Nutrisystem going-away party

Well friends, I've spared the gory details and pictures of the meals but if you've been around here for any length of time you know we started Nutrisystem about two weeks before Thanksgiving.

Man that was smart.

Really, it was. There were moments of sheer happiness biting into a green salad during Thanksgiving that I likely would have just skimmed right over...but eating real food during the festivities was magical. Even if said real food consisted of salad, green beans, and turkey. Food tastes so good! Laugh if you want to. I did just now typing that because I know how silly it sounds. We are slowly phasing real food back into our lives and what could be better than a new cookbook to get you off to a good start?

For Christmas I got a copy of the Pioneer Woman's cookbook. It's basically the opposite of Nutrisystem and well worth every penny mom and dad spent on buying it for me! I guess it's not fair to call it the opposite--she does use veggies quite a bit and that's what Nutrisystem helped us with--but everywhere you turn there's good old favorites: buttered rolls, sliced beef, cinnamon rolls, apple pie...I can't wait to make all of her recipes in moderation. My goal is to have a really scrumptious meal on Sunday nights out of her cookbook. As you well know, my goals/plans don't always become my reality. If I quickly start gaining the weight I've lost that is probably why. Darn you, Pioneer Woman and your cooking skills!

I need to take a picture with my hubby for you to see the before and after. It's a great feeling to be excited about trying on clothes, (old and new,) and like how they look and feel. I haven't worn some of my clothes for three years for obvious reasons and yesterday during a lull in activity I took the girls in my closet with me and we tried on mommy's back-of-the-closet clothes.

Y'all, they all fit. All of them. The jeans that I hadn't tried on since the winter before Ty was born. The dresses that I haven't worn since my working days, the belts, (belt? What's that?), the pants, the shorts. They all fit. Shoes? Well, there's my only problem right now. Having the kids has made my foot grow a size and a half. Slowly but surely my size 6 1/2 feet became a size 8. Has this happened to you? Mom's feet grew too so maybe it's genetic? Maybe it depends on how much weight you gain during pregnancy? Mom and I both gained A LOT so I'm not sure which it is in our case!

The actual number of how much we have each lost is a mystery because we don't have a scale. I carefully orchestrated not replacing batteries in our old one and giving it away because to me, it's easier and more fun to figure out weight loss/gain with your clothes. So there you go, we've both lost a lot. Jeans don't lie (unless they're stretchy which is a huge plus can I get an Amen,) and I've lost two jeans sizes. Sean has lost one jeans size but looks completely different. He has worked hard on trips to stick to a mostly Nutrisystem diet even when it was hard and it has paid off. We have about three days left of their meals but I have been cooking dinner for the last few nights to change things up before we really finish. Instead of what I used to cook, I've been cooking much lighter, smaller meals and we feel satisfied. And we eat a lot of salad. Let me rephrase: we eat A LOT LIKE FIVE OR SIX HEADS OF LETTUCE A WEEK EASY and good Lord you can put whatever you want in a salad and it tastes better. Dressing is the key for me and my new favorite is a cranberry walnut vinaigrette (I think it's Ken's and I buy the Light one if you're shopping for a new dressing.) Anyway, salad is a great help on days when we feel like we can never fill our stomachs up.

We feel better. We look better. We sleep better. Well, I do. Sean still doesn't but that's a genetic thing that the men in his family all deal with and I pray daily that it never happens to Ty. Dear Lord, keep my little boy sleeping like his momma. Thank You. Amen.

So farewell Nutrisystem. Hello Pioneer Woman. You two might never have met had it not been for me. You're welcome.

Weeds

My big boy sat quietly to get a haircut and didn't need any (big) bribes.





He looks so cute don't you think? A cut was needed. He was looking pretty homeless.





And I've waited three years for one of my kids to hold their own bottle. Well, folks, Joy is a go-getter.

They're growing like weeds.

Things seen around my house this Christmas

There's a big sucker somewhere in her mouth

Oh abacus (sp?) how he loves you

There's the sucker that was hidden in her mouth-99 cents of happiness

Nattie and Popeye gave the kids these to save my sanity when packing them up for a trip

Baby Joy had already soiled her suit that matched the big kids so she wore her new cute bib so she was still festive. Not that watermelons have a lick of anything to do with Christmas.
I went with a girlie color for Charlie's bag to cut down on the boy confusion...Ty got a bag too but I don't think I took a picture of it. His name is in block letters and is navy. Oh look there it is right behind Charlie's. Man I need some caffeine.

