Cinderella

Have you heard Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman?

Please tell me you have.

If you have a daughter and you haven't....well grab some tissues and watch this....
(it's the music video and also the story behind the song)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYxtuC0oRk

This is Erika's FAVORITE song. I mean seriously. She'll hear the very first notes of the piano playing in the beginning and know's it's "her" Cinderella song.

When we are home and this song comes on, she stops whatever she is doing to dance. And you can only imagine what happens when she says "Daddy, you want to dance with me?" David drops everything for his princess. There is no doubt in my mind that this song will someday be played at her wedding. There is also no doubt in my mind that David will be a sobbing mess at that point.

We'll probably also use this video at some point in her wedding....

I know I'm biased....but that is precious!!!

YES

We are still alive....not that anyone has asked!  I haven't intended to abandon my blog for so long, it just happened.  I've been a busy mama!  I am watching two extra kids during the week now, so far it's going great.  I just don't have nearly as much free time to sit down & blog.  Starting this week they are actually going to just be part time, so I will have a couple days with just Erika (on the days Caleb has school, obviously) and I'm looking forward to it.  Since this past fall when Caleb started school, Erika & I have had a TON of one on one time & I think we both thuroughly enjoyed it.  Tomorrow will be the first day that we'll have together in over three weeks!  First up?  A coffee date to Caribou!  Don't worry....she'll get a hot chocolate!

Caleb's birth story.....

I'm joining in Mama M's fun & posting Caleb's birth story.

Oh Caleb....my 6 1/2 year old.  Wow.  Can't believe it's been that long since I became a mommy, yet I can still remember the details of his birth like it just happened!

When I was 32 wks 4 days pregnant, I went into the doc for a normal pre-natal visit.  All the regular visit stuff had occured and the doc & I were sitting in the little room chatting when I see this piece of paper come sliding under the door.  She looks at me & looks at the paper and says "that's never good".  And she was right.  There was protein in my urine.  She had taken my BP earlier in the visit & it was a little high, so she wasn't surprised.  She took my BP again, it was still high.  Not high enough to be overly concerned at that point.  I was sent home with a note for my employer that I was only allowed to work 4 hours a day until further notice.  Wohoo!!!!  4 hours a day versus 8!  Hey no problem!  Especially if it was what was best for the baby!  By day #2 though I was so sick of the couch and my bed!

The week before all this happened my best friend Erika moved to San Diego!!!  (Yes, I later named my daughter after her!!!)  I was missing her big time as I did nothing but watch TV & movies for three days!  My hubby started a new job that week.  It was a crazy time!

When I went back to the doc on Friday of that week, I was exactly 33wks pregnant!  I was pretty swollen from retaining fluids, but felt good & thought everything would be the same or better then when I went in earlier that week.  I was wrong.  Completely wrong.  My BP was WAY too high.  David wasn't able to get time off that day to come with me, so I was a wreck.  To make matters worse.....his cell phone wasn't working.  It hadn't all week.  So my Dr. called the hospital to let them know I'd be there in a couple hours and she wanted me to be there for the weekend pretty much for observation "just in case".

The only way for me to get ahold of David was to go home and get his works # off of our caller ID.  Thank the Lord, David had called me from there earlier in the week or I would have really been a wreck.  I convince my Dr. that I really will be okay to get home, call him & get to the hospital.  So I do just that.  Get home & call him.  I think I had to tell him three times that he needed to come home because we had to go to the hospital.  Once I heard his voice I lost it, I was sobbing & he couldn't understand me!!!!  Then I wait.  and wait.  and wait. and wait.  When you have time to wait like I did, you have time to either freak out more or calm down.  I actually calmed down.  Packed a couple things and relaxed till David got home.

David walks in the door in a complete panic.  I offer to drive to the hospital since he's freaking out at this point.  (I later learned....his truck wouldn't start no matter what he tried & he had to get a ride from a co-worker, which was why I waited so long for him.  And remember.....no cell phone to call me & tell me what was happening!)  He calms down & we leave.  I remember on the way to the hospital saying "we really should come up with a boy name in case this baby is born this weekend & comes out a boy"  When we had the u/s they could see the umbilical cord between the legs & said there was nothing else there, but since this was grand baby #7 on daddy's side and there were no girls yet....I was certain it wasn't a girl. 

