Christmas is less than a week away!!!!

With that in mind and since I find it terribly hard to sit down and post, this is going to be my December blitz post! You get it all in one big shebang   We, like most of you, have had a crazy busy month.  Thankfully, most of what has made it busy has been of our own choosing and are fun things for us to do in celebration of the joy of Christmas.

First, every Saturday following Thanksgiving, we go out for the big tree hunt!  And since we now live close to our family, that means that Aunts, Uncles, cousins and Nanas, join in the fun and come tromp through trees with us.

Then this year, Brandon and I, were able to attend his work "Holiday" (yes, I am rolling my eyes a little) party at the Lowes Vanderbilt Hotel in downtown Nashville.  The night out, with an excuse to get dressed up, was great.  I don't think we have done anything like that since Addie has been born!

Night out on the town!

Next we had our 2nd Annual Cookie Night!  My sister and her family and Brandon's sister and her family, all descend upon our house one afternoon and the cookie chaos begins.  We decorate cookies, eat them, have soup and salad, eat cookies, kids play, we eat cookies, watch a Christmas movie, the adults decorate cookies, we eat them, we go look at Christmas lights and we eat cookies.  Notice a theme?!

Then this past Sunday, Brandon took Addie and Elle to see the Nutcracker at TPAC.  This is the 4th year that he has done this and it has become a much beloved special Daddy Daughter date.  They dress up, eat a meal out, meet some of the ballerinas and come home with visions of sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads.

I leave you with this, our Christmas Card to you all.  May you be filled with the everlasting joy that only Christ our Savior can give, we pray that you know His peace and lean on His wisdom as a new year begins. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from the Blair's! 

Family Pictures 2012 ....

Only once a year do I torture the kids and Brandon with my request for family pictures.  I don't think that is too bad, right?  When Brandon says that, "He would rather go shopping than do pictures."  I remind him that I could be much more intense about it than I am!  (Geeze... you know it is bad if he says that.)  But nonetheless he puts on a smile, wears what I tell him to, wrangles Ian and hands me the checkbook. What a guy!  So because of his patience and Lindsay Gross's awesome talent with a camera, I present you with a few of my favorites.

Knight in Shining Armor....

Last night was a treat for this Mommy's heart.  I was able to take my knight in training on a Mommy Son Date "Knight" at Chickfila. There Ian was able to work on his sword fighting techniques, learn more about chivalry and hone his armor.
All day long Ian kept asking if it was time for his "Mommy date"  and when the time finally arrived to head out, he jumped into my arms, squeezed my neck and giggled with excitement.  We could have ended the date right then and there and I would have been a happy camper! But more fun was to be had at the restaurant .. they had a balloon artist making swords, a craft where you could decorate your own shield,  a "real live knight" and of course, the obligatory Cow.  What is it that so captivates a child by seeing an over-sized,  mute, fake animal on two legs?  But then the real fun was yet to come, because when you put a bunch of 3-8 year old boys in a play room with swords and shields what do you think is going to happen... why they fight, of course! ;-)
I love Chickfila!  Not just for the obvious reason (their chicken is amazing!), but because I feel that they really do go out of their way to make your visit pleasurable, they do things that encourage parents to be active in kids lives and they strive to stand firm on their core Christian values.
Truly, we had a great time and I would have more pictures to share if my camera had decided not to act up.  But I owe a "Thank you" to the patient man in the Cow costume and to Chickfila of Coolsprings for a wonderful evening.

We are still here, I promise! :-)

Yes, it really has been a month and a half since my last post.  I have thought often of sitting down and writing something, but then I find it near impossible to find the time to do it.  Once I do get a few quiet moments the last thing I honestly want to do is be on the computer.  But alas, we are all still here and doing fine.  Home school has been going well and I can already see great improvement in Addie and her skills, which is encouraging because I don't think there has been any improvement in my teaching skills!
October has flown by and I can hardly believe that we are just a month away from Thanksgiving.  (Yes, I really just said that out loud!)  The fall colors have been surprisingly radiant, considering the lack of rain that we had through the summer and we have been enjoying the weather and the activities as much as possible, until winter chases us back inside for 3 months.
Addie has big news for a little kid!  (This is actually what has prompted me to sit down and write)  She learned to ride her bike yesterday!!!! I am sure that most of you can remember what a big day that was, when you finally accomplished the skill of balance.  She was beaming head to pedal and cruising all on her own up and down our street.  I am thankful that I put down the lap top and postponed ordering that printer ink that we are in need of and said, "Yes" to helping her for just a few minutes.  Those few minutes ended up being very special, as I was the one who got to help her take her first training wheel free ride!  Yesterday, reminded me that I need to say, "Yes" more instead of, "Wait just a minute" or "Not right now."  All too soon, they won't be asking for me to stop and watch and participate in every little detail of their lives.  But for now, she is not shy of the camera and does not think that Mommy and Daddy are embarrassing, so I have included a video of Addie's first solo ride for you all. :-)

The Beach or Bust...

