Sickness...Go away!

It's 7:30 and both of our kids are already in bed. I'm out of calories for the day and that makes me sad right now. Why is it when my kids go to bed I want to eat everything in sight? I guess watching the Food Network channel doesn't help things. Oh well...I'll eat a snack anyway. 

So...I feel like our house and life has been filled with sick children lately. It all started a couple of days before we left for Oklahoma. Jude was having some issues sleeping and he was a little fussy. My boys are great sleepers (thank you Babywise...if you want to know about that ask me or I may just blog about it soon..best book ever!), so I know if they aren't napping or sleeping good at night something is up. He had a runny nose a few days before so I wanted to make sure it wasn't an ear infection bothering him before we left. I took him that Wednesday before we left and sure enough the doctor said his ear was red but not inflamed yet....caught it just in time! We got an antibiotic for that and went our way to Oklahoma for 8 days. 

Justin's home church has their annual Bible Conference and we were there for that. We really enjoyed the conference.There is a morning session and an evening session from Sunday-Wednesday. Let's just say by the end of it Jude hated the nursery and everyone in it! Anytime he would see anybody who worked in there or even walked in there he would freak out. Such a nice baby. Unfortunately, during the night on Tuesday or I guess I should say early Wednesday morning, Jude started throwing up. He never ran a fever and was sick for a couple of hours and was totally fine the next day. We stayed home for the morning session but went ahead and went to the night service Wednesday night, but I just kept him with me instead of attempting the nursery...there's no way he would have stayed anyway. I really don't think he had the bug...he never had a fever and was eating and acting totally fine the next day. I think his antibiotic made his stomach upset. I'm saying that to make myself feel better for all the people that got sick after we left....please don't blame Jude! hehe.  

Fast forward to Sunday morning (we are home now!) Luke keeps saying he's tired and wants to go to bed while we are in the nursery. I don't think much about it, until we get home and he starts crying and burning up with fever! He goes and lays down and an hour or so later is throwing up....great. We had found out several different people in Oklahoma that we were around had got some virus...thanks Oklahomans. Just kidding. He was so miserable the rest of the day...not himself at all. His fever was constant the rest of the day and still some today. This morning he kept telling me his mouth hurt. I asked him where and he pointed to the back of his throat. I suddenly thought strep throat and got nervous. I went ahead and made an appointment and off we go to the doctor again. Strep test was negative (Hallelujah!). Doctor said he just may have something viral. He's still pretty puny right now...he's been in his bed pretty much all day watching Despicable Me on repeat. Seriously...how do kids watch movies a million times in a row? That movie is good though. 

Just taking some selfies in the doctors office...I guess he was feeling a little better here. He's so funny! 

So, I'm tired and I need everyone to be not sick and be happy. Also, if you are sick or been around sick people please don't come around me or my kids until after I get back from the beach in September...no really. Okay...so maybe you can but when it gets close to beach time...stay away. I would just like to go on one trip this summer without Jude being sick. So far he's been sick every time we've gone somewhere. Not cool Jude, not cool. But really, I hate when my children are sick. It's sad when you can't help them and really want too. 

All that being said, we really did have a great time in Oklahoma. It's nice seeing and spending time with our family and friends. It's always bittersweet to come home. We won't be able to make a trip again until Christmas. That seems forever away! 

I hope all of you had a great weekend! 

Normal Randomness

I hope all of you lovely people had a great weekend.

 This post is going to be pretty random...I kind of feel like most of mine are anyway. So I guess this post is just going to be normal. 

I wish I was starting this post by saying my almost 16 month old is walking now, but unfortunately that will not be happening...today anyway. I'm trying to not let it bother me that my stubborn little child is not running around our house yet, but it does a little. Yes, I know he will walk when he wants to...but right now I really really want him to. We haven't started his physical therapy yet. Actually he hasn't even had his evaluation to see if he even needs it. Our schedules haven't been able to work with the therapist's schedule (which Justin is thankful for) He's kind of against this whole therapy thing. I really don't want him to have it either, but I would feel better if he did get evaluated to make sure everything's working right. I'm pretty sure it is. He barely holds on to my finger and will walk, he can stand up on his own, and walks all around our furniture. I really don't think about it too much until I see all the babies that were born before and after Jude (and there seems to be a lot....some kind of baby boom happened then) walking now. I was hoping he would be walking by the time we left for Oklahoma...which will be Thursday, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. As long as he's walking by the time we go to the beach in September...I'll be happy. Have I mentioned he's getting heavy? 

He can sure climb though! 

We had a fun friendly dinner at my Mom's last week. She made a yummy dinner and homemade ice cream and strawberry pie....I had two pieces and could've had three. It's sugar free so it's okay. It's delicious. I could so eat a piece (or two or three) right now. The boys ended up spending the night with her a couple of nights. Friday I got to go have a shopping day with my best friend Kim, who just so happens to be one of the best people you can shop with. I don't have to do much, she picks out things for me and I have to try them on. Then she tells me if it looks good or not...it works out really good. I got several new dresses, which I really needed! I even got to get a size I haven't been in since Justin and I got married! That was nice. I rewarded myself by eating some yummy Mexican food with my husband later that night...we did go for a walk later...it evens out. 

