Partner!

I am so super excited today. After a wonderful service at church today, my friend Aimee came up to me to ask if I wanted to be her workout partner. My answer, "Um, Yes!" At first I was a little unsure of the details and was afraid I would have to join a gym and get measured or something. eek! She quickly put my mind to ease by telling me her plan was to come to me so we could work out to Zumba or her DVD's together during Ash's nap. Perfect! When I told her I just acquired the Dance Central game for Kinect we had a moment that ended in a high-five. Boom! Workout plan complete. Aimee is a super fun and talented girl who happens to also be an amazing photographer. I'm going to be sure she takes a picture of me at goal weight so I look super fantastic. This is going to work out great because she just lives down the street from me and most of her photography stuff during the week is at night. Ash naps at 12:30, so I can get all of my stuff completed during the morning, have a workout and still have my nights with the family. Also, what is better than having a daily accountability partner? I just hope she can contain her laughter because I'm sure I look completely ridiculous. I have also decided we should have matching sweat bands. That seems official. Even more fun, my friend Katie also has the Kinect and the same games so we could workout with her too! I really feel like all of my friends should have a Kinect. Can't tell you how fabulous it is to be able to have time with your buddies from home especially when you all have kids and life gets hectic. So everybody buy a Kinect (Xbox, you can totally thank me with free merch.) and then we can start an online class and all chat everyday! Once you get one, I'll let you know what color sweat band to buy! :)

Imagine LIfe

I should totally be asleep right now, but I am too excited. I just attended the most incredible event tonight called Imagine Life, a fundraising event for Liberty Women's Clinic. You might remember that my friend Katie and I (along with Bella and Asher) did a Walk for Life event for them in the fall. That walked stirred something in me and I haven't been able to shake it since. Tonight confirmed.

With that said, I am going to be super open and honest right now...so be nice. :)
When I was pregnant with Judah and learned of his diagnosis, I was scared. Terrified more like it. I heard the words "Fatal Deformity" followed within 30 seconds by "When do you want to schedule your abortion?" There wasn't a moment, a thought, a glimmer of a thought even, with that as an option. Abortion has never, nor will ever be an option for me. I believe God is the creator of life and it is never our place to choose to end it. Now my belief in life did not take my fear away for what I had ahead of me, so I can completely understand and have deep compassion for women who are in similar medical situations or young women with less than desirable circumstances. I get it. My thoughts that first night were honestly; Will I love him? Will I be scared to hold him? Will my friends stick by me? Will my family be embarrassed I didn't have a "perfect" baby? I am human, I am insecure and I was scared. I was scared that God picked the wrong girl. I'm nobody. I'm a shy girl without a list of talents. I couldn't see God's vision for me or Judah.

But the Bible says, (Psalms 139:13)

"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother's womb... You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day.

Luke 12:7

And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

At the time, I couldn't see God's plan and even as I write this today I don't understand, but I do know that those scriptures are truth. He knew as he knit Judah in my womb that his life while short on Earth, was filled with purpose. Even further, he knew as he knit me in my mothers womb, that he equipped me and built me for all that he intended and that my purpose is bigger than I can imagine my talents to complete.

I'm shy. If my Speech teacher didn't completely love me, I would've failed. Through all of this I have spoken at 2 Women's Conferences and taped my story, not to mention the countless people I have met in similar circumstances who I have shared my experiences with. I see very little talent when I view myself, but God created me with a specific purpose and while I doubt myself, he knows exactly what we are all capable of. Tonight confirmed that the desire to volunteer to help girls hurting and confused, much like myself six years ago, to make a choice that they will be happy with for their lifetime. After Judah's diagnosis, I couldn't see past minute-to-minute. Looking back, it is simply amazing that God has used us in the ways he has and I know I haven't even scratched the surface. The thing is, it isn't just me, but every single person. Every person was created with purpose. So to think that in my county alone 700 babies (with a purpose all of their own) were aborted in 2010 is simply devastating. Especially when in my circle of friends, I have so many heart broken friends that are unable to conceive naturally.

I can't imagine my life, had I made the other choice. If I had followed the medical suggestion and chose convenience over life. I still have grief and sorrow, but nothing in comparison to what I would have if I had never experienced the love of my son and the memories of that day.

Thanks to the generous gifts of people all burdened by this cause, the clinic was able to raise $238,000.00 last night! AMAZING! It was calculated to cost $1,000.00 to save one baby, so that is over 220 babies in the next year, whose life will be protected. Believing that our county number is going to drop significantly in the next year and excited to hear the stories and make relationships in the process.

