Irony.

Husbands are great. Especially mine. 

Husbands help you bring in the groceries and put them away. 
Husbands take out the trash.
Husbands kill spiders.
Husbands shoo away door-to-door sales people.
Husbands fill your SUV with gas.
Husbands wash said SUV when dirty (mine is always dirty)
Husbands help with transporting kids. 
Husbands help get the kids bathed and ready so you can get yourself ready.
Husbands get the mail.
Husbands do the boring errands.
Husbands reach the high things.
Husbands carry the heavy laundry.
Husbands cook dinner when you are too tired.
Husbands use their deep voice to discipline your kids when your Mommy look doesn't work.
Husbands stay home with the kids so you can go grocery shopping alone.
Husbands give you hugs and kisses when you have had a long day.
Husbands let you ramble.
Husbands make you laugh.
Husbands let you cuddle when it is very cold outside.
Husbands pray for you.
Husbands give you compliments, when you clearly don't deserve them. 


My Hubby does all of these things and a million more. I am missing him so very much tonight. I won't see him again for still another week and this is the longest in our 11 years of marriage of being apart. I do not like it.


You know what else Husbands do? They snore. My hubby snores so loud that I have to create a pillow cave for my head, so that only my mouth and chin are visible and my right arm has to lock them into position to create a snore barrier. 
Truth: Many nights I lay in my pillow cave, tossing and turning and praying to have one night of quiet, uninterrupted sleep. The whole bed to myself, no snoring. 


The first two weeks of Hubby's travels, I was living on minutes of sleep due to the kids crazy sickness and didn't notice. But, I have a problem. Kids are healthy. Hubby is gone. I have the bed and my remote to myself, and guess what. I. CAN'T SLEEP!!!! I'm freezing cold, watching all of my favorite shows without interruption and no snoring. It should be like a sleep vacation, right?


Except,  I miss him. I can't sleep with him OR without him! Why is my brain playing tricks on me? Even though it is completely unnecessary, I am still sleeping in my pillow cave hoping to fall asleep, but it takes hours to happen. 


Hubby,  I miss you. Come home. I need sleep. And a kiss. I will even take your snoring. I'm desperate. 


xoxo
M.

Rant.

Can I be real for a second? Good.  Facebook. It is good for so many reasons. You can stay connected with long lost friends and family. Family that otherwise would never see or know anything about my children have an opportunity to know what is going on in our lives on any given day. Pictures, funny stories, prayer requests, birthday reminders...again so many good things. 

Facebook for many is kind of like a daily journal, except all of your friends get to read it too.  It hit me last night, when I couldn't sleep, that it would be interesting to go back through my posts over the last few months and see what it says about me. You know what I found? My kids are hilarious. I have absolutely the sweetest Hubby around. My friends are hysterical and OH so giving. My family has had more fun in 6 months than some do in years. And I am tremendously blessed. 

It got me thinking about some of the stuff I see from my friends on Facebook. Some of it made me sad. Many faces came to mind, that if you read several months of their posts at one time, it would be so depressing! This month everyone is talking and focused on what they are grateful for. And yet, there are so many people out there, just wallowing in the tiniest of problems and sometimes I have to stop myself from saying, "It is your own fault." People, you have the power to determine your day. Your words, your attitude set the course for how your day goes and your interaction with others. 

I have been through some stuff. I don't want to make light of hard times, I get it. And please hear me when I say, we all have bad days. Bad Mommy days. Bad wife days....just bad days and by all means be honest about it. But, if you look over the course of time, and you are constantly declaring to the world how awful your life is, how nothing ever works out for you, and why don't people care for you like they do for others...I think, "Would you want to be friends with yourself?" Honestly, I don't think so. 

We are called to be a light to a dark world, and yet so many of us are just adding to the darkness. Stop sharing all of your gripes and complaints and do something for yourself to make it better. 

There is always going to be circumstances to complain about. Always going to be friendships that aren't going as you wish. Always going to be days of frustration. Always stuff.  But with that, there are always things to be grateful for. Always people to love and appreciate. And Always, God is bigger than your problem.

Every day can't be that bad...and if it is, what are you doing to contribute to it?

 It's like the genius' on Pinterest say:

 Suck it up and put a smile on your face. Rant Over. :)








 

Get ready to cry.

My Izzy....oh he gets me. He is such a little ball of emotion, sensitivity and creativity. I'm about to share something very personal to Izzy, but I want to remember this and blogging about it is probably the best way. Izzy is now 6 years old. He is taking piano lessons and we tease that he is our little Billy Elliot, because he can't keep his feet still and his mouth is rarely without a song. Music is literally in his soul. 

