Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Poopy day...:) Adventures in mommiehood.

Warning to all you prego mommas who might read this and, pretty much anyone with a weak tummy. It's disgusting!

Okay so you've been warned. Read on if you dare!

It started as a good day today! Kaleb and I went to the store, and then over to my grandma's to check on her because she's had some issues lately. She was having a good day, which made us happy. It was her birthday Monday so I think all the company who's been visiting her because of that has helped her not to think about her problems right now. She had a heart attack about a week ago, and was sent home with tons of meds that don't seem to be doing great - she's still had some issues since she's been on them and they are thinking of putting in a pacemaker. Yucky stuff. But she's stayed spunky through it all. She's such a trooper.

So, we came home and Kaleb had his nap. It was a good one, long - about two hours or so, and I was happy about that!

Then, Daddy got home!

He proceeded to tell me he had had the worst day he's had in a long, long time...which made me so sad.

Work had been really bad, because of many things. They have four different parts to their plant, and every one of them had shut down. Following that, there were 18 people stuffed into this little, tiny office that Justin works in, and HE was the one who had to get everything back "online" while the 18 people were talking...hard to do, to say the least.

He had a hard day, and I felt terrible for him!

I had had a strange feeling about him today, anyway, because when I'd called earlier in the day, when he answered, I heard all these voices in the background, and I couldn't even hear Justin talking. Sounded really busy....needless to say, when he got home, he sat down..He said he hadn't had a chance to sit all day. Poor guy!

Anyway, so that happened, and then comes the gross part!

Kaleb decided to eat his own poop today!!!

Yeah....so, his Oma and Opa (grandma and grandpa) were visitng, and while I was chatting with Oma, I realized his diaper looked a bit funny...like, part of it had given him a wedgie! Lol...It was on crooked...and I was meaning to fix it, honestly! I just hadn't gotten there yet...And then....next thing we know, Oma looked down, and asked me, "What's he eating?"

I looked down at K and he had poop all over his hand and was tasting it...

GROSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

All sorts of things go off in your head, like, "Oh no, I hope he doesn't get sick!"

And then I realized there was poop...on the ground around him...and that it had escaped his diaper and gotten on the floor, and, on the fireplace bricks in front of him!!!

As we carried him into his room, it even ended up in the hallway.

Yep, told you this was disgusting!

Oh, I really thought I was experiencing all there was to be a mom.

Turns out I had only brushed the surface.

I wonder if my sister in law, who now has five children, has even experienced that.

Anyway, K got a good bath, and of course I made sure that he didn't have any more in his mouth...Yuck....poor baby. I just really hope that he doesn't get sick now! I don't think he even swallowed any or anything like that. But tasting poop - who would DO that????!! Yes, a baby would. My baby.

Wow, mommiehood is such an adventure!!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Been a rainbow kind of year...



It's been a rainbow kind of year.

We have experienced some of the most amazing miracles of our lives...in so many ways.




We have experienced the birth of a child. Our child.

It is the best gift a couple can receive.

Kaleb has been a delight, and he keeps getting more and more delightful as he grows. He is good natured and sweet most of the time, and for that, momma is eternally grateful to the LORD!

And then...at the end of April, just SEVEN months after Kaleb, we found out we were going to be blessed again with another bundle.

Wow.

Can't express my gratitude to the LORD (and my surprise!). Beautiful little blessing coming in January 2012.

Then...if that was not enough...the LORD decided to bless us with a house, in TOWN! Cannot express my joy about that either, because we'd been so far in the country. It's nice being in the country, but I think it was time for us to live in town. Just makes it easier to get everywhere!

And now, we have a one year old. I cannot believe time has flown by so fast.

To top it off, yesterday I found out one of my good friends is pregnant again. She, of all people, deserves it more than I know right now. Last year she was pregnant with me and lost her baby as a stillborn just about two weeks before I gave birth to Kaleb. It was devastating. But the LORD has been with her and her husband throughout the whole process and they have started an amazing organization called the Holden Uganda Foundation, that provides clean water to those in Uganda. It has helped countless lives already. No doubt that with the LORD's help they have turned ashes into beauty. But...I cannot express my gratitude, once again, to the LORD, for this precious new life she is carrying. Amazing how He works. Last time we were pregnant together our babies were just about two weeks apart. This time, they will be about two months. I had really, really wanted her to be pregnant again with me, although, of course, I had never told her that. Still not sure how everything is making her feel right now, with what happened before. But I am so excited for her to be on this journey with me again.

And that's what leads me to the rainbow...again.

Last year, the day after her son's funeral, I took the rainbow picture at the top of this blog...and didn't know just how much it would symbolize to me. But...looking back, it symbolizes so much.

You see, I am a rainbow fanatic. I really think the LORD speaks through rainbows to people, and I feel like the day he gave us that rainbow was a sign of good things to come. At the time, I knew it was Holden's rainbow.

