33 Weeks Pregnant and not far to go!

We're so excited about the fast approaching due date for baby Rose. Just today we were in the car together and daddy was talking about how soon it will actually be that baby will be here with us. Dustin says "maybe the baby will be 2 weeks early and be here on February 15th." Whoa! That means that he could be here in my arms in like 26 days! That's pretty exciting! I can't wait to welcome this baby into our family and smother him with hugs and kisses!

Alex and Isaac both constantly want to talk to my belly, they both think it's awesome that their brother can actually hear their voices. They constantly ask to sing songs to him, and several times a day they will come up and just rub my belly and simply say "hi baby!"

Alex: "Mommy, when the baby is born can I take him with me to church basketball?"
Me: "Well that would be fun! You might need to wait till he's a few years old though."
Alex: "All the girls there want me to bring him so they can watch him right after he comes out."
I think what really is going on is that he wants to show his brother off to all the girls!

I was snuggling with Isaac holding him real close to me, he looks at me and says, "the baby is really hot and is moving!"

Isaac often says "mommy can I kiss the baby (as he lifts my shirt to expose my baby bump)?" Alex doesn't even ask, he just does it. :)

I love the affection they are already showing. Both of them are going to be amazing big brothers! They already love this baby so much!

Saving our family money with Tide Coldwater

I'm pretty sensitive to strong fragrances therefore I have to use a lot of fragrance free products including laundry soap. Because of my overly sensitive nose I've always used All Free and Clear simply due to the fact that it's odor-less. When I find a product that doesn't give me a headache I use it even if it's not the greatest.

I was given the opportunity to try Tide Coldwater laundry soap and I decided to take a risk and try a new brand of detergent for my household. I'm glad I took the leap over to Tide Coldwater, it has such a subtle fresh scent that it doesn't even bother my sensitivity. In fact my laundry actually smells clean now!

Tide Coldwater is specially formulated for cold water conditions so I can save energy and money! It’s specially designed formula removes stains better in cold water than my other detergent did in warm water. Especially in times like this when so many of us are struggling and trying to save in every way possible it’s great to know I'm also saving money simply by my switch to Tide Coldwater. 80 percent of energy used to wash clothes comes from heating the water, that adds up to a lot of savings by washing our clothes effectively in cold water.

Not only do smells sometimes overwhelm my senses, they also trigger memories! Upon my very first load of laundry using Tide Coldwater I pulled the clothes from the dryer and I was flooded with memories of my grandma! Good memories of course! When I was a little girl I would help her with household chores including the laundry. My thoughts wandered back to when I was little, pulling her clothes out of her dryer, and I swear she must have used Tide! Hey, just a random thought but maybe she is the reason I love to do laundry so much...

Anyways, as I was folding my clothes I noticed how wonderfully clean they smelled, maybe that's because they actually are much cleaner now than with my previous brand. I'm so happy with my leap over to Tide Coldwater, I'm impressed with the brilliantly clean freshness!

See what others are saying.

 

Though I received a sample of the product and a giftcard form Tide and SheSpeaks for this review, all thoughts and opinions are and continue to be my own. Thank you so very much Tide/SheSpeaks!

Jesus is the reason for the season!

I love Christmas time! Now that our boys are getting older and more aware of all the decorations and show tons of excitement it makes the Christmas season all the more exciting for me! Opening up our boxes of decorations was like an early Christmas present for us all. 

I love all the baking going on in our house. I love the lights glowing in the evenings. I love the Christmas music. I love the Christmas movies. I love the Christmas stories. And I even love all the chaos around the Christmas section at the department stores!

BUT most of all I love the true reason for Christmas. The celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Our Christmas tree might be the largest decoration in our home, but my favorite decoration is our Nativity Scene. It's beautiful! Jesus is beautiful and HE IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON! He is the reason for the joy and excitement I have this Christmas and always! Happy birthday, Jesus!

Turkey Sugar Cookies!

The boys and I have so much fun baking together. Alex loves to measure the ingredients (with a lot of help from me of course), he's actually getting pretty good at reading a measuring cup!

In preparation of Thanksgiving we made these adorable cookies!

They turned out delicious!!

Happy 5th Birthday Alex!

Wow, I can hardly believe it but today Alex, you turn 5! You're such a character here in this picture you're wearing my glasses! We have so much fun with you and your generous, loving, caring heart. You're an amazing big brother and are always willing to help, taking the initiative to just jump in when you know someone needs help. I love that you still ask me to tuck you in at night going so far as to beg me to "lay down for me for a little bit" (I think you mean "lay down with me for a little bit", but maybe you just really want me to rest too!).