Last week we had the priviledge of spending the week at the beach with Brandon's family for Christmas.  Yes, you heard me correctly, for Christmas!  This year there was a joint decision to spend time together and make memories in lieu of giving gifts.  Let me tell you, we LOVED the idea and loved even more getting to spend quality time with family.
At first it seemed that this was going to be a sequel to National Lampoon's Vacation.  As we were all headed south, Mark and Lindsey's transmission decided to die in their newly acquired Honda Oddyssey, leaving them stranded in Birmingham.  Fortunately, thinking quick on their feet, they rented a car and left their van to be repaired for the week.
Next, we receive the news that hurricane Isaac is threatening to ruin us with flooding and evacuation. The surf rose, it got a little windy, we filled the fridge with water and bought batteries, but amazingly we only had one afternoon of rain!  Every other day we were out combing the beach for the flood of seashells that were washed in.  We discovered that Ian is our shell connoisseur!  I think he collected 10lbs of "special" shells and then slept with them every night.  (Not sure he slept comfortably, but he would not relinquish them for the world.)
Before we left for the beach, Brandon surprised me with an afternoon of scuba diving for our anniversary.  As you can imagine with a hurricane in the Gulf, it was postponed and rescheduled 3 times.  Then as we made our way out to the beach with our classroom training finished and gear in tow, thinking this is actually going to happen, it was cancelled once and for all because you could not see your feet in the water! Ughh... Anniversary FAIL.  But wait... we did managed to sneak in a romantic breakfast of McDonald's coffee and oatmeal.  I know you are all jealous of that one.
So the last day at the beach and plans have changed.  No fun Gulf adventures for us, now we were just soaking up the last rays and waiting for the evening to fall so we can have one last walk along the beach together.  But it was not to be.  That afternoon Brandon began to feel ill and bunked up for the evening nursing a fever.  We just can't catch a break!  So my mommy's heart "settled" for a quiet morning walk along the beach with my favorite boy in the whole world!!  I must admit... that last morning hunt for seashells with Ian made my week.    :-)
In all honesty, we had an amazing time and enjoyed every minute of our chaotic vacation.  God gave us beautiful weather despite the forecast and we made memories that will last forever.  Can't wait to see what the Christmas vacations in the future will hold for us all!!!

Happy Birthday, Addie!

Yes, it is hard to believe, but Addie is 6yrs old today!!! We have moved up to two hands!  Don't you remember when that was such a big deal?  Personally, I think the bigger deal is that she has ignored our express desire for her to STOP growing.  We are constantly calling Anna, "Addison," because it is so hard to believe that Addie is no longer our sweet baby girl, but our sweet big girl now.  She was such a little pip-squeak at 1lb 14oz, but her fiestyness has brought her a long way....  Happy 6th Birthday, sweet girl!

Addie's first picture.

Here she is today on her 6th Birthday.  We went horse back riding!! 

School is in session...

The lunch bag is packed, water bottle filled, new clothes laid out, hair washed and kids in bed early!  Why??? Because tomorrow is Addie's first day of school!! Not sure that she will sleep much tonight, but I promise I will post a picture of our big girl with her big grin and new clothes tomorrow! ;-)


UPDATE:

So here she is! Bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to go! She was SO excited and so independent.  When I asked her if she would rather be dropped off at the front or have me walk her to her room, she said "Just drop me at the front, Mom."  Geeze.... it starts so early!  But she did not get her wish, I walked her to her room anyways. ;-)

Williamson County Fair!

