The Loss of a Mother

I dread thinking about when it's my parents time to leave this earth. I hope it's not for a while......

Unfortunately, my best friend Dana had to experience this time a little too soon. She lost her mother late yesterday afternoon very suddenly. I can't even begin to imagine what their family is going through....I hope I don't have to. You always wish you'd had one last hug, one last kiss, and one last chance to say goodbye. This family didn't' get that opportunity. However, the family was able to be with Ms. Lisa up until the very end. She passed right after the "amen" when all the family was there to pray. How special a time.
 

I'm jealous that the Lord gets to enjoy Ms. Lisa from now until eternity, and sad that Dana will have wait a while until she sees her mom again, but how awesome for Ms. Lisa!! No more pain or suffering, just eternal happiness.

Lisa Drew

7-14-59 to 8-25-10

 

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

 

 

Staying Strong

Miss WC has been quite the challenge this week. Everything is "owie" and she literally, and I'm NOT exaggerating......she cries 5-6 total hours a day. Waking up crying, crying over me cooking the wrong breakfast, crying over her diaper/clothes/shoes being on, crying over being in the backyard instead of the front....I want to keep going, but I'll stop. You get the gist??? She has made herself gag a few times since the beginning of the week, but she hasn't thrown up yet. I'm just waiting for that. She did get so mad she took off her diaper and peed on my carpet. That made me real happy.

I think she knows what's going on with our family....just the stress we are feeling over Chris' health and me being in my 8th month of pregnancy. Poor girl....so much going on in her little life that she doesn't even realize!

I'm nesting like crazy by organizing and rearranging everything....I just have so much nervous energy! The way I justify cleaning like crazy is I want to keep myself busy to ignore all the tantrums and crying. It gets old after a while.

Tomorrow is our MOPS Fall Kickoff. I'm really excited about it and ready to get the year under way so I don't feel as stressed! I can't rest because of so many things going through my mind! Luckily, I have a great Steering Team this year and an AWESOME Co-coordinator who is my second brain. Because mine left a few months ago :)

Please keep our family in your prayers! It's going to be a long, tough road ahead for us!

She did it!

I should be yelling out the windows.... "I DID IT!!" Yes, I did IT! Didn't let WC have her paci all day today...unless she was sleeping. And I'll tell you what, what a dramatic day! After her short little morning cat nap (which I'm surprised she took because she gave those up a while back) she was insisting on taking her paci with her downstairs. Along with her blankie, baby, and lambie. I made her put them in the crib to go "night night" and she wasn't happy. She cried for about 15 minutes asking for her "pappy", but she got over very quickly. I think our trip to the grocery store made it easier!

After her afternoon nap was when she threw the biggest tantrum I've ever seen from her.....we made it downstairs with a few tears but once she realized I wasn't going upstairs to fetch her beloved pappy, it was over. She went upstairs and was banging on her door crying for it. So I brought her down, then she went back up, then I brought her down, and so on....finally after talking with a friend, she advised me to just put her in her crib if she wanted it that bad. So I waddled up the stairs and told her that "paci's are for night night and they stay in the bed". Well....HA....she shook her finger at me and was telling me no. So I put her in her crib and let her have her paci with a few books. This went on for about 10 minutes until she was quiet. I went in there and asked her if she was ready to get out and she said yes. Well....she didn't like it when I told her she had to leave the pappy in the bed. So she cried for another 15 minutes asking to get "out out" and when I peeked my head in her room to ask her if she was ready to leave her paci's, she just shook her head and plopped her booty down with these screams I've never heard from a child. This low, guttural, gagging sound came out of my child and I swear she was possessed. She almost made herself threw up....BUT when I went in there the last time, she was ready to leave her paci's and go downstairs.

I WON! I never win...or should I say, I always give in. ha. There were a few tears downstairs and a few feet stompin' moments, but she settled down with her sippy and blankie and watched a few minutes of Mickey and was ready to play.

I'm so proud of myself.....I know it sounds silly...but this was a HUGE step for me. Especially since my child whines all day long. I've been working with her about that and it's getting a lot better. It was just easier to pop that pappy in her mouth!

Beach Trip Day Four, Five, and Six

The end of our week was very tiring! WC was getting a little tired of the beach and she was just tired. Period. It rained on and off the last couple of days so our beach and pool time was limited.

I was so happy and proud of WC for how much she liked the pool and beach. You never know with her....my favorite time with her the whole trip was our last night when Chris and I took her to the public beaches after dinner. I stripped her down to her diaper and just let her have at the ocean and sand :) She had NO fear of the huge crashing waves (which was a little scary) but I held her hand and she giggled, squealed, and wanted "mo mo mo". I didn't have my camera, of course, but I did have my video camera. It was a nice way to end our trip. Lets just say I held wayyyy to high of expectations for WC. I'm learning how to go with the flow, but it's challenging...I'm too much of a routine kind of person. You think after a year and a half I would have learned how to deal with it but every day there is something new.

WC learned so many new things just this past week....she started copying a lot of the things that Mallory does (she's a year older) and just her playing in general is different. She started associating people with their names by pointing and can say her name! She says it "wee wee" but that will be ok for now!

WC went to her first arcade and had so much fun. We let her "play" skee ball and shoot some hoops! She won a lot of tickets (thanks to mom and dad) and was able to pick out some prizes afterwards. The lady at the counter kept trying to give her free things (like a bear that was 400 tickets) but all WC wanted were some plastic fish and bracelets.....whatever works!!

We spent our last morning at the zoo. WC did not want her swim suit on and didn't want the pool or beach either! And there was no way I was spending any more time in the condo so we checked out the Gulf Shores Zoo. When we pulled up, I was a little sketchy about the place because I am used to big city zoos...this is more like a community zoo and it was teeny. Which was perfect for WC because we were able to see the whole place in an hour. We signed up to watch the live animal show where the lady brings around different animals to touch, but she was taking to long with her little talk and WC got bored...so we moved on. Her favorite animals were the goats and sheep. She LOVED them and was telling us all about them!

