Allow me to reintroduce myself...

Ahem.... Let us all pretend we do NOT see the post below, I had good intentions of blogging after Neeley Kayt was born & found absolutely ZERO time to get that done.... 

Whirlwind year it has been, I don't even know where to start! I have a lot of things that I am going to catch up on, but for right now we are moving forward.

First & foremost, I want to thank Neely for giving us a face lift around here. I LOVE IT!!!! I am especially fond of yellow & gray right now! It makes blogging so much funner when you have a snazzy blog!!!

I recently started Weight Watchers & will be blogging along the way about that. I also have lots to say about my 3 beautiful blessing. And last but not least, my faith, it has come a LONG way since this time last year! I might tell you a bit about the old man of the house while I'm at it!!!

So, I want to say hello & we are still kicking (and screaming most of the time)!!!! Also, I recently closed up my Facebook & Twitter, it was a personal thing for me. I am still on instagram, so find me around there!
 (@cheekywhit)

Until til TOMORROW (not next time, it will be tomorrow!) when I might actually have a post & not just a bullet style list!!!

Psalms 139:14
All my love,
Whitney

Less than 24 hours I will be a new mama again!!!

Yes, you read that right! Tomorrow, MONDAY MAY 23rd I am heading to the hospital to have my baby girl!!! I cannot believe it, it has flown by so fast that it makes me incredibly sad!!! I have had a wonderful pregnancy & am going to miss all of the little rolls & kicks. It's hard to believe this is the LAST day I will be pregnant! 


I am over the moon though with excitement to be having a little girl, our family of five will be complete! I have finally quit nesting like a mad woman, there are still a couple things that I wanted to get done, but I know come Thursday when we get home they won't matter. 


I don't think the boys really know what is all about to happen, but I know they will be so in love with their sister! We took a couple of pictures yesterday, I cannot wait until she gets here & have family pictures taken. :) I need one of those ridiculously large pictures plastered on my wall. 




The last few visits have been very uneventful, I am praying that the C-Section goes the exact same way! Remember me tomorrow morning, I am sure that I will be a nervous wreck! 

My last pregnancy update ever! 

(That's sad to write) 

I carried you to 39 weeks 1 day.

My guess is you will weigh 7 pounds 1 ounce & be 21" long.

I suspect you'll have a head full of hair like your brothers did. 

From the ultrasound images you will probably have your daddy's cute little nose.

I PRAY you have your daddy's long eye lashes. Mommy now has short & thin eyelashes since she had your brothers & you. 

I only gained 25 pounds with you. Quite a BIG difference from J&B, I gained close to 50 with Jace & probably 60 with Brily. Mommy was a beached whale!!!

Mommy has a seamingly swell pregnancy with you, no complications except for my kidney issue. Thankfully no high blood pressure or diabetes. I did have to take a lot of vitamins, but that's nothing compared to last two pregnancies!!!

I will be glad when I don't have to wake SIX times a night to pee! Oh, I am REALLY looking forward to that! I know I'll probably still get up 6 times a night with you for a while, but thats okay. 

Thank you again everyone for you support, prayers & encouragement! I am receiving my reward tomorrow for all the hard work ;) I cannot wait to post pictures of the little Princess!!!!

Here is our maternity picture from yesterday! 

Showered with Love

Yesterday I had my second shower, the first one was thrown by Jakes family. I don't think I ever took pictures of all the goodies Neeley got at that shower, but I will eventually. Yesterday's shower was thrown by our Church. We are really lucky & thankful for such a great second family! My friends Shelly & Tasha organized it & everything was sooo adorable & perfect! 

 My adorable cake 

 The Cookies :)

 All of the gifts! 

 Me with my cake  (gah, I hate that double chin) 

The Hostesses (Shelly is in white & Tasha is in the green)

(Ugh, don't mind my ugly couch with a sheet on it to help keep it clean-er.) 

All the goodies, except case of wipes & a cabinet that my Grandma got her & it deserves a post all in itself. 

It was quite a success & we were definitely showered with love. We really appreciate everything & are amazed at how so many people love us! Now I have a bunch of thank you cards to write, lucky me. :) 

A day in the life...

 It's been crazy around here, I am trying to get ready for a Garage Sale, Jace had his Pre-School screening & well Brily is being his crazy self! I am still pregnant, obsessed with Etsy & constantly making something. I think it's beginning to annoy Jake, oh well! I did make a really delicious dinner last night, I'll put the recipe at the bottom.