Last Saturday evening we purchased a last minute Groupon, loaded the kids into the car and went to the County Fair.  I, personally, have not been to a fair in about 12 years and figured it was time to revisit the bright lights and barnyard smells from earlier years!  We had a great time.  The kids were able to be "farmers" and pick vegetables, care for animals and sell their produce to the farmers market.  From there they were paid a "dollar" and were able to buy a treat at the store.  Then we went onto see and smell the real deal!  There were pigs with piglets, a longhorn cow, llamas, sheep, goats, chickens and I could go on and on.  But the real highlight of the night was the cotton candy and funnel cake!  Yummy.
I did take pictures for you all, but before I post a few for you to see I have to complain for a minute.  Why in the world is it so hard to create a simple photo collage to post on the blog?!  I promise that I do take pictures more often, but when I sit to post them on the blog I become so frustrated that they never get published.  So PLEASE if you know of an easy way to do this....Share!!! And the likely result will be more pictures for you all to view. :-)

 

It's hard work milking a cow!

Catching our breath, or not...

Wow!  Where has the summer gone?!?  I know that there have been crazy days where I can not believe that time has passed so quickly, but these past couple months have just flown by.  I feel dizzy at the thought of all that has happened in such a short amount of time.  For those of you who know us over the last year, you are probably wondering why I have not become more accustom to this? (ha, ha)  Anyway, here we sit at the end of a whirl wind summer looking ahead to a full fall.
This fall will be a first for us as we begin the challenge of officially homeschooling Addie.  We attended her Back to School Bash this morning and are even more encouraged with our decision to send her to TCS on Mondays.  She is going to LOVE it!  Now the biggest challenge of this phase of life is for me to remember that we are now committed to her attendance and participation in school.  Which means that I need to pay attention to the calendar before I plan things like a family vacation that will cause her to miss school. (Ooops!) Thankfully, most of her education is at home anyways and now I have learned my lesson for the future!  So bring on the Bible Studies, Gymnastics, School and so on. Here's to a wonderfully full fall! :-)

Happy 4th!!!

You would think that this video would be something patriotic and would stir your loyalty to our proud country on this memorable day, but NO!  Really we just wanted to make you all laugh a little at our kiddos, because we sure do. :-) Enjoy and Happy Independence Day!

Happy due date, Anna Grace!

Can you believe it?! Anna turned 2 months old yesterday and today is her due date, CRAZY.  When we are out n' about and people come up to us to coo over Anna, the first question asked, after the rote response of, "Ohhh, that is a real baby!" is, "How old is she?" And instead of dumbfounding them with the true answer of 2 months old we say, "She is a week old."  We did this for a long time with Addie and will probably have to do this for a while with Anna.  It really is mind-bending to think that until a couple of weeks ago, we given a beautiful inner look at what happens in the womb.  Preemies are a blessing in that way.  What a privilege and miracle to see first person, not simply through ultrasound, the person that God has knit together.  We are praising the Lord that although our perfect timing would have delivered Anna today, he had a different plan for her and has safely carried her through.  I know today will always have significance for me and I will forever be thankful for God's grace poured out on us through precious little Anna Grace.   

A quick update...

Anna Grace has been home for almost two weeks!  Praise the Lord.  I have had several people ask how she is doing and how the other kids are adjusting?  Well, Anna is doing great.  We have learned from both of our NICU experiences to "look on the bright side." And one of the brightest things about being in the NICU is that they come home on a schedule, which means we don't have quite as much of the unpredictably of a regular newborn.  She pretty much eats and sleeps according to the schedule she had in the hospital and thankfully that coincides, more or less, with a regular day for us.
The other kiddos are doing well and honestly, I don't even think they have noticed much of a change since we brought Anna home.  As far as Brandon and I are doing... it felt like more of an adjustment when we went from 1 to 2 and then when we brought Elle home than it has with Anna Grace.  Maybe we have just adjusted and come to expect chaos over the course of this past year!
Now I want to leave you with a picture of our sweet tiny girl, who happens to be somewhere in the 4.5lb range now! :-)  A childhood friend of mine, who now has her own photography business, allowed me to snap this shot of our sleeping beauty while she was doing her Newborn pictures.  I cannot wait to see the "real" thing!  Thank you Lindsay, for your time and talent.

Welcome home!

As you can guess by the title, Anna is home!!!! Praise the Lord!  We are so excited to have our whole family home under one roof.  As we were getting ready for bed last night Brandon joked that we needed to call the NICU before we went to bed.  This has been our habit for the past 5 weeks and it is one that I am glad to send packing! Now we can just look in the bassinet to see how Miss Anna Grace is doing. :-)
The kids were excited, as well, to come home and find that their baby 'sis was there waiting for them.  Ian had not yet met Anna and the first thing he did was ask if she wanted to play trucks and offer her his new Leggo truck from his birthday (sweet boy!).  Since then all of them have asked to help hold and feed her.  I am sure that some day soon the eager offer's of help will wind down, but it is sweet to see their excitement for their newest sister.
Also, for those who are curious, Anna is 4lb. 4oz and 15"L.  She fits well in her car seat and seems to like it, but it would be easy to pick it up to go and not realize that she is in it!  She is such a little peanut, but I am sure it won't be for long.  Welcome home, sweet girl!!