Charlie's favorite gifts were edible. No one was surprised by this.

Joy's favorite gifts were from the dollar store, which may or may not be the only place I shopped for her this year. Like she cares, come on. She can play with the toys we have and they are all like new to her!

Charlie's first My Little Pony. It came with its own brush. Oh glory.

The gift of all gifts for my big kids...the car wash. It's already gotten about 120 hours of play since Christmas with Sean's family. I found it at a resale shop in town and knew instantly it'd be a hit. It was. It is. Thankfully they got some new cars for Christmas from their cousins so it's a whole new world to play with.
New stockings I found at Old Navy for $1 each a few weeks before Christmas. I kept our "real" ones and they will be up next year if I'm judging by Sean's face when he saw these. He was like, 'Purple? Pink? Really, Mary? It's Christmas. Do we still have the red and green ones?"

Creativity isn't his strong suit.

Anyway.

I'll use both next year and maybe Santa will only put stuff in Sean's new fancy/creative stocking to get him used to them. Hmmm...
See Baby Jesus (the nativity) behind Charlie? That's what she refers to as "Baby Jesus, so funny..." She really misses playing with this little set now that I've put it up. Would y'all think it was wrong to leave it up year-round? Well never mind. I already put it in the attic.

It was pure sugar-induced happiness.

Things heard around my house this Christmas

"Ty, we don't hit people." (me)

"Bye bye baby Jesus. You so funny. Baby Jesus so funny." (Charlie)

"No, I didn't put batteries in it. And I didn't on purpose." (me)

"Charlie, stop hitting your brother." (Sean)

"Does anybody know where the baby is?" (Popeye)

"Just put a sucker in her mouth. Sure, she's plenty old enough." (me)

"I love you, big boy bed." (Ty)

"Night night presents. Night night Christmas. Night night sucker." (Ty)

"Ty, we don't hit baby Joy." (Sean)

"Max, DO NOT throw up." (Sean)

"Charlie, where is the remote?" (Sean)

"Nattie, Popeye, where are you?" (Ty and Charlie)

"Mmmmm.....Emmy." (Charlie)

"Charlie, it's 'Mmmmmm...YUMMY, not Emmy.'" (me)

"Emmy so funny." (Charlie)

"Gogert, (yogurt) Baby Jesus, chips...Okay." (Charlie)

"Sucker, where are you?" (Ty)

"Grapes...so funny." (Charlie)

"Ty, Elmo goes in the potty. Where do you want to go? Want to go in the potty like Elmo?"

"No. No thank you." (Ty)

"Going to the music store...you did it!" (Nattie, Sean, me,)

and finally,

"Sean, I know you're busy with our son throwing a massive fit and all but get in here...she's crawling!!!!" (me)

And so we say goodbye to the Christmas tree and the unwrapped gifts...hello to the new toys and a new year ahead. Goodbye to Nattie, Popeye, and Emmy, who slaved away and entertained the kids and caused major withdrawal issues in Ty and Charlie today. "Nattie, Popeye, Emmy where are you?" was the phrase of the day around here. Followed quickly by, "Go Nattie's house?"

It was magical and wonderful and we were filled with joy. It was so fun I had to go to bed last night at 7:30 I was so tired.

Now that was beautiful. Today when I woke up at 7 I felt like a new woman. Yes that's 11 1/2 hours under my belt and judging by the mounds of baby food I just made I'd say I got a lot done today.

More than any other thing this Christmas I was so very thankful for our health. It was almost a year ago (Jan. 2nd) that we found out Joy would be A) a girl and B) have issues so to see how God worked in this last year was a little bit amazing. A little bit magnificent. A little bit perfect.

Merry Christmas

From our sucker-filled mouths to yours...may you know that God's greatest gift is for you today, every day, and once you have it you'll never be the same! May you experience more joy than all of my kids did during this photo shoot :)

I did not do this

Ty and I colored today while Charlie and Joy slept. I left him at the table for a while and when I came back I asked him what he was drawing.


I drew the tree and ornaments but he drew everything else. He didn't answer me at first because he was concentrating.


