Pregnancy update ~

The pregnancy is going pretty well.  I kind of hate giving out details because I feel like I’m just complaining, but these are the facts:  I am still doing the heparin shots twice a day, and it still sucks, but whatever – we do what we have to do for a healthy baby!  The contractions have started, and in the last week or so, I’ve had a couple of days where I couldn’t be off my feet because of them.  But from the last two kiddos, I know just what to do (lie down and drink lots of water) – and sometimes I think my body is just trying to tell me to slow down.  I have insomnia due to restless leg syndrome and fibromyalgia pain ~ but we are doing what we can for all that.  I am aware it’s going to get worse before the baby comes, but that’s okay.  I know it’ll take a while to get my fibromyalgia managed once the baby is born as well, but I’ve learned a lot since I had Paige, so I have high hopes that it won’t take two years before I’m able to run a block this time!  :)  There are other ailments and issues that come with pregnancy #13 such as pelvic bones that thought 16 weeks along was the time to go ahead and separate – making walking (and anything else) difficult at best, but I’m done talking about all that.  SO…

The baby is very active, and she kicks ALL the time, letting me know that she is alive and well.  I will be 25 weeks tomorrow.  The midwife said they’d induce by 39 weeks if I don’t go before then (I see a combo of docs and midwives).  Most of you know Paige was QUICK and very traumatic, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on things when it gets closer to the end.  And… we are pretty sure we have a name picked out (as of last night), but we aren’t broadcasting that yet.  ;)

The other six kiddos ~

Britta is doing great!  She doesn’t update her blog much, but she adds posts to her Ethiopia group on Facebook.  If you haven’t joined that, you should.  We miss her like crazy, but love how she is allowing God to use her as He sees fit.  This is such a great experience for her, and I’m so thankful that she was given this opportunity.  Her plan right now, is to still come home in June, and then head off to college in the fall to study Art Education and Spanish, so she can teach (and minister to) inner city kids.

Justice has a few more months before he gets his license (June).  North Carolina’s driving laws are out of control ridiculous and it takes FOREVER for kids to get a license.  He’s applying for jobs.  He’s making mostly A’s (and a B or two) in school.  And he is planning to join the Special Forces right after high school.

Jarvis’ 13th birthday is TODAY!  He’s such a great kid!  We lifted his usual time restrictions on the Xbox just for today, and I don’t even know how many hours he has been on there – he is taking FULL advantage and killing as many brain cells as possible.  ;)  Even though he will graduate from high school very young (a few months after turning 16), he still goes back and forth on what he wants to “be”.  And we don’t really push that sort of thing (the whole “YOU MUST HAVE DEFINITE GOALS” sort of thing), as we just want our children to flexibly follow God’s plan for their lives, and we know that sometimes that is revealed at a young age, and sometimes not until the last minute.

Darby is 10 and the drama knows no bounds.  She has more confidence than anyone I’ve ever known, which cracks us up all the time.  She still talks incessantly, and I’m not sure that’ll ever change.  She’s a GREAT big sister to Paige, and Paige thinks she hung the moon.  Their relationship reminds me a lot of me and my older sister, Marci.  I got her room completely purged/organized/cleaned/almost-completely-decorated this last week, and she’s working hard to keep it that way.

Jacob is hilarious.  He loves math but hates the tediousness of reading/writing, which is a lot like Justice was.  He plays outside all the time, and thinks he’s the coolest dude around.  He’s still planning to marry Katie – our friends’ daughter who he sees maybe once a year, if that, since they live in Tennessee.  But he is devoted.  He’s totally into cars right now.  And magic tricks.

Paige will be 3 in a couple of months (on Easter).  She was never that interested in the potty, but a few weeks ago, she decided that she would just be potty trained in one day with nearly no effort from me.  She still goes at night, but stays dry through naps, even long ones.  She says some super funny things, and reminds us a lot of me!  She’s very determined, and we love watching her little mind work.

That’s all I got for now.  I have tons to blog about, but most of it takes actual brain power, rather than just stating some current facts about my kids… and brain power is lacking lately.  ;)

My middle name is…

***drumroll***

Candy

That’s right.  Candy.  Like the food you eat on Halloween.  Or every day.  Depends on who you are.

What’s the story behind my name, you ask?  Okay, I’ll tell you.

My first name is the feminine form of Peter.  Petra means ‘rock’.  It’s also a city in Jordan, and a Christian rock band.  But I was named after Peter.  My six older siblings also have Biblical names – the boys after Bible dudes, and the girls… after Bible dudes (Joel, Joshua, Matthew, Marci [from Mark], Titus, and Timberly [from Timothy].