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

Today is Elle's 5th Birthday!  She has now been home with us for almost a year (not real sure how that is possible!) and tomorrow we will be celebrating hers and Ian's Birthday's at Grandmom and Granddad's pool.  When I went to post a picture of her, I thought I would look back at some that we took last year and can you believe that this is the same little girl?!

Summer 2011

Easter 2012

I feel like we have "baby" pictures of her, because of all the changes and growing that she has done over the past 11 months. Amazing!  Well... Happy Birthday, Elle.  I hope you enjoy your first American birthday party! :-)

My baby boy is 3yr today!

I can hardly believe that Ian is a whopping 3yrs old today!  Where has the time gone?  I am constantly telling him that he has to stay Mamma's little boy.  He says that he will, but I can see that he is not listening.  It's obvious, because here he is at 2 days old....

And here he is now, kissing his bug!  How does that happen that they grow so fast?!

 Oh, Ian.... I hate that I can no longer use the excuse, "He is only 2yr!" for your behavior!  Happy Birthday, sweet boy.  I love you. 

Our little girl is so big at 3lbs. 6oz!

So one week ago Anna took her first little bottle of 10ml and let me tell you, she took it like a pro.  In fact, she has been doing so well with her feeds that she is now allowed to take as much of her "lunch" as she wants from a bottle, which for her is the whole 27ml that they give her!  And she is also allowed to do so from a bottle as often as she wants to.  This is such great news, as this is a huge step toward her showing that she truly is a big girl and is ready to come home.  Now don't get me wrong... she still has a little ways to go before we have that welcoming party, but she is getting closer everyday, Praise the Lord!
I have had several people ask what the criteria are for Anna Grace to come home.  Most think that there is some weight that she must reach before that can happen.  Well, that is not true, but it does often coincide with the criteria established.  The basic list of things she has to do to be discharged is as follows:
1. Take all her meals by bottle or breastfeeding, while maintaining her weight & growing.
2. Maintain and regulated her body temp. on her own.
3. No Apnea or Bradycardia spells.  Which are fun medical terms for remembering to breath and keep her heart-rate up!
Once she meets all these requirements, be assured that we will be the first to let you know! :-)

Got milk?!

Anna is our little rock star!  She had her first bottle today, a whole 1/3 of an ounce!  And let me tell you, she took it like a pro.  We were prepared for some sputtering and possibly a lower than normal heart rate or O2 saturation, but no.  She rocked it! She might be little but she continues to show us that she is a big girl.

2 weeks old today!

Well, Anna received a gift today for her 2 week birthday!  She was "upgraded" to a private room in the Children's wing of Vanderbilt.  (YAY!!)  Now you might be asking, "What does this mean?"  Well, it means that when we visit her we can now stay over night if we want, because there is a pull out bed/sofa, private bathroom with shower, TV and a mini refrigerator.  We can also have 4 visitors in her room at a time, instead of 2.  This is a blessing because both Addie and Elle were able to come back and visit with Anna at her bedside today.  Until now, we were quite content to stay in the other area of the NICU because it was very familiar to us and was so similar to our experience with Addie.  But WOW!  We now know that we were missing out and are very happy to have such a great "suite" now. 
The other great part about being officially in the Children's hospital, is that it is SO much more family and kid oriented (obviously).  The colors and decorations are cheerful.  The waiting rooms are designed for families, so the kids don't feel so confined.  In fact, I think they thought they were visiting some sort of children's museum and we had to settle them down a couple of times! :-)  Anyways, we are praising the Lord, for the small blessing of a comfy room to visit in and for the huge blessing of a healthy baby thus far.  Anna's headed into her 3rd week of life @ 2lbs 12oz and we are hoping to cross that 3lb mark soon!  Thank you for your continued prayers.  Hopefully, I will be able to post a few more pictures soon!

One week update....

