The girls moved downstairs on Friday night. I have since gotten more exercise (in the 4 nights) than I have my entire pregnancy. Stairs are not fun in the middle of the night. Last night was the worst. Orlund and I have gotten into the habit of reading in bed before going to sleep, it’s nice snuggled up reading in bed together. Last night we watched TV a bit later so therefore reading took us to a short time after 11pm. I don’t know exactly when the girls started getting up, but I believe they (one or the other) woke up around midnight, and just a few times until around 3am. 3am it got worse, much worse. Joy had to go potty, she was having nightmares. Olivia was I dunno whating.. Orlund did most the trips up and down the stairs, however I was still unable to sleep, even once he returned to bed (just to jump up again 5-10minutes later) I couldn’t sleep. 6am was when I did my last trip to their room. I gave Olivia her bottle and said go to sleep. Orlund left for work around 8am. The girls got me up around 8:19am.
Okay… I can do this… I have Solomon here today, but I can do this. I’ll just nap when the kids nap, no biggie. I even had a little umph and got a tiny bit of organizing done in the office. (I mean TINY bit). Nap time rolled around ~ Yipee! 4 phone calls, 3 interruptions from Joy (more snack, potty etc etc), and a baby in my belly who had major hiccups = NO SLEEP. I got up and did some book keeping and other mindless tasks. It’s now 5pm, I’m starting to cook dinner. I can’t keep my eyes open… literally. I’m exhausted. (I might also add that yesterday I cleaned the entire upstairs of our house ~ it’s spotless. That also wears me out).

Update on our lives~
~ I’m still pregnant. Yup. Imagine that… 4ish more weeks to go, I like the sound of baby arriving Feb 20th
~ Had our furnace checked out today. We will probably be getting a new one in the next month or so, depending on the quote they give us.
~ I discovered how messy our house is. I’ve been doing lots of cleaning, so it’s mainly just toys and stuff we are still moving around. I probably wouldn’t have noticed except I needed to ‘clear a path’ for the furnace guy before he got here and realized just how much work there is left to get done.
~ My best friend’s mom lent me a book. It’s a cookbook. “The big cook”. I’m in LOVE. The recipes are made for you to get together with some girlfriends and make lots, you cut up the meat, make the sauce put it all into a ziplock bag and freeze it. So no cooking involved for now. The book also gives suggestions for side dishes (I always need help with those). You pull the food out to thaw overnight then cook it up the next day for dinner ~ many of the recipes are cookable in the oven, slow cooker or BBQ. I have made 8 meals so far, we ate one so I have 7 frozen meals. I also have all the ingredients and most of them prepared (cut up etc) for another 2 meals, however I miscalculated how much meat I’d need so need to buy a bit more. Darn Kg to Lbs! I know the math but apparently can’t do it!
~ Orlund and I have both been making many different meals from various cookbooks we’ve bought or were given. We are finding out what’s yummy and easy. I’ve got to start making a list of the recipes so we can remember later! LOL
~ We are FINALLY going to move the girls downstairs TONIGHT! *gasp* got lots still to do, but I’m going to work on it today after Olivia is down for her nap (well I have stuff to take out of their room first..). I’m excited it’s finally happening because that means I can start getting ready for our new addition.
~ Joy went to Sunday school last Sunday! This was a big step, she didn’t like to go as the kids were too loud and all over the place. however on Saturday we went to a birthday party with some of these kids and she decided since they were nice there she’d go to Sunday school with them again. She loved it! (now the rowdy kids I noticed weren’t there, and the new teacher is more strict ~ which is good for some kids like Joy, but not all kids). She say’s she’s going to go again this Sunday. Poor Olivia, she really wants to go! 1 more year
~ Olivia is completely a Daddy’s girl. If I discipline her she runs to daddy for hugs. If Orlund disciplines her she runs a full circle, towards me then back to him for hugs. During the day if she gets really frustrated and I don’t know why, she points out the front window and cry’s “Daaaaaaaaaaaaddddddddddddddddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyy”. I remind her Daddy is at work, but she just cry’s and cry’s for him. The only other thing that will sooth her is her Blankie.
~ Both the girls are so smart it blows us away sometimes the things they come up with! They sure are listening.
~ Joy loves to say something to you (not understandable) and then when you ask her what it is she said she replies “oh, never mind” while waving her hand. She is also using the word “pardon” now instead of always saying “what”. It makes her seem so much more grown up.
~ Joy is excited at the thought of having a baby brother to play with… I’m worried she’ll be upset when she realizes he wont be much of a ‘play’ buddy for a while. At least all the baby toys will keep them busy
~ Orlund is LOVING his new job. Much less stress and it’s doing stuff that he loves.
~ I accidentally killed Nemo (our Gold fish). Yup somehow the temperature in our fish tank got so high he died and our other ‘fish’ (more like a snake/eel) was jumping out of the water because it was too hot! We cleaned the tank and cooled it off for them (slowly as to not shock them). Joy and Daddy went on a special trip to buy more fish, they bought 2 Pleco’s (the fish that clean the algae) and 4 little neon tetra’s. We are hoping to get on track with cleaning on a regular basis (it doesn’t take long, but remembering is the issue), then we would like to get guppies again. I love guppies. Just before we’d moved into this house I’d gotten into the routine of cleaning the tank, and our guppies were having babies. Unfortunately guppies are very sensitive fish and didn’t survive the move.
~ My pregnancy is going good. I have very low blood pressure still, the Dr suggested I use pressure stockings to help, I just gotta go buy them! My back has been killing me the last few days, but I think I know why. I dusted all our ceilings and walls on Monday (or was it Tuesday? lol), I think I just over did it and must have strained something.
~ well it’s time to get lunch going and some stuff cleared out the girls current room before Olivia goes down..

