Dance with me...til the music ends!

Annah's first ballet/dance recital was this weekend, and it was wonderful! The rehearsal was Saturday morning, and although it started out a little rocky, it turned out great. We arrived early to take the professional photos, then waited our turn til it was time for the class to get on stage.

Unfortunately I hadn't thought to prepare Annah for how loud it would be. She has extremely sensitive ears, and when the music started over the sound system, she didn't respond well at all. She covered her ears and froze, refusing to do any dancing. About halfway through their number, I met up with her in the wings and gave her a little pep talk, which worked; she jumped back on stage and did wonderfully with the last part!

The recital itself went beautifully!!! Annah did such a great job and kept a big smile on her face the entire time. When her number was over and I met her backstage again, she was beaming with pride, and I'm sure my expression matched hers. I've felt lots of special moments since becoming a mom, but this one ranks right up there with the top ones! After the finale, I handed Annah a huge bouquet of roses and carnations (pinks and purples...her favorites!), and it was off to the reception we went (after getting changed, since Miss Amelia is firm about no costumes outside the dressing room/stage areas). A couple of cups of punch and a few cookies later, and our dance day was over. Now on to the Nutcracker Ballet at Christmastime!



Annah and best friend Tatum


warming up


Creative Movement class

all the classes together

Mr. Sixth Grade/Pre-K pen-pals

Today was the sixth grade Honor's Day program at Matthew's school. Surprisingly, he got an invitation, which meant that he was receiving an award. Matthew hasn't had the best year, but he still managed to pull off Merit List (meaning an 85 or above average) for the first semester. I was very impressed with Matthew for chosing to wear a suit and tie; he was only one of a few that dressed the part of an Honor's day attendee.


Matthew is also in the band at Oak Hill Middle School; he plays the trumpet. The band performed briefly, and I managed to snap a few pictures.








As soon as Matthew was given his award, I slipped out the side door and made a mad dash to Central City Park, where Jonathan was on a field trip with his Pre-K class. I was supposed to meet them there at 9:30, but Matthew's program didn't start until then, so I was a bit late. Jonathan was thrilled to finally see me though, so it didn't matter that I wasn't there on time.



Jonathan's class has been emailing their pen-pals at Learning Safari Pre-K all year, so this was a chance to meet them and have some playtime in real life!

And I couldn't help but to snap the picture when Mrs. Johnson came down the slide for the second time.....I'm sure she knew where the picture would end up!

So even though it was a rushed day, it was still lots of fun. Here comes the end of the school year!

Do a little dance (practice)!

Annah had her final dance class today. Rehearsal for the spring dance recital will be Saturday, with the actual recital itself being Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure who's more excited...me or her! Probably me, but it's a close race. We've been practicing making the "ballerina bun" with her hair, which isn't easy, since she has so many short pieces, but darn if it isn't cute when we get it up! She loves being pretty, and it's easy for her....she's so stinkin' cute! She's excited about the recital, and has invited several people, including her daycare teachers.

She was a real little ham up there on that big stage for the first time, and kept turning around giving me the "thumbs up" sign with a big grin. I'm glad she wasn't scared, but I hope she won't do that on Sunday! Although I won't be in the audience...I have to stay backstage with her, since she won't be going on til last.

Annah-bug the ballerina! One of my mommy dreams come true!

Dear Mr. Hallmark

Dear Mr. Hallmark,

I am writing to you from heaven,
and though it must appear
a rather strange idea,
I see everything from here.

I just popped in to visit
your stores to find a card;
a card of love for my mother,
as this day for her is hard.

There must be some mistake I thought,
every card you could imagine;
except I could not find a card
from a child who lives in heaven.

She is still a mother too,
no matter where I reside
I had to leave, she understands,
but oh the tears she's cried.

I thought that if I wrote you,
that you would come to know
that though I live in heaven now,
I still love my mother so.

She talks with me and dreams with me;
we still share laughter too;
memories our way of speaking now,
would you see what you could do?

My mother carries me in her heart,
her tears she hides from sight.
She writes poems to honor me,
sometimes far into the night.

She plants flowers in my garden,
there my living memory dwells;
she writes to other grieving parents,
trying to ease their pain as well.

So you see Mr. Hallmark,
though I no longer live on earth ,
I must find a way
to remind her of her wondrous worth

She needs to be honored,
and remembered too
Just as the children of earth will do.

Thank you Mr. Hallmark,
I know you'll do your best .
I have done all I can do;
to you I'll leave the rest.

