And Here We Go Again!

Well, it's PAST time for a post, or so I've been told! I have found that updating a quick, short facebook status has been much easier for me to find time to do rather than updating this blog. Just because I am overly critical of what I write on here and have to go back, edit, add to and take away before I will post it and by that time three hours have gone by and well, frankly, I just don't have that kind of time laying around these days. I just had a thought...just imagine if I could magically turn all these goldfish and cheerios that are scattered on my kitchen floor into minutes added to my day...not just ANY minutes, FREE TIME/MOMMY TIME minutes! Well, wait a minute, now that I think about it, that would just push bed time back...never mind, nix that idea!

Okay, enough stalling...on to the good stuff that you came here for...

I found out yesterday that I am going to be an aunt again! My brother and sister in law are having another baby! I am so excited for them but at the same time I was completely shocked to find out she's due the end of May, she's 7 weeks along. Why am I so shocked? Because I too am also due the end of May, 8 weeks along. Yes, you read right, we are having another baby too. If our due dates are figured correctly, I am due May 25th and she is due May 29th! Isn't that the craziest thing you've ever heard! I know what you're thinking..."NO, that's not the craziest thing...the craziest thing is that YOU are having a 4th CHILD!!" Yes that is nuts too, I agree. I know you're sitting there trying to calculate how old Addison will be when this one gets here...she'll be almost 19 months. Taylor will be 8, Emma 5.

It has not been the easiest news to swallow, let me tell you! I have known for a month now and have just now been able to talk about it without going to pieces. But I've come to the realization that I'm just not supposed to ever have clean hair, fresh makeup and be dressed in anything but ratty t-shirts and athletic pants, ever again. And I'm okay with that!

I was really afraid of what Taylor and Emma would say when they found out. I don't really know what reaction I thought I would get from them, I just didn't think they would be very happy about having another baby in house. They were excited though.
It made it a little easier to be able to tell them about aunt Lesley at the same time too. They kept saying "Wow! Two babies!" Then Taylor looked at me kind of funny and said, "Mom, four kids?! FOUR!!! Oh my goodness!" Emma, just laughed and went right back to being in her own little Emma world where everything revolves around her and sings to her music. She hasn't really had much of an opinion about it. Which I expected. She's a strange one, that one.

Now that I have let the cat out of the bag and have gotten the news out into the open, I am feeling a little bit better about the whole situation. I have to keep reminding myself that babies are a blessing and how fortunate I am to be able to have them when there are so many couples out there that want them so badly and can't have one of their own. I do feel blessed.

Now, I know you're wondering about Nathan and how he is handling the news. If you know him very well, you know how he has never been one to want more than one or maybe two children. But just as his reaction was when he found out we were having a third, he was excited again and thought it was really something that we would now have four kids. He has seen it as nothing else but a blessing and has had no doubts about our abilities to raise a fourth at all. I tell him he only feels that way because he gets to LEAVE every day!!! He overlooks all the day to day things and sees the big picture. He thinks about Christmases and Thanksgivings when the kids are older and how much fun it will be to have a big family during those times. I think about those too...but it's always prefaced with "If I survive and make it to..."

We're going to have a very busy spring on BOTH sides of our family! On my side, we will have my brother and sister-in-law's new baby, our new baby, and my cousin Abby is having a baby in April too. Three new babies on that side! Which will bring our family Christmas count to 35! I think, if I counted them all! That's just my Mom's parents, mom's sisters and brothers in law, and their children and grandchildren. And yes, we all still get together and exchange gifts every Christmas. It's wild but so much fun! On Nathan's side, his brother Jerry and his wife, Amy, are expecting a baby in April too! Two new babies at Meme's house! And all of the grandchildren at her house so far are ALL GIRLS! We have four girls there now. And, Amy and I suspect that we'll both probably have girls again this time since that seems to be all these Holland men make. So, possibly 6 little girls! Very expensive! :)

Well, I smell something strange, and it's either me or Addison's diaper so I'd better get off and either change a diaper or shower. And FYI, if you choose to comment on this post, I have already heard all the comments I need to hear such as "Don't you know what causes that?" And, "Have the Mormons converted you guys up there in Oklahoma?" And, "Watch out Duggars!" Those comments, while as hilarious as they are, have gotten old and stale on this end now so if you absolutely MUST make a joke, please come up with something new and fresh that will make me laugh! Thank you! :)

Second Day of Second Grade...so far so good!

Taylor has now been through day two of second grade and so far, it's going great. She has had no complaints so far, however they've not had ANY homework yet (what's the matter with that teacher???) and during the day they're still doing fun activities and crafty type stuff-getting to know you/the classroom/the school stuff. I have a feeling starting Monday the work will begin and then I doubt every day will be so hunky-dorey! But for right now, we'll take it!

