Little Pep Talk

Dear Deployment,
I will defeat you. 12 months is a long time but in the end we will be a stronger and happier family. I will successfully home school my child. I will not spend all of Chris's combat pay (that was a little issue last time). I will do fun activities with my kids and not get annoyed with them for my loneliness. I will not go to sonic everyday just Sunday and Wednesday. I will exercise and be healthy and not eat out all the time. I will celebrate the little things. You may try to get me down but you will not succeed.
Yours truly,
Alicia Ann McGlone

Random Facts Continued

Just so whomever is reading this knows it's really not for you. At least this one. I just need to be light hearted right now, not to serious. Right now I don't want to think about the next 12 months. Instead i'll write more strange or not so strange things about me, maybe more than you want to know.
1. I love my hair, the color, texture. I just love it and am always messing with it. Because of this i'm afraid i'll go bald when I get older.
2. I love movies where they blow up a lot of things. I could watch Bad Boyz II everyday. Or any movie with Vin Deisel I really enjoy!
3. I'm really glad I only have one daughter. The way she is right now i'm not to sure i'll survive her teen years. But I also love having a daughter. The frills and dresses going to get pedicures together. We haven't yet.
4. Before I leave the house I always check to see what my butt looks like. Yup that's me, it's vain and silly but I still do it, everytime.
5. I love to watch dance movies or tv shows. I always think "hey that looks easy" and then i'm on my butt on the floor. Apparently it's not that easy!
6. If i'm really quiet then a.) i'm trying really hard to listen b.) the conversation is boring me or aggravating me or c.) i'm singing a song in my head. Sometimes it's a combination.
7. I hate to cry especially in public.
8. There are lots of idea going on in my head. I don't always know how to implement them. Or don't put out the effort to do something about them.
That's it. It's a fun ending for a long and somewhat sad day.

Look What God Can Do

My sweet little boy will be turning 5 in the next few weeks! There was a time that I never would have thought that we would make it to any of his birthdays. I have a constant reminder of what God can do living in my home. Obviously God knew I would need a lot of reminding of just how awesome He is. When I was 24 weeks pregnant with Andrew I was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia and at 29 weeks I was put in the hospital with the knowledge that Andrew would be born within the week. He was born on July 29, 2005 at 9:13 p.m. through emergency c-section. When Andrew was first born he weighed 2lbs and 4oz. Even that small he looked just like Christopher. For such a small preemie he did really well. We took him home on October 1 just 3 days before my original due date! But on November 30, which is Chris's birthday, he went back into the hospital and this time was not so great. This was probably the longest day of my life. Andrew was driven by ambulance from where we lived to about 60 miles north to Arkansas Children's Hospital. Once we got there my baby was gray and was so dehydrated that they could not get an IV in him. According to the doctors Andrew should have never lived past this day. His blood sugar was a 3, I don't know a lot about this but I know this is bad, really bad. His blood pressure was so low that he should have been in a coma but instead he was awake and alert throughout all of this. For about six hours the doctors could not figure out what was wrong with him except there was some mass in his stomach area. It was so large that they could not figure out what it was or where it was. Finally the doctors came to Chris and I and told us they needed to do exploratory surgery to figure out what was going on and if they didn't he would not survive the night. So around 10 pm that night they wheel Andrew to surgery and about an hour later his surgeon comes out and informs us that he had a bowel obstruction. It was roughly the size of a grapefruit, at this time Andrew was barely six pounds. This should have ruptured but it didn't. Things got better after this day but there were lots of little bumps and two more surgeries along the way. We finally went home in February 2006. He had to go back in March for his last surgery to put his small intestine back together. Ever since then Andrew has been a perfectly healthy and happy kid. Each year reminds of what could have been and the incredible miracle God granted me. There is nothing to small or to big for God and I thank Him for my miraculous reminder, Andrew.

LIFE WITH 3

I had many assumptions about what life would be like with three children. Some I gathered from friends who have three kids and others just on my own naivete.

Assumption #1- life would somehow be easier. Something I was told adding the third child is easier than when you added the second.
In reality- it's not easier!

Assumption #2- my other children would take to having Jackson around great.
In reality- Andrew was fine when we brought Jackson hom. Maggie while she loves her baby brother she has turned into a temper tantrum, whiny, clingy little girl.

Assumption #3- Jackson would be an easy baby.
In reality- he is an easy baby, if you hold him. He is not to keen on his swing or bouncy seat but loves the comfort of somebody's arms. Needless to say I don't always get a lot done around the house.

Assumption #4- I would have another pacie loving baby.
In reality- Jackson is not a fan of the pacie. He'll take it every once in a while but he really wants a bottle or to nurse. That's how he goes to sleep, he just spits the pacie out.

Assumption #5- taking 3 children out by myself would be nearly impossible.
In reality- it's not that bad. Andrew has always been great about listening to me and staying close but Maggie I wasn't to sure how she would be. Well same child from #2 has done really well about staying with the buggy in stores. There is only room for one child in the buggy plus groceries and I am not pushing those crazy car buggies. I run into enough things without the extra bulk.

Jackson was born 7 weeks ago and while i'm definitely still figuring out how to be a parent of 3, there is no way I would change it!!