Surprise!

I don't know if you noticed in one of my previous posts how I was talking about being in Chicago and I was so tired and all I did was slept most of the time in the hotel? Well, I was extremely tired last week and still am. I also had a lot of other things that lead me to think I could be pregnant! Toward the end of the week before I went home I just knew that I was pregnant, had to be, no doubt about it. There was too many things going on and after being pregnant twice you tend to know when you're body is doing different and pregnant things! I took a test last Thursday night before I flew home but it was negative. Then, I started to second guess myself and think I was just imagining these things! After I got home, I waited until Sunday and took another test that morning and guess what? We're PREGNANT! It was Positive!

I promise the lines there it's just a little hard to see in the picture. I am 4 weeks & 4 days today and were due on August 28. I already think that it's going to be a girl. I'm not afraid to admit if I'm wrong but that's my gut. I guess we'll see!

Today I got my Christmas present early from Jason. He can't keep a surprise period. He just bought these today and gave them to me the second I walked in the door from work.

A Lot To Catch Up On

First thing....My flight last Friday went great. If you didn't already notice, I'm still alive! It really wasn't bad. It was a small plane but it was so loud. It didn't help the killer headache I had the whole way but overall it was good. The flight only lasted 1 1/2 hours. I also got to watch the sunrise. Not something I get to sit and enjoy very often!

Saturday night my mother-in-law, Peyton, Tucker, (niece & nephew), Jaycelyn, Noah, and I went to Mizu Japanese steak house and ate.

Noah has been acting really shy lately. If anyone even talks to him or looks at him he starts screaming and wants to be held. He was scared of the cooks at the restaurant and tried to climb out of his highchair and into my lap. After a minute he was okay. I gave him my phone to play with and that kept his attention for a little while. A matter of fact every time I acted like I was going to touch it he jerked it away and said "un-uh".

Jaycelyn loves the food and she is always so attentive of whats going on when they're cooking.

After we ate we took the kids to see Tangled, (mainly Jaycelyn) a movie about Repunzel. It was a really cute movie. It was a first for both of them. I think that they did really good considering their ages. They were really content and quiet for most of the movie. Maybe because they'd never seen anything like it and they were a little freaked. Toward the end Noah got sleepy and started to get fussy so he had to be taken out. Jaycelyn just kept talking about the princess in the movie and rubbing my face saying, "Mommy, I Love You"! So sweet, I couldn't help but smile. What mom doesn't love to hear that? I still think it will be a little while before we attempt to see another one.

Nervous Breakdown?

Since we've been up here which actually wound up being about 40 minutes from Chicago, we really haven't done much of anything. The weather was too bad the first couple of days and it's so cold that I've actually enjoyed just being in the warm hotel catching up on some much needed R&R. We go out for dinner but nothing exciting. I've actually been so exhausted, I'm ready to go back to the room right after going out. Like a bear in hibernation I guess! lol When your life becomes chaos all the time and going non stop, it is SO nice to do this! I do miss my babies though so very much and can't wait to see their sweet little smiles!

Also into a couple of days up here Jason realized that the 2-3 days that it was supposed to take to finish the job, isn't gonna happen! So, that leaves me, needing to get home before 6am Saturday morning. My first thought was rent a car, take a bus, take a train, I don't care, anything but FLY! Well, after looking at my options, it looks like I only have one option and that is to fly. The bus is probably not safe and takes forever, a train would take 39 hours, and I can't rent a car because you have to be 25. Now, I don't think there is anything wrong with flying but I've never flown (except in a helicopter) so this is a little scary, especially to do by myself for the first time. I'll be fine though. Who knows, maybe I'll love it!.....I hope! :)

Winter Wonderland....or Is it?

As I have mentioned before, Jason has been working out of town for a while now. And, in case you didn't know, I work part time as mail carrier. Last Friday I went to the doctor for bursitis in my shoulder. I have it in both but the right was hurting to the point I couldn't stand it anymore. The doctor gave me a cortisone shot and told me to rest my arm for a week. So....me being me and Jason being Jason, so very last minute, we decided that I should go with him to do a job in Chicago for a couple of days, be back before this Saturday (so I could work) and NO BIG DEAL! Well, my parents came to stay with the kids since they were still feeling a little under the weather and I didn't really want to get them out (So thankful I didn't now). I knew they were in very good hands so I was looking forward to spending a few days away with the hubby and even though he would have to work during the day, we would still get a little bit of time to ourselves. SO, on Sunday morning we left at around 5am. Once we made it to Birmingham it started to snow and the more North we went the more snow we got! On the way up through Indiana, we decided to stop at our favorite winery "Brown County Winery". Thanks to my Grandpa for introducing it to us. I'm not really a wine drinker but this is by far the best I have ever tasted!

