My baby is growing up!

she rolled from her back to her tummy, crossed one leg under the other, pushed up with both hands and SAT!!! she didn't even keep herself propped up like in the video I posted last night. I WISH I had my camera on hand. After she did it a couple more times, I ran and got my camera, turned it to video, and she layed there and fussed because she was tired. :-/She also fell asleep in her crib, in her room, by herself for the first time tonight. She's been in the pack n play since birth and typically starts off in our bed until she falls asleep, then we move her, she sleeps the night through (until about 5:00 AM when she wakes up starving). We'll see if she does the same in her own bed. YAY It's all so exciting but sad at the same time. My baby, my last baby is growing up before my eyes!

Christmas time is coming!

Are you ready for it? We have a layaway yet to get out but for the most part, have the kids stuff taken care of. My mom and Jeremy's mom and some family will be getting a 6 mth picture of Madison for Christmas. We can't afford to buy for all the adults. We had our pictures made at our photographers and are ordering Christmas cards from her. That will have to be most everyone elses Christmas this year. The kids are our main focus. Thankfully Madison is young enough, she doesn't really need anything. We have her 2 toys in layaway and that will be it for her. I may put some socks and such in her stocking as she could REALLY use some. The newborn socks just aren't quite cutting it anymore.

Caleb is getting a tool bench. He will absolutely love it! He's getting a tricylce also. He won't be able to use it for a few months but at least we'll have it ready when Spring arrives. It was just such a great deal, I couldn't pass it up. It's Diego and he absolutely LOVES Dora and Diego. Olivia is getting a guitar (she's been asking for one for a LONG time). It's not a full size guitar but it's not the little ones either. I forgot what it's called but it's the next size up from a jr. and one size down from a full size. It's pretty big. I got it $30.00 and it was regular $100.00.I found a great deal on it on clearance at Target. I just love me some Targe clearance! She's getting a digital camera as well. Nothing fancy. Just one of those $40.00 ones you can pick up off the shelf. It's fancy enough for her. It has an LCD screen and all it's just a teeny bopper looking camera. I think it may be Hannah Montanna or Cheetah girls or something like that. Then they are each getting a couple clothes items and small toys. Caleb is getting some hot wheels in his stocking and Livy is getting some lip gloss. I still need to find her a couple things both for the stocking and under the tree. Thankfully we started early and have most of it done. Then, as soon as Christmas is over, we have to start buying for birthdays. All 3 of their birthdays are within 3 weeks of each other. The girls actually share a birthday and then 3 weeks later Caleb has his. It's like Christmas all over again.

I wish I could go home and see my family for Christmas. I can't remember the last time I got to be home for Christmas. Probably Christmas of 2000. Christmas 2001, (the year we got married) Jeremy worked that night. The next Christmas, we were living in Alabama and have been ever since. Next year, we will probably be home for Thanksgiving. Maybe we can do some sort of Christmas then. At least with my mom, brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews.

The most important thing is family and mine are clothed, fed, have a roof over their head and we are all healthy. Not much more I could ask for. We are quite blessed!

