Runaway Dog

Okay, so this post has nothing to do with my Tweedles (both big, numero uno is sick right now though), or the newest Tweedle.  It has to do with my dog.


                                                                             Meet Beans....Beans the Beagle.

                                                                                     He's the real one ;)

And he is an escape artist.

We have tried putting lawn furniture on its side, full tupperware boxes along the fence, and cinder blocks to cover the holes.

We have FILLED the holes with large rocks, pebbles, poop, more dirt, sand.

We have tried only letting him out for a few minutes (usually resulting in him later pooping in the garage...or, even better.....the house) and we have tried tying him up in the back.

Seriously...I don't know what else to do to keep the con-man in the backyard.  We live next to a busy street, and train tracks.  It's only by the grace of God that this dog is still alive.

WHAT DO WE DO TO KEEP HIM IN THE YARD?!?

Not a rhetorical question...taking any and all suggestions.  The winning suggestion gets Beans.

Just kidding ;)

Well it finally happened...

For anyone who has raised sweet babies (which I will say I am gifted with sweet babies...), they know that there will be a day where their child is bullied.

We met that day.

About two weeks ago, I was training a client of mine at her house and J took the Tweedles to the park.  When he came and picked me back up, you could tell something was wrong.  He just says, "Well...that was an interesting time."  GREAT.

J starts the story, and informs me that Nolan met his first bully.  The boy was probably 3 (yes, 3!), and about the same size as Nolan, but his speech was a little more developed.  The boy's dad and sister were both at the park as well.

It started off pretty tame:  Nolan was climbing UP the slide and the boy slid down and knocked him over.  #2 cried, Jordan apologized to the dad.

Then, Nolan started climbing up the curved ladder...one like this:

The little boy greeted Nolan at the top, and refused to let him up.  He pushed Nolan, not enough to push him off, but to make Nolan cry.  The boy's dad took him aside to talk to him, and J went and got Nolan and moved him to another area of the playground, where Nolan could collect acorns and sticks.  (This is where Nolan learned how to break a stick on his leg...which made him feel pretty cool).

While they were over collect acorns, the little boy came over for a third time.  J thought maybe he wanted to come play; Nolan did too.  Instead, the little boy walked right up and pushed Nolan in the face, trying to push him to the ground.  J told the little boy "NO" and went to console Nolan.  

  *** Now, for any mom's out there, we know that this is a part of growing up.  But let me just tell you...my blood pressure was HIGH, and I was fiddling with my hands.  I am already a protective mama bear, but add in the pregnancy hormone...OH MAN.  That kid should be glad I wasn't there.... ***

Let's just say that I am grateful that J was the one there.  He pulled Nolan aside and made sure he was okay.  He then told Nolan not to let that little boy over by him any more.  J said, "If he comes back over here, tell him he cannot play with you and turn around and walk away."

Needless to say, the little boy came BACK.  I wasn't there for this part, but I imagine it looking something like this:

Nolan, "NO!  You are not allowed to come over and play with me anymore!"

Only, clearly Nolan isn't a 40 year old man with a shaved head, and he had the "Stop" gesture, rather than the finger point...but what I'm describing is not an easy picture to find boys and girls!

All in all, I think J and Nolan handled themselves well in this situation.  Do I want it to happen again?  Definitely not.  Do I think that it will?  Yep.  And it's just a great reminder that we need to raise our children with the belief that they are fearfully and wonderfully made, the Lord knows each of us intimately, and that He has plans for each of us...one of future and of hope.  

You're giving birth where?!?

So, as we have FINALLY crossed over the halfway point (23 weeks!), I am starting to get a lot of questions.

1.  When are you finding out what you are having?  A.  In February.

2.  What are you planning on naming the baby?  A.  You will find out in February :)

3.  When are you going to start looking pregnant?  A.  My friends are sweet..... and liars.

4.  What hospital are you delivering at?  A.  I'm not.  I'm delivering at a birth center.

I get a variety of responses after I tell people I am delivering at a birth center.  Some people are excited.  I even had one friend say, "It's totally different than with an epidural.  You're gonna love it!"...followed by an evil smile, and a little bit of an evil laugh......

Other people, most people, think I am out of my mind.

Jordan and I discussed the option of a birth center long before we knew Tweedle #3 was on the way.  I wanted his opinion on the matter...and I wanted to see which response he would give me.  He gave both multiple responses.

Initially, he laughed and thought I was nuts.  Then, he realized I wasn't joking.  Then, he started to panic.  After some discussion, he was excited.

Maybe you're one of the people that think I'm crazy (that's okay, I may be).  Here's why we decided to move this direction:

-- I don't remember labor from my first two deliveries.