 I also wanted to share a video of Sadee, it is hilarious!!! A few nights ago we had some company, it's been abnormally warm so we had the windows & doors open all day. So, of course the bugs flood the house, Sadee hates bugs! Some how a wasp got in & it was on the kitchen floor. We kept hearing her scratch at the floor & growl, after further inspection we noticed the wasp. She would paw it & I assume it would stink her, she was getting MAD! She would growl, bark & paw some more. When she had finally had enough she tried to eat the wasp, that is when I got out my camera and this is what happened.... *Don't mind my dorky/half fake laugh in the middle* And just so you know, no animals were harmed or injured in the making of this video. Also, don't send me some link or nonsense comment about the risks of dogs & wasps. She's fine! 


 ETA: Blogger will not add the crazy video, I now have to upload it to YouTube & then here. It will be posted shortly! :)


ETA: Here is the video! 

  Jace had his Pre-School screening last Friday, I think he did good. He surprised me with a lot different things I didn't know he knew. He was able to point to all the colors, but black & gray; we have never really worked on colors. He did really good cutting out a picture & we don't use scissors either. He did have a classic "Jace moment" when she asked him if he could count. He put his finger to his chin & said "Um.... Not exactly" *sigh* What am I going to do with him, he does know how to count. I was honestly afraid that he would stand up & say "I don't lub this anymore" if they got to something he didn't like.   We don't know if he will get in or not, they are suppose to mail us a letter in a few weeks. She did say that he tested fairly high for his age, I may get my wish after all.


 Brily is wonderful, as expected. He is such a good boy, Jace is too but B is so calm & well behaved when Jace can be a little high strung & dramatic. I wonder where Jace gets it?! Ha! Bri has started this new habit of waking up in our room. He is a sneaky little toot, he waits until he knows it's safe & we are asleep. We send him back to his room if we are awake & he knows it. The other night I got up for the 20th time to pee & kicked him in the head, I had no idea he was there. Whoopsie! He didn't wake & I felt terrible, so I left him sleeping in the floor. He also knows not to get into bed with us because we will send him back, so it's like he hide at the end of the bed or by the doors. The next night he ended up in front of the closet door, then the bathroom door snuggling with some dirty clothes. Saturday night we had all the windows open & in the night a big gust shut our door. When I woke up my first thought was "I bet B is upset that he couldn't get in here last night." I opened our bedroom door & there laid Bri. I started laughing, he was as close to the door as he could snuggle his little body. Usually when Jake gets up for work it wakes him up & he crawls in bed with Momma, I can't say I mind snuggling with the little booger. He is doing seemingly well with potty training & hasn't had an accident in a LONG time. He wakes up almost every single morning dry & will wake up in the middle of the night to go pee. Jace is a totally different story, he has no desire to stay dry at night & never wakes to pee. Just goes to show you who is a light sleeper & who is the heavy sleeper. Two boys, fourteen months apart, yet different as night and day! They are, thankfully, best friends!!! 


  Neeley Kayt is doing great, as far as I can tell growing like she should be. I still have the annoying kidney pain, quite a few Braxton Hicks & back contractions. I have a weird new symptom, my pinky & ring finger on my left hand are numb. They are not completely numb just like a dull numb, half way down my finger. I have never had it before, but I am assuming something is pinched somewhere. I assume it will go away, just like the kidney pain after delivery. 



  I still have a lot, A LOT to get done before she gets here. I am looking at 5 1/2 WEEKS TOPS until her arrival. I have a slew of things I need to accomplish, including her nursery. My list is growing & all I can do is stare it & hope it gets done, I should get on the ball!!! My poor dining room table is covered in projects that I want to do, need to be done & are half done. I need to get Maternity pictures taken soon so I can get my mother off my back. I need to mail out invites for the baby shower, thank you cards from Jake's family shower, finish paying off a credit card before N gets here. See, I am drowning here, instead of treading water & keeping up I just seem to be adding more to my list. I should make a "goal" for the weeks to simply accomplish everything on the existing list & only add things to 'next weeks' list. Wish me luck, no laughing!! 


  

Gratitude....

Every morning I wake up, pull my crazy hair into a pony tail, wipe the sleepies from my eyes. Why do I get up every morning & do all that I do??? I do it for these boys, they are my world.

Brothers, Best Friends, Comforter, Snuggle Buddies & Play Mates 

I am so grateful they are mine!

Self Body Image

I do not care what any woman says, they are never ever satisfied with their body image. A good friend Shawna & I had a conversation of Facebook earlier about SBI* & I admit, I am not satisfied with my SBI.