Anna Grace is doing so well, Praise the Lord!  Brandon and I are continually amazed at how different a 31week baby is from a 27week baby.  It took Addie a whole year to get to where Anna is now on a respiratory level!  Anna has been completely off of all respiratory support (no pressure, cannula or O2) for the past 4days and the doctor's hope that she will be up to "full" feeds in the next 3 days, so they can stop all IV fluids.  For those of you with no NICU experience, this is really a wonderful place to be!  It means, for now, she will only have her feeding tube so holding her is much easier and she is overall healthy, just tiny.  We know that any day she could take a step backward, but we are praising the Lord that right now her biggest hurdle is to eat and grow.

She always looks very comfortable wrapped in her snuggie.

Anna Grace Blair

2lbs. 5.5oz, 14"L

Here we are again...

Almost 6 six years ago we left a phase of life behind that we hoped to never revisit, but today we find ourselves there again.  Anyone who has had to spend time in a NICU with their baby, knows how much you hope to forget the sounds, smells, ect associated with it.  Well, just 24 hours ago, it came rushing back into our hearts and minds, only this time we are in TN reliving the experience with another Preemie.
Yesterday morning at 2:56am we welcomed miss Anna Grace Blair into this blustery world.  She is only 31 weeks gestationally, but is already known as a "firecracker" to the NICU nurses here at Vanderbilt.  We are rejoicing that she has four more weeks behind her than when Addie was born and it is evident just 24 hours into life.  Anna is breathing on her own and has already received her first CC of mommy's milk!  I am happy to see that her little 2lb 5oz self is doing well so far, but I remember that we still have a long way to go.
Please join us in prayer over the course of the next several weeks, as we pray for Anna's continued growth and health and also, as we try to balance the needs of three other kiddos with hers.  When I can shake this magnesium induced cloud that my head is stuck in, I hope to share more with you all, but until then I am sure the Lord has a purpose in this and we will wait on Him.

"Meeska Mooska Mickey Mouse!"

We have a mouse problem and it's not one that I can fix by changing the channel.  I wish it were Mickey Mouse, that would be a much easier problem to solve, but unfortunately the small furry grey creatures we are trying to exterminate are not as loveable!!  And it has me pondering why in the world a cartoonist chose to animate and personify such a pesky and disgusting nuisance.
A short time ago, we noticed evidence of our house guests in the garage. Although we were bothered by their presence we were not terribly concerned, because our garage door is consistently left open while the kids play.  We figured the mice were likely foraging guests, not permanent ones, that is until they found their way to the chocolate.  It turns out that chocolate is an aphrodisiac for mice, imagine that.... they have the same weakness I do!  And once they discovered my stash I, of course, declared war.  You don't break into a pregnant lady's chocolate and expect to get away with it! 
Our current body count is three.  One for the mouse trap, one for Brandon and his skinned up knee and one for Mazie, the fastest mouser east of the Mississippi.  I am appalled that we have actually caught that many and worried that there is likely a nest of them under our home.  So now it is time to call out the big guns.  We have an exterminator coming tomorrow with the guarantee of getting rid of our current pesky residents. ( Don't worry, I will make sure that Ian is not in the way, as he can sometimes be confused for such a resident.)  I would have had pest control out last week if I could have had my pick of days, but hopefully tomorrow is the beginning of the end and I will no longer feel like Jack Sparrow wondering "But why is the rum chocolate gone?!" 

"I'd like to check you for ticks"

Now that you are all humming Brad Paisley's hit song.... we can discuss how this has become an almost daily phrase out of my mouth!  I grew up with these little blood sucking monsters and can't tell you how many I have taken off of various pets, but now this phrase is not only for Mazie, but for the kids too. 
We have "woods" in our backyard.  Yes, I use this term very loosely, but this is how the kids refer to the small wooded green belt in between our house and our neighbors.  Daily, I am asked if they can put on their rain boots and tromp through the trees.  They build "houses" with the sticks and rocks, look for bugs and generally expand their imaginations!  I LOVE that you stick a kid in the forest and their imagination comes alive.  Growing up if I was not in the pool, then my brother and I lived in the forest every summer pretending to be settlers, pioneers and Indians.  I forgot what a treasure that was until recently when my kids discovered the same thrill from being among the trees.
Not only do they spend countless hours outside, but they have already become aware of things such as poison ivy, spiders, snakes and TICKS!  There is real value in learning that every plant is not a good plant, that some bugs can make us very sick, to have fun but always be aware that there are dangers and, of course, not to act like a complete girl when you get a tick or have chigger bites!  Take a lesson for your little brother and be fascinated by the bugs instead of screaming bloody murder and running.  Hopefully one day we will have real wooded acreage for the kids to romp across, but in the meantime the small quarter acre behind our house might as well be as large as the whole of Smoky Mountain National Park!

