Merry CHRISTmas

This has been a wonderful day, minus one small thing that shall remain nameless :) This is probably the first year in a long time that I can remember celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. I am so grateful for a loving Father that sent his son here to this earth to die for me so that one day I can spend eternity with him.

We woke up early this morning and the boys came out to see all the presents under the tree. They must have been really good this year or Santa got them mixed up with some other little boys. There was lot's of presents but half were from BG since she was visiting with us. They were both very excited and wanted to look at everything.

B got up early with us and made some coffee and we ate breakfast and then started getting ready for church. I really liked Christmas falling on a Sunday this year. I can't think of a better way to start Christmas day than worshiping Christ and spending time with my church family. Joel called the kids up on stage by age groups and had them open presents. He used the presents to tell the story of Jesus being born. The boys were a little restless but they did pretty good.

After Church we came home and called Grandmother and Granddaddy to come over since we were going to start opening presents. I think we started around 10 am and the boys were still opening at 12:30. They had way to many presents and really lost interest in unwrapping stuff. We did better about buying this year but with both Grandmothers here they got a lot of stuff. I definitely want to put a limit on presents next year. It's hard to teach them what Christmas is really about when they are being flooded with presents.

Carson got lots of action figures (spider man, Thor, Bat man, etc). He got a Captain America shield and mask, clothes, Hummer truck and an Etch a sketch. Camron got some Cars (Lightning McQueen and Mater), lots of touch and feel books, clothes and a few little transformers. They both got a couple of wii games and pinball machines.

The rest of the day we just played with toys and relaxed. Grandmother Delores stopped by and so did Lisa, Jacob and Dusty. Later that evening, Curtis, Laura and Mycah came over to exchange gifts. I love living so close to my family.

Relief

I just deactivated my Facebook account and felt an instant relief. I've been wanting to do it for a while but I kept talking myself out of it. It is such a time sucker for me and I need to get my priorities right again. I've been trying to have some quiet devotional time in the morning and always find myself checking facebook instead. I do not want something so unimportant to have that much control over me. I also have to thank my friend Natalie for inspiring me to finally do it.

Chicken news: We discovered Chloe is the one laying eggs. She has been laying one a day and we ate some for breakfast this morning and they were delicious. I hope the other girls start soon.

Brandon's mom is here visiting with us for 2 weeks. It's going to be a busy 2 weeks. We have my mom's family Christmas on Saturday. Wednesday was Camron's 2nd birthday. We had cake for breakfast and we are having his birthday party on Sunday. On Monday we are taking the boys to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. On Tuesday we have Brandon's work Christmas party. Then I think we have a few free days until Christmas weekend. I love this time of year.

New Years Resolution

I usually don't do the whole "New Year's Resolution" thing because I know I will fail. This year I have several things that I hope to accomplish so I'm just going to list them and maybe that will become my resolution at some point.
1. Daily devotional time - I am really trying to be better about this now. It doesn't take much time and my day is so much better when I can have a few quiet moments with God. I plan to use my "Through the Bible in One year." I've had that bible for several years and still haven't made it more than a few months.
2. Way less computer time - This is probably my worst struggle. I spend way to much time on the computer. My goal is to check email in the morning and then not get online or check email again until the boys go to bed. I need to be more present during the day instead of stuck behind a computer screen.
3. Read more - I have several books that I want to read but usually can't find the time because of #2. I would also like to go back through some of my SS studies and use those for some of my devotionals.
4. Exercise/Running- I really want to make sure I do this 3/4 times a week. My plan is to do the couch to 5k treadmill version since it's freezing outside and either add in some weights or do the 30 day shred video. I'm 3 weeks pp right now and plan on waiting a few more weeks until I am feeling a little better and start.
5. Cooking- I really don't like to cook. I'm working on a master list of things we like for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. I've started making weekly menu plans but am thinking of doing monthly plans. I'm trying to incorporate a lot of crock pot meals into the planning to help me out.

I'm sure I'll add to the list as I think of them but that's it for now.

Fun times

I've been so anxious because our chickens are now 21 weeks old and I read that they usually start laying eggs around week 20. Three days ago I went out to the chicken coop to feed and check water and close them up for the night. I was looking around and just counting the girls and looking at them up on their roost when I looked over and saw it. Yep, our first egg :) I was so excited! There was nothing the next day but yesterday morning I found the second egg. This morning there was another one. I still have no idea who is laying but I find myself running out there every hour or so to check.
They have also discovered how to hop the fence and get in the goat barn and then the pasture. Can you imagine how funny it is seeing me, carrying a newborn baby, with 2 other little boys following along trying to chase those chickens back in the yard. These are fun times.

