Now that Brody is no longer coming to work with me, Trevor is watching he and Knox during the day. This has gone so much better than I imagined it would. Brody is really turning into a little boy and just loves to play with Trevor and Knox. I think staying home with them has been so, so good for him. It’s good for me, too, honestly, because I was feeling stretched way too thin having to work and watch Brody at the same time. It’s nice to be able to focus on work during the day- it makes me a much better and more relaxed mom when I get home! Knox and Brody have turned into the best little buddies- B follows his big brother everywhere, and Knox is super cuddly with him. This weekend, Brody fell asleep on the couch, and it was driving Knox absolutely crazy that he was sleeping. He climbed up next to him and waited for him to wake up. It was so precious! Once he did wake up, Knox wanted to “hold” him. I melted. So, so sweet.

Our littlest boy is so much happier now that he has a playmate during the day. He was just bored stiff coming to my office, so this was a much better arrangement. On days Trevor works, Brody stays with Trevor’s dad and Knox stays with my mom. That’s worked out great, as well. They have their time together but sufficient time apart for one-on-one attention. It has really worked out nicely. This is the two of them this Sunday before church. Brody’s outfit kills me… I love smocked stuff, so I am taking advantage while he’s still a “baby” and dressing him in everything that Trevor hates! Ha ha! I justify this one because it has cars on it, so it’s a “manly” smocked outfit. Trevor does not agree!

Sweet boys!

Sorry I’ve been MIA, I am convinced that this illness I’ve been sporting is the plague. It is a persistent sickness! Anyway, the past week at work has been awesome- the longer I’m there, the more I learn and the more capable I feel. I am truly loving it, which is so amazing. Aside from the job, there have been a few changes going on- one big one is that Brody is weaned. After I started having the issues with my IUD, I made an appointment to have it removed. Well, long story short, I still have it. My doctor and I talked, and she is convinced that the infections and such that I’ve been experiencing aren’t from the Mirena. I asked her what she thought was causing it, and she said breast feeding. I asked her to explain this to me, and she went through a detailed explanation about how nursing makes your estrogen drop, the effect low estrogen has on your lady parts, etc. In a nut shell, it made a lot of sense, and knowing that I was going to have to wean anyway if I went back on birth control, I was game to attempt that before removing the expensive IUD. So far, so good, so we shall see if it keeps up. If it doesn’t keep the issues at bay, I will have it taken out, but I figured if I could save that $700 I spent having the thing put in to begin with, that’d be worth it!

Anyway, back to weaning Brody. This child was obsessed with nursing. OBSESSED. I was dreading weaning him. I had gotten him down to only nursing at night, but he did it ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Hence, my supreme exhaustion. Once I caught this plague illness, I finally had to give in and take some powerful medicine which gave me the push I needed to just cut it cold turkey. We had a few really crappy nights, but all in all, it was worth it! It’s so nice to be finished with that chapter. I do miss it sometimes, but since we stopped, Brody has started sleeping through the night. Knox did the exact same thing, and I must say, being able to sleep makes me miss nursing far less! The past week or so, he has slept from 8 or 9 p.m. to 5 or 6:00 a.m. GLORY, GLORY HALLELUJAH!! I cannot even tell you how nice it is to get a full night’s sleep after 15 months of non-sleep. I feel like a new person! Plus, Brody is a lot less clingy with me, now, which is also very nice. Now, if my boobs will just calm down and stop making so much milk, that would be great. It randomly keeps going in spurts. I’ll think they’re going down, then I’ll wake up with boulders on my chest. I definitely have overproduction issues! However, I’m not going to lie, I dread the day they dry up totally and shrivel up… so sad!

This is how Brody woke up yesterday- grinning from ear to ear and laughing at his bear. Such a more pleasant way to start the day!

Between starting my new job and having children determined to infect everyone they know with illness, there hasn’t been much free time for blogging. However, I’m here now, so let’s overlook my absence, kay? First off, the new job… is amazing! I am so, so happy so far, of course, I am positively slammed with work and very busy, but it’s an awesome work environment where people are nice, enthusiastic and appreciative- it’s amazing. And guess what we do before meetings? Pray. And have a Bible study. How awesome is that?!! I love it!

