Rocking The Baby

As I sat in the rocking chair slowly moving to and fro with Baby Caroline (she's still a baby to me, no matter what her age) snuggled against my chest, I started thinking.
Thinking about yesterday, today, tomorrow, next week, next month....

Thanksgiving has always been something I dreaded. All I could ever think about was eating mass quantities of food, gaining weight, eating more food, etc. I found myself worrying about the little details and forgetting to actually be thankful for things.

After all, I have my youth, 3 beautiful children, a loving/caring husband, wonderful family & friends, a warm house, a cozy bed, 2 nice cars, and money for food, gas, bills, etc. The list could go on and on.

As I rocked in the dark room, listening to Caroline's heavy breathing, I felt ashamed.
Ashamed that I had waited practically all year to actually be thankful for my life. I can truly say that I've never been "without" anything---needed OR wanted. I've been so very well taken care of, and that's not something to forget.

I'm thankful for my salvation--that I have a Heavenly Father that provides for me and accepts me "as is."


Truthfully, I haven't felt too great over the past few days. Symptoms of a massive head cold have bombarded me left and right. It was very hard to even get out of bed this morning, but I didn't want something silly to keep me from sharing a 2nd Thanksgiving meal with John's family (we had Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, and it rocked!). I wanted so badly to stay in bed and just sleep until my head unclogged and I could breathe/smell again, but that wasn't going to be a reality.
I'm thankful I got out of bed and enjoyed good company/food. :)
I'm even more thankful that I live in a country where cold medicine is just down the street at the store.

I don't ever want to lose that spirit of thanksgiving again. After all, I am not guaranteed a perfect and painless existence, but I am promised to be comforted and well cared for. And for that, I am truly thankful.

May you all have a blessed, warm, cozy, beautiful holiday season. May you always find something to be thankful for, even when it doesn't come easy. Peace and love always.

SOCKS

Things that make me happy:
Yummy Starbucks coffee, shopping with friends who give me true opinions on the fit of clothing, and....
NO-SHOW SOCKS.

I'm weird, I know. Roll your eyes at me if you must, but you have no idea what I've gone through to get these darn socks. A friend of mine found true no-show socks at a Target in Houston, and I've coveted them every time I see her wearing them. I just knew they'd be great for the pair of Skechers I have that look completely dorky with big, thick, white socks hanging out over the top.

Sad---probably.

Wrong---nope. :)

Anyway, I've been searching all over for them. I even went to the Target in Oklahoma City during the Women of Faith conference, just to see if by chance they carried them. No such luck.

I just happened to be at Kohls today, and I found them!!! Not only that, but they were buy one get one 50% off and in several color choices. Truly a divine purchase if you ask me. So, here I sit in my comfy new no-show socks, soaking up the fact that I now have 6 pair of them--3 white, 1 nude, 1 black, and 1 off white. This opens up so many new shoe-wearing possibilities for me. I can wear my ballet flats in winter with these new socks on and no one will be the wiser.

No, I will not be seeking therapy for my sock buying issues. Truly, if you owned a pair, you'd totally understand. They ARE that rockin'.

I wanted to include a pic of the socks on my darling feet for your enjoyment, but John advised against it. You can thank him later.

Just wait. After reading this post, you will want to try them out for yourself. You might actually even dream of them like I have been doing for weeks.

Ok, maybe not the dream part. The rest is definitely a possibility though.

Pics And An Update

This month really has flown by. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just 3 days away--yikes!
We've been super busy around here, and that has left very little time to blog. I can tell you I've missed it BIG TIME.

The kiddos went to Mimi & Pappaw's house for a bit on Sunday while John and I shopped at the new grocery store in town, Natural Grocers (it's at 34th and Coulter). I fell in love with that place! If I could just eat organic and natural foods without worrying about the higher price, I definitely would. This store, though, had great prices on produce and meat--totally worth checking out! Anyway, here are some pics from their visit. Nothing like playing in leaves!

