May you find one laugh in my life

Our lives are full of stories big and small. There are some for each day. They shape us into who we are becoming. And often, there's comic relief to be found by us or others. So, here's a few. My hope is that somewhere in one if them you might laugh. I love laughter. Tuesday when picking up my big boys from school, the teacher of one wanted to talk to me. I won't name any names this time. You can quite possibly guess based on personalities. Anyway, said child last week had apparently started banging on the music teachers door once a day on his way to the restroom and taking off. Of course disrupting this new teachers class. Very inappropriate. Once last week he almost got caught and made up a story about seeing the kid who did it, describing in detail what he was wearing. So the teachers were in the lookout for a hooligan in a longhorn Tshirt. The second time this week he got caught. We are disappointed in him for repeatedly disrupting the poor teachers class. We are even more disappointed that he lied instead of owning up to his shenanigans. But, I'm gonna be a honest and say there's a little piece of me is proud that the bad guy is a Texas fan. ;) While we apparently need to make more of an impact in the area of honesty and accountability for dumb choices (of which there will be more), we are making an impact in his collegiate preferences. So that's the biggest of the week. I figure I should include my own quirks now that I've tattled on my child. This summer I lost 10 much needed pounds. Instead of charging on with the next 10 I chose to ignore weight watchers for a week or six. But, motivation renewed I started on the next 10. Wednesday I was having a fabulous day. I ate good and had one heck of a good workout. I should have gone straight to bed at that point a winner. Instead I cooked bacon! I don't know why I decided to make it. But once it was there I had to eat it. Is anyone else their own worst enemy?? This morning I baked banana but bread for the first time. I love to bake but had never made it before. Now I'm super anxious to find out if it sucks, is really awesome or somewhere in between. But not anxious enough to try it myself. I've never eaten a piece, so why go changing all that at 36? I am teaching 2 year olds this year two days a week at a part-time preschool. There are obviously stories there, but can't be told. However I guess there's a not very funny takeaway that I can share. God is into growth and development in a big way. There's no other possible explanation. 10 years ago the type A planner with a career in finance who needed a plan and order and neat columns of numbers to analyze COULD NOT have done this job. But I'll tell you this, he once again knew what He was doing.

Is there anybody still out there?

It's been 14 months since I last updated our blog. I'm not even going to try to recap all that time other than to say we moved and all got older. 3/5 of our house goes back to school tomorrow. Hayden will be in 4th, Bryant 1st, and Jason will teach 4 World History classes. The remaining 2/5 go start back to school after Labor Day. I'll be teaching preschool 2's 2 days a week and Landry will be in the class next to me. I think it will be a great year for all! I always talk about what we're eating, so, today I made a great roast and all the fixings for lunch before Jason had to go to work. Then I made a M@&M cookie cake because....just because. The kids loved it and were excited that it's all ours. I guess they are getting sick of me cooking for other people. In an attempt to make busy mornings easier I made mini breakfast pies. They were great fresh and can supposedly be frozen and reheated. I had the kids help and choose their toppings. I have obligatory photos but am experiencing technical difficulties right now. I feel like I've jumped back on the blogging bandwagon and will be posting about our adventures and food regularly. We have to talk very soon about my new Gnocchi Mac n Cheese recipe. It really is all that.

Busy Busy

Landry is 10 weeks old now! I promise to try to start writing more often, but I'm too busy enjoying the moments. He's had a cold for three weeks and snorts a lot. He's also "enjoying" his first stomach virus. Poor baby.

So we are moving in less than 45 days. That's crazy! Jason accepted the Offensive Coordinator position (same job) at Richland High School (bigger school and our alma matter). He will be gone a lot for the rest of the school year. Moving day is June 2. But we are enjoying having him home this weekend, even if he's recovering from a little surgery. Think family planning for boys. Not that surgery kept him from running. He's got a 400+ day running streak going and doesn't want to break it if he doesn't have to. So he did a slow 1 miler this evening. Crazy!!

