Archive for the ‘Updates’ Category
2012: A Year Of Joy And Connecting
Monday, January 9th, 2012
Well, hello there! Happy new year!!! Thanks for sticking around and reading. I’m up early and blogging!! I won’t even go into a long apology about my lack of blogging lately. You guys have heard it all. Jocelyn has been sleeping through the night for two weeks now so hopefully we’ll see some good changes in my blog coming up. Actually, you will see some exciting changes in my blog coming up. More about that coming soon!
I hope you had a great Christmas and new year. We did!
We were abundantly blessed last year with a great Christmas budget. We were able to have a great Christmas with no debt and received some pretty sweet gifts from our our families as well.
We had a fun, family friendly New Year’s Eve party. Lots of fun, good people and lots of good food.
I’m 19 weeks pregnant! Yes, really!!! I find out January 20th if this fourth kid is going to be our first little prince or fourth little princess. I’ll have a pregnancy update once I can announce what we’re having.
So…2012. What will God have in store for us this year?? For starters a new baby! We also have an election this year. Hmm….wonder what that will bring?? I’m praying for God’s will to be done in all areas of our life. We should especially be praying for our country and for God’s hand to be on our election process. He cares about who’s running our government!I always get so emotionally involved in elections. So, you may not see me on Facebook much in the beginning of November until it’s over!!! And then, I may still need a couple of days after that. Ha!
I don’t really have any resolutions this year. I have some basic words that I want to look back on and hope described this year.
Simple. Organized. Joyful. Connected.
The third word was originally “fun” but I realized not all of 2012 is probably going to be “fun”. But, it can be joyful with the joy you can only find in the Lord. The first two words are pretty self explanatory. I think most people want their year to be simple and organized.
My fourth word is “connected”. This year I want to be more connected. Connected to God’s word, to prayer, to my family, to joy, to the present and to people.
I don’t want to go into a long explanation ( maybe in a new blog post. Maybe not) but I’ve struggled for some time to connect and have deep relationships with other women. It’s something I’ve prayed about for a long time. I crave a deep, close relationship with another woman or two. That “BFF ” relationship. I’m purposely praying for a real, deep connection with another woman friend this year.
I do have some Bible verses to share that I want to focus on this year. I can never find just one! These are the ones that embody what I’m praying for and that I’m going to be referring to a lot this year.
Let the saints ( Believers!!) be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the highest praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword ( God’s Word!) in their hand. Psalm 149: 5-6 { Words in parentheses mine} (NKJV)
And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:9-10 (NKJV)
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:20 (New Living Translation)
Did you make resolutions this year?
Welcome 2012!! Let the joy begin!
Pregnancy Update:Week 13
Friday, December 2nd, 2011
Meet Quatro! Or, as my husband likes to call him/ her “Mucho Quatro”. Our friend Marian came up with this name for our little guy or girl until we know what gender they are. This ultrasound was taken 2 (almost 3) weeks ago. See? Quatro is waving hello!
I’m 13 weeks and 6 days so thought I was time for an update! There are no pictures of me since I didn’t stop looking pregnant after I had Jocelyn so I won’t be posting pictures until I actually look like where I’m supposed to be in my pregnancy. Which probably won’t be until 6 months! Haha.
So far this pregnancy has been going well. We still can’t believe we’re having number four and that it happened this quickly. I’m out of the first trimester which I’m so thankful about. More for the whole “past the critical stage” than because of nausea and fatigue. Fatigue I pretty much have all the time ( hello, 8 month old who doesn’t sleep through the night yet) and nausea I’ve never really suffered from too much. (Please don’t throw things at me!) I’ve been blessed in that area, I guess.
At 11 weeks I did have a little scare. I started randomly bleeding one afternoon and almost had a heart attack. This was, of course, the day after I got the above ultrasound taken and everything looked great. The bleeding went away thankfully and never came back! Of course I wanted to rush to the doctor and demand another ultrasound to make sure everything was ok. But, I have to trust that the Lord has this baby in the palm of His hand. I’m assuming everything is still ok and I go for my OB appointment today. I’m praying for another strong heartbeat in there!
I’ve had several almost migraines and have literally begged God to keep them away! Thankfully no full blown migraine yet. Those are the bad side affects of pregnancy I dread.
