Please forgive me that I don't have any pictures to post for this blog entry, as my Thanksgiving was a bit different. It seems here lately that I can't keep my children well. Since my daughter started preschool in August, she has brought home just about every illness you could think of. It's been pitiful to watch my children be sick and pass it back and forth to each other. Normally they are just your run of the mill colds, but this most recent one was a doozy.

I feel like all I do is write about my kids not feeling well. I guess it's that time of year. Last Friday, as I was putting my daughter to bed, she was complaining of not feeling well. She usually never says that, so I figured she was coming down with something. Then the next morning, she was running a low grade fever and was sluggish. By nightfall her temp had reached 102.5 and she was so tired and had a horribly runny nose. I gave her two different types of meds and put her to bed. Over a week later, she still isn't completely well, her cough is awful, but her fever is gone and she is back to acting normal.

So that brings us to Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. She was still pretty sick and my boys were starting to run fevers as well. We normally go to my parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of my family, but I knew this year we'd have to miss it. I decided to rise to the occasion and cook a Thanksgiving meal for the first time (hey I'm young and have never had to, don't judge me ;). I went to the store and bought everything I'd need the night before Thanksgiving. You'd be surprised at how many people actually do their shopping the night before, or at least I was. It made me not feel so crazy.

I made a sliced honey cured ham, sweet potato casserole, sage and onion dressing, deviled eggs, rolls, and the family favorite peanut butter balls. Everything, aside from the dressing, turned out well and we had a nice family Thanksgiving meal. It wasn't as good as Mom's, but it was good enough. And the peanut butter balls were amazing. After cleaning everything up I was wore out. Props to all those who do all their family's cooking for the holidays each year. I hope I don't have to do it again for a while. I was thankful for a meal and to be home with my family though, so I was happy overall. Just sad that my kiddos were feeling so bad.

We all laid down and watched a movie together and today we put out the Christmas decorations. My husband has had a nice long weekend off, and that has been great. So I would say, other than the illness, we had a great Thanksgiving and now we are looking forward to Christmas! I hope everyone out there had a great day and got to eat lots of ham and turkey. God Bless you all and give thanks for your blessings!

I will be writing another blog post soon. :)

Hugs and Love,

It seems as though every day during the week that my husband has off is filled with errands and being busy in general. There is always something to do and things to get done right? Especially here close to the holidays. But who am I kidding? I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet.

I wanted to share my twin boy's premature birth story, not only to document the events for memory purposes, but to also enlighten or help anyone that may be facing the same thing.

Twin's 7 week ultrasound!

I was 32 weeks pregnant and the pregnancy had had a lot of ups and downs. Finding out I was pregnant with twins was quite a shock to both my husband and myself. There is only one set in my family and they are distant relatives. So, seeing the two tiny peanuts on the ultrasound was exciting and scary all at the same time. My pregnancy with my daughter had been pretty uneventful (and wonderful). Aside from some slight bleeding throughout, not much happened during my pregnancy with her. I carried her to 41 weeks and was induced due to some high blood pressure. After 14 hours of labor and almost 3 hours of pushing, Izabelle arrived. She was a beautiful 7 lbs 2 oz of pure perfection. Three weeks after her arrival I started hemorrhaging and that went off and on for 3 weeks. I finally found a hospital that would help me, and come to find out I had what they called "retained placenta" and was bleeding profusely. Traumatic..very. I had anxiety for a few years after that due to the fear I experienced. But I had an emergency surgery, called a D&C, and all was well. So, the pregnancy itself was wonderful. Izzy was a very active baby and I was calm and happy throughout the entire 41 weeks. We even moved when I was 39 weeks along (I still don't know how I did that). And now on to my twins story...

32 weeks

Early on in my pregnancy with the boys I started noticing my heart rate was staying in the 150's all of the time. It frightened me. So I called my OB and was set up with a cardiologist. I had many tests run and it was concluded that, in fact, my heart rate was staying in the 150-170 range all of the time. But my heart was healthy and only having to adjust to all the extra blood I was pumping to nourish 2 babies! What a relief! Nonetheless, my OB decided that my job where I was on my feet all day was going to be too much, and I was taken off work. Even though I was filled with apprehension about not working, I only wanted my babies to be okay and healthy. It seemed to be the best decision, and I was able to keep Izzy home with me and bond with her before the babies came. Everything seemed to be coming together.

