5 months old

Has another month went by already? Really!?! Man, time is going by way way way too fast! Joshua is 5 months old today. He's still the sweet little baby he's always been. Here are his

5 month stats:

Height--27.5 inches

Weight--20 lbs.

Diaper size--4

Clothing size--9 months

New milestones this month:

Trying to get his hands and knees

Sitting up with support, but not as much support

More consonant sounds (mama, nana)

Squealing

Separation anxiety (not fun for Mommy)

Eating baby food (peas, carrots, green beans, squash)

Putting his pacifier back in his mouth

Starting to hold his bottle

Grasping and playing with his toys

Playing with his feet

We brought out the high chair and Exersaucer this month also. We are so excited for Joshua's first Christmas and can't wait to see Jacob and Olivia's faces on Christmas morning!! Joshua's favorite toy is a stuffed bear ornament on the Christmas tree that we leave on the bottom branch and let him play underneath it. I'll post again tomorrow about our Christmas celebrations thus far. Right now, I have 2 sickies (Andrea and Jacob) who have been vomiting all morning. Yuck yuck yuck!!

Getting Organized: Take 2

My organization plan was a big fat FAIL. Apparently, the organized lady inside of me doesn't want to come out and play. I had it all planned out and I tried really hard to begin my journey to organization. It just didn't happen. I'll tell you what DID happen though. LIFE. That's what happened. My life is so chaotic and crazy right now that I don't know what day it is most of the time. Like today, for example, I was scrambling around trying to find ice cream cones (waffle ones) for Jacob's gingerbread house making party at school. His teacher had to have them by Thursday so I was panicking because TODAY is Thursday!! You should have seen me running around Food Lion trying to find ice cream cones because FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS CHRISTMAS if I don't get these cones there will be children who can't make the greatest gingerbread house ever and I will forever be known as "that lady who ruined Christmas for me when I was in 1st grade." Okay. Maybe not. But still, I needed those cones because it's Thursday!!! (They are on an end cap beside the ice cream, by the way.) As I was paying for the beloved cones, I looked at my phone and realized it's Wednesday. And, instead of feeling all relieved, I got back to my truck and bawled. I just want life to slow down. I'm tired. I'm ill. Did I mention I'm tired?

So, this is why The Great Organization Plan 2010 failed. I'm tired. Maybe it will happen in 2011. Happy Thursday!! (ha.)

Getting Organized

Those of you who know me (in real life), know that I live in a very small 3 bedroom 2 bath house with 3 (sometimes 4) children, a husband and 3 cats (they live outside). Needless to say, organization is key around here. Or, it SHOULD be. But it's not. I read a comment from someone recently that stated,

"I have a very organized person trapped somewhere in the clutter within…I hope someday to liberate her! I CRAVE order yet for some reason simply can not overcome the chaos…it’s maddening…"
This sums it up PERFECTLY. I want to get organized, but I take one look at everything that needs to be done, get tremendously overwhelmed, and decide to play on Facebook instead. (Just being real.)

My main concern is developing a cleaning schedule and a different way to organize my coupons. So, imagine my DELIGHT when I saw this post on a blog I've just starting reading. I love her Homemaking Binder and I have everything printed and ready to go for tomorrow. I even printed off new Chore Charts for Jacob and Olivia because they keep asking me when they can start doing chores again. Imagine that, kids who WANT to help...you don't see that much in kids these days.

And, I think I found an awesome new way to organize my coupons, using a binder and baseball card inserts. This is the website I found and I like their organizing tips.

I mentioned yesterday that I'm changing my grocery shopping plan and I'm so excited about it! Yes, it may seem boring to some but it works for me. Mark gets paid monthly, so I have always shopped for groceries monthly. Well, I've decided that I can save more money and cut my grocery budget even more by shopping weekly. My plan is to make a weekly meal menu based on what's on sale for that particular week. We'll see if that works and how much money I save. Wish me luck!!

4 months old!!!

I can't believe it!! Joshua is 4 months old! Where has the time gone??

I know I don't blog very often, but I'm trying. Really, I am. I need to get into a good blog schedule. I always think of great ideas to blog about but I never write them down and, therefore, forget them. Such is my life and Mommy brain. Anyway, back to Joshua...

Here are little man's (ha!)

4 months stats:

Height--26.5 inches

Weight--18lbs. 11ozs.
Diaper size--3

Clothing size--6-9 months (mostly 9 months)

New milestones this month:

Consonant sounds (baba, gaga, dada)

Engaging in "conversation" (Jacob and Olivia LOVE this!)