My Dad has written songs his whole life. He taught himself how to play the piano, drums and bass and it seems as if that gifting has passed down to Izzy. One night when my parents were babysitting, Izzy and Papa wrote a song together. It was sweet and I thought, "Oh how cute, this is a fun way for them to connect." Well, it has taken on a life of it's own. He hasn't stopped. He is constantly writing songs, when he is in the shower, eating dinner, doing homework, should be sleeping...I mean all of the time. Most of them are worship songs about how much he loves God. Sometimes they are about his day, or something silly. A couple of weeks ago, he wrote a song and sang it for me and it made me cry. He wrote it, sang it and even sang the background vocals at the same time...I mean he is thinking of everything. 

Tonight, while driving to meet Papa for dinner, Izzy was belting out a song, like from his soul, eyes closed, (imagine Adele singing) from his guts...singing. I asked him, "Wow, Izzy that sounds great. Is that a song from the radio?" He said, "No, I'm writing it as I go. The words just come into my heart." 

Here is the song from tonight...but the melody is so killer so just reading doesn't do it justice:


My heart. My soul. It never, never felt this way before.
My heart. My soul. It never, never felt this way before.

Your love is turnin' it up. Turnin' it up. Oh Yeah!
Your love is turnin' it up. Turnin' it up. Oh Yeah! 

Never Never Never felt this way before. 
Never Never Never felt this way before. 

This song was so good and the way he sang it, oh my word. I honestly thought it was a hook from a song he heard. He was doing Christina Aguilera hands and everything. He was getting it. 

But here is the thing, he sings it like his life depends on it and then when it is over...he has no recollection of the melody or words. I have to buy a voice recorder or something. 


I was telling my Mom about his song and she handed over a notebook of another song he had written this past week, that I didn't know about. 


Here it is: 


Lord, you're good, you're always good. 
God to me, is the smartest. 
God you are a good God. You are good. You are the only one God. 
We have you, you are the best. The only one we have in our lives to be our favorite. You have all the people. You live in our hearts. 
You are the best God in the only world we have. 
I love you. 
The End
Izzy 11/10/2011


I need to take a picture of his written words because it is just precious. Tomorrow, my goal is to buy him a journal so he can write it all in one place. 


Maybe I'm wrong or just biased, but are any other 6 year olds spending all of their time song writing? I don't think so. Which makes me feel like I am getting a little peek as to what Izzy might be doing when he is older. I knew that Izzy was made special. The way he came into this world, his story and the promise of his life, I knew God had a special work for him. So maybe, instead of trying to keep those little dancing legs still, I will be encouraging him a whole lot more. He has songs just bursting out, so I better help him get them out. 


Mommy has to start keeping the video camera charged, journals and pens ready and my listening ears on. I've got a composer on my hands.

 

Everything

The last two weeks have been completely crazy. Hubby is traveling each week. Both boys were sick the entire first week of his travels. Things were looking up, boys seemed better and Hubby came home for the weekend, and we enjoyed some good family time. As soon as he left again, Asher got hit with a second round of the virus and went back to having a almost 104 temp for days. After a visit to the local Children's Hospital and then another Doctors visit a couple of days later, he has finally made a turn around. For the first time in November, I have 2 healthy kids. Because of all of this, we have a lot of catching up to do. First, it hit me that maybe you didn't know that I have two pretty special boys. Sweet boys by day, Crime fighters by night....

                                Cleaning up the streets...                            

 My Batman with one of his Best Friends Captain America (Haiden)

Secondly, I have absolutely, without a doubt, the best friends in the entire world. While I was in the midst of single parenting two of the sickest kids I have ever had, I was smothered in love and support from my buddies.  Excuse me while I brag on them a bit...

  My friend Jeannie, picked up Izzy from school and practiced spelling and entertained him when I spent the day at the hospital with Asher. Her and her Husband Mike, even offered a week of taxi-ing services while Asher was down.  My friend Laretha, dropped off a goody bag FULL of healthy treats, Vitamin waters and a special Starbucks drink for me. She was even brave enough to sit, catch up and make me laugh. I needed that. My friend Katie, dropped off a homemade dinner of delicious chili and cookies and then made a second trip on week number 2 and left a package of Toy Story 3 Squinkies for Asher. He has spent every day playing with those things.  My friend Carolyn dropped off a big gift bag full of stuff to keep my little one happy, like a Toy Story 3 game, coloring books, crayons, and a Buzz Notebook.  That delivery made him smile for the first time in 2 weeks, and it kept him busy. My sister-in-law Amanda, took Izzy to his soccer awards, which he would've missed otherwise, ate dinner with a group of strangers and took pictures because she knows I'm crazy about that. When she dropped him off, she also delivered a Starbucks coffee and a yummy slice of pumpkin bread.  My friend Stacy offered a hot tub for a night of relaxing and bought me a yummy dinner to help me regroup. It was amazing!   

If that wasn't enough love for him, Ashers Grammy who lives on the East Coast, was feeling so bad for her little guy she sent a  HUGE basket full of fruit, hot wheels, crayons, coloring books and a bouquet of balloons! On top of all of that, I had countless texts and Facebook messages of offers to help and so many people praying for my family. 

