Dancing Queen

Soo, the other day, Payton was just dancing away and it was soo cute.

Then Madelynn joined her and it was soo funny!!!!

Its on!!!

I have never been one to make new years resolutions, mostly because I feel as if I'm setting myself up for failure. Just a personal decision... BUT, this year, I'm at a point in my life where I feel like how could I NOT make a new years resolution... or a "good decision for 2011" as my husband would call it. He's not to hip on the resolution business either.

I believe that to lose weight, you gotta be all in mind, body, and soul... and so I'm not gonna try to lose weight if I'm not 100% with it. Know what I mean?? I've never made it to this point after having a baby without being pregnant again so I've never reached that point where all of me is 100% ready to jump in. Until now that is!!! I'm excited to begin this journey and I hope and pray that I can stick with it and be the person I wanna be.

This just isn't me. I give myself slack in the fact that I have indeed been pregnant for almost 3 years. But, I just really love food! Food makes me happy. (good Lord, I sound like those 800 lb. people you see on tv who can't move cuz their so fat) sorry but its true. I HATE the fact that I'm embarrassed about who I've become. I HATE the fact that I am nervous to see people I haven't seen in years for fear of what they'll think of how much weight I've gained. I HATE the fact that I was embarrassed to go to Nat's Christmas party and have to meet all his fellow employees for the first time and that I was scared that they would think "Nat's wife is bigger than he is"... kinda silly I suppose... and I realize that makes me sound like a selfish person who only cares about what other people think of her, but it goes deeper than that. I kinda sorta care what people think of me (but who doesn't) but only to the extent that I just want to represent my husband, my home, my life, and my name in a good, positive way. I respect myself enough to dress nice, do my make up, and fix my hair when I leave my house. I want to make a good first impression on people. You only make one first impression! I honestly think that it'll bring up my self esteem a lot, and also help me a lot with my 2nd new years resolution.

......which is (tell me if you ever heard this one before??) to TALK more!!! I highly dislike my extent of shyness and once and for all I'm gonna do something about it. I'm gonna force myself to talk around people I don't know. Even if it means I turn the color of a tomato and possibly might have to run to the bathroom to vomit. I've actually really been working on this a lot this month. I talked to a couple people about my "issues" and I've really been trying to work on them. Even Nat has noticed a difference. Simply from talking to someone at the grocery store, or the doctors office, to just saying stuff just to say it to people I know, but don't normally talk to much around.

So heres to 2011, a skinnier, healthier, more talkative ME!!

(prayers and encouragement welcome for this food lovin, no talkin gal!!)

Big boy.

I've put this off for a bit 1.) because I knew we were gonna be traveling a lot in the month of Dec. and I didn't wanna try to keep it up in the process and 2.) Neither of the girls ever cared to much about eating till they were closer to 5 months. Soooo, we pulled out the baby food for the little man. I would definitely say it was a success. He caught on pretty quick. On the other hand, the sippy cup thing wasn't to appealing for him... which I guess is the opposite from both girls. They loved the sippy cup and weren't always to keen on the food part. He just LOVED to be sitting at the table with his sisters. He just kept looking at them and smiling.

this is just to awesome not to share.

blowin snot bubbles baby!

and this is just to dang cute not to share.

Christmas 2010

and what a SICK Christmas it was. The day after Christmas, Madelynn woke up complaining that her ear was hurting, and that night Payton was up all night crying... which as I have learned in the past... that almost always means her ears are hurting. So off we went to the Doctors office, of course being a Sunday, only walk in clinics were open. That was an experience, and a blog entry all on its own!! All that matters is that we got the girls checked out and on antibiotics!!! Gave them that first dose and you could tell they started to feel better. Were all on the mend still. Sometimes getting over this cold and congestion junk is worse than the initial few days your sick. All 3 kids are still coughing and their noses are running, but fever is no more, and ear aches are no more!!!! Were back home now too so that has been nice to be back in their familiar surroundings and in their own bed.

Anyways.... so I don't remember how much I wrote in my last blog because I have severe brain loss so if I repeat myself please forgive me.

Here we go.

We got in town late Sunday night, spent Monday (apart from the Doctors office) at my parents house and did Christmas with them that day. We had a great time and ate some de-licious food!

(my camera died while we were there so not many picts)

(sorry this is sideways??)

Madelynn in her adorable little sweat suit outfit that her aunties bought her... and holding her newest (addiction) movie. I'm thrilled that we are moving away from Alvin and the Chipmunks... were now onto "pewty peast" Got that??? $5 to the first one who knows what that means.

