Faithful Mommy

Party time!!

I decided to be brave and have a Valentine party for all the little ones!!! Yep, I was taking a big risk. I spent a small fortune on their treats and surprises. It was worth it though. We had fun!! Here are a few hi lites!!
So, they did have fun. YIIIPPPPEEE! I will tell you though - all the fun can go h*ll in a handbasket in about one blink of an eye!!! We kept two of the grands for the parents to go to dinner and our other daughter and her two stayed for dinner -PIZZA yeehaw! Anyway, all was going well - until my little man decides to hurl a wooden block (huge - wooden - hurled at high speed) and hit M-5yr in the head. OUCH!!! From there it all went downhill. My daughter that had stayed here with her hubby and kiddos became terribly ill from a migraine. She starts hurling -not at anyone, just in the toilet and her little G-Baby starts s-q-u-a-l-l-i-n-g!! He thinks she's dying and wanted to go in the bathroom and help! NOT a good idea! Yes, it was a great time!!!!
One injured child. One child being disciplined. One child fell asleep WHILE eating his pizza - I barely caught him before he fell out of the chair. One grown (pregnant) daughter hurling up her pizza. One grand screaming because his mommy is hurling up her pizza.
Time for the party to END!!!  Happy Valentines to me - I lived through it!!

                                 

OHHHH, now I get it

There is a clear (meaning large,huge GINORMOUS) difference between a mommy and a daddy who are both sick. I hear you laughing - I really do!! Yes, I did know this before now. Yes, I should have expected it and yes, I wanted to throttle the daddy anyway!!!!

As I lay quietly dying - okay so I was moaning,writhing and  was otherwise annoying. Anyway, like I was saying, there I was d-y-i-n-g and in comes my prince charming, my rescuer, my helper extraordinaire. He sits down beside my limp, pitiful self AND INSTANTLY FALLS ASLEEP!!! Thanks for your help honey!!

Since I really did actually say that last sentence out loud, I was further shocked when he SNAPPED his reply at me. Hellllooo,  you're snapping at a dying woman here. Are you really okay with that? Can you live with yourself after I've gone on to Glory??

Apparently so!!!!

Skip forward a few hours when prince charming is shivering from chills and coughing up a lung.

AWWWWWW. Feel sick honey? 

PS. I really do feel bad that he got sick too. All I really wanted was for him to take little man away from the video's he'd been watching non-stop since I got sick. You know, play a game, get on the floor, roll around - anything but watch movies!! I was getting sicker thinking about all the brain cells my child was losing to  movies. Little did I know that hubby was beginning to get sick too.

Communication. There's a word for ya!!!

Anyway, he's sick, I'm sick. He sleeps it off, I take care of little man. No really, you must get your rest honey!!

Now, he's well, I'm still puny. I wonder why????

What we need around here is a MOTHER...

...actually we need a mommy. We need the temperature taking, blanket covering, cold drink with straw, medicine giving, vicks vaporub on your chest rubbing mommy!!!

We have the FLU. We need our MOMMIES!! Obviously, you never get to old to need your mommy when you're sick (or any 'ol time really). Unfortunately, our mommies live four hours from here and don't even know that we are sick.

We will be toughing it out - just like we have for the last almost thirty years. ohwell!

Here's the deal!

Yes, I know - you think I'm wishy washy because one day here then I'm gone. Well, I plan to work on that. I think I needed a long break. Now that I've had that, I'm ready to settle in and get going again.

My plan of action is a little different this time though. I miss journaling about my family and my thoughts- so that's what I will do. It will probably bore most to tears, which will mean you won't be back. That's fine. I can live with that. I hope you'll pop in from time to time though and let me hear from you. That would be nice. I also hope to catch up on my favorite blogs soon. I miss reading your stories, learning from you, praying with you etc.

So, I'm off to get reacquainted with some and meet others for the first time. I'll be right back. I promise!

Who are you??

This is a quick post about a conversation with my little grand - G-Baby. We were on our way to church Wed. night and he and little man were chatting it up in the back when G-Baby said "Mia, when I grow up, I'm gonna be somebody else."  I was tickled and asked if if he would be sure to let me know who he was. He said NO. I told him that if he didn't tell me who he was, I wouldn't know where to find him. He said, " well, I won't tell you, because I'm gonna be a Power Ranger." OHHHHHHH!!!! Secret identities and such. I told him that Mia's have their ways and I'd find him no matter what. He, of course, assured me that would never happen. I guess I'd better hone my Wonder Woman skills!!!   ;)

Wow!!

