Family Circus

Just some things that have been going on in each "ring" of our three-ringed circus :)

Ben:

The other day I had twelve dollars sitting on the console in my car. The next day, I went to go ahead and put the money in my wallet, but there were only two dollars. I couldn't imagine how I had lost the $10 bill; I searched high and low in the car, in my pockets, purse, trash can...I had decided that maybe I was crazy and never actually had $12!  A day later, Ben walks in and annouces..."Mommy, I have $10!" Here is the convo:

Me: Oh, really? Let me see!

Ben:  (goes to get $10 bill and shows me)

Me: Wow, where did you get this?

Ben: From you

Me: (laughing) Oh, really? How did you get it?

Ben: I wanted $10, so I took it!

I then of course went on into the lesson on stealing and how I didn't give him the money and he didn't earn it, so it wasn't his!!! Funny....

He also has some football terms : Runbacker, Defenser, and Down set hutter.

Ben and Lindley also like to go and play in Ben's room. I knocked on the door and opened it to this :

Lindley:

She absolutely LOVES music, dancing, and singing ( and also Barney). Our step stool is her stage...all the time. She has been singing some tunes to us lately. The sweetest song is "Jesus loves me," but I didn't get that whole song on video. So, here is a video of a different song. We also got her saying her newest phrase, "I don't know!" We celebrated when she said "One, two, THREE" on the video because usually she says, "One, two, FOUR!"

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Brandt:

He still eats, sleeps, and cries :)  We have caught him smiling a couple of times, but he is still just taking it all in most of the time.  He moved to his crib this week, and he has been doing okay in it. I have now given up eating dairy to see if that helps his tummy problems. We'll see.

Why-Day Friday

Why do we spend tons of money on toys when our kids are perfectly entertained by a bucket of soapy water and four wash rags??

Back story:  I had taken a water bucket and wash rags outside to wash the dirt off of the front door and let the kids "help."  Afterwards they took turns slinging the water off of the wet rags onto each other, seeing how far they could throw them, and generally getting wet.  Go figure...

Soccer Has Begun!

Ben is #12 on the Texans for our 3rd season with this team.  Ben is playing "up" a league with Kindergartners.  They now have goalies and referees.  Here are some action shots...

6 weeks

It doesn't even seem possible that Brandt will be 6 weeks old this week.  In some ways, it feels like it has been the fastest 6 weeks of my life.  In other ways, not so much!  He still struggles with gas/stomach pain/reflux/we don't know why he's screaming, but he gets a little better every week.  At his one month appt, he weighed 9 lbs 3 oz (30th %tile) and was 21.5 inches long (50th %tile) . That is quite a weight gain from his birth weight of 6 lbs 11 oz!

Here he is at 1 month:

We are still trying to figure out who he looks like, but there are times when I see Ben in Brandt.  I found this picture of Ben at one month, just for grins...

Ben's Birthday Bash

Ben has basically been celebrating his birthday all month!  His actual birthday was a super busy day with the first day of Pre-K, first soccer practice, and a small family celebration at home.  Then, we had his bowling bash this past weekend.  He had a blast!!

Changes

Don't you just love the new look!?!? We received a blog makeover as a gift from a dear friend. It has been so fun!! And, Kristi did a great job. There is a link to her website on the side.

To go along with the new look, we are going to be changing blog addresses, so please update your readers/links, etc.

Our new address will be http://theschribtribe.blogspot.com/

I will be changing it over on Monday-ish.

"It's hard to have 3 kids"

Today, as we were driving to McDonald's, Ben asked if we could eat at the restaurant so he could play. So, I explained to him that normally he could, but we had to get back home to get Lindley down for a nap by 12:30 so she would be awake by 3:00 so we could take Ben to his friend's house to play. Ben's response? "It's hard to have 3 kids." Amen to that!!

The one word I would use to describe having three kids is "circus."

Some other highlights from this past week:

- At this point, the baby pretty much goes wherever I go. One thing about him is that when he decides it is time to eat, there is very little lead time and soon becomes an emergency. So, I went to get my hair cut yesterday and took the baby with me. He decided to wake up about halfway into the hair cut and also decided he was hungry. Despite my attempts with the pacifier, I ended up feeding him in the chair with the cape as my cover.

- Ben accidentally locked himself in the bathroom when I was here by myself with all three kids. It was really hard to coach him on how to unlock the door, and I couldn't get it unlocked from the outside. Luckily, he finally figured it out.

