Yike!! ( as Audrey would say)

Has it really been almost 2 weeks since I last posted? Sorry. I guess lack of time plus lack of creativity in this old brain has been holding me back. Lets see, where I shall begin? Last Tuesday I carried James to the allergist where he had to get stuck quite a few times on his wee little back and it was slightly uncomfortable to watch, let alone endure. But he was a tough dude for the most part and only really got upset at the very end; who can blame him though? There is only so much pricking a little man can take. I was very impressed with the doctor and nurses there, they really know how to make it easier for kids. He had to lay on his stomach for almost 20 minutes but did really good. He got to eat a sucker, decorate Gotham city and a fire truck in stickers and draw on the paper that's on the table that keeps it clean from patient to patient which was a real treat for him since I am always getting on to him for messing it up in other doctor's offices! Our Pediatrician wanted him tested for airborne allergies since he has so much trouble with upper respiratory infections but thankfully he was not allergic to any thing much. He was a 2 for dust mites and a 1 for pet hair. So he has a really good chance of growing out of his asthma, yay!!

This pic is from our church Christmas party. He is so spoiled,

I can't turn my back for a second when those "church ladies"

are around. I certainly would never encourage him to dip

ice cream out with a cup!!!!

A couple weeks ago I decided it was time to start being an attentive mother again and took the kids back to story time for the first time in 2 months (that's embarrassing to say out loud)! They love going to the library so much and "buying" books and movies and seeing all their little friends and they had really missed it. Even though they hadn't mentioned it at all for those 2 months, you could tell they were so glad to be back! We've been going to story time for a little more than a year and every time we go Audrey gets so excited!! She just loves it but by the time we get in the library she gets all shy and reserved and wont leave my side for a second. Over the months she had gotten to where she would wander around by her self a little but while the stories were being read she wouldn't venture out past my lap. And she wouldn't dare participate in songs and hand motions or answer questions. Nu-uh, no ma'am. But last week she surprised me and I had one of my first most proud mama moments ever! She went right to the front, sat down in between her brother and another little girl and acted like she'd been doing it this whole time. I was so shocked but so proud! Then, when it was time to sing songs she stood up, sang loud and did the hand motions. Even more shocked I just stared at her, wishing so bad I'd had my camera. Then James said he knew a song about the moon (which he does not) and started singing something he made up. Is he his father's son or what??!!! Then Audrey jumped up and said I do too and opened her mouth to sing all by her self but backed out. She looked at me and said "I can't do it mama." But I didn't care. Just the fact that she WANTED to and TRIED to is all that matters to me!!

Tookie is doing well, I suppose. She's growing which means I am growing! I can no longer sleep on my stomach which is one of the hardest parts of pregnancy for me since I am a stomach sleeper. My belly is also getting very uncomfortable to lug around as the evenings roll in and I have found myself grunting and having a hard time getting positioned on the couch at night when I flop down utterly exhausted from wrangling those hooligans getting them ready for bed. (Why is it that bath/teeth/jammie/story time is always so exhausting?) Jon's already making fun of all my noises!! Gosh do I have a long way to go. We are having a VERY hard time picking a name for baby girl. We thought we had one but now are totally unsure. The way things are going, it looks like her birth certificate may just read Tookie Mizell!! I go in for my 20 week appointment on February 7th and am looking forward to it so much! I am a little nervous because they will be measuring everything to make sure she's growing properly and that everything else checks out okay. But I am really anxious to see her again. I haven't felt her move much, maybe 2 times I've felt a little flutter in the last couples weeks so I am anxiously waiting that stage to come on and get here. There's nothing in the world like feeling your child moving around inside you. The only thing that can come close to it in my mind is feeling their little hands on your face!

As I was looking thru pictures for this blog I realized that not only have I been slack on blogging lately but I've been even more slack in the picture taking department for the last month. It took a while to find some "blog worthy" ones that I haven't posted before. Lets add "take more pictures" to my ever growing list of things to do before the baby gets here!! Here's some random ones for your viewing pleasure because I know that's all most of you are interested in any way!

These 3 had the best time EVAH playing the week were in H'burg

for New Years. It was so much fun to watch and listen to them play!

They definitely can pass as cousins!!

 Skyping with Grandaddy. SO nice to live in 2010, sometimes!!

 Playing in the rain. Cold rain I might add but he had so much fun!

Audrey finally decided to brave the cold and join us. And I

must say that those boots I have on, they are my huney's

shrimping boots. That's why they are so large!

p.s. don't u just love the "used car dealership" across the street?

