It's been awhile since you've seen my kids...

No matter where we are...she has to keep up with her big brothers in action!

Nothing sweeter in life then watching Nate with sister girl at his side!

"The Leash Day" - I borrowed a friend's toddler leash when I took the kids to a pumpkin farm on a Saturday without Nate. I got a lot of looks and some smiles but it changed my life forever! "The Leash" and sister girl will be becoming great friends I forsee!


She is just in love with life...that is all I can say.

Nate's baby sister had her first child. Once again Nate was 'at home' rocking a little one (his favorite thing to do in life).

My three welcome their newest cousin, Ayden James, to the group!



Ian officially joined Cub Scouts as a Tiger Cub. He was just so darned excited about wearing that uniform (thanks Nana for sewing on the badges that this inept mom couldn't seem to do). I love that Ian could care less if he looks cool (look at the hat) but Eli is trying so hard to keep it together in the uniform.

What have I been up to lately?

My life the past few weeks has been a whirlwind of craziness...

I have once again held my baby girl in my arms while she quit breathing and lips turned blue as I ran across the quite blackness in our neighborhood to my neighbor yelling for him to do something. She was having a seizure due to a spiking fever that we didn't realize was getting too high too fast. It was over before I even explained it all to the 911 operator but still we spent most of the night in the ER trying to figure out what caused the fever. A frustrating night to relive with sister girl; but all ended well within 24 hours and she was back up running around fever free. We were then full of information about what to do if she had a seizure again, which may or may not ever happen again...but still not what a parent wants to be learning about two years after watching her baby undergo emergency heart surgery!

Fall break came and went with Eli getting strep throat at the start of their vacation. We stayed at home most of the days and laid low, waiting for the others to get it but thankfully they did not. I did realize that my nine year old son now has stinky body odor and had his first pimple, which I begged him to let me pop but instead I was able to show him how to squeeze it himself. So, I guess I need to add deodorant and clearasil to my shopping list!

Ian began piano lessons after waiting a whole year (the teacher we wanted insisted he be 7 before she taught him and he actually held onto his desire to play the whole year). He seems to have a natural talent for music which is interesting to watch blossom now. Ian is not my competitive sports child but rather a very independent curious/creative type so I think this may just be his niche in life! Of course it might help if we owned a piano, don't tell his piano teacher, but we are letting him practice right now on his $10 toy keyboard and he is doing just fine! I'm just saying...

We finally finished soccer this past Saturday. I am so happy that both boys played hard and ended with positive feelings towards the sport. Eli is still timid in the game but actually a very agile and quick player which has it's good points. Ian - well we were proud when he paid attention and actually tried to chase after the ball and make contact with it - and I didn't lose Elizabeth once the whole season but I did lose 5 pounds from chasing her!

I have officially had a professional stager come to my house and move furniture around and tell me a list of things to do. I cried when she left, made a list, crossed some things off once I came to my senses and now am working my way down a revised list. Hopefully after redoing our bathroom floor and putting up a few new lights oh, and painting one bathroom (why didn't anyone tell me that was the most horrific color to paint a bathroom anyway?) we will be ready to put out a sign! I'm getting excited...but more importantly Nate is getting excited which I never expected. But for goodness sakes...I have almost made myself loony the past two weeks repainting all the base boards, filling in every nail hole, packing nick-nacks, and going through 4 magic erasers (I love those things!) so this house had better sell or I might check into a crazy home!

And more and more and more...but who doesn't have a crazy life right? Just wanted to let everyone know (all three people who read this) that I'm still alive but still crazy!

As I enter the world of staging...

Well I'm about to enter a new world...a world of staging!

Long (many years) story short I finally talked my very conservative husband to put our house on the market and "just see if anyone is interested" because of what a good market it is to buy bigger for less.

I've never hidden the fact that there are five of us in a 3 bedroom house. This wouldn't be a big deal (many people share bedrooms - I did growing up) but our bedrooms are not quite the size for sharing when you are reaching the tween stage!

So, that being said we had our old Realtor that sold us the house five years ago come take a look for me. She immediately started telling me what would "need to come down" and how I should "tidy up this or hide that" and then she handed me a number for a STAGER! "Oh it may run you anywhere from $200 to well you could spend a $1000 for moving new furniture in." I hid my look of panic from the sweet Realtor in her bling shirt and wrote down her suggestions.

