short, but at least you'll know i'm still alive!

i HAVE to keep this short. i have much to do and it's already late. i'm working on putting together hostess packets for my upcoming shows. i have three in the next week. wahoo!! but things were busy here this week, hence my lack of blogging.

so amelya is still potty trained, but has found her 'sassy' side. i don't like it very much. but she's learning quite quickly it doesn't work with me.

breigh. well she's still breigh. love the kid. nothing too new with her. she seems to be growing up so so quickly though.

caitlyn STILL has no teeth. they are so right there. i want to just scratch away at the gums and let 'em out. lol.

me. i'm still pregnant. lol...and getting bigger. i have a dr. appt tomorrow so i will update about that later this weekend. because tomorrow after my appt we leave for GIRLS WEEKEND! up at the camper. should be a fun time. it always is.

shaun will be home, because after all he's a BOY and it is GIRLS weekend. soooo i'm really hoping he works on the playroom...we'll see. i am placing no expectations on him. that way if nothing gets done i won't be disappointed and if something gets done, i'll be extremely blessed!

so that's that. i need to keep on trucking on my packets and packing and and and...the list doesn't end. and of course eventually i'll get to bed!! :P

~title~

good morning...afternoon...or evening. it's been a long time. but we had a busy eventful weekend. amelya got to try on that dress!! oh so looked so cute. again i'm to lazy to post pics. one of these days i will post a whole bunch. :) she was posing and everything. and it fits pretty decent. it'll have to be taken in up on top but probably not be shortened too much. i even tried my dress on. we couldn't get the panel buttoned in the back...but only by a few inches or less. so that means it should fit after having the baby. because i know i'll be smaller then, then i am right now. or at least have a gushy belly to move in more then my rock hard one right now.



friday night we didn't do much. and saturday it was so nice to wake up with shaun in bed. we got up before the girls and just kind of cuddled and talked together in bed. it was so nice. we played a lot in the morning as a family. because the girls stayed by doris' house for the afternoon and evening. we had to make an earlier trip then planned to appleton because shaun dropped his phone and it was completely broke...would not turn on. good thing we have the insurance on it, we got a new phone for FREE. without having to extend his contract, and he qualifies in december for a new phone if he wants one at a 'new' person rate. he really likes getting the rugged tough phones, but right now sprint doesn't have any out. so if they get one he can go get it and not worry about paying much for it. after that we were going to go look for weed eaters, ours died. well shaun locked the keys in the van. lol. so we had to call saturn roadside assistance and they came to unlock the doors for FREE! love it. i said praise the lord we didn't have all three girls with us, it was nice out, and it was all FREE FREE FREE! because of having to wait for all that we just ate before going to the game. we went to chili's. it was yummy yummy chicken tacos for me. we went to the game. all the regular seats were taken so we had to take grass seats. not too bad, just sore on the back and butt. we ended up leaving the game a little early to go look for weed eaters. but then we ran into my dad's aunt and uncle. too crazy. so we talked to them for a little while. then everything but walmart was open to look for the weedeater...they didn't have what shaun wanted. so home we went.



sunday...two days in a row we got to wake up together!! so so nice. we got ready for church and ready to see the girlies. one night away from them is long enough. i always miss checking on them before going to bed, and hearing mommy in the morning. they were excited to see us before church. breigh had a bit of a problem when shaun left her at children's church. but she got over it quick i am sure. after church i had a baby shower. so shaun took the girlies home and i went with his mom to the shower. the shower was okay. they don't play games in shaun's family. i LIKE playing shower games. it's the competitive side in me i guess. lol. a friend from high school and a friend from college who married a guy i went to high school with...were there. it was nice to chat with them at least. and then there were these other 'moms' there. i put it in quotes because i wouldn't want a mom like them. the one little girl was about a year and a half, and spilled...hardly any...water on the table...the mom called her 'you little son of a...' thankfully she didn't finish, but it still broke my heart!! how could you do that?!? call your own child that?!? and right in front of her. poor thing. the two 'moms' were complaining the entire time about who's child was naughtier and what-not. first off the girls weren't even being naughty and the one was watched better by a friend of the mom then the mom herself. i just don't understand i guess. maybe it's some of the difference of being a married mommy. i don't know. not that married mommies are better mommies, i guess a better term would be mommies who wanted to be mommies...i don't know. these girls weren't good mommies. or at least in front of other people...where you would think they would be. it was just very frustrating to see.



we went shopping for a weed eater after i got home. found one that shaun wanted. he used it last night...and i cleaned the van. it SO needed to be done. so i was excited to accomplish something. today is mom's group. then later this afternoon we're going to the chiropractor. i'm sure my back will need it after the game on saturday! lol. so enjoy the rest of your beautiful day....

milk in cereal.

my girls are getting bigger...and i'm getting braver. we put milk in their cereal. i know most people eat milk in their cereal but up to this point, i've been kind of scared of the mess. they both did great with minimal spilling. so this morning when breigh wanted milk in her cereal...she got it. they each had a bowl of cereal last night before supper. it's what they wanted...so okay. i think i just remember all the messes at daycare cleaning up food. yuck. i hated applesauce and rice day. or ravioli day. or any messy day. especially when i was pregnant with amelya and climbing under the table to wipe up the food. so needless to say my kiddos have been deprived of applesauce to eat by themselves...until they can eat with a spoon. i don't think it's harmed any of them. yet.

so yesterday my sister called the bridal shop. amelya's dress has been in since the 11th. they said they called amy and left a message. she never got it. what if we wouldn't have called. we would've been thinking wow it's taking forever. which i was starting too. because on the 8th when i was there they said only about a week. so i'm debating going today for amelya to try it on. we'll see. breigh was up at 630 and i'm tired so i don't know how ambitious i feel yet. but i know amelya will be excited to try it on. actually i'm excited to see her in it too.

yesterday amelya got her haircut. i'm to lazy to post pics right now. but it was just a little bit off of the ends. but last night i could tell it was a bit shorter. after carol cut it she braided it. too cute. i'll post pics later maybe. right now i just don't feel like it. amelya sat perfect for it. and i think she truly enjoyed it. how can you not?! i love getting my haircut.

last night i chilled on the couch. i figured i'd be asleep right away. but shaun got out the ice cream. so i ate ice cream and we watched a new show, flashpoint. it's a good show. has some suspense and 'action' with a little tiny bit of romance. which makes it perfect for us to watch. shaun likes the suspense and action i like the suspense and romance.

