Wednesday, October 30, 2013

May I Introduce You...

   Well, it's about time!  Actually, I've sat down several times in the past week to update my blog, but something would always come up to distract me and the blog got set aside again.  Its been a crazy week to say the least! 
    Wesley Haddon Price was born a little after noon on Monday the 21st.  When I saw him for the first time, my heart leaped!  He looked JUST like Rebekah with his dark hair, eyes, and skin!  My other babies had blue eyes much lighter than theirs.  Rebekah's were a beautiful dark cobalt blue!  Wesley was born with almost the same shade.  The surgery went very well.  In fact, it was probably the best cesarean I've had yet.  The doctor did an outstanding job and I was out of bed the next morning taking care of Wesley by myself.  I felt great...oh, quite sore, don't get me wrong, but not like I had been with the others.  I went home on Wednesday and was greeted by two sick toddlers.  Audra had an ear infection, cough, runny nose, and fever.  Christian has pretty much the same thing with a few additional symptoms and both have been miserable the entire week.  So that's meant fever checks several times in the middle of the night, along with Wesley's multiple feedings around the clock.  So needless to say, I haven't gotten much sleep, and have been getting a whole lot of exercise since getting home from the hospital.  Adding another baby to the household has made a difference in our schedule and routine.  It wasn't too bad when we brought Audra home from the hospital.  I've always heard that the third baby is the hardest to get adjusted to.  I'm beginning to believe it.  :)  Oh, I love it though.  Having another infant in the house has been a joy.  And Wesley really is a good baby.  He can sleep through a hurricane!  That's a good thing considering all the activity he has to put up with during his nap times.  :)  Christian and Audra love Wesley to pieces and its been all I can do to keep them out of his face.   We do NOT need a sick week old baby!!!!  We've been there, done that twice over now and believe you me, ITS NOT FUN!!!   So, its been a fun week!  Audra is beginning to feel better after having been on antibiotics for several days, and hopefully we'll start seeing some progress with Christian soon as well.  Mom has been a huge help!  She's took over the dishes and cooking along with helping out with the kids.  I don't know what I would have done without her!!!  Thanks, Mom!!!
   Having three children in the house has sort of "completed" our family in a way.  I keep thinking about 5 years ago when we had no children and wanted them desperately!  Now "she who was called barren" is now the mother of three!  I praise the Lord for this miracle!  And yes, at times when I feel like if I have to wipe one more nasty runny nose, I'm going to go crazy.  (I can change the worst diaper, or clean up the grossest throw up mess, but when it comes to noses....well, lets just say it ranks up there with the most horrible thing you can think of.  :)  Silly huh, but hey, everyone has their thing.  Noses are mine.  Andy can't handle bad diapers or throw up messes, but noses don't bother him, so we have this beautiful arrangement.....when he's around.  :)  He sends them my way for the diapers, and I steer them to him with a handful of tissue!  Hey, I can do it when I need to, which is more often than not, but I pray for grace every time, then hold my breath, and try not to let my stomach know what my right hand is doing.  :)  No, the sleepless nights, the breaking up of countless fights, the teaching, the correcting, trying to be judge, jury, prosecutor, and defense all in one motherly package can give you gray hairs in a real fast way!  But, in all seriousness though, motherhood is the greatest thing in the world.  I am so thankful to the Lord that he has given me my desire.  When you've had a hard day, feel like you're not getting anywhere, and wondering if you are doing right by your children, and your little three year old pats you on the arm and says, "Mama, I prayed for you today in my bed", what can you say?  It gives me the charge I need to keep going.  You can't give up midstream!  These toddler years are tough, to say the least!  When a child discovers that he actually has a will of his own, and decides to make use of it to benefit him, oh my!  I have two going through that right now, one a boy, and one a girl, WHICH means they need dealt with a little differently in many ways.  Audra is all girl, complete with all the emotions that go with it.  Whew!  Sometimes I wonder what its going to be like when she hits 15!  :)  It can get real fun!  :)  I love it!  Motherhood is GREAT!  Its a good way to find out that you are not near as smart as you once thought you were....  
Wesley Price
First pictures right after birth




Going home

Tuesday morning


Christian's face says it all.