So, she gave me two weeks to get these things done...put a new floor in the bathroom (should be pretty cheap), "thin out my 'wild' landscaping" (I thought it was beautiful), hide ALL of my sweet little angel's pictures, and then she suggested we paint our living room a lighter color but seeing how there is like a 50 foot steeple in the middle of it I don't think I'll be getting Nate to do that!

As for the stager...as soon as she left I got on the phone and called up a friend whose mom and aunt are stagers in the fancy city of Franklin. Then I walked next door and recruited my neighbor to ask her sister, a "master gardner of Rutherford County," to come take a look at my yard...I'm calling out the troops for this adventure!

Will I be terribly upset if the house doesn't sell? No...I actually love my house and I LOVE my neighbors and neighborhood. Will we need to live in this house five years from now? No...probably Eli and Ian will get tired of using a bunk bed and sharing a tiny closet at the age of 12 and 14 when they are almost 6 feet tall so...I'm going to act now and see where it gets me.

As I walk down this road of for sale signs and real tracks.com I am very aware of the friends that have tried and are still trying to sell their houses not just for convenience but out of pure necessity. I know many people have lost their houses during the economic crisis over the past years. So, I am most sensitive towards all of them as I join the rat race of the housing market.

Now...if anyone is interested in a three bedroom....large kitchen...most beautiful fenced in back yard...with sweet neighbors and a dead end street....please come see me!

Mommy Moments

I was recently at a children's 'discovery museum' with sister girl and they had roped off a section of the upstairs. What they failed to realize was that little two year old monkeys could still crawl through a tunnel into a train room and then be safely out of yanking distance from their mothers who could not enter through the proper door because of said 'roping off'. (it was not just rope mind you but large walls stacked to keep us out) There was another mother standing near all of this excitement watching me to see what I was going to do. I yelled at sister girl to stop (why do I even bother) and then looked at the mother and said, "I am about to have a mommy moment." She laughed and said something supportive mother to mother. Then I proceeded to crawl on the floor through the tunnel into the train room only to have the little toot crawl through the other tunnel out back into the main lobby. It was all quite comical for all on lookers, although they politely glanced the other direction as I crawled on all fours back out the other side of the tunnel.

Well...I had another mommy moment yesterday but this time it was with my seven year old son and it was a good one for a change. Ian read his first chapter book by himself and get this...it was all his idea!

I am learning, although I admit slowly, that I can not make Ian do anything he really doesn't want to. Now, I can make him brush his teeth and cut his fingernails and eat his green peas but I can not make him love reading or enjoy writing sentences neatly or graciously show kindness to his brother. So, when those moments do happen all on their own they go down in the books as a proud mommy moment.

"Mom do you want me to read this book to you?" Ian asked as he picked out a Magic Tree House book from their shelf. "Of course I do Ian. You want to read this whole book?" I asked. And then he proceeded to sit on the couch for over thirty minutes and read me more than one chapter (in a continuous sitting) while never getting agitated over hard or mispronounced words. That boy even took his book to bed with him and announced to his proud parents that he was going to read some more in bed that night.

He finished the book in two days. His first chapter book by himself in two days.

I don't brag over my children very often but I have to say that I am so proud that this child has finally after all these years decided that he enjoys reading...he fell asleep tonight with his light on...reading his second chapter book.

A proud mommy moment!

a new shirt and a new outlook

2 things on my mind during this half-way point...

1. I love Target! I don't allow myself to go much but for some reason I have been twice in the past five days. I did good the first time and only broke down and bought sister girl the cutest pair of silver/bronze shoes (I can't even tell which one. I think Target is probably so cool that they made a new color for little girls to primp in) to wear this Fall. I have been freaking out just a little over having a girl and trying to figure out if it is okay to wear white shoes after Labor Day (DON'T LAUGH AT ME...I AM A PROPER SOUTHERN GIRL THANK YOU!) but then what do you wear with those little summer dresses since it is still 90 degrees outside? Through my research (at the local parks) I have discovered that white sandals don't appear to be fo-pa just yet. I think with all this global warning we have to be able to change with the times...and wearing white after labor day is going to be the first thing to go. Al Gore would be proud!

Upon my second visit I made an impulse buy for myself...this time it was a gray t-shirt with handsewn white flower petals all over the left shoulder/breast. I swear I walked by this shirt and almost fainted it was so stinkin' cute! I even had a gray striped skirt on so of course when I was back in the van I stripped and put my new pimpin' flowered t on! Only at Target ya'll!!!!

