Happy New Year! A decade in review...

Well it is the eve of a brand new decade!!  Can you believe it?  Where were you for Y2K?  I was flying some where over the US during the GMT switch where the world was going to fall apart.  Good thing it didn't since falling 36000 ft due to computer malfunctions would not have been pleasant.

Now it's another New Year, another new decade and definitely a different phase in my life.  Here is how far we have come in 10 years:

• We produced 3 healthy children
• We bought our first house
• We sold our first house
• We bought our second house
• We stopped being a military family and just became a family
• We got out of debt
• We pursued a business
  
• We got back into debt because of our business
  
• We got out of debt...again
• We "invested" more into our business
  
• We got back into debt
• We decided to get rid of that business
• We found Dave Ramsey and are going to get out of debt once and for all!!!!

Phew!  When my husband and I look back we realize how much we have learned and how very blessed we are.  We have had a few "bad" years where it seems that nothing is working out for us, but in the end we know where our blessings come from.

I say farewell to the past and pray for continued health and happiness for our family and yours!

Life is short

I was confronted today with reality. Life if short. Sounds trite? Common? Of course it does because we hear it all the time. It is when you experience something that touches your heart and brings tears to your eyes is when reflection comes. I was checking my email and my brother-in-law twittered, "Such sad news, my heart goes out to this family. http://apinisfamily.blogspot.com"

Of course I went to see what was up. I'm of a curious nature after all. It was a blog about a little boy named Samuel who was born 4 weeks ago with a heart defect. As I read the latest post on their blog my heart just broke for this family. I immediately started from the beginning to get an inkling as to what had happened. Intermixed with the medical jargon and prayerful hope were pictures of this baby boy. As I browsed the pictures I saw two big brothers who met and loved their baby brother. As I read the parent's journal of the last few days before Samuel went to be with the Lord, I was overwhelmed with tears.

Often the pain of another can remind you of the depth of love and thankfulness for your own. Sometimes in the midst of frustration and exhaustion of parenting, God sends me that gentle reminder.

I pray for this family and will often in the next few weeks. Although I do not know them, my heart hurts for them and the pain they face.

One of those days....

Ever had one of those days where you just wanted to throw in the towel? For me, today would be one of them. I just want to quit my job as a mom. Why? Well I will let you in on today... It started with not being able to wake up this morning. My wonderful husband got up with the baby and our boy, got them changed, fed and then got himself off to work.

Before he left, I had a very cranky tired baby that refused to take a nap no matter what I did. Finally I just let him cry for a good 10 minutes (not my favorite thing to do, but wanted his energy to wane). I then picked him up and a few bounces later he fell asleep. I checked on boy #1, took out the dog and went to my bed to try and get a few more minutes of rest.

Rest was very interrupted by a hungry boy, a ringing phone, and the guilt that I really should not be this tired. I finally dragged myself out of bed, got dressed in my "mom clothes," did a quick email check and returned a few phone calls. After helping my boy make his pbj sandwich (he's getting the hang of it, but it is a sticky mess) and eating mine, I got the baby up from his nap, dressed and began to feed him. Joel has now gotten into the spitting phase where he sticks his tongue out does the "pthbbt" with his tongue, usually with food in his mouth.

Then, the dog threw up. I go to clean up that lovely mess and try to get the new stain out of my already stained carpet and hear the explanation on how Maggie ate the playdoh that was on the floor. Next came the don't-let-the-dog-eat-playdoh lecture.

I continued to feed Joel and Kyle settled in to work on some writing. A weird noise was coming from the ground and I looked down and saw that the dog threw up...again! Next came the you-can't-play-with-playdoh lecture. I hope Kyle got the message. I finally finished feeding Joel, put the dog away and piled everyone into the van so I could go do the paperwork I do for my dad's business.

I was hoping for a relatively smooth hour since my baby boy took a long nap and Kyle is always occupied playing wii. I was wrong. Joel decided after 15 minutes that he no longer wanted to be a happy baby. He started fussing which prompted me to give him anything that would keep him quiet until I was done. Joel got to play with envelopes, a huge clip, paper, you know the usual stuff in the office. No worries I didn't give him anything in which he would harm himself, but I did contemplate bribing him with the box of snowcap chocolate candy that was on my dad's file cabinet.