My middle name is my mom’s first name.  Petra Candy.  Her name is Candy Lovely.  Her mom’s name was Lovely Brownie.  (I’m not making this up).  I always wanted to keep up with the tradition of naming a daughter’s middle name after my first name, but I really liked the name Brittany when I was pregnant with her (and I’m going to just make it known right now that Brittany was NOT a popular name until AFTER I named her – that next year it was like the most popular name… ugh), and Brittany Petra didn’t go together.  So then when I was pregnant with another girl – and I was *sure* it was going to be my last pregnancy (haha!), we decided her middle name would be Petra.  However, when she was born we could NOT decide between Darby and Aliya, so we were like “let’s just use both!” So she is Darby Aliya Petra.

More interesting family names:  My mom’s sister’s name is Cherry.  My great aunt’s name was Love (my sister’s middle name is also Love).  My paternal grandparent’s names were Wilbur and Charlotte… and they lived on a farm.  I remember being  completely intrigued when I read Charlotte’s Web as a kid.

So far my kiddos names are:

Brittany Caitlin (I already had picked out Brittany, but was searching for a middle name – I was looking through the baby name book and my brother, Matt, said “what about Caitlin?” and I looked and that was the next name on the list, spelled the same way he was spelling it, AND I loved it – so Caitlin it was)
Justice Thor (Thor is Andrew’s middle name, and also Andrew’s dad’s first name)
Jarvis Alexander (his first name was going to be Ethan, but then he was born on his Great Uncle Jarvis’ birthday – so we named him after him)
Darby Aliya Petra
Jacob Andrew
Paige Sophia Grace

And the new one?  I always start a boy/girl name list when I find out I’m pregnant (because it takes the entire pregnancy to come up with one we both like and agree on, and plus, it’s fun to name people), and I had two names on the girl list but have since decided I hate them both.  So since I think this baby is a girl, we’ll see if she actually gets a name in the next 32 (or 30 – fingers crossed) weeks.

• First of all, I have become a woman who has a real-live husband in her life, rather than an across-the-world skype version!  So excited to have Andrew home (it’s been a week)!  He is SO helpful, you just don’t even know!!!  We went on an awesome date last weekend before the big kids (a.k.a. babysitters) left us alone with the three youngest kiddos, and got a couple of photos with my phone…
  

  self-portrait in the Bonefish Grill parking lot (mmmm... saucy shrimp...)

• I am now a morning person.  Okay, that’s a lie.  I’d still rather stay up until 4 in the morning and then sleep until noon.  But, I have forced myself to make some major life changes.  On weekdays, I get up at 4:45 (okay, okay, I hit the snooze again at 4:45… I actually get up at 4:50… yeesh), and get to my good friend, Molly’s, house by 5:00 (er… 5:05-ish) and we walk and/or run for anywhere between 1 1/4 miles to 2+ miles.  If we run, we have our ipods going, if we walk, we generally use it as our therapy sessions.  Jarvis usually goes with me so he can stay with Molly’s kids while we exercise – he doesn’t mind getting up so early, he is my one kid that doesn’t seem to need a ton of sleep in order to function.  Lucky boy!    (updated to add – Molly and I are now training for a half-marathon, so we are running 3 miles two mornings a week and have varied our workout to fit our training schedule the rest of the week – including two 3 mile runs with the Brick City Running Tribe during the week)
  

  All of us (minus Andy, who was in Iraq at the time) with all of the Houghtons.

• Ideally, on days that I actually got to bed at a decent hour (by 10:45 so I can get 6 hours of sleep), once I get home from my morning Molly time, I make some green tea, get a light breakfast of fruit and nuts, and go sit on my front porch with my phone (which has my Bible and prayer list on it).  I sit out there for about an hour – just me, the early morning quiet, and the Holy Spirit.  It’s amazing!  In my life, I think I only had early morning Bible study time once… and it’s the absolute best way to start out the day!

  

  Molly and I had a blast at VBS this year... who knew it could be so fun??

• Sometimes I workout again during the day – usually some yoga (or occasionally some tai chi that I’m really bad at), stretching, and I’ll alternate some leg/ab/arm workouts.  Andrew and I have plans to start on a serious crossfit program soon, though.  We just need to acquire some gym equipment (anyone giving away a weight bench and weights???). 
  

  Britta took me to Outback for my birthday this year (the big 3-5, eek!). Oh man - those ribs were SO delicious - I hadn't eaten ribs since we lived in Washington and MAN were they good! Thanks again Britta!!