- I also took the kids to get pictures made. I was really just wanting to get newborn pictures, but went ahead and took Ben's 5 yr and Lindley's 2 yr pictures because I decided we weren't going to make it back for those ;) It is pretty much impossible to get a good picture with all three. Here are a few of what we did get.

This Week in Pictures

This past week has been very eventful, to say the least! Brandt Landon Schrib was born; he weighed 6 lbs 11 oz and was 19 inches long! He had some fluid on his lungs when he was born, which is apparently not uncommon, but required a stay in the NICU. We finally got to bring him home on my 30th birthday! We are all doing very well now. We had a check up with the doctor this week to follow up with the NICU stay, and he is already back up to his birth weight! And, Ben and Lindley are doing very well with him. He is just the sweetest thing!



Also, since there are no longer just four schrib's in our household, we will be changing blog addresses. The new one will be http://theschribtribe.blogspot.com/. I'll give you a few days notice before changing it!

Thankful

I have to admit that bed rest has definitely not been the funnest thing I have done in a while. I have been on bed rest twice before, but this time seems to be the hardest. Maybe it is because we have two kids running around!! And the kids are here all day with a babysitter, which makes it harder because they want to hang out with me, but I'm kind of boring right now! The babysitter is really good about taking them to do stuff, but there are still times when it's pretty challenging.

BUT, as it says in 1 Thessalonians 1:18, "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." There are so many things that we are so very thankful for during this short period of our lives.

There have been so many awesome people who have jumped right in to help in any way that they can. We have had lots of yummy dinners brought, which was made even easier by a dinner calendar that a friend set up. Ben has played with lots of neighborhood friends, and some people have even wanted to help with chores! And, of course our loving parents, who do even more for us when they are here than I would normally do! My mom got to be here for a big chunk of July; she worked so very hard and really did so much that helped us make it through the month. Lanny's parents have also gotten to come and got some house maintenance and every last piece of laundry taken care of! My aunt and cousin also came to stay, and the baby now has the cutest curtains on the block thanks to my aunt. My cousin, Rosston, was so awesome with Ben; he was in heaven!! My dad and brother are up next; they get here at the end of the week.

Everyone's thoughtfulness has been an amazing expression of God's love, and we have been so blessed by the way other's have served. I read somewhere that "God's comfort can come in a card, a call, a casserole, or a consoling hug," and we have had all of that!

Thankfully, the bed rest has served its purpose and my blood pressure has been staying low enough to keep me out of the hospital. I go to the doctor twice a week, and those are my weekly "outings." I found out yesterday that, if I make it this far (in the words of the doctor), then I will be induced on August 18!!

Three Kids and Seven Years Ago

Okay, well, technically not three kids yet, but close enough!!

Lanny and I have been married now for longer than we dated. Just for fun (and because I have a lot of time on my hands), I thought I would post some pictures of the last 13 years of our relationship. We started dating in the dark ages before cell phones and digital cameras, but I have these pictures from our rehearsal dinner slideshow. Sadly, I don't have any digital wedding pictures, and I'm not smart enough to figure out how to scan them in.

Anyway, here is Lanny and I in high school at his senior prom (I think :) When Ben saw this picture, he said my hair looked funny...

My high school graduation (circa 1997)...

BYX social in college...
My 21st birthday...
Just for fun...good times with our best friends...

Engagement picture....

Ben's first birthday....

Lindley's birth...

Most recent picture I have of us (obviously not too recent because I am much bigger than this right now...)

These seven years have held a lot of change for us, but they have been very good years. I can honestly say that I love Lanny more than I did yesterday, but not as much as I will tomorrow.

Not the Charm

I had been thinking that maybe the third time would be the charm, and that maybe this pregnancy would be the easiest one yet. And, it had been...up until Thursday. To make a long story short, I am now on bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. I can basically eat, go to the bathroom, and shower.

I am having the same blood pressure issues that I had with the other two kids. This time, it came on really fast...within the course of one day...so we have been really surprised by it. I really needed about 2 more weeks to wrap things up, but oh well!! We should have planned better for this; I think in all my wishful thinking, I just didn't do the smart thing and plan. So, we are scrambling a little to figure it all out. But, we know that God will take care of all of us. Please just pray for strength for Lanny, understanding for the kids, and patience for me!!

The Fourth

We had a great time with friends and family. Our festivities included Ben and Lindley riding in the neighborhood parade, playing in bounce houses and water slides, cooking out and swimming with family and friends, and Richardson's fireworks show. The kids loved the fireworks. Everytime one would go off, Lindley would say "Ooo, petty!"