Mama's sweet baby girl

Mama and Izzy

The rest of my pregnancy went pretty smoothly. I craved home cooked meals every night, so I was doing a lot of cooking. Any kind of junk food made me sick. I knew then my boys were going to be good eaters, and I had a strange need to smell Pine-Sol and Febreeze all the time. It's an ongoing joke between my husband and I. He always pokes fun at me about how I was poisoning the family with all the chemical sprays. I read it is a form of Pica. Odd I know. Anyway...other than that, I was feeling pretty good and getting bigger by the day.
Since I was carrying multiples, I was considered high risk, so every 1-2 weeks I would go have an ultrasound. I always got a good report and left feeling so relieved. Plus, all the cute photos they gave me were a great added bonus! I reached 32 weeks and was feeling pretty good, until a few days later. I woke up and just felt very tired, more so than normal. I tried to stay pretty active during my pregnancy, playing with my daughter and keeping up with the house work. But this day, I just couldn't muster the strength to do anything. I stayed in the recliner that entire day, only getting up when I absolutely had to. I'm very blessed with a little independent child that would go to the refrigerator to get her own snacks. I sent my husband a message while he was at work later that afternoon informing him I was absolutely not going to cook dinner. We decided on Wendy's and I couldn't wait for him to get home. Once he arrived, we put in the movie Bad Boys II and ate dinner. After we finished, I got up to go use the restroom and while in there I felt a sensation that felt like one of my babies had punched me in the nether regions. A large gush came and I called my husband in for help. He started laughing saying I probably just lost control of my bladder. "I don't think so, pretty sure my water just broke!" I called to him. I got up and decided to wait and see what came of it, and every step I took more water gushed out. We decided to call the on call OB. She informed us to get to the ER immediately.

I wasn't planning on writing anymore tonight, but I just want to. You ever have those late nights where you've been down and out and having a hard time, and you just can't sleep? Well, that's me tonight. Except it's only 9:25 pm. Hey, that's totally late to me. It actually feels like it could be closer to 11. The sun now goes to bed around 5 pm with daylight savings, so I'm all messed up on what time it really is. Life has been a little tough lately. First world problems I know. Just to preface, I know I am tremendously blessed with my life, home, and family. But even us very blessed and happy people have problems. It's just been rough. My husband and I can't seem to get along lately, everything has become an argument the past couple of days. Money, kids, time, you name it, we've hashed it out. I'm sure every couple known to man has had these same types of debates, but for some reason I always feel like I'm one of the only people in the world going through this and I must be doing something horribly wrong in life. When I was younger in my early twenties, I used to be so confident and sure of myself (I'm sure most early twenty-somethings feel this way). I would get out with girlfriends and go to Sonic just to drink a slush and chat. I did things for me and had time for me. Now, as a mother, I do for everyone else all day everyday and there is little to no time left for me. I really wouldn't have it any other way. Because if I had all this time for myself that would mean my family didn't exist and that would be the worst thing ever. I just want a little time for me every once in a while ya know? Like to just go out and get my nails done, or peruse the aisles of Target, or go stare at a wall somewhere alone. I know my husband probably feels the same way. He works very hard at his job, with very long hours. He comes home exhausted to a house full of screaming youngsters most nights. It has to be frustrating. I guess this is where most older couples would tell us that these are the most difficult, yet rewarding times in our marriage, and that we will miss them when they are gone. I suppose they'd be correct. I can't imagine a time where all of my kids are grown and gone. I tear up just thinking about it. But just as a person, as a woman, I miss the me I used to be sometimes. That confident 21 year old that felt like she could take on the world. I literally thought I could be anything I wanted to be. I married young and started my family young. I love being a mama. To me, there isn't anything more rewarding in this world. But I do feel like I am failing daily. I am sure if I talked to any other new stay at home mom, she would tell me she feels like this too. Sadly, all of my friends are accomplished full time employees working on their careers and waiting to have families. I wouldn't trade them, I love my friends and am proud of them. We just don't really relate to each other anymore, and I haven't met or found any other mommies to bond with yet. I know my husband probably wishes sometimes that I had a mommy friend to talk to, that way I'd stop talking his ear off so much haha! When I was a full time employee, I had all kinds of adult conversations. Now my conversations revolve around baby talk and Barbie talk. But I missed my daughter terribly when I dropped her off at daycare every morning, and I am blessed to get to stay home with the kids now. I guess what I am trying to say with all the ramblings, is that I really do love my life. I am blessed with a supportive husband, healthy children, a roof over my head, clothes on my body, and food in my belly. And even though I am so so happy most of the time, I still have those moments where I want to sit and cry. I want to see that confident 21 year old again when I look in the mirror. Some days I miss her. And I think that's okay.

Goodnight all and God bless.

Hugs and Love,

With fall heading out and winter heading in, I figured it was the perfect time to share my chili recipe. I have been making this for several years now, slowly making changes. My husband says it's the best chili he's ever eaten. I hope you will try it!

