Listening, loving, and guiding

So many things are on my mind lately. One of them is Ebola. To be quite honest it scares me--not because I am afraid I will get it, I am afraid for my children. Very afraid. I hope the doesn't spread like we all secretly think it might. That fear of it spreading and infecting the ones I love really got me thinking about my relationship with God. 

I feel like I have been a slacker for far too long, letting myself slip further and further away from Him. In the event of something bad happening, like Ebola coming close to the borders of my home and heart, I want to know that I have been a faithful servant to Him. Not only for myself, but for the two little ones that are sleeping in their rooms. I want to lead a life that will strengthen them as individuals as they grow and learn and mature. I want them to grow up knowing right from wrong. I want them to he compassionate, caring, generous, and hard working children of God.

Tomorrow isn't guaranteed. Neither are the next five minutes, five months, five years, etc. With all the bad in the world right now, it is nice to know that no matter what situation life brings you, you can always find peace and comfort. When no one will listen; when you can't count on anyone; when you are doubting yourself; God is there. He is always there--Listening, loving, and guiding us. We just have to let him. 

"It's nane-in out dare!"

Written 6/10/14

I feel like it has been raining for a month. We haven't played outside since Sunday and it's taking a toll on all of us--including our garden. It's so weedy that it doesn't even look like there's a garden there anymore. We have been playing on the concrete in the evenings when it isn't raining. I think it's more fun for me than for Ava. She would rather play in the wet grass. Meh, no thank you. 

We had baby kittens yesterday. Five of them. How on earth they fit in that little belly of the momma cat is beyond me. It's not fair. Cats don't have to be pregnant for very long. But I don't envy them too much. They have to clean up the mess and man, that is just gwoss! Note to self: look up how long a cat is pregnant for. Also, note to self: make appointment for cat to be spayed. No mo' babies! 

Today seemed like it flew by. I feel like the entire summer is going to do the same. We are 1/3 of the way through June already. :'( This morning watched as many episodes as there are in existence of Paw Patrol--which means momma got to shower with no other eyeballs or hands in the shower with me! Score! Whoever writes that cartoon deserves a giant salary. Then the kids went to Mamaw & Papaw's house for a few hours while I did some hair and snuck a little vacuuming in. Recently Ava has started calling my mom Memaw. I'm not sure if it's because she's trying to annunciate Grandma or if she got tired of calling her Mamaw. Either way it is adorable, and her little nasally twang  makes it 28474 times cuter. 

Tomorrow evening we are going back to swimming lessons--we took a day off due to Ava having a sinus infection. Didn't want to make it worse, not sure if it would have but really--really--didn't want to chance it. She's grouchy when she's sick. And I don't blame her. I am too. 

Every day that I am home with these two little sweethearts makes me so glad that I am home with them. Don't get me wrong, there are days that I think oh. my. heavens. Lord help me! But it is definitely worth it. I love those two little minis to the moon and back! 

Thankful Thursday

Today, I read of a young mother passing away due to cancer. My heart breaks for her family. I cannot imagine what she endured and how she felt knowing this was the hand she was delt. 

I want to thank God today for my beautiful, smart, spunky, independent daughter and my smiley, kissable, adorable little guy; for my health--which I feel like I take for granted at times; and for my husband who goes to work early and comes home late just to make sure we can keep the lights on and food on the table. 

Thank you God for today, because although we were all running on fumes, at least we were still running. 

Prayers and comfort for those who have lost a loved one too soon. May you find peace and healing in God's loving arms. 

6 Minutes

I have exactly six minutes until the weekend is officially over. Bah!

This weekend was super busy but such a good time. Mucho family time! Which was great. Friday evening we ventured out to do some late afternoon grocery shopping and hit up Steak-n-shake for supper. It was the very first time by ourselves with the kids out to eat as our family of four. We don't go out to eat much--mainly to make up for buying double diapers...but also because we run a tight budget and I happen to enjoy cooking. Steak-n-shake was a success. Ava was good. Lane was good. And we survived! Woo!

Saturday was pretty crazy--but mostly good crazy. We had our first experience with a babysitter other than family. As soon as she got there Lane threw up. Literally the second she walked thru the door. Thank goodness my mom was willing to watch him so me and Brian could go to the wedding reception for a bit to have a mommy/daddy date night. Lane was instantly better when we dropped him off but I still checked my phone every ten minutes just in case. ;) Also, Ava hasn't stopped talking about Angel, the babysitter. We would love to have that girl again! :) 

All weekend long the kids have both been in a great mood. Sleeping good. Life is just good. Does it really have to be Monday tomorrow? 😢 

Seriously those two little people are the best thing that have ever happened to me. 