• God has healed a lot of my ailments that had me down for so long, and the ones that remain only show their ugly faces now and then.  It’s SO very cool to be able to function as a normal human again, and Andrew and I (and the kids, I’m sure) have learned many life lessons through the process of me getting well.  It’s so crazy that less than two years ago, I couldn’t run up the driveway without crying/passing out/dying from the excruciating pain that would have caused, that is, if I’d been able to run at all.  I’m still so amazed when I run more than a few blocks at a time that my body is still moving.  I love it!!!  Now, I’m definitely not ready for a marathon yet – but I can run at least a 1/2 mile without having to walk for a minute (updated to add – Molly and I ran a mile and a half without stopping to walk this past Monday, then proceeded to run at least a mile of the next mile and a half!  Hooray!). Earlier this summer, Molly and I had a day where we walked a mile in 9:45 then ran in 7:15 or something close to that.  We haven’t done it since then, but we have no doubts that once the 973% humidity dies down, we’ll get our speed back up and be smoking everyone, including Nick and Andrew (hahahaha – I made myself laugh on that one!). 

  

  Jacob's main goal in life is to be a superhero.

   

• I’ve become social again, and I love it.  Not that I ever stopped being social, but with all the moving the past several years, plus my health issues that kept me down (not to mention the bed rest with the last two pregnancies), I wasn’t able to do as much as I wanted to do.  Now, I have friends, and a social life, and I volunteer for things, and I’m constantly on the go.  I wouldn’t have it any other way!  God has really blessed me with some wonderful people to hang out with around here!

  

  Please... someone tell me you want an adorable kitten! They are super cute, but we do NOT need to have four cats. The white one and the calico are up for grabs. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller??

• Britta is outta here!  Well, not officially yet, but soon.  Britta graduated high school in June (through our homeschool umbrella program based in Nashville), and we just got her sanford achievement test scores (that she took last spring) and she scored post-high school on absolutely everything and she scored in the 90′s% on many of the categories (not math though – lol)… so yay!  Homeschooling was a success!!  Britta was all set to apply to some colleges (her plan was to major in art education and minor in spanish so she could teach art to inner city kids and also be ESL certified so she could actually communicate with them), when another opportunity showed up.  In early October, Britta will be heading to Ethiopia with some missionary friends for 8 months.  She will be helping Jon & Jess Bridges with their 2 year old son, Dawit, and she will also be teaching art to kids at a drop-in center for street children, and possibly teaching English to girls at a halfway home on their way to foster care.  Britta has felt led to missions since she was really young, and Africa has always been #1 on her list of places she wanted to minister, and children in need have always been on her heart.  I believe God has been preparing her for this her whole life, and He custom-made this trip just for her.  Even Ethiopian food is naturally gluten-free!  Amazing.  (if you have not received one of Britta’s support letters, and you’d like to learn more about what she’ll be doing so you can be praying for her and/or offer her financial support, send me a note with your address and we’ll get a letter out to you!)

  

  Paige loves watching music videos with "bitta"

   

• Britta is currently in Atlanta, staying with Andrea and Adam, so she can help care for Gideon as they welcome a new baby into their family.  Who knows how long she’ll be gone, as that depends on how long Little New Van Meter wants to stay in her mom’s belly!

  

  This is the kitten we are keeping. So cute.

• Justice and Jarvis have spent this week at church camp.  We have been praying that God would speak to both of their hearts and they would come home closer to Him.  They get home tomorrow (I guess I should figure out what time, since at this moment, I have no clue what time I’m supposed to pick them up from the church – I’d hate to make them walk home after a week at camp!  lol). (update – they are home and they had a good time!  So happy to have them home!)

  

  Justice got a much needed haircut when Andy came home! (this was taken at our church picnic last weekend)

• Justice has had a pretty good lawn care business going this summer, and once he turns 16 (in early September), he has grand plans of finding a high paying job so he can order a million pairs of custom-made Nikes.  Ah, the priorities of a teenager.  lol

  

  beautiful britta

• Jarvis is such a well-mannered, easy to get along with kiddo.  He’s still into video games and animals and any kind of science… and also correcting me if I get some sort of math issue wrong.  Also, he is signed up for recreational soccer this fall.  He tried out for the Challenge team, but then they ended up not having a Challenge team for his age group or the one above it because they didn’t have enough players and coaches.  They did say the U13 Rec team does get to travel around the area, though, so it’s pretty similar to the Challenge team he was on last year… but they get to play on Saturdays instead of Sundays!  Hooray!

