Ice Day #3

OK, this is getting old! I'm all for a couple of snow days, but tomorrow is the 4th day out of school. The kids have been couped up in the house since Monday at 1:30. I'm about to lose my mind! Our power went out today at about 11:30. It wasn't too bad, actually. I know that I have my TV on too much during the days, but it really helps with my sanity. My kids have great imaginations, and play so well without TV, but it is nice to have some quiet in the house when they are watching a program. Today they played with the girls' kitchen again, we played board games, and they ran (and ran and ran) around the house. They have been in this house for waaayyy too long!

We did get out tonight to go to eat. We thought about spending the night with some friends who had power, but then decided to stay home instead. So we went to dinner with Jeremy and Leah (my brother and sis-in-law) and some of our close friends. They live right behind us and have a 2 year old. Rebecca and I decided we should have gotten together sometime this afternoon. She was feeling as stir crazy as I was and we both snapped at our husbands when they got home from work today. Adult conversation is a much needed thing when you have small children! Then it was a trip to Wal-Mart to let the kids run the aisles! It was stressing Lance out to have them loose in Wal-Mart, but they needed to walk.

The great thing is that the power came back on while we were out. The funny thing is that the kids were dissapointed. I had them all psyched to spend the night in our room and play games by lamplight. We found out Jeremy and Leah's power had never gone out, so we talked about spending the night at their house and the kids all yelled "nooooo!" They were really looking forward to the campout indoors. That is now probably on for tomorrow night. We'll just pretend we don't have power!

Hopefully it will continue to warm up and we can get out of the house during the day soon. I have missed my routine. Mondays and Thursdays are Mother's Day Out, Tuesdays are Bible Study, and Wednesday is AWANAS and choir. My family teases me that I'm not really a stay at home mom because I don't stay at home! The upside to being in the house all week is that we have gotten a lot of projects done! Several closets cleaned out and some more things organized! I told Lance tonight, maybe I should stay home more!

Ice Day #2

We were iced in again today. And looks like we will be again tomorrow. The kids spent the day playing Wii and watching movies and playing with the girls' kitchen. I have eaten many bowls of "soup" and lots of "cookies" today. I love that my kids love each other and play so well together. My kids are amazing. Luke never cares if the girls are in his room and he loves to play with them in their room with their kitchen or play games with them or read books to them. Don't get me wrong, they do argue and have their moments. But, I am truly blessed with kids who enjoy each other. The girls love to go get Luke from school each day, and then the chaos begins. It is amazing the difference that 4 kids make versus 3. The noise and energy factors go up exponentially.

My brother and sister-in-law came over tonight. They live about 2 minutes from us and have been stuck in their house since the ice hit on Monday. They were getting a little bored, so Lance picked them up on his way home from the hospital this afternoon. We're having a sleepover! We watched a couple movies with the kids and watched Lost. We're all fanatics! We lost our cable and internet today, so I was a little nervous that we were going to miss it tonight. We were all excited that the cable came back on about 2 hours before it came on. Yea Cox cable man!

So we're preparing for another day in the house tomorrow. Woo Hoo! But it could be much worse. So many of our friends are without power. And Lance's family who live about 45 mins away are without power and have been since Mon. and don't anticipate it being turned on until Fri or Sat. We are blessed. But I tell you, we are so going out to dinner when it's safe to get out in a couple of days!

Ice Day

Last night, the ice storm of the century hit Northwest Arkansas. We are some of the very few who still have power. Lance and I have been through an ice storm in 2000 (the year we got married) when we lived in Little Rock. But we didn't have any kids then and we had a wood burning fireplace. Now we have 4 kids, and no fireplace. (Well, not exactly. We do have a natural gas insert, but it stinks and we have huge living room and it wouldn't help at all to turn it on) So here we are, praying our power stays on. So many of my friends are without power right now, so we are blessed.

I made a big boo boo today. Last Friday is when I started this blog. That is also the day that Emma threw up so many times. Well, that is also the first day that she ate cereal with some formula. She is my first that hasn't eaten cereal at 4 months. I tried it, but she wouldn't eat it. Lance said that she just wasn't ready. Some babies are like that. I wasn't expecting it, but oh well, that was one less thing to have to add to my morning, so I wasn't too upset about it. So I tried it again Friday and she ate it. She also threw up 5 times about 2 hours later. Fast forward to today. I haven't tried the cereal again just on the off chance she had a reaction to it on Friday. I really didn't think she had, I really thought it was just a stomach bug. So Lance was at the hospital in the ice storm; I was at the house with the kids and I thought I would give Emma cereal again since we didn't have to be anywhere.

