I don't normally do this

Today I want to highly recommend a product. I am in no way being paid to do this, I am just impressed.
Awhile ago, it became clear that our boys were growing up, and it was time to have some serious talks about *gasp* the birds and the bees.
The problem was, Matt didn't really know how to go about doing this. He remembers the talk his dad had with him and just remembers both of them being very embarassed. This isn't what we wanted, but we weren't real sure how to avoid it.
Enter Passport 2 Purity.
This program is great!
Basically, you go on a getaway with your child. About 24 hours worth.
You start by taking them to dinner and telling them what the weekend (or night) is going to be about. You give them their adventure journal that they will use to fill in answers to tough questions. Then on your way to your destination, you listen to the first of five cds. You cannot imagine the relief Matt felt knowing that someone else would be presenting this information in a Biblical manner.
The first topic is about peer pressure. They listen to the disc and fill in the blanks, then discuss things with their parent. They get to listen to their parents talk about mistakes they made! What fun!
The topics covered are peer pressure, your changing body, sex, dating, and staying pure.
After each topic they do an experiment to drive the point home. For example, the first experiment is trying to put together a puzzle with no picture to go by. The point behind this is to show how we need instructions in life. And those are in the Bible.
After the heavy topics on the second day, you do something fun with your child.
Then after the last topic, you wrap up with a nice dinner where you present them with a gift to congratulate them for taking these steps towards maturity.
So Matt took Matthew to a local hotel on Monday night. For their fun time, they went ice skating and to a movie. For his gift, he got an electric razor. He's grown a caterpillar on his lip!
Then last night, Zachy and Collin spent the night with Matt just to spend some time with him. They went to Chuck E Cheese and then also to a movie.
Tonight is Dillon's night to complete the program.
Matthew came home and had had a great time. I was worried about how he would respond to all of this, but he really enjoyed it.
I asked Matthew if he thought Dillon was too young and he said that no he wasn't, and he wished we had done this when he was 11.
I am just really, really pleased with how this has turned out.
If you have preteens, I highly recommend this program to you.

Now That's What I'm Talkin About!

Today it is rainy and a cool 68 degrees outside.
It feels almost like fall.
Of course, the rain we've gotten the last couple weeks has greened up all the trees and lawns. So no changing of leaves, but still!
It is so wonderful. Even though yesterday it was in the upper 90s. I am willing to forget about yesterday and move on with fall.
Matt planted mums in my pots the other day and even bought me a pumpkin to help me feel like it is fall. What a wonderful man I have!
We have candles lit and Christmas music playing, and it is just a good day.

Not a call I really wanted

So I got a call bright and early this morning. It was the nurse from the electrophysiologist's office.
By the way, I've never gotten a call from her before, which of course makes my heart drop.
She told me that Zachy's last phone transmission showed his leads all look great, but he is having several episodes of high rates. She said it's nothing life threatening..yet..and that he needs to be seen.
We already had an appointment set up for October 14, and we are just keeping that appointment.
I am praying it is an easy fix. However, one of the reasons we paced him when we did, was to avoid getting to the point of tachy rhythms. Tachy is much harder to correct than brady. The hope was that by getting the brady under control, it would be like a normal heart and he wouldn't ever get to the tachy point.
I don't know how they are going to correct it. Before they paced him the doc talked about having to control tachy rhythms with meds. I keep hoping maybe the can just set a high threshold. But that doesn't make sense to me. It is easy to zap a heart and make it beat, but how do you zap it to make it slow down? Of course, I'm not the doctor and it may very well be possible. We'll see.
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate CHD. I hate that any child has to suffer through any of this.
I wish the Lord would just reach down and heal my baby's heart. And at the same time, I know how incredibly selfish that is. My baby is here and alive, so many aren't that lucky.
I find it almost comical that this is happening now. This seems to be our pattern. Things will be quiet in our house for awhile, then Matthew and Zachy will be hit at the same time. In fact, when Zachy was paced, Matthew had surgery a week later. So it figures that we would be dealing with all we are with Matthew and things would pop up with Zachy!
Anyway, his appointment isn't until the 14TH and I am going to try hard to not think about it until then!!

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

Yesterday morning, Zachy was praying for our breakfast.
He was saying, "thank you for the food. Thank you for our family." etc. Then he ended with, "and thank you, thank you, thank you that we are getting a new baby sister".
So sweet! He is so excited and asks all the time if it is Christmas yet.

