So Far

So far today it's been snowing for hours!  We are so lucky that we did not get as much of the ice as they thought we would get last night.  Just a little ice, then some freezing rain, and then early this morning it started snowing and it hasn't slowed down since! 

Being from Alabama, it's still so weird to me to see this much snow!  I'm still not used to it.  Both kiddos are napping, Jordan is working hard from home, and I'm cleaning and blogging.  We have frozen brunswick stew defrosting to eat tonight and maybe a movie to watch.  We stayed up late last night to watch a movie because we knew it would be a snow day today!  I just love snow days when Jordan is at home with us, it's my most favorite times!

Have a happy weekend.  I think we'll be snug in our warm house throughout the weekend!

 

 

Verse O the Day:  (Oooh, this is a good one.  I have it on our fridge and I see it about a million times a day while making breakfast, lunch, and dinner and then getting juice out for John Michael!  I'm trying hard to memorize more scripture, but it's hard work!)

“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

Lazy, Lazy

*Thanks to everyone for your sweet comments from my last post.  It's food for thought.  Great suggestions!

Well, we are in for the duration!  We've got a mountain of groceries, picked up meds for both babies, took Matthew to the doctor for his cough, and got some more dog food for Jack!  We are just waiting on the freezing rain, sleet, and then snow to get here.  Old Man Winter, bring it on!  I keep wondering how bad it will be.

Exactly one year ago we had a pretty bad ice storm.  I took some really awesome pictures.  We had never been in ice that was that thick before!  Click here to check it out from last year!

Last week we had a huge pile of medicine, hand sanitizer, and tissues in our kitchen!

I decided to perk up our kitchen a bit and so I bought some beautiful purple tulips.  They are still around, although it's probably time to throw them out!  It only took Jordan 3 whole days to notice we had a big bouquet of flowers in our kitchen and a few in a vase in the bedroom!

Unfortunately, Jordan taught John Michael how to play Wii and he just loooves it.  We let him play Wii baseball (or ah-ball as he calls it) and he is actually really good.  For 20 months old I think he does quite well at throwing the ball and he tries pretty hard to hit it.  Of course, we think he's the smartest kid on the block!

It was cute until he decided that he would rather sit and play the Wii.  Talk about lazy!  I guess he figures what's the point in standing?!  It's kind of like the way he won't sort shapes in his shape sorter bucket since he learned he can just open the top and put them in.  He's no dummy!

Matthew just hung out in his swing while John Micahel played.

Swing it!

I hope our ice storm is not too bad.  As long as we don't lose power we'll be just fine!  I keep hoping our good friend down the road doesn't go into labor.  I hope that baby stays put until next week.  I would be freaking out right now if I was due with all this ice and snow coming our way!  Have a happy rest of the week!

Verse O the Day:

For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Philippians 2:13

The Escape

I'll be brutally honest with you, internets, I've been having a hard finding a little time for "me" here lately.  Matthew is a really good, easy baby so I don't know why I'm complaining!  By the time we finally get him down at night it's at least 8:45 or so.

So, you tend to some laundry, wipe down counters, try to fold or hang up laundry and all of a sudden it's 10:00.  That means it's bedtime for sure.  I'm trying to find that balance of spending QT with hubby but also having a little time to just sit and be with me and myself at the end of the day.  Jordan helps me SO much.  He does more laundry than any husband I know.  He's always helping and even asks me what he can do to help me.  I am so fortunate and lucky to have such a great guy!  But, even with his help, there's always stuff to do at night that takes so much time!

Tonight, I was totally selfish and I made my escape to Starbucks to do some blogging, journaling, and all around Me-ness!  After both kiddos were down for the count I said good-bye to hubby and headed out the door for just a bit.

I keep hoping that everything is going to click with being a new mom of two.  Matthew is easy and great, but it's the time issues I'm having that is the problem.   Is it me, or will this be something that will come together over time?