I’ve been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes already. I have to go back to testing my glucose levels four times a day and eating a carb restricted diet. It hasn’t been too bad. I’ve already lost five pounds! It’s sad I need to be pregnant and get Gestational Diabetes to lose some weight. He he!
I’ve definitely been a little stressed over being pregnant and trying to take care of a baby, preschooler and 1st grader. Homeschooling has definitely not gone as smoothly as I would have liked this year so far. But, I’m slogging away! When my days get a little crazy I really start to feel God’s peace about not having any more kids. I mean, really. I’m having to say “no” to so many things right now. And I feel so guilty about it, but that’s the way it goes at this point in our life. I can’t have any more stress in my life right now. I have to focus on being pregnant, taking care of Jocelyn and the two big sisters and homeschooling. And let’s not forget taking care of my house!
God is good. We’re so thankful for this new little life. We can’t wait to find out what we’re having. Hopefully in January!
Will it be a Logan? Or some- other- girl- name -that- we -can’- agree- on -right -now? (Yeah, pray for us in the girl baby naming area. If this baby is a girl she may go nameless for the first few days of her life. We can’t agree on anything!)
Thanks for the support and prayers.
Knowing When You’re Done Having Kids
Monday, November 14th, 2011
How do you know when you’re done having kids?
I’ve been really struggling with this decision here lately. The more I pray about it, the more I have peace. With me being pregnant with our fourth, I know mentally and logically that I couldn’t handle more than four kids with the pace of our life.I’m not even sure how we’re going to do the homeschooling thing next year! My husband works long hours so I’m alone with the kids all day. I pretty much have to take them everywhere with me since Mike is literally not home during the week to watch them for anything. Most nights they go to bed before he gets home. I don’t have any of my family here to offer help and support and my inlaws are getting older so they are at the point where they won’t be able to watch all 4 at once. Especially two babies! So, I should be done.
Emotionally I keep thinking ” What if I want just one more down the road?”. The more I pray about it the more I have peace. And especially on the days when it gets crazy around here. But…..
We’ve decided that while I’m on the table for my c-section we’ll go ahead and get my tubes tied. That seems so final!! At first I was ok with that decision. Then I started getting more and more sad at the thought. I actually cried for a couple of days about it.
Then I figured out it’s not really the fact that I won’t be able to have more kids that bothers me. It’s the fact that this is the end of my child bearing years. The end of a great era. This is the last time I’ll be pregnant and giving birth. The last time I’ll excitedly take a pregnancy test and cry with joy over (finally) seeing the words “pregnant” on them. The last time of great anticipation over the upcoming birth and meeting this new little life.
When I first got married having our first child and subsequent one seemed so far away. It was an exciting, new world to come. Then I had Katelyn. My first child! Joy! But I knew I would be having at least two or three more. Now that I knew what my first child would look like….what would the next one look like? And the next? What would their names be? Would they be a boy or a girl? I was still in my twenties and having more children was a wide open adventure to come.
Now I’m in my thirties and I’ve had three of the four children I’ve always wanted. God has completely and abundantly blessed me with these miracles of life. And with the fourth….he blew us out of the water!! We were so surprised and really not expecting the fourth one so close to the third one.I just never expected the end of my child bearing years to come so soon.
And I feel like I must enjoy every last second of this pregnancy. Since it’s my last. I feel like Jocelyn was just born in March and now she’s almost 8 months old. I know this fourth baby’s first year will fly too.
And that makes me so sad. I’ve always, for the most part, had a baby or toddler around. Or the plans and attempt at having another baby. But now I’ll be slowly getting rid of baby stuff and will one day, no longer have a baby, toddler OR baby stuff in the house any more. And no plans on having any more. Now I get to watch other women announce their first, second and third ( and so on!) pregnancies and remember what it was like for me.
And that makes me really sad some days.
But.
The more I’ve prayed about it the more the Lord is assuring me that this is the right decision. I’m at the end of one era of my life but he’s going to bring me many more fun ones with my kids as they get older. I so enjoyed my girls as babies but I know that’s not the only fun stage.
And the idea of clearing out my attic of baby stuff and all the bins of baby clothes I have up there gives me a little flutter of joy. And thinking of my girls ( and future boy or girl) all playing together also seems fun. One day we’ll be able to go to Disney World and they’ll all be at the age where they can enjoy it. Or, at least, most of them anyway.
So, my quiver is finally full. I’m richly blessed. A little melancholy.
But I know it’s the right decision for us. Our family is complete.
