Glued to the Tube!

By the way.... I just had to show this picture. Since we bought our new car, Gabby HATES her car seat. She screams the whole time. So, I decided to see if she would like to watch a movie. She expects it now! She just sits there and looks at me after I buckle her in like, "Ok mom, where is my movie?" Yes, I know I am a horrible mother! But, I have already had a handful of older mothers who have said if they had portable DVD players when their children were little they would have done the same thing. Hey, at least it is an educational movie! Only because I don't have "Sponge Bob" on DVD..... yet!

Triple Trouble!

Saturday I went to a family reunion with my parents and grandmother. I wouldn't have gone, but they were headed down to my older sister's house afterwards. I just had to see those girls! I don't get to see two of my nieces enough. Gabby has got some toughin' up to do! Ramah, the one year old, thought Gabby was her personal baby doll. She just loved on her the whole afternoon. Mom and Dad took Anja to see my mom's mom so I stayed at the house with Gabby and Ramah. It was another one of those situations that made me really, REALLY not one another child until Gabby is at least three! Oh, by the way, my sister called this afternoon. Ramah has strep throat. So, Rebekah, I don't know if it bounced from me to you or if I am at a double threat to get it. Luckily, it is very unlikely that Gabby can get it at this age. That is the last thing I need right now. Sunday we got a phone call from Huntsville Hospital. My uncle is dying so they called the family in. This has been so stressful on my parents! His wife passed away in January and my parents have been dealing with all their finances and the care of my uncle who has had Alzheimer's for the last several years. My sisters and I bought my parents a cruise for their anniversary this year. I hope they get some well deserved R & R. Well, I am fixing to head to work. I switched with a girl last night so I could go to the pot luck. Besides the heat, it was really nice. I enjoyed getting a little break from holding Gabby. She is such a "mama's girl" lately! But, I don't think I would have it any other way!

Miss Independant

Today Gabby and I met a friend of mine and her son for lunch. While I was trying to get dressed, Gabby started pitching a fit. I was already getting things together for a bottle so I decided to just go ahead and give her one before we left. Apparently I was not feeding her fast enough. She grabbed the bottle out of my hands and began feeding herself. The Nanas have been telling me she has been trying to hold her bottle some for the past month and a half. More and more I have come to the realization that we will have another child. She has such a "first child" personality. I have been really trying to reiterate to her Tim's lesson about children not being the most important person in our lives. She is not taking it so well :) She pretty much finds away to get what she wants. Lately, she has had a fascination with her toes. She loves sucking on them. At the moment she is torn between " BA BA" and her toe. She is trying to put both in her mouth. I'll let you know how that turns out.

cRaZy NaNnY

Thursday I had to take my grandmother to an eye doctor's appointment. A few months ago she had to retake her driving test and failed. Miserably. Dad took the keys and parked the car at their house. After much debate she finally gave up the other sets of keys she hid except for the set she buried out in the yard. She SAYS she can't remember where she buried them. I am just waiting for the phone call from my parents to tell me that they came home to find holes all over Nanny's yard and that the car is missing. She is 87 years old! You would have thought they took keys away from a 16 year old. She has always said she was going to out live all of us. I don't know what kind of deal with the devil she made but I am beginning to believe her. Anyway, after the appointment, I decided to just bring her back to my house for the afternoon. Oh what a day! After giving my 5 month old a piece of bread when I turned by back, she decided to "straighten" Gabby's room. Now I can't find anything. The whole afternoon was like this. It ended with her telling me that she is going to run, excuse me "ride away" on a bus this winter to her sister's house in Kansas. Gabby and I both needed a little "hot tub" relaxation after her visit. Can I just say, I have a wonderful baby! The only time she is upset is if she is hungry or feels bad. God has blessed me greatly!

