The family that tie-dyes together stays together...

Here we are in our tie-dyed shirts.

stiff neck

My Kitties...I have had the worse stiff neck in history the past few days. It is the most painful thing that I have experienced--second only to childbirth. I think I did something funky when I was shoveling out in the yard on Saturday. I woke up on Sunday and couldn't hardly function--praise the Lord for Advil. Then yesterday I was brushing my teeth and triggered it again. I had to skip BSF and lie around in bed most the mornign. Eli had to flip me and hold my head just so I could change sides--so humiliating and pathetic! Things seem to be better today...thankfully!

At my girl's small group yesterday we tie dyed T-shirts. I made one for Kenna, Duncan and myself. We are all wearing them today and we looked like a bunch of tree-huggin' hippies in the hardware store this morning. I'll have to post a pic when the kids get up from nap. I bought a bunch of seeds and hope to enlist Kenna when it's time to plant. I'm going to make a little gardener out of her.

Bets--glad to hear from you. I can't believe what a strange time you are having with this getting-pregnant business. I have a friend here in Indy that had a very hard time getting pregnant a second time. She just delivered triplets!! I'll be praying for you :)

Well, I hear the mail truck--one of the few minor highlights of my day.
Talk later
Lizzy

Well, well, well...

Sorry I haven't posted much ladies. I was hoping to wait to be able to post some good news on the pregnancy front but that hasn't happened yet. I go to see a specialist on May 5 so hopefully we will get some answers, although I am not getting my hopes up. We are counting down to the end of school here- only about 3 weeks left so that is great! Brevin has 5 more days of MDO. Speaking of Brevin- the other night I went outside to start some work in the yard and Swartz was in the bathroom so he and Brevin were going to come out when he was done. A few minutes later I hear him yell out the door, "I need some assistance in here." So I come back in to find out that Brevin appeared to him at the bathroom door holding his underwear that had a big turd in them. Swartz puts him in the tub since there is poop down his leg and on the bottom of his foot and I set off to find where this evil deed took place. I look all over the house for his shorts and don't see them anywhere. We ask him where he pooped and he can't seem to remember- although I am sure he was employing selective memory here. I finally find them in the laundry room with little poop prints all over- at least it was in there and not on the carpet. So as you can see, he still does not want to poop on the potty- but is doing great with the peeing (although his preferred place to pee is outside- luckily we live in the country)! I am hoping he will come around soon because I get a little tired of cleaning poop out of underwear- thank goodness he only poops once every couple days- and a lot of times he will wait until he has a pull-up on for nap time to go. Well enough about bodily functions- Mandy I need to get this stroller back to you- I promise I will drop it off soon! Love you all!

The this and that of being a Cat

Hey Kitties--I have no clever or funny stories to share right off the top of my head. I wish I did for I always enjoy all of yours! We're all doing well and extremely glad that spring is here. I'll fill you in on how each of us is doing:
Eli had taser training last week and now carries one on his belt. He was tased himself for 5 whole seconds. I saw a video and it wasn't pretty. On a pain scale of 1-10 he said it was about an 8 or 9 but he did admit that child birth is probably a lot worse. He offered to tase me so I could put the question to rest but I have declined. After a collective 30 hours of child birth I think I can say without doubt that squeezing a baby through an orifice beats 5 seconds of electric charge through the body any day.

Duncan has been sleeping in our kitchen so the rest of the family can get a peaceful nights rest. We joke about it being his private suite with a kitchenette. He's had to learn the hard way how to put himself back to sleep without mom's help. He's about ready to graduate back into his crib. He is now sitting and very adorable with all his smiles. He loves to splash Kenna and I when he is in the tub. It has been delightful seeing the difference between girls and boys. I think there's more to come...