She's made a few friends already and once again this year there are a couple of boys in her class that, based on what she's told me about them and some of the things they've done/said, she's been instructed to steer clear of! I'm beginning to think a private, all girls school would not be such a bad thing. :)

She really likes her teacher, Mrs. Jansen. I met her at their "supply drop-off" day and she seemed nice. She seemed kind of quiet and a little shy. When I asked her where to put all of the supplies, she looked around her room and said "Oh, just pile them on Taylor's desk and we'll figure out what to do with them tomorrow (the first day of school). She admitted to me that the start of school had come upon her so quickly and she didn't have things together really yet. Hmmm.... Well, if you know me, you know that didn't sit well. I'm trying not to make any assumptions about her and hoping that things will be fine this year. I learned from Taylor's kindergarten year that as long as SHE is learning and happy there, I have to put my feelings about the teacher aside and not worry about it. I think having been a teacher myself makes my feelings toward my child's teachers worse...I tend to think "Why isn't she doing this, or that, or it would be much simpler/easier/better if she did it this way, etc..." I know it's wrong to be that way...my way is not the best way for somebody else...I guess! :) However, it works so great for me, I'm sure it'd be better for others too! (kidding!) {I must add, I did NOT have those feelings toward ANY of Emma's teachers!!! Tabitha and Dee, I thought you guys were FABULOUS!!! Anybody that can take Emma and teach her the things that you taught her without pulling your hair out has my utmost respect and confidence! :)}

Emma has enjoyed being home (sort of) by herself. (Addison has been taking 3-4 hour naps in the mornings-Whooo-hooo!!) This morning she hugged me and said "It's just ME and YOU!" She likes the extra attention. She's still talking about Jesus a lot. Don't know WHERE that's coming from. This morning she told me that Jesus doesn't like big kids only little kids because some times big kids hurt little kids when they play together. I told her I didn't think that was right and that I'm pretty sure he likes big kids too. She said very confidently, "NO, he DOES-INT!! So I asked her if she remembered the song, Jesus Loves the Little Children. "Yes" So I asked her "Well, what's the next part of that song?" She couldn't remember so I said "ALLLLL the children of the world!" I said "See, even big kids too!" She just laughed and said, "Nah, I don't think so." ??? She also told me he doesn't like Santa Claus either. I never understood her reasoning behind that one. She moved on to another subject so I counted myself as lucky and didn't ask again!

Yeah, so Addison has been taking these incredible naps in the mornings. It's so nice! I SO hope she keeps that up!! She is really growing and learning new things! She waves and says bye-bye now. She finally refers to Nathan. It's "Ga-Ga" not Dada but he'll take what he can get. I can ask her now "Where's Gaga, or Emma or Taylor" and she will look at them. I know, she's brilliant! :) She's not walking or even trying to yet. Well, she'll walk around the coffee table but won't try to let go and when I try to walk with her she just bounces (dances). She loves music and any time she hears singing or music she bounces up and down. It's so cute! She's got her two front teeth on the bottom. She's working on getting her first top tooth...not one in the front, it's on the left side of her front teeth. Looks like she's going to have a vampire fang. Hmph, me and all those "Twilight" books I read while pregnant with her...:)

Well, the afternoon monsters are coming out and growling at me so I'd better strap on my guns and tend to them! :)

Things are ok in OK!

Time for an update! We are officially Okies now! We arrived at our new house here in Owasso (suburb just North of Tulsa) a little over two weeks ago and have gotten all settled in now. So far we are all really enjoying it here!

We got into town on a Saturday night. The girls and I were so excited to get up here and see everything! As we took our exit and began making our way through town all three of us were shouting out all the stores and fast food restaurants we saw. "Hey look! There's McDonalds! Cool! Look, there's a big Walmart! Neat!" You know, the IMPORTANT places! As if those places don't exist on every corner in EVERY town! :) The kids were so thrilled their seat belts could barely contain them!

