Big Ooops

So, this morning, my hubby came in to tell me he enjoyed reading my new blog posts, but he had a funny look on his face. "Why did you say SOL in one of the posts? Do you know what that means?"
I said, "Sure... it means 'so out of luck'.....doesn't it?"
Well, he informed me I had one little word/letter wrong, and I raced to the computer to write this email apologizing for my misuse of the acronym, purely out of my own ignorance. I would never have used the term if I had knew what it really meant.  So, my apologies if any of you were scandalized or offended by my ignorant, uninformed, naive use of a 'curse' word.
As a side note- the phone's looking pretty good today, praise God!!!! I'm scared to turn it on and try it... but feel free to call me now, as I'm supposedly in the clear to power it back up (according to the gurus who have evidently had this happen to them, and now have the authority to blog advice about it! Hey- maybe I'll join their ranks now and write my own advice column on what to do in that situation!!)

My husband's warm greeting was actually not the 'warm thing' that woke me up this morning... my son, my precious son who melted my heart last night to the core, was laying in bed with me, eyes open, just snuggling. All of a sudden, warm wetness began to cover all of my back and legs. I leapt out of bed faster than I've moved in an awful long time....and he just laid there, looking at me guiltily. This whole bed-wetting thing with my boy.... I don't get it. For that matter, I just don't get boys! Definitely a different species than girls! I know if it was one of the girls who had the same accident, they would immediately hurry out of the bed, very miserable to be wet and 'unsanitary', quickly stripping of their clothes and insisting on a bath. But my boy? Ha! He laid there, in no hurry at all to move from his own urine drenched spot on the bed, in no hurry to remove his drenched clothes, and in great disbelief that I was reacting so dramatically to the situation. He meandered his way out of the bed (after I forced him out!) and walked around the room, picking his sweet little nose, informing me that he was not happy with me. After I demanded that he take off his clothes and told him there would be an immediate bath, he practically tore off his clothes and raced to the bath, rejoicing!  Ah yes, my son.

Update

Since it's been so long since my last post (August of 2009!!!) I wanted to give y'all a very quick update:

B is enjoying his job here in Ocala. He's hoping to possibly take flight lessons in the near future, as we live (literally) down the street from an airport, and this is something he's wanted to do for a long time. He has given up watching Collegiate Basketball for Lent this year (and it has been how ever so convenient that his beloved Tar Heels happen to be having one of the worst season in Tar Heel history!!)

I am keeping busy with homeschooling, tutoring in a weekly program that M is a part of called "Classical Conversations." I'm also hoping to start a woman's group at church, called ENDOW, a study on the Dignity of Women. We would be studying Church documents, writings, encyclicals, and teachings, and meeting a few times a month. I've had a few music opportunities here and there, but never enough!!

M is 5 1/2, (going on 25!!), and continues to mature and blossom as an incredibly beautiful, responsible, mature, fun daughter. She made her First Communion a few months ago, and is daily reminding Mama that "We need to pray our rosary today!" After being our 'doula' at Chiara's birth (and doing an incredible job at it, I must say!), she cannot wait to be the birth helper when this Baby's D-Day arrives!

L is going to be turning 4 at the end of April- crazy to think!!! I can't believe he's turning 4 already! He is very much into dinosaurs right now, and he loves making up stories and asking how to write words so he can write down his stories and illustrate them. As you can imagine- he has a very vivid imagination!

C is our little Diva- she is nonstop, like her brother, and she is quite the comedian, with a great knack for being genuinely funny around the clock! Currently, her very favorite thing is a little pink monkey from Grandma, which she goes nowhere without!!

Baby #4 is getting ready to make his/her appearance into this world! Due date is sometime around Apr 29- May 6. He/She is an active little one, and LOVES to hear his brother/sisters voices talking, getting noticeably excited anytime they talk to Baby.

So, there you have it! Stay tuned! I've got the blog bug again now, and I'm excited to be back to blogging!

