Grateful

So Monday is the day our family normally gets up and going and out the door by 7:45.  Robbie woke up not feeling well so we decided to rest and let Tate rest too.  We slept in until 8:00 I think ha!  We went about our day eating, straightening, playing, cleaning up the normal Monday things.  I ate lunch and then began to not feel well.  I have been having off and on spurts of this low energy, heavy breathing issue for about 3 weeks at this point so I went to lay down like normal.  I had been given an inhaler the week before for what they thought was bronchitis so I laid down and immediately knew I would need my inhaler so I went down stairs straight outside on the snowy drive in my socks and grabbed my inhaler in the car.  I took it and laid on the couch.  I kept saying to Robbie, "I can't breathe, I can't breathe."  As any sweet husband would do he sat with me and asked what I wanted him to do.  I didn't know I had never felt this way before, I wanted to get my breath I wanted to breathe fully.  So after my body began to shake and I continued to complain he called 911.  They arrived quickly and in the meantime I told Robbie to take Tate upstairs.  I didn't want him to see anything.  The EMT began to give me breathing treatments and oxygen.  I remember two main things while riding backwards in the ambulance 1) I am gonna puke if I don't focus on one spot on the wall 2) the EMT (who was maybe 30) asking me questions the main one being something like this "So you have three boys, did you have them all at the same time or separately?" After laughing in my head and maybe swinging my head swiftly and staring blankly I finally replied, "Oh separately I had them separately."  And then we arrived at the hospital and they wheeled me inside in my flowy dress shirt and cords (seriously I rarely get dressed for the day and I was so thankful I was dressed)!  Then I waited not feeling any better with nurses and doctors looking at me like I had lost my mind.  My oxygen was normal my heart was normal but my chest was tight and my breathing was difficult.  Finally Robbie was able to come after dropping the kids off at a friend's house and my lab results were in.  Low potassium was the only thing they could find!  After the second doctor came in and told me they would like to keep me overnight to give me potassium through IV and monitor my levels I looked to google to find out answers to my questions about potassium.  Apparently it's pretty essential for your organs to function.  So we began to plan for what would take place for our kiddos overnight and Robbie left to get phone chargers.  I had been in the ER for almost 6 hrs now.  When he arrived they had taken me to my room and I had never been so thankful for a room and kind nurses!

I of course texted my Mama this picture I am ok I am in a room here's my legs :)  Anyway, after 2 nights and almost 3 days away from my boys, no real reasons for my body's behavior I was rip roaring to get outta there!  Also, with a little 1 year old who was sicky poo at home I was maybe a little impatient and restless with the nurses' "when the doctor gets your paper's ready I'll be able to proceed with dismissal" statement!  Thankfully, I had a note staring at me and many texts from friends and family that were praying for me, that gave me a peace that I know was from HIM.

Robbie and two out of three of my boys were their to pick me up and head home so I could go home and be mommy to little sick one.  And to beat the band MY Mama was at home to greet me too!  She hops on a plane when her little girl's sick so she can take care of me and her grandbabies!  

I have been helped out with my kiddos,  meals brought,  loved on and prayed for these last few days and it has been such a blessing.  And today I woke up once again with pain but with a new sense of peace.  Pauls' words are scrolling in my head today from Phil. 4:11 "for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content."  Hmmm, have I been content, have I been even thankful, joy-filled?  No, I can honestly say I more than likely have been none of these.  I have so much to be thankful for, it sounds so cliché right?!?! But really I do!  So today amidst not feeling great at all I wanted to write... here...to get it out somewhere...process what I have gone through in the last week and also to write what I am so forever grateful for in my life.

My best friend and husband Robbie, has loved me since I was 16 seriously that's almost 14 years ya'll!  He is so patient with me, he teaches me to SLOOOOOOOWWWW down even when I don't want to.  He cleans a bathroom like no other :)  He is the best daddy you will ever meet, patiently and faithfully reads the bible to his boys every night, teaches them more in an hour at night than I do all day,  has been patient and loving with me as I learn to be a mommy to our three boys and has pushed me to pursue my passion of photography.  I'll forgive you one day for letting them cut Tuck's curls off and I know I know I owe you a picture of all three boys together!  I love you!

Tate, my first born, my sweet tender hearted, tigger spring in his tail at any meal but can sit as still as a mouse in a movie, little, I mean big 6 year old toothless grinning boy.  The one who makes me laugh everyday, who helps me to see my own strong will every day and who teaches me so much about Jesus and many Bible stories.  You have toys beyond measure but you always make me giggle when you ask me to print off some character of a movie that you just watched!  Paper printables make you happy:)!  You hopefully are getting my love for organizing a little and are teaching your brothers all about being BIG and all the best dance moves! You are a blessing son and I love you so!

