sevenchicks

love your life

by socialchick~ It has been such an emotional week for me! I have learned so much through a tragedy that took place Sunday morning!

Sunday morning a good friend of my husband's wife got in a car accident and passed a way. She was only 30 and had a 4 year old son. Their story is so much like ours that it makes it hit home a little more. They were highschool sweet hearts, had been together for half of their lives, she was a stay at home mom, and he works with my husband. They got up like any other morning and instead of heading to church, which they did every Sunday, she decided to help her mom clean condos that morning. She kissed her husband and baby boy and out she went not knowing that they would never see her again.

Which brings me to the lessons that I have learned this week. Why do we make life so much about us. Shouldn't life be about God. We stress so much over the stuff that isn't going right, or that is going right, or the stuff that we did or didn't do. We make everything a fight or a battle that doesn't really matter.

I have cried and complained for 3 months now that I have a very fussy baby. I get upset and want to loose it when she screams but at the end of the day if she was to die tomorrow I would miss that screaming and want it back. Not saying that I won't get frustrated any more but I have a new outlook on my fussy britches. If that is how she expresses herself then just roll with it and do what you can to help her.

I have also started Zumba and during our class the instructer screams out many times "love your life!" This has made my lessons come in full circle this week. Love living the life that you have. Stop making everything a huge thing. Be thankful for what you've got. It doesn't matter that my husband just told me that we are gonna have to be tight for a little bit. I have everything I need! It doesn't matter that we don't get tons of time together every week. I'm thankful that at the end of the day I have him and I get to lay down with him every night. So he may not always give me the attention that I want (not need), but at least I have him! The kids may always be right up my butt, but so blessed to have them! I may have to cook supper every night and not get to eat out, but glad I have the ability! May have had a bad past, but greatful for my savior who died on the cross for my sins! May not always be in the best mood, but happy that I am loved and highly favored!

So I hope that this may have helped you examine your life. Love your life no matter where you are in it. Stop making everything a huge deal! We are only here for a certain amount of time! You are not promised tomorrow so enjoy today!

the joy of the lord

by socialchick~Let me first say that I so don't want to write this blog but feel I must. Here comes some more honesty that I don't really want to share with the world. So I hope someone can get something from it.

What comes to mind when you hear the joy of the lord? I immediately start singing the song that so many of us learned when we were young but never thought anything else about it until recently. To really get you to understand how this little scripture changed my life I must start with some deeply personal, embarrassing, and depressing moments.

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I'm not an emotional person. Barely ever do I let things bother me. I'm not one to wallow in self pity or even fight depression. It is even hard for me to share my heart at times. So please bare with me as I write this. Once again I so don't want to do this but here we go.

For about three weeks now I have been very depressed with my life. I have wondered many time if this is all there is for me? Wiping butts and snotty noses, feeding a baby every 3 hours, breaking up fights, fixing breakfast, lunch and dinner, and giving out as much love as I can to three little girls and my husband. Why can't I ever have me time? I was frustrated that every time I sit down to eat I hear a child scream or another one ask for a bite and mad that I never get any privacy. The list could go on and on. I have even felt embarrassed by my weight (which I have never done before).

See being a stay at home mom is a very demanding job and sometimes you never see the results. So I have kind of felt like I have lost my identity. Who am I besides a mother and a wife?

Because of how I was feeling about my life, I began to feel angry at friends, family, my husband, and even God. I know I can hear you gasp but I'm being honest. It is ok that I got angry at God, I told him about it. lol! I was angry that I had a screaming baby, that I was finding it very hard and overwhelming to have 3 kids. I became jealous of stupid things, and just felt left out in life in general.

My depression was not a constant thing and it was not very serious. Some of you probably could not even tell I was going through anything. There were times that I could be in a good mood and have fun but at the end of the day the best part of my day was going to bed and the worst was getting out of bed. Still I managed to move on.

Well Wednesday I was on the phone with my sister in tears doing nothing but complaining and wallowing in lies from satan. I layed down to take a nap but could not go to sleep. All I could hear was the word joy, joy, joy over and over in my head. I began to sing every song that I knew with the word joy in it and then finally the verse "the joy of the Lord is my strength", became revelation knowledge.

There is a difference in happiness and joy. Happiness relies only on external things. Like going on a date with my husband, or hanging with my awesome friends, or eating a bag of peanut butter m&m's with a glass of milk, or having money to go shopping with.

Joy is finding laughter when you are ready to pull your hair out because Miss Priss just tried to change Lil Sis's poopy diaper and smeared it all over her and the floor. Joy is loving the fact that I am a mom to a screaming baby. Joy is hugging someone you are mad at. Joy is praying for someone that you are jealous of. Joy is finding peace when the kids are screaming, the house is a mess, and the phone wont stop ringing.

