Foto Friday

Big sister being attacked by her brothers! Have a great weekend blog-friends!

 

You know when....

You know there is a new baby in the house...

 

...when suddenly you feel your hearing has gotten dramatically better and everything seems to have gone up 85 decibels.
... "ssssshhhhhh" is being said at least once every two minutes while the baby is awake and every 30 seconds while baby is napping
...your laundry has increased by 2-3 loads a day and that is burp clothes alone!
...you wait an extra hour to go somewhere because feeding time is just around the corner!
...the hour you wait for to feed the baby, changes because the baby is so sound asleep that you would not dare wake baby up, so the hour you were waiting turns into 2 hours
...You sometimes have to just erase all your plans to go somewhere because you realize it is just easier to stay home
...You watch your local weather 3 times a day to make sure you have the baby dressed properly and that baby does not get to cold or hot
...You could GIVE your local forecast for the next 7 days
...You have taken up a second language that can discern every cry you hear in Wal-mart
...Your living room has more furniture for people under 25 pounds than it does for adults
...you look in the mirror for the first time in days and you realize that the nights of missed zzzzz's are taking a toll but for the first time you really do not care!
...everyone in the entire house runs to see the first smile and it makes EVERYONE talk in high pitched voices just to see baby smile again
...when you realize that nothing in life really matters but the little miracle you are holding in your arms
...for the first time you realize that this is what life is all about!

They used MY writing-check it out!

Today, this wonderful blog used one of my writings for their guest contributer. Please check it out! This is a beautiful blog for those of us who are trying to be the Godly woman Christ desires of us. Just click on the box above!

Flowers for you...

My daughter loves to take pictures of flowers so I thought instead of picking one for you today, I would post one for you and hey, after all it is the blog world! We have to be creative, right?! Hope you have a beautiful, God-filled day!
 
 
 
 

MORE baby pics?

If you have not figured out yet, if you don't like babies, you might not like this blog!
Thought I would post some recent ones of our fast growing baby! He is starting to smile and looks around at everything. Soooooo FUN! My mouth waters at chubby little cheeks and the sweet look of baby feet, it has not changed!

 

 

 

 

P.S. Please pray for Stellan! (The box over to the right of my blog will take you to his blog) He is not doing well! It looks pretty bad! His heart is not tolerating anything and is listless!

Before Surgery...

 

After surgery...

After surgery...

 

Notice any difference?

Everything went well. He is back to normal with the exception of some redness in the corners of his eyes. He had crossing in both of his eyes but his left eye was worse than the right so the doctor cut away some of the muscle to even them out. (Hold your stomach, I could not even ask what they were doing because it was too hard for me to hear!) Anyway, the goal is also to get him out of bifocals but they won't know about that for 6 more weeks. He will always have to wear glasses but that is no big deal! Thanks for your prayers!

Leaving town for surgery

 

We are headed out of town today for my 5 year-olds eye surgery that he will have tomorrow morning. Please keep him in your prayers (and nervous mom!) and I will give an update when we return home. Have a great weekend!

A day of randomness

Today my random thoughts:

I am blessed!

I am adjusting to the new normal a newborn brings into our home

Boys are constant!

Boys are loud!

Boys are physical!

I love rainy days!

I saw my baby smile for the first time this morning and it was at me!

I have no plans for my day yet

One of my closest friends had a sweet baby that she has been praying for 10 years to have!

I am so honored that God included me in her struggles and the unspeakable joy He has allowed me to witness in the past few months as she has been part of helping God with a miracle by carrying a little creation of His inside of her.

I held in my own two hands yesterday, proof of answered prayer when I got to hold her beautiful little one!

My son has eye surgery in two days and I am nervous about it!

He could care less and just trusts me!

That is how I am to be with God.

That is not always easy to just sit back and trust!

I am really not sure how I am going to entertain my 7 boys under the age of 8 while it rains ALL DAY.

Maybe I don't like rainy days as much as I thought! ;)

Maybe I SHOULD get some plans for my day.

I think I will go now and get something accomplished before my boys tear the house down!

My livlihood may depend on it!

I may need lots of prayer today, so say one for me if you have a random thought of me today! :)

Not "my child" Monday

It was not my child that stripped down in front of everyone at the water park and ran to me asking him where his shirt was! I am sure I taught him to cover his privates not let the whole world see his cute little behind!

My children would not have gone swimming at the water park this weekend after we broke records in July for record low temps! Surely they did not swim when it was 60 degrees and windy! (And Mckmama thinks she lives in the frozen tundra :) )

My child did have to walk around in wet swimming trunks for the rest of the day because their mom would not have thought the weather would surely warm up and think they would not need other clothes! I would have had more empathy for my children than that!

