Living blindly and trusting the Maker

A few months back, we were all sitting at the dinner table eating, laughing and talking like families do, when I noticed that Sweet-pea was crossing her eyes!  At first I thought she was just messing with us and trying to be funny but then I realized that it was ONE eye that was crossing inward to her nose, and it became more frequent!!  Of course as a mother we always think the worse especially with something that sudden, my first thought was brain tumor!  So before even finishing my dinner I went straight to the phone and started googling and calling eye doctors.  We got an appointment for the very next morning.

Being a large family we are late a lot!  I am the type of person who starts getting a bit panicked when we are running late and am constantly saying, "okay get in the car, quickly!!"  Our little Sweet-pea is on her own time clock.  She takes her time and enjoys everything, especially our blooming daisy's in the front flower bed.  Every time we leave the house, she has to walk over to the daisy's and pick at least two!  One for mommy and one for her to hold in the car.  I constantly find myself saying "COME ON, Please we are going to be late, you can pick them when we get back!! HURRY!  Get in the car!!"  Day after day Sweet-pea ignores my every plea!  She has to find the most beautiful flower, she has to pick it just right with her thumb and pointer-finger, then she has to make sure mommy gets it before getting into the car!  

At our appointment we learned that Sweet-pea (2) is extremely farsighted and has an astigmatism.  I was so completely blown away that I had not noticed any symptoms until now!  They say that you can look in a persons glasses and that is how they see without them; lets just say I have no idea how that child could have ever seen a thing without them!!  She has had her glasses for over a month now and is doing wonderful with them.  I'm sad that she will have to have glasses for the rest of her life, but I am thankful that we caught it when we did!  

God has been working on my heart a lot the last few months.  He has really used the waiting period of the house we've been wanting to purchase (10 months) to teach me how to rely on him and not be such a worrier.  I find myself start to panic over things but then I start to remind myself that these things are not in my control, God is in control and he has it under control!  I pray a lot, and then I put it completely out of my mind and focus on something else!  For instance anytime I get any news on the house I start to panic that things won't work out quite the way I hope.  So I pray, and then I put it out of my mind by focusing on what I do already have, like organizing the house we have now!  I am such a worrier and this is such a huge step for me.  Anytime I hear anything about problems with our extended family or friends I start to worry then I cannot get them out of my mind and I drive myself crazy over it.  But God has really shown me that I need to let go and allow him to drive the boat.

Since deciding to have a natural birth this time around, my first instinct was fear!  I was so afraid of the pain and discomfort it would bring and just did not know that I could suffer through it that long! One day as I was thinking about it it was like God told me "if you can trust me to give you as many kids as I want you to have, why can't you trust me through your labors?!"  And it hit home with everything in my life.  Trusting God to decide how many children to have is a HUGE deal!  Most people I know that would be the one thing in their lives that they would want to control, it affects everything from house size, to car size, to income, budget, etc.  But for me I feel that is the easiest thing in my life to trust God with...so why can't I trust him with the smaller things and stop all the worrying?!  

So I started thinking about my Sweet-pea and how she doesn't have a worry in the world!  Here she was almost unable to see a thing in her world yet she still managed to pluck the most beautiful flowers from the bunch every time, and she could have kept them for herself but she wanted me to have them!  She could have cried and screamed that she couldn't see the flowers, she could have ignored her entire world, but she trusted that it was beautiful even though to her it was probably just a blurred image of white.   This is how I see my life now, a blurred image of white that I'm trusting will be beautiful in the hands of God no matter the outcome.  

On another note we are getting really excited about the baby!  I will be 35 weeks friday!  I've had two babies at 35 weeks, one at 38 and the others were induced at 37,  and 39.  So it's anytime after friday!!  I am praying though that I will make it at least to 36 weeks. Since I am seeing a midwife they will not be able to be with me in labor unless I am at least 36 weeks!  I do believe this is the first baby I've had so far that I've not been extremely anxious for the pregnancy to be over.  I've, for the most part, enjoyed being pregnant this time around.  I've been nesting like crazy, part of it is what I talked about above with the whole "take care of what I already have" and leave the rest up to God thing, but a lot is nesting as well!  Here are some photos of things I've made and the organization I've accomplished the last few week in preparation for the new baby!  I've been in Organization Heaven!!!   

Our Medications

 Our Spice Cabinet

 Our Sugar, Flour, Oatmeal

 The girls hair things

 Our homeschool supplies

 Coloring books and Crayons

 Homemade Dishwashing detergent, Orange Multi-purpose Cleaner, Laundry Detergent, and Fabrid Softner!

 New Born hat

   Hats for the girls! 

And there is lots more not pictured!  I wish I had this nesting urge all the time!!!

Our Family Home Organizer

So today I used my afternoon to update my "Home Organizer" binder.  I started this a few years ago when I first discovered Fly Lady, in which they introduce you to the "Control Journal."  I have also researched other emergency/organizational binders on pinterest and came across a great blog with print outs that I also used for my binder at A Craft a Day.  When I first started my binder it was fairly pitiful!  Over the years I have added to it but it has never been quite what I needed it to be until now!  Today was the day!!  I spent my afternoon printing our forms, making my own forms, organizing and putting our entire daily life in one spot in our home!  I am so relieved to have it all finished up and ready to be used!!  So here is the finished product, I hope that it helps to motivate you to get organized as well!

So I have divided my binder into 6 separate sections Cleaning, Cooking, Schedule, Finance, and Projects.  Each divider has a place on the front to hold papers like a folder.  In the very front of my binder I have all our animal shot records along with a place to write down any passwords or Login's that I may not use often enough to remember.  Then in the front of my first pocket (Cleaning) I have our Emergency Information sheet that I typed up myself.  This sheet has a place for emergency phone numbers, Home information, Childrens Names DOB, Pediatrician number, Poison Control, and what hospital to take the children to.  This I keep lose in the folder so that if someone is watching the children I can just remove it from the binder easily and place it on the fridge.