  

  silly jarvis

• Darby is a nut, as always.  And I’m pretty sure her room will never ever be clean for more than ten minutes.  She’s a sweetie though, and still loves to talk… to anyone… about anything.  There’s really no telling what random information she has put out there.  I cringe just thinking about it.  lol.  I have had people ask me about the strangest things.  Just know, people, that if you are talking to Darby, that even though she means well, she doesn’t always get her facts straight (especially if the story is about me… and especially if it’s any at all embarrassing – I’m just saying).    Oh, at the end of gymnastics in the spring, they asked Darby to join the advanced girls class next time.  We are figuring out where she’s going to sign up (and yeah, pretty sure I need to call them tomorrow – someone remind me) for the fall sessions.

  

  Darby jumping off the high dive at swim lessons last week

• Jacob is so excited to be starting soccer in the fall!  He has also turned into quite the little socialite.  I’m pretty sure he has more friends than I do.  He’s so cute, and says the most hilarious things.  I think he could get whatever he wanted with those eyes and that smile.  He’s quite the charmer.

  

  Jacob at swim lessons last week

• Paige is a mess, but she’s adorable, so it’s okay.  She also says hilarious things, and she loves to sing and/or dance!  I love hearing her have little conversations in her bed at night before she goes to sleep – she does different voices, her imagination goes wild, and sometimes if we’re lucky, she’ll belt out some song lyrics at the top of her lungs (favorites of hers: “baby mine, don’t cry, baby mine, dry eyes” [she leaves out some words, but it's okay] and “hallelujah, he reigns… he reigns!”)… she also makes up songs – the other night, Andy heard her make up a song about poop.  Oh well… lol.

  

  Paige drawing (her favorite activity) at the Marbles Museum

• Jarvis’ soccer team finished their season winning 7 out of 8 games.  Way to go Jarvis!  The tournament is next weekend, and if they win some of the games, then they’ll also play in the championship.  Go Firestorm!!
  

  Jarvis and one of his teammates

• Paige has been talking more and more – she is so adorable!  She has gotten sillier and more cuddly, and wants us to repeat everything she says back to her so she can be sure we understood her.  (and she gets frustrated if we did not understand her!)
  

  Paige's "fish" face

• Brittany will soon be graduating from high school!  Am I old enough to have a grown child??
  

  Last week, a puppy followed Jarvis home from his morning run... thankfully we found the owner (or at least a woman who claimed it) because my kids were begging to keep it! lol

• I had more energy in [the last half of] March and April than I’ve had in years, however, the last week or two have yielded pretty much zero energy, so I’m hoping it comes back in full force very soon!
  

  The kids running with friends at the soccer game... I wish I had 1/2 their energy!

• Andrew will be home in two or three months (hoping for two).  I can’t wait!!
  

  Paige misses her Daddy!

• Darby has had a pretty big growth spurt recently – her newest pants are all suddenly too short!
  

  Darby being silly... as usual.

• Is it really May 7th?  How does time seem to go so slow and so fast at the same time?!
  

  Paige likes to wander off ~ she doesn't worry about losing anyone, she just keeps going... because up to this point someone has always run after her. We have to keep a close watch on Miss Wanderer! lol

• The kids and I took a day trip to the beach about a month ago – we had a total blast and want to go again really soon!!
  

  Jacob loved the beach and surprised me by running right into the water! He also loves his "beach shirt", just fyi.

  

  Paige was a maniac digging in the sand. I think she could have stayed there for many more hours just playing in the sand. It was pretty much her favorite thing in the world.

  

  I really wish the beach was ten minutes away instead of nearly three hours!

  

  Working hard to fill that bucket with sand (note the giant belly poking out of her tankini!)

• Easter was fun and I have a ton of photos to put on Facebook soon.  We were sad Andrew wasn’t here to join in the celebrations with us, but we sent him videos so he didn’t feel completely left out.
  

  Me and my six gorgeous children on Easter Sunday

• Paige turned two last month!  I put a birthday photo album on Facebook from her April 22nd party (her actual birthday is the 8th).  She is so adorable. 
  

  My sweet little two year old.

• I have been taking more and more photos lately.  It’s time for a camera upgrade, so I’m hoping to budget that in at some point in the near-ish future… not sure where I’m gonna pull a couple grand out of, but I’m hoping a money tree grows out back.  Think it’ll happen?  lol  I actually got paid to take some photos last week – that was quite the novelty for me!  It also forced me to step up my game a little and learn some things I had been putting off – so expect my photos taken from here on out to be a little bit better (not the ones in this current post though… most of these were taken before the new things I learned). 
  