I finally finished what I could and scooted out of the house. I got the boys back in the van and tears started to form. This is when it hit me, "I just need a day off !" I texted this to my husband, but did not get a response. (I'm secretly hoping he will come home and say, "Take the night off, Honey!")

My next task was to pick up my daughter who had been at a friends house since last night. I figured since my day was going the way it was, I would stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way and get an iced latte for my troubles. The whole time Joel was fussing in the backseat. I called my daughter to tell her I was on the way and be ready because I had to get a cranky baby home (I was only 5 minutes away). Much to my surprise , her friend's mom answered and told me they were at the pool and could she just drop her off at home? What!!?? You couldn't have offered this option 2 hours ago when I called about picking her up? I didn't say this, but I sure did think it. I basically had driven an extra 10 minutes out of my way with a very fussy baby for nothing.

So now I am home with a crying baby in a bouncer and really just want to escape somewhere where there are no children for a few hours. It's not that I don't like being a stay-at-home-mom, I really LOVE it. But it is hard to be a mom 24/7 with no relief. And really, what mom doesn't need a break every now and then?

The nastiest bug EVER...

Well, another month has passed and it is time for a quick update. March was awful! We all got a horrible, nasty, stomach flu. And I mean EVERYBODY! Not even my own parents were safe. It started with me. I was feeling a little sick and was sitting at my daughter's softball game praying my husband would come soon so I could go home. After he arrived, I left the field to make it home (barely) for the saga to begin. I was horribly sick. Every fluid in my body was trying to exit any which way possible. Not fun.

Next was my daughter. She woke up in the middle of the night getting sick. My poor husband. Not only was he dealing with her, but he also had to get up with our baby boy to tend to his middle of the night snacks.

The following morning my husband shipped our Kindergartner off to school. He wasn't sick and my husband wanted to get him out of the germ-infested house. Around 9:30AM the phonecall came, "Kyle threw up in class. Can you come and get him." My poor husband. He dutifully left to pick up Kyle and more supplies as my daughter and I slept the sleep of the ill.

Around 4PM Larry came up to check on me and give me a Popsicle. A Popsicle never tasted so good! He coaxed me to come downstairs and I weakly complied. After about an hour I dragged myself back upstairs to sleep some more.

At 10PM, I finally started feeling hopeful that I was on the mend. All three of my children were soundly sleeping. No one had been sick for at least 6 hours. I went to find Larry only to discover he was bent over the kitchen sink. I asked if he was okay and he said, "Did you feel better after you threw up?" Oh no! My rock, my husband-who-never-gets-sick was feeling our misery. After 24 hours taking care of the entire household, his body succumbed.

A week later we all were finally well. I think it took me the longest to recover. I had bouts of weakness that were frustrating. Larry and I were both surprised at how long it took us to feel like ourselves again. The kids, of course, bounced back in a quick few days. Joel, unfortunately ended up having it twice. We wonder if he was the first to get it and it trickled to each one of us.

However it invaded our home, we hope to not see it's return for a very LONG time.

Not a blogger, just a mother.

Well it seems I am not too good at keeping a blog. However, I am not sure anyone but me reads it. My husband just found out I even had a blog. It wasn't a secret and I clearly remember telling him about it. It was just one of those things that he heard, but didn't recall. And, hey, as you can see, I don't write on here often. Once or twice a year seems to be my MO.

I pondered this question about my lack of writing. I see all these wonderful blogs with pictures and videos and I think it's a great way to communicate, but yet I still fall short. My answer came to me in a quiet voice, "You're a mother!"

I was a bit taken aback. Yeah, so are a lot of other women on the blogger network. What is my excuse? Frankly, I don't have one. Plain and simple, I am not a writer. Writing comes so easy and natural for many people. My husband is a good example of a great writer. He can compose anything from an eloquent email to a surprising medical drama. I, on the other hand, am bombarded by life as a mom of 3 children. And if we were to take a look at the past 12 months, we could probably see why I didn't have the time to write.

{Interlude}

Well, I actually started listing it all out and I realized that no one would read about my last year if I paid them. Anyway, here are a few pictures that show why my life is busy.

My Joel Boy has started on real food. Good thing, too. He's a hungry boy!

Yes, we got a puppy! Someone said that I must have a lot of energy, but I plead insanity! Why does my husband love labs so?

Those are just 2 little reasons why my life is crazy. If I get any time, it's usually to rest my weary body and hope for a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. However, I don't think I'll get that for a long time.