You are perfectly designed and meant for greatness! So what are you going to do with it?

Map

Today I took Lovey on a walk around the neighborhood. It is absolutely gorgeous outside and I thought he would like to take a simple walk and chat with Mommy before nap time. Asher has quite an imagination, as I have said before. He imagines crocodiles on the floor, bad guys, sharks in the ocean and he is at least one animal for part of the day. When we left our house I told him he could choose which direction we headed. As we made our way down the sidewalk, he found a small cardboard advertisement and said, "OH wow! A map!" He wanted to stop and read it for a while before we made any further movement and finally he said, "It says dat-a way!" with a determined point. He led me around the curvy neighborhood stopping every few yards to refer to the map. He told me the map said we had to find flags. That was our new mission and luckily we have some very patriotic neighbors! We found several flags on our path, but that wasn't enough for little Lovey. He quickly realized that every single mailbox has a flag and he thought our mission included pushing each one of them up! :) He is a good listener, so after fixing a couple he was happy just to point them out to me. Not sure our mail carrier would have been to happy with that!
My little adventurer with his "map"

I just love love love spending time with my Asher. 2 1/2 might be my favorite age. Everything is so fun and exciting and he can communicate just enough for me to understand what is going on in his mind. He made a simple walk so much fun, all with his creativity and imagination. We had to jump over cracks so we didn't "fall down" and find flags, he wanted us to use our ears to listen for clues and my favorite of all was when he huffed and puffed and said, "dis is hard wok."

Of course after we found our house, I had to reward all of that work with a nice big glass of cold lemonade and a cookie. I just wish I could have joined him. Stinkin' South Beach!

Lovey

Today I was listening to Asher speak and I realized I hadn't posted an update on my lovey in a while.

My quiet little thinker, while still quiet is actually speaking really well now. He was a late bloomer in the language department, but now he rarely stops talking at home. :)
When Izzy was this age, he spoke like a little Italian Mario. "Izzy no lika dis.", "whya you'a do dat?" Asher doesn't have a funny little accent, but he does like to shorten all of his words. He calls a pocket- "pock", jacket "jack", blanket "blank", and so on. But then on something he loves VERY much he adds a word. He has this pair of slip on shoes that have a flap like soccer shoes and a big G for Gap on the front. When he wants to put shoes on he never asks for shoes, he always says "I need soccah shoes!" Oh, now that I think about it he kind of does have an accent. It is like a Boston accent...everything ends in a "ah" sound. It is cute.

He has been saying one phrase a lot lately, "Bobo did it." If you watch him destroy his room and Izzy just happens to be at school and we are the only two home, and I say "Ash, who made this mess?" He will say, "Bobo did it." If you wait long enough and don't make any sudden movements or facial expressions, he will get a huge grin and then say, "Sorry Mommy."

Asher is a creature of habit. He likes his schedule, he likes to do the same thing each and every day and he will tell you on the dot when it is nap/bedtime. Every morning, when I wake him up the first thing out of his mouth is "I hungy. Ashey eat wawalls (waffles) and milk." He doesn't stray from this breakfast routine and then he asks for "I need show Mommy.....Max&Ruby." After he cleans up his mess, (yay for training!) he always runs and reads books, or plays trains or finds a big dump truck and sits in front of the front door in the sunshine and plays quietly. I am telling you, he is the easiest little kid you could ask for! This last week was crazy busy and I think he is needing some extra loving because the last two days he has been coming up to me and saying "Mama, Ashey needs hugkiss." And heartmelt.
He got his nickname for a reason. His love language is definitely physical touch.

He is still very, very shy and groups of people give him extreme anxiety. I think in this next year, he will start coming out of it, hopefully. He won't try anything new if there are other people involved (ie: moon bounce, park). Much like his older brother at this age, he thinks we can wait until the park is completely cleared out for him to try the slide. :/

My little man is super smart and knows all of his letters by sight, colors and shapes. We have also been drawing and practicing drawing circles. The one thing he refuses to do is sing the "ABC" song. He knows the letters, but won't even try to sing it. If there is anything I know about Asher, is he won't do anything until he is ready. So who knows when that will be. He does love to sing, his faves are Wheels on the Bus, Row Row Row your boat, If your happy and you know it and O Praise him. It isn't that he is too shy to sing, or that he can't remember the words...he just knows that is the song I want him to sing. Stinker. Lately, he has been writing his own songs and maybe it is the Mom in me, but he has a great little voice! Today we went shopping and while we were out he asked Daddy a question and he replied, "Hold on a minute." Logically the next step is to turn that into a song! Asher serenaded all of the checkout lanes with a little tune singing "You hold a minute...hold a minute, you hold a minuuuuuuute."

