Diy paci-plushie or wubanub

My oldest boy, mind you, I have four kiddos 3 years old and younger, has a wubanub. It is his best friend! When he bit thru his wubanub and i showed him it was broken, he was devastated. I was going to be that mom that says you bit it, its gone forever. My little man bent in half bawling for his puppy to be fixed. My heart melted for him. So what I did next was probably what any mother of four tiny kiddos would do. I gently calmed him down and told him I would fix puppy. He must not hurt puppy again though. He agreed in his toddler way he wouldnt hurt puppy again. I brainstormed how am I going to fix this. The soothie is not replacable?? They dont sell wubanub in wausau (at least to mu knowledge). I thought i would take his nuk altogether but I just simply wasnt ready. Littleman has gone thru so much with his health, surgeries, an adoptive brother, and a new brother all in such a short amount of time that I wasnt going to take it. So i cut off the broken soothie and handsewn on a gumdrop paci! I brought it back to him and said I fixed it. He was the happiest little guy on the planet! It was priceless.  And its been at least 6 weeks and he still hasnt hurt puppy! 

So my littlest guy was going back and forth on his mam nuk. Not wanting it, then wanting it. I really wanted him to try a wubanub but he hated the soothie. So i gave up. Well until i discovered this...

Its a paci-plushie blankie!! How cool is that!! And the coolest part is that it takes a mam, better yet it takes all kinds of nuks/pacis!! So i looked it up on amazon $18!  I wasnt going to spend another $18 when I knew I could do this at home. So this mamma was at it again!! This is Little guys diy paci-plushie blankie!! 

I think it looks pretty good and he loves it!!! 

 

And this is how I did it...

I had found the mam holder and hand sewn it directly the the monkeys head.

Then pop in your nuk of chioce

And there you have it!! 

It's a paci plushie with no extra cost. Simply find a lovey that you already have. Handsew a holder to it and pop in the nuk! 

Lord, I need you

Screaming children, poopy pants over and over, spilled milk, whiny toddlers, crying babies all around me.  What is a mother to do. I have four kids three and under, man is it a lot of work.  Everyday seems to get harder and harder.  This is when I find myself holding unto the reigns of my life, trying to do it all on my own.  I love children.  I always have.  I dreamed of having many littles running around and beingtheir  mommy.  Now I have it and what do I do.  I try to take it all and not give them to The Lord.  It is not my children I am raising. These children are the Lord's children.  I now this, now I have to believe it.  I can see when I fail I am not allowing God to work through me.  When I scream at my children for the umpteenth time and still get disobedience. I'm at a lose; until The Lord gently and firmly reminds me to Come back to him.  To give his children back to him and lay my failings, shortcomings, selfishness, and the rest of my sin at the foot of the cross. The Lord is all I need.  

Psalm 46:1-3

1 God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.

Why do I forgot God, why do I try to do it without him when I know it's so much more peaceful and joyful with HIM!!!  

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. Psalm 28:7

God's word is good food for the soul.  I want to believe that I deserve a break, I deserve someone to come help me, I deserve a chance to have time to myself. Satan wants me to believe that because I do x,y,z; I am a good person and do not need God but this List goes on and on, my wants and desires.  Truth be told, it wouldn't matter how much help I would receive, how many breaks I would get, or even if I by chance got time away; I would still be broken and in great need of my Lord and Savior!  I need you Lord, oh how I need you.  The words to this song, I desperately needed today.  I love my children, I love my husband, I love my life; however, I can't do this wife and mother thing alone.  I'm not enough and I fall apart without Him.  I need The Lord and so does my family.  

Lord, I come, I confess 

Bowing here I find my rest 

Without You I fall apart 

You're the One that guides my heart 

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You 

Every hour I need You 

My one defense, my righteousness 

Oh God, how I need You 

Where sin runs deep Your grace is more 

Where grace is found is where You are 

And where You are, Lord, I am free 

Holiness is Christ in me 

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You 

Every hour I need You 

My one defense, my righteousness 

Oh God, how I need You 

Teach my song to rise to You 

When temptation comes my way 

And when I cannot stand I'll fall on You 

Jesus, You're my hope and stay 

Lord, I need You, oh, I need You 

Every hour I need You 

My one defense, my righteousness 

Oh God, how I need You 

You're my one defense, my righteousness 

Oh God, how I need You 

My one defense, my righteousness 

Oh God, how I need You

I've been learning of grace in a women's bible study I am currently in and boy do I need to give myself grace.  Yes, I am nothing without God, yes I fail my children and my spouse.  I even fail myself.  But that doesn't matter,no none of it does.  What matters is Jesus! Jesus died for my sins.  The sins I committed as a child, the ones I committed yesterday, and the ones I committed today.  Here right now, The Lord  is holding me and whispering in my ear, "I love you."  I am not the perfect mother or spouse but I can be my best and Jesus will take care of the rest.  I need to allow myself grace and do the best I can with Christ's strength! 

