This was certainly not in the plans!

Isn't it crazy how things can change so quickly? 

This time last week, we were saying our goodbyes to friends and making plans for packing up our house. It was also this time last week that I started noticing a funny pain on my right side, right above my hip bone. No big deal...I thought of a million minor things it could be and just dealt with it. 

Well, by Wednesday, the pain still hadn't gone away. I took Arden to get a shot at the Seminary Clinic, and even asked my friend (the nurse), Becca about it, and she agreed that it was probably the minor thing I was thinking, rather than something major. Wednesday night, I was changing my tune. We picked up Barry at the airport and I was in some severe pain. I went to bed around 10:30, only to wake up around 2, sick as a dog. I woke Evan up and told him we would have to do something, but I would rather wait until the morning to see if we could by-pass the ER. 

I'm so thankful for the little blessings in all this! We were totally able to by-pass an ER AND a CT Scan. 

We have a doctor-friend in our church who sent us to a certain doctor at a certain urgent care, and took care of all the details. After some blood work at Urgent Care, we were sent straight to a surgeon, with a laparoscopic appendectomy scheduled at 5 p.m. 

My high pain tolerance did NOT work in my favor this time, as my appendix had already ruptured. Thankfully, it was all contained, so the surgery was still done laparoscopically and no incision was necessary. I find that to be HUGE! 

Our friends in Louisville (have I mentioned how much we love them like family?!) Have come to our rescue to keep the girls, pack up the rest of our house, sit with me in the hospital, and much, much more. How I am so thankful for them all. My dad drove up on Friday to help, too, and that's been a blessing as well. He has helped Evan and Barry finish all the house projects and has found time to come sit with me as well. My daddy is VERY good with sick people and I've enjoyed his presence this weekend. 

As far as the move goes, I'm not really sure. Since Barry was here to help drive the moving truck, I think Evan is loading it up tomorrow and sending Barry on his way in it. I guess all our "stuff" will get there before we do. Evan, the girls, and I will stay here until I get the all-clear to come on. 

Please, please pray for us if you think about it. This is all very overwhelming to us, but we are trusting in God's perfect plan and perfect timing for everything!

Who's Who?

I think it's fun to compare pictures of Kendall and Arden. These pictures were taken when both girls were about 7 1/2 weeks old, in the same dress.


Can you tell who's who?

Does the hair bow give it away? Or what about the crazy cowlick? Or the  double chin and chubby cheeks? Or showing so much personality already?

Did you guess correctly?

THIS is big sister...

and this one is LITTLE sister...

Is it safe?

Kendall looovees her little sister. I feel like I'm SLOWLY giving Kendall some big sister freedom. Well, I'm trying anyway. Babies are just so fragile!

One morning, I left the girls on the couch like this....

Only to come back in the living room to find this...

You can tell big sister loved it...she now asks if she can "hold Arden up" all the time!

One afternoon, I put Arden on the floor for a little tummy time...

and big sister decided to join her!

And, I'm throwing thise one in, just because she is so darn cute... =)

(Taken last week...about 6 weeks old!)

Celebrations!

This past weekend was the weekend of celebrations!

Kendall and I started our Saturday at a fun little place for a tea party celebrating a friend's 5th birthday. Oh-so fun, complete with real china for the little ladies and a lesson on manners! Kendall learned how to properly introduce someone, stir sugar in a cup, and sit at the table. We had such a good time!

After the tea party (we actually had to leave a little early!) we celebrated our friend Georgia's very first birthday, only this mommy never broke out the camera! We love you, sweet little Georgia and are so glad we got to celebrate with you. You tore up your cake like a champ!

