Ella

I have a dear dear friend, Sheli. I've known her since 1988 when we met in 7th grade...I think it may have been the DeKalb County Patrol Trip to Washington D.C...then we went to the same high school and we were inseparable. Even though we went to separate colleges (I have forgiven her for going to Auburn---haha), we were in each other's weddings and have stayed close as we have each expanded our families to include children. She is the kind of friend where it can be weeks since we've talked "live"...you know how it can be to play phone tag these days...but as soon as we get hold of each other, watch out---the marathon phone call begins and there is not one bit of small talk. We just pick up right where we left off.

Well, earlier this summer, I received a text message from her to pray for her 2 1/2 year old as she was going to have an MRI done on her abdomen to investigate a mass the doctors had found there. After the doctors removed the mass, the biopsy showed that it was indeed malignant. There are no words to describe the pit in my stomach as I heard that word. How can this be happening to someone I know so well? These are the kinds of stories you hear about a friend of a friend or a co-worker's friend as emails circulate to pray for this child or that child. Cancer isn't supposed to directly affect the people I love so dearly. But, on this side of the Kingdom, cancer does affect so many people's lives.

Sweet Ella has begun her chemotherapy and has had a rough couple of weeks (fevers, constipation, mouth sores, etc.) which has really taken a toll on both Ella and Sheli. I know that when my kids are sick, they only seem to want Mommy, and this seems to be the case for Ella too. Also, as the Mommy, we need to have a finger on the pulse of everything in our children's lives, especially something as serious as this. So, I'm sure it is hard to take that much-needed break to get the rest that Sheli so desperately needs.

I did get some good news from her this morning as they were able to pack up and go back home from the hospital, hopefully, until her next round of treatments. Praise the Lord. Anyone that has spent the night in a children's hospital (or any hospital for that matter---not being the patient) knows the accommodations are cramped and pretty uncomfortable.

If you want to read more about Ella, go here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/ellaupchurch

I guess the reason I am writing about this is that I feel that this is something that I am "praying without ceasing" about. Sheli, Ella and the rest of her family are never far from the forefront of my mind. In my pregnancy-induced-insomniac nights, I am praying for complete healing of this precious child. As I am driving around town getting my last-minute Nesting errands run, I am praying for this child. I feel like I am constantly either thinking about giving birth or Ella.

I can't wait to one day look back on this post and praise our Great Physician for what He plans to do for her in His own amazing timing.

3 1/2 weeks and counting!

I feel like Santa Claus...I am making a list (or 2 or 3) and checking it twice... And I am making some headway with progress towards Baby's arrival! Woohoo! No, the scrapbooks have not been touched, but with a suggestion from a friend (thanks, Jill!) I did make an online one for the remainder of 2008 (where I had left off) and I think it is so cute! What a great idea and SO much less work! Now, I just need to tackle 2009 and the majority of 2010 and I'll be all set in that department!

The nursery is finished and I LOVE IT, baby laundry is folded and put away (the neutral things, that is---a pretty pitiful small stack, but it'll do---I cannot believe how many girl things I have for Newborn through 3 months!), the pack-n-play is set up in our room, my bags are packed (for the most part), my camera(s) are charged, and I have made so many trips to Goodwill, that the lady knows me by name, now.

So, I feel much more "together" than I did a couple of weeks ago! Bring on the Baby and those sleepless nights! I'm not getting much sleep as it is right now anyway with my pregnancy-insomnia!

The picture below is of me and Kevin's sister, Shannon, who is due one month after me, in September. Baby bumps galore!

Summer Fun...so far!

Summer in Atlanta can be stifling, but so far, we have done our best to keep cool...

With my internal thermostat being completely off, I haven't had much desire to head out in the heat of the day. And my girls have been very patient with me (maybe they don't know what they are missing at their age?).

We went to the Decatur Beach Party again this year. It is always great to eat street food, listen to fun music, and play in the sand with friends (they cover E. Ponce de Leon Ave. with sand for about 1/2 a block and rope it off). Quinnie loved it, especially.

And Mia and Chloe still LOVE filling up the ol' plastic baby pool and playing in it...even if most of the playing entails using it as ammo for their water guns on each other and their unsuspecting sister:

Things coming to an end...and some exciting beginnings

It feels like many things have come to an end lately...even as we are on the verge of many new beginnings, a major one being that we will soon become a family of 6.