Find a way to tell her
how much she means to me;
Until I can do it for myself,
when she joins me in eternity.

- by JODY SEILHEIMER

Happy Military Spouse Appreciation Day!

Here's a nifty little bit of information I found out today:

On May 23, 1984, President Ronald Reagan recognized the profound importance of spouse commitment to the readiness and well-being of military members by enacting Military Spouse Appreciation Day. The United States Secretary of Defense standardized the date by declaring the Friday proceeding Mother’s Day as Military Spouse Day.

Each year, the current United States President normally commemorates this day with a ceremonial speech and proclamation. The following is President Obama's:

May 8, 2009
By The President of The United State of America

A Proclamation

Military spouses share the sacrifices of service with our Nation's men and women in uniform. As members of the Armed Forces serve in the United States and across the world, military spouses also serve our Nation. When a servicemember goes to war, we know their spouse also shares in that sacrifice. I am inspired by their commitment to family and our Nation, and on Military Spouse Day, we honor these individuals for their contributions.

Wives and husbands of servicemembers display an uncommon courage and strength as they steadfastly support their spouses during long and arduous deployments. While they endure separations that are filled with worry and anxiety, they face unique stresses. Foremost is the concern about the safety and well-being of deployed loved ones, but there are many other challenges. From managing household finances to comforting children impacted by a military parent's absence, military spouses take on the burdens of maintaining families largely on their own. This task is complicated even more as spouses work to maintain careers and a sense of community while moving to new duty stations around the country and the world.

Despite these hardships, military spouses are an inexhaustible source of strength for our military families and donate their time generously to local communities. Military spouses offer the love and encouragement that help servicemembers endure the challenges of serving our Nation. Military spouses support one another as friends and mentors. They serve in family readiness groups to keep fellow spouses informed and to provide mutual support. They contribute as volunteers to improve neighborhoods, military installations, and communities. These contributions strengthen both our Nation's character and its security.

All Americans should express appreciation for military spouses and let them know they are not alone. To help those who need it, friends, co-workers, and neighbors can offer to help with the burden of daily tasks and thus give military spouses more time for themselves and their families. To assist spouses who are coping with the absence of a loved one, individuals can listen and offer their counsel. Americans can also volunteer through the many organizations that provide assistance to military families.

Our Nation maintains a sacred trust with every individual who serves. My Administration is committed to showing our Nation's gratitude for them by honoring our obligations to their families.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 8, 2009, as Military Spouse Day. I call upon the people of the United States to honor military spouses with appropriate ceremonies and activities today and in the future.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

BARACK OBAMA


Now I won't say that I go along with President Obama in the things that he normally says or does, but I do appreciate these words and what they mean to me and other military spouses.

21 weeks

For your viewing (and laughing!) pleasure, here's my 21 week Jacob-belly shot.



19 weeks to go til my due date....and only 17 if my doctor decides to induce early, which I'm hoping for!!!

Why I blog

I sometimes wonder what people think when they read my writings. Are they bored? Entertained? Worried about my sanity? I'm sure some wonder why I write the things I do. I do it for a variety of reasons; I like to share my life with my family and friends - after all, those are the people that read my stuff anyway. I like showing off pictures of my cute kids. And Heaven knows I like to talk. But mostly, I do it for me. I like to be able to look back over time and see how life has changed. Memory is one thing, but seeing it in black and white is different. It gives a little perspective, a little depth. For example, I can look back to October and see how much life has changed since then. I can see the differences in how I felt then and how I feel now about a lot of things. I can visually see how we've all grown. Memories fade with time, but writings don't. I've come across other people's blogs and they've given me ideas - all kinds of ideas really, from hair styles to dealing with grief, and home cooking to Family Home Evening ideas. It's fun.

But why here? Well, it's easier. I'm already on my computer a good bit, so it's easy to flip open a new page and start typing. I've tried writing in a journal, but it's slow, and I'm a perfectionist and hate the scribbling I do. I'm also much faster at typing than I am at writing. I can go back and edit here, interjecting thoughts that I'd forgotten, making sure I have things in the right order. That's important. I plan to turn my blog into a book someday (it's easy to do....technology is wonderful!), so my writing will be around for my kids and their kids and so forth. That should be interesting.

Maybe one day my writing will help someone. Maybe it will show them that they can get through a rough time, a time when they feel alone. Maybe it will help someone to know there's someone out there that understands all the things that I've been through or experienced in my life. Or heck, maybe it will just prove that I AM nuts.....in any case, I love my writing. I almost stopped it once, but I'm glad I didn't. I'm thankful that I have it to look back on; it's part of my life, and I'm glad I have it to hold on it.