We settled in LATE that night on our air mattresses and slept pretty well, actually. All that excitement over McD's and Wally World must've worn us out. The next day we began unpacking the things that we had brought with us and then we all piled into the van and went out to see things in the day light. I only THOUGHT I had seen a few great places to eat & shop the night before. That day I found my mother ship...one of my most favorite places in the world to go...a place where my love tank gets filled to the brim and overfloweth...HOBBY LOBBY!! And I'm talking, a NICE, BIG one too! I nearly hyperventilated when I saw it all huge-ish, sitting on a nice corner on a hill only 2 minutes from my house. All I could get out was "Look! Look! Look!" In my awe I remember faintly hearing Nathan's voice say "THERE IS NOTHING THROUGH THOSE DOORS THAT YOU NEED!! NOTHING I SAY!" Surely I was dreaming that though...because SURELY he'd never deny me my Hobby Lobby!
{Quick Interjection: For those of you, mostly my FL friends, who don't know what Hobby Lobby is, it's a store filled with crafting supplies, home decor items, seasonal decor, etc...it's like JoAnn's but way better! And cheaper! They run 1/2 price sales EVERY WEEK! It's a heavenly place! Not so much in my husband's eyes though.}
For the past four years I have been deprived of this place since the entire state of FL only has ONE, ONE I TELL YOU!, Hobby Lobby. And it's in Panama City or some place far from Melbourne. So after discovering it, my mental to-do list was just updated and everything was shifted down the list by one bullet point. Okay, enough about H. L...

We also found several great strip malls (who came up with that name anyway...I really don't like it! A man, I'm sure!) with lots of great stores. But I won't bore you anymore with my excitement over the shopping that, by the way, is MINUTES from my driveway!!! Ahhhhh! :) In our new house, the girls each have their own rooms now. They were excited about that but I was a little worried that Taylor & Emma would have a little trouble with sleeping in a room alone since they've shared a room for over a year. So far they've done great! There's only been one morning that I've woken up with both of them in our bed. They're enjoying having their own space. The new hasn't really worn off the house yet with them, they're still enjoying playing together in their rooms everyday.

We've visited a couple of churches also. We liked one but are going to take our time and visit quite a few. Although I am ready to find one and start getting connected to people and make some friends. I haven't found a MOPS group here yet. I found a few listings on the internet but most of them are all in Tulsa and I'd like to find one here in Owasso. I'm sure there is one, I'll just have to keep looking. Pray for us that we'll find our church home and friends soon.

Taylor starts school this week. Her school is really close to our house too...about a mile away. She's indifferent about starting. She's still enjoying being at home during the day and playing with Emma so she says she's not ready to start yet. I'm sure she'll like it once it starts. We go to meet her teacher tomorrow and she starts on Wednesday. The tardy bell there doesn't ring until 8:50! I'm super excited about that!! That's almost an HOUR later than what we're used to! Woo Hoo! She gets out at 3:15. We're waiting to hear if Emma has gotten in to a preschool at a church here. A church we visited has what looks like a great preschool...much like the one she went to in FL. They were full when I called to get her in but the director told me she would be first on the waiting list and if this year goes like past years, she'll get in. They are a Tues, Thurs school with an "enrichment" day on Wed. She'll go from 9:30-2:30 on Tues & Thurs and then on Wed, it's 9:00-12:30 and on that day they teach them spanish, art, math and something else. She is definitely in on the Wed classes. We just have to wait until the first week it starts to hear if she made it in for the Tues/Thurs classes. Keeping our fingers crossed!!

We have a big back yard here at this house. The girls are really enjoying it! They play kickball every day and have races from one fence to the other. It's been pretty hot in the afternoons but not near as humid as it is in FL. And I thought I'd never find a place where the wind blows as much as it does in FL but I stand corrected! The wind is unreal here...blows strong most of the time. Our first thunderstorm here looked more like one of the hurricanes we experienced in FL! The wind blew so hard, I was really scared there was a tornado coming! I kept checking the weather on TV and online to make sure we didn't need to take cover.

Nathan's job here is in an office in Tulsa which has been strange to us. He actually gets up and leaves for the day and is home at night. It's been a nice change and he's enjoying it too. I am really glad to have him home every night. He does have to travel some but nowhere near what he had to do when we lived in FL. He has to travel this week but only for two days so that won't be bad.

I've only met one neighbor so far. She was interesting. An older lady that knows everybody on our street, what they do for a living, how many years they've lived here and every fault they have. We were getting in the van to go to a doctor's appt one morning and she was outside sweeping her driveway so I thought I'd be polite and go over and introduce myself. Nathan had already met them one day when he was mowing. 15 minutes after introducing myself I finally was able to wedge in "I'm sorry to cut you off but we're going to be late for an appt if I don't get going." She seems to be a very particular woman and very opinionated and outspoken. She said she calls or writes the homeowner's assoc. every week about something. And after talking with her that short time, I have no doubt that she does. Lord help us keep her on our good side!! She told Nathan "All I ask is that you keep your kids off the street in the culdesac! Please don't let them ride their bikes in the culdesac." That was one of the things I was looking forward to for them! Letting them ride there because it's a really big culdesac and there's so much room for them to ride. I understand where she's coming from, not wanting an accident to happen. Nathan told her that we're pretty protective of our kids and we wouldn't let them get in the street. She told me they travel a lot and are gone for two weeks at a time usually so maybe we can sneak out when they're gone. Again, I really hope we keep in good graces with her!