A few tables away from where we sat at the reception was a table full of people that I used to hang out with. Honestly, it made me glad to be sitting at a table-- enjoying an evening with my husband, thinking about my kids and knowing tomorrow wasn't going to begin with a hangover and a wake up call from a friend to get a ride to their car. My tomorrow was going to start with "Mommy? Can I have some milky?" And that is just fine with me :) 

The Best Time of Day

Woof. The time is 10:21 and neither kiddo is sleeping. Rewind to 6:00pm. 

6pm. Ava and I eat supper--taco Tuesday! Which was my first mistake. El messo. Toddlers aren't clean regardless of what they eat. Why did I think taco Tuesday sounded so good. Noted. No more taco Tuesdays. Ever. Haha it wasn't that bad but never again by myself. 

6:15pm Lane awakes from the best nap ever. Happy boy! He eats green beans and pears--of the puréed variety. He is happy and relatively clean. 

6:32pm Ava decides she doesn't like her brother anymore and repeatedly tells him not to look at her. Um, is it bedtime yet? She gets a time out and has to say sorry. Which doesn't set well with her. Crap. The evening is starting to spiral downward. 

7:00pm Ava is an angry sweaty mess and needs a bath from our playtime in  the basement and outside today. We cleaned off the very dirty but new to us--ten dollar--slide and playhouse. It was more of a spray mommy with cold water while she scrubs my new toy game. Lots of Dawn and elbow grease later it's less dirty and still something else to mow around. She will have a blast on it this summer. 

7:05pm Her bath was that quick. She wasn't having it. So we hurry hurry hurried and viola! clean kid! 

7:45pm Woof. The evening is dragging by. I plan to have the kids to sleep by 8:30. We need a distraction for 45 minutes. Hmm... Let's go get the mail! Load the kids up in the stroller and realize it is too big to fit around my car in the garage. Perfect. Strap kids in extra securely. Move the car out. Ah! On our way to the mailbox. 

8:15pm We take extra extra laps around the driveway. Is it really only 8:15? We come inside. Meltdown ensues. Somehow I get Lane to sleep and lay him in his bed. Hallelujah. The angels are rejoicing! 

8:30pm I decide tonight is the night Ava needs to start sleeping in her own bed at night. Mom fail. Haha. Lane wakes up because she screams at the thought and here we are. 

10:41pm Lane is in the floor smiling and trying to crawl. Ava is pretending to take pictures with her Barbie camera and being sweet as pie. 

Moral of the story: I'm taking a nap at my parents tomorrow! Haha 

TGFG!

TGFG! Thank goodness for grandmas! That's my new motto.

I needed some sunshine and quality time with the lawn mower--as did our yard. My mom came over and watched the kids so I could do just that. I can check a sunburn off of my summer to-do list, that's for sure! :) It was so nice to get outside for more than 20 minutes at a time, clear my head, and get a jump start on my summer tan--which has been missing since 2012...

So far this summer we have went to the zoo (G&G Watson, Gma Miller, Kevin, Alli, and the four of us), started swimming lessons (Parent + tot class), jumped around like kangaroo-roos (in Ava speak) in the trampoline, been covered head to toe in sand from the sandbox and had to buy a second swing because one swing wasn't enough for two kiddos!

Yeah, she is definitely picking her nose...

'

As for Lane's recent whereabouts and whatnot, he has started expanding his infant palate with the addition of gourmet food into his regular diet! Just kidding. It's Gerber. They do most of the work so far. I am planning on making my own baby food but we are trying out rice cereal and oatmeal cereal first. So far he has had avocado, banana, applesauce, oatmeal, and rice cereal. Hopefully soon I can whip up a batch of green beans, sweet potatoes, and squash for him to try. He loves everything so far, but he did spit out applesauce at me yesterday--in true baby/cartoon fashion. We are going to give the applesauce a break now. He made his point. Haha!

In other news, it hit me that I am in my late twenties. Gasp! I can't believe that in a few short weeks, I will be a mother to a 2 year old and a 5 month old. When I was little, I never thought that time really flew because when you're young, you can't wait to be old. Now I'm getting older and by golly those folks were right. I feel like it was just yesterday that it was miserably hot outside--like heat index of 107 kind of hot--and we were bringing Ava home from the hospital. Now we are rounding her second birthday. I've been brainstorming, Pinterest-ing, and Amazon-ing a lot of ideas for her big celebration! I sure hope that stinker likes her party :) She is one fun little girl!

Well, Lane is waking up now--still not sleeping through the night--so I must go!

Lane Allen Watson has arrived!

Welcome to the world Lane Allen Watson!

Doctor Frost came and broke my water at a few minutes til 7:00am on Tuesday, January 14th. A short time later (that seemed like an eternity at the time) at 12:46pm, our handsome little boy came into the world. He was 20 1/2 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 12 ounces. He was exactly the same size as his sister, plus an ounce! And born within the same hour she was as well! Poor Doctor Frost had to skip lunch for both the births of our kiddos!

