So I’ve been thinking about music a lot. Why you ask, well let me tell you. I’ve been working at Panera Bread for the past few months doing prep work. This means I’m in the back generally by myself staring at the wall with vegetables and deli meat as my companions. The past few weeks there has been someone scheduled as a dishwasher and I have company. Thankfully the dishwashers bring music. We had a radio but it broke. The thing usually on the radio was NPR which I don’t mind since I never get to watch the news or read anything about what’s going on in the world around me. With people bringing their iPods or prefered MP3 player I keep asking who we are listening to since I have no clue as to what is going on in the music world. The response is “oh it’s _______…what do you listen to?” To which I say, “The last thing I listened to was a Veggie Tales worship cd. The radio in our car is broke. And the kids trump what is on in the van. I’ll listen to just about anything as long as it’s not vulgar.” They say “Oh” and the day goes on. But the question about what music I like has been in my head for about a week now.

What do I like to listen to? This question led me to think about the power of music. Music can bring you to tears, pump you up to exercise, relax you after a bad day, you can praise God, some people curse God, to some music is life, and it’s everywhere. Sometimes music reminds me of being home, or college, or drags up memories I wish it wouldn’t. I think everyone has a certain kind of music that they listen to for certain things. There are some days when I wish I still had Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette. That cd helped get me through some crappy days. You know those days when you just want to scream and tune out the world? Or when you just need to run and pound out the day there?  There are very few places you go these days where music isn’t present.  Every culture has their own form of music. Anyone from high school reading this happen to remember the Pigmy music we used to have to listen to in bio lab? Yeah, I picked that out at Rainforest Cafe once. I could almost sing along.

Anyway, thinking of all this I’ve realized that my life has been void of music for some time. I’ve never owned a lot of cds. I grew up in the middle of nowhere where the only real radio station was The Wolf. I can go home after being gone for years and in a day I’ll have heard everything that I heard while growing up. They play the good, the bad, and the ugly of classic rock. Some new stuff, but new stuff doesn’t reach where I grew up. I was a band and choir geek in school. I was a music major for a year. So why am I musicless? I’m not sure, but I think it needs to change. iTunes will become my friend. As will remembering to open up a tab with Pandora when I’m on the internet.

What do you like to listen to? Has your life been void of music too? If you have kids to they tend to win the radio/cd battles in the car? Where do you buy your music? Share your thoughts with me. And in no order at all here are some of the styles/artists/albums I’ve enjoyed over the years. I’m sure this list will grow over time just for my own amusement. Now it’s time to turn off the music and get to bed. G’night y’all.

• Nora Jones
• Dave Matthews
• Eagles
• Eric Clapton
• BB King
• Aerosmith
• Kirk Franklin
• Point of Grace
• Jennifer Knapp
• Van Morrison
• Irish music
• Guitar
• Classical
• Jazz
• Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
• Strings
• Piano
• John Mayer
• Whitney Houston
• Madonna
• Maroon 5
• Journey
• 90’s power ballads
• Boyz II Men
• Disney movies
• Musicals
• Dark Side of the Moon
• Chicago
• Bob Seger
• Michael Buble
• Michael Jackson
• Michael Bolton…ok, not really I was just on a Michael roll
• Jars of Clay
• Rebecca St. James
• Hillsong
• Mary Mary
• I Will Survive…what would college have been like without this song? I miss you all!!
• Stevie Wonder
• U2
• Sarah McLachlan
• Almost any Christmas music

All hopes from last weeks post of getting a lot of crafty stuff done was crushed when I saw my work schedule for this week. I was scheduled for 5 days…5! I’m supposed to be working 3 maybe 4 if there’s a real need. Nope, the new manager was trying to give me more hours. If I wanted to work 5 days I would have never left the bank where at least I had benefits. Thankfully some people were wonderful and we were able to switch some days around so it won’t be so bad.

Nevertheless, I got a ton of cooking done yesterday. I had to pick up some baby food and found some great deals on some meat. The great deals meant I had to freeze it all or cook that day. I decided to cook.

