How can something so joyful be so PAINFUL?

Well it's official...I'm suffering from morning sickness! I have been for the last week and a half. It stinks...it really does. I'm happy that I'm pregnant again and kind of nervous that I'm going to have three 3 and under (I'm still waiting on your survival tips Connie).

I haven't been throwing up nearly as much as I did with Phoebe and Eliott but I'm not so sure that's a good thing. I just feel really really nauseated ALL the time. I have thrown up a few times but I think it would just be better if I did throw up every time I was nauseated. The doc called in two meds for me to take but one of them is for cancer patients going through chemo to take the nausea away so the insurance company will over cover 12...and I'm suppose to be taking them every 6 hours. So I'm just taking those for times I need to feel good.

Like today...I needed to feel good today. Today was Eliott's first birthday!! Wow, he's 1! I can't believe it and oh sooooo cute! We had lots of fun giving him his cake...he was so reserved about it. He was just like "why are you giving me this whole cake, there's no way I'm going to eat it all!" This is his serious face...."what do you expect me to do here?"

Wow, it's been a crazy year but a great one! I totally love my little man. It's sooooo different from having a little girl, they are so opposite! It's really cool to be able to see the big differences. How he's born to know how to take a matchbox car or a truck and wheel it all over the house or how balls are so fascinating but then there's my little princess who loves to just sit and draw, paint, play with playdough or play with her dollhouse. Wow! I am so thankful for both of them!!

I have my first official doctor's appointment on Monday but I think I'm about 8 weeks so due date will be about May, around Phoebe's birthday but hopefully not on Phoebe's birthday!

Well gotta go get my sleep so the morning sickness won't be so bad. I've already begged Denzil to get up with Eliott at his 7 am waking!!

Second words!

It's official....Eliott's second word is officially Dale. Yes, you read that right, he says DADA and Dale. Oh my, my feelings are so hurt that his second word isn't momma but I totally understand since we say Dale all the time and Denzil or Dale don't call me momma so why would he say something he nevers hears.
Dale's doing really good at his job. He's been there going on 3 weeks now and really likes it. He bought an 1988 Chevy S10 on Thursday also. It's pretty much all in pieces, doesn't run and needs a whole bunch of work but he thinks he can get it running in a week to 2 weeks. It's cool though to be able to watch him work on it and bring it from nothing to something. The main reason he wanted it soooo much is because it has air bags on it. I know I don't understand it either but he's really into to that kind of stuff.
Eliott has been doing pretty good at mom's day out, which I'm very thankful for!! I've been just running around though when they are both at school and I think this Thursday I'm going to just relax!
Well gotta go do the dishes before I go read some of my bible study book-
Rachel

Be Joyful Always!!

On Friday night my mom came over and I put Eliott in bed and her and Phoebe stayed up and watched movies while Denzil and I went on a date. It's been a long while since we've actually had a "date" night and it was even Denzil's idea! So he took me to Ted's to eat dinner and I even drank a huge Pina Colada, YUMMY!! That was good! I haven't had any alcoholic drink in 3 years. Not that I ever did drink a lot but I love pina colada's! It was good to get out and have some adult talk. I think it's been so hard since we used to spend alone time together after the kids went to bed, about 2-2 1/2 hours. Now since Dale's here we spend the time as all 3 of us and play games, etc. so Denzil and I don't really ever get alone time without Dale here.

Update on Dale...he did get a job at Kwik Kar as a mechanic and he starts tomorrow morning. We had to go buy him lots of mechanic tools yesterday at Sears so I think he's excited to be starting a new job. I pray he likes it and it's a good fit for him!

I have our bible verse of the week on our board as 1 Thessalonians 1:16-18 "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." A friend told me to memorize that to be more positive and I have caught myself several times saying something negative or getting mad about something and saying to myself "be joyful always...in all circumstances!!" I loved the sermon last week when Greg was preaching on "Jump, then ask how high. Live Dangerously" from 1 Samuel 14:6-9. He said that the center of God's will is a dangerous place to be. Sometimes it may look like we're losing the battle but according to "the Book" we win. It's not easy being a Christian because the instance you become a Chrstian you are at war with satan. Wow, never thought of it that way before...at constant war with satan but we are and I need to pray every day that He gives me the wisdom I need to fight him off!

I think I'll close with the qualities of a good wife/mom from Proverbs 31:
1. Trustworthy/denpendable
2. Encourager
3. Hard working-does whatever it takes to provide.
4. Caring
5. Wise
6. Compassionate
7. Prepared
8. Attitude
9. Reputable-she looks good and makes the family look good
10. Optomistic
11. Plesant-teaching kindness & faithfulness
12. Godly-fear the Lord. When we praise God's creation, we honor God

Please God make me a good wife/mom, and as a women that is like a grandma to me said...being a wife should always come first because in 18 years your husband will still be there and you don't want to look at him and not know who he is.

I am so excited, I get to go to bible study on Tuesday and we're starting a new study, Can't wait!! And it will also be Eliott's first day at mom's day out (since he missed his first day on Thursday because of his ears and not feeling good) so hopefully he's happy there and they won't have to call me!!

The devil is well at work!

Wow, it's defintely been awhile!! I find it hard to blog when Denzil and I are fighting and we can't seem to make up. The devil has been working on our relationship or maybe it's just because we have the 7 year problem, LOL! We've been married 7 1/2 years and they say that most couples get divorced in their 7th year. At times like this I don't see how couples are married for 50 or 60 years. We've been fighting so much lately and it's getting really old. Please pray that we stop the fighting and start working together.