Sleep....where are you?

I am a lunatic. Yes, I already knew that, but I've even more of a lunatic today. Why, you ask? Because I've had no sleep in three days. I could blame it on the kids if I wanted to....Jonathan and Annah were both in bed with me last night (as tends to happen when Austin strays from home; this week he's at the air base near Catoosa, GA). But that's not really the reason. I just can't sleep. I can't make turn my mind off; it races with the huge stresses of my life and the things that I haven't gotten done, and when I do fall into a light sleep, I wake within just a few minutes. I've seen every hour of the night since Sunday, and it's beginning to get old. Today my head is pounding, and the large McDonald's caffeine-laced Coke didn't do a thing to stop it. I considered calling in sick, but with only 10 hours of sick leave left after tending to all my sick children, it really wasn't a good option. So...I plan for the weekend. Austin has promised that he'll take care of the kids Saturday night when he gets in (although it looks like it will be late-night when he does), so maybe I'll at least have a bed to myself. But who knows if that will help. Maybe a couple of Tylenol PM's will though!

Wanna see a pregnant woman panic?

Holy smokes I can go from zero to panic in 2.7 seconds. This morning when I woke up, I realized that I hadn't felt Jacob move in a while. And 'a while' meant more than 12 hours. Now granted, I was sleeping for part of that, but still.....that's a long time when I'm used to regular movements. I got moving, keeping myself tuned into feeling for those little nudges, but they never came. On the way to work, I prayed. A lot. It hit me then that I don't think I could handle losing this little guy, and neither could the rest of the family - especially my children. So I continued to pray. The Lord never gives us anything that we can't handle, right? But the Lord also requires action on our parts, and he makes up the difference.

So in doing my part, I drove to McDonalds, (dang we're there a lot!) and ordered a breakfast full of sugar and caffeine. Three pancakes and syrup, a ham and cheese biscuit, and a large Coke. (No worries...I didn't eat it all! One of the pancakes and the biscuit got ditched as I ate the ham and cheese!) After about 20 minutes, Jacob woke up, and he is now letting me know his dissatisfaction. Thank goodness!

There will be no more complaints from me....although I don't think I've voiced too many to begin with. Bring on the pain and the discomfort Lord! It's a blessing and I'll be thankful for it!

A little family time

It doesn't happen all that often, but on Saturday, we had the chance to spend some quality time together at the park. My big idea was that I'd pack a picnic lunch in the handy dandy picnic basket, grab the blanket and the water guns, and go early. However, things never turn out as I plan!

We really needed to make a run to the Shoe Dept. for some sandels, since Walmart is no longer carrying squat in the way of kids shoes. We also needed to go buy a few new water guns, since the cheapie ones I bought wouldn't work when we tested them (thank goodness Austin has the foresight to try them out before we left!). So we grabbed the (empty) picnic basket, some sodas and kool-aid waters, and the blanket, and made a mad dash for the shoe store before heading to the park. Austin and I split up; he went to Walmart while I took the kids into the shoe store (how did I wind up doing this alone?) and we went about buying shoes for everyone. Annah, of course, ever the dainty princess, was thrilled with the beautiful leather sandels with the butterflies on them that we picked out. Jonathan, on the other hand, didn't want a thing to do with the ones I found for him. His reason? They weren't green.

I tried my hardest to explain to him that leather sandels just don't come in green, but it was pointless, and turned into a "let me throw myself on the floor and scream" fit. Until he said that the bottom of one of pairs I'd pick out had green on it. After that, everything was fine! And then Matthew, of course, his too cool for sandels, so we wound up with a pair of Polo canvas sneakers. Ugly and very reminicint of the Converse high tops I wore in high school, he was thrilled with his stylish purchase!

When we were done, we met Austin at the van and decided to just grab some ever-faithful McDonalds burgers and head on to the park. Subway would have been much better, but sometimes sanity wins out over desire, as was the case here. Once at the park, the McD's was consumed in record time, although Jonathan refused to eat on the blanket with us, and chose instead to walk around the park while eating his burger. Oh well....he ate!

We broke out the water guns and let the kids get wet in their clothes; they dry, right? So I figured why deny them the fun. I made Matthew hang out on the blanket, since he'd been out of school for a couple of days with a bad earache and didn't need to be up running around. He decided to soak up the sun since I was being so unreasonable about him staying put, while the little kids went and got on the swings with Daddy pushing. (Note to self: remind Austin next time that we are NOT in an episode of Mythbusters, and we do NOT need to find out if a 5 year old on a swing will go all the way around!) Jonathan had a blast, screaming "Higher Daddy, higher!" until Austin went a bit too far and then Jonathan decided, "That's high enough!!!"