A hard day...

Today is a hard day.  I knew last night that it would be hard and tried my best to stop it from coming.  You see today, we have to say good bye to Ned, our boxer, whom we have had for the past 7 years.  For those of you who know him, you know how hard this is.  I can not tell you how many people have asked us where we got him, if he has any puppies or have offered to "take him off our hands" if there was ever need.  We have even had friends who went and began the search for their own "Ned."  His personality is wonderfully laid back and playful when he needs to be.  He is patient with the kids and Mazie (his doberman sister) and he has the softest floppy ears that lend him the cutest quizzical expressions.  When Ned greets you at the door his whole body shows his enthusiasm as his hind quarters twist from side to side!
But Sunday afternoon Ned began to vomit and was very lethargic, very.  We prayed and hoped that the morning would bring a change for him, but unfortunately there was none.  So, Monday morning I took him to the vet.  I am ever the optimist and was sure that he just had a "bug" that would pass.  The vet ran a bunch of tests and x-rays that proved fruitless and then resorted to an ultrasound of his belly, as that is where he suspected the source of the problem to be.  The doctor was right and found a mass on Ned's spleen that is cancerous.  He told us that we could pursue treatment, but in 6 to 12 months it would return as it is a blood born cancer.  Wow!  Just 24 hours earlier he was romping around the yard with Mazie and now this afternoon we have to say good-bye.
I am thankful that this has been quick for Ned's sake and mine, as I would hate to watch him hurt any more that he has to.  Even Mazie knows that something is wrong.  She normally pesters him incessantly and shoves him off their bed so she can lie down, but amazingly she has let him have the bed and did not even try to steal the eggs that I made him this morning.  I am concerned about how she will do in the long term, because she has never not been with Ned.  Thankfully, the kids do not yet understand what saying "good bye" will mean, making this easier on them.  Brandon and I, however, are heart broken.  Ned is the first pet we have ever had as a couple.   It is really an understatement to say that he has been a blessing to our family.  He has been somewhat of a constant these past 7 years, especially for me.  We have moved 3 times, brought 3 different children home, welcomed countless friends and family to our house and through it all Ned has been Ned.  I, of course, got little sleep last night because I would wake up tearful at the thought of home just not feeling the same without him. I will probably weep for the next couple of weeks whenever I see one food dish and collar, instead of two or accidentally ask the kids to let the "dogs" out.  But despite my sadness at losing a great companion and dog, I am SO thankful that God allowed us to have Ned for the 7 years that we have.  The bar is set high and I don't think any other boxer can ever come close!
In a few hours we will say good bye to Ned, knowing the he will go to sleep and will be able to rest under the shade trees in my parent's yard, free from pain.

 

Thinking Fall 2012 already!

OK, first of all I just really paid attention to the calendar for what is obviously the first time in a long time and is it REALLY March 15th already?!  I cannot believe that it has been 3weeks since my last post.  So sorry about that (because I am sure that is what each and everyone of you do every single day, check my blog for more randomness)!  Well, even though I am living in some alternate time warp, I am at least on the ball with something.
Addie is officially beginning school in the fall! We received her "invitation" letter to attend The Comenius School.  She is so very anxious to start, even though her mother has been putting this off. Surely she is not really old enough yet?!  Some of you may know that we plan to home school, which I am excited to begin and convicted is the right thing to do come fall.  However, I am equally excited that she will attend this tutorial on Mondays at The Comenius School!  This is such a relief for me because she will have access to wonderful teaching and activities such as, humanities, art, music and drama.  Which honestly are not my strong suit and would be rather tedious for me to try and include in our daily schooling with three other preschool/infant children to take care of. 
Also, being new to the area this will be a great way for me to meet other families in the community that are like-minded.  Addie has been greatly missing her friends in Texas, so I hope that she can build new friendships through the tutorial. In addition, we think this will be an excellent way for her to have a little bit of independence and individuality from Elle and vice versa.  Although they play great together and love each other to pieces, only being 9 months apart has still posed a few challenges and Addie is very adamant about maintaining her position as eldest.
I can just see her now on her first day of "school!"  Face radiant and beaming with pride, lunch box and backpack of supplies on hand.... I promise to take a picture, but cannot promise that there won't be a couple of tears (from me, of course)!

Spring break and Empty nesting....