Soooooo, guess what happened? Yep, she threw up again. Carbon copy of Friday. Two hours after she ate it she started vomiting and did it for an hour. She didn't eat as much of it this time, so she didn't have as much in her stomach. Unfortunately, that means it was a lot of dry heaves. It was horrible. I felt so bad for her. Lance wasn't too happy with me for trying the cereal during the ice storm of the century. And he's right, it was a bonehead move. Moms of 4 make mistakes, too! The depressing thing about it all is that now we're looking at a milk allergy. I am praying it isn't that. I have close friends whose kids have milk allergies. It's not the end of the world, but it's really not something I want to live with.

Other than that, it was a pretty good iced-in day. The kids played well together, Lance was home at noon, we got several things checked off the honey-do list, and we had a great family game night with Wii and Hungry Hungry Hippos. Now everyone is in bed (Except Hope who keeps getting up telling us she needs to poop. That's her new thing to keep from going to bed.)
Lance is reading a magazine and we're watching American Idol on Tivo. Love me some AI!

Sickness Again!

I was so looking forward to today. Sara and Hope are in a Mother's Day Out program on Mondays and Thursdays. It's from 9-1 so for 4 hours each day I can get errands run or go to lunch with a friend or do some shopping with out kids. (except Emma of course!) But when you have 4 kids, having just the 5 month old is like having no kids at all! Anyway, the girls have missed MDO the past two weeks because of illness, snow, and a visit from the grandparents, so I have been really looking forward to some alone time.

All three big kids were in bed with me this morning. (something I absolutely love) When I got up, Hope got up with me. She followed me out of the room and immediately began crying. And I don't mean whimpering, she was wailing. I'm not proud to admit it, but I at first got on to her and sent her to her room. I thought she was throwing a fit because I wouldn't hold her. (she has been known to do this) Anyway, it didn't take me long to realize that something was really wrong with her. I took her temp (99.2) and got Luke out the door (I'm blessed that our neighbor takes him to school in the morning) and got Sara dressed and to MDO and then we were headed to Lance's office. En route, Hope threw up in the car because she was crying so hard. After taking care of that and getting to his office we got the diagnosis I was fearing: strep throat. Ughhhh!

She was funny at the office. We had to hold her down to look in her throat and then again to swab her throat. She wasn't very happy about that. So when it came time to give her some Tylenol, she was not entirely cooperative. As her Daddy was dosing her with a syringe, she was spitting it out about as fast as he could push it in. When faced with the decision of a shot or the medicine, she calmed down and took the medicine. And then she cracked me, Lance, and his nurse practitioner up. As he was pulling his hand back from her face with the syringe, she grabbed it and said, "wait Daddy, there's more" and put it back in her mouth. I mean fit to funny in about 15 seconds! That's my girl.

We had a good day together. We had an ice storm hit this afternoon, so we went to Wal-Mart for milk and more Tylenol and Chick-fil-a for lunch. We got Sara from MDO and checked Luke out early from school and went home to take a nap. Now we are hunkered down in the house praying the power doesn't go out. But EXTREMELY excited that Daddy might not have to work tomorrow. I anticipate a day of Wii and fun in the Faddis house tomorrow!

Sunday

Well, today has been a stressful but good day. Lance is on call this weekend and he was called to the hospital at 11:30 last night. He still wasn't home when the kids and I left for church at 9:15. It's hard to get up and get going on Sun when he's not here with us. One, I don't like going to church without him. Two, it's really hard to get everyone dressed for church, breakfast eaten, hair combed, bows in hair and out the door by myself. But it is always worth it when I make it to church when he's not with us. I feel a sense of accomplishment and victory. I'm in the choir at church and we sang a song today that we have sung before, but today, God really used it to speak to my heart. The song is called "God is here" and it talks of an annointing in the sanctuary because of God's presence. It also encourages us to cast our burdens on Him and let him take our heavy yoke from us. I don't have any "burdens" that I'm carrying right now like some of my friends do at this time, but I felt the Lord speak to me about laying the burden of trying to run my household and raise my children on my own and do it "the way it should be" on Him. I don't have to please anybody in this world but Him and I won't be able to do my job to the best of my ability if I try to do it without HIM.