BOTH bottom teeth

Laughing out loud at anything (and everything...)

Eating rice cereal from a spoon (yum yum!)

His pediatrician is very pleased with his growth and development. He is the perfect size...of a 7 month old. HA! She's not concerned though because his height and weight are proportional. He was not happy with his shots yesterday and has been a total pill so far today. But I expected it, so I'm armed with infant's Tylenol and cuddle time.

Here are a couple of recent pictures of Joshua Evan.

This is his flirty, I-know-I'm-cute smile. :)

GO DAWGS!!

Today is a rainy, gloomy, yucky day. It matches Joshua's mood perfectly. So, we're hanging out at home in our pajamas until it's time to pick up Jacob and Olivia from school. I think I'm going to try Drunken Chicken for supper tonight. Oh, and I'm totally changing my grocery shopping plan. I'll blog about that tomorrow. Maybe.

And, I just realized exactly how boring my life is because I am SO excited to change my shopping plan. Yeah. Dull.

Our Year

So, I promised I would come back and get everyone updated on our past year. Here it goes...

Right after Thanksgiving last year, we found out we were expecting baby #3. This babe was planned (kinda), but we weren't expecting to get pregnant on the first try. Literally. My pregnancy was ok, but not great. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes at around 6 months and that was a really hard pill to swallow. I was able to control my blood sugar by completely changing my diet so that I didn't have to give myself insulin shots. (Thank you Lord!) I felt pretty good, physically, throughout my pregnancy except towards the end. But, I don't know any woman who feels great towards the end of their pregnancy, especially in 90+ degrees in July!! My due date was August 2, 2010 and we did not find out the gender. Jacob and Olivia were so super excited! Jacob wanted a little brother and Olivia did too! So, on July 23, 2010 at 2:30am, I woke up with contractions 5 minutes apart and we headed to the hospital a few hours later. I was admitted at 5:26am. (This will hold significance later.) We thought my labor would go quickly because of Olivia's birth. (got to hospital at 8:15am and she was born at 9:33am) Well, we were mistaken. After 12 hours and MANY Facebook status updates, but only 2 pushes (!) Joshua Evan was born at 5:26pm. EXACTLY 12 hours after I was admitted. Joshua weighed 7 lbs. 7 ozs. and was 18.5 inches long. He looks exactly like Jacob! Joshua is almost 3 months old now and he is a precious addition to our family. He is a very easy going and content baby, who loves his mobile, swing, and stroller! He's smiling and laughing now. At his 2 month appointment, he weighed 12 lbs. 7 ozs. and was 23.5 inches long. So, he gained 5 lbs. and grew 5 inches in just 2 months!! Oh, we all just adore this sweet baby boy!

Now, Jacob started 1st grade in August and just turned 7 years old on October 1st. He is still the sweet boy he's always been. His teachers always comment on how well mannered and kind he is. We're doing something right! He is taking his role as big brother extremely seriously lately. He still eats, sleeps, and BREATHES baseball. He can now catch a ball in the air and he usually hits line drives into the outfield. He plays 1st base and just loves the game. The most important thing that happened to Jacob this year is that he was saved and baptized on March 21, 2010.

Olivia started Kindergarten in August and turned 5 years old on July 6th. She has really mellowed over the past year. She went from being the wild and crazy little diva that everyone loves to a cuddly (still wild) and mild mannered (still a little crazy) little girl and everyone still loves her. (She lost most of her diva attitude.) Her teachers say that she is one of the quietest kids in the class, which truly surprises us because she talks nonstop when she's home. We joke that she's making up for lost time when she gets home. She is playing her 2nd season of Tball and really enjoys the game when she's not playing in the dirt. On August 21, 2010, Olivia's best friend was killed in a car accident. This tragedy hit us really hard. Maddy was only 5 years old. Olivia has had a really hard time coping with this loss, so she gets grief counselling at school 3 days per week. Please pray for her because, as she gets older, she'll begin to understand more about death and she'll ask more in depth questions.

As for Mark and myself, we are just trying to survive with 3 kids and loving every moment of it. I still sew and embroider as much as I can in my free time. (free time. Ha!) Mark is head coach of Jacob's coach pitch baseball team and assistand coach of Olivia's Tball team. We're beginning to wonder if we should just pitch a tent at homeplate every night because we're always at the baseball field! So, that's what we've been doing lately. :)

Starting Over

Since I've been such a horrible blogger, I decided to start over. Here is a picture, only 1 picture, to catch you all up on what we've been doing. :) Isn't he the cutest?!!?!

To be continued...