Payton was so content to only play with wrapping paper and boxes.

I (am the bomb) because I FINALLY surprised Nat with a gift on the day it was intended to be given to him. I'm sure I've talked about it before, how I can NEVER surprise him cuz he always guesses it, or I end up telling him. Yea, in the 5 years that we have been together I don't think i've ever pulled this off.

He was truly surprised, and came home and set up his new surround sound in our 500 sq foot house...

ready to see the saddest thing you ever saw???

my poor, sick boy. He looked pretty pitiful!

We had a great time. Its always nice to savor that family time just a little bit more than usual knowing we have to drive 230 miles home. My mom always has a way of making Christmas a special time for us... and even now as an adult, who's been out of the house for 3.5 years, I love to come "home" to that feeling.

Tuesday we spent the day with Nat's family and did Christmas with them... Where I seriously had the BEST ham sandwich I ever had. I'm not kiddin. I wish I could eat another one right now.

Not only did I surprise him once, but I pulled it off 2 times!! He had no clue. I was so proud of myself. This one was an air compressor. Nat's the kinda guy that talks and talks and talks about something he needs/wants but will NEVER buy it because he doesn't wanna spend the money on himself. So I found myself surfing black friday/cyber monday deals and these 2 things popped in my head. He has always, since the first day I knew him, talked about wanting an air compressor, but they were too expensive.... cuz if he were gonna buy one, it wasn't gonna be no 3 gallon one. Nope, it needed to be 20 gallons. He has borrowed his dads anytime he has ever needed one, so I thought this would be perfect since we've moved and don't have access to his dads anymore.

Notice her monkey slippers?? She loves them... and so do I cuz they keep her little tootsies warm. I hate cold feet. Now if only Payton would keep hers on.

"frunacks" Oh holy cow, forget everything else she got... all she cared about, talked about, and thought about was the dadgum fruit snacks.

She wasn't feeling to great that night. :(

Like I've said before, I have the greatest in-laws in the world and its always a good time when we are together. I Love that I have 2 special families in my life.

I started the tradition Madelynn's first Christmas that we would have jammies as ourChristmas Eve gift. I have had the girls all picked out and ready since October. But as we were in Texas, they were in New Mexico. I still ended up going to the store and buying them jammies (for having lack of) for the remainder of our stay in TX. so those were their Christmas eve gifts. Stetson got some for Christmas from U. Karl and A. Crystal so that worked out great for him... and yes, they're all miserably sick in this picture.

2010

2009

2008

Wow!! add a kid a year. What a blessing that is. :)

Christmas day, Nat drove down early that morning with all the kids gifts that he wrapped (have I mentioned I'm married to the greatest guy ever?!??!) and we spent Christmas with my family. P girl was still feeling pretty bad that morning so she was not to into it, but good thing she has the greatest big sister of all who was right there willing, and ready to tear open her gifts for her. Madelynn really couldnt care less about what was in the wrapping paper, she just wanted to rip open the presents and move on.

This animals were the #1 hit for her. I bought these awhile back at Target in that little $1 section and she loves them. She plays with them all day long.

This was my -all time favorite, had to get it for her, oh my gosh can't wait to watch her open it and love it- gift for Madelynn. I've known I wanted to get her this for months!! Of course, only if she continued to like Toy Story. So when it came time for some Christmas shopping, she was still way into TS so I got it... and just my luck, about 3 weeks before Christmas, Toy Story isn't IT anymore. So needless to say, she was not so much into this gift and we pretty much should have saved our money. Every once in awhile she'll get it out and play with him. I'm still kinda bummed about this one. I'm hoping she'll ask to watch TS and kinda re-spark that love and love her woody.

This doll house was a pretty big hit for both the girls. I LOVE to sit and watch Madelynn play and use her imagination and make the people talk to each other. Now if we could only learn to play together...

this is pretty much how we saw Stetson 60% of the time. Breathing treatments every 3 hours around the clock. Luckily, he takes them pretty darn well for a 4 month old!

ever since he was 3 months old, this boy loves to stand!

Stetson and Payton already have a special little relationship going on. He can always spot her, and she is always watching out for him, and making him smile.

All in all, we had a very memorable 2010 and I can't wait to see what 2011 holds for us.

Oh and P.S.... we've *almost* made it to January and NO BABY ON THE WAY!!! Woo Hoo!!

lol. Thats kinda been a big joke this year. Were at that point where we've always started the new year with a positive pregnancy test... or thoughts of being pregnant. So far were safe on that one.

Fighter.

