Sweet moments with Hannah

I've known for a while now that Hannah's love language is touch.  She's always in my lap or touching me in some way.  And she's really the best cuddler!  When she's sitting with me on the couch, she's either rubbing my arm or my back.  And she absolutely loves hugs and kisses!

I spend a good portion of the day in the kitchen, and she's usually right between my legs.  If not there, then she's never very far.  It can get frustrating at times, because she makes it hard to get things done.  But I try to remember that this is how she's expressing love to me. 

The other day I was making dinner, and she was in there with me.  She kept pushing on my legs, and I was playing with her by putting my knee up and pushing back.  She thought that was funny for a while, and then she wanted to stop.  She kept calling "Mama?" and I would say "What?" without really looking down at her.  That wasn't satisfying her, and she kept calling my name. I finally looked down, and said "Yes, baby?" and she looked right in my eyes and said "Me wuvs you." 

Talk about heart melting.  This was the best moment.  I just sat down right there and just held her and cried. 

The expression of love from your children is absolutely the best gift a mother can recieve.

7 months!

Wow! I cannot believe 7 months has gone by so quickly!  Rachel just turned 7 months old this past Saturday, and it's so hard to believe.

She's a little behind on her doctors' appointments, so we just had her 6 month check-up about 2 weeks ago.  She weighed 13.9 pounds, and was 26 inches long.  And her head was 15.75 inches.  Still pretty small on her weight and head size, like 5th percentile.  But she's in the 50th percentile for her length.  The doctor wasn't concerned though, because everything else looked really good.

Here's a glimpse at what Rachel has been up to:

• She's started "talking" a lot more.  She now says more consonant sounds.  Her favorite sayings are:  "ma ma ma ma"  and "ba ba ba ba."  She says "ma ma" a lot when she's crying.  It really sounds like she knows what she's saying, and trying to call me.
• She is a rolling machine.  I've never had a baby like this, but she will roll all over the floor.  And so quickly! She really has no interest in the process of crawling. I guess she gets around fine, so why should she try anything else!
• She's a great eater!  She's still nursing really well, and the majority of the time.  But we've been doing solids as well at night.  She eats most everything.  The only things she doesn't seem to like are peas, green beans, and bananas.  We've only been doing solids once a day so far, but I think I'm going to start doing it twice a day soon.
• I'd say she's gone from being a great sleeper to an average sleeper.  She usually goes to sleep around 9 now.  Sometimes she wakes up once around 2, and sometimes she'll sleep through until about 6:30.  It goes about half and half.  Sometimes when she wakes up in the night, I can rub her back and she'll go back to sleep for a while, but most of time she just wants to be nursed.  It's not too awful, so usually I'll just nurse her back to sleep. She takes pretty good naps though.  
• She's still not sitting up. I'm not too concerned, because it seems as though she's just not interested.  It would certainly make my life a lot easier though.  We "practice" every day, and she'll sit up for a few seconds but then she rears back like she would just rather be laying down. And rolling. :)
• She does like to sit up in her bumbo, and her new favorite thing is playing in her exersaucer.  She plays with all the toys, and jumps and squeals. 
• She's still very much a mama's girl.  She definitely prefers me, but she will easily go to Josh as well.  But most of the time, if anyone else even gets close, she sticks out her bottom lip and starts crying.  We've been trying to leave her in the nursery at church, and she only lasts for about 5 minutes!  She does love her older brother and sister though, and sometimes they can get her laughing hysterically. It's so cute!
• The latest, not so cute, thing she's doing is screaming when we take something away from her.  I've been noticing it for a while, but last night when she was taking her bath she got ahold of the cup.  I was letting her hold it, but then I needed it to rinse her off.  I took it away, and she started screaming.  Then if I would give it back, she would immediately calm down.  I tried this several times and she did it every time!  How do they learn this behavior so quickly!?!

                                             Playing outside                       

                             She fell asleep with her knees up, so cute!

