Talk about a scare

It was rest time and since I am still sick I decided to lay down and rest. When I went to lay down it was bright and sunny. I wake up and it seems like it 6 PM. I wake up with a jerk, grab my glasses and look at the clock. It was only 3:15. Whew. Alexandra fell asleep as well so that's why I got to sleep til then. Sebastian is still sleeping but Atticus was ready for food! I'm so glad I didn't sleep until 6 PM. Oh the reason why it looks like 6 PM, a storm is coming through with really dark clouds.

My Motivation is back

For the first time in at least a month I feel like getting up and doing something. Laundry is going, dinner is being dethawed and even though my head hurts I don't feel as sick as I did. The Dr. put me on Augmentin for 14 days. He doesn't think we killed the first infection I had in March. If I don't get rid of this one or if I get another in 2 or 3 months he wants a cat scan. The funniest thing is that Paul says to me " You would think with all the times they've zapped your head, they would have found something". A few years ago I struggled with Migraines and they did X-rays and MRI's to see what was going on. They found a tumor in the back of my head. It turned out to be nothing but I had to have multiple MRI's to make sure it wasn't growing or moving. He obviously remembers that clearly and thinks they should have found something in my sinuses. Anyway, today the bathroom is getting cleaned today and the laundry will be finished as well. It's so great to have my motivation back!

More fun giveaways

After searching some of the other mommy blogs, I found some cool mother's day/May Day contests.


Michelle over at Gingham World is giving away a cool mayday basket.



ParTea Planner is giving away a gift basket for mothers day. Go check it out!

New 5 minutes for mom contests

Again the twins over at 5minutesformom.com are having some fun giveaways.

The first one I'm really excited about because I love to put cute things in Alexandra's hair. These cute hair ribbons come from Madison's Room


The second one is for a cool book pack featuring Angie the Ant. This is a cool book that a portion of the profit goes to help prevent child abuse in American. You can get more info on that here Either of these I would consider for Alexandra for her birthday coming up in July!

A new job opportunity

Paul has had two interviews within flowserve for a new position. He's really excited about it and if you wouldn't mind, lift up some prayers for him. He says he'd really like the position and it would be more money. Thanks. We should know something late next week.

It's the sickness that keeps on giving

This is what an infected sinus looks like. It's what I have. I have pretty much been sick since the beginning of March. I was put on Antibiotics but it still hung around. I hate it when the sinus right under my eye is infected, it makes my teeth hurt. Anyway, I'm going to the dr. tomorrow and hopefully it will end!

A hilarious quote

I found this on another mommy blog and had to post it here!


"Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake!" ANONYMOUS

That is laugh out loud funny!

Wordless Wednesday

From 2005, This cracks me up!

Back to life as I knew it

In my last post, I let you know that I was going away to a Women's weekend. What a weekend it was. I got an opportunity to choose to forgive some people in my life that I'd been harboring hurt toward. I also learned that God had been giving me opportunity to reach out to people and show them love but because of my hurt I couldn't. I also felt incredible love and acceptance from God and from other people. If you ever get invited to go to a Decolores Weekend, Do it. It is an awesome experience.

Headed off into the unknown

I won't be blogging again til monday since I'm off to a women's retreat. I don't really know what it's about but I won't be back until Sunday. Pray for Paul as he's with the kids most of the weekend. Pray that God meets me and I'll be blessed by this weekend!

Help for a fellow blogger

A fellow blogger named Heather is dealing with a brain tumor. Let me tell you since I've become a blogger I've noticed how much bloggers care for each other. Boomama has set up a really cool thing to bless Heather as she and her husband go to the Mayo clinic for a second opinion. If you would like to give to Heather financially to help with the trip, here's the link to do that. If you'd like to follow Heather's story, here's the link for that.

Wordless Wednesday

Two random acts of Kindness

Today is Tuesday so Alexandra is at school this morning. With us being so busy I hadn't had a chance to go to the store yet this week. So with the two boys in tow I decided to tackle it. As I'm pushing the cart down the pasta aisle, an older man stops us and gives me two pennies for the horse. He says that Sebastian looks like he's a cowboy needing a ride. We thanked him and kept going. Then as I'm loading up the groceries and the boys in the van, I forget the cart is behind the van and as I'm about ready to back out another man pushed the cart into the cart corral for me and then smiles and waves. I would have backed right into it with the van. What a nice thing to do. Two strangers helping out this mom with a busy day! How wonderful!