my weight loss journey

Well, I've decided it's time to buckle down and get serious about losing weight. I'm tired of not feeling good about myself. I do have PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome) which makes my journey a bit tough but what my PCOS does not know is it can't defeat me when I have my mind made up to do something! I've been reading "You on a diet" by Dr. Oz and some other dr. and it's very insightful, even if you don't need to lose weight at this point in life, it has alot of great information. I've also implimented a new life style change. Jeremy isn't thrilled about the extra money spent on groceries but I think, when it's all said and done, he'd much rather spend a litte extra on groceries than alot on medical bills. I've lost about 10 lbs so far and I've only been doing this a week - a week an 1/2. It's not near as hard as I thought. I don't know why I didn't do this sooner. Well, Iguess I do. I've been pregnant or breast feeding for the last 5 years. hahaha. ANYWAY, I never really fry food at home. I don't like the splattering popping grease so I didn't have to worry about cutting those things out. (and anyone who knows me from my childhood will tell you what a change that is for me. I used to LOVE me some fried potato's!) I've never really been a big sweets eater anyway unless it was my grandma's cobbler but for the rare occasion I may have a sweet tooth, we keep either carmel or chocolate mini rice cakes to munch on. I keep weight watchers ice cream bars instead of regular ice cream. I'm not a big chips eater either but sometimes crave something crunchy and salty so I keep ranch mini rice cakes to snack on and mixed nuts. I eat 3 meals a day starting off with oatmeal and a glass of 1% milk in the morning. I have a mid morning snack which usually consists of an apple. My lunch is usually some sort of turkey, tuna, or chicken wrap or sandwich. I'm using the Ezekiel bread for my bread and the Ezekiel tortilla's for my wraps. If you haven't heard of it, google it. It's some awesome all natural bread. The recipe was created from Ezekiel 4:9. Then I'll have a mid afternoon snack. Usually another apple. Sometimes it may be mixed nuts or dried fruit. For dinner, we typically have baked chicken or baked salmon or tilapia. Sometimes chicken salad or sometimes baked cornish game hens. With that, we will have some sort of fresh or frozen veggie that I will either steam or boil. Mayeb even 2 veggies. I make sure I drink at least 8 8oz. glasses of water a day. I've cut out all soda. If it's not water, juice, unsweetened tea, or unsweatened coffee, I don't drink it. I may on occasion (once a month) stop and get a cola icee. Starbucks will be my weekly cheat once I drop another 10 lbs. We are starting to substitut whole wheat pasta for regular pasta. I don't use salad dressing. I use olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Sounds like alot of changes but it really wasn't a huge change for us. We are big veggie and fruit eaters anyway. It's just a matter of cutting out the soda's, sugars, and all the proccessed garbage. We also bought a cheap old treadmill off of craigslist that I'm using now as well. I'm already feeling my energy come back which is a good thing. With 3 little ones, I need all the energy I can get. hahaha. I make sure to take a multi vitamin everyday as well.
For anyone needing to go down the same road, I highly reccomend getting Dr. Oz's book. I found the cheapest place to find it was Ebay. Amazon had some cheap ones but I got mine for like $7.00 and they are usually somewhere between $24.00-$32.00. I also reccomend looking up recipes on weight watchers.com and keeping a daily log of what you consume. It helps out so much!
Good luck and happy losing to all you losers! :)

Halloween....is it FINALLY over?

WOW!!!! What a CRAZY week! I'm so glad halloween is finally over. We had a Dr.'s apt this week, pictures, Madi got her ears pierced, 2 carnival/fall festivals and tonight, we went to the national peanut festival. (our annual fair). It was darn chilly for us Southerners. It was probably upper 40's lower 50's but I was freezing my batooty off! The kids did great but Caleb did have one melt down on one of the rides in kiddie land. I guess maybe he's not a roller coaster boy. He MUST get that from his father because growing up, it was the roller coasters I ran to first. Maybe not when I was 2 though.

Funds were tight this year so the kids didn't have a matching theme like they usually do. Olivia was an Alabama cheerlearder and what a cute one she was. Caleb was Raggedy Andy for the second year in a row, and Madi just wore a pumpkin sleeper with matching hat. They were still really cute. At our Church's fall festival, I saw the CUTEST baby costume EVER! The baby was in a baby chick costume and the mom was wearing him/her in a sling and around the sling, they attatched a large KFC bucket. It was SOOOOO stinking adorable. I don't know why I never think of these things!

Then, one of the families from our church went as characters from the wizard of Oz. They have 3 boys and a girl. The parents don't typically dress up but I think since they FINALLY got their little girl, that the mom is just REALLY into stuff like that now. The dad was the wizard, the mom was Dorothy, the baby was the good witch, and the brothers were the scarecrow, tin man and the lion. I absolutely LOVED it. We actually considered having the kids be characters from the wizard of oz. (what cute lollipop kids they would make!) I also thought about 3 scarecrows. 3 pumpkins. Maybe next year we can do the wizard of oz. Who knows what next year holds and my brain hurts trying to think that far ahead. LOL

Baby fever. Will it strike again?

