Letting Go...

Here's the situation... Matt and I have been working on getting out of debt. On a one income family, it takes time. We also need a vehicle that is easier for me to get the kids in and out of and it can carry our stuff with out us having to plan around the weather. Oh, and gets better, not asking for great, gas mileage.

If you don't know, we have a truck. It's a lovely truck, but is not suitable for the four of us. We have almost paid the truck off and do not want to start over with another car, but we just didn't know what do to.

I was looking at cars online and saw one that was $600. I jokingly said to Matt, "Here's one for $600."

He's quiet for a moment, then says, "Megan, really that's not a bad idea. We could get a car for that, save what we are paying on the truck and put all of that towards our debt."

I was quiet for a moment, then said, "Hmmm, that is the best idea we've had in a long time. We could really do some damage on our debt. In 6 months, we could be nearly out (not counting house) of debt! I'm game."

I'm sure smarter people would have thought of that, but we aren't that smart, well I am, but I just had a baby.

The next morning I woke up and talked to Matt about it again and he agreed it was a swell idea. So we are selling the truck, and going to buy a piece.

Matt's parents have never bought a vehicle with their own money. They have ALWAYS been given cars. Matt said he remembers they had so many cars, his parents had to give some away. Matt's youngest brother and his family was given a minivan! So we are praying for someone to give us a car OR for God to provide one we CAN afford. I'm so excited to be doing the right thing. I have such a peace about this, it's exciting! We will be able to do so much more for our family and for others when we get out from under our debt and get on top.

Before I met Matt I had a list, it was what I wanted in my future husband. I had a friend who made fun of my list saying, "Megan, you are too specific. It will never happen like that." He was wrong, I got EXACTLY what I prayed. I am hoping that by us giving up our truck in order to get out of our sinful debt, God will bless us with the specifics we desire. I know He will.

Anyone want a truck?

Pooper and Chloe

Here are few pictures a friend of mine took of the kids, there are a bunch more, but these are some of my fav's. When these were taken Cooper was just over a week old and Chloe was/is 20 months. If you need a photographer or just enjoy looking at good pictures (I do) check out her website. It's http://www.betsygregoryphotography.com She is fantastic, creative and loves capturing people's special moments. She does it all and she does it well! Thanks Betsy!

It was difficult to get Chloe to sit still for the pictures because all she wanted to do was play with Sam (Chloe's friend) and chase Scout (Sam's dog) around the house. Betsy, being quick on the draw, managed to get some really great ones of her. The one of Chloe with her big smile and the 4 teeth? That's her saying "CHEEEEEZZE." It's really hard to get a pictures with out her saying that, she is trained to say cheese when ever she sees a camera. That's my fault, I guess I didn't realize it would be like Pavlov's dog.

Cooper 3 Weeks!

Our Cooper is growing up...Napping in the sunny living room in his new outfit. When we were discharged from the hospital we realized we had NOTHING for him to wear once we got home. On our way out, we ran into Utica Square to Baby Gap and picked him up a few outfits, this is one of my fav's. It says, "New to the herd." I thought it was cute.

He got his first "real" bath in the tub... and slept the whole time.

Daddy got to feed him his first bottle. I wasn't saving my milk b/c I was too lazy to get the bottles out and clean them. I finally decided I am being wasteful, so I am now saving milk and Matt gets to feed him before we go to bed. Cooper gulped it down like a champ. I was worried he wouldn't take to the bottle, but thank goodness he does! Matt didn't say anything, but I think he really enjoyed getting to feed his son for the first time. With Chloe I waited 3 months to give her a bottle ( I was told one couldn't pump until after 3 months. That was false info.) and I felt bad that Matt couldn't partake in the action. Hopefully, my milk supply stays where it is!! If it doesn't we may have to take out a loan to buy formula! haha j/k On a side note, how much money do you spend at the grocery store now? We buy the same things we bought before the cost of everything went up and we now leave spending $100 easily! It's crazy and sad and frustrating. Don't get me started on gas...

Monumental Day For My Hair

Today is a monumental day!! Why? Well, let me explain...

I have naturally curly hair, but it's the type of curly that is usually NOT manageable. In order to look presentable I have to straighten my hair. This is a process that can take an easy 30 minutes, longer the longer my hair is. If I don't straighten it this is what I look like...