2. I started a bible study this morning. I'm embarrassed to say it has been two...yes, two years since I have been a part of an official 'bible study'. It is a 28 day course on...get this...how to study the bible. I honestly didn't know what the class was going to be about when I walked in but I was so pumped to be back in a group ready to study. It sounds so exciting...it is called "Precepts" - a concept that actually walks you through dissecting what you read in the bible. Honestly, I don't know how many times I try to read the bible and I stop because I get lost or confused or just don't follow what I'm reading. Well, this shows you how to take verse by verse and discern what you are reading with the big picture in mind (the whole chapter or book). So often we as Christians just believe whatever someone tells us that is God's word without looking it up to make sure they are in fact speaking the truth. I am guilty of sitting back and listening to others whether it is on the radio or from the pulpit or just another so called Christian woman and take in everything they say as fact, when so often it has been taken out of context or just plain wrong! As a mother I realized today that it is my job to be able to discern the truth and pass it on down to my children...not leaving this job up to 'teachers' they meet with on occasion or hoping that by osmosis they will just become believers (and 'good people')...it takes deliberate parenting on my behalf!
I was so excited to walk in and see a few older women in the class. There is nothing that warms my heart more then sitting in a room with women who are my mothers and grandmothers age who have a heart for the Lord and for ministering to young mothers. These ladies' smiles and encouraging words just lit my soul up today. I look forward to spending one morning a week with them in our new small group and for the time I am about to devote to learning how to study God's word.

So sporting my new fashionable t and knowing I have the making of some sweet older friends along with the next 28 days devoted to learning how to study the bible...I am doing good half way though the week!

It takes a village

You know the saying "It takes a village to raise a child?" (For some reason I think of old Hillary Clinton when I hear that even I though I know she didn't coin the phrase). Well, I believe this saying is so true but maybe we should change it to "it takes a community to raise a child". I mean we don't really need other women folk to watch out for our babies being eaten by tigers or burned by the open flames of the house fire pit or even from being kidnapped by neighboring tribes. But we do need insight and support as we walk through the trenches of raising our children.

I have learned a life lesson lately. It dawned on me when I was talking to a sweet friend of mine who has one child Elizabeth's age. She was recently reminding me about a time she had shared her exhaustion over trying to get her son to sit down in the bathtub and how it was making her crazy fighting with him over it. She was so scared that he would really hurt himself standing in the wet tub. I shared with her a story about myself having this same conversation when my first child was just gaining independence and he too would not sit down in the tub. This too had absolutely freaked me out so I reached out looking for advice from a friend concerning what to do. (this friend had a child Eli's age but also two older girls so she knew everything in my opinion). She looked at me after I asked her what she did about this problem and she said, "I never really thought about that; I guess I just let him stand up in the tub." Of course I remember very clearly thinking to myself that she was 1. either a bad mom or 2. had realized that this wasn't a fight to try and battle with a one year old.
It wasn't until I had my third child and we are brought to the present conversation with this mother that it flashed before me what the old friend had told me...and I repeated the wisdom I had received years ago and added that I too now didn't really make it a big deal (oh to have a third child and not care...)

Of course I'm not condoning letting your children run wild in the bath tub (but please don't come to my house at 7:00pm each night) but my point is this...
the friend was reminding me of this conversation to point out how much she appreciated me sharing my learned lessons of mothering with her as she goes through it the first time.

But what I have learned is even greater...even though I have been through this now three times I am still learning from other moms, whether they are first timers or have five kids. I feed off the passion that is felt from first time moms as they watch their children grow and learn. I am still getting advice from other moms, whether new or novice, who went through something with a child that I am just now going through with my third (such as using duct tape with a diaper obsessed sister girl).

I almost didn't rejoin a mothering group that I have been a part of for eight years now. The reason in my mind was that I had been there done that...I had talked about potty training, ear infections, teething, separation anxiety for so long that I didn't need the support of other mothers any more. I was good to go. But then I realized this summer that I will never be done needing the support of other mothers. Whether it is through a mother's group or some other type of system every mother needs a community to help her raise her child. Whether she works outside the home or stays in it all day we all need the support and encouragement of other women who have been there or are going through it along side of us.