Lance was sleeping when I called the house after church so the kids and I went to Wendy's for lunch. They were so amazing. It was like the Lord was telling me, "see, if you get your priorities right, I'll take care of them and your ability to respond to them in love." OK, I got it Lord! On the way home, Luke started asking me about how old the girls will be when he's 16. After a quick math lesson, he asked me about getting a car when he's 16. I told him we were planning on buying him one and he then asked me if I knew what he was going to do the day he got his car. When I said I didn't, he informed me he was taking Jessica out to dinner. Now you have to know that Jessica is one of my dearest friend's 21 year old daughter! He is convinced he is going to marry her! I have a ladies man on my hands!

Now, I'm getting the house picked up because my Granddad and his wife Edna are coming for a visit. They live in OK and he has a dr.'s appointment here tomorrow morning so they are going to spend the night either with us or my brother and his wife. It will be a good visit, but a little weird. My grandfather eloped this past May. His wife lived in CA. I've only been around her a couple of times. I'm not quite used to the idea yet. But she is a wonderful person and I look forward to getting to know her better. So that's today. Another busy day in the Faddis home. (are their ever any that aren't?!)

The older kids with Grandpa and Grandma Edna

kids say the funniest things

Today has been a very busy day. Luke had his first Upward basketball game this morning. Lance is on call this weekend so he was gone EARLY this morning. He wanted to get there and get out so he wouldn't miss Luke's game. But that left me with getting all four kids and myself ready. The problem arose when I couldn't find Luke's jersey. After 20 min of trying to find it so I could wash it before the game that was at 10:00, I found it. Whew. And Lance did make it to the game. He's a GREAT daddy! I am so blessed to have a husband who makes his family his priority. Luke had fun. Then it was home for lunch and naptime. And naptime is the reason for the title of this blog. Luke and Sara were in our room watching a movie and Hope and Emma were sleeping. Luke came in the kitchen where Lance and I were and said, "Momma, are girls smarter than boys?" I told him no and asked him why he was asking. Then he said, "well, Sara said that the Bible says that girls are smarter than boys." After I quit laughing I assured him that girls weren't smarter than boys and he went back to the bedroom. I turned to Lance and told him it was so tempting to look at Luke and say yes, son. It says it in Sara 2:25! My kids are hysterical!

The rest of the day has been spent cutting the girls hair, buying a birthday present, getting Luke to a birthday party, going to pick Luke up, and figuring out where to go to eat tonight. (Sara's vote is for a mexican restaraunt we love called Maria's) Life is always busy around here. But I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Mom and Poppa

GiGi and PawPaw

Me and my girls!

Emma's Dedication

We had Emma dedicated to the Lord at our church on 1/18. We have the best church. And we are blessed to call our pastor our friend. It was a special time for us. Emma wasn't planned and I wasn't entirely excited about having a 4th child, but the Lord has sooooooo blessed us with her. The verse we had read at her dedication was Jeremiah 1:5 - Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you... So appropriate. I can't imagine life without her. These were the last pictures of the day. Hope was done. The other ones are of the kids with their grandparents. Mom and Poppa (yes they call my mom, Mom. Luke started that. It has stuck.) and Gigi and PawPaw.

Here are my beautiful children. They are the joys of my life. After having my first, I realized I was born to be a wife and mother. I stay at home with them and couldn't imagine doing anything else. It is hard, but so wonderful.

Here we go...

OK, so here goes. I've never been much of a journaler. I'm really only doing this hoping that I will keep up with the things my kids do and say that are funny/cute and thereby be able to remember them years from now. Life with 4 kids is an adventure. When the oldest is 6, it makes it hard to get anything done. This afternoon, I've been on the couch with the baby (5 months). She went to her Daddy's office to get caught up on immunization shots. You know the old saying about the cobbler's kids not having shoes? Well the same can be said for Doctor's kids. We're behind a couple shots. Anyway, Sara (4 y/o) needed blood drawn for some allergy testing and Emma needed shots. Sara got the blood drawn, not too much crying and screaming. And she was sufficiently spoiled by the staff with stickers, gum and a sucker. But before Emma could get her shots she started throwing up. I've never had one throw up this young. She threw up 5 times in one hour. I can handle snotty noses and even fevers, but something scares me about my baby throwing up. It doesn't take long for a baby to dehydrate. So, I've had the rare opportunity to sit on the couch and hold her all afternoon. And thank you Lord, the big kids are playing great together in their rooms. So now we're just waiting for Daddy to get home and pray that he doesn't get called to the hospital tonight. At least not until the kids are all in bed.

So there you go. My first blog. Not too painful, but seriously, I really don't know that I'll be able to keep up with it. I sure hope I can!