Girls' Night Out

Tuesday night, Jacin was sweet enough to watch the boys while I went out with 3 friends from college. We had such a great time just catching up on the goings-on from each of our lives. Katie Owens (KTED) is busy with work and 3 kids, Emily just moved back to the states to earn her teaching degree at Grad School in Virginia, and my best friend Nicole (Roommate!) has a new beau in her life. It was GREAT to have a few hours to talk and laugh with these ladies.

Thank you Lord for those rare friendships that endure separation of time & place and seem to just pick up where they left off. Precious!

Sharing the Throne

Last Christmas Jacin gave me an awesome new digital camera. I practiced with it some over the summer, and now I'm getting the hang of it. Here's one I took of Levi, 11 days old.

And here are some pics of the brothers. :)

Every morning Bird gets up and asks, "What's Levi donin?" (In the beginning he called him "Elvi," but he now can say "Levi" correctly.) When he finds Levi, he kisses him on the head and declares, "Tat's my brother!"  And he loves to hold him, too.

Overall, Jackson is great with Levi. It's just been challenging for Bird to adjust to sharing his throne. Every day it gets a bit better, but it's been a process. Bird is still really pushing the behavior boundaries, and it's pretty exhausting to parent him right now. In short, he's got a bit of an attitude, and Jacin and I are having to remind him often that we are in charge. For example, one of his favorite things to say to us right now is "No, Mamma. Not tell me no! Be quiet!" And yesterday when I spanked him, he brushed off his hand (the site of the spanking) and growled "Ahhh! I brush off that spankin. Not hurt me, Mamma! No spankins!" And he likes to talk on the phone, so if I redirect him or give him instructions while he's on the phone, he tells me, "Hush! Not tawk to me! I'm tawkin right now!"

Talking on the phone with his work boots on.

To be honest, Bird's not the only one adjusting. I have wild mood swings, vacillating between feelings of happiness and gratitude and then feelings of utter despair. One minute I feel totally beyond blessed to have two beautiful happy and healthy boys. The next minute I feel guilty for bursting Bird's perfect little bubble by bringing Levi into the picture, wondering if my relationship with him will ever be the same. It's been very hard for me to deal with Bird's constant "pushing" because I feel like all I do is correct him all day. He hasn't wanted to cuddle with me at all, and he's actually told me several times lately, "I not want you, Mamma." But Jacin has been off work and home with us all week, so that's been a HUGE help. Bird even wanted me to put him to bed tonight, which hasn't happened since Levi arrived. Like I said, it's a process, and I know that this too shall pass. After all, it's not just 2-year-olds who have trouble sharing the throne. As I used to say myself, "I don't much care to share."

Welcome Visitors

After Levi's arrival, we stayed in the hospital for a few days and finally came home on Sunday, July 29th. Later that day, Zack, Audrey, Tinsley, Great Gran & Quincy and Meme arrived to visit and fix dinner. We had a great time being together, and Z & A made some great spaghetti! Thanks for making the trip up to see us, guys!

Great Gran with her 3 grandkids!

After everyone had left to go back to Gwinnett, Meme stayed and spent a whole week with us! Words just can't express how much we loved having her here. She got up during the night each night to help me with feedings, she sat up during the night with Levi when he wouldn't sleep, and she juggled BOTH boys each morning while I was stuck on the couch feeling lousy. We are so blessed to have her!

Meme's grandboys!

Levi hanging playing tools with Meme & Jackson.

Meme left to go back to Gwinnett on Friday evening. On Saturday, the lawn looked like a jungle and needed some MAJOR attention. Granny & Pawpaw took the boys so Jacin could mow the yard and I could take a nap. Once again, we're saved by family! I was incredibly thankful to be able to take that 3 hour nap.

Have you caught onto the theme yet? We are SO THANKFUL for all the support our families have given and continue to give. We couldn't do it without them!

Welcome Levi Aiken!

