All the decorations are up!

Yesterday we finished our Christmas decorations! The tree is up, the stocking are up, the lights are put up outside & the mistletoe is hung!!! We are all set! I wrapped all the stocking presents & are tucked snuggly into their stockings! I finished Jaden & Jaxon's Christmas shopping! And Joe's too! Just need to do Joe's side of the family. We do a secret santa name exchange since there are so many of them! I also need to a few more people....then I am done! Yea!! I am further along than I have ever been! Yea!!

Shopping Exhausts Me

I never thought I would say this, but shopping exhausts me!

I seriously am so tired that I can barely keep my eyes open! Today I went shopping with my mom. We went shopping for the kids. Carter's & Osh'Gosh was having a super good sale. Everything was 50% off, plus I had a coupon for 20%!! We saved sooo much!!!

I am mentally worn out (having to figure out how much each item was with discounts, tying to figure out what size I needed for each season, ect) & I am physically worn out....I am 21 weeks pregnant with two kids....need I say more?

I don't know if this is a pregnancy thing or a shopping with a toddler thing...or both!

Picking out names is hard!!

Finding a name that you really like is hard. Then add to the conflict that your husband has to like it to....and vica-versa! Today someone asked me if we are getting closer to picking out a name. I wish I could have told her his name, but all I said was that in one way were getting a little closer. We have eliminated a TON of names!!! As we eliminate more names, we narrow the choices down.

I *think* we have a name. We are working on a possible middle names for him. To me, we already have his name, but Joe needs to think on it some more. I don't know why, it was "his" idea...sort of. Anyway, I think we are getting close.

Of course we are going with the whole "J" theme. How could we not? We are too far into J's to change now! We like the name to be trendy, different & have a great meaning. There are cool names that don't have a good meaning. Those names are cut right away. We try to find Biblical meaning to their names.

I will let you all know what we name him as soon as we know ourselves! LOL!

Calgon...take me away!

Even if I did take an actual Calgon bath...I am sure that within seconds of climbing into my bath, there were would be a lil toddler putting his hands in the bath, splashing me...trying to take his jammies off to get in. Or a 6 year old busting into the bathroom trying to give me a play by play account of the Thomas the Train movie.....Oh well, I am sure that when I am older & the kids are gone, I will wish for these moments back....but I would like to have at least 15 minutes to myself!

The kids have been sick for over a week now. It started off with Jaxon. He had an ear infection. The antibiotic was not working, his fevers were still pretty high. So then he got put on a stronger antibiotic....didn't help. So he ended up having to get a strong antibiotic shot. That seems to have done the trick. His energy is back & his fevers are gone. He is still pretty cranky. His evil twin, Jeremiah (that is his middle name...when he acts up, I pull out his middle name....now we joke that when he is acting up, it is not actually our sweet Jaxon, but his evil twin Jeremiah...lol!!) has decided to have an extended stay here. I can't wait till we get our sweet Jaxon back!

Jaden started feeling sick on Wednesday. Fevers, body aches, sore throat, chills, ect. I was scared he had the swine flu. I took him into the DR the next morning....he has strep throat!! No one in our family has ever had strep! Now that he is on his antibiotic, he is starting to feel better, but his throat still hurts.

So for over a week, I have not slept. I have my cell phone alarms set so that I can wake up & administer meds to my boys. Jaxon has been sleeping in my room/bed. It has not been restful for any of us. Jaden has been on the couch.

Now you can understand why I would just want to jump into a nice hot (but not too hot for my baby's sake) bubble bath & say, "Calgon....take me away"!!!

It's A.....

Sister is Coming!!!

Today (actually in 45 minutes!!) my sister and her lil boy, will be here! Her plane will be landing in 45 minutes! My parents will be picking her up (better them than me! I am super tired!). After they pick her up, they will be dropping my Dad off at work, then coming here. I am sure that they will be here late morning. She will be here for a few days :)

In 4 days I will find out if I am having a lil baby girl or boy!!! I soooooo can not wait!! I really hope the baby cooperates. Jaden didn't for his ultasound. We had to go back. I can not have that luxury. We are planning a big party that night to announce what we are having. Joe & I will not find out at our ultrasound, we will have the tech write "girl or boy" on a peice of paper. Then she will seal it in an envelope. Joe & I will then take that envelope to my friend's house, who is a baker. She will fill the middle of the cake with either pink or blue frosting!!! At the party, we will cut the cake in front of our family & close friends! Everyone will find out together!!! If the baby does not cooperate, I will refuse to leave the ultrasound office. I HAVE to find out Monday! If needed, I will tell them the circumstances & ask them to check me in between their other patients in hope that the baby would have moved to give them a better look at the goods! :)

Wish us luck!!!!

Update on Closure

God answers prayers!

I feel like I finally got that closure. I decided to go straight to the source. I called my friend & we talked for a long time. It was good for both of us. I don't know what will ever come of it, but I know that I finally found peace & closure.

I should have posted that blog sooner ;)

Closure

How do you move on, when you have no closure?

This has been plaguing my thoughts today. I have recently lost a close relationship & I have no closure over it. My heart is grieved over this loss. I wish I could understand or fix the circumstances that caused our friendship to end, but I can not. Things beyond my control took over. I pray, agonize & cry over my lost friend. I go from anger to sadness to numbness.

I feel like I have an open hole in my heart. It is hard to heal when your heart has a gaping hole in it. I guess only time & a lot of prayer will heal my heart.

Insight

My sister imparted some great insight to me today. Her pastor did a bible study with them. He said that there is a difference between close relationships. Some are friends, and some are ministries. If you do not know the difference, you can get really hurt. If you confuse everyone with being your friend, then you can end up really hurt. Sometimes, people just need ministered to. When they are done, they move on. If you had confused them with being a friend, then your heart can feel empty when they move on. Leaving you hurt & alone. But if you can tell the difference between your true friends & the ones who are put in your life for you to minister to, then you can save your heart from a lot of hurt.

I don't know if any of that makes any sense to you, but when I heard that, a lightbulb when off for me.

Halloween

This year we took the kids trick or treating. We really didn't go all out, just to a few houses. I wanted to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids. I know that a lot of families are hit financially. Joe & I have been blesssed, so I wanted to make sure that kids had a place to get some candy. There were hardly any houses that participated. I felt bad for all the kids.

This halloween, Jaden was an alligator, and Jaxon was a monkey. They were the cutest lil things!!! Here they are on the front porch!