to see children's face light up when Santa comes and to watch them play with all of their presents.

On a side note, here is my reality story for this week:
Yesterday morning, I stumped my 4th toe against the ladder to Ninny's bunk bed. It hurt horribly. It went numb for a while. I could feel myself getting sick to my stomach. (I have a high pain tolerance and transfer pain when something is wrong) I told Big Johnson that I thought I broke my toe, please look at it b/c I cannot reach it nor see it up close. He looks at it and twists it and rplies, it is not swollen or bruised so it is ok. I am bearing the pain......

I leave the house at 9:30am and return at 6:45 pm. I have been on my feet all day long finishing up all shopping, getting a haircut (one luxury) and going to the Dr. My legs are swollen and in pain, and I still cannot feel my toe. I go to my room to take a hot bath (a must for me when exhausted) I get in the tub and hold my foot up to get a glance at my toe. It is black and blue and red. I call Big Johnson back in to look closer for me and give me an update. He gasps at the sight (hopefully of my toe, not me in the tub!!!!) He calls my sister-in-law who is a pa. When I get out of the tub, I have an ice pack, pillows to elevate my legs, a glass of water with tylenol and finally - his sympathy. Yes, it takes a broken toe that is black to get sympathy from a man; ok, plus direct instructions from our family dr. helped me out too. I don't care what it took, I milked the evening for all it was worth. I still cannot put full pressure on my foot, but I am proceeding with life. One eveneing "off" and "pampered" was all I needed to be renewed!

three cuties!
alayna, ellie and sydney take a time out from thanksgiving to give us a pose. ellie is their cousin, but here is what all our pictures will look like - three girls......

kirk and i took a week long trip to las vegas the week after thanksgiving. he had to work at the cowboy christmas during the rodeo finals, and i got to tag along.

here is me and my man - he's cute and he is chocolate! we toured the m&m factory, of course, i would tour anything that makes chocolate. it was a blast.


this is the only place kirk could find to take his picture. remember we are in vegas - in front of a woman with her boob hanging out! that was as close to a showgirl as he got.....all the decorations for christmas were beautiful. we had lots of fun, but walking 5 miles everday 30 weeks pregnant was a little strraining, but well worth the pain.

What you should not do while pregnant - and what you don't want to hear!

For all of us who have ever been pregnant, you know there are just some things you do not want to hear, experience, or whatever it may be. We do silly things, we do stupid things, and we do things simply because we don't want to change everything about us for nine months. Ironically, we get away with mood swings, atttitude, fattiness, and all that other jazz - simply because we are pregnant.

Here are a few things I have experienced lately that I thought I would share with you all - because you have been there and you UNDERSTAND!!!!!

1) I have been glued to the Biggest Loser. I record it each week on our DVR. I have been amazed at the people and their stories, but like any reality show; you want to know who is getting voted off each week and what drama is happening this week. While watching one episode, Kirk looks at me and says this, "Man, after you have this baby, we have got to do our own Biggest Loser." This is not exactly what I wanted to hear at the time I was 26 weeks pregnant. Then I am thinking I have 14 more weeks to go, thanks a lot!

2) While 27 weeks pregnant, I am in Lubbock visiting my family. I am at the mall (not at my will) with 8 kids. Anyone would be stressed! I forgot something I desperately needed to do, so I run across the parking lot to go back and do it. BOOM!!!! I splat flat on my belly. I bruised my knee horribly, (still can't bend it totally) I broke the face on my watch, I had black streaks all over my shirt, and I had scratches on my belly, arms, and legs. After getting up and talking with my mom and sister, I am in the car a frantic mess. I call Kirk (my support system and coach) who is hunting with my dad and brother. Instead of answering my call he texts messages me HUNTING!!!! Again, this did not go over well either!

3) Last weekend, I was having horrible pains in my back and all down my left side into my groin. I also had not felt the baby kicking all day. I called the Dr and she sent me to labor and delivery to get checked out and make sure I am not having contractions. I got to the hospital at 5:00pm, only three hours late. I had to wait for Kirk to get home. We take the kids to some friends and wait for them to get me hooked up to all the monitors. Everything is ok, but of course, they want to keep me for observation. Kirk then ask the nurse how long I will be there. She responds with a look and says, a while. Kirk who has purchased tickets to a playoff game, ask me if I am ok and if he can leave to go to the game. He assures me by telling me he will pick me up on his way home, since I will be there a while anyways. Kirk leaves at 6:45pm. He picks the girls up from our friends' house and takes them to a game in Round Rock. At 7:45 I am released from the hospital. I have to call this same friend and ask her to come and get me because my husband is at a football game. Yes, this really happened.