And for the update:

I don't know about any of you, but this holiday season seems to already be crazy--but in a fun way. If I get everything done on time, it's gonna definitely be a miracle. :)

John and I have decided to put Caroline in the Mother's Day Out where Christian is going. She'll be joining him (well, technically it's a different room) every Tuesday, which will give this momma a much needed break and a chance to get things done without my darling little helpers underneath my feet. I'm excited and I know she will have a blast. Currently, there are several little kids from our church that attend this MDO, so she will be in great company.

We take Caitlin to see an orthodontist on December 2nd. She MUST be evaluated for spacers/braces asap--according to the pediatric denist. Apparently she has a double crossbite, and the fact that teeth are coming in at wrong angles don't help. We expect to start her treatment in the first part of January. She's not worried a bit about it all--I just love my easygoing firstborn. :)

Christian is doing MUCH better. He's still pale, but his appetite has picked up and he is sleeping beautifully. I love having him nap with me (when I do get a nap) now because he no longer snores. He isn't even waking up in the night to migrate to Caitlin's bed--and that's a huge improvement.

Ok, so I have chosen to take some time away from the computer. Nothing huge, just a cut-back of sorts. I will only be blogging/checking email/playing on facebook in the evenings, just so I can devote the majority of my day to doing things that must get done. It's really amazing how clean this casa is when I'm not stuffing my face in the computer! haha

That being said, I want to get back to blogging more regularly, so be watching for more posts.

Let's Get Through This Week

Let me just get through the rest of this week, and then I promise to have something to blog about. There will pictures too! Aren't you just so excited??
This week has been---by far---the most crazy one I've had in a while. I had the great opportunity to attend Women Of Faith in Oklahoma City this past weekend, and I'm still trying to play catch up from being gone. John did an amazing job keeping the kids, and they even surprised me with a bouquet of flowers and 2 dozen homemade cookies when I got home Saturday night. Such a special family I have!
Ok, I'm off to the gym. I'll be back...promise!

Life Slump

You hear about blogging slumps all the time--when you can't think of anything to blog about. Well, I think I'm having a life slump. Nothing's going on, yet everything is at once.
I can't seem to find the energy to do the things I ought, or even the things I want. Hmmm....
You know what's truly sad? It's gotten so bad that I just huff off to bed sometime waaaaaay before my actual bedtime.
Nothing's wrong.
All is well.
I am blessed, loved, wanted, needed, and much more.
My brain is tired.
I have 1,001 things I want to accomplish before January 1, 2009 (can you believe it's just a month and a half away from that date???), but I am certainly not sure if any of it will get finished.
Answering emails has become ho-hum even.
I have nothing to type---or say for that matter.
No need to Ebay or Etsy.
Nothing to list on Craigslist or sell at the consignment store.
There is absolutely nothing worth watching on television, and I don't own a DVR.

*scratching my head with a confused look on my face*

Bleh.
That's the only word to describe things in "Melissa-ville."
Bleh.

Ok, enough whine for tonight. Hopefully something mindblowing will happen this week to jolt me out of this little life slump. Until then...

I've Been Tagged

I was tagged by Keri M. and I'm excited to play along! Here are the rules:

1. Make a link to the person who tagged you and then explain the rules
2. Share 7 random facts about yourself
3. Tag 7 other people and link to them at the end of the post
4. Let each of the 7 people know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

Ok peeps----here it goes---7 random facts about myself. Enjoy.

1. My nickname on the high school basketball court was Big Red. I still have a warmup shirt to prove it.

2. I get extremely motion sick. When John and I were on vacation with my parents and brother (Caitlin was 2 and stayed with the Duke grandparents) in San Francisco, I almost required a tranquilizer to get across the mountain driving portion of the trip. Picture a distressed cat in a car on its way to the vet, and there you have it.

3. I used to get fake nails and go to the tanning bed on a regular basis. I also only wore Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic clothing. Oh--and there was the whole "need" of expensive jewelry. There are 2 words that no longer apply to me: high maintenance.

4. My first car was a blue Mercury Tracer hatchback. The main selling point was that it had what I called a "beefy steering wheel."