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I've been out of the blogging loop for a while now. It really began to take over my life, so I had to step back for a little while. I have missed it though. I've missed reading everyone else's too.

Gosh, so much has happened. We have a new grand daughter!!!! Baby MV. She is beautiful and her daddy (son #1 the lawyer) is ONE PROUD PAPA!! We also have another grand on the way!! That will be number six for anyone who cares. We will find out whether this is a boy or girl in Feb. I think.

We are a very prolific bunch!!! They are so sweet and beautiful. They are wearing us out though!! WHEW!!!!

Last year, we had two births and three surgeries - and all is well. We praise God for that. We are very thankful.

Well, more later !!

Why do boys love the word "b**ty"?

My Little man is two and a half now - can you believe it? I still try to baby him and have every intention of doing so for as long as I can. Lately though, I do see "boy" emerging from his cute little self. When I see it, I try to pretend I didn't. I just want him to be my baby. However, the "boy" in him is jumping out all over the place.
He seems to love the word "b**ty" and commences to shaking his when he says or hears the word - then falls on the floor laughing. My little grands do the same thing. Obviously the male fascination with the "b**ty starts early and never lets up.
He's also started using the word "nuffin". It goes like this - "little man", what are you doing? Nuffin, comes his reply. Which OBVIOUSLY means "somfin". The little sinner!! LOL!

Good thing he's so cute!!

Asking forgivness!

Here I am on my knees ( asking forgiveness). Time has slipped by in a blur. Here is the update.
My daughter had the surgery, the lump (ginormous) was removed and was BENIGN !!!! She recovered well although she was (is) upset about the huge scar it left. Unfortunately, it seems that another lump has come in it's place. She will be seeing the specialist in about two weeks. Thanks for all of your prayers. I can't tell you what it means to me that you would intercede on our behalf. Please forgive me for taking so long to give you an update.

A lot has been going on around here since I last posted. We decided to sell our house and we did just that - in 10 days!!! Yep, we were unprepared for that. We had to find a temporary dwelling place until we decide what we want to do. It looks like we may build though. We couldn't find anything (on short notice) that fit all our needs,wants etc. So here we are in the process of moving - down the road .
Oh well! It was a major thing to sell in only 10 days though. We see that as a blessing. We do believe this is God's will for us. We are just unsure of the next step - we know that He knows though.

Enough of the boring stuff. Tomorrow - back to the  good stuff!! I look forward to catching up with everyone. See ya in your comments!!!

Please pray!!!

My daughter, the one that just gave birth, is having a lumpectomy today at 2:30. This happened alll quite quickly and we are all very concerned ( understatement). She is only 22 years old. This lump has grown by half a centimeter since last Friday. We saw the breast specialist thinking she would have a biopsy, but, they said it had to come out NOW. This was yesterday - we are overwhelmed.

Please, if you feel led , pray for her today.

A "WHAT" present?

Push present!!! Have you ever??? OHMYWORD!

It appears that these days(as apposed to the Olden days), a woman gets a whopper of a gift when she has a baby! It's called a "push present". Seriously, a present for doing something you are practically dying to do - PUSH IT OUT!!!!! These are no mere thingamajigs - these are DIAMONDS and PEARLS!!! All I can say is," I MISSED THE EVERLOVIN' gravy train!!!!

My dear hubby was nice enough to give me a dozen red roses and I was thrilled to get 'em. Some chicks just got a ride home from the hospital from a hubby who was nice enough to take  the day off!! Diamonds? Pearls? BWAHAHHAHAHAH!!!!

My daughter had her second baby on May 6th and she got this beauty! 

And this BEFORE she actually pushed!!!!! Was it incentive to get the baby popped on out or just anticipation of a job well done. If he had known that she would push a slight THREE times, would he have thought twice about the chunk of change he dropped on this sight blinder??

I have a client who says she thinks mom's should get an upgrade on their engagement ring for every baby she has. A whole carat for each bundle of joy!! Yeah baby!!! That would be FIVE carats for me (adoption would have to count too). Let's add a half carat for grandchildren and I'd need a extra person to carry around my jewels!!!!!

NAAAAA! I think I'm okay with things they way they are. If we went too far, I'd have to spend too much time on shining it up to the perfect shine. I have way too many other things to do.

