Go Away Already!!

Not you. You can stay. I want you to stay. It's sickness that I'm speaking to. I'm exhausted, because sickness once again crashed our party and struck our family again. There have been seasons where we were all healthy and well for an extended period of time with barely a sniffle. Then there are seasons like the one we are currently in. It seems like someone is sick every other day. And it's not just the kiddos. Wesley and I have been sick recently too. Today it's the kiddos again. You know it's been a rough day when one of the things you are most thankful for about the day is that she vommited on me and not the carpet or the furniture. Seriously, I was quite proud of myself for containing it to me and my clothing. It's much easier to change, throw the clothes in the washing machine, and shower than to scrub the carpet and/or furniture. I know that many of you out there relate. So, go away sick season. Go Away!!! I mean, please. Pretty please, go away.

As far as blogging goes I would really like to blog again, but for now it'll have to wait. I've got so much on my heart and mind to write about. Some things serious. Some things just for fun. Stories to tell. Memories to record. Great photos to share. Maybe one day I will again, but tonight I've got yucky laundry to tend to.

BTW, the "she" that got sick on me today was Bella Peace. She's very sick, and she's not alone. Others are under the weather also. I might be making a trip to the doctor with some of them tomorrow, and I won't be making a trip to church tomorrow night with anyone. As a matter of fact, the Thursday Christmas Party is in jeordary too. :(

OK, enought of that. So that we can all turn our frowns upside down, I leave you with this...


...a reminder that there are way more well days than sick days. And, I love this bunch regardless!!! (Notice Baby E's hair. It stand up higher than the bow!! Too cute!!)


The End.

3 New Post Below!!!

Luke Loves Football

Just in case you didn't know...

...Luke loves football.

A lot.

When he gets to be with other boys

all he wants to do

is

play

football!!!

So when the Blakeman boys visited last weekend,

Luke had a GREAT time!!!

Can you tell?!!!

This is Luke when the other boys were ready to quit.

Poor Luke.

These boys had so, so much fun! I'm so glad that Luke had a chance to play with some other boys!!

Aren't the pictures so great! Go back and check them out again. Bridgett was taking advantage of an opportunity to test out her new camera. I'd be lying if I said I'm not coveting this camera just a wee bit. :)

On a serious note, Luke really, really does love football. Maybe too much. He's only played at home with family and friends, never on an organized team. He's never asked. Until now. We've got a big decision to make. Quite honestly, I think that football is not the best use of our time or his time. Much prayer will go into this desision. Goot thing we've got some time before we have to decide.

The Blakeman's Visit

Friends. One of life's greatest blessings.

This past weekend some good friends of ours came to visit, to meet Baby Elizabeth, and to celebrate Baby Dedication with us.

The kiddos love, love, love being together.

The Blakeman's have a bunch of boys.

And of course we have a bunch of girls.


Which makes for a lot of fun!!

(This picture is missing the youngest Blakeman and the youngest Minor.)

I wish we had taken a group picture of both families, but as you might imagine we were a little busy. Oh well, maybe next time!!

Baby Dedication

We dedicated Baby Elizabeth to the Lord in a special dedication service at our church last Sunday. I feel so incredibly blessed to be a Mommy. To be her Mommy. To be a Mommy to 5 on Earth + 3 who are with Jesus.

Dear Baby Elizabeth,

It's our desire to raise you in the nurture and admonition of the Lord according to scripture.

We Love You So Very Much!!! BUT, the Lord loves you more. So much more. He gave His Son for you.


We pray that you will Love God and Love Others!!

November 21, 2010

We pray that you will accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior at the earliest age possible, and that you will never have a spirit of rebellion or unbelief. We pray that you will serve Him and glorify Him all the days of your life.

Elizabeth, you are a gift from God.

Did I mention that I'm blessed to be your Mommy?

BTW, Elizabeth is wearing a beautiful white smocked gown and an even more beautiful hand knit sweater and bonnet. Thank you, Grandma!! We will cherish it forever!!

Tried to upload some amazing pictures from baby dedication, but it didn't work. I'll try again another time. :(

Check It Out

My good friend, Julie has a giveaway going on. Hurry over to her blog and check it out! But, hurry it ends today at 2 PM!!