 

Hanging out with Daddy

Smile!

Conclusion - Tweeking..

Recently, I've felt like everything in our lives was not working. But through everything that has been happening the last few weeks, I feel like God is using it all to change me.  For the better.  I like to call it "tweeking."  And although it's been hard and emotional, I know that it's for the best.

I know that God gave me the desire to read The Total Money Makeover.  I tried so many times before, and this time I just couldn't put it down.  And ever since my mindset changed about money, it feels like things began to work out.  I haven't been worried about finances for the last month, and this is so foreign.  I've literally worried about money for a year now.  And now there's freedom.  And hope.  I'm so excited about the future.  One of Dave Ramsey's sayings is "Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else."  Meaning you might make sacrifices now, but eventually you'll be able to have more and not be in debt.  I had to have a total mind change.  I was always seeing what other people had, and wanting it.  We live in a small two bedroom house, and I was always thinking about new houses or bigger houses.  And yes, it's hard.  But I'd rather live here, than worry about how the mortgage is going to be paid.  And more importantly, I'm blessed to have a home!

The accident really made me realize how important life is.  I know it sounds corny.  But things can happen so quickly.  I've never been in an accident going at high speeds, and it could have easily been a lot worse.  I've also never been in an accident with my children.  I'm so very thankful that they were all ok.  I can't even imagine my life without them.  It has really made me treasure all the moments with them- good and bad.

Hannah's tooth adventure really made me realize that I don't have control.  Life just happens, and I can't be afraid of it.  It may not have happened the way I wanted it too, but she's completely fine!  And she was so brave.  I would have never guessed that about her.  :)

I've been reading another blog called the "Time-warp Wife."  It's all about how to be a godly wife in modern times. What really got me interested was the cleaning section.  I do love to clean, but my house felt like it was overtaking me.  Not being here for a week started it all.  I love how she breaks things down by the day, so that you aren't overwhelmed.  And she even has lists to do deep cleaning every 6 months or so.  I love it!  But she also talks about how as a wife, we should have duties.  And I completely agree.  Josh works so hard all day, that I want him to be comfortable when he comes home.  That's the job God has given me as a stay at home mom.  Well, that and taking care of my children.  And I'm not perfect, and on bad days things might get neglected.  But I want to try my hardest. With cleaning the house, with making dinner, and especially with my children. 

So, yeah,  God is definitely tweeking me.  As a wife, as a mother, as a person.  But I still have a long way to go.  I still have a lot to do to get to the place I want to be.  And I'm still struggling in other areas.  Like in friendships.  (I honestly don't feel like we have any close friends.)  And in my self-image of myself.  (I'm trying desperately to shed some weight that just won't budge. I'm partly to blame. I eat when stressed.)

So, in conclusion to these crazy weeks, I'm going to work on better planning of my time. I need to start practicing self-control.  I think I'm going to give facebook a rest for a while too.  It's just a distraction for me.  And not even a good one. It makes me feel lonely.  And fake.  I will blog sometimes though, because it helps me to get my thoughts out! 

But that's all for now.  Thank you to all who followed our crazy adventures! I'm going to go enjoy this wonderful weather with my children! :)

Part 6 - Things happen!

We found out that the van was totalled, but we were still waiting on the insurance company to give us a check.  During this time, Josh's mom was letting us borrow her van some of the time.  She had to use it herself some too, so we were passing it back and forth. 

I don't really need a vehicle most days anyways.  It's only there for conveinence really, and for emergencies.  Last week, I didn't have much going on, so she came and got it on Tuesday and was going to keep it.  I told her I didn't need it.  Never say never.

Tuesday afternoon, Elijah and Hannah were playing outside on the trampoline.  I was watching them and they were playing very well together.  I told them to be nice, while I went to check on Rachel inside.  She had woken up, so I was getting her out of her bed when I heard them crying.  I went to check, and Elijah said that they had bumped heads.  This happens so much around here, I just looked at his head and sent him on.  I checked Hannah next, and saw that she had a little blood on her lip.  I started checking her mouth, and found that she had cracked a tooth!!!  One of her front bottom ones. 