So, thanks for all those flowers honey!!!

Smooshed!!!!

If y'all remember, last year around this time I had a scare with my mammogram. Sure, you remember. I'm sure you've thought of it often! Unfortunately, I have. I have been having  what seems like a gazillion mammograms since then. I recently went in again and they did FOURTEEN views!!! Yes, my girls were smooshed in fourteen different ways! OHMYWORD!!!

I was like - umm, I don't think they will actually move in fourteen different ways people! OH BUT THEY DID!!!!! I was sore for days. The good news is, that I won't have to go back for a whole year now!! I got a clean bill of health!! YIIIPPPEEE! And praise the Lord!!

I will sorta miss the lov-erly wardrobe that I was getting so accustomed to though. The sensuous open front gown that I pranced around their whole office in. Oh well, it didn't seem to be a one of a kind anyway. Everywhere I looked, my dazzling attire was being worn by other lovely ladies.

I pray that they too are off the hook for another year!

This is like living on a fat farm!!

No really, I am so serious!!! 

My name is Faith, and I am on Weight watchers!! There, I said it. Not only me, but my daughter (the new mommy), her husband and my adorable hubby. Also, my sister in-law and well, feel free to join right in!!

Yep, I took the plunge. I am actually on the diet that I thought was for granny's ( yeah, yeah, I know). Anyway, it is sooo strange to be on the diet that MY granny was on, off and on through her golden years( does it not ever end?) I had gained some weight  awhile back and then once they discovered my thyroid problem and prescribed me some medication, I blew up like a balloon - the extra large kind that never deflates.

I made a bold move recently though ---- I threw out the medication. Now, don't y'all go chunkin' your meds. I'm not sayin' it's for everybody - I'm just sayin'!!!!!!! Anyway, every time the doc went up on my meds, I went up on the scale. The stupid thing  started reading - TiiiiiillllT!!!!!!!(that's tilt y'all).

Plus, I was getting dangerously close to my hubby's weight. How gross is that???? I do not want to weigh what a man weighs - OKAY!!!   My back cleavage began to look better than the front cleavage. Yep, I knew it was time!

And what a good time too! Ha!!! My daughter is the weight watcher Nazi and then hub's decided to join in and made her look nice!!!! The man checks and triple checks "points" like it's his job or something. Get a grip, would ya, honey??  Nah, really it is very helpful to have the Nazi's, I mean helpers around. The last thing I want to do is get anywhere near my points before 4 O'clock in the afternoon. Sheesh!!

Good news is, I've lost eight pounds in the first week. Yea, me!!!!!! Another 10,000 to go!!

We have a new baby...

...grand baby, that is. Daughter#2 - mom of G-Baby had a beautiful baby boy (Baby -E) on May 6th. She is great (can't tell she was ever preggers). There were some problems with the baby for the first week, but all is well now - praise the Lord!!!
I really miss y'all, so I guess I'm going to have to find the time to get back to blogging. I am really enjoying my sabbatical. It may turn into retirement - that's how much I like it!!!!!!

We are selling our house and plan to downsize a bit - it may kill me though. All of my efforts at getting organized have fallen somewhat short. We will still live in the general area, just not the same community ( we think anyway). How will I ever keep this house presentable for lookers?  OHMYWORD!!! It turns out that we are alot messier than I had realized. We told the Realtor that we would show "by appointment only" and he said that was a bad idea. I said, " show without one and see   what you get dude" !!!

He also (at his own risk) suggested that we take down all of our family portraits. He said it was too distracting. HELLLLLOOOOO! IDON"TTHINKSO!!!! He especially wanted me to remove our ginormous oil portrait of the kids from over the formal living room mantle. BWWWAAAAHHHHAAAAAAA!!!! Not a chance!!! First, I would never take the chance of it getting damaged. Then there is the small problem of leaving the space empty - he has GOT to be kidding!!

Oh yeah, and the portrait of me holding Little Man on the beach - you guessed it. He wants it down too. Don't hold your breath!!!

So many stories to tell...

Broken...

... but healing. Yep, we have had a few mishaps lately. I fell off of a step by the pool (thankfully, not into the pool), and broke my arm. Three days later Little Man fell on the driveway and broke his leg. We looked a site,let me tell you. His cast was all the way up his thigh and they bent his leg at a 30 degree angle. He still danced, hopped , walked and ran. It didn't slow hi9m down a bit.  I am a different story!!! My word, I need that arm - and opposable thumbs - yep NEED that!!!!!