Saturday evening, we celebrated Evan's graduation! Since Evan's degree is from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, AND since we just had a baby, there was NO WAY he would be able to walk. So sad...I wanted to do something special for him, so I planned a little family celebration and asked friends and family to send a card or email of encouragement. This was supposed to be a surprise celebration for him, but didn't turn out that way. Oh, well, we still had fun and Evan was a good sport about letting me take his picture wearing my mortar board from college! (I couldn't find my gown, or he would have dressed in that, too!) :) We grilled steaks and asparagus and had caramel apple pie and homemade vanilla ice cream (Evan's favorite!) from the Pie Kitchen for dessert. Evan enjoyed opening all his cards and reading all the special notes. It was a fun, family evening for us!

Sunday after church, we headed to a nearby park for Evan's work picnic. (No pictures, sorry!) What a fun time with a very delicious lunch! (I think I enjoy food so much more when I had nothing to do with the prep or clean-up. HA!) Kendall had a blast because The Bubble Truck showed up! We've seen this thing driving around Louisville on numerous occasions, but have never actually experienced it. What fun!

Sunday evening was parent/child dedication at our church. I really love the way our church does this...really just a time during the evening service to honor the new babies and challenge the parents to raise their children in a Godly home. Our pastor spoke sweet words to us (and apparently funny, from the looks on our faces!) and prayed for us and our children.

Funny story--Evan was holding Arden up over his shoulder right before we were going up on stage. I heard her fuss a little bit, then he pulled her back to look at her face. Sure enough, she had spit-up EVERYWHERE! One of the worst I'd seen, even coming out her nose! We were so busy trying to clean Arden up and calm her, we didn't even notice that Evan had spit up ALL OVER his shirt! Huge, white blob! Thankfully, we were able to get Evan cleaned up as well, so nothing showed on stage except for a wet spot. Too funny and soooo Arden....she is quite the spitter!

The days are long, but the years are short.

Kendall

I want to remember how I never know who you are going to be...one minute you are Mother Gothel, the next Rapunzel, and the next Jane from Mary Poppins. You use all sorts of things to create your costumes...towels, dress up clothes, blankets. Your imagination is bigger than the sky.

I want to remember how your favorite color is purple and how you say, "I LOOVE purple" the same way every time.

I want to remember how wild you get when your daddy comes home from work, even though it annoys me to no end. I'm so glad you love him that much!

I want to remember all the funny things you say...like how you lined up your pieces of steak the other night and said "This is the mommy and these are her three sons. When he goes in my mouth (eat a piece) he DIES!" Or like how last night, we let you stay up to watch the American Idol finale and I was ready for you to go to bed. I asked your daddy if he was going to let you stay up for the whole thing and told him that I wish you would sit still because all your movement was making me crazy. You looked at me and said, in all seriousness, "But I just want to dance!"

Arden

I want to remember how sweet you look in bonnets, hats, bows, ruffles and smocked clothes. When your sister was a baby, I was in survival mode and didn't take it all in. I'm not missing out this time around!

I want to remember how much you love to be held, especially by me. :) You will cry and cry and cry, but when I pick you up, all is right with the world.

I want to remember how hard I've laughed at The Cosby Show and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon when I feed you at 3 a.m. It makes getting up with you not so terrible. :)

I want to remember how easy you are to take out and about. I'm so thankful because I'm pretty sure your sister and I would go crazy if you weren't!

I want to remember how sweet you look wrapped up burrito style. I love that you girls are swaddle babies and promise not to flip out if you still love those pink and brown blankets at six months old!

Sisters

I want to remember how every time Arden is crying, Kendall says, "Mama, Arden!" or "Mama, get HER!"  Too funny. Like if Arden even makes the slightest peep, it's time to do something with her.

I want to remember how Kendall wakes Arden up at the most inappropriate times. It annoys me, but I'm pretty sure it's going to happen. I want to remember so when some new mom of two is going crazy because the older sibling is waking up the younger sibling, I can encourage her to roll with it.

I want to remember how I find toys and books and all sorts of things in Arden's pack and play. Kendall is always ready to help entertain. :)

I want to remember how when I lay Arden in the pack and play (especially awake) Kendall will plop down near her with a book and say, "Can I read her a story?" Sweetest thing.

