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My Nicholas Sparks House party

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What, What!!!!

Our car has died.

Yesterday I got a call from Jim, saying his car was shifting hard and that he had to have it looked at. Our car guy said it sounded like a speed sensor which is a cheap repair, but of coarse if could still be the transmission. He dropped it off last night, making us a one car family and killing my plans for the day.

Today we got a call. not a speed sensor, maybe not the transmission, but for sure the engine had 2 bad cylinders, which costs $$$ to fix. Then after the engine is repaired, the transmission may or may not need fixed, also $$$. for a car that we OWN without a payment, but is only worth... a little. For sure not worth as much as the car's repair bills could be.

So our little red Saturn is sitting over at the mechanic's. Full tank of gas, newly changed oil, recently repaired belt and tire. We are giving up on you little Saturn car. We can in no way afford to keep fixing you, only to have you let us down again.

And we will be a one car family.

What's next??

The Date is Wrong on this, actually posted 2/22/12?? =)
I just found this under drafts:

"It's funny how things work themselves out. When I decided that I wanted to be a stay at home mom, I thought that I would be home with my kids at least until the all hit kindergarten. I had even convinced myself that after they were all in school that I would slowly take classes just 2 days a week so that I could be around for field trips and soccer games. How could I have guessed that my dream job would find me?"

It's funny, sometimes I forget how much this job was meant for me. How it fell right into my lap at exactly the right time. Now Jim is finishing up with school this semester and I have told him it's my turn. Which is very scary for me. I have gone back and forth with what I want to do next. I wanted to find something that would complement what I am doing now instead of replace it. I had something in mind, and spoke to my boss about it. I had thought it was too ambitious, something I couldn't do right now.

But my boss thought it would be perfect for me and is helping me make the connections. I am taking the steps now, filling out the paperwork, looking for people in the field that can give me advice. I'm not quite ready to give it away yet, but I'm pretty excited. keep me in your prayers!!

xoxo

Me time.

I am at the bittersweet time in my life when I know that I am done having kids and I am ready to move on to the next phase of our life as a family. It's a little sad knowing that I will never again have that feeling of holding my baby for the first time. That instant, first time love. That feeling of breastfeeding my child and knowing that I am the most important person in their entire life. I love watching them grow, I just wish they would do it a little slower.

With the bad comes the good though. I am very proud of the young men that they are becoming. I love leaving the house without a diaper bag or having to prep for outings. I love that even little Landon can have a conversation with me. I love that once in a while I am still the center of their world and they want nothing more that to sit on my lap and cuddle with me. And now that they are getting older and I am working part time I am starting to feel like more than just mom. I feel like me again sometimes. I am going to spend my birthday weekend away from the boys. Just me and Jim. We are going to Cedar Point on Saturday and on Sunday we are going to sleep until we get kicked out of our hotel room.
Then in August, I will most likely going to Nashville for 5 days with MOPS! I am going to Columbus for work for 3 days at the end of August, too. It feels a little weird to be leaving them, but I am so excited for the time for myself.

Ouch

My head and back have been hurting so much lately. Thank God for Excedrin. That's what I get for giving up soda, right? My body just needs that caffeine I guess. But it's all part of an over all getting healthy and fit plan and I am sticking to it. I've done it before and I know I can do it again. More to come later...

Fun in Warren, OH.

Today is yet another Snow day. We went from zero to 4 1/2 inches over night and are expecting to double that by the end of the day. So instead of going to a new indoor play area with a friend and my two younger boys on my day off, I am struggling to find something to entertain my boys again! The play area is out of the question today because an extra kid drives the price up even more and it's a 40 minute drive that could be dangerous on a day that we are expecting so much snow..
So what is there to do now? I have worked all week and I wanted to get out of the house with my BFF and my kids for a little fun. In the summer we have lots of things we can outside. there are parks and playgrounds all over the place. We could probably go to a different one every week in the summer and not run out. There are also beaches and activities and baseball games. Lots of free and inexpensive things to do. Today, I'm coming up with Mcdonalds/burger king play area, or Chuck e. cheese. ugh. We need more for families to do in the winter around here. It's March 11th and it's a snow day for goodness sakes! It's winter here most of the year. =(

Y-M-C-A

Today, we found out that we got a family scholarship to the local YMCA. We are so excited because we will be able to work out and swim, and the kids will be able to take swim lessons for free! I have been wanting a vacation so bad and we haven't been able to plan anything because of scheduling. The idea of getting to swim whenever we want almost feels like a mini vacation. We are planning on going Saturday to fill out the rest of the paperwork. Looks like mama is going to be shaving her legs more often. =)

Things are looking up.