Well, the kids are up ready for breakfast now so this blog session is over. I'm sure I'll have pictures and a story to add this week when Tay starts school so I'll be back soon! :)

(See "Perspectives of Taylor & Emma" for a little story about just one of the many things Emma has done lately.)

...And a Month Later, Here We Are...

So, it's been over a month since my last post. At my last writing I was getting things ready for us to move to AR for the summer. Well, we've been here for a month now. My kids are totally out of control! Nathan and I always joked about how when we would come here to visit all the grandparents...a week here would equal two weeks of working to get our kids back to normal. :) At this rate it'll be next year before they're corrected!!! They have so much fun and more freedoms at their grandparent's houses than they normally do at home so it leaves them quite spoiled rotten by the time we leave. And add to that their girly sassiness and boy do I have my hands full! Good thing all Addison can say is "Ma...Ma...Ma...Ma and Bye...Bye...Bye...Bye!" However, sometimes I think even THAT sounds a little on the dramatic and sassy side. She has already, at a mere 8 months old, learned how to turn on the drama! If she is crawling or pulling up and she falls over even the least bit, she opens her mouth so wide and just screams like she has really hurt herself. And if I just look at her and say "You're okay, it's okay" OH! That just won't do! She will cry even more. She expects to be picked up immediately and hugged and kissed and bounced until enough time goes by that she deems is appropriate depending on the severity of the accident. Then I can put her back down and she'll be off to the next adventure. I AM enabling her just a little bit in that area because I play it up to her like she has just had one of the worst boo-boos ever and I'll whine with her and say "Oh, my goodness, oh, it's so bad, oh my..." I think it's funny because as long as I'm going on and on about it, she'll keep saying "Ahhhh, ahhhh, ahhhh!" (No tears at all!) I'm sure I'll regret babying her like that one day...however right now, I still enjoy it.

We are still waiting on things to go through with the sale of our house in Florida. Hopefully it'll all be finished in a few weeks though. I visited Tulsa a couple weeks ago and Nathan and I went house hunting. We found a house that we are hoping to rent. We are sending the application in on it next week. After it is accepted then we'll call the moving company and have them go to our house in FL, pack it and move it to the new house. I'm hoping to be in the new place by the first week of August. That would be the ideal thing, however, who knows how long it will take. Moving companies are super busy in the summer time. They told us it could take a couple of weeks before they get to us. But once they get to our house, it will take only two days to pack it and load it on the truck. Then another day or so to get it to Tulsa. When they told me "One day to pack and one day to load" I wanted to laugh and say "Yeah, RIGHT!! You'd better bring an army with you!" They did send someone about a month ago out to the house to take notes on how much furniture and 'stuff' we have so they'll know how long it'll take and how many boxes to bring. I guess they know what they're doing. I'll be shocked though if everything is boxed and ready in a day.

The kids have been enjoying Arkansas the past few weeks. We have been spending time at both my parent's house and Nathan's parent's house. We also spent a few days in Conway at my aunt's house...her girls are about the same age as mine. My kids didn't want to leave there. They had so much fun playing with their cousins! We went to the lake on the 4th. We spent the day out on the water and then went back out on the water that night to watch the fireworks show. They really liked that...I'll post pictures as soon as I get them uploaded.

In between all the fun, all three girls have been sick too. Addison just finished her 20th day on antibiotics! She got an ear infection a couple weeks ago in both ears. The first ten days of antibiotics didn't clear it up so they started her on a different one for ten more days. She seems better now but still has a cough and congestion in her chest. Emma busted her head open a couple weeks ago. The girls have a room at my parent's house and they have bunk beds in there. The ceiling fan is over one corner of the top bunk. I had warned the girls not to get on the top bunk when the fan is on...but you know Emma...got to test the boundaries. She climbed up there anyway and decided to see just how bad it would hurt to get hit by the fan...so she stuck her thumb up there and let it hit it. It hurt she said. Well, apparently she was going to get down and she got too close and the fan blade hit her right in the middle of her forehead. Taylor came running to me telling me that Emma had been hit by the fan. I didn't hear her crying so I just said, "Okay, I'll be right there" thinking she was just turning on her normal dramatics! I finished folding a towel and then I heard her scream "Ahhhh! I'm BLEEEEEDING, I'M BLEEEEEDING!" I ran in there and sure enough, there was blood covering her face and dripping all over the top bunk. I wanted so badly to scream and start freaking out!! I grabbed her down and ran into the kitchen to get a towel. I held it on her head and laid her on the couch to survey the damage. It was pretty deep and made me nauseous! I called my Mom and Dad and had them come home from work so that Dad could stay at home with Addison and Taylor and Mom could hold the towel on Emma's head while I drove her to the doctor. We got her head glued back together...thankfully no stitches. Although, now looking back I wish they HAD used stitches. The glue didn't hold and the part of her cut I can see underneath the nasty steri-strips that are coming off, is still open. The nurse who glued it back together put steri-strips on top of it before the glue dried so now we have steri-strips stuck to it and they can't be pulled off or they'll pull out the glue and the cut will be open all the way across. It's in a mess! It's been almost two weeks and she still can't get it wet...which they didn't tell me to begin with and I did let it get a little wet in the bathtub a couple days after it was glued! ANYWAY...when I took her back yesterday to have it checked they told me there was nothing they could do now...it has to heal from the inside out.