5. I do not decorate for any holiday or season. I may hang a wreath on the door and throw out a good smelling candle, but that's as far as it goes. Ok, I might put up the manger scene---but that's truly it.

6. My closet is arranged by color, style, and season. I even went as far as to arrange John's side like that too, but it hasn't lasted long.

7. I guess I kind of like Ebay. And Etsy. They're fun to look at every now and then. Every few months or so. :)

Ok, now to the fun tagging part. Let's pick:

MELANIE, APRYL, JILL, MISTY, SHERIDAN, LINDSAY, and TINA.
Have fun ladies!

2 Yr. Checkup and a Lost Tooth

Caroline had her 2 year checkup this morning and did great. No huge surprise--she's tall and thin! Her stats were:
Height: 36in
Weight: 25.5lbs

So get this---my babies have all been almost identical on their 2nd birthdays. Caitlin was 36in and 27lbs, and Christian was 36in and 28lbs. Totally cracks me up! Also, we have always followed the old wives tale of taking the kid's height at age 2 and doubling it to get an idea of how tall they'd be when they're grown. By the looks of it, I will have all 3 children at 6ft tall! Momma would be the shrimp of the family.
That would just be weird.
I don't really know how accurate that old wives tale is, but it's fun to guess. I have a sneaky suspicion that Caitlin will be my tallest-don't ask me why I think that. Maybe it's a momma's intuition?

Ok, about the lost tooth. Caitlin pulled a baby molar at school about a week ago, and the nurse gave her a very cool little tooth-shaped keeper for it. She was so proud and couldn't wait to get home and stick it under her pillow for some much needed $$. When we got home that night from the gym, I noticed that she was lolly-gagging around in the back seat---on her knees---looking under the car seats.
"Caitlin, did you lose something?"
"Yeah, Momma, I dropped my tooth."
Nice.
Apparently she took it out of the tooth keeper and was looking at it--after I had told her NOT to do that.
Needless to say, Caitlin has yet to find the tooth. She searched for a long time and came up with nothing. For all of you who are riding with me to Women of Faith this weekend--have NO fear--I will clean out the car and find that tooth before we go. :) I think it's more for my sanity than anything. I looked everywhere in that car too and found nothing. Soooo weird. I betcha it's in the same place as the socks that get lost in the dryer.

Randomness

*Quick update on Christian*
He is doing great! Although he's still a bit pale from the whole incident, he's feeling better each day. Yesterday was the "dreaded Day 3"--the one that everyone tells you is the worst day--but he was only slightly more crabby. Isn't that a big praise?!? He goes back to the ENT on Friday for a post-op check, and from what I can tell, he will be just fine.

*Random Pics from the past few months*
Just thought I'd share some fun pics with you guys!
Me and my bro (Josh) with Grandma (Madge) on her 75th Birthday

Christian waking up from anesthesia the 1st time (told you these were random pics!)

Jill (Momma-to-be), Teresa, me, and Keri M. at Jill's baby shower

The 3 C's watching the hot air balloons (they went w/Mimi while I ran the 5K)

Caroline feeding her baby

My grandma (Madge) with me, Caroline, and Christian in Mimi & Pappaw's back yard

Friday Fess Ups A Day Late

Better late than never, right?
It's short and sweet this week.....

1. I did not just have one of the most embarrassing experiences yesterday at mommy lunch at McDonalds. Caroline did not do #2 in her pull up while playing up in the playplace and then decide to pull her pants and pull up down while coming down the stairs to find me. Another mom most certainly did not have to scoop her up--naked bottom and all--and come around the corner of the playplace asking, "Who's little girl is this?" I was by no means mortified when it happened to be MY little girl. None of the moms laughed at us either. I didn't have to go into the kids bathroom with her and clean #2 off of the entire lower half of her body, as well as change out her jeans.
Oh yeah--and my darling friend Kate did NOT quickly open the door to the bathroom and snap a shot of me cleaning up my stinky princess. Uggggg

There are several women now who are doing Friday Fess Ups, so if you want a good laugh (or even if YOU want to join in the fun) then take a look at theirs. Thanks for playing along! :)
Here are the blogs who are doing Fess Ups now:

TEXAS WITTIGS (Sheridan)

THE DOZERS (Apryl)

THE LYONS (Melanie)

Oh The Drama Of It All

If you know me at all, then you are fully aware that 99.9% of the time I have some sort of drama in my life.
Yesterday was no different, although I wish it would have been.

