Be Prepared And Thankful.

Today...we did some serious shopping. Some in store, some online.

First of all, we tried to stock up at Trader Joes (which is like 40 mins away!!!) We got lots of cooking supplies, lots of snacks and lots and lots of drinks. I wrote out a few weeks of meal plans because I don't want me, or whoever is cooking when this baby is born, to be scrambling for ideas. Anyway, Will and I both had TWO FULL CARTS!!!! A little embarassing...but our cabinets are bursting at the seams...and God is so so so so so good. We do not deserve this kind of food! Yet we somehow, have it.

Then...I came home and logged into my ebates account and went to town on Target.com babyearth.com and fuzzibunzworld.com (who is, by the way, having an awesome sale on the new one size fuzzibunz!!!)

From Target, I got some curtians, and a few wall hangings for the living room....hoping that they look nice in there.

From babyearth.com I got one fuzzibunz diaper (light pink), 4 3.0 bum genius diapers (white, hot pink, kelly green and light green)and 6 liners.

From fuzzibunzworld.com I for 3 fuzzibunz (orange, red and aqua), 8 liners and some more cloth wipes.

I have a pending order that Will needs to look over with me at yourwaterbirth.com for my birthing pool, hose and nozzle. And another one for a small bucket heater.

Tomorrow I have to go pick up my car seat that matches with Solomons old stroller. it has been discontinued but they are holding the last one for me at the store...woot.

I feel a little sick to my stomach spending all of this money, because we just don't have it...and just when I was about to hurl, Will calls me up to say that more patients signed up for care...YEAH BABY!!!! :) God is so good, all of the time...always...

Solomon is having a really hard time adjusting to NOT being sick. For a solid week, all he did was lay in bed, eat whatever he wanted (which was literally nothing...maybe a snack food here or there) and get pretty much everything he asked for (which again was hardly anything). So now that he needs to start playing again, using his imaginiation, eating meals, listening to us, NOT watch so much TV and not be carried everywhere...he is really meltdown. I feel bad but at the same time its just such annoying behavior and I really want my good listening little boy back. Hs has been a bit of a monster latey. I did have some sick pictures of him...tooo sweet not to post!

Dont mind the barf bowl

Also...did I mention his major head bonking from like 2 weeks ago???? Ok well he was belly laughing like Will and I had never ever heard before. I don't even remember what was so funny but he was just cracking up. Throwing his head back and doubling over...and in the middle of all the joy, he came from throwing his head back to doubling over right on the corner of the coffee table...he had a HUGE egg sized bump instantly on his forehead, and two weeks after he still has a bruise taking up half of his head. It was nasty!!! So anyway, (i think this is the first time that I have mentioned them) but we have these AWESOME neighbors. Lisa and her 8 year old daughter Madalena...and Madalena ADORES Solomon, and he her. So she came over and helped nurse him back to help. It was SOOOO cute.

We also made it out to the Zoo on Sunday, which was so much fun. Solomon had such a blast. It was the coolest zoo trip I've ever been to. The lions seriously roared like you'd never imagine...and the gorillas were pounding their chests. Its was so so so so so awesome. Our last zoo trip as a family of 3 no doubt...

My sister arrives on May 1st...and I have no clue how wonderful that is going to be...but it is going to be AWESOME! :) I cannot wait. We are supposed to have a baby shower on April 18th so hopefully we don't have a birth by then :) haha...especially because my midwife is in AZ till the 14th!!!!

Im thankful for a lot. And I don't say that enough...

How Great Is Our God...