I called the dentist to see what I needed to do about it, and they made me an appointment for in the morning.  Josh's mom came and picked us up the next morning, and off we went.  She wouldn't let me touch it alot the night before, but she let me look at it that morning..and it was worse than I thought.  That poor little tooth was shattered, and on Eli's head!

We got to the dentist, and she did so good!  She sat still for the X-rays, and didn't cry at all.  She hadn't even complained about the tooth up to this point.  She's such a trooper!  The dentist came in, and said that it was indeed cracked and that we were going to have to go to a specialist because of her age.  They made us an appointment that afternoon in Tifton. 

We went home and ate lunch and got ready to leave again.  Abbie came over to watch Elijah, and Mom came over to take us to Tifton. 

The dentist was incredibly nice.  He told me that it was going to have to be pulled eventually, and it could either happen today or later. I decided that we should go ahead, because I didn't want it to cause her any pain. They got started right away.  They numbed her gums with a swab, then started her on the laughing gas.  She was so silly. She kept putting her hands on my face, and laughing hysterically.  Then he came back and numbed her gums some more with the needle.  She did soo good.  She was impressing me greatly!

They let that sit for a while, and then he came in to pull it. They had to put a thing in her mouth to hold it open, and she didn't like that at all.  She did start getting antsy then.  We had to hold her down a little. But he pulled it really quickly!  He said it was good that we went ahead and pulled it, because it had cracked very close to the root and would have caused her some pain.   But she cried a little, and as soon as they let her get up and I could hold her, she immediately calmed down.  And not once has she complained about it!

This was one of the hardest moments I've experienced as a mom though.  I was an emotional wreck that day.  The fear of the unknown and if it would cause her to be emotionally damaged from it all.  I HATE dentists, so seeing my child go through that was very rough.  I just felt guilty, and sad.  Guilty that I had let this happen. Even though, I know things will always happen.  You can't have that kind of fear!  I was also sad, because she was missing a tooth.  I know, it sounds so vain.  But it's much deeper than that.  They come out of the womb so perfect.  Everything is perfect. No scars, no bruises.  And then life happens. They get hurt, they bump their head, sometimes they even have to get stitches.  But when those things happen for the first time, it's hard.  Their little perfect bodies have to go through pain, and the scars show what they went through.  I feel silly even admitting this.  But I'll leave it at - it was a hard day!

Hannah is completely fine though.  I honestly don't even think she knows she's missing a tooth. It hasn't caused her any problems at all!!  And because the dentist said she couldn't use a sippy cup, we've been mastering the skill of using real cups this week! :) 

Still a cutie, even without the tooth!

Part 5 - The surprise!

After the state patrolman finally got there and asked me what happened, and surveyed the scene, they finally let us go.  The babies and I rode home with Josh's parents.  On the way, I realized that they hadn't been home yet!  For some reason I thought they went home, and then came to the accident.  So they still had no clue what we had been up to!

We arrived, and Josh's dad went in first.  I just saw his back as he was going in, and he really didn't look overjoyed.  Uh oh.  Josh and I and his mom were getting the kids out of the van, and we came in a little before his mom.  She was speechless!  She came in so hesitantly. (It was probably the amount of people that had gathered and were the first thing you saw when you came in!)  But she just stood there for a long time, with her mouth open!  She just kept walking around with her mouth open a little looking at everything!  I'm so glad that she liked it.  (It was mostly for her anyways!)  Dad eventually came around and said that he liked it too though. I'm sure it was a lot to handle seeing it for the first time!

Here are some after pictures of the house:

So, we stayed the rest of the evening and just hung out with his family.  Denise and Jacob, and Rebekah were still in town so we just sat around and talked mostly.  We went home a little later, and I was exhausted.  The full week of work, plus the emotions of the wreck and the surprise.  I just fell in bed that night!