I gotta say, there is much to be said about friends who don't just offer help, but just come and do what is needed. I think without them, I would've been huddled up in a corner sobbing, but just when I was feeling run down, there would be a knock on the door and a friend with a smile to greet me. I can't even explain how amazing that felt. I have prayed for years that God would surround me with a group of people like this, and he sent his very best.  When my Hubby is gone, and my parents are busy, it is so fantastic to know that I can be at peace because there is a huge group of people who will stand in the gap and love and support me in the meantime. I owe all of these people, plus the many, many more that has been there for me in the last few weeks a huge THANK YOU! I owe them hugs, prayers, delicious baked goods and fattening coffee drinks when they need it. I plan on keeping my ears open, because I want to bless them right back when they need a smile.

Thirdly, I have an awesomely giving Hubby. After driving back and forth (several hours each way, and when lots of Hubby's wouldn't waste the time), he has come home on the weekends to help me out. Without him, I would have been living on a 10 minute stretch of sleep each night for 2 weeks. After working long hours at a hospital far away then driving several hours, he came home with a huge bouquet of flowers, Chinese food and pumpkin muffins to greet me. He immediately sent me to bed to rest and took over. He cleaned the house, he did all of the laundry. (Not just the 4 people family laundry, but the extra 100 sick loads) he folded and put them all away. He Doctored sick kids, he made dinners and lunches, he took Izzy to school, packed lunches, helped with homework, picked Izzy up from school and ran errands for me, so I could rest. He let me focus on the kids and took care of everything else. He made sure he took care of everything before heading back out of town. He stayed until the very last minute possible to spend time with his family and help as much as possible. He is amazing. This weekend when the kids were completely better, he did anything the kids wanted. He played Wii Sports with Asher until Ash couldn't stand up anymore. Saturday we enjoyed a preview of Happy Feet 2 thanks to iFamilyKC and afterwards, we went to the kids favorite restaurant, went out for ice cream and then went to the Toy Store for hours, just to make them happy. I have a great husband. 

The moral of this story is this: Treat others how you want to be treated. The golden rule is really true, and not just something we teach our kids. When you give kindness, you get it right back. A simple gesture means OH so much, when you are feeling down.  I want to be known as a good friend and a giver. I am surrounded with those people, and I am so thankful and blessed. Now it is my turn. :) 

Double Blah.

I will have to post about the two cutest boys on Halloween at another time, because I roughly have about 4 minutes until I am needed again.

Halloween night, we were out late at a costume party. We had a blast. I could tell the cold and smoke from the fire pit was affecting Izzy because he was getting a deep cough. I took him home, put him to bed with some organic honey syrup and called it a night. 4am, I find out he had been up all night..in my parents room. He was S.I.C.K. I woke up Ash at normal time and his eyes were black and his was color off. I was just waiting for the coughing to kick in too. I took them both to urgent care and waited......(wait for it)....4 HOURS. All I can say is thank goodness for well behaved boys and the Leapster. They were perfect and not a single complaint. Although, I shouldn't say what I was thinking in my head. :)

After a strep test that came back negative, they finally concluded that Izzy has a viral infection of the chest and a severe cough causing laryngitis symptoms. Home we went and I put my boys to bed. Except, Izzy was so sick he couldn't sleep. When I went to wake Ash, I quickly realized, all those signs I saw that morning had come to fruition and they were all over his bed and carpet.  Little Asher is sick too, just not with the same virus. His seems to be a stomach virus as he can't keep a single drink of liquid down for more than seconds. Did I mention Hubby is gone for the month in a town less than 2 miles in diameter 6 hours away? Yep, true story. So I couldn't even pick up Izzy's prescription, because now little brother is throwing up constantly. I have a toddler in my bed and a big boy in his room, both crying for help for different reasons. Izzy feels like he is choking and can only sleep when given his super duper strength codeine cough syrup (that I was able to pick up later because of wonderful Papa and Grandma who also supplied dinner.)

Last night, I lay awake waiting for the "MoM!" calls. It had been quiet for a bit, so I closed my eyes for a total of 30 seconds to be awakened by a need for a trash can from one and another one who said, "MY BODY IS ON FIRE, PLEASE COME HELP ME!!!" I jump and run to help and as I am making my way to his room,  I hear Asher say, "Bobo, you gotta Stop. Drop. Roll!" He is funny even when he is very sick. :)  In summary, I got lots of exercise last night and not a lot of sleep.

Hubby and I have never slept with our kids except for hotel stays when they were smaller. Last night, Asher slept in bed with me and the whole night he kept his tiny little hand on my shoulder. It was the sweetest feeling. That moment pretty much made up for all of the yucky stuff.

My time is up, I am being summoned. Super Mom to the rescue!!!