We get to the hospital at 4:30pm, get checked in and to our room.  The doc comes in to check things out & says we are there for the weekend for sure and there is a good chance the baby will be born at some point during the weekend.  WHAT!!!!  I'm not ready for this, are you kidding me!?!?!  Shift change.  New doc comes in to check everything and says the baby will be born TONIGHT!  Um for real.  This is September, I'm not due till November.  I'm not ready!  Then the doc comes in with an u/s machine, does the u/s and says "ok we are headed to surgery.  This baby needs to come out NOW"  WHOA baby, for real????  Of course I knew at this point it was better for both of us to get baby out, but when you are going there "just for observation"....it's a little shocking! 

Now remember we got there at 4:30......We were wheeled to the operating room, got the big huge needle in my back, went numb, & the baby was delivered at 6:18pm!  Talk about fast!!!!  Baby boy was 3lbs 8ozs.  They showed him to me & then he was whisked off to the NICU.  David went with him.  Oh & in the rush of it all....we got no pictures of his delivery!  David forgot the camera back in the room & there was NO time for him to go back or he would have missed it all.

Once I'm in recovery David comes back to tell me that Baby Boy is doing great!  He's breathing perfectly on his own & at this point no oxygen is needed!  PRAISE THE LORD!  I was so greatful!  One of the things I remember from that night: one of the nurses said "We just don't like to see BP at xxx/xxx (don't remember exactly what it was), that's when things can start to get out of control fast.  Our eyes were big as saucers....my BP was VERY close to what she had said.  The amazing thing was that once I calmed down waiting for David, I was so calm all evening it was unbelievable!  I should have been freaking out, but I wasn't!  (I wasn't freaked out about my health....just that we weren't ready for the baby yet!) David on the other hand was VERY nervous & scared about my health.  He did very good at being calm around me though.  We are so very thankful that our doc sent us to the hospital.....things could have turned out very differently that night if she hadn't!

I think after the recovery room they wheeled me in to the NICU to see Caleb, but I was so out of it and in pain.  David was taking pictures & bringing the camera back to me all night.  David got to hold him first, & thankfully remembered the camera!!  We still didn't have a name.  In fact on one of the papers the nurse wrote "Baby Boy Ruch" but apparently whoever did the wrist bands thought it said "Baby Roy Ruch"......I quickly had that corrected, it was kind of funny!  Once he was a little over a day old we settled on Caleb Thomas. (had he been a girl he would have been named Lindsay)

I stayed in the hospital the full four days the insurance allows.  I knew that we would be leaving the hospital without our baby & took full advantage of staying as long as we could!  The hospital that we delivered at had just opened a brand spankin new NICU!  Each baby was in their own room, with a pull out couch, sink & refrigerator!  Doesn't get much nicer than that! (for a NICU, that is)

Caleb stayed in the hospital for 20 days.  After one week he was out of the incubator.  After the second week he started bottle feeding a little bit at each feeding, and the rest was through the feeding tube.  It only took him a couple days to fully catch on & he was chugging his bottles!  The last week or so he could have gone to the step down unit, but since the NICU was not anywhere near full, they let us just stay there so we could have our own room!

We are so thankful that Caleb was a healthy preemie!  Once he learned to maintain his body temp, could eat on his own & didn't have any weird heart rate drops during his sleep he came home!!!  (The heart rate dropping is pretty normal in preemies.  It happened once when I was holding him & freaked the living daylights out of me! Thankfully our nurse was standing right there when it happened!)

It's FRIDAY!!! Time for 5QF!

