Tuesday, March 31, 2009

It is amazing

As previously posted, I have been following MckMama's blog pretty closely all this week with her sweet baby Stellan being in the PICU with heart problems. It has been a total roller coaster ride of emotions, and I can't even imagine what his family must be feeling. Tonight MckMama (Jennifer) was featured on a local news story in her area. I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry while watching it.

Jennifer said she gets over 200,000 hits a day on her blog. (and I'm probably only 10 of those...hee hee). She is going through (for most of us) an unfathomable time right now, and all she wants people to know is who Stellan is and that God is taking care of him - NO MATTER THE OUTCOME. Watching her faith is amazing....I can only hope it is something people would say of me.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Well, we did it...

We made it through "No TV Monday"! It is 11 PM, and the armoire has stayed closed all day long. So, what did we do all day with absolutely no TV? This morning we got up and ate our breakfast. The kids were more chatty than normal, so we talked for a little while. Then we played with our ABC flash cards. We sorted them, talked about the pictures and letters, sang the ABC song. After that, I called the pediatrician b/c both kids are exhibiting symptoms again of the virus we had last week. The peds nurse told me to watch them today and if they got worse, developed a fever, or still had it into Tues to call back (which I will have to do tomorrow, b/c 5 min ago James got sick again).

Where was I? Oh, yes...no TV day.....after the call to the peds, we ran to the bank and then to Kroger to pick up some more Gatorade/pedialite. Then we came home and ate lunch, and everyone took a nap (yes, I did too :o)). When I got up, I showered, checked a couple of blogs, e-mailed a couple of people, and then the kids woke-up. Once the kids were up, we worked on cleaning their rooms and the living room. I vacuumed and they ran around in circles like the vacuum was chasing them (they love playing that...of course I don't actually "chase" them, I just run the vacuum and they run in circles :o)). Andy got home and we ate dinner. I asked Andy if he missed the TV, and he said "actually I thought we were having great conversation...so, no I don't miss it." After dinner, I worked on some laundry, Andy wrestled a little with the kids in the floor, and then they got out their blocks and we started building. We invented our own game of bowling....we stacked the blocks into a pyramid and then bowled them over with James' Lightning McQueen ball. We had so much fun! Samantha cheered, "go, go, go" and James would bowl and help me stack the blocks. Andy taught James how to roll the ball using both hands. Then suddenly I said "what time is it?" (I seriously thought we had been playing for 20 minutes, and was kinda wondering what we were going to do next) and Andy said, "It's 8:00!" We had played for an hour and a half with just blocks! So then it was bath time, story time, and bed time! The kids went all day without TV and literally James only asked once to watch it (I was so surprised he didn't cry when I said "no").

I really thought Andy and I would turn on the TV after the kids went to bed, but we didn't (go us!). At first Andy and I just sat and talked. I folded some more laundry, and then got on my computer. Andy got out a book and started reading, pausing every once and a while to share "good" parts of the book with me. Just before I wrote this at 10:45, I remembered that a new episode of House came on tonight and I asked Andy if he wanted to watch it. He looked at me surprised and said, "Are you testing me?" LOL. I told him no, I was just curious. I thought he would turn on the TV, but instead he just finished his reading. I think we might actually go to bed early!

"No TV day" was sooooo much easier than I thought it would be (and this is from a true TV junkie). I think it's definitely something we could do more of. Although Andy did say he's not ready for us to get rid of TV completely....good thing I didn't make that call to DirecTv earlier today and tell them to come haul this stuff away ;o).

Sunday, March 29, 2009

NO TV Monday

Being sick last week (all of us) caused us to watch lots of TV last week. I must say that I do think there are some really good kids programs out there, and that I believe watching them with your kids and talking to them about it does help teach them things (I'm so sure James learned shapes from us watching Sesame Street, b/c he would not sit for two seconds with the shapes book. Then we went to the peds and he could name them all! What?!?). However, there comes a point when too much is too much (If you know what I mean)! And because we were sick, we came to this point. So, I have challenged our family to a "NO TV Monday". That's it....there it is....the child cabinet locks are on the armoire....we'll see how this goes!!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

I'm learning how to sew!

I recently started learning how to sew. For my first "project" I made a pillow for James. I stitched the inside pillow, stuffed it, and then made the cover. I am so proud of it! I actually made something!! And (even better) James loves his pillow!
The pillow

A peek at the inside pillow

Loving the pillow!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

One Week Later

These pictures were taken one week exactly after the "snow storm" post. What a difference a week makes!! It went from snowing and 32 degrees (and colder) to sunny and 70 degrees. That's life in Georgia for you!
Before

After

The kids with "twiggy"....he's going to be a big tree someday!

"Look! a leaf!"

Ms. Blue Eyes






Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Prayers for Stellan

There is a blog that I follow on and off called mycharmingkids.net....also known as MckMama's blog. I was drawn into this blog about 4 months ago. My friend Jackie had posted on her blog about MckMama's 4th pregnancy, and about how the doctors had given her a very grim prognosis for her sweet baby Stellan. You can go to MckMama's blog at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ to see the full story, but essentially Stellan was diagnosed with many heart problems before birth. The doctors were doubtful that he would live to be full-term, and that if he did that he would probably die during birth or shortly after. MckMama and her husband decided that they would continue the pregnancy and enjoy his little life for as long as they could, and they would trust God with all the rest. Well, by a miracle Stellan was born a healthy baby boy about 3 months ago. A sweet little boy with a dimpled smile.

Unfortunately Stellan got sick a couple of days ago, and his heart began to race. He is now in the hospital and the doctors are having a difficult time slowing his heart to a normal rhythm. In short, Stellan's heart is sick, and he can only live so long with it in it's current state.

Now, I believe in a mighty and powerful God. A God that has in the past and continues today to work miracles. I believe that God fully has His hand on this situation, and He already knows the outcome. I believe in the power of prayer, and I believe that God answers prayer according to His will. So, please join with me in praying for little Stellan and his family. Again you can go to MckMama's blog to check for any updates. Thank you so much for your prayers.

(You can click on the My Charming Kids link or the MckMiracle button on the right side of my blog and it will take you directly to her site)

Updates to the blog

I am not sure why I do not update my blog as often as I'd like. I mean honestly, it's my homepage!! I see it every time I open the Internet! I get tired of looking at the same thing too! So, I'm really going to try to update regularly, but you know how that goes so no promises!

(Has anyone else ever noticed that I really love exclamation points? ;o))

Monday, March 2, 2009

Snow Day!

Yesterday started out like any other Sunday. We got up early, got ready, and headed out to church. Then just before church was over it began to snow. For us here in Georgia it was more than snow...it was a Georgia blizzard! Right when we got home from church (after stopping in Kroger for bread and milk...he he) we let the kids stand outside in it a bit. They were truly amazed and excited by the falling snow. It brought smiles to our faces just to see them so excited! Enjoy the pictures!








Sunday, March 1, 2009

Samantha's chair

Samantha was so in love with James' chair that he got for Christmas, that Dad and Denise got her one of her own! Thanks so much Dad and Denise...she loves it!