Ch-ch-ch-Changes....

So my new blog is created. Not in the design yet that I will probably use, but it exists. I guess I should be writing there, but I need to think of some awesome, wow, HERE I AM WORLD kind of post. And really? I just don't have it in me right now.

I made it 2 1/2 days on my fast. Two and a half days of NOTHING but water. (Go me. And go GOD!) I could have continued, as I was hungry, but not like...DYING of hunger like I thought I would be, but a couple of things happened. First, I was praying this morning, and then reading scripture. One of the things I had prayed about was revelation for how long I should fast. I started it rather ambiguously, with a couple of reasons for the fast, and as such, I had kind of an ambiguous end in mind. First of all, I knew a single day was going to be tough. But strangely enough, it wasn't. I prayed for strength through it all, and even today, which was the third and typically VERY hard day - it wasn't that bad. I actually felt surprisingly good, despite the lack of sleep I've had this week due to sick-baby-itis. Anyway, so I was praying, and then I started reading the Psalms - 23rd of course, which was my Grandpa's favorite, and then just proceeded on. WELL - Psalm 40, verse 6:

First the NLT version:
You take no delight in sacrifices or offerings. Now that you have made me listen, I finally understand--you don't require burnt offerings or sin offerings.

Then the Amplified Bible version:
Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity to hear and obey [Your law, a more valuable service than] burnt offerings and sin offerings [which] You do not require.

Ok, here's the thing about Revelation from God...there are times when it may not be ovious to anyone else, but when you read it, it kind of...I dunno...ZINGS in your head. "THIS IS FOR YOU" it kind of shouts. So you listen.

What I got from that was that my fasting hadn't been necessary at all. Do I regret doing it? NOT AT ALL - I made it longer than I thought I could, and I know I could have gone even further. I give 100% credit to that to God - because I've tried to fast before on my own, and after a few hours was whiney because I wanted a snack! But anyway - the revelation itself was a zinger to me - my fast, which I had considered a sacrifice, especially since it started on my birthday, and I gave up most of the birthday-related celebration - no presents, no dinner, no cake, etc. I looked at it as a sacrifice I was willing to make to God for the things I was praying for.

And then to read my sacrifice was not necessary? Hrm. Ok. Well then, I'll have some toast. Woot.

Then a couple of hours later I got a text validating that what I'd been praying for had happened, more or less. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo....yeah. WOOHOO! (GO GOD!)

SO anyway, that's that.

Still have a sick baby. Temp keeps going up further than I'm happy with. She projectile vomitted all over me in the ER Monday night, so - yeah - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!

On another note - did you know that the Snapple Trop-a-rocka is pretty darn good? Yeah, I didn't either because Zack drank the one I bought, since it was during my fast. I bought it...then thought: "You know, I made it two days without anything but water. I know I said it was just going to be liquids, but...I don't want to mess up what I've done!" So I didn't drink it. :-( SO I guess I'll go get myself one this weekend and enjoy it.

In other news, my new blog is up - so I guess I should go start blogging there!

Happy Birthday to Me...

Well, in the past I have always had an active blog on my birthday, so that I could go out and say whatever useless thing I had to say at the time. This year...not so much. I mean, I don't actually have a blog I'm using regularly. So I guess this one will have to do for now.

I officially turned 36 at around 10:30 this morning. I'm not much for hoopla about it this year. I don't want a dinner tonight, and if I make a cake, it's purely for the kids. Zack bought me a guitar I need to learn to play, and that's pretty much my day.

Oh, but I did start a fast today. So far just water today, but I may go to juice/broth later depending on how I am feeling. I just wanted to start 36 completely clear...thankful...and prayerful. And so I am. I am not sure how long it will last, but I am hoping for awhile. We shall see.

Happy Birthday to me!

Speaking of a long time since I posted....

::looks down::

Last post here was in September.

Oops.

Well, you know, life and all that.

Anyway - Chloe had her 1st Birthday, which was awesome. And then she had her 1 year check-up, which was not awesome, because it included 5 shots and a blood draw. FIVE SHOTS. Ugh. Poor baby. It broke my heart. She has been really tough with her shots in the past, and didn't even cry for her seasonal flu. She barely cried for the h1n1. She's a tough kid. I can already see that about her - she pinches her fingers all the time, and rarely cries over stuff like that. Kelsey still, to this day, will show me ever little paper cut she gets, wanting Mama cuddles. But Chloe...she's tough. Five shots, however, and she screamed through all but the blood draw. She was fine after a few minutes, but it took me a lot longer to feel better!