I am sure that some of you are wondering why in the world we would be concerned with the "empty nest" syndrome while we have a house full of toddlers!  Well, Spring break is around the corner. Yes, I can still understand why you might be confused because we don't have school age children, so what in the world does that have to do with us?!  The answer is simple...It may not be Spring break for me, but it is for Grandparents who work in the schools and go to school! :-)  So the kiddos are going to go spend a night with Nana and a night with Grandmom, leaving me with an "empty nest."  Now you without children might not understand the train of thought that occurs next, but hopefully you will be humored by it nonetheless. 
The thought of a quiet house for two days is thrilling, relaxing, tiring and lonely.  The thrilling and relaxing part makes sense without any obvious explanation while the tiring part may cause some stirrings of wonder in you.  Well, it will probably be tiring because I will finally have any opportunity, without many distractions, to get done all those little things that I normally excuse getting done because of the kiddos!  For instance, refinishing the new dining table from Craigslist, painting over all the greasy little hand prints and streams of dog drool in the kitchen and hallways (appealing, huh?), sewing curtains for the loft, sorting through old baby clothes and the list goes on.  See aren't you tired already, too?
Anyways, as I was discussing all this and the timing of dropping the children off and picking them up with Brandon, it hits me that I am going to really miss them and don't know that I will like the sound of an empty house all around me.  Yes, it's only two days and I am very excited about this, but my pregnancy hormones can still get the better of me.  So I find myself laying in bed and wandering down the road of "someday" (of course I take Brandon with me by discussing this out loud).  Someday the kids will be gone in their own homes and ours will be quiet.  Hopefully, God will allow the future to play out something like this... Addie will be 22-23years old, married and grandchildren will be in the not so distance future.  That way our youngest would only be 16ish and still at home and by the time she is ready to leave we will have grand-kids to start filling the house with noise again!  Brandon was probably rolling his eyes at me in the dark, but these are the crazy paths that my mind wanders.  Thankfully, upon waking the next morning all those futuristic thoughts of "someday" are out of my mind as Ian calls from his bed "I'm POOP-EEE!"  And I start to think, maybe I will let my lazy pregnant self take over for those couple of days and sit on the couch and eat bon-bons......

Why is it when you are pregnant that everything becomes more of a chore?!  I have absolutely no desire to clean my house like I usually do, I don't really want to cook very much (except for the occasional batch of cookies, of course!), picking up the "presents" that the dogs leave us in the backyard is definitely off my to-do list, the thought of cleaning the unidentified pile of crumbs out of the van is disgusting and sadly, blogging has just fallen off my radar all together.  (Whew, even writing that much feels like an accomplishment!)  In addition to all the aforementioned tasks, I have a hard time writing when I don't feel like it is worthy of your time to read.  I am sure that some of you don't mind the rambling and the absence my blog posts lately makes me feel like I am neglecting friends.  So, today is one of those rambling kind of days.  My musings are not that entertaining right now, but I do hope to conjure up enough motivation to post some recent pics of our first trip to the Nashville Zoo soon.  Until next time, I leave you with this...

Encores Children's Consignment Sale

I survived my first consignment sale this past Friday!  This is a new experience for me, because in San Antonio they really did not have many of these sales, but here in Nashville there are two whole seasons for consigning!  Crazy.  And when I say that they are a big deal, I really mean BIG.  This sale was in an old Big Lots building and it was full to the hilt with toys, clothes, shoes, furniture and so forth.  And there are some seriously intense people there, people with clothes racks upon clothes racks of items to consign.  How on earth anyone has that many items to sell without being a wholesaler is beyond me, but then again I guess we do live in a consumer culture.   I am also consigning at this sale and am hopeful that the amount I sell will cover the cost that I spent.  If this philosophy turns out true then it really is more of a clothes swap and a great deal!

Shades of Pink.....

Well, the verdict is in.  Ian will be completely surrounded by pink tutus, princesses, ballerinas and eventually, hormones!  Addie's first reaction to the news that she would have another little sister, was a big grin that diminished within seconds and gave way to the question, "But who will Ian play with?"  (Such a sweet little girl)  And I guess the answer will be, "Daddy!"
The next question that flowed from Addie's wise little mouth was, "What is her name?"  Well, that is a great question!  We have no idea and the ideas that we do have are not exactly copacetic.  The good news is that we have a little while to figure it out and in the meantime we might even consider any serious suggestions. :-)

Well, so far I am not off to such a great start with my blogging for the year!  Sorry it has been a little slow, but that is what winter does, right?!  Draaags, on and on.  We have had a little bit of adventure, beginning with the first "snow" of the year.  I know some of you would not call it that, but from a kids perspective it was a foot deep!  Don't you just love how kids see things?  Only they can turn a dusting of snow into a blizzard. :-)

I think I should just start calling them "the twins."