tonight no plans. that's okay. who knows what can still come up. tomorrow will be busy enough. i don't know what we'll do in the morning. but i'm assuming shaun will cut the lawn. then we have the surprise bday party and we're leaving the girls there with shaun's mom to go to the timberrattlers game. sunday will be church and immediately after the baby shower. ahhhh. busy busy. of course it's shaun's weekend off too. we're always way super busy on his weekends off. he probably doesn't feel like he ever gets a break. i think he went in early this morning too. he was outta bed before five. which usually means he has to be to work by five.

sooo i have under 100 days left to my due date!!??!! crazy. i didn't realize it until i looked at the ticker thing on here. i can't believe in less then 100 days we'll be holding our little baby in our arms. wow. wow. wow. the baby is getting bigger. i can feel it when i touch my belly. of course i try and dechipher what is what. is that an arm? a leg? maybe the butt? who knows. it's fun to poke and guess. and i love poking and the baby responds back. see before they're born we're already stimulating them and helping them learn. or annoying them. i'd like to think i'm stimulating them. i have a drs appt next friday. it's the glucose testing one too. then i start seeing her every two weeks. boy oh boy. it always goes much faster after that. yay!

well my little caitlyn is awake. so i'll go and attend to her. she loves to eat so i'm sure that is what she's looking forward to...now if only she'd get some teeth!

early morning fun

i was naughty. well not naughty naughty...just naughty. i didn't get home until after one this morning!! from my friends uppercase living party. you see her husband came home with some family pictures of them that they had taken, so i said okay i want to quick see those. i guess four hours later is my kind of quick. but it was SO fun to just sit and talk. at one point she made the comment it had been a long time since she stayed up late with a friend talking. me too. shaun probably has no idea when i got home, but at least he was in bed and not on the couch and probably a little more comfortable. caitlyn has been up since 640ish though...i tried putting her in bed with me to go back to sleep...but that didn't work. so now we're up. but my friend is probably up too, she was leaving for a small vaca with her brother, son and granny this morning. so i feel bad that neither of us got much sleep, and i thought of this when i got home 'this morning' i totally took up all of her and her husband's time together before she was leaving for a few days. so i feel bad about that. i tried to leave lots of times...i did! but then because i was standing i decided to sit down and chat...that's where the trouble began...lol. but like i said i had lots of fun chatting with her. it's been awhile since we've just talked, with no kids or scrapbooks around. just the two of us talking and laughing. it was fun. her party was fun too. i got something to make a gift for a birthday coming up and then a quote thing to put up by the girls' pictures. it says all because two people fell in love. i thought it was cute. and now that i am thinking of it, i so didn't even pick colors out for it. lol. i'll have to do that before she closes huh? lol.



today is the 'big day' amelya's haircut. so far she's still all for it. and i am as long as she is, and have no quelms if she decides to not to do it when we are there. it was her choice and it will continue to be that. it'll be fun i'm sure, and of course i will be taking pictures. it's her first haircut ever. seriously i've never cut anything before the other day when she had a tootsie roll caught in it.



i guess this is a bit lighter note then my last post. nice change huh? lol. i couldn't sleep at all that night. i kept thinking about everything. ahhhh...then i only get a few hours of sleep last night too. i'll be dead tired this weekend when shaun and i get to go out. but the girls are sleeping over at his moms on saturday so at least i can sleep in a little on sunday before church. we'll see. his sister's talked the other night about coming to help finish up painting saturday morning. i don't know if they really are. it'd be nice to have it finished, but no big deal either. breigh and caitlyn loved the bean soup by the way. i had chicken with some yummy bbq sauce danielle had gotten from a farmer's market. that was yummy too. but talking about bbq makes me giggle because of a story chantae and i were talking about. lol. i won't waste the time telling you all...because quite frankly it may only be funny when you're talking about it at midnight. :)

so breigh is up now. i'll go get her. and let you go from this random globby mess. maybe i'll write more when i'm more coherent. lol. sorry it's been so random. i'm as random as they come. lol. that's funny to me. only because of more laughing at midnight. lol. have that kind of day. you know where everything is funny and you can't get that smile off your face!

tears are okay

ahhh my dearest bestest friend has done it now! she was reading a blog of a blog of mine. that is really how it went...and shared it with me today. she stayed up until five AM reading it. the link is on the side called bring the rain. i recommend reading it from the beginning. i've come to the point where they've lost the baby they knew they were going to lose. i didn't cry much while reading through her pregnancy, they knew from the beginning baby audrey would PROBABLY not live, but prayed that god is god and he could heal her if he wanted too. he choose not to. then i read the letter she wrote to audrey. then i bawled. i bawled because of the baby i never got to hold. i bawled because of the baby it's sisters never get to meet here on earth...i cry now because it hits me again. i have a baby in heaven i feel everyone else doesn't remember. and it's okay. it's okay to bawl...it's okay that maybe only mommies remember those angel babies. it's okay. because god IS god. and he has a perfect plan. and his plan is always good and always perfect. but i still don't know why he took that baby from me. i don't know why he takes any babies from anyone. the child in me wants to scream why mine? but the faith in me knows...it's okay. it knows that i wouldn't have amelya had i been given that baby. and everything seems okay again. i made a scrapbook for my little angel baby. i have only shared it with my scrappin' friend and shaun. i found it when cleaning out the messy room and read it again. the emotions don't go away, they are just hidden until something like that comes about. i have hanging in our van the necklace we got the day i had my d and c. it's just a dove. everytime i look at that the day comes back so vividly. i remember gagging in the shower and getting SO mad that i was, i didn't want to throw up. the baby wasn't alive. it didn't seem worth it to me. i remember crying as shaun and i held each other in the surgery room. i remember asking if they would find out if the baby was a boy or girl (the answer was no). i remember thinking how empty i felt as i left the office. we went to ihop after. i looked at the poke from the iv and that's all i had left. a poke and no baby to take home. just a short memory of a baby i'll meet someday. i don't know how it feels to lose a baby you get to hold, but i sure know how it feels to lose a baby i never got to meet. i think that's what hurts the most. i have to try and imagine it's face, if it was a boy or a girl, if it would have curly hair like its sisters. somehow the other day the baby came up and i got to tell amelya there was a baby meeting us in heaven someday. i'm sure she didn't fully understand, but it felt kind of 'cool' (for lack of a better word) to tell her that. and i can't wait til the day i get to meet him or her. but truthfully from the moment i found out we were pregnant i felt it was a little boy. we'll see if i'm right someday. for now i'm left guessing. sometimes people will say that you miscarry because something was wrong. you know though, i would have given anything to have that baby regardless if 'something was wrong' or not. as a mommy i didn't care. my friend who found that blog said she cried through it too. for her it was different though, her little baby has 'something wrong' her emotions and feelings are so different then mine i am sure while reading it. but i know it spoke to her like it spoke to me. i praise god for using crazy little things like blogs to speak to us. it's okay to be mad. it's okay to be sad. but god. but god does crazy things like that to reveal himself. to show us it's okay, he's in control. i urge you to read the blog on little audrey caroline and know that through it all god still carries us. i'll tell you now to get the kleenex ready. or a shirt. i've been using mine. :) i've cried through most of this post, but now i feel a little better. i could wake shaun up on the couch and try to explain to him my feelings, but he has no idea how i feel. i know that a daddy lost a baby that day too back in february of 2004 but being a mommy is a little different and we all deal with things differently. at first i tried to act like a tough mommy, i tried to go back to work in the infant room the next DAY like 'no big deal'. i couldn't handle it, i shouldn't have went back to work so soon. i cried the entire day but tried to hide it. when september fourth, my due date, came i cried. i cried for the baby i never met, and praising the lord for the baby in my belly (i was pregnant with amelya). every year on the baby's due date i think of it. i pray that i never forget it. i won't. a mommy doesn't forget her baby. ever. i feared delivering caitlyn on sept fourth. i wanted the baby and her to have their own birthdays. i don't know that i really shared that with people when i was close to having caitlyn. and thankfully god answered my prayer and she was born two days later. ahhh. i'm sorry. i haven't really gotten too deep lately so i think this made up for it. but i have to say how nice it feels. to let it out. to people who know me, to people who don't. and maybe to no one at all. but this has helped. so now i'll go wake up shaun and go to bed. and remember my babies all five of them. and remember just how good our god is. all of the time. good night and sweet dreams my sweet sweet friends.