This is what it looked like when we left the winery only about 30 minutes later...

I have never seen so much snow in my life. Not living in Alabama! I think it's beautiful and it's not wet and nasty like Alabama snow. Needless to say, it only got worse. I have never been so terrified in my life! Turns out that we drove right into a severe snow storm with winds up to 50mph for almost 4 hours and never went over 30mph. And an 11 hour drive took us almost 15 hours. The whole time we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of the truck. There were cars flipped over on the sides of the road, 18 wheelers in the medians, and cars in ditches! All I could do was pray that God would protect us and that those people were okay. If you look close in this video, you can see an 18 wheeler in our lane being pushed by the wind and sliding on the road. (Please ignore my voice, I sound like a hillbilly :) And of course Jason is just being his normal self which is not like anyone else!

Thankfully, you know that we made it out okay and God does answer prayers! Which I already knew that because he never fails to bless me in so many ways everyday! Now if he'll just protect me in my other adventure this week, aka my worst nightmare, "flying". More on that later.

Up Late...

Okay....it's late and I realized there was a something that I forgot to mention in my earlier post!Not to mention I'm trying not to overload or over bore because I have so much to say! Anyways, For any of you that have babies who may be teething or have a runny nose or even a very red or chapped bottom due to a virus or something, then you know how broken out they can be and how terrible it can look or they can feel! This weather definitely doesn't help it one bit either. Well, since the kids are sick and teething, their faces stay broken out quite a bit. I've found that using Eucerin cream usually burns their faces when it is chapped and can make it feel worse. So by saying that, a couple of months ago, my Memaw, who I've only known for a short time but I love her dearly (will post on that later) told me about Vitamin A capsules.

Now this may not be a secret to you but it was to me and now I'm glad that I know! You can buy Vitamin A in liquid form but I just use the gel capsules and bite it with my teeth and squeeze the oil out of it. I think it works better than anything else I've used and I have two happy babies after using it! No crying because it's burning! It's not really oily I would say, it's more like a soft oil that absorbs very well. You can use it for all kinds of things! Your skin, your lips, your hands! I think it's great! Anyways I just thought I would share that with everyone else and hopefully it will help you as much as it does me! This little man sure does seem to think so!

Update

Well, it has been a while. When it rains it pours! Just to let you know a little bit about what has been going on with us, Jason has been working out of town on and off for months now and after quite a few set backs with our computers, I'm finally able to blog again! For now anyways!

So, Jason is in town now for a couple of days. Yesterday, we took the kids to the doctor because they were exposed to my nephew who has strep throat. They weren't having any major symptoms but I caught something also and I know that strep is very contagious. I could tell that Jaycelyn had a sore throat because she really wouldn't eat anything for the past couple of days and they both have a terrible runny nose, and a cough. I was a little unsure at times because they weren't really acting very sick, just a little fussy! Well, I'm glad I went with my gut because sure enough they had Strep! They are on antibiotics now and hopefully will feel better very soon!

Noah in the waiting room...

Jaycelyn never holds still for me to take any pictures of her! So I just have to deal with this for now!

Also, while we were there the nurse weighed them, which I was glad because they haven't been weighed in a while. Jaycelyn weighs 29 lbs. and Noah weighs 28 lbs. It didn't surprise me really!

Another thought to bore you with some more :) These are awesome!! They save so much time on cleaning after meal times! I definitely recommend these to everyone!

Strawberry Jam

I'm a little late getting this post up but I knew I would have a lot to say so I'm just now getting a minute to sit down and do it! Monday morning, my mother-in-law, Jaycelyn, Noah, and I went to Sunshine Farms in Clanton and picked strawberries, so that we could make strawberry jam. This was my first time to make jam and there was really nothing to it! Here are a few pics while we were picking strawberries...

Jaycelyn had the best time! Besides ruining her outfit and eating way more strawberries then she needed, she still did a good job for her first time.

She carried her bucket around and picked everything she saw. Even the green ones! haha

We finally got her to follow us and pick the ones we told her to pick.

Noah tried to pick a couple himself.

We picked 7 gallons of strawberries and made jam on Wednesday. We used about 5 gallons and made 45 jars of jam. We made one batch at a time and got 9 jars out of each batch. First we washed...

Then, we cut the stems out, sliced, and mashed...

Next, we measured 5 cups of strawberries and put them in a saucepan. We mixed one box of Sure-Jell with them and brought it to a rolling boil, added the sugar, brought it to a rolling boil again and then stirred constantly for 1 minute.

After it was done cooking, we filled the jars up, tightened the lids, and put them in 1-2 inches of boiling water. We did this to seal them instead of using a pressure cooker. They lightly boiled for about 10 minutes. After they boiled, we put them back in the box and put them in a dark area and covered them with a towel for 24 hours so they could seal.