Ingredients

1 lb ground hamburger
1 medium onion
1.5 Tbsp salt
1.5 Tbsp pepper
1 Tbsp onion powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 package mild chili mix
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chili beans
Mexican or fiesta blend cheese

Instructions

Add 1 lb hamburger and chopped onion to large pot on the stove. Cook onion and meat together over medium heat. While meat is browning, add salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder. Once the meat is brown and the onions are cooked, drain the meat and onion mixture. Put the mixture back in pot on the stove. Pour in the diced tomatoes, then fill the empty can with water and pour into pot, and fill half way one more time and pour in. Add chili mix and stir, then add chili beans and stir. Bring to a boil and let boil, occasionally stirring, for about 15 minutes. Then turn heat down and let simmer about an hour still stirring occasionally. I've learned the longer it simmers, the better all the flavors combine. Once it's finished you may want to add more salt and pepper to taste. Add some Mexican or fiesta blend cheese to the top, and some crackers if you like. And voila! I hope you all enjoy! I forgot to take a finished product picture. It was gobbled up before I remembered to snap a photo. :) Thanks everyone. My next recipe will be for my white chicken chili. I actually won a medal for it at a chili cook-off once. It's delish too!

Hugs and Love,

Life has been quite hectic lately and I'm so happy to get back to my blog. I've been chomping at the bit to get back to writing! After Halloween not much happened. My family and I had a couple of days of down time to be together, so there wasn't much to write about. But then...madness ensued. Nothing major really, just your everyday hustle and bustle of life with 3 kids. My daughter had her preschool picture day, so we had to plan for that, my husband had a birthday! Eric turned 26 on November 4th and, sadly, it wasn't a very good day. He had been so busy with work and some other things going on, that we didn't have an opportunity to celebrate. His birthday fell on a Wednesday, and he actually had the day off! But we had a meeting that day, my daughter had school so I was gone a little bit to take her and to pick her up, we desperately needed groceries so a trip to the store was a must, and our sweet little Zachary wasn't feeling well, so we had to give him more attention that day as well. So, my husband was somewhat pushed to the wayside. We did, however, find the time to order lunch from our favorite Mexican restaurant in town. We sat in front of the TV with our favorite show, stuffing food in our mouths like we were starved to death. Then came the dessert. Needless to say, that night we had trouble moving, we were so full! I got him some new cologne and a new razor and he loved them both. I think tomorrow (Friday) I am going to try and do something extra special for him since that day was so busy.

My family and I love Halloween. We don't live in a very heavily populated area, so we always go to other neighborhoods to trick or treat. Last year we went to my best friend's house. She lives in a great subdivision for trick or treating in the small town that I grew up in. So this year we had planned to go back there. The street I grew up on, and always trick or treated on, they stopped participating in the handing out of candy years ago. The reason for this is that right down the street, around the square, the town started doing "Trunk or Treat". It's where many people from around the town come and park around the square, decorate the trunks of their cars, and hand out candy. It's been quite a popular event, that draws a large crowd, for several years now. So I was very surprised to learn they had done away with it this year, and my childhood street was going to be participating in Halloween once more! My mom called me up and told me: "bring the kids here this Halloween, everyone up and down our street are going to be handing out candy, we are very excited!" And so was I. This meant that I could be nostalgic and take my kids down memory lane with me.


Halloween arrived and my daughter couldn't contain her excitement, she woke up early and woke me up as well....yay.....I wasn't nearly as thrilled as she was. But I was excited for her. We spent the day relaxing and having family time, with my daughter exclaiming "is it time to get ready yet?!" every five minutes. Finally the time arrived and we got the kids all dressed up. Izzy the Vampire Diva, Super Lucas, and Bat Zach. Soooo cute, but I know I'm biased!

We finally arrived at my parent's house. My best friend, Megan, had decided not to hand out candy this year, so she was on her way over to have pizza and enjoy the night with us too. It was cold and rainy. We decided to let the boys hang out inside with their toys and my mom and I took Izzy out. We headed from door to door. For about five houses, everyone was very festive, dressed up, decorations on point, and excited to give candy to the children. Then the street went dark, no more houses were lit up, no more porch lights on, no more Halloween decorations to be seen. I looked at my mom "I thought you said everyone was participating this year?" And she replied "well, that's the impression I got." Literally five houses were handing out candy, and that's including my parent's house. It was a bummer and my daughter was sad to return back inside so quickly. But the good side to this story is that there was hot delicious pizza waiting for us when we returned. And also, you guessed it, homemade desserts fresh from the oven made by my mom.


My daughter was happy to be inside where it was warm and dry, and surprisingly enough, we had many trick or treaters come to the door during the night. The most fun for Izzy was handing out candy to the other kids. She was much more enthusiastic about that than she was trick or treating itself. Every time the door bell rang, she sprang up and grabbed hand fulls of candy. It was so cute.


Overall, our night was a successful one. Good food and great company. Plus, my husband hit up all the half off candy sales today. We are stocked for about 10 years on Halloween candy. Hey, you can never have enough candy on hand!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hugs and Love,