it's been awhile. sorry. we've been busy...or i've been tired, because we've been busy...last night i fell asleep on the couch BEFORE shaun! that's a first in a loooooooooooong time. friday was date night. we had a nice time. we went out to eat and then mini golfing, and then for ice cream. it is so cheap when we're only paying for the two of us. shaun had to work saturday, so i decided since i had the morning to myself to do some shopping. and shopping i did. kohls had a sale, when don't they?, and i had an extra 20 percent off. so i spent lots of money on lots of stuff. i got the girls clothes, new sheets and pillows, and some kitchen stuff for shaun's sister's birthday next month, and shaun some jeans and shirts. i only bought myself one thing. it's a cute little maternity dress/shirt thing that i am going to wear to the wedding we have later this month. and i bought shaun a green striped shirt to wear and my dress is green...so we'll be all cute and match too...shaun's words "that's what i get for asking you to get me stuff" :) that's right.

krystle's grad party was saturday too. we had a super nice time...after picking the girls up from danielle's. breigh took an awful digger as we got there though. she was all excited to see us and didn't use the stairs to the front of danielle's house and ended up taking the brunt of the fall with her head and neck. thankfully she is fine...and hardly bled. i was actually thankful it happened to her and not amelya too. amelya is our drama queen and would still be talking about it, breigh doesn't even seem to care. although the fall put her all out of whack and she had major issues going poopy yesterday morning. we went to the chiro and her legs were way off. i would say two or three or more inches off from each other. the chiro adjusted her and she pooped fine last night. i love the chiro...totally has helped her out tremendously with all of her issues with that.

we didn't stay too long for the grad party. about nine. we wanted to get the girls to bed so we weren't waking them up for church on sunday. we ended up having to wake up amelya and caitlyn at 915, we leave at 930ish for church. which this week ended up being almost 945ish. ahh. but we made it on time and god is always so good. church was really good too. well it always is. but i got a lot out of it this week. here are a few points i really took to heart this week:
~*~ whatever we are trusting in-god will remove from our lives-he wants to show you that HE is in control and should be trusted in

~*~our conduct reflects what we believe, just because we go to church every week and read our bibles doesn't mean everything...it's what we do and show that matters to the people watching

~*~we become anxious during 'bad times' but we fail to realize who god is, and that he is allowing the circumstance to reveal himself to us lots

~*~we will only be affected by what others say when we ALLOW the things they say to affect us, we need to listen to what god has said and not worry about what man says

~*~the 'good ole days' weren't that good...eccl. 7:10, we can't live in the past, the enemy will lie to us and say our former days were better, but they so were not.

that's that from church. we're already into ecclesiastes 8 and 9 for next week. it's crazy how fast we're flowing right through.

sunday after church more painting got done. the light is getting brighter at the end of the tunnel. the stripes look so cool. i am soooo excited to see it all finished. slow but sure.

yesterday was busy. mom's group, then i had to stop at my mom's house, the the chiro, then i went to babies r us to buy a baby shower gift for this weekend. we needed formula too, but they ddidn't have a cheapo brand there, so then we had to go to sams and buy formula. then we had a snack, quite frankly i just needed to SIT. the girls were really good and amelya has been dry dry dry! yay. she has been doing one and two on the toilet now too. we're thinking next week will be hu hot week. she's super excited. i get my haircut this week, amelya says she wants hers trimmed. i don't know how i feel...excited to take pictures to scrapbook, but then i feel sad that her curls might all go away. she has beautiful little curls at the end of her hair. but it has never been cut and probably needs a good trim anyways. and then i'm sure my aunt will style it for her. if it happens i'll be sure to let you know. :) i just cannot believe how big she is getting. i have a little lady now. breigh has been sitting a little bit too. caitlyn still has no teeth. they have to be so close. she's chewing like crazy and you can practically feel the teeth. she's my latest teether but not by much amelya was ten months old and breigh was like nine months before they got teeth too. plus caitlyn eats like she has a whole mouth full of teeth. she loves chicken and pretty much anything we give her she eats. i've finally found a sippy cup she'll drink out of well too. so we're slowly phasing out the bottles. she's down to three a day. one in late morning, late afternoon and then before bed. this week or next i'm going to cut out the late afternoon one. then there are only the morning and bedtime one. i'll cut the bedtime one out last. plus i figured she'll be eleven months old pretty soon so i'll start mixing the bottles half with formula and half with whole milk. that way when she's a year we can just do a sippy cup with just whole milk. it's always been my goal to get them off a bottle by a year. the other two did fine, and i think caitlyn will have no troubles either. i don't know if is a big deal or not i guess, but at the daycare we always had them off the bottles by a year, and they don't need a bottle after that anyways in my opinion. a sippy cup works just as well if they need something to drink. plus it's starting to teach them a little bit of independence when they can hold it by themselves and feel 'big'. i dunno.