  Miss Priss

• Mother’s Day is in the morning.  I am so thankful to be the mother of six amazing, smart, beautiful, funny, silly, well-behaved (for the most part ), talented, wonderful children.  I am incredibly blessed!
  

  Silliness abounds in our house!!

I set three alarms for this morning.  There were two other people in my room with me.  My alarm always goes off and it’s always loud, even if the volume is turned down.  This morning, I heard none of them, and neither did the two kids in my room with me.  Granted, I was awake until after 2:30 this morning, but still – I should have heard the alarms.  The only thing I heard was Justice yelling, “MOM! IT’S 7:53!!!”  Yes, we were supposed to BE there by 7:50.  *sigh*

I jumped out of bed, yelled to Justice to wake up Brittany and Jarvis (Jarvis was staying with the little kids while I took the older two to the school – Jarvis and Darby will join them for three more days of testing next week), and I went to call the school.  I couldn’t get in touch with the lady I had been dealing with when I registered the kids for testing, so I called my neighbor.  She, thankfully, answered her cell phone, and she was able to ask if we could even still come – they said come on.  So we threw clothes on and ran out the door with no breakfast (don’t the schools always emphasize eating a good breakfast on test day?). 

We got there at 8:10 and finally found the church office (my sweet neighbor had told me where it was, but alas, my brain wasn’t even turned on yet after being awake for only 17 minutes by this point). 

As we walked in, I looked at Brittany and realized she had grabbed some fitted skinny jeans and a t-shirt with a monkey band on them (not the band, The Monkees, from the days of yore, but a Paul Frank monkey band), but had a hoodie zipped up over the shirt, so at least there was that.  I’m pretty sure she wasn’t anywhere close to the school’s dress code for girls.  Justice had asked the neighbor what he should wear yesterday – he said the conversation went like this:

Justice – “what should I wear tomorrow?”
Neighbor – “just wear a nice shirt and some khakis” (note: the school kids wear uniforms of khaki pants and polos – plaid skirts for the girls)
Justice – “I don’t have any khakis”
Neighbor – “how do you not have khakis?!”
Justice – “I don’t like them”
Neighbor – “well, what kind of pants do you have?”
Justice – “um, jeans?”
Neighbor – “what else?”
Justice – “uhhh, that’s it?”
Neighbor – “ok, well, just wear your nicest jeans then”

The relay of this conversation tells me that Brittany’s outift was probably inappropriate for her environment today.  Oh well.  At least her hair isn’t pink anymore! 

I am aware that I haven’t blogged in over a month. I haven’t felt like it. Sue me. Or don’t. I don’t really care. To make up for it, this post is going to cover all the happenings of March. If you are my friend on Facebook, much of this will be a repeat, but as you know – part of the reason I blog is for the online-journal aspect of it. I am actually referencing Facebook (along with my calendar) to remind me of what actually did happen this month.

March:
1: Took Darby to gymnastics and Jarvis to soccer. Hung out on Facebook a lot.
2: Who knows? Took the kids to church in the evening.
3: Had an OB appointment. Everything looked good, until she went to listen for the baby’s heartbeat. Ended up getting an ultrasound, only to find out that little baby Mila had passed away. Sad day. I was 13 weeks, 2 days along, but she had not been alive for a few weeks. The reason my belly was growing and I was still feeling so many pregnancy symptoms is because my uterus and placenta were still thriving.
4: Brittany and I headed to the hospital at 10:30 for my D&C. I was really nervous, having never had surgery on anything before except getting my wisdom teeth cut out. All went well, though, and it was quick and smooth. Over the next few days, friends from church brought meals to us (so nice!). Marci drove up from Atlanta to help out. So good to see her!
5: Stayed drugged up and slept a lot! Karyn and Jess brought over tonight’s meal and stayed and hung out for a while. Marci took the kids out eating, shopping, and to see a movie. They LOVED having her here.  They bought green hats and wigs and came into my room with flowers – to make me laugh.  I was groggy and half-asleep and had no idea what was going on.  It was hilarious. 