I asked him what this was and he said, "Wonderpets!" and I remember him singing the Wonderpets song while he was working but whatever. Details.

His picture is not that crazily amazing I realize. (You're welcome.) Unless you know that the last time he watched the show was yesterday afternoon and the case to the DVD was in the cabinet, not out where he could see it.

So now look at what he was drawing.


I took the case out to show him how exactly right he was in the colors/letter W.


I mean if I'm not proud I don't know WHAT I am.

My Little Drummer Boy

Where do you begin talking about your first born child and what makes him tick? I could go on and on about my boy, my pride and joy, my son. I'm sure any mother could do the same.

Ty is entering into the world of drums. Why we agreed to let my parents give him a drum set for Christmas is beyond me except that they know him well enough to know HE'D LOVE IT MORE THAN LIFE ITSELF. And he did. He really did. Until he broke it about two weeks after they let him open it...a little early by the way. It's not even Christmas yet and the thing is long gone. See, he loves music. He has calmed down when music is on since he was days old. We had a little lamb wind-up toy that played "Jesus Loves Me," and when we changed his diaper as a tiny baby and he'd cry, we would turn on the lamb and he'd stop and crane his neck to see where the music was coming from. It was unreal how much he loved music. As he grew up, (I realize he's only 3,) he grew to love music more and more. His favorite place to go right now is the music store, (Guitar Center,) and he asks me approximately 47 times per day if we can go there.

I told him we'll go every time he...well there's no way to say it...poops on the potty.

So far so good on me loading them all up and going to Guitar Center every single day. As in, we haven't done it yet. He is, I guess you could say, half potty-trained.

Anyway.

He loves drums. We had to get him a new set after he broke the old one and his "drum room" is my closet with the doors shut so he doesn't kill everybody in the house. He plays the piano at Mimi's house and sings along. He listens to my dad play the violin every chance he gets and now when we hear music out somewhere he will say, "I hear the violin, I hear drums, I hear symbols..." and he's right. He's like the little kid in August Rush and I wouldn't be surprised if he supports our entire family one day doing what he loves: playing music.

He's not that good or anything right now but the desire is there. Spoken like a mother, right?

Recently he started preschool for the first time. You've all been exposed to what that process did to me and you've seen and heard how much he has loved it. He has learned how to do things I didn't know I was supposed to be teaching him...(hello, scissors...proficient at age 3? Who knew?) Soon after he started preschool his teacher called me and we talked about how he was doing and she suggested that we might look into getting him help with speech.

We talked to our pediatrician and she suggested the same so we started the process through the school district here and it's been a delight to work with the people involved. The school where the intake/testing has taken place is about a four minute walk from my house. Four minutes if you add in snow/harsh wind and even less than that during nice weather. I had no idea when we moved here how quickly we'd be needing the school and I have said, "Thank You, Lord," numerous times. The school has an early childhood program and guess what.

(What)

Ty will start going there in January. During his Christmas party I hugged his teachers and said goodbye. I pulled him out of his beloved school and told him on the way home that after Christmas he would start at a new school. He's excited. He has been to the school down the street a few times and cries when we leave. If you're like me you take that as a good sign. Crying when entering=bad. Crying when leaving=good. He'll go every day for a few hours and after meeting his new teacher and some of the staff at the school I have such excitement for the change ahead. You can't beat being able to walk your kid to school and as a bonus do so between naps for your other kids. Schedule-wise, this will be worlds easier than what I have been doing. It will mean giving up not only his school but BSF, which he has liked even more than school! We are to treat it as real school, operating on the school calendar and I know that giving up some of these things is a small price to pay for what he will be getting.

What I've seen throughout the last few months is that the more people you become involved with, the more opinions there are. I know that, (it's not rocket science,) but when it comes to those people sharing opinions about your child, you (me,) can get defensive. I was at first. The first time his preschool teacher used the words "help with speech," "slower to talk," and "Aspergers," it stung. Over time, I've gotten more used to hearing these things and it doesn't sting as much. While the primary reason he is starting school is to help with speech, we are also facing having him tested by a few other places for the reason behind his speech delay.