Mia and Chloe are officially finished with Preschool/Pre-K. In a few weeks, they will begin at the "Big Kid School" across the street. Kindergarten seemed like it was so far away for so long and now it is almost upon us! As many of us moms ask, "Where does the time go?" and "Wasn't it just yesterday that we were bringing home our little bundles from the hospital?" Can you tell I am probably going to be a mess come fall? :) A few short months ago, our girls began all-day Pre-K:

heading in with BFF Megan

Here they are on the last day of school...they look so much older!

Here are a couple more pics of my 2 monkeys from the last day of school:

Another ending we encountered this summer was the ending of our current church small group. This has been such an amazing group for Kevin and I to be a part of and we have all learned so much and grown so much together over the past 18 or so months.

We can only pray that God places more incredible people in our lives for our next group!

Speaking of small groups, there are a couple of couples from this same small group that have become like family to us. The Shokats and the Hickeys are 2 of the greatest sets of friends we have had the privilege of knowing. Unfortunately, they were both in Atlanta for only 3 years because of the hubbys finishing out their residencies at Emory. For the first 2 years that they lived here, our children all attended the same church preschool and since they became great friends that is also how we became great friends. It was awesome when we all started going to the same church. We even began a girls Bible Study during the week while the kids were in school this past year, and this only served to bring us closer as friends and sisters in Christ. This past school year, Jennifer's little girl, Megan (in the photo above) and Mia and Chloe all went to the same Pre-K. We knew that June 2010, when both families were moving, was always around the corner, but it really came quickly...too quickly, if you ask me! So, 2 of my favorite people have moved on and I miss them terribly...

But, the Hickeys did throw a great going-away-happy graduation pool party before they left!

The girls from Wednesday Bible Study: Laura B., Kristin, Jennifer, and me

The funny thing about the following 2 pictures from the pool party is that Mia and Chloe were so excited to see our old small group friends, the Locklars (another Emory medical school family), that moved to Kentucky in November. The night before, Mia said, "Mommy, tomorrow at the pool party, I can't wait to hold hands with Naomi and Chloe and all jump in the pool at the same time!" I just had to get a picture of her "dream come true":

So, (jokingly) Kevin and I have vowed that, from now on, our qualifying "friend" question will be to find out if they happen to be residents at Emory or not :) It's just too sad to see such great people move away....

And lastly, our baby girl, Quinn, is growing into a Big Girl. It is officially the end of the crib-stage for her. We wanted to make this transition before Baby arrives in August so she wouldn't feel like this new person was "taking" her bed from her. We have moved her into a Big Girl Bed and she is doing so well with it! I am so proud of her:

Here's to nostalgic endings and exciting beginnings...

Feeling Behind and NESTING!

I am SO behind in so many areas of my life (the fun stuff, mainly). I have been pretty good with staying up on laundry and house-stuff, but when it comes to the inevitable "things-to-do-before baby-arrives" list (which we all know are things that we don't really think too much about except when we are pregnant), I just haven't been doing any of it.

A big issue keeping me from it is that I just want to lie down when Quinnlan naps and at the end of the day, I just want to sit in our big red chair with my feet up and do NOTHING until I get tired of doing that and go to bed.

I know, I know, what a thrilling life I lead.

I have this giant goal of getting caught up on our family scrapbook(s) before Baby arrives...it doesn't sound too ambitious except for the fact that the last page in the scrapbook before I fell off the scrapping wagon is the summer before Quinnlan was born (that would be Summer 2008). The poor child is not even represented.

Typical 3rd child, right?

I don't see how I kept up with it having twins at home...but I guess it was still just 2 kids. Adding one more kid to the mix just threw off my Mojo, I guess.

But, I am determined to do as much as I can before Baby #4 comes so I can feel a little on top of things---starting with actually uploading pictures to Snapfish so I can make the giant order...I forgot how long it takes to do this (I am actually uploading in another screen as I type---I'm up to October 2009, so I have a ways to go).

I also have a goal of cleaning out our closet and making a trip to Goodwill and possibly try and consign some stuff. I have gone through the shoes, but haven't touched the clothes yet.

Our dining room table is covered with things I need to "get to" as well: stacks of Mia and Chloe's artwork from the past couple of years that I want to go through and decide what to keep and what to toss. This may be one of the hardest things I want to tackle. I am a hoarder when it comes to anything like this. I have a hard time deleting pictures when they are blurry, much less anything my kids have done. I have bought the big long bins, so I am one step closer to this project.

I could go on and on, but it is stressing me out. And I've read somewhere that it's not good to be preggo and stressed :)

Other than all of the complaining about being behind, the pregnancy is going well. I am 33 weeks along and I am counting the days till August 14th, at the latest, when my c-section is scheduled. This Atlanta heat is unreal, not even with my internal thermostat being bonkers. The baby is all over the place at all times of the day and night. If I was more "together" I could post some pictures of me and my big ol' belly. But, I have not taken any. Shocker. I will take some soon and then you can think what Mia said to me today (in the IKEA bathroom---a very private place): "Mommy, your belly is as big as a pig's!" Thanks, honey...even with a baby in there, that doesn't sound good.