We've been busy around the house. We cleaned out the garage, but still have one more shelving unit to build, and then it will be REALLY done. Zack ripped out carpet in the basement, and did a lot of cleaning that needed to happen down there, so that's good. Still to do - all the yardwork for spring. I am actually anxious to do that. If C was a little more able to be outside without me holding her, I would probably start working on it, but it's pretty tough. (And I'll admit, I lay down for a nap when she has her long nap! I am still staying up late with Zack, and C wakes up pretty early, so I'm only getting an average of 5-6 hours of sleep...and I'm an 8 hour girl, so I constantly feel tired anymore.)

Also to do...the windows! I only got C's windows done last fall, and all the rest of the windows are just AWFUL. I just hate doing them. Also need to do a few fix-it projects around the house. But all in all, things are shaping up.

The older kids are doing well. Kelsey is looking forward to the ending of her 10th grade year, and the beginning of being an "upper classman". We've got to get her into a driver's ed class this summer. She still hates even the idea of going driving to practice.

C-M is doing well, but struggling with Algebra. Hopefully she'll have her grades up enough that she can go on a trip next week for spring break with her grandpa.

E is rocking scouts (although he really needs to be a little more assertive so he can get up to his next rank. All that's holding him back is that he needs to schedule a meeting with his scout master, and he won't do it!).

Zacho is doing really well in school. He had a little problem with states and capitals, but thankfully, they're past it, so he's going to be back to good grades! LOL Still his typical "ooh shiny' self!

And C's walking pretty well now. She still will crawl if she wants to get somewhere fast, but she walks more than she crawls anymore. She's TERRIBLY curious, and is always into cabinets and whatnot. Fixing all of our child latches is another "to-do" for the weekend.

Z is loving his job, but the on-call sucks, from my perspective! He's had lots of "nights out" with the office muckity mucks, so he's getting spoiled!

And me? Well, I'm just still here. Trying to come up with something to make a little money from home (other than babysitting!). I already have one baby I watch on Fridays, and it really curtails what I'm able to go out and do, so...yeah, not what I want to do.

Anyway - so there's a long overdue update!

Sorry it's been awhile!

But we ran out of batteries for the camera. And for some reason, if I don't have pictures, I don't think to write anything here.

More pictures are up on Facebook, if you look there.

Anyway - Today was the Husker Season Opener. WOOHOO!

Chloe and Eric were suitably attired:

And Eric looks sad, because the game was only on pay-per-view.

(Actually, it was just impossible to get a single picture were BOTH of them were looking at the camera and Eric was actually smiling. And Chloe's Husker logo was showing. This picture taking thing...it is hard!)

Chloe turns 6 months on the 18th. I'll post a better update then, but for now she's doing great! She's rolling like a mad woman, and does a lot of work on strengthening her tummy muscles to sit up. She isn't quite stable enough to sit unassisted, but she's working on it. We've had a HUGE jump back in the sleeping through the night thing in the last few nights, and whoa - you forget how exhausting it is. I'm hoping once we get her on more solid foods, she'll go back to sleeping a little more. She's had cereal a few times and is just not fond of it. We've tried carrots, which were also not a big hit. She's also had a few "tastes" of other things, like rice (just a grain or two) and watermelon (which she loved sucking on).

She also seems to be working on teeth. We don't see any yet on her gums, but she is slobbering like a mad dog, and constantly has fingers or toys in her mouth to chew on. But, all in all, she's still amazing and adorable, even on 3 1/2 hours sleep.

The older kids all started back at school a few weeks ago. Eric is at the middle school with CM now, Zacho is now the only one in grade school, and K is in her second year at the high school.

Kelsey is doing great, and lettered academically, which is awesome. She's doing lots of art classes again this year, and decided to take Forensics this year to cover her public speaking requirement. (And I just found out she could have lettered in Drama last year, but didn't turn in the sheet. DOH!) Other than that, she's doing wonderfully. Boys are still stupid, and her grades are still important to her. She has moments of teenager attitude, but thankfully they aren't that often.

CM is enjoying her status as an upper-classman at the middle school, and has quite a few friends with whom she texts often! She also had a non-parentally sanctioned "boyfriend" this year! She is hoping to find a sport to play this fall. Her grades so far are awesome, so we're really happy about that.

Eric is still active in his Boy Scout Troop, and did two week-long camping trips with them this summer. They start up on their monthly camping trips again this month, so we are excited about that. Scouts has really been an awesome thing for him, and although one of his best friends dropped out of the troop, we're looking forward to him becoming more active with a great group of boys. He's enjoying being at the middle school, and says the best thing about it is switching classes all day.

Zachary is also enjoying scouts (cub for him!) and has a great leader this year. We switched packs at the end of the school year last year, due to a great lack of organization on the part of the old pack, but we are THRILLED with the new leader. Zachary is still struggling with his ADHD, but with the medication, he gets awesome grades.

All of the kids are now active in both Wednesday night and Sunday church groups, and seem to be having a great time with it. The other awesome thing, is that all of the kids have become avid readers! The boys are in love with the Percy Jackson & the Olympiads books, and Kelsey and CM read a lot of "teen fiction". Barnes & Noble loves us.