Of course, my children were bent on sabotaging my first week by sharing their illness of death with me. My first day of work, Brody kept me up for the majority of the night before by sniffling, screaming and snotting all over me. He and Knox have both been to the doctor twice in a week and a half and have been on multiple antibiotics. Brody also has an ear infection, and it’s been miserable. This weekend a germ fest that left me sick as a dog. Also, in the pattern of my youngest child, on Sunday night Brody was a terror and I literally got 15 minutes of sleep. The entire night. Fifteen minutes. Yes, I was not happy. In addition, that was the day I was deathly ill with the child-caused disease, and thought I may collapse on my fourth day of work. Great first impression, yes? Thankfully, my in-laws offered to keep Brody that night so I could sleep and heal (I had a respiratory infection and an ear infection). The doc gave me antibiotics and some kind of cough syrup with Codeine in it, which means… weaning had to happen. Apparently coughing up a lung was the incentive I needed to finally end the nursing situation completely. I kept wavering with it, and knowing that I would be poisoning Brody if I nursed him again made me stick to my guns. He has now not nursed at all in three days, and I have to say, it was way harder with him than Knox. WAY. We’re getting there, though.

This is Knox and I on Monday at about 6:15. He was sick, too, and I picked him up to cuddle for a minute. He needed sleep as badly as I did! I know I look *lovely* with no make-up and after coughing my head off all day, don’t be too jealous.

Brody was very anti-sleep this whole time because he was so congested, so he did a lot of sleeping on us… namely on Trevor. This picture cracked me up- look at the random way B fell asleep! Plus, I think Trevor looks so cute.

And I know everyone is wondering about how Trevor is handling watching both boys. I have to say, I am impressed with him. He’s had a few rough moments this week with them both being sick and whiny, but he has done a really, really good job. I have come home several times to a clean house, happy children and folded laundry, which in my book, means my husband is amazing. It’s a big transition for him, and he’s really hard on himself. He’s trying so hard to be patient and calm with them, and I keep reminding him that it takes time to learn how to handle this chaos on your own. All in all, I’d say he gets an A+. I think that next week will be much better and easier for him when both boys are healthy. On the days Trevor is on-shift, his Dad keeps Brody and my mom keeps Knox. My mom does Knox’s ABA therapy (which is awesome) so she just stays at our house and keeps him the entire day those days. She really likes spending time with Knox, and he’s doing fantastically with that arrangement. Brody LOVES spending those days with his “Geepa.” He practically leaps from my arms when we pull up to their house, and has the best day playing. Trevor’s dad is excellent with the boys and always does whatever they want to- they play outside, run, feed the doggies, take wagon rides, anything. It’s been great for both of them.

So, that’s pretty much how things are going with our new work/life arrangement, and I think it’s going well so far! Looking forward to going back to church for a few hours on Friday… it’s cool to like your job and look forward to going! Right now my schedule there is Monday-Wednesday and a couple hours, as needed, on Fridays. I work at my old job on Thursdays. Thanks for being patient with me while I learn to make time for things again- I will try to get a more regular schedule going this next week. Happy Thursday, friends!

We went out to visit Trevor’s grandparents on Sunday to take his Nan her birthday present. Nan loves to garden and has a green thumb- in addition to having gorgeous flowers everywhere, she also loves birds and has lots of birdhouses, bird baths and feeders around their yard. So, the boys decorated a cedar birdhouse for Nan to display in her yard. They each put their handprints on a side, then used a paint brush to decorate their respective sides. It was so, so cute. Knox was very serious about his painting and was very thorough. He tried to totally cover the roof with purple paint before he moved on to our tile floor… I decided he was finished at that point. Brody was very free-spirited and got super into his art- he screamed at me when I made him stop.

Brody's side

Knox's side

I thought it turned out adorably, and of course, Nan loved it! After we gave her the gift, the boys were itching to play outside. Brody carried around a faux-orange (“ball!!”) and chased his brother, while Knox ran and ran. We also checked on our garden which is starting to really grow!

Then, Knox noticed a little brown bird sitting in the bird feeder. Y’all. I have never in my life seen a bird behave like this. Knox would get right up on this thing, and it would not move!

Of course, Knox would scare the mess out of it by splashing it with water from the birdbath or by squealing, and it would fly off, but it kept coming back. It was seriously two inches from him, I think if he had bird seed in his hand, that bird would have sat on him. We laughed at Knox stalking it and running after it.

What a sweet little bird! Any guesses as to what kind this is?

I was thinking about it, and there are a few new must-have items I wanted to share with you guys. So, here are “Jessica’s Favorite Things: Spring Edition”:

Firstly, I am in LOVE with this shirt from Kohl’s because 1) it’s coral and 2) it has an amazing ruffle that covers all sins in the belly region. That is something that us moms tends to really need when we’re, um, lumpier let’s say, than we used to be.It’s the Elle brand and is on sale right now for $20… plus you can use one of those awesome 20% coupons they send in the mail all the time. Yay for Kohl’s!