I haven't blogged at all this week!!!  OMGoodness!!!!  It's been a good, busy & kind of weird week.  I could really use a day or two of warmth & sunshine.  But all is well!  I'm caught up on laundry, my house is clean, the dishwasher is running & I've had two cups of coffee this morning.  Sounds like a great morning to me!  Oh & it's Friday!!!!!  Friday's don't mean a whole lot to me right now since David works Tuesday-Saturday.  Our Friday doesn't happen till tomorrow!  ALTHOUGH.....here comes a MAJOR praise report.....starting next week I am going to be doing full time daycare for a family with two kids!  We've been praying & trying to figure out a way to better our finances and this family pretty much fell in our laps!  We feel very blessed!  So I guess starting next week, Friday will have a new meaning for me!  It's going to be a huge adjustment for me since I've pretty much been carefree with my days since May 2008!!!  It's good though.  My mind is already preparing to be in daycare mode.  I did it before with six kids everyday and being stuck at home, so I can do it again with four kids. 
Now on to the reason for this post......




1. What is better, growing old with out money or dying young and wealthy?
Definitely growing old with no money!  You can't take it with you when you leave anyways, so I'd rather live a long life full of love & happiness and money can't buy either of those things!!!!

2. Who takes out the garbage at your house?
My husband!  I refuse!  That is a man job for sure!  It's GROSS!!!  And even though sometimes my wonderful hubby doesn't think it's fair, Erika will never have to take the garbage out!

3. Have you ever had the same dream many times?
When I was little & when I'm preggo yes.  But not any other time!  When I was little I always dreamed there was a giant rat trying to get in my room and chasing me down the hall.  And when I say giant, I mean giant.  Like a six foot tall man giant!
4. Can you play a musical instrument?
Yes.  I played the clarinet in school, but ditched that for choir, but I'm sure I could pick it up again!  I can monkey around on the piano too, but I can't "play" play.  If that makes sense.  Like I could never play during worship at church or anything.  I would love to learn to really play someday and I'd also love to learn to play the guitar.  Maybe when I'm growing old with no money I'll have time to learn to play.  I won't have money to do anything else!

5. If you owned your own store, what would you sell?
 Hmmmm, that's a hard one!!!!  Maybe some kind of remembrance store.  After we had Dylan, I was always looking for the perfect stuff to put out at the cemetery and to have at home & it was always hard to find stuff. 
 

One penny!

Ok so a couple things from tonights trip to the grocery store that bugged me.

First off, I bought Ken's salad dressing.  It was on sale for $1.99 and I had a $2 off coupon.  I had two coupons, so bought to bottles.  The cashier scans all my coupons is about to tell me my total and all of a sudden realizes that the salad dressing was ONE PENNY cheaper than what my coupon was.  SO she takes the time to go through and delete the coupon and rescans it, but puts in $1.99 instead of $2.  Seriously?  And she wasn't fast about it either.  I was ANNOYED simply b/c my kids were at the end of their rope....they were hungry & just plain DONE grocery shopping.  She could tell but golly gee, she wasn't going to let me have my grocery bill a whole two pennies cheaper!  The thing that really gets me though is that when they redeem that coupon they will get their full $2 plus 8 cents back. So really, was it worth the almost two minutes that you spent changing my coupon price??  Probably not, wonderful cashier.  You probably cost your company money by doing that with the time you wasted!

The second thing that bugged me: when we walked in the door there was a mom & her child.  She had put her child (I'd say no more than 2, but probably 18 months) in the cart and used at least FIVE sanitizing wipes.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of those too.  I typically use them.  However after cleaning practically the whole darn cart I notice that she failed to buckle her kid in!!!!  For real???  If you are going to take the time sanitize your whole cart to try & keep your kid from getting sick, shouldn't you also buckle your kid in so you can keep him from falling & cracking his head open???????  I mean, really, what's worse???  Where is the logic?

On a positive note.....I got 32 items for $28!  Wohooo!!!!  Love when I have good coupons matched with good sales!

Flashback Friday

Taken when Caleb was 1 day old!!

Five Question Friday ON Friday!

Are you impressed???  I AM!  haha!