We are both free of our injuries now, healing fine. Praise the Lord it was all minor.

My new grand baby will be here any day now. If she doesn't go before the 8th, they will induce that day!!! G-Baby is very excited about becoming a big brother. Hope it lasts!!!!

My son and his wife found out they are having a girl. PINKPINKPINK!!!!!!!!! Finally!! We are very excited! They are due at the end of September. That will be grand baby #5 y'all!! OHMYWORD!!! I am feelin' ooold!

Guess what ?  I had  visitor recently. It's a secret, but maybe I can tell y'all all about it soon??!!!

Let me introduce myself...

... I am Faithfulmommy and I am still alive and well. Nothing terrible has happened in my life, I just needed a break. Thanks to all the folks that were concerned and that actually missed me. You are why I am writing this today.

I had the major event of closing my studio and boy was it ever a HUGE undertaking. It was much more involved than I was expecting and has taken forever. I moved all the "goods" to my home and now we are overflowing with photography inventory. I have a three car garage and you couldn't have put a matchbox car in there if the wheels were off and you turned it sideways. We just got it organized and we are able to park our vehicles inside again. Yiiiiipeeee!

I have missed reading your blogs and  I have missed writing on mine. I hope to get started regularly again. although it probably will not be everyday. We will see. I was not doing a good job of living my life to the fullest when I was reading and writing everyday. Kudos to those of you that can pull it off. I have found that I am no superwoman. Sigh!!!

I am, however expecting two new grands!!! You know about the one due in May and I have another one coming in Sept. Son #1 and his wife are expecting!!!!! We are holding our breath to find out what this one is!!

I haven't even told y'all about my newest grand that came in December!!!! Yep!!! My oldest daughter and her hubby(along with Baby-A) welcomed a beautiful four year old daughter into their family. Adoption is a beautiful thing!!!! She is just perfect. She has adapted well and it's like she has been here from the start!

I am loving being at home with Little man and he is doing great. He likes having me around all the time too. He turned two in February!!!!!! Too big too fast!!!

I am trying to get my house in order via Flylady! I have neglected some things while I was working at the studio. That is keeping quite busy too!

Hopefully, I'll be reading up one everyone this week. See ya in your comment section!!!!!!

YooHoo!!! I'M Baaaaack!

I'm back for today at least. I have been swamped here at the studio - 'tis the season and all. We are wrapping it all up though and then I get a week off. I am soo excited. I am getting very close to the closing of my commercial location as well. I am really excited about that. Re-inventing yourself is awesome!!!!

We went "home" to Alabama for our Christmas there this past weekend. It was great, but it was really great to get home. I am such a homebody these days. My 91 year old great aunt came over to my mom's and was telling stories about my granny and her growing up. I really enjoyed that and could sit and listen to those stories all day. My granny was my heart ya know!!

I hope you all have safe trips if you are traveling and Merry Christmas to everyone!! I hope to post more before then, but I gotcha covered just in case!!! ;D

Surgery report!

Little Man has had his eye surgery and is doing well!!! He did awesome. I was allowed to take him to the OR and I laid him on the table as they put the mask on his face. I sang to him until he drifted off to sleep and then was with him when he woke up. I don't think he even  knows he was ever asleep!!! That was such an answer to prayer for us. I just couldn't bear leaving him screaming for me. God is so good!!!!

The Doc says the procedure went well, so I am a happy mommy!!!

Also, on the Mia front -- we found out what my daughter is having. IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!! Yes, we were hoping to have a little pink around, but God's ways are not our ways. We'll take His plan any day!!!
We're just gonna have us a passel of boys 'round here!!! LOL!!  It's a good brood so far, so I can't imagine it any better!

I have been slacking on the blogging front (as so many of you have). I guess the holidays are just too busy to do it all. I have been trying to rearrange some things in my house and get better organized. Spring cleaning a bit early--- well, okay in my case waaaay late!!!

I need to get cooking, I am taking dinner to a friend who just had a baby girl. I'm cooking theirs and ours, so I should really get on it!!! Hope all is well with you!!

YEAH BABY, WE ARE HOT!!

That's right. As in, we went, we saw, we caught fire!!!! Yep! Our little train ride caught fire! No joke. At least we were at "The North Pole" at the time. Santa was on board too. We all had to evacuate of course - Santa too. It was the first time in the history of this train ride thingie that anyone has EVAH gotten off at the north pole!!!