Along with all that, Taylor and Emma both had the 24 hour stomach bug too and spent the biggest part of the night throwing up. LOVELY!! That's all done with and I think everybody is well and good now. ...knocking on wood!!

Nathan is in Florida right now. He flew in on Wednesday and will be there until Monday morning. He had to be at the base for a few days. I'm so jealous, he is staying at our house. I wish I was there, I miss my bed and my stuff!!! It's a good thing he went though...one of our a/c units was messed up and had leaked water into the garage (thankfully it didn't damage anything) and the pool was a mess. He'd hired a pool company to take care of it weekly but they hadn't been there in a few weeks. So he had to call and find out what was up with that-it had rained one week on our day (Imagine that! Rain in Florida in the summer time! Who'da thunk it??) and the next week was the 4th so they took a holiday...Ugh! Also the garage door keypad outside the garage isn't working either. We had given a key to a nearby friend, thankfully, so Nathan was able to get the key and get in when he arrived. So he's working to get that fixed as well while he's there.

Well, I guess that about catches you up on what's been going on with us...I have to get off here and check on the children. Up to no good, I'm sure! Will post again when I get the chance. :)

Last Week in Melbourne

The countdown has begun...we are now into our last week as Floridians. It's so bittersweet. -a little heavy, scratch that, LOT heavy on the bitter side. I'm having a hard time motivating myself to get started on all the "to-do's" on my list of things to do before the end of the week. I think mainly because I'm dreading leaving. It is so hard!! As much as I want to be closer to family, I also don't want to leave our "family" here.

The closer it gets to moving day, the sadder and more depressed I'm getting. I'm really hoping that once we get to AR for the summer, I'll be okay and will feel better and maybe actually be excited about moving to a new place. Right now, so not the case. All I want to do is sit and cry! And doing that makes me feel even worse because in the back of my mind I keep remembering all the prayers that Nathan and I have sent up telling God how much we miss seeing our family and how much we miss AR. How can I go from feeling that way to clinging onto this place? It's gotta be hormonal! I don't know how else to process it.

I just know that the past week or so, I've been trying to savor every minute of this place and take everything in, trying to write every detail of it onto my memory. -Guess that's why I took 116 pictures of us at the beach on Memorial Day. Yes, ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN! -obsessive??

So, this week, I've got to start packing up some things that we're going to need while we're in AR for the summer and also the things that I don't want the moving company to pack and move for us (pictures, scrapbooks, etc...). I get weary just thinking about all of it. My list of to-do's and "Things to Pack" keeps growing and growing. And Nathan flew out to MS this morning and will be working there all week long, naturally, so I'll be doing most of it myself. -Which I'd probably be doing regardless, since I'm anal like that and have to oversee all of the packing anyway to make sure everything I want packed gets packed.

Friday afternoon Mom and Dad will land in Orlando and the girls and I will go pick them up. They are coming down here to help us drive back to AR. We have to take both of our vehicles back and I knew I'd need help driving and taking care of the girls on the 16 hour trip up there. Friday night is the Daddy Daughter Dance at our church so Nathan and the older girls will go to that and Addison will be here with Mom and Dad. I am helping with it too and I'm so glad that I am so that I can watch! :) Yes, I'm going to be the mom that follows her girls on prom night, taking pictures and watching from a far, like the paparazzi! Ha!

Saturday and Sunday Nathan has drill at the base and then on Sunday afternoon after we're all loaded and Nathan gets back from the base, we'll be heading to AR. We're planning on staying with family in AR until our house here in FL sells and we find a house in the Tulsa area. We're praying that everything with our house will go through and be done before August so that we'll be settled in Tulsa by the time school starts. We're (trying) to keep an open mind to the fact that it might not happen that way though and look at the possibility of still being in AR when Taylor has to start the school year. We've not decided exactly what we'll do if that happens. Just say a prayer for us that everything with the house will go smoothly and quickly and we'll be in Tulsa before school starts. To us, that would be the ideal situation.