*Self Body Image (I am too lazy to time that a million times)


I am pregnant & that really has nothing to do with it, except being pregnant to begin with didn't help along that SBI. Have I ever been truly satisfied with my body? Not for as long as I can remember. Now I was not an anorexic 9 year old, but I have had a pudgy belly the majority of my life. (Thank you Noland side of the family!) Stomachs are hard to "cover" unlike big butt that guys drool over. You never hear "Look at that girls  gut." I have no butt to even be spoke of, I have weird little bird legs and a double chin that tries to take over my face.

If someone asked me, what is one thing that you would surgically change about yourself? It would be my stupid double chin, that would be followed closely by a tummy tuck, real close. Would it do any good at all though? NOPE! I am sure I would then move onto my flabby arms or my "hello I've had 3 kids" drooping chest.

I know that Dove has a campaign, I think they call it "Dove: Campaign for Real Beauty" (yes, I just googled that) They created this amazing video to show girls & women... Well here, watch this....

It's a pretty amazing video of the "evolution" that goes on when professional are involved. They just took an average looking woman, just like you & I and made her "billboard perfect." Where are those people when I want to look good? The majority of the time I could care less about my looks. If I really cared I would not constantly walk around in t-shirts, yoga pants & my hair up in a unbrushed ponytail. Does that have something to do with being pregnant & the Momma of 2 small boys, uh, probably.

With a daughter on the way, it worries me. I don't want her to grow up wishing she was something or someone else. While I may not be satisfied with my body, I am VERY proud of who I am as a whole, fat rolls & all. My friends love me for my personality, my wit, my heart & not for my good looks. My husband loves me for me! He had definitely had skinnier girlfriends in the past, some have had prettier hair, he's dated the cheerleader typer & the preps. It obviously wasn't what he wanted or was meant to be, because he married me. (I won't go into how one was psycho, that is a whole different post haha!) I want Neeley Kayt to find someone who loves her for whats on the inside & not want on the out. That "someone" can wait 40 years to come along, but I hope her Prince Charming just loves her for her.

I hope I never find her crying in the mirror because she thinks "she's fat" or upset because some pin headed boy called her ugly. (Thank God for big brother to handle pin headed boys like that. Fighting is not allowed, unless someone is mean to your sister... or tries to kiss her!!!! *kidding, kind of) I also hope my boys are not pin headed & say mean things to girl who might not be as skinny or pretty as the girls that are portrayed on television are. (And yes, I will knock there heads off if I find out that they say or do something mean to a girl.) 


I recently went to my great aunts 80th birthday party. Her sweet husband Max made her birthday card. On the front it had a picture of Margie when she was 17 or 18, it was the picture taken of her for winning "Carnival Homecoming Queen" and read "What is as beautiful as this Homecoming Queen?" On the inside was a recent picture of her & it read (I cannot remember exactly so don't kill me) "This beauty Queen at 80 years old." All the women in my family nearly died when they read it, it was the sweetest thing every. Max loves Margie for Margie even though she is still beautiful, she's 80. I am certain he loves her more for whats on the inside than the outside. 


I am going out on a whim here to say that I think girls & women who become so obsessed with their looks, hair, make-up, fashion, etc. lose sight of themselves. Not to mention they become very full of themselves, if they are indeed pretty & are really hard to like, they are not true to who they really are. I also cringe when girls annoyingly carry on about "being fat" or "ugly." Just shut up, if it's attention you want, you are not going about it in a good way. Confidence will get you a lot more attention than a "whoa is me pity party."  I have also had "Pity Parties" myself, they don't last long & are normally silenced with a cookie. 

You just have to learn to accept yourself for who you are. Everyone grows old, everyone becomes saggy, everyone get wrinkles & black hair when you're 80 is not natural. Sure, I want to lose weight, but I doubt my husband will love me more. Hopefully I will be more accepting of myself & love myself a little more. I also want to do it to be an example to my children that you should love yourself for you! I also don't want to kick the bucket anytime soon, I want to live a long healthy life. I have to make my kids life miserable you know.

Cleaning... is it really necessary?

Many of you that follow me on Twitter or if we're friends on Facebook, then you've seen my cries. The majority of the time I absolutely despise cleaning. I would become a filthy rich Momma if I could invent a "self cleaning house." Don't get me wrong, I like my house to be clean, I just don't want to do it myself. I have before mentioned that I wished "nesting" was like a permanent disorder. Why can't I want to clean? It's so pathetic that I sometimes have to buy new cleaners or laundry soaps just to give me a little inspiration to clean. 