The next week was full of dealing with the van situation.  Thankfully, we had full coverage on it!  I spent most of the week talking to several people from State Farm.  And I had to go up to the body shop alot to sign alot of papers.  All week, we didn't know what was going to happen with it.  They finally got the estimate to fix it finalized on Friday.  Monday, we heard from State Farm.  They were totalling it.

I can't believe the emotions I had towards that car.  But I was seriously so sad to lose it.  The previous week, it came into my thoughts several times that we just needed to sell it.  I know that was God asking me to give it up, but I kept resisting.  And looking back, it feels like it just took physical force to just take it away from me!  But it really worked out great.  We got WAY more than we paid for it!  And we were able to pay off the rest of the loan, and have enough left over to buy another car outright! Praise God! No more car payments!  Now we are just in the process of finding another car. 

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part 4- It happens so fast...

***Sidenote:  I really don't mean to drag this out and irritate you all! Rachel's bed and the computer are in the same room, and I only have limited times of being on it.  Ideally I would write when she's sleeping, but it just doesn't work! Please forgive me :)  ***

We have left the party, I had all the kids in their carseats, about to pull out, when Josh calls and says that his parents are about 45 minutes away and I need to leave now.  Already on top of it, I feel like I'll be there in plenty of time!

For extra time though, I decided to take a back road that is more of a straight shot to their house.  This road always makes me a little nervous. It's got alot of curves, and it's real narrow. On top of that, I didn't realize that they had just repaved a portion of it.  I was nearing the end of the road, and my phone rang.  I glanced down for a second to find my phone, and my right tire went a little off the road.  This happens sometimes because the road is so narrow, so it wasn't a big deal.  But I was on the new portion that was recently paved, and there was a big drop off.  When I tried to get back on smoothly, there was a lip and I just couldn't get it back on the road. 

All of a sudden, I tried to pull it back on and I swerved back onto the road.  Out of fear, I swerved back the other way and overcorrected. I went off the right side of the road again, and then lost all control.  We swerved back into the road almost sideways, went several feet, hit a curve in the road sign, and into the right ditch and hit a fence.

It happened so fast. So fast actually, that my phone was still ringing.  I was in shock of what just happened.  I picked up my phone, saw that it was Denise and answered.  The babies were screaming, and I was freaking out.  I tried to open my door, and I couldn't.  I just remember saying to her, "We just wrecked, and I'm stuck in the car.  Send somebody." This must have freaked her out, looking back on it.  But all I could think about was getting to the babies and getting out, and I was stuck!  I knew she would let Josh know. 

I tried opening the passenger door, and it was stuck too!  I climbed over the seat, and went back to the babies. They were all crying.  Hannah was hysterical, and Elijah was starting to calm down when I got back to him.  I got them both out of their seats, and saw that they were ok.  The only door I could get open was the left sliding door.  I got it open and then got the two older ones out.  Rachel was wimpering the whole time, and when I got to her I realized that her side door was what hit the sign.  The window had busted, and she was completely covered in glass.  I just grabbed her whole seat, and we all made it to the side of the road.  I just wanted to be as far away from the van as possible, because I didn't know what was damaged or if it would catch on fire or what.  (maybe I watch too many action movies..)

We got far enough away, and I picked Hannah up.  Eli and Rachel were calm now, but Hannah was still screaming.  I realized she was physically ok, and just real scared.  I held her for a while, and she calmed down.  I sat her down on the grass, so I could check on Rachel.  She was laying there perfectly content, but with glass covering her.  I carefully got her out of her seat, and got most of the glass off of her.  I looked her over for cuts, and she had one small scrape on her forehead.  Otherwise she seemed to be fine!

