The Loony Mooneys

I didn't even know

2011-03-24T01:26:00.000-05:00

Technology amazes me. Facebook, cell phones, skype, all those things I never would have imagined possible as a child. Within minutes of something happening halfway around the world, with the click of a button, you can announce anything to anyone and everyone you want to (and add pictures, too)

I am not going to lie, I love facebook and being nosey and reading blogs and sharing joy and pain with people I have never even met or hardly said 3 words to in high school. I love that sometimes facebook feels like one big family. I love that I can send my family pictures of our kids with my cell phone if something cute or funny happens---instantly. I love it that I can tell my husband to bring me home something from the store on his way home with a simple text message or email.

While all wonderful and fun, there can be things about all of this "technology" that hinder personal intimate relationships. I had a wake up call the other day that really hit home and reminded me to stop looking at my computer screen and look into the eyes of my child and really talk.

My relationship with Christ has always been somewhat private to me. I don't want it to be that way, but it is how I was raised and it is SO hard to change something you aren't used to. We didn't pray out loud at home or have devotionals or talk about God. We went to church every weekend and stayed involved in church, but we didn't talk about it outside the walls of church. As I got older I tried really hard to become more comfortable sharing my faith with other believers and non-believers. It got easier but it is still one of my greatest weaknesses. It takes so much conscious effort to me to sit down with my kids and pray or talk about Jesus. I force myself to do it because even though it isn't anywhere close to the way it is supposed to be, hopefully when my kids are older, it will be easier for them and so on. I am planting some seeds.

Anyway, I have been praying for a long time about Sophie accepting Christ as her personal savior. Because I am private and she can be private and because I wanted it to be her decision, I haven't pushed her. I have just been mentioning things here and there and observing her reaction. Well, long story short, one morning we were talking about something on the radio and I mentioned we should pray out loud for the people on the radio while we were in the car (I sometimes do this and my kids aren't too fond of it right now) I had this weird thing pop in my head that I should ask Sophie if she has prayed a prayer and invited Jesus to come into her heart. She said yes! She said yes! SHE SAID YES!!! I almost got in a wreck because I was happy/shocked/hurt she hadn't told me. I mean, this is a big deal! I have been praying for this! I became a Christian at 7 years old while at vacation bible school with a friend. I still remember how great it felt that day and every day after and how I saw the world through a different lens.

Here is the part that is sad. She did this over the summer one night by herself. The summer. That was before I had the baby--7 months ago. I didn't even know.

I knew within an hour when my cousin became engaged last week due to facebook (congrats Kate and Cory) and I am happy for them but what a slap in the face of reality that while I was playing on facebook and reading blogs, my daughter was doing this big huge thing and I didn't know.

I didn't even know.

Something needs to change for me.

I love that I get to do things like this...

2010-11-22T21:19:00.000-06:00

This was one of my favorite books in elementary school. I ready it every year---at least once. I had forgotten all about it until I saw it in Sophie's scholastic book order flier this month. I ordered it (OF COURSE!) and couldn't wait to read it to her.

Sophie and I regularly curled up in her bed or mine with a good chapter book and it wouldn't be rare for me to end up reading the whole thing. She doesn't like stopping in the middle of a book any more than I do. I love it that she loves me reading to her so most of the time, I was happy to oblige. We sadly have not been able to do this since Oliver has joined the family. I am too tired or Luke refuses to be quiet and stop interrupting. I have been having quite a bit of mommy guilt over neglecting poor Sophie lately (squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?)

Last night we were FINALLY able to curl up (Ollie in between us) and start the book. I admit---I got too sleepy to finish last night, but we finished today and she loved it! I loved it too and it was a great "teachable" moment and an opportunity to talk about God's love and forgiveness and most of all acceptance and compassion for those among us less fortunate. I love hearing what goes on in that sweet girls head and she usually teaches me something as well with her wide-eyed innocence.

I am so glad I am blessed with the opportunity to be her mom. I loved getting out this oldie but goody book and reading it to my child. What an awesome feeling!

Conversations with Oliver

2010-11-13T12:59:00.001-06:00

I seriously have about 10 blog posts in my "edit" folder that I am working on and need to post. This is all I have for you today. If you have already seen it on facebook, I apologize. If you haven't, get a look at this sweetie pie smiling away. We *think* he laughed last night at Zac. I don't like this of course because he should have laughed at me first. I am the funniest---doesn't he know that? Oliver, you have some things to learn. Mom is the best at EVERYTHING. This includes making you laugh :)

p.s. I am sorry if the music annoys you---don't forget to push pause before watching this video so you can hear Oliver's cute baby noises and my annoying mommy high pitched voice. You probably don't want to watch this if you have a migraine.

Close up

2010-09-30T23:11:00.000-05:00

This totally looks like a mug shot. I just realized how bad the quality is, but oh well. I must start seriously looking for a fancy new camera, but *new* luxuries are not too high on the priority list right now if you know what I mean!

Take a look at this face! Can you see the itty bitty chubby cheeks starting to form? Yes I do believe he is gaining weight and fattening up! He had a weight check a week ago and was still not up to his birth weight, but something tells me he will be tomorrow when we have it checked again. I have to say, I am getting so tired of pumping and nursing around the clock. Talk about feeling like a COW! Wow.... I would do anything for this little guy though---he has definitely stolen my heart. This little guy is so calm. I was so afraid he might be like Sophie was when she was a baby. She screamed the entire first three months of life (then she was a dream, of course). This was okay (though during this time I might not have said that) when I just had her because there were no other kids to tend to. I took her on car rides and she screamed, I bounced her and she screamed, I put her in the swing and she screamed, you get the picture. This sweet little boy never screams. I think he knows there would be no point since mama has to take care of the other two children too!

Oliver is one month old today! He is so much more alert now and I love looking into his beautiful eyes when he is looking around and staring at me. He is trying to hold his head up and does a pretty good job when placed on his tummy. He is still not too fond of baths, but he is a boy so I think that is why :) I could just sit and stare at this little guy all day---I wish I could!

So who do you think he looks like? We are still getting strong Sophie vibes, but I think he is starting to look more like hi own little person as he is growing.

Artist in the making

2010-09-23T23:38:00.001-05:00

We had some lovely "Welcome Home Oliver" posters hanging up in our bedroom when we came home. They were so sweet and so lovingly made by Luke, Sophie, and Oma.

This picture makes me laugh. Definitely the best. It looks like a cross between a bear, a baby that is swaddled, a tadpole, and a ...sperm! Ha!

Just a little something to lighten the mood! Oh, I bet you can't guess who did this?

A kink in the system

2010-09-18T20:51:00.004-05:00

You might be wondering what this is about. This is our trip to the ER and stay in the PICU. We got home from the hospital after having the baby on Saturday, September 4th. On Sunday, I kept thinking Oliver's head felt cold. It was really bothering me so I took his temperature under his arm. That temp read REALLY low so I used another thermometer and that one read low too. I had Zac call the on call doctor at our pediatrician's office (the on-call doctor was not our doctor). She told us to take his temp using a rectal thermometer (just what we want to do to our poor newborn baby) and if it isn't 97 at least, take him to the ER. I am starting to get worried now, but wrapped him up in a dozen blankets and held him very close to me as Zac went to get a thermometer. Zac came home and we quickly discovered that we would need...um...lubricant stuff to get the thermometer in there. So...... off Zac goes to the store again (almost the middle of the night by now) to buy lubricant. He came back and I made him take Oliver's temperature. It was only reading 95 degrees. This is the point which I start to cry, a lot. I then become a hysterical mess. We called Zac's mom to come and stay with the kids and off we went to the hospital.

I can not even tell you the things going through my head at this time. I am taking my 5 day old baby to the ER because something is wrong with him. What if they don't give him back to me? What if I have to leave him there and go home with empty arms? What if something really bad is wrong with him? What if I never get him back...what if what if what if...? This may seem like crazy talk to you, but when you have been through what we have been through....well things just aren't the same ever again. Watching your newborn baby die in your arms is something that scars you/changes you for life (and not in a good way). My mind went to the worst place possible. I prayed and begged God to please just make this whole thing go away and for my baby to be okay. I asked Him how much I would have to go through while being refined. I am ashamed to admit this, but I questioned Him. I really did. You would think I would have learned by now to cling to Him and have faith and trust and just lean on Him, but I questioned. I think it was something like, Lord, haven't I had enough?

So we get to the hospital and get right in because there is no one in the waiting room! They took his temp rectally there and it was reading 96.1 That is a slight improvement, but still way too low. We got into a room in the ER and the doctor came back and was very very rude. I wanted to punch this guy, or cuss at him or something. He was SO condescending and arrogant. Anyway, he told his that now that *they* were involved, they were going to have to do a bunch of tests on the baby including a lumbar puncture (I think I almost fainted when he said that), catheter urine sample, blood tests, IV antibiotics, chest xrays and the minimum of time we would be there would be 24 hours in order for the spinal fluid to grow cultures (forgive me I am not a medical person) Zac and I stepped out of the room at that point and let them do there thing. I am still a hysterical mess at this point, but less so because I am so mad at the doctor for his attitude, that it takes away from my fear. I also need to mention that I could barely walk and was still in a lot of pain from my very recent c-section. There was no where to sit comfortably, and sitting still hurt so this just made things even worse!

They finished all the tests I mentioned above and we were waiting for results. Oliver was under this super crazy warmer thing and before we knew it, they overcooked him and he had fever! The nurse actually said something about having to treat him for fever when he came in for a low temperature. Oh my gosh...really? How about turn the thing down??!!!

The doctor walked in and mentioned that the spinal fluid had blood in it, which could indicate a brain bleed and they would need to do a cat scan to see if he had a brain bleed. Now I am feeling punched in the stomach. Brain bleed? My baby was just released from the hospital the day before and he was FINE! Wouldn't they have noticed something like that? So Zac went with Oliver to have the cat scan and came back pretty upset. He said with the machines and Oliver hooked up to things it really reminded him of Olivia. Zac had to watch a lot of what went on with Olivia while I was still unable to move from my c-section so he gets flashbacks of that and this was one of them and it was not fun. We were both pretty upset by now.

A while later, the doctor came and told us that EVERYTHING came back negative and they had not found anything alarming. The next thing would be Oliver getting admitted to the PICU to make sure he can keep his temperature up and also to wait for the lumbar puncture cultures to come back (they were testing for meningitis and a couple of other things) We were very relieved at this point and just wanted to go home and wake up from this nightmare. We got up to the room and I sent Zac home since there was only one place for someone to sleep and since I was the food source for the baby, I would have to stay.

Throughout the rest of the night, Oliver maintained his temperature and ate and was doing fine.

At about noon, our regular pediatrician busted through the door and was just so upset that we were there. She said she felt so bad because it was her patient and that we had to go through all of that for no reason was very upsetting. She also explained that the blood in the spinal fluid was NORMAL for a newborn and that someone with proper training would know that (ouch, take that you RUDE ER DOCTOR!) She explained that the baby probably just got cold in our house and that was it. The medical field has become so ridiculous and everything is about covering yourself and protection from lawsuits. I decided I LOVE our pediatrician. She said she was in charge and if SHE wanted to discharge Oliver, she could and she would. Her words, "...I don't have a career to protect because I am old, so I don't care..." Awesome.