If you’re done having kids, did you struggle with the decision? Or did you absolutely know with certainty?
Four and Six
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
I am so behind on blogging it’s not even funny. But I’m really trying to remedy that. It’s 6:34 am and I’ve already read my Bible, prayed and had my coffee! Now I’m blogging! (And I’m already hearing little voices upstairs….<sigh>).
This past August and October both my oldest girls turned one year older. Sniff!!!
Madelyn turned 4 and Katelyn turned 6. I never wrote any kind of special posts dedicated to them so here’s my attempt to fix that.
We had a BBQ birthday party for Maddy ( the poor thing is probably always going to get that type of birthday since her birthday is a Summer birthday in New England)
The birthday girl
True to Maddy’s nature, she mostly hung out with her Papa the whole time. She wasn’t much for joining in the group games.
She did, however, choose to participate in playing with water balloons.
Story behind this cake: Tried to make her cake, it crumbled upon trying to remove it from the pan.FRUSTRATED. Bought one from Sam’s. Yummy cake.
Maddy has grown so much in the past year! She still continues to be my shy, quiet, loner cuddle bug. She’s content hanging out at home playing with her toys. We’ve tried to push her a bit by signing her up for soccer and AWANA. She’s hates the first and tolerates the second. We love her so much and wouldn’t have her any other way! God blessed us with our little blondie!
Since Katelyn’s birthday is in October, we’re never quite sure what the weather will be here in New England. In the past, it’s been cold and I just don’t have the room to host a whole party in my house at this point. So, we held her party at a dairy farm super close to our house. We’re so glad we found out that they did parties. It was so cute!
They provided the decorations. A cute cow theme.
We started off the party with a tractor ride to the barn.
The children then got to have a “tour” of the barn and learn how the dairy farm is run. It was pretty stinky in there as you can see by the children holding their noses!
Then it was back to their farm store for make-your-own-sundaes with their delicious ice cream! (Katelyn hadn’t started making her sundae yet in this picture)
After the sundaes the kids did colorful sand art in milk bottles. So cute!
The kids holding up their finished art.
Then it was time for the last activity of the day. Milking “Hazel The Holstein”.
Katelyn continues to be our adventurous go getter. She’s doing so well with her homeschooling and reads like champ! She is sweet, funny and loves to talk shop with the adults. She’s also doing soccer and AWANA and started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu a couple of months ago. We are so thankful for our first born, big girl!
I love my two oldest and can’t imagine my life without them. God has truly given us great gifts in our children. I know that God has great things planned for their lives.
Jocelyn: 5 And 6 Months
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011
So, I’ve totally dropped the ball lately on blogging and keeping pictures posted of my girls. Jocelyn’s 5th month went completely by me. I did take pictures but then my computer crashed and Mike had to recover the pictures and….yada yada.
So, this post will be a catch up of sorts with her 5th and 6th month. (If you double click on these pictures a larger, clearer image will come up)
Here are some 5 month pictures for your enjoyment:
And now here are some of her at 6 months:
At 6 months Jocelyn:
~Weighs 20lbs 11oz and is 28.5 inches long. She’s 95% for weight and 97% for height. A BIG girl!
~Almost sitting by herself. She still falls over frequently if she doesn’t have her boppy behind her.
~Finally growing more hair!
~NOT sleeping through the night. She wakes up at least once and if she’s had a rough day she’ll maybe wake up twice. I hope within the next couple of months she will start doing that. At least by the time this next baby is born!! EEK!
Side note: We saw a new pediatrician in our practice yesterday and she was commenting she was surprised that Jocelyn is taking as many bottles as she is still. She takes her bottles every 3 hours or so. To me that is normal, but apparently her pediatrician wants her to cut back on bottles. I’m thinking she’s only 6 months and has solids twice a day. Her bottles are still her main source of food! And she should try withholding a bottle from a hungry baby! So, as usual, I’ll do what I want! Yes, she still has a bottle in the middle of the night, but I’m trying to wean her from that too. I was just surprised at the pediatrician’s surprise that Jocelyn still has a bottle every three hours. It seems like the “rules” change every year. That is why I don’t like going to the pediatrician. There’s always some new “do” or “don’t” when it comes to kids. I’ll do what I want!
~Rolling over.
~Playing with her toys.
~Smiling
~Laughing
~Interacting with us and her sisters.