Well, it appears the water is once again contaminated with fertility. Seems I have many friends and family that are pregnant, trying to become pregnat, or just had a baby. I keep seeing pics of all these babies. I keep having these bitter sweet feeling over Madison growing so fast before my eyes and I keep telling myself, it's only a matter of time before baby fever strikes again. Only this time, the well has gone dry. At least on my husbands end of things. I sent him to the vet after Madison was born. My poor body needs a break in such a bad way. I've been pregnant or an all you can eat milk buffet for 5 years now. I NEED A BREAK!!! lol Jeremy never thought he'd hear the day when I said I don't want to be pregnatn. He still won't let himself believe it. Though I'm done having babies, I still don't really have that "our family is complete" feeling. Maybe we should go buy a dog. I wonder if that would help? No really, I would LOVE to adopt or foster to adopt a baby boy in about 4 years. I need to get the others off to school first. My nerves will not be able to handle more than one kid at a time at the house 24 hrs a day at that point. I've already lost track of all the grey hairs. hahaha. Even dye doesn't hide them anymore and if I tried to pluck them all the sides of my head would be bald. Ok...that was abit of an exageration but it would definately be MUCH thinner. I haven't decided yet if the kids caused the grey, the husband, or the parents. (include in-laws in with parents). LOL I guess it could be the combination of all of them. I think it's about time for a "ME" cruise. Or a "mommy" cruise. I would SO love to get a bunch of us moms together and just leave the men with the kids for a week while we went sailing around the bahama's. Or an Alaskan cruise would be fun to!

So impatient

Ok! Last week we had our family Christmas photo's done at our photographers. She said to look for the proofs online in about a week. It will not have been a week until Thursday and I can't quit looking for them. Then, I took Madison tonight to Sears to get her 6 month photo's. There is this dress that's been our family for 40 years. My sister wore it at 6 mths, her girls did, I did, and my girls have. So, needless to say, it's a pretty special dress. Well, the proofs are available on line within 24-48 hrs. The photographer told me to log in after 5:00 PM tomorrow and see if they are there....that it is possible they will be. Now I'm on pins and needles wanting to view pictures! I know! Crazy huh? And of course Madison did WONDERFUL during the photo shoot. Smiles and giggles everywhere! You know what that means right? It means I want to spend more money on pictures that I can't really afford to. The only reason I went there is because I had a coupon for a package deal for $9.99 and a free 11 x 13. I knew alot of people would want them since it's a tradition with this dress and there was NO way we could afford to get pics for everyone from our regular photographer. We were the only session tonight from 6:00-close so they let me change her outfit 3 different times. Because they were all such great pictures, I just bought a proof collage of 6 different photo's to go along side the package deal. 2 pics in each outfit. I HAD to have it! lol
I think I've decided the most expensive things about having kids (other than diapers, formula, birthdays, Christmas, Proms, Weddings and grandkids) HAS to be photos! Actually, photo's are probably more expensive than some of the events I listed above. We have them made 2 times a year. Spring and Fall for our Christmas pics. (we do them the end of October so we will have them back by mid to late Nov and I can get them all addressed and out in the mail). So our family knows what it means when we hear people say they are picture poor. LOL
WOW!!! I never thought I could type all of that just over the thought of being impatient waiting on proofs! This is a picture of Madison in the family dress.

Happy Fall

Fall is upon us and what a beautiful time of year. My kids stayed the night with my mother in law the other night and we met her at the botanical gardens to pick the kids up. It was a beautiful day! every Fall they have what is called scarecrows in the park. Different companies put of scare crow and they are judged. The kids LOVED them. They had so many different themes. We were able to get some cute pics of the kiddo's while there. We need to take them back out to the pumpkin patch so daddy can hang out with them and see how excited they get. That is another thing we did last week. We went to the pumpkin patch with my stay at home moms group. It was alot of work keeping 3 kids rounded up but it was ALOT of fun and the kids had a great time. It was another beautiful day. I just LOVE this time of year. :)