I've been doing a lot more walking than running lately. I still run, but I can only make about 20 minutes of straight running before I feel like I"m going to throw up. This heat and humidity does not work for me. I even get up about 6:30 in the morning and it's still too much for me. Even at night it's still just yuck. I'm ready for some cooler weather or Justin needs to buy me a treadmill. But now I feel like I'd get bored on that since I've been running outside. Not that my running trail is very exciting either. I have a certain path I take around our tiny little city. I don't go too far because I have a fear of stray dogs suddenly attacking me. (my husband laughs at this fear of mine) Seriously though...if I don't know the dog I get super scared and run the other direction real fast. 

I told you guys about the other workout I was doing HERE. Well I took some before pictures the day I started the workout and then I took some on day 22 of the workout. I can already see some big results. I sent them to my sister (she's one of the very few people I would ever let see that...you will not see them posted here or anywhere online!) and she could tell too. Now she's started the workout. It's a 90 day challenge and usually I'm not too big on those, but this seems to really be working for me. I should clarify you do not have to be a Mommy to do this challenge! Anyone can. You just have to go and like Bikini Body Mommy Challenge on Facebook go to her photos and then albums and she lists all the workouts! I'm also really loving my heart rate monitor I got for our anniversary. I use it every time I workout and I love seeing the calories I burn! It also helps since I'm using Myfitnesspal. I can just log in the calories that I've burned for the day without trying to guess. If you've been thinking about getting one, you should! It's so worth it. I got mine off Amazon and it wasn't too expensive. Click HERE if you'd like to see it. 

The rest of my week (or couple of days) will be filled with laundry, cleaning, and packing. The cleaning thing is kind of funny, because I never understood why my Mama would want to clean our house before we left to go somewhere, but now I totally understand. I despise coming home to a dirty house, so I try to get it clean before we leave. Thursday we are leaving for Oklahoma and will be gone for 8 days. Justin's home church is having their annual Bible Conference. We love going and are really looking forward to it. I also get to hear one of my favorite preachers (AKA my Grandpa). 

Have a great week my friends! 

Just a Mom.

A couple of my friends shared this blog post on Facebook today:  The Biggest Lie Moms Believe. I've read similar things like this before but for some reason this one really got to me. (If you have just a couple of minutes..read it first..then come back..it's short!)

I literally almost had tears in my eyes after reading it. I guess the Lord knew I needed to read that today. I haven't really even had a difficult day but she said exactly what I needed to hear. I've always known I wanted to be a stay at home mom. Yes, there were other professions I wanted to do. I wanted to be a teacher for a while. I then changed my major to Psychology in college and thought I'd like to be a Marriage and Family therapist someday. That still sounds appealing to me, but there's also the part of having to do more school and I quickly rethink that (I really dislike school). When I met Justin and we began discussing marriage and kids, I told him I would love to stay at home once we had children and he was fully supportive of that, in fact he encourages it (God knew what He was doing when He put us together). After we had Luke, I had been teaching at this private school in Forrest City (we lived in Wynne at the time). I had signed a contract, so I had to still teach until the school year was over. That was one of the hardest 3 months of my life...really. I would get up almost every morning and cry and cry because I wanted to be home with my baby. The last thing I wanted to do was go and spend my day with a bunch of kids....sorry it's true. It hurt Justin that I couldn't stay home, but we just could not afford for me to do that at the time. I knew for a fact then that my job was to be home with my children and there was no profession that was going to make me happy besides that one.

Once I got to stay home with Luke, it was wonderful. Was everyday wonderful...of course not. Is everyday wonderful now? No way. But I love it. I can't imagine dropping my children off with someone else or at a daycare everyday. I know I am doing what the Lord has called me to do by staying home with them. But there are days where I feel like what this article says. "I'm just a Mom" I feel that way whenever I see someone I haven't seen in awhile and they ask me what I do. I say I stay at home with my kids...and I get the "oh good for you" response. In some cases I'm sure they mean it...but most are thinking that's it...you went to college for 4 years and are still paying for it but you stay at home (I'm exaggerating there...that's usually what goes through my mind) And today I guess that's what most people would think. It's becoming more and more uncommon for Moms to stay at home (just like it is for Mom's to have more than one child...but I could go on and on about that!) I know there are circumstances where you just can't and some Mom's really just are not made to do that and that's totally fine! I have full respect for the women who can work all day and come home and take care of their family and somehow  make dinner and get their house clean..it wears me out just thinking about it! That's great! If you're a Mom and you're thinking of staying at home, don't not do it because you are worried about what people will think...trust me the reward is much greater! Staying at home and taking care of my children is what I do and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm so glad I read this today. I hope it brings some encouragement to someone else as well.

In God’s upside down Kingdom, moms are the logical solution to change the world. We serve on our knees, cleaning up boy bathrooms. We bend low scooping up toys and messes.