I am thankful that I have a large support system of women who have both been through the trenches of preschool like myself years ago and survived to laugh about it now but also those women who are going through it for the first time to give me a fresh perspective this third time around. It does take a village and I'm glad that I have built one up around me.

The many roles of me...

What has my job been lately?
Professional Potty trainer, lets see going on over a month now (that's because I give up each time I end up picking up poop off my floor, or shoes and put the diapers back on). You see I have said it before but I never tire of saying again...my little sister girl does not like to wear diapers. I don't know if it is the feel of the things or that she just has ambitions of being a streaker when she is older because she does the same thing with panties! So our final alternative was to get out the duct tape (just for sleeping mind you). But I learned the hard way that if the duct tape is not applied just the right (so as to hide any indication of a tab for bored little fingers waiting to fall limp asleep) then my child will indeed figure out how to take the diaper off. Don't worry...I have taken my new duct taping job more serious and never let that happen again. (picture has been removed but I found my little one sleeping, diaperless with duct tape wrapped around her waist!!!) I like it so much now that I'm thinking about just taping her to her chair at times when I need to take a nap or visit a friend! Oh, and what does she think of this new silver sticky material wrapped around her during bed time? "Tape...off..ha ha..diaper off..ha ha...tape off..ha ha ha!" Yes, that would be her laughing the whole time with a big smile while I spin her around and around applying the tape! At least she has a sense of humor about it.






My other job which I fulfilled two weeks ago was party planner. I finally let Ian have a birthday party at a "place"...you know those second born children never get what the first do! They are so overlooked! But, we broke down and rented the rock wall at MTSU, I was very disappointed that my husband's devoted service to the school got us no break at all! Dummy me...not knowing what kind of attention span a bunch of little kids would have when it came to rock climbing agreed upon the two hour (minimum that is) rental of the thing only to have my son and many others take off their safety harness 30 minutes into the party and start running around the Rec center. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!???" I asked. "Mom, we are tired of the rock wall can we go swimming now?" (yes, I admit it was the longest birthday party planned in history - two hour rock wall then party then two hour swimming...but hey, I thought parents would be thanking me for taking their kids off their backs all afternoon! My reply to sweet birthday child..."NO YOU CAN NOT! GET THAT HARNESS BACK ON AND GET UP THAT ROCK WALL! WE ARE HERE FOR TWO HOURS DAG NABIT!" No, I was really a little nicer then that but my eyes definitely said all of the above. Needless to say the kids climbed a little longer then I gave in and we went to the pool. I won't be planning any rock climbing adventures for my little ones any time soon!



Can you tell who had the most fun? That would be my good looking husband up on that wall...at least in this picture he had on a safety harness. Before that he and the other dad there kept trying to be spider man and freaking me out!!!






My third job, which has been on hiatus since last Spring, is soccer mom come every Saturday morning. I LOVE watching my boys play soccer, especially the oldest since his team actually competes and they are by now pretty skilled players. Not that I don't enjoy my little Ian running around trying so hard to kick the ball. I'm very proud of them both of course! (I put that in case Ian ever decides to look up my blog thank you!) But this year with sister girl being, well almost two, it gives new meaning to the term "multi-tasking". You should see me during Ian's games while my sweet husband is coaching (um hum...you ladies know what I mean here) I'm trying to give Elizabeth suckers, wipe her sticky hands, give her crackers, change her diaper, keep her from taking off her diaper, read her books, get out her baby dolls, draw pictures with her, tackle her as she tries to run onto the field, run after her across the field during the game while she is yelling "daddddeeeeee", all while paying attention to sweet Ian playing his heart out. Thank God Eli is old enough to wonder around with friends...
Now you see why I have no pictures of Ian playing. Sorry little buddy!





And my last job? Being me! And with my emotions and self-induced drama (I put that in for my husband's entertainment) it is a full time job! No, really I am actually loving being at home with Elizabeth all week. I don't regret pulling her off the preschool list. We have fun painting, doing puzzles, singing, playing, reading books. I forgot how much fun it can be watching a little one grow and learn so much each day. Plus she takes three hour naps each day so I have a lot of me time! And the best part is I have discovered a new passion of mine that I'm going to pursue in hopes of making some money. It is exciting but scary; I hope with the help of wiser ones that have gone before me in this endeavor I will be successful! More to come on this adventure later as I become more confident!