Zack is doing great, although we did find out this week that his office is going to be closing at the end of the year, which means the job hunt is on. He isn't sure if he will stay until the end of the year at his present job. Obviously, if something permanent comes along between now and then, we can't pass that up. He has also started working out several times a week, and is doing SPECTACULARLY at that. We are all very proud of him. He's also taking the girls with him whenever he can, so they are enjoying it too.

Anyway - that's pretty much all there is for now. I don't have much new going on - aside from joining the church MOPS (mother of preschoolers) group later this month. I'm also spending a little time helping Lane get everything aligned in his system so the accountants can work their magic, which is nice, as it's an opportunity to do something outside the house for a few hours.

And on that note...I'm going to go hang out with the hubby and kids!

Amazon baby!

If you didn't get an email notifying you of the pictures I uploaded to facebook, let me know - or just go out to facebook and search for me - I'm the one who isn't the singer. (ha ha!)

Chloe had her 4 month checkup yesterday, and her 4 month shots. The shots have not gone well. She's been Miss Cranky Pants ever since. She was 14 lbs 13 ounces, and 26 inches long. That put her in the 75th percentile for weight and head circumference, and off the charts (just over 100th %) for height. She is going to be a TALL kiddo.

The doctor also noticed that she holds her head at an odd angle, and diagnosed her with congenital torticollis. This means from birth she had a problem with a tendon in her neck that causes her to hold her head slightly tilted. We haven't really ever noticed the tilt very much, but we have noticed that she has a very strong preference to look to her left. She will sometimes turn her head to the right, but it's rare enough to be of concern. She had x-rays to make sure there isn't a problem with her vertebrae, but everything there looks fine, so we just proceed with some stretching exercises every day to try and fix the issue.

Other than that, everything is going really well. Prior to her shots yesterday, she was sleeping through the night most nights. She's good at holding her head up, and is starting to get frustrated that she can't sit up without help. She doesn't do ANYTHING for very long before she gets bored, and is already trying to hold her own bottle.

We're going to wait a little longer to start her on solids, but as soon as she shows us she's ready, we'll start. Her growth certainly isn't anything to worry us!

She continues to be thrilled when her brothers and sisters pay attention to her. She thinks they're all pretty neat, and they all love her to bits, except when she needs to be changed!

Other than that, all is well. The kids are getting geared up for school to start again in a few weeks, and Zack is enjoying a relatively slow period at work.

Anyway - lots more pictures on facebook, so go take a look!

Chloe: Three months already!

Chloe turned three months old this afternoon, so I took some pictures in honor of the occasion! The dress pictures are for mom. The geek pictures in her D&D onesie are for dad! If you would like copies of any of them, please let me know and I'll get them printed.

Chloe is doing very well. She's growing like a weed. I haven't had her in to the doctor for a month. She was 12 lbs at 2 months, but I would guess she's over 14 by now. She certainly feels like it if I have to carry her around very far!

She is still very much her mommy's girl, and often has crying fits in the evening that her Daddy does his best to help out with, but sometimes only mommy will do. This is hard on her Pappa, but we know she'll be a Daddy's girl in time!

She has been sleeping well for the most part, and has many nights when she will sleep from 9 or 10 until 7 or 8 in the morning. YAY! I haven't really started enjoying them yet, because I wake up in the night and worry about why SHE isn't waking up! I'm sure as soon as I get used to them, a growth spurt or teething will start, and the sleeping through the night won't last!

Anyway...now for some pictures!

"Yes, I am eating my dress. It's NUMMY!!"


















When do I get MY laptop? (Also known as "My Three Daughters")


















And finally? "My daddy makes me wear geek onesies!"























As for the other kids, they're all doing great this summer. Kelsey isn't doing much, but we're looking for some art classes or an art camp to send her to. I had hoped to get her talked into church camp or a niobrara canoe trip, but no dice yet. CM is texting her little heart out on her new phone, and goes to Sun Dawgs several times a week. She has also gotten into her church group, and made a trip to Worlds of Fun with them a couple of weeks ago. She had a blast. Eric is currently away at Scout camp - his first full week of camping. It's been pretty warm and stormy, so aside from us worrying about another tornado, I'm sure he'll have lots of stories about how hot and muggy camping was. (And mosquito bites. Thankfully we sent bug spray!) Zachary is also going to Sun Dawgs, and enjoying it a little more than CM, since the kids are more his age. Eric, CM, and Zacho all also finally learned to ride their bikes, and went for a good bike ride in the park last week. All in all, everybody is doing exceptionally well!

We are definitely very blessed.

OH yeah - here's a shot of Eric on his birthday. Isn't he cute?

Just a test

Just testing someting. Nothing to see here!