I'll Admit It...

I'm a blogstalker. I first heard that term when talking to my sister and she said her friend Lauren had applied it to herself. I am now claiming the title for myself as well. Whenever I go to my blog to see if anyone's made any comments, I dutifully check in on all of the blogs on my blogroll, as well as linking to others' blogs through those on my blogroll! For example: through my sister's blog, I link to Lauren's and enjoy the cute videos of her kids and her godly insight and wisdom. Another example, and this one is pathetic, I know, is that I go to Shilo's blog, then the Jones' blog (I have no idea who these people are), to get to the Sanderson's blog to check in on their baby girl, and then hop on over to the Munch Bunch blog, a family in our church that we sort of know. (Please don't think less of me because I'm such a nerd.) So remember, the next time you're wondering if anyone's actually reading your blog, you can be sure that I am! (So post some new pictures already!)

I say all this to tell you about the Sanderson's, a seminary family we know who had a baby girl born prematurely at 28 weeks. She's been in the NICU ever since birth, having fluid drained from her brain every day. It is almost assured she will have some kind of brain damage, but it is not known yet the extent of it. Before you start thinking, "poor family", I just have to tell you what an example of faith these 2 people are. Instead of sinking into grief, which would be easy to do given the circumstances, they are trusting that the Lord has led them down this road, and that all of this is happening for their good and His glory. I encourage you to read their most recent post, it will give you an idea of their faith and trust in God. I'm also adding them to my blogroll, so you don't have to go through 4 others to get there!

So, are there any other blogstalkers out there besides Lauren and I?


PS-Go McCain/Palin!

Enjoy a Laugh

Here's a great video I came across. I love the little accent!

Somebody Pinch Me Please

Hi all-

I know we're not supposed to play favorites with our own dear crumb-crunchers, but if I were forced to choose who has been the best baby of the three, I'd have to say hands-down it's Aubrey. In her not even three months with us, she's already sleeping through the night (as defined by Baby Wise as sleeping a continuous 7 to 8 hours), she rarely spits up (many of you may remember that Jake was a projectile vomiter, and Warren spit up from the time a feeding was over to the beginning of the next one), and this girl hardly ever cries. Come to think of it, I don't remember the boys crying a whole lot either, just when they were really hungry or tired. But it's the sleeping thing that is absolutely amazing. I feed her for the last time at 10:30 p.m., and she sleeps until around 6:30, and today it was 7! What a good girl.

On another note, if you read yesterday's post, you know that it was quite a rotten day. Everybody in this house lost their minds; it was just one of those weird days where you're not quite sure what ever happened, you just know it was not good. But at the end of the day when I'm hugging Jake goodnight, he holds on for a few extra seconds and says in my ear, "Did you notice that when we disobey, God still loves us?" Now talk about melting my heart. If that expression were literal, mine would have been oozing all over the floor. I was trying to remember if I had reminded him of that throughout the day, and I did not, and neither did Ryan. It was just something he remembered from us saying it a while ago. Thinking about that later, I realized that the entire lousy day was totally worth it if my son was able to recall to his mind that important truth. It's amazing to see God's word and truths take root in Jake's heart.

Here's a short video of Aubrey. She's not doing much, just wiggling around and smiling a little, but for those of you who have never met her, it's a chance to see her in action! Enjoy, have a great weekend.

Happy Time

The Lord knew I needed this. It was seriously just one of those days. Warren was especially screamy, and Jake especially annoying to his brother. There were lots of spanks to be had. Then, after an early nap time for brothers because Mommy had had just about enough, Aubrey and I shared a nice peaceful hour or so. Most of it looked like this:




This is quite possibly the cutest picture I've taken of her, adorable!

So You Know

Dear Friends,

I write today with a heavy heart and a zeal that I have not felt in a long time. Many of you may know that I am quite passionate about politics and try to stay as informed as possible; not always easy with three little munchkins (or crumb-crunchers, as Rush Limbaugh likes to say) running underfoot, or in Aubrey's case just hanging around. Nevertheless, I consider myself pretty up to date and informed about current events, and most recently the Presidential election, and consider it my duty as a Christian and an American to vote for and support issues that protect and provide for the best possible life for my fellow human being. The foundation behind my thinking is the instruction the Lord gave His own to love our neighbor as ourselves.

You may remember from posts of old that I was a major Huckabee supporter, so you can assume correctly that I'm not a huge McCain fan, though compared to his Democrat counterpart, he's practically a saint, and I will do whatever I can (however small) to see him elected to the highest office in the land.

Ryan and I came across a video that was linked from Tim Challies' blog discussing Senator Obama's stance on a bill called the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. This bill is exactly what it sounds like: it would protect babies born alive who had survived a failed abortion. The bill came up for several votes between 2001 and 2003 when Senator Obama was in the Illinois State Senate. The first time he voted "Present" (no backbone? uninformed perhaps? both of which are inexcusable) and the next two times he voted AGAINST it, citing as his reason that the wording did not provide for protection of Roe v. Wade. Now, I don't care if he came up with the most brilliant and eloquent reason in the world for voting against this bill, the fact remains he supports infanticide.

When an identical bill came up for a vote in our U.S. State Senate in 2004 (I believe that's the year, I could be wrong about that), it passed unanimously, meaning extremely liberal senators such as Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, and our very own Barbara Boxer voted in favor of saving the lives of babies born of a failed abortion. My first thought was even though they are liberal in their policy making, they're still human beings, and what human being would be in favor of allowing an innocent baby to die on the floor of a dirty linens closet? Well, I can think of one, and all because the "wording" of the bill did not allow for protection of Roe v. Wade.

