Turning A Corner

(Ellie in "Sissy's" Awana Cubbies vest and holding Sissy's Bible)

I probably shouldn't "say" this, but I think that little girl above may be turning a corner on the sickness that we just call "the crud".

As I may have said 642 times, Ellie woke up on Saturday with a nasty sounding cough that Maggie says sounds "wonderful" and then had a runny nose on Monday morning. She already had a well-baby exam on Tuesday morning and the doctor diagnosed an ear infection that was probably caused by the TONS of congestion that she has. Ellie had seemed pretty normal until she woke up from her nap on Tuesday and started acting like a toddler with an ear infection: fussy, frumpy, cling-y and having trouble sleeping. After her nap today (Thursday) she seemed quite a bit better.

Just in time for a certain Big Daddy's homecoming!!! Big Daddy will be leaving the very southern part of Georgia tomorrow (Friday) morning to go to company headquarters just South of Atlanta. From there, he'll be homeward bound. I'd appreciate your prayers for his safe travel. We can't wait to see him!!

Happy weekend!!


Don't forget to enter my CSN Stores giveaway!!

A Giveaway!

You may already know that I love a certain virtual shopping center of sorts.


They have everything from modern furniture to handbags. Cooking utensils to camping gear.

Well, now you are going to love them too!
I'm giving away a $20 gift certificate to one lucky winner. You can use this certificate towards anything in their 200+ stores.

This giveaway is open to all US and Canadian residents and you have to have a valid email address to win. You do not have to have a blog, but there is a chance for an additional entry if you share the giveaway on your blog.

Here's how to enter:
1) Leave a comment telling me how you would use your $20 CSN Stores.com gift certificate. You must tell what you would purchase if you win.
2) If you are a blogger, blog about this giveaway and then leave an additional comment and share a link to that blog post (NOT to your blog).
The giveaway closes Thursday, January 27 at midnight EST. The winner will be announced next Friday, January 28, 2011 before 12:00 noon EST.

Happy Shopping!

Wednesday

I feel like this week has completely kicked my butt. Seriously.

Maggie has been extra dramatic and Ellie has a runny nose, horrible cough and an ear infection from all of the congestion.

I have sort of moved on from the "I miss my husband so much" phase of this journey. Sure, I miss him so much, but right now I just want a little help with parenting duties. Not a babysitter or a break (but a break would be nice). Help.

I'm amazed at all of the things that have happened in the past almost three weeks since Big Daddy left. Ellie has picked up a few new words and does several new things that are cute. She often points to the computer and says "da da" because we Skype nightly. Maggie doesn't concern herself quite as much about when he'll be coming home. She has certain times where she misses him SO much, but for the most part she's over it. I know most of her tantrums lately are because she misses her Daddy. I have started doing yoga nightly and doing Weight watchers online.

We are ready for Big Daddy to come home!

NOT according to plan

I make plans.
I like plans.
I also like when plans change, but only if it's for the best.
Big Daddy's plans changed.
Not for the best.
He will not be home this weekend.
That means that we will be apart for three weeks once he does come home.
That's the longest we've ever been apart.
In 15 (as of March 2) years.
I've only seen him two days in 2011.

Ellie is oblivious. While Maggie misses him, I think she's gotten used to being without him. We have tried to be vague about when he comes home, just in case. He's currently a nine hour drive away and it just didn't make sense for him to spend so much time on the road so that he could spend so little time at home. Needless to say, we are counting down the days until we are together again.

Alone Time

I think there were angels singing when I announced that we would be going to the Library for Storytime today. We hadn't been out of the house since 8:30 Monday morning. e all needed to get out.

Cousin Callie was out of school since some of the back roads are still icy, so we went to Nana's to pick her up for Storytime too. Ellie made a run for the toy closet and said the sweetest "no" and shook her head when I asked if she was ready to go. I think she was afraid that I was going to take her back home! She decided to stay with Nana for some special time while the big girls were away.

I returned Cousin Callie & Maggie and then left for the grocery store...alone.

It had been a while since I had been out. It had been a long time since I had been out alone.

It was a glorious hour and I feel like my batteries are no longer completely dead. It turns out that single parenting while housebound because of winter weather is very draining.

The countdown to Big Daddy's return is officially on! We have lots to talk about and a future to plan for. I am really looking forward to having another adult in the house even if it's only for a little while!