Nathan will start working in Tulsa full time on the Tuesday after we arrive in AR. We should get to AR some time on Monday and he will have to leave that afternoon and head to Tulsa. (Busy time for him!) He has an apartment rented there and he will be living and working there all week and then come back to see us on the weekends.

So, that pretty much sums up what's going on with us right now. The girls are excited about going to AR for the summer but are sad to leave their friends here as well. Taylor cried at school on her last day as they were lining up to leave. She said that she was just really going to miss her school and her friends there. (Breaks my heart!)Emma has started expressing her sadness about leaving her friends as well, which kind of surprises me. I guess I thought her being only 4, she wouldn't really think or understand too much about any of it. -and because she is so "live in the moment" and "fly by the seat of her pants"...she is generally in her own little Emma paradise all the time.

We have been getting in as much time with our friends here as we can over the past few days. Friday night we hosted our Sunday school class fellowship here at our house. We had a Mexican food potluck. We had so much food! And I think I counted 32 people in all in our house! Wild! -but so much fun!!

Well, that to do list is calling and I've wasted away almost half of the day now so I guess I'd better get started on something! :)

To all our Florida family, we love you and cherish you and are so thankful that God brought you into our lives. We are better people because of you and your impact upon us. We miss you terribly already and we'll never forget you!

To all our Arkansas family, can't wait to see you and spend time with you this summer!! We love you!

To keep in touch with us over the summer: My email address has changed and I will be able to check it wherever we are. (Yay!!) It is hollandgirls2@yahoo.com. I am also on Facebook (WAY TOO MUCH!!) so you can also keep up with us on there. I will try to post another blog once we're in AR and have gotten settled in there.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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In my spare time...

I've finally found a few spare minutes to write today. I have recently come to the conclusion that I need to purchase myself some type of voice recorder. One that I can wear around my neck or clipped to my belt loop (might as well be used for something, Lord knows I don't dare put a belt through there!) I blog in my head EVERY day, several times a day, but can hardly ever find the time to write them down here. And then once the thoughts have gone through my head, they vanish, never to be conjured up again. Where do they go? Who knows. Probably to that large area of my brain that was paralyzed the moment I gave birth to a third child. It has become a storehouse of important information and things I need to remember that doesn't function anymore and also severely affects my ability to think clearly, speak logically, and act rationally. Now what was I talking about again?

So since I've obviously NOT been blogging (you've let me know so through all those emails) what in the world have I been doing with all my time lately? I wake up in the morning and the next thing I know, It's 11 pm and I'm passing out again. Does that happen to you too? My days go by so quickly. I have so many things I WANT to do during the day, like blogging, scrapbooking a few pages, etc...but after I do the things that have to be done, the day's over and I'm exhausted. I know you're busy too and you know where I'm coming from so I won't bore you with the details of day. So here's what's going on with us.

Nathan is staying busy with his new job. He has to travel A LOT! His territory that he covers is Mississippi, Alabama and and panhandle of FL. (I suddenly feel like I've blogged this before. If I have just ignore me or indulge me and keep reading.) ANYWAY, he has been gone about 3 weeks out of the month. If not to his territory to work, then to Houston or Tulsa to his company's main offices for meetings and trainings. He is home just for the weekend now, but he has had drill yesterday and today so he's gone until 5:00pm. He leaves again tomorrow for another week in Texas and also in Oklahoma too. He enjoys his job but wishes he didn't have to be gone from home so much.

So, we decided a few weeks ago to put our house up for sale and move closer to his job so that hopefully he will not have to be away from home so much. It's a scary thing to try to sell a house in this market right now. We just keep praying about it and are leaving it in God's hands and letting him take care of everything.

So far we've shown the house three times. I have been spending a lot of my time trying to keep it cleaned and picked up just in case a realtor calls and wants to show it. ~I don't even have to tell you what an impossible job that is! The first time we showed the house, I got up that morning and looked at my house and thought "Okay, this is probably the worst it has ever been." There was "stuff" everywhere, bathrooms needed scrubbing, floors needed to be vacuumed and mopped, the dust bunnies had become mobile and were running circles around us. Wouldn't you know it, THAT'S the morning we get the call...someone wanting to see our house. How ironic, I thought as I stood there holding the phone, a wild, glazed over look in my eyes. We had two hours to get it presentable and get out. Thank God Nathan was home that day. As soon as I got off the phone with the realtor, we started running. It was madness! Two hours later, we had it spic and span! We put the kids, still in their pajamas, in the van and took off. We couldn't go anywhere though because I too was still in my pajamas with makeup from the day before under my eyes and my unbrushed hair half falling out of a sloppy pony tail. We had bribed the kids into helping us clean so we owed them the whole toy section at Wal-Mart. A McDonald's happy meal had to do for the time being since we could drive through and no one had to see the shape we were in. So we got happy meals and found an empty parking lot not far from home to sit in. It's times like these that we're so thankful for DVD players in the car!