Things have been so crazy lately with me working 4 days a week. I know it may not sound like a lot, but going from stay at home mom to being gone 4 days a week all day is a bit of an adjustment. To top it off, I had things to do for my MOPS group and MOPS on my day off. Next week I go back down to three days, which seems so much more manageable to me. Plus one of my favorite co-workers is returning from maternity leave. It should be a good week.

Spring is almost here and I am looking forward to all of the good things that it will bring. More daylight, better weather, and time outside!! My boys have cabin fever so bad. I am hoping to spend most of our summer outside playing and working in the yard.

So today, I am feeling happy. Lets just hope it stays that way.

I need a vacation.

There are not enough hours in the day. I have been moved up to 3/4 time at work because a co-worker had a new beautiful little girl. At the same time, Jim when to 4 days at school and is gone more. This last week was the busiest we have ever been in our lives.
Add to that 2 sick kids and you have one crazy mama. Kameron has been spiking fevers so I have him on a strict Tylenol/Motrin schedule to keep it from happening again. Landon just has a super runny nose. They are all three whiny and clingy.
It feels like any spare time we have had, Jim and I are taking turns catching up on sleep. I slept from 1am to 5am then 12pm to 4pm. Jim slept from 1am to 12pm. We basically have seen each other for 2 hours so far today and it involved making dinner and cleaning up.
I know this post is full of ranting and complaining and I'm not sure anyone is reading it anyway.

How the WII made my ADHD child a better student.

Haha, I feel like writing a book. My husband decided that my family needed a video game system, so we are now the proud owners a Nintendo Wii. We raised the money to get it and researched the bet deal and I am happy to say that we bought a brand new week with lots of extras for $180 including the tax. We have spent less than $100 extra now and have the 4 remotes, the foam extensions and a ton of games. Very little of the cost actually had to come from our bank account.

Now, the best part. We are on a homework for wii time exchange. I give Nathan one hour of free wii time after school. after that, he can earn an extra hour of wii time by reading and doing homework. For some, 1 hour of reading and homework may not be that challenging. But for Nate, who has ADHD, it is a real battle. After dinner tonight, he got his school book out without being asked and read to me for 20 minutes straight. Then he went down to read to his grandma for another 10 minutes. Now he is writing his spelling words at the table alone without complaining. To me, it feels like a miracle.

I know it's a little early to be cheering the reading for wii exchange, but I have heard similar results from other friends with special needs kids. A friend of mine with a son with aspergers get their family a Wii for Christmas. After he returned to school, the teacher commented on his attitude and behavior improvement. She asked what she was doing differently. The only real difference is the boy is playing Wii for one hour before bed, and he seems to be sleeping better too.

Wii rocks.

Happy 2011.

So it's a new year and I can already tell it's going to be a change for us. Our family in complete and we are on to the next step of our lives. I'm a little nervous to see what this year will have in store for us. Jim's school schedule is very crazy this spring and it will be the first time we really have to leave the kids with a baby sitter while we are both busy. We got off to a rocky start in December because we were all sick and had to miss days of work and school. I am hoping that everything goes a little better when Jim starts on the 10th. Thank God I will be on part time.. Enough rambling, HAPPY 2011!

Just a few days until Christmas

and I am feeling really overwhelmed. I tried making a list of what I still have to do but it doesn't seem that bad. Jim and the boys are going to take care of a little more wrapping, then I will have a few of their things after they go to bed. They are also going to make a few cookies for Santa. I have to make a quick trip to Wally world on the way home from work and voila, we are ready to go. What am I missing and why do I feel this way? It's like I am being crushed by the pressure of everything going on in my life.
I do know that I am going down to 20 hours after the new year. It will be nice having days off, but I will miss the money. I am also going to miss Jim. He will basically be gone dawn to dusk Monday and Wednesday, and plus part of Thursday and 9-5ish on Friday. My 20 hours will probably be opposite of his, so we will have more time away from each other than ever. It's going to be new for us.

