How Vitamin Water and Brooke Kline Saved Me

Today started our very well, considering how this week has been so far. I got out of the house mostly on time to get to Santa Rosa to pick up a Christmas gift from a VERY gifted friend. Then I went to KMart to return my unworn Ugly Sweatshirt, which was bought for the now already-highly-enjoyed Ugly Sweater Christmas Party (or, Ugly Christmas Sweater Party?). I happened uopn a grotesque sweater at the last minjte at Goodwill, so I wore that instead. (No, you can't see pictures. Ew.)

Then I was on to Target.... the Troublemakers seemed to be in an acceptable mood and I had a list of not more than 10 things to get. So I headed back to Rohnert Park and to Target. We were inside in the bathroom when one of my dearest friends heard my voice from inside her stall... it was Brooke with Caelen and Addison. So, we trampled around Target together. Her girls were so nicely behaved. In only took two minutes for my Troublemakers to go from "acceptable" to... well, UN-acceptable seems like too tame of a word. At one point I even said, "Can you please just give your brother a turn with the bacon?" Yeah. They were fighting over everything. And Target is not a calming place less than 48 hours before Christmas.

So, I was almost done and Brooke, the dear, was waiting for me to finish so we could exit together. I started getting a sharp pain in my lower abdomen which, being pregnant is not weird or scary. Just annoying. So, I figured I was hungry or whatever so ate some crackers and moved on towards the checkout. While I was waiting for our turn, I got dizzy and a little faint. THAT'S a little weirder than a sharp pain. So I grabbed a Vitamin Water out of the cooler near the cashier and started drinking it. Tyler started having a tantrum about getting out of the cart to show me something. I tried to be calm and tell him "No, you lost that priveledge last time we were here. We can try better next time." He lost it. Everything around me started to get more white and fuzzy and like a little muted. Tyler was soooooo melting down, and I knew I was not doing well because not only did I barely respond to his melting but I suddenly realized I wasn't standing up straight.

I turned to Brooke who was in the next line over and said "I really feel like I am going to pass out." I think she said I looked pale but I don't even remember. I managed to pay for my stuff and then as soon as I did I told the cashier that I needed help. I had to go sit down and they brought me ice for my neck!!!! How dramatic is that??? I sat there on the floor for like 5 or 10 minutes while sweet Brooke stayed with me then took all the kids over to the food area to wait for me. I was super hot at first then cold. But I felt better really fast... at least, I thought it was fast considering I really thought I was going to lose consciousness.

Anyways, isn't that crazy??? Brooke said that happened to her when she was pregnant last and thinks it's anemia... which makes total sense. I was also a little anemic when pregnant with Tyler. But the way the Vitamin Water helped I wonder if maybe my blood sugar was low also? Anyways, I am buying iron supplements tonight in hopes of THAT never happening again. WEIRD. I am so THANKFUL that God put Brooke there at the exact same time as me!!!!!!

So... that was my day. The end.

Happy 5th Birthday, Tyler!

Tyler is 5 years old today.... and I am sure I will say this every year but... WHERE has the time gone!?!?!?

Tyler Then: Was serious. Had old man hair. Cried to go to sleep for many months.

Tyler Now: Is never serious. Has blond hair. Has so much energy during the day he sleeps... like you would HOPE a baby would. ;-)

We love him so much. He's sensitive and goofy and OH SO ACTIVE!

Happy Birthday, Ty!!!!!

Prayer

My terminally awesome friend Courtney inspired me to blog today... I don't think she would mind me saying that SHE hasn't blogged in awhile (but def not as long as it's been for me) and it made me happy to read her post so I decided to give you, my three loyal readers ;-), a little something. I've been home today doing massive amounts of laundry in an attempt to prepare for a week long organzing cleaning overhaul, brought on by: a. Tyler's 5th birthday party, so more stuff came home.... b. Christmas stuff everywhere, and of course presents that WILL come and make clutter/take up space that doesn't exist... and c. Doug's parents and his grandma are coming by in T -7 days. His grandma has never been to our house so I feel like it should be as close to perfect as humanly possible. I know, ridiculous. I'm just being honest about my feelings. So, I'm still in my pajamas and need to start a new load, but I'm super good at distracting myself. So, here I am! Blogging! A miracle. (BTW, how good is that description "terminally awesome"??? I just made it up. And she is.)


FIRST of all, here are my Troublemakers:

This is what Austin does when I try and take a picture. Makes a face. How charming. Tyler turns 5 tomorrow.... WHAAAAT!?!? Such a milestone, I think. Austin is... a perfect "little brother". :)

Second, as most (all?) of you know, I am expecting baby #3 at the end of May... and hopefully we will find out in the next few weeks what the gender is. It's crazy and exciting!

