Where to begin???

Father's Day

Mini-Marc

Mother's Day!

Ok, when you go this long without posting, how do you know where to begin? I've been somewhat busy, but that is really no excuse at all. I check my blog all the time to read everyone elses, but just haven't taken the time to actually write anything on mine. Every time I open it and see the pics in my last blog, I am just amazed at how much my kids have grown in the past 10 months. Jace doesn't even resemble the baby in those pics. So, this blog is just a quick update on the Wood clan.

We are now living Clovis. We moved here in April from Roswell. When we moved to Roswell in August, our ultimate goal was always to get back to Lubbock. There was a job opening in Lubbock. Marc wasn't completely qualified for it, but we were hoping that since he has started coursework towards that degree, they would just love him and offer him a job. They decided to go with someone that already had experience, but he received a lot of positive feedback on future posibilities. He is working towards the degree in hopes of someday being able to move up in the company. Anyway, that job didn't work out, but I believe it was for the best. A short time later, a guy from Clovis took a job in Roswell, which opened up a spot here. We jumped at the oportunity to get closer to family (Marc's mom lives here), friends (Marc is from Portales (20 minutes away) and one of my best friends lives there), and Lubbock (only 90 miles away). It wasn't fun moving for the 2nd time in a year and with two rugrats around, but it is SO much better for our family. Roswell wasn't too bad, but it just never felt like home. We bought a house here in Clovis, have found a church that we really love, and we are starting a life here. Things are great!!!

Now for the kiddos. Jarrett will be 4 on August 2nd and is just so big. (Praise the Lord! I'm pretty ready for the 3's to be over. Whoever decided the 2's were terrible must have named them that before reaching the 3's. I can't completely blame him for this. He's had quite a bit of upheaval in this past year. It's got to be tougher on them than on us and it's been pretty tough on me. :-) ) He's going to start preschool in August and is so excited about it. He took swim lessons for the first time this summer. He loved it!!! He's all about doing everything that his daddy does. He and Marc have been to several rodeos since we've moved here, so he now wants to be a cowboy and wears his boots and jeans as often as possible. I've tried to talk him out of them because it's so stinkin' hot, but he always replies, "Daddy is wearing his." How do you argue with that?

Jace will be 1 on August 10th. I can't believe it. This year has flown by. He is in to everything! I forgot how quick they get into stuff. He has been such a sweet baby. Now that he's more mobile, his little personality is starting to shine. He can be pretty stubborn, but if you get on to him, it really hurts his feelings and then it hurts mama's too. He loves his big brother and loves playing with him. He's all boy and I can already tell he's going to be tough and rough. Jarrett better watch out because I have a feeling that Jace is going to be bigger than he is. He started crawling in May and has already moved to pulling up and walking along side everying. He's eating table food and loves it. He's still nursing, but seems to be starting to be less interested in it. He sleeps through the night occasionally, but most nights wakes up to find his passy. I feed him around 6 and then he goes back to be until 7 or 8. I can't complain too much.

Staying home with Jace and Jarrett has been such a blessing. It is a time that I have cherished and will never forget. I didn't get to do this when Jarrett was a baby, but getting to be here for his last year before he starts school has been so great. We definitely have our "days", but I wouldn't even trade those for anything. I thank God for letting me be their Mom.

Next week, Marc and I will celebrate our 5th anniversary. I can't believe it's been 5 years already. In these 5 years, we have been so blessed and I look forward to the next 50 + years to come. I love him more every day. I love him for the amazing father he is to our boys and a great husband he is to me. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Now, that my short catch-up blog has become a novel, I'll end here. Hopefully, it won't be that long before another post. Next, I'll post pics of our new home. :-)

Better Late than Never

Ok, I know this post is a little overdue, but we've been a little busy. I will do an actual post a little bit later, but I thought that the pictures would work for now. Jace turns 6 weeks old tomorrow. It has gone by so quickly. He's changing so much and I'm loving every minute of it. Jarrett is a great big brother. He's definitely ready for Jace to be able to play with him and we have to remind him often that he's too little to play, but I can already tell they are going to be great buddies. I have lots more to blog about this little guy's journey, but that will have to wait. Until then.....

Random

Well, first things first, I am now 6 months pregnant!!! I went to the doctor this morning and hearing that little heartbeat still is so amazing to me. Even though I feel the little guy moving like crazy, it does this mama good to hear the heartbeat too. He didn't care for it too much though. As soon as Dr. Burke started moving it around, he kicked or something, at the spot where the doppler thingy was. It was funny. I have to wait until June 4th to see him again. I can't wait.