* Rea and Nolan's deliveries were so different.  I remember that Rea tried to kill me from the get-go.  She was coming out, come hell or high water.  And then when it was time to push, she changed her mind (just like a girl, right??).  I had an epidural, and I remember bits and pieces of the night...I remember Jordan wanting to "talk" about how if this was false labor, I could be induced the next day.  I remember filling out a TON of paperwork.  And I remember them putting the needle in my hand for my IV, and then when asking me to "sit up, arch my back, and not move" while I got the epidural, the IV came out of my vein.  That was fun.  The remaining 7.5 hours, I remember nothing.

* Nolan was induced, because my doctor was worried about my blood clotting.  As soon as I got in the door, they started the IV.  Once the epidural kicked in, I passed out, and woke up to them telling me it was time to push.  I had to wake Jordan so that he could participate.

* What I do remember, is that I actually LIKE the delivery process (WHAT??!?!).  There is no other feeling in the world like it, men can't do it, and it gives you a crazy rush of hormones that take you on a roller coaster of emotion, ending in pure elation and exhaustion.

-- These birth stories/pictures, give such an amazing testimony of the strength of each of these women, as well as the strength of their husbands.  I am literally moved to tears at the complete surrender these women are going through, and I only know one of them personally (the other I know the photographer....who I am going to convince to drive up for the birth of our third!!), but through these pictures, I FEEL what they are going through.  If you have some time, check them out:

Arden Prucha's Birth Story

Caitlin Hines' Birth Story

-- Finally, the biggest thing I think that God has shown me over the last several months, is that I, Stefanie, am a control freak.  Yes, you heard it here (not first, but I did say it).  Through this process, I am going to have to completely surrender myself to the process of birth, to my midwife's instruction, and most importantly, my wonderful husband.

Here is a time in my life where if I hold onto to control, the process is harder.  Even in life, when we hold onto control, and don't relinquish the decision to the Lord, the climb can be more difficult.  I am praying that through this labor and delivery, Jordan and I will become closer and I am more reliant on him.  Spiritually, we know that we will have to rely on God's strength to get us through the end (and maybe the beginning if this one is anything like Rea!).  Emotionally...oooo buddy.........

More on za babeh...

So as most of you know now, tweedle #3 is on the way.  And currently, Cletus feels like acid and hunger pains.  I'm in the "I can't stay full" stage...and eat ALL THE TIME.

But I said that there would be other details about baby.  We found out in June...June 10th to be exact.  I was at work, and on my way out the door went to the main building.  There were some of the church's members setting up a meeting, and during talking to one of them, I was given a very unique opportunity.  I went home in a bit of shock, and couldn't wait to share the news with Jordan.  As I was driving though, I felt the overwhelming urge to take a test when I got home.  I had zero signs of pregnancy, but I thought, hey, I'll take one any way.

Got home, went straight to take the test.  Well, there was no "That line is kind of faint, maybe....possibly..."  Nope.  Solid line.  I literally started laughing.

I went and grabbed two post-it notes and wrote each surprise on a post-it.  Folded those bad boys up, and went into the living room.

I think that J was a little scared when I sat down in front of him and held out my hands!  I said, "I have two interesting pieces of information, and I thought this would be more fun than me just telling you."  I waved my arms about, like a crazy person, and said, "Pick a hand."  He picked on and opened up the note....jaw proceeded to drop and he looked at me and said, "Umm...are you serious?"  I didn't know which one he had, and he turned the note around and I saw "We are pregnant!"  I nodded and he was in shock, but an excited shock :)

At that point in time, I was literally 2 weeks pregnant.  Why, oh why can I not be like the women on this show??

Eh well, just not in my cards I guess!  

I'll chat more about tweedle #3 and where we are delivering and why later!

Tweedle #1 and #2 are both growing like weeds as well.  Rea has started soccer again and pretty much didn't lose a beat...she has a wonderful talent and I can't wait to see how it develops over the next couple of years!  Nolan is being all boy lately, but we have discovered that asking, "What did mommy/daddy just ask you to do?"  has completely changed the way he responds to us.  He will repeat what we said and then get up and do what we asked.  It makes for a much calmer household! 

'Til next time...

Big News Time

Alright, I know that I said I would have big news to share, and that I do.  There is so much going on in our lives, it is hard to narrow down what to start with....so instead of just one piece of news, you guys get bonus news too!  Lucky for you!