Next up, we all know that I am a tad bit in love with java. Just a smidgeon. To save money, I have had to kick my Starbucks habit (I still love you, SBux… smooches), and tote my own to work. I finally bit the bullet and bought a huge Tervis tumbler cup with a lid. This is the best cup on Earth. Seriously, I now understand the love affair people have with these things. I feel like Uncle Si with his tea glass (Duck Dynasty love) about my Tervis tumbler. I need to get another one because I reuse this one daily and sometimes I forget to bring it home, and it makes me sad. Anyway, this cup is crazy awesome. And yes, I just wrote an entire paragraph about a cup. I need to get out more.

I needed some new foundation, and CVS had a great deal for $7 ExtraBucks (yay for CVS) when you bought a Physician’s Formula product, so I gave this Physician’s Formula BB Cream a try. I am thinking that I really like it so far. It’s a combination sunscreen, moisturizer and foundation, so it really combines a lot of steps. It gives you a kind of fresh, dewy complexion, which is pretty. I am used to a more matte finish, but I am liking this look for spring/summer. It also does not have a strong scent, which is a big plus… I hate smelly make up! I got the light/medium color (there are only two shades- it’s very blendable) and it works well.

This isn’t really a thing you can buy, but I had to share this recipe with you guys. I wanted to make some kind of homemade bread the other day, and I came across this recipe for garlic knots on Emeril’s page. OH MY GOSH. Seriously, do it. Do it, do it, do it. They were not hard at all. I know that using yeast for dough scares people, but the key is not to get your water too hot when you’re dissolving/proofing your yeast. It should be warm like bath water. Aside from that, easy peasy- especially if you have a mixer with a dough hook. I have really started using mine a ton lately, and I adore it! The only things I did different from this recipe was not rolling the knots in butter, I just brushed the tops with the garlic butter, then I sprinkled some Lawry’s Garlic Salt on the top.

Speaking of, that stuff is amazing. I am not one to buy spice mixes, I tend to just do my own thing, but I love Lawry’s Garlic Salt. If you are sauteeing meat at a high heat, garlic powder tends to burn, so I have really started to use this in lieu of my salt + garlic powder because it uses larger pieces of garlic and does not char like powder. It also has flecks of dried parsley. I love it for topping garlic bread of any kind, too. Super versatile. You can find it at any grocery store in the spice aisle.

Also, a huge staple in our house are these organic pop tarts. Knox can really barely have any processed foods because of his soy allergy, but there are some mornings where I forgot to prep breakfast the night before, and these things save me! He loves them, and requests them frequently. Our Publix has them, Whole Foods has a bunch and even Wal-Mart has one flavor. I try to stock up when they’re on sale or at Wal-Mart, because they’re regularly $4 a box at Publix (ouch). They’re really good though, and they don’t use artificial colors or flavors- they beat the pants off of “real” Pop-Tarts. This Granny’s Apple Pie flavor is our favorite… so good!

That’s it for my spring favorites- what are some things you are loving right now?

This week is going to be a crazy one. Today is my last day at my current job, and I officially start at my new, glorious, fabulous job at church on Wednesday. I will be going in tomorrow, though, to join a monthly lunch so that I can meet everyone. So excited. Have I mentioned that I am really excited?? Everyone that I have met is beyond nice, and I just can’t wait to be a part of such an amazing staff.

Before I start that chapter, I am trying to get lots of odds and ends tied up this week (also before my insurance ends) so we’ve been doing lots of doctor’s appointments this week. Brody was totally out of sorts on Friday, and it got to the point where he would. not. stop. crying. So, I called the pediatrician, and as I thought, he had a raging ear infection in his right ear. It’s only his second ever, so we’re lucky in that aspect, but it was a fairly bad one, so the doctor gave us some numbing drops for him. Those seemed to help a good bit, and he woke up in a good mood on Saturday for the first time in a week.

This morning, Knox woke up with a fever, so he’s home from school and going in to the pediatrician later today. Of course, they won’t share their toys, but their germs?? Here, brother, have them all! Isn’t that typical?!

As for me, I am also going into my OB/gyn today to have my Mirena taken out. I know, I just posted about liking it, and I have up until now. I have had three infections in the past three months, and it has become obvious that my body HATES this IUD. I have decided that it’s actually greater than 99% effectiveness as birth control because thanks to it, my husband is a very sad man!! I am really sad, actually, that I am having to take it out because 1) it was $700 AFTER insurance and 2) it was so easy!! I’ve loved not thinking about it, feeling it or having a period at all. I mean, the insertion process was absolutely awful for me, but since then, it’s been no big deal. I am assuming I will just go back on the pill, I already take vitamins and zoloft daily, so I don’t have a hard time remembering pills. I will need to wean, though, if I go on the normal pill, and it’s really time, so maybe that will be the push I need to follow through with that. I hope my removal will go better than the insertion did (I hear it’s much easier/painless), and I hope I don’t end up with migraines. I had a headache for about a month after I got it from the hormonal changes. Maybe going back on the pill will make me skinny again- I weighed like 118 in college when I took it, and now, well, I do NOT weigh that. At all. Oh well, I guess I will find out soon enough. So, good-bye Mirena, I bid you farewell- you’ve been a very gross friend.