And I will now become a poster child for moms of kids with Autism. No matter what we find out in coming months about my boy and his intense little self, I have a passion for helping kids with all kinds and types of Autism. We may find out after seeing the developmental pediatrician that he doesn't have a diagnosis on the scale and if so I will still have more empathy for moms (and dads,) whose kids do. So far the doctors involved have said he shows "soft signs" and that he doesn't show any of the "red flag" signs of a child who will not be able to function later on in school, social environment, etc. Like the studies that have been televised lately, what we have learned is that 1 in 100 kids have at least one symptom on the Autism scale. He seems like other kids in his class except for his conversational skills. Obviously this is why we're starting him in speech therapy this early.

I mentioned a while back that I was going through something that was challenging me spiritually and this is what I was referring to. As much as I believe that God has created Ty the way He did on purpose, I'm afraid of what lies ahead. I'm afraid of what I don't know about and what I might be expected to do. And I'm afraid that he will suffer.

As much as I believe that God created him, I have to also believe that God alone will be given glory by what Ty does with his life. As much as I believe that God created him, I have to also believe that God will comfort his heart when he does suffer, like every kid will!

Bottom line, I have to believe.

Just believe.

Not figure it out or plan it out or act like I know what I'm doing.

Just believe.

Not compare him to the other kids and try to "stay on top of things."

Just believe.

Not pretend or be afraid or be defensive.

Just believe.

Bangs would be fun, right?

I guess cabin fever set in. I thought bangs would be fun.


They were. Then this is what I woke up to this morning.



Looks like I need to pay my hair dresser a visit. Apparently there's a SKILL involved with cutting bangs. Who knew?

The kind of fun you can only have at your own kids' Christmas party

Ty with his sweet teachers. They have been great to work with. There's a bond with the first preschool teacher(s) isn't there?


His first woman-crush on someone other than my best friends: Ms. Karen


He thought it was really fun that mommy, Nattie, AND Popeye were at school. Daddy is on a trip but we sent him pictures-and the video of the kids singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Funny doesn't really do it justice.


And look! He wished baby Jesus a Happy Birthday in traditional garb. I don't know HOW they got the kids to do this but I love it.



Charlie had a big time drinking juice from a cup-the highlights for her were that and eating cookies. Isn't her shirt cute? I can't take credit! It's another hand-me-down.


Had Nattie and Popeye not been there I surely wouldn't have gotten any pictures and I surely wouldn't have had as much fun. Just being honest.

I don't have a clever ending.

You (almost) go girl

Yesterday I bundled the girls up and went to see the perinatologist that I saw, (remember how often?) when I was pregnant with Joy. It was way too cold to drag them out but I knew this might be my last chance to run some banana bread to her before Christmas so while Sean and Ty were at the music store, (a post about that soon,) we went down to the hospital to see her. It was surreal for her to hold Joy and look at her scars. Surreal for both of us! The Dr. said she knows how much worse things could have been for Joy and she knew God answered the prayers of many. What a gift to have her be the one that we saw day after day while being so nervous about Joy. She's a hoot. God-willing you'll never need someone like her but if you find yourself needing someone to watch a still-growing baby, e-mail me and I'll give you her info. I've come to love her almost as much as I love our pediatrician.

Here's my girl...She's trying...She's motivated. She may take her sweet time and not do anything more for a long time, (I know this from experience!) or she may be mobile soon. We don't care which it is but it is so fun watching her be so proud of herself!

It's been too long...but not really long at all

I feel like I've been gone forever but I somehow still posted while I was on my blog break. It's like a normal part of life now so I miss being in touch more than I realized.

These last few weeks have been full and like many of you there are things that must be done before Christmas and yet I'm amazed at how little I can actually accomplish in a day around here. We had high hopes of tackling closets and toy chests today and instead the morning was spent picking up after Max's...well...gastrointestinal explosive issues that he left us as a good morning gift throughout our entire house during the night. I know you're not gonna believe this but Sean was home for this one.

Thank You, Lord. Amen.

There are some changes ahead for our kids, (no I'm not pregnant, good Lord don't even say that out loud!) and part of this process we're going through has been spiritually challenging for me. I will share more when I feel like it's the right time but basically it comes down to this:

I want my kids to be happy, just like you want your kids to be happy.

I want them to know God and to never doubt who He is in their lives, just like you do.

I want them to be heartache-free, frustration-free, and worry-free, just like you do.

But that last one, that's a tough one.