First, we FINALLY have some news about Jordan's job!  He has his psychological exam tomorrow morning, which is his LAST step before he can officially go to Oklahoma City to start his training.  This is what we have been praying for since 2008, so we are crazy excited....mildly excited.  Don't want to say "crazy" when it comes to a psych exam ;)

Secondly, and probably the worst kept secret EVER.... is that the Goslee family is expanding once again!  We are expecting Tweedle #3 in February....and for those parents out there who are trying to do quick math, yes that does put me at 18 weeks along.  I will be talking more about baby #3 (obviously) in future blog posts but we did want to let everyone know who doesn't yet!

P.S. I know the pic is random...but it is HARD to find a graphic for something like this!

P.P.S. We won't find out the sex of the baby, so when we know, you will too!

Big girls don't cry

So there is a LOT going on in our lives right now.  Rather than spill all the beans, we will spread it out over several blog posts so you guys (all like 5 of you) have to keep coming back.  Let's start with kindergarten.  

Oh my word...time flies.  Now, I know people always say that....but really.  Here is my baby girl on the day of her birth:  (sorry for the bad quality, I didn't have a nice camera back then.  Good ol' point and shoot).

 

And here is my "big" baby girl last week as she started her first day of kindergarten:

She was clearly a little nervous....

But as soon as she sat down, she could not have been more excited!

Brother did not understand why he had to leave (and yes he is wearing a tie.  yes, he dressed himself.)

One last picture of her at her table before we left for the day

I didn't cry while we were in the classroom.  I literally got five steps out of the room and took one look at Jordan and said "Well, I waited until we left the room!" and started to BAWL.  I could not wait to go and get her at the end of the day.

Throughout the day, Jordan and I ended up talking about how we always knew this day was coming...where we would no longer be the biggest influence in her life.  Most influential, I certainly pray that we are.  But we see her less than classmates and her teacher.  We thought about all those "lost opportunities" to hang out with her, read with her, color with her.  And we realized that all we can do now, is pray that we have made a big enough impact on her life prior to school.  

Our pastor, Pastor Jeff, put it really well this past weekend.  We all have a fear of failure: fear of not doing enough as a wife, mother, friend.  Fear of our children thinking we failed them.  But when we have the love of God, we have to remember that He is with us at all times...the good and the bad.  He works ALL things for His good.  While we may think we missed the mark, He knew what He was doing with us the whole time.  

As her first week came to a close, we heard this song:

There Goes My Life: Kenny Chesney

All he could think about was I'm too young for this.
Got my whole life ahead.
Hell I'm just a kid myself.
How'm I gonna raise one.

All he could see were his dreams goin' up in smoke.
So much for ditchin' this town and hangin' out on the coast.
Oh well, those plans are long gone.

[Chorus:]
And he said,
There goes my life.
There goes my future, my everything.
Might as well kiss it all good-bye.
There goes my life.......

A couple years of up all night and a few thousand diapers later.
That mistake he thought he made covers up the refrigerator.
Oh yeah..........he loves that little girl.

Momma's waiting to tuck her in,
As she fumbles up those stairs.
She smiles back at him dragging that teddy bear.
Sleep tight, blue eyes and bouncin' curls.

[Chorus:]
He smiles.....
There goes my life.
There goes my future, my everything.
I love you, daddy good-night.
There goes my life.

She had that Honda loaded down.
With Abercrombie clothes and 15 pairs of shoes and his American Express.
He checked the oil and slammed the hood, said you're good to go.
She hugged them both and headed off to the West Coast.

[Chorus:]
And he cried,
There goes my life.
There goes my future, my everything.
I love you.
Baby good-bye.

There goes my life.
There goes my life.
Baby good-bye.

When this song first came out, in 2005, Jordan and I were literally the first verse.  We had just found out about Reagan, and we were PETRIFIED.  We were not ready to raise a child ourselves.  Suddenly, here we are, second verse.  

Time is precious.  Enjoy all the stages: toilet training, terrible twos, the even worse threes, the crying, the tight hugs, and bedtime cuddles.  Love those kiddos.

Resting in His Promises

I would love to say that things have been so incredibly busy that I have forgotten to post, but really, nothing exciting has been going on.

It's still hot (35 straight days over 100 and counting).  Everyone is still cranky (35 straight days and counting....).  Last night, our air conditioner broke (twice), which made us all hotter and crankier.  BUT, praise the Lord, our air is functioning completely normal, once again, and it's sitting at a comfortable (cough cough) 84 degrees in our house.

So I figured that I would take this time to fill you in on Jordan's job.  Grab a glass of ice water, and kick back...it's a long story.

About March of 2009, Jordan was sitting in a basic level engineering course, while attending school to get his Master's degree.  One of his professor's announced that anyone who was looking to attain a career in Biomedical Engineering (which my husband was), be ready for a long ride.  He informed the class that it takes between 5-10 years to make more than $40k a year.