Ever since Stetson was still in the womb, I could tell that that boy was gonna be somethin else. Just the way he would move, and NEVER stop. All that he went through with the delivery and how he did so awesome being 5 weeks early and not having a darn thing wrong with him. He is a fighter.... and he has once again proven that he is indeed just that. He is doing soooo good. To be quite honest, I didn't think that he was gonna get over this RSV very quick and easy, it hit him pretty hard. BUT, As of today he has had no fever, no tylenol, and he has kept his food down all day (aside from one 1/2 little coughing fits this evening.) I'm so proud of him, and his little preemie body (HA) for doin so good getting over all this. He still gets treatments every 3 hours, but his wheezing and breathing is SO much better! Which that's what counts more than anything with this virus.

The girls are still working on getting over this. They're still running fever and miserable. All I gotta say is thank God for Ibuprofen!!!! When it wears off, the fever spikes and all they want is to be held, give them some meds and before you know it, they're perked up and playing again.

... and just as it always happens, as the kids get better, mama goes downhill. I'm thankful that it ends up this way... I'd much rather be sick after them than during. I started to feel bad last night. Sharon took all the kids Fri. night because I was literally running on 3 hours of sleep. THAT was the best Christmas present ever. :) I slept for 8 hours straight. Thats a record!!!! I started to feel bad again around noon today (technically yesterday) and went and slept from 3-7!! A 4 hour nap... thats another record. I felt so great when I woke up... and now, Its 1:10 am and I am wide awake... and have no one to keep me company so what better to do than to blog???

Nat is on his way early in the AM with all the kids gifts. I can't wait to see him. It stinks to be away this time of year. But I know it was best for us to stay here so I could have help with our 3 sick kids.. and be as close as possible to my nurse of a mother in law who's been through this a time or 2 with her son.... and also so he gets better too (he's also sick.)

We've had an awesome Christmas with our families (more exciting blog coming later) and I am so grateful that we get to be with them this Christmas. Its truly been a memorable Christmas for us Roses... but I wouldn't have it any other way.

(sorry for the lack of pictures, had I known we would be stuck in TX, I would have packed my camera cord... along with pajama's for my children, thicker jackets for my children, more clothes for my children, and more shampoo. Live and learn and LAUGH!!!!!!!!!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE. HAVE A BLESSED DAY, AND REMEMBER THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.

A list.

-RSV

-coughing

-fever

-runny noses

-vomiting

-congestion

-Horrible packing/planning

-Stuck in San Angelo

-Husband leaving San Angelo today to go back to work

-Not a happy wife

Soooo, to sum that all up, took Stetson to the Dr on Monday cuz he started wheezing real bad and went downhill Thursday when we got home last week. He has RSV and is completely and utterly miserable. He's so congested, coughing, running a high temp, not eating, breathing treatments every 3 hours, he just lays there and cries when he's awake. Luckily he has been pretty much sleeping all day. I feel so bad for him. Makes me so sick to have to sit there and watch him suffer and not be able to help him at all. In case you don't know, RSV has no cure, no meds to help it, it just has to run its course and you have to sit there and watch your 4 month old struggle to breath. SUCKS. Dr. W told us not to leave town until he was on the up side of all this, just in case he were to need to go to the hospital. I personally don't feel comfortable and ready to leave just yet.

The girls have both been hacking and coughing for a few days now and last night they both started running fever. The night before, they both threw up. Thank the good Lord above, it was just one time. It was the saddest thing ever! They had no clue what was going on and it scared them. Madelynn went first so we got her all cleaned up, changed the sheets, and were putting them back to bed and there goes Payton.... so we started the whole process over again. They're both feeling yucky this morning too. One good thing is all of this is getting it outta the way and they'll all be better at one time.

I am a packer, I am a planner, I pack 14 pairs of clothes (exaggerating) for each kid when we travel and I pack plenty for all extremes. Hot, cold, freezing, snowing, sweating. I also bring all the dirty laundry when we come visit cuz its much easier for me to do here... so I know that we'll have plenty of everything for them. Did I do that this "short" visit??? Nope. Did I bring their dirty clothes this time around?? Nope. So I have 1 pair of jammies for each kid, and a couple outfits. Nothing comfortable and loose for Stetson... cuz after all, we were just coming for a short little 2 day visit. Grrr.... Isn't that just about right??? So needless to say were doing lots of laundry.

Nat has to go back today cuz he goes back on call tonight. :( I just hope we can be together for Christmas. Hopefully we'll be able to go back home before then, but if not I hope that they'll let Nat off to come be with us..... and I'm tired, and upset about Nat leaving, and I'm exhausted, but more than anything I am thankful that even tho Nat has to go, I'm still gonna have tons of help!!!!