We couldn't get out of there fast enough. We got home (for the second time) and crashed. Let's hope Oliver is not setting some kind of standard for ER visits.

I was thinking about when the pediatrician came to talk to me shortly after Oliver was born. She noticed that I was breastfeeding and looked at me a little funny. She hemmed and hawed and finally came out and said, that since it didn't work out the way I wanted it to with my first two, there might just be a "kink in the system" and it would be okay not to try to breastfeed this one because formula is great. I love her for trying to protect me and take the guilt off, but I was mad about it at that time.

Yep, there is a kink in the system, but it ISN'T me.

Going home

2010-09-13T23:23:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a short post---I need to try and grab some sleep while the baby is sleeping! Anyway here are some pictures of the rest of our hospital stay. Again, no pictures of Mommy---I know that is what you really want to see---ha!

Here is a close up of sweet Oliver, or "baby Ollie" as we have started calling him---I love these cheeks and he looks so sweet sucking on his pacifier. Don't tell the lactation consultant. When she came into the room, I hid this thing! I know they aren't supposed to have these due to "nipple confusion", but this kid likes to suck, and I don't like being a pacifier so much. He doesn't have nipple confusion anyway---he is an equal opportunity sucker! Perhaps I shouldn't write blog posts on so little sleep as it results me saying things like this!

Here he is again---no evil pacifier this time! Can you see his fuzzy head hairs sticking out---this kid's hair is hilarious! He has fine hairs that stick up all over his head. It kind of looks like when a small child draws a picture of a person and uses squiggly lines and little hairs that go all over the person's head and you think---no one really looks like that in real life! He also has a faux hawk---also hilarious. Luckily these hairs will fall out very soon and he will most likely be bald. We are enjoying his fuzzy head right now though!

This is what my husband did for the majority of our hospital stay. Isn't he sweet?

Getting dressed to go home---and pretty mad about it! Isn't his outfit the cutest It was an etsy.com order and I love it!

I am outta here!

PROUD big sister and brother

2010-09-10T18:50:00.001-05:00

Can you see the anticipation of getting to hold this baby we have talked about for so long? I have to brag on my kids. They have AMAZED me with the birth of their brother. Well, Luke has amazed me----I expected nothing less from Sophie as she is so sweet and nurturing already. They have been so great! You really can't see what is on their shirts in these pictures, but I ordered shirts that say Big Brother Luke and Big Sister Sophie---so adorable! They were so proud to wear them. We let Sophie miss school because it just wouldn't be fair for Luke to get to meet the baby before Sophie. We planned to let Sophie and Luke tell everyone the name, but because of the unexpected nature of the birth day, it didn't work out that way. I don't think they minded though!

Here is my girl holding her SECOND brother. I had people make comments about poor Sophie having two brothers. I think people assumed she would want a sister, but she actually wanted another brother! Her explanation was that she wanted to be the only girl and didn't want to "share" me with a sister---so sweet! Let me tell you, these boys are SUPER SUPER lucky to have this girl as a big sister. She has one of the sweetest spirits EVER and gives everything she has to her friends and siblings! The things she has let Luke get away with over the years just never ceases to amaze me. He can take something away from her and instead of getting upset and fighting with him she will let him have what he wants. She knows exactly what to say to him when he is about to have a meltdown and distracts him from it most of the time. I love this "big sister"!!!!

Luke's turn!!!

This little mister has made me so proud lately. He has seriously grown up so much in the past couple of months. I love going out and doing things with him---he is sweet and considerate and SO MUCH FUN to be around!

I have to tell this story: When we first told the kids about expecting a baby, Luke's reaction was uh....not all that nice. He made it very clear to everyone that asked him he did NOT want a baby. He told me he was going to hide under the bed when the baby comes and stay there until the baby is gone. Any time anyone asked him about getting a baby brother, he growled at them (right, Fort family?!) He slowly started to come around and not get so crazy when asked about his baby brother. The shirt he had been rejecting for so long that said greatest big brother, was not so appalling to him anymore. In fact, a few weeks before the birth, he WORE it by his own choice! I can't wait to see how Luke and Oliver will get along when they are older. I love watching brothers and the relationship that they have. I love our family!

Here is Sophie: "Are we done with this yet?" ha ha

Congratulations Sophie and Luke on your new baby brother. You two have made me one proud mama and Oliver is so stinkin' lucky to get you guys as older siblings to "show him the ropes" Congratulations Oliver on getting the best big brother and big sister EVER and you are in for one wild ride, little man!

Oliver King Mooney 9-01-10

2010-09-08T23:30:00.000-05:00

He is here! It took a birth to for me to update this thing-ha!   I would say I will get better, but let's not get crazy here...   Anyway here is how it all went "down."

We had a c-section scheduled for Monday, September 13th.   I would have been 39 weeks and 3 days---please note, all three of my other c-sections were at 38 weeks, so to say I was just a little bit disappointed that we wouldn't be doing the section at 38 weeks was an understatement. I had it in my head that he was going to come the week of September 6th and I had everything all planned out. To all of you who have had vaginal deliveries and were never able to plan the day your baby was coming, I do understand how ridiculous my statement was, but it is all I know, so show me some grace please!

I had my weekly doctor appointment on Wednesday, September 1 and the thought that I might not be coming back to my house without my baby surely did not cross my mind! I mean, I would have laid out clothes for Sophie to wear to school each day and Luke also. I would have bought and washed and dried everything we needed but didn't get yet for the baby! Did I mention my drier broke the NIGHT BEFORE THE BABY CAME?

At my appointment I mentioned to Dr. R ( LOVE HER) that I had been having contractions. She could feel a contraction when she went to measure me, and again when she was checking my cervix. Also, my blood pressure was high, but that alone I don't think would have been cause to send me to the hospital because it usually goes down while I am in the office.   There was also a trace amount of protein in my urine (sorry if it grosses you out that I said "urine"). Dr. R sent me straight to the hospital and told me do not eat anything just in case and that they would monitor me over there and check my cervix for change.   So, off I went, still not thinking it would amount to anything and more annoyed that I had to go to the hospital and mess up the "schedule" for the day.

I got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the fetal monitors to check baby's heart rate and contractions. By this time I had been getting more and more of them. They were beginning to be a little painful, but I refused to admit that because I felt like since I had never been in labor before, anything that I have that seems painful is NOTHING compared to someone who has been through actual labor and a vaginal delivery. The nurse looked at me funny and asked what my pain level was---I said 2 and she was surprised. She said I was contracting every 2-8 minutes and some of them were pretty strong. Dr. R ordered IV fluids because she thought I might just be dehydrated, so they started those and I ate a few ice chips. I called Zac and told him to go on to class (he is in law school and missing class when you don't have to is really bad) I just assumed the contractions would stop and I would be sent home because I do not go into labor!

The nurse came in again and checked the strip and said she didn't like what she saw. My contractions were not going away or even easing up. She went to call the doctor and came back and said, "I am sorry my dear, but we are having the baby tonight" Why she thought she needed to apologize to me for that information is beyond me! I was miserable and tired of being pregnant, and at 37 weeks and 5 days (full term) I was totally ready to meet this sweet baby! I was a little freaked out because it wasn't planned but certainly was not upset that I was going to have the baby that night!   THEN I remembered that I told Zac to go to class and he was probably already there!

I called Zac and he was pulling into the parking garage. I told him he needed to turn around and get to the hospital, now!   He was stumbling around for his words and very surprised but also excited. He turned around and was on his way. I was really hoping there wasn't an accident on the freeway or something to keep him from getting there on time for the c-section---that would have been awful!

I started making some phone calls, trying to send text messages to let people know we were having the baby and making arrangements for the kids. My mom took the kids to gymnastics and she told me they were very wound up. I can imagine trying to get them ready with them knowing their baby brother they have been waiting for so long for was coming that night!

I signed consent forms and got prepped for surgery and things started becoming a little more real. They moved me to labor and delivery (from the antepartum floor) and put me in the room I would be in until I was wheeled into surgery.   Dr. Rivero came and explained again why we had to do a c-section immediately. With it being my 4th there was too much of a risk with me having any kind of regular contractions and she wasn't about to mess with that (another reason I love her, she is the most awesome doctor ever and I trust her with my life and my baby's life...can't say that enough!) She checked me again just because she was curious, and in just a couple of hours, I went from 0-almost 3cm dilated and 100% effaced. This is HUGE for me as I have never done either and always right up until the c-section remained "CLOSED AND THICK"   This just confirmed Dr. R's decision and we were ready to go. The doctor helped wheel me into the OR and Zac appeared right before they wheeled me in---just in time to get on his scrubs!

Once in the operating room, they did the spinal and strapped me down and did all that other great stuff they do when you have surgery. I started freaking out a little bit. I couldn't get images of the last time we were in that operating room at that hospital out of my head. My heart rate skyrocketed and my blood pressure went crazy. The anesthesiologist couldn't figure out what was going on, but I knew. They had to keep giving me all kinds of drugs because one would work for a while and then I would feel panicky again and my heart rate would go way up and they would have to try something else. I remember afterwards the anesthesiologist making a comment about how much they gave me and I am not asleep, but wide awake! If she only knew! Anyway, I got that familiar pressure tugging feeling that was really strong and told me they were taking the baby out. I heard him cry (BEAUTIFUL SOUND) and that was the end of me! Zac went to take pictures while they were weighing him. Here he is, fresh from the womb!

Here he is being weighed!

They got him all cleaned up and I was wheeled into recovery. I kept shaking due to the affects of the anesthesia. I really would have preferred the sleeping to the shaking. That teeth chattering shaking feeling is not so fun, but is so worth it! Here is a picture of Oliver right after the birth when he was cleaned up

I bet you are wondering, where is the picture of Mommy and baby? HAHAHAHA. Sorry to disappoint, but there will be none. Zac took one when I was about to be wheeled in for surgery, but I took one look at it and was so disgusted, I immediately deleted it. I was so swollen and puffy and had about 4 chins and even though it was the birth of my child, I just couldn't stand to have that picture or any other pictures haunt me for the rest of my life. I wish I had such confidence that it didn't matter, but I am just not made that way! Besides, he looks a whole lot better than me and that is who you REALLY want to see, right?

That about wraps it up for the birthday story. I do need to mention how we picked his name, although if you are one of the 5 people reading this blog that has been so long neglected, you already know why we chose the name. I feel like I need to put it on here for documentation purposes. We chose the name Oliver to honor our sweet baby girl, Olivia, born in May, 2004 and died 14 hours after birth. Olivia and Oliver are the same name, just male and female. They both mean.....are you ready for this.... ELF ARMY! Yay! The biblical meaning of the name Oliver/Olivia is a little bit more what we had in mind. It is based on the olive tree in the bible, and means peace. He definitely has brought us peace. He is also named for my great grandmother, Ollie. I hear she was a pretty cool gal. The middle name, King, comes from "hatdaddy" King aka, Carl King. One of my favorite people, ever. So there you have it!

