Faith and the Grocery Store App

After weeks of not being able to attend church service, we finally made it this morning, and oh how wonderful it was – I was just asking God to draw me in somehow, to pull me closer to Him. I had that longing, that thirst, and this morning during praise and worship, tears of joy and thankfulness flowed as we sang. Phew, it was kind of a great experience for me. I seriously am so thankful for everything in my life right now – every thing that has led me to this place. And there’s something about worshipping God in a large group every now and then. I can listen to Christian radio every day, and I love it, but singing those same songs in a group setting, you can just feel the Spirit of God in those times.




Shifting gears to the awesome app I loaded to my iPhone this morning. Wes has been asking me for weeks to do something to keep inventory on our food. See, I have about 25 different salad dressings, marinades, sauces, etc in our fridge. I have a condiment problem. I just never know what we have, so when I see something at the store, I buy it and then come home to find out we already have it. Enter the Tap Grocer app. You can enter every staple item into the app, and then there’s a button that says “Stocked” or “Out”. If you select “Out” it automatically adds it to your grocery list, which is a part of the App. And you can categorize just like you do your normal grocery list. So my categories are produce, meat, health and beauty, groceries, canned goods, dairy, household, frozen foods, and beverages. This is the order I do my typical grocery list also. Then you just add the items that you like to keep at home. So for example, under dairy, I have eggs, milk, sour cream, yogurt, creamer, and cheese. So today will be my first trip to the store using this app. I hope it begins to save me money and helps me to stick to my list and only buy things we need. I will say one of my other problems lately is just buying snacks and stuff for the kids to eat, because they don’t always eat what we eat. So chicken nuggets, hot dogs, spaghetti-os and those kinds of things are also always on my list, and those kinds of foods can get expensive. If any of you have suggestions for how you save money, especially when buying for little ones, I’d love to hear them!!

Sweet.Baby.Boy

I’m inspired by MckMama today to give you an update on our “little” 16 month old, and 25 pounder, Henry. What a handsome little lover he is. There is something about little boys, everyone told me this. Well they were right. He is so cuddly when he wants to be, and this Mama loves it. He is also rough, and can pull hair, bite and hit like no other. But mostly, he is a lover.


He talks up a storm. Truly he does. Now we can’t understand every word he says, but a lot of them. His new favorite phrase is “Bye-bye Daddy”. Except he says it to everyone, not just Daddy. He loves Elmo. He loves my iPhone. He loves watching Elmo on my iPhone. He loves loves loves his sister. Like when he wakes up and she’s still sleeping, he is looking upstairs for her and saying “Abbie” over and over. He likes to try to put his shoes on. He loves to be outside. He points out to the porch and says “Yesh!!” Every time he sees water he says "Turtle". He loves Brandy. He eats a ton, and he is the reason we are seriously considering a membership to a wholesale warehouse. He likes balls, cars, and is a flirt too. If I walk out of the room, he is yelling “Mammy, Mammy” and chasing me around the house. He loves to be carried around, and I can honestly say my arms are in better shape now than they’ve been in a long time.



So thank you Henry, for making my arms look better, but much more importantly, for bringing us lots of smiles and being the sweetest brown-eyed little boy I know. MOM

I HEART Hilton Head Island

I really, really do. When we found out last week that our trip to Key West was not going to happen because of Hurricane Isaac, I was bummed. But then my MIL found us a place in Hilton Head instead. And I was so so happy. Even more excited to go there than the Keys. Turns out our trip did not disappoint. This was our fourth time there, and my favorite by far. The kids had a blast, which can be proved by their little tans, blisters on their toes from the pool, and sand in every crevice of their bodies. There were hardly any bathes taken, teeth brushed, or bed times enforced, but it was fabulous. We even got to see our cousins who happened to be there the same time as us. We biked, played golf, spent tons of time at the pool, went to the beach, ate crab legs. If you haven’t been there, I highly recommend it. It’s a great place for families, golfers, beach lovers, seafood eaters, etc. I can’t say enough good things about it. I might even want to retire there one day : )

Lately

I've been a student lately, but not a good student.

