The Pioneer Woman

I plan to write more later but wanted to share a quick link--

I've been reading The Pioneer Woman's blog for a few months and I just think it's great! This post is an example of how cool her life must be and she captures the moments with her kids' daddy so beautifully! Read about her Captain Forearms here.

Update

Virus conquered. At least for now. Joy and I seemed to escape its wrath. Hallelujah.

Hmmm well let's see. An update. Because you're all pins and needles.

Baby Joy news first: I called the surgeon's office to schedule her CT scan and haven't gotten a call back yet...I called last Wednesday. Guess they forgot. I'm adding "call them back," to my to-do list tomorrow now. Okay done. If you remember back to May 4th, the day we found out that her tumor was gone, (that seems like four years ago easy) we talked to the surgeon's nurse and she said that if all went well when she was born he would do a CT scan of her lung when she was 3 months old. She's now over three months old and while some may think we're bad parents for a plethora (does anyone know how to spell that? did I spell it right?) of other reasons, we don't like to miss appointments like this one. When I did what I was told--which was call when she's two months old--he said to push it another month to give her lungs that much longer to mature so here we are. Trying to make the appointment. In other news, she is sleeping roughly 10 hours at night, but we dream feed her pretty late at night and she usually wakes up once and fusses a little but doesn't eat. If you count all that then she's sleeping great! Taking 3 or 4 naps depending on the day but she always takes a good morning nap. In my book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, which, to be clear, is not my book but the one I use, ha ha, it says they will develop a consistent morning nap between 3 and 4 months but it will take a while longer to develop a good afternoon one. The guy who wrote that book is a genius. The way I see it she's getting in a great morning routine about one week before the Fall events start and we're never home in the mornings. What am I thinking?

Then there's the update on the other kids.

Ty is getting ready to start school (MDO) for the first time and I know he'll love it. Once we get past the mommy dropping him off in a strange place with strangers (not at our church,) thing, the whole "healthy snack" thing, the napping on a nap mat thing, the "we can't microwave your child's lunch" thing, and the "Ty's not in charge of how long we stay outside" thing, I think he'll be fine. And I do know he'll love it then, once those things are all out of the way.

Charlie is still loving being a big sister to bay, the artist formerly known as Joy. She is also talking a ton out of the blue. She says all kinds of new words. Her favorites are: hep (help,) nu (no,) dux (duck,) daddy, ty, dax (max,) emmy, popeye, eat, and mo (more.) There are about 400 other words she says that we aren't sure about yet but she also sings the alphabet song and hits every other letter--she's a genius I tell you--and she can count to ten. Kind of.

If you care for an update on Max (are there any Max fans there?) he is thriving as usual. Lucky me.

You weren't born yesterday

I'm sure you can guess what's happening in our house by sharing my grocery store receipt:

I 2 liter 7Up
1 box saltine crackers

Yes folks, we are ahead of the normal virus season. lucky us. I'm pretty sure the big kids have had it already, and Sean is coming home early from work because he has it. Bracing myself for a long winter...


Surely these two faces will brighten even a sick Daddy's day!

perspective

It's been quite a summer. Our little wee one, who I've started calling "Bay," thanks to Charlie calling her that--Charlie talk for 'baby'--lots of changes in our routine, lots of chances to grow in patience and faith, lots of less-than-perfect mommy moments. I'm sure you can all relate. At least to the chances to grow part. God does this at the worst times. The times when we think there's nothing left to give because we are at the very end of any rope in our house. What's He thinking sometimes? I don't intend to push the limit on questioning God at all. I am simply being honest about my reaction to His timing. It is perfect. It has everything to do with Him and His provision. But sometimes lately it feels like it's off.

"Consider the work of God:

For who can make straight what He has made crooked?

In the day of prosperity be joyful,

But in the day of adversity consider:

Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other.

So that man can find out nothing that will come after him."

(Ecclesiastes 7:13-14)

Does this give you comfort?

Well friend, it should. It gives me comfort when I start thinking about timing. Think about it. Perspective really has everything to do with who we're thinking about. If I'm thinking about me, what I want to do, what time I need to do something, how hard whatever is, I'll always be frustrated. If I think about what God is doing and other people He is doing things through, I have a brand new perspective and a lot less frustration. It's an elementary idea and I've been really failing to execute this lately. Like that day I found grass in my bathtub, I'm gonna pray for help with the moments when I feel like I'm all done. Instead of saying, "God, help me get through this," I'm gonna work on saying, "God thank you for the chance to do this...help me do it in the way You want me to, not just get through it." See the difference? If you know me in real life and want to hold me accountable, please do. If I act like you make me mad when you do it, do it anyway! Ha! I'm in need of some sharpening, friends.

"As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." (Proverbs 27:17)

Think about your perspective. Pray about your perspective. Let's do this together so I don't feel like a failure.

grin.

Now that that's said, enjoy some pictures taken on my phone as usual. While you're at it, consider forgiving me for once again using the phone instead of a real camera. Oh, what's that? You're used to it? Oh good.

Perspective: Instead of getting sad that I can't take my kids to the pool (for safety's sake,) I can be excited about my little Target blow up pool in my back yard. I can be thankful for friends coming over to keep me company while my man's on a trip. I can be thankful somebody makes sunglasses that fit a little man like Cody and that Cody wears them instead of thinking back to when I got some of those for Ty and he wouldn't have it.
Perspective: Instead of wishing I could take all of the kids to the park and being frustrated that it's Africa hot and Charlie gets overheated easily and vomits because of the heat, (she did it yesterday,) I can be thankful there is a cute little park right down the street from my house that is almost completely shaded. It might not have slides or swings but it has branches to play with.
Perspective: Instead of getting mad at the girl behind the counter at Plato's Closet who told me some of my clothes I was selling were "too mature," (a humble moment,) I can look at Charlie who just discovered sunglasses and say, "thank God for my kids whose lives have taken a toll on my body and closet yes but have made me a completely different person, I think for the better." I can be glad I'm considered mature even if it's only because my clothes are more suitable for old ladies. At least 30 year-old ones.
And because she's just that cute, I can find one more about her

Perspective: Instead of panicking that my house was coming down with a virus yesterday, I can calmly think through my plan of action. I can get extra crib sheets ready and pray for strength. In truth I still panicked a little bit. Y'all, there's nothing worse than a virus, don't you think? I was praying with every step I took that I hadn't exposed Cody or David to a virus and thankfully she was 100 % fine after her nap and it was, in fact, just that she got overheated.