Wow, this was LONG! I wonder how long it will take me to document the rest of the hospital stay?! Ha!

p.s. I realize I have no blog design or background on this page. that was a long and frustrating deal trying to fix and and nothing lined up right. I finally gave up and don't want to deal with it right now. Sorry for the plane Jane look!

First day of school

2010-08-24T02:10:00.001-05:00

Sophie is now a big second grader! Wow. I don't think I will EVER get over this girl growing up. I think it is going to be a GREAT year! She has the sweetest teacher ever (this teacher had Hannah and Harrison and already *knows* Sophie) This year, Sophie wouldn't let me take any pictures of her actually inside the school. I was disappointed, but didn't fuss over her (too much). Here she is the morning of:

Luke wasn't too happy that she was going to school and he wasn't, but he quickly got over it. This brings me to Luke's first day of school.

The next day was Luke's first day. Actually, it is the LAST first day of preschool. This makes me so sad! I don't even want to know how I am going to react when I drop him off for kindergarten next year. I know he is ready and loves school, but it is just so hard to leave my babies all day. Anyway, this year is quite different from last year. Last year, it was all about coloring and playing and making art crafts. This year, they do worksheet after worksheet after worksheet. I am not happy about this, and had I known it was going to be this way, I would have made a different choice about preschool. I didn't know though, so here we are. Luke actually LOVES sitting and doing worksheets (who would have thought!) So I will leave him be and try to chill about it. He is already writing his name so well and his numbers too, so he is learning something. I just don't want him to have to grow up faster than absolutely necessary. Four year olds should play. Off my soapbox now... Here he is on his first day:

And here he is with Kate and Landan. Aren't they cute? We made them smile while facing the sun...oops!

Luke and Kate. These kids have been in everything together. Mother's Day Out, church, bible study, even gymnastics! This year, Kate is taking dance...I am happy to say that Luke will NOT be joining her in that adventure ;) These guys are so cute together and I am having so much fun watching them grow together. What a blessing it is to have my best friend's children grow up with mine and actually like each other. Hopefully this will last forever....though not sure how they will feel about the arranged marriages we have planned! heh heh heh

Happy school year little ones! I know it is going to be a great one!

Pica?

2010-08-08T05:53:00.000-05:00

I don't have any cute pictures to post of my beautiful children. I am getting closer to doing that though...finally uploaded all my pictures to shutterfly and now just need to edit them.

However, I wanted to document the weirdest pregnancy craving I have ever had in my 5 pregnancies. Are you ready for it?

I have been craving toothpaste and soap!

If you are reading this and totally disgusted, you are normal. I have no idea what brought this about, but for a few weeks now I have really wanted to eat my toothpaste. Then I find myself thinking about it and when I brush my teeth, I really want to swallow the toothpaste (but of course, I don't...you know...because my self control is awesome....or maybe because I don't know what a tube of toothpaste would do to my poor innocent baby who has no control over what he is getting from his crazy mama)   I need to add that I have NEVER craved anything that isn't edible, which is the definition of the disorder, pica, pronounced PIE-KUH.

And soap...ohhhh soap.   I find myself washing my hands a lot more and just smelling the soap and how clean it is. I sometimes go into the bathroom at work and squirt soap out to see and smell all the bubbles. I want to eat the soap.   Again, I haven't and nor will I actually do this, but the fact that I want to is a bit disturbing.   I was at my OB's office and there was a big thing of this green soap and it looked so clean and smelled so clean that I seriously wondered if anyone would know if I stuck the bottle in my purse. They surely have tons more soap, right? I am too much of a chicken and was afraid they would figure out it was me and wonder why I swiped the soap.   But it looked so good....   My favorite soap to look at and think of eating is the soap that I see doctors "scrub in" with. I have been watching a lot of doctor/medical shows and more lately because I want to see them scrub in and look at the soap.

There is no need to alert the mental health authorities! I assure you this is a pregnancy related thing and will go away and I promise to never eat your toothpaste or soap when I go to your house.

But....if it is missing....and I was there....

I wonder if this means this poor sweet baby I am carrying is going to have some OCD tendencies?

I promise to udpate soon. This week is my last at work and then I have 4 more weeks until the baby comes. I am sure with my new lap top and all the sitting around I am doing because I don't want to leave the house because it is too hot and I don't like being sweaty, there will be time for blogging the missing time period of the new year to now!

Until then.....

We have a name!

2010-06-05T19:42:00.000-05:00

I can't wait to tell everyone what it is when he is born!

I haven't blogged because...

2010-05-26T13:45:00.000-05:00

Can you see it? This is the sweet little profile of unnamed baby BOY Mooney!!!   He will be here in early September if everything goes well!

I *knew* I was pregnant before I even took the test. I think, when you have been pregnant 5 times like I have, it becomes easier to read your body. I got a positive pregnancy test the day before our 9th anniversary and thought it would be a fun thing to give Zac as a present. So....January 6th, I stuck the test that said "pregnant" in the bottom of his gift bag.   He wasn't as excited as I wanted him to be. He never is----I want him to jump up and down and do cartwheels. It has taken me so long to realize that it is quite a bit different for him, as he can't feel it and doesn't really let it sink in until the day we have the baby and he is holding him/her in his arms.   Anyway, so we are pregnant!

I haven't blogged since then because I was so afraid that the minute I did, something bad would happen. If you know a little bit about our history, you know we have had one full term loss, one loss at 20 weeks, and an early miscarriage.   I wanted to make sure it was okay before I started blogging about it, and since it pretty much consumed my thoughts, it was hard to get on the computer and blog about anything else!

Our first "big" ultrasound was at 16 weeks. This is when the kidneys start to take over and make the fluid around the baby. Everything looked great! I felt relieved, but we wouldn't be totally relieved until the 20 week ultrasound. The 20 week ultrasound looked perfect too! We are so excited! It is going to be so busy around here. Zac is starting LAW SCHOOL in the fall and we will have two kiddos and a newborn!

I have so much to blog about----so much has happened since New Year's! Here is to hoping I can get caught up soon and stay that way!

New Years Eve Mooney style...

2010-01-13T21:47:00.000-06:00

We are such party animals around here. We almost made it until midnight, but sleep is just too precious around here! We had a family game night and this was interesting with Luke, as he still doesn't get the whole taking turns and someone wins and someone doesn't thing. I just don't know where that child CAME FROM?!!! Could it be ZAC????

Anyway, nothing says New Years like a game of twister!

And here is a funny video to start off the year: Luke and Sophie were in a REALLY silly mood, so I caught the silly from them and just had them do random silly things. It was hard to get them to bed that night!

Nutcracker 2009

2010-01-01T11:39:00.000-06:00

Going to the Nutcracker is a Mooney family tradition. Every year for the past 14 years, Tom (father-in-law, aka Grandad) Kelly (aka K-Sue) Hannah (Zac's half sister, Sophie and Luke's Aunt) Harrison, (Zac's half brother, Sophie and Luke's uncle), Kelly (Zac's sister, Sophie and Luke's Aunt) have gone to the Nutcracker. If you don't know our family, you are probably going---huh? Yes it is confusing. That is what you get when you have two divorced families! There have been a few years that Zac and I didn't go---the first few years Zac and I weren't dating, and mayyybe once or twice we weren't "invited" (not bitter or anything) and Sophie has not been. Because of Sophie's need to "fidget", we haven't felt like she was ready until this year. You should see her sit in "big people" church---it isn't pretty. Anyway, I am glad we waited. She LOVED IT! I had so much fun whispering back and forth with her about the story and exactly what was going on. She loved the dancing and the costumes and dressing up to go. We also went out to eat at yummy Italian restaurant right next to the theatre (also part of the tradition). Sophie was so cute during everything. She kept saying what a great day it was and that she wanted to do this every year. Grandad bought her a Nutcracker at intermission. Sophie was concerned about Luke---so Grandad was kind enough to go back and buy an exact copy of the one Sophie got. Sophie is so funny that way---sweet big sister always thinking about Luke. She got to take a picture with a rat from the ballet during intermission as well. Uncle Harrison went with her so that she "wouldn't be scared" Sophie is so lucky to have so many sweet people in her life!

After the Nutcracker we went to open presents at Grandad and K-Sue's house (after picking up Luke, of course) and drink some coffee/eat dessert. We all had a wonderful evening and are looking forward to going next year and bringing Luke!

All dressed up and ready to go! Zac looked nice too (I guess...) but he wasn't wearing red, so Sophie and I wouldn't let him in the picture :)

Sophie and her Uncle Harrison with the big scary rat!

Christmas Card

2009-12-30T17:50:00.000-06:00

I am horrible about Christmas cards. I cringe (or is it wince) when I get them because it makes me feel guilty and reminds me that I have not made/sent mine yet. I sent out cards the first two years after Sophie was born---nothing since then. I think last year I took a bunch of pictures and wasn't happy with any of them. This year, I actually made a Christmas card on a website of a local drug store. Here is the picture I used. I even did this a month before Christmas---it was really cute and in black and white (Linz, I thought it was funny that your card was black and white--we think alike) Anyway, they are STILL SITTING AT THE STORE. I never picked them up! Is that horrible or what? I figure the ones who look at this blog (all 3-5 of you) are the ones that would have received this beautiful card anyway, so here you go! Taken at the Festival of Lights in Moody Gardens. We went there on Thanksgiving evening to walk off our HUGE MEAL. I think it is going to be a tradition---the kids loved it and so did we and it was really cheap!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hey, maybe next year I will find a picture I like, download it and make a card, and actually pick it up. The year after that, I will not only pick them up, but maybe send them too? Stay tuned to find out...

My Ballerina (s) ??

2009-12-29T23:15:00.000-06:00

Here are a few pictures of Sophie on her first day of dance. We have had quite the drama with dance. First she was put in a class with children way older than her and who had been dancing 5 years----this is Sophie's second year. Then I complained and she got put in a harder class. Now she is with 4 and 5 year olds. We will see how it goes. She is finishing the year because darn it I paid the recital fee and her costume fee and those things aren't cheap! She will be returning to gymnastics (I know, she will be very tall and it wont work for long, but she likes it more than dance at this time)

It is okay if Sophie is not my ballerina, because apparently, Luke is!

Sleep

2009-12-29T23:00:00.000-06:00

If you know our family (Zac, Sophie, Luke and me) , you know that we have had quite the time with Luke and his sleeping issues. The almost 4 year old boy is still not sleeping through the nights.

Zac leaves me notes in the mornings and I am attaching some samples

Bad night (normal)

Bad night again

Good night! Hallelujah and very rare I see this note!

Character Counts---November

2009-12-29T22:54:00.000-06:00

Sophie received the award for "citizenship" at her school. It was so cute---I got to go and watch her award be presented and take pictures. The look on her face was so priceless when she saw me and knew she was getting the award. We got to put a cute little sign in our yard for a few weeks and Sophie was so proud of that sign. Luke was very interested in how he was going to get one of those signs. For a while, he would do something nice and ask me, " Was I showing good character Mommy?" It was so stinking cute. Too bad that didn't last.