I want to remember how I left Arden lying on the couch this morning, cat napping, and Kendall immediately sat beside her. I want to remember how the next time I checked on them, Kendall was holding Arden! Made me a nervous wreck, but so sweet. I'm ever so slowly trusting Kendall with her baby sister...

Happy One Month Birthday, Arden!

Arden is one month old TODAY!

We are learning Arden's personality more and more. She is pretty sweet, and the perfect addition to our little family. Arden does what all little babies do--eats and sleeps and that's about it. She is becoming more alert everyday, and we just love it when her little peepers are opened up big.

At first, we thought she looked so much like Kendall. And her very first birth pictures really do favor Kendall a lot. But now, she's coming into her own. Her eyes are not as wide-set as Kendall's eyes, and her eyelashes seem to be a little lighter and shorter. Arden also has more hair on the top of her head than Kendall did, and she doesn't have that crazy cowlick like Kendall. (YAY!)

Arden eats every 2-3 hours during the day, with an occasional four hour stretch. She usually only wakes up once or twice at night, which is pretty good, except during those times when she wakes up, eats, and isn't sleepy. That happened about three times this week, and thankfully Evan stayed up with her a couple of times. I'm pretty sure at this point with Kendall, we were putting her in the crib awake and letting her cry a little bit or sooth herself to sleep, but I haven't done that yet just because our rooms are in such close proximity and I would rather have one baby awake than two. =)

On the subject of eating, I am nursing, and already it's going much better than the last time. I am so so so thankful! Arden is a HUGE spitter, which is something Kendall rarely did. Let's just say there is a LOT more laundry! HA! One day this week, I changed my shirt three times and I think Arden's outfit was changed about five, and we didn't even go anywhere!

I borrowed digital baby scales from a friend of mine in order to keep an eye on Arden's weight gain. Kendall had weight issues around 3-4 months, and I just want to make sure I stay on top of things with Arden. I weighed her on Wednesday, and she was up to 8 pounds, 12 ounces, which is great considering she weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces when we brought her home from the hospital! She is about to push out of newborn diapers, and while a lot of her newborn clothes are getting tight, she is still a little small for 0-3 month stuff. It won't be long, though!

Other fun Arden facts...She really, really, really likes her mommy and I'm okay with that right now, since I know once she starts recognizing Evan and all his silliness, he will become the favorite. =) She hates being buckled into the car seat, but is fine once we get going, and she usually cries a lot from 7 p.m. until her last feeding.

Oh, Arden! The fun has just begun! We love you so much already!

Oh, this girl!

EVERYONE says the transition from one to two is the worst, and I believe it! We knew after all our help left, we would be in detox mode with the above child, and it's been tough. She is a smart little cookie and knows how to work things for sure. I am very thankful that she looovveees Arden, but I'm sad because she pretty much hates me right now. I know this will pass; I just hope it's sooner than later because this mama is TIRED!!

Most of the behaviors we are seeing from her are things we've already seen out of her, but are just escalated a bit. LOTS of whining and crying, LOTS of grumbling and complaining, and LOTS of struggles with first time obedience. She's also in this phase I like to call badgering, where she will ask a question, and even if we give her the answer, she keeps asking (even if it is a yes answer) over and over again. And then there is the constant talking....Oh, my!

However, the Lord has a way of helping us continue to love our children, even when they are acting in ways that we don't like and completely exhaust us. Kendall has said some GREAT things lately worth remembering....

During family worship Monday night, we were going over the catechism questions. One says, "Can you see God?" and the answer is "No, but He always sees me." Kendall replied with, "No, but Mamaw can."

*******

Tuesday was a rough day. Long story and too much to blog, but I had to follow through on something that Evan and I told Kendall we were going to do if she complained about not liking her room or her toys again. (We packed them up and put them all in the basement and she is in the process SLOWLY earning them back.) Anyway, at the end of the day, this conversation went down:

Me: "Do you miss playing with any of your toys?"

Kendall: "Yes, my dress up clothes." 

Me: "Anything else?"