Jacob in his funny hair and hat

Britta and Darby

Britta, Marci, and Darby

6: Marci took all six kiddos to church, then to eat and grocery shopping.  I slept so much in a very quiet house – it was nice!  Marci headed back to Georgia.  (soccer game was rained out today).
7: Still recovering. Out of bed today and feeling a lot better.  Talked to Andy on the phone a lot.  Had other things to deal with as well, but not blog fodder (sorry). 
8: Took Darby to gymnastics.  Did lots of resting, as far as I can remember.
9: Had a small nervous breakdown (hormones changing, I’m sure) and couldn’t stop crying.  It finally passed though, thank goodness – because I HATE crying.  And I’m using the word “hate” here, in the strongest sense of the word.  So thankful for an ecouraging husband, who, even though he is on the other side of the world, called at just the right time and was such a comfort to me.  And also thankful for good friends (like Ali) who will yak on the phone with me for hours and who I can be completely open with.    Bought Paige’s Easter dress while talking on the phone to Ali.  Took the kids to church (Paige and I don’t go to church on Wednesday nights – I drop the oldest 5 kids off for an hour and a half and Paige and I head home… why?  our church has Kids Klub for Jacob and Darby and youth group for Jarvis, Justice, and Brittany.  There is a ladies’ Bible study, and I have been to it, but it’s not really geared towards my age group [i.e. I'm the youngest woman in there by very far], and I have found that I love spending that one on one time with Paige without interruption.)
10: My new dishwasher was delivered.  It will sit in the front room while we wait for my neighbor to have time to install it (he’s busy).  Jarvis had an orthodontist consult.  Not quite time to start braces, but there is a plan in place, and we go back in 4 months to see if his mouth is ready.  Had some other things going on that aren’t blog-worthy (again, sorry).  Soccer practice got rained out, so I took Brittany and Jarvis to see The Adjustment Bureau.  It was good.
11: Rested in the morning.  My kids were all in desperate need of new shoes or clothes or a combination of the two, and I had some tax refund money, along with some other unexpected income, come in.  Jarvis was the first one to get to go shopping, since I owed him a birthday movie anyway.  We went to Jason’s Deli, Target, Marshall’s, and to see Unknown.  Loved it.
12: Dropped Justice off early at Molly’s yard sale to sell a few things.  Took Brittany and Darby shopping.  Ate at Jason’s Deli (again – ugh).  Shopped at Marshall’s, Old Navy, and Target.  Found lots of good deals!  And we all got new swimsuits (shopping for those is always a nightmare!  And why is the Target dressing room lighting the HARSHEST lighting in the world?!). 
13: Sunday School and church.  Brittany and Jacob went with Molly to a friend’s house to play (Britt went to help with the little kiddos).  I took Darby and Paige to Jarvis’ soccer game.  Didn’t get home in time for evening church. 

Paige at Jarvis' soccer game

Darby at Jarvis' soccer game

Jarvis playing soccer

Paige playing peekaboo with her sunglasses

14: Various errands, including getting my annual car inspection (and found out I’d been driving around with a giant screw stuck in my tire). 
15: Darby to gymnastics.  Got a ride for Jarvis to soccer so I could take Justice on his shopping trip.  We splurged and ate at Carrabba’s (so good! BUT I got glutened there and ended up feeling bad for the next few days - ugh!).  Shopped at Target, TJ Maxx, and Kohl’s – found everything he needed. 
16: Various errands and dropping kids off places (I have been leaving out a lot of things like this on this list).  Darby’s orthodontist consult.  She could really use ortho treatment now, probably make it a lot easier down the line, but alas – it turns out our insurance only covers ortho treatment ONCE per lifetime (and only a small percentage then), so we are waiting.  If Jarvis wasn’t about to get braces, we might go for it, but yeah – that’s a bit much.  Dropped off the kiddos at church in the evening. 

Jacob being a nut at Darby's ortho consult... Darby in the dental chair in the background

Paige with her "I don't feel good cause I'm teething and my nose is runny" look

17: Justice did yard work at someone’s house – he’s done a LOT of that this month.  He spends most of his money on Papa John’s ordering.  Dropped Jarvis off at soccer practice, and then headed out on the town with the Mollster.  Ate a yummy dinner at Bonefish Grill (love me some saucy shrimp! mmmmm!) and got some Starbucks and headed home. 

cell phone self-portraits are the best, no? lol. Ali will be shocked I was actually wearing a ruffled shirt!

my attempt at taking a self-portrait of Molly and me at Starbucks. Worked out well, don't you think?

18: Haven’t been getting much sleep – aside from not being able to fall asleep at a reasonable hour, Paige has been teething (2 year molars) and that’s been interrupting her sleep. Even with the sleep issues, my energy has been increasing, though.  Starting to get a LOT done around the house.  Had a couple months worth of deep cleaning to catch up on, we are rearranging some kids’ rooms, doing some construction, etc. 
19: Worked around the house.  Kids played outside.  Weather has been gorgeous!  Jarvis fell off the neighbor’s playground (er, JUMPED from the roof of the playground to a rope swing, which broke when he grabbed it so he hit the ground).  Dropped Justice off at the church for Winterjam.  They didn’t make it in though, it was sold out and many thousands of fans didn’t get in. 