Here are all the other children receiving the award--Sophie is on the bottom row.

Here is my sweet girl with her sign. She was so proud! What a fun idea!

November/Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-27T17:54:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving was a little bit different this year. In many many many many years past before and after getting married, we have spent Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family (Memo, Aunts, Uncles) Most of the reason we have done this is Memo. Words cannot even express how special Memo is to me. I feel like parts of my childhood are defined my relationship with her. The summers I would go and spend weeks at her house and she would sleep with me and tell me story after story after story---never tiring of the stories. The Hico summer reunion/festival/carnival we would always go to. The ice cream and other goodies she kept in her "icebox." The look on my face and excitement I felt in my heart as I got to that last hill where, going down, you could see the little sign that was just before her street. I tear up just thinking about all that. Memo is 90-something. Age is just a number right? haha Anyway, a few years ago, she moved to a kind of assisted living facility---not a nursing home---but somewhere she could get care and we, her family, didn't have to worry about her doing something crazy like hurting herself or burning her house down trying to cook a strawberry cake (I don't know though, the strawberry cake might have been worth it) Even her moving to the assisted living facility was hard for me---all of my family really. After her husband passed away (as I so affectionately called him my Popeye) it was Memo and her house. He passed away 24 years ago I believe, so its been a while. She hosted her little busy bee clubs at her house (which I thought was so dang cute just because of the name) You know, I could go on and on about the special things about Memo and her life. My point was that this year, for Thanksgiving, she didn't feel well enough to even leave her room. She is now in a nursing home and just not doing so well. She has had several bouts of pneumonia and major major dementia. In light of all this, I decided, rather than dragging my kids to Waco for Thanksgiving and them not even being able to see Memo, I would take a trip by myself. Because she lives in Waco, I don't have the luxury of going to visit and just "sitting" and talking the afternoon away with her. I decided that is what I would do. I had to mentally prepare myself though, because the last I saw her she was not in good shape at all and totally out of it. My mom and I were having a hard time keeping it together (this was in September for Memo's birthday....if I blogged like I should have, I would have blogged about that) Anyway, I packed up my mani/pedi kit and good smelling lotion, thinking I could do her toes or massage her feet/legs. I remember being little and having so much fun massaging her legs when they hurt so bad from arthritis.

So here is the drive there from my view.

Lots of this on the way to Hico, Texas. If you look closely, you can see the Meridian sign. That was one of the signs I was always happy to see, because it meant we were getting very close to Hico!

What a wonderful surprise I got (and so did she) upon my arrival. It took her only a second to figure out who I was, then she just laughed and laughed. We had the best visit ever. I had my Memo back. We talked and talked and talked and if I had known it was going to be so much fun, I would have camped out on her couch in her room. I didn't want to leave at the end of the day and she didn't want me to either! I got out my goodies and painted her toenails and massaged her feet and she just thought it was heaven. She kept laughing at how bright red I painted her toes (it wasn't really that bright)

She made a big deal about dinner. She wanted to have me eat with her as a guest. I was thinking....um....nursing home food...hmmm.. Buuuut.....it made her so happy I accepted the food and ate every uh, interesting bite of the mushed up fattening goodness. Still not sure exactly what it was. She was very concerned about me getting sweetener for my tea. I got my sweetener. Dinner was perfect. The visit was perfect. We hugged and I held back tears as I often do and I left. What a wonderful perfect day. We missed her this Thanksgiving and the rest of my family ended up going up to Waco and she was okay so we could have gone, buy other plans had already been made. I was happy with how it turned out. I also missed my Aunt and Uncle, but will see them soon.

The drive back was...dark...and late....and I needed lots of coffee. The next picture would be of flashing lights in the rear view mirror and a not so friendly police officer giving me a ticket in the city of Calvert, Texas. I was so nervous, I handed him my credit card when he asked for my drivers license. I am so glad he didn't' make me take some kind of walk the line test---because you know how crazy it is in those nursing homes with the booze and all. I got home, with my ticket (worth every annoying penny) and my happy memories very late that night and went to sleep thinking of happy memories with Memo. I didn't take any pictures while I was there this time, but I will post a couple here from a few years ago:

She is so sweetly proud of her great-grandchildren. I wish they really could know her like I do. I start to get sad about them missing out, but that is how life goes, and besides, they have their own sweet Mimi and Oma to have this with. Oh, and believe me, they do.

As I write this blog, I believe Memo is in the hospital again with pneumonia. I hope she gets better---I am selfish, and just not ready to let her go yet :(

That about wraps up Thanksgiving. We spent it at Oma's house and of course, did not take ONE picture! It was great though. The food was wonderful and the kids had a blast and it was kind of nice not packing up to leave (but in a bittersweet kind of way)

Halloween

2009-12-27T17:26:00.000-06:00

Here I sit, after Christmas writing about Halloween. Oh well, better late than never (this seems to be a continuing theme with this blog...) I am adamant about keeping up with the documentation and pictures. The problem with me not blogging as much is that all the *small moments* don't get blogged about. The cute moments, funny moments, things I want to remember. I NEED pencil in a time to blog at least once a week. I wonder if I can do that? Anyway here we go.... Halloween.

I am not a big Halloween fan. I refused to dress up for my mandatory work dress up Halloween party. I have always refused to participate in these things---mainly due to a fear of looking like an idiot than anything else. I don't mind the kids getting all dressed up and going trick-or-treating though. They have so much fun! We kind of have a tradition to do Halloween with the Surface family. It gets crazier every year as we add more kids, but I love it! Here are some pictures from this past Halloween

Isn't she a cutie-pie? Kara, that is :)

Luke and Kate riding in the wagon. I believe this started out as the wagon that Kara was riding in with Zac pulling (how he didn't scare her to death, I will never know) Luke got in, because he just got over one of his many strange illnesses (herpangina). Later, Kara wanted to be held and Kate insisted that she needed to be in the sick person wagon because *cough* *cough* she was sick!
Our two sweet winged girls. Kate is Tinkerbell. She is wearing Sophie's old costume with some PERFECT wings provided my her Mimi and Lindsay's old ballet shoes (I really applaud Lindsay's mom for being able to keep these kinds of things) Sophie is the "Monarch Butterfly" I say it like that, because you can't just call her a butterfly. I went through so much trouble to get that dadgum costume, she just might wear it next year too!

And we have Sophie and Noah. Noah is---spiderman I believe? Is it awful that I don't know and can't tell from the picture? I will learn these boy things----slowly but surely. Don't they look adorable together?

And we have this lovely Halloween family picture. Zac claimed to be Joe Dirt but he just looks dorky. I of course did not participate. I am dressed as a fat lady.

The butterfly and penguin together. Luke just looks so thrilled.

First day of school

2009-10-03T15:03:00.001-05:00

I really thought I would be better at this blogging thing! I think the more time that passes, the harder it is to pick up and write something because I get overwhelmed. I am going to try to catch up again over the next few days....I think...

We had our first day of school---uh----6 weeks ago? Sophie started a new school. She is now at Gilmore Elementary, and absolutely loves it! She hit the jackpot with an awesome teacher that she adores and I do too! Here is a picture of her on the first day. I am glad she is still too young to be embarrassed by mom. I wanted her to take a picture in front of the big Gator, but she refused. This school is MUCH bigger than her old one, so I think I was more freaked out than her!

Luke started a new school as well! The old preschool he went to decided to change days and go up in price...AGAIN. He know goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and is, of course with his friend Kate. Here is a picture of Luke and Kate on the first day of school. Aren't they so cute??!! Linz has this weird thing with taking pictures of the kids showing their backpacks, so we played along. Very cute! He loves his new school!

Fall activities are in full swing. My women's bible study has started, Sophie is in dance, Luke is in gymnastics, and I am working part time. We have a FULL schedule. The time is just flying by!

Summer in one post

2009-08-31T20:21:00.000-05:00

Wow did the summer go by quickly! It seems like I was just telling everyone how excited I was to have my girl home with me for a while, and now she is back in school already! I can't believe how fast it went. We had a pretty busy summer. In June, we had VBS at our church. This was fun for the kids....for me....not so much. It's not that I don't enjoy "teaching" children. It is difficult for me to call it that though, when it is a class of 2-3 year olds. We (by we I mean me and who else, my partner in crime of course---Lindsay!) changed diapers, sang goofy made up songs, did strange and messy artwork, cleaned up a few accidents, broke up LOTS of fights and prayed. We prayed for the week to go by fast. I don't have any pictures of this wonderful experience, but if I did, it would show both of us pulling out our hair. Also our kids were tired and cranky from getting up so early every day and staying so long. I am glad we did it, but was glad for it to be over!

Another thing that happened this summer---I lost a sweet client. I got the call on my way to work and nearly had a wreck. It was such a shock. J, was a sweet two year old boy and I had become so incredibly attached to him. I would get so excited on the days he was coming because I just loved him so much. He was getting speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy for issues occurring due to severe prematurity (24 weeks). He had a trach that I think was expected to come out in the near future and a good prognosis. I am still not completely sure what happened, but I saw him for therapy one day and the next day he was gone. Everyone at work was very upset and we all just cried---so so sad. I have never lost a client before. I am comforted knowing he is in heaven, with a heavenly perfect body.

We swam a lot, took many trips to Target, and went to work. Luke and Sophie got dragged along with me to work, but did have some fun on the field trips. We got to have a few play dates with friends we don't get to see very often, and that was fun too.

In July, we did a family vacation trial run. This was to see how our kids would do on vacation---if they did well, we would plan a trip to Florida for next summer. They did do very well and are already looking forward to next summer! We stayed at a hotel in Galveston for two nights and went to Moody Gardens and spent afternoon/evenings on the beach. It was so perfect and so relaxing. The kiddos were VERY well behaved and slept really really well in the hotel room. I am so glad we went because it was the perfect thing and just what we all needed.

Also this summer we started getting our house "move ready." This meant minor repairs which turned into more than just minor repairs. We thought we would be moved by the end of the summer, and here it is almost September and we are almost done with the last of the painting. We will see how long it takes to actually get this thing on the market.

Here are some random summer pictures to wrap up my summer post.

Zac showing Luke how to swing with his first set of golf clubs. They are so adorable---they come With their own little bag and everything. Luke kept asking for a "pink" bag, but Zac wasn't having any of that. He refused to buy Luke clubs until he agreed on a more umm... neutral color. I guess one of the many fun things of having an older sister! Loving pink!

Luke insisted on playing his own way. He was holding the clubs really oddly. This was driving Zac crazy (if you know Zac, I am sure you can imagine) Hopefully he will also grow out of that.

Here we are watching the annual Friendswood 4th of July parade. Doesn't my husband look thrilled to be there?

My kids acting silly while waiting for the fireworks to start!

A couple of vacation pictures. Sophie on the beach, Luke on the beach, and a picture of Zac and Sophie at breakfast one morning.

Sophie and Luke swimming. We did this A LOT over the summer at Mimi's pool. This is free entertainment! Not so relaxing with two children, but free and fun and and added bonus, the kids get REALLY tired and sleep very well afterwards.