Mr. Man made a burger. I was able to cook up some ground beef, chicken nuggets, chicken patties to freeze, chicken for tacos, and some beef strips. Tonight I made some muffins. I’m not so sure how the muffins are going to turn out. They are orange raspberry muffins but they kind-of turned blue-green in the oven. I’m sure they’re not bad, but it’s hard to want to eat something that looks like mold.

I was able to get a little knitting done this week. I’m working on too many projects but that’s how things always go. Here are two. One is a hat and the other is a pair of longies for Ayden. I made the longies with an extra high waist to try to keep diapers from sticking out of the back. This yarn is so wonderful I wish I would have made some mittens out of it for me. That’s about it for today. Maybe next week I’ll be able to get some sewing done.

This post is part of Steady Mom’s “30-Minute Blog Challenge”

I found this challenge at a new blog today and I’m going to try to stay on board with this one. You can read the details there but the basics are write 30 minutes one day a week and that’s it. I’ve wanted to keep up with my blog but can never think of what to say or find the energy to do it. Once a week for 30 min seems reasonable.

Right now our life has been about trying to keep the kiddos healthy. Poor Ayden has been sick off an on since October. He’s had swine flu, ear infection, upper respiratory infection, something like RSV, and has a stuffy nose again. I don’t hear any wheezing yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if I hear it tomorrow. If he gets sick again we will be going to the children’s hospital to make sure something serious isn’t hiding. He was 5 weeks early and spend 2 weeks in a level 2 NICU so his lungs aren’t as strong, but this little boy needs to get healthy.

I’ve enjoyed working at Panera. It’s nice spending more time at home trying to get things organized and clean. Mr. Man has gotten down to weight to do his testing for Navy Chaplaincy. Now to get that pastoral experience.

This year for my “resolutions” I’m trying to do a few things each month rather than some grand big year goals that I will never do. For January the goals have been

• No fast food
• Get at least 7 hours of sleep
• Drink more water

I’ve done good at the no fast food. I must admit I have had the total of a whole grilled sandwich from Chick-fil-a, but I have resisted their wonderful waffle fries. Sleep comes and goes. I’ve been really bad at drinking more water too. One out of 3 isn’t bad. I’m still thinking of what February is going to bring.

I’ve been working on some crafty things and I hope to get some pictures up at next weeks 30 minutes.

Thanks so much to everyone who commented on my last post. Your words were very encouraging, and Mrs. Lemon you kept me from stopping cold turkey thank you. I was going to quit and I’m so glad I didn’t because last friday  I QUIT MY FULL TIME JOB!!!!

God worked it all out! Mr. Man and I have been working swing shifts for about 4 years now and we have had enough. Early last week we decided that somehow we would make the money work out and I would look for a part-time job. Wednesday night after church I put in an application at Panera and Target. Since Panera is on the way to my current job I stopped by to talk with a manager. Turns out they are looking for some part-time help and she understood my reasons for leaving a full-time job, and major pay cut for better quality of life. She told me to come and talk to the general manager. I stopped by after work and was hired on the spot! In less than 24 hours I had a new job! If that isn’t God confirming what you’re supposed to do I don’t know what is.

Now starting in November I’ll be working about 3-4 mornings a week. I’ll still have to pump a bit, but it won’t be 2-3 times every day. I am so glad I didn’t stop nursing quite yet. All that said, this little boy I’m feeding turned 6 months today and his 2 bottom teeth have finally cut through. I’ve never nursed long enough for the other 2 kiddos to have teeth. I’ll just have to see how things go.

Needless to say I’m very happy to be working less and spending more time with my family. More on my grand plans for being home more to come later.

Our adventure today was going to the Tennessee Aquarium for Ari’s 4th birthday. I’ll get more pictures up later.

I want to say hi to the visitors from Small Notebook! If you haven’t visited that blog it’s wonderful.

Have a great night y’all!

She was oh so happy that we took the time to make this day special. Oh to be 4.