Dance party!

pouty pajama time

20: Sunday School and Church.  Luncheon at church.  Got a ton of stuff done at the house.  The boys had a couple of friends over and played airsoft, etc.  Jarvis missed his soccer game because of his hurt foot, and it happened to be the first game they lost all season.  Justice and my very helpful neighbor installed my awesome new dishwasher!  It’s so so so nice to have a dishwasher after not having one for almost a year!!!

Paige the Mess. (photo by darby)

Cutie! (photo by darby)

Paige's first time with painted fingernails and toenails. She LOVED it! (photo by darby)

My attempt at photos of the kids after church - sun too bright, kids hungry, Jarvis missing (on the couch with a hurt foot), etc... not ideal photography conditions. lol

Jacob needs his sunglasses!

Paige insisted on being on the step with Jacob and Darby!

The expressions say everything!

Britt attempted to take a few photos of me (for the hubster, and also for the "before" hairdo)

another photo by Britt

21: Aside from some errands and cleaning, took some time to myself.  Went and got a real, actual haircut.  She ended up giving me too many layers, but that’s my own fault (I wasn’t specific enough).  My friend, Jess, came by for a few and chatted and dropped off some eggs (she’s been keeping us in stock since they have chickens and we love FRESH eggs).    Went to a movie by myself, saw Limitless – loved it. 

Britt attempting to get a photo of my hairdo. It looks better in real life. Much.

Attempt #2

Attempt #3?

Our kitten - pretty sure it's current name is Ninja. I liked Odin better. But it's not my kitten.

My bathroom mirror attempts with my cell phone to get a pic of the new do...

Last attempt to show you people my new hairdo!

22: Darby to gymnastics.  Took Jacob with me and bought him some new tennis shoes, flip flops, and sunglasses – all things he desperately needed.  After we picked up Darby from gymnastics, I took the two of them through an automatic car wash.  Jacob had never known such a thing existed and I’m pretty sure it’s the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to him.  Best 9 bucks I’ve spent in a while!  (p.s.  When did it start costing NINE bucks for an automatic car wash?!?!).  Took Jarvis to the doctor to get an x-ray for his foot that was still bothering him.  No brake – just a sprain, thank goodness! 
(you only need to watch the first 4 seconds of the following video to see Darby’s cartwheel – I kept recording thinking something else would happen, lol…)

(apparently I’ve become retarded when it comes to embedding youtube videos – either that or WordPress has become more difficult – either way, you’ll have to click on the link: Darby\’s cartwheel)

23: Got stuff done around the house, ran errands, etc.  Got to church a little early to pick up the kids and it was a gorgeous evening, so Paige and I swung on the playground swings while we waited.  Paige LOVES the swings.  She’s too cute.  My cell phone takes horrible photos, especially at night:

Paige swinging

24: Took Justice and Jarvis to the dentist.  Justice had been hurting since his last filling – they made a small adjustment and the pain automatically went away – yay.  Jarvis had to get a filling.  Worked on kids’ bedrooms (a seemingly neverending project).
25: Clean, clean, clean.  (had to cancel/postpone our trip to Atlanta).
26: Dropped Justice off to do some yard work and then I went grocery shopping.  Felt pretty under the weather and didn’t get much done the rest of the day. 
27: Did nothing.  All day.  Felt ick.
28: Today – not much going on.  Going to try to get some major bedroom work done today, but still feeling pretty blah.
29: Tomorrow – the usual gymnastics and soccer practice. 
30: Kids will go to church.
31: No plans. 

And that concludes March in Review.  I hope you enjoyed the show.

Paige with her bcf, Gideon, and their sock monkeys.  Paige was looking pretty rough – all scratched up with dry skin and out of sorts from traveling and seeing so many new people and not getting enough sleep for a week.  Gideon was recovering from being ill.  She really does love him though.  She points at his picture and laughs and grins all the time.  Oh, and she said his name a couple of times while we were in Knoxville.  Many more photos to come from our trip to Nashville and Knoxville over Christmas. 

Britta colored her hair purple and teal (the faded pink is still there from her last dye job).  She’s very colorful.  It matches her personality. 

Oh, and p.s. I had my confirmation pregnancy test today (because they have to do one in order to give me the insurance referral to see an OB), and sure enough, I’m pregnant.  As though we didn’t know.  It’ll take a couple of weeks to go through and then I’ll be able to see the OB.  I should be approximately 5 weeks, 1 day today… according to the 40 week schedule.  Which means I’ve actually only been pregnant for 3 weeks, 1 day, but we’ll discuss how much that whole thing confuses me at a later date.