One week from today, I will be starting my new job. To say that I am excited is a huge understatement. I’ve been by the church office a few times this week, as I’ve filled out paperwork, picked out my new computer, etc., and there is just this air of kindness and camaraderie that I cannot wait to be a part of every day.

Also, I am quite ready for Brody to stay home with his dad! He is so happy with Trevor and Knox, and he is quite miserable at work with me at this point. He whines and cries from the minute we walk into the door to the minute I run screaming from the building at the end of the day. He is bored and lonely, so I’m sure he’s ready for a change too!

A big stress for me has been finding affordable health insurance since I’m losing mine at my current job. It was around $600/month to add us to Trevor’s plan, so we didn’t want to do that. I finally found a copay plan for $240/month and signed up! Picture me breathing a massive sigh of relief that we won’t have to eat ramen noodles every day to be able to afford medical care!

Speaking of eating, I am trying so hard to cut our food budget- it’s so hard!! I did well last week, though, and even made a freezer full of burritos for lunches without going over my $150 budget for the week (goal: $100/week… eventually!). Brody is a HUGE fan of black beans, which is so random, but he’s hilarious to watch:

Obviously, he’s a very neat eater. I always end up taking his shirt off, and Knox thinks it is positively hysterical to see Brody shirtless. He has to touch his belly and hug him every time. So silly! He is also very into music lately- he is fascinated by Trevor’s headphones and calls them “mew-zic!”

He is so darn cute. Looking forward to these boys having more time together soon!

A few months ago (okay, like six) I was reading my church’s monthly newsletter, when something caught my eye: an article written by the “Interim Communications Director.” When I read this, I instantly started to think, okay, “interim,” that means they’re going to be hiring a new one. I started asking questions and found out they would, indeed, be needing a new director and would be posting the job at the beginning of the year. I seriously checked the church website every. single. day. starting January 1 through March. I started to think this job was never going to come up! From the moment I heard about it, I wanted it. Like, badly. I felt so strongly this was “it” for me and where I was supposed to be. Finally, the church started to accept applications, and I had an interview at the beginning of April. It was one of those interviews where you leave and think “I have no clue how that went.” However, a few days later, they called me in for a second interview. That’s when, pending committee approval, they offered me the job. I don’t think I have ever been so excited as in that moment, and yesterday, the personnel committee officially voted me in. I am now the Communications Director at my church- a place that I love, where I worship a God that I love and, now, where I will get to do a job that I love.

God has worked on this for me, and I know it. There have been so many job opportunities that have come up along the way that seemed like sure things, yet, nothing ever panned out. It never made sense to me until now. This is where I am supposed to be- those other things were keeping me content and still in the moment while I waited for the right job to come along. I have prayed continuously just for God’s will to be done- not my own. This is definitely a step of faith, as well, seeing as how it is a part-time job, at 25 hours a week. I know that I haven’t come this far for naught, so we are determined to make it work. I am able to stay on at my current job one day a week to make up the difference, and I will also have to purchase my own insurance for Brody and I. This is a big budgetary stretch, but we are committed to revamping our spending habits and budget and learning to live on less for a while. I know that things will work out, and quite honestly, the thought of loving what I do makes up for a tighter budget! Every single time I speak to someone at church about this job, I leave the conversation with a huge smile on my face because they seem so earnestly excited to have me on board. Trevor told me last night “Jessica, that’s called appreciation.” And that,my friends, is a totally new concept for me in a work environment.

I’m going in today to sign all of my paperwork and talk about my office set-up, and I am just so, so excited. Thank you all, so much, for all of your prayers along the way- I know that they were heard! My first day is going to be May 1- the first day of a whole new chapter in my life. One where I get to wake up excited to go to work. What a long time coming! I am so thankful for this immense blessing, and I cannot wait to get started!

Well, Brody had his front teeth for all of two months before they became an issue. I started to notice some spots on his teeth, and at first I figured they were just a natural discoloration. However, I soon figured out they were a bit more- one tooth had a pit in it, which was darker than the surrounding area. I started researching and it seemed like Brody had nursing decay (or “bottle rot”). This is generally caused by kids going to sleep with a bottle of milk or juice in their mouth- the sugar settles on their teeth and causes early decay.

