My Little Man

Jayce is 19 months old now. Where has the time gone?

He is trying to be more vocal but he is still hard to understand on a lot of what he says.

He is ALL boy... loves to climb, loves to wrestle, loves to be messy... 100% boy for

sure. Although he does still enjoy wearing Lula Mae's tutu ;-)

I swear he is still mad that we took his paci away at 12 months. He finds this chicken leg everyday and sucks on it like a paci.... sigh.... get over it dear boy, you ain't getting that paci back.

We took him for his skin allergy test on Monday. We found out that he has an egg sensitivity (no big deal, it just causes a red rash if it touches his skin but does not affect him when he eats it) and he is allergic to peanuts.

This is what his skin does when he gets egg on it. Not pretty, but I'm glad it isn't a full blown allergy.

We now have epipens. I guess they do make me feel a bit more at ease. Being that he is 100% boy there is no telling what food he may get into without us knowing. At least we know with the epipen he is safer.

He is getting a little pit of fat on him! Getting a little chubby! Yay for his body healing so he can retain nutrition from food! Praise God!

After his skin test we were sent to have a bit of blood work done. I took Jayce myself and Charlie spent some quality time with Lula Mae. I expected the worst taking him alone to have blood taken. I was more than surprised at his reaction. Have you ever experienced peace beyond understanding before? Well, now I have. I held him in my lad and pulled his sleeve up. The amazingly sweet nurse wrapped the truncate around his tiny arm and felt for his vein. He watched her so intensely, never wiggling or whining. Then she told me to get ready and hold him tight. I held his little arm in place and put my mouth up to his ear. I began praying for him. He sat there, needle in his arm, with not so much as a quiver or whimper. Never once did he make a sound or flinch away. His breathing did not even change. It was so unbelievable! The nurse was so amazed at Jayce and just could not stop laughing. She told Jayce he was her best patient ever :-) That day is something I will never forget. He is my big strong boy!

So that is what is going on with Jayce right now. We are starting to figure out his little puzzle and are well on our way to making him healthy. God is taking such good care of Jayce!

Thanks to all of you who have prayed and are praying for Jayce. It means a lot to us!

Random Junk I Need To Unload (In Blog Form)

Well, I am back! We have a desktop computer now! Can I say.... I MISSED YOU ALL!!! Even though I missed you all terribly, my little hiatis was so nice. It showed me where my priorities were messed up. It showed me what amount of internet time is "necessary" and what about of time is just wasteful and downright crazy. I have made a much better picture of what my priorities are and plan on sticking to that from now on. So as much as I missed you... I need to miss you.... ya' know?

Moving on...

Have I told you that HEATHER IS PREGNANT??? I mean I know some of my followers follow her as well, but some of you don't and if you have been reading my blog at all you know Heather and Eric's story. Well I am happy to report that she is almost 15 weeks and doing amazing. I mean, she is dealing with normal yucky pregnancy things but she is doing it will such joy! She is asking me lots of crazy questions and I am LOVING it!!! They will be finding out what it is in a few weeks so stay tuned!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Our December calendar looks like the holidays threw up all over it. We have so much going on that I am pretty excited for January to get here. I love Christmas but not the busyness of it. Way too stressful to be enjoyable.

EVERYONE at our church is getting pregnant. I am refusing to drink the water at church at this point..... no really. I hope God gives us more babies.... but right now I am enjoying my 2 little ones. So for now, I am sticking with bottled water and skipping the water fountain.

I have tons of craft posts for you that I am excited about! Get ready to be inspired!

Beware of a future post with the title "Poop Boy". It's going to graphic. It's going to be so gross you can smell is through your computer. It's going to contain the word "poop".... a lot. Weak stomaches beware.

My brain is all over the place trying to get my pictures and financial files over onto this new computer. I'm not allowing myself to get sucked into the computer though... in time it will all get done.

Happy Wednesday guys! I promise I will get caught up on your blogs soon. Although it seems like some of you wrote like a bazillion posts so it may take me a while!

Something To Ponder

God is the only one knows the depths of your heart and He loves you anyway.
blows.my.mind.

Do you love your children that way?

As parents may our prayer be that we have as much love and compassion for our children that our Heavenly Father has for us.