We did have a fun weekend last weekend though. We got in our new van...yes I said new van. I had a CRV and whenever all of us went somewhere (including Denzil's brother) I would have to sit in between the two car seats in the back and it was way too tight and I hated it. So Denzil went out and bought me a brand spankin' new Honda Odyssey. It's sooo awesome. I'll have to take some pics and post them but that's at a later date. Anyways, we got in my new van and drove to San Antonio on Saturday night when Dale got off work. We got there at 4 am, got in our hotel room and went back to sleep until 7:30 am. We got up and we all went to Sea World. It was great fun!! And then we met up with my Aunt Sylvia and had dinner with her.


On Monday on our way home we stopped in Austin to get Dale's driver's license reinstated so he could get an OK dl and ate lunch there. That was the main point of our drive, was to get his dl reinstated, we just thought we'd make a little vacation out of it. Now that we're home though we brought some sickness with us. Phoebe had it first, a fever, runny nose and then my throat started hurting really bad and now Eliott's got it. Poor little guy...he sneezes and snot goes all over his face!!

Then we got home at midnight on Monday night and Tuesday morning Denzil dropped Dale off at work and they let him go. NEVER GO TO MEINEKE for your car needs!! The guy lied to him from the beginning. First it was that he was going to fire the assistant manager and Dale would take his position. When he started they said they decided not to fire him, they would put him over the mechanic side and Dale over the lube side. So whatever, no biggie. Then he said he would be salary and ended up only paying him hourly and left a whole day off of his check. Then when Dale called him (Him being the general manager of Meineke) he told Dale to "Go to hell," and hung up on him. WHAT!! I thinks he's got another job lined up though we're just waiting to hear from them.

Phoebe also went and got in my powder while I was in the kitchen last week. Here she is...Is this what she thinks I look like when I put my makeup on?!?

And here's my two beautiful babies in the bath tub...loving bath time!! I love them so much and it's amazing how much Phoebe says everyday. It's almost scary but soooo cute!

Amazed!!

Wow, this is the last week of ballet for Phoebe and she stood on her sticker today and did all of her ballet moves. I was so shocked I think I was smiling bigger than I had ever smiled before-PROUD MOMMY MOMENT!!! All weekend I was having her do certain ballet moves and she would do them and she showed Daddy and then on Saturday when we were at Grammy's house she showed her her ballet moves. So I had been working with her a lot and telling her "this is the last week for ballet and you're going to dance for Miss Tonya, right?" And she'd say yes. So she did all the moves but then there's one part that the 4 other little girls go up to Miss Tonya and hold hands and walk around in a circle. She would always refuse to do that and would just come lay in my lap and say no. So today when they did it I said go up there Phoebe and dance with your friends and she got up and kind of hesitated but followed the other little girls and went up there and held their hands. OH MY GOSH, I was totally beside myself I couldn't believe it. My little shy girl is actually doing it, wow!! It was totally great!! It was pretty funny though because while she was walking up there she had her hand in her mouth, something she does I guess her way of fidgeting, and when she took her hand out and reached for the little girls hand next to her, the little girl threw her hand down and said Yuck, it's wet. And me, her mom and dad busted out laughing. Miss Tonya just said Ok, well you can just hold her wrist and puts her hand around Phoebe's wrist. Then in the middle of going around in a circle they all let go of each others hands to dance and the little girl goes on the other side of Phoebe so she doesn't have to hold her "wet" hand again, it was hilarious!! I was so proud of her!!

I never realized how much I say "can't" until Phoebe started repeating it and saying "I can't" do this or that. I guess that's another negative part of me coming out. But we'll be driving down the road and she'll say "get my phone, please mom" and I'll stop myself from saying I can't because I don't want her saying that. So I am trying to find other words to use besides I can't and now when she says that I make her try it and tell her she can do anything. It's hard to just totally get a word out of your vocabulary but when it comes to my daughter saying it, I will stop saying it!!

And Eliott's continuing to grow up so fast. He has such a funny little personality. He crawls everywhere and is even starting to do the "monkey crawl" with one foot on the ground like walking and the other leg with his knee on the ground crawling. He crawl over to something and stand up and let go he just hasn't taken that first step yet. It's so cute. Here he is pulling up on Glory and standing next to her. Here's another funny pic of him loving on her- AHHHH, how cute!!

What we've been up to-

Wow, things are busy around here but we've been doing great! Eliott's trying to walk and says "dada" now, he's so cute!

This is dad and Eliott at the Safari Sanctuary in BA. He loves being on his daddy's shoulders!

Phoebe's in ballet and a music class and both of them are fun! She's a little shy in the ballet class, actually I don't know if it's shy or just bored because she'll do all the moves the first 5-10 minutes of class but then stop and just sit there or lay in my lap. She's saying full sentences now. Four weeks ago she would say "I drew shirt" and just in the last week she now says "I drew on my shirt." It's so cute to hear her actually say all the words that go in the sentence!! And as she told me this morning about Glory, "This is her paw!" This is Phoebe giving Glory hugs in Phoebe's bed.

Here's a picture of her petting the kangaroo at the Safari Santuary.