Second thing. We took Jarrett to his first movie this weekend. We went to see How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. I don't know if kids these days realize how cool 3D is, but Marc and I were pretty impressed. Jarrett did so good at the movie. The previews were soooo long and I was a little worried that he would lose interest or fall asleep. He didn't do either. I kept telling Marc to check behind the 3D glasses to see if he was dozing and he wasn't. When we left there, all he wanted to do was to fly on a dragon or watch the movie again. He's not grasping that we can't do either right now.

Last thing. We are still in limbo with Marc's job and our status as to if we are Texans or Aliens, I mean New Mexicans. Ha! Last week, we had decided to rent a house here in Lubbock and see what happens. Well, now, being the wishy washy people that we are, we've decided to put EVERYTHING into storage and stay at my parents in Brownfield until we know one way or the other where we are going to live. All this being up in the air is driving me crazy, but God has a plan. I just wish He'd show it to us sooner, rather than later.

My Plate is Full!

Ok, you know the saying "God will not give you more than you can handle." I believe this with all my heart and it has gotten me through some really tough times, but right now, I feel like I'm definitely being tested here. This blog is for me to vent a little and for me to be able to look back later when all is back to "normal", whatever that might be, and think "See, that wasn't near as bad as I thought."

As I've mentioned before, Marc's job has moved him to Roswell, NM. Yes, he is now an alien. :) He's been there since February. I can't believe that he's been over there that long. It really has gone by quickly, which I am thankful for. Even though it is going fast, I still have my complete meltdowns about the whole situation. I'm going to be poor pitiful me for a moment, so indulge me. I'm coaching track right now at school. This wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for the current situation of single parenting. By the time I pick Jarrett up, I am exhausted, and I'm sure I'm not always in the best of moods. Well, he feeds off of that and then he's not in the best of moods. I feel like all I do is discipline him and all he does is talk back. I'm sure part of this is being 2, but alot of it is my attitude as well. I'm hormonal and grouchy, to say the least. This increases our chances of going round and round in the morning before school, around bedtime, or both. There are nights that I'm ready to pull my hair out. Last night was one of those. Poor Marc. He gets the brunt of my frustrations over the phone. I told him last night that I hated this crap and was tired of it. He hates it too, because even with the bad moods, he'd rather be here with us. So, it's really just a waiting game. There' no way for us to rectify the situation until I'm out of school and can move over there, which leads me to stress numero DOS.

Our house is in contract and hopefully closing on May 21st. We haven't wanted to look for houses anywhere yet because of the contract falling through before. This one is looking much more promising, I think. Another reason that we haven't started looking is because we were unsure about where to look. We were holding out hope that something was going to open up back here in Lubbock and we'd get to stay. That hope is not looking so good. If it happens, it's not going to be any time in the near future, so we've decided that we are going to Roswell and we are going to make the best of it. Now, we have to decide if we want to rent or to buy. My feelings on the matter are that if we rent and are always waiting to come back to Lubbock, Roswell will never feel like home. We can make it home and make the best of it, if we try. So, I've been looking at houses that a realtor sent me, but we haven't actually gone to see any yet. Working around crazy schedules of family and work is becoming quite the challenge. Time is flying by, which in the case of getting to be a family again is great, but in the case of being homeless in a month and a half, isn't so great. We would never actually be homeless, but I don't want to move all of our stuff into storage and then to a house later. I want to move into a house so that we can start building our lives in Roswell as soon as I'm out of school. So, we have all of these worries on our plate right now. I know, in the big scheme of things, it's really not that big a deal, but right now it feels huge. I told Marc the other day that sometimes I wish we weren't adults and there was someone to make these decisions for us. No one is offering at the present time. We just don't want to make the wrong choices and have regrets later on. I just need to trust in the Lord that he won't give us more than we can handle and we will be back to "normal" soon.

On a side note, over Spring Break, we tackled the task of potty training. I was kinda dreading it, but really didn't want to wait until summer. We used a 3-day plan that a friend from daycare had given me. It's an all or nothing approach to potty training, which is a little daunting. We threw out all the diapers. All we had were big boy undies. The first three-four days were very trying on this mama. I seriously had moments where I wondered if he was getting it or not. I had some very encouraging friends tell me that it was normal and I really didn't want to turn back after spending that much of our Spring Break on it. So, we stuck it out and I'm happy to announce that I truly believe we are POTTY TRAINED!!!! (He's probably teeteeing all over the floor as I type.) This might be a little TMI, but he now tells us when he needs to teetee AND poop. He did have a teetee accident the other day outside because we didn't get to him fast enough, but I'm sure those will happen. This week has been the first week that I haven't woken him up and he hasn't woken me up, in the middle of the night, to go to the bathroom. His big boy undies have remained dry every morning this week. I couldn't be more proud of him. God gave me a break on this one and I am so thankful. I guess He knew I had a lot going on. :) I'm attaching some pics of the cutest little undies you'll ever see. I took them with my phone, so they are a little fuzzy.