1. Worst trouble you ever got into as a teenager?
Hmmmm, gosh I don't even know!  My mom (who I know will read this...) was a softie!  It didn't take much for me to bribe her into writing a note for school after I skipped.  I didn't get into a whole lot of trouble, and it wasn't because my mom bailed me out...I just really didn't get into trouble.  I was a good girl!  Except for wanting to skip school...."but mom I'll buy you McDonalds if you'll just call in and tell them I'm sick"  And then one time I went to school and my friends talked me into skipping and going to MOA, which had recently opened.  I left my headlights on and ended up getting caught.  I think my mom said "I would have wrote you a note"  Maybe since I didn't smoke, drink or party that's why she did it???  Mom??? 

2. Are you a morning person or a night person?
By nature a night person.  And someday when my kids are grown I will again be a night person!  But for now I have learned to become a morning person.  I get up WAY before my kids and go to the gym, have coffee with my hubby most mornings before he leaves for work & throw in a load of laundry all before my kids get up between 7 and 7:30.....I wish they slept later, but Caleb is his fathers child.  They are both morning people!

3. Are you a one-handed or a two-handed Texter?
I was two handed on my previous phone, but I haven't quite mastered two handed on my new phone. 

4. Democrat, Republican, or Independent..or maybe even Green Party (whatever that is).
Republican....I honestly don't care much for politics though.

5. Are you a pet person?
Well.....no.  I blame my mom (who, if you read question #1, will read this).  Just kidding.  We lived in an apartment growing up & pets were not allowed.  I wanted a bird for a long time.  I saved my babysitting money and would go to the pet store & buy things needed for a bird and saved them all for a long time but my mom never let me buy a bird.  Maybe it's because I killed my crayfish in elementary school.  I begged to bring one home and then it freaked me out and I wouldn't feed it and I let it die.  And it smelled.  But a bird would have been different!!!!!  See mom, it is all your fault!  I think for sure a puppy is in our future once we have a house again though!  Yesterday, Erika prayed that a puppy would fall out of the sky into her arms &  then she could keep it forever.  And Caleb has informed me that this Christmas Santa doesn't need to bring him ANY toys....just a puppy. 

Our MckMama photoshoot!!!

Way back in December, you know a whole month ago, I took the kids up to MckMama's house & she took some WONDERFUL photos of my kids!  Here are my favorites!

I just LOVE the look on Erika's face here!  It's so HER! 

I love this one too.  And the funniest part is that is NOT Caleb's arm!!!  It's Big Mac's!  He was too cute!  He wanted to be in a couple of pictures with them & then he wanted to help his mama take some pictures too!  A little budding photographer, for sure!

Meet Mr. Model....he had me cracking up!  He kept doing different poses & was just being really cute!

This was the pic we used for our Christmas cards!  I completely forgot to link up to MckMama in my Christmas letter post!  So sorry friend, please forgive me!

My little stud man!!!

Thanks again MckMama for some wonderful new pics of my kids!  It'd been WAY too long since I had professional pics done of them! 

Wordless Wednesday

Five Question Friday

Better late than never, right!!!  I swear one of these days I will be so on top of my life that I will have my 5QF actually done on Friday!



1. What's your "comfort food"?
Hmmmm, I'd have to say cookie dough.  Or brownie batter.  Or vanilla cake batter.  I have issues.

2. Do you send Thank You's (handwritten or email)?
I always have good intentions....but that doesn't count for much!  I don't think I've ever sent out an email thank you though.  If I'm going to put effort into a thank you note, it's going to be handwritten!  Means much more that way!!!

3. If you had to be trapped in a TV show for a month, which show would you choose?
Oh hands down it would be Gilmore Girls!!!!!  Oh man, how I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to live in Stars Hollow for a month!  Eat at Luke's Diner everyday, have a super cute charming little house, be best friends with Sookie!  YES, sign me up!!

4. What is your favorite online recipe site?
I probably use allrecipes.com the most.  Sometimes I'll just google what it is I am wanting to make and see what comes up, but mostly I just go straight to allrecipes.com

5. If you had to choose: "Friends" or "Seinfeld"?
Friends for sure. 

Do you see what I see???

Any guesses as to where Erika was when I took this pic???

Did you guess???? Here are a couple more pics of Erika's fun in a cardboard box!  Who needs toys when you have a giant box like this! 

One of my favs!

