Noa and Elijah helping dad cut the grass!

Isaac took me to lunch at I Hop for mother's day! we had a wonderful lunch! dad hung out with Noa and Elijah.

Working Mom to Stay At Home Mom

So from January until April I went back to work at CMT. I was filling in for someone on maternity leave so it was just a brief period. It was a great experience for me! I think I really needed the break from the kids. A friend from church, Karen, kept the kids while I went back to work. She was great for them!!!
We learned that me getting home at 6:45 every night was not ideal for our family! It was hard on Jay because he got stuck with the difficult time with the kids. He had to pick them up come home get them fed and ready for bed. I would get home just in time to put them all to bed. I loved working but mainly for the social aspect of it.
I realized that a "working mom" and a "stay at home mom" are two completely separate jobs! They are both hard jobs and both have thier advantages and disadvantages! Being back home now really makes me appreciate being able to stay home!! I love spending time with the kids. I was thinking this morning it's nice to have the "freedom" to be able to do whatever during the day. Yes I have to drag kids wih me but it's nice to be able to run to the store on the middle of the day when no one else is there. And hang out with other moms as your kids run wild around you. And plan a day to the zoo with friends. Although working full time you do have all day adult interaction! Which is always nice so you don't feel like you brain is going to cookie mush. This also gave me a great respect for working moms. To find the balance between work and your family can be hard. Finding anytime to clean my house, cook, or do laundry was very hard!! So for me this break back to work is just what I needed. If anything it helped me to appreciate staying at home with my kids!!!

They are getting big!

I haven't posted in forever!! But they did something really cute today (which actually they do often, but today I just decided to write it down!) They were holding hands while drinking their bottles. Elijah was holding Noa's hand. At one point Noa was trying to let go but Elijah had a strong grip. You could tell she was trying to break free. They are so fun to watch!!
Not sure what I posted last but Noa is walking now. We declared her a walker before she hit 10 months!! She walks all over the place. Her big thing right now is to carry something and walk. The first time we notice this she was carrying a diapers box. It was empty but about the size of her. Elijah is a really fast crawler!! He has started taking a few steps to keep up with his sister. He is now taking about 4-5 steps at a time. But I think he realizes he can get places a lot faster by crawling!
Isaac turned three and we are learning how horrible the threes are!! I finally got rid of the paci!!! I threw it in the trash can. One morning he was fighting with Noa over it and being mean to her so I said that's it! And threw it away. We watch the trash men come get it and everything! He has had a hard time with it but is starting to get over it. We talked about how the trash men took it to another baby who really needed it and their mommy washed it for them. :)

Today...

We had a great day today!  We got out around 10 and were planning on feeding the ducks by Granddaddy's house but when we got there there were no ducks.  Noa and Elijah were still sleeping so Isaac and I decided to go to the park in Mt. Juliet.  We had a great time!

Isaac played on the monkey bars, played in the sand, Noa and Elijah played in the sand for the first time and ate it, and decided it didn't taste very good.  But yet continued to eat it!  I finally had to take them out of the sand!  YUCK!

They all got to swing!  Noa and Elijah shared a swing!  First time swinging.  I actually was able to take some pictures of it all too!

We then walked to Sonic to get lunch.  Isaac asked why are we going to Sonic and I said because Mommy didn't pack our lunch, why mommy? because I didn't think we would be out this long and I didn't really have time to pack before we left I was just thinking about getting out of the house!  Isaac - Oh! :)  We have officially entered the "why" stage!  Everything is "Why" now!  My favorite saying is "Why, Because" he answers himself I guess:)  We had a great lunch.  It turned out to be a little longer walk then I had thought it might be in my head...  And of course no shade...  I think they all enjoyed it more than getting in the car and driving there.

Afterwards we went over to my parents for a little bit.  Isaac took a nap in the car. (Don't worry the air was on and we have monitors so when they wake up we hear them:)!)  The twins were good entertainment while we were there!  They are getting to a great stage!  They kept fighting over toys.  Well mostly Elijah would take everything Noa had.  At one point Noa was entertaining herself by going back and forth between two toys.  It was great entertainment for us all:)