I have been battling for weeks over continuing to keep nursing Ayden or to stop. For anyone who has agnoized over this you know what I’m going through. If I was working part-time or at home I wouldn’t even be thinking about this, but working full-time has made it tough. From the day Ayden was born I have been pumping 2-3 times day, and on many days more than that. With everything going on in life it stresses me out. I dread waking up to pump. I miss coffee. I’m not fond of spending so much time in the bathroom at work. While at the same time I know it’s best for Ayden to have breast milk. I think the decision is Monday I will go to the WIC office and change to all formula. Thinking about all of this stresses me out and I’m always almost in tears. I know it’s silly, but it’s a tough decision to make.

Ayden is just getting over a mild case of the flu. It seems that between 5-7 months our kiddos get sick and decide they don’t really want to nurse anymore. He’s going through this right now. Plus, today I forgot my pumping flanges at home so there was no pumping at work today. Since I missed a session anyway why not stop today…right?

That’s been the big mess in my head the past few weeks. I have been trying to do some sewing but time has not allowed. Maybe next week.

Mr. Man and I went on a date night Friday and saw “Julie & Julia”. Loved the movie! So in honor of that here’s my first post in 3 months.

Life has been uber-crazy since Ayden came into this world. Not that it wasn’t crazy before, but now there’s another person to take care of in this house. I have had plenty of blogs thought up in my head but no time or energy to type them up. There hasn’t been a whole lot going on with us lately. I’ve gotten the sewing machine out and I’m going to get my serger to work again. The kiddos need pj’s, diapers, and training pants sewn up.

The biggest news is that since graduating from seminary Mr. Man has decided to apply to be a Navy Chaplain! It’s going to take some time before this will all come together, but I’m very excited for when it does.

Right now we’re just trying to make it through one day at a time. That’s all for now!

Photos by Ari, Eli & me

Ayden is doing well. We’re tired from having a baby at home, but doing ok. I’d write more but it’s hard to type while holding this little guy.

Now the concept of this holiday is a great one. I’m all about honoring the mom in your life, but when it comes to me being a mom this day is not for me.

Ever since we moved to TN Mr. Man has worked at Outback. Working at a restaurant means that every holiday that people go out to eat for he’s there working longer than usual. Mother’s Day, being the biggest out to eat holiday, is the longest day he works…maybe next to Valentine’s Day. Needless to say we have never celebrated Mother’s Day as a family which in some ways is ok by me. This year I was dreading the day at least a week in advance.

I got to be a mommy all day Sunday. It was my first day having all 3 kids by myself since Ayden got to come home.  Mr. Man left for work around 9:30am. I did get to take a bath and put on real clothes before he left which was great in more ways than one. Things were going well and I was getting some cleaning done and things went downhill fast. Around 10:30 am I took the filter for the vacuum cleaner outside to get the dust out and while I was out on the deck Ari locked me out of the house. I didn’t realize the key was still in the deadbolt and she turned it. I had no phone, no keys, and no way at all to get inside. I tried to get her to turn the key the other way but at first she thought it was a game, and then started crying when she realized I wasn’t coming back in. To make this situation even better I had eggs boiling on the stove, Ayden was getting close to needing to eat again, and the fact that there were 3 kids under 4 in the house alone.

Praise the Lord that our neighbor came outside at the right moment. For many reasons they are the best neighbors ever, but this day really made them the best. He drove to Outback to get keys from Mr. Man because it was the only short of breaking a window to get inside. The kids stayed in my line of sight the whole time. Eli started crying really bad and was scared. Thankfully Ayden slept through the whole thing. The eggs had plenty of water and though they boiled for a half hour didn’t catch on fire. This is where the bath and real clothes were important. I was happy to have been stuck outside in jeans and a t-shirt getting help from our neighbor rather than in random pjs and not clean. Not that it really mattered since the kids are obviously more important than my clothing, but I’m sure you understnad what I mean here.