Christian was feeling great--playing toys with Caroline and watching tv--doing everything he could to stay active and not be confined to the couch. Well, around 3:30pm, he coughed up a nice sized blood clot. Not worrying too much about it, I cleaned up his tiny mess of coughed-up dark blood and went back to doing chores around the house. Around the time John got hom (4:45ish) Christian had turned very pale. He was weak, but I just attributed it to the meds. John took him upstairs and they both settled in for a nap in our bed. Around 5:45pm, John called me to come upstairs--Christian had thrown up about 1/4 cup of dark blood--a sign that it wasn't fresh blood, but just some that had gotten into his stomach throughout the day. Knowing that throwing up blood wasn't the best scenario, I called the doctor on call at the surgical hospital. She talked with me and John for a bit and told us just to watch him.
My fears relieved, I put Caroline in the car and left the boys to sleep some more. I needed coffee from Starbucks and thought it would be a good time to get it.
I no more got down to the end of the street than John called me and said to get home right away. Christian had thrown up A TON of blood and he needed to go to the ER immediately. When I got upstairs, the mass carnage that greeted me in the bathroom was almost unbearable. I grabbed the trash can with the evidence in it and followed John to the car.
We called the doctor back on the way to the ER, and she re-routed us back to the surgical hospital instead. Within 20 minutes of arriving at the surgical hospital, a team was formed, the doctor was there, and Christian was put back under and shipped off to surgery--AGAIN.
After about 30 minutes of waiting, the doctor came out and told us that she found an area in the tonsil bed that had apparently been oozing all day long. She had to clean everything out, cauterize the areas, and suction all of the blood out of his stomach.
He came out looking horribly pale and weak--nothing a momma would ever want to see. Having to sit with him while the anesthesia wore off a 2nd time was definitely not fun. Our original doctor (not the one that did the 2nd surgery) decided it would be best to keep Christian overnight and watch him. His hemaglobin levels were very low, and they were watching to see if he needed a unit of blood to compensate. We made ourselves comfortable (well, as much as possible) in a room and stayed the night.
By 8:00am this morning, Christian was in much better spirits. He began asking for more drink and food, and he even wanted to get up and walk around. His doctor let him go around 9am and told us to update him this evening on Christian's condition. He didn't feel like Christian needed the unit of blood, and is hoping that his body just replaces what he lost without any further medical intervention.

WHEW! Crazy huh!

As I type, Christian and John are sleeping upstairs in our bed. Caroline and I are hanging out, and I think we'll try for nap shortly too. I'm so THANKFUL to have Christian home safe. I truly believe we are on the upside of all of this.
No more drama for this momma today! :)

Thank you again to ALL of you for your prayers, support, calls, visits, emails, texts, etc. You have kept my spirits up and shown so much love for Christian and our family. We'll never be able to repay your kindness, but just know that you are a blessing!

Home and Already Playing?

Well, the whole surgery thing went SO WELL! We got to the surgical hospital around 7:15am, and we were back home by 11am--that's with a 30min stop at Walgreens for pain meds and antibiotics. We were told we'd be there at least 3-4hrs, possibly as many as 7hrs. Isn't it crazy that we are already home and back to playing???
Christian has just been amazing...everything from his positive attitude to his desire to play with his baby sister right away. I took this pic right around the time we got home:

He's currently laying on the couch due to the effects of the Tylenol w/Codeine. I think we'll all take a good long nap and see how things are going this evening.
THANK YOU so much to those of you who came to see him (that was a huge blessing!), as well as to the family members who have helped tremendously with the girls this week.
Thank you as well for everyones' thoughts, prayers, emails, and calls. We have such an amazing family and friend network, and you will never know how much you have blessed our hearts.
More updates later...