We've not had any offers yet but hopefully we'll have something soon. As far as moving is concerned, Nathan's bosses told him that there is a chance that they will not want him to move to Mississippi but will want him either in the Tulsa area or Houston area. (I'm really pulling for Tulsa! -much closer to AR than Houston.) So say a prayer for us that everything will work out according to God's will for us and that we'll be able to accept whatever happens.

Taylor is doing well. She is really growing up fast. She is such a great help with Addison. She loves her so much and can't get enough of her. She holds her and plays with her all the time. Every morning when Taylor wakes up she goes straight to Addison's bed to see if she's awake. If she is, Taylor will stand over her talking & cooing to her, making her smile. It's so sweet. She is still taking piano lessons and is doing well with that. She is beginning to play songs that require both hands! Her first recital is coming up in April and she's been practicing hard on her recital piece. We don't have a piano, we just have a keyboard that is about half the size of a regular piano. It has worked for her up until now. Her recital piece and songs that she'll be learning in her new books uses notes that are not on her keyboard. So we've started looking for a good, used piano for her. School is going well also. She is far more interested in socializing than in reading or math (especially) but she manages to get pretty good grades.

Emma is really growing up fast too. She's still a little mess. She keeps me on my toes...all the time. Addison is still not too sure about her. Where Taylor gets smiles from her, Emma gets a crazy look like "What are you?" Mostly because she doesn't talk calmly and sweetly to her, but rather yells "Hey baby!" to her and runs off. She's like the cartoon Tasmanian devil. Her voice has but one volume, LOUD. We're working on that...daily! She can be really sweet too though. She likes to make cards and draw pictures for me all the time. I have found that she is the best when Taylor is not here. When Taylor is at school, she is so calm and just plays so sweetly by herself. She sits and watches TV and will entertain herself a lot of the time. The minute we pick Taylor up from school, her demeanor changes. She becomes a wild child. Still can't quite figure this out. She still loves preschool. She is learning so much. She has started writing a lot lately and will sound out words and try to spell phonetically. Last week she made a card for her friend Owen and on it she wrote "To Oin". I was so impressed with her!

Addison is growing like a weed! It's unbelievable how big she has gotten. Last week she had her 4 month well checkup. She was over 15 lbs and was 26 3/4 in. long! She is wearing 6 month size clothing now. She is the sweetest little thing. She smiles and squeals all the time. She loves her swing and will spend a couple of hours at a time in it. She is pretty good with our busy schedule and doesn't mind being in and out of her car seat several times a day. For the past week, she has been sleeping through the night. She goes to sleep between 8:30-9:00 and doesn't wake up until around 7:30 the next morning. It has been so nice!! She is a big Mama's baby. She always has been. She watches me everywhere I go when I put her down. When Nathan or Taylor is holding her she watches me and looks for me. I haven't left her in the nursery at church or MOPS yet. I haven't been ready to be away from her yet.

Last night Nathan and I got to go out to eat by ourselves for the first time in months! Our friends Hope and Mike have been offering to keep the girls for us and we finally took them up on it. Taylor and Emma were so excited to get to go to their house. They've been begging to go for weeks now. They had a great time...they got to make homemade pizzas and play with their little dog. Addison was not happy about me leaving her at first but she finally settled down. It was hard for me to leave her but I knew she was in good hands and would be fine. Nathan and I didn't know what to do with ourselves! I kept feeling like I was forgetting something and feeling the need to say "Don't smack your food!" or "Sit down!" He finally quit smacking and sat down. :) They took some pictures of the girls and emailed them to me last night. Here they are. They didn't send one of Emma-probably couldn't get her to sit still long enough. :)

My time is up...I'll try to write again soon.

Here are a couple more pictures Hope and Mike just sent...apparently Emma did hold still for a minute! :)

**Since I do not blog every day, I send a mass email out when this blog has been updated with a new post. If you currently do not receive that email and would like to know when I have posted a new message, send me your email address either by leaving a comment with it here or by emailing it to me and I will add you to the distribution list.**

SEE TODAY'S NEW POST BELOW:

Daddy's comin' home...let's DANCE!! YEE-HAW!