Hope all is well with your family. God bless you.

If you hadn’t guessed it, or read my facebook status. Little Charlotte has gone to be with Jesus.
Her mom updated their blog to fill us in on her passing ~
www.robandallisonamsing.blogspot.com
It’s beautifully written and hard to read with dry eyes.

Last night as I lay in bed thinking about Charlotte I realized she was Olivia’s age when first Diagnosed with Cancer (21months approx). then I realized it was on Olivia’s birthday that Charlotte had her first brain surgery. translation, she was 21months when she started this fight, and she fought hard and tough for 21months before going to Heaven skipping and jumping.

Today I felt unmotivated, perhaps because we found out no one from my family (Orlund, myself, My mom, dad or brother) are going to be able to attend the funeral (it’s cheaper to fly to Thailand and back then to Cranbrook), And I also received a new book I’d ordered in the mail. Heaven is for Real. Have you read it? I suggest you do. It’s the true story of a little boy (Charlotte’s age) who went to Heaven and came back. One particular part struck me hard and I had to stop to take a break ~ There was an elderly man (a believer)about to depart to heaven, the little boy and his dad (a pastor) went to visit and pray for him. After the father had prayed the little boy went back to the man and said “It’s going to be okay. The first person you’re going to see is Jesus.”.

Hug your kids tight. Thank God for your life and your loved ones.

It’s not my post to post, so I will wait until it becomes common knowledge. However I will give you a teary eyed hint, I gave my girls an extra squeeze tonight and thanked God for them. I think everyone should do the same. I’ll post more regarding this soon.

Please Pray for my cousin’s Daughter Charlotte. I’ve asked before, and Prayer works. She needs her 100% miracle and she needs it now. Cancer/tumors be gone from her head you do not belong there! Bumps on her head disappear God did not place you there, Charlotte is God’s child! Eyes return to the way God designed you and let her see again, Strength return to her body. Let her wake up in the morning with a hunger for food and a strength to eat. May her body function the way God so designed and purposed it. Praise you Jesus, Thank you for being our Healer and our Strength. Amen.

www.robandallisonamsing.blogspot.com

Last night (while I forced Orlund to stay in the living room) I baked his Birthday cake… Yeah, didn’t get a chance during the day so I did it once the kids were in bed. For someone like me, it was a complicated process. I got the idea off another blog, kinda wish I’d looked at their pictures better as it would have helped me not make such a mess… But I got it done, put in the oven. Cooked. Cooled and now it’s sitting hidden in our fridge. I took pictures along the way..I can’t post them yet as Orlund’s birthday isn’t until Saturday.

