Kinda Stinky.

Another bug recently hit our family.  This time around it's just a fever and headache that lingers a few days. Sickness is one of those strangely familiar unwelcome guests that just keeps letting himself in despite your insults and attempts to keep him out!

Over the past 13 years, every winter I have braced myself for the bugs that will inevitably come our way.  Mothering is full of all kinds of amazing experiences, but comforting and caring for a sick little person is rarely one of them. Yes, having their warm little bodies curl up to you is a perk...but I'm talking about cleaning puke out from between the slats of a crib.  Scrubbing the carpet while gagging.  Peeling off vomit covered clothes that stick to you and smear across your face as your trying to release yourself from them.  Never sleeping soundly because you're hyper sensitive to every sound, wondering if what you just heard is a crying kid or throw up hitting the tile in the hall way.  And then multiply it all with 2, 3, or 4 kids!

So the past few days as my kids have piled up on the couch, sleeping and watching TV, I've felt strangely grateful.  At one point, all five kids were asleep.  Can you imagine!?

Later Alice, my 13 year old, came up to me and apologized that I had to deal with so many sick kids.  Such a sweetheart :)  I chuckled and said that it really wasn't a big deal.  She looked at me kinda funny and asked what I meant.  I smiled and went into story telling mode...

We really have come a long way as a family!

But I'm still human and I need to air one complaint.

So about day three of the kiddos being sick,  Jeremy and I noticed something.  Actually I noticed my husband walk into the living room, get a puckered squinty look on his face, double over, and exclaim, "What is that smell!?"  I walked over and was smacked in the face with the same insulting aroma.   So of course, as any good mom would do, I went around sniffing everybody and everything like some crazed bloodhound.   My investigation was inconclusive, which only served to increase my agitation. So again, like a good mom, I instructed all five of my sweaty, dirty, stinky kids to go change their clothes and brush their teeth.  And then I proceeded to open all the windows.

So gross.

Babies don't stink.  Well... not like that at least.  What happened to all my squishy babies who smelled like baby soap, pampers, and milk!?  Oh, wait, I know... they grew up and got stinky.  haha.

Okay, I feel better now.  I just had to get that off my chest.  :)

So minus the stench, it has gotten a whole lot easier!  Be encouraged all you mamas in the trenches!  Your day is coming when you won't mind your whole house being overtaken by a fever and you might even take a few pictures :)

Ta-Da! I'm back...

Hey friends :)

Well, It's been over a year since I've been here.  wow.

And to be honest, it was a relief to have one less thing on my to-do list.  It was hard to step away, but necessary. And looking back now I realize exactly how necessary it was.  I was in a transition phase of my life without even knowing it. And I needed time to make that hard transition...

When I began my blog seven plus years ago, I was a different person.  I had three little girls, one of which was a baby!  I was a creative stay-at-home mama who wanted an outlet for photography, spiritual growth, family, and beauty.   I was constantly taking pictures of my growing babies, relaying their energy draining antics and the spiritual refinement that was taking place as a result!

But over the years, my babies got big (gulp), my camera was set aside and replaced by my Wacom drawing tablet, and all of my energy went into homeschooling my growing kiddos, running two Etsy shops, and daily supporting my husband in his role as lead pastor at our church.

But I realized something the other day... while I a have changed, the need to express my heart to somebody remains.  I realized that my blog followers from years past were perhaps the ones who knew me best.  You see, I'm a homebody who's also an introvert.  My days are spent with my kiddos, and my evenings with my husband.  I daily share on Instagram, but not my heart.

So I'd like to reclaim this spot to share with you...whoever you are!  I may not have cute baby pictures or stories of rogue toddlers trying to break into the neighbors car... but there's plenty to share.  I'm still a wife and mama desperately clinging to the hope of Christ.  I'm still in need of fellowship, friendship, and encouragement...just like you.  And I've still got good stories to tell :) ...just not about babies.... (ahem...Lucy... the craziest kiddo of them all).