Speaking of my sweet little boys, they are so much fun. It's getting close to Christmas and Carson is so excited. I keep having to remind him the true meaning of Christmas and we've been reading a lot in the bible and learning more about Jesus. We have an Elf that came to visit and he's been very bad at night while we sleep. He likes to play Carson's DS game and eat cheerios. He turned our milk green one night. He wrote Carson's name on his mirror and wrote "Ha Ha" in shaving cream on Daddy's mirror.

We are going back to church tomorrow and I'm a little nervous on how I will manage with all 3 by myself. I'm sure it will be fine but Calen has been a little fussy at times so hopefully it will be okay.

Christmas Tree

We decided on a fake tree this year. We went on our first outing as a family of 5 to Lowe's and bought a 9 foot tree. I really love having a real tree but I am pretty sure it would not last very long with Camron around. He is such a SPUNKY little boy. He has the best personality and he is so very cute. He could take the place of about 5 boys :) We have the tree up and we put lights on today so hopefully I'll finish decorating tomorrow.

We went out for a drive today to pick up our maternity/family/newborn pictures from Natalie. We decided to take the boys to Chick fil A to eat and play. It was a good trip but I don't think I could handle taking all three out on my own for a while.

Calen's birth

Charles was born on Monday, November 14, 2011 at 8:21 am. I had been feeling crampy for a couple of days and had a few random contractions but nothing major. My due date from the OB was November 13th and my midwife had my due date as the 14th. I woke up around 4:15 am with a contraction and just laid in bed for a few minutes because I thought I was dreaming until I had another one. I got up and started timing them at 4:30 am. They were really consistent at 2-3 minutes apart. This is exactly how it was when I went into labor with Camron.

Around 5 am Camron woke up and I had to get Brandon to go get in the bed with him because I couldn't. At 5:30 am I asked B to get up with me and we decided to call my midwife, Donna to give her a heads up. At that point I was handling the contractions well. I was talking through them and thinking I had a little while. She wanted to see them getting a little stronger and lasting a little longer so the plan was to call her back in an hour. By 6 am they were pretty strong and I was having to hold rice packs on my stomach and really concentrate. I decided to call her back at 6:20 and she said she was heading out and told me to call Layla, her assistant. I called Layla and she said she would be on her way.

I remember telling B that I thought he needed to get the pool set up now. He said that it was already blown up and it wouldn't take that long to fill. I emphasized again that I thought we needed to get things set up now so B got the boys ready and took them over to my Aunt Lisa's house. My Dad was having a block done for his back and they were at the hospital. It's only 3 houses over so B came back and quickly started setting up the birth pool and getting all of our supplies laid out for the midwives. As soon as the pool was filled I got in. I'm not sure the times exactly but I was feeling lot's of pressure and got out of the pool to go use the bathroom a few times. I knew things were going fast because my body just started bearing down and I couldn't control it. I got back in the tub and continued to push with my contractions but they were so close that I wasn't getting much rest and relief in between.

Layla showed up at 7:45 and she listened to the baby with a contraction and then checked me. I was complete with a bulging bag. She started setting up her supplies. I pushed a few more times and my water broke. I remember her saying there was some meconium but I couldn't tell. Donna arrived at 8:05 and Calen was born at 8:21. We waited for about 20-30 minutes for the cord to stop pulsing and to deliver the placenta. They kept commenting on how great the cord and placenta were :) Brandon and I joked about it being all those twix bars I had been consuming.

After I delivered the placenta, I got out of the pool and took a quick shower then got into bed. The midwives assessed me and again I had no tearing or anything. They started their assessment on Calen. He weighed 10#3oz and was 20.5 in long. His head was 14.5 and his chest was 14 inches. He latched on right away and is now a great nurser.

My mom and my grandmother brought the boys over around lunchtime. Carson and Camron crawled up in the bed with us and kissed on their baby brother. It's really amazing how easy the transition from 2 to 3 has been so far. The boys are doing great with their brother and we are all settling into a good routine.

Calen Charles

Welcome to the world, sweet Calen Charles. He was born yesterday morning at 8:21 am, weighting 10#3oz and 20.5 inches long. We are so in love. I'll update with his birth story after we've settled in a bit.

Day 5 and 6

Day 5: I am thankful for my family, especially my parents. They had me at a very young age, life was hard and they had to make a lot of sacrifices.

Day 6: I am thankful for my health.