4) Ok, all of these have been about kirk, but here is my own. I was eager to hit all the holiday sales, but I am in a town that does not have all the stores I need. So my sister in law Holly and I decide to go to Round Rock at 12:00am because their outlet mall is opened all night with major sales! We shop all night at the outlet stores, then we arrive at Walmart at 4:45am. We hit Target and many more stores trying to beat the rush and get all the items on our list. We knocked off quite a bit, got a lot of shopping done, (not all Christmas, but hey....) and returned to Marble Falls at 8:3oam. It took three hours for my legs to unswell and for me to feel them. Then I decided to treat myself to a pedicure and manicure on Sat. Needless to say, I felt the results on Sun.
What will we go through for a little girl fun?

So, here is my life. I have 8 to 10 weeks left. I will update you on any other great pregnancy moments. As for now, I hope to survive Christmas and then I really need to get going on a nusery. We will need some type of corner or niche to put the baby in.......

our happy halloween

We had a tremendous halloween this year. From carving pumpkins to trick-or-treating, every thing was great! This is AJ, Big Johnson and Syd on a hay ride. One of the realtors in our neighbor hood had a hay ride, free hotdogs and drinks, and lots of treats for the kids. If our neighborhood went this out for halloween, I am scared to see Chistmas!
Here are my trick-or-treaters. AJ was a kitty cat (or a tiger as she called herself) and Syd was a fairy. I did not get the picture, but Syd was eating some of her candy and lost her 2nd tooth. What a story to tell about the benefits of eating all the candy. AJ really got into the swing of things. She would run to a door and hold her pumpkin out and then just look at people with those little "kitty cat" eyes. Then she would say thank you real loud and run back to us. I think she got more candy b/c she was so cute and funny. I did not upload a picture of her backside, but she was so protective of her tail. And she is so little, she was just adorable.
Here are my cat and fairys' beautiful faces. They were so fun this year. We had an amazing time. Syd said this was her best halloween ever. I have our neighborhood to thank for that. It is a squared off subdivision of 5 streets. Everyone sat out on their porches and waited. Many decorated their garages, porches or had tables set up with decor for all the little ones. I was amazed myself. I do agree with Syd that it was one of our best halloweens ever. Now on to Syd's birthday in two weeks and then on to Thanksgiving and Christmas and then prep for the baby. And we wonder where our time goes........

Long time no write:

Ok, so it seems forever since I have posted, so here is one. Not too much going on to write about. Kirk, I mean Big Johnson, has been out of town this week. It makes for a long week; especially since I have to get everyone up at 6:30am. Most mornings, I leave Alayna asleep and enjoy decaf cappucino while watching a little of the Today show. Not this week. I would have taken a big coke, which I drink too many being pregnant. Which, about the pregnancy. We are already down to survival. I still have food preferences and there are a lot of foods that disgust me still, so it is eat whatever I can. But I do have to have one coke a day. I know there are those of you who are freaking out about that. But like I said, it is survival and I NEED one to live and function each day. BJ will be home Sunday night. We are going to carve our pumpkins then and get prepped for Halloween. Here's a warning: there will be lots of pictures posted after halloween, so be ready.

This will probably be my last post until then. I am not finding time to write lately. I don't know what I am doing with my time, but boy, it is gone!

tormenting my children - or is it parenting?

ok, i parenting has its ups and downs and it is not the same with each child at one time. while it might be up with one kid, it is down with another. thus, bringing on more complications. let,s start with syd, who now is calling herself ally. ally had a busy weekend and refused to go to sleep on sun night. it is hard enough that our church doesn't have service until 6:00pm, so it is normally 7:30pm before we are home. then you start the supper and baths and all that good stuff. after falling asleep at 10:45pm, we knew mon would be a hard day for her. sure enough, from the time she got home from shcool, she was fussy, winey and flat out miserable to deal with. we made her go to bed at 7:45pm. she fussed even more. it was so hard to not read her a story, sing her a song, or do anything special to get her down. we hardened up and said, "don't worry, you will thank us for this tomorrow." and yet, at 6:10 this morning, she was bright and cheerful. i pray we have a better day when she gets home today. i do not want to go through that again.