The last four days have been spent at sweet Solomon's side. He got the stomach flu and it has NOT been easy as his mother, watching it. Its seems trivial really. He vomited about 10 times on Monday. Tuesday he had a 103 fever with no throwing up or diarrhea. He didn't want to touch a toy, be in a lit room, watch any TV (which is EXTREMELY out of character...we have TV limits in our house and he pushes them EVERYDAY) or even move (also, extremely out of character). Wednesday was his weakest day. He had the worst diarrhea ever...like I hate to be gross, but it was like a force of nature I have never ever seen...and it was all water!!!! He couldn't get out of bed, or, brace yourself, its sad, even lift his little head. He slept for almost the entire day...and I had to carry him back and forth to the bathroom like 8 times at least. Yesterday evening he asked me for a waffle with peanut better, and while I knew it wouldn't be the easiest thing on his stomach, it had been days since he ate and I was willing to risk it. He ate the entire thing and drank some water...and right after that I started to see a little twinkle in his eyes. His fragile little voice started engaging me in conversation...I could tell we had reached a light in this tunnel. Today, he is still extremely weak...he can take a few wobbly steps but is still so stinking limp. He ate a few bites of waffle this morning, puked, and then ate a few more. He still has diarrhea and is definitely more of a grump than he has been in these past 4 days (which is a sign of improvement). I put him in the stroller for awhile and we walked. I cannot tell you (unless of course you live in somewhere that has all four seasons) what it is like to experience TRUE spring. The air is unlike ANYTHING I have ever breathed. The weather is AMAZING! I am so grateful. After our walk, we sat outside for a bit and painted. Here are some of my gorgeous sons shots.

Resembling somewhat of a grumpy little Andy Warhol

Um, do we LOVE the yellow aviators???? Yes, yes we do!!!

Deep in thought...what a masterpiece.

Solomon is currently napping and I am hoping and praying that this will all be over soon...

Which brings me to my heavy heart. Mckmama's blog is a place I have been frequenting lately for updates on little Stellan. Watching Solomon in pain, as minimal as a little ol' stomach flu, found me actually grateful. I knew it would pass. I knew he would be ok. I knew that soon, he would be his charming, stubborn wild little self...what a peace I had. What a sadness engulfed me, not even SLIGHTLY being able to fathom what Jennifer and the rest of Stellans family are going through. There are her posts where she is had it and she is pissed off (UH, RIGHTFULLY SO!!!!) but her theme is seeing the glory of the Lord rising around her. I don't know that I would ever be able to be in that place. She is a testament of the women God wants us all to be, of this I am sure...I am confident that she falls short on plenty of occasions, but what a witness to the fullness and faithfulness of the God of all that is. I am deeply grieved yet richly blessed by her current situation...my heart cried out to God, begging that He enact his will and offer strength for those to endure it...

How great is our God...in everything.


(Side Note** Just started reading Death By Church: Rescuing Jesus From His Followers. By Mike Erre. WOW...you should get it and read it...AWESOME! so far)

Giving Away

I'm not sure of I shared about our toy give away. Solomon and I went through a lot of him toys and got ride of tons of them...but we didn't just give them away. We gave them to our friends Robert and Gertrude Sennyonjo http://www.scciuganda.org/ who are the founders of Sammys Children Centre. They have three little boys, and are from Uganda. We also sent some to our Canadian/Tongan friends who live in Uganda to but they haven't received them yet. Robert sent us the pictures of his boys playing with the toys Solomon sent them and I thought I would share them because it made me so happy. Robert wrote saying that they were working on figuring out what to do with them and how to get them to work. Can you imagine not know how most of these work or turn them on? It's just fascinating to me...I mean, I lived there and I have seen it all...from really rich OC women spritzing little orphaned village kids with D&G Light Blue perfume, to people bring over snow gear to, yes the equator. People just don't know what goes on in other countries some times...and its an educational experience to say the least to see little 6 year olds with newborns strapped to their backs, walking on a road alone where there isn't an adult for at least 7 miles. I actually felt embarrassed at the amount of toys that we were giving away. It was a little humbling...and I wondered if they would wonder why we were sending toys instead of necessities like clothes...or maybe even school supplies. They seem to enjoy the gifts there...and here are the picture of Sammy, Steven and Silas to prove it.






If you'd like to donate anything to SCCI, PLEASE contact me. Or if you would like to sponsor a child (did I mention Robert was raised in an orphanage, so as an orphan himself, he has devoted his life to caring for orphans the way he was cared for...hence starting Sammy's Children Centre International.) I believe it only cost $20 a month...what an awesome opportunity to change the life of a child in this way! Let me know of visit the website http://www.scciuganda.org/

In other news, Solomon has been a complete tyrant!!! My goodness...total bruiser! To his credit, because we are freshly potty trained, we haven't gone out much lately. Plus, Will had a schedule change, and even though it allows him to be home more, Solomon usually goes through an adjustment period when that this sort of thing happens. To add to it, Will and I both got this nasty flu that has been going around. I was layed out for 2 days with a fever and all...the topper was the migraine that came with it...lovely! The poor child has been a little neglected lately so I'm going to try and change that now that I am feeling better. At least make it out to Target or something like that. He was pounding on my sister, scratched her face, and bit her leg!!! What the heck??? He does NOT do those types of things ever!!