A new addiction for Sebastian

Fisher Price's Little People A.K.A. Peeps! Sebastian can't get enough of the little people these days. We have a ton of them and he hords them like he doesn't have enough. It is so funny. In the car we have to have peeps. Outside we have to have peeps. In bed, he has to have peeps. He lines them all up and then put them back in the bowl and then he takes them out, lines them up, knocks them down and then picks them back up again. It's pretty cute. I remember little people as the one on the right side of the picture above. Sebastian has the one on the left. Oh how the little people have changed.

mom to mom sale download deux

So, after a lot of rest I have a few more thoughts on the mom to mom sale. I do feel it was a successful. I'm happy with it but not satisfied. We did a lot of advertising but I think we could do some targeted advertising to reach mom's and caregivers specifically. I also learned to not have a table. I originally took a table to have another table but I was either tied to the table or trying to find someone to watch my stuff. I also think I need at least one more adult to be in charge of the large item area. The teens did a great job but If someone else was in charge of it then I wouldn't have to check in with them and see how they are doing. Having the teens help was a great idea and all of them did an awesome job. I think we might move it up in time like maybe start at 9 AM instead of 10 and only go to 1 PM.

I had a dream last week that someday we'd have a mom to mom sale at Wings stadium (the large hockey stadium in Kalamazoo). I wonder how long it'll be before that happens. At least we wouldn't have to borrow tables if we did it there! :)

A beautiful sunny day

This is one of those spring days in Michigan where I love to just sit in the sun. The wind is blowing and it's a little chilly (50 degrees) but the sun is so warm and if you can find a place out of the wind, it's really warm. We went outside earlier and will go out again after dinner. I'm so thankful God created the sun to warm the earth. It seems to make a day of cleaning and laundry much, much better!

Mom to mom sale download

Today was the day that I put together what is called a mom to mom sale. 14 mom's came out to sell their stuff to other moms. We had good outlets of advertising but didn't really get a good turnout of people to buy stuff. We had probably 100 people come to buy but with all the advertising, I thought we'd have more. We had a lot between 10 and noon and then it just died off! If you have ever been to one of these or have hosted one of these and have any suggestions on how we could get more people, please leave me a comment. I would love the feedback and suggestions!

Free music friday

It's that time again. This week there's two well known artists and two newbies!
Check it out!

Take a look at my new blog header

Thanks to Revka over at RS Designs for designing me a new header. I love it. I especially love the font. I reminds me of an old time sitcom or something which really is my life. If you are interested in getting her to do some work for you, email her at rrstearns@peoplepc.com or check out her website!

A new contest over at 5minutesformom.com

The ladies over at 5minutesformom.com have a new contest. This sick bear cup is an awesome idea. If I do win it I will have to decide whether to get a pink or blue one.

Get in on the contest here

Oh, no she did not just say that to me, did she?

Tuesday's are our busiest days of the week. Yesterday was even busier because of Sebastian's evaluation. So by the time we got home from the bookmobile at 8 PM I was pretty tired. Plus, Paul didn't come home last night after work, he needed to be at church. So, Alexandra is putting me through the paces last night and I said to her "Alexandra you are tiring me out. I am one tired momma!" She responds,"Well, momma, maybe you should just go to bed. You need a good nights rest and you'll feel better". I stood there stunned. She was using my own words to her against me and at three! I said you're right I do need to get some rest. After I tucked her in she said to me "I hope you get lots of rest tonight mama so that you aren't so tired tomorrow." I said I hope you do too Alexandra. Her response "Oh I will, I'm going to sleep all night long mama! I smiled and left the room! How can my words be coming back to haunt me so soon! Pretty crazy!

Dealing with a delay

We had Sebastian evaluated yesterday with the specialist at Early on. It's a program to help delayed toddlers and their families in Kalamazoo county. We have seen some things in Sebastian that we wanted to get checked out and the Dr. didn't feel any further testing was necessary. The specialist's that came to the house yesterday were so good. One of them got on the floor and played with Sebastian while she was testing him. The other one asked me some questions. They determined that he has some sensory issues. He might have some sensitivity in his ears and his sense of touch. He also is about 9 months delayed in his gross motor skills. We're going to have a hearing test done in a few weeks and a therapist is going to start coming to the house every month or so to work with Sebastian and I. Yesterday afternoon and evening I was having a hard time because it was hard to hear that there is anything wrong with your child. Today I'm glad we had it done and am eager to help Sebastian. All the things that he's delayed with are fixable and treatable and it will help to get him back on track.

You know, Lori?

