Welcome to the Blog World!

I wanted to let you all know that there is a new "friend" in the blogging world. My friend, J, has started a blog to keep us all up to date on their "new" little one. He's 5 months old, now, but still very loved and adorable. Welcome!!!

Bridenstine's blurb

Consignment Sale of the Season

Every spring and fall there is a church that does a HUGE children's consignment sale. I plan to go every year, and each year I get more and more pumped. I ended up spending $115. I pretty much outfitted Malachi for the winter and a few things for later when he grows. Included in that was $8 on a leg push car. It just needs two bolts with washers to hold the top part together. It is in pretty good shape (not faded) and rolls so well. It's been in the house since Friday night, but both the boys are having a blast with it.

Well, 2 girlfriends of mine met at the church to be in the first group to venture into the piles of clothes and other items. After the sale, we headed to a restaurant for a late-night dinner and conversation. I got home about 11:30pm with all my items. Most of them have now been washed and are in the boys' drawers. The proceeds from the church's sale each year goes to their missions program. What a great idea! It takes a TON of volunteers, but I am sooo thankful that they do it and that the profits go towards my heart...missions. I never pay more than $3 per item, and you can't beat that with a stick!

Thanks to my friends, J & L, for meeting me and enjoying a girls' night with me. After the past few weeks at work, I needed that break. AND the boys got to spend that night with the grandparents to give Daddy a much needed break, and Daniel & I got to enjoy getting up on our own time and having breakfast, just the two of us. It has been a rejuvenating weekend. Praise the Lord for this wonderful time!

-isms

Malachi-isms

"I have lots of hands." - My hands are full. He was sitting in his carseat and had to go potty. I told him to hold it, and we would stop as soon as possible. He had Z's cup and his cup in his hands (being the good big bro that he is). When I said, "hold it," he took it very literally and needed to "hold it!"

"Mommy, you have dog fur on your legs?!" - You need to shave your legs!!! One night last week, I was sitting on the couch after practice with my big boy chatting. He was lightly rubbing my leg while we were talking. Then, he asked that question. It had been over a week since I had shaved, so I guess it was time. It was funny that he compared my legs to dog fur. It was soft enough.


Ezekiel-isms

"da-doo, Mom-meee" - Thank you, Mommy. Right now Mommy applies to everyone when he says thank you. It is so cute!

"num-um-ooom-num-um" - yummy

"haa-wu-woo" - hallelujah (said after "praising the Lord" when you cough)

***He can still sign more ("moe"), thank you, and all done. He has gotten very good at signing and trying to say please (usually "pee"). Today he did dog all on his own when I was talking about letting Kiev out. He's been picking up on things so quickly lately. He was nod and say things like "uh-huh" for a yes and "uh-uh" for a no. He just amazes me at how smart he is (as did his older brother at this stage).

Sometimes I Just Want to Ask, "Why?"

Thursday during the day Ezekiel had a cough. He didn't cough that often, but it was a "nasty" cough. We figured he was getting a little cold, again. We put him to bed that evening, and he had a hard time sleeping. As the night went on, he had a hard time breathing. In the morning (Friday), I did a breathing treatment that we had leftover (from last month) with the nebulizer that we bought. The cough sounded better, and I was hoping that would help him on Friday. As the day wore on, he developed a fever and was having a much more difficult time breathing. Daniel took him to the doctor about 5pm. Once they listened to his lungs and saw his symptoms, they gave him another breathing treatment at the doc. office and sent us to the hospital for a chest x-ray. We got to the hospital where Malachi reminded us every 3.532 minutes that "I hungry, Mommy." Once we got "checked in." I told Daniel to take Malachi to get something to eat and get prescriptions filled for Z. I stayed with Z for the x-ray. There was a horrible contraption that we had to put him in to keep him still, but it didn't hurt him. He SCREAMED the whole time b/c he was tired, hungry, and felt HORRIBLE. We found out that he did have a respiratory infection (I guess, pretty much, pneumonia). So, he's on 3 breathing treatments a day, one of those has 2 liquids in them (which takes 3x as long) and antibiotics. I had to work on Saturday (to make up a "flood" day). Daniel had to go to a CPR class while I was at school. It was just what we didn't need to do on that Saturday.


It's just ironic how our 3 year old has all the allergies (dairy, egg, peanuts, dogs, cats, etc.) and has been relatively healthy (except for about 3-4 months right when Z was born). Our 1 year old has no known allergies but is sick almost all the times (tubes in the ears, breathing treatments, antibiotics). Go figure.

Sometimes I just want to ask God, "Why?". I know that its just a sickness, but it happens so often. He gets so sick, so easily. No, he hasn't been hospitalized, but we are struggling just to stay afloat financially and mentally with all the stress of a demanding job and a house and family. I don't regret any of those things, and I am extremely thankful for all of them. But I am in a continual state of "overwhelmed-ness." When will it end? Didn't we do everything correctly when raising him? Why us? Why now? Is a nervous breakdown on the horizon? I still trust God and his timing, but I'm running low on what I can handle. I know he's in control, so after my questions, I am comforted by God's grace and abundance. He's MORE than enough for me.

A Day of Fun

Yesterday was a fun day for our family. We went to a "new to us" park in the area. It had a yucky, mud pond with cool turtles. It also had great trails, play equipment, and it was soooo not crowded! We had planned to make sandwiches and take our lunches to the park. We had turkey, peanut butter, and soynut butter (an alternative to peanut butter)---none of them mixed together. We went to see the turtles twice and had loads of fun playing on the "toys." The bathrooms were nice. The basketball courts and volleyball nets were still fully in tact. We were so impressed. There is another area park that is closer to our house, but it is always soooo crowded and even a little run down due to the overcrowding. This park was tons better. Anywho, we had a blast. Afterwards, we went to see Paw-Paw in the transitional care center (he's out of the hospital). Then it was nap time. After naptime, the boys went to play with grandparents while Daniel and I had our first date night in over 2 months. The food and (most importantly) DESSERT was great!