• Andrew and I decided to try Carrabba’s on a date last week.  I had heard they had a gluten-free menu, but hadn’t tried it since Italian food mostly consists of wheat-filled pasta.  I figured they wouldn’t have anything good.  While their gluten-free menu isn’t extremely long, the Chicken Bryan is AWESOME.  And it didn’t make me sick at all!  Oh yum, so good.  Also, the garlic mashed potatoes are delicious.  We went there for our next date too.  But we can’t afford to go back for a while (Christmas kind of puts a dent in the ‘date’ budget – ha!).  Man oh man – I am craving it though! 
• We had our Sunday School Christmas party at our house.  My friend, Karyn, and I made the invitations (which reminded me how much I miss scrapbooking!), and the party was tons of fun.  Andrew ended up missing most of it (he was stuck at work – ), but he joined in on the fun game at the end. 
• Justice started basketball practices.  His games will start towards the end of January.  He likes his coach and his team so far.  I like watching him play!
• Darby has been loving her gymnastics classes!  I think she’d like to do them every day instead of once a week!
• The kittens are SO adorable right now.  Here are a few photos that were taken on December 10th.  I am amazed at how much they have grown since then!!!  They are running around getting into things now.  Between 4 and 10 weeks is the CUTEST age. 
  
  
  
  
• God has really been working in our family.  It’s exciting to see how He makes us learn and grow and how His Holy Spirit becomes more and more evident in our lives as we turn more and more over to Him.  I’m just in awe of His grace and love.  He is amazing.
• I actually ate a piece of candy with corn syrup in it earlier today.  What is wrong with me?  That is SO unlike me.  I can actually handle very SMALL amounts of corn and chemicals, but I usually avoid them altogether.  But for some reason that york peppermint patty was just staring at me and I HAD to eat it.  It’s been a long time since I have craved a non-food item.  lol. 
• Andrew and I have had so much fun doing all our Christmas shopping this year.  We have turned our shopping trips into dates.  We have so much fun together.  I’m so thankful for our marriage!
  
  
• We are getting closer to Andrew’s deployment.  It hasn’t really sunk in yet that he’s leaving, but I’m sure I’ll cry when it does.  At least it isn’t a year this time!
• Speaking of crying, I really hate crying in front of people.  If you have ever seen me cry, congratulations!  You must be special, because I will normally go WAY out of my way to NOT cry.  I have cried a couple of times in the last few days though – I am just so thrilled about some things that God is doing… it’s a little emotional sometimes. 
• I love my family.  I love my husband. I love my kids. I love my life.  I am just so blessed. 
  
• Question: Do any of you want to come to my house and do some construction/decorating work?  I have a big long list of things that need doing and not enough time/energy/money to get it all done.  I think time is the biggest hindrance to the progress.  First up: cleaning up all the dust in the basement (from the sanding) and putting the primer on the walls (I haven’t bought the colored paint yet, but I’ve got a huge tub of primer sitting down there waiting).  Any takers?  Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? 
• Paige thinks she’s a big girl because she can now eat things like cereal-with-milk or soup out of a bowl with a spoon without making a huge mess.  She’s adorable. 
• I think I might work on one of my books tonight.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be an old lady before any of the books I’ve been working on are done, but hey – someone can read them in 50 years. 
• I’m pretty sure I need to ask Andrew to go buy me some dark chocolate, because I’m very tempted to go eat another york peppermint patty.  The last one wasn’t even that delicious (your taste buds change when you stop eating chemicals and they no longer taste like food).  I  must just be hungry. lol
• (while I was checking my spelling and proof-reading this post, I ate a reeses’ cup.  I figured at least it didn’t have corn syrup in it so it was a better choice than the peppermint patty.  It was so disgusting.  And now I have a chemical residue taste in my mouth.  Why did I do that ? So gross.  I need to hit Trader Joe’s and get some of their chocolate-peanut butter cups.  Those taste like real food!  And they’re delicious!)

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Everywhere you go…

Take a look at the five and ten, glistening once again…

With candy canes and silver lanes aglow…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Toys in every store…

But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be on your own front door…

A pair of hopalong boots and a pistol that shoots is the wish of Barney and Ben…

Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk is the hope of Janice and Jen…

And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for school to start again…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

Everywhere you go…

There’s a tree in the Grand Hotel, one in the park as well…

The sturdy kind that doesn’t mind the snow…

Other photos coming, along with stories and lists and cuteness and fun!  I hope everyone is having a wondrous Christmas week!

{these photos were taken when we put our tree up and decorated, the weekend after Thanksgiving}