Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Things I Consider Pregnancy Staples

My husband and I are expecting baby girl # 4 toward the end of this summer. While I've done this a few times already it has been a few years and some things have changed since my youngest was born. I thought that today I'd come on here and share with you a list of a few things I consider pregnancy staples. There may be things you think are overkill on this list or things you may be certain I forgot.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

November 2018 Life Update

    Good morning readers, my life has changed significantly in the last month. Our elderly relative that had been living with us had his condition progress to a place where living in a home environment was no longer safe or sustainable. He moved into an "apartment that has nurses on staff" and appears to be loving it. I cannot tell you how much of a relief it has been to know he is thriving there! Especially as there had been immense guilt and nervousness on our part about making the decision for him.
     If you are in a similar situation I want you to know I don't think you'll regret moving them in with you unless they are mentally ill, violent, or a sexual predator (then please don't move them into your home) but if you can't or if you did and it's time for them to receive more care please don't feel guilty! You did what you could for them and you are still doing your best by moving them to a better location.
     I've made a point to and will continue to be very generic when discussing his stay here as he has always been a very private person and wouldn't appreciate everyone knowing his business. As a result I will most likely not be discussing this again (on here) while he is living. We are thankful his stay with us ended with happy memories on our children's part and we are focusing on making positive memories as a family again (we were not able to participate in many fun and even normal things while he lived with us).

Thursday, November 16, 2017

One Pouring Cup Isn't Always Enough



     I am a wife, mother of 3 (that I homeschool), owner of 3 furry pets who shed a lot, volunteer for my husband’s job, volunteer for my church, and roughly 4 months ago became a caregiver to an elderly relative who now lives with us. All in all I consider myself a rather strong and resilient person who can handle a large amount of stress and responsibility. But sometimes I, like many of you, overdo it several days in a row. Sometimes I think I can do entirely more than I should. It’s not that I can’t handle it, I’m just going to pay a large price for it later.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Have I Told You Lately That I Love...

 My Instant Pot

     Our family moves a lot! Actually we've moved 9 times in 12 years and because of this we have a fairly strict 1 in 1 out policy when it comes to kitchen items and linens. My husband would most likely tell you this policy applies to the entire house but... I digress.

Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Play the Hand of Cards You Have

     About three weeks ago my mother-in-law passed away suddenly. While it was unexpected it also somewhat wasn't as her health had been declining for some time. The kids and I were already back home when it happened but my husband was not. He put in for emergency leave and was on a flight out within about 14 hours. There have been a lot of changes in all of our lives in the past three weeks. I think one of the best things I was told the following day was conveyed to me by my grandmother as conveyed by her sister-in-law. That is you play the hand of cards you have. You can't look back to previous hands or hands you could have received. You can't change what is, even when you want to. You simply pickup and deal with what is.

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Just ask your kids, they'll tell you!

     We have been back home for a little over a week but had family staying with us last week and then I was diagnosed with bronchitis. This tends to happen about 50% of the time when my allergies get out of control or I get an upper respiratory infection; asthma is no joke people. Basically my lungs overreact (right now it's ragweed and wild fire smoke). I remember being a teenager and asking Dr. Tom "if I was going to outgrow this would we have seen signs by now" and being completely crushed when he said yes. At this point in my life it's just normal and that can be a bit of an issue. This past January I ignored it too long and ended up with walking pneumonia. I seriously thought I had a good grip on my asthma and not realizing how sick I was shook me. Needless to say I went to the doctor this time as soon as I realized it was starting to move into my chest and we were able to catch it early.
     You know there are a lot of other things in life like this. Things we think we have under-control but they slip up on us. Things

Monday, June 5, 2017

Travel Tips

This past week my 100 year old great-grandmother went home to be with the Lord and we had a wonderful funeral/celebration of her life. While her age would make you assume we were expecting this (and we kind of were) I still wasn't logistically ready. I mean, with kids it takes me an entire day to get home from where we currently live. And to really amp things up we got a puppy a few months ago and he was added to my car full. So off I drove across several states with 3 kids and a puppy. Some people might call me crazy, I'm fine with that! Her funeral was just 3 days after her passing which gave me only 1.5 days to pack/get the house ready for me to leave and 1 day to drive. Here are a few of my tips for traveling in the car with younger children.