The Joy of the Lord is my strength doesn't mean my physical strength but it is my mental and emotional strength. Nothing worldly is going to satisfy my happiness and joy. Only God! It's is only the joy of the Lord that is going to get me through my rough days. Not saying that I won't need a break or even get frustrated, but now I realize I can take a deep breath and find joy through my 3 healthy little girls that the Lord has given me.

The scripture in Nehemiah 8:10 helped me find myself again. With a joyful heart I can say I am a mother of 3 wonderful girls. I have been called and anointed to be a stay at home mom. I am a wife to an awesome husband who loves me with all of his heart. God has called me for such a time as this. I am the daughter to a Heavenly Father that loves me unconditionally!

So there you go. Now I can breath. I hope you can get something out of this. If anything please keep me in your prayers. Pray that God will continue to show me His true joy!

i need xanax

by socialchick~ Let me warn you that this blog is for moms who can and have admitted the truth. Moms who are not ashamed of the truth. All else. See the alternative blog: living a lie!

 Everyone asks me how is it going with three kids? Well this is how it's going! Stop it! Don't touch her! Go to your room! Clean that up! NOOOOOOOO! WHAT! My name is not mommy! Jesus take the wheel!

Don't get me wrong, I am very blessed with three healthy kids but our quiver is completely full, overflowing, bursting, crammed, running over, packed, stuffed jammed, complete. I think you get the point. No I do not want any more and I don't know why anyone in their right mind would have three under the age of 3. I know what you are thinking "you did it!" Well I was not in my right mind and still not there! Why would you plan torture on yourself? Oops I was writing about how blessed I am. Well as you can tell I have to remind myself of this daily!

 

So far I have had 1 crying melt down and 452 screaming melt downs. Don't judge me, I'm just being real with you! See, I am one who usually keeps my patience and is very easy going unless I'm pregnant. Well this is a challenge for me right now! A 3 year old, a 2 year old, and a 6 week old can be overwhelming.

Little Sis (the 2 year old) needs about 6 parents to watch her. She is into everything and makes the most messes I have ever seen a 2 year old make. You can not leave her alone for a minute or she is shoving the paci into Tiny Bliss' mouth, eating wax, climbing on the counter, or drawing all over herself with a marker that she found. Just last Wednesday, I had her ready for church. Outfit on, hair done, and everything was going good. I went into my bathroom to blow dry my hair, which only took three minutes, and came out to find Little Sis covered with powder from head to toe. She looked like a ghost. I walked into Tiny Bliss' room and powder was all over her floor. UGH! To make matters worse Mr. Social has had to work over time all week long and I have been a single mom. This is when I cried "JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!"

Miss Priss and Little Sis fight all day long and lets just say that Tiny Bless isn't the easiest baby I have ever had. This is where I will add that God's gifts aren't always sweet, nice, and pleasant. lol! So if  you were to come to my house you would hear a lot of crying, one of the girls saying stop it, the other whining, see lots of hitting, pinching, and me on my knees praying.

If I hear one more person say, "Well God must of knew that you could handle it or he wouldn't of given you three." Well I think for the first time God messed up. He meant to drop one off at Sassy's house. I just got in the way!

After my crying spell I think my daddy started interceding for me. Just playing but he really thought that I was having post partum depression. When all it was, was a bad, horrible, horrific, terrible exhausting morning!

I must say that I have definitely learned how to ask for help. The small things in life are no longer small. Like taking a shower or using the bathroom, brushing my teeth, getting groceries, or just getting out of the house. My family has been great through this. They have come to my rescue many, many times.

I think I am finally learning how to handle three kids but it has taken 6 weeks and this doesn't mean I don't need help. This is how you handle it. Learn that crying is not bad for an infant. A 2 year can cry on her bed with the door shut just as good as she can cry in front of you. Learn to choose your battles and never expect anything. Don't expect to get a nap, because you won't. Don't expect that everyone is going to be good, because they will be horrible. Don't expect to get to write a blog, because it will take 3 days. Don't expect to eat at any time during the day, because then you will pass out when you realize you haven't eaten.

So how am I handling 3 kids? 1 minute or 1 second at a time.

I know this blog has been negatively honest so I will end with some positives of having three. Loosing all of my baby weight because I never sit down. Appreciating the small things because everything is a big deal now days. Appreciating "ME" time when I get it. Getting lots of hugs and kisses from Miss Priss and Little Sis. Having a true and honest excuse to get out of things. Seeing how sweet and loving Miss Priss has become for her 2 younger sisters and getting tons of sympathy from everyone. lol!