Day 3 and Day 4

I forgot to post yesterday so here it is

Day 3: I am thankful for a strong, supportive and loving husband

Today: I am thankful for a God who loves little ole me more than I could possibly imagine.

I am loving this 30 days of Thankfulness :) My 4 year old is going to have a hard time but I'm excited about the opportunities for teaching it will bring.

Day 2

Today I am thankful for the 2 little ones that God has entrusted me to raise :)

30 Days of Thanks

I've seen people posting about this so I decided to look it up. I think it's really easy to get caught up in "life" sometimes and I have been trying to step away from that. I asked B to do it with me and I'm going to try and get Carson to join in. He will probably name a different toy each day :) silly boy. I hope it will at least give us an opportunity for some great conversations and get him thinking about thankfulness. I have so many things to be thankful for but today I'll start with this:

I am thankful for the life inside of me, God is so good.

Speaking of the life inside of me :) I am 38 weeks pregnant and due very soon. We are so ready for this little one to get here.

I admit it! I'm a BAD blogger. I always have good intentions but for some reason I can't keep up. I want to keep up because I have such a bad memory and I want to remember the little things in our life. Here is what we have been up to over the last several months :)
Building this

for

and this

for

We've been really busy :)

The boys are doing great! Carson is taking Taekwondo and just tested for his green stripe belt this week. Here is is getting his award and new belt


He is 4 and he amazes me. He speaks really well and he is so bright for his age. He has a very "spunky" personality and certainly keeps me on my toes.

Camron is now 20 months and he could be the poster child for "all boy." This child never slows down. He also speaks very well for his age and is curious about everything. There is nothing he won't climb and jump off of.

We found out that #3 is also a boy :) I predict a lot of loud, wrestling matches later on in this house.
I love my boys! I feel like a referee some days with all the brotherly quarrels. Each day also has those moments were I catch Carson kissing Cam and telling him "I love you" or putting a band aid on his "boo boo." I hope they always have a close bond and look out for each other.

Well,

God obviously has more plans for me than I knew. Baby Pyper #3 will be debuting sometime in November :)

Where to begin?

I have this problem of being overwhelmed and not knowing where to start so I just don't start. As a parent, I struggle with protecting my children from the harsh ways of our world or showing them, so that they are aware. There is so much suffering in this world. My heart aches for so many of God's children. I have a strong desire to help orphans, to rescue those in war torn countries, those who do not have clean water to drink or food to eat, those who are abused. I want to share the gospel with those who have never heard it. I have felt so hopeless over the last several months. So much hurt and suffering and I am just one person. How do I make a difference? The truth is we can ALL make a difference. I'm so glad that God has laid these things on my heart. I'm so glad to be a part of a church family that is helping me be able to make a difference and encouraging me in things I am doing.

I think because I had turned away from God for so long that now I feel like I'm dehydrated and I can't get enough of him, of his word, of really living for him. I pray every day that my husband will share that same passion with me. I want to be able to live by example for my children and not just "talk the talk." I get so mad at myself sometimes when I look back and wonder "What was I thinking?" Seriously, "Why would I ever think my way is better than his way?" It's taking a lot of praying to really let go of some guilt and frustration that I had over things I have done in my life. Thank God he is so forgiving and loving!

I've been a single parent for a few days and I HATE it. B had to go to California for a sales meeting and will be home Sunday. We miss him terribly. I'm just not a happy camper when my family is not together. I've been letting Carson stay up late since daddy is not here. I think it's more for me than him. We've had a rough time lately so any one on one time I can squeeze in is good. I don't know who coined the phrase "terrible two's" because the three's have been rough. I have a little ball of fire on my hands. He get's that from his dad, certainly not from me.

It's interesting to see him and Camron together. Carson is very independent and Camron is very much a momma's boy. They get along most of the time but Carson likes to knock him down and play fight, which usually results in Camron crying. I have noticed that when one of them is not around the other one goes looking for them. Me and Carson are going to a birthday party tomorrow and my mom is keeping Camron. Carson was actually upset earlier because he wanted Camron to go. I know they will have their differences but I hope they will always have a special bond. I always wanted my children close in age in hopes that they would be close.

We went to Taekwondo tonight. This is his third week of class and he seems to really like it. I think he has gotten in trouble more than he is used to but he seems to be doing okay. He looks so cute in his uniform. I had to turn in his top tonight for patches but I'll post a picture later. I really think this will be good for him. He has soooo much energy and really needs something to focus that energy on (besides his brother).
Well, he is dozing off here beside me so I guess it's bed time. Night, night.