And of course, I won't be able to resist sharing my creative side as well! ...I'm sure there will be some free printables along the way :)

So on that note,  I will leave you with a few catch up photos of my life over the past months!



My hubs, Jeremy...a.k.a the bearded pastor... built me this desk over the summer.  Can you say, "spoiled much!?"



Lucy has humbled me as a mom in ways that V wasn't even capable of!  She is more...in every way...in all the good ways and all the hard ways.  She. Is. More.



V (Virgil) grew curls...just like the rest of them!



Lucy and V act like an old married couple :)



Sadie loves to dress up :)



Elsie loves to read..to anyone that will listen!



Alice is so grown-up! She is nearly as tall as me and wears the same size shoe...yikes.



Alice is 12, Elsie, is 9.5, Sadie is almost 8, V is 5.5, and Lucy is a spunky 3.5!

That'll do for today :)  We'll catch up more later.

Blessings to you all,

Amy J.

V's Big Boy Room... a vintage boy's room tour

Hello Friends!

So I've been meaning to take you on a little tour of Virgil's big boy room for like a year and half... yeesh! ...But before I do that I have one other thing to tell you...

You NEED to hop on over to Natalie Creates and enter to win one of my Meal Planning Kits! She's posting about meal planning and wants to share her favorite meal planning printables (mine!) with you :)

Okay...
now onto the tour!

 

Hope you enjoyed the tour :)
Oh, and Virgil says "hi."

Blessings,

The Battle with V Continues! ... and some pics of all 5 kiddos...

So you know how I told  you about my struggles with Virgil a few months back?  ... You know the whole poo on the walls, pink footie p.j.s, and opening doors saga...  Well, for a while it seemed to be getting better!  We purchased those child-proof door knob covers, continued to pin him into his p.j.s, and locked the doors that led outside.

Then Lucy was born... And V upped the ante.  Poor little guy, I'm sure it's hard having a tiny little person come in and take over the house... and mommy's arms... But seriously, it's like he decided he was going to go to war against all of us!  Don't get me wrong... he wasn't mean or angry... just incredibly mischievous!  He was into everything...  and he figured out how to pop off the door knob covers.  So now nothing was off limits for him.  V took full advantage of the fact that he could now get out of his room again in the mornings.  He began waking up at 6  or 6:30 instead of 7:30 or 8... and quietly sneaking out of his room.  One morning we heard a strange noise in the kitchen that woke us up... it was Virgil, sitting on the top shelf in the pantry, eating candy.  oh. boy.

 The other thing that V figured out was how to undo the dead bolt on the front door.  He would put one foot in the window sill beside the door, hold onto the door knob with one hand, and swing his other arm up to barely reach the dead bolt and flip it over.  He mastered this technique and could open the door as quickly as I could!  ...such a little monkey. 

(During this time he also started trying to pick up Lucy,  share his candy with her, feed her random small items like rocks, and crawl into her crib with her... but that's a whole 'nother  post!)

But opening the front door was the real problem...this was the kicker.  V now could escape into the front yard... very easily and quickly.  He had it down to a science. As soon as I would leave the room he would grab his keys (Jeremy's spare car keys..that he's allowed to play with), get the door open, and dart out.  He would run into the street and try to unlock Jeremy's parked pick-up truck.  You see he's fairly obsessed with vehicles and keys...  and I think he thought that if he could just get that car door open, he would be able to use those keys to drive away! 

It scared me to death.  I usually would hear the screen door squeak and run and stop him before he got very far, but every now and then I would miss it.  Then I would realize that I hadn't seen V in a few minutes, look out the front window and see him running down the side walk or in the street.  It was awful.

This went on for a couple weeks, then one morning I looked out the window to see him in the neighbor's driveway across the street trying to get into the their Mustang!  I'll never forget that image... him standing there with his keys, in his footie p.j.s, wearing his sister's pink cowboy hat trying to unlock the car door.  oh. my.

The next day Jeremy went to Lowes...