A Good Mama

Some days, when you get to the end of the day exhausted and unhappy with how you handled parts of the day or how crabby, impatient, or short you were at any given time during the day, children have a way of saying just the right thing.
Today I struggled with emulating an example of holiness to my children, and therefore as I laid down at the end of the night to put C to sleep and reflected back over the day, I was less than pleased with myself. I was wishing I could rewind and redo some parts of the day, when suddenly my son, L, came bouncing into the room. He crawled up next to me and snuggled up close (he is the best snuggler in the family, hands down!)  and looked up at me adoringly with a big grin. Then he- get this!- winked at me! I chuckled and winked back, kissed his forehead and was just about to fade off into sleep when L looked up at me again and said with the most genuine sincerity you can imagine, "You're a good Mama." Then he closed his eyes, smiled, and resumed in his snuggle position,
Yes, you can certainly imagine, my heart oozed out of me and was melting everywhere around me!! Here I was, beating myself up for being a lousy mom today, totally unhappy with my far from perfect persona with my children today, and yet my son saw through all of that and spoke straight to my heart with four of the most precious words I could ever imagine hearing. In fact, I doubt any greater badge of honor or compliment than those four words could ever be bestowed upon me in this lifetime.

To say the least, my son affirmed me to the core and reflected Christ to me tonight so deeply.

One for the Blog!

Well, it's been way too long since posting, but tonight there was NO WAY I could NOT blog about this!! Today was a normal ordinary day for the most part. Homeschool, midwife appointment, time outside, a little visit from Auntie Courtney, dinnertime.... and somewhere in there, a lost cell phone. When I realized my phone was missing, I wasn't too worried, as I figured once B got home from work, I'd just have him call my phone and voila! We'd find it ringing somewhere in the house. Well, unfortunately, I realized soon enough that, not only was it not simply hiding somewhere predictable, but it was also on silence, so this was going to be a true 'hide and seek'. I spent no less than 2 hours searching on and off for this little piece of technology that connects me with friends and family everyday.... to no avail. And I did look just about everywhere, from linen closets to toilets, kids' toy bins to kitchen cupboards, the trash to under every possible furniture it could possibly get shoved under... but no phone. Now I was really beginning to think it was perhaps lost forever. I retraced my steps about a hundred times, convinced that the darn thing was definitely in our house somewhere, based on when I last used it. Where could that bugger be?? I was just about ready to retire for the night, giving up for the day, in hopes that tomorrow might bring a fresh memory or the kids would happen to remember where they 'accidentally' put it, when I decided for whatever reason to look one more time throughout the kitchen. I searched every cabinet, inside the blender, another quick look in the trash, behind all the food in the pantry, and then, for whatever reason, I thought- I might as well check the refrigerator. Nope, the fridge was clean. Could it be... do I dare look in the... no, that would be bad... and yet, L and C have lately been 'experimenting' and putting things in the .... I opened the freezer, and there was my poor, pathetic, lowly phone on the floor of the freezer, gazing up at me with the gleam of a frosty LCD screen. I can only imagine the 'game' L and C were playing when they decided my cell phone would be a prime recipe ingredient to experiment with in the freezer!!!! I whisked my poor, but found!, phone out of the freezer and did what any 21st century person in my sorry situation would do- I ran to my computer and did a search "What happens to a cell phone that is placed in a freezer?" Evidently, I am not the first person to have such a predicament befall upon themselves (thankfully, I hate to say!) So, for those of you who may someday find yourself wondering where that phone could be, and you happen to have inquisitive culinary 'experimenters' in your family, here's what you're evidently supposed to do (though time will tell if this method is successful):

"Fridge Freezer

Freezing the phone won’t damage it but the condensation that will form when you reintroduce it to a warm, more humid air might.