Can I just say that I am really happy that Survivor is on...hahaha...yes its STILL on, and I STILL love it...plus they finally brought it back to Africa...so uh I HAVE to watch it!

Yikes...the bailout didn't pass. Part of me feels like this country could use a good cleansing, but it is going to be frightening...very frightening. I'm sure another version will pass though... Its crazy times people...deregulation brought us here and unless you want MORE of it, you might want to think about who you are voting for. Just for the record, John McCain is one of the biggest fans of deregulation...Again, frightening times.

A Whole Lotta'...

Things...they are overall going pretty well.

The bottle...to update, has resurfaced, mostly by my (and Will's choice). Solomon had one of his famous fevers on Wednesday night, which thankfully broke on Thursday morning, but since he had a fever, we decided he deserved a bottle...haha...mostly, we just wanted him to have the bottle for a little longer, until, as an AP family, we all feel like its time to move on. We all just weren't ready yet. After reading yahoo questions and finding all kinds of answers about pretty much every 2 year old on the planet (haha not really, but there were hundreds) having a bottle and eventually coming off of it, we just decided that it would be worth it for us all to be comfortable...

Will's dad came for a visit. He arrived Thursday and left Saturday. He was so sweet and plesant. Solomon has only seen him a few times so it was nice to reintroduce him, and see just how much they adored eashother. On Thursday Bill (Wills dad) wanted us to go toys'r'us, which was also his first visit there, and said he could get whatever he wanted...ahhhhh...He was even willing to get him a $500 ride on powered jeep thing...whew...we escaped it though. We ended up leaving with a big talking Mater from CARS, a powered by remote control CAT backhoe loader, and a Mack from CARS that opens up to be McQueens living space. Pretty awesome.  We were very grateful that Bill wanted to do something so special like that for Solomon. It was very sweet. We also attempted a movie...haha...attempted. We saw about 20 minutes of Wall-E until Solomon decided he had DEFINITELY had enough. Overall, it was a great day. Friday we picked Bill up from the hotel and were off to the LA Zoo. Bill and Solomon really enjoyed their time together. It was a great day. Saturday we just met him for dinner and talked about the upcoming move to PA and what it would be like to start a practice there (he has a great Chiro practice there as well) and Solomon entertained us...it was great to have such a pleasant visit with him.




I have been a little down lately. Solomon seems to hate me! He cries with I walk in to get him up from his nap. He SCREAMS for daddy. It takes me ages to calm him down. I just feel awful  At night/in the morning, if I even show my head before Will does, he just completely melts down! Thanks a lot buddy, I birth you and this is the thanks I get...it makes me sad. I have heard a lot of people say that it's common but it doesn't hurt my feelings any less. Will is gone a lot! But not so much so that I think it makes it worse. Solomon gets to upset when he sees Will start to get a dress shirt and tie on...he just goes crazy thinking of excuses to get Will to sit down and stay. I just feel like a boring old maid...I miss my cuddly boy who loved me...hopefully this passes soon!



My sweet  friend Sophie (she and her son, Adam (who was 4 at the time), were pretty much my "other half" while living in Uganda...they are just AMAZING!!! She has since married, she has a beautiful step daughter and a little 3 year old name Josh and new baby Jude) had a baby 2 weeks ago...here is a picture to enjoy of her two boys, Adam and Jude and her hotness...TWO weeks after giving birth. She said her home birth went really well, apart from he midwife dropping Jude as he came out...yikes!!! oopsie!



In other news, while eating lunch Solomon looks at me and says, "Momma, poop on potty." I was like, "uh now.....ok!" And I got him up from the table, sat him on the toilet, and Ta-Da!!! I have a picture of it haha, but I will spare you.