now i will move on to alayna. she was fine. she is easy to deal with. her personality is a little more easy going and she is FUNNY! we had just finished supper and we were all going to go outside for a little bit. she ran into the bathroom and climbed into the bathtub. (she does this regularly to hide and play in the faucet.) thinking she was going to turn the water on like in the past, i hollered from the kitchen for her to get out of there. she stayed. i went to her and started pulling her out of the tub. she screamed the whole time. i spanked her for throwing a fit, she screamed more. then she said, "net, mommy." i finally figured out what she was talking about. i, get this, put her back in the tub and she gets her little fishing net (a bath toy that you can fish up fishies with) and she runs outside. not only do i feel horrible for all that just happened, but then i am extremely amazed at how she thought to use that fishing pole thing as a butterfly catcher. strike two for me....

then there is the little one growing inside me. as sweet and innocent as she is, i swear she is going to come out my throat and not the usual way. she is so high up in my chest it is killing me. i pray she drops and she drops tons.... i will love the relief of her off of my neck!

all in all, everyone was all smiles this morning. we'll see what happens this afternoon.

here's to you big johnson

ok, my husband was reading my blog for the first time last night. he did not know my blog's name, how to spell it, or how to get to it. i walked him through step by step. then he had some "comments" on all i have blogged. he asked why i had written what i had and how did i decide what i would put on there. i did the explaining of how it is like everyone says, a diary you leave for the public to read. well, he read it and wept....... he asked where his picture was and why i did not have a family photo on their and well - many other curious questions.

answers: for some reason, i never have pictures of kirk and i. i guess we take so many pictures, we exclude ourselves from them. most of the pictures we are in are with our children. the ones we do have of ourselves are so ridiculous i would not want the public to be able to view them. and as for me especially, i do not like being in pictures b/c it is sad when panaramic view is required to get the job done!!!! (remember i am preg so feeling extra fat is a constant right now)

so while i do not have a decent picture of kirk - i mean big johnson (the name he has chosen for me to refer to him as) i will make extra effort to take one and upload to my blog. simply said; kirk will no longer be. from now on, he is BIG JOHNSON. i do not even know where he came up with that name. i think it was clothing he wore in the 80's. which is scarier, the name of clothing from the 80's or the fact that my husband wants to be referred to as it?

either way, i will end with this - farewell my love, hello vintage wear!

Girls - Girls - Girls

Well, we had our first sonogram today! and as we guessed and figured - it's another girl. Of course, we would have liked a boy, but we are more than glad to have another girl. God has blessed us so much and we could not ask for more. Sydney was a little sad at first, but she immediately overcame her sadness and began drawing pictures for her new sister. That is all she can talk about now. Alayna is still clueless. One minute she says, "No girl, I want bwuther." Then she says, "I big sister and litl sis." She will catch on and understand soon. Despite all the roller coaster emotions, we are excited and are starting to work out all the details. Our new precious girl is healthy and growing well. Everything looks as it should.

This is the Real Life

have you ever noticed....

Have you ever wondered why we do some of the things we do? I was noticing some things I do as I was cleaning house yesterday.
Why when vaccuuming will one just simply not stop and pick up that little piece that can't be suctioned up? One will run over that piece fifty times, lift the vaccuum cleaner up and try to get it that way, but we simply won't pick it up. Determination, I am sure.
Why when taking clothes from the dirty clothes hamper to the utility room, does it have to be in one trip? One will attempt numerous times to pick up that pair of shorts or underwear in order to make one trip. If it falls off again, one will simply kick it across the floor to the destinated place. Again, determination!
Why when taking that big load out of the dryer, again we feel the need to make one trip? One will scoop and scoop and scoop and scoop, but hey, we made in one trip; only to be frustrated when you drop the whole load because you tripped over another load anxiously awaiting its turn.
Why is it that one will spend a whole day cleaning, and when all is done will sit down and admire the DETERMINED work? We relic in our accomplishment and even count how many days until we won't have to clean again. Then children come home from school, husband comes home and living begins. Then you spend the next cleaning up your fresh cleaned house.

first glimpse of baby

We had a Dr. visit this morning. I did not get to do a sonogram, though. We will do one in September. I will be 21 weeks when I do one, so this is new to me. My Dr. in Lubbock did one every visit, so we got to know what sex and all that from the earliest we could tell.

The Dr. was could not get a heart beat on the doppler thing. It was scary because I was by myself and she is telling me she cannot find a heartbeat. There went my heartbeat with the words. She had this little portable ultrasound machine. She picked up a picture of the baby quickly and the heart was beating advidly. I was so relieved. Now my heart was beating again. This machine was too little to see details, but I did get to see the baby! It just seems to make everything official and then all those emotions start coming out. Anyways, the baby was moving wildly throughout the whole ultrasound. That is why she could not hear the heart because the baby was moving too much and too fast! Now my worries really set in. I have two crazy monkeys already, now I have one learning from them from in the womb. I'll have my work cut out for me. I am more excited and can start feeling some heavy movements now, so today has been a good baby day. Then reality sinks in when Kirk comes home at 4:30 and the kids are watching tv and mom is knocked out on the couch. Yep, back to normal for now.....