It was not my 7 year old that after 3 hours of walking around the amusement park that dad looked at his feet and asked me if I knew his shoes did not match. He innocently said, "but mom, I could not find the other one to either of them." He did not walk around all day like that! Surely my child did not feel I was to busy loading up the other kids that he could not ask me to help him find the other one!

My 3 year old did not stand in a food line with me only to notice he was standing there with his hands all the way in his pants. And I did not make him reach up to get a napkin off of the counter right after he took his hands out! I would have thought quicker realizing that people behind me may not have wanted to take a napkin for themselves after watching what just happened!

My child DID not just look at me across the crowded amusement park running over to me holding himself yelling, "I have to go potty, mom, I couldn't hold it!" Other people were not staring and laughing and looking directly at me to see my reaction!

My child did not potty his pants and I did not act like it was just from the water rides and hope that is what everyone else thought even though there was a triangle shaped wet spot on the crotch of his pants and the rest of his body was totally dry! I did not let him sit in his stroller to try and make it less obvious.

I did not watch my child pick up dirty, ant infested candy off the ground, put it in his mouth and I not make it over to him in time before he started chewing! Extra protein and dirt never hurt anyone right?!

If my children went to an amusement park, surely they would have appreciated that we went at all and NOT complained when we had to go home after being there for 8 hours, freezing cold, and exhausted. Okay, it was not me who was freezing and exhausted after going to the amusement park with 10 kids and a newborn and was not me that wanted to leave! I would have been nicer than that and not put myself first! I am NOT that selfish!

Foto Friday

Okay, it is not Friday yet, but I will not beable to post tomorrow so I'm planning ahead! Have a great weekend!

I think our baby has had enough already!;)

 

Where does time go? Today our newest edition is 1 month old! I cannot remember life without him and yet he is so new to our family! He has made our hearts grow even bigger with love which seemed one month ago to be impossible we would have room for more! We run to him when he cries, cuddle him and stare at his sweet little face, fingers and toes. The smell of his little head is intoxicating and I hold him knowing that this is for just a minute moment in time and soon he will be to busy to be held the way we can hold him now. All too soon, I will no longer have those middle of the night feedings where it is just God, him and I alone together. The times I used to dread with my other children have a different perspective after the wisdom of having 10 other children has finally begun to set in. Knowing the days of toothless grins will not last long enough. The times when mommy is the center of his universe and my scent alone ends all his tears, are to be cherished because that too will change way to fast! I love this little one that God has placed in our life and filled our hearts with more love. Once again, the joy of loving another gift from God has entered our home! What sweet, sweet moments that only God can give!

 

You may not know...

15 things you may not know about me:

1. If my floors are clean, then I feel good. If they are dirty, I feel anxious and grumpy.

2. I started using a curling iron when I was 9 and to this day, I still use one! (My mom is a beautician so I blame her for that! :) )

3. I would love to have a brand spanking new car, but have never had a car newer than the early '90's.

4. I said I would NEVER let my kids own video games, and now we have a WII. (Still wish we did not have one at times!)

5. I am very impatient. (Not a good quality with 11 children!)

6. I fear the stomach flu more than any other illness. (Especially when you have 11 children for it to pass through, no pun intended! :)

7. I don't like any jewelry unless it is real gold or diamonds which will tell you I don't wear jewelry much! :)

8. I am terrified of bridges and live in a town there the only way to get
from one side of town to the other is by one of three bridges AND I was on the bridge in Minnesota that fell apart last year, 48 hours earlier! Up until that date, I had no legitimate reason to be scared of bridges!

9. I could eat out for every meal. Not because I am lazy, because I love to go out to eat.

10. I would love to go to New York someday just to visit.

11. I have never been to one of my High School reunions and don't really care! :)

12. I am in the process of writing a book for mom's.

13. I wish I were more like my mom who has the ability to not worry or fret and is always so giving.

14. I am still good friends with a girl I met when I was 2 years old.

15. My husband and I never went on a honeymoon or been on a vacation together.


I always think it is fun to find out things about others. Hope you enjoyed finding out things about me! Leave some things for me to get to know you better!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
This takes much creativity to post a Not Me Monday, but this week, I had some moments that I thought would make a good edition for this weeks laughs.

It was not me that sat along the side of the road in a mini van that had to have reached over one hundred degrees with the humidity and the temperature combined with my 14 year old, 5 and 7 year old, and 3 week old. I do not do heat!