Here's hoping for some new perspective today for you too, even if you're already good at this thing I'm working on.

Closed Until Further Notice

Not the blog, not me. My dry cleaners.

A few weeks ago I dropped off a dress at the cleaners and went to pick it up last week. Timing something like that is simple, (you'd think,) but really it takes careful planning. You can't unload all of the kids for a quick trip to go anywhere. Since I try to minimize chaos as much as possible, (what's the point?) I waited to try to retrieve the dress until Sean was home.

A little history:

One of the reasons I chose this particular cleaners was it is about a 45 second drive from my house. The other reason is that I tried another one when we first moved and they didn't give me a receipt when I dropped something off. I'm not a detail person so it never occurred to me that I didn't get receipts each time until I tried to pick up my favorite winter coat and they didn't have it. They had no record of it whatsoever. In fact, they didn't have a record of me whatsoever.

So I switched.

Discernment is key to a healthy relationship with any business.

Back to the dress and the new and improved cleaners. When I drove up to the building I noticed a sign on the door. Weird but nothing to worry about. I got out of the car and walked closer. There was a sign that said:

"CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PLEASE CALL NUMBER BELOW TO SCHEDULE A PICK-UP."

Yeah because it's only fair that you call someone whose cell phone mailbox is full for a few days before you hear back from them to schedule a time to pick up your own clothes. I guess this is their reasoning? After texting back and forth with the owner of the cell phone (really, y'all it was like I was on candid camera a few times,) we planned to retrieve the dress this past Saturday. You know, Popeye's Birthday. Since he needed to feel spoiled and celebrated we decided that he'd go with me to the cleaners. Mom thought since the people were so shady I might need Dad there and while I was initially like, "Oh, I'm sure it's not a big deal..." I was glad to have help just in case.

I'm glad he came with me because before it was all said and done, which of course since I don't have the dress, it's still not said and done, there were four very frustrated customers. 45 minutes after the planned meeting time, a teenage boy walks up and says he is the person we're meeting. Um okay. He is the owner of the cell phone. That explains the texting. He is the person in charge of giving us the clothes trapped inside.

Oops he says. I forgot the key.

Oops he says. I live 20 minutes away so if you just wait here I'll drive home, get the key, and come back. This conversation takes place 45 minutes after the planned meeting time.

45 minutes later translated into "further notice." 45 minutes after we started standing in the 100 degree heat. 45 minutes before our movie was going to start. The movie to celebrate Dad's birthday. Julie and Julia. Good movie! Anyway, 45 minutes.

Which is precisely when one guy called the police.

And they came.

Two different police cars.

When our time there was through, I learned that the police couldn't do more than scare the kid into calling the owner, (turns out it's his father,) and encourage the kid to drive home and get the key and drive back to give us what we needed.

But since we had a babysitter coming and plans to see the movie, we just punted and didn't wait around to see if the kid actually remembered the key that second time. I'm still getting texts from him telling me to let him know when I'd like to pick up my clothes. What do you think? Should I send Sean or should I just send Max? I'm all done doing business with the place and I'd rather enjoy the night without coordinating with Mr. Forgot the Key business manager.

Popeye's Birthday

Me and Dad in our skinnier days. Actually he is still pretty skinny. Me? Hmmmm. Haven't looked like that in a bikini in quite some time. In fact, I think this was the only one I ever owned before the ones I bought for my honeymoon. Ha!
I honestly have no idea where this was taken...on a vacation somewhere for sure. We didn't have flowers like that when I was little. Mom and Dad do now. I should have warned Graham and Emmy that these pictures were coming. Oops.


Dad preparing to walk me down the aisle at my wedding in the Africa heat. It was, after all, August 20th in Texas. Instead of complaining about wearing all that garb, (which even my groom did,) Dad just took it in stride.
Dad, me, and Mom. Popeye and Nattie had their wedding in the same church a very long time ago and I can pretty much guarantee it wasn't as hot as it was this day. No day was as hot as this day. On record. Well maybe I'm making that up.

My dad, commonly known as Popeye around here, turned 60 years old on Saturday. Rather than spend his big day walking the streets of Venice, (which he would have loved more than just about anything,) he spent it at my house slaving away over my kids. Or rather being my kids' slave.

Whichever way you look at it, he slaved.

And you know what?

I think he loved it.

Dad, you are better with words than I am but I hope you know how much you mean to all of us. There's no greater joy than watching my kids with you and mom. I know that they will have many memories of you giving them whatever they want against my wishes. Cookies for breakfast, Fritos (and nothing else,) for dinner, and Blue Bell any time they wish. How could they NOT love you?

Happy Birthday Dad. We love you.

The weekend in pictures

And as usual, a few words


Emmy have you seen this? It's a sucker. It's fantastic.


What do you mean it's not good for you?


Vacation at Emmy's for a while. Dern, she's about to start back to school. What will we do without her? Seriously. What?


I'm 3 months old and love my (not) new walker.




My big sister is so smart she knows everything.



Like my new haircut? I lost weight with this one. And I look like I'm 6 years old.