Baby Lane is doing so so good. He's a quiet little guy and so far he has been a very sleepy guy too! He's going to have to be able to sleep through a lot of noise. His sister is  a little wild sometimes :) We sure wouldn't have it any other way though.

We are set to be released from the hospital tomorrow morning, so we will be looking forward to visitors as soon as we settle in for the weekend :)

Thank you all for the congratulations and I can't wait to start this new chapter in our lives!

Week 41 Update!

How far along? 41 weeks

Total weight gain: 25 stupid pounds--that feels like 100 at this point.
Maternity clothes? Yes, when can I burn these?
Stretch marks? ugh, none with Ava and ONE (Seriously!?) with this baby boy.
Sleep: Crappy. Ava wakes up, I wake up. I get her milk, she goes to sleep. I go pee 16 times and can't go to sleep for an eternity!
Best moment this week: When he didn't come out during the snowstorm!
Miss Anything? E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g related to feeling/being normal again.
Movement: Movement is an understatement.
Food cravings:  Everything that isn't good for me. I feel like the cookie monster!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing at all this pregnancy!
Gender: Boy
Labor Signs: Yes, then no, then yes again, and then ugh. No.
Symptoms: The symptoms are now just a part of every day life for me at this point.
Belly Button in or out? Soooo far out that my water will probably break via my belly button.
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Moody, very moody.
Looking forward to: Meeting this little guy!

Baby Boy Watson--still not here yet!

Here we are again, approaching week 41 of the arrival of our newest addition to the family--a baby boy. Looks like he is taking his precious time, as did his sister. I can't believe both of my pregnancies went over a full week! Crazy Cozy kids! I just hope it takes them extra long to leave the nest later on in life. :) 

Although I have been having contractions, they're just the annoying ones that come---get you get excited, and as soon as you think about showering or getting ready--they disappear. :/ I even vacuumed for 45 minutes trying to get them to stick around. Hmppph. I hate vacuuming. 

We have an induction date set for Tuesday at 6:00am. Not my favorite option, but I am ready to get this kiddo out of my belly before I develop a racetrack of stretch marks for him to play with and he starts growing facial hair.

We have really dropped the ball on this pregnancy. His room isn't quite done, I don't have a baby book (Mom fail 12340459), and I literally haven't even screwed the changing pad down to the table yet! This time around, we did a maternity/family photo session in one and haven't taken any belly pictures to speak of like most mommies-to-be. And I don't really regret it much either...I feel like a penguin/whale/cow! I love my babies, but can't wait to be unpregnant--forever! There is a belly button picture floating around in cyberspace somewhere that my sister posted from Christmas. It's gross. Don't dig for it. You might throw up.

At our last appointment, which was on Thursday we got to see parts of baby boy...everything except for the face/head because of how extremely low he is. I feel like I should have a helmet ready for him just in case he decides to fall out. The tech scared the crap out of me by telling me he was measuring to weigh 8 lbs 9 ounces. Seriously lady, why don't you just lie to me and say an even 6?! She did go on to say that it was hard to measure him because of how low he was, etc. She also added that they could be a pound off--in either direction. Aye yi yi! On the plus side they told me Ava was 8 lbs 6 oz, or something crazy and she was a healthy, easy 7 lbs 11 oz. There is hope...and hopefully time for an epidural!...

Ava just turned 18 months old on December 27th--same day as her daddy's big 3-0 birthday! Around that time we ALL got the stomach flu. Luckily there was one day in between each of us getting sick. Ava's memory proved to be severely AWESOME and when we brought out a big serving bowl to put chips in, she immediately grabbed it and started fake vomiting into it. That's my girl!  Never a dull moment with her :) 

She calls her baby brother "Buddy" since brother is hard to say and we are jerks and not telling the name until he arrives! We got a package in the mail from friends from Michigan the other day. One of the items were sleep sacks for baby boy. I told her they were for him and she grabbed them and came over to my belly, lifted my shirt up and said buddy! shirt! on! She wanted to make sure he got his shirts and wanted him to put them on. What a sweet girl!

In addition to our stomach bug fun, we also got hit with a MASSIVE blizzard the night before our due date. I have never sat so still and prayed so hard in my life. It was terrifying to think that A.) If we tried to go to the hospital to have this baby we may have the baby in the truck, a snowdrift, the driveway... B.) I could have the baby on the kitchen floor just like they did in the 1800s. Yet here we are. Ahh, the power of prayer and babies that like to stay put! 