Kenna is a pistol. She coughs with her tongue out just like her mother and also asks a billion questions just like Habakkuk. She was bombarding me with questions today and I thought, "Did the Cats ever get tired of all my questions just like I get tired of all Kenna's questions?" There's another question for ya!
I took her swimming at the YMCA yesterday and taught her how to hold her breath as I dunked her. She reluctantly participated but towards the end of our water frolicking she was letting her face go under left and right. I hope she'll be a fish like her mother!

I'm doing well. I turn 29 in two weeks and in the mean time have an adventure race to participate in with little practice under my belt. I hope we do ok. I wish I had some more time to read and knit! I feel these things lacking in my life right now. I am looking forward to the end of June. Eli and I are going with our Church to New Orleans. The kids will stay with my parents. It should be an interesting time for all involved.

Well, I probably ought to do something constructive before Eli gets home. He may spank me for being naughty...I hope he does :)
Lizzy

In the Spring of Things...

It is obvious that spring has kicked in for more than one cat family, we are barely posting! I have been saving two stories from the past couple weeks:

1. The other day Atley fell and skinned his knee pretty good, well enough to need a real bandaid. The next day Aunt Shell was giving him a bath and she asked him what happened to his knee. He said, "I fell...(insert big grin across his face)...in the Nile River!" My sister then asked him if happened to see a baby in a basket floating around. The Nile River?

2. This past Thursday i picked Atley and Ava up from Mother's Day Out and headed out the door to drop the kids off at their afternoons sitter's house; Phoebe. I stopped in the hallway to speak with Meriam Bull. We talked for a few moments then Atley's teacher Becky came up to us and started talking too. Atley, obviously observing the chattiness of the situation, said in his most polite voice, "Um, excuse me, ladies, it is time for me to get to Phoebe's house. Sorry ladies." I have been trying to teach him to be courteous to girls and open the door and just all that stuff that most men should have learned. We got in the van and he said, "I'm such a gentleman."
At least something is sinking in. Now if we could get past blowin spit bubbles on the mirror!

Well, hope all is well with everyone! Ness how is Eliana? Bets, where have you been?

Love you girls!
Meow

mandycat

I am not sure what to say after reading the past few blogs only that I love you all dearly! My daughter has to have ear tubes on Friday and Gabe goes for a second set of tubes May 7. Please pray for my children, my insanity, and that we do not have to take out a small loan to pay for medical expenses! Ridiculous! So I wore this white lenin jacket today, yeah nice and pretty. I take Eliana to an ENT appointment, she poops green diarrhea on my jacket, Gabe falls in the parking lot, skins his knee and gets blood all over my jacket! No time to change before church, lovely sight for all to see! It is amazing that I am not in a mental hospital, amazing for us all! God bless and pray for my baby girl
V

White Trash

So, I've never felt more redneck and poor than this morning. Steve and I were playing with the babies this morning at 9:45 when I remembered: we have a WIC appointment sometime today! (We are on WIC because Anderson's formula alone costs over $250 a month.) I hadn't had a shower yet and the babies diapers both needed changed. Steve went to look up what time our appointment was and found out it was @ 10:00. This is wonderful because it takes 20 minutes at least to get there. Steve changed the babies' diapers and got them in their car seats while I got dressed and tried to grab what I thought I needed for the appointment. We all got in the van and were on our way. I was filling out the paperwork that I had to take with me in the van and Steve said "what's today's date?" I said the 9th and he said "crap." He had a courtdate this morning at 9:00 for a speeding ticket he got in Columbus on our way back from my parents' at Easter. I got the ticket out of the glovebox and it said "failure to report to your courtdate will result in the suspension of your license and the issue of a warrant for your arrest." Our plan had been to call and pay the ticket before the court date, but it slipped both of our minds. Now we are on our way to a late WIC appointment and worried about my husband being arrested for missing his court date. He asked me to read him the number to call on the ticket so he could take care of it, hopefully. I read it to him and he called it, but the call wouldn't go through for some reason. We tried it from my phone with the same result. I tried to call Steve's phone from mine and it didn't work. So now we've realized that for whatever reason our phones have both been turned off. So Steve spent the rest of the car ride trying to call Sprint and figure that out. We get to the WIC office and I run in and Steve parks and brings the kids in. The lady asks me if I have proof of employment, my WIC id, the babies' birth certificates, their shot records and their insurance cards. I didn't have to have any of that except my WIC at my last appointment, so naturally, I didn't have any of it this time. She just stared at me like "what did you think we would be able to do for you today, honey?" Dejected, we left and promised to call the main office and set up another appointment once our phones were operational. We carefully drove home so as not to get pulled over and the subsequently arrested. Our phones are suddenly working again and we still don't know what caused them to stop working. Steve called the courthouse and took care of his ticket and is no longer under the threat of arrest. I have showered and am ready to restart the day, except that my daughter has filled her diaper with what smells like formaldahyde. I need a nap.
-Fulty