Kindergarten graduation

2009-08-30T20:08:00.000-05:00

The day I dreaded all year. I had to dig my fingernails in my arm the whole time to keep from crying. I still haven't accepted the fact that Sophie is in school, much less done with Kinder and ready for first grade. Really? Anyway it went really well and Sophie looked adorable. After the graduation, Sophie's teacher, Ms Hayes (who was WONDERFUL by the way) had a video slide show of the whole year. It was so sweet and yet another thing to make me almost cry. Sophie got flowers again. The day was great. Again, not great pictures. Here is one with her teacher. We loved her!

Next, Sophie and her sweet friend, Aidan. We were lucky to be able to make sure that Aidan and Sophie were placed in the same Kinder class, since they already knew each other. It was fun having another mom I already knew in the same class as well. I miss them now! They are at different schools for first grade (more on that later...)

Sophie sitting at her desk after graduation:

Luke wasn't too thrilled about staying still for so long during graduation, so Zac had to hold him most of the time:

Luke's spring program

2009-08-30T20:03:00.000-05:00

This was interesting. Luke alternated with crossing his arms and refusing to sing, to singing and acting like the other children. Luckily, he and Kate were NOT standing next to each other or we might have had some major trouble on the stage!

This picture was the best one I could get, unfortunately. I was holding the video camera and we were sitting too far away. You can hardly see Luke. He was being such a goofball!

Dance recital!

2009-08-30T19:53:00.000-05:00

Sophie had her first dance recital at the end of May. This was so fun. The stress was worth it. My dreams of having a sweet little girl in a cute pink tutu came true! Her costume was SUPER adorable. The make-up was kind of weird because no matter how red the lipstick was, it didn't look like she had any on, as she already has the reddest lips ever. She gets kids/adults asking her why/if she has lipstick on all the time. Anyway, here is a picture of her all ready for the recital.

I had to have Lindsay come with me to keep me sane (this is necessary sometimes) and help me with the dance mom routine. I took dance for nine years, but being on the other side of it is different. I can only imagine next year what the costume change will be like! Here is a picture of Lindsay and her "niece" at the recital and then a picture of Sophie and me.

Of course Zac,Oma, Mimi, Grandad and Beebob were also all there---I didn't happen to get any pictures of them afterwards. Daddy and Oma brought Sophie flowers which she LOVED!

We had to take out about 200 bobby pins when we got home and ohhhhhhh the amount of hair spray I used! Wow.. it was so fun though.

So many things...

2009-08-30T19:51:00.001-05:00

I have decided to get the blogging thing started again. Mainly because I want everything documented and with pictures. This is the best way for me to keep up with things and not lose or forget events, pictures, thing my kids did/said. So...I may not be consistent, but will try to go back and fill in the blanks.

We left off with the first lost tooth. The next week, the second tooth was lost. Nothing since then.

More posts to follow, but I want them separated.

First tooth

2009-05-07T20:17:00.000-05:00

Just a little over 5 years ago, we were anxiously awaiting for Sophie to get some teeth. Her teeth came REALLY late for some reason and I started getting nervous that she wasn't going to get any teeth---like ever! I even took her to the doctor about it. I thought, at least she will keep her teeth longer and lose the baby teeth later than everyone else.

Today, she lost her first tooth at school. She is so incredibly excited, she can't sleep. She can't stop talking about it. It is so gosh darn cute! I am sad though (of course). I think I need some help--haha. I got an announcement about the kindergarten graduation and cried for 30 minutes after reading the paper. That is silly! I just don't want my kids to grow up. I want to keep them in a nice little bubble where nothing bad happens, there are no tears, no disappointments, no loss. I know that is heaven though and on this earth, they will experience all of these things numerous times. I only hope can raise them to be able to deal with all of those things in a healthy way.

I didn't mean to get off on that. Its been so long since I updated this blog and I kept thinking that I would wait until Sophie lost her first tooth and then blog about that. Nothing all that exciting has happened since then. Easter was great, another month gone. We are counting down the days for summer. Sophie and Luke are both taking swim lessons and gymnastics, so that should be fun.

Here is a pictures of my baby after she lost her "first tooth" :

In other news, Luke is now (FINALLY) potty trained. Oh wow, it is so nice to not have the "issues" that Sophie had. The girl wouldn't poop in the potty until she was FOUR! She wouldn't use a public restroom until she was FOUR, though she was potty trained at TWO. This was two years (some of it while I was pregnant and had to go a lot) of immediately going home when she had to go. We had to end her third birthday party so we could go home and she could go to the bathroom. She was scared of Oma's toilet---so much so that we had to put a towel on it when Sophie was there. She still walks into public restrooms covering her ears---which brings lots of strange looks. Luke is not really scared of anything about restrooms. In fact, being the boy he is, its funny to hear the noise of the toilet flushing. It's funny to make "bubbles" with his pee. I know you all wanted to know that. No one reads this, so I can write what I want! Ha! Anyway, its nice not to have to deal with any diapers. Sadly, this makes me long for another baby---which isn't working out so well right now!

Here are a couple of pictures from Easter:

I will post more pictures soon. I have to get better about blogging!

3-04-03

2009-03-08T17:44:00.000-05:00

I have been putting off this post, because I have been trying to find this really funny picture. It is a picture of Zac and I holding up about 12 pregnancy tests---you can see Zac rolling his eyes. In fact, I suspect he had something to do with the mysterious disappearance of this picture. Anyway, I have described it so that is almost as good. We were just so excited---and shocked, as the first try apparently "took"! I remember I couldn't even walk because my legs kept giving out on me. We were in Arkansas visiting my dad when we found out we were pregnant with Sophie. We couldn't even wait until we got home to tell people---we started calling people on the way home from Arkansas.

I look back on the whole pregnancy experience with Sophie, and I am so grateful that I had that pregnancy, without real fear that something would be terribly wrong. I was afraid of miscarriage, but once I got past that point, the thought that something could be wrong with my baby never even really crossed my mind. I had no idea...

I wanted a little girl so bad---always had so when we found out Sophie was a girl, we were just so happy. I remember the next morning getting up for work, and Zac left me a note saying "its a girl" and a smiley face on it. I saved it for Sophie---I thought it was so sweet.

I debated putting this little story on here, but I figure that this blog is for my kids to be able to read (instead of a scrapbook) and I would tell this story anyway. It might be a little TMI for some, and for that I apologize, but hey----read at your own risk!

I am a worrywart by nature. About 1/4 of the way through my pregnancy, I had a strange thing happen to me. Let's just say that I thought I had a worm growing inside of me. I was so freaked out that I called Lindsay and told her about it. Lindsay then proceeded to call Dr. R and pretend like me. Let me say, that Lindsay and I both have a fear of the phone, and have made each other's appointments on many occasions. It is so wonderful to have a best friend who really "gets" you! Anyway, Dr. R calls back and says. "does it have eyes...?" I said I didn't know, but it didn't occur to me until later how funny that comment was. I know she probably had a good laugh over that. Nothing ever came of the "worm." I am not sure what happened there...just that Dr. R found out I was crazy on that day!

We found out Sophie was breech a few weeks before her due date. I was devastated because I wasn't going to get the whole "birth" experience. That was also ridiculous, but this being my first pregnancy---how did I know any different? We tried something called an external version to turn the baby. This involved the Dr. physically manipulating the baby to try to turn her. I tell anyone thinking about this NOT TO DO IT. The success rate is so low on a version and it is PAINFUL. I had bruises on me, and Sophie's heart rate dropped so rapidly at one point, Dr. R yelled down the hall to the nurses and they were about to do an emergency c-section! Sophie's heart rate went back to normal though, she just didn't want to get out of her comfortable position, with her big huge head in my ribs!

We had our c-section very early in the morning at 7:30, and Sophie Louise Mooney was born at 7:53. She was 18.5 inches long and 7lbs 7oz. I can not even describe the feeling I had when I saw her. Love at first sight isn't enough----just pure joy, love and all things wonderful! She has been this for me ever since. I remember when we brought her home, I would cry and say "I am just so happy! I love her so much! We are so lucky!" I know my hormones were crazy, but I really was deliriously happy! I didn't mind getting up at all hours of the night. I would go in and just watch her sleep, and when she was sleeping I wanted her to be awake.

I have many many Sophie stories, but this is just the story of her birth so I will end this already too long post here. Happy Birthday sweet Sophie! We love you and are so lucky to be your parents! I will always love your sweet spirit and beautiful smile! Thank you for being my "light"! Wow...I really need to get a handle on the exclamation point use---always had a problem with that---sorry!

Our first family picture:

Already being a drama queen:

First birthday!

Sophie around 2-ish...notice how very curly her hair is!

Hair Today...

2009-02-25T21:44:00.000-06:00

Zac took Luke for a haircut on Monday while Sophie and I were at dance. Sophie and I got home before the boys, and when Luke came through the door, I was horrified. Some dummy-head person shaved my poor boy bald and gave him a bowl cut on the top. I was so mad. I can't believe I got so mad over my three year old little boy getting a bad haircut. In the grand scheme of things, it is such a silly little thing to get huffy about. Oh well, you understand if you are a girl---hair is a big deal! He no longer looked like a sweet little boy, he looked like a marine (not that it is a bad thing, but it looked stupid on Luke) I was too mad to even take a picture. I barely let the poor boy eat, threw him in the van and took him to get it "fixed." The lady I took him to even gasped at the "hack job" that they did on him. The best she could do was blend the top in a little. I still hate it, but it will grow back---it is JUST HAIR.

It couldn't have been a coincidence that the same night, as I was doing my bible study homework, there was a section on "being a drama queen" and making little things into huge deals. Boy, am I ever guilty of that, like ALL THE TIME. I started to think about how "high maintenance" I really am and was pretty ashamed. I am going to have to work on that!

Anyway, I don't have a picture of the "bowl" cut, but you can kind of see how short it is in the following picture. I took a couple of pictures of Luke and Katie (his favorite friend at work) playing together. They are so adorable. They also fight over the silliest things. I was in a room doing therapy all the way across the building and I heard:

Katie: "YOU LIKE BLUE AND I LIKE PINK
Luke: "NO, I LIKE PINK"
Katie: "NO, YOU CAN'T LIKE PINK! YOU ARE A BOY!
Luke: YES I LIKE PINK. YOU LIKE BLUE
Katie" NOOOOO! YOU LIKE BLUE AND I LIKE PINK

This went on a while....pretty funny stuff. Anyway, here are the pictures

2-7-06

2009-02-22T20:50:00.000-06:00

I meant to post this on Luke's birthday, but with the flu going through our house (Luke, then Sophie) and then my "tooth" issues, it just didn't happen.

Luke is our "sunshine after the rain" baby. In the world of parents that have lost children, the technical term for the subsequent living child is "rainbow child" I really don't like that term, so I prefer "sunshine after the rain." After going through the heartbreaking experience of carrying a baby that wasn't going to live, and then losing her, having Luke was truly a wonderful experience.

Finding out we were pregnant with Luke was especially exciting because my best friend, Lindsay had just found out that she was pregnant also. We had so much fun complaining to each other, having a weight gain contest (which I of course won) and knowing that our babies would be born within weeks of each other.