Kissin' Kousins

Wednesday afternoon my niece Kynsleigh came to play. She turned two at the end of June. I wouldn't say she was in the terrible two stage, I would say she is in the, " If you tell me not to do it I'm gonna do it any way" stage. EVERYONE says she acts just like Nick at that age. If our children take after us, we are doomed!! Just a few examples: Nick squirted a pack of ketchup on a bald guy's head at the age of 3 or 4 and I used to yell for help when my mom spanked me in public. Actually, Nick and I both did that. I would yell that I was bleeding after mom spanked me and one time, Nick's mom accidentally hit his nose while she was trying to pick him up to spank him. Nick's nose started bleeding and Nick yelled, "Did you see her! She hit me and now I'm bleeding!" Gabby already has a combination of our tempers. I didn't know a 5 month old could throw a kicking screaming fit!! Anyway, Kynsleigh gave me a good idea what it would be to have a two year old and a 5 month old. No thanks.

After a long night of taking care of a sick fussy baby, finally around six o'clock Gabby's fever broke. After some "BA BA" and cereal she was ready to sit in her seat and watch some Sponge Bob. Yes, I let my child watch Sponge Bob. That is the only thing I can get her to be still while I do some things around the house. It has absolutely NO educational value but when that crazy sponge comes on she just starts cackling. I have tried to get her to watch her Baby Einstein movies but nothing beats that sponge. This picture is of her watching the show. I know what you are thinking, "Ronna, your child's clothes are filthy!" But see, I knew there was no point in changing them just yet. She has started a morning routine: Eat, watch Sponge Bob, then poop. I really wanted my child to be on a routine, but I was thinking more along the lines of a sleep routine. Once Sponge Bob is done she is ready to get up and get changed.

After the routine we headed to the square to meet Nana "D", my mom, for lunch and shopping. Kid's World was having their half off sale and Nana hooked Gabby up with some dresses for next year. I really enjoyed just walking around and talking.

After the square, I thought I would go home and get some house work done, but Nick wanted to go look at cars. We have been really looking the last month or so for a vehicle for me. I really hated to get something different since mine was almost paid for, but my SUV was getting around thirteen, yes I said THIRTEEN city miles to the gallon. We ended up getting a new vehicle. During the whole process I felt like I had Dave Ramsey on one shoulder and Lori Vining on the other telling me, "This is not part of the FPU plan". But, I really needed something more reliable. Even though I just work two nights a week and it is only a mile to work, I feel like I never get to go anywhere because of the gas prices. I hope I didn't let Lori down too much!

NOT SO SUPER MOMMY

While I was at Rebekah's today she realized she really needed to go to CVS. I could see the look in her eye. That look of, " Do I really want to take all three of these kids out in public?" Besides, I think she was still shell-shocked from the Aldi trip. So I volunteered to keep the kids while she ran to CVS. Ben and Brody were watching a movie. Marley was sleeping away in her swing and Gabby was passed out asleep in Marley's crib. About five minutes after Rebekah left I thought to myself, " I could totally handle having four kids." About five seconds after that, Gabby started screaming, the boys' movie was finished and Marley began waking up. I quickly reconsidered the four kid thing. In fact, I think we are finished having children. I guess God decided to teach me a lesson because later that afternoon Gabby started running a fever. Those of you who have children, do you remember the first time your first child got sick? I am a nurse! I never thought I would be this worried over a little fever! Needless to say, by the end of the evening I had about 10 different diagnoses for Gabby. I went as far as googling meningitis and gave Nick grief about getting Gabby's ears pierced. I just knew she had gotten some infection from the earrings. I doubt I will sleep at all tonight. It is absolutely the worst feeling in the world to see your child sick. I was rocking Gabby to sleep tonight when I began thinking," I am sure this isn't even an ounce of what GOD felt when HIS son died for me!" It is amazing that this deep thought came to me from a 100.4 fever. Just imagine what kind of world problems I will be able to solve when she is sick with her first stomach virus!

I BROKE!!

Okay, I said I would never blog. I just don't think my life is interesting enough to write about it every day. The other day I was trying to email a picture to my mother-in-law when I realized I have all these pictures in my camera of Gabby and each one has a story behind it. I have tried the scrap booking thing but by the second page I realized that was just too much work for me. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this. If anything I hope that it will be a way to save all these stories that you just never get around to writing down. Since I am not computer savy, I had to go to the queen blogger herself to get help setting this up (thanks Rebekah).