It’s not as common in nursing babies, but judging by the thousand million night nursing sessions B man partakes in during the night, I knew it was an option.

We went to a pediatric dentist on Thursday where my fear were confirmed- despite twice-daily brushings of his 4.5 teeth, we have a problem. His teeth are demineralizing in several places. The dentist said that he may have weak enamel (for any variety of reasons including being born early) and we have to be vigilant with his teeth. Luckily, the spots are still hard and haven’t turned into cavities yet- he brushed a fluoride treatment on Brody’s teeth, which we will repeat every three months. We have to continue brushing his teeth twice daily with baby toothpaste, then at night, we have to rub fluoridated toothpaste on his teeth, then wipe it off so he doesn’t swallow any. Also, his teeth have to be wiped off after every nursing session- even in the middle of the night. The dentist said just a dry cloth was fine for that. I’m just glad I took him so fast- hopefully he can avoid fillings now, at least that’s what we are hoping.

I loved the dentist, and I loved that he didn’t try to tell me I had to wean- even though that’s totally coming soon. Brody did great- they had me hold him, facing me, then lay him back where his back was on my lap and his head was on the dentist’s (he was sitting in a chair facing me). It took him less than a minute, but of course, it scared the pants off Brody and he boo-hooed until I picked him back up. Not the first dentist experience I had imagined for him, but hopefully we caught it early enough to help his sweet gapped toothed grin!

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous. In case you didn’t know, the weather in SC tends to go from 0 to 60 when it comes to the seasonal transitions. We go from cold to surface-of-the-sun hot in about a week and a half. So the handful of “perfect” days where it’s 70 and sunny are like gold to us. We took full advantage of our Saturday by plowing and planting our garden. Yes, I said plow.

Trevor’s grandparents used to plant a huge garden every year, but now that they’re both 80ish, they can’t do it anymore. We decided to take over and go ahead and plant on a section of our property (which is right next door to their house). It’s only about 15 minutes from our house now, so tending to it shouldn’t be a big deal for Trev on his off days.

Trevor is learning the specifics from Pop on how to plow, turn the soil and make rows, and Nan is teaching us how to pick out our plants/ seeds and how to take care of them. Nan has a green thumb, and their entire yard is filled with gorgeous flowers and plants, so I am trying to absorb her advice!

It was time to plant, so we took the boys to an old Feed and Seed store Saturday morning and picked up a few pouches of seed. It has been there forever, and they still use their old metal scale for weighing out bulk seeds. We hit the local Lowes for some tomato and green pepper seedlings because it is too late to grow those from seed (so we learned after we’d already bought those seeds… oh well!). It was so much fun, but it was such a long day!!

I should specify that our “garden” is massive. I’m pretty sure you have to call it farming when your garden is this big:

We are like pioneer people. It’s crazy. We were sweaty and filthy by the time we left, not to mention exhausted. I have no idea how farmers in the old days managed to have so many kids because they should’ve been way too tired to make any by the end of the day!! Trevor worked his butt off making the rows with the hand plow. I couldn’t even make the thing move through the dirt! He said farming may be harder than fighting fires, physically, so that’s pretty hard!

We planted mostly seed, which was WAY easier than plants because you drop a seed in your row, then cover it with dirt by kicking a little over it. It’s much faster and less- labor intensive than planting, which is fun for maybe one row. Then it is NOT FUN.

This is cabbage, which we are testing out. We planted tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeño peppers, sweet potatoes, cabbage and broccoli- we seeded everything else. Well except red potatoes- you basically plant half of a rotten potato with eyes all over it. I could have made those seeds myself by letting a bag go bad! We did buy them, though, and I cracked up at the packaging:

Yes. That does say “red tators.” It was an old country store. Emphasis on country. I loved it! I think I may be transforming into a farm person. Y’all may need to worry about me. Our collection of vegetables planted includes corn, tomatoes (three varieties), green bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, yellow onions, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, green beans, lima beans, cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon. Some of this Trevor’s grandparents haven’t planted before, so we are experimenting with what thrives and what does not. Anyway, long story short, we planted a ton and watered a bunch, and now we wait! How amazing is it that you plant a tiny seed, tend to it and it grows into food?! We are so looking forward to a productive garden and hope to eventually provide most of our own produce. Watch out- this girly suburbanite is slowly transforming into a crunchy, sustainable-living, country lover (except for the music… I’ll keep my rock music)!

P.S. This is my 1,000th post!! Craziness.