Kendall: "Yes. PawPaw."

********

I am a fan of Dr. Rosemond's articles. I don't read them enough, but went to his website earlier this week as we were struggling with what to do with Kendall. He uses a "tell them that the doctor said" approach a lot, and I thought I'd give it a try. It has actually worked for a couple of things so far. However, yesterday, when I was fixing Kendall's snack she said, "Hey, didn't the doctor tell you I needed to drink more chocolate milk?"

********

We were taking a walk yesterday and I had to stop and get something out of my shoe. The conversation went like this:

Kendall: "What's the matter, mommy?"

Me: "Oh, something is sticking me in my sock."

Kendall: "It's probably just glue."

Surviving!

The first few days at home alone have gone fairly smoothly.

I managed to get the laundry finished on Tuesday and both girls were pretty cooperative all day. Kendall and I even spent some time together playing with a sticker book and a couple of wipe-off games.



She put ALL these stickers on by herself! I was pretty impressed she was able to line them all up correctly AND she knew all the shapes! Go Kendall-girl!



 

Yesterday was a little bit of a different story. Evan's monthly sales meeting was yesterday, meaning he left the house at 7:30, and didn't get home until almost 8:00 last night. I was dreading the day before it began! Thanks to my dear friend Amber, she saved us! Amber also cuts our hair, so she came over to give Kendall a summer cut and trim mine as well. I also had a couple of errands to run, so Amber ran around with us, and then planned to take us to pick up the 4-Runner since it has been in the shop since Monday. However, in my trying to get everyone out of the house and make sure I had everything, I totally forgot to grab my car keys, so we weren't able to go get the truck. I'm blaming it on hormones. HA!

The weather has finally warmed up enough that I feel comfortable taking Arden outside, so we went for a walk late yesterday afternoon and hopefully will play outside more today. Kendall is in desperate need of running free and I am in desperate need of the sunshine!

weekly update

 When did my 3 and a half year old turn into a big girl, and not a toddler? Seriously. I think she grew the moment we brought Arden home from the hospital. Kendall is so big...tall, big talking, she feels heavier! What is up?!?! Can we please slow down this train?

 Arden's cord fell off this weekend, so we were able to bathe her. She didn't love, but she sure was soft and smelling good afterwards.

 

All is well here, really. My Aunt Marva was supposed to leave yesterday, but her flight ended up getting changed, so we had her until this morning. Her visit was a tremendous blessing and HUGE help. My two week check-up was last week, and my incision is healing well. I still have some pain, but everyone says it will be a long time before I don't think about it! Arden is doing well. She is gaining weight nicely--I borrowed some digital baby scales from a friend just for peace of mind and have weighed Arden a couple of times a week. The last time I weighed her, she was up to 7.10! YAY! Arden has developed some congestion over the last day or so, which is making me super sad, but what can I do? Suction like crazy and pray she's not getting sick! We spent some time outside over the weekend, and I'm wondering if the wind/pollen is the cause. We are receiving meals from our BFG every other day for the next few weeks, which is also a huge help during this transition. Evan was off work today, so today was our first day at home as a family of four with nobody else around, and tomorrow will be my first day with the girls by myself all day. Honestly, as much as I am anticipating it, I'm ready for our new routine to begin.

Have I mentioned how much I love these girls?!?! 



Home

Well, we are home. This is how Arden felt about leaving the hospital:

Just kidding. While she was extremely fussy right before leaving, she's actually doing great! Arden is a super sweet and seemingly content baby.

We made it home around 2:30 Saturday afternoon. It was cold and rainy, which was kind-of crazy since the previous weather for the week was glorious. I guess it was a good day to come home and relax.

Upon leaving the hospital, Arden's weight dropped a little lower than what her doctors wanted, so they advised me to nurse every two hours until we took her in for her appointment this morning. I'll be very honest to say that made for a brutal couple of days. I'm very glad to say that when we took her in this morning, her weight had gone from 6 lbs, 5 ounces to 6 lbs, 11 ounces! YAY! No more around the clock nursing. Happy Day!