At that time, a man came walking up.  He said that he lived a little ways down, and he was outside and heard it all.  He had called 911.  Another man pulled over to help.  These two men were soooo nice.  They just talked to me and calmed me down.  Hannah was still crying a little, and I realized that she had lost a shoe in the whole ordeal.  One of the men saw and went and found it for her.  They got me to sit down. And then Josh came.  I started to calm down then. 

A policeman showed up, and I told him what happened.  Then an ambulance came.  They looked over everyone, and looked over Rachel.  He cleaned up the spot on her forehead, and said that it was just a small scrape.  Everyone was very friendly and just wanted to help.  Josh's parents came too, because we were going to need a ride home.  The policeman came back over and said that looking at my tire marks, it looked like I just overcorrected like I said.  But because we were in the county, we had to wait for the State Patrol to come before we could leave.  So we just all sat and talked for a while waiting.

The policeman also said that I held control really good, because looking at my tire marks we should have flipped.  I know this isn't true.  Because I remember when we were going sideways, I just let go of the wheel.  I wasn't controlling anything.  I know God was there protecting us.  He was holding His hand on top of the van.  And looking at where we landed, He guided us into that ditch.  We landed RIGHT between two large trees. Directly in between so that I couldn't open either side door.  It would have been so much worse if we had hit a tree.  We hit the sign so hard, that it crushed the side door and shattered the glass, but I honestly don't really remember hitting it.  And He placed a shield over Rachel.  She was literally covered in glass, but had one nick that never bled again after it was cleaned.  We all walked away with not even a bruise.  God was definitely protecting us.

 

TO BE CONTINUED...

Part 3- Finishing up the makeover!

Ok, so where did we leave off?

We had worked all day Friday, and I left around 9 that night. There was still a hole in the wall, but Josh was going to stay late and work on it.  All of the painting was pretty much completed, except of course for the rail that hadn't been built yet. The only other things needed to be done were moving furniture back into place, hanging pictures on the walls, and of course, ALOT of clean-up.  I needed to go home and get the kids in bed.  They did super awesome all week, but I could see that it was starting to wear on them.  We also had a birthday party to go to the next day, so I wanted them to be refreshed for that.

So, the plan for me was to go home that night, and not come back in the morning.  They could do a lot of work themselves, and I could give the babies a much needed break and an early nap before the party.  Then I would go over there after the party to help with last minute cleaning, and picture hanging. We had plenty of time because we didn't expect his parents back until late the next night.  Seemed like a great plan!

Josh stayed and worked on the rail until late that night, and then woke up and went back over there in the morning to finish.  Everything seemed to be going smoothly, and we just did our own thing at the house.  Until I got a text message from Abbie.  They had just heard from her parents, and they were going to be home around 4. "Um, what???"  "4 in the afternoon?" "Yep."  We weren't ready! 

So, the only thing they needed me to help with was hanging the pictures, so Rebekah came over and watched the babies and I ran over there.  Jacob and I were flying around the house! We were a great team! I told him where, and he would just put a screw in, and up went the picture!  Probably not the best way to do picture hanging, but it was working!  We got all the pictures up in record time, and I came back home to get the kids ready for the party.  Rebekah had fed them and put them down for naps, so things were still running rather smoothly for this bump in the road!


Oh yeah, and they had finished the rail AND painted it the night before! This was what I walked in on, and was so proud of my husband. It looked amazing!

 
As Josh was finishing up with the rail, and Abbie was cleaning, me and Jacob hung pics!

.

So off we went to Thomasville for the party.  It was kinda nice getting out of the chaos for a little while. I had just planned on leaving the party a little early so I could make it back in time. The kids had a great time! They played on the swing set and ran around, but the most fun was had on the bouncy house! (But only when all the other kids were off of it! haha)  We had cake, did presents, and then it was time to leave.  I left around 3:30, and Josh called as I was pulling out and said his parents were about 45 minutes away.  So I had plenty of time to get there right when they came in! 

TO BE CONTINUED...