That is no joke, the more humidity the more psychotic I look. It can even look like that if I have straightened it and walk out where it's humid. We will never live in Hawaii or areas of the world where it rains a lot; no beach home for me.

Why is today monumental? I "did" my hair just now. I haven't fixed my hair in over 2 weeks! When I was pregnant, my hair would do anything I commanded it to do. Now that I am not pregnant, it does the opposite of what I command it to do.

Cooper 2 Weeks!

I can't believe it has been two weeks since I squeezed a 7lb 10oz child out my yoohoo, but it has and surprisingly all has been pretty good. I haven't really left the house much in the past two weeks, it's just too much work getting everyone ready and into the truck. I did make it to M.O.P.S on Monday, but that's all. Matt takes Chloe out and about when he gets home, but Coop and I just hang.

Here are some pics.

The previous posting was from Chloe. After she said what she said, I decided to push the chair UNDER the table. I thought she wouldn't get up on it if it were there...

I was wrong. She got up there anyways and got stuck! She is on the chair UNDER the table and is folded over b/c the table is in the way! haha She had been a little turd this day and I decided to take my time helping her out of her predicament. I had to take pictures of course. Don't worry, she is just mad, she's not hurt.

From the Mouth of Chloe

Three things I learned the week my parents brought that new kid into my house...

I learned to climb onto the kitchen chair...
... I got up here, but I haven't yet learned how to get down, so I just sit there until I am ready to get down. Don't tell them, but they think by moving the chair AWAY from the table I won't be able to reach the things on top. HA I say to them. I know how to move the chair TO the table as so I can reach mommy's new camera, the candle and all of that little boy's things...
I also learned I have my daddy wrapped around my fat little finger...
But the most important thing I am learning these days?
How to use mommy's breast pump.

Update Coming Soon, I Promise

I need to preface this and future posts. If I say something that is totally off the wall and makes absolutely no sense, like maybe I call lunch salt, or food refrigerators; forgive me. I have lost my brain, it came out with Cooper I do believe. This also applies to misspellings and improper English.

For those of you out there with children, you know the first couple of weeks are like torture with a smile. I have been meaning to update you on the happenings around our homestead, but when it comes 12:00pm and Chloe is in bed and Cooper is snoozing; I do the same. I just can't fight off the voices the couch, recliner and my bed have. They call my name over and over until I can't take it anymore and I give in.

Cooper is eating about every 4 hours and he has been letting us sleep really well at night; once he goes to sleep. He tends to wake up after his 11:00pm feeding and likes to stay awake for awhile, but once asleep, he doesn't wake up.

Now I have to go get Chloe Joy up. She's in her room yelling, "MOMMY! MOMMY!" She does that until I answer her. If I don't she bangs her head on her wall. When I finally go in there she usually has her pants off and is working on her diaper. Yesterday, I went in to get her after her nap and she had removed her pants. I asked her if she wanted out of bed and she told me no. So I go back to the bathroom to finish getting ready and she starts crying. A cry like she's sad, not mad. I go back in her room and she is just frozen, standing in her crib holding on to the railing; frozen with huge tears streaming down her red face. I ask her what's wrong and she won't move. I go to grab her and take her out of bed and that's when I realize the problem.
She had messed with her diaper so much that it was no longer effective in absorbing urine, soooo she was peeing and it was running all down her legs. :( It was so pitiful.

Chloe's Pooper

Chloe loves her little brother. In Chloe jive he is "dada Pooper." She just can't get enough of him.

Chloe kissing Pooper
Chloe helping daddy hold him.
Touching his head. She always says, "entle, entle." Which means gentle. Apparently we say that a lot b/c she says it every time she touches him. We are trying to teach her not to touch his face though but, she has to point out all his features to us, "eye, nose, ear, mouth."
Our Pooper

Vaseline: Not intended for diapers.

When we got Cooper home, we discovered he has the skill to pee outside of his diaper. How does he do that you may ask? Well, I have absolutely no idea. His pee ends up all over his clothes and not in the diaper. Now being new to the little "wee wee" I am assuming his aim is a little off. I'm guessing it's not pointing in the right direction while snuggled inside his diaper.

The fix?

We had been folding down his diapers to avoid contact with his umbilical cord. We thought doing that was causing the trickle effect because the diapers weren't able to absorb his pee because of the folding technique. We scratched that idea.