Evan's mom arrived Saturday evening and we are so thankful to have her help. She drove us to the doctor today and finished all our laundry. Kendall is also loving her Nana being here. Today, they made brownies

 then used cookie cutters to cut shapes. Who knows what fun is in store for the rest of the week!

Kendall is doing really well with Arden. She wants to play "little mama" as I expected, but she's been very gentle. At first I was a little worried about her trying to do things for Arden that an adult needed to do, but Kendall has been quick to listen and obey us as we guide her in helping. Kendall is especially good at fetching things and she also likes to help as much as she can with diaper changes. When we lay Arden in the bed, Kendall often asks, "Can I go look at Arden?" which is super sweet. Kendall's acting out has come in the form of occasional fits and sassy mouth. We've been dealing with this already, but it seems as though it's escalated a bit.

It's kind-of crazy to think that this is our world now. Two little girls! Couldn't be more thankful!

Life and Walgreens Shopping

I have not been the best blogger lately. My apologies for those few people who look forward to reading. :) I haven't taken many pictures (although I should have, because we've done some fun things!) and the time I would normally sit down to blog, I've been napping or nesting. We are getting so close to baby Arden's arrival. YAY! We are making it...I'm moving pretty slowly and seemingly have less and less energy (and less and less patience!) and Evan and Kendall are just hanging in there with me. Bless their hearts. I've had to ask for forgiveness a lot lately from both of them!

It's been a while since I've written about couponing. I'm still trying to do as much as I can, and am learning the benefits of actually stocking up on things while they are on sale. It really DOES save money! We have consistently saved about $50 each month in our grocery budget (for the most part) although that does get thrown off a little bit on months like this one, when we travel. While I would love to make it to $75 or $100 a month in savings, I'm happy with $50 for now. None of us are willing to eat beans or Ramen Noodles for every meal, and I try to make sure we all eat as balanced and healthy meals as possible. (Although with this pregnancy, we've eaten way more carbs and sugar than normal, because those things have sounded the best!)

This afternoon, Kendall and I made a Walgreen's run. I was super pumped about my purchases. See below:

I got two Coffee Mate creamers, two Colgate toothbrushes, four Garnier hair products, one package of toliet paper,  two M&Ms Easter eggs, two shaving creams, and two sticker books. Before coupons and previous Register Rewards, my total was $36.33. After coupons and RR, I paid $18.27. Then, I got $10 in RR back. Technically, I only spent $8.27, since I have $10 to spend on my next Walgreen's visit.

I'll be honest, couponing is work. However, being home full-time now, I have a little more time and energy to spend doing it, so I don't mind. I usually shop at Kroger, Walgreen's, and Target weekly because those three stores are the easiest for me to match up deals and are in close proximity. I tend to spend one evening looking at coupons and ads, then one morning shopping. I'm willing to give it that much time and it works well for us. Kendall is a pretty good little shopping partner, although I do enjoy an occasional trip without her. My biggest stress is when we start checking out and she wants to "help" put all the groceries on the belt or she's into all the candy! Thankfully, she is quickly learning the "hands off" rule!

Valentine's Day and Other Happenings

February always seems busy at our house. I don't know if it's because January is super slow, coming off the Christmas holiday or what, but February has been going full force and isn't slowing down any time soon.

Our church has a fantastic group of homeschool moms/kids, and Kendall and I are often invited on their field trips. For Valentine's Day, the group rented out a place called Kazoing! (which is basically a place with bounceys for all ages) and had a party, complete with Valentine exchange. It took two installments of working on them, but Kendall and I were able to make about 40 homemade Valentines for her friends and family. (We did this last year, too, but she was a little small to get in on any of the work!) We spent one Saturday morning tracing her hand on the card stock, then another afternoon glittering, gluing, and adding stickers. Kendall LOVED it all, and was so proud of her Valentines! I love this little tradition we have and look forward to coming up with fun ideas in the years to come. I thought this year's turned out so girly, which was perfect! (Not to mention that we made them mostly with supplies already on hand!)