No, we do not live in a pig sty, but sometimes it gets a little messy. My laundry piles up, A LOT books & toys get stung about and shoes get left out. I can say though, for the most part unless I am sick or really busy my dishes stay done. That is the one thing that I do not like, dirty dishes & I don't mind doing dishes. My bathroom gets neglected, toilet paper rolls miss the trashcan & lay around, laundry piles up yet again and I leave my stuff laying around on the counters. 


Now, let me be clear, it never takes me more than a couple of hours to completely clean my house; that is if I stick to it. I just have a bad habit of loading the dishwasher & then checking Facebook, sticking a load of laundry in & then checking Twitter, picking up all the toys & then getting side tracked making lunch. Like now, I could be vacuuming but I'm sitting here blogging.


My Twitter friend Melissa (@lipstickbliss  <--You should follow her if you do not already, shes a hoot!) blogged the other day about her cleaning products. So since I am cleaning today I figured I would do the same. 

L to R: Cascasde Action packs, Lysol Disinfecting wipes, Lysol Toilet bowl cleaner with Bleach, Method Multi-purpose cleaner, Method Anti-bacterial cleaner, Vinegar (way in the back), Era, Shout. 

Most of those are pretty self explanatory, I will though profess my love for a few of them & tell you about a couple I didn't photograph.

Cascade: Like I said I like doing dishes, it's about the only thing I like to do that is cleaning related. I love the little 'Action packs' because I am a slacker & refuse to pre-wash dishes. I do rinse them off, but I am not going to scrub them & what not. They really get my dishes clean, I have tried numerous other brands & types, they just don't hold a flame to the Cascade brand. 

Lysol: Something have to be bleached, our toilet is one. With 3 men & a Momma who had (thankfully past tense) fierce morning sickness, the toilet has to be clean. Nothing like your head in the toilet to realize that men have terrible aim. 'Nuff said!

Method: I really REALLY love these products. Not only do they give me a reason to head to target, they work. They are all natural, so they are safe to have around the boys. If one of the wild chillens grab hold & squirt 1/2 a bottle I know they will be safe. (Except I might be a little pissed that they wasted it, it won't hurt them.) I use the disinfecting one about every 2 days & the regular multi-purpose cleaner in between. 

Vinegar: It's a wonderful cleaner mixed 50:50 with water & is a miracle worker when it comes to laundry. I use a lot of vinegar.

Era & Shout: First I am in love with the smell of Era & equally in love with the price. Jake is a mechanic, that mean only one thing, DIRT & GREASE! Jace & Bri are messy, dirty little boys- Era really does a wonderful job getting all the stains out. Not to mention I could blissfully live in a world that smelled like Era. (It could be boarder line obsession.) I could not live without Shout! Like I said the boys are messy & honestly, I am a bit of a kluts as well. I tend to only drop red colored food on white shirts, it's annoying. Shout saves our clothes, I hate stains!! 

Not pictured:

Swiffer duster: It does it's job with the least amout of effort. It's a win/win situation. 

This bad girl is like Rosie Jetson around here. This is my Shark Deluxe steam mop & we are madly in love. She makes mopping a total breeze! She also only cleans with water, no harsh chemicals. The steam gets REAL hot, I have to mop with socks cause I am afraid I will burn my feet. My floor sparkle when I am done, I just pull the mop head off & throw the cloth in the washer. I would highly recommend a Shark Steam cleaner to anyone & everyone. It was worth every single penny. Mine came with 3 different attachment & 2 cleaning cloths for each head. There is a cheaper model that is not two sided, but I love the deluxe. When I bought mine Bed Bath & Beyond had a 20% coupon for signing up an e-mail address, so I save a little with that. 

While cleaning may be necessary, that doesn't mean I do not loath it sometimes. I have had spurts of nesting & I take FULL advantage of them. Too bad nesting won't stick around forever :( Here's an idea: How about I just sell a bunch of stuff & I would have a lot to clean & less laundry to do. Too bad I have a weird attachment to almost everything. If I'm not attached to it's probably already gone, like most of my husband stuff. *evil laugh* 

So my only advice is loud music, sunshine & open windows can do amazing things for motivation. That my friend is the 'dirty' to my cleaning. And one day when I'm rich I will be paying someone to do all of it, too bad the kids will be gone by then. *sigh*

Happy Scrubbing! 