The new fix?

We tried cutting a notch out of the top of the diaper, again, as to not disrupt the umbilical cord falling off. Did this work? Umm, no. He is still Houdini and can make urine appear outside his diaper.

Have you ever seen the inside of a diaper? Well, let me tell you what the top part consists of.... Little, little, tiny, tiny wee beadee things that I can only guess are the absorbing devices placed strategically inside the diaper and when the diaper is cut those wee beadee things can not, and I repeat, can not do their little job God intended for them to do. (we all have a purpose) SO, as a result. Little, little, tiny, tiny wee beadee things all over Cooper's lower half and all over our bed (my side of course) because we were cutting the diapers on our bed.

As a result of this? Cooper needed a bath/ dip under the faucet. See, the little,little, tiny, tiny wee beadee things would do their job once attached to his skin. They absorbed his urine and the liquid from the wipes, then they would become rather sticky. He had those things ALL over him. Off to the faucet he went.

Before the dip.

After the dip.
Yes, my friends he didn't fuss at all.

I think after all of this we finally figured out the culprit.

The Dr. I use doesn't "cut" little boys he applies a band to "it" and in about 5-8 days it falls off on its own. We were told not to put anything on it that it doesn't need anything applied to it. Well, someone in my family (Matt's side) thought it very important to apply Vaseline to the inside of the diaper so he doesn't stick to it. We kept reiterating the nurses advice of "nothing need be applied" but the individual just didn't understand I guess. So, we decided maybe they were right and we began applying Vaseline to the inside of his diapers. They were right he didn't stick, but what is Vaseline used for, primarily? Yes, to help keep moisture in, but in this case it was keeping moisture out! He isn't Houdini after all folks. We were preventing those little, little, tiny, tiny wee beadee things from doing their job!

The fix this time?

No Vaseline.

Cooper Matthew Knox

April 3rd, 2008 at 2:10pm Cooper Matthew decided to make his grand entrance into this world!

He came in weighing 7lbs. 10oz., 20.5" long and looking for food.

I started having contractions at 2:00am on the 3rd, but wasn't sure if they were going to stay around or if they were going to go away. I had been having them the day before, but by that evening they were gone. I got out of bed at 4:00am and decided I would start to pack. The contractions had become about 6-8 minutes apart and were starting to hurt a little. By 6:45am we were at St. John's, waiting to see if we were going to be admitted. We were.

After much much discussion with the nurse, Matt and my mom, I decided to have an epidural. I didn't have one with Chloe and thought I might try and have this baby with out. I decided I wanted to enjoy every moment and be able to remember everything that happened AND the only reason I was going to go with out the epidural was purely pride. Once I was able to swallow my pride (and a little fear of the epidural) I asked for one to be ordered. It wasn't bad. I always thought you couldn't feel or move your legs, but that wasn't the case. I could still move and roll and kind of feel my legs. Another BIG reason for the epidural? Matt was going to get to deliver the baby and I wanted to see it and remember everything that went along with him getting to experience that. It was well worth it!

We were the first to arrive that morning. I don't think anyone was in the rooms when we got there. Have you seen the Friends episode where Rachel goes in to have the baby and all these women come in AFTER her and they ALL deliver BEFORE her? Yeah, that was me. My nurse said I was neck and neck with another one of her patients and she thought I would go first. I laughed and told her that probably wasn't going to happen and then I mentioned that episode and we all laughed. Well, the other girl went before me! My labor didn't go as fast as most women on their second plus delivery's. My Dr. even commented the next morning on how slow my labor went.

I ended up tearing in two spots, but only one got stiches. I chose my Dr. because he's not an episiotomy man, he's a tear man. I personally would rather tear than be cut; my opinion only. Even though I tore worse with Cooper than with Chloe I am not as sore with him. A friend of mine said, "That's one of God's little graces. Megan, you will see those little graces happen a lot with your second." She's right! I was so sore with Chloe that I couldn't move for about 1 full week. Don't get me wrong, I am pretty sore, especially today, but I am able to walk.

Back to the delivery...

My sister took a bunch of X rated photos of the delivery and of Matt bringing Cooper out into the world, but I didn't want to post them, even though I was going to edit them.