today we're going to gage's house. a day early this week, but it works out better today for all of us. then tonight we're going to shaun's mom's house for bean soup. which i do not eat, and i'm sure the girls won't either, so we're going to bring something for ourselves. shaun and his mom and sisters like it. it'll still be nice to all get together. and they're used to me not liking a whole lot of different food.

saturday shaun and i are having a date night again! two weeks in a row?! what!?! we're going to the timberrattler game. a minor leauge baseball team. we got the tickets for referring people to the chiro...so they were free. they have fireworks after the game and i think shaun is excited about seeing some fireworks...then his comment was after i told him about the fireworks, 'we can come home and make our own'. boys. "it" is seriously all they think about. i know it. well maybe not all they think about, but i think a lot more then us girls.

well i think i may have covered everything. plus i need to get in the shower and find something to bring along to make for lunch for us at gage's house. til next time. be happy.

farm show and rainstorm

well we made it to the farm show. we ended up leaving and meeting 'the boy' there. shaun said we weren't going to wait for him. GOOD THING! he didn't get there until like noon. we were already done eating lunch. good food by the way! i was also so proud of amelya she went potty while we were there...in a porta-potty. tight squeeze i might add for a pregnant mommy and a toddler. but we did it and she did it. so proud. then later on at home...poopy on the toilet after she said she had to go and this morning...same thing! oh thank you jesus is all i can say. i told her this morning she has to keep doing that so we can go to hu hot and a pedicure. i think she's more willing to try harder when she thought of the reward herself. she gets a big smile on her face whenever she says hu hot. hopefully she likes it when we end up going. but she likes rice and chiken, teryiaki chicken, and i can just put that in her bowl. mmmm...now i am getting excited to go.

we had to leave the farm show early yesterday. the actually evacuated EVERYONE THERE because of severe weather coming. it took us a little shy of an hour to get out of there. there were a ton of people. good thing for the dvd player in the van. the girls were content and breigh fell asleep eventually. the storm didn't hit hard til we were on our way. we ended up stopping at a gas station because of the hail and rain. i didn't look at the van to see if we ended up with any hail damage. oh well if we did. and it wasn't enough i'm sure that they would 'total out' our van. which would be to our advantage because we could take the money pay off the van and be out of a van payment and drive this one around yet. not going to get too excited! lol.

today we're going to the library. mr. billy a children's singer is going to be there. i think the girls will enjoy it. although i will have to wake breigh and caitlyn up early from their naps to go. the both handle it well usually. we have yet to go to a library program this summer, so i really want to take them to see something at least. after library i have to go to my mom's to pick up her dog. we're 'dog sitting' this weekend. ernie is no big deal to watch. he's a little dog and gets along well with our big dog.

last night shaun's sister called. she wanted to know if she could have ALL THREE GIRLS overnight friday. ummmm SURE! then we will pick them up saturday before going to shaun's cousin's graduation party. i don't know what we're going to do. but i'm excited at the prospect of a date night. and since i'm already pregnant we don't have to worry about that happening again. unless of course we'd be a soap opera because then i am sure i could end up pregnant again with another baby. lol. i also keep thinking maybe we should just stay home and work on the playroom. not so romantic, but kinda practical. wait! you know where he should take me. the melting pot. lol. i would love to do that, but i don't know that we have a hundred bucks to spend on that. i could find it though. my mom did just have a show for me. i've made almost 200 bucks so far on it....hmmmm....we'll see. i'm sure that we need reservations, and being a friday night they're probably all booked anyways. maybe next time. i don't know if there are any movies out that i want to see. most movies i wait til they come out on dvd. then if there is too much swearing, sex etc. i can stop it and i've only wasted four bucks instead of much much more. it is quite ridiculous what they charge for movies. but whenever i use our money to buy our tickets we always get in as students. they don't ask if i am and i don't say i'm not when they only charge us for students. they should ask. so we'll see what we do. i'm just praying shaun doesn't have to work late. he has to work this weekend, and usually ends up working late the friday before too because the boy he works with wants to get loads of stuff done before he isn't working for a few days. control freak? i think so.

so anything else to blab about? i don't know. caitlyn's hand foot and mouth is looking good. breigh is talking in paragraphs almost all the time. caitlyn is also starting to pull up on things. she's so proud of herself even if she is only on her knees. soon she'll be on her feet, then letting go, then taking steps, then walking, then running, then then then. i keep thinking it's a good thing i'm having a baby...or that itch would be on FULL FORCE. the baby is so active too. i love feeling the baby move. just so you know i totally had to back space because i wrote what it was. ahh. i am going to have to start watching myself more closely as this little one continues to grow and move more. so i suppose...it's almost lunch time...well a half hour..but i have to decide what we're having yet.......later gator...

irrrrrritation

ahhh. i really do not like planning to do things with the boy shaun works with. he never STAYS ON TRACK TO WHAT HE SAYS. we were supposed to be leaving at NINE to go to the farm technology days. well i called shaun to check in to see what the plans were...now we might not leave til after TEN it'll take almost an hour to get there...that's ELEVEN...that's LUNCH TIME at our house. ahhhh. i wanted to go by ourselves so we didn't have to deal with anyone else, shaun couldn't find a nice way to say anything to him about it. now we're stuck going with them, and i'm going to be driven nuts by the fact he can't be accountable to his word. i am in NO WAY mad at shaun. it isn't his fault at all. but i know shaun knows i was irritated when i talked to him before about it. ahhh. i should just call him and tell him let's leave by ourselves. we are driving seperate anyways. then we get to go by ourselves and shaun isn't being mean to him, just trying to keep his family in mind. yep that sounds like a good idea. we'll have to see. i'll call him around nine to see where he is and tell him i want to leave. argh. okay i'm sorry to go on and be all crazy about this. but it truly is irritating me when people are not accountable to what they say. i know plans change and things come up, but this is different...nothing came up...and he's done this before, actually i think it was back in march when we went to the farm show in oshkosh. amelya and breigh are so excited to go to the farm show today. it's a lot bigger then in oshkosh, plus it's at an actual farm. they'll love seeing the cows and all that other good stuff. i don't really care either way, but i know it blesses me to see shaun and the girls so excited about seeing the stuff. slowly but surely i'll turn into a farm girl. :) maybe.