Today I’m icing the cake. I was going to make the icing this morning as my girlfriend Leah coming to help me later and I wanted the icing ready to go ~ oops left the butter in the fridge so it’s now out ‘softening’. My plans on just exactly what I’m going to do keep changing. I’m hoping Leah has some ideas. My experiences with Icing cakes is not good. I’m not all that talented at it, but I’m going to give it a try again. I pray I can make the icing thin enough to do a ‘crumb’ layer (where you ice a thin layer on to keep the cake from crumbing into your decorating), I just heard about this crumb layer for the first time today… wish me luck. I usually give up on decorating when my cake starts crumbing, and Orlund finishes it off… NOT today. Today I’m going to do it..

Wish me luck! I’ll be sure to take pictures of it at all steps along the way and post, probably, on Sunday..

My last post was a downer, but even now rereading it the post didn’t even capture the essence of what I was feeling. Thank you to those that read and commented. It really did help to know that I’m not alone in my frustrations.

I finally was able to talk to Orlund and we were both able to discuss our frustrations and clear the air some. Since then he’s been awesome. He tells me to ask him when I need help (I’m bad at that), especially when I’m doing something I shouldn’t be doing in my pregnant state. And I feel like we are moving forward and that makes me much happier. We are even wanting to go to bed early just to lay there and talk for hours, something we haven’t done in a long time. This year is starting to look up.

I honestly can’t remember what all I’ve blogged about or not. Sorry if I’m repeating myself (I’m to lazy to look back). Orlund finished building a part wall that has a built in desk on the other side (MY desk). We cleared out the old ‘tv room’ and it’s been transformed into our new office. We spent the last week after Christmas before Orlund started his new job busting our butts to try and get the office ready to move all our crap stuff in. Orlund bought some shelving units and put them together, as well as dismantling his desk, moving it then reassembling it. We only have a few remaining odds and ends in the old office (as well as the closet that is full of my material and sewing stuff). I hope to move all the remainder of my stuff over tomorrow (although I may need more boxes). After Orlund finishes moving the last few things of his over then the old office is ready for it’s make over. It’s going to be the girls new bedroom. They are very excited about it. Especially since they will both be getting ‘new’ beds! I’m very excited to set up their new room and finally move them downstairs (although it’d be nice if they slept through the night on a regular basis!).

My mom gave me a hand and we were able to get the toy room finally organized and cleaned up. It felt so good to get it decluttered and organized. I don’t know if you’ll understand this, but to me, whenever an area that hasn’t been cleaned in a while is finally cleaned and cleared out it’s so quiet. Like the clutter and mess were noise to my eyes.

Well I think that’s all I have to share at the moment
Hope you all have a wonderful week! Oh and if any of you have any recipes that are good for freezing I would greatly appreciate them… trying to stock up, unfortunately I don’t have many ideas…Thanks in advance

Do you ever feel like no matter what you do, or how hard you try, nothing will ever be good enough?

Perhaps it’s due to pregnancy hormones, but I don’t think so. Baby boy is doing great ~ Praise God. I’m so exhausted, worn down and I feel like the one person I want to understand is so far away from ever understanding I just don’ t know what to do.  Guess it’s another downer day, since the beginning of the new year I think I’ve had 2 up days… pretty sad start. I have loads that I am thankful for, just wish……… I just don’t even know what to wish anymore. I think today is going to need to be a ‘in my bible’ kind of day, although I do have to work too, and be a mom, and a house wife, Oh yeah, and a 8month pregnant lady (can’t forget that one).