This picture is one of my favorites from this years Christmas! 
I took it Christmas Eve right before the kids went to bed in their new jammies. 
And right before "Santa" arrived.

They were SO excited to go to bed.

The ONE time a year when going to bed has a tangible bonus for them!

They're just so cute!

But then again, I am biased!

No Flash!

Everytime I read any photography tips one of the first ones is always NO FLASH!  For real???
For someone who is using a point & shoot camera and really doesn't know as much as she'd like about photography, I always thought "they" are crazy for saying no flash!  Not to mention I didn't think I had the functions needed on my camera to get a good picture with no flash.

Someday I would like to own a nice camera, but for now I am trying to do my best at getting good pictures from my point & shoot.  Since my camera is obviously digital, one day I decided to use every function & setting on camera to just become familiar with it. 

I now can get a decent picture with my little point & shoot with NO FLASH! 

This makes me happy!

When I someday get my nice expensive camera, I would really like to take a photography class and learn more about what all the settings mean and just learn more about photography in general. 

Here is my latest flash/no flash comparisons that I took:
(for whatever reason Erika decided the Christmas tree needed a hug & kiss.....)
This picture is with the flash.

This picture is without the flash.

I really love how the second one turned out.  The glow of the Christmas lights, her hair & dress are more shadowy (if that's even a word).  It just looks warm & cozy compared to the first one with the flash.

All that to say....I have been converted!  I rarely use my flash anymore!!!!

These curls

The other day Erika was having an extremely good hair day.

Like the kind you want when you are going out on a date.

But um, well, she's three.

Let's not get started on dating.

Maybe we can make it to Kindergarten first.

This picture doesn't really do it justice, so you'll just have to trust me.

I hope & pray that she will always love her curls

and know how special & blessed she is to have

such wonderful hair!

Look IN the backpack.

"OOOOhhhh I got a back pack!"
(pure excitement over a little backpack!)

"Caleb look INSIDE the backpack" (it's a nintendo DS)

And a Lionel game for the DS

His reactions this year to gifts was the best!  Most of them he had that same look on his face or he jumped up & down! 

Erika received some equally great gifts, but she seemed to contain herself just a little bit more. 

Although she did continuously pet the bottom of this Hello Kitty skirt. 
Simply because it was furry & soft.

Her new baby & sling:

Last but not least, Santa left them a McDonalds play drive thru!!!

We had a great Christmas!  We went to four different celebrations & do you think I remembered my camera once?  NO!  Bummer!!!  We had a busy Christmas weekend, but in comparison to last year when we were living in Texas with no family and nothing to do, this year was GREAT! 

Good Sport

He's such a good sport. 

Even when I ask him to put a silly thing on his head. 

Just so I can take a picture for, you know, the kids' scrapbook. 

Wordless Wednesday - well almost!

Alternately titled "She looks up to him" 

I LOVE it!

Someday...

Someday I will have a super cute blog design.  You know the kind that most people pay for.  I am determined to give myself a blog makeover and figure out all the html codes & what not.  I have done a couple layouts in the past but haven't been extremely satisfied with them. 
For now I'll enjoy changing the look of my blog with the changing holidays & seasons with websites that make is simple (not to mention....free!)

Cleaning time!!!

This morning, with garbage bag in hand, I headed into this bedroom which is now clean & organized! 

Shhhhh, the kids have NO idea that I threw some stuff away! 

I was ultra sneaky & they will never miss the clutter I got rid of!

Next up:

This rediculous toy room

And this rediculous closet attached to the rediculous toy room:

I typically have the kids help me with cleaning up THEIR messes. 

But when I'm (shhhhh) throwing stuff....it doesn't work out so well to have little helpers!

And, well, really, that dresser....that's not THEIR mess. 

I don't expect my 3 year old to put her clothes away, so I can't blame that on her!

Yikes!!!

It's been WAY too long since I blogged!  I haven't taken the time to blog at all lately and I need to.  I've had a few posts swimming around in my head for a few days but can't seem to sit down and get it all typed out!  Tomorrow I'm planning on finally getting Christmas pictures off my camera and onto the computer so stay tuned!