It's FRIDAY!!! YEA!!! Normally I'm not this excited about Fridays...when you're a stay at home mom, every day is pretty much the same, they kind of all run together in one mass of daily routines...but today Nathan comes back home! I've been living like a single mom for the past three weeks and I've got one teeny little floss size strand of sanity left and even IT is beginning to fray.

So fitting is the new song that I have playing when you enter my blogosphere today.
To give you an idea of the state of mind I've come into over these past three weeks: This morning after I dressed myself, all three girls, fed the older ones breakfast, packed a lunch, asked 22 times for them to hurry & brush their teeth, nursed the baby, loaded everyone into the car and was headed for school, Emma had a revelation. "Mama! Wouldn't it be so cool if I had three arms!" "Yes, baby! Then I could rip one of them off and beat you with it! Ahhh ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!" I am laughing my head off and I look back sure that I'll see the girls doubled over in gut wrenching laughter...they are just staring at me like deer in headlights, frightened looks on their faces. I stopped laughing and said "don't you think that is so funny...rip one off and beat you with it?" They both looked confused and said "No, that's really not funny." Then I realized how crazy that sounds. Did I really say that out loud?! Oh my! Of course I was only joking, if she did have three arms, I wouldn't dream of doing anything so violent. ...probably. I'd take lots of pictures of her and sell them to the tabloids.

So yes, it is SO time for their father to come home and give me a break from the daily routines that I've been doing by myself. I don't mean to be whiny about it. I say all of this in fun. I am so grateful that Nathan has a job and that he is really enjoying it, lucky him...staying in fancy hotels, going out to dinner nearly every night, meeting new interesting people and making new friends, yee-ah...I'm so thankful. :) -just kidding, sort of. No, really, we have truly been blessed and I wouldn't trade jobs with him or anyone else for anything in the world. Staying at home with my girls is the toughest job I've ever had but it's also the most fun and rewarding. And if I keep repeating that and repeating that and repeating that and repeating that...oh, sorry! ;-)

Okay, back to the Hamster Dance song that's playing...this morning, I was not in the best of moods. Emma had been crying and whining since she opened her eyes this morning and by 8:00 I'd already HAD IT with her. (Probably where the "beating her with her own third arm" joke stemmed from, now that I think about it.) So as we were driving back home after dropping Taylor off, she was back there in her car seat whining about something and I started flipping through the radio stations only to come upon this silly little song. Immediately it was like my dark cloud lifted, the whining from the back seat silenced and the most dramatic and intense dancing commenced. We danced so hard under our seat belts that we broke a sweat and it was so much fun. As we were driving down our street dancing our hearts out I saw my neighbor walking down his driveway. I quickly pulled my arms out of the air and placed them back onto the steering wheel, gave him a polite wave and smile and pulled into the garage, realizing that no matter how normal and ordinary I was trying to appear, the music and thumping bass coming from my car could be heard two streets over. Probably making me seem extremely strange! Oh well, he's a little weird too so it probably made him feel better about himself. (Pat on the back.)

So we sat in the garage, (now out of our seat belts), dancing as hard & as fast as we could before the song ended. Instant attitude changes on both of our parts. After we came into the house I was thinking about how weird that was the way we were both out of control dancing to that song like we were in our own little worlds with no one or no worries around and it made me wonder why that song put me in such a state of euphoria. It quickly came to me. I am BECOMING A CHILD AGAIN! I've spent so much time with these children that I'm reverting back to a childish nature. Well, you know what? SO BE IT! Acting like a child turned my whole morning around. And I think I'm going to have to act like that a little more often. Lately I've become somewhat of a sour puss, and it's time to be FUN again! Well, at least for a little while...until I catch a neighbor watching. hee hee! ;-)

I have decided that I am adding this song to our morning routine and probably our nightly routine as well. And mid-day probably...any time that I am feeling beat down by my children and need a quick pick me up. Okay, so maybe it'll be an hourly ritual.

You're probably thinking, "Man, she REALLY needs some adult time!" Tis true but I know as you sit on the other side of this computer you are tapping your foot to the beat and wanting so badly to break out into some serious moves! Go for it! Nobody's watching you...although I so wish that I were. So as I think about each person that I know reads my blog, I'm imagining you gettin' your groove thang on and it's hilarious! OH, and before you break it down, don't forget to turn off your web cam, lest you be the next big hit on You Tube! ;-)


*Disclaimer: I hesitantly added Taylor's latest "blurb" because I thought it was funny. I apologize if the language offends you, that was not my intention. I normally would NEVER post such language on here and do not condone using such words but it was spoken in sincere innocence. She had no idea that the word she uttered was not acceptable to use.