Lets play cars!  Christian was willing to share one of his favorites with his new brother.

My little "burrito" :)







Wesley looks JUST like Christian did at this age. 

Monday, October 14, 2013

A Date With My Son.

   Its not very often that I get to spend time with only one or the other of my children.  I love taking them places and normally, we have a very enjoyable time, seeing as how they both travel very well.  The rare times when I go someplace alone, I simply don't feel right...like I left something very important at home, like I forgot something.  I can't even hardly enjoy myself.  I miss the chatter in the back seat.  :)  I know, I must be crazy.  Oh don't get me wrong, I need those times to myself occasionally.  What mother doesn't?  But for some reason, I just can't seem to stay away longer than just a few hours, or I'll be missing my children so much I can't even enjoy myself anymore. 
   Last week, my mom watched Audra for me and I took Christian out for a couple hours.  I didn't really have any special errands to run.  It was just one of those days where you simply don't want to stay indoors and you HAVE to go someplace or go crazy.  :)  I had a gift card to Hobby Lobby, one of my all time favorite stores, so we loaded up and headed to Richmond.  We spent a good hour in there going up and down the aisles looking at everything!  We checked out the model airplanes, and the science kits.  (I always loved that stuff as a kid, and to be honest, I'd still enjoy very much putting one together with Christian. :)  We tried on hats in the party section, then picked out all our favorite Christmas ornaments.  Christian had $5.00 to spend and found a water color paint book and some candy.  We had a great time!  Then we headed to KFC and had our dinner date.  Christian was so tired when we got home, but he was one very happy little boy! 
   Yesterday was my last day teaching my Sunday School class til the first of the year.  My assistant will be taking over for the next couple months.  I'll have time to come up with some new ideas I'm wanting to try out in class.  I'm needing the break though, because all I can think about these days is the baby coming.  I'm thankful I have someone available to take over for me for a little while. 
  
   One more week to go!!!  I've always delivered my babies a week or so early, so it could be any day now. 










Sunday Best


Thursday, October 10, 2013

The Last Few Days...

   We're still playing the waiting game.  We had a false alarm Wednesday night and Andy drove me to the doctor to check the baby's progress.  There was none, so we came back home and are back to waiting.  I didn't do much at all the rest of Wednesday, and was able to go to church that night.  By this morning,  Thursday, nothing had happened and the pains had stopped.  I decided that if the baby was going to stay in there, he might as well enjoy the ride.  So, I got out my vacuum cleaner and Kaboom, and went to work.  :)  The house is spotless again, and the laundry is almost done.  I plan to take Audra on a ride in the stroller later this evening, while Christian works in the garage with Andy.  Maybe the walk will do some good.  
   I sure have been enjoying this Fall weather!!!  Its been in the 60's during the day and the 40's at night!  Perfect!  We've pulled out the long sleeves and jackets.  No, I haven't given in and given up my sandals yet. :)  It has to be snowing outside before I put on boots again!  I hate shoes!  I grew up barefoot, and can't stand anything on my foot.  I've reluctantly agreed to sandals, but that's as far as I'll go during the summer!  :)  You'd be surprised what I can do in sandals!  If I can't do it in sandals, I'd rather do it barefoot!  The folks at church here can tell how cold it is outside by what I'm wearing.  Winter has officially arrived when JoAnna puts on her boots.  :)  I never even used to where those when we lived in TN.  But, I gave in when we got 2 1/2 feet of snow last Christmas and my toes froze every time I attempted to go outside.  I lost that battle.  :)  
   Anyway, we've been spending a lot of time outside in the evenings.  We've been praying that God will give us a house in the country soon.  Andy talked to a realtor recently who seems to think he could get us a real good deal on a place when one becomes available.  God knows our hearts and our desire to raise our children in the country.  Town life may work for some, but the best place to raise a child is the country.  We want to give a country atmosphere to our children before they get much older.  Both our children would live outside if I let them!  :)  I pray almost every day that God will grant us this desire and provide us with a house that would suit our needs, with a little bit of land to plant a garden.  I can't wait to raise grape vines again!  I so enjoyed toying around with my grapes in TN, and the result was fresh juice on our breakfast table and jellies on our toast!  There's nothing like growing a garden and then enjoying the fruit of your labor!  Oh don't get me wrong!  God has been so good to us and the house we have in town has been such a blessing and just what we needed to get us moved up here to Indiana last winter.  But we would love to eventually have a country home when God sees fit to give it to us.  And when He does, the first thing I'm going to do is buy some grape vines!!!  :) 

  A few pictures of the last week or so...