He bought extra latches for the front and back doors that could be placed really high up.
Child running loose in the street problem. check.

I feel like I can breath a bit now!  Until that curly headed, big blue eyed son of mine comes up with some new ways to make me panic :)

Oh, I just remember what happening on Monday... in Kansas, at my folks' house... (chuckling.)
Let's just say it involved eggs, antique doll dishes, house plants, and quite a bit of crying :)
But that too, is a whole 'nother story for another day!

Blessings,

V is wearing PINK today.

So my little boy... my freshly turned 2 year old... is wearing pink footies currently. 

Let me explain. 
Virgil is my only boy, and I am continually grateful for him and all his boy-ness.  But he has been testing me... exasperating me since he was 4 months old.  I have never been so challenged as a mother as I have been with #4. 

Jump to lately...
I've been trying really hard to get up each morning before the kids to have a little quiet time with the Lord in his word.  This is a real struggle for me because I am anything but a morning person.  It takes every ounce of determination that I have to get up even 30 minutes before my kids.  Well, Virgil is the first to wake up... and over the past month he has been waking up in the middle of my quiet time.  But it has been okay because I just let him play in his room... then open the door and let him out when I'm done.

Another issue we are currently dealing with is V sneaking into the bathroom and playing in the toilet.  Whenever he manages to succeed... when his sisters accidentally leave the door open.... he often plays with the toilet cleaning brush, splashing clean or often dirty water all over the bathroom.  The other favorite of his is to literally try and climb into the toilet.  (take a deep breath, Amy...).

Enter added complication #1.
Poo. 
A couple weeks ago I opened his bedroom door after my devo time to find a boy covered in poo and a mural of poo on the back of his door. 
I did not handle this well.
In response I started cutting my quiet time short and running to his room at the first sound of him being up... but that made me mad!  I need that quiet time!  So...  I got smart and decided I was going to buy him a whole stack of footie p.j.s and safety pin them shut so that he couldn't take his diaper off.

Enter added complication #2.
Ability to open doors.
Well, yesterday... after falsely accusing my oldest daughter of leaving the bathroom door open... we discovered that V can now open doors.  My life is over. 

So last night Virgil got his last clean pair of footie p.j.s soaked to the knees with toilet water after opening the bathroom door and trying to climb into the toilet... for the third time that day. 

I'll be honest.  It was bedtime... I was very tired.  And I yelled alot.  I may have thrown a few things.  Then I stormed into the garage and dug girl footies out of the clothes tubbies.  Hot pink ones.  (Jeremy asked if I was trying to shame him into obedience... )  There was no way on this earth that I was going to follow that evening with a morning of poo on the walls because I didn't have clean footies to put him in.   So pink it is.

So this morning my son, blasts into our room before we even had a chance to get out of bed.  No morning quiet time...
I strung together some metal measuring cups (couldn't find a bell) and tied them to the bathroom door.  20 minutes into the morning V was already pushing my buttons... and now at 9:20, I already feel exhausted from dealing with him.  

Okay Amy, take a deep breath and remember.  This is your portion.  Today is not random... it is not an unlucky compilation of events.  God is in control and will work good out of EVERYTHING... if I submit to him and allow him to be glorified through the events of my messy life. 

My brain... soggy with hormones... wants to really freak out right now.  How in the world am I going to handle Virgil and a newborn???  If he can open doors, how will I keep him from climbing into her crib and tossing her out!?  I feel like I'm losing those last little ounces of control over things...

So I will choose to remember....

"Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary." Isaiah 40:31

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."  Romans 8:28

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:4-7


Grace to you as you allow God to be glorified through your portion today!

Blessings,

Little V

We switched Virgil into his youth bed last week...  He loves it.  But the first 2 nights he kept falling out of it.  It's not very far from the ground, but some how he managed to give himself a black eye one night :(  So sad!   

I've been especially enjoying him lately...  He's still a stinker.  He still exhausts me.  But he's just so cute and I'm so thankful for all the "boy" he adds to our home. 