The New Me

Well the "new me" that now gets up early, got a new look today!! Kind of a post baby make-over.

Here's the old me:

(This picture was taken on Elizabeth's first Sunday to attend church.)

And now the new me:



So what do you think?

The glasses are a big change! Wesley loves them, but I'm still getting use to them. I've got 60 days to change my mind, no questions asked, and get a new pair.

I LOVE my hair, I just hope I can make it look as good on my own. You know, it never looks as good when you leave the salon, get home, and do it yourself. I've had it cut like this in the past and really like it, so maybe. Thanks, Hillery!! (Hillery at Dominion Salon 270-9291) Hillery is almost halfway through her first pregnancy and gets to find out what she is having very soon. I'm sure it's a girl, but guess we will all find out soon!

OK, so please tell me what you think! I really want to know!! Now the new me had better get to bed so that I can still be the new me tomorrow! :)

I think I can...

Well, I'm up. And it's H-A-R-D!!!!!!!! Elizabeth helped. She woke up at a few minutes after 5 AM. Coincidence? I think not. BTW, I moved her bedtime up last night from 10 PM to 9 PM. She slept last night from 9 PM to 5 AM this morning!!! AWESOME!!

OK, now let's see if I can be productive this early. :)

If at first you don't succeed...

Last night we got together with friends for dinner. Getting together with family and friends is one of my favorite things to do!! This particular friend is always such an encourager to me. She always inspires me to be a better me. I love how as believers, we can have that kind of effect on each other. So today, I was a better me with the Lord's help of course. And tonight I'm going to attempt to turn over a new leaf. I'm a night person and rarely go to bed before 1 or 2 AM. Naturally that leads to a pretty hard start of the day. I've always wanted to be up before the family preparing for our day, but when I stay up that late it's almost impossible. Typically I get up when my early bird, Luke, comes and wakes me up. Then I let the kiddos watch a couple of cartoons while I get awake. I've tried unsuccessfully several times to get up earlier. Well after spending time with my good friend, Melody, last night I'm going to give it another try. So as much as I would love to catch up on my blog as well as read some other blogs, I'm currently preparing for bed. I'm planning/hoping/praying to be up at 5:00 AM in the morning. So, please pray for me as I try, try again. And, please feel free to check in and see how it goes! :)

Coming Soon...

...a new post. I'm dying to find time for a new post. I've got lots to write about and lots of pictures to share, but little time to do it. Life is good. So good. But very busy. So I'll try to get in an update. Maybe soon. I hope.

Happy Veteran's Day

This happy girl went with her family to a Veteran's Day parade. It was her first Veteran's Day Parade. It was her first any kind of parade. And it was the perfect day for a parade!!

(I LOVE this picture! I LOVE the girl behind the big smile in this picture!!)

She's learning to wave her flag. Don't you think she's doing great?!


I think maybe she wants to march in the parade one day. She seems to be trying hard in the pictures below.




All that marching tired her out!


Truth be told, she slept in my arms the entire time. :)

I forgot my camera and don't have any pictures from the parade. BUT, Nana had her camera so I will get copies of her pictures later. I'll add pics of the other kiddos very soon!! The parade was great fun, but most importantly we were honored to show our support to our country's veterans and current soldiers. To those who serve, have served, or who sacrifice while their loved one serves...Thank You!!!

So...

So big. So sweet. So much fun. So loved.

8 weeks

Growing up, so fast.

I'll put up a real post sometime soon. You know, when I catch my breath. :)

7 Weeks

Elizabeth is 7 weeks old today!!! She went to vote today. Did you?


She's happy at how well the republicans are doing tonight.


Or maybe she's happy, because she's getting a little time with Daddy!

I love this sweet little sleeper that Elizabeth wore today. It says "Angel" on it. (Thanks, Nana!) She actually slept in it last night and wore it all day today too. And, sleep like an angel she did. Are you ready for this...she slept from 10:00 PM until 6:00 AM!!!! Can I get an AMEN!!!!! It was great!! I contribute it to the fact that a) she's now sleeping in her crib and b) she did not sleep almost any the night before. :(

Let me explain both. First the crib. Last Thursday night we moved her to her crib because she just was not sleeping very well in her bassinet anymore. We think that she has just outgrown it. She sleeps all stretched out and I think that when she stretched and hit the sides it disturbed her sleep. She seems to sleep so much better in her crib. I wasn't planning to move her to her crib this quickly, and it makes me pretty sad. She's growing so fast.