We have such a lovely view out the front window!

In the dead of Winter

She wont wear socks or shoes around the house.

She hardly wears pants and shirts; prefers Princess dresses. All. day. long.

I have to threaten her with in an inch of her life to wear a long sleeved shirt to go outside in.

I have tried to hide the few short sleeved shirts that some how didn't make it into the Summer clothes bin but, for some odd reason, she keeps finding short sleeved ones to put on.

I actually had to hold her down the other night and force her to put on a warm pair of footed pj's.

And just now she tells me she doesn't want covers on her tonight. It's COLD in their room because I just turned their little heater on and the child doesn't want covers over her. (Meanwhile her bro is snuggling under TWO blankets). I don't understand how she stands it. I walk around with socks, shoes, pants, long sleeved shirts and sweaters all day long (that's even with hormones surges) and my daughter prances around half naked and could care less. Kids these days.

Disclaimer: We are not trying to freeze our children or ourselves to death. We are not that poor!! We just have an old house with high ceilings and hard wood floors through out so that makes it a little chilly around here and unfortunately our bank account does not have an endless amount of Ben Franklin's to support our local gas company. Ha!!

Bad beginnings have good endings

We started our morning off yesterday with a little drama. James tripped while walking into the living room, hit the couch and busted his eye open. The cut looked deep to me so just to be on the safe side, I took him to the ER. Well, my chauffeur took us to the ER! Our van was in the shop yesterday and I had a doctor appointment in Tallahassee at 10:30 so Sis. Juanita (our mother/grandmother in Israel) agreed to drive me and the kids. Thankfully she was already in town at 8:00 when this happened so she came right over and drove us. Thank goodness he didn't need stitches and everything else checked out ok! He definitely had some angels watching over him when he fell, the cut was right on his eye lid. It looks a little better today but his eye lid is starting to swell now. Poor guy.

We made it out of the ER just in time to hit the road and make it to my appointment. I went back for an ultrasound first thing and the kids came with me. It was so great to have them there, they were really excited about seeing Tookie. James was a little more enamoured with the jelly on my belly than he was with the computer screen and his Tookie baby but Audrey had the most angelic smile on her face the whole time and was waving and giggling. The baby has grown so much and was just a twisting and turning and flopping and wiggling and one time showed that behind so clearly that I thought to myself "Hmm, that looks awfully familiar" but I didn't ask because I am only 16 weeks and it's still kinda early to tell. Just as soon as those thoughts ran thru my mind the nurse says "Uh mom, do you want to know what the sex is?" I said "only if you are 100% sure" but I already knew. It was just so clear but I wanted a professional opinion and she looked at the screen again and said "Oh yes, 100%" so I said ok. She then announced that we do indeed have a baby GIRL on the way!! Remember, James has been much more interested with the jelly on my belly up to this point but as soon as he heard that he screamed "NO!!!! It's a BOY!!!!" I haven't laughed that hard in a long time!! It took a few hours of convincing them that Tookie baby is indeed a girl and they are fine with it now. I called Jon immediately and after the shock of finding out so soon had passed he said "I'm toast." He's out numbered now for sure!

We are very excited about having another little girl around here and are especially thankful that she seems to be growing and developing beautifully! Everything look good and healthy and next month they will take measurements of her to make sure. The tech who did the ultrasound this time did a wonderful job and got some really great pictures of our precious baby girl. She didn't catch one that shows that she is a girl but said we'd do that next time. So, our morning started off rather scary but ended with a nice surprise!!

We're baaack

We had a fantabulous Christmas break and I trust all of you did as well. Please excuse me for the lack of posting these last 3 almost 4 weeks. We got so busy as soon as Jon got out of school for Christmas, not to mention the fact that I had no ambition to do any thing. I am 15 almost 16 weeks now and I had a GREAT week this week so I am pretty confident that I have finally left the 1st trimester blues and found the 2nd trimester energy and will to to get off of the couch that I was promised would return. I have to say it feels so good to feel like my old self. But I have so much to catch up on around here, it ain't even funny. I also have great projects in mind to get some things accomplished around here before Tookie baby arrives and I see myself having a 3 (maybe 4) month window of opportunity to get those things accomplished. That's not a long time. With all that being said, I will share some a lot of Christmas pictures with you now.


My mother and grandfather came for the day on Saturday before Christmas to give the kids their presents. She got them an easel, a huge hit I must say!!!