Lastly, here is a video (first one posted on my blog EVER!) of the boys praying at bedtime. I think it's sweet and kind of funny (you can catch Austin saying "Thank you for Max's birthday"... Max (a dear, sweet 1 year old friend) had his brithday at the end of October. He's been thanking God for it every night since)... They ask to pray every night which is so awesome and melts a mommy's heart. Austin says "I do pray" or "I do dear God" to let us know HE gets to go first. ;-) The video is black because we're in the dark! Enjoy!

The Giggles, Courtesy of Austin

Wow it's been since FEBRUARY that I posted. Sad, isn't it? I know you've all cried over my absence, right? Riiiiiight. Well, after my last post, as you all (I think) know, Austin took a fall out of him and Tyler's bedroom window. 2nd story, onto the concrete below. He's okay, praise God, but it was pretty much the worst few days of my life. I considered posting about it- because God did some amazing work- and I still feel very emotional about it when I look at his little "accident photo", so it's hard to write a whole post about it. I already experienced sharing about the experience in front of my Sisters in Scripture (our women's bible study I attend at church) and even though it was totally necessary in my (and God's) eyes to thank everyone for their prayers for Austin... I basically balled my bloody eyes out in front of everyone. It was very attractive. Not. SO... a post on Austin's fall may or may not come in the future.

Right now I feel the need to post on something more upbeat.... well, A LOT more upbeat. Last Friday night I made a disaster of a delicious dinner... disaster in the kitchen, glory to the tastebuds. (You can find it here if you want to experience it..... and you probably want to). Oh, and the disaster was mostly because I tried to make fried onion rings, not because of this recipe. So don't be scared.

ANYWAYS.....

The dinner ended up taking me forever so the boys went down late. I don't know if it was just a fluke or they were over tired and that's why they had gone completely bonkers.

First, I had to get a big fatty splinter out of Tyler's heel. Of course this did not go well. It took about ten minutes to pin him down before I finally got it, and tears were streaming down his face and he was sobbing... so sad. Austin was standing close by, observing. After I was done I said (as Ty was still very upset),
"Honey, I'm so sorry I hurt you. But if splinters stay in your skin they can hurt even more and then you have to go to the doctor to get it out."
Tyler: "Mo-o-ommmmyyyyyyy, it just hurt me really baaaaaad!"
Me: "I know, baby. I'm so sorry, but I had to do it."
Tyler: "Okaaaa-a-ayyy. (sob) I know."
Me: "Are you okay???"
Austin: "Yeah."

Tyler immediately stopped crying and we looked at each other for a moment and then busted up laughing. Austin, of course, was perfectly fine.... he was just standing there!!! We thought this was gloriously funny and of course Austin ate up the laughter.

And that was just the beginning.

Then I tried to read them a book.

So, we sat on me and Doug's bed and I started reading. Ever few seconds, Austin would stick his thumb in his mouth and "slurp" it out, making an obnoxious noise. This, not shockingly, made Tyler crack up. So I had to stop reading multiple times to tell them both to be quiet if they wanted to here the book.

They didn't listen, so in exacerbation I turned to Austin and said, "WHAT are you DOOOOOING, child!?!?!"

Austin said, plainly: "Tractor."

Riiiiiiight. That threw me into stifled laughter because once you laugh at them, discipline is out the window. So I was trying very hard to "stifle" it. As I open my mouth to begin reading another sentence in a controlled manner, Austin scoots up close to me an LETS ONE RIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tyler was DONE by this point, red in face from laughter.

Austin then looks at me and says: "Burp."

It wasn't a burp that he shared with us.

I didn't finish the book that night.

The First Day of Preschool!

Here's the big man in front of the sign... didn't realize I have a huge smudge on my camera until now :(

Here he comes, the BIG official preschooler- Tyler! Today was his first day at Mt. Taylor Children's Center and I can't even believe it is finally here! He went from 8:30am-11:30am and the teacher said he did good!

This morning Tyler kept asking, "Can I go to preschool noooooow?!?!?!" and has been excited for months- but when we walked into the room and all the unfamiliarity set in, it was like FROZEN BOY had taken over his body. I was trying not to push him into circle time- where the other kids were- and Martha, the teacher, must've read my mind and let Ty play with a puzzle at a table while she continued with the other kids. I was able to shuffle myself out the door before he could say "I want to go home!" again and just... LEFT. It was weird! And very quiet in my car ;-).