You there, changing your 6th diaper of the day while you watch your 4 year old daughter change her clothes again, and your son searching the couch cushions for change—your day-in-and-day out service to your family is life-changing.

Mom, you saying yes, right where you are–that makes you a world changer.

This is the truth we need to believe.

-Kristen @ wearethatfamily.com

Festivities

I hope all of you had a great 4th of July! We did. We traveled to see my family in Bryant (Arkansas..for those Oklahoma people who read this) Our festivities include eating a lot, swimming, and shooting some pretty awesome fireworks. We had a great time and I love spending time with them. I'm glad they don't live too far away! Jude was a sicky baby though. He wasn't very friendly to anybody else. He started running a fever Tuesday night, but I just thought it was due to teething so we went ahead and went. He ran a fever the whole time we were there. We ended up taking him to the doctor on Friday when we got back and turns out he had some sort of virus (his white blood count was low)...not sure what the virus is, but he was sick. He's doing better now...thankfully. Sick babies are no fun, but Jude is super cuddly and sleeps a lot when he's sick, so it makes it a little better.

Poor sick baby. 

 We also celebrated and surprised my Grandma for her 80th birthday. She turned the big 80 on Friday. I hope when I'm 80 I look have the energy this lady has! She's a lot of fun and we love her a lot. I'm glad my boys get to be around her. Luke loves his Granny. 

She's so fun! Love this lady. 

I mentioned in my last post I was getting to have dinner with some of my high school friends. We had such a good time. We hadn't all been together in a while, but it was like we had been around each other everyday! I love friends like that, where you can just pick right up where you left off. 

We've been friends since I moved to Trumann in the 5th grade. We were all in the youth group together and went through the wonderful years of Junior High and High School. They were also there for me during one of the hardest times in my life. My dad passed away when I had just recently started my Senior year of high school. Even though were were young and having to deal with grief and a death like that is difficult (it's difficult for any age...but you know what I mean), these ladies were a great comfort for me. They may not know that...but now they do! I feel like I will always have a special bond with them due to that. Our plan is to try and meet once a month for dinner. You never know how long we will all live close like this, so we need to take advantage of it! 

I hope all of you enjoyed your 4th of July festivities! I'll leave you with a cute video of Luke reciting his first memory verse. I'm so thankful his Sunday School teacher is encouraging this. We love Mrs. Mandi! The verse is Gen. 12:2 "I will make your name great and you will be a blessing" But he kept saying I will be a blessing instead of you. I couldn't get him to change it...oh well. Sorry if it's a bad quality...I couldn't preview it. 

Weekend/Week Stuff

Today is the first day of July  and 1) I can't believe it's already July and 2) it's 74 degrees outside right now. The boys and I played outside without having to get in the water. That was nice. I like letting them play in the water...but oh my it's work.

We finished up VBS on Thursday night with our parent night. The kids get up and sing the songs they learned in front of their families. We had a good turn out. The kids did great! I was proud of them and my sweet little Luke. He did so good and was super cute of course. Luke had his first friend sleep over last week too. His best friend Malachi came to VBS one night and then stayed the night with us. They had lots of fun.

Just having some breakfast. Malachi was really into something on TV.

Movie and snack time...in their underwear of course. 

Oh they are cute. And when did our babies get so big?!

These boys have been best friends for a long time. I'm so thankful for their friendship and our families friendships. I'm glad we live close enough right now so they can still see each other often. It's not the same as pretty much living together but it works! 

Friday I finally got my hair done...it's been a while and it was getting pretty yuck. 

Got a little brave and added some more red. I love it! I'm a red head wanna be. 

I don't really like discussing my weight loss journey or workout routine a whole lot on here and if I do it too much, please let me know! But I started this new workout about 2 weeks ago and I really like it and thought I'd share, in case anyone needs a new routine or wants to start one. It's called the Bikini Body Mommy Challenge. Now, let me clarify, I am not trying to get myself into a bikini. Those days are long gone for me. I just found it on a blog and thought I'd try it for myself and so far I love it. It's a 90 day challenge and you can find all the workouts on here (Bikini Body Mommy Challenge) Just click on photos and go to albums and she lists all the workouts starting with day 1. I really like it because she incorporates running or walking 3 days a week and that's what I was doing anyway. Also, the workouts are never more than 30 minutes or so and that's perfect for me. Hopefully they will stay that way. I'm only on day 15 right now. I'm usually not one to do 90 day/30 day challenge things...well I do them but never finish them! I have a commitment issue with workout routines like that I guess. I just get bored. But the workouts are all different and that helps. Anyway, just thought I'd share that with you! 

Tomorrow night I'm having dinner with a few of my best friends from high school. We haven't all been together in a while and I'm excited. Why we don't get together more often...I don't know...we need to work on that! Thursday is July 4th and that means we take our annual trip to my Grandma's and family in Bryant (my dad's side). I have been ever year since I can remember. We always have a great time (which involves a lot of eating and swimming) and put on the best firework show in town...for real. I love seeing and spending time with them...we have a lot of fun together. 

Hope you all have a great week and a great 4th of July! Shoot some fireworks....it's fun!