My daddy, step mom, sister and her whole family came on Tuesday before Christmas to spend the week with us. We had such a great time and grandaddy got lots of quality one-on-one time with all the older grandkids since we mother's and grandmother took off to do some last minute shopping and the dads went fishing!! He was a great sport to watch all 4 by himself and the kids had so much fun!!! (disclaimer: my father is not preaching to them; the swing was an airplane all week and they were getting ready for take off!!)

Since Betsy and her family were leaving Christmas eve to go back to their house for Christmas morning, we cooked our big Christmas dinner for lunch on Friday and then opened presents with them. I am so glad we did it that way because after Christmas morning, I was NO GOOD to any one!

James received his first sword from Matthew for Christmas. He got his next 2 from Santa. That makes a total of 3 swords now owned by our 3 yr old son.

 Uncle Frank even came on Thursday to spend the night and we enjoyed having him so much. We sat around Thursday night and talked and laughed so hard that my daddy ended up on the floor at one point! I haven't laughed that hard in forever. It was so nice to have everyone in our home!! Below is our attempt to get a pic with the kids and Unkie. Between the glare that for some reason was always on Unk's glasses no matter how many shades we closed and the kids totally over pictures, this is the best we could do. At least Hannah is smiling pretty!

 Jon and I hadn't really planned on playing the whole Santa game with the kids but we couldn't resist this year. 3 years old has got to be the best age ever for Christmas! They had so much fun this year and it was so special to watch them enjoying this time year just like we did when we were kids!! It was so much fun to hear the excitement in their voices and the joy on their faces. Below, they are leaving reindeer food for the Santa's reindeer and I realize that we were probably supposed to sprinkle it in the yard and that their are 8 reindeer and 2 plates probably didn't fill them up but the thought of having to clean up "reindeer food" from the yard when it was freezing out side was just unbearable!! And it's a good thing the kids can't count yet!!

Nonie reading to them while James took a breathing treatment. They L-o-v-e-d that old Grinch!!

 I feel like I need to address our decision to play the Santa game with our kids, only because of the position my husband holds as a minister. Some people think it's not a good idea to "teach their kids the Santa lie" and that is perfectly fine. NO problem with feeling that way. When I was growing up, I never believed in Santa and it didn't ever bother me. My parents chose not to help me believe that he was real and I don't feel that I suffered in any way for that decision!! Christmas was still just as fun. Jon on the other hand, grew up believing in Santa. His parents chose to help him believe Santa was real while he was a young child. And Jon certainly doesn't feel that he suffered in any way for believing in a fairytale for a few years. We are careful to make sure our children know WHY we celebrate Christmas at all and WHY we celebrate it with giving gifts to one another. But, we see no harm to our children by playing along with them while they are so very young and innocent. Our kids are smart and pretty soon they will figure it out, that there is no way Santa can be real. But we have made the decision to play along for these next few years, while it brings them such joy!! So, I hope we aren't offending any one with our Santa games but if we are, we apologize.

Leaving Santa his cookies!!

Ready for bed so that Santa can come!

The tree after Santa came!

Christmas morning was great!! When they rushed in and saw all the gifts they squealed with delight! James jumped right in, ripping open packages, and exclaiming at every one "This is just what I wanted" before tossing it over his shoulder to grab the next one!! It was great. Audrey on the other hand was so shy that I had to open the first 3 for her before she finally warmed up to the idea. When she finally got into opening her own, she would gently tear the paper and examine each gift carefully before I reminded her that she had more. It was priceless to watch their different reactions!!

I made the huge mistake of taking Jon shopping with me for James this year. I mean seriously, what 3 year old little boy do you know of that needs a double barrel shot gun??? I think daddy is enjoying it more than Bubba is.

It's the simple things in life that bring us such joy!

"No, you can't have the princess back! Get back, get back." Those boys had so much fun having sword fights Christmas day and every day since then! This picture has to be my favorite of the day. Everybody was playing their part to the max. Audrey was prancing around being all delicate when the evil dragon snatched her up and her knight in shining armor came to her rescue (or at least tried too!).

The princess with her Cinderella coach that she has hardly played with since she opened it!

The knight in shining armor is down for the count. He was so funny falling down being dead. A little gruesome, I know, for a 3 year old but he was having so much fun!!!