One thing I do feel good about is that I have actually made a post on my blog...yay ME!

Datenight!

Kevin and I go on a weekly datenight every Wednesday and have been doing this for probably the past 10 years or more. It is the highlight of my week to find a good restaurant and have some great conversation. We are both self-professed "Foodies" and I LOVE to eat out (anything to not have to cook or clean dishes or cut-up plates of food, right?).

I have been hearing from several people about this restaurant:

Have you been here?

Well, going by the name, it wasn't my kind of place at first until I started asking more questions. (I am not a burger/meat-eater, so a restaurant specializing in burgers is not my cup of tea.) But, my friend, Kristin, was telling me that they have every kind of burger under the sun, not just beef burgers and I did some research and found their menu and I had to pull the Pregnancy Card with this one.

Kevin indulged me and we made the drive to Howell Mill Rd. to check it out.

It. Was. Awesome.

I had a shrimp burger...sounds disgusting, but it was delicious. I had a hard time deciding between that and the crab burger (crabby patty, SpongeBob fans?). I went with the better price point and chose the shrimp burger and was not disappointed:

That is a fried lemon on top...huh? But soooo good!

Instead of fries, I got zucchini fries with some funky mayo dipping sauce that was AMAZING.

Then I washed it all down with an old-school Coke in a glass bottle (minus the high fructose corn syrup---it was sweetened with 100% cane sugar like when we were kids!):

Now for the finale: For dessert a Nutella and Burnt Marshmallow Milkshake:

No, I'm not kidding...it was to die for.

I had a hard time deciding between that and the Krispy Kreme Milkshake, but the people at the table next to us ordered the Nutella one and I am a sucker for anything burnt-looking.

Then to top off a great dinner, we headed over to Ikea...this full and satisfied Momma-to-Be needed to walk around a bit (obviously!).

I love that store...Kevin was very patient as we strolled the MAZE of fun stuff to look at...no big purchases (we did buy 2 rolls of art easel paper for Mia and Chloe), but I have mentally redecorated our entire home :)

Lemonade Stand 2010!

We have been planning this Lemonade Stand for weeks now. It all started when Mia, Chloe and their 2 neighbor friends began to brainstorm about having a Milkshake Stand. They talked about it for 2 days straight. They could not understand that although a milkshake stand on a hot day would, of course, be refreshing, it wouldn't last longer than a few minutes. Also, where to plug in the blender?

So, they finally let me convince them that maybe, just maybe, a Lemonade Stand would be the way to go. Brilliant idea, Mommy.

Mia and Chloe discussed this idea with their BFF, Megan, and she was ON BOARD. They all got together and created some signs to advertise for the next day's sale. But, unfortunately, Quinnie got sick and then we had some bad weather, and then all of a sudden, it's been 3 weeks or so since we began talking about all of this.

Well, today was THE DAY and it was a blast...hot and sweaty...but a blast, nonetheless.

The girls made about $21! Holy Cow...I don't think we ever made that kind of cash with our stands growing up! We had many generous people stop and donate more than the 25cents for their little red solo cup of Country Time.

When we split up the money among the 3 girls, they each made about $7 and change. Megan was so sweet and was saying how she wanted to send all of her money to Haiti. As she says this, I'm looking at my girls, hoping they will chime in with the same humanitarian heart...uh, no. Mia says she is going to the Dollar Store.

Lovely.

Jennifer and I tried and talk to them (my girls, mainly) about helping others through giving some of the money to charity, and Chloe begins to think about it and she says she wants to help the children in Haiti, too. But, Miss Heart-of-Stone, I mean, Mia, says that she is, for sure, headed the Dollar Store with her cash ASAP.

Too funny.

What can you do?

I did lay on some guilt when Chloe gave me $2.25 to give to charity and Mia sighed and finally decided to give me 45cents. I guess you've got to start somewhere with a giving heart, right? It has definitely enlightened me to an area I need to be more mindful in including our children---our family giving is usually done by check through the mail and they have no idea of when/to whom this happens.

Here are some pics from our afternoon:

Mia flagging down customers

Quinnie tasting the goods

Chloe chatting up some customers (our friend, Laura)

Mia making the drive-through delivery

Allison and Quinn

I just had to include this precious one of my baby

Check out the cash!

Best Friends...and business partners