So as you can see my strength, patience, and mind has been tested these past 6 weeks, but I have gained a lot of faith to see that this too shall pass and I will look back on it and wish that they were little again. Well maybe not this little!

Side not: It took me three days to write this post and it will only take you 30 seconds to read it so keep all negative comments to yourself! While sitting down to write it I have gotten up 362 times to put a paci in Tiny Bliss' mouth. Gotten up 242 times to stop a fight between Miss Priss and LIttle Sis. Gotten up 145 times to clean up a mess that Little Sis has made. 82 times to spank or put someone in time out. And 36 times to wipe someones tail. Looks can be deceiving. In all of the pictures they look like complete angels!

  
  

accepting help

by socialchick~If you are a family member or a close friend do not read this because you are tired of hearing it. Ok to the rest of the readers I am pregnant (if you forgot) and let me say I'm feeling it very strongly! I have never been one who enjoyed being pregnant but this time around has been horrible and it has gotten worse the past week. I'm having severe burning in the right part of my chest which the doctor says is tendinitis, bad upper back pains, and now I have started having pain in my left inner thigh. I'm falling apart.

I know what you are thinking. She is a baby and needs to suck it up. Well I usually have a pretty good tolerance for pain but this is just miserable. Being pregnant with the third while taking care of a toddler and a 3 year old is for the birds. So much that I'm thinking about telling the doctor to tie my tubes so I never have to do it again.

Which leads me to my title. Why is it so hard to accept help from others? Yesterday Bossychick called and asked if I needed her to come and help me clean my house (because I was fussing about how bad it was). I said no but deep down I was crying yes. Than another friend called and asked if she could cook supper or keep the girls for me and once again I said no.

So why is accepting help like accepting defeat?  I feel like people think she got her self into this so she needs to deal with it. Let me just say that I don't feel that way about other people and love to help when I am able to, so why do I feel like other people feel that way.

Last night I had a major breakdown and cried (which is very unusual for me) because Mr. Social came home and started cleaning up. I felt so guilty. I should be the one doing it. He told me on the phone yesterday to take it easy but deep down I didn't think he meant it. Call me emotional and I know he wouldn't of said it if he didn't mean it but why can't I just believe it and rest. Why do I think that he thinks I'm making it up? Why can't I accept help from my own husband?

I wasn't raised to not help people or not to accept help. I was raised by a pastor who always helps people. So what is wrong with me?  I guess I don't want to take advantage of people or impose on them.

Do you feel like accepting help is defeat? How do you do with accepting help? What do you do to try to help people who won't accept it? Let me know your thoughts on the subject.

need your help

by socialchick~  I know I told you that we were going to name the baby Abby Love. Well I need your help. Let me just say if you read this then you have to comment! I NEED EVERYONE to comment. If you are new to this blog then all you have to do is go to the bottom of this post, click on comments, and follow directions. You can even put an anonymous name if you want to.

So this is where you come in. Mr. Socialchick suggested naming the baby Teddy a long time ago. I threw it out immediately but the more I think about it the more I like it. I love different names and after all it would be after her daddy. How sweet is that? So what do you think about naming a little girl Teddy Love. Say it out loud, write it down, imagine a cute little girl (because we make such beautiful little girls), tell your friends or coworkers, do whatever it takes to help me make my decision.

I want your honest opinion! Your comment really will count! If the majority of the reads like it then I will probably go with it! I won't get my feelings hurt if you hate it! I know that we have a lot of readers out there. So I don't care if you are family, friend, or stranger to us chicks, I want you to comment! This will help with my decision!

out of his league

by socialchick~ Mr.Social and I went to a Lincoln Brewster Concert last Sunday. I wish I had pictures but didn't take the camera. So while we were there Lincoln Brewster stopped singing for a while to share a little about his family.

He shared and showed pictures of his two cute little boys and then he put a picture up of his wife. He stopped right here and said can you tell I married out of my league? Then he asked a question to all of the men in the building. "How many of you men know what I'm talking about and married out of your league?" I looked over at my husband and his hand was not raised. Then Lincoln Brewster made the best comment of the night. He said " Guys if you are here with your wife and she is sitting by you and you didn't raise your hand then you are just dumb!"

Thanks LIncoln I couldn't agree with you more. Mr. Social you need to learn a few thing from him. Whether you think you married out of your league or not you could of at least tickled my fancy for the night. lol!

always planning

by socialchick~

Before I start this blog let me just say that this is not for plannerchick. I have not put any hidden messages in it and I am not trying to send her a message within my post. This is something that has been on my heart that I have experienced lately.

We plan out our lives. Even as a small child we plan on when we think we should get married, what we should do for a living, how many kids we want and when we want them.