It's Purple and Pink from here on out! :)

We are now in our 20th week of pregnancy and went for our ultrasound yesterday to find out that....Baby Watson is not a baby boy as everyone was guessing...baby Watson is a little sweet baby girl! :) I had a hunch, that God would bless me and Brian with a little baby girl. Now our daunting task over the next few months will to turn the wood paneled walls and blue shag carpeted "office" into a little girl nursery. Sure do wish we would have taken before pictures of the office before Brian demolished the century old carpet and sweet wooden walls. :) Oh well! We're infamous for starting demolition on a project and THEN thinking about taking before and after pictures. 


So for the next few weeks/months I am dreaming up ways to make a little girl's room a livable shade of girly without making her daddy feel like he's surrounded by estrogen. After the baby is born he will be outnumbered. 3:2--and yes I am counting the dogs (Abby and Petey). :)


Here's a little something I borrowed from a blog I've been following for a while...it's an update of our little pregnancy progress.

How far along? 20 wks

Total weight gain: 10 so far, but I did just eat waffles with yummy syrup so that number may be inaccurate.
Maternity clothes? Yes, a few. Mainly pants...I'm just starting to show, but just chubby enough that my old pants don't fit me anymore. Bleh.
Stretch marks? none so far. Lets keep it that way.
Sleep: Good so far, actually really good. Some days I feel like I could hibernate.
Best moment this week: Seeing out little girl on the 20 week ultrasound....She was moving her mouth (like her momma!). Saw her little foot...and it's just like mine. Poor girl's 2nd and 3rd toes are longer than her big toe.
Miss Anything? Drinking coffee. And eating steak. Anddd...wine. And my favorite pair of BKE jeans. Ah, those were the days.
Movement: tons of movement, little baby girl is using my tummy as a jungle gym! 
Food cravings: Mainly veggies and fruit. But every once in a while I get a wild craving for anything chocolate!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Meat and broccoli. Every once in a while I can chow down on it but it has to be the perfect moment.
Gender: Girl 
Labor Signs: No
Symptoms: So far, I've just had bad pain in my sciatic and my hips....Mainly when I work both jobs in one day. Stairs are my worst enemy at the end of the day.
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Depends on who you ask. I whine a lot though. I'm mostly happy I'd say, but Brian would tell you I'm a mean ole lady! :)
Looking forward to: Painting the walls of the nursery! Ahhhhhh I can't wait. 

Late Night Potty Breaks

It's a little after 3 a.m. now and I'm having the worst time sleeping lately, so after the night we've experienced, I figured why not start a blog! So here goes my first attempt at telling the world about my day. Today--eh, Wednesday--it rained all day long, which as most of us would agree makes for a very long day in itself. I wasn't busy at the salon, but did have one little boy's haircut which brightened the day up a little. He giggled every time I even got near him with the clippers. So darn cute! A few hours go by and I leave the salon to go to work at my other job, which painstakingly drags by.


To supplement my income while I am building my clientelle, I am a waitress at a local restaurant chain. Some nights I feel a though I am customers personal assistant for pennies on the dollar on some nights and other nights I seem to do very well. Tuesday night was one of those nights where you feel like you are chasing your tail. In restaurant lingo, I was "in the weeds" literally all night long but made a small night's fortune. Last night (Wednesday), it was the exact opposite. I made a whopping 27 dollars and was home by a little after 9. After folding 1,000 loads of laundry--okay probably like 3 but they were huge loads--I decided to hit the hay. 


I am 19 1/2 weeks pregnant and my back is absolutely killing me right now. No one warns you how fun pregnancy truly can be at times. I have thrown up more than the underweight Olsen twins, and one of those I times even peed my pants like a toddler (but only once so far!). That's a whole other blog in itself. Ok, back to the subject matter...the back hurting and baby moving around using my belly as jungle gym is causing me to not fall asleep as quickly as I was in the first trimester. So after tossing and turning my body finally relaxes enough to zzzzzzzzzzzzz.


And then I subconsciously hear Petey--my little Pugglesworth--get down off the bed. Brian also wakes up and unsuccessfully tries to coax him outside to potty. He goes downstairs to check the woodstove (we have wood heat in our home) and comes back up to find Petey is making a poopie in the spare bedroom. Angrily he scolds him and sends Petey outside to finish his business. I try to clean up the little surprise but the smell of it makes me gag, so Brian has to finish for me. After cleaning that up, it's finally time to go back to bed. By this time, our other dog (who is an outside dog sleeping inside for the rainy night) decides to camp out in our bed. Brian yells at her to get down and....she pees. Right in the bed. So needless to say we are now sleeping atop clean crisp sheets at 3 in the morning whether we wanted to or not. Rather than get mad about it we should probably just shrug it off because in a short while this will be us, waking up in the middle of the night to change a diaper or feed the little darling, etc etc. After sitting here listening to Petey snore, Brian's alarm going off and the lull of the late night my eyelids are finally getting heavy enough that I may be able to sleep. :) Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings for us!