But there have been so many good things this year, both for Chet and Sarah, through their devastating situation, and with our lives. The LORD has SO many good things up His sleeve. He always has countless blessings, just waiting for us, even through rough times, such as Chet and Sarah's year.

It's been a rainbow kind of year. :) Thank you, LORD, for showing us your beauty in so many, many ways, both through the good, and the bad. Every promise you make is yes, and amen.

Gen. 9:12-16

"And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.'"

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Tabasco sauce...

It was a Tabasco sauce kind of day.

Meaning...my sweet Kaleb decided at the grocery store that he would throw the Tabasco sauce out of the cart onto the floor, spilling it everywhere. During my cleaning up of the cart, and him, I put his paci back into his mouth...only to find out that it had Tabasco sauce on it too...after he had rubbed his eyes and his whole face had turned beet red due to a reaction. Needless to say, he was crying, and not just because he was sad!

I didn't quite know how to react to the situation, but I did the best thing I knew...since I had SO many groceries in the cart, and still needed more! He cannot live without his paci sometimes though - especially if he's been crying.

So I hurried to the front of the store, with him screaming and crying, his face bright red with a developing rash (yes, it was THAT fast!) and rubbing his eyes and mouth over and over. Of course, he didn't know that that was actually not helping the situation at all! His eyes were turning a deeper and deeper shade of red as I grabbed a courtesy clerk at the front and asked him if he could watch K for just a sec while I ran out to the car to grab his milk. Know how when you eat spicy stuff, sometimes they say to drink milk afterward to get rid of the sting in your mouth? It was all I could think of at the moment! Plus, K loves his bottle, and, if there's ever a time he's inconsolable, it helps immediately.

It was one of those moments, when, as you frantically go through the list of what to do in your head, you are telling your child (and yourself!) over and over that "It's going to be okay, just a minute...It's going to be okay. You're okay." Even though you are kind of questioning in your head whether it really will be!

Lol. I laugh now but it was SO sad! For one, I felt TERRIBLE for letting him even look at the Tabasco bottle. HELLO? Moms just don't DO that! I felt like a failure mommie! Of course, he had several other things he was playing with in the basket, but I should NOT have let that be one of them.

He does occasionally like the throw-down-and-watch-mommie-pick-it-up game. So...I should have known he would do it with the Tabasco sauce bottle.

I never BUY Tabasco sauce, though, either! THAT makes me mad! It all started with trying out a dumb new recipe - which, sounded okay but not great. Yeah, needless to say, I won't be making it. Every time I think about making it, it makes me picture my baby with a beet red rash spreading all over his face.

Thankfully, the Lord was definitely watching over me and K (as He knew he needed to...lol - blond!). The courtesy clerk who watched Kaleb for me turned out to have a three year old himself, and he knew just how to make him happy while I went to fish for K's bottle of milk. He ended up taking out our groceries for us later, and K was smiling and talking to him, just like he was an old buddy. It was really quite humorous.

The milk did help with the spicy taste in K's mouth. However, no matter how much I wash that paci, it just does not have the same appeal to my precious boy anymore. Now when he takes it and puts it in his mouth, he turns it around and around, then spits it out a few seconds later. Clearly it still reminds him of a jalepeno pepper.

He still has a bit of a rash around his mouth, but he is doing okay. His eyes are better too, and I think he survived.

Lesson learned, momma.

I DON'T like Tabasco anymore.

And, neither does my Kaleb.

Obviously.

Monday, September 12, 2011

God has BIG plans...

There are so many things transpiring!
Of course, our lives have become pretty exciting recently, what with a new house, a new baby on the way, and an almost one year old, to name a few.

Our precious Kaleb Lee will be one on September 22nd, and I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. Seems like just yesterday I was holding him in my arms and kissing him for the first time. But instead, it was almost exactly a year ago. Having a child makes life so much richer, and I guess it makes the time go so much faster!

This year has been an adventure. I know most moms would say that, and I am no exception. Kaleb has taught me a lot in the short time he's been here, and it's been hard, yet rewarding, yet such a joy filled time. I never thought being a parent would be so HARD, yet, in the same way, SO joy filled. It's amazing to me. Actually, I knew it would be hard. I guess, though, that you're never prepared for all that comes your way until it actually does! :) But somehow, as a good friend put it recently, the Lord fills you with strength you never knew you had. The hard nights become blessings in disguise.

It has been overwhelmingly fun though. The love a parent feels for their child is like no other love you can describe. It's indescribable, as another friend has put it recently. It's a combination of the best joy you've ever felt here on this planet, the best hugs you've ever had, and the best, sweetest moments Jesus can offer you in this life.