Pray for us.

Twins.

When we were in the waiting room for Payton's appointment, Payton was "talking" to some of the other people and (Nat was holding her) one man said "boy, you can sure tell who she took after"


and.... earlier that day, when I took Stetson to his 4 month check up, Dr Wehner (who was also Nat's pedi) said "he sure looks like his daddy" Nat was not ther mind you.

At least one of them took after me. :)

Christmas festivities

I honestly have a really hard time teaching, and talking to my kids about santa until they have the REAL meaning of Christmas down in their little heads. Know what I mean?? We've been teaching the girls about Christmas for some time now, and explaining to them why we celebrate... but I still find myself hesitating to tell them "santa" is gonna bring them gifts. Is that dumb?? I am constantly having to remind myself of the joy and the fun Christmas was for me, waiting for santa as my brother and sister and I lay in the bedroom Christmas eve night, talking and laughing and excited about what was to come the next morning . I don't want my kids to miss out on that. Those are some of the greatest memories I have with my sibs. So I've just learned to do it all in proportion. If we blow santa, and gifts up to be bigger than the birth of Jesus Christ then we might have a problem on our hands. So we keep santa small, and Jesus big.

Anyways, so we went to visit santa here in the Hobbs... and before I go any further, just wanna make a shout out to all you San Angelo-ans.... ya'll think the SA mall is small???? Just come for a visit and I'll show you a small mall. Hobbs mall is what the san angelo mall looks like to the San Antonio, or Dallas mall. So San Angelo mall is HUGE compared to Hobbs.... anyways, yes, so we went to see santa and it was a pretty successful trip with a 1 and 2 year old if I might say so myself. All day Madelynn was so excited to go see santa and she kept talking about seeing santa, and when I would ask her if she was gonna sit on his lap, she very quickly said NO! How she knew who he was, what he looked like, and that she DID NOT wanna sit in his lap is beyond me. We really had no talk of santa prior to this. When we got there thats just how she reacted too. She was excited to be there and to see him, but she wasn't gonna sit on his lap!! Payton was the exact same way. So we got a great picture of all of us with santa. It was a fun little outing. We ended up running into Nat's sister, and all her kids and grandkids also visiting santa and we all went to dinner afterwards. I was really sad that we didn't get a pic of the little man before we left. I asked Nat to dress him and Nat being Nat, he tucked Stetson's long sleeve button up shirt in.... and told me we needed to get him a belt. It was funny. By time we got to santa it was already untucked.

I bought one of those ginger bread house kit things and we had fun putting it all together. Payton was a grouchy little girl so she was not involved in the making of this. Madelynn really enjoyed it tho. She just wanted to eat the candy and couldn't comprehend why we weren't supposed to.

the finished product

after awhile, we looked over and saw this:

and went on to read in the instructions that you're supposed to let the icing set on the house for 15 min BEFORE you put the candies on... not after. Lesson learned.

We had a great visit back home this week. Payton had her appointment, and Stetson also had his 4 month check up, and our last with Dr. Wehner (waaaaaaa!!!!!!) Its strange to stay in my parents house"visiting" that'll take some getting used to. Its always so hard to try and fit in seeing everyone so I hope no one gets offended when we come to town and don't see you. We try our best to cram in a full time with family and friends.

Good news!

Payton had her appointment today. ... but before we saw the urologist, she had to hae a VCUG done which was absolutely HORRIBLE for Payton and for me. I told Nat that he was holding her down this time cuz I already had my chance the first time around. it was horrifying... I just stood over in the distance fighting back the tears... at one point she was desperately reaching for me and saying mama... when I walked over I pretty much lost it. She was crying and fighting so hard she bit her lip and it started bleeding. Sickening to have to watch my sweet baby girl go through that.

The procedure was pretty quick and once they were done, they needed Payton to empty her bladder so they could get an x-ray of her bladder empty. So when they were all done, the Doctor asked me if I could go "talk" to her and get her to pee (keep in mind that she is 15 months old)... and I (and later found out that Nat thought the same thing) totally thought he was joking and kinda laughed it off.... Then the Dr. stood there staring at me and said, "NOW, can you go do it right now".... I walked over and we went on and on trying to get Payton to pee, meanwhile she is screaming and fighting still... and Nat and I are both sitting there like ok.... really... these people are IDIOTS if they think were gonna convince our 15 month old to pee. So after he left, the 2 nurses (both mine and Nat's age) stood there and stood there waiting for Payton to pee. The female nurse proceeded to ask me if Payton pottied on the potty at home and told me I could take her to the bathroom if need be. Ok, first of all, I'm her mother and If I knew of a way to get my child to pee for you, Im dang sure gonna try that first.... and second of all if I had my 15 month old potty trained, she would not be wearing a diaper. Inside I was in awe that the doctor and both nurses had absolutely no clue about this... I know some people are oblivious to that kinda stuff, but if your working in a profession like that, shouldn't you know a teeny tiny bit about children. I don't know, maybe I was grouchy towards them or something.