Tucker, oh Tuck, my little JOY filled boy!  I literally have to pray every morning that God gives me energy to match yours!  You wake up on full blast, never slowly, and remind me each day how FULL life really can be!  You have such a sweet spirit and are so quick to apologize each day when you accidentally hit someone with a puck or ball!  You are so very picky about food unless we feed you straight sugar all day, then you're good!  You have a special love for hockey and zambonis!  It's so special and unbelievable that God allowed you to look just like me when I was little and yet still have daddy's eyes!  My goal is to put together a book for you one day to show you all the different ways that you fell asleep as a little 2 year old, it's quite entertaining!  Thanks little man for showing me JOY and life on FULL speed!  

And Ty, our sweet little boy who we thought would be our girl!  God surprised us with you and your dimply grin! You are sweet and snuggly, and stubborn if given a bottle.  You have listened to Kari Jobe to go to sleep probably every night since you were born!  You LOVE LOVE LOVE your Mama and I like that!  We have so much to learn about you and I am so excited to see what God has in store for you!  Thanks for loving so sweetly and for having dimples (I prayed a lot when I was little that I would somehow get dimples, you having them is even better)!  And don't worry you will soon be as fast as the other two and will get to go to all the magical places they get to, like SportsClips and the carwash!

I'm thankful for these sweet blessings in my life!  Hope it doesn't take a trip to the hospital again to be reminded!

I hit publish...

Today I woke up and thought if I get one thing done it will be my post about Influence.  So I write.

I want to start by saying I usually pick one women's conference to go to annually.  Usually it is something like Women of Faith which I LOVE!  This year my women's conference weekend was decided back in August when Hayley from the tiny twig kept referring to something called The Influence Conference.  I researched it and thought hmm I have a blog (that I haven't written on in over a year).  I got the Gospel!  Check!  Then I noticed that another blogger friend Raechel from finding my feet had mentioned it also!  Hmm?!?!  Well, after talking it over with my hubby I went ahead, before I could talk myself out of it, and bought my ticket!  So leading up to the week of the conference I did all the things to ready myself (and this nursing babe) to totally walk into something that scares me...a room of people I don't know!

I asked my hubby several times, "Am I a total dork for doing this?"  I mean these are people who I know mainly ONLINE, like not in real life, but REAL people that I have laughed with, cried with, and prayed over!  No matter how silly it may have seemed he always encouraged me to go!  So I went and I haven't regretted it AT ALL!  It was amazing, unreal, a huge blessing and encouragement for me!  I met a few locals (whom I stuck to like I'd known them my whole life- hello safety net haha) and of course said Hi to an old classmate Raechel and a few other wonderful women!  

I started at Emily Freeman's session, which I am sad to say I had never known or read her blog before.  Let's just say I was in tears at my first session, serious dork?  She said things like "your art is what wakes people up" and "an artist is a person who is brave enough to move toward what makes her come alive" and "show up and be who you already are because you bring the holy spirit with you" and finally "listen to your craziest ideas not your logical, well planned perfect idea and then chase them."  Ok NOW you get why I was in tears my very first blogging session...so maybe not such a dork?  I went ahead and bought her book which I have spent several nights reading aloud to my almost 6 year old.  He has a tendency to fall asleep but not me nope, not me IT'S WAY GOOD!

After several amazing sessions, chats with wonderfully amazing women, great food and informative panels I was overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed for this girl=I am either going to run 150 mph or do nothing!  I got home and tried, really tried to do the 150 mph thing!  I mean come on I just heard about how to use my blog for the GOSPEL!  Hello I got this.  Well, I must have gotten lost in the reality that I had three lovelies to come home to that still needed to be fed, changed, played with, etc.  Please know that is a joke, I knew what I was coming home to (a big box of love) but I hadn't realized that blogging intentionally was going to have to make it into the schedule of my already established life. 

Since Influence I have been trying to find that time, find my blogging voice, get my blog set up, buy new domains (yep 150 mph)...and then I stopped and realized oh I am doing exactly what was mentioned during one of the panels at Influence!  Waiting for PERFECT!  John (I believe?) mentioned that most of us would wait for perfect and that was the main reason for procrastination.  WHOOPS fail for me!  Here back in my little realm of reality I was in a big sense waiting for perfect before I hit publish!  So today I write!  I write and pray that even one person will be touched by the GOSPEL through this little blog.  I know that God had a reason for me to be at Influence.  I came out encouraged and see that I can make a difference.  I do have a story because of Christ's GRACE and LOVE for me!  I hope to be able to share that with you all here at my little blog about learning to live the day to day, intentionally!

  

Tucker's 1st Birthday!

Yes I know it's been over a month since we celebrated Tucker's 1st birthday! Life has been busy so better late than never I suppose! We had a woodland theme for his birthday which was very fun and easy to plan since my parents have woods on their property. Grandpa cut some tree trunks and we used those for the cupcakes and his smash cake. We also used some for Tuck's 12 months of pics. We had a blast and always feel very blessed celebrating our children with our families present! Hope you enjoy some of these pics!