We felt special. We did get premium time with Santa though, given the fact that we had him cornered. I saw this as a positive. Ya know, more time to fill him in on the old wish list.

They (Santa's helpers - aka elves) gave out gingerbread cookies and chocolate milk to everyone. We did let Little Man eat his cookie (and one of ours). BIG  MISTAKE Y'ALL! He ran around like a banshee all day Sunday. No kidding, he looked like someone had plugged him in to a very powerful outlet and he went around and around and around!

That my friend is one very good reason we do not feed sugar to this child!!! Never again will I make that mistake. Praise the Lord we had enough sense to NOT give him the chocolate milk (water instead).

We did learn a little about the history of the trains we were on too. Interestingly enough, they were "Jim Crow" trains. There used to be partitions to seperate the blacks and whites. I didn't hear that being told at the time and was sorta glad I didn't hear it until we were getting off. I'm not sure why, really. Glad just the same though!!

We made back from the train ride thriller and then on home from Tennessee that night. So we were really tired. It is hard to get back in the swing of things today after having so much time off. Vacation time is gooooood, very gooooood!!

Hope y'all had a good one too!!! What did y'all do?

It's a fun day!

It's here! Our day to visit Santa. The one that we visit in Atlanta had been around for something like 30 years!! We saw him last year with Little man and the grands and the year before too,with G-Baby. He was awesome. He always told the children the story of Jesus.

He was exceptional. He was Santa Ray. He passed away this summer. We are hoping that this new Santa will tell about Jesus and the reason for the Christmas celebration like Santa Ray did.

It is like a Christmas miracle to get a visit with this Santa. We were on the computer the very minute you could make reservations. It books up that quick!! With Santa Ray, it was worth it. I'll let ya, know how this one goes.

We searched all day on Saturday for shoes and socks to match Little Man's outfit. I thought I was soooo cool for choosing the very hip, very in style colors of chocolate and blue (the john-john is chocolate velvet and the shirt is baby blue).

Sounds nice huh? Yeah, try to find dark brown bucs and dark brown knee socks for boys!!!!! Who knew???? Next year, we are back to basic red or black!! My hubby was very patient with me through all of this shopping ordeal. thanks honey!

This is all very important because you get a video each year with your child's visit with Santa. So ya know, fashion is a top priority! I was getting the video tape ready (they make DVD'S from the VHS) and I almost cried when i saw how little he was last year. He has grown so much. It is neat to have that. Although we don't really do a big Santa thing, we do enjoy playing along for this little event.

Okay, and we are going on the "Polar Express" train ride in Tennessee on Saturday and we will see Santa there as well. That is an hour and 15 min. train ride, it books up like crazy too. We have never done that before. We will see if it will become tradition or not!

Have a great day!

Baby Monitor!

I have  been asked to review a product that I was very excited about trying. It is the Phillips babycare monitor. This is a great product for me to review given the fact that i do indeed use several of them ..... at once. Does that make me crazy? well, I like to think it keeps me from being crazy. You can go back to some of the posts about my baby having seizures and you may understand why I want to hear him and see him while he is sleeping. If you still think I am crazy - well, okay, whatever.

Anyway, back to the review. This monitor is the first ever to use the DECT technology which offers a more secure, private connection. In other words ... your won't be listening to your neighbors phone calls over your baby's monitor or heaven forbid the other way around!!!

This little monitor is pretty handy. I love the fact that it tells you the temperature of the baby's room. That's important and I am always wondering if he is too hot or too cold or whatever, so now I know. I like the fact that I can talk to him from my hand held part of this set to soothe him ( or in my little grandson's case - tell him to lay back down). It's range is 900 feet, which is pretty impressive and it also plays music and has a little light for baby. I also like the warning system that lets you know that your connection is lost for some reason. Like I said it is very important that I be able to hear my little man during the night, in case of a seizure.

The only thing I
haven't discussed is price. I believe it retails for about $199.00. I think that's a little high for a monitor that isn't a video monitor as well. It is so important for me to be able to SEE my little man (not true for everyone though) I know I would need the video feature as well and i would pay more money for it too. That's just me. I have a video monitor that was quite pricey, but I feel like I am getting my money's worth out of it, given that I will use it for years. So if you don't need video and you will use it long term, i don't think the price is too bad.

You can read more about it here if you'd like.