yesterday my mom came over again. she got lots of stuff done again, so did i. although walking into my house you wouldn't guess it at all. but one step at a time i am taking it. it's a whole lot easier to do that. we took caitlyn to the dr. at six. she has hand foot and mouth disease. that kid has caught so much stuff!! no biggie really though. i am just glad i don't have her in daycare to catch more crazy germs and have the chance of getting sick more, good thing i'm homeschooling my babies so that way she'll be a little bit more protected then too. maybe she just doesn't have a strong immune system. good thing i nursed her for six months. i had to quit after getting pregnant though...i was drained...litterally. she was 'sucking the energy' right outta me. enough about that. so needless to say after going to the dr and out for supper after i was tired when getting home and that's why you didn't hear from me at all yesterday. kleenex for your tears i know.

yesterday i was looking for something and i told amelya let's pray to jesus to find it. we did. then we did find it...but after i said let's pray to jesus amelya said...'jesus went away for a quick minute but he'll be back' i stood in AWE at that. i said yep you're right, he's coming and then we'll go to heaven with him. how awesome. she's only three but the words she hears, especially god's words, are going in and now are coming out! i love it. i truly love it. she's been really good at going potty still...telling me and everything when she has to go. now we're just trying to work on going poopy. she has this desire to go to hu hot and get a pedicure. i told her she cannot do either until she goes poopy on the potty all the time. and then we'll go together and breigh and caitlyn have to stay with daddy. so lord willing...we'll be doing that soon. i just love her in underwear and going on the toilet though. yay. one hard week of work paid off. it's fun to see after, because obviously when i was going through it i figured we'd be in diapers FOREVER. something else amelya said this week that i loved...i was going to put a square box of oj in a cup holder...i wanted to see if it was small enough to fit into it. amelya looks at me and goes...but mom it's square. lol. it was and it wouldn't fit in the circle cupholder. yay! another thing that she's learned. god's given me the grace to teach my kiddos something i guess....

okay it's almost nine...call time. yep i'm gonna do it. so toodles to you. maybe if i'm ambitious after a long day of walking i'll post pics later...i have to bring my camera...you never know if there is going to be a 'nikon moment' can't say kodak if i have a nikon right? lol. i'm in a much better mood after venting to you all. thanks for listening. i appreciate it. ha. i could be talking to no one. :>) amandaroo...that nickname makes me smile...so i figured it appropriate to end with that...amandaroo

too much work=hurting back

did too much today. now my back is really hurting me. good thing i have a chiro appt tomorrow. it'll help. my mom came over today and helped do work outside and i got to it inside. i went through almost all of the toys and got rid of two huge bags full and now a box tonight. yay! amelya is a good sport about it. when i was loading some of it into my mom's truck she asked why i was giving that to other people and i said because we didn't need it. she said...okay. i LOVE it. i'm trying to get rid of more and more as we go on. trying to de-clutter. we live in a gimme world and i am trying to not let that happen...although it does sometimes. so we'll see how it goes.

breigh and caitlyn took really good naps...which afforded me the time to take care of a lot of my work. i was so excited. the playroom didn't get worked on today. shaun burned trash and cut the lawn...which in my book...was more important. he's outta the shower now and i'm sure beat. he worked almost 13 hours again today. gotta love the dedication of that.

so i'm going to keep this short. just so i can get to bed soon and rest my back and bum. talk to you tomorrow. :o)

place title of your choice here:

i really am not so creative to think of titles all the time. probably because i spend my blogging time blabbing about everything and never just one thing. so insert your own creative title.

amelya has been staying dry!! yay!! since last thursday she has not peed in her underwear. how awesome is it when we trust god to help us and he does. i wish i would have taken the time last week to just pray and trust him, foolishly i try to do things all on my own! ha! she is currently sitting on the toilet singing...cinderelly at the ball, at the ball, at the ball, cinderelly at the ball, at the ball...too cute. we watched cinderella III on the way up to the camper this weekend, and on the way home. i actually think the movie is quite cute and don't mind listening to it over and over. i think it's cute how she's singing it too now. i can't believe how much she is growing up.

breigh and caitlyn are napping. we took the opportunity to paint some. i started getting a headache so i quit, but shaun is still 'hard at 'er'. we have the blue and green wall painted. and i got almost all of the blue stripes painted. yay! so we have pink, and purple and green stripes to finish....okay this is HOURS later...we have all the stripes pretty much painted...just have to touch up a little. i'm so super excited for this crazy play room to be FINISHED. we're going on MONTHS here. amelya ended up going poopy on the potty before! ptl. but then after supper she also went in her underwear. slowly but surely. but no potty in the underwear so that is awesome. one thing at a time.

this past weekend was lots of fun. my mom's jewelry party went well and then we went swimming after. amelya jumped in and put herself under. she was excited when auntie amy helped her under to touch the bottom of the pool. she was talking to me before how she closed her eyes and her mouth. it's amazing to me how much like little fish they are when we hardly go swimming. caitlyn didn't like the water much so i took her back by my mom and dad and they hung out with her while we stayed at the pool. the water was a little chilly. i didn't go under but went in and played at least. the girls loved it. later on breigh took a nap...which she fought, but slept good...then my mom and dad, sister and grant, and me and shaun played a washer toss tournament. shaun and i came in second. couldn't beat those parents of mine. oh well. it was fun and it's nice to spend time together. we left a little before eight this morning to get back for church. we could have went to appleton, but i prefer our little home church instead. and i'm glad we went. god really used mike to teach lots of things today.