poopy pluckin'

Byrd--I'm still chuckling about the 'mini-cooch' incident. How DO you find yourself in such situations?!?! Can you post a picture of your new hair? I'd love to see it. While you're at it--send that picture of Duncan from Johnson City to my e-mail.

Well--we're all doing fine. My children were in bed by 7:40 tonight--I don't know what to do with myself. They both have those sniveling little colds that seem to be going around.

Yesterday I decided to take the kids on a walk before bath and bed. Duncan smelled of poopy so I went in and checked it out. It was only one small little hard nugget. So rather than change his diaper and waste one right before his bath I simply plucked it out with my finger and deposited it into the toilet--is that crossing the line??? Child #2 had made me much more relaxed.

Eli and I started exercising in preparation for our Adventure Race on Mother's Day. We've initiated a 6 week challenge---basically trying to exercise in some form or fashion 3 days a week. I think we're going to get our duffs whooped on this race but at least we'll be whooped together :)

Hope the rest of the Kitties are well.
Keep posted!
Lizzy

Changing...

Spring is finally here to stay...I hope. So i decided to change up the look of our dear blog in hopes that we will all feel inspired to begin posting a little more frequently. Myself included.

Speaking of changes, Ava is not sleeping in a big bed. Not good that i no longer have a baby crib in my house. Makes something start brewin in me that aint good. I probably should go any further with that discussion.

Daniel is on a spring cleaning mode so we have been pullin out stuff we didn't know we had and simplifying down to help us feel a little better about ourselves and our "stuff."

I got my hair majorly whacked off this weekend and i am sot of blonde again. It was time for a change. I have also lost 37lbs and counting. Got a lot more to go but every little bit makes me feel a little better.

I will leave you with a story. Today took both kids to Kroger. Never a bright idea but i am going out of town on Thursday and this was literally the only time i had to squeeze in a trip to the grocery. I had just picked the kids up from Phoebe's house and didn't notice that Ava's diaper was super full. She is walking down the aisle of the store and i notice the trail of pee on the floor. I take her to the bathroom, dig through my purse and find nothing. So she has to go commando in her DRESS the rest of the time in the store. We FINALLY got to the check out, (after taking yet another trip to the bathroom for Atley to poop)and Ava starts actin wild and wanting to get down. So i set her down through her screaming fit while everyone is staring at her. As i set her down she stumbles backwards, her dress flies up over head only to reveal her mini-cooch to everyone who might or might not want to see. At this point i am winning the mother of the year award in the eyes of everyone around, gather her up, wrangle Atley from making faces in the security TV, and make my exit. I am waiting for my phone call from DHS.

Meow.
Mandycat

Hey Cats,

All is well! Tired, dying for sleep and summer. Liz about the pacifier thing and food thing, I am not sure. Is Duncan eating cereal or any baby food? Does he nurse or take a bottle before bedtime? Elie has been waking up for the past few weeks at 4am, just wide awake!! Don't know what the deal is, wish she would sleep! Gabe was an excellent sleeper! I think it just depends on the child! I just wanted to say hi!
V