Wow, I have a five year old! I'm so blessed to be your mommy, I love you so very much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Some of the things on my "wish list"...

...I had a conversation with my sister the other day about what Alex wants for his birthday party. He really has more toys than he knows what to do with so the first thing that came to my mind when she asked were the things that he needs rather than wants. I told her that Alex has one pair of pants that fits, only one sweatshirt, and a handful of long sleeve shirts, so I suggested clothes.

...The Beginner's Bible has been on my wish list for books to get for Kindergarten. I've been keeping an eye for one, it really isn't that much for such an amazing book but I just haven't been able to fit in our budget yet.

Dustin and the boys went out exploring and there's a business district near our house that they walked by and upon opening one of the dumpsters Dustin found a garbage bag full of books, it's still a mystery to me why he had to open the dumpster.

Anyways, I get a call from him asking if I wanted some nice Christian books. You can imagine my reaction when he told me where he was. Well, my curiosity got the better of me and I headed out the door to meet up with him. The dumpster was piled to the top with bags and bags of used books, toys, clothes, shoes, and many other things that in my opinion were not garbage at all, there wasn't any "real trash" in site! We started making a pile of the items that we could use. It appeared that the family that threw away their "trash" had a boy just Alex's size! We found a few pairs of pants, shorts, long sleeve shirts, 3 pairs of shoes, and a really nice thick warm jacket! All of which fit Alex perfectly!

And among many other wonderful books I found none other than the book that has been at the top of my wish list "The Beginner's Bible"! Alex and Isaac were just as thrilled as I with all the books, Hot Wheel tracks, Lego's, shoes, slippers, and clothes. We even found a little microscope that will be perfect for school!
I feel extremely embarrassed to say that we took someones garbage but the saying "One man's trash is another man's treasure" is so extremely true!

God provided my family with many amazing treasures, I am so grateful!

I got chills and was praising Jesus! It's amazing how God provides our every need! And in some cases, even our wants :)

Woodshop 101!

Dustin and the boys have been visiting Lowes quite frequently over the last few months. So often in fact that one of the employees have come to love Alex and Isaac. She is so great to them, she saves each of them a kit from the program they run on Saturdays young kids.

This particular project she handed us as we walked in was a mini locker! We headed outside and began our construction straightaway. What a fun project, I had a great time as well (thank goodness for clear instructions with pictures even)! The boys really enjoyed building something of their very own.

Alex is so proud! What excellent workmanship I must say :)

Both boys had a blast working with the hammer, the perfect size for their little hands ("the nice lady" let them each bring one home!)

Lowes Build and Grow Clinics have me hooked (oh and it's free!), we only have constructed a few of the projects (actually every one that "the nice lady" has saved for us) and I can't wait for the next one. It's a great way to for my young boys to become skilled with the hammer, tool safety and a sense of pride in accomplishing a project! I really like the materials used as well, this is not some cheap crap craft, these completed projects will last and last. I will cherish special times like these with my sons always!

Basketball Player in Training

The prayer of my heart

Ever since I was little it has been my desire to have children. Since a very early age I loved babysitting and being around kids. I remember praying for my future husband and kids. I would dream of the day I would be married and have little ones running around and hearing them call me mommy. 

For some reason I always envisioned my children being sons and daughters. Maybe it was because my best friend is my sister, maybe because I know how much daughters help out and have a natural desire to keep house, maybe because of the adorable lady bug outfits and beautiful hair ribbons, or maybe because I know what an amazing relationship a daughter has with her mother since my own mom is also my best friend.

When I found out that I was pregnant again I started praying it would be a girl. We have sooooo many young boys in our family right now. I have two sons, 10 nephews, and only one niece. Naturally my whole family was rooting for this to be a girl (this was sort of an unspoken given).

During the part in the ultrasound when it came time to find out the gender my palms began to sweat and shake with anticipation! I was thinking "God  knows the desires of my heart and I'm faithful to know that He answers my prayers." When I saw without a doubt that he was a boy I had this overwhelming sense of peace, joy and happiness! I instantly realized that God answers my prayers always! Yes, I was praying for a girl but you have to know that I fully believe that God still answered my prayer. My prayer has been to have children, it always has been. He is answering that prayer by blessing me with another beautiful baby! I was looking on the screen at a baby, my baby! Soon this little boy will be playing with his brothers, laughing, and calling me mommy!