This past week has been….an interesting one…
Saturday night Olivia was up all night with a fever. Actually she was up then down then up, just all over. We spent most the night snuggling her and worried about another seizure.
Sunday morning she woke with a horrible cough and a lot of flem in her chest. But she seemed to do better through the day.
Monday Solomon got dropped off, he had the exact same cough as Olivia, he also napped almost the entire day. Olivia was more snuggly than usual and we went through a lot of Kleenex between the two of them. Monday night, I didn’t feel so great.
Tuesday Solomon got dropped off again. I also now had the same cough as the two little ones. Not fun, whenever you cough the pain spreads throughout your chest and back and, well, it’s painful! Tuesday night Olivia was doing a bit better, I was a bit sicker, and Orlund spent over an hour in the washroom.
Wednesday morning Orlund had another bout in the washroom just as we were getting up (he’d figured he’d stay home to recover as he wasn’t feeling well). This time however there was a lot of blood. So I got the girls dressed and we took him to emergency. After we dropped him off we went grocery shopping and then went to take him a few things before coming home. After 4hours of not hearing from him I was worried and tried to call him numerous times (he’d turned his phone off). Finally I couldn’t take it and wanted to know what was going on so called Leah over to watch the girls so I could zip over and find out for myself what was up (Thanks Leah!). I talked to a volunteer to see if I could get in to see him and she found out he was on his way down. Okay I’ll wait. Turns out his mom was with him all day (Thanks Hazel), although apparently because she was with him he just forgot to call and update me? dunno. Not important. So we came home to some girls that were happy Daddy was home. (he had to have a CT scan and they have more tests to run as they don’t know what it could be). Joy also seems to have picked up Olivia and my wonderful cough.
Thursday (Dec 1st), Today. Orlund stayed home as he’s still not well. He slept the entire morning. I of course had taken the other days as not cleaning days… well there is only so long you can go before you need to do some cleaning. So I picked my worn out, painful, exhausted self up and got a little cleaning done. *yeah me!*. Both the girls are exhausted and….well….sick. I took a nap when Olivia did, I don’t know if it helped or not. I feel even more ready for bed. Oh well, no rest for a mommy! Our little bean I’m cooking seems to be just fine, he’s rather set in his waking/sleeping routine and doesn’t much move off of it (unless I wake him with my excessive, painful coughing).

But you know what? we’ll make it through. I might have even more grey hair after, but we’ll make it! Well I’d better go get dinner cooking. Hope you and yours are feeling better than we are! God bless!

I’ve mentioned that I would be posting about Joy’s faith…Here it finally is~

Many of us (I hope) have heard the story ~ Matthew 19:13-14. Some children came to Jesus but the disciples told them to go as He needed to rest, but Jesus said “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

I always figured I knew just what that means. I’ve had my eyes opened.
We always wonder if we are teaching the girls enough about Jesus and God. They will eventually need to make their own decision on following God or not. However while they are still under our covering we will teach them all we can and pray it touches their hearts. There is no way to really tell if they understand anything we are teaching them or not. Until Joy showed us her unshakable faith. Whenever the girls get hurt we always give them a kiss and say a prayer for no pain. The first time Joy showed me her faith was when I was in the hospital with Olivia in February(her UTI). Joy had joined in saying Amen after anyone prayed for Olivia, however one day I started to have a Migraine due to the dry conditions of the hospital and not drinking enough water. When I came out of the bathroom Joy asked me what was wrong, then she grabbed my hand and prayed for no more head hurt. Melted my heart.

After that she started praying more and more. She loves to say grace before our meals and loves to pray for us when we are hurting. I don’t know if you believe in the Healing power of the Lord, however WE do. Often I’ll pray for my own healing if I’m getting sick, sore etc, however as an adult I find I often question my own prayers. Joy doesn’t do that. If she prays for you, then you are healed! End of story. To her Jesus can do anything. Which He can. We often feel silly praying over little things, but really if we need help why wouldn’t He help us?

One day while leaving Walmart (recently) I was feeling weak (low BP) so had purchased a bottle of water… Well for the life of me I couldn’t get the silly lid off! I got a bit flustered and put the bottle in the cup holder. Joy asked from the back seat “Mommy, what wrong?” I told her I couldn’t open the lid, without hesitation she prayed “Jesus help mommy lid no open. Amen”. I figured I might as well give the lid another shot. It opened without any effort.

Olivia needed to get her 18month shots last month so we parked and went to pay, at the pay station was a mom with her child. She was explaining to her son that the machine was broken and wasn’t taking her money. Joy asked me what was wrong, I explained we would have to use a different machine since this one was broken. “Oh” she said “Jesus no work, help please. Amen” “Oh, it’s working now!” the other mom said to her son. The machine worked just fine for us as well. The other mom hadn’t heard Joy pray but I sure did.

She prayed for our baby before our second ultrasound, and everything is fine. I wish I could just put out the thoughts that make me doubt. Joy doesn’t question, she just believes, trusts and has Faith. Such a pure belief in Jesus. That’s what Jesus was saying, undoubting Faith.