Here's the dream, or goal if you will:

Spend time with Jordan at night after both babies are in bed, have a clean kitchen with no dishes in the sink, keep up with the laundry, have a little time to do something for me, and most importantly find some time to spend on a quiet time with God, which is so important, but it's slipping big-time. 

These little guys are so worth all the days of having no make-up on or Jordan coming home to a messy house with books and toys on the floor!

I keep telling myself (& it's so important to remember) blink and you'll miss it.  I already blinked and JM is almost 2.  Times flies and before long our kids will be teenagers and not want to be around us at all so we have to make the most of all the time that we do have!

Now, don't even get me started on finding time for the gym.  That's another blog post.

Whatcha Been Doing?!

What have we been up to?  Well, I finally cleared out our camera and I must say I have not done a great job of taking pictures this past week. 

JM has been sick for a week now but luckily my in-laws made a trip to see us and I could not be more grateful.  Between a super whiny, sick John Michael and then Matthew needing love and attention and feeding, we have run ourselves ragged this week!  Luckily we got JM to the doctor this afternoon and we started antibiotics tonight so I think he'll be on the mend here in a day or so.  I sure hope so.

Until then we'll be hanging around the house for another day or two to get completely well!

I had some random pictures from a few weeks ago since I don't have anything interesting or too new to post!

During the snow that kept us inside for days on end JM helped me make brownies!

We played basketball with baby Matthew!

And Matthew smiled and hung out in his Santa pjs...these pictures are a few weeks old and yes, I let him wear Santa pjs after Christmas!

I attempted an art project with JM that turned into a disaster...it's cool whip plus food coloring and he was supposed to "paint" with it.  He totally didn't get it but he ate it!

We also let him paint for real and he did a good job!

We had a little bit warmer weather come our way so we made a mad dash to play outside!  YES!  Finally, warm weather!

Warm weather means red car time in the backyard!

Even Jack got to enjoy the weather.

Because JM had been in the house for so many days on end, we decided we needed to go somewhere where JM couldn't get anyone else sick (like to the birthday party we had been invited to!) so we ran to the mall for a little bit and it was nice to just get out of the house for a bit.

He enjoyed watching the cotton candy machine but he refused to eat it or touch it.

Matthew hung out while we did a bit of shopping. By the way, we got fantastic deals at Children's Place.  Half off of reduced prices is my kind of sale!

And JM made Dada proud by choosing the Jeep to ride in at the mall!

Thank you, Lord, for Tylenol

Thank you, Lord, for Tylenol I thought to myself as I rocked John Michael for the fourth time that night.  His fever was still pretty high for him to have had Motrin and Tylenol.  It was this very basic, common drug that was helping him and saving his life by bringing his temperature down to a reasonable level.

As we rocked in our warm house, in our comfy chair, and he in his little boy footed pajamas it made my heart heart for Haiti.  Not just in a normal, I-can't-believe-what-I'm-watching-on-TV hurt but now it was a Mama's heart and it hit me in my heart.

I just kept thinking and thinking about how there's got to be dozens of Haitian mothers right this very moment who would give their right arm for a dose of Tylenol for the babies...to bring their fever down or to heal them from a wound they received in the rubble.

Sitting there rocking it made even the smallest things seem absurd compared to what these poor, devastated people are going through.  Absurd that my faucet should sit and run as I brush my teeth while they have none.  Absurd as I open my pantry to see what we're going to have for lunch, when they have none.  Absurd to worry about even small, little things when they literally have nothing.

I had not kept up with what was going on too much and we haven't really even had Fox News on because we don't have the TV on too much during the day and I just really didn't want to watch the devastation over and over all day long.  When I finally sat down and clicked around online I have to admit I was truly shocked at the number of dead that I saw.  I naively thought the numbers would be in the thousands...not in the hundreds of thousands.

So, I'm left with being grateful every single day of our lives.  Grateful we live in the greatest country in the world, grateful to God for our health and for the fact that we have so much, and grateful for my family. 