A Friend

Ok, over the past couple of years, in my bible studies, quiet times, and at church, one theme has stood out to me. I'm sure it's always been there and I've just been too dense to really comprehend it or maybe God has really just spoken to me about this because he knows it's what I need. Anyway, it is the idea that Jesus is a "friend". Why has this been such a difficult concept for me to grasp over the years? Why hasn't it hit me in the face the way it has in the past couple of years? I have no idea. Like I said, it's probably been told to me over and over for my entire life,(Ex. hymn: "What a Friend we Have in Jesus" DUH!) but just lately it seems that every where I turn, there is something there about it. Today, I was looking at this website and it had Christian jewelry. There was a necklace and the title was "Friend". I clicked on it thinking it might be something that you would give to a friend that is in a bible study with you or shares your beliefs. Who knows? Anyway, it is a necklace that is an ancient Greek monogram of "Jesus". It comes with this poem/scripture attached.

'I rule the heavens,

I made the earth

yet I stopped in wonder

to dance at your birth

I hung the stars

I placed the moon

yet I look forward

to long talks with you

I am your Healer

comfort I send

Redeemer,

Messiah,

yet...I call You Friend.

'John 15:13-15, Proverbs 18:24



And BAM, here it is again. I love thinking of Jesus as a "friend". Who better, right? I love thinking of Jesus "dancing at my birth". What a crazy-wonderful image. I know that, as children, we are taught this, but it hasn't been until I had this epiphany, at a Beth Moore bible study, that he really is a friend and that I should talk to him that way. This has changed me and has changed the way I pray and seriously the way I think of him. I've always prayed and loved Jesus, but when you stop and think of him and talk to him as a friend, it completely changes your relationship with him. How elementary, I know. This just proves how much room for growth exists in my world. I might have to order myself this necklaces. Here's a pic.

A Journey for the Wood Family

It has been way too long since my last post. I think I say that at the beginning of each one, but lately, I haven't been able to find the time to post. There's definitely been quite a bit going on that I think is worthy of a blog to document for myself. I'm warning that it's going to be long and most of it isn't that interesting. I just want to look back later on and remember all of it. Let me start out with a couple months ago and work my way to the current.
As many of you know, we had a miscarriage in August. We were told that we needed to wait 4 months before trying again. Four months sounded like 4 years to a person that longed to have another baby growing in her. So, being the good listeners that we are, we were good for 2 months. I was so anxious to get pregnant and am not a very patient person to start with. Also, things with Marc's job were kinda up in the air. We could possibly be moving, which meant he was going to have to go somewhere and Jarrett and I would have to stay in Lubbock until the end of the school year. Of course, the first thing that I thought was..."how in the world will we get pregnant with us living in two different places?" I was definitely not wanting to wait until summer. Remember the lack of patience mentioned before??? So, we decided not to prevent, but not to necessarily try either. Well, on December 9th, I was late, but hadn't "felt" pregnant, but thought what the heck. My pregnant friend, Micha, actually told me that she had a test left over and brought it to me so that I didn't have to "waste" money. (Waste was my word because I was sure that I wasn't pregnant.) I took the test. I tried to stay busy for those long 3 minutes. When I went back in, there was only one line. :( I wasn't too upset because I didn't think that I was pregnant. For some reason, I didn't throw the thing away. (Hmmm...God is so good.) I just left it on the counter. About 30 minutes later, I walked back past it and something caught my eye. It was a very faint second line. I thought I was imagining things. You know when you look at something for so long and your eyes start playing tricks on you? Of course, I had to rush to the drugstore to get a digital one just to make sure. It wasn't even a minute and the stick flashed PREGNANT. I was still in disbelief. I ended up getting a blood test the next day to make sure. We were still very cautious as to telling people. It wasn't that I didn't want to shout it from the rooftop. I just felt very protective of the baby and myself. I know the more people praying, the better, but I knew that if something went wrong, there would be less people to have to tell. This thinking is probably crazy, but it was my thought process at the time. After letting myself believe that I was actually pregnant, the waiting began. I had to make it to my first sonogram at 9 weeks, and then I could relax is what I kept telling myself. So, we went to that sonogram and everything looked great. It was a huge relief. I began telling more people, which was a good thing because I was already showing a little. By my 12 week appointment, I had let the doubts and worries start creeping in again. When I heard that little heart beat, I burst in to tears. I bet Dr. Burke thought I was crazy. It was music to my ears. To further alleviate my worries, she did a quick sonogram and said everything looked great. Around this time, the nausea went away and I felt human again. I felt so great that I really didn't feel "pregnant" until I started feeling the baby move. With Jarrett, I felt him move around 18 weeks, but once you know what it feels like, it comes so much earlier. I started wondering if I was really feeling it at 14-15 weeks. It was such a great feeling. I think God knew that I needed that reassurance. I've had my moments of freaking out since then, but I am doing much better these days. Today, March, 26th, we found out that I have a healthy baby boy growing inside me again. I couldn't have received better news. I was starting to think that it might be a girl, but my main concern was that it was healthy. Marc, on the other hand, knew that it was a boy and was completely pulling for it to be one. He was grinning from ear to ear when we found out. We are thrilled and can't wait to welcome another little boy into our crazy world. Marc says that we are keeping this name a secret, just like we did with Jarrett. This is so hard for me. I'm not good at keeping my mouth shut. I guess I'll have to be for 5 more months though. I am due August 14th. I must like being pregnant during the hottest time possible.