The food: the tray in the middle we made acorns from mini vanilla wafers and hershey's kisses!

Tuck's little deer smash cake. He got pretty into it after awhile. Yes our little family of 4 wore flannel...I'm a dork and I like coordinating. That last picture pretty much sums up a lot of Tate and Tuck's life...the paparazzi haha!

I made Tucker's shirt using this tutorial http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-sprinkle-shirts.html.

We used tree branches and sliced a little slice in them so they would hold the pics up and then spelled out Tucker is 1 in scrapbook paper. There is a picture from every month from birth up to 1 year old.

Another view of the 12 months of pics!

Tuck was worn plum out after all those festivities! He had a great time! Something little that I love about him...if you notice in this pic he has his pacifier upside down and guess what that's the way he likes it...if you put it in the right way he may keep it there for a few seconds to appease you then whoop he slides it upside down haha! Cracks me up! Oh yeah and some of you may have noticed I changed my blog name...I wanted something catchy and cute and guess where I got the name...yep you guessed from my 4 year old! He's full of funny sayings always has and probably always will be so the other day we were talking about all of the things he wanted to do in his day and I said oh maybe we can do that tomorrow to which he replied ok mom well we can do that the "other tomorrow"! Oh buddy I love you and thanks for filling our little lives FULL!

Out of the mouth of babes...

Ok so for starters forgive the horrible lighting...it bothers me but I just had to share this funny moment with you!

Today Tate asked to play with the barn and the people and animals that go with it...and then Tucker decided that he was having a teething moment, I guess, so he saw the sheep and instead of reaching for it to put in his mouth he took a dive with his head and voila in the mouth it went! He crawled around for the longest time without touching the sheep just doing his thing ya know! It really was hilarious!
The picking it up technique!

Got it so now he's off and crawling up the stairs!

And now it's decision time...the sheep or the horse the sheep or the horse! And the sheep wins again!

Haha! Funny huh? Hope you enjoyed! Have a blessed night!

You're Beautiful!

This is a song by MercyMe titled Beautiful...every time I hear it I tear up because it reminds me of my Mama! I love her and this song is perfect for her! So read it and enjoy!

Days will come when you don't have the strength
When all you hear is you're not worth anything
Wondering if you ever could be loved
And if they truly saw your heart they'd see too much

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful

And praying that you have the heart to find
Cause you are more than what is hurting you tonight
For all the lies you've held inside so long
And they are nothing in the shadow of the cross

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful

Before you ever took a breath
Long before the world began
Of all the wonders He possessed
There was one more precious
Of all the earth and skies above
You're the one He madly loves enough to die

You're beautiful
You're beautiful
In His eyes

You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are made for so much more than all of this
You're beautiful
You're beautiful
You are treasured, You are sacred, You are His

We love you Mama/Michelle/Grammy! Through thick and thin, the good and the bad! Praying for you and know that we will always be here if you need us and sometimes when you're not sure you need us...thanks for all you do!

Love,

Holly, Robbie and T and T

Look who's Four!

How can it be that my precious first-born is 4 today? What a blessing you have been to us Tate! I remember when we found out that we were going to have you...after 7 short months of being married we found out that God was blessing us with a sweet baby...and then a few months later we were able to call you by name! And then u came to us 2 weeks later than we planned which happened to be the day after Thanksgiving...just like you to come in your own sweet time!

And then you've continued to grow up on us...and what an adventure it's been! You are always keeping us laughing and smiling and sometimes we get to see a naughty face...only sometimes though!

We often get the comment..."oh he looks just like his brother" when people meet Tucker! Here's a picture (Tate on the left, Tuck on the right)...you guys look a lot a like but you are definitely your own personalities.

You have a thing for ears...which cracks us up! You tell us what our ears feel like...sometimes they feel like silkie (your blanket), sometimes milk, sometimes Mommy or Grammy, or sometimes a Strawberries 'n Cream from Starbucks hahaha!

Yesterday we went for a swim and I asked you who your best friend was...your reply...drumroll please...Mommy hahaha can I freeze that moment? And then you said Daddy too! You have always loved your Daddy in a very special way...you always say you want to be big like Daddy. Even this morning you woke up very confused as to why you were four now but still not big like Daddy.

Oh man, I know it will feel just like that though. You will wake up one morning and be a big boy so let's not let it go so fast this time! We love you Tate William! Thanks for allowing us to learn all kinds of things as we go, for loving life so much, for always being tenderhearted and showing us a little glimpse of the true joy God wants us to have! You are our sweet baby no matter how big you get! Love ya buddy! This song from Revive is one of my favorites right now..."Slow down before today becomes our yesterday...it happens in a blink it happens in a flash...it happens in the time it takes to look back!" Happy 4th Birthday Tate, Tater, Tbug, Tater tot, Tater Salad, Bug...We love you!

Woody's Hat!

This was our sweet non-dramatic Woody for Halloween this year! I think he was upset about something haha! Love him!