we're studying in eccl. currently for church. we go through a chapter or two a week, depending. i love going through the bible chapter by chapter verse by verse. we'll never miss anything. and it always is whatever we're learning about we're dealing with in real life. god is cool that way. real cool. plus i love our super small group of church family. today priscilla said, it doesn't matter the number of your church, it matters the hearts and lives your turning to christ. she couldn't have put it any simpler. some church focus on numbers numbers, but do you have a church full of 'sunday i'll go to church but monday i'll be in the world' or a church full of devoted to christ always everyday people. i'd rather be part of the second one, and believe that i am. we start out church every week the same way...god is good...all the time...all the time...god is good. because truly he is. if we have no trust and faith in him, we have nothing. we try to fill the void with a whole bunch of things that won't fill that void. drugs, drinking, sex, partying, money, shopping, things...etc...none of those things will satisfy...the ONLY thing that truly satisfies is a personal relationship with jesus. then and only then can you experience that true peace. i think that's why now a days we see so many 'sad and depressed' people. they're trying to fill their lives with things that don't satisfy, or they satisfy but for a moment. jesus has satisfied since the day i let him. you have to be willing. you have to be open. you have to let him do that work through you and in you more importantly. i struggle each day. i try by myself to do things. then i realize what i've left out of those things. god. as soon as i let him in things get a whole bit easier. the potty training thing is my example right now.

well the girlies are in bed, and shaun is awake. i'm going to take this time to spend with him, instead of you. sorry. :) no i'm not. :P have a great night my friends...

things that made me smile

i did this last week. and i thought i should do it again. because like i said it's something we should do. so i'll try to remember to do it every week.

*amelya TOLD me she had to go potty, even if only once, it is still a major change from last week

*breigh started asking why? it made me smile because she had this big smile while doing it too

*caitlyn started crawling on her hands and knees not just army crawling

*i can feel the baby move on the outside and the inside

*my mom was able to watch the girls for me twice this week

*breigh didn't make gage bleed at all

*pedicure and dinner with cheescake

*watching all three of my girlies starting to interact together and play

*amelya's wearing underwear

*shaun doesn't have to work this weekend

*we're going up north for the weekend

*my mom is having a lia sophia show for me so i get to make some extra money

*no kids were mean to mine at mom and pop place

*it was some other kid who went potty in his clothes and not mine at mom and pop place

*i won the name the flavor of ice cream contest

*the ice cream was yummy

okay so that's that for now. my drs appt went well yesterday. i gained the ten pounds i thought i had. and i am measuring a little over a week ahead. i was 23 weeks 5 days yesterday, and i measured at 25 weeks. so not too bad. my appt took longer then expected though because she got called away for a delivery, i decided to just wait rather then reschedule and only ended up waiting fifteen minutes longer then i already had been. glad i waited. today i have to pack for up north. it makes for more packing since my mom is having a party for me. so i have to get all my jewelry stuff ready and all of our stuff ready. oh well. i'm excited for her party and to make some extra money. so i'm off to get some stuff done. i need to finish the wash from yesterday and do another load today. then it won't be so bad when we get home. i'll be all 'caught up' for now. amelya pooped in her underwear yesterday. then she peed in them after we were home. i took her new baby doll and doll sling away after doing that. she cried, and i was kinda sad, when she hugged her baby doll and had to say good bye. i gave her the doll this morning and said she will get it taken away if she pees in her underwear again. now i ask her where we go pee and she says on the toilet. and i said where don't we go pee...she says on the floor. i had to reitterate that we don't go in our underwear. the kid is smart enough to pee on the couch and say i didn't pee on the floor! lol. so to my wash and packing and mommying. :) enjoy your weekend. i'll be back on sunday or monday to you my blog friends. if there are any out there. :)

yummy ice cream

i went to the ice cream shop today and got my 'punch card' for the free quart of ice cream for a year. i got cookies n cream. i thought shaun didn't like it, then i could eat it all myself. but he does like it. so now i'm waiting for him to take a shower so i can eat it with him. not the whole quart. but he asked if i could wait. so i am...not so paitently.

amelya stayed dry all day today. she hated going at gage's house. and threw a terror of a fit. but she and i survived and eventually she went. yay. no poopy today, so i'll have to watch for signs tomorrow and try to get her to go on the potty. i have a drs appt tomorrow too!! i also want to go to the mom and pop place to see what kind of sale they're having. i am not sure if i'll go or not. but i like the store. and it's a cafe on half, and the girls like to play there. so we'll see. see how ambitious i am. amelya is wearing underwear to bed. i know she'll stay dry all night, and i might be adventurous and try underwear tomorrow...maybe...they're the training kind and not the regular ones, so maybe that'll work better, so not as to make a big ole mess all over if she wets. but i have confidence in her that she won't wet herself. just the poopy thing that makes me nervous.

i'm excited for my drs. appt. we'll see if i have really gained the ten pounds my mom's scale says i have. i'm excited to be measured too. i feel big. and since i have been asked twice now if i'm having twins i must look big. but i am NOT having twins. unless one was hiding very well. very very well.

well the shower has stopped. YAY! so now i am leaving ya'll and going to get some yummy yummy ice cream!! toodles.

'mommy i have to go potty'

...yep i heard those words today...for the first time since starting this potty training adventure. i was thrilled, except i was also driving to the chiro. ahh! so i said did you go already. and amelya said it was 'still in there' so i asked if she could wait til we got by amy. which was about ten minutes away. amelya said yes, so i said okay. and prayed that she would. and she did!! praise the lord. i truly feel so much better about this potty training thing. i asked priscilla at church on sunday and mom's at mom's group for prayer about it. i think, no i know, it's working. now i kick myself for wondering why i didn't do it sooner! ahh. the enemy got the best of me last week, but NOT this week...it's god's victory this time. yay! i am super excited. amelya stayed dry all day yesterday and today, but today she did poop in her pull up. i didn't yell at her for that but told her it made me sad and she should go in the toilet. so we'll keep working on that, but she's peeing in the potty so that's a great thing.

and i have super exciting news. i won!! i won what you ask. the 'name the mystery flavor of ice cream' contest at the ice cream shop!! super yay!! i won a free quart of ice cream a month, for an entire YEAR!! yay!! the name i picked was mambo #5. the ice cream had take five candy bar in it, so that's as creative as i could get. apparently it won the hearts of someone. i was so excited yesterday when i drove past the ice cream shop and saw the name I PICKED on the sign, for the flavor of the week. how cool!?! last year i was on the rachael ray show for one of the worst kitchens in america and this year i win ice cream. how much better can it get? the owner called me today and offically told me. it's so silly to be so excited, but i truly am.

i went and paid for my dress today at the bridal shop, amelya's actually is NOT in yet, lord willing next week or the week after. so i have that long to get her in underwear so she can try on the dress. i made the rule she is not allowed to even try it on unless she is wearing underwear. the dresses for the wedding are very pretty, and the colors are better in person. now i am just praying that i can get skinny after having little d baby to fit into the dress in time for the wedding.

okay i have to cut this short...again!...shaun just got out the ice cream..not my winning stuff...i haven't picked that up yet...and i have to hurry. hope you have a super duper winning day.