~Taking one long afternoon nap and one or two short naps during the day. ( One morning and one late afternoon if needed)
~Eating solids. She has oatmeal and fruit for the breakfast and a fruit and veggie for dinner. I’ve been making her food so it’s actually a little thicker than the jarred variety. So far she’s had apple sauce, pears, peas, carrots and squash. There’s sweet potato cooking in the oven right now!
Bringing us LOTS of joy.
Simply Mel State Of The Blog
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who have continued to check here and read even though my writing has been very sporadic and not too exciting since March.
I’ve been really thinking about where I want this blog to go, how much time I want to spend on it and what my goals are for it.
With going into the new homeschooling year,I’m working HARD on a daily schedule with blogging time scheduled in each day. I have so many blog drafts written up and so many blog topic ideas I just haven’t had the chance to sit down and do them justice.
I have SO MANY fun pictures from this past Spring and Summer to share. (Yikes! That’s how far behind I am!!) I think I’ll have to do a weekly picture recap or something to catch up. I have some great reviews and giveaways coming up, Maddy’s 4th birthday pictures, Jocelyn’s 5 month pictures, 1st day of Co Op and Homeschooling and so on and so forth.
I’m thinking of posting reviews on weekends. Reviews on products, books, movies and audiobooks. I’m an avid audio book listener and I’ve listened to some great ones and am thinking of sharing the list with you on weekends. That’s how I get my “reading” in at this season in my life.
I pray this blog is a blessing to people and that if someone reading doesn’t already know God that my blog will help lead them TO God. I want to be real and transparent on here and share my struggles and how God is working in me.
In summary, what you can expect from my blog for 2012/2013:
~Homeschool journey updates, ideas and resources.
~Weight loss and fitness journey updates. I’m trying to lose 60 pounds in a year or thereabouts.
~Parenting posts.
~ Recipes/ Meal ideas and posts. They will be more about what I’m trying rather than expert advice FROM me. Haha
~Reviews and giveaways.
~Audio book, book, and movie reviews. Mostly likely scheduled for weekends.
~Faith/God/ Scripture/Bible study.
~ Housekeeping/Homemaking ideas and tips from my own journey to organize and simplify MY homemaking.
~ Marriage talk.
~ PICTURES of my darling girls, of course.
~Whatever else strikes my fancy!!
QUESTION: Is there anything YOU would like to see me talk about? I also love having guest bloggers so if there is a topic near and dear to your heart and you think would fit this blog contact me!
I want my blog to be a positive, uplifting place to stop by. Although I have STRONG opinions about a lot of controversial topics you won’t find many of those here. I have strong views on the sanctity of marriage, abortion, politics, religion etc etc etc. But you won’t find too much of that here. I’m not looking for controversy and arguments on my blog. I want this to be a place of peace and fun. I know not everything is always fun and it’s impossible to stay away from controversy and disagreements but I’m going to do my best to try to keep Simply Mel that way.
I hope to provide you with a better blog in the year to come.
I hope you will keep coming back, follow a long and participate here with me.
I truly appreciate ALL of you who read and participate!
God bless!
~Melissa
Jocelyn Is 4 Months
Tuesday, July 26th, 2011
My baby girl is growing like a weed and doing tons of new stuff every week. She is such a sweet, happy-go-lucky baby! And she’s 4 months old!!
I haven’t taken her for her four month check up yet so I don’t have any stats to share.
She seems to be a pretty big girl so I’m guessing she’s over 16 pounds. She’s taking 6 ounces in her bottles now. Always sucking or chewing on her hands and fingers. Sometimes I wonder if she’s teething already.
She already has such a cute personality and loves to interact with her big sisters. They all seem to have such a great bond already. It’s so cute!
Jocelyn still wakes up at least once a night. I’m trying to slowly “wean” her off a middle of the night bottle. She goes to bed around 7:30 each night and will usually wake up around 3:00/4:00 am. That’s a pretty good stretch but then she’ll wake up at 6:30 am for good. Not so good for mommy! Yesterday she woke up at 3:00 am and wanted to STAY UP. I needed some pretty strong coffee yesterday!
She seems to be a bit of a Mama’s Girl and that’s ok with me!
She’s really gotten in to playing with her toys and it’s so cute to watch her! She’s big enough to be in her exersaucer and loves playing in her Bumbo seat.
She’s on more a regular schedule. She takes a half an hour to an hour nap in the mornings. Usually in her swing.