I don't know why bad things happen and I don't know why people have to suffer.  I do know God is there and He is more mighty than any disaster.  It is a helpless feeling to have to just sit and watch and know all I can really do is pray and donate to organizations like The Red Cross or Compassion.

Until I have all the answers, I'm going to continue being grateful for the Tylenol that lines my linen closet and the clean water that flows from my sink.  It's the little things in life that are beautiful, isn't it?

Verse O' the Day:

6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Philipians  4:6

The Long and Short Of It

Just a short recap of what all has been going on the last few days! JM has been sick with a virus and we headed to the doctor because I thought he had an ear infection...it turned out he didn't.  I have to admit it's been very hard since it's my first time having two and having one sick.  It's really hard when they both need you! It's been a trying few days as I try to meet both of their needs.  I'm figuring out that you only have one set of arms, so you just have to do the best you can !

Luckily, my in-laws were scheduled to come visit so it really has helped to have another set of arms to hand John Michael off to or to hold Matthew so I can hold my sick little guy.  JM is better, but still not 100% and we are just hoping and praying that Matthew does not catch it since he's so little. 

Also, today I had the day out and finally got a haircut and color.  If you know me at all, then you know it took me almost 3 years of living here before I would trust somebody to cut and color my hair.  Usually I would just wait until we were planning a trip back home and have my regular lady cut it. 

I finally gave in and found somebody here, but she up and had a baby and she's on maternity leave so I let somebody else cut it.  The color came out OK, but I'm not so sure about the cut.  It's very short and that's a bad combination when you've still got tons of baby weight to lose.  I'm not sure I really like it.  The only good news is that my hair is growing pretty quickly lately so I know it will grow out soon enough.  Oh well, I guess we all suffer from bad haircuts sometime in our lives.

Since we've been busy with baby stuff I'm just posting a few random pictures.  Matthew was sleeping on the beanbag while we were getting ready last weekend.  He took up almost the whole thing!  He is so long!

This picture made me laugh because he just looks so long all stretched out.  He was quite comfy in the bean bag!

We've enjoyed some nice weather lately.  It's been a great change from the -2 degree weather and snow that we had just a few weeks ago.  JM was more than happy to go outside and play with his beloved red car!

And, here's JM doing his best impersonation of Steve Jobs eating a lemon.  In fact, it was his first lemon and he ate all the pulp!

I think he actually liked it!

Verse O' the Day:

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

1 Chronicles 16:34

Anatomy of A Smile

Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.  ~Mother Teresa

The anatomy of a smile:

And of course, our Mr. Smiley who is full of smiles so much of the day!

This one cracks me up!

What a happy fellow!

Verse O' the Day:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

The Screamer

OK, I knew this post was coming for quite some time.  Internets, I need your help!  We have been working so hard with John Michael on this one sticky issue that we cannot get under control.  Well, I take that back, we also are dealing with him constantly putting his foot up on the table when we eat and just looking at us; daring us to do something about it.  This child is stubborn and I have known this from the beginning.

Don't let his sweetness fool you, look at those eyes of mischief!

So, what am I talking about?  Screaming.  Not just a scream, but a loud, shrill crowd-clearing scream.  It's gotten a lot better in the last few weeks (it had gotten worse right after Matthew was born, probably due to not getting as much attention) but it showed its ugly head again today at playgroup.

It's so frustrating.  He doesn't particularly care what we do to him.  We work on these issues at home so that when we go out in public it will not be an issue.  Well, not today at playgroup.  I had my hands full with Matthew and there were so many people there.  I know he can't talk a lot yet to tell us what he wants or needs. And I know it's hard at his age to understand why toys get taken away, etc. etc. but it's part of life!

I know it's a phase and it will pass but after today at playgroup I am SO over this phase. He is starting to only do it when he knows he can't immediately be punished.  Like, in the check out line or when we're in a very public place.  This kid is smart.

What do I do?  I'm out of ideas of how to handle it when we're out and about and I'm out of ideas of how not to be embarrassed and turn red!