Dale is doing great also! He's gotten one of his classes that he needed to do done and he's working on all his community service. He's been so great with the kids and helping out around here! Here's just a few pics of him...

Here he is powerwashing our fence, wow look at the difference!! Anyone interested in him doing it to your fence??Here he is on our back porch with Phoebe. We found out he is an artist and he drew this monkey off of her "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed" book. She was so excited to watch him draw it!!And here he is with Eliott at the Safari Sanctuary.

Phoebe & her ballet teacher, Ms. Tonya

Our little ballerina!!

What a week!!

Wow, we've had an interesting week! Monday, July 9th was Denzil's 30th birthday and I wanted to do something special for him. He already told me that he defintely did not want a surprise birthday party so I thought that I would call his mom and ask her to come up here and either offer to pay for the plane ticket or gas. She lives in Bon Wier, TX, which is on the LA line. We haven't seen her since Denzil's graduation in January of 2005, so she still hadn't met Phoebe or Eliott. She just couldn't ever get off work and we tried going down there but they are in the process of building a house of 55 acres and is just staying in a little trailor right now so there was no room for us. And there were no hotels around because they live in the middle of no where!! So anyways she said she would come up and so last week I was going crazy since I couldn't tell Denzil and I was being so sneaky. Plus I had to clean the house daily and make sure it was totally clean. And I had to get sheets, pillows and a matress pad for the sofa bed. So on Friday his mom and step dad drove up here and it totally shocked Denzil. He was very surprised and so we went out to dinner to celebrate his birthday. That was fun to get to see them and Phoebe & Eliott meet them. They left on Saturday and then on Sunday Denzil, Phoebe & Eliott and I got in the car and drove to Houston. Yeah, wow!! An 8 1/2 hour drive but we found out that the kids do great on road trips. We were really surprised how good they were, especially Eliott. Since he's still turned around in his seat and can't see us I figured he'd get grumpy fast but he did awesome! Then we drove back up here on Monday, so we weren't even in Houston for 24 hours. We drove for 17 hours between Sunday at 11 to Monday night at 2:00 am. The reason for all this was because Denzil's brother has gotten himself into some trouble and so we decided to go down there and offer some help. It turns out that he does want to turn his life around and so we offered him to come up here and stay with us until he can get back on his feet. So on Monday when we drove back I had to sit in between the 2 car seats and oh my gosh that was so uncomfortable and I'm still feeling it! So he's got to find a job but before he does that he's got to take some classes and do some community service. If you know of anywhere he could do community service, let me know. We're trying to find places now. But he's been a lot of help since he's been here. Denzil's had him do some stuff around the house..spray bug spray, change spark plugs, etc. Then Phoebe started ballet class and OH MY!!! How adorable!! But Uncle Dale watched Eliott in a little play room that they have so that was a huge help!! It's been cool having him here so far and it's so worth it to see him turning his life around. Denzil made a document in Word about 1 week, 2 week, 30 day, 90 day, 1 year, 5 year and 10 goals and gave it to him to fill out. He's been working on it. So just please pray that we give him the support he needs. Of course he'll be coming to church with us on Sunday and Denzil's been talking a little about the Saving Grace of Jesus.
Well got to go for now, just wanted to update everyone-
Rachel

Here's our Glory--

The Fern and the Bamboo

I got this story in an email and I loved it so I thought I would share it on my blog:

One day I decided to quit --- I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality. I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.
"God," I said, "can you give me one good reason not to quit?"
His answer surprised me. Look around," He said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"
"Yes," I replied.
"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet, nothing came from the bamboo seed, but I did not quit on the bamboo.
In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful, and again, nothing came from the bamboo seed, but I did not quit on the bamboo.
In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed, but I would not quit. In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the
bamboo seed, but I still would not quit.
Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant, but just 6 months later, the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. God said, "I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."
He then said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots. I would not quit on the bamboo; I will never quit on you. Don't compare yourself to others."
He continued, "The bamboo has a different purpose than the fern, yet they both make the forest beautiful. Your time will come. You will rise high!"
"How high should I rise?" I asked.
"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.
"As high as it can?" I questioned.
"Yes." He said. "Give me glory by rising as high as you can."
I left the forest and brought back this story. I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on you.
Never regret a day in your life.
Good days give you Happiness.
Bad days give you Experiences.
Both are essential to life. Keep going.
Happiness keeps you Sweet.
Trials keep you Strong.
Sorrows keep you Human.
Failures keep you Humble.
Success keeps You Glowing.
But Only God keeps You Going!
God is so big He can cover the whole world with his Love and so small He can curl up inside your heart. The Son is shining!!

Wow, that's a great story! I love to think that in the beginning of our Christian walk we begin on the inside by creating our "roots" in Him! And changing the stuff inside of us that needs to be changed.
I also love it that it states that we are to rise as high as each of us can, not compared to your neighbor. We are all called to do different things and be different, we should not compare ourselves to others!!

Didn't work out!

