This blog is to help me appreciate every wonderful day I am blessed with and to remember the silly and beautiful moments I have with the people I love most.
Jack is two now. We went camping on his birthday and had a fun time. He has been growing up so much. He talks a lot more and is excited to go on the potty. His tantrums have even "excelled". He has a kind heart and has natural cleanly tendencies. He loves to be with his sister even though he is usually crying when he is with her. He is has gotten better at saying bye-bye to Celie when she goes to preschool and he is still trying to be soft with Jett. He loves Baba who lives down the street because he and his wife (who is also called Baba) are the best substitute uncle and aunt around. Jack loves to climb on Daddy, eat bites, help Daddy, clean up when not asked, keep Celie awake at bedtime, jump on the tramp, give Jett loves, and trap bugs. Happy Birthday Jack! We love you.
"You can call me if you need me to work, just call and I'll hear you. If you need me to take care of the baby, or throw poop out, or hold the baby, or vacuum, or hold the baby. Yell loud at me so I can come do work. I'll be in my room. I can get the binky, or hold the baby, or what ever you need - ok?"
Celie fell asleep in the van on the way to a birthday party at the park. I left the car running and got the boys out to play while I let her sleep a bit. It was getting to be party time so I opened the door and tried to wake her. It didn’t work. I tried again, with more enthusiasm and she opened her eyes. They were completely glazed over. She watched the kids on the swing obviously not realizing the actual swing set and fell asleep again. I have not seen her this tired in a very long time especially on the way to a long awaited birthday party! I stared in amazement and laughed at the situation and then seriously tried to wake her again. “Celie, we are at the party, wake up, get your present”. She jerked as she awoke and looked side to side breathing franticly. She quickly jumped out of her seat, grabbed the present and wobbled out of the van. She then cried out in terror, “Where is my present! I calmly responded, “You are holding it honey”.
C: I’m going to get Jack a car for his birthday!
M: Do you have money to buy it?
C: I have a loter money (proudly said)! . . . . . (smile turns to frown) It’s not real money, it’s just pretend money, I don’t have any moneys at all.
M: Where do we get money?
C: You can give me money.
M: I am already buying a present for Jack; don’t you want to buy him one?
C: (starts to cry) I don’t have no moneys at all.
M: How are you going to get some money?
C: I know, (light comes on in her head) you can buy me some money!
“Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Jack and me, I hope Grandma can pack her house and fly here. She will live with us. I don’t know why it’s going to be conference again tomorrow, I just don’t want it, bless President S. Monson, I hope I can have a party tomorrow, we can’t have a party, but I want to wear the pink dress, in the name of Jesus Christ amen”
Oh, there are so many more funny frases, but this is all I can remember right now. Celie is the best! I love her.
We were so lucky to have Grandpa and Grandma Allsop visit us during Jett's special blessing. Marty gave a beautiful blessing that brought me to tears. Jett has been such an easy going boy. I am grateful every day to have him with us. I never knew babies could sleep that much! Thank you Jett!
So classic of Jack; cars on the head. It is a more challenging terrain. They both just adore their new brother.
Family photo time.
G&G with the kids. Jett is so sleepy.
We are so proud to be the parents of Jett. He has brought an extra dose of peace and love into our home.
Here we are at our good friends house running away from Hurricane Ike. The Larsens in Austin, Texas were kind enough to let us hang out at there house until we get power restored to our neighborhood. Our house is fine and no trees of ours have broken. We feel very blessed. Thanks for your prayers and thoughts.
On July 13th, 2008 our third child was born. He was two weeks over due, yet right on time. Nurses say he was overcooked, but I knew he came when he was ready. It was a long, hard wait, but well worth it. I went into labor around 1:00 a.m. and delivered at 2:39 p.m. Marty said I was strong. I handled the contractions well up until pushing time. Then I just remember people telling me to "push harder" and "don't scream it doesn't help". I am still in awe that I delivered without any medication. Jett is/was strong and healthy and he is eating well too. I am so glad that we have him in our home. There is something about a new baby in the home that softens little touching hands and lowers loud voices; even if just for a moment. Celie is wonderful with Jett, and Jack is sweet and gentile. Oh, and yes, we know that Jack and Jett are very close names and that we will, undoubtedly, mix them up. Isn't he so cute!
There is a lot going on and I am winding down to the end of this pregnancy. There's no pics right now, but here is a little bit of our happenings the past few weeks.