Good News/Bad News

Good News

I knew that 2011 was going to hold big changes for us, but at the end of 2010 I wasn't exactly sure if we'd be relocating to South of Atlanta or staying here in NC.

Big Daddy's second week on the job in Georgia brought a couple of surprises. One of the other engineers in his same position decided to resign and start a job where he could be closer to home. He was out of state every Monday through Friday and after 18 months on the job, being home with his wife only on weekends wasn't cutting it. This gave Big Daddy a not so good feeling and changed his travel schedule. It was starting to look like he would be spending most of his time in Northern California, Southern California, Mexico and Colorado . I continued to spend way too much time scouring the internet for houses in Georgia and Big Daddy spent way too much time riding from neighborhood to neighborhood looking for a house for sale with hardwood floors that weren't pre-finished, white cabinets and granite counter tops. We were both coming up empty handed and looking at other options like keeping our house here and him getting an apartment South of Atlanta for when he would actually be working in his office.

The other surprise was something pretty unexpected. He was called about a job here in NC with a company that he has wanted to work for pretty much for years. He had submitted his resume a while before and they were finally doing interviews for the position. Big Daddy went for his two interviews and has been offered the job. He has work to finish up in Georgia, but he'll be starting his new job in a couple of weeks. There will be travel, but the office is close and we will be able to keep our house...and our Church...and Maggie's preschool.

I am am a little disappointed, but very relieved. We are thrilled that we won't be leaving our house and happy that we can stay in our Church and that the girls will be close to family.


Bad News

My Mommy-friend April has cancer. We are hopeful that it hasn't spread and that they caught it early enough that treatment will be successful. She has a son Maggie's age and a daughter a few months younger than Ellie, so I can only imagine what her biggest concerns are.

Please keep April in your prayers. She is scheduled for surgery at the end of this month.

Lonely, but not alone.

That would describe most of my weekend.

(Ellie is wearing Maggie's old, too small ruby slippers and loves them, but does not love new ruby slippers that actually fit her.)

These two are always with me, so I'm not alone at all!!

We have been fortunate that this is only the second weekend that we have been without Big Daddy. (I think,but I'm not sure, that this is maybe my fifth or sixth weekend of being without him in our almost 15 years.) Saturdays are especially hard because that is our usual "Family Day". Cousin Callie had an Upward Basketball game Saturday morning, so we were happy to attend that with Nana. We picked up lunch and then went home and had rest time. (Don't let the name "rest time" fool you, because Ellie is the only one that takes a rest anymore!) I had a three minute nap and a really big idea. I'll share my really big idea only if it comes to fruition because it seems sort of silly today!

I felt like I was going crazy because Saturday passed and we didn't do any of our usual stuff. The last time Big Daddy was away on a Saturday I took the girls shopping and to Panera for lunch. I felt sad, lonely and I was a little grumpy by the time dinner rolled around.

We had dinner a little late and then I sent the girls to their bathroom for baths. Ellie's favorite thing to do is run away as soon as she is naked. She goes straight to the couch and peeks over the back of it until I am within sight. Then she dives down behind the pillows and starts kicking them off, laughing and anticipating my arrival. I carry her back to the tub and she splashes and plays with her sister. After bath, it's the same scenario played out again. This time I decided to go ahead and comb Maggie's hair before retrieving Ellie. I told Maggie that I had to hurry because her sister might pee on the couch. We both laughed and I went to the living room to find a huge wet spot and a naked Ellie on the couch.

I cried.

I think it's called rock bottom.

Of course, it was funny, but there's only so much a Mommy can take.

There is a big (for us) snow being forecast for Monday/Tuesday, so I would greatly appreciate your prayers. There is something about knowing that your housebound "alone" with two children that makes me want to cry.

On a brighter note, Maggie is in LOVE with "The Sound of Music". It was our Thursday and Friday evening entertainment. It's such a wholesome, fun movie...minus the N@zi part. Maggie has asked to become a nun and to have her hair cut short like Maria's. (She also wants it long like Rapunzel's) She wanted the movie "to never end and go on forever and ever" and asked if we could NOT take it back to the Library. I think she'll be getting it for her birthday.

Maggie is also in love with yoga.

This week promises to be big week for us! Stay tuned.

A Little Devotion

(From our Church devotional booklet)
You Still Matter

Fans rooted for the competition, Cheerleaders switched loyalties. The coach helped the opposition score points. Parents yelled for the competition. What was this?