School part time + 8 years to make money = Reagan will be in college before we could make a living

Now for those who knew me B.C., you can probably imagine how I would have handled this.  However, I knew that I couldn't strong arm Jordan into changing his mind.  This was his passion and I didn't want to be the one to discourage this vision for his life and our family.  I told him that I would support him in whatever decision he made and we prayed about it.

Shortly after this, Jordan felt like he was being called in another direction.  The Lord then started to use other people in our life to speak possibility and Jordan's dream of being an air traffic controller had begun.

I don't know much about air traffic controlling, but I know that you spend a lot of time looking at a screen that looks like this:

Does your head feel like it wants to explode?  Mine too.  Grateful that this is his gifting, and not mine!

Jordan discovered he could take the ATC exam as an off the street.  If he scored above a 70, he would pass.  Everyone who scored above a 70 would be ranked in order; the higher you scored, the better chance you have of receiving an offer.

In December 2009, Jordan went to take his exam.  We prayed up to the date that if this was God's plan, it would be clear.  Upon completion, the proctor informed him that it could take 6 weeks to hear something.  Two weeks later he got his test scores...and blew the test out of the water :)

I have always heard that God answer's prayer in one of three ways: Yes, No or Wait.  This begun our long period of WAIT.

When the time came for us to select our two top locations, Jordan's first thought was, why not select somewhere that is in need of controllers: Detroit, Oakland, LA... Get where I'm going with this?!?  I told him that as I was praying about it, I was getting two very specific answers: 1. Jordan would receive his tentative offer letter 18 months after he took his test and 2. Our time in Fort Worth was not complete.  As crazy as Jordan thought I was, he trusted me and put down Fort Worth as his number one choice.

2010 came and went.  Nothing from the FAA.  Jordan called and got no direct answer.  Then, we heard this message from Pastor Steve Robinson, Senior Pastor at Church of the King in Mandeville, Louisiana.  Life.  Changing.

Fast forward to June of 2011.  18 months after Jordan took his test.  Jordan received an e-mail from the FAA....with his tentative offer letter.  He had been slated for a position.  At the Fort Worth control center.  Tears of excitement commenced.

This is where we are sitting now.  It's so easy to get ahead of ourselves...start planning for what our lives will be like in the future.  But by doing that, we are saying that we are not content with where the Lord has us, which is something I am continually led to pray about: contentment.  We know that the Lord will not abandon us in the middle of this journey....everything that He has promised thus far has come true.

So we sit.  Patiently waiting on the Lord.

I'm sooo bored!

Anyone else tired of saying hearing this with the heat wave of the century??  I mean...for real.

No precipitation.  No break in the 100 degree weather.  (Except for on the 20th, when we only hit 99.) Two tweedles who LOVE to be active and not a lot of options.  Scratch that.  Not a lot of FREE options.  That's the key isn't it.

But while searching online for different ideas, I came upon this website.  While I don't have the materials to put on a full out "Spy Party" we did have a little spy training.

Clearly, these are not my children.  This is from the Chickenbabies website I posted above.  I did this same thing, but my house is currently 85 degrees.  My kids did their spy training in their underwear.  And as much as I don't mind posting pictures of my kids, I need to draw the line somewhere!

What was great about this, is that I used some leftover masking tape that I had from another craft.  It took 5 minutes to set up, and the kids were entertained for an hour.  That's right.  A. Whole. Hour.

I love afternoons like this.  :)

We are back....

I blogged awhile back, and let's be honest, not very frequently.  Then I became very overprotective, and wanted my adorable children in a box that no one outside of my friends could ever see.

But I had requests (for some strange reason) for the blog to come back.  Plus, we have a LOT going on in our lives and would love to share in our crazy journey with you all.

And so was born, the Houseful of Tweedles.  Here are my Tweedles:

So sweet they are.

Don't worry.  I don't refer to them as Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum; I couldn't bring myself to call one of them "Dum".  They are Tweedle One and Tweedle Dos.  They think it's funny and will constantly run around calling each other Tweedles.

You're probably thinking, "Two is not a 'Houseful'" and you would be right.  But when you put the only two grandkids, the only two niece/nephew, only two great-grandkids, into a space less than 1000 sq. feet...they seem to make a small army.  

Their room constantly looks similar to this because of the 2000 

books they have, even after donating 2 huge bags.

And Nolan has decided that it's not enough just to play 

with the toys...no room.  He has to be IN the toys.

Hopefully, I will be better this time around and be able to keep you updated on all that is going on.  Until next time...