Thanksgiving & Sickness

Aunt She-She and Uncle Tim getting love. Little did they know what else they would pick up from him.

Keira putting out place cards she had cut out. We began Thankgiving at Papaw and Mamaw Leffews house and had a great time. We then went to visit my grandmother that evening. After shopping friday morning with mamaw, I came home and began putting up the Chirstmas decorations. We then went to my grandparents home for Thanksgiving with the Duncans. Brock had felt fine both Thursday and Friday. Well, as soon as we walk in our door about 9:30 he starts vomiting. By midnight I am up sick also. Brandon had to put Brock in bed with him b/c I was so sick. This went on all night. Saturday morning Brock is fine, but I cannot get out of bed. Mamaw Sherry came up and helped Brandon with the kids and cleaning. We find out that 8 out of 14 of us are sick at this point, Jenna had to miss her ballgame, I am so sorry J-Ray. We figure Brock was the culprit. This virus hits quickly and seems to end in 24 hours. By 9-9:30 Saturday night, I was better. This, morning Brandon and Sherry have a touch of it. So it is very contagious. We hope Papaw doesn't get this as he is scheduled to begin his first treatment next Monday. Thankfully, he left for a hunting trip in Alabama early Friday morning, so maybe he will not catch this. So now that makes 10 out of 14 to be sick. I sure hope no one's else's little ones get this, it is so hard when they cannot tell you how they feel or what is hurting. I know Brock face told it all when he was vomiting, he was scared and just ran to me, yes, vomiting all over me. Funny what you can tolerate when it comes from your kids, if it had been Brandon doing that, I don' t think I could have handled it. LOL

Fantasy of Trees

The kids and I ( yes, you read that right) went to the opening day of Fantasy of Trees. I wondered how I would manage both by myself but thankfully they stayed in the stroller and were wonderful. It was a fabulous morning. Brock was so captivated by all the lights and decorations and just sat and took it all in. We did several crafts, bought some awesome cookies, played games, and enjoyed all the trees. What a great event to attend and that it also benefits Children's Hospital. If you have ever had to use Children's, whether something minor or major, you know how important it is they have the equipment and other items they need. I have no trouble spending money on something like this. Santa was there and taking pictures, etc. Before we even arrived this morning, Keira was worried to death about seeing him. She is terrified of Santa and I had to keep reassuring her that he might not be here. He was, but she was busy looking at soemthing else, and I quickly went by that area. I asked her why she is afraid of him and she replied " He has too much hair." Okay. Whatever. We had so much fun that we are going back Saturday with Daddy and Mamaw.

more pics

Keira loves to ride the spinning wheels, cannot think of the correct words for these rides, but I did not take Brock on this one. We rode the carousel and he wouldn't get on a horse, so we sat on the bench. Brock took apart the ornament, thinking it was a ball with a string attached. It jingled and he thought that was pretty neat.

Keira is holding a small New Testament Bible and carried this with her. She does look like she is Praising the Lord in this pic. Mr. Destruction probably wondering why these pieces of wood are in his way. How sure if I hadn't stopped him, he would have been up in the display. That's all I needed to happen - end up paying $500 for some tree he decides to take down. HA!!

Sleep!!!!!!

Can someone please explain how this happy, joyful, content little ray of sunshine turns into a crying, screaming, little terror at bedtime. Sleep is a real problem in the Leffew house right now. This has been going on for quite a period of time now, don't ask me for specifics, because I cannot remember exactly how long..........I guess lack of rest has caused my brain to dwindle. Brock is wanting to be in the bed with Keira and I and I have learned from my past mistake. Never again!!!!!!! Although some nights I have caved simply b/c Keira and Brandon were not sleeping and they need their sleep. Brandon thinks it may be teething or separation anxiety, and I agree, but I am so over it. I had been going in and comforting him by picking him up and then laying him down and standing there with my hand on his back. I then realized that was a mistake also. Last night he went to sleep around 9 and then woke at 11:40 and finally at 1 gave it up. Thankfully Keira was so tired she slept through this. Brandon and I stayed in the living room and vented our frustrations - Kandi " I don't want anymore babies - I am finished" Brandon " What have we done to cause this?" Kandi " I feel like going out the door and running away" Brandon" He is going to cry as long as it takes" Kandi " I could bang my head against the wall" Kandi " I need a drink" I don't drink but I think I could be tempted to ( Just kidding) Kandi " I don't know why I try to go to bed, I should just stay up" Kandi " I dread the nights" At some point Brock begins calling out for "Dora, Dora" As frustrated as we were at this point, we laughed. He must have given up on us and was crying for his woman to save him. He has an obsession with Dora and I think is in love. LOL There is more- but you get the picture. All the while our precious son is crying and repeating "Momma" "Daddy" A part of me wants to cave and go get him and take him to bed, the other part says no, huge mistake. I go back to bed and snuggle beside Keira after Brock finally gives it up. Well 30 minutes later he is crying again. I get up, go hold him, lay him down, still crying, and return to bed. At least Keira won't wake if I am beside her. A few minutes pass and I hear Brandon get up and get him. He dopes him up with orajel and then back to bed. I don't know how long he cried this time, but he did give it up. I wake at 7:30 and go to our bedroom and lay down until Brandon gets out of the shower. We talk and laugh about how hard it is. Brandon is optimistic and encouraging and reassures me this will pass. I on the other hand don't see that happening anytime soon. I am physically and mentally tired. We count our blessings that our kids are healthy and are thankful for many other things that we discussed. We just laugh at the things we say during the night, knowing it is frustration and our way of handling it. I am so thankful that my husband is there to reassure me and encourage me. Even this morning I said "I need to get my tubes tied" Of course Brandon disagress. HA!! However, he did agree with me last night, that we are proabably finished with having anymore babies, unless the Lord sees otherwise. I have been saying I am done this past month or so. Funny, how a few months can change your mind :) This summer I was having baby fever - but that quickly subsided as sleep became less and less. Do I really want to go through all this again? I don't think so - sleep has pushed me over the edge on having another one. Brandon is quick to tell me that I will change my mind when Brock gets older and especially when he goes to pre-school. I am having a hard time imagining that now. LOL Why is sleep so hard? Why must it be learned? WHY???????? Can you tell I am having trouble with sleep. HA!! Well, now that I have vented to you all, have a good day.