Also, I burnt my lip. I was having this tiny little vegan pizza pocket type thing, that was WAY hotter than I thought. Some of the sauce, which was SOOO hot, shot out on my lip and it was just so painful. I had this big blister for 5 days. Gross...the picture doesn't really do it justice, but yes, not fun.


Will and I have been at each others throats lately...again. You know, of all the things that can cause stress on a family, you add in, living in a country that is illegally at war, which is causing oil prices to soar, which makes everything else more expensive, you have the economy plummeting and the housing market bottoming out, our planet is so polluted it's causing horrific climate change that is terrorizing the whole world, toxins fill the air, not to mention the sad state of the church, and it's A LOT to take in as a young family. Our parents don't understand the level of stress that we are under because they bought houses that were 60K and had a secure economy and, at that time, only a semi-corrupt government. It is sometimes hard for us to even talk to them about it because "they made it" and "they have been there." Then there are the super fun conversations that end with "Well Amber needs to get a job, and work when you get home." Which is 7pm...so I guess I need to be a bartender, work 7pm-2am and wake up with my son at 5am...yeah...You understand right...? It all puts pressure on us and we just take things out on each other. It doesn't help that we don't get alone time together, we don't have our own room and we just long for a time when we will have it. We know it's just a season and we are trying to just take it as it comes and enjoy all the happy moments, that hopefully some day we can look back at, and laugh! I am so grateful that I have a husband who works so hard for our family...so that I do not have to be a bartender haha...

Her Fever's Breaking

"Her fever's breaking" ...One of my favorite parts of Rent is when Mimi's fever breaks. I get chills every time...and tears.

That is exactly how I felt last night when Solomon's stinking fever finally broke. What a relief. He was in so much pain. As I said in the previous blog, I gave him Tylenol and nothing happened. I was SO mad at myself. When Will got home from school I ran to Whole Foods for some Belladonna and alas, it broke. He is completely fine today...a little sleepy as we didn't sleep much last night or the night before, but doing great!

You Give Me Fever...

Yesterday I went to get my hair done...wow was I in need of some root dye-age. We usually do a reddish orange color that I love, with some blonde. For some reason, my stylist forgot to mix all the colors so its a dark red. Im not particularly thrilled. But oh well...what are you going to do huh?

As I was driving home, my dad called me up and said he and his girlfriend wanted to watch him so that Will and I could go out. Wow...he has done this a few times before, but he is the ONLY person who has ever offered that (Aside from Jen and Justin but I think I have mentioned that before). Will and I got to go out on a date!!! We went and had awesome veggie fajitas at El Cholo and then stopped at Borders to browse. What a blast. it's so nice to have time to enjoy eachother, which is something we have been doing VERY little of lately. He is such an awesome guy. I don't say that enough. He works so hard and loves Solomon and I so much! I am so thankful that he is the man I get to spend my life with.

We picked Solomon up and were headed home when my sister gave me a surprise call from the river where she went with the BF and his family. She was really upset about something that happened and (the girl who is pretty emotionless) she was weeping. I felt aweful. She was a 4 hour drive away. We talked about us coming to get her but she decided to to stick it out...and its a good thing...because...

At midnight, Solomon woke up with his famous 104 fever. I think this is his 5th or 6th one. He has no other symptom apart from serious teething (which has been the case with all the others) and I have finally convinced all those around me that he is just a rare case that gets a high fever with teeth. it goes away in about two days...every time. Most of the time he is just listless and quiet but I think because he is a little older, he was a mess. he was just crying and crying. I felt terrible! it's the first time since, oh I don't know, somwhere around infancy, that I haven't known what I could do for him. We did baths, showers, read to him, even resulted to a 6am movie...the latter seemed to help a bit. He just seems to be so miserable that he can't sleep. I finally broke down and gave him a fever reducer (cringes...I HATE it!!!! I ran out of my homeopathic fever reducer too!!! Why oh why didn't I pick some up this week when I was at Whole Foods?!?!?) And now he is napping. Sweet little bug...he still has his sense of humor. In between meltdowns he was wispering funny little jokes and tunes to me. I couldn't believe it...such a wonderful little boy that I adore with my whole heart!!

I am so blessed. God knew exactly what I needed...I am so thankful for my boys!