As for the crazy world I mentioned earlier, Marc's job has been a little crazy, to say the least, lately. Marc has been transferred to Roswell, NM. He moved over there at the beginning of February. It hasn't been fun at all. He comes home every Friday and leaves with me crying on Sunday. I thought it might get easier, but it hasn't yet. We have had our house on the market for the past couple of months. We went into contract on it a couple of weeks ago and then that fell through. We are currently under contract now and I'm praying that everything works out the way it's supposed to. I don't care when it sells, just as long as Jarrett and I get to live back with Marc full time come summer. We are still in limbo because there have been rumors of openings in Lubbock. We'd love to stay here, close to family and friends. If that door closes, then we will know that God wants us in Roswell and that's where we will go. I'm just ready to know one way or another. Also, with this move (whether we stay or go), I'm hoping to get to stay home next year with my boys. I'm looking so forward to it. Now that I have it in my mind that that is going to happen, I will be completely heart broken if it doesn't work out. I think I would give up anything to make it work. We'll see. I'm definitely praying hard about all of it. I know God is going to take care of us and we just need to trust His timing in everything.

His timing is perfect, no matter what we think the perfect time is for something. I should know. I just now thought of the perfect example. The baby we lost in August was due right around this time. This could've been a really sad time for us, but instead, we find out what we are having with this pregnancy and that everything is looking great. Not that I don't still ache for the baby I lost, but we are so excited, and finding out that this one is going so well eases that ache. I will never forget that precious baby and one day will get to hold her (I'm just guessing) in my arms. And on that note, I'm out. If you're still reading. Love you all!

Mother of the Year! Yeah right!!!

I just logged on at school! Could this just be a fluke thing? Maybe I will actually get to occasionally blog on my conference. Y'all might get to hear from me more often, unless they tear it away from us again. Just thought I would share how excited this makes me.

I do have something funny to tell about this morning. This all happened after we got to daycare. I have gotten into the habit of undoing his seat before I get out. That way, he can get out of his seat and be waiting on the real seat when I get to that door. (We are usually running late.) Then I grab him and we go. TODAY, I unbuckled him but when I got out, I hit the lock button out of habit. (I do have keyless remote, but I normally drop them into my purse, so I manually lock the doors too.) So, I got around to his side and the doors were locked and my keys were in the ignition. It wasn't running, thank goodness, but they were in there. So, I go back to my side and yell for him to get into mama's seat to "drive". He loves doing this, so he starts climbing up there. In the process, he has found a bowl of cereal and spills it climbing over the seat. He then proceeds to pick up each piece individually. I'm sure he was worried that he would be in trouble for spilling and not picking them up. Finally, he gets to my seat and I tell him to push the buttons. He knows how to push the lock side down, but he doesn't realize the other side does something as well. I'm trying to get him to do it when he just happens to reach up on the door and slides the lock over to unlock it and I yank the door open. SUCCESS!!! Luckily, it was only about a 5 minute ordeal. It could've been a whole lot worse. I'm so glad that I had unbuckled him before I got out. I can't imagine the trauma (to both of us) that that would've caused. Note to self, take keys with you even if you are just running in AND teach him how to push the unlock button too. OR, just be more careful. Hmmm...what a concept.