Well yeah you read it right, it didn't work out. We had Jaycie for 4 days and she snapped at Phoebe. Right when she did it I said, Oh my we've got to give her back. And then I felt bad and thought we can't do that, it was just a fluke we'll keep her. The more I thought about it and then telling Denzil about it we called the Tulsa Boxer Rescue and said she snapped at Phoebe and the women asked no questions, she just said Ok, I'll call the foster home back and they'll come pick her up tonight. It's cool though because they have a 2 week trial period where if it just doesn't work out, you can try another if you want to. So we got on the website and found Glory. She's a beautiful white boxer with black spots and it said she was good with kids and is playful. Jaycie did not have a playful bone in her body, she was just laid back and relaxed and so the kids became an annoyance to her and she hadn't ever been around kids. So we told them that we would try Glory out and see how she'd do. So on Saturday my mom, Phoebe and Eliott and I drove up to Oklahoma City (her foster home was in OKC) and got her and then drove back here. OH MY! What a change from Jaycie. One thing I noticed early on but didn't really think anything about was that Jaycie would get in between Phoebe and I or in between Denzil and I. I guess maybe it was an early sign of jealously and she wanted to be the center. So I am truly glad she showed her "real" self before the 2 weeks was up!! But Glory is just like have a great playful puppy but also the joys of having an older dog (ie: not having to potty train her, not jumping up, not biting with those little sharp teeth, etc.). And she is really great with the kids. I think we found a winner this time. We're taking her to the vet tomorrow morning to get her shots, heartworm test and to look at some scratches on her but it's all on the Tulsa Boxer Rescue because they just hadn't had time to do any of that yet and her shots aren't due till August anyway. So it's nice of them to pay for them.
Well I've got to get to cleaning while the kiddos are asleep-

Thank You!

I just wanted to say Thank You to those of you who helped us through our surgery! Connie brought us dinner the first night and then my mom, dad & stepmom brought us dinner through the weekend. During the week we had Sarah C and Sandy bring us dinner and Connie brought us dinner again yesterday. THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH for that! We really appreciate it and it helped us out so much knowing that we didn't have to make dinner. And thank you for calling and checking on me to make sure everything went ok, that means a lot!!
I think Denzil is going back to work tomorrow so finally we'll be back to normal, whatever normal is! He stayed home Monday for my drs appt and he was going to take this whole week off but I feel much better today and I know he's got work piling up since no one covers for him while he's gone.
Well that's all for now-

Our new family member!!!

Well we also got a new dog this week!! Her name is Jaycie and she's such a sweet girl!! We've been wanting another dog for awhile now but haven't found the right one and did not want a puppy. Before kids our two "kids" were our dogs, a beagle named Lady and a weimaraner named Noah. We loved those dogs and they were truly our spoiled "kids". Right when we brought Phoebe home from the hospital Lady was acting really weird and would lay on the sofa and shake and then jump up and run to the other side of the living room and hunch over and shake. We went to the vet and they said she had bloody diarrhea and to give her some pills and special food for a week. Two weeks later she was no better and so we brought her back to the vet. After many tests and a lot of money afterwards we ended up having to put her to sleep because she had a tumor in her stomach that was causing liver failure. That was sooooo sad and a horrible experience. Well then Noah was okay with Phoebe as a baby and was okay with her crawling but once she got walking and then running he couldn't get away from her and she got on his nerves. He snapped at her one morning when we were all laying in bed so we knew we had to get rid of him. He just was never around kids and his breed is known for not being good with small kids so we gave him to my mom. And they love each other and both are happy together!! We knew we didn't want to get a puppy because they are just way too hyper and I don't have the time to potty train. So Jaycie is 18 months old, potty trained, not hyper and spazzed out like a puppy and is a great dog. Phoebe & Eliott have both already pulled on her and Phoebe hugs and kisses her all the time and says "I love you" and Jaycie is fine with all of it. We got her from Tulsaboxerrescue.net and we can tell she's been hit before because she'll cower down sometimes but she's such a sweet girl. They said that she had been left tied up in a backyard for 2 weeks and the homeowners left. OH MY, how can people be so cruel??
Anyway, just wanted you to meet our new family member, Jaycie!

F's Day, Garage sales and struggling!

Well surgery went well and I'm feeling much better than I did last week but my belly is still sore. We didn't really realize or I guess stop to think how Phoebe would react to me being gone for 5 hours and then coming home drugged up and dazed out just to go to bed and not spend the day with me at all. Thank God for the plastic door locks that you put over the door handles so kids can't open them!!! She screamed and cried when I went to bed after I got home. She just didn't understand that she couldn't lay in there on the bed with me and jump on it and have fun. I felt really bad for her and it made it pretty hard on Denzil but he managed and made it through this week. He's taking tomorrow off too though because my doctors appt is tomorrow. He said he could take another week off and after today I may ask him too. I was feeling really good and I thought back to 100%. So today I wore normal clothes (My incision is right under my belly button where most of my pants button) and that was a big mistake. It started hurting half way through church and so I'm obviously not back to 100% yet.
We had a good Father's Day. It was a good sermon about what Wives can do to be better wives and then came home fed the kiddos and then left hoping that they would both take their afternoon naps in the car before we went to a late lunch with my Dad, Grandpa and Aunt & Uncle at 3. Eliott slept the whole time but Phoebe fell asleep at 2:55! Of course, that's the way she does it!! So she only got about a 10 min nap but she was ok, surprisingly.
We also had a neighborhood garage sale on Saturday that my mom came over and helped me out with. Denzil went and played paintball for the first time with people from work and had a blast! We made $90 though and may have made $200 more with our tv. A couple said they'd buy it if we still had it on Monday when he got paid but we'll see.
Man oh man, I'm really struggling with this thing of being negative. Not necessarily out loud but more of the thinking and thoughts in my head. I've really got to work on being more positive and it's something I've got to start praying about daily. I pray about it but only when I had a bad day. If anyone has any suggestions on books I could read to be more of a Godly positive person I would appreciate the suggestions. I read The Positive Wife but I've got to focus more on being a woman of God before I focus on being a positive wife. I mean it helped and maybe it would be good if I read it again but it talks about that you've got to have God as your #1 and not your husband and I think I struggle with that. It also talks about if you look to your husband for your happiness than God's not your #1 and that's where I do fail. If Denzil and I are fighting than I am really down and down with God too.
Well I also have some good news but it deserves it's own post...