Today I have been thinking a lot about our friends' brand new baby.  She was born Saturday and they took her home and had to go back to the hospital last night.  I don't know many details at all, I just knew two things: to pray!  and that she was not breathing on her own.  This had me thinking back to what we went through with Isaac when he was first born.  I was thinking today that it is amazing how much you can love someone who you have only known for a few days, or even just a few minutes!  I remember when they were telling us all the bad news about Isaac how hard that was!!  Then I just started thinking about all the crap we had/have been through together.  How before Isaac was born I went through so many health problems and then Isaac was born and he had problems and then we were given twins... ?  And Elijah had trouble with his lungs in the beginning.  Then I started thinking about what a blessing they are and how perfect they are all now!  The twins are hard.  Very hard! But I just started thinking that God gave me two when I only expected one.  He entrusted two lives at once to me!  I was given two more children to love and watch grow when I was only expecting one.  And I'm pretty sure that it would have only been one more!  But God knew we needed two more!  That just makes me feel so special!!  And to think of all the stuff we went through to get to this point where we are now, it really seems like nothing.  Yeah in the moment, it was horrible, unbearable, but looking back now it has brought us to where we are today.  And who we are!  One bible verse that I have held on to over the pass 5 years is Jeremiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This sure has played out in my life!  Boy did he prosper me:)  Not sure my reason for blogging all this.  I think mainly for myself, so I can remind myself that life isn't about the day to day its about the lifetime of memories and where you end up!  Sometimes we get so caught up in the day to day we forget to look at the big picture!  We got word tonight before dinner that the precious little baby I had been thinking and praying for all day today, is doing really good.  They have taken her off of the ventilators, and they said all their prayers have been answered!  We still don't have many details but we are still praying for this little girl and I just keep praying that she turns out as perfect as my three who all came into this world as miracles!!!  God is so GOOD!!

Thursday nights

Thursdays are very different now. Jay's job changed recently and with that his hours changed. They are a lot better than they initially started out but still not great. He works everyday 8-4:30 except Thursdays he works 1-9pm. He doesn't like his new position at all which is no good. Working is never fun and it's even worse when you don't like what you do. Anyway, so he is home in the mornings on thursdays which has been nice! It gives us a chance to get a few things done. But then I have to put the kids to bed by myself. And that's no fun! Most Thursdays my dad has been coming to help me but tonight he didn't feel good so he stayed home.
Well things went pretty well. The twins took a little power nap around 5:00 so that allowed me to get dinner ready for me and Isaac. Then we all had dinner together. I fed the twins some squash. Elijah kept coughing like he had something caught in his throat. And kept acting like he was going to throw up. Well after a while he did. It wasn't too bad of a mess because he was in his high chair so it just all went on his tray and him. Well they all needed baths anyway so this just made the decision final. So I attempted to give them all a bath. I left the twins in the high chairs while I got everything ready. Then I put everyone in the bathroom and shut the door. Isaac is great in the tub!! So he just gets in and does his thing. I started with Elijah since he was covered in puke. Do you remember me mentioning that my children don't sit still, well that's in the tub too!! I have a little seat that they can sit up in which helps a little. Elijah was climbing out of it though trying to get soap and all isaac's toys. At the same time Noa was trying to climb in the tub to get isaac's toys also. So I get Elijah out and trying to get him dressed as Noa is still trying to climb in the tub. Head first I might add. So now it's Noa's turn. So now Noa is climbing out of the chair and Elijah is trying to climb in the tub. At one point they were both about to go head first into the water. As Isaac is laying flat in the tub spinning in circles. Oh yeah in the middle of all this i thought i heard someone in the house. So when I got Elijah out I ran through and locked all the doors! So finally I get everyone out, safely I might add, and get every in their pjs! WHEW!!!!
I started getting everyone in bed. Started Isaac a movie in our room and he laid down. Got Noa a bottle and started trying to get her to sleep as Elijah is crawling all over the two of us. Finally I just laid in bed with all three and the twins fell asleep. Got them in their beds and got to go lay down with Isaac. Right before he feel asleep I was hugging him and telling him how much I loved him. I told him "I'm sorry it's so crazy sometimes" and he said "I'm sorry too!" So cute!! I love that little boy!!!
Goodnight:-)

Communicating

The twins have started communicating to each other. It's really cute! They just mumble back and forth and sometimes Elijah screams a little. I can just imagine what they are saying... Noa: "I'm hungry" Elijah: "just be patient. Mom is putting Isaac down for a nap. She'll be back in a min. And all attention on us!" Noa: "well I'm tired and hungry. I hope she feeds me first so I can go to sleep" Elijah: "me too! Then I'll get all the attention to myself!"
Haha. Then later I was trying to get Noa to sleep and Elijah was crawling on her pulling her hair everything. They are so funny!!!