*Ty came to visit for a few days. We loved having him here! *Aunt Sheri came to visit too. Celie loved having family over, but still wondered why her cousins didn't come. *My anniversary gift to Marty was a trip to the raceway. It was crazy loud, but fun to watch. We all, especially Celie, loved it. *My sweet friends threw a baby shower for me at Carino's. I had never been there. I will definitely go back. Yum. Thanks Julianne - I had a lot of fun. *The kids and I go to the pool or play in the backyard. We have a lot of fun. *I am finished taking care of the garden and Marty is too busy so it is overgrowing! It is huge. *I arranged for a friend of Marty's and himself to go for a morning motorcycle ride, just for fun. They deserved it! I think they drove about 4 hours total and visited the sink hole. Fun, fun. *We had a neighborhood get-together, but only four families showed up. *I am getting a doula for the birth of this baby - wish me luck. I am excited.
Since the baby will be coming soon. I will be taking a break from blogging for a while until I get back on my feet. Thanks to my 3 readers for keeping me going with the posts! I'll write again soon.
Well, I am in my 9th month and feeling it. I am definitely getting the "oh, hang in there", "any day now, right?" comments. 'Nope, I have a few more weeks and yes, I know I look huge - thanks'.
My family is a great help; immediate and extended. Thanks for all of the support. Friends have been wonderful too - thanks. Celie, I think, has been the best help of all though. She does so much for this family. Here are a few of the jobs she does around the house:
take the compost outside make her bed put diapers in the garbage get ready for the day (teeth, hair, wash face, pick up room) clean the play room (everything in its place) vacuum dust scrub the toilet (oh ya) play with Jack clean up after Jack share with Jack help Jack laugh eat her food and say thank you take cans out to recycle bin (with out me asking) spend quiet time in her room say beautiful prayers loves Family Home Evening reminds us to have scripture reading every night
I think I could go on forever. She has grown so much. I hope she knows what a great helper she is to me. I guess the first child gets the real brunt of the work, but I think it is good for her and she is becoming a wonderful, strong person. I love her.
Poor Jack is sick. I was just telling my mom how my kids hardly ever get sick. Of course he gets sick right after that conversation. I know you are thinking he doesn't look very sick in these pictures, but it hasn't hit him full blown yet. This is the first day. The second day he could barely stand and he slept in my arms most of the day.
These pictures are of Jack in the tub. He is so happy because he got to play with a water bottle and a rag. Celie usually steals them away from him at bath time. Since he threw-up all over himself and me he got to have his own bath. King of the tub!! Isn't he so cute?
Birthday, Mother's Day, and a baby shower! I am so spoiled. I have great people around me.
My sweet husband took me out to eat, gave me movies and an ice shaver machine, and gave me these beautiful flowers. Arranging them himself of course. Gorgeous!
My sweet friends got together and had a baby shower for me. I don't get to see them often so it was really special to be with them. You girls are great - thank you so much!
I promised I would post the story of my car getting broke into. A couple of weeks ago, I head into work like normal and park in the "50 Cent Lot", downtown Houston, at 7:30AM. At 8:50AM I get a call from my car insurance agent asking if I put a claim on my car for broken glass. I said no, he must be mistaken, I haven't had an accident. He explained that he got a call from a deputy about some broken glass, but wasn't sure if he was confused. I told him I hadn't been in an accident and everything was fine. At 9AM, I get a call on my office phone from a deputy who explains that someone broke into my car and they have the suspect in custody. He was frustrated because it took an hour for him to get a hold of me. He talked to my insurance agent and the car dealership where I bought the car to get my number. I was shocked; who breaks into a car at 8AM, there is usually plenty of action in a big open parking lot at that time. I was also impressed that the police had so effectively caught the guy. The deputy asks me to come out to the lot, so he can see my driver's license, etc.
The scene of the crime showed deep scar marks on my rear right window (the glass needed to be replaced) and a shattered back window. Apparently it's pretty hard to break a side window with a normal size brick, because it was clear the suspect had thrown the brick several times with no real success. I couldn't help but laugh when I tried to visualize the act. Inside the car were two bricks, one that hit the console/stick shift and landed in the passengers floor, and one in the back seat. They caused a couple scars in the plastic up front and a small tear in my rear seat. To top off the story, I haven't owned this car long and felt so blessed to own a nicer newer car with no defects...so much for that. In addition, I dropped my full coverage insurance about two months earlier, so damages had to be paid out of pocket.
I couldn't help but ask the deputy, how they caught this guy. "Well, he broke your windows and walked across the street to that shop and turned himself in. He just got out of jail and wanted to go back," said the deputy. I couldn't help but feel sorry for this guy sitting in the back of the cop car. You must have a pretty sad life, when you have no one to see and nothing to do outside of jail. Apparently he did the same thing a year ago when he got out of jail. He doesn't steal anything, just vandalizes and turns himself in. The deputy planned to talk with the judge to see if they can get the charges increased this time.
Oh what a headache its been. First I had to locate some gloves and throw the glass away before I could drive to the auto glass place. When I got up to 60 mph on the freeway I experienced a backdraft whirlwind, blowing tiny pieces of glass into my hair eyes and defrost vents. The autoglass guys did a nice job matching the tint on the windows, but messed up all my power locks and power windows, claiming they did not do it, and there was no way I could prove they did it. It was true, my argument that the locks and windows worked when I dropped the car off and didn't work when I picked it up, couldn't be proven. We got in a big fight and I left with no fix.