Of course, this pregnancy was so different than the one with Sophie and Olivia because I was no longer naive and knew pretty much everything that could go wrong. I was a huge bundle of nerves throughout the pregnancy, even after repeated ultrasounds told me that the baby was okay!

We found out that we were having a boy and that he was indeed healthy on September 6, 2005. We were in shock because we just knew that we were going to have a girl and didn't think we would ever get the chance to have a boy! I kept thinking....I get to keep this baby! I get to bring him home from the hospital! This is really happening! That day (finding out he was okay) was one of the best days of my life!

I had a planned cesarean section scheduled for February 7, 2006. Sophie (my first born) was breech, so this mean any subsequent pregnancies would result in cesarean sections as well. They really aren't that bad, for me anyway. I like it being planned and knowing exactly what is going to happen.

Luke Thomas Mooney was born on February 7, 2006 at 8:17 am. The first thing I remember Dr. R. saying, was "look at his round head" He still has a big round head so that is pretty funny that I remember that. Anyway, I saw him and he was taken to the nursery. When they brought him back to me and I was holding him and trying to nurse him, I noticed some major pain. It got worse and worse. I didn't have that with my other two c-sections so I kept telling the nurse who kept putting meds through my epidural. Finally, she said that with the amount of meds I had been given, anyone else would be comatose. I am thinking, okay that is great but I AM IN PAIN! A little while later, they noticed that my epidural had fallen out. So, I wasn't crazy. No pain relief after being cut open really hurts. Once we got that figured out and under control, I was okay. I really don't remember that day though because after the epidural fell out, they gave me way too much pain medicine and I was in a total drug induced fog. That fog eventually lifted of course, and we enjoyed the rest of our hospital stay with our new sweet baby boy. Sophie was so excited and so cute coming to see her new baby brother. It was just the sweetest thing!

We brought our sweet boy home on February 10th, and the rest is history! Luke was the sweetest baby too---he slept well and easily (unlike his sister at that age). Now he is a crazy boy---but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Happy third birthday my crazy little man!

Beautiful!

2009-02-20T18:57:00.000-06:00

Okay, maybe I am a little biased, but isn't this cute? I know this is two posts in one day---crazy! I just remembered I had this on my camera and wanted to post it. This is Sophie's dance costume! I can't wait to see her dance recital in May. Hopefully I won't cry---I am getting the feeling here lately that I am going to be one of those annoying emotional mothers that cry at the drop of a hat! Oh well..

A Tribute to the Tribute

2009-02-20T18:12:00.001-06:00

This is not our actual car, just some random picture of a tribute that is the same color and year as ours was.

We got a new car! Actually, its a MINIVAN! I am now officially a minivan mom. I thought it would never happen. Zac always said, before we had kids of course, that we would never own a minivan. How wrong he was! I love all the room we have now and the fact that I can tote other people's kids around too!

I was really sad to see our tribute go though. That car was what we bought when I graduated college as a graduation gift to me. As it turns out, this was not the smartest purchase. My first job was with an early childhood intervention program doing speech therapy. This was in home therapy, so that required traveling to each house to see the child. Lots and lots and lots of traveling. We got reimbursed for gas, but the wear and tear on this car and the fact that it was an SUV and didn't get the best gas mileage made it pretty much the worst choice for my job. I didn't care though (at the time) because I LOVED driving it!

This is the car we were in on the way back from our very first doctor's visit after finding out I was pregnant with Sophie. This is the car we brought Sophie home from the hospital in. This was the car we brought Luke home in. I remember driving around in this car singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to try and calm my very fussy, colicky baby (that would be Sophie). I have so many good memories in that car. It had a dent on the rear drivers side that I called my "Noah dent." I was so excited when my best friend Lindsay told me she was in labor with Noah that I backed out of our driveway in a nervous frenzy and hit my husband's truck. I will miss that dent. We talked about getting it fixed, but the truth was, I liked it there! It was always a sweet reminder of that day.

There were also some heartbreaking memories in that car. I remember driving to and home from every ultrasound with Olivia, crying and praying the whole way there that it would show that a miracle had occurred and that my baby was now okay. We came home from the hospital in that car with empty arms after Olivia was born and died. I also remember coming home after losing another baby girl last year. Lots of memories.

So, here is to our new car and new chapter of our life. We bought a 2007 Toyota Sienna, silver. I love love love it!

Again, not our actual car!

Still here...pictures coming....

2009-02-19T06:49:00.000-06:00

Wow has it really been over a month? Oopps. Well so much has happened, I need to get it on here so I will remember it! Anyway, last night I finally got all ready to update this thing and plugged in my camera and it took SO LONG and was SO FRUSTRATING to get the dang pictures to load, I was done after that. Hopefully now the pictures are there, I can update tonight or tomorrow.

Rachel

Before and After

2009-01-10T19:44:00.000-06:00

Luke is really feeling better. He turned a corner a few days ago and its been so nice to see him smile and laugh and play. Oh how I have missed that sweet little dimple! The sleeping thing hasn't really gotten better though---hopefully its just because of the swelling and getting out of the habit of waking up at night. If not, there really isn't much else we can do!

Edited to add: This thing is driving me INSANE. It won't let me move the pictures or text, so I do realize that the "after" picture is first, but can't change it.

Eight Years

2009-01-07T21:40:00.000-06:00

I can't believe Zac and I have been married 8 years. It doesn't seem like that long, yet it seems like forever. Only 8 years and we have been through the births of our two beautiful children and the passing of two others along with an early miscarriage. Despite all of the horrible things that have happened, we are blessed and I wouldn't have it any other way. Happy anniversary Zac---here is to the next 8 and may there be more blessings to come :) I have a picture of our anniversary dinner from two years ago. I am posting that one because we are thinner there and we don't have many pictures of us together (weird huh?)

Dance today

2009-01-05T21:18:00.000-06:00

Today I got a rare treat and was able to stay in the dance studio with Sophie and watch them dancing. It was just the sweetest thing! Sophie was a little "spazzy" at some points, but so were the other girls, so its okay. OH and we got to see their COSTUME!!! ADORABLE! It even comes with ....PINK gloves!! Sophie is so excited. Cute cute cuteness....

Not much else to say today since all I did all day was hold Luke and watch Winnie the Pooh over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over....you get the picture....over and over again. He perked up when Daddy came home and went to bed okay so hopefully this is finally it! We go to the ENT tomorrow so he can give us the okay to resume normal activities!

Sweet and Innocent---then NOT!!!

2008-12-30T12:24:00.000-06:00

The quality of this is bad---it came from my small digital camera. It is still funny though. I think the drugs are making Luke CRAZY now. Time to stop those. Enjoy!

Through the eyes of Sophie

2008-12-29T08:35:00.000-06:00

This looks really disturbing, but if you know Sophie, its not. At least I think. Luke wasn't taking his oral meds last night and his fever got so high, we were forced to do those lovely Tylenol suppositories. A little while later, we looked up and saw this on Sophie's new dry erase board. I had to leave the room to laugh. When asked what this was, Sophie just replied, "It's Luke getting his bottom cream." I think we should send this in to one of those parent's magazines that has pictures of children's artwork. Sure would get some attention!

As for Luke, he has a low fever this morning, so we are keeping an eye on it. We made it through the night and are awake this morning thanks to 473 pots of coffee. If Luke's temp gets higher than about 102, I will be calling his pediatrician. Thanks for all the advice!!!

No ER (for now)

2008-12-28T18:27:00.000-06:00

Dr. B called back and said to wait until tomorrow to take Luke back to the hospital. Cool him down with washcloths, give him suppository Tylenol and a cool bath, etc, etc. I was all upset because I have seen people get weird things from hospitals and NOT GOOD outcomes. Luke is the type of kid who will get these things and doesn't just get them a little bit, he gets REALLY sick. Also, we can't get him to take the oral meds anymore so no antibiotic. Doesn't he need to be in the hospital with an IV of antibiotics? We are watching him closely (translation---not leaving my sight) and will keep checking. If the fever still persists through the morning we will take him in. I am annoyed with Dr. B for not being more concerned though---105 in a 2 year old who just had surgery and you are not concerned? Huh? I almost want to call Luke's pediatrician because she knows Luke. I feel like the specialist doesn't know Luke and probably thinks we are exaggerating and overreacting. Yes I can do that but not with things like this where I need to give specific numbers!

If you are reading this, you are probably wondering how I have so much time to keep posting on this blog thing. Luke is not allowed to leave the house so no one else is either. We are all here playing games and fighting and sleeping and posting on blogs and reading. Not much else to do....but WORRY!

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers. I need to post the picture Sophie drew of Luke getting a suppository. It is quite humorous.

Spoke Too Soon

2008-12-28T17:28:00.000-06:00

Looks like we are going to have to take Luke to the ER...he has 105 fever (104 under the arm). We are waiting on a call back from the doctor. Please pray for our little man. It looks like he may have picked up something weird from the hospital. He is rolling around and pretty unresponsive right now. I feel so bad for him! I will update again later.

The most annoying toy ever!!!!

2008-12-28T09:15:00.001-06:00

My mom, MIMI, decided it would be a good idea to get Sophie a talking,responding singing, dancing, tooting, etc, etc, parrot for Christmas. I am so tired of that thing I really want to just throw it out the window. I think it should STAY at Mimi's house---you reading this Mom? See...I could understand if it was Lindsay's child you bought this for. She was the annoying kid. I was a great child and not hyper and loved to read and entertain myself. So WHY? I can't wait until Lindsay has kids----is that ever going to happen though? hmmmmmm. Here is the picture of the "thing" It seriously repeats what you say. For example, you say "Mimi you are so going down!" it says that. If you push "b" on the remote control, it TOOTS and then says, "excuse me" Oh my gosh. Enough. It even "sleeps" and you can tell its sleeping because it SNORES. It snores until Mommy rips out the batteries, that is.

T-Day and beyond

2008-12-27T15:17:00.003-06:00

We woke up at some crazy time like 4:30 am to go the hospital. Oh wait, that isn't a crazy time because that is what time Luke wakes up on a regular day! Anyway, we got to the hospital and Luke put on his cute little gown and was all smiles---he had NO idea what was about to happen to him, even though we did try to explain as much as we could. Here he is pre-surgery:

The surgery went very well. I was one nervous Mommy in the waiting room. Of course, me being the worry-wart I am, I was so worried something was going to go wrong with anesthesia or he was going to start bleeding uncontrollably or pretty much anything that could go wrong. None of this happened of course. Dr. B. came out and told us that everything went well and there is now A LOT of space back in Luke's throat so nothing should be obstructing his breathing at night. He again stressed the importance of giving Luke the pain meds every 4 hours and not to wait until he is in pain. We of course have no problems with this. Bring on the pain meds. Anyway here he is post surgery---not quite as happy as before:

Luke pretty much slept all day and night with on and off crying and freaking out when he had to take his meds. He did eat some ice cream and broccoli (weird right?) and drank a little sprite. He perked up a little when Oma and Mimi came to visit and we even got some smiles and laughs out of him. Here is a picture of Luke and me playing with the bed. This was fun for a few minutes, then, not so much.