The way that God purifies and strengthens us is through a painful process sometimes and this is one of those times. However, it is not without extreme blessings and peace that we have come to this point, somewhat on the other side of the challenge. So we feel the encouragement and love that He is giving us. Watching the kids get to the age where they sense emotional pain is one of my toughest challenges. I want to yell at the kids who are mean and go tell their mothers. My friend Jennie and I used to take the boys to the mall playground and I'd often march over to the mean kids and tell them to go find their mother and I'd always watch my back when walking out to the parking lot later. Ha! Have you ever watched kids bully other kids and then search the room for their parent to intervene only to find their parent is shopping and nowhere near the playground? Man o man that makes me mad. Anyway. My point. I want to protect Ty, Charlie, and Joy from embarrassment and the sting of a broken heart. Don't you want to keep your kids, as my mom always used to say, "in my nest," where no one and no thing can harm them?

Yep, I thought so.

But we can't and so we learn how to function in this fallen, sometimes cruel world, and try to give God the place that He deserves: The top. The first place we look for help. I have a rather large confession: I haven't done that part--a rather huge part--well lately. Mother knows best, you know. Except in this case, Father does.

As much as I want to help them learn how to function in this world it is hard to walk through with them. I never considered myself a control freak until recently, and really only in regard to my kiddos. Let me tell you, I've been trying to control things. It's not working, which is no surprise to God. He's been telling me to let Him work for a long time about these very issues. He has been nudging me and giving me little hints that my efforts would soon come to a halt because I was out of ideas. He often has to work this way with me and I'm guessing some, if not all of you, will agree.

We are doing a little better at not trying to figure it all out. Trying a little harder at not trying to fix things. Since my role here is chief over-sharer, I have been a bit more reserved than usual but like I said, I will fill in the blanks soon.

I am so grateful for our community here and our families. As tough as it is to avoid the "Hurry Up!" attitude this time of year I'm grateful that the kids are small enough to warrant staying home and going to bed early every night. Since it's not a secret anymore that I go to bed soon after they do, it's obviously a blessing that we rarely see nighttime except through the windows at home. My night owl of a husband will LOVE it when the kids are older and milling around at night and he will surely be relieved when he has someone to talk to between the hours of 9 and 11, when he goes to sleep. I, on the other hand, will dread the nights when he is on a trip and I am the one waiting up for the kids to get home. I should stock up on sleep now, that's my reasoning.

We've been taking lots of pictures of the kids and as usual when I can talk Sean into editing them I'll show them here. He has been really busy with photo shoots for other people which is a great thing financially. The only downside is I think he's tired of using Photoshop and Lightroom, his new obsession. "Mary, can you see the difference...Mary have you seen how cool this is...Mary, look at this-it was grainy and now it's perfect..." to which I usually reply, "Wow, yes, of course I can see it!"

But I really can't tell at all. I'm on a whole different playing field when it comes to pictures but of course you know that already.

Reminds me of the first year we were married, (wasn't that long ago,) and we had been married about two weeks when we went dove hunting with Sean's lifelong friends. His friend Bradley and his son met us in Abilene and we went hunting that evening. Sean had no idea what my hunting skills really were but I'd talked myself up quite a bit so his expectations were high. After about two hours of waiting for birds I got pretty bored so I started jumping at the chance when I finally saw some birds flying overhead. I took no cues from Sean, who was perched across a field from me, mind you. I just started shooting. I'd hear him from far off saying, "Mary, it's not a dove!" I didn't care. To me it was still hunting, right? Besides those things fly fast. I mean how in the world can you tell until they're past you what the heck kind of bird it is?

Anyway, the funny part of the story is that Bradley's son, (ten at the time,) walked over to Sean that night when we were packing up and with a really concerned look and tone says, "Sean, you know your wife Mary...She's been shooting at tweety birds."

To which Sean replied, "Yeah, I know Caleb. I know. She's new."

And to all a good night.

Another amazing thing

Because they're so easy and melt in your mouth, (literally,) you need to make these cookies

So go, right now.

I'm waiting.

Merry baking y'all

I said I'd be back if I saw something amazing

Advent Calendar: It is finished

Because, well, it's the 8th.