12 Weeks

Had my 12 week check up yesterday and I got to see Tookie again! Every one keeps asking why I am getting so many ultrasounds and I say "I guess that's the one perk from having a 2 month premature delivery with my first pregnancy!" I get to see the baby again at my check up next month and then a few weeks after that we will find out just what this Tookie baby is gonna be! Even though it's most likely that having twins was my reason for such a premature delivery, my doctor just wants to keep checking on us and make sure that there wasn't another reason. Which is fine by me. Whatever it takes to keep this one hibernating for the appropriate amount time! And have I mentioned that I LOVE my new OB? Well, I do! He's great and makes me feel like he is seriously taking care of me and this precious little bun and that is worth more than all the gold in the world!! Tookie baby looks GREAT so far. Growing just right (and man has he/she grown!) with a good, strong heart beat and this time the hr was 153. I am done doing the hr guessing game and pulling the mother's intuition card. My sister-in-law Emily is expecting her 4th baby and we all (mother included) just knew it was going to be a girl. She found out last Thursday that it is indeed another boy!!! Anywho, my Tookie was just a moving and kicking and I even got to see him/her put his/her little hand up to his/her mouth. Such a change from the little blob we saw last time!!

I took Audrey to the Nutcracker Saturday night and will try to post about that later in the week. Right now she has a nasty old cold and we are having a Christmas party at our house Friday night for the church (I know, I know. I think I am Martha Stewart when it comes to Christmas. I am aware of my problem!!) so between those 2 things the Nutcracker post may not make it in till next week! We shall see.

Christmas Cookies

I am desperately trying to make sure James doesn't get sicker or have a relapse, especially since Christmas is right around the corner. What a bummer if a little boy is sick on Christmas!! So, I have banned the kids from going outside. Can't let Audrey go and not James. That would be cruel. Since we can't go outside, the kids are slightly bouncing off the walls and driving me crazy!!! So, in the attempt to keep my sanity and spread a little Christmas cheer, yesterday we colored Christmas pictures, decorated them with glitter and then we made Christmas cookies. I am not a clean cook by any means, but oh my word did we make a mess in my kitchen yesterday. I was still stepping on sprinkles this morning but it was all worth it to see how much fun they had. And especially when Audrey pipes up in her sweet little voice and says "Mama, tank you so much fo doin dis with us." Talk about a mother's heart melting into a big giant puddle.

Audrey's cookies

James' cookies (notice a difference?!)

Audrey's finished product

James' finished product

Waltzing Matilda

On Monday James woke up with a slight chesty cough like he gets when he is on the verge of an asthma induced upper respiratory infection that happens pretty much any time the weather changes. Sometimes we can avoid having to take him to the doctor and putting him on a round of steroids by giving breathing treatments every 3 hours for a couple days. But since I've done that twice already in the last month and a half, I wanted to go ahead and get him seen. We had to see the NP and she gave us our usual script and said it was good I brought him in. Usually with in a couple hours of getting those 'roids in him, his cough is knocked out. But this time was different. He had a pretty rough night coughing and nothing we gave him or did really helped. He coughed a lot during the day Tuesday and by Tuesday evening he was coughing non stop. He had another rough night and at 2:00 Wednesday morning I knew with out a doubt we were going back to the doctor as soon as they opened. Even though he acted like he felt okay, I knew that cough was not normal. Especially since the steroids and all the other stuff we usually do for him that has worked a million times before was doing absolutely nothing.

Glad I did and didn't wait it out another day and night. Little man has walking pneumonia. Air is still moving thru his lungs well so he's not close to being hospitalized or anything like that but he does have an infection. So we were instructed to keep with the prednislone till it's finished, continue with Pulmicort 2x a day and albuterol every 4-6 hours (even if it doesn't seem like it helps) and this time we got a script for azithromycin. Jon made him a comfy little nest in his bed so that he could sleep sitting up and hopefully rest better. It worked and he only needed a breathing treatment around 11 last night and after that he never coughed again so we all got a pretty good nights rest. (except it's a good thing that I went to bed at 9:30 since I woke up at 3 and couldn't go back to sleep till 4:30)

This morning his cough finally sounds looser and even though he is quite grumpy at the moment I think he's on the road to recovery. Now, if we can just keep his sister from coming down with anything.....she has been a little rough around the edges this week and has been whining a lot more than normal. When we got home from the doctor yesterday she was running a little fever but some ibuprofen got rid of that so I'm not sure whats going on with Peachy!

I know the pictures have nothing to do with the story but for some reason I can't get my camera to upload to the computer this morning so I stole borrowed the first and last pictures from Becky from Thanksgiving in the country. The middle one is one I took and I just think it's so pretty I wanted to share. Oh and the title of this post is even more random, I know, but every time I say or think 'Walking Pnemonia' Waltzing Matilda plays in my head! Go figure.