I feel like God is trying to teach me things, like how to curb my emotions, but it just doesn't sink in. Sure, I pray about it and am aware of situations when I might come undone, and I really and truly try to hang in there and not freak out. But I still do....sometimes. Then I am guilt-ridden. Lately I have been taking my anger out on Wes. I guess they say you always hurt the ones you love. But I really really dislike that phrase, even though it's true for me sometimes. I don't want to hurt the ones I love, or anyone for that matter. Ugh. I'm not really sure what my point is here, but I thought maybe blogging about it would help. Instead of holding things in until I am at my breaking point, I just need to ask for help, and not in a mean way, or out of desperation, but in an act of kindness.

I've learned a lot over the past four years of being a Mom, and my patience has been tested more times than I care to count. But there is one thing I've realized about myself. The more I focus on ME and what I want, the more upset and unglued I become. So there I am, struggling with the decision between asking for help (that would be for me) and not asking for help but risking going a little crazy.

UGH again. I'm learning. Just not as fast as I'd like to. But hopefully I'm heading in the right direction.

B and B's wedding

We just got home from our weekend in Waynesville for Brett and Brooke's wedding. It was beautiful - the place, the bride and groom, everything. It rained a lot and the ceremony had to be postponed, but it probably made it even more beautiful with the foggy mountains. Both kids were in it. It was a little crazy corralling them around and keeping them happy, but they ended up doing what they needed to do so that was what mattered! Abbie stayed up front the whole time, and Henry walked to me at the end of the aisle while eating his ring bearer pillow and then I had to take him away to a place where no one could hear him! Here are a few of my favorite pics....

This is the only picture I got of Brooke in her dress! I'm kicking myself but that's what wedding photographers are for - she was stunning. I love this girl and look forward to getting to know her even better.

1, 2, 3, 4

A few things I've learned that make my life easier, and might do the same for you….


1) If your daughter wants to wear her Sunday dress to school with running shoes, let her. As long as she is abiding by the dress code, it’s not worth the argument. Oh and if she pitches a fit about brushing her teeth before school - well try getting her to brush them at night. I figure if you can do once a day it’s better than nothing.

2) Always have food in the car. ALWAYS. Graham crackers, goldfish, cheerios – I’ve always got a bag of one of these if not all in my car. This is for Henry. That kid is always hungry. If I give him a snack, he will be happy and quiet.

3) Depending on how your house is set up, if it’s safe for you to load your kids up in the mornings, start the car, and then go back into the house to do a couple last minute things, do it. If I don’t do this, my house looks like a tornado when we get home in the afternoons, and that’s not fun for anyone.

4) Speaking of tornadoes, try to make it a habit to sweep the floors, namely the kitchen and eating area, after dinner each night. And wipe the counters. But not in that order (Always wipe counters first, right??!!) This helps your house stay a little neater which again hopefully keeps everyone happy.

That’s all for now : )

Timing

It was a rough morning….again. When I look back at these mornings, I can’t even recall how we got from waking up in a good mood (me) to screaming, whining, and shoving kids out the door. I even turned the radio up extra loud in the car to drown out the whining. Just call me mother of the year.

I hate it when that happens, I really do. I don’t want to send my kids off for the day with that memory. I know every morning will not be perfect, and most will be far from it, but I want my kids to know I love them, and I want to have time to listen to them, get them breakfast if they are hungry…you know, the little things. But this morning everything just escalated –everything I did or told Abbie just turned into her whining and Henry just runs around either crying to be held, or if I don’t have time to hold him he just starts getting into everything. And then my blood pressure rises, and I NEED A TIME OUT. And it’s only 8 o clock.