When I went to pick him up they were heading in from play time and I snuck by the door without him seeing me to sign him out. As I passed, a beautiful little curly-ponytailed girl poked her head out the door, looked straight at me and said "Tyyyyyyylerrrrrr...." (in quite a flirty little voice, I must say). I said "Shhhh!" and came back moments later to find Ty sitting in the circle, with the other kids, engaged in story time. Austin gave us away by yelling "DAAAAAA!!!!!" (which I'm pretty sure means "Tyler" ;) and Tyler looked, popped up and ran to give me a happy hug. Yay!

Austin took that opportunity to take Tyler's place in the circle to listen to the story. Tyler went back and kindly (seriously) told Austin that he was listening to the story and please move. I distracted Austin and let Tyler listen to the story before leaving.

Tyler has not told me anything that he did at preschool (teenage boy syndrome already!?!?!)- he's "too tired". Whatever. We'll see what he tells Daddy later! We survived the first day!!! Crazy... I feel like I'm growing up.

Austin wanted a cameo in the "First Day of Preschool" photos

A Glimpse of "Peace" (not Quiet)

WOW SHOCKING it has been so long since I have posted. ;) Yeah, I know, I'm the worst as I am always saying. Here's a little bit of Bishop Boy updates for you who live near and far:

TYLER is now (mostly) potty trained at night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yaaaaaaay! Saving money on Pull-Ups is amazing. I am so proud of my big 4 year old. He is set to start preschool at the beginning of February! Tyler is VERY excited.... we'll see what happens when I drop him off for the first time. :)

AUSTIN is the quintessential little brother and likes to pretend he is a big brother to those around him who are smaller; yelling "NO!" in an firm voice is his favorite thing to say. He loves to run, climb, jump, dance, yell, giggle, fall and play at the coat tails of Ty. He love Thomas the Tank Engine and "Mee-mo" ("Finding Nemo").

DOUG has been busy at work and is now officially (small) part owner of Sebastopol Hardware! We are very excited to be a part of a great business and he looks forward to the future, growing the business and continuing its good reputation in West Sonoma County. He and I are taking a mini-vacation tomorrow out to Bodega Bay to relax for a night. We can't wait!

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If you don't live in the area, let me inform you of the insane rain we have had in the last 3-4 days. It's been quite the storm. Thunder woke Austin up one morning and I stumbled in the room to try and calm him back down (as it was 4:30am), only to hear Tyler say "Austin, you don't need to cry. It's just a storm." So sweet. Most the time it just seems Tyler feels like his life would be a heck of a lot better without Austin around and I am constantly referee. It's draining of energy to be a mom in the first place, but constantly breaking up fights adds to it for sure. Sometimes I feel defeated and that my efforts are going nowhere.

But I've been praying lately for a more "victorious" outlook on my every day life (as we have been going through 31 Days Of Power by Ruth Meyers in our Women's Bible Studay at church). God has revealed to me that the defeated feeling is not of Him- and since everything good is from our Almighty God, then the feelings I was having are BAD and NOT of Him; therefore, not the best He has for me OR what He intends. So, wanting to fight the enemy in this way, I have been hoping and praying to receive what has already been given to me by Christ: Victory! Now, my personal area of struggle is parenting these two Troublemakers- I love them with all my heart and soul but they are a HANDFUL- especially while not getting along. So I needed specific victory help from Jesus in this area!

This week I have already begun to feel it! God is so good. Little nuggets from Him can be so so encouraging! First, was that sweet little "storm" anectdote that I just told you about. Then, yesterday, when my dear sweet friend Brooke was flooded in at her house so we couldn't come visit, made the almost 4th day in a row at home. Going stir crazy. With a baby who I DEFINATELY wasn't about to take out it in that horrid weather (sweet Annabelle Burgess who I am blessed to watch every Wednesday when her beautiful mom goes to work). Now, going stir crazy makes me tired and worn out. Stir crazy makes the Troublemakers... crazy. BUT- yesterday, as I was trying to clean the floor and the kitchen and feed Annie and get macaroni on the table IT HAPPENED:

They played together. Nicely.

What? I know. Granted, they were running, racing, sliding on the floor and doing laps around a free standing wall in the middle of our downstairs. BUT THEY WERE LAUGHING. AND NOT FIGHTING! They do love each other!!!! And maybe sometime they will show that even more than once in a blue moon. Thank you, Lord for that moment of peace. From YOU.

And I'm okay that it wasn't quiet. :)

"In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Romans 8:37