I have a tendency to panic a bit when it comes to my kids, so seeing Annah-bug and J climbing up and down some of those poles on the play equipment (which is called a 'Big Play' to my kids) kind of scared me, but I survived. After some fun feeding the leftover french fries to the ducks, plenty of swinging and sliding, and a few more water gun fights, Jonathan was worn out, and we decided to make the trip home. It really was a great couple of hours, and I'm thankful that it all turned out as good as it did. Because, as I said before, things usually don't work out the way I plan them!

Family Fun Day at the Early Learning Center

Today was Family Fun Day at Jonathan's school. Kind of like Field Day at the elementary schools, but with all the families invited to attend. The catch? It was during normal school hours, which also means during work. Luckily, the Early Learning Center is one of the schools where I do safety presentations and the like, so I headed over there on the job. Lots of people (epsecially the kids!) know me and love having "Deputy Lewis" around anyway. There are definate perks to my job, as I can usually hit all the major events at my kids schools and still be "at work," since their schools are my schools too!

Jonathan had a blast. It was nice to have some time with just him (although we had plenty of alone time at the hospital last week), and to spend some relaxing time with the rest of the kids and teachers. There were parachute games, sack races, bouncy houses, face painting, and huge slides, and the kids loved each and every thing there! Oh...I forgot about the musical chairs, which was a hoot with 20 four and five year olds!

Jonathan got his face painted by Mrs. Hollis, who did a fantastic job of improvising a Ninja Turtle. Then he went and chatted a bit with some of the GMC high school sophmores that were helping out at the Fun Day, after telling me he wanted to "go talk to those ladies for a minute." (I call it chatting, but he was definitely flirting! He was initially leaned up against the slide in a cute sort of way, but moved when Mrs. Johnson broke out the camera.) You can see the amusement on the face of the young lady as Jonathan walked away!









Jonathan wanted to take a few pictures on his own...

Mrs. Johnson: (who I'm sure will hate this picture because she didn't want J to take it!)


Mrs. Tucker and Mrs. Kimbrough:


A cone: (not sure why this was important, but J was set on taking it!) (Austin just informed me why it was important! It's GREEN!!! J's favorite color!)


I finally got my phone back and took a few myself.

Jonathan and best friend Matt:


Jonathan's Ninja Turtle face:


Musical chairs with 20 four and five year olds:


The big slide:





Cute girls Jonathan was flirting with who were manning the slide:


Jonathan and friend Cinayah (I know I'm spelling this wrong!) I asked her mom if I could put it on my blog, but forgot to ask how to spell her name!:


It really was a fun day. Afterwards, I took Jonathan to Applebees for lunch - kind of a tradition between me and Matthew on short days of school, and now one that extends to Jonathan too. I cashed in on some comp time for the rest of the day, picked Annah up, and headed home. (Matthew was already home due to an ear infection.)

I have to say that Family Fun Day at the ELC was quite a bit of fun!

20 weeks

The 20 week mark usually represents a milestone for most pregnant women; it's the halfway mark. In truth, I'm very excited about it. But at the same time, I can't get past someones comment the other day. She said, "Oh, you're safe now!" What is safe? I don't know....one of my very best friends lost her baby at just over 20 weeks....wasn't she supposed to be safe? I was just under it with Andrew...wasn't I supposed to be safe? Apparently some of us can never feel completely safe when it comes to holding these little ones inside of us.

But, that aside, I'm feeling very good. Tired, achy, fat, but good. Feeling all of Jacob's movement is wonderful; I wish Austin could feel it like I can, but it's still only the occasional hard kick that he can feel through my belly. I can't wait til the kids can feel those kicks.

So, to hang on to the good stuff as much as I can, I've decided to take this in smaller segments of time. I can't see to the end of 20 more weeks.....so instead I'll break it down. 24 weeks is my next goal. Why? That's the viability point, where a baby has a chance of life outside of the mother. Next, 28. Then 32. And so on and so forth. It's easier like that. Doesn't make it seem so long. Plus I have an ultrasound coming up in a little more than a month, then another one only a few weeks later, so I have some dates to look forward to. It's all good.

So, now that I've written yet another rambling post, you can return to your regularly scheduled blogging. :)