Prayers answered

Well we've made it through the first 2 weeks of summer break. Phoebe's been out of school for two weeks already. I thought I'd miss my time with just Eliott and I running around town shopping but it's been fun having her home, although I'm trying not to let Phoebe outside very much and defintely not in the evening, but we've been painting, drawing, playing with play-dou, playing with her new kitchen and dollhouse, etc. She's only 2 and she knows all her colors too!! She just keeps getting bug bites, they swell up the size of Texas and get infected all in less than 24 hrs. Very frustrating! And all this is happening with OFF on. I guess the bacteria that infected the first bite that put us in the hospital has collonized on her skin and we've got to get rid of it. So I'm washing her with Hibiclens and putting 1 TBS of bleach in her bath water. Yeah, you read that right-bleach. OH MY! But if it works, I'll do it. I just pray that they go away and those bugs leave my daughter alone!
It was a pretty good week. I actually had a prayer answered this week and He was so quick about it too. On Monday night I layed in bed praying and noticed (or heard) that Denzil was already asleep. So I prayed that we would do better as a family to be more like His Son, read our bibles, pray at night together and that He would help our marriage as we have been fighting a lot lately. On Wednesday afternoon I checked my email and there was an email from Denzil and the subject was "Your surgery and US". Hmmmm...so I opened it and wow, I started crying. I'm going to be having hernia surgery this Friday, the 8th and I'm kind of nervous about it. I've never had any kind of surgery before or never been knocked out or never had anesthesia before (yes I've had two kids but both natural with no drugs!). Denzil's going to be taking a week off work to take care of us and I've been thinking that we would probably fight the whole time because he's just not up to being "Mr. Mom". But the email was very sweet and he was just letting me know that he is here for me and there is nothing he'd rather do than to take care of us on his vacation. Ahhh! And then he said we needed to sit down and talk tonight, no tv or PS3 tonight, WOW! And one of the things he said we needed to talk about was how to be more like Christ. Wow, right when I read that I thought about my prayer on Monday night and thought God had really put it on his heart that we needed to talk. That's awesome! He does answer our prayers and most of the time I don't see it instantly so that was pretty cool!! So pray my surgery goes well. Denzil is going to watch the kids while my mom takes me to my surgery.

Eliott's first 2 teeth

Wow, what a week it's been! Saturday we had Phoebe's birthday party and she got lots of great stuff! Sunday Eliott had his 2 front bottom teeth come through his gums and then on Monday he started crawling. Not actually up on all fours yet but he's mobile and scooting everywhere, it's great!
Well that's all for today-

Our stay in the hospital

On Sat morning Phoebe woke up and had a huge insect bite on her arm. I'm not sure if she got it on Friday while we were outside or what but by 5:00 it was swollen really big and red and she had 104 temp. So we had to take her to the after hrs clinic at St Francis. They said it was infected and had cellulitis, gave her 2 shots of antibiotics, which made her not be able to walk for a few hours because they put them in her legs, and a prescription and said to come back on Sunday for them to check it again. So Phoebe and I went back on Sunday morning thinking they'd just say ok, looks good and go home. But instead the doc said since it hadn't changed and was still swollen he said he was going to have to admit Phoebe to give her iv antibiotics. Since the bite was so close to her joint (elbow) then they don't mess around with that anymore. If the staph infection gets into her joints it's a whole other ball game and would be a lot worse. Wow, wasn't expecting that at all! Here I am with my daughter on Mother's Day getting admitted into the hospital to stay the night, and according to the after hrs clinic doctor we would be staying 2 nights. Denzil is at home with Eliott who is only breastfed with no pumped milk at home...OH MY GOODNESS! I was pretty much freaking out inside but I knew I had to keep my cool for Phoebe's sake. While they got our room ready upstairs we sat in the exam room and I entertained her with a tennis ball and she loved that! Then 2 nurses came in the room and one of them got her arm and was looking at her hand, the other got a blanket and wrapped her up in it with her other arm so she couldn't fight them. They stuck the needle in her hand and my baby girl just started screaming. It was not something that I wanted or ever want to hear on Mother's day. After they got the blood out of it they put the iv tube on it and taped it into place and wrapped it up with tape. I thought to myself..."how in the world will she keep this in?" I felt so bad for her, she was just screaming and crying because it hurt and I picked her up and just held her while she cried and cried. At one point I just started crying because there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop her from hurting. I felt so bad! About 2 hours later we were upstairs in our room talking to another nurse. Luckily she was great with kids and talked Phoebe through what she was doing and had Nemo on her stethoscope. Since I had Eliott's car seat my mom came up to the hospital and was able to stay with Phoebe while I ran home to pack some bags and get Denzil and Eliott. We all stayed at the hospital that night and Denzil and I were soooo sore the next morning from sleeping in those nasty beds! But by Monday morning the bite was not hot to touch, red or swollen anymore and it looked a whole lot better! The doc said we could go home!!! YEAH! I was so thankful that we didn't have to stay in there another night. I think Phoebe kind of enjoyed it though because she had our undivided attention (no housework to do or anything to distract us) and they had a huge playroom with lots of different toys. She did so good with the iv in her arm and she didn't really ever mess with it. There were a few times that she pointed to it and said "tube hurts" but we were able to distract her enough. Then I thought that it would be cool if we could get another one of the little "cast" things that was over her iv and put it on Elmo's arm and that made it a whole lot better! The pic is of her with the "cast" thing on her arm. It was an experience and I am so glad that Phoebe is better now. We go tomorrow for a recheck but it's pretty much all healed up!!