Something else I am waiting on my little stubborn bull for, potty training. Blame Mommy for delaying his interest, but he wanted to potty all of the time during the holidays. I was so busy that I would practice with him a couple of times a day each day, but didn't push more than that. Now that I want him to potty train he says, "Ashey not do dat! Potty is too cold for me. No way." Hrmph! Waiting patiently on that one.

I am going to start keeping track of Ashers Quote of the Day here as well, because lately we have had a lot of them.

Today he saw a 1/2 circle kite flying and yelled, "Mama! Look at dat, oh no! Da Moon fell down out da sky!"

While taking a bath with Izzy, he busted up laughing at something Izzy did and then looked at me and said, "Mama, Bobo so funny...and then stopped laughing and turned serious and said, but you not."

At least once a day when I ask what he would like for breakfast/lunch/dinner he responds with "Cake." When I say, "Nice try." He responds with, "YESSSSSS Cake, nice try Mama!"

If I say "How much do you love me?" He says (every single time) "Ummmmm 6." When I look sad, he then says, "Okay okay okay....8."

I'm sure there is a million things I have forgotten, but I can save them for next time. I plan on video taping him talking this week, but my luck with loading videos to blogger has pretty much been none. So many cute videos...no where to load them. You will just have to imagine the cuteness.

Happy Monday to all!

Spring Break Day 4&5

Days 4 & 5 were friends days! We had a blast and ended both with a great nights sleep because we were wore out!

Thursday we went to my friend K's to play with Elijah and Bella. You could give those kids 1 thing to play with and they would just be so happy to be together. We played outside most of the day, enjoying the nice weather. Elijah and Izzy played a little bit of everything, soccer, army, bikes, and even more soccer and some baseball. The littles, Bella and Asher, played in a cozy coupe fire truck for most of the day with a little sidewalk chalk on the side. It was such a relaxing day with 4 happy kids. :) After a pizza for lunch, the littles played legos while the boys played Kinect Sports. I left at nap time with 2 happy, exhausted boys and Izzy was pretty sweaty from all of the exercise. I'd call that a successful day! That night Hubby and I were able to take Izzy to church for a worship conference we have going this weekend and it was amazing! It was a super late night for Izzy, and he was pretty emotional by the time he went to be at almost midnight. Oops!

Friday we went to my friend Karli's for lunch and playtime. Her sweet kids are 7 and 9 mo. Haiden and Izzy look almost identical and they have a blast together. Baby O is as cute as a button and she slept through most of our playtime, but Asher finds her very interesting. :) He is always trying to find her binky's for her and is always worried about her. Izzy and Haiden played Wii, jumped on the trampoline, and played boy stuff while Karli and I had a wonderful day of girl talk! On the way home, the boys were talking a mile-a-minute, and of course Izzy was making a plan for next time.

We are so blessed with the friendships God has brought into our lives. Everyone we love isn't just a friend of mine or Hubby's, but our entire family has friends within a family. It is so nice to plan something for Izzy's benefit on Spring Break, but we all got something out of it. As a Mommy, it is so refreshing to spend time with other Mommies and have adult conversation. It is even better when the kids get along so well, you can just let them be and enjoy the laughter.

Hubby has Mid-terms soon, so next weekend is all Mommy all of the time. Tonight I am going to take advantage of a girls night! I've been blessed with terrific friends, but I have also been beyond blessed with a Husband who is so thoughtful and loving that any chance I have, he sends me off without any strings attached to enjoy time away. It means so much especially knowing how hard he works and how much time he sacrifices for school. While I'm off with the girls, he is taking the boys for a guys night with their favorite cousins. They are going to have so much fun and that always makes it easy for any Mommy to leave.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Spring Break as much as we did! I will need all of next week to recover! :)

Spring Break Day 3

WoW. I'm exhausted. My arms feel like jello and everything else just hurts. It was one of those super fun days that leave you feeling like you could sleep for days. Summary: Crown Center to see the Under the Sea exhibit, shopping, picnic lunch, Kaleidoscope and ended with a yummy treat from a local bakery (for the boys, don't worry I didn't cheat). That sounds like a lot and it was, but then you add in the walking, and with the enormous amounts of people that all had the same idea as I did, I had to carry Asher for 60% of it in fear that he would get trampled. Of course all of the escalators are broken, and the elevators move at a snails pace and everything we did was about 5 floors apart with 2 sets of stair cases for each. Oh and did I mention Asher doesn't do stairs...yeah. EXhaustion! Even with all of that, it was so worth it. The weather was perfect, my boys were so well behaved and helpful and I was able to experience some firsts with Asher and have great memories. Turns out, Asher is an amazing painter! Now, I would not know this because I am to OCD to get paint out, but I will have to now. He got into this crazy "artist" zone and I was just shocked at his focus and not to mention that he didn't get a drop off of his paper. Time to buy Asher some of his own art supplies...he gets it from Daddy for sure. The amount of people was definitely overwhelming, but I just reassured the boys that we were in no hurry and to enjoy what they were doing. We shared lots of good talks and many more laughs. Great day.