Then I read a daily devotion in my inbox. You want to know the title? “Unglue Mama Mornings”. Really God??!! So I guess You were watching. I felt like it was written just for me. And you know what else? If I had woken up just a few minutes earlier, and read that this morning, before rushing to get my day started, I would have probably had a whole new perspective on my kid’s behavior.

The key verse was Ephesians 4:22-24 – “You were taught with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”



Sounds like this verse is telling me to be selfless, to be more like Him, to change my attitude. Yea. I needed to hear that. It’s not all about me. Phew. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Five Moms, Nine Kids, One Weekend

Some things overheard this weekend –




“If you do that one more time, we are going home!!”



“Do we need to call Daddy and tell him what you did?”



“If you stick your tongue out at me again, I’m going to give you something to cry about!”



“Jack, are you ok? Is your head hurt?” (After Jack falls off bean bag chair and lands on his head.)



“Who wants to read a blog about how your baby pooped today, ate two jars of baby food, sat up for the first time, blah blah blah. I just don’t get it!!”



“I’m so glad it’s not just my husband who does that stuff!!”



“Is it bedtime yet??? “ (at 5:30pm)



Ahh, yes, it was fun, but maybe next time we will leave the kids behind with Daddy!! : )

HOTlanta, and other stuff

Here I am again on Sunday, as promised!

It's been a pretty fast week, especially since we had Wednesday off. It's HOT here, like really hot, like stay inside during daylight hours or if you are out, get in a pool HOT. It's a little tough, especially with little ones. Going places during the day is sort of miserable, and their car seats get hot. Well, you get the picture. This has led Wes and I to start talking about moving again. It's not that I thought we'd stay here forever, but still a part of me is like geez, I wonder when we'll settle down. Will we ever be happy enough to stay somewhere, to put down roots? It's like we are searching for something we haven't found yet. So anyways, we are talking. We signed a lease for another year on our house, and we still have the house in NC that we are trying to sell. What a pain in the butt that has been. A part of me thinks if we did move, then I would change jobs (obviously) and maybe it would give me a chance to get even more freedom than I have now. I would  really love to have a full time job that allowed me to be at home when Abbie got out of school, around 3pm, and be able to work at home the rest of the day.

Putting Henry to bed at night and at nap has gotten to be a really long, drawn out process. It can take up to an hour to get him to close his eyes! He wants to play, talk, do anything but sleep when I get him upstairs. And I know he is so tired. Frustrating!

Abbie starts swim lessons tomorrow evening. I really think this is a great time for her to do this, because she is wanting to go without her life jacket or swimmies more and more, and she is going under water and trying to swim more these days.

I'm doing an online bible study on a book called "I Used to be So Organized" by Glynnis Whitwer. It's really good and has a lot of great tips on not just getting your house organized, but organizing your life, to do list, etc. So far this book has taught me to put things away and finish what I started. Well actually, it's taught me a lot of things, but that's those are the things I'm working to implement right now. I can't believe how much time I waste on Facebook! I am really making an effort to not get on there so much at work, and to start a task and finish it without interruption. It's hard for me sometimes to do this. Until next week!

New Plan

So my plan for this blog is to have a new post up every Sunday. I miss it so much, and enjoy reading everyone else's, so I am hoping this is doable for me.

Where do I begin? Let's start with the obvious, the kids. Henry is such a sweet little booger at almost 14 months. He really loves to read books these days. He will bring me a book and then come sit in my lap. I just love those moments. He says uh-oh, shoes, bye-bye, hello, hi, no-no. He is doing really well with imitating also, and it helps to have Abbie around to talk to him and teach him. He is officially weaned as of about two weeks ago. We went to Charleston as a family then Wes's parents took the kids home so we could stay a few extra days, so I decided then it was time. It was a pretty easy process once we made it past the first night. He sleeps from about 8-6, and then takes one two hour nap during the middle of the day. He has a bit of a biting problem. Apparently we need to show him the Yo Gabba Gabba episode of "Don't bite your friends". This is new for me because Abbie never did it (except a few times when she was nursing) but everyone says he will grow out of it. I can't tell you how much I dislike being the Mom of a kid who bites. Thankfully they keep it anonymous at his school so the other parents don't know it is him! We are working on disciplining though. Abbie has taken the brunt of it more times than I care to talk about. He is also into everything - like way more than Abbie ever was. He has climbed up the stairs a few times now, when someone accidentally leaves the gate open. Thankfully no major accidents yet. If we can make it through the next few months without one I will consider it an accomplishment.