I am attaching the video that we saw with some caveats from the website where it came from. I need to add nothing more about the video, other than that I cried most of the way through it. When I watched it, I was nursing my own sweet baby and thinking of those that did not get a chance to be loved by a mother. (Side note: as a believer in Jesus Christ, I am confident that every single baby who dies does indeed go to heaven and the eternal reward and glory of being in the Lord's presence more than makes up for the suffering they experienced on earth.) Please do not let my weeping deter you, unless you really think you can't handle it, because the truth about this issue and Senator Obama's stance needs to be made known.

Here are the caveats and video:
1. There is a dramatization of a baby being left to die. It’s not real, nor is it a gruesome depiction. But it is disturbing nonetheless.
2. There are some other personalities featured in this video, and I do not want readers to think that my posting this video means I endorse them. I’m thinking in particular of Alan Keyes.
3. I don’t know anything about the group that produced this video. The only reason I’m posting it is so that you can see and hear the testimony of Jill Stanek, who testified before congress with the stories you are about to hear. Her message is not for the faint of heart, but that is all the more reason that you should hear it.





So remember, the next time you feel yourself getting caught up in the ObamaMania and are all excited about the "change" he's going to bring to the country, ask yourself if you really want a president, who has the power to either veto or sign into law, who supports such evil as this. And don't even let me get started on his position on taxes.

What I Learned Today...

1. A make-up compact can fall from the balcony of a 2 story building and the mirror won't shatter.
2. I can be down the stairs in 2.4 seconds when there is a screaming boy at the bottom.
3. Sound effects help dramatically when gluing foam shapes onto construction paper.
4. Having a really clean sink drastically improves my mood.
5. Playing "blast-off" makes 3 year old boys very giggly for the rest of the evening.

I think these are very valuable life lessons, don't you?

From the Mouths of Babes

Jake: "Hey Mommy, I'm the biggest, Warren's the middlest, and Aubrey's the littlest!"

It totally makes sense to me that he came up with that, English is a weird language. What will they come up with next?

"You Won't Believe What I Found..."

"It's this really cool thing with a few dangling pieces that move a lot. I think it's attatched because I see it wherever I go. I can't believe how much I love looking at it. I wonder what else it can do..."

Look Ma, I can sit up!

Propped up on the Boppy, of course.

New Pictures

Happy Weekend everyone. Just a quick note-my sister had her baby on Thursday night. I don't have any pictures because I haven't seen her yet! If you want to see pics, just hop on over to her blog on my family and friends blogroll. Congrats Jess and Isaac, girls are so fun!


Yesterday the kids and I met my dear friend Kelsey and her kids at a park that is about halfway between the 2 of us. We had to find a midway point to meet because we live so far away from each other unfortunately. Kelsey has a boy, Aiden, who is a month and a half older than Warren, so all 3 boys enjoy playing together and Kelsey's daughter is about 8 months, so we just enjoyed hanging out with the girls on a picnic blanket. It was a very lovely day, except for the giant beetles that were dive-bombing us of course! I got a cute picture of the babies:

Last Friday, another dear friend came over, Shilo, and she brought her new baby Micah. We've already decided Micah and Aubrey are a match made in heaven, and the two confirmed it when they kept trying to hold hands! We had a great day together and will miss the Thompson's so much when they move to Seattle in a couple of weeks (sniff sniff).

And here are just some super cute pictures I've taken over the last week or so of my own bunch.

Bath times are finally fun! She didn't like them for a while.

Warren talking on the phone to daddy while he was on a break from studying.

The possessiveness (is that a word?) of Warren toward his blankey is the stuff of legend, so when he shared it with his baby sister, it was a huge step for him! He kept covering and uncovering her, it was adorable. Doesn't she look thrilled?

I always just miss the big grin, but this is still such a cute face!

Aubrey was smiling and cooing at her new friend, the bouncy chair critter!

War Paint

You've heard of Indian war paint, now observe Dorrito war paint:

See, They Do Love Each Other!

Smiley Time!

Oh, the 2 month mark is wonderful indeed...those smiles make everything worth it!

Outdoor Adventures

So for Warren's birthday my aunt & uncle Lisa & Craig gave Jake a sleeping bag. This is not just any sleeping bag, but a CARS sleeping bag! To test it out, as well as the other youth bag from my parents, the three boys camped in our backyard last week. I hear it went pretty well, they did get some sleep, but were up very early, as soon as the sun was up!

And this is what I did:

Chick flick time all by myself-very nice indeed.

2 Months!

The little Miss is now 2 months old! She's beginning to smile at us, coo, and well, that's about it. But those two things are really cute! She had her 2 month check up today and was 10 lb 9 oz, which is a little more than 2 pounds less than both the boys weighed at 2 months, yikes. She definitely is a petite Trzeciak. We are all quite enjoying her company and are so thankful that she's a part of our expanding family. Some comparison pics:

These are 1 week, 1 month and 2 months, respectively.

And a couple of other ones taken today:

The poor little thing has been sleeping all day due to the shots. Let's just hope she sleeps tonight as well!

That's all for now, in the next post: camping pictures! (backyard camping, that is.)

The Pox Have Struck!

Of the Chicken variety of course, not the kind that plagued the soldiers during the Revolutionary War (Ryan and I have been watching the John Adams series recently, which is why that came to mind about the war...I digress...). Our middle kidlet started getting spots and more spots, and suddenly that unexplainable fever made sense! Warren is a trooper though, and you'd never even know he has them because he's not itching. Jake has had the vaccination so he won't get it, and hopefully little Girl won't get the bumps, although at her itty bitty age, it most likely will be a mild case, like Warren's. Fun times at the Trzeciak's!