Oh God you are so GOOD! Thank you for answering my prayers and giving me the desires of my heart!

What is Good

• Entertainment and Education! As I'm talking to Isaac before bedtime he was banging two of his Hot Wheel cars together making a disturbing clanking sound. I asked him to please stop otherwise I would take them from him, his reply "If you do that Jesus will be sad and God will punish you." What a statement!
• Knowing that I will soon have three sons makes me feel very blessed, I can't wait to pick out a name for this little bundle growing in my belly :)
• Friends and fellowship
• An organized school/kitchen area
• God is GOOD!

We finally know the gender!

Yesterday was a very special day for us! I had my 20 week ultrasound. We know the gender!

Dustin and the boys were with me for the first half and then my mom, and two of my sisters joined us! About two minutes after watching the baby move around on the screen, Isaac declared that he saw lots of fishies on there! I couldn't help but laugh, so funny! Some of the things kids say makes me wonder what else they are thinking that they don't voice... Anyways...

What an incredible miracle to be able to see my baby's heart beating, 10 tiny toes wiggle and hands waving. The hands were certainly not waving at us though!

It's a BOY!!

My son kept waving his hands to cover his little parts, it was hilarious! There was no doubt he's a boy! Now we can pick out a name.

I was so glad to be able to share this time with family, thank you for being there! As we were leaving Isaac started to get teary eyed and grew concerned that we weren't bringing baby brother home with us now, it broke my heart to see how sad he was that we still have a few months to meet him in real life! 20 weeks can't come soon enough, I can hardly wait to hold my little blessing! God is good!

Enter to win a $25K Classroom Makeover from Macy's

With September upon us school is back in full swing! School schedules are all new to me with this being Alex's first year, starting kindergarten. Dustin and I are so excited to start this new phase in our parenting! Watching the enthusiasim of a 4 year old learn his letter sounds and count to 100 is priceless!  

I'm so saddened to see so many of our schools cutting back due to the economy, but I was really encouraged when I heard that Shespeaks has teamed up with Macy's and their $25K Classroom Makeover Sweepstakes.

You can share your school pride by entering this sweepstakes and your child's school could WIN a $25,000.00 makeover! How exciting!

Tomorrow (Sept. 15th) is the last day to enter to win a $25K Classroom Makeover from Macy's...

 ...So what are you waiting for?? It only takes a few seconds to enter, it's totally worth it!!

How to Enter:

1. Head to www.facebook.com/macys and like the page
2. Click the Classroom Makeover Sweeps tab
3. Fill out the entry form & submit
4. Share the contest via Facebook and Twitter

Disclosure: This blog post is part of the SheSpeaks and Macy’s Classroom Makeover Sweepstakes Campaign. I am being compensated for my time. As always, all thoughts and oppinions are my own. 

My little Isaac is 3!

Happy 3rd birthday little monkey!

Isaac, you are the laughter, joy and happiness that fills our home! We are blessed, I praise God for you!

You love to hang out with your brother Alex. You love to put together puzzles, climb trees, play in the dirt, go exploring and collect bugs, spiders and anything that makes me squirm! You're eager to learn, you can recognize your ABC's and 123's, shapes, colors. You can write your name, your brothers name and most of your letters. You love the Lord and are proud to say that He's in your heart, you ask to pray and read the Bible, I pray you continue to grow in HIM! Oh, and I think your favorite word is underwear, you crack up whenever we say it, it's in your deep belly laugh that I love soooo much!

I love you so very much! Happy Birthday!

An exciting announcement for the Rose family!

I'm 15 weeks pregnant, we're gonna' have a baby!!

(Picture downloaded from Similac.com)

Over the last several weeks my body has gone through so many changes.

I've been tired. Fatigued. Hungry (All. The. Time.). 8 pounds of rapid weight gain. Headaches. I've had a few days of morning sickness. But you know what? These are all symptoms that are totally worth going through in order to have a new bundle of joy in 9 months!

We're all so excited with the new addition to our family! Alex and Isaac were able to see a picture of the baby after my first ultrasound, which made it real to them both that there is actually a baby inside mommy's belly. Isaac is so cute and asks to see the baby, lifts up my shirt enough to see my belly and then asks to sing to the baby! I love that kid! He fully understands that there's a life growing in there and knows the baby can hear us singing!  

I am blessed!