Abbie is a crazy little 4-year old. She is doing so good these days and I can really tell a big difference in her these last few months. She is learning so much in preschool and this summer her teacher is a Kindergarten teacher, which seems to be making a huge difference in her pace of learning. Not that she was slow before, but it just seems like her "reading" and writing skills have really stepped up a notch. They do sight words and she is getting good at putting sounds together. She will officially start pre-K in August, but right now they are doing a summer camp program where they take field trips twice a week. She loves it. She also is in a weekly program called playball, where these coaches come in and teach them motor skills, team building, etc. She will start swim lessons this month, hopefully, and we are considering letting her do soccer in the fall. That will be the first team sport she has ever played. I know she is ready, the question is whether or not we are! I know it's a great thing to get your kids into, but it seems like everyone starts so early (4!) these days. I don't remember doing anything like that until I was about 6 or 7. Plus I think for her, going to school every day is enough sometimes. She is worn out and really enjoys being home on the weekends. But we'll see. I can definitely see if I stayed home and just wanted her to get interaction and stuff that I would be more apt to enroll her into more programs. I digress...

This post is getting really long already, I promise it won't be like this every week, but we were in need of some updates. Wes and I just celebrated 12 years of marriage (craziness, how are we that old??) As I mentioned above, we got to go to Charleston for a few days to celebrate, and it was much needed. We have Brett's wedding coming up in August, which the kids are both in, and Wes is the best man. Then we will head to Key West right before Labor day. So lots to look forward to this summer. For now we are here in Atlanta and trying to stay cool in this crazy heat. This weekend we have all had the stomach bug, minus Henry. Somehow he has escaped it so far. Maybe he was the culprit though, we aren't sure! But it has been nuts. Thankfully I got it and just as I was starting to feel better, Wes got it. If we had both had it at the same time, I'm afraid we would have had to call in help or something. This was one of those that just knocks you flat and you have no energy. All we could do (and Wes is still doing now...) is sleep it off.

We are looking forward to a short work week (Wednesday off). Happy 4th everyone!!

Thankful

I am over due to post about Henry, I actually have a one-year post prepared. And then of course I'm over due on writing a four year old post for Abbie as well. But tonight, I just wanted to say how thankful I am for those two. SO thankful. I know I've said it before, but my heart just swells with love for those kids, AND Wes. Amazing. And what makes me think sometimes about this is when I see people suffering, kids with cancer, etc, and I know that this - what I have right this instant, could change in the blink of an eye. So I will continue to live in each moment and be thankful for everything I have right now. And if and when things change, whether for better or for worse, I will continue to be thankful. "In all things give thanks"

Just Abbie

I have no idea where to begin on our almost 4-year old first born. The words that I say or the picture I paint of her could never compare to her in real life. She is spirited, strong-willed, independent, energetic, a mile a minute, particular – “Well, she’s three, Shannon”, you might say. But trust me. I’ve been around other 3-year olds, and never ever in my life have I experienced one quite like Abbie. She throws us for a loop. She can brighten your day in the blink of an eye, but sometimes if we allow it, she can cause Wes and I to second guess our parenting skills, to throw our hands up in the air and say I have no idea what to do with her! Honestly the best thing I can do is pray. Cliché, I know. But I promise you sometimes I feel like it’s the only thing that might get me through. I pray for grace. For her and for me. I pray for patience. I pray that I can be the kind of parent she needs me to be, because I don’t just want to be a good parent. I want to be a good parent to her. I want to build her up and encourage her to keep her spunk and not bury it away somewhere. I know it will be a positive trait at some point, when she can really understand and grasp her feelings, and Wes and I can understand what on earth she needs from us. But in the meantime I will continue to pray. And say “God, help me to raise Abbie to be who You want her to be.” With an emphasis on “GOD HELP ME!!”