Our Loss

Right now we are grieving the loss of our dear laptop. It will be deeply missed by Charlie and myself. Any one want to make a donation for the replacement? No? Well, can't hurt to ask right. Right now I am concerned about getting my pictures and videos and financial record off of my poor dead computer. Sorry if I am a bit sporadic with my comments, but I am getting on line when and where I can. I have so many great posts to share with you but no way right now. Sigh. Oh well, if this is all I have to complain about I guess I can't truly complain. Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Enjoy all that black Friday shopping.... I think we will be joining the chaos this year to look for a new computer. Oh what fun..... not! See ya' when I see ya'!

Normal Life

I keep trying to find time to blog, time like I usually have to blog. The truth is, when Charlie is away for training "time to blog" kinda goes out the window. When you have to be Mommy and Daddy it is obvious that things on my to do list are not going to get done. When I have to pick between laundry and blogging.... as much as I would rather blog.... I have to pick laundry. So right now I am very focused on life. Perhaps a little too focused. Too focused on things I think are important, and not focused on having some fun with my kids. My work load is just maxed right now so I have a hard time allowing myself to slack off. Want a whirlwind of an update? Here we go!

*Jayce weighs 20 pounds!!!!! He had an 18 month check up yesterday and he finally hit 20 pounds. Not only that, he is back on the growth curve! Granted he is in the 1st percentile, but hey that is way better than being not in the percentile at all! He goes for his allergy test soon so I will let you know what we find out there. I am hoping to find out that there is not an actual peanut allergy and it is just a skin sensitivity issue. Time will tell. Oh and yesterday the child decided to try talking! He still is only saying a few words, but in just one day he doubled his vocabulary!

*Lula Mae is writing her name, along with lots of other simple words. She loves writing! I also counted up how many memory verse she has now and she is up to 20! My 3 year old can recite 20 bible verses! How is that possible???? She mastered simple subtraction about a week ago and is now on to reading an analog clock. She can already read a digital clock, which I can say is pretty helpful to me! So basically, the child is learning, learning, learning! Lord may she please keep this love for knowledge!

*I have been praying about what to do about our budget for a while now. It is rough folks. Rough! Well rough in a very American view I guess. We are still so much wealthier than some people in the world. I have to remind myself that there are people who live off of WAY less than we do and are so much more joyful. Jesus needs to be enough for us! Regardless our budget needs a makeover so that we can be better stewards for the money that He has given us. I am thinking of starting the envelope system in January. Any tips on that?

*I am going to take a trip to Florida with my mother, aunt and daughter. Not a vacation really, but a trip to see family. I am excited to get away with Lula Mae. We need some one on one time.

I have been peeking at your blogs here and there when I get a free moment, but I will catch up with all of you when I return from Florida. I miss you all and am ready to be just Mommy again. Playing both roles is beyond tiring!

Where Is That Light At The End?

I feel like I am stuck in a tunnel and just can't seem to see that beam of light that assures you the end is coming.

I feel like everything I am doing with my kids is wrong and is doing more damage than good.

My kids are tough right now. Tough is putting it lightly.

I'm not saying they are out of control and horrible. They are just tough.

Every stage of parenting has its ups and downs. Right now BOTH my kids are in a down.

I can't lie... it's not fun. I feel like I am about to lose it. Like, really really lose it. You know?

There are times I have to remind myself that they love me. It stinks to have to remind yourself that you children love you.

I don't have the kind of kids who just come over to me begging to be held and loved.

I have two kids who know Mommy is going to meet there needs in life... and that seems to be enough for them.

Not for me.

I want my babies to be sad when I leave the house. I want them to (every now and then) want to be held and snuggled for no reason other than they love me.

Someone tell me what I am doing wrong?

Parenting is not easy, I know that. I just want to feel like I am doing a good job and the way they are acting these days, I just don't. Not even close.

There is so much pressure to be a good parent. I want to be a good parent. I want to be a godly example to my children, but I am so broken. I am the worst example for them to see and I feel so guilty for that. They deserve so much better.

This post is for me. To clear my head and get some of this off of my mind so I can focus. No need to pity party with me on this. Sometimes getting problems and worries out is the first step to dealing with them head on. I'm desperately trying to deal with this.