Kaleb was born with acid reflux. He was also colicky. The two did NOT mix well! I spent endless nights up with him, crying throughout the night, for four, five, six hours at a time, and he wouldn't stop. It was a battle I felt I couldn't win, because not only did I feel like I tried everything, but breastfeeding literally made me sick. Sadly, after doing some research, I've found that it's fairly common for a woman to breastfeed and feel lightheaded and nauseous. Some women have a hard time with the hormone Oxytocin, which increases a great amount during breastfeeding. I guess I may be one of them. For me, the nausea lasted almost all day, and top that off with a baby crying for hours upon hours, and it was really hard. I felt like I was pregnant again! The hardest part was that after a feeding, Kaleb would spit up almost the entire feeding. So it was like he had never eaten to begin with. The crying would begin after about 10 minutes, because he was hungry again. He wasn't gaining weight either. He stayed at nine pounds for over a month after he was born.

Thanks to a good friend for pointing me in the right direction (to a pediatrician in Abilene), at three and a half months, we were able to find a solution. The pediatrician my friend referred me to helped us narrow down the problem, find a solution (a combo of medication for the acid reflux, less breastfeeding, and an added bottle of formula a day with cereal). It helped almost immediately. He gained a pound in one week. It was amazing. He had literally been starving. Sadly, you could see it in the poor baby's eyes - they had been sunken in like he was malnourished! It had made my momma heart so sad!

So...from then on things started looking up. I have to admit, it was a pretty difficult postpartum period for me, as I'm sure it is for many, many women. I think I may have dealt with some depression, as well, which didn't help with things!

But, despite those issues, the last year has been SO wonderful with our Kaleb. He is literally a JOY to be around. People always told me at the beginning, when he was so fussy, that fussy babies turn out to be amazing, sweet toddlers. I couldn't say this is more true. People brag quite often after taking care of him that he is a good baby. I must brag myself (of course, I'm his momma!) that I think so. To make my point (smile) this last weekend I worked in the nursery at the church. ALL the babies were crying and fussy pretty much throughout the whole time I was in there! Granted, I have worked in there before and this is usually not the case. We usually have a pretty good set of babies in there - good temperaments, sweet. But not this last Sunday. There was something in the air! Anyway, my baby boy was not crying. :) (Just a little bragging there - a momma's gotta do it sometimes!) He was just as content as ever. :) That is just an example. He is pretty laid back.

He does have his moments, and he's pretty particular about some things. We are trying to wean him off the bottle right now, and he's actually doing okay with it. But he can still be pretty picky about eating time, and cranky when he's hungry, of course. But, I would say, for the most part, he's an "easy" baby. And...everyone was right all along. :)

I absolutely LOVE being a momma. And I LOVE my K-Boo. He is my pride and my joy. I am glad that I can call him mine.

We will celebrate his birthday this Saturday at his Oma's (grandma's) along with both sets of grandparents, his aunt and uncle and cousins, his great grandma, and possibly his great aunt and uncle and second cousins, as well. It's going to be a monkey theme, of course! Momma wouldn't have it any other way....:) I will post pics when we are done!

As for Littlest E (that is what I am referring to them as, since we are still not sure of the gender!), they are doing great. The pregnancy is going well, and we are 21 weeks now! Yay!! It has FLOWN by so far.

Some exciting news about them is that - ....they have a birthday!!! The date is set for the 16th of January, provided they do not decide to join us sooner. :) I am electing to a C section this time, because we did last time, and I will only be 16 months postpartum. My doctor said he usually does a planned C section one week prior to your due date. He gave me the choice of Friday the 13th. I declined. NO THANKS! Even though I am NOT superstitious, I do believe this is one exception. My brother was born on Friday the 13th, and he is a perfectly fine individual, however....I really don't want to give myself any more anxiety that day than need be...and I believe it just might make me a bit anxious to deliver on such a date. Yeah, I know, pretty silly. But...hey, if there's ever a reason to be superstitious, I believe that might be one. Just sayin. Now, if this sweet little one decides to arrive on that day, well, I can't do anything about it. But for now, I can, and, I will! :)

Our doctor also teased me about the fact that we may still be having a girl. Haha. Funny. I showed him our ultrasound pics and he said that the technician put on his notes for him a big questionmark for the sex of the baby. He said he knows this tech and has worked with him for a while, and, if he has an idea of what the baby is, but doesn't want to say for sure, he will still put a questionmark next to boy, or a questionmark next to girl. He didn't do that for us. He just put a big old questionmark. Hmmmm. Well...that kind of makes me a little interested in what the Lord may have up His sleeve, since I've been telling everyone I believe it may be a boy (since the tech had told us if he had to lean one direction that would be it). But now...I have no clue. I KNOW the Lord knows I like surprises. So...he's making this pregnancy especially fun. Lol. Anyway, we have another ultrasound we'll set up around 28-30 weeks. Maybe then we'll see. :) I am such a planner and this situation makes me laugh. The Lord knows that too. Hehe.

Well, that's pretty much all the big news I know right now. So...I will leave you with this old favorite:

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11






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