Stuff

We are coming upon night 4 of sleep training Henry....i.e, letting him cry. This goes against everything in my being but I'm tired. He is waking up more and sleeping less so I have to do something. Last night was pretty bad, but I have heard it takes 3 nights - night 2 he never woke up at all, so I actually thought he got it after just one night, but I was wrong. Anyways, we'll see how it goes tonight.

He now has 4 teeth, is almost 10 months old, weighs about 21 lbs, and he had his first ever ear infection two weeks ago. IT.WAS.HORRIBLE. Abbie has never had one so this was my first experience, and I never knew how bad they were. His temp went up to 103.5 at one point and I was very close to taking him to the ER. Fevers scare me -I am not familiar with them. Again, because Abbie has never had anything over about 100. Thankfully some motrin was able to bring it down, but I was definitely scared there for a few minutes.

I'm ready for spring. Even though this winter has been very mild, I'm just ready for longer days, and also spring means Easter, the kids birthdays, and just fun outside.

I got to go out with some girlfriends the other night. It was fun to get out even though at 9 I was yawning and having a hard time keeping my eyes open.

And Wes and I got to go on a date last weekend. We had a wonderful dinner at a steakhouse in Buckhead.

That's all for now. I'm going to try to sleep for a few minutes!

Now I know...

How some Mom's get older and get to a point where they have no friends, no hobbies or interests of their own. I think it's hard for women, especially Mom's, to get so wrapped up in taking care of your kids that you forget who you are. Now this is not about doing stuff for yourself and all that. I believe our kids need to come first as much as possible, especially when they are young, but every now and then letting someone else take the reins and getting out of the house and doing something you enjoy. This has been tough for me lately. I feel like I have friends, but they all have kids, and the chances of us both being able to get out on the same day is slim to none. Then I feel guilty, then there's the nursing that gets in the way...It's just hard sometimes. I have truly loved nursing both my kids, but I must say part of me is looking forward to being done with it so I can leave Henry for more than a couple hours and not have to pump, and also do what was one of my more favorite things before I had him, and that is running. It is a huge stress reliever for me and something that doesn't take a lot of time. I just really enjoy it, so I can't wait to get back into it, run some races, find friends here to run with, and just have something that I enjoy doing for me. I'm a Mom first, but I'm also still me, and I don't want to lose that.

Need to blog - an 8-month update on Henry

Before I let another day pass, I need to do an update on our sweet second-born, Henry! He was 8 months on the 6th, and is long overdue for an update. Here is what's going on with our little monkey...

He just started crawling about two weeks ago. He is so fast already, and is into everything! Computer cords are a favorite, light sockets, the fireplace, dog food - you know, anything he's not supposed to have. He could be completely surrounded by toys, but he wants something off limits.

He is also pulling up on everything, including his crib and the couch. And he's trying to climb up the stairs already too, but I haven't really allowed him to go very far with that.

He has two bottom teeth, and I'm pretty sure more will be coming soon.

He yells and babbles and tries to talk all the time - babababa, dadadada, etc. Of course no mamamama!

He drinks my milk 4-5 times a day, and has two solid food meals a day. He's tried puffs recently, and loves them, but no other table food yet.

He takes two naps a day usually, and goes to bed between 6:30 and 7. He wakes up once a night to eat, then wakes up for the day around 5:30. Yes, it's early!

He is such a wonderful addition to our family - it's so fun to watch him grow and change. The last few months have just flown by and his 1st birthday will be here before we know it! Crazy!