back to life......

I'm back!!! I know it has been forever since I posted. I promise I am trying. I do get on and check your blogs, so keep checking mine. I will do better.

Work is going good. I am getting back into the swing of things. I have 1 six weeks under my belt; only five more to go. It has been good, except the grading. I have to grade 127 papers at a time and that is a hoot......

We made our first trip to the ER and got our first stitches. Alayna fell Friday night after a game and sliced her finger open. She got three stitches in her ring finger. We are glad and fortunate that only her finger was messed up. She bounced back quickly, but tells us about the whole ordeal every thirty minutes or more.

Syd is starting basketball (mommy's sport) and I am so excited. She did her run at t-ball, but now for the good stuff. Kirk is staying out and letting me take over now!

Tater is a big almost 8 mos old. She is pulling up and crawling everywhere. She is attracted to cat food. (It would be easier to just move the cat food, but it is in too good of a spot and I refuse to move it.) So, I am constantly moving her away from it.

Other than that all is well. I got a new camera for my birthday (10/18). I will be 33. These are some pics I have taken on it so far. I will add some more as I take some - yea for me, bad for you. You all will have to bear through my playing and figuring out my camera. I am excited b/c I love to take pics and now I have the equipment to do so.

Add more later, just finally getting a moment of peace to myself (1:01am) so updating to let you know I am alive and well.

so much can happen in such little time!

Well, it has been a while since my last post, so here is an update on all of our family.

Big J - he is still with Brighton and loves his job and his area. He does not have to travel hardly any since we have moved, but everywhere he drives is at least an hour drive. He is getting boat fever bad and I am sure he will have a boat before I get my new camera.....

Me - Well, I am going back to work! I am going to be teaching Sr. English at Midaway High School. It is a 4A school and it is huge.....I have to walk three flights of stairs to get to my room. I think it will be a great place to work and other than getting up at 5:30am, I am really going to like being in the classroom again.

Syd - She is ready to be in the 1st grade. She ask every day when she starts school. She is so excited. She is worried about math. I told her, she will be fine. She is worried because she doesn't know how to multiply. I told her many 1st graders don't even know what that means, so she will be ok.

AJ - She is staying with the China Spring's high school principal's wife. Her name is Amy as well. She has a three year old boy and keeps another three year old, plus my two. She loves going to Miss Amy's house and loves being around the other kids to play with all day. She is getting wittier and smarter every day. She "cutes" herself out of a lot of trouble.

Tater - She is 6mos old. She is sitting up, eating food (wants to eat nothing but table food), and is getting bigger everytime I look at her. She had a Dr. visit and the Dr. told us she was to big to carry in the carrier thing. She told us to get the next size car seat for her. I have never had the Dr. tell me a child was too big for something. She wears 12 mos size clothes with a few 6 mos stuff. She is a big girl and she wants to be as big as her two sisters. She is quite nosy - no not liker her mother! and she is going to be into everything when she starts crawling.

That's mainly it for the whittle's. Our world is so different right now, but it will only be a few short weeks before that is our normal routine. So don't complain if the blog is not changed frequently. I barely have time to shave my legs! Do keep us in your prayers as we make all the changes and adjustments.

hello allergy child

Syd and AJ spent a week in Lubbock at my parents' house. It was a real treat to only have one kid. I was able to get so many little task done that have been piling up on me. I met my mom in Abilene on Sat to pick them up. Sunday night AJ was congested and running a low fever. Then on Monday night, she is running a 102.6 fever and can hardly breathe. We went to the Dr. on Tues morning and were there for three hours. I am thinking this is allergies from being in Lubbock and then coming back to humidityville. Next thing I know, they are taking x-rays, doing a breathing treatment and talking about admitting her to the hospital. I felt pathetic as a mom. How did it get to this? Fortunately, they decided to not admit that it was bronchitis; but to watch it closely. It is scary to see a child not be able to breathe! We take breath for granted. So three sleepless nights later, I think she is finally doing better. I still have to take her back to check her progress, but last night we got scared again when her fever rose up. I just pray the rest of us stay healthy and can avoid this. They also want us to take her and have her checked out for asthma. So, after having three children with no earinfections - no tubes- and no serious problems, we are about to be introduced into the world of asthma and allergies! Here is a picture of her doing a breathing treatment. It was so sad to see. I hope she gets over all this soon. I NEED SOME SLEEP!!!!

TAGGED

ok, I got tagged, so here it is.....

