Jack is FINALLY walking!

At 16 months we were starting to get a little worried. He could cruise as long as he was holding on to something, but he just wasn't ready to turn lose. What a great Mother's Day present, though! Maybe he was saving up....

A little update

I'm still sick. But I serve a good, good God. SO much of what I was overwhelmed with last week God has worked out and given me peace over. Last week I just could not imagine how I was going to start getting things back on track around here and one by one my good Father started sorting them out. We've worked on discipline in a calm, consistent way. which just didn't seem possible a week ago, and seen some good results. God provided Casey and I with some time for a date night this weekend and that was so refreshing for both of us. We both work really hard in our own spheres and time together seems to be the first thing we let slide when it gets really busy around here. But it is so important! Without it we each feel like we're in this on our own, but when we have even just a little time together to check-in we get back on the same team and everything is just so much better. I also got a special treat on Saturday night. Casey took me to the Christian bookstore here in town to browse (something I never have time for with the kids) and they've added a whole homeschooling room! With a table and chairs and coffee! And monthly homeschooling meetings with local (and not so local) experts! And the lovely woman running the whole thing - she has 25 years of homeschooling experience! It was such an unexpected blessing. All of Levi's buddies will start Kindergarten this year and I've been a little (okay, a lot) worried that he would feel left out. My prayer was that I would find some way to get him really excited about homeschooling. Well, God's gotten me really excited! More excited than I've been in quite some while. And that's really rubbing off on Levi. God's just gently reminded me of the vision He's given us for our family. I can see the big picture again:) There have just been so many encouragements along the way this week, some big and some small. There were so many prayers answered in totally unexpected ways. As a matter of fact, there's been at least some improvement on every item I put on my list and none of it resulted from what I thought needed to happen. I'm in awe!

Getting things in Order

This has been a rough season. All the systems that we had in place just don't work when mommy is sick and spending LOTS of time on the couch. Add to that the general malaise I've been experiencing (I'm not depressed, just hormonal and very...blah) and one very hard-working hubby. Stir in three kids going through all sorts of different growth spurts and developmental stages. Sprinkle liberally with church "issues." Broil under the constant critique of family, friends, aqauintences and little old ladies in Kroger. What you wind up with is one big mess.
Now, I don't mean that everything is going wrong. Far from it. We are all thrilled about this new little baby. To say that we can't wait for September would be quite the understatement. And we all still love each other and like to hang out together. We still have a wonderful bedtime ritual that includes devotions and prayers and wrestling with Daddy (or Brenna's new favorite game, combing fleas - please don't ask). Levi's learning to read at a rate that just astounds me and Brenna is (finally) getting the hang of going to the potty. Jack has become a real charmer and we're still at church every Sunday morning.
But the things that are going wrong...well, they need a lot of work. There's just so much that I know I need to do, and so much that I don't have a clue what to do about, and even some that I need to stop worrying about all together and just let God handle. So, my big plan is (drumroll for those who know me) to make a list. Because that's what I do. Then I'm going to spend some serious time praying over this list. First thing on the list? Asking God for the time to spend serious time praying over the list! I've spent the last few months making feeble attempts at handling all this and all I've figured out is that I really can't. Not on my own. Not without Him.
Here's just a little of what's on the list. If any of you feel led to share what's worked for you - I couldn't be any more open to suggestion:)
Challenge #1. Finding daily time with God.
Challenge #2. Disciplining myself to get my work done even when I don't feel like it. And cutting back/delegating *my* work so that is even possible.
Challenge #3. Getting some new simplified routines in place so that things still function with a very pregnant mommy and with a new baby.
Challenge #4. Getting the house simplified for the same reason.
Challenge #5. Knocking out some discipline problems in the kids (disrespectful attitudes, laziness, whining, etc!)
I can't wait to get started on even a little of this!

Week 21

I finally hit week 21 today! That actually only leaves me a little over 17 weeks since we've officially scheduled a c-section for September 6 (my best friend's birthday! Hey, Betty!). Of course, this little fella is going to get here when he gets here. We had a schedule for Jack, too, but he made an early appearance. I'm hoping that doesn't happen this time, but I will be prepared ahead of time this fall instead of waiting until the last minute (you know, so I won't run out of stuff to do and get bored).
All that stuff in the pregnancy books about how morning sickness should be gone by week 12 or 14 or whatever...well, that doesn't apply to me. I'm still sick and probably will be for quite some time. The plus side is...honestly, I don't know what the plus side. There probably is one, but thinking about it makes me very cranky so let's move on.
Seeing the little guy on the sonogram last week has made me almost unbearably excited to get my hands on him! Y'all should've seen how cute! But since I was so sure we were having a girl (so much for my intuition this time around!), we hadn't given much thought at all to a boy name. We (I) had Mary Suzanna picked out for a girl, btw - Mary for my grandmother and Suzanna for my sister. I'm a little disappointed that I won't get to use that name this time around, but I don't think it's fair to name a little boy Mary so we'll have to think of something else:) We have a tradition of naming our kid's after someone in our family, but since we've used several last names for middle names we're running out of men who need a namesake. I'm also trying to give each one their own initial so names beginning with L, B or J are out unless we fall in love with a name and just have to change the rule. And we want a strong, masculine sounding name. It's become quite a trend around here to give little girls decidedly boy names (I know a James, a Micheal and a Emma Brock - all girls) and so many names have become quite either/or. The really "boy only" name list is shrinking fast so all ideas are welcome!
I guess we still have a little while to figure it out:)