I'm obviously a little behind this year as far as the calendar goes. Oh who cares.
My blood, sweat, and tears paid off. Look how pretty that is! I know you're jealous. Don't be! You too can make this thing! See yesterday's post for the link to Martha's website.
Looking at it like this I can't believe I did it. I can only believe it because there's a lot of glitter on my floor.
Here's my other option for where to put it. Which one do you like? Can't decide...

A weird/good thing happened yesterday. Without my help and skills as a personal trainer, (thank God because I would not be a good one,) Joy started doing this.
and she's so proud of herself she almost knocks herself over every time I draw attention to the fact that she is sitting.
See, all of my high-pitched talking almost made her cry. That bottom lip started sticking out right after I took this. Ty and Charlie started sitting at 8 months and um 10 months respectively. So far Joy is the record-holder. Not that it even remotely matters in the whole scheme of things but to us it's an exciting new trick! I was telling Carley today how it seemed to happen overnight just like she said it did with Cody. He started sitting a few weeks ago and she says he is so happy just sitting wherever she is playing. Y'all know I'm all about a happy baby.

On a totally unrelated note, look how cute these sheets would be on Ty's big boy bed. I'm asking Santa for them but Santa has already just purchased him a new drum set since he broke his first one. Note: he had his first one almost exactly one month. The boy plays them so much and so fiercely that he broke them. Wish us luck with this set!

Oh yeah here's the picture.
What he'd really like on his sheets is drums. It's all about drums right now...much like most 3 year-old boys I imagine.

I'm going to be taking a blog break for a few days so unless I see/buy/hear/experience something amazing I'll see you next week!

Advent calendar: The middle

We unexpectedly went to Denton today for fun so I didn't work on the calendar until tonight. My hand is cramping from all the glue-squeezing but I finished! The numbers are drying and I'll put the whole thing together tomorrow so until you see my finished product you'll just have to settle for Martha's version on her website.

Take into consideration that mine will likely out-do hers.

Here's the link

Advent calendar: The beginning

We have all cycled through a cold, (or has it cycled through us?) and today I started feeling better. Why not share what I've been working on since I feel like a real person again?! My mom found a great project for an advent calendar and when they (Nattie and Popeye) were here this weekend I copied her and bought the stuff too.

It's a Martha project. As in, you know, the Stewart kind. I'm working on it tomorrow to finish up so you'll see the final product soon but I thought I'd show and tell a little tonight.

The biggest part of the project is from Ikea which we happen to have in our backyard. I've heard they don't offer what you need for this online so I'm sorry if you see it and want to make one but can't get to an Ikea!

The main thing is a three-pack of canisters that have a strong magnet on the bottom and a clear lid. Each three-pack is I think $4.99. You need 25 canisters total, one for each day in December leading to Christmas. Before you complain about how much that costs, (like I did,) remember that this one will last forever. It'll be over my dead body I do all this again. But I would do it over if I needed to...you get what I'm saying? Plus we use a cash budget and this pretty much used it all for this month but I wouldn't have been buying anything for the house this month anyway. That's the beautiful thing about decorations, right? And if you are wondering when I found time to work on such a time-wasting thing, I'll take a moment to kick a shout-out to Aunt Emmy who came to entertain the troops while I worked...I mean created.

Anyway.

Then you need Martha's glitter. I'm pretty sure her glitter is better than everybody elses so this is a must. Use a 40% off coupon at Michaels because Martha is proud of her glitter. I mean look.



It's a 24-pack and it's fabulous.

You can find/print the template(s) for the numbers on her website. I'll include a link once I show you the finished product!


You can see one of the canisters there but I'll show a better one once I'm done. Once you decorate the numbers with fancy glitter you press the number into the lid and put stuff inside to open each day. It's a darn cute project once it's all said and done.

And I'm determined to get to that point.

Okay my head is stuffy again.

Night night.

The all-clear and the all-cute

First, the all-clear: we got it yesterday from Joy's surgeon. She sounds/looks great and he said contrary to popular belief, the clamps in her chest will not set off metal detectors! I mean it is gonna be hard enough trying to fly with everybody without the FAA thinking Joy's packing heat somewhere in her diaper.

Well...

Oh anyway.

Now for the all-cute:








I love the Christmas music, lights, and matching PJ's.

Yes they are watching a video but how else could I get them to all sit still for a picture?

Exactly.

I forgot one

On my shopping spree (of cheap stuff) I also got this shirt.




For 4 American dollars. Man I need some bangs.