Melissa

We're Off

Hey guys, we are headed to the surgical hospital as we speak. We know Christian is in awesome hands--just pray for a speedy recovery for my little man! I'll blog later with an update.

Potato Chips and Pumps

Let me just say that nothing makes my day like a good bag of sour cream & onion potato chips and a cute pair of peep toe pumps.

Ok, so if you add french onion dip to the chips, we've got even more of a winner.

And it's nice to have a necklace that matches the peep toe pumps--makes life easier.

I'm Pleased to say it's Probably the Perfect day when there's Plenty of Potato chips, Pomagranate Peach tea to drink (yes, there is such a thing), and I can Properly wear my Positively adorable Peep toe Pumps.

:)

Pre-Op And Other Thoughts

This morning was Christian's pre-op appointment. We had to visit the doctor's office first to do paperwork, and then we went to the surgical center for paperwork/bloodwork. After 3 super fun hours of medical stuff, we're back home hanging out.
The nurse that has been taking care of Christian explained everything--and I mean everything--in detail about the surgery. We are anxious, excited, and ready to get this all over with so he can start feeling better. She said to expect about 10 days worth of pain, but I know our God is one that gives speedy recoveries. No worries there. No worries anywhere actually. We are simply at peace with the whole process.
The surgery is scheduled for this Thursday (the 6th) sometime around 9am. We'll update and let everyone know how he's feeling by that evening.

As for today being Election Day, I am choosing not to bury my nose in the television, tune in to the radio every 5 minutes, or get weighed down with how serious this day really is for our country. Either way, history will be made. We plan on watching the results as a family this evening, but we remember this:

"We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. " Romans 8:28

The Big 2

Can you all believe that Caroline Sunshine is 2 today?? I certainly can't.

I just loved the expression on her face in this pic. She just melts my heart like butter. And to think she's not much of a baby anymore... *sniff sniff*

We had a fun costume party for her yesterday afternoon (I loved being able to re-use the Halloween costumes and get more wear out of them). THANK YOU to all of the friends and family that came and celebrated with us. Caroline got some awesome gifts---she, Christian, and her friend Alexis are sitting in the floor playing with the majority of them this morning as I type. The cake was yummy (thanks Stacy!), and it was just nice to hang out with everyone and watch tons of little kiddos run around and play.

Last night, I went into Caroline's room and took out all of her crib bedding to make room for her big girl quilt--made by Grandma Duke (it's beautiful!)--and her new pillow. She LOVED it. I couldn't believe how easily she laid down and went to sleep. Of course, that could all be from pure exhaustion too. :) In a way, it makes me sad to let go of the baby things in her room, but then again I'm excited to see her grow up. This age is such a fun one! Now when she turns 3, I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune...ha!
Here are some pics from the party yesterday. Hopefully this evening we as a family can all hang out and celebrate her birthday together. Maybe Daddy will take us out for dinner? *big grin*
A super yummy cake
Party guests
And more party guests
Singing "Happy Birthday"
Opening presents and showing Pappaw what she got

She thought the cake rocked too!

And here are some pics from this morning. She wasn't too terribly interested in my warm "good morning birthday girl!" greeting, but she did finally decide to show off her new clicky-clack shoes. :)

Halloween 2008

Last night was super easy and fun. We went to our pastor's house for a cider/snack food come and go party, visited Mimi and Grandma Duke, and then came back home. All 3 C's were in bed by 9:30pm. That definitely made this momma happy! :) John had to work a 12hr. shift at BSA last night, which landed him in a parking lot near the United in Canyon. He had to hang out there and hand out candy to all of the little trick-or-treaters that came by to see the "haunted ambulance." I really wish I could have had a picture of that--oh well. I do have some though. Aren't you proud?? Ha!

Captain America, Cleopatra, and a Peacock Fairy
Lainee (a bride) and Caroline

Lainee's groom (her dad Randall) and Sarah Palin (her mom Teresa)

We are having a costume party in honor of Caroline's 2nd birthday, so be watching for those pics too!