Matt getting to deliver his son was so so amazing! I just laid there and watched a father go goo-goo and all soft in an instance. Cooper came out and Matt yelled, "It's a boy!" He had so much joy, it was like he was on drugs, but I think he would say it felt better than any drug anyone could ever take. I asked him to write about it in Cooper's baby book, "I don't think I can put it into words, Megan."

Matt was on cloud 9 when Chloe Joy was born and he stood guard over her the whole time after her birth, but this was a different experience; Matt got to bring his flesh and blood into the world. So cool!

Cooper came out, I was in awe.

A few hours later, we were finally put into our room and we ate PF Changs (that's my reward for having babies) and talked with family and friends. My dad is pretty fired up, he got his first grandson on April 3rd. He has been wanting one of those for quite some time now. His wish was granted.

When Cooper came out first thing I saw was a bright bright red glob of skin. I knew it was the private parts of what ever it was we were having, but I didn't get that I was looking at a little set of balls, for lack of a better word. I thought it was a girl and she had something wrong with her. I actually panicked inside for approximately 1-2 seconds and then it clicked; I was looking at a boy! Relief!

Cooper Matthew Knox

COOPER MATTHEW KNOX

BORN APRIL 3, 2008

AT 2:10PM

7LBS 10OZ.

20.5"

Stay tuned for the rest of the story...

Morning Has Broken; Not My Water

Chloe decided she wanted to see the morning this morning. She woke us up at the glorious hour of 5:30AM. She doesn't do this hardly ever, but when she does she usually has a reason ie. hunger, wet wet diaper, boredom/loneliness or missing her dada. This morning it was because she had her pajama bottoms partially removed and inside out. The past few days when I go to get her out of bed she is partially clothed and is working on removing her diaper. I heard her cry at probably 5:00am, but didn't get out of bed, usually she goes back to sleep, plus at one point I heard her laugh (that was probably the moment she got her pants off).

I finally roll, literally, out of bed, moaning because my body is a little achy when I first get up. I walk into her room and she points out to me that she has removed her pants. I get her on the changing pad, change her diaper and go to put her back to bed. Now keep in mind she is laughing, blowing kisses, saying hi and chit chatting with me this whole time. (She is wide awake) As I am starting to put her to bed, she looses it. She starts saying all she knows to say to get me to NOT put her back to bed, "Yo Yo Yo." (yogurt) I go and get applesauce and she tells me, "Noooo, done, done." Then she works on the one person who can't say no; dada. She starts crying for him. He comes in and the world is good again. Dada feeds her yogurt in the living room and then she realizes she isn't seeing Elmo on TV. Let the flood gates open; more tears. She decides she's done with the yogurt she so desperately needed and Matt puts her back to bed with a fight. After about 10 minutes she went back to sleep.

I sat on the couch this whole time debating on whether or not the bed was calling my name and although it was I knew going back to sleep wasn't happening. So I decided I would spend an hour with Matt before he jetted off to work. He made a pot of coffee, ate left over muffins and I had a cup of coffee and ate some eggs. We discussed the Sean Sutton ordeal, work, baby and Chloe all before the sun came up. It was rather nice.

After Matt left, I wondered what I could do before Chloe woke up again and before I became overcome with the need for more sleep. Two things I will do, blog then read.

Out our kitchen window the sun rises every single morning, rain or shine. It's more reliable than the post man. While looking at it, I began to hum a little ditty by Chris Tomlin, "See The Morning." We went to his concert when his "See The Morning" CD came out and he talked about this song and how God seems to be "in the morning" more so than any other time of day.

Examples: "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." Lam. 3:22-23

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." Mark 1:35

"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." Isaiah 9:2

"... weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." Psalm 30:5

"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb..." Luke 24:1

Those are just a few I saw in the Chris T. CD case.

I am not a morning person, I enjoy staying up late and sleeping in, but the times I do get up early and see the sun rise and see the world wake up; I just have this feeling of goodness and hope and excitement. Have you ever felt that? There really is something about the morning isn't there?

Don't get me wrong, at about 9:00, I will be a zombie. But at least I saw the morning and felt His presence.

I'll leave you with Chris T's words,

"The morning is a place of hope, a place of worship... I pray that these songs help you "see the morning." If you find yourself in the dark night of hardship, grief, or circumstance, know that the morning is coming. And if you find yourself in the best of times, praise God for the morning!"

Amen! Have a good day everyone!