Just *sigh*

Today is a *sigh* kind of day.
I'm down. I keep saying it's for no good reason, but I just feel blah.
We had a church board meeting last night, and I really don't like the way things went. In fact, there have been a few things that I'm just not really happy with right now.
A wise lady told me last night that there is no perfect church, so we just have to be happy with what we have.
I know this is true. But...*sigh*.
Matt tells me all the time, 'one more year" We leave in one year and then we can just have a fresh start.
My goal is to not be involved heavily in a new church. It is highly over rated being this involved, let me tell ya.
I don't know why I'm even writing any of this. I just feel so down and dumpy today and wish the feeling would go away so I can get on with my happy little life!
In due time, I suppose.

Things learned today

I was reminded today that babies who co-sleep and breastfeed need very few other necessities. I was registering at Target (they give you a $20 gift card to register with them right now..cool!) and realized there just isn't much we need. Which is fine by me..that means more money for fun stuff!
I also decided to tackle washing Emily's carseat. We have one of these.

Do you see all those parts?? When I first bought it, I read reviews about how hard it is to take apart to wash. I believed them, and have always dreaded taking it apart. But tonight I decided to try it. And taking it apart wasn't that hard. Boy was it gross though. Carseats should not go two years without being cleaned. Hopefully, I can get it back together, since taking it apart is only half the challenge!
And finally, I learned that pregnant women, should not wear low cut shirts with no bra. They need to take care of their girls! But more importantly, I don't want to see your saggy boobies!
Oh the valuable things we learn every day!

Week in Review

So the first week of school started out great. With a holiday!
No, just kidding, it was great starting on Tuesday.
But boy, by Friday, we were back in the swing of things and the trials that come with that.
It is amazing to me how much Collin is like Dillon when it comes to school. This isn't a good thing, in case you were wondering.
But Zachy, boy, he just whips right along willing to do everything.
We did lots of baking this week, and quite honestly, I'm exhausted now.
Emily is awfully cute and just sits with us at the table doing her own thing.
Next week I have an OB appointment, I think on Friday, so we will have to be sure get everything done before it.
Wish us luck.

A little bit of this and that

This has been a great week.
The weather has been a bit cooler (OK the 80s, but that's cool for here), and we are finally being blessed with rain. Oh, sweet glorious rain. I love the rain.
I love fall. So much. And if I keep the doors closed, I can pretend that it is fall. But then, I open the doors, and it's hot, and I am reminded once again that things are going to get green instead of orange and red. And that there won't be any snow this winter. It will just be like every other day. So disappointing.
I need to buy some mums, but I haven't seen any in the stores yet. That makes me feel a bit more fallish.
Oh well. Time is flying. Before I know it, I will have a sweet little newborn to snuggle with. And it's a good thing too, since Emily has suddenly decided she is a total daddy's girl. When he's around I'm worthless. Unless, of course, we happen to be at church or somewhere I want to be alone at, then I'm all that will do. Figures. It's alright though, because she is growing up so quickly, and soon she'll want nothing to do with either of us. She has turned into this sweet, silly, HAPPY girl. Given her babyhood, this is shocking to us, almost every single day. I was just telling Matt the other day that I often look at my kids and thank God that we didn't stop after just two. We would be missing out on so much! They are all such a blessing in their own little ways.
OK, the banana bread is baking, the big kids are running lines, and the little three are playing outside. I'm going to kick my feet up for a bit and just relax.

Fat Tummy

Zachy was sitting with me, patting my tummy.
He said, "why do mommies' tummies get fat when a baby is in there?"
I told him because they were growing babies, and asked where else they would grow if not in their mommy's tummy.
He replied, "in the house!" while looking at me like I must not be very smart.

Collin was talking to Emmy when I heard him singing. He was singing "Soon and very Soon" Only instead of "soon and very soon, we are going to see the King" he was singing, "soon and very soon, we are going to have a baby sister". So cute.

Random Dozen

1. What is something that you have changed your mind about either recently or over a number of years?
Oh golly, just one thing? Birth control. Circumcision. What duties I want in the church. Oh the list could go on and on....

2. Choose either subject, but does your a) church b) job feel more like a dental chair experience or an easy chair (recliner) experience?
Honestly, my church life is starting to feel more dental chairish..see number one..too many responsibilities. But it is probably somewhere in the middle.