I had it all planned out; married by 18, have a kid 6 years later, then another one 2 years after that, and maybe one more 3 years later. That was my plan. We have Miss priss and Little Sis but didn't plan on even trying for another one until Little Sis had turned 2. Well needless to say here I am now Miss Priss 3, Little Sis 18 months and another one is on the way.

So where did I ever say in my plan of life, "God what is your plan for me?" I always thought that I would just walk the way that I thought and God would lead me. But then I got pregnant and was a little on the upset side. Because I didn't even stop to think that this was God's plan for me and Mr. Social from the very beginning of our lives.

So you can plan all you want but do you have room for God's plan to fit into your life? We try to plan day to day or week to week or even year to year but do we every say God if this is not your plan for me then please disrupt my plan and show me yours?  Then when God totally changes our plan, do we have a good attitude about it?

I felt like God told me a few weeks back that he was looking for a NOW Generation! A generation that doesn't hold back and ask why or analyze everything. A generation that hears God and immediately responds to what he tells us to do.

So if we have everything planned out for our lives then do we have time to be a Now generation! If God tells us to pray in a business meeting, are we alright doing it knowing that we may loose our job? If God tells us to lay hands on someone in Wal-Mart, do we stop because of the social status we have in our community? A Now Generation doesn't worry about tomorrow, they live in the word of God that he spoke to them at that moment!

A few weeks ago God told me to grab a flag at church and wave it. Well I hesitated and I heard him say, "Do you have enough faith in me to know that I can conquer every battle that you go through?" So I grabbed the flag and began to wave it. That night I started spotting and figured that I was having a miscarriage. Mr. Social grabbed me up and began to pray. That very moment that same soft spoken voice said, "Do you not have enough faith in me to know that I can win every battle that you go through?" At that very moment I had peace! Because of my now actions with waving the flag it built my faith up enough to have faith immediately when the situation looked bad.

You never know what God is preparing you for when he asks you to do something "Now"! Your "now" faith, or your "now" obedience leads to a "Now generation!

Lets stop worrying about how we have planned out our lives and try to pull together and be a sold out living for God Now Generation!

are you kidding me?

by socialchick~ I need your help and I need everyone to comment so that I can win the battle between me and my husband. Here is where the battle started. A friend of mine (a mother of four) told me that I should let Mr. Social name this child because I was having a hard time thinking of something. So I told him that he could come up with a name for a girl because we already have a boy name. We have had it since we were pregnant with Miss Priss. That was a big mistake!

Last night while sitting in bed we started talking about girl names. I thought that we were doing good because we both like Abby but then the conversation took a wrong turn. Mr. Social blurts out with Thursten. I immediately said heck no. He then argues with me that I told him that he could name the baby.

Let me fill you in on where Thursten is coming from. His real name is Theodore and my name is Kristen. So he put the names together. I asked him if he was serious like 22 times and he said yes that he liked it a lot.

So this is where you come in. He told me to put it on the blog and see what everyone else thought. I told him no and that there was no way someone was going to like the name Thursten. He told me that I was scared because you (the readers) would like it. So let me know what you think. If someone actually writes that they like the name, I will get a pistol, find you , and shoot you . Bossychick I'm watching you! Ok, ok, you can write  your honest opinion but I need everyone to comment so that I can have more no than yes. Please don't let me down! Don't make a pregnant person cry!

I love a bargain but...

By Babychick~I love to find great deals, I get a rush out of it. I rarely ever buy anything full price. Unless of course groceries, even then I am looking for the cheapest deal. I like to go to yard sales, and I always go to the sale racks first. I like to get more bang for my buck. Like for instance, these Citizens of Hummanity jeans that I got at a yard sale for $2!

And this table for superbaby's bedroom after his first one was ruined by the humidfier, for only $1!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had been wanting to get some tiki torches so we could sit outside some on summer nights. I found these for a buck each at Big Lots.

Not to mention the consignment sale I am now involved in. Most of super-baby's clothes come from consignment sales, and they are super cute! 

But I am just not sure about this whole coupon thing. I would love to save tons of money on groceries and be able to get more but it looks like it takes a lot of work. I have visited most of the blogs and sites and they do give lots of information. Wait, I take that back, they give TONS of information.

When it comes to saving and bargains, most of the thrill for me is that it just happens.

So if you are big into this coupon thing, tell me if it takes a lot of work like I think or if it is easy as pie. Because I just don't see it!

changing gears

by socialchick~ All of us chicks have wrote plenty of blogs about our babies and we have given tons of advice but now I need your advice. How in the world do you potty train a dog. I'm not having much luck! Do you have any suggestions or secrets? I know that she is still puppy but I'm ready to pull my hair out and I can't tell you how Mr. Social is feeling. lol! So I need some tips from you animal lovers.

Here is a picture of our sweet little turd sleeping!