Rule #1, never shoot at girls.

My boys got their first ever Nerf guns today. They are just small ones with the little suction cup at the end. The boys are so cute running around acting like little secret agents. I told them the #1 rule of Guns is never shoot at girls. Jim added not shooting anyone in the face. The boys asked if they are aloud to shoot the baby. I made him fair game. He's the youngest of three boys, he has to toughen up some time right? I am sure this is just one of many "boy things" that are going to come into our house now that they are school aged. They grow so fast.

Falling into place.

We are finally starting to get the hang of me working and the boys being home with Marge and Jim. For the first 2 weeks of my new job, the stomach flu ran through the entire house. We are finally all feeling better from all of that.
Last week, one of my husband's half brothers died. It was awkward and sad, because he wasn't someone we were close to. Jim and I went to the calling hours and I got to meet members of his family that I hadn't been able to meet before. They all seemed very nice.
Landon has stopped nursing which is kind of sad for me. It's a little hard knowing that my last baby isn't a baby anymore. So he nursed in the middle of the night a few nights about and just a little today because we both kind of forgot that we had stopped. I know my awesome nursing boobs are going to be gone any day.
Work is going great. We are finally are talking to women and I feel like we are making a difference. I just a little worried that I will get to attached to these girls.

What a week,

It is snowing like crazy out there! I hope it sticks around until Christmas. With the new job, I just wish things would be "normal" and on a normal schedule so we could all get used to me working, Marge watching the boys, and all that goes with it.
Today, the boys were on a snow day. We are getting snow right now at about an inch an hour. It looks like there may be another snow day tomorrow. It doesn't look like the snow is slowing any time soon. Luckily, Jim was able to stay home with the boys in the morning and only had to go to his evening class.
So, we had an expensive select comfort mattress. It basically has air chambers in it instead of springs. Well, my side had been leaking air and I was laying on no air by morning. Jim tried to fix it and it got worse. Jim and Nathan spend there morning downgrading us to queen sized mattress. I really like it, I just hope Jim doesn't push me off! We are used to so much more space. I had been wanting a new bed for a while though, so I am pretty happy to get one.
Our Dryer isn't working either. Luckily, it's still under warranty. They will be coming on Wednesday to fix it. In the mean time, the clothes are piling up.
I will go on about it more later.

New Job.

In February, I was contacted about a job for a breastfeeding support person. At the time, I was under the impression I would get a cell phone and if people had questions, they would call and I would do my best to answer. It was months before I heard about it again.
In probably May, I got a letter telling me about the peer helper program at WIC and inviting me to a group informational interview. So in Julyish, I went to the interview with about 13 other woman. I felt so good about it, and I really thought I had nailed it. I told my husband that I had gotten it for sure. I was confident and friendly. The director came up to me before we all left and got my name. A lot of time went by and just when I thought all hope was lost, I got an interview, then a second "peer interview". I was called and offered the job. I had to jump through a few more hoops like a 4 hour physical and tests and then finally on November 29th, I had a 8.5 hour orientation at St. E's. I am now a breastfeeding peer helper.

Eventually I will be a 20 hour part time employee. Right now I am pretty much full time and going through a lot of training. I am really proud that I have a job that I can be proud of. I can't wait to help a mom feed her new baby and hopefully make positive impact in the lives of the woman I talk to.

Nathan and Kameron are nuts today. They are being loud, blowing bubbles, running around. I think I am going to send them outside.
Landon hates sleep. He wouldn't go to bed until 10:30. He gets up several times during the night and never wants to nap. And when he is up, he wants help 24/7.
Bad day.

Me, a few years ago *almost* at my goal weight.

I think I am on to something...

I have been eating better the last few days. Drinking lots of water- not snacking late. So today it is back to the gym. I have lost a bunch of weight before, only to gain most of it back do to a surgery followed closely by a pregnancy and most recently I have been blaming it on birth control and not getting any sleep because of a new born. Well, I was looking back at old pictures and I think I looked awesome when I and lost all of that weight. I am getting more sleep and I am determined again. The last few nights I have felt hungry, and I have went for small healthier snacks rather than a "fourth meal" or something awful. *fingers crossed*