1) What were you doing 10 years ago?
I had just got married in June. I was a newly wed, what do you think I was doing?
2) What were you doing one year ago?
We had just moevd to Waco. We had no neighbors, no friends, no church home. I was playing with my children and was pregnant! It was over 100* every day. It was a long miserable summer. What a difference a year can make!
3) What are 5 snacks you enjoy?
1- chips and hot sauce/queso
2- chocolate
3 - sundried basil tomato wheat thins
4- chocolate
5 - trail mix
4) What are 5 songs you know all the lyrics to?
1 - Breakfast at Tiffany's
2- Baby got Back
3 - Karma Chameleon
4 - any cartoon theme song
5 - many 80 songs........
5) What are 5 things you would give your money to if you were a millionaire?
1- my LCU loan
2- my dad's shop
3- pick a charity
4- kids' college funds
5- kids' wedding funds!
6) What are 5 bad habits you have?
1- popping my neck and knuckles
2- smacking gum
3- singing out loud
4- popping bubbles with my gum
5- eating chocolate
7) What are 5 things you like doing?
1- playing with my kids
2- playing out side (any sports)
3- scrapbooking
4- taking pictures
5- talking
8) What are 5 things you would never wear again?
1- stirrup pants
2- socks that go up to your knees, but you roll them down above your hightops
3- claw bangs, or bangs teased out into a fan looking thing
4- short shorts
5- dorothy hamil haircut
9) What are 5 favorite toys?
1- kareoke (sp?) machine
2- picture editing programs on my computer
3- dvr on my satellite
4- ipod (itunes)
5- cell phones

now it is my turn....... i tag jill, suzanne, brooke and brandi

Summer time blues.......

hello world of bloggers!
I am finally getting things settled down, until Wednesday. Our VBS was great and was a wonderful success. So many people pitched in and made it happen wonderfully. I praise God for using Debra and I to put together a VBS in such a short amount of time - and I feel like Joan Steffen on Decorating Cents, "and we did all for under $700!"

I know it is summer, but it has not felt like summer at all. The sun has not made an appearance in several weeks. It would be nice to not see rain in the week's forcast. We have received over 30 inches of rain. Our lake is up 22 feet and that is having let water out on earlier rainfalls. It is crazy to drive over the lake where you normally see a play park and the whole thing is under the water. Our lakes are closed until August; but probably later b/c we are still receiving rain. So much for spending the summer laying at a beach area two minutes from our house and soaking up the sun. Now we just stay in out of the rain and if does stop raining, humidity is between 70-100%. That means frizzy, frizzy hair......

All is well with our family. Everyone is healthy and going strong. We are finding other things to do with our time. What a difference a year makes. Last year we knew no one and stuck to our own selves. Now, having neighbors, friends, and a church family is great. It does seem to load the days up b/c now we have too much we want to squeeze in each day and month.

Hope all you are doing well and enjoying summer. Feel free to come and visit. Just don't expect to hop into the lake!

hi, my name is amy and this is my blog page!

I am alive and I am going to get better about posting on my blog. Right after VBS is over. Our VBS starts Mon and is over Wed night. I am excited for it to start, but of course, nervous for it to go smoothly. Here are a few pics I have taken of the girls. Our little girl is now the oldest and yes, graduating from Kindergarten. It was amazing to see how much she had "grown" in one year. She started off the year scared of being dropped off, then ended the year, with "let me out here, you don't have to go to the door."

Then there is AJ. I should write a book about this child. Her b-day was last week. She is a big 3! Since we were having her party after her actual b-day, we told her she pick anywhere she wanted to go and we would take her. McDonalds it was! She kind of looks like the little Shrek toy. (I did not know they were doing green things or I would not have put green pony tails in her hair!!!!!) This is the bike she wanted. She had one from Sydney, but she would not even try to ride it, much less, sit on it. When she got her bike that night, she rode the thing around our neighborhood, which is exactly one mile around. That stubborn toot.....Kirk said she looked like Napoleon Dynamite.

What a cutie what a cutie. Tater is so big and is trying to reach for toys. We call her billy goat, b/c she is always eating at her hands, fingers, clothes, toys, whatever she grasps in those tiny fingers, she chews on it. It's cute to watch her eat her dress on Sundays. It gets laughs from people sitting around us.

The three of them together. Can you take too many pictures of your children? NO WAY, JOSE.....here is one of many, many, many more to come.

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.