Thank you Lord for giving me a few moments to spend time with you regardless of the screaming children all around me.  Thank you for the four blessings you have given me. I give them to you, they are your children. Please grant me wisdom to show your love and grace to them.  Thank you for the wonderful husband you have given me.  Thank you for rescuing me.  Thank you for redeeming me.  Thank you loving me and giving me grace. In Christ's name. Amen. 

My sanity...It's called "The Everest!!"

At 6 weeks post-partum; having four kids 3 and under, I was going a little crazy.  Going anywhere alone was a chore. I couldn't even go for a simple walk to enjoy the fresh outdoors unless I wanted to chase the older two.  I was going a little insane!  I had asked a friend if she still had her quad stroller because she too had four kids within three years.  Unfortunately, she sold it!  I turned my insanity into desperation and started searching for a way to get a break, go for a walk, with all four kids strapped in.  I was desperately looking for freedom! And I found it.  A New Zealand Quad stroller I have been drooling over this stroller ever since we found out about the possibility of getting our Little Dude, the little miracle we are adopting. It's not sold in America.  However, it can be shipped here so it's not impossible to find in America.  It retails for $1700 and costs nearly $300 in shipping costs to get it from New Zealand to America.  I had given up the idea of ever owning one of these strollers.  But our God still amazes me and continues to bless us.  Someone on Craiglist, just 3.5 hours away was selling the New Zealand Adventure Buggy for a fraction of the cost!!  This crazy momma, packed up all four kids, called Grandma to come with, and drove to get it!!  Here is the legendary stroller referred to as the Everest, my sanity saver...

All four kids at the mall, enjoying their ride.  

And it fits in the van like a glove!!

Thank you Lord Jesus for a break, for blessing us with this amazing stroller for a fraction of the price!!  I love my kiddos, I love my stroller, and I love my life.  It's certainly the little things, isn't it.  :)

Little Guy's birth story!!

On the morning of August 19, 2013, I woke up with contractions at 1:35 A.M.  I tossed and turned for a few minutes.  My tummy was constantly hard.  I woke up SuperDaddy and told him that I was sure something was happening.  It didn't feel like contractions, just constant pressure, EVERYWHERE!!  I asked him to call the midwives.  He said "no, I'm sure everything is fine, let's go on the couch and count contractions. (Mind you, I went into preterm labor just 3 weeks prior to this at 34 weeks, we were only 37 weeks when he was born)  So, to make him happy, I went on the couch.  Looked at him and said, "Call the midwives NOW, please!  The time was then 1:50 A.M.  Thankfully our babysitter for the other kids spent the night that night.  I ran upstairs to wake her.  I had to wake the sitter,  transfer another baby out of the birth-room, and set up the birthing bed, and birthing tub  yet.  I was feeling like I was running out of time.  SuperDaddy was still downstairs.  We managed to get the other baby transferred to another room, while we were sitting up the bed, my water broke, all. over. the. floor.  Let me tell you, that is by far the craziest feeling in the world!!  With my first, I only had leaking and it broke during pushing.  My second, I almost delivered him in the sac of waters until the midwife broke the waters with the amnio-hook as I was delivering him.  My third was delivered through adoption, so no water breaking there :)  So needless to say, I was in shock when my sac of waters burst!  The time was now 2:15. The midwives still had not arrived and it felt as if the water was never going to stop gushing. SuperDaddy decided to start filling the birthing pool as my babysitter made up the birthing bed.  I was now contracting almost constantly; kneeling against the side of the bed, waiting. Waiting. Waiting for the midwives to arrive.  By 2:30,  I laid down in the bed, praying the midwives would make it in time and gave up the hope of ever getting in the birthing tub.  The bed wasn't even fully made, but I didn't care, at that very moment I just needed to rest my head on something! It was 2:40 and I knew he was coming!  I heard someone say "Katie is here."(the midwife assistant)  She came in the room and said, "let me set up some things." I screamed; "No, he's coming!!  She had just enough time to grab gloves and catch him! The midwife was walking up the stairs as he was delivered at 2:44 A.M.  What a short pain filled adventure we had just experienced!! My shortest birth yet and we were  so glad he was a healthy little guy!!  The midwives had everything cleaned up and back in order before any of the other children woke up.  It was perfect. Perfect indeed.

