Make me over please

A friend told me that one of our family magazines around here was having a Mommy Makeover contest and so, I thought I’d enter it just for fun. The contest ended in January and I have not heard from them, so I’m figuring I didn’t win…oh well…I thought I might as well post my entry below…along with my pictures I sent in. Now keep in mind that the first picture was just for fun, but the second one was seriously the most recent picture of me…in my Christmas pjs…ughhh! Anyway, enjoy!

My name is Abbie and I would so love to have a makeover. I just turned 30 in November. I have four children 5 and under. I have one girl and three rambunctious boys. Zoe is 5, Ace is 3, Liam is 2 and Josiah is 6 months. Aside from caring for my sweet babies, I am also the coordinator for the Mothers of Preschoolers group. I also started homeschooling my daughter this year and run a stationary/card business from my home. In my spare time (hehehe), I try to keep our out of town family up to date via our blog. I also try to scrapbook every precious memory I can capture on film. And when they are really quiet (okay so when they’re asleep, and yes, four asleep at once does happen), I try to stay awake to spend time with my husband or read. Not easy to do at midnight!

In June I brought a 9 pound 6 ounce baby into this world (without an epidural…eleven hours in labor…I’ve earned the right to brag). Unfortunately, he didn’t carry the 40 plus pounds I had put on during the pregnancy(editor’s note…I was being kind saying it was just 40 pounds…but I did add the plus so I wasn’t lying). As a result, my “baby belly” is slowly dwindling with my scrambled trips to the gym. You know, when the kids are well and we rush to the gym between ballet, school, church, and MOPS. Or when my sweet husband comes home and sees that a shower has alluded me and my contacts aren’t in…the kids have created drawings on the walls and my sweet toddler has flooded the kitchen again in an attempt to figure out how the faucet works…that’s when he says, “I’ve got the kids, go to the gym or do something!” Ahhh those are the sweet times! Okay, back to reality (my hubby really does offer lots).

I’m at that “in-between” time with my clothes…my maternity clothes are too big, my regular clothes are too small and I’m too cheap to buy lots of clothes in a size I hope to be out of in a few months. I have the wash and wear hair do that is getting too long but between doctors appointments and other activities, when am I supposed to take two hours out of my schedule to sit at the salon?? Oh, and did I mention that I lost a lot of my hair from pregnancy and now the new hair coming back is gray!! So, I guess it would be four hours at the salon to find a color to match my beautiful all dark brown hair!!! Sure gray is a sign of wisdom, but I think it’s more a sign of losing your mind when you’re as young as I am!

So, to recap, managing a home of six people (two of whom are still in diapers and four under 6), homeschooling, working in a ministry, chauffeuring, being the family historian, and trying to earn a little money on the side, with a few extra trips to the gym…my plate is full and I have very little time to keep up my appearances. I love to look nice for my husband and my family and work with the time I have and the very little budgeted money I have and we end up with the below pictures. Okay, so the first one is really just a silly side but the second is the best I can do on a good day or maybe it’s the other way around.

Facebooktwittermail

Way to Go Grace

This is what my mom said when I frequently took a dive or bumped into something. And this is all I could think when I went sailing through the church hall on Sunday. Actually, it was a little foyer.

I was chasing after Liam to take him back to class (he comes in to worship with us during the singing part). My shoes hit the slick concrete and I did a beautiful baseball player slide into the door going into the sanctuary hall. On my way down, my cheek collided with Liam’s head and I took him down too.

No broken bones…just very sore. My shoulder is sore from where I caught myself. My thigh is very bruised from where I landed. Somehow my other leg is a little sore too…not sure what that is from.

I was also praising God that no one saw me…it would have been very embarrassing!

I’m just not young anymore.

Facebooktwittermail

We’re Here Still!

I’m sorry I haven’t posted. Today has been one of few days where I could actually see out of my eye. All of us are still sick and I am about done with my antibiotic. I’ve got eye drops that I have to put in every hour (or when I remember). I’ve been sewing like crazy getting some baby gifts ready and some burp cloths ready to sell! Took Zoe to see Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus 3D concert. Mark took Ace to have some father/son time…that kept him up to speed for about 3 minutes. Now we’re working around the house to get this and that done.

Oh yeah, Freddie the fish is still amongst the living. He was spotted by one of the cats on Thursday. I laughed at poor Champ because it took him a week to realize there was a fish there. I guess he’s forgotten about him because he’s not trying to figure out away to get to him.

Pictures to come!!!

Facebooktwittermail

A Brief Update

Sorry I haven’t posted in so long…for anyone interested. All and I do mean ALL of us have a cold. It started with me…went to Liam…then to Mark…then to Josiah…and now to Zoe and Ace who seem to have gotten it at the same time. To top that off, I think I have some kind of pink eye thing going. Not sure but it hurts and has gotten better with a little bit of antibiotic. Liam and I are heading into sinus infection stage. Mark is getting over it and Josiah seems to not really have it very seriously (yea breastfeeding!!). To add to our colds, the temp today is in the upper 60s!!!

I’m still attempting 3 trips to the gym but it still ain’t happenin’ so I’m trying to be content with two and working my tail off at those two trips!

Not much else going on.

If you see me on the road, be patient, I can’t see very well 🙂

Facebooktwittermail

Oops!

I just realized I haven’t posted since Thursday. Sorry!

Not much new going on. I got to work out on Friday and Saturday and have paid for it today. I’m trying out more of the weight type machines and my muscles are achy!

Dad’s doing great. He’s really glad to be home.