Wish I could stop there, but it has to be said, both of my kids (ages 5 & 2) spent the entire day watching people and how they treated others and commenting on others lack of manners. At one point a 10-ish yr old literally almost trampled me to get a marker, when I turned to him and said, "You might want to say excuse me next time and ask nicely." He gave me a dirty look and pushed a few more people to get out of his way. Another time, the boys and I found a small table with two seats in the corner where no one was around. It was perfect. The boys didn't feel rushed and were able to work on their project. A Dad in business attire, comes over with his two sons to see what we are working on. When they realized they wanted to do our station next, instead of encouraging them to wait patiently he let them take over the table. Izzy was trying to put some supplies back and only lifted himself from the chair when one of his kids pushed himself onto Izzy's chair, underneath him! I was just shocked! I looked right at the Dad and he ignored them. Izzy then looked at me and said, "Mom that isn't fair, I wasn't done!" So, I say while looking right at his sons, "Sorry, Izzy. That wasn't kind. Let's go find another station where people use manners." I understand that sometimes kids get excited and forget their training, but seriously? The parents are with the kids and allowing them to bully their way around. What happened to manners and patience and what happened to parents being a good example?

My boys aren't perfect by any means, but I can say confidently, that even my 2 year old knows better than to behave that way with or without me. I am so over kids acting like animals, doing whatever it takes to get what they want. I am even more over the parents that don't spend the time training them to be respectful. Honest, it really doesn't take much to teach your children to keep their hands to themselves and practice patience. It takes even less to teach them a simple "please" and "thank you". Didn't appreciate that it tarnished our day a bit, but it is kind of a good lesson to my boys. I can't tell you how many times I heard Asher say, "Dat so ugly." about someone who was being rude or throwing a fit. They got to see first hand how ugly it really is to act without respect for others. Sadly, I can count 2 people from the entire day that were kind. That is ridiculous.

Day 4 of spring break is going to be super fun, a beautiful day spent with friends! Can't wait, because I know they have great manners. :)

Spring Break: Day 2

As all spring break days should start, we slept in until 9. No matter what time I go to bed, if I get to sleep until 9, I am a much happier woman. After our regular morning routine, I started in on the dreaded mini-hoarders room. I cloroxed everything, went through his clothes, toys and finally reorganized his closet. I feel like I can breathe a little deeper today. I think I should start each day with a project like that because even though it took a little extra energy (of which lately I have none) it put me in accomplishment mode all day long. Also, the smell of clorox is equivalent to the newborn baby smell to me, they both equal JOY.

Izzy took a little bit longer to get dressed today because you know his new hair cut has him feeling really good about himself and he wanted every "spike" just right. Once I got Asher down for a nap, I took Izzy off for a Mommy/Son date day. Izzy doesn't care what we do on these dates, but I always try to fit in a couple of things that he really loves and I also try to make them productive by getting things I need done as well. Our date started off at Sams, which while it doesn't sound fun we were only there for a couple of items like milk and diapers and Izzy is a great shopper. He loves to look at everything and he doesn't mind the free snacks either. :) Then we were off for a special delivery. My sweet friend Carolyns birthday is today and Izzy made her a card and he picked out flowers to take to her. After visiting a bit, we were off to register for T-ball. He is so excited to play again this year and the girl who registered him said, "Are you excited?" and he said, "I'm super good. Like really good. I hit home runs all of the time soooo..I can't wait." Well, his self confidence is certainly not lacking! Then it was Izzy time. I took him to QT and let him get a "special" drink which is always a white cherry slush and he wanted a hot dog. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing at the park, talking, and walking a trail. We had a little bit of time before we had to be home so we ran by Target just for fun and he looked through all of the toys and games.

On the way home, we were listening to a local Christian radio station and there is a song that goes, "I love you more than the sun and the stars that I taught how to shine, You are mine and you shine for me too, I love you yesterday and today and tomorrow I'll say it again, I love you more." (Matthew West) Izzy was belting that song out and then he stops mid-chorus and says, "Mom, I wrote this song for you. Did you know that? Because I love you like this song says. More than the stars and the sky. I just love you more! *pause* I don't know how this song got on the radio...but I wrote it." Oh, he makes me laugh and want to cry at the same time.