Under the Cleaning section I have a list I have printed out from Fly Lady with weekly cleaning as well as a detailed cleaning list for each room in the house!  Under the cooking Tab I have unclipped Coupons in the front folder, then a printout to write monthly meal plans.  I put each of these meal plans into a page protector so I can use a dry erase marker on them, this allows me to re-use the pages over and over again!  I also have printouts from My Litter.  These printouts are the "Buy it now" Price list, it tells me what a bottom dollar price is on each grocery item, this way I know whether to buy or wait for the price to drop more.  I also have a print out of the Sales Cycles, this tells me what is usually on sale for each month of the year.

In the Schedule Tab, I have my front folder filled with doctor slips for x-rays coming up or blood work that needs to be done.  I also have a Daily Schedule (in a page protector) that can be easily changed if needed, A "My Morning Routine"  for each of the kids, Our Bath Schedule for the week, As well as blank calendars for each month of the year (in a page protector for easy writing).

In the finance tab I have important information such as Bills that need to be paid in the front folder.  I also have a calendar with each bill that will need paid on it's due date so that I know when all my bills are due.

And lastly, I have the project tab...this is where I put my personal projects/research.  At the moment I have all my printouts that I will need to read up on for "Natural Birth" as well as notes I have taken about the "Holy Spirit".

And that is my binder for the moment!  I love that I can just grab it and run out the door if I'm in a hurry and I have everything I will ever need from Menu's to schedules and important documents!

Organization has been KEY!!

So my husband tells me today is Wednesday, I've completely lost track of the days! The last three weeks is more of a blur at this point. The only way I've been able to keep track of what day it is, is that I haven't been to the hospital in the last two days with anyone!

Yesterday, Goobies, Pumpkin, and Hobble-bobble all woke with fevers. Pumpkin's throat was so swollen she could hardly talk! We made an appointment with the pediatrician and went that afternoon. They tested all three for Strep, and all three were negative. Pumpkin has tonsillitis pretty bad, her tonsils are very swollen, Goobies also had tonsillitis with two ear infections, and Hobble-bobble only had a red throat.

After their appointment I dropped all the kids home with daddy, and went on my mission to pick up: wipes, diapers, soap, cleaner, library books, fill prescriptions, and pick up groceries.

Organization has been a KEY ingredient to juggling everything the last few weeks. I've not had the best track record for staying organized, but when it comes to my kids I have to make myself! We are completely blessed that my husband has such a flexible job, and is able to be with us during the day when we have hard times like this! So Nathan has been taking the morning/early afternoon shift, and I have been on evening/night shift. I'm usually up until 6:30am (that's when everyone has finally settled down), and then when Nathan gets up around 8:00am, I go to bed. We have two white boards in the kitchen, one for recording the time each temperature was taken, and when they received their fever medications; the other to record when they have received their normal daily medications, and antibiotics. Each kid has a plastic baggie with their name on it, along with their measuring device to use for their medicine; we also have a cup for each kid with a piece of masking tape and their name on it so they don't drink after each other right now!

So far today, we've had two hit 104.7 but we've managed to get the fevers under control with continuous rotation of motrin, tylenol, and tepid baths!

I'm so thankful for a husband who is so hands on and loves our children just as much as I do! I realize that there aren't a lot of fathers out there who want to change diarrhea diapers, clean up vomit, give baths and keep track of when medications were last handed out, and I'll be the first one to say my girls have an amazing daddy! I can only pray that they find a husband who is just as loving to their own children! While most people would be out of their minds right now, we have found humor, happiness, love and patience within this situation. We've all grown so much closer since we've had individual time with each child, and Nathan and I even though we've been exhausted have made time for each other even it it was only 10 minutes of sitting on the couch together. Although it's been a lot of work, I'm completely thankful for the time we've had together as a family and wouldn't trade it for anything!

Christmas back to basics!

So I'm so extremely excited about Christmas this year! I want to do everything this year, from decorations, to gifts, to homemade cookies right down to my Christmas cards! The last few years email and Facebook has made it so easy to forgo the old-time tradition of a physical card, and I'll be the first to say I've taken advantage! But not this year!!

As I was looking at Shutterfly.com, I noticed the cutest Christmas cards! In my opinion these photo cards are so much better then the old traditional cards. Most of the time when I get those, I have to be honest, they end up in the trash after Christmas is over. But when I get the photo cards, I make a point to keep them!

It took me a while to pick one out because there were so many cute ones but I think I finally made my selection! This one! Cute right! I loved how it looks so much like a scrapbook page! When I'm ready to put it in my scrapbook all I have to do is glue it in! How easy is that! And the styles of cards to pick from are unlimited, you have definitely got to check them all out for yourselves!
I also ordered some from shutterfly.com last year and they turned out really great! I was thrilled with them! I can easily find a great layout that matches the photos I want to use every time, and can also search for them by how many photos I decide I want to use on the card. With these adorable designs this year, how could I not send out cards!

Also another thing I'm planning to do this year, is make some homemade gifts! Only problem is, I have such trouble finding cute things for people who are close to me, especially extended family (grandparents, cousins, in-laws etc.) Again as I searched the shutterfly.com site, I came across their calendars! and they were PERFECT! Just load up your photos pick your designs and voila! No one can resist an entire book with pictures of cute little girls on it that just happens to be a calendar! Totally a gift you can't go wrong with!