WC also learned how to hold her breath under water this trip. She turned in to such a little water bug after spending the whole summer afraid of the pool! I think it helped to have Mallory there and other kids so she could watch them. I think I may have said this in a previous post, but thank HEAVENS for that kiddie pool. It saved us....many times.

WC had a blast with Mallory. It was a little exhausting dictating and refereeing whose turn it was for particular toys, but it's just the stage they are in and they are both learning!

We were ready to come home, but would've liked one more pretty day on the beach since it took WC a while to warm up to it. Just gives us something to look forward to next year....only it will be different because I will have a baby that crawls....don't know how that will work in the sand! ha! We shall see.....

Beach Trip Day Three and Four

It feels like we've been here forever and we still have a few days left! Knock on wood the weather has still been nice during the day....sometimes it storms at night....but there is a tropical storm watch/warning for today so we'll see if we get a little or a lotta rain :)  Jolynn and I are thinking of things to do with the girls to keep the from getting cabin fever!

The third day we spent the morning inside and just a few hours at the beach after lunch. WC hasn't been sleeping well here so she has been EXTRA cranky. I think I had too high of expectations for her this trip....I figured she'd wake up around 7:30-8 and then we'd spend the morning on the beach, come in for lunch, nap, then beach again, then dinner.....WELL....let me tell ya, that's not been what's happening. WC wakes up between 5-7 and then naps early morning and we spend just a few hours on the beach before it's nap time again. I just realized she's cutting more teeth so I'm trying to go with the flow (which is hard for me sometimes). I just need to appreciate the time we spend on the beach! The kiddie pool is still a big hit and WC is ALWAYS happy there. Thank goodness for that pool...........

We enjoyed a nice game of putt putt the previous night and WC had a blast putting the ball in the hole :)  I took WC back to the condo soon after we got there because she had a loooooong day!

We attempted at taking a few family pictures before our dinner at the Crab Trap in Perdido Key. I wasn't feeling so hot and WC was tired and hungry. Please feel free to check out the pics on my Facebook page. Blogspot it taking too long to upload pictures!

The fourth day was pretty fun too :) Just enjoyed the beach and kiddie pool and then Jolynn made tacos. It was YUMMY! While the Clouses went to go play Putt Putt, WC, Chris, and I went to a few souvenir shops to get t-shirts and to find WC her own beach chair. Mallory has one, and WC wants to sit in it. It's so funny watching those two play. They are total opposites! I have been calling Mallory "Pretty Pretty Princess" because she doesn't want the sand to get on her. Poor girl....WC wanted to get in her kiddie pool to play and then WC began putting sand in the pool. Which Mallory did not like! She keeps calling the sand "doity" (dirty). She looks so cute in her sun glasses and piggie tails while sipping on her Gatorade.

I'm curious to see what the next few days will bring.......maybe good moods for WC??  Tropical Storm??  We shall see :)

Beach Trip Day One and Two

No, I'm not going to blog every day....well maybe. Writing down what has happened makes me feel confidant that I won't forget when I get home!

Soooo...

We arrived in Gulf Shores Saturday around 2:30. We pulled into our Condo SUPER excited to run down to the beach (or possibly take naps) and check out the awesome kiddie pool. Relieved to be in an air conditioned building, we walk (me waddle) up to the front desk asking if we can check in early. Pleaseeee??? WELL...little did we know that a 17 year old hit the light pole outside our hotel at 7:30 in the morning drunk...guess he was finished up his night. Hopefully not starting his day...so the electricity was out a few blocks which put the cleaning schedule behind. Darn. We were told no more than 45 mins....MAYBE an hour. So they direct our sweet little cranky families up to the "lounge area" that has couches, a tv, and the work out area. It was nice......3:15 rolls buy...a few of us are getting ansy....3:30 rolls by and Scott goes downstairs to ask how much longer...OK now they HAVE to be through cleaning our room.....3:45....4:00...Jolynn walks downstairs to check on the progress.....then I decided I may need to pull the "feel sorry for me I am pregnant with a 1 1/2 year old card" but Jolynn has the keys. Way to go girl! We frolic and skip to our rooms relieved to be able to unpack and grocery shop.

Our condo is pretty nice. There are 3 bedrooms, two bath, kitchen, laundry, living room, and a gorgeous beach view!

We decided to eat out our first night because no one wanted to cook, so we went to Mikee's which is just down the road! Our location is great....right in the middle of everything but still quiet......

Our first night in the condo was quite and interesting one. Mallory and WC are learning how to play with each other at this point and there was a lot of bickering over toys! Poor girls....they were just having a hard time sharing! WC didn't give me that hard of a time falling asleep because she was up 10 HOURS STRAIGHT with no sleep....but I was very disappointed when WC woke up at 4 ready go play. No way hosea! She decided to take a short cat nap from 5 to 6. And the funny thing about this is??? Oh yeah...Mallory was up at the same hours....had no clue until the next morning! We hit the beach after chocolate chip pancakes and sausage and played alllll day. WC LOVED the sand. She loved to have her feet buried and her and Mallory played nicely with all the sand toys! WC was not really a big fan of the water.....she got in it and pretended to have fun, but she would've rather played in the awesome kiddie pool! And it is pretty awesome....

We had to spend the rest of the afternoon inside because of rain :( but made up for it with a yummy spaghetti dinner and putt putt!!!  It was a fun day....although draining for myself because of the snarky mood my daughter was in half the day. But that was that day....and today is a new day!

Mallory (Maa-wee), Scott "Ott", and WC