Oh, some reviews:

Go Fish!
has a new album out called Snazzy. It’s AWESOME! For those that have never heard of Go Fish! It’s a Christian group…primarily accapella sounds. They are a children’s group now but in their earlier years they did contemporary Christian. Their motto is “music that won’t drive your parents bonkers!” and they’re right! This is a great album with lots of fun songs but also some good Christian ones. They have this really cute one called “The Bible Book Bop” that goes through all the books of the Bible in a doowop sound. And my absolute favorite is the Mom song. Just some lyrics, “…You’re the boss, the driver, the ultimate survivor, a doctor, a cooker, your man thinks your a looker, if you work all day and you never get paid your a mom” Every mom should hear that one.

And, we saw the Pirates who don’t do Anything this past week. Here’s the kids review:

It was waaaayyyy better than Ratatouille (a movie they just recently saw).

We liked it too. It was nice to take them to a movie where we didn’t have to worry about the language, or sexual overtones. A good wholesome film about vegetables as “pirates” The bad guy was a master in the “mechanical arts.” Very funny! For good clean fun, I would recommend this one.

That’s all. I gotta get ready for my all day scrapbooking day (part of my Christmas present) tomorrow.

Facebooktwittermail

Granddaddy Update-Thursday

Dad is home! He was discharged this morning. They are so glad to be home. The fluid in his lungs is gone. He’s up and moving. He still does not have a lot of energy and will have to learn to be patient with that.

We are still praying that he will not have any depression like his dad had when he had open heart surgery. Please pray for my parents as they adjust to a different eating lifestyle.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying.

Facebooktwittermail

Granddaddy Update-Wednesday

Well, Monday, we were told late in the afternoon that dad would be moved out of ICU. When we went to see him at his 5:30 visitation, his heart rate was up (atrial fibrillation is the medical term). So, he had to stay one more night. Tuesday found dad in a good mood and feeling good. He sat up more and more. In the afternoon, we were told, once again, that he would be moved to a room. By 5:30, he had a room and was set to go in it by 8 last night…and he did!!! We’re thrilled.

I left shortly after finding out and we made it home late last night. Fortunately, Mark is home today and we’re able to get things caught up so we can have a normal routine hopefully tomorrow.

Dad’s room is 336. If anyone wants to email him (he would so appreciate it) click here. Again, his name is George Britt.

Please continue to pray for him and our family as he is recovering. My mom said that she slept really hard last night. Dad slept good until they came in to take his vitals. He still has some fluid in his lungs and they are trying to get that cleared up. When I left, he was still on oxygen and I assume he still is. He’s also having to do breathing exercises to help clear out his lungs.

Facebooktwittermail

More Granddaddy Updates

Granddaddy is still in ICU. It’s been one thing after another. Here’s the lowdown:

Saturday: We’re told probably by the afternoon he could go in a room off the ICU unit. But wait, his heart rate increases (130). Throughout the day it is high. They give him something to bring it down and it bottoms out. So, they give him something to bring it up and it goes up high. By the end of the day, it’s down to the 90s. So, we’re told tomorrow he’ll go into a room.

Sunday: We go to see him in the morning with the doctor. He says he’s going to a room today. At our early afternoon visit, we walk in and they are finishing up x-rays. His oxygen level had decreased. They put him on oxygen and it went up but when they took the oxygen mask off, it went down. The x-ray revealed fluid on the lungs and they gave him medication. By our first evening visit, he was off the mask (much to his relief…he said it stunk). He was also running a fever. But a praise: They got him up to sit and he got dizzy. The second time he got up to sit, he got nauseous. The third time was a charm and he was able to sit up for a good bit to entertain all his visitors.

Monday: So here we are, still in CVICU and waiting to see Daddy, again. We’re told this morning or this afternoon he’ll get in a room.

We have no need to complain. Dad and all of us have been very blessed. We have had to watch one family lose a loved one and another re-enter surgery. It’s heartbreaking but through it all, God has showed us how blessed we are to have had a few minor setbacks. The staff here is overwhelmingly sweet. They have been so good to dad and to us. We are truly grateful to all of them.

Oh, we now have all the kids. I’m able to spendmre time with Mark, but please pray for him as he helps and works so hard to care for them.

More later…

Facebooktwittermail

Granddaddy Update-Friday Afternoon

He is out of surgery. It lasted about 3 hours. He had to have a quintuple bypass (5 bypasses). He looked really good. He was still unconscious. They still had the breathing tube in him but would take it out once they know he’s stabilized.

Okay, it wouldn’t be my family without a funny update!

Here goes: We all got to go back to see him in ICU right after they got him situated. So, we went in and there was another patient next to dad. My mom and everyone else started heading over to the other man (who was quite a bit older and very bald headed). My mom went so far as to lean over him. He didn’t look in very good shape and mom was trying to keep her composure. The nurse “whoo hooed!” us over and we went over to dad. Mom held it to gather as he explained everything and then as we were exiting the ICU, she started to cry and grabbed my hand. Then she started giggling. As she was giggling, she said she was so glad he looked so good and that she really thought that the other patient was dad. We all lost it. Mom kept saying she was wondering what in the world they had done to him!

And: My cousin was having problems with her contacts, so before we went back to see Dad, my aunt (her mother/dad’s sister) told her to take her contacts out and she would be her guide. My cousin is virtually blind without contacts. Well, in all the excitment of going to see Dad, my aunt forgot she was supposd to be leading my cousin and she was walking with her arms out in front trying to find her way. She said she couldn’t even see my dad in the bed.

Oh, the joys of being in my family! While we have waited and prayed for Dad, we have reminicsed, laughed, and giggled over our family antics!

Please continue to pray for Dad. He is worrid bout possibly having depression after the surgery. I praise God that he has helped him through this and kept him safe from anything more serious.

Facebooktwittermail