Another kind of funny story---one of the nurses came in and asked if we had a "boo-boo" yet. I had asked for a band-aid and was wondering why she was asking about my finger. Apparently this is some kind of slang for "bowel movement" ?? Somehow Zac knew this and I didn't. I think the nurse must have thought I was crazy because I looked at her and my finger and started to say that my finger was fine. Boo-boo? Really?

Okay and this is a totally dorky picture of me but I am putting in in here anyway. I was trying to get Luke to drink some milk, so I gave myself a milk mustache and convinced him to put his lips up to the milk and give himself a milk mustache too (hoping he would drink some, but it didn't really work) Zac walked in to us smiling at him with our mustaches and thought it was funny. I did put this one in black and white to minimize my "fatness"---which doesn't really work so oh well...you also can't see Luke's mustache very well, only mine which makes me look like even more of a dork!

We are all home now and doing well. Ever wonder what a high almost 3 year old looks like? CRAZY!!! He hates taking the medicine (and believe me, it IS disgusting. I had to taste it, you know, to make sure it was okay for Luke...) but about 10-15 minutes after he takes this medicine (which is liquid Vicodin by the way) he goes NUTS. He was singing and dancing and saying all kinds of weird things. This has been happening all day. No sleeping at all. I really hope he sleeps tonight. Crazy crazy. We have been told to expect REALLY bad days even after good days for the next 14 days, so we will see what the next two weeks holds. I want to say thank you so so so much for your calls and emails and prayers for what was expected to be a difficult time, but wasn't too bad. I know it was the prayers :)

Why I love "Hatdaddy"

2008-12-27T15:08:00.001-06:00

This is Hatdaddy. He is Zac's Grandfather and was given this name when Zac was little because he wore a lot of "hats." I love Hatdaddy. He and Grandmother (Zac's Grandmother) have pretty much been my favorite people in the whole world since I met them. The nicest and funniest people you would have ever met. Grandmother passed away almost two years ago and I still miss her like crazy. She knew everything about everyone and never missed a birthday. One of my favorite wedding pictures from our wedding, is the one where Zac and I are dancing, and you can see Grandmother and Hatdaddy in the background holding hands. They stand as a symbol of real "true love"---the kind you only read about or see in movies. I have to stop talking about this or I will get too teary eyed, anyway I love these them. I love that Grandmother is up there in heaven with Olivia and our other baby girl. Hatdaddy is still here and just as much a hoot as ever. This is the typical "Hatdaddy" thing to do (picture)

More pictures--- Christmas Eve and day before (visit with Grandpa)

2008-12-25T00:54:00.000-06:00

Luke and Sophie, all ready for church on Christmas Eve. I have this thing for little boys and baby boys in vests. Watch out, if you come to my house and you have a little boy under the age of 4. I will squeeze him and hug him and he will be afraid. Luke didn't understand why I woudn't stop hugging him. My little man looks so handsome in his vest! It does make him look a lot larger than he really is. He is a big boy, but not THAT book. Don't ya just wanna SQUEEZE HIM?

You will notice that all pictures with me in them are in black and white. This is because there is no slimming feature on my picture editing software. I don't want everyone to see JUST how much weight I haven't lost since the baby. Really...its bad.

Another rare sweet sibling picture

Sophie let me roll her hair in ringlets. It looked so pretty---but as soon as we walked outside, it all fell down. So funny considering a year ago, she had naturally very curly hair and now its stick straight. Oh well...

My Dad came to visit and here he is with his grandchildren.

Merry Christmas and bah humbug!!!!!!!!!

2008-12-25T00:16:00.000-06:00

My sister, Luke Sophie, Dad in the middle and Jane on top

It is black and white because my shirt clashed with Jane's!

As I wait on the phone to be transferred to a real person, I thought I would blog since I wont be home the next couple/few days (at the hospital with Luke). Zac and I have gone way overboard with the presents---its just that we feel so bad about Luke having surgery and being in HORRIBLE pain starting tomorrow. We want them to have a great Christmas. Let me just say though, Lord bless all the people with divorced parents and young kids. This doing FIVE Christmases thing is wearing on us for sure! I pray everyone has patience and can sit back and laugh with things get crazy with all the "families" together!

Grandpa got the kids a trampoline, and before I get bashed for letting my children have a trampoline, its safe...its got a big net on it for safety and its like a cage. There is NO WAY to fall off. The only way to hurt yourself is if you do a flip and land on your head. There will be no flips at this house. Also, the kids will always always be supervised on that thing. They sure were excited about it and have already had a good time jumping on it (and maybe mommy and daddy have too)

I have to go get on with the Christmas stuff, just wanted to do a quick blog with some pictures since it will be quite a while before I can get on again! Merry Christmas everyone we love you all!

p.s. The Mooney's did not do Christmas cards this year (yeah not last year either)---just didn't happen. I might send some Happy New Year cards....now that I have some cute pictures of the kids. I just wanted to throw that out there so no one thinks they got the shaft with the cards. I sure have enjoyed getting all the cards with every one's BEAUTIFUL kids. I have never seen so many cuties!!! WOW!

Goodnight!

Wondering...

2008-12-16T09:35:00.000-06:00

Is it bad if your child puts deodorant all over his face? What about if he eats it? I really don't want to call poison control again!

Sleep study

2008-12-11T11:18:00.000-06:00

Edited to add: Luke is scheduled for surgery (tonsils) on December 26th. He has to stay overnight at the hospital because he is under 4. Poor Luke. I guess we are going to really have to spoil him for Christmas this year, knowing that he is about to be in A LOT of pain!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If this doesn't look sad, I don't know what does! This picture was taken this morning after they already took most of the wires off. Zac couldn't take a picture last night because Luke was screaming. The good thing is that Luke woke up 4-5 times during the night and also did the jerking movements so we should be able to get some really good information from that. We won't know the results for another week or two though. At least that is done. Today we go to the ENT to see about the tonsils. I will leave you with this beautiful picture.

Three posts in one day!!! Wow!

2008-12-10T17:23:00.000-06:00

Its all or nothing baby! As I type this, my children are out in the "sleet" catching it in bowls. They are going to get so sick and you all (the whole 3 people that read this blog) can remind me that it is my fault.

I uploaded some pictures and found this:

I was wondering to myself, what the heck...? Then I remembered. Luke was supposed to be eating his dinner (pizza...on the other side) and I went to check on him after he was quiet for a while and found this. I had to take a picture---then forgot about it. These are the kinds of things he does. Normal occurrences in this household. He sure is going to keep my on my toes---FOREVER!!!

Okay this is really the last post for today.

As my dear sweet director of the childcare center I worked for in college would say, BYE NOW! (Hey Linz, do you remember that?)

Our weekend

2008-12-10T17:07:00.001-06:00

This is what we did this weekend. The first part of the weekend, Luke was held and cried 99% of the time. Notice he has his hands in my hair---this is something he does when sick or scared. Its sweet until he gets really freaked out at the doctor's office and starts to PULL it violently. I am surprised I have hair left...seriously.

The second part of the weekend, Sophie had a very high fever (which my kids tend to get) and wanted me to lie with her on the couch ALL day. I told her to look sick in this picture though, so it really isn't as bad as it looks. Truth be told, I don't mind the snuggle time at all! I just don't like seeing them so sick! Sophie is fine now though and so is Luke (his throat anyway)

We are still here...

2008-12-09T21:17:00.000-06:00

I am turning out to be just as good at this blogging thing as I was with my old one---which is---not! It's just that life keeps getting in the way!

I will post pictures as soon as I get a new battery for the borrowed camera I have right now. I Luke threw one of the batteries in the toilet or something like that so its gonzo!

Right now we are in the middle of some issues with our sweet Luke. We finally took him to the neurologist about his sleep....errr LACK of sleep. The neurologist started talking seizures and scared the junk out of me. Luke had an EEG done and they stuck 24 electrodes to his head. I took a picture with my cell phone. It looks funny now, but it wasn't funny then. Seeing my child hooked up to all those wires after a neurologist strongly suggested that Luke was having seizures was not funny at all. We have Luke scheduled for a sleep study tomorrow night where they will put TONS of electrodes all over him so I will tell Zac to take pictures for me. That is right, I said ZAC. I am making him do the sleep study because I have had enough emotional trauma with the kids lately. Luke got strep throat right after our trip to the neurologist and Sophie followed suit.

Oh, and another thing about Luke---we are 95% sure he is going to have his tonsils removed very very soon. As you can imagine, a tonsillectomy in a 2 year old (almost 3) will be interesting. I will post more info when we get it and the results of the sleep study and all that good stuff later. Please pray for us---that this is something minor and very treatable.

Just so this post is not such a downer, we had a great Thanksgiving in Waco and then decorated for Christmas. I love this time of the year!

Adventures in sick-land

2008-11-05T19:33:00.000-06:00

My poor Luke. He has had countless ear infections and other illnesses. He has had two sets of tubes and the second set fell out soon after being put in. Today I had to drag both kids to the doctor---AGAIN for "walk-in" hour. This was awful. The doctor's office was so crowded, we waited an hour and a half before we were even seen. We saw some interesting characters...that is all I am going to say about that. Anyway Luke was BURNING up and by the time we got to the office, had a fever of 104.6. He is on yet another antibiotic and breathing treatments---we will see what happens. I am getting SO TIRED of the ear infections. I know it could be worse, but we are in the doctor's office at least once a month! Anyway...just venting. This is kind of a pointless post.

The Chicken and the Fairy

2008-11-05T13:11:00.001-06:00

It has been a while since I have updated this thing, but life got even crazier than usual! We had a horrible stomach virus roll through our house (and then head on over to the Surface's). We also had pink eye and lots of colds and gosh knows what else. October is usually when these illnesses start happening so yay!!! Anyway I wanted to put up some pictures from Halloween. Luke was a chicken and so not happy about it! The famous chicken costume is what Sophie wore when she was exactly his age. Our friend Noah also wore it and hopefully this won't be the last time this beloved costume is put to use! Sophie was a fairy princess but somehow we left the house without her wings. With all the craziness, I didn't even realize it until the end of the night. Oh well---she obviously wasn't missing them! We went trick-or-treating with the Surface's and the kids had a blast!

Luke and Sophie

Luke and Kate

Noah and Sophie

Soccer fun

2008-10-18T19:59:00.000-05:00

We had another soccer game today. Here are some pictures from last week's game. I didn't take pictures this time. Last week I was encouraged because Sophie actually had a pretty good game and seemed to be warming up to the soccer idea. Not today! That girl was s-l-o-w. She clearly did not want to be out there---although she did score a goal---on the WRONG side. Oh well, that is my girl! It was a beautiful day and great soccer weather so we enjoyed being there, even if Sophie was less than thrilled. Luke played more soccer than Sophie did. He kicked a soccer ball around the whole time in the field behind the players. I think if we put Sophie's shirt on him and threw him out there, he would have run a lot harder and had a lot more fun than his sister!

Rainy days and mondays...