When you find the phone in the freezer, remove the battery and place both the phone and battery in a Ziplock bag and squeeze out as much air as practical before sealing it. That will allow the phone to warm up to normal temperatures without condensation forming on the phone. Cold will not damage electronic equipment. In fact, equipment works better in the cold. Humidity condensation during warm-up to room temp is the problem and even then, only if power is applied to the equipment. Me, I’d give it at least 4-6 hours for any condensation to evaporate."
-Taken from http://bestfridges.co.uk/phone-leave-fridge-freezer/

...just in case you wanted to know. :)

So, thus my initiation back to blogging! It was going to have to take something like this to get me motivated to blog again before the new baby came! So, thanks to my ever-creative children for giving me a great reason to post a new blog and get me motivated to resume my blogging site.
Please say a little prayer for my poor LG cell phone. The warranty is over, and I'm totally out of luck if the freezer bag method doesn't work. Another site suggested putting uncooked rice in the bag to help soak up the moisture. Hey- worth giving it a shot, eh? Certainly can't hurt!

NOTE: If you call and don't get me over the next 24 hours or so, now you'll know why... my phone is 'thawing'. :)

Number 4 !!

So, it's been quite awhile since my last post, and I thought 'What better way to restart our family blog' than with the announcement of our wonderful news: Baby #4 is on the way!!! Coming soon to the Irwin Clan, sometime around the first week in May! This will mean several changes for our family....
1. We will be welcoming a larger vehicle into our home (which, by the way, if anyone hears of any great deals on minivans, pass the word our way!! THe hunt has begun!!). We squeeeeeezed our three babes into my Buick Century, and though it's been a snug fit, we were grateful for the accommodations thus far. However, this New Addition will necessitate another seat, which our Buick cannot provide. Oh shucks! Which means, Mama will now proudly graduate to the "MiniVan Mama" Club!
2. The dynamics of our family will change.... a Boy will bring 'balance' back, with an even 2 girls/2 boys ratio. A Girl, however, will greatly shift the current balance to one of even more feminine influence, with 3 girls/1 boy! Hmmmm... how will it pan out?!?! (On the otherhand, if M and L's prayer for Twins is granted, that could make things even more interesting!!!!)
3. L will absolutely HAVE to dress and undress himself everyday- he will have no choice in the matter! And we will have to turn up the notch on potty training C ! More independence is a blessed thing for a Mama to cultivate in her children, especially when a New Sibling is on the way!! (Can you already see the checkoff list? It may look something like this:
'Things for the Children to Master before arrival of New Baby:
-Dressing and Undressing Selves
-Successfully completing daily chores (currently including Making Beds in the morning, Clearing the Table after meals, Helping to Folding Laundry, Helping with Dishes, Emptying Trashes, Picking up after Selves) Hmmm.... what else can I add to the list?!?!?
-Successful 'Potty Independence' (M is in the clear, L is about 90% there, and C is starting to show signs of 'getting it'!)
-No more squabbles among themselves, Complete Obedience to Mama and Papa, Prompt Bedtimes, Lick Plates Clean at every meal, Daily Naptimes observed by everyone..... hmmm.... what am I forgetting?... Oh yes! Daily Back and Foot Rubs for Mama!

Okay, Okay... a little too idealistic! But nonetheless, there is nothing like the news of a new baby to put things in perspective and motivate me to 'get in shape' (and I'm not just talking about exercise/nutrition, though those certainly are part of it!). In fact, this weekend, my goal is to get our 'Family Schedule' more concretely in writing and really work hard to be more disciplined about sticking to it everyday. I am not a terribly rigid person at all, though I have always recognized the great benefits of having more discipline, and having 'a plan' for each day. My days always go better and my time is always maximized so much more optimally when I do so.

So, please pray for me, for our family, as we attempt to tackle a daily schedule (an "Irwin Family Rule of Life", we'll call it) centered around prayer, and to include chores, homeschool, exercise/family rec, and everything else we need to squeeze in here and there!
And please keep our New Treasure in your prayers- for health, strength, and safety! We are so very excited! Starting this week, Mama is going to be on the hunt for a good midwife...so far we've been very blessed with awesome birth experiences and doctors or midwives. God is so faithful, and I know He will be so this time around as well!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!