After checking all of our jars, they all successfully sealed liked they were supposed to. I still have to get fabric to cover them (because I want to) and taste it!!

Mother's Day

So today is only my second Mother's Day thus far! God has blessed me with two beautiful healthy babies! Although, I don't yet know what it feels like to be a mother for more than half of my life. All I do know is that I have the best mother that I could ever ask for and more. My mom has always put her family before herself. Now that I'm a mother, I realize the sacrifices that my mom made for us all of these years. Me being the oldest (24), my sister (20), and my brother (16). My mother is not only a mother but my best friend. She is like my encyclopedia through life. I truly feel blessed to have such a loving mother that I know will be there for me through anything in this life. I also can say now that my mom is a wonderful grandmother. I think that grandparents have a special bond with their grandchildren that a parent cannot have with their kids until they are grown. I also want to say that since I have been married, I have also acquired an awesome mother-in-law. She is such a beautiful person inside and out. Her love shines through to anyone she meets and always puts everyone first. I think that she did the best job that she possibly could raising 3 boys on her own, and now two grandchildren. She has such a big heart and is always there when we need her! I guess what I'm trying to say is that we should all pay attention to how precious a mother is. Even if we don't have the best mother, we should be grateful to have one because one day when my mother is gone, I don't want it to be too late and realize how precious she was to me and how much I relied on her. No one will ever love us more than our mother does! I love you Mom, Thank you for loving me and I love you Liz, thank you for loving me like your own daughter!

The Last Few Days

We really haven't been up to much here lately, I've been working a lot this week but I thought I would share a few pics that I thought were cute from the past few days. These are at Chick Fil-A...

I Love This One...

She doesn't smile for long...

I bought a little volcano sprinkler that was on clearance about 4 years ago for my nephew but by the time summer came around he was really too old for it. It's been in the closet ever since and I never thought one day I would be getting it out for my daughter. She was having fun with it but on one side it has eyes and when they open it shoots water out of the top. Well she was scared to death of it so she started crying and saying, "hold you" and running away every time she saw it... lol (that's what she says when she wants you to hold her).

Come on, this thing is pretty scary if you ask me, for a 2 year old anyway!

Today the kids and I, my mom, sister, aunt, and grandma went to Olive Garden for lunch because my Grandma works on the weekends and we wouldn't see her for Mother's Day...

Me, my Aunt Carla, and sister Christian...

My sister Christian, my mom Tonya, and Me....

Me and my Angel...

My grandma and I....

Update on Noah

Just wanted to say real quick that Noah is feeling so much better today. He has been on the antibiotics for 2 days now and had Benedryl the last 2 nights before bed. It is confirmed, Benedryl works better than Zyrtec. He is breathing so much better, has very little congestion and I haven't heard him cough all day!

My sweet Noah

I couldn't help but take a zillion pictures of my little man the other day. He is so photogenic and has such a beautiful smile. He has been rocking on his knees for about 2 weeks so the other day I was cheering him on trying to get him to crawl...

He got his first two teeth about 2 weeks ago and now he has a K9 that's about to break through on the left side. His chin stays soaked with drool so it's hard to keep it from breaking out...

Today he went to the doctor because he has been very congested. I've been giving him Zyrtec and congestion drops all week. In my opinion, from using Zyrtec with both of my kids I don't think it works. Even the pediatrician said today that Benedryl works better. After she checked him today, she said that he had a sinus infection and that his ears looked like they were getting infected so she gave him an antibiotic and told me to give him Benedryl instead. He's had both doses of the antibiotic today so I hope he feels better very soon so I can see more of that precious smile. He will be 8 months on Sunday, and I just wonder where the time has gone. Now that I have two babies, they are growing up so fast I can barely keep up!

Change of Plans

I still have the fabric for the pillowcase dresses and plan to start on them soon, but in the meantime my mother-in-law bought a pattern for an A-line dress. She liked a little black and white poodle applique so I chose the fabric and buttons from that. When I got my sewing machine out, I realized that the bobbin case was missing and I think it's something you probably have to order. Anyway, while we were picking out fabric I found a sewing machine for FORTY dollars so I bought it. I was excited because it was marked down about fifty dollars and it is perfect for me right now. I do plan to get a sewing & embroidery machine later but I wanted to make sure I was serious about it before I spent that kind of money. So back to the dress! I was up until 3 am the first night and managed to finish all of it except doing the buttons and sewing the hem and the interfacing by hand. I was able to take a couple of hours out of the next night to finally get it done....

It is definitely not perfect but I enjoyed the experience and I look forward to making the next one and getting more creative with it!