I was in the play room today playing cars with Sebastian and Alexandra came in and was upset that no one was in the living room playing with her. First what you need to know is that we have a few imaginary friends that come and go as they please. Lori is the most popular. So when she's upset that no one is playing with her I say with a large grin on my face, why don't you play with Lori? This was her response today " Mom, Lori is sick in bed today. She and Maca played out in the snow yesterday and they got really sick. They have to stay in bed today so they get better. I hope she gets better by tomorrow." I was so shocked. First we hadn't talked about Lori in a few days at least and then for her to come up with such an extravagant story just cracked me up. She also says all that with a straight face. She doesn't lack for personality that's for sure!

What a weekend!

It was a good weekend but really tiring. Paul took the kids to an easter egg hunt on Sat with our friends Jayme and Ryan. He's a brave soul but he had help. Then we had Jayme and Ryan and our Friend Ron over for a few games Sat. night. Sunday we went to Bacon, Bacon, Bacon (AKA Easter breakfast), then easter service. We then headed over to my step mom's sisters house for dinner and an easter egg hunt. Also one of my cousins is a stylist so she cut my brother's hair and Sebastian's. I was so thankful after the hack job I did on it. You can see in the pics, it looks sooooo much better. We didn't get home from there until 7 PM and then after getting the kids to bed I still had to go into work and cover midday's for today. Whew! It's nice to be doing laundry in my pjs today! :)

Injustice abounds, how do you respond?

Lately I've been having some conflict with Alexandra about how Sebastian gets a pooh spoon for Breakfast and she doesn't. She's even used the words, it's not fair! I've been really irritated with this because it usually happens at meal times when I'm already busy getting everyone something to drink and eat. I was resting this afternoon and had a huge revelation....She's just like me. Now, I don't complain that someone got a pooh spoon and I didn't. Oh, no mine are much more important. This person gets away with lying, that person gets something that I deserved (like a raise or a promotion). I can remember when I was working I was all over the office politics and how unfair so much was. Boy when I look back at that it was ugly. Just as ugly as Alexandra's need to pout about the injustice at meals. I keep telling her to be thankful that she has food to eat and milk to drink and that she has a spoon to use to eat with. I guess I need to start doing some self talk of my own when I see injustice. If you see me walking around talking to myself just know I'm not going crazy!

Photos of our cupcake adventure

Alexandra was a huge help with the cupcakes. She put the cupcake liners in the pans, then helped stir the batter. She also got to lick the spoon as you can see. We tried to do the licorice handles but I couldn't get them to stay up so we put a few crosses on the cupcakes for Good Friday. Alexandra showed Paul the cupcakes and said we did some crosses Daddy for Jesus' dying today. I was so glad she got it! The cupcakes are going to church tonight so I don't gain 10 pounds with them around. :)

Springtime cupcakes

Alexandra and I are making these cupcakes today. When we get them done I'll post some pictures.

A Presto for Grandma

The ladies over at 5minutesformom.com are prize giving machines. They are now giving away a machine I have never heard of before but would love to win it for my mom! It's called a Presto! Now my mom is very computer savvy but this would be cool for her since her Mother (my grandmother) doesn't have a computer. I could send Emails and then my mom could enjoy them and show them to her mom. Check out Presto.com for more info on this very cool product! You've only got until April 9th at 1PM to sign their mister linky!

Unbelievable

No words can describe my disgust with these views outside our house this morning.

Wordless Wednesday

Alexandra and Atticus back in September when Atticus was just a month old.

Happy Easter from the Erbe's!

The glasses have a duck and bunny on them and are so cute. Also, in the picture with just Alexandra you can see the very cute skirt from Katchy Kids that we won! We got it in the mail on Saturday and she has worn it every day since! We also got her new Strawberry Shortcake shoes which are very, very cute. Makes me wish I was a little girl again so I could wear cute stuff like she does. It's hard to believe that both of these kids are sick!

He's sitting up!

I can't believe how big Atticus is getting. He's sitting up and almost totally on his own. He's so unhappy just being flat on his back these days.

This is not a joke

So, Alexandra has had goopy eyes for the last few days. I really didn't think much of it. Then Sebastian had goopy eyes yesterday. This morning they both woke up with puffy eyes. Alexandra also woke me up in the middle of the night coughing her head off and saying her cheek hurt. I called the Dr. got them in at 9:10 by 9:30 the Dr. determined Alexandra had a double ear infection and eye infection and Sebastian had a single ear infection and was on his way to a eye infection. What the Dr. (and I) was so amazed about is they were both really happy and weren't really fussy. They had both been sick for 10 days to 2 weeks but I hate to take them to the Dr. because unless they are really sick with an infection our Dr. doesn't do anything for them. Oh, the other thing that floored me was the medicine was $188.00 with insurance! AHHHHHHHH! What a day and it's not even 1 PM yet!