Or what about this one...

I'm dropping off the food after our Sams run, and Hubby meets me at the door to help. He kisses me good-bye and when I got into the car Izzy says, "Hey what was that? What do you think this is your married? You think this is your wedding? NO! This isn't your wedding...we don't have cake! No Cake..No Kisses!" I could barely contain myself. He was adamant with his disgust, but I couldn't stop laughing.

Izzy and I had the best day together and it is so fun to have one on one time and conversations that are uninterrupted. In all honesty though, Izzy doesn't really need me for the conversation, he doesn't take a breath and he answers his own questions. But it sure is funny listening to his brain work.

I even got to have some Mommy time today because after I put them to bed, I went to my friends house to work on craft projects! It is so therapeutic and there is nothing like some good ol' girl talk! I have been blessed with such great friends and creative ones at that.

Today was wonderful and it is going to be really hard to send Izzy back to school next week.

I love Spring Break!

Spring Break Day 1

Today was lovely! We slept in until 9, moved slowly and enjoyed a quiet morning. After breakfast, I got the boys ready and took them for their new Spring hair cuts at a local kids salon. Izzy has always had curly long hair and as he has lost his curl, we have just kept it longer and in a surfer style. Asher, his hair has a mind of it's own...so I'm happy as long as 50% of it is going in the same direction. :) Today, Izzy informed me that he is almost 6 and it is time for him to be able to pick his own hair. Seemed reasonable to me...until he told me he wanted a mohawk. Ummm.no. His back up plan was to have a short style with spiky, messy hair on top. He was able to either sit in a fun power-wheel and watch a movie, or play a video game while she cut his hair. That was a no brainer. He picked the Wii and played Super Mario Bros. He had so much fun and then when she spiked his hair like crazy with gel I thought he would fall over out of his chair. He actually said, "I've never seen my forehead." LoL! Asher thinks Izzy is "Awesome" (he always says that) so he wanted the exact cut. Unfortunately, at first he had a complete panic attack at the thought of sitting in the car or chair by himself, so he sat on my lap at first. But, when he realized he was missing out, he picked a car. Which was great, except he picked the only CINDERELLA convertible in the joint! OMW. I was so happy that he was willing to do something on his own, I didn't say a word, but when a little girl came in for her cut and the only option for her was a Hummer or a Harley, she was less than pleased. Asher didn't seem to mind, he kept chatting away on his Cinderella cell phone and steering like he was in a Nascar race. As a cherry on top, when offered every movie known to man-kind, he skipped Cars, Robin Hood, Elmo and went the Dora route. Niiiiiice.

But when you have kids as cute as this...




It's super easy to forget the crying, and the Cinderella car.

We enjoyed a nice lunch out just the three of us, followed by a great nap for Asher and an afternoon of playing for Izzy. I decided I would get a jump start on my spring cleaning, even though the weather outside is SNOW! I gutted Izzy's room and in 2 hours we had 1 large trash bag for trash, 1 for clothes and 1 for toys to be donated. How is that possible? I just did this in September! SB Day 2: We are tackling Asher's room and doing some fun projects with the boys. I might need prayer for Day 2....Asher is a hoarder. It is not going to be pretty.

How are you spending your Spring Break?

M.I.A

I've been MIA.

But I have had good reason. After celebrating my birthday, I almost immediately came down with Influenza A .. Boooooo! I told my hubby it is how I imagine Hell to be. It was horrible. When I was on the mend TWO weeks later, then my Hubs get sick. In between all of that, the kids were off...runny noses, cranky, blah. To summarize my last month, sickness, sickness, sickness. The worst part of the whole thing, is that time was Hubby's Spring Break. SADS. Don't get me wrong, we have had moments in the month of fun, but not how I imagined our planned for his break.

This week is Izzy's Spring Break so I am going to jam pack this week with tons of fun and hopefully some spring cleaning too! After this month of sickness, I just want to walk into all of our rooms and breathe in a good clean Clorox smell. Aaaah!

Two weeks of flu means I have hit my sickness quota for 2011. Sweeeet!

In other news, I've started South Beach again! Hello swimsuit season, I'm getting ready for ya! I started phase 1 last Monday and as of yesterday, I had already lost 8 pounds!!!!!! South Beach takes some will power, but I love how fast you see the results. Before and After pics? Maybe tomorrow...