Here are a few of his antics lately....  hope they make you smile like they make me smile :)

 

Jeremy captured this one on his phone the other day... We were both getting ready in our bedroom, and I noticed that I hadn't heard V in a while....  Yup.  into mischief.  

 

These last two are from right now...  I was editing the black/white pics and he came to "sleep" on my desk beside me :)  He pulled all of his favorite items out of his bed, and curled up!  (yes, my 2 year old still likes his pacifier...)

Blessings to you all!

A Sweet Feature, A V Day printable, and Virgil is 2!

Today,  a sweet bloggy friend of mine... I've told you about her before.... is featuring me on her blog!  I did some vintage Betsy McCall style dress graphics for her and she turned them into adorable garlands that she sells in her Etsy store... you must go take a look!  If you comment on her blog, you are entered to win a free garland.  super fun. 

RAISING UP RUBIES...
 
Thanks for the sweet words, Jaime :)

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I also have a Valentine's Day Printable for you!
As always I'm late on the holiday thing...  You might just have to save it for next year :)
It came as a result of me suddenly realizing it might be nice to do a few Valentines with the girls... so to the computer I ran and made this happy little Paisley Butterfly to color.
We added a little bit of glitter to make them just a bit more special... :)

Even if you already have Valentines to give away, these butterflies would make a happy coloring activity for Heart Day... lots of tiny details to enjoy coloring! My 4, 6, and 8 year olds all had a blast with them!

DOWNLOAD FULL PAGE/4 PAISLEY BUTTERFLIES HERE

*As always...File and finished product are not for resale or profit of any kind.  Please contact me if  you have any questions about usage.







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One last thing... My little baby boy, is turning 2 today.  I thought I just had him... wasn't I pregnant with him like yesterday?  So weird.  But today, I'm thankful for my one and apparently only, little boy :)
Happy Birthday, Virgil!
(and yes, he doesn't have pants on...again... in this photo from this morning.)

Blessings,

A peak into the AmyJ Delightful Household...

I've been trying to take more pics of everyday life again...  So here are a few glimpses into the past month and half, here in our home!  ... along with a few random thoughts :)

Let me just start with the fact that my son is stinkin' naughty... and stinkin' cute.  

He exhausts me daily... and makes me thankful for a little boy, daily.

Then let me add that I have a hard time keeping clothes on my children.  I dress them at the beginning of the day... and then clothes just disappear.  I don't know why.  They just do. 

I've been frustrated with my inability to take some good maternity shots of myself....
For one thing, I just can't take the shots that I see in my head!  I wish I could step out of myself and be in both places :)  Jeremy tried to help me a couple times, but it's nearly impossible to convey what I see in my head to him accurately and then have him actually do it in a technical sense with my camera.  not his fault... it's just how it is.  (I might be pouting a little...)

Then the other thing is... I don't like how I look this pregnancy.  ...started out 10 pounds overweight, and just feel pudgy and round.  ha, ha... that makes me laugh typing that.  oh, well, it's true.

So this shot above was taken during my attempt to get a good shot of my belly.  I never really got a good one... and as you can see V interrupted and I gave up.  Oh, well... I still have a couple months to get a few good pics.

A quick snap shot... better than nothing I guess!

V was sick this day...  don't know why I snapped this, but it does show my belly at around 24weeks. Yes, I'm huge :)

Elsie loves to "read" stories to Sadie...

It doesn't get much cuter than a fuzzy headed little girl cashed out in a big chair :)

This was just yesterday...  So typical: Alice doing her school work and V desperately trying to stay the center of attention.

This was today...  V likes to climb up into my computer chair and stand behind me.  He wraps his little arms around my neck and goes from side to sides asking for kisses :)  love it.   ... had my camera on the desk, so I asked him to pose with me.

That's it!
I'll keep trying on the maternity pics thing... hopefully I'll get a good shot or two to show you the awesomeness of my belly in all it's enormity :) 

Blessings,