Wednesday was her 2nd birthday and we had a great day! We went to gymnastics, which they sang happy birthday to her, then came home and opened presents then left and drove to the OKC zoo. That was lots of fun, then ate dinner at Shorty Smalls, which has awesome food if you're ever in OKC! And they sang happy birthday to her too. She really liked that, surprisly, and she clapped right along with them as they sang. Then we drove home. It was a fun day and made up for our hospital stay. Saturday we are having a little party for her with family and a few friends so I'm sure she'll like that too.

Fretting

Well I was reading an article in the Parents magazine and it's titled "What matters most." It is just one mom's account of looking back on being a mother of young ones. One of the things she said that really hit me was this paragraph:
"The pity, when I look back on years of being a mother to my young children, is that I see, among the many happy and wonderful images, an overtired and sometimes burned-out woman, often too stressed by fretting over details to enjoy the great gift of simply being their mother."
I am really feeling like that overtired person right now. I know in the blink of an eye Phoebe and Eliott are going to be grown and graduating from high school, getting married and moving out. I really want to be able to give them an awesome childhood and I want to have those wonderful memories but she's so right, I don't want to stress and frett over little details that will just work themselves out. I love being their mother and I love watching them grow every day. I am so very blessed to see them, watch them, spend loads of time with them everyday...I love them sooooo much and I love being their mother!

Hurry up and....RELAX

Wow, that's how I feel in the last few weeks. I've had time to myself lately since Phoebe's now taking 2 to 2 1/2 hour naps and Eliott is sleeping when she sleeps but I feel like there's so much I want to do in that time...read my bible, read all the other books that I want to read but haven't ever finished, finish Eliott's cross stitch I started for him, scrapbook, and of course the never ending list of housework...laundry, dishes, cleaning up toys, etc. I'm trying to get the housework stuff done while the kiddos are awake now so I can enjoy the time to myself but I know that's not what they want to be doing, ya know?
We had Eliott's baby dedication today at church and that was great! My mom, dad & stepmom and my long time best friend and her husband came and then we all went out to lunch. Wow...my parents were actually civilized enough to sit at the same table and eat, it really was amazing. I didn't feel any tension and it felt great! I'm so glad they can get along now with the 2 grandkids, yeah! After Phoebe took a nap, we went to the park. She went to bed saying "PARK, PARK" and the second I went into her room when she woke up she said "PARK, PARK". That girl loves the park. We went to Jackson Park and that was pretty fun.
Well I better get to bed so I can be well rested-

My baby girl!

Wow, what a week of fevers it's been! Phoebe has had a fever all week, on and off. I think the highest it got was like 103.7 so I knew it couldn't be because of teething. On Sunday night I noticed a rash on her and so on Monday we went to the doc and she had hand, foot, mouth disease and she got that from a friend's kid that came over last week that had it but his mom had no idea he had it yet. So she was fine, just a little rash. Well starting on Tuesday morning she woke up really really grumpy and irritable and had a fever. So I gave her tylenol and 2 hours later she still had the fever so I gave her motrin and that got it down. Then she had a fever again that afternoon so I gave her some motrin and it went away. Wed morning she woke up and seemed fine so I went ahead and brought her to gymnastics. Then the fever came back again that afternoon, OH MY GOODNESS!! And whenever her temp got high then she would just get really cranky, like her whole mood would just change. So on Thursday morning when she woke up with a 102 fever I called the nurse at the doctor's office and she said to give her one more day, maybe she just picked up another virus somewhere but to go ahead and come in if she still felt bad on Friday. So she was okay on Friday morning but then all of a sudden about 10 am it came back, gave her some tylenol it went away and we ate lunch and I put her to bed. When she woke up she had another fever so I called the doc and they said they could see us in 30 minutes. It turned out that through a blood test and urine test, the doc thinks she has a bladder infection. POOR GIRL! Now I understand what all the fits and whining and crying was about. I'm glad I kept my patience with her all week and never got on to her for anything and I'm so glad they figured it out. So now she's on antibiotics, which she loves to take and asks for more when she's sucked it all down, and we're on the way to recovery. Yeah!

On Wednesday night when she felt really bad she kept yelling that she wanted to go the park and the "sides" (meaning slides) but we could tell she so didn't feel good and would just daze out so we told her not tonight, we'll go tomorrow and she just kept saying it over and over. Even when she feels bad, she still wants to do the fun stuff. Maybe she thought it would make her feel better. Who knows.

Yesterday when she was getting ready to take a nap she requested to "see Grammy", which is my mom. So I told her she had to take a nap first and then maybe we'll go see Grammy. So when she woke up and I went in there she sat up in her bed smiles and says "see Grammy." It was so cute, that's the first time that she requested to see my mom. So after we went to the doc we went to see Grammy and Phoebe loved to see her!