3. Kisses or hugs?
Depends on whose giving them. I'm quite fond of both from my family. Especially, slobbery Emily kisses!

4. What do you think is the biggest threat to families today?
I think that the biggest threat comes from both parents working full time. The kids are put in school, then to a million extra curricular activities. I have no idea how a family can bond and stay together in that kind of situation. Do they even know each other?

5. A day after you grocery shop, you open a perishable item that is horribly spoiled. Do you take your receipt back to the store to be reimbursed or just throw it away and forget about it?
Just throw it away and forget about it. It would be too much of a pain to take it back. I'm lazy like that.

6. What personality trait (feel free to address good or bad or both) do you notice yourself adopting from your parents?
The Betty Crocker trait. I don't do much other domestically, but I do love to bake for my family.

7. How many slices of bread do you leave in the bottom of the bag when you throw it away? Two? Three? Just the heel? None? (I really want to know if you eat the heel.)
The heels get tossed out. And if there happens to be one piece in with them, it gets tossed too. Can't make a sandwich with just one piece of bread!

8. What mispronunciation or usage error really irritates you?
Pronouncing Oregon as Ore-GONE...not Ore-GUN.

9. In honor of the uniqueness of today's date, what does the numeral 9 mean to you? (Any special life moments attached to the 9th? Are you the 9th kid in your family? Can you count by 9s really fast? etc.)
The number 9 really doesn't mean anything to me. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

10. Does the general color palette in your closet match the colors you chose to decorate your home with?
No, I have much more color in my closet. More blues and greens.

11. When you're hanging out with friends in the kitchen, do you automatically ask to help, or do you sit there and chat until the host asks if you'd like to help? I'm not implying that the 2nd choice stems from rudeness or laziness, just not a first-response like it is for some people.
Depends on whose house I'm at. I normally ask to help.

12. Let's end on a pleasant note: What do you enjoy about September the most?

Well it used to signify fall, my favorite season. But in southern Texas, there really isn't a fall. However, I do have 3 birthdays in August and one in October..so let's face it, I enjoy the extra money! HAHA

Dusting off the cobwebs

Once again, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon. I don't know how I've managed to keep up a blog for almost ten years now..it's mind boggling to me.
So much has happened since the last time we spoke.
The big one is that Matthew had surgery. Surgery number ten, in case you're keeping count. The morning of surgery, I got a little teary eyed and asked Matt how this became our life. His answer, "because we are blessed". We'll blame my moment of weakness on hormones.
You can blame almost anything on pregnancy hormones, I've found.
So the surgery was kind of hard to explain, and I don't really feel like it, SO, I'll just tell you that is was a laser surgery that reduced the amount of fluid being produced in his eye. Thus, reducing the amount of pressure. His pressure was insanely low the day after surgery, but since then he has complained of pressure pain, and well, I'm not so hopeful anymore. He goes tomorrow for another follow up. We were told, however, that his pressure would spike for a month, and then go down, so maybe it's just spiking. We'll see.
Let me take this moment to tell you one of my pet peeves. I hate it when people (particularly those with a bit of medical knowledge) feel the need to tell me what we need to do for Matthew. Or how things could be improved. Or how there must be some way to get his vision back. You don't know the first thing about Matthew's eye. The doctors don't know much about Matthew's eye. You haven't been following him for the last 13 years and you don't know what's best for him. We, as his parents, are confident in his care, even if it doesn't seem to produce the ideal results. I am not dumb, nor is Matt. And my own dad is an ophthalmologist, so all of this is much more familiar to me than it would be your average Jane!
OK, stepping off my soap box now.
In other news, the boys all got parts in the play they are doing this year. Excalibur! It isn't your typical play though, so it would do me no good to tell you what parts they got because you wouldn't know who they were. Matthew got a pretty large role though, and I worry about him being dedicated enough to memorize his lines. I'm sure he'll be fine though. Dillon got a smaller role.
Collin and Zachary will be a tree and then knights who fight in the tournament. They are thrilled to not have to speak and to be able to sword fight. All's well.
Today, we started school. It went really well, and as usual, I'm thinking this will be the best year ever. This afternoon though, I'm exhausted. Oh well, this too shall pass.
Let's see, what else? Nothing that I can think of. And this is long anyway. Until the next time.