*Lastly a side note: I want everyone to note what an idiot I am. I am normally on top of upgrades & newer versions. I think I am the only person who get excited when Twitter or Facebook changes something. I love the #newtwitter with a passion & Facebook too. Back to why I am a idiot, well... I have been using the really old version of posting here on Blogger. The other day I was asking a friend how to slash something out. Well dingbat, if you had the new Blogger it would be right at the top. No worries though, I do believe that I am up to date, just in time for something else to change. :) 

Redemption is sweet...

I have failed miserably at life. It's true, It's a past that I cannot run and hide from. Sometimes those mistakes run through my mind daily, other times I don't think about it for days.

Failure is a common feeling, I feel like I failed my husband, myself, my morals & the commitment I made to my husband & God. I took a vow & then a few short months later, let them go. Did I mean every word I said that October day in 2005? Absolutely, with all my heart. I would cry when we were separated, I wanted so bad to have that love, bliss & desire back that I had just a few short months before.

I am still to this day not sure what caused that turmoil, it could have been a number of things. I was young, very young. Barely 18 I was still a kid, I was making a commitment that was for the REST of my life. I was the baby, a spoiled rotten baby. I was use to everything being MINE for ME! It's hard go from a selfish child to a adult that is now a teammate. We had family that moved in a 2 months after we married. There was no other choice, but that selfish child in me acted just like that. Marriage is H.A.R.D absolutely NO denying that.

I gave up far to easy, I was selfish & I was inconsiderate. When I was done, I was done. I only cared about myself & my feeling. I was jealous of my friends who were headed off to college, dating & partying. I paid no consideration to the one person that loved me unconditionally & was doing everything in his power to give me what I wanted, when I wanted. I was stupid.

While Jake is not perfect, looking back the majority of the issues were my fault. That is hard to accept sometimes, I wanted so bad to have the best of both worlds. I secretly battled depression, my heart was full of discontent & envy. The one person I needed to turn to, I turned my back on.

It made for a LONG first year of marriage. Numerous time after I would royally screw up, I would beg for forgiveness, promise I had changed, attempted to be "grown up" & committed back to my husband. It wouldn't be long before I would screw it all up again. My patient, forgiving, understanding husband soon lost patience with me. I know he never stopped loving me, but it can be hard to like someone who intentionally hurts you over and over again. He was giving up on those promises & that commitment. I will never forget the last time I begged for forgiveness. It was the end of September, we were closing in on a year of marriage & he was closing out on me (with reason, I don't hold that again him for one second). I sobbed & cried, I begged & pleaded. Something told me to beg, plead, sob & cry. I think God told me, "Whitney, if you give up it is done." The stubborn in me was strong that night, but I was at his will. I would have done anything that night, it crushed my soul to hear he "wanted a divorce." Reality kicked me right in the face, but I wasn't giving up! It was as if the childish, selfish, brat just got up and walked out. The normal (for that time being) Whitney would have been begged for a while, thrown a fit & turned it around on him. Something that night silenced that person, all I could do was beg, sitting on the edge of that bed with tears streaming down my cheeks.

To say I am thankful that he gave me one last chance would be a complete & total understatement. Where would my life be today had he not given me that millionth chance? I cannot answer that question, I can only assume I would have learned a all new low, I would have fought demons I had never seen, I would have cried more tears than imaginable. While the events & actions of those 8 or 9 months were terrible, they are no longer relevant. I refuse to stick on the negative, this is REDEMPTION!!!  A few weeks after that terrible, but redeeming night Jake & I sat down & had a talk. I explained to that I was indeed a terrible wife & while I probably didn't deserve a second chance, I was thankful. We agreed that night that we would simply forgive, we wouldn't mention those days. He knew I was not perfect, but he did not want the details.

It took quite some time for him to trust me, I expected that. Through all that time God never turned his back on me, he did though allow me to hurt. He was teaching me a lesson and I learned so VERY VERY much. God rewarded us, just one short month after our reconciliation. He gave us purpose, he gave us drive, he gave us a all new meaning to life. God gave us a child! While Jace didn't save our marriage (God did), he sure made it sweet. We were shown the promises of life in his sweet face.

I thank God every single day for Jake, I am so thankful he is hard working, committed, loving, caring, forgiving. While I could go on for days, I am well aware that I am the lucky one. Even though he hates to snuggle & kiss, had dry scaly feet & leaves his dirty laundry laying around; I wouldn't change him for the world.

Redemption is so very very sweet.