Helping mamma with the cleaning


Aren't newborn clothes simply adorable! 

My new diaper bag (as if anyone is even interested :)   My diaper bags keep having to get bigger and bigger!  I found this one and loved the three big compartment it has in the middle of it.  One for Audra, one for Christian, and one for Wesley...and all their changes of clothes, toys, bottles, diapers, etc. that I seem to carry with me everywhere I go.  Believe me!  I've exercised muscles I didn't know existed just carrying the silly thing around!  It feels like I'm carrying bricks in there at times.  :)   And....I'm getting ready to add to its weight.  :)





She LOVES getting her picture taken!

  

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

"Decently and In Order..."

   "Let all things be done decently and in order..."   I reckon this could mean anything from the organization of a church to running a business, to.....house keeping?  Have you ever felt like your life has no purpose, no direction, no order whatsoever?  You get up whenever you want to, you eat a haphazard breakfast (if you have breakfast at all), you wonder what the day will hold, and you go from one chore to the next without really getting anything done, then you go to bed at a different hour every night, waking up the next morning exhausted because you "stayed up too late last night".  Some folks call it "Running in circles", "Spinning your wheels" "Going nowhere fast", etc.  It really is a miserable feeling.  I've found myself "Stuck in the rut" lately.  Going in circles and not accomplishing anything to speak of.  I found myself CONSTANTLY cleaning and doing laundry, and yet my house never really seemed to get cleaned in spite of me wearing myself out.  I never seemed to have time for anything anymore because I was constantly working.  The plaguing question that all wives face, "WHAT IN THE WORLD am I going to cook tonight???" has been a constant enemy of mine lately.  When you ask your husband what he wants to eat, you get the famous answer, "Oh, anything is fine", or "I'll eat whatever you cook".  Well, that didn't work!  
   So, Andy and I had a "conference" yesterday.  :)  We sat down and re-figured a working budget.  Then we discussed a daily schedule for our household.  I made a list of what needed done around the house and what days it would get done.  Then, since I had him cornered, :) I asked him what his favorite meals were and what he wanted to see on the table for the next couple weeks.  I scribbled down all his ideas and some of my own.  Then I sat down at the computer and began working out a menu for the next four weeks, including breakfast, lunch, and supper for the entire month.  I've already been referring to it, and I'm amazed at how well it is working!  No more, "WHAT IN THE WORLD am I going to cook"!  All I have to do is glance at my menu and its already decided.  :)  And its things my husband and kids enjoy.  I went to several grocery stores and did some bulk shopping, finding the best prices on groceries instead of going to one store.  So much cheaper that way!  So now I have enough groceries to last us a few weeks, so scratch those little trips to the store several times a week for that one item that you need to complete your thrown together supper, or that thing you forgot to pick up the last time you were there. 
   Next I'll work on a printed out chore schedule for myself.  Its been nice trying to get our lives in order.  The kids are already on a pretty good schedule, so nothing much will have to change there.  I do want to start Christian on some kind of pre-school in January.  He's ready to learn, and is very excited about "going to school".  I know this new schedule will help when the baby arrives as well, though we will have to make a few changes due to his little routine.  But I'm excited about it! I'm hoping to get some things done that have been needing my attention for some time now, like mending (there's a huge difference between mending and sewing... :), organizing closets, and cleaning out our storage room.  I'm determined to start scratching some of these mundane chores from my list, and then staying on top of them!  Why do we go to all that work to clean something, then let it go back to its original state two weeks later????  Doesn't make much sense.  :)  
   So, Decently and In Order?  I'm going to give it an honest shot!  There IS a reason God told us to do it.  :)