Then takes about a 2 hour ( if I’m lucky!) nap in the afternoon. Then she’ll take another nap in her swing around dinner time so she can make it til 7:30 to go to bed. By then she is so ready! We have a bottle in the rocking chair and then read a story. She’s really into the little books I read her as long as she’s not overtired.
It seems like I may not have another blue eyed beauty! What color would you say her eyes are?
They’re not quite brown but more of a gray-greenish color. Katelyn and Madelyn already had bright blue eyes at this stage. I know her eye color can change as she gets older.
She’s not in the newborn stage anymore! *Sob*. But she’s getting to a really fun stage and we have so many more fun ones to come!
I love my girls!!
3 Months!
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
JOCELYN ABIGAIL IS 3 MONTHS OLD TODAY!
She has brought us so much joy the past three months. We couldn’t imagine our life without her. Started being able to sit up in her Bumbo Seat which she enjoys. She loves to be a part of things and look around at what we’re doing.
She’s happy and smiley and on the verge of giving us her very first belly laugh. I can’t wait to hear it. Those first belly laughs are just adorable.
She’s started sleeping through the night some nights. She slept through the night for 3 nights in a row last week (oh the bliss!!) and then suddenly stopped. Now she’s back to waking up twice each night instead of the once she had before. Maybe it’s a growth spurt?
According to my scales she weighs right around 16 pounds. But my scale is not known to be super accurate. With all of her rolls and chub, I won’t be surprised if she does actually weigh 16 pounds! She loves to eat. She takes 5 ounces consistently in her bottles now. She’ll eat every 2.5 to 3 hours. Some days every 2 hours. I never know with her!
She has really started to notice Katelyn and Madelyn and interacting with them.
It is SO. CUTE. My girls love to talk to her and get a huge kick out of her “cooing” back at them. I can tell Jocelyn is going to be a huge talker. She already “talks” a lot!
They also love to give her things and try to get her to hold them.
Or wear them, as it were.
And what about this thing?? Well, I’ve thrown in the towel pump on breastfeeding.
It was a hard, emotional decision for me. I deliberated and cried over it. But, I was finding that I was spending a lot of time pumping and trying to breastfeed for little results. The most I had ever pumped at one session was 5 oz total. And then the amount started to dwindle after a while. The last few times of pumping I got 2 oz. That was it. Breastfeeding wasn’t making a difference in the amount we spent on formula anymore. Jocelyn had started pushing away or spending very little time actually at the breast.
It was extremely time consuming and just not worth it anymore. My last official day of breastfeeding was June 6th. I stuck with it for 2.5 months and for that I’m happy and proud. I did it! I experienced “real” breastfeeding for the first time. I see what all the hype is about.
But now we’re back to what I’m used to and Jocelyn is happy and thriving.
What more could I ask for?
We’re blessed!
Jocelyn is 2 Months Old!!
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Today, my baby is TWO MONTHS old! Her little personality is really starting to show through. I am LOVING the smiles and all the cooing. It’s so adorable.
She went for her 2 month check up this morning and weighed 13lbs 11 oz and was 23 and 3/4 inches long.
Big, healthy girl!
I do have to have some Early Intervention Specialists come in to teach me how to strengthen and stretch her neck. She favors looking to one side and the doctor fears that her neck muscles won’t develop properly and her head might get deformed because of it.
Other than that, she’s doing great!
I’ll leave you with some pictures I took just a few hours ago. I forgot to dress her up so I added a headband for a little extra two month” flair”. He he.
She loves to give me these huge, open mouth smiles!
This is Jocelyn’s version of “Dr. Evil” from the Austin Powers movie! Doesn’t it look like she’s about to put her pinky up to her mouth like he does and start laughing maniacally? “Muah, muah, muah ha ha!!!…”?
She loves her changing table and smiles and coos every time she’s on it!
Check out the eyelashes on this girl!!!
Lastly, I’ll leave you with a little video I shot of her “talking” to me and just being cute. (Pardon how dumb I sound while talking to her on video!)
Simply Real Moms 5/23/2011
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
I just wanted to let you know that due to life happening, my guest writer for today will not be posting for my Simply Real Moms series. She’ll be back as soon as life calms down a bit! Be on the lookout for our next mom and her words of wisdom next Monday.
My Jocy is 2 months old today so be expecting some pictures and a quick update later today!