Purely Perfect!  Born at 2:44 A.M  Weighing in at 7 lbs 14 oz and 21.5 inches long!! 

Can't believe He's 7 weeks old already!!!!

The day I've always waited for since becoming Little Peanut's Mommy...

Yesterday, September 9, 2013, seemed as if it was going to be a normal day in our new life of four littles.  Little Peanut was rambucksious and curious, the boys were all that-boys.  We had our fun before lunch, ate, and put the boys down for nap.  Little Peanut and I had our first day of homeschool-preschool this morning.  (Yes, you are welcome to pray we stick with it since we have a house full of babies :) Yikes!! But we love every minute of it!!!)  Then it happened!!! I was reading Little Peanut a story about "Who created the World," and out of the blue she asked, "Mom, do those kids (pointing to the pictures) have Jesus in their hearts?"  The next moments were priceless.  SuperDaddy and I have been sharing the gospel with Little peanut for at least a year now.  We have talked about accepting Jesus into your heart. Little peanut just hasn't been ready.  She could repeat the gospel in its entirety, however, she would say "I want to keep my dirty heart and be selfish."Yes in her own words, "No mommy, I'll do it tomorrow because I want to be selfish and have a dirty heart."  As hard as it was for almost a year, SuperDaddy and I said "ok, we will continue to pray for you sweetie," and left it at that.  But Yesterday, she was finally ready for her new clean heart!!  After she asked about the kids in the pictures, she bowed her head and said the sweetest prayer I've ever heard, asking the Lord to forgive her and give her a clean heart! She went through the whole prayer by herself then looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I have Jesus in my heart forever and he gave me a clean heart, I will be more kind and obedient now."  And she has!  You can really see a difference in her little life.  It still amazes me how God works.  Thank you Lord for the greatest birthday gift a mother could ask for!!!

A not so good update on Little Man...

Little Man has been showing signs that aren't so good lately. Would you please join us in praying for answers, once again.  For the last month, he has been refusing to eat most foods until he jump starts himself with a decent meal.  I was hoping it was a phase. Three weeks ago, he started having diarrhea and undigested food in his stools.  I was hoping he reacted to a friend's house because she has a dog and carpet.  His asthma symptoms are returning and his digestive system is completely going haywire.  Last week he was constipated for 4 days, I gave him a suppository, then the diarrhea and undigested food returned along with tons of mucous that afternoon.  His eyes get blood shot and swollen at times and he gets random rashes on his body.  We don't understand what is going on with him.  There are many red flags.  As of last friday, his nurse just wanted to blame it on the minor cold that he has.  I'm not buying that as an answer.  I told her I'm not waiting for him to be labeled failure to thrive and start starving again before we search for answers.  I decided to get him into his pediatrician next week to discuss further action.  We see him July 10.  It could be an array of things causing these symptoms.  Does he have celiac or gluten intolerance?   It's about that time his body would start showing signs of intestinal damage.  He may have a colonoscopy and biopsy done to confirm or deny this theory.  Is his body "more" allergic to milk now and rejecting it?  He was diagnosed with a level 1-2 milk allergy in April.  Being it was only a level 1 allergy the benefit outweighed the risk and we put him on pediasure and other diary products.  And right now, diary is one of the few things I can get him to eat.  Without pediasure, he cannot maintain his weight.  We tried removing pediasure in May and he dropped 1/2 pound.  We put him back on pediasure and he gained 1.5 pounds.  We have no idea what is going on with our Little Man, but please pray for some answers and doctors' willingness to help us find them.  He appears to be growing in length as his pants are getting a bit on the short side.  He is still in 12 month pants.  However, I know something isn't right about my Little Man and I will not give up until we have answers with positive results.  Please pray for wisdom for us and the doctors.  Please pray I will stay focused on the Lord during this time and completely trust him with my baby boy. (Yes, I may have 2 baby boys younger than him, but he is still my baby boy :) )

 You have my permission to take this post viral again because prayer is powerful and God works in amazing ways.  Thank you family and friends for your prayers and support.  Our Little Man is in good hands