See what I mean about sleeping all stretched out.

(This was her first night to sleep in the crib.)

Now to tell the story about why she did not sleep any Monday night, I have to back up to the weekend. The kiddos and I went to my Mom's aka Grandmother's for the weekend. Wesley had to work and did not get to go with us. We've traveled with Elizabeth once before, and she did great. But that trip was just a day trip and while we were away, she was pretty much held non stop. This time we stayed the weekend. Elizabeth did OK overnight, but not so great during the day. At home she naps very well throughout the day. But for some reason, maybe just that the sights, sounds, and smells were different, she did not sleep almost at all unless she was being held. It didn't seem as though anything was wrong or that anything was bothering her. She was a happy baby and would fall asleep easily without fussing in our arms, but when we laid her down she instantly woke up and cried. Well my Mom made Taco Soup which is one of my very favorite dishes. YUMMMMMMY!! I ate and ate and ate it! It was so very good. I never thought anything about it negatively effecting Elizabeth, and I can't say for sure that it did. We came home late Sunday and everything still seemed fine with Elizabeth. We went through our normal routine and put her to bed around 10:00 PM. I got ready to go to bed around 11:30 PM. I checked on all the kiddos before bed and everyone was sleeping soundly. Baby E was fast asleep in her crib. But soon after around midnight, I heard her crying. I got up and checked on her and tried to pat her back to sleep, but she wasn't having it. I got her up and changed her diaper and tried to get her back to sleep. Nope. Still wasn't having it. I resorted to nursing her again, and finally got her back to sleep. It lasted about 10 minutes. And so it went all.night.long!!!! I was literally up with her all night until Wesley woke and took over at around 5:00 AM. She seemed like something was bothering her. Like maybe she was in pain. Like maybe I had a little too much taco soup. Wesley looked at me on Monday morning and said, "no more taco soup." She napped OK throughout the day yesterday, not her normal self, but not bad. And as I mentioned previously, she slept great last night. Today, she wasn't herself again. I can't figure out what's up today other than the fact it's been a few days since she (TMI warning) pooped. We might have to intervene if she doesn't do something soon.

I did get pictures of my Mom with Elizabeth this time. My Mom will fuss at me for putting them up, but I'm doing it anyway. :) (Love you, Mom!!!)


Maybe the real reason Baby E didn't sleep when we returned home is because she missed Grandmother. Me too, Elizabeth, me too!!


In other news and on a completely different note. We said good-bye to our old van today. We sold it about 15 minutes after we put it for sale! We could not believe how quickly it sold especially since we disclosed all it's problems. We also got what we were asking for it which wasn't much. Just another one of the many changes going on around here recently!!

Here's a few other pictures just for fun.

This is how Luke and Mary Ruth passed the time on the drive to Grandmother's. They took silly pictures of themselves. I LOVE these!!!




And here's Gracie so proud of herself for getting Elizabeth to sleep. Grace is really a great big help!! Don't ask what she's wearing. She had just gotten out of the bath tub and found some unusual sleep attire. :)



There's another new post below this one. Yep, 2 in one night!!

"Minor" Math

This is a little "minor" math from yesterday.

2 errands + 5 children = 4 hours

Yep, that's right! After school yesterday I loaded everyone up and left the house to run 2 errands. We returned 4 hours later! Fun times!!!

Oh, you wanna know what took us so long? Well loading and unloading, buckling and unbuckling, it all just takes a long, long time. We also had to make multiple trips to public restrooms, because two of my little angels have very small bladders. And, of course, Elizabeth had to be fed since she can only make it about 3 hours tops between feedings.

You know what though, I don't want to forget these times. They are precious even though they are hard. And getting a few things crossed off the to-do list is a weight off my aching shoulders (and back which for some reason really are aching).