This was the brainchild of a big-hearted football coach in Grapevine, Texas. Kris Hogan skippers the successful program of Faith Christian High School. He has seventy players, eleven coaches, quality equipment and parents who care, make banners, attend pep rallies and wouldn't miss a game for their own funeral.

They took their 7-2 record into a contest with Gainesville State School. Gainesville's players, by contrast, wear seven year old shoulder pads and last decade's helmets and show up at each game wearing handcuffs. Their parents don't watch them play, but twelve uniformed officers do. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility. The school doesn't have a stadium, cheerleading squad or half a hope of winning. Gainesville was 0-8 going into the Grapevine game. They'd scored two touchdowns all year.

The whole situation didn't seem fair. Coach Hogan devised a plan. He asked the fans to step across the field and for one night only to cheer for the other side. More than two hundred volunteered.

They formed a forty yard spirit line. They painted "Go Tornadoes!" on a banner that the Gainesville squad could burst through. They sat on the Gainesville side of the stadium. They even learned the names of Gainesville players so they could yell for individuals.

The prisoners had heard people scream their names, nut never like this. Gerald, a lineman who will serve three years said, "People are a little afraid of us when we come to the games. You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they're yelling for us. By our names!"

After the game the teams gathered in the middle of the field to say a prayer. One of the incarcerated players asked to lead it. Coach Hogan agreed, not knowing what to expect. "Lord", the boy said, " I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank you, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world who cared about us."

Grapevine fans weren't finished. After the game they waited beside the Gainesville bus to give each player a goodbye gift- burger, fries, candy, soda, a Bible, an encouraging letter and a round of applause. As their prison bus left the parking lot, the players pressed stunned faces against the windows and wondered what just hit them".

Here's what hit them: A fullside of "You still matter" and "Someone still cares". Their mission? Break down barricades that separate God's children from each other.

January...So Far

I feel like lots of things have happened since we rang in the new year. Since Big Daddy has been away I have noticed how fast things change in even the span of a week. Being apart can really start to take a toll on both of us. He falls into the routine of being alone in a hotel room night after night and I get used to the bathroom staying clean for more than 5 minutes and not having to pick up clothes from the closet, the bathroom and the bedroom. I knew that 2011 would be an eventful year, but there have been quite a few things that have happened already!

• Our Church started a new series and I'm doing the daily devotional and started working on reading the whole Bible this year.
• We found out that a couple-friend of ours has split up and will most likely be divorcing.
• We have found out about new babies that are expected this year. (not in this house!)
• I have not quite perfected my chain stitch, but after NOT crocheting in 7+ years, I have picked up yarn again!
• I am doing yoga...daily.
• I have found that absence really makes the heart grow a little fonder.
  
• Ellie says "Sissy" (sounds more like "Sithsy") more than "Maaa" for Maggie.
• In preparation for homeschooling Maggie in the fall, I bought sight word flashcards...or maybe Santa brought them. Anyway, she has been begging to "play the game" and last night, we did. I picked out 20 words that I thought would be easy for her to "sound out" and she did really well! I didn't realize that there were more words on the back. Of course, she insisted that we do those word too even though the were a little more difficult. Once again, she impressed me. I have moments where I really worry about trying to teach her the things that she "should" know and this was just the boost of confidence that I needed!

And it's only January 5th!!

2011

I always try to start out the new year with a positive attitude, but no matter how I look at it I feel like this year will be a big challenge.

Big Daddy will be away...lots.
I will be in charge of all daily house and yard maintenance, as well as caring for these two crazy kids!
We will most likely move.
Maggie will start kindergarten and we plan to do that at home. (!!!!!)
Ellie will (probably) start potty training at some point in 2011, but only if she has an interest.


Of course, I want to be a better wife and mother, lose 15 pounds and so on and so forth. I also want to get my concealed carry permit, spend more one on one time with Maggie, take longer showers, NOT set the alarm off on a weekly basis and keep the car clean. All of these are a little harder when you realize that your parenting partner will NOT be around most of the time and you are for the most part on your own. It's hard to take a class involving handguns, do yard work, wash the car and enjoy your shower when there are always two little people (somewhere very close by) to think about.

Anyway...I read this and it took me right back to what I was thinking and feeling in the Praise & Worship service this morning at our Church.

I have decided to work on a few new goals instead of the same ones that I try to work towards every single day. Hopefully, it will work out for me.