Ari’s punishments were varied and lasted all day. From then on they were ok kiddos. I was so thankful for the pizza Mr. Man had gotten the night before because it turned into dinner. Ayden didn’t want to sleep all day and that theme followed well into the night. I think it was 2:30am before he let me put him down. After eating again around 4am I went to bed until 8 this morning.

Now I’m off to feed my baby boy and get to bed, I hope.

I hope your mommy’s day was better than mine:)

What an adventure we had bringing Ayden into this world. My water broke for the first time around 10:30pm on Monday April 20^th. I wasn’t 100% sure if it had really broke so I kept up the cleaning I was doing, took care of the kiddos, and packed a bag just in case. At 12:30am there was no doubt my water broke. I called Ethan and thankfully someone at work was able to leave with him to watch the kiddos overnight and into Tuesday. We headed down to the hospital.

Thankfully I was 35 weeks on Monday so we didn’t have to go to the big hospital. I was never put in triage and went straight to a room. I wasn’t really having contractions yet, and was maybe at 1cm, so they let us rest the best we could. By 11am I still hadn’t shown any progress so they started me on a very low dose of pitocin. Every hour that went by my dose was slowly increased since I was making no progress. I was having contractions but they were a walk in the park compared to the Braxton Hicks I’d been having for the past few months. At this point I was still on my way to a natural delivery.

Around 3pm or so my contractions really started to pick up and get strong, but I was only dilated to 3cm at the most. By 6pm I was completely miserable, exhausted, and in a lot of pain. My midwife checked me and I was 4cm at the most. Even being this low she thought I would likely deliver within the hour. I hung on for one more hour and then had to have an epidural. I was in so much pain and had no more energy to endure. I got my epidural around 8pm or so and instantly felt better. I was laughing and smiling again. They checked me around 9/9:15pm and I was already fully dilated and ready to push. By 9:37pm Ayden was here. 5 pounds 13 ounces, 19 inches long! *forgot to add the important stuff earlier *

It was a long 23 hours for him to get here. The nurses and doctors were wonderful as always. My midwife was wonderful and really worked with me through the whole thing. She worked with me during delivery and I didn’t need an episiotomy, I didn’t tear, and happened to need 1 random stitch. Recovery for me has been easy once my epidural wore off.

 Because I was only at 35 weeks Ayden had to go to the special care nursery for observation. They think he will do just fine. We had some scares early in the pregnancy with cysts on his brain and he looks normal as can be! Since we’ve been here we’ve learned that white males statistically have the hardest time when born early. Since Ayden is 35 or 36 weeks at the most his lungs aren’t quite ready. He’s doing great but is on a CPAP to help him breathe. The doctors are hopeful that tomorrow they can start doing some tube feeding from what I’ve been pumping for him. Then once he’s off the CPAP he can move onto bottle feeding and then breast feeding by the time we get to bring him home. He’s doing great but please keep him in your prayers that he can go home soon.

 Not a whole lot has been going on around here. The kiddos and Mr. Man have been battling colds/allergies and other funk for the past few weeks. I’m sad they’ve been sick but happy that it’s missed me. Slowly I’ve been starting to get things clean and organized for #3 to get here. My midwife is keeping my original due date of May 25 instead of the 18th. Still a long way to go, but I know it will be here in no time. I’ve found some great deals on cloth diapers and covers which has been great. I need to get some size smalls sewn up soon, and then I think we’ll be set for a while. Here are a few photo updates for you.

 

 K-Mart was doubling coupons this week so I ran over there on my lunch break and got all this stuff for $3.74!

Price before tax and coupons was $14.46 which was a savings of about $10.72 saving about 74%.

 

 I finally finished these pants for #3! I love how they turned out. Well, all but the eyelets for the drawstring, but they function.

 

The kiddos saying “CHEESE!” Ari will be 3 1/2 next month and Eli will turn 2. They’re getting so big.

I was trying to take a picture of my big belly and Ari got right in the picture, but I love it! Maybe tomorrow I’ll get Mr. Man to take a better picture.