:0)

tuesday already. i know only the second day of the week, but still yesterday flew by. we went to mom's group. then i went to mcdonald's with the girls because my mom was watching them later on in the afternoon and decided instead of running all the way home for a few hours we'd just stay in town. amelya went POTTY at mcdonald's. YAY. i told her we could not eat until she went. it took her under five minutes. then after mcdonald's we ran some errands and went to my mom's to wait for her to get home. amelya went potty there as well in under five minutes. yay! after i left my mom tried with her and she went for my mom. and she went for shaun after he got the girls home. although she did fall asleep on the toilet for shaun. he was funny. i was out to eat with a friend and he calls and asks what he should do if she fell asleep. i said wake her up and tell her to go. so he did and she did. praise the lord.
i went to get a pedicure, much needed of course, and out to eat with a friend of mine yesterday. it was nice to get together with her and just relax for a few hours. we got to our pedicure around 445 and i didn't get home til almost ten. it was a nice evening. i got hot pink on my toes. makes me smile just to look at them. who knew. then we went to hu hot to eat. she had never been there before. i think she liked it. i had two plate fulls of food, then some really yummy cheesecake with strawberries on top for dessert. because i have been craving cheesecake and shaun doesn't like it...soooo just HAD to have it. i was FULL.
after we ate we ran to walmart, because i forgot to look when we were there earlier, for a fold up travel potty seat. at first i was worried because all they had were sponge bob, but way in the back we found a dora one!! yay! so now i don't have to carry a big brown paper bag with a big ole potty seat in it. i can fold this one and put it in the diaper bag.
well this is one boring post. sorry. but the girlies need me....so i gots to go for now...have a full day of fun.

fun with photoshop

here are some photo collages i made with photoshop. it's easy and i've become addicted to it!! plus then i can share a whole bunch of pics and only load one thing. enjoy!!

these are of the girls at shaun's aunt's party the day after the fourth, but still so cute!!

here's all of us on the fourth, we spent the morning at the parade and picnic for lunch, and the girls and i (one time) enjoyed the blow up slide. i didn't zoom in too far on that picture of me, because i looked scared. i wasn't, but was surprised at how fast the thing went. plus shaun was a good sport and wore matching shirts with all of his girlies, except his was red. amelya was SO excited to have daddy match her.

these are the girls, and some friends that they made at the party. not just our family was invited. i love how little kids don't care about anything but playing with each other. plus the sunlight was perfect for all the pics. love it. we had a great time!

i know i have already share the pics of the ultrasound, but i can't leave out little baby d. baby has been moving so much more now. i can even feel it on the outside!! yay!! the baby has been up since before six-thirty this morning and hasn't quit moving. it's nice to have a baby up, but not have to get out of bed....yet. :0)

here are the pictures...not all of them...but some...from the waterpark hotel for breigh's birthday. gotta love their matching swimsuits!!

here's one of the girlies outside. amelya is wearing a sweater because she just wanted too not because it was cold outside. just so you know i wasn't trying to freeze or neglect my other children who aren't wearing sweaters.

this is my little amelya NOT going potty on the toilet. now i do not take pics of her on the toilet all the time i was just looking at my camera and she wanted to have me take a few pictures. plus this was like the first or second day of sitting on the potty. which she's gotten a little better with going faster. yesterday once did she sit an hour, but went poopy then potty in that hour! we just may be getting somewhere....i hope.

one i did that didn't have to do anything with my kiddies. because truly my friends, his love IS amazing. have a super loving amazing day.

short. really short.

this will be short. but we've had a great holiday weekend. i will post pics later today or tomorrow or whenever i get to it. the parade and picnic was fun. the party at shaun's aunt yesterday was fun too. and of course even better with grandma hoerth cake and my caramel bars. i made two pans, it's easier with the recipe to do that, and am bringing the second pan today to church. yummy. plus amelya was so excited to see and 'catch' fireflies. amelya is still not potty trained, and still sitting forever before actually going. except in the morning. because she knows she can't eat unitl she goes. and probably because she knows i mean it and doesn't want to sit for two hours. sooooo that's a short update. i have to get ready for church. shaun is working this morning, lord willing will be done in time for church, but i still have to get the three girls ready to go until he gets here to help. later gators.

things that make me smile

it's been a long week. so i thought it'd be nice to think of the things this week that make me smile, instead of dwelling on the fact that amelya is no closer to being potty trained then she was last week, and caitlyn is still coughing (not as much) and breigh having to bring two baby dolls and their carseats everywhere we go. or i guess the fact that shaun has to work at four in the morning...and i've been having heartburn and weighed myself and have gained ten pounds!

smiley things of my week...because we all should have them and know what they are

~breigh looks adorable in pigtails...and is leaving them in

~amelya is at least trying and has gone potty on the toilet

~shaun has off on saturday...and it was his weekend to work

~caitlyn learned to wave and says mama all the time

~i got to feel the baby kick really hard

~breigh fell asleep on my belly

~amelya fell asleep on the toilet

~caitlyn fell asleep in her high chair

~figuring out how to do fun things with photoshop

~spending the day at my bestest friends and not having to worry about being 'happy' to her and being able to talk about whatever...and getting funny advice from her husband...who is i must say, and she'd probably say too, a typical boy

~me getting my kitchen CLEANED...not just picked up...and shaun saying something nice about it without being 'prompted'

~shaun only is going to work a few hours tomorrow so we can go to a parade and picnic thingy

~after shaun gets out of the shower he's going to paint in the playroom

~my pictures came in early

~laughing at the craziness of baby borrowers

~learning how to take nice pictures with my camera

~realizing i have a drs appt next week

~not having to stress where money is coming from to pay shaun's mom for the month



okay i'll stop...i've had a lot of good smiley times this week, and i am smiling now that i think about all of them. like i said it's been a long week. a frustrating week. i just don't know how to get amelya to tell us when she has to go potty. she goes after i make her sit. this morning it was seriously two hours. no joking. and that was from when she got up. i always have to pee when i get up. her words to me were i don't WANT to go. so i made her sit. because it was clash of wills man. and my will one. i have to say i did yell a little out of frustration. but i didn't do anything i regret now. so it's all good i guess. i just don't understand how she can sit on the toilet for SO long and not go. determined with loads of perseverance i guess. this afternoon she actually fell asleep on the toilet and was snoring! i have pics to prove it!! i'm a scrapbooker i COULD not resist.