I only took the 50 mm lens, so I had a difficult time getting the whole group shot. This is only half! HA! There was a whole section of kids to the left. Really, though, having this group invite us along is such a blessing. It's the perfect social outlet for Kendall and for me!

In other news, Evan and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary on February 12. We have yet to really celebrate, but hopefully our plans for a very nice dinner out will come to fruition soon. We did get to enjoy about 35 minutes together, kid-free on Valentine's Day--our church had a Parent's Night Out from 6-9. (Evan was supposed to get off at 6:45 that evening, but ended up not getting home until almost 8.) =(  We ate a somewhat rushed dinner, then had cupcakes from the Cupcake Shoppe for dessert. I am so thankful for 6 years of wedded bliss and look forward to many more!

We are loving the beautiful weather of the last couple of days and would probably be enjoying it more if Kendall hadn't come down with a viral infection today. Stay tuned for some outside fun pictures coming soon!

Last Week

Last week was a good week. It didn't so much start off that way, but sometimes it takes rough beginnings to get things in check. I'm okay with that.

Last Sunday, I was watching Kendall through the window in her class at church (we have the kind where the parents can see in, but the kids can't see out) and I saw Kendall treating one of her friends in an unkind manner. The teacher in the class came over and corrected her, and things were fine...until the teacher turned away. Almost immediately, Kendall started being ugly again. It really upset me. I understand that three year olds aren't always nice to their friends, but I was more upset about the fact that Kendall disregarded what the adult told her to do. Anyway, I went in to talk with Kendall for a minute, only to have the teacher tell me, "I've been seeing this kind of behavior more and more from her lately." Talk about breaking a mama's heart! It's one thing to see your own child's sin, but when another adult sees it, it can be so gut-wrenching! I am sure it's the first of many, many moments we will deal with as we parent.

While there are plenty of factors playing into Kendall's misbehavior (that we are seeing at home, too!), we are not the kind of parents who just excuse it. Some things certainly call for more grace to be extended to her (which I will be the first to admit that Evan offers this much more quickly than I...my expectations tend to be high) but many things just need to be disciplined. Evan and I have discussed at length Kendall's issues in the last few days, and have done the best thing we know to do--pray about it and ask for wisdom and help in our parenting. It's amazing how quickly parenting can drive you to your knees.

Sooo...saying all that...last week was a good week. We had a very successful grocery store trip on Monday (where Kendall pushed the little kid basket through Kroger) and a fun play date on Tuesday. Kendall dressed up as a princess more times than I can count, and even put on make-up one day. We attended story hour at the library on Wednesday and then visited a friend in the hospital afterwards. Thursday and Friday became snow days--we watched a movie rented from the library, made snow cream, played outside in the snow (for all of about 15 minutes) and made snow-cream. The temperature was less than 20 degrees, so I ended up putting the leftover snow-cream snow in a dishpan and giving Kendall kitchen utensils to play. I promise, she was occupied and having a blast for a good hour!

On Friday night, Evan and I went to Shogun with a group of friends--a much-needed adult night out. Shogun holds a special place in our hearts as it was where we had dinner on our first official date. (It's also a great place for a group date!) Evan was off work on Saturday, so the three of us enjoyed a morning out together. We took Kendall back to the library (which we are obviously SO loving this winter!) for a pajama party. Kendall really enjoyed having having her daddy with her to make hot chocolate, help with her "Old Man Winter" craft, and show him the library castle.

 

So, here we are, back to Monday. I'm really not sure what this week has in store, although I will be the first to admit today's Target and grocery store trip wasn't as successful as last week. We actually ended up having to put the "little kid basket" back, after about 1/4 of our trip. Absolutely frustrating, but I guess it's just part of parenting. I'm just thankful we didn't have to leave the cart of groceries!

Looking forward to another great week. So thankful that God's mercies are new everyday! How I need it moment by moment!