Indian Outfit

Brandon and I began Tuesday evening for over 2 hours trying to "create" an Indian outfit for Awanas and school. We got pretty frustrated with Keira, because she would not try anything on and would not let us see what the headband or sash looked like. We even told her how blessed she is to have parents that want to do this for her and take the time, etc. Did she care? Not really :) I told her I would trade her for another little girl who would be happy that her daddy spent more than an hour after work looking for certain items and then trying to fix a costume, but she didn't seem to mind. I know she is only 3, but geez, she is a hard-head. We then said we were finished and would not make it or make it and give it to someone else, that got her attention ( for a few minutes). The thing that really got to her, was that Santa is watching and if she doesn't obey, he may not bring a beauty shop. LOL We stopped working on it and then I couldn't stand it any longer, I began cutting and cutting. Brandon laughed saying it looked like a shark attack, but I had a vision! We called Mamaw to see if she would help us the following day. She did and with a couple suggestions and more cutting- it turned out quite cute. Keira helped glue the beads on and the feathers. Brock tried to help, try is the key word.

We made it to Awanas with the outfit on except the headpiece. She refused to wear it. Wed. afternoon I made Brock a headpiece and he wore it to church. He was so funny!!!

I am really getting interested in this creative stuff and would love to learn to sew - just finding the time is the hard part right now.

Corn Starch Fun

I was cooking supper and Keira says "Mom, come here." This is what I find!! Brock had dumped the corn starch out and spread it everywhere. Since this was my fault for leaving it out within his reach, I couldn't get mad. He was Mr.Destruction today, please notice my living room, all done today while Keira was at school. The sad part is that Brock and I were gone most of the morning and was only home an hour before we had to go pick her up. They had so much fun playing in corn starch - who knew? Not that I would have let this continue, but I was right in the middle of supper and couldn't let it burn or boil over. So it ended up everywhere and I had to vaccuum, mop, and wash.

Look at that face - he is absolutely loving this!!!

more fun

The fun continues.................................

Mom, look how happy I am. Please don't be mad at me! ( What I think Brock might have said to me) Notice that his baby was covered and it had to go into the wash. He then had a meltdown on me b/c I washed baby and would not stop crying until I cut the wash short and gave it a quick dry. My son is attached to this "thing" worse than I thought.

And my husband is wanting #3.....................

Tagged

I was tagged by Casey to post my 4th picture of my 4th picture folder and tell 4 things about it :

1. My grandmother Duncan holding Brock, her only great-grandson. 2. I get a little sad when I look at this picture, because my grandmother has Alzheimer's and she will never "know" my babies or understand that they are her great-grandchildren. 3. My grandmother is the sweetest, kindest lady I have known. Alzheimer's did not take that from her. 4. A precious treasure for my self and my babies, I am thankful for pictures like this to show my babies one day. I tag : 1. Renea Emory 2. Brandi Clifton 3. Allison Pickell 4. Kristen Toth

Chuck E Cheese

We love us some Chuck E Cheese. We went on Wed. and it was so fun. No crowd and the kids could play and do as they pleased.

Keira patiently waiting. Brock got upset on this ride, no particular reason. He just got mad and wanted off of it. I had to laugh!

Sweet!

I love this outfit on Keira. Little dogs are on the dress and the matching tights are too cute! She also had 2 clips with dogs in her hair that she took out at church. Brock had a cowboy hat that matches his outfit but wouldn't wear it long. He also tried boots this morning for the first time and was not to happy about them. So, he ended up wearing his brown shoes. Last night I was walking to the bedroom and passed Keira, who came up from downstairs (where Brandon and Brock were) and out of the blue she asks me if I would like to pray with her. I immediately put down the laundry and did not want to miss the opportunity. I went to the living room and we got down on our knees and I asked if she wanted to pray first. She said "Yes" and she bowed her little head and bent over and started praying what was on her heart. I could have cried, it was so sweet! This is what she prayed : Thank You God for Brock, that Daddy was off to work ( in her grammar, this means he is off of work), that mommy went off to run ( I had went to run earlier), thanked God for Mamaw and Papaw, Crystal and Tyson, Wade, Pam, and Allie-cat, she left off J-Ray (oops) , she also thanked God for JJ (my brother Jared), for Grammie Em and Gary where they are right now ( they are in Lake Tahoe and we have been praying for safe travel for them) and she ended it on that. I then asked if I could pray for her. She said "Sure" and we bowed again. I layed my hands on her little back and prayed for my child. Another moment I hope I never forget :) All the times I have felt like I am not praying enough or telling them enough about the Lord, or showing them Christs love, God took an opportunity to show me that even though I do stumble in this area, that she is learning and listening and I pray that the lord will continue to have His hand on her and guide her. Thank You God!!!