Time flies.....

ok, you can tell it is school season. everyone is busy and we all seem to be getting behind on our blogs. sydney's tooth fell out. alayna keeps pointing to her teeth and wants us to feel hers. she is also working on potty training. i want to wait until after labor day, but she does everything, but puts the diaper on herself!

i am finally feeling better. i go to the dr tomorrow. i hope i get to do a sonogram, but i do not think i will. i pray we hear "it's a boy!" that would definitely be an answered prayer.

we are getting on our school routine, but time goes before we know it. we are having to put the girls to bed so early that we feel like we are missing so much of their time.

other than that, we are still adjusting to life in a new place. we are starting to meet people and not feel so secluded to "us." the house next to us sold and they have a two year old also, so we are very thrilled about that.

we are busy, but just trying to keep up with the same - o same - o. hope to see some of you soon.

This is the Real Life

Milestones that make moms happy!

Well, not only is Sydney starting kindergarten, but we have crossed some other grand milestones. Sydney's first tooth is loose. She is excited and hopes that it falls out before school starts. We are working on it, but no give so far.

Alayna has given up the binky. We were wanting to get rid of the binky and have her potty trained before the baby came, so one down and one to go. She has been wanting a dora doll. (Everything is Dora) I told her she could have the dora doll or she could have binky. She gave me the binky, I gave her the dora doll, and we are without the binky for three days; naps and all. Now if we could get to the pottying down, we would be all clear.

As for mom, as sad as I am my oldest is off to school, I relic in two other events - no binky and losing a tooth.

Yes, we are all smiles....

Full of personality

here are my blossoming sweeties. here is to a day of playing dress up and taking pictures. Alayna is wearing a Peter Pan hat and belt and some gloves from a Kim Possible costume. The wooby and binky top this outfit for the perfect dress up outfit. Sydney is sporting a leotard, but you cannot see it because her latest hobby is taking pictures of herself. she takes a lot, so thank goodness for digital days - she would waste a ton of pictures.

real life

ok, i am starting to feel better. it seems i am more sick from 9-12am and then from 5-8pm. haven't figured out why, but that seems to be the routine. we went to six flags this past weekend. sydney and i went to see aly and aj in concert. (disney singers that are singers) we had a blast. it was wonderful bonding time. mom got to teach syd how to "attend a concert" she wanted to hold her ears, she would not scream and got tired of standing. i - the opposite. i enjoyed myself way too much, but was worth it.
we are getting ready to go on vacation in two weeks to the mountains. i am excited and cannot wait to be in the COLD!

men and pregnancy

ok, to begin i am not complaining of my husband. he is great help and does more than i could ask for; but how much do men really understand pregnancy. i have been sick, but i am not a throw-up person. i always wish i could b/c i know i will feel so much better afterwards. on sun afternoon i felt horrible. we were all laying on our bed discussing our plans for the afternoon. i looked at everbody and said, "i'm gonna throw up!" so i rush to the bathroom and start the dry heaving that leads to the greatness of first trimester nausea.

kirk first comes in there while i am leaning over the toilet and responds with "honey, i can't believe you are throwing up, you never t hrow up. sydney, go get mom some crackers and juice." i spew more at the sound of food and look over my shoulder at my husband leaning against the counter impressesd and my 2 year old scared crazy and confused and then my 5 year old holding crackers. i realize this is real life - i am a mom.

after all is said and done, i did feel better and my husband rubs my shoulders and is excited by my drama. he comments, "wow, when was the last time you threw up? i think it's been 9 years. oh, that is a sign that this is a boy. i can feel it!" then the nausae came back. is this really the comfort i get? all that we go through and we get they can FEEL it, it's a sign. do i even have the nerve at this point to disappoint him and tell him it is more than a 90% chance of being a girl. can i crush his ego and excitement.

i was the topic and highlight of his entertainment. and if for some odd reason this is a boy - i dare to imagine him there after. needless to say, i have felt worse than ever. getting out of bed and brushing my teeth seem to be a hassle. my 5 year old is taking care of the 2 year old and i feel even more guilty. i cannot wait for the next three weeks to be over. hopefully this stage will pass shortly! and i wish men could experience pregnancy, so they could feel it....