When asked what he was eating he said, "Christmas."

Next I was able to travel back to San Antonio for a friends' wedding.  It was such a blessing to visit with friends ( I have missed having those!) and enjoy some unseasonably warm weather.  Only in San Antonio do you not need panty hose in January!  Sadly, I did not get one good picture of the bride and groom, but I did get a couple with good friends over the course of the weekend.

My good friend Candace (Mother of the Bride, can you believe that?!)

So good to catch up with you all and the cheesecake was a perk!

 Well, that is all for now until I come up with some great inspiring thoughts or further adventures.  Don't hold your breath, especially for the great inspiring thoughts, because those are few and far between with pregnancy brain!! :-)

A real look at 2011 and humbled going into 2012....

Wow, another year down and another already underway.  As I have been looking back over 2011, I remember so many different emotions, anticipations and changes. I began 2011 with excitement and eager anticipation of who the next child would be that God would add to our family.  Naively, although still good and right, we were so excited about helping the plight of the orphan, rescuing one of the "least of these" and providing a loving home. Compassion and passion filled our hearts and minds for the calling that God had given us.  To act and bring this child home whomever that may be.  Then we received the phone call and even before seeing a face, our hearts were swayed for this little girl dropped off at an orphanage in Africa.  From that point, we were driven to bring her home - why should she wait in an orphanage one day longer than necessary?!  Thankfully, God's timing matched with ours and we sailed through the rest of the process and left to bring her home in record time.  We boarded the airplane with many other adoptive and proud parents, all anxious to return home and really begin life.  The seat belt sign went on and that "real life" we were so anxious to start, began.  We were thrown headlong into parenting a new child as Elle threw a fit right there in the seat for the next hour until the seat belt sign went off and we could remove it.
Now I am thankful to note that we really have not had many of these experiences with her, as she is one of the most congenial children in the world!  But for some reason, this rocked MY world and solidified the fact that we really had no relationship with her, although in our minds we had already created one.  I am sure that all of the "la-la land" emotions and thoughts until this point were necessary to get us through the process, but I completely overestimated myself.  I was boasting in my own good deeds and self righteousness.  Yes, we were being faithful and doing what God had called us to, but somewhere along the line, I became arrogant and overly confident in myself.  I had forgotten that God likes to use our relationships, marriages and children to make us holy and more into his image, not necessarily happy.  Although that is a perk!  And when "real life" descended upon me in that airplane, I became faced with, perhaps, the biggest challenge I have ever had...myself and my sin.
I still firmly believe that we have done what we were called to do, that Elle is the child chosen to be in our family and that adoption is good and right and a reflection of the Father's love for us, his adopted sons. But, I failed to see that this journey was not about our actions to rescue a child, that was just the beginning.  The part where the story reads, "Happily Ever After," everyone smiles, congratulates you on finally having your child home, and they close the book on another happy family.  They walk by and flash a smile of pity and sympathy for Elle and undeserved admiration for us.  What people don't know or see, are all of the ways that I daily fail to reflect the love of the Father, not just to Elle but to Addie and Ian, as well.  Daily life has a way of causing you to lose some of your compassion and sympathy.  Without these blinders on, it is very hard to miss the glaring shortcomings of your own selfish needs and desires. At times I feel overcome and trapped by them.  Why did I begin this journey so blissfully and arrogantly unaware of my selfish expectations?  How am I to overcome them?  How will life ever feel "normal" again?  Do I really want to return to "normal," where I go throughout life without feeling the daily need of my savior and the weight of my sin that he bore? My answer is yes and no.  "Yes," I know that life will level out.  This past year has been exceptional and being pregnant in the midst of everything else definitely taints my outlook and feelings.  But above those realities, is the one that I know my God will not leave me lacking and has great plans for me and these little ones he has planted around us.  The other answer is "No," I don't want to forget the sacrifice made for me, a wretched sinner incapable of lifting myself out of the mire.  So as I move into another year, I pray that daily, "I will not boast in anything. No gifts, no power, no wisdom.  But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection."

How Deep the Father's Love for Us

How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom