A weekend with Grandma

This past weekend my mother had planned for my niece and nephew from Brainerd to visit and spend the weekend with her. She decided to make it a fun filled weekend with our 2 oldest as well. Saturday she also watched Gabriel for the afternoon and Evening so that Prob and I could attend a wedding for an old friend of mine.

Our 2 eldest children spent 3 nights in a row over at Grandmas, which was the longest we had ever had them away from home. I had forgotten how very easy it is with just one child to take care of. The peace and quiet was nice and a break was much needed from the everyday battles of older siblings but I think Gabriel missed them and was wondering where they were.

The children had a great time with their cousins and Romeo and Olivia have always loved spending time with my mother. They went to a waterpark on Friday, Minnehaha falls Saturday and we all went to the pool on Sunday. In between all of that Grandma rented them movies, made them good meals and kept them busy with arts and craft projects.

I feel very lucky that my children have my mother who is very hands on with them. She always makes an effort to spend time with them and esteem them as individuals. She is really the only grandparent they have that plays an active role in their lives and one of the only people I can always count on and trust to help us with them and I don't know what we'd do without her. Thanks Mom for being a really good Grandma!

Busy Busy Busy

Less than a month to go before school begins for the children. Every day, week, year, seems to fly by since I started having children. This summer is going by especially fast, probably because it took so long to get nice weather, then it was so hot you could hardly stand it and now the weather is finally nice and warm... ahh.

I find myself looking ahead to these next weeks and months to follow and am seeing nothing but a busy schedule in my final few months of pregnancy. Romeo starts football Monday with practices 3 times a week and a game usually once a week. Olivia is going to start gymnastics soon as well. My mom's 50th birthday is at the beginning of September and my three children have birthdays that follow that. Gabriel's 1st birthday is at the end of September and the other 2 in October and of course I am due October 20th with the next one. 4 birthdays so close to eachother is nutty and I still have no idea how it happened that way. My husband of course was very slow and now is slammed with work when its the busiest at home.

I have doctors appointments every week now and my body is very tired and beat from being pregnant back to back. Today I went in to see an orthopedic doctor and they gave me cortisone shots in my wrists for my carpel tunnel syndrome due to the pregnancy. The doctor said I should feel some much needed relief in about 7-10 days, I hope so. My husband and I also have weekend engagements that we have committed to for the next few weeks and we still have yet to take the children school shopping, probably get that done later this week.

In the midst of it all is a house that needs to be tended to,  bored kids and animals, that need to eat and be entertained, and a marriage that needs nurturing. It gets to be alot, but each day at the end of the day I remember to remind myself how much I am blessed with and am thankful.

Tonight after dinner with my swollen feet and numb hands and a husband at work, I couldn't say no when the kids asked to walk to the park. So we went and even though there were small tradgedies and whining, the weather was nice and we were all together and thats all that matters.

The fun of being a kid

Gabriel's cute self loves anything furry or hairy lol

First Steps

 The exciting moments for our little Gabriel just keep coming and what kind of a mom would I be if I didn't brag about them?

The other evening, August 5th, while we were all hanging out in the living room, Gabriel took his first few steps. He was kind of confused by the uproar it created and I think wondered what the heck was going on. Watching Romeo and Olivia's reaction to it was just as cute. The look on their faces with grins from ear to ear and the praise and excitement they showed was that of a parent. It was a very heartwarming moment. I also noticed that in the past two days two more little teeth have come through on the bottom. So now our little guy has 3 teeth, just like that!

A Day to Celebrate

August 4th may not mean a lot to the whole world, but to me it is a day that will change the course of my life forever. It is the day 3 years ago that I gave up smoking.

I started smoking at 14 years of age and I had always struggled with trying to quit. In June 2008 a second aunt of mine passed away at a young age from an unexpected brain aneurysm. I wasn't very close to her but it got me thinking about life. I started to think of how much she was going to miss out on, her children's weddings, her grandchildren growing up, just a whole lot of things she wouldn't be here for.

My aunt had no way of knowing this would happen or any way of being able to prevent it, things like that just happen. That made me think of my own life and my own mortality, I DID have a choice, a way to prevent something that I knew would eventually catch up with me. So with alot of praying and struggling, God gave me the strength to overcome something that had such a tight grip on me, addiction. August 3rd 2008 was the last day I ever smoked a cigarette and the beginning of a longer healthier life for me.

So many people die unexepectly or much too prematurely. In life, for the most part, we never know how or when when we will die. I realized though that I didn't want to dig myself an early grave when I didn't have to. I didn't want to miss out on my children growing up, getting married, and having a family of their own. I didn't want to have any regrets. I wanted it to be my time naturally, accidently, unexpectedly but not regretfully.

A few months after I quit smoking, my uncle got diagnosed with terminal throat cancer, due to smoking. He underwent a surgery to remove his voice box, lots of miserable chemotherapy and radiation but worst of all he had so much regret. 9 months after his diagnosis he passed away. Before he died he told me over and over again, don't worry about anything and  please don't ever smoke again. I haven't and won't.

Instead of living and learning which is usually what it takes for me, I opened my eyes and gave it to God, trusted myself and trusted the words of someone who learned the hard way. I have never been so proud of myself for anything I have accomplished in my whole life. I know this is definitely a day to celebrate, every year for the rest of my longer life.

Nesting, Meals for a week and more Nesting

In the past few weeks I went from not wanting to do anything, into a cleaning, organizing, donating, planning frenzy. I am getting so much done its nuts. I am very happy with the results of all of this but I realize I am really overdoing it because I am swollen and my feet and legs have been hurting pretty bad. I  feel like I am on a roll though and cannot seem to stop myself. In the midst of it all I have been thinking about how I could make mealtime easier on myself. Alot of the days I feel overwhelmed with deciding on what to make for lunch and dinner and then realizing I don't having everything i need on hand. I usually end up at the store most days picking up some ingredient I need and that gets very stressful, especially when I have three kids in tow on top of being uncomfortably pregnant now.

I decided to try planning all of our lunch and dinner meals for a week, compiling a shopping list of all the needed ingredients and going shopping just one time a week for everything. I did that Sunday, made my trip to the store alone that evening and started the menu yesterday. So far I already feel good about it and hope I can keep it up. Today on the menu was homemade chicken nuggets and French fries for lunch.  For dinner I have cooking in the slow cooker Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches at Romeo's request. I love slow cooker meals because you start them in the morning and don't have to think about dinner til then.