I made a pretty good new dish tonight. Adapted from something I think I saw on Pinterest. It turned out like a pot pie and we all liked it. I covered the bottom of a 9X13 with cut up COOKED chicken. I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are boneless skinless chicken thigh people. Breasts are boring. But use whatever. I put shredded cheese on top of chicken. Then I took a can of grands homestyle biscuits and cut each in half. Covered the chicken and cheese with biscuits. In a small saucepan combine a can of cream of chicken soup and a cup of milk, heat. Pour over biscuits. I seasoned with montreal steak seasoning, but salt and pepper will work. Then into the oven at 350 degrees. It took 25-30 minutes. Basically you're just looking for the biscuits to cook. I also made an angel food cake today for the first time and everybody is loving it. And fat free! I threw a dollop of ff cool whip on the boys and they thought it was awesome.

Okay, back to my patients!

Time flies

Somehow Landry will be six weeks old Monday. Which means its time to return to part time work. And take him to a sitter. I'm not happy about that. But, it is what it is.

We have settled into things well. We enjoyed Landry's first trip to Fort Worth. Now I have two huge goals looming before me: finish getting the weight off, and survive the big boys baseball and t-ball seasons. Yuck. Both seem overwhelming on some days, and doable on others.

Landry is here!

Ok, so he's been here 2 1/2 weeks, but I've been busy!!

Nothing about the first 24 hours went according to plan. A student nurse got to practice her catheter skills on me for the first time. She's not very good. Then my epidural never really took completely and then stopped working completely by a 6. I went from a 6 to delivering in less than an hour and the anesthesiologists were in surgery, so I had the joy of delivering without pain meds. That was horrible!!! A great miracle arrived regardless, and he really was a bit of a miracle. At some point along the way when he was much smaller he managed to knot his umbilical cord and it was in a perfect fairly tight knot at delivery. If he had pulled it any tighter we would have lost him before we ever knew what was wrong. There's nothing else I can add to that other than Hallelujah! Then they whisked him away from us at 2am the first night because he was struggling to breathe. Turned out to be more fluid that needed to be sucked out and spent some time in a little astronaut looking helmet thing.

With all that being said, he is absolutely perfect. So handsome. So good. Reddish blond hair. At first I thought he looked more like Bear (other than hair color), but lately I see a lot more Hayden in him. We shall see how he develops. I definitely see Hayden's coloring and eye shape. Jury is still out on nose and mouth. He is a noisy eater and sleeper like Bear though. He sleeps in his crib. He loves kisses. He is snugglicious. He likes to go for walks in the stroller. Clearly he's an exceptional baby that I am enjoying so much in spite of how tired I've been.

The big boys are doing amazing, better than I hoped and prayed. While I know it will come, we've seen no jealousy. They are amazing little helpers.

Less than 48 hours to go!!!

We made it through another week. My body is just about ready to have this baby, which makes the plan for Monday fabulous! We will get to St. Mark's at 5 in the morning and get things started. I predict he will be here somewhere between 12-3. I've been trying to guess how big he will be. Hayden was 7 lb 5 oz and Bryant was 7lb 14 oz. I'm a week early and gained the least amount of weight, but still think this one will be a little over 8lbs. I can't wait to see what he looks like. We each have a mini me, so will this one be a combo? :)

Can't wait to get some pictures to share. A local photographer who will do his newborn pics in a couple of weeks is probably gonna come do some at the hospital when he gets here too!

Mom will be here tomorrow to help with the boys and see her third precious grandson.

I wish I could fall asleep and it would be here. In the meantime I'm trying to strike a balance between productivity and laziness. Both seem important leading up to Monday!

Another week bites the dust

bringing us to 38 weeks and dilated to a 2! As of right now it will be no more than 9 days till I get to hold this precious baby in my arms. I keep having little false alarms that are wearing me out. But that's ok. It just gets my body more ready to deliver I guess.

Jason gets frustrated because he wants her to say "I think he'll come on his own in the next X days" or "I think he will hold out until the 6th." Silly Jason.

We had a pretty good week and are having a super relaxing weekend. Well, at least the boys and I are having a relaxing weekend. Jason had to be at work at 6 to go to a power lifting meet. And he ran 10 miles yesterday. Crazy.

Looking forward to a great dinner out with friends when he finally gets home and gets today's run in. Then church tomorrow.

I'm scheduled to work at Bear's school one afternoon and sub for the isd 3 times. Will I make it?