Now, have no doubt I love him all the time no matter what.  We're still new parents who are just trying to figure all this stuff out!  To scream or not to scream, that is John Michael's question!

Sittin' Up

Look who I found sitting up in the Bumbo this morning!!

He still needs a little bit of help, but he can do it!  Time is moving way too fast!

I'm Lost

Just a quick little post...how in the world did I manage to lose a calendar.  Yes, a calendar that has made its home in the same kitchen drawer since we've lived in this house.  Where would a calendar go?

Is it a really bad sign that I can't even keep up with my own calendar these days?  Granted, it's a 2009 calendar because I haven't gotten around to the 2010 calendar yet...but still, I had appointments written in the December margin!

I am on the hunt...

Look-Alike and Lazy Lasagna

It's so fun to pull out John Michael's old baby pictures and flip through them and compare them to what Matthew is looking like now.  It's so cool having two boys so close in age.  What's funny is that I have been looking at John Michael's pictures from 2-3 months to get the comparison to Matthew at 6 or 7 weeks!  I told you he's big!

For me, I don't look at Matthew during the day and see JM as a baby.  The only time I really see it is at bath time.  When I look down into that little tub it just looks like baby John Michael laying there!  Matthew has really been enjoying his tub time.  He loves to just sit in the water and enjoy his warm bath.

The top pic is Matthew, the bottom is John Michael

 

I also love that they both have chubby cheeks!  I love that little smile lighting up their faces!  Matthew was full of smiles today.

I didn't think this next set of pictures looked as much alike, but it's still cute!

I don't think I realized how much more hair JM had than Matthew until I really got to looking at these pictures.  He had a lot of hair and then it all fell out and he was bald for a few months! 

Sausage and Ravioli Lasagna

Tonight I made this recipe from Southern Living because it looked really, really easy and sounded good.  Let me tell you, it was easy and it was good!  I took almost no time to throw together and it turned out just wonderful.  Jordan was a big fan, and I have to admit that I was too.  The mixture of the fresh spinach with the pesto sauce gave it a really good taste.  I changed some things, which I made note of and it turned out just as good.  I'm going to be putting this one into our recipe rotation for sure.  It's the perfect way to make good, easy lasagna!  And, if you're in our sunday school class and you're having a baby anytime soon, I'll probably be bringing this to your house for your meal!

Ingredients

• 1/2  pound  ground Italian sausage  (I used frozen lean ground beef that I had already cooked)


• 1  (24-oz.) jar tomato-and-basil pasta sauce (I used about 2/3s of a BIG Prego jar)


• 1  (6-oz.) package fresh baby spinach, thoroughly washed


• 1/2  cup  refrigerated pesto sauce   (I used pesto with basil mixed in)


• 1  (25-oz.) package frozen cheese-filled ravioli (do not thaw)  (I could only find beef ravioli)


• 1  cup  (4 oz.) shredded Italian six-cheese blend

*Because I could not find cheese ravioli I used beef ravioli.  All I did was throw some of the grated cheese on top of the ravioli so that I would have cheese inbetween each layer.

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Cook Italian sausage in a skillet over medium heat, stirring often, 10 minutes or until sausage crumbles and is no longer pink; drain well. Stir pasta sauce into sausage.

2. Chop spinach, and toss with pesto in a bowl.

3. Spoon one-third of sausage mixture (about 1/2 cup) into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish. Top with half of spinach mixture. Arrange half of ravioli in a single layer over spinach mixture. Repeat layers once. Top with remaining sausage mixture.

4. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with shredded cheese, and bake 5 to 8 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

I'm way too tired to upload my lasagna pictures, so I'll just do it tomorrow during naptime.  We've actually got a busy week this week so we'll see if I can make it on time to all of our outings we have planned.  I'm having a hard time getting us all out the door on time.  It will get better as I learn more about our routine.  It's just so hard with a breastfed baby because they can take so long to eat sometimes!