ANYWAYS... now that thats outta the way here's what the urologist said: Her reflux is not better, but not worse. Praise God! So in other words, no need to schedule surgery now and we'll continue to go back every year for the VCUG to check the status over the year. Her reflux is still at a 4 and has a 20% chance of healing itself. BUT, I still know this BIG Guy that can 100% heal it AND THEN SOME!! He said as long as nothing happens over the year, as it hasn't this year, we can keep putting of correcting it for a few years, that way to get her body, and body parts grown and easier, and safer to operate on. So keep on prayin!!!!!!!

Hmm.

Can you tell when Nat is on days off?? Consistent blogging, followed by a whole lotta nothin for some time. We are enjoying some daddy time thats for sure. This new job has been the greatest blessing to our family in the 3 years that we have been a family. Its got God's hand ALL over it.

I do have sooo much to write about....

and soon enough I will...

but for now won't you stop for a sec and pray for my Payton Elizabeth. Today is the day of her VCUG. Please pray for a peaceful, smooth sailing, quick test for her tomorrow.... and you might say a prayer for her mother, who last time, had to hold her down while this test was being done, turned a bright red and nearly needed to be escorted out of the hospital for violent behavior towards the poor, innocent souls doing this to my daughter.

(not really... but it does do a number on a mama's heart to see her child be put through pain)

2

Where would the world be without 2 year olds???? I don't know how I've lived my 22 years of life without a 2 year old. Oh man how I love that girl, she keeps everything so fun and has always got me laughin. The things she says just kill me! I am really enjoying Madelynn at this age, and I might regret saying this, but I CANNOT wait until Payton is that age and they're both like real human beings that talk and carry on a conversation with you... or each other. Sure, she has her 2 year old moments... like she did last week at the Dr. office. but I think its safe to say that the good times out weigh the bad at this time in life.

I really wanna start writing down all her little quirky little sayings and doings. For instance, what 2 year old asks to take a nap?? Mine does! She comes up to me ever so often and asks me to take her to her bed and tuck her in.

She has a little cough and was woke up a little to early this morning from her coughing and she walks in our room, eyes squinted and stumbling all over the place cuz she's still half asleep and says "I choke mama, I choke" so I got her some water and she crawled in bed with us.. then around 9:30, after she got in trouble for pushing her sister, she asked me to take her to her bed... and thats where she's been since.

She'll ask to hold Stetson (and sometimes even Payton) and when she's done she says "he stink momma" with a look of disgust on her face.

She loves to wear her "mits" , hat and "big pink jacket" inside

Right now for sleeping we are up to:

Jesse doll

bear

zebra

buzz

baby

special blanket

na na blanket.

and don't even try to walk outta the room without making sure she has every single one of those things in the proper place for sleeping.

No need for words on this one...

and of course we continue to have the every day battle with the "tucky"... and she sometimes wins.

She is starting to say a few words the correct way and it breaks my heart!!!!! I don't want her to stop saying "her" words

ne nuggets... she now says chicken nuggets

crebs... she now says the incredibles.

When she was first learning to talk, and still does a little bit to this day, she added an "f" to the beginning of everything. So Liz was and always will be aunt "fiz"... even tho she now says it correctly.

She is obsessed with having her back scratched! So she'll come lay on you, pull up her shirt and say "Frug a back" If she is crying cuz she got hurt, she'll come up to me, pull her shirt up and stop crying and ask me to "frug a back." Never fails. You cannnot hold that girl without her thinking she needs her back rubbed.

She also says, since she first started talking, "I hold you mama" When she wants to be held.

When Nat wasn't around, we had no routine for bedtime cuz at the end of the day I was shot and done and had absolutely no energy to do any kinda book reading, or song singin, We'd just say our prayers and go to bed. Now that daddy is here to help with bedtime, the girls have really, really gotten even more into books and we enjoy reading to them, and letting them read too. The other night Madelynn started reading to us.

Needless to say, bedtime has become the best part of the day, not just cuz I'm gonna get a small break in life, but its just a sweet time to be together as a family.