He's deceiving!

You know it's so amazing to me how I can so be in to reading my bible daily and setting aside that time for God every day and then all of a sudden satan takes over and you can't find that time any more. He's so good at deceiving you, he is so much alive and you can see him everywhere! I am so behind on my bible study it's crazy and then when I do get to sit down and start it either one of the kids wake up or satan tells me that I'm so behind what's the point. I know I have to work daily to defeat him and I'm going to try to until the day I die but man is he fighting back.

On a good note, I brought Phoebe to gymnastics class this morning and it was a lot of fun! We got there 15 minutes early because I knew she'd need time to warm up being in a new place with a lot of people and I'm so glad I did that. She sat there on my lap for about 10 minutes saying she didn't want to go play or do anything and she wouldn't take her shoes off like the kids were suppose to. I finally got her shoes off with a little crying and then brought her over to some of the mats and when the class started she was liking it a little more. It was fun! And I'm so glad I'm doing it. It's for the next 6 weeks so I think she'll really get into it by the last week, lol!! She was so busy watching the other kids do the stuff that she really wasn't getting into herself but that's okay. She did great!

Eliott is starting to do nose dives from sitting up and trying to figure out how to crawl so it will be really soon. It's pretty hilarious to watch him fall on his face and then pick his head up and determined to get whatever he's going for. But then he gets really frustrated because he can't get to it.

Well this is a great time to start catching up on my bible study so gotta go-

Pictures of Eliott sitting up!

Well here's two pictures of my little man sitting up. The soccer ball was one of his Easter presents, of course Phoebe will play it before he can but that's okay!

It's been a good week!

Wow, this was a great week! We've had our bad days but this was a great week. Easter was really good and Phoebe actually hunted for eggs at my brother and sister in law's house. We didn't think she would move from her daddy's leg but man she ran and put those eggs in her basket, it was soooo cute!

I think Monday was the first day that I have actually been happy that I had Phoebe and Eliott so close together. She's really latched on to Eliott in the last 2 weeks and she kisses and hugs him, tries to pick him up and talks to him when I'm not in the room. I left them both in her room on Monday to go in the kitchen and get Phoebe some milk and I came back and she was standing in front of him saying "Bubba, Mama get milk" and just saying some other stuff that sounded like chinese but it was so cute to see her just talking to him and him looking up at her laughing! That was a great mommy moment. On Tuesday when we went and got in the car to take Phoebe to school I had a flat tire. But it turned out to be a very easy fix. We drove really slow up to the tire place by our house and they fixed it pretty quick and it was only $10 to take a screw out of my tire and patch it. The kids were great in there too. I had to take Eliott out of his seat and nurse him in there but Phoebe was very good and just sat in the seat next to me. So she was 45 minutes late to school and I missed bible study but I was glad that it wasn't a big deal.

Oh and my little man is 6 months old tomorrow!! Wow, I can't believe it and he's growing so fast. He started sitting up on his own about 2 1/2 weeks ago and is great at it now. I would put a picture on here of him sitting up but it's interfering with D's PS3 so I won't try it again. He's playing online and when I do picture downloads it makes his connection a lot slower, OOPS! He's great to entertain now too, just give him something to grab and it will occupy him for awhile, at least a few minutes.

Well I'm very thankful that God showed me how much fun we're going to have in raising these 2 kiddos this week. I can't wait until it gets warm again so we can start going to parks and on walks again!

Busy Days

Wow, we had a busy day today. Phoebe went to mother's day out, "cool" and she calls it for school and when we got there I realized it was picture day, OH MY!! I had totally forgot. She wasn't dressed for a picture and had nothing in her hair, no barret or hair tie and I forgot the order form and check. So I dropped her off and had to run back home, get her a dress, sandals, hair barrett and the order form and check and run back up there. It was a crazy morning but I am so very thankful for mother's day out!!! I love spending the time alone with Eliott shopping or just at home together. It's a much needed break and I'm so thankful we can afford it. She's learning a lot there also and she does great there. She's talking so much but when other people come around she doesn't say a word.
After mom's day out we went to see a friend that moved to Port Arthur, TX in December and she came back up here to visit. Her son is 7 weeks younger than Phoebe and her daughter is 9 weeks younger than Eliott. So she has hers 17 months apart too. She thought I was soooo crazy when I told her I was pregnant with Eliott and thought I was having them too close together and then a couple weeks later she told me she was pregnant, it was GREAT! It was really good seeing her and seeing the kids play together, it was great fun!!
I am thankful for my babies, Phoebe and Eliott and for my husband that's laying in the living room playing PS3. I'm thankful he's at home with me and not somewhere else!! I'm thankful for our carpet being back to normal and everything being okay. It was about a $400 ordeal but hey, it could've been a lot worse, right? I'm thankful for my sink full of dishes because that means we've had food to eat (WOW, that's a hard one to be thankful for because I really despise dishes). I really struggle with being a negative person. I sooooo want to be a positive person and look on the positive side of everything but it's hereditary for the women in my family to be negative and it's so hard to turn that around. I'm not making excuses at all but it's so engraned in me. I pray about it but I need all the prayers I can get!
Well I've got to go to that sink full of dishes-

Jesus sitting next to me!!