The good news is, the glass was only $100 dollars more than my deductible would have been, had I owned full coverage insurance. The bad news is, I could have gotten a substantial payout if I had it, because of the torn seat, scarred plastic, and scratch on the door.
I'm mostly glad it was such a small act of vandalism. My friend got his wallet stolen a few months ago, when he was running a marathon. That would be a much bigger headache. I feel blessed.
Celie had so much fun in ballet! She did wonderfully at the recital too. She concentrated so hard at doing the steps that she didn't smile at all, but that is ok. Doesn't she look so cute in her costume?
Preschool graduation day. Another mom made cute diplomas for the kids. So clever.
We placed 4 poles in the ground last summer and planted some vines around them with the intent to build a pergola at some point. I (Marty) finally got around to it. Too bad I picked the hottest Saturday yet this year; it was miserable. I kept the design pretty simple due to constrained resources (tools and $$), but I'm happy with how it turned out. The next stage of this project is to build a wood deck underneath, but that may not happen for quite some time. I really enjoy working in the yard and have so many ideas, but am limited to low cost projects.
This is our garden in April. It grew fast when the weather got hot and humid. We fought a fire ant infestation in the garden, but now just keeping it wet and weed free is most of the work.
This is our garden in May. Growing fast! We ate our first squash and cucumbers yesterday. I think our neighbors will get sick of them as fast as we will. But I did it! We have a fairly successful garden.
Thanks to a friend from church we have these beautiful flowering plants.
I dream of eating ice all of the time when I am pregnant.I obviously start with this because it is what just happens to be on my mind right now and, well, always.Supposedly that means I am anemic or something.I wish I could have shaved ice as my first choice, sonic ice as my second and third is the ice made at home (which is usually what I get).
I don’t like shopping.I get so frustrated searching for things I want at a price I want.If I do find something I want it is usually too expensive in my opinion.I, for some reason, think that I should be able to purchase an item at 20% the cost.Call it thrifty or crazy, but it has driven me to dislike shopping experiences.
I used to be a stage performer.This was my life, my work, my everything.I love partner dancing to big band music.I did summer theater and college “broadway style” shows.It is weird not performing any more.
I have a new thing for vines.I care about vines.I don’t know why.I find a lot of joy in helping them climb up a trellis or a post.I think we have bought too many for our yard, but I love them.My latest one is a Passion Vine.Ooo, pretty.
I love to play with my kids.They are so funny and creative.They are my best friends.They are forgiving, loving, crazy, silly, wild, sweet, and Christ like.
I got a nose bleed while getting married.I guess I was holding my breath trying to listen to every word and take it all in. I should have just breathed.I’ll never forget my sweet husband’s face when it happened nor the kind patience of everyone waiting for me while I was in the bathroom for a good 15 minutes.That is a long time for people when at a wedding ceremony.
I feel happy when I have a house of order.I am always working towards that goal whether you can tell or not.
Click on the title to see the pictures. Then click on the link that says "View Category Slideshow"! Don't look if you don't want to see a pregnant lady leap - kind of scary! You can purchase prints if you click on the picture desired. Enjoy!
I have enjoyed this April. We have done so many things. The weather is beautiful and plants are growing - good times. Here are a few pictures to show what we've been up to.
Marty had a no present birthday. Sorry honey. We did each give him a personalized gift though. I read a poem, Jack signed "I love" and then said Dada, and Celie sang "I am a Child of God". Yea, for the big 2-7!
This is Marty enjoying his trampoline. He is such a kid sometimes.
Jack loves the water hose. We are outside multiple times a day and I go through 2 to 3 outfits a day because he soaks them every time. I am glad he likes to play with the water though. He cries if I try to take it away. Such a boy!
Here are our little seedlings that we grew in our bedroom for a few weeks. We brought them outside to get more sun and air movement. I missed watering them one day and more than half of them died. We still had more than enough to plant in our garden. Tomatoes and peppers are going to be my harvesting issue in the days to come.
Here is our official garden. As you can see we have the compost bins in the back, and planted we have carrots, onions, lettuce, cucumber, squash, and watermellon! We shall see what comes of it. I truly enjoy weeding and watering, but you could find me yelling at this evil weed that has thorns that is growing from the other side of the fence. It will never die. Anyway, I am harvesting the lettuce already and it is exciting to eat even though it has no special taste. I can't believe I finally have a garden!
This is my "Passion Vine". Isn't it pretty. I love vines.
"God planted within women something divine that expresses itself in quiet strength, in refinement, in peace, in goodness, in virtue, in truth, in love.”
