An Intro to my family at its current state, and detailed updates

Today is Thursday February 21st 2008

This is my first blog here, I have blogged a few times in my myspace page, but haven't' kept up with it. I hope to use this page to highlight the days and nights of motherhood, and my children's lives. I hope to be able to show this to my children one day or to print off the pages pertinent to them and give them a "Book about me" for each of them, when they get old enough to appreciate it. My goal will be a paragraph per child per entry, whether it be daily, weekly, or monthly. For future references we live in Hodges SC, in a two bedroom single wide mobile home.

Katie Grace is 5 years old, and is still enjoying herself at school, however has some bad days here and there. She really enjoys doing her homework, as long as its in very short time spans. She is still very loving towards me and her sisters, and still likes to rough house with her Daddy. She has had two bad days already this month :( to which she gets "jobs" piled on her when she does that, my mother and sister seem to think that she's acting out to earn time with her Daddy. Katie Grace loves to:jump, cut flips and cartwheels, sing, and watch TV. Her best friend at school is Michelle. She loves to hold and talk to Becca. She is struggling with cleaning up her room, unless I get her started, or help her finish it. She loves that she has PE two days a week at school. Overall she is such a joy as a daughter, and I couldn't have been more blessed with a first child than her. Overall, she is a Mommy's girl, and loves both of her sisters very dearly.

Lydia is 3 years old, and she loves attention. Lydia is in a very heavy questions phase. She is always asking "why do people make..." Lydia loves her Daddy very much. Overall she is a Daddy's girl and loves both of her sisters. My biggest issue with Lydia this week is staying seated during meal times, and completing her plate. Lydia is more of a drinker than an eater, she can down 2, 3 or sometimes 4 or 5 cups of juice, water, or milk, if you let her, but takes turns liking things to eat enough that she will complete it. Lydia loves Becca, and wants her to listen to her and watch her when she tries new things, she doesn't' understand that Becca can't "talk" back to her yet. Lydia loves watching TV, having books read to her, horsing around with her Daddy, playing dress up, and being paid lots of attention.

Becca is 6 weeks old and 1 day today. She is starting to smile and coo more often. I am very happy that she has overcome her weight issues, and her breastfeeding is going very well now. She still is taking Prevacid for her reflux, but is doing much much better with her nursing, she is now down to no bottles, and just nursing exclusively. She is getting so big, and is just a joy to be around. She is aware when her sisters and her Daddy are in the room, and is happy to see and hear them. She loves her Mommy so much. I can't tell just yet if she is a Mommy's girl, or Daddy's girl, she is just as equally happy with both of us, as well as the girls. She has another weight check tomorrow, and I will update afterwards to how it fares. She seems to have a preferred schedule of pacify nursing from around 9pm to 1am then nursing at 1am 3am and then again around 5 or 6. This being said, she is co-sleeping with me during that time. She mostly sleeps in her bassinet in the daytime.


Ok so the picture of me is a little old, but its the latest picture of me I have. Obviously it was taken Wednesday January 9, 2008I am a year older now, Sunday past was my birthday (2/17), and I turned 28. It was a very emotional day. Nobody told me happy birthday until almost dark. The girls and Travis went and picked up Chinese food and brought it home, and went to Bi-Lo and got me a cake. It was a very good cake too. I am not emotionally ready to go back to work yet, and Travis is doing everything he can to help me postpone my return. I am enjoying being back at home. My lifelong dream has been to be a SAHM, and I thoroughly enjoyed the 2+ years that I was a SAHM after Lydia was born. I am very seriously considering only going back to work on Friday and Saturday nights and sign up to be a substitute teacher for the elementary schools and go back to school for my early education degree, even if it takes me 6 years to get my degree I think it would be best to go back part time, instead of full time. I am trying to get as much stuff cleaned out of this house as possible, my short term goal to get rid of it is to gather up Jeep loads of stuff weekly and take it to the flea market to try to sell it, and then at the end of each month what ever hasn't' sold take to donation locations. There are also a couple of people that want stuff taken off of there hands so badly they have told us we can take it to the flea market and can keep the money from it, so hopefully that will also help extend my maternity leave a little bit too.

Travis is doing better, thank God. He is having more good days than bad days here lately. Not that each day isn't a painful day, its just that he is getting more and more able to deal with the pain, and is learning what things will increase and what things will decrease the pain. He is still having days where he is sleeping all the time, but they are becoming lesser and lesser. He is still waiting on his workers comp lawsuit out of Alabama, and heard this past week, that they are willing to pay for the blood clots, and that he should begin to get paid very soon, we had to fax in our past years tax returns, and Travis will have to call in his disposition sometime soon as soon as the lawyer calls and says he needs them. Also as far as the disability goes, he should have a court date for that sometime in the next 18 months. His lawyer told him to try to put in as many job applications as possible, and if they hire him and he isn't able to perform the job at the level they require, they have to write a statement for the courts, and if they don't' hire him they have to give a statement for the courts explaining why.

My goals for today are:

1. Wash dishes
2. Refresh Living room (the portion that has already been detailed)
3. Detail clean from sink to stove
   
4. Detail clean from my chair to the couch
5. Fold and put away clothes on the clothes line
6. Wash and hang Katie Grace's clothes
7. Wash and hang Becca's clothes
8. Fold and put away Katie Grace's clothes
9. Start supper
10. Begin load of Travis' clothes

Well, this is it for now, I am going to get busy before Becca wakes up to eat. Katie Grace doesn't' have school tomorrow, so hopefully she can help me get some things done this afternoon when she gets off of the bus. I will plan on updating again tomorrow.