2008-10-14T20:22:00.000-05:00

It was one of those mornings. Luke was up all night, therefore Sophie was up all night in my bed kicking me and Zac stayed with Luke. No one got sleep. Everyone was cranky. It was a stressful morning. I looked everywhere for Sophie's socks---then shoes. Luke was picking fights and crying and coughing because he was so tired. Anyway, I will get to the point. I was searching for a sock or some other item of clothing when Luke comes running in my room and tells me that he poured all the milk in his bowl and threw the carton in the trash. I was horrified because the gallon of milk was brand new. I nervously walked into the kitchen where I saw this:

Yes people. Luke thought this was MILK and he POURED it in his bowl of dry cocoa puffs and proceeded to eat it, seeing no problem with this. GROSS!!!!! This same boy took a straw and stuck it in a ketchup cup today at Mc Donald's and tried to drink it. What is wrong with him? What a nut! He is only 2 so I just can't wait to see what kinds of "things" we will be into for the next 18 years.

I guess it was one of those days, because while we were at Lindsay's house, Kate got quiet. Lindsay knew it was trouble and found her in the bathroom like this:

I have other things to talk about but little time so this will have to do for now. I hope everyone had an okay "rainy-day"!!

God's Newest Angel

2008-09-29T20:48:00.000-05:00

Gene and Bobbie Moore are two very special people to me. Bobbie is technically my second cousin---she is My Grandmother's niece and Gene is her husband. Anyway these are some of the nicest nicest people I have ever ever met. They have also gone through so so much in there life and despite that found nothing more wonderful than rejoicing in their faith and prayer. I hope this makes sense. They tried for years to get pregnant and finally did. They had a sweet little boy named Timothy. Timothy died at a very young age after a horrible battle with leukemia. I think he was only 10. Heartbreaking. Gene wrote a beautiful song for Timothy at that time and felt compelled to send me a copy when Olivia died. It was one of the most special things I have from that time in my life. Gene Moore died today as a result of a stroke following heart attacks and general bad health. I want to put the lyrics here as a tribute to him. I am sad about his passing, but smiling about how great it was to be re-united with his little boy. I can't do anything but smile when I think about this happening with our sweet Olivia. Oh the joy!

"God's Newest Angel" Words and Music by Gene Moore

"God's newest angel has now reached home.
There's no more sorrow or heavy load, the pain is over the journey's done.
God's newest angel has now reached home.

God shared an infant, a little child, a tender baby to love a while---then sent an angel from His white throne.
God's newest angel has now reached home.
Our hearts are singing of love we shared.
Our Child's with Jesus in heaven there.
And someday yonder around God's throne, we too His children shall gather home.

God's newest angel has now reached home.
There's no more sorrow or heavy load.
The pain is over, the journey's done.
God's newest angel has now reached home."

Welcome home Gene and I rejoice in the fact that you are now with your sweet and precious son now. Thank you for touching so many lives, including mine with your ministering, love and music. We all love you.

Mooney Family

Rev. Gene Moore
The Rev. Gene Moore, 78, went to his heavenly reward Sept. 27, 2008, at his home in Waco. Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Monday, Sept. 29, at First United Methodist Church in Waco, with the Rev. Wayne Stork, the Rev. Stephen Ramsdell, and the Rev. Dick Freeman officiating. Burial will follow at Bosqueville Cemetery. Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, at Lake Shore Funeral Home, 5201 Steinbeck Bend in Waco. The Rev. Moore will be available for viewing starting at 2 p.m. Sunday. Gene Austin Moore was born Sept. 18, 1930, in Ropesville, Texas, to the Rev. Austin Theopolis and Johnnie (Skaggs) Moore. Gene spent his life serving the Lord in the ministry. He was a member or the Northwest Texas Conference in his early career. He was the pastor of several churches in the Waco area, a member of the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church and the National Association of United Methodist Evangelist. He graduated from Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla. There he met Bobbie Seago and they married on April, 25, 1953. They were both involved in music and recorded seven albums and were involved in radio and television. They had as their statement of faith, "Where my talents and abilities meet the needs of the world there I find God's will for my life." Gene and Bobbie were involved in missions in India, Indonesia, Haiti, and North Ireland. As a memorial to their son, Timothy, who died of Leukemia, they built and helped build several village churches in India. In 1968, they went on a world tour to spread the gospel through music and the Word. They have touched many lives with their music and faithfulness to the Lord. Gene is preceded in death by his parents; son; and many other dear relatives. He is survived by his wife Bobbie, and his three children, Susan Brown and husband, Gerald, Jonathan Moore and wife, Sabrina and Laurie VanDyke and husband, Jeff; grandchildren Ashley, Austin, Jacob, Kasey, Jeremiah, Anna and Julia; and one great-grandchild Seth; his sister, Jackie and her husband, Al Kennedy; sister-in-law, Sue Payne; and numerous nieces and nephews. Special thanks to Bluebonnet Hospice for their care and support. Memorials may be made to First United Methodist Church Evangelism Ministry, PO Box 7736, Waco, TX 76714-7736. Thoughts and memories may be shared in the online Guest Book at www.LakeShoreFuneralHome.com. September 18, 1930 - September 27, 2008 Sign the Guest Book at www.wacotrib.com

Sweet moment with Luke

2008-09-27T16:51:00.000-05:00

Last night I was rocking Luke before bed and we were having a "sweet moment." He was cuddling with me and we were singing Jesus Loves Me and just rocking away. He got quiet, then dropped his sippy cup so I picked it up for him and started telling him about how I used to feed him bottles and he was such a sweet baby. He looked at me with those pretty blue eyes so sweetly and I was all ready for him to say something like, "I love you Mommy" or "you are so pretty Mommy" No. He said, "POOPIE DIARRHEA!" He said this with a big smile on his face and a little dance. That is Luke! At least he keeps me laughing!

Never again

2008-09-22T19:33:00.000-05:00

Never again will I take Luke to Sophie's dance class. Why is it that other mom's say their kids are crazy but when it happens to ME it seems as if I have the most uncontrollable crazy kid EVER!!??? Everyone was staring at me (no I am not imagining it). He was screaming and thrashing around. There is a playroom there but he wanted none of it. This kid...if he doesn't want to do something, that is it. I was so embarrassed and wanted to leave and never come back. I am going to have to bribe "Aunt Lindsay" to keep him on Monday's since Zac is teaching a night class. How convenient for him.

Sorry no pictures. Even if my camera was working, nothing could truly show the nature of my wild and crazy little boy. Really.

We are home!

2008-09-20T13:13:00.000-05:00

Still no pictures---now the camera is broken. Ever since I dropped it in the parking lot at Mother's Day Out, the pictures all come out dark and with lines in them. I have been eyeing this really cute pink camera that isn't too too expensive, but I digress... Anyway we are home and in the "clean up" process so that is fun. Our fence is down on one side and some shingles off the roof but nothing else really going on. We aren't sure what to do about our fence since we are told that insurance companies aren't touching the fences. This is when having a very handy husband would help. Don't get me wrong---I love my husband---but he doesn't build things.

Funny Sophie story: We took the kids bowling on the way out of Waco since we had already promised them the day before. We promised this before we knew our power was back on so we had to come through. Anyway, even with the bumpers, Sophie still managed to throw the bowling ball into someone else's lane. My poor girl. The kids had fun though and that is all that matters.

Hopefully I will get my camera fixed somehow (because Zac and I are so great at that) or I will get that cute pink one and can start posting pictures. Blogging really is no fun without pictures.

Waco

2008-09-17T14:11:00.000-05:00

We are here in Waco for what seems like the 100th day. I will say I am absolutely LOVING spending time with my favorite aunt and uncle, but we are so anxious to get back to our house and get back to normal. We still have no power so we don't want to go back quite yet. We took the kids to the Waco Zoo and they had such a blast! There was NO ONE there and the weather was GORGEOUS and even a little chilly! There is a park near here that is great and we have been there several times already. The kids are staying pretty busy so it has been okay so far.

Anyway, I don't have my camera with me which is annoying so no pictures....just wanted to post an update!

First day of dance!

2008-09-08T21:49:00.001-05:00

Not the best picture---and PLEASE ignore the crooked yucky blinds. This was about all I could do for a picture. Luke was crying and wanting to be held after waking from a nap and we had to leave RIGHT THEN!

Sophie loves loves LOVES dance. Soccer---not so much. She seems to be....how do I put this....more of a natural with dance but not so much soccer. I am not saying she is graceful, but she was able to follow the directions and just looked right. I can't explain it. We did have one Sophie moment where everyone was sitting in a circle and she had to do a dance in front of the mirror (I walked down the hall at that point)---but other than that, she did great! She was asking to do more dance and no soccer. What a goof.

First day of school

2008-09-08T21:41:00.000-05:00

Luke started Mother's Day Out on Friday. I don't even know why they call it that. This "mother" does NOT get "out". Yes I have three hours of kid-free time, but I am expected to start on all kinds of never ending projects and cleaning here at home. At least I can turn up my music as loud as I want and sing along while doing it :)

Here is Luke before we left

He did okay until Lindsay took a picture of him trying to steal someones chair. That is okay Linz---I forgive you. By the way, the best pictures from MDO are on Lindsay's page. ALL of the pictures I took of Luke and Kate are dark with lines through them. These were the pictures I took AFTER I dropped the camera on the ground. The pictures went back to normal after a while so I am not sure what happened with that.

Luke was screaming when I picked him up---then crashed in the car. He did much better today. I am so grateful that Kate is in his class. He just loves his Kate.

Let's try this again

2008-09-05T23:53:00.000-05:00

I deleted my old blog because I didn't like it. It was too depressing. Maybe someday I will feel like talking about all that "loss" stuff, but that day isn't today. I am going to focus on what is going on now in our family.

I don't feel like uploading the pictures from my camera right now, just wanted to start somewhere. We will see if I am better about updating this blog then I was the other one.

My poor daughter. She started kindergarten last week.

She is doing okay, but really having a hard time not talking when the teacher is talking. Shocker---if you know Sophie, you know she doesn't know what "inside" voice means. I imagine this not talking this is very difficult for her.

I think I am having a worse time of it then her. She has been the target of some "bullying" from the same child three times in the last week. For some reason, said child thinks its okay to go up and pull out Sophie's ponytail or pull her her out of her clip, mess up her braids, etc. This is NOT okay with me. Why Sophie? I am not even going to comment on the name of this said child. Seriously---how does that happen? Also, something kind of funny. Sophie was so excited to go the "light-berry" to pick out books. My daughter, being the bug expert that she is, brought home a couple of books about bugs. No big deal right? Well the second book was titled "Courtship" and yes it is what you are thinking. She has no clue, but the pictures are um....interesting. Definitely a Sophie thing to do.

I cried for at least an hour today because someone picked on my child. I want to pull her out and do homeschooling, but my husband is not budging on that issue so for now, we tough it out. Hopefully Sophie's mental mommy will get it together and CHILL!

Okay folks, that's all for now. I need to go to sleep. Actually, I already went to sleep and am typing this after waking in the middle of the night so I might very well wake up and not remember doing this. Scary huh?