This morning in church our pastor, Greg Pittman, had everyone close their eyes and imagine Jesus walking out on our stage. As he looks through the crowd you recognize it's Him from the crown of thorns around His head and the holes in His wrists and ankles. He keeps looking around the crowd and He's looking for you. When he finally sees you he walks down the steps and comes and sits right next to you and looks you in your face. Wow! Can you imagine. I was sitting their with my eyes closed imaging this and realized "wow, He really died for me...little 'ol me!" Isn't that amazing to think that He died just for you! Imagining Him coming to sit by me I wanted to kneel at His feet and just pour my heart out to Him but then I realized...He's always here and I can ALWAYS do that...pour my heart out to Him. Thank you so much Jesus for loving me and dying that horrible death for my sins! I love you Jesus-

Not off to a good start!

Well I just got my blog started and already I had to take a week off. On Monday night I put Phoebe to bed (she's in a big girl bed now by the way), Eliott and I went into the dining room to check e-mail and I sat down at the computer and started opening my email. I noticed my sock was getting a little wet so I just figured Phoebe had spilt some juice there. I start to soak it up but the sock just keeps getting wetter. So I stand up to see what's going on and my foot was soaking wet! Then I step again on my way into the kitchen and it was even wetter. OH MY GOSH I thought!! So I called Denzil, he was working late, obviously, it was like 8:30. I said we have a problem and he says he's on his way home, what's wrong. He says "Call your dad!" So I called my dad and he told me to go out to the heater/hot water heater closet in the garage and open it and tell him what I see. Well after cleaning out everything in front of the door, there was water pouring out of the drain. It was black water and had chopped up spaghetti noodles in it (what I put down the garbage disposal earlier). So I went to turn off the washing machine and the dishwasher and then realized the water had gone all the way into the living room too. Above is the picture of just the dining room and how wet it got. Luckily we were able to wait until Tuesday morning to call a plumber and it was only $80 for him to come out to fix the clogged drain but then we had the soaking wet carpet to deal with. So we ripped up the carpet pad and rented some carpet fans to dry the carpet. Then on Thursday we got the carpet pad replaced, carpet restretched and cleaned. OH MY, it's been a great spring break! This would have been so much easier to deal with if Phoebe had gone to school this week but it had to happen on an off week. Ugh!

Other than that, I missed bible study on Tuesday, which I absoltely did not like but there was no way I could go. Luckily Denzil did take off work to help me deal with this problem but we were right in the middle of cleaning it up at bible study time. Our insurance guy did see my Beloved Disciple book by Beth Moore and got all excited that I was learning more about God and thought it was excellent! That was pretty cool/weird that our insurance man said that?? I am up on my daily reading though and have loved this week! One thing that really stuck out to me yesterday...she's talking about unheathly hearts and she says.."We don't have to be raised in severely dysfunctional homes to develop unhealthy hearts. All we have to do is expose ourselves to life. Life can be heartless and mean. Purely and simply, LIFE HURTS!! However, we can't check ourselves out of life. Instead, God hopes that we'll turn to Him to heal us from the ravages of natural life and make us healthy ambassadors of abundant life in an unhealthy world." She goes on to say that God can heal all of our hearts, no matter what got it in such a condition. It's amazing to me how forgiving God really is. He is a great God and I am so grateful that I found him and am able to have a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ!! Thank you Christ-

Going through the stages?!?

Wow, what a busy day! We went to MOPS this morning and had fun talking to everyone and getting to know my new group of friends more. We did a craft there and it was pretty cool, although I have no idea what I am going to do with it?!? Then we came home, ate lunch and that is normally nap time. BUT Phoebe is starting it again, fighting naps and bedtime. I know it's just a stage but it's so stressful going through these different stages. She stood in her crib for 2 hours just yelling "mama, potty, dada, bubba, juice, milk, door..open..please..." just anything she could think of so I would come in there. Needless to say she never fell asleep but luckily Eliott was asleep that whole time, I'm not sure how since she was yelling the whole time. So I did get some time to myself but it wasn't relaxing at all since I could hear her yelling the whole time. She's also been giving us problems going to bed at night so I thought I'd just go in there and get her and if she doesn't take a nap then she wouldn't fight bedtime because she would be nice and tired and go straight to sleep. HAHA, YEAH RIGHT...She still tried all of her delay tactics and did not want to get in bed. She screamed for about 25 minutes then finally layed down and went to sleep. We're not sure what happened, that's just been the last 2 nights. So I just pray this "stage" doesn't last that long!!
I LOVE the stage Eliott is going through though. Laughing, cooing, drooling...he's such a good little man! He's so ticklish, I love to tickle him!! Today when I went to pick him up after MOPS, Keri's little boy, Bo, was trying to use Eliott's car seat (Eliott was in it) as a prop to pull up and then was knocking Eliott in the head with some plastic keys. It was pretty hilarious to see! He probably thought "my sister is not around and I'm still getting beat up."

New to this

Hello all,
Well I just created this blog. I've never known how to get a blog for free until I read some new friends blogs. I've met some new friends from Cedar Ridge Christian church in the last month or so. Connie Johnson and Keri Lyon. We've been going to church there for 7 years now but I just now got into a bible study that meets on Tuesdays and met them through that. It's an awesome bible study with lots of moms in it. I just pray that it continues to go well, I am able to do my daily readings and the friendships that I have found will grow into great ones!