breigh has been letting me put piggys in her hair! yay! amelya doesn't like them in so much, so it's nice to let breigh let me. i don't feel like posting pics so you'll have to wait until i do to see how adorable she looks.



shaun is in the shower now. he asked me if i was going to help paint. i should. but i gives me a headache. but then we get to spend time together...and maybe talk for once. last night we didn't say a word to each other after putting the girls to bed. partly because he said something to irritate me before they went to bed and the other part because he was asleep himself right away. i don't like his long hours. but what can i do. doesn't pay to complain. so i won't. i'll just say i don't like the hours. which is the truth. done.



so i'm leaving now. well not leaving literally but computerally. i am out of things to say at the moment. i know, pick that jaw up off the floor. so have a happy fourth. and remember JESUS SETS US FREE FOR ETERNITY! that's a LONG time. :O)

tired

tired. that's me. tired from staying up too late. tired from amelya fighting me on the toilet today. tired of hearing caitlyn coughing so much in her sleep and wondering if i should call the doctor. tired of breigh fighting with gage all the time when we're at his house. yep i'm tired. what should i be doing instead of blogging? where do i start!?!
cleaning up the kitchen
cleaning up the living room
going through the dress up clothes and getting rid of the ripped stuff
going through the barbies and accessories
sleeping
napping
resting
sitting and doing nothing...wait i am pretty much doing that
painting the playroom
but instead i sit here. but then i probably won't later because i'll have my post in 'for the day'. but then again shaun will probably be asleep on the couch and i'll venture my way to the desk. who knows. i'm kinda crabby. don't know why really. all three...yes i said three...girls are napping. they all fell asleep on our seven minute ride home from gage's house. i think amelya was exhausted from all of the crying she did on the toilet while we were there, breigh was just plain exhausted from playing and chasing gage around...and caitlyn hadn't napped yet all day either. caitlyn is starting to wake up a little now. she keeps crying a little then sleeping. between of course all the coughing. she had been doing good all day. then i debate should i call the dr? before she ended up in the hospital she coughed for two hours straight in her sleep and they said to bring her in because it is disrupting her sleep. so i guess this isn't disrupting her sleep too much. so we'll see how the night goes. i just get so nervous. but i need to pray and give it all to god. i'm not in control at all. nope i'm not. i'm just tired. and now caitlyn is awake. so this will be short...and all one paragraph...sorry.

amen.

on our way home from walmart today i was talking to amelya about how awesome it was that jesus helps her go potty on the toilet. then breigh says...amen. it was funny. and amelya stayed dry ALL day. she peed in her pull-up while i was getting the other girls in from outside. i KNEW i should've put her on it before i went back out. oh well. so she did great. she really wants to wear underwear, but also knows she can't until she can stay dry in pull ups for a few days...i'm so proud of her. i also can't believe how long she can go with out peeing. she went from nine this morning until four this afternoon before she went. and believe me she tried between there. but i don't go pee that often either, even while pregnant, so maybe it's a genetic thing. who knows.





my pictures were in early at sears! yay. so my sister came with us to the mall and we got them. they turned out great. i really am glad i got the 10x10 framed thing they put together for me too. my girlies look so grown up. it's amazing to me how fast they grow. the mall was actually pretty busy today. and my little breigh is learning to not look at abercrombie. since they were little i cover their eyes everytime we walk by the store. i don't need them seeing naked boys pictures. UGH! i can't stand that. anyways..after being at the mall a few times amelya started covering her own eyes...and now she has learned once the black blinds start coming to look away, and today breigh did it too all by herself. i'm so proud of them. i also get a headache instantly when i walk by that store. do they have the cologne running through the air ducts there or what!?! we also went to build a bear because i had a coupon and got some more new outfits. i have to admit it is kind of fun shopping for a little stuffed animal. breigh got a new outfit and shoes for her puppy for her birthday too. so her puppy is all decked out with loads of clothes. libby lu is also open now. amelya was excited to get glitter in her hair. i signed them up for the libby lu club too, and they got free bracelets. nice ones too. with sparkles. amelya has also now decided once she goes potty on the toilet all the time and wears underwear she wants to go there. i said sure. it seems like fun. so i can't wait to take her. i'm so excited for her to be a 'big girl'. i felt bad when she peed today, she said, mom next time i will be a big girl. another funny moment on the toliet this afternoon when she wasn't going pee too...she said 'mom i think my bladder is broken'. lol. i think she just didn't want to sit any longer!!



caitlyn started waving yesterday! yep waving. she's getting so big. she's been having a runny nose and goopy eyes, not pink just goopy, since sunday. today her breathing sounded raspy. now i'm all paranoid listening to her and watching her breathe. i don't want to end up in the hospital with her again. maybe i never mentioned it, but back in february she was hospitalized from a sunday to thursday with bronchiolitis. so now i watch her closer because i don't want her to have that happen again. her o2 levels dropped pretty low when we were there and it was a scary thing to hear the dr. say i think i'm going to keep her. but god. but god saw us through it, and her. and all the nurses loved her and thought she was so cute...and etc. i did have to buy some girl outfits for the hospital though. because we were not anticipating a hospital stay we had no extra clothes the sunday we went in (during a rain/snow/ice storm) they only had boy clothes for her. so i donated some and the nurses went ga-ga over how cute they were. seriously they were like seven bucks at walmart...and just sleepers. it was funny.



it's late. i'm not tired. i should be. shaun worked way too long today. he had to go in at five and didn't get home til 830. the girls didn't even get to play with him. but thankfully there aren't tons of nights like this. like when he used to work for his uncle or the co-op. there were WEEKS like this. i don't miss that at all. i hate going to bed without him. it is so weird. but yet in the morning when he gets up for work...i take over the entire bed and don't have a problem sleeping without him. oh well. so i suppose...because it's late and my contacts are drying to my eyes...i am going to go...may your dreams be filled with sweet things. :o)