It was not possible that I called my husband to come get us and 15 minutes later after he started out I called him back to tell him to turn around because I got the car started and we were on or way home once again. Surely I would not have made a spur of the moment decision like that!

I would not have ended up along side of the highway AGAIN after my car had died again in the unbearable heat.

I would have never decided to just sit for a few minutes to see if I could get it to start instead of calling my husband to turn around to come get us.

It would not be possible that for the next 45 minutes I would go 10 miles while my car died and restarted. I would have not been that stubborn to try to make it home when I had over 50 miles to go so we did not have to pay to get it towed!!

The last decision I finally made to call my husband back to come and get us WAS NOT made when the car was TOTALLY dead.

He would not have taken 1 hour and 30 minutes to come get us while we were not starring at an exit sign 3 yards away from us to the next town but still to far to walk to with all the kids and no stroller.

We were not starring at a Comfort Suites Hotel Sign, Wal-mart sign and a gas station while we sat in our toaster on wheels fanning ourselves with children's board books to keep the swarming bugs away and to attempt to cool off.

It was not me who stuck my head out the window like a dog every time a subtle breeze blew by!

Surely the cars that flew by in their air-conditioned, bug free cars would have stopped to see if we needed help or at the very least called a state trooper to come check on us!

It is not this country I live in that not ONE person stopped to try and help us in over an hour and a half!! A State Trooper DID NOT drive by and do nothing!

My husband did not come with ALL my other children AFTER he stopped to get gas, drop one of our kids friends off at their house while I was sitting in a toaster on wheels with bugs swarming everywhere and the ability to open only 2 windows because I was worried about flying debris from traffic flying by.

It was not my husband that got our car started and got home with me following him and never had it die ONCE! He WOULD not have called me on his cell phone jokingly asking me why I was driving so slow!

If all this happened to me, I would never go on the high-way again with that stupid car! (I did not just say stupid because that word is not allowed in our home) Then I would be a hypocrite!

Adjusting to the "new normal"

Life with a newborn is always an adjustment. One of the hardest things and yet one of the most pleasurable things I ever do! I have done it 11 times now so you think I would know what I am doing, right?! Well, although I know what to expect, it is always like I am doing it for the first time. I had the blessing of my husband having 7 work days off, so I had him home for 11 days while I recovered from my intense and scary labor and delivery. (I will post about that soon!) I did feel physically ready to tackle everything during the day alone by the time he went back to work a week ago. Now life is settling in with our beautiful little one BUT the adjustments begin. Like when I get ready to do something such as make dinner or make my bed after washing my sheets, folding laundry, or just about anything I need to accomplish (like typing a post on my blog :) ) Ayson can be out cold in that newborn coma sleep, and the second I begin doing something, a cry is heard. So I scramble to finish what I am doing or ask for one of my girls to pick up the baby, or let the initiation begin to being number 11 by letting him cry for a couple minutes until I can get there to help him. I am also amazed how much I forget how feedings can affect everyone's schedules. He is on a 7, 10, 1, 4, 7 feeding schedule so I know when he eats everyday and at what time, but sometimes, I really have to plan accordingly for appointments or errands. And it always takes me a half hour longer to get out of the house than it used too. This new normal is great! But it is an adjustment! So far night-times are going great. He has his last feeding at 10 pm and wakes up on the dot at 4 am to eat again then back to sleep until 7am. For that I am truly grateful! If I can get my sleep, that is huge! The family is enthralled with him and cannot give enough kisses and "petting" his head as my 5 year old calls it. I finally told him he is a human not one of our many animals we have brought through our doors. We LOVE humans, not pet them. Our new normal is a process and not perfected yet. My temper and irritability's running on the impatient level at times, but with many prayers throughout the day, usually while I am in the bathroom, since that is USUALLY the only time I get a moment to myself. I will once again adjust to this new little life into our lives and in the process, I will continue to rejoice for our quiver getting fuller and I will never get weary of holding a little miracle in my arms and the intoxicating smell of his sweet little head under my chin! Oh, how I love the gift my creator has given me, being a mommy!
 
 
 

Foto Friday

 

 

 

 

Works For Me Wednesday

This is my favorite pasta salad! Don't let the ketchup scare you! It will surprise you how wonderful it tastes with veggies and the sugar added! I am not a ketchup fan and I love the taste!

Easy Sweet and Spicy Pasta Salad

2 green peppers chopped
1-2 cucumbers diced
1 diced tomato
1-2 diced green onion

8 oz cooked pasta of choice

1 Cup of Ketchup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil (I like olive oil)

Mix together and put in refrigerator overnight. Enjoy!