It's official. I am now a big fan of the modern day Cesarean-Section. With Jackson, I had a C-Section, but only after being induced and unsuccessfully pushing for several hours. With Levi, we just skipped the hard part and scheduled a C-Section. I showed up at Floyd Medical Center at 7:30am Thursday morning, July 26th, went into surgery 30 minutes earlier than planned (when does THAT ever happen?!), and 63 minutes later we welcomed Levi Aiken Burns!

Now I won't lie - I do NOT enjoy the whole surgery scene. The anesthesia (an epidural with Bird and a spinal block with Levi) makes me feel like I'm going to pass out, the pain in considerable after surgery, and the recovery takes a while. BUT it sure is nice to schedule the arrival of your baby. It takes all the guess-work out! And Levi arrived with much less head trama than poor Jackson, which is a BIG plus!

So here is the little ChubAChub... Levi Aiken! Born at 10:03 on July 26th, weighing in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces and measuring 20 inches. Within the first 2 hours of his first breath, he downed a 2-ounce bottle, and he hasn't stopped eating since!

Just to be on the safe side, Jacin, Levi, and I stayed in the hospital for several days. While there, Jackson had a great time hanging out with Meme & Rayray, "Uncle Laney" and Granny & Pawpaw.

We finally came home from Floyd on Sunday, July 29th. I must say that the sleep I got while in the hospital was the BEST sleep I had gotten in 9 months. I'm thankful I had that time to recover. And Jacin seemed to enjoy the down-time, too.

Welcome little Levi! We love you and are blessed to be your parents!

A Hodgepodge of DIY Projects

Because I don't have time to post every day or separate my posts by topic, here's a hodgepodge of our latest DIY projects to share...

1. Homemade Imitation Frappuccino
I got the recipe off Pinterest and made some this morning. I CAN'T WAIT to have some more tomorrow am!
10 cups strong coffee, brewed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup French Vanilla creamer
Mix together! YUM!

2. Finishing up Levi's Room
Since Jackson's all moved into his new room (the old guest room), we've been able to reorganize Jackson's old room into Levi's new room! Whew! Was that confusing? It's been a pretty easy process since we're leaving most of the decor the same. Mom did such a good job sewing stuff for Jackson's nursery that I just had to use it again for Levi. So really all we had to do was get out all the baby parafernalia. AND we added some new wall decor for Levi.

 

I made the LEVI sign with burlap, scraps of material, twine, and hot glue. Mom made the animal prints - they match the quilt she made that hangs on the opposite wall. I'm very happy with the outcome.

3. Message Boards
In our kitchen we have a dry erase board where I keep my weekday menus, ongoing grocery lists, phone messages, and special reminders. It's in plain view and is pretty hard to miss. Jacin and I wanted to start writing a Bible verse there for each week, but there just wasn't room! My solution? Create a dry erase board out of an old frame and scrapbook paper.

We hung our new board under the existing message board in our kitchen so it's easy to see. We've enjoyed it so far - and this week we're all working on memorizing Psalm 9:10. I also made another dry erase board for Bird's room, and he loves it! Jacin writes him notes on it at night, and Bird wakes up each morning asking "What's that say, Mommy?"

Elect Jesus?

I have to take a moment to vent:

In my opinion, it can be dangerous for a church to have a marquee sign, especially if it's used to be catchy and cute. Too often, biblical and theological soundness are thrown aside for the sake of catchy and cute. Not good. One of my favorite "catchy & cute" sign sayings that immediately comes to mind reads "sign broken. come inside for message." Cute and memorable, but totally incorrect. The marquee sign was never meant to herald the gospel - that's the church's job. Furthermore, people should not have to walk into a church building to hear the message. The church (meaning the followers of Jesus) should be going OUT and sharing the message.

Recently, one of our local churches has displayed the quote "elect Jesus as Lord of your life" on their church marquee. Now I realize that the purpose of this message is to grab attention using the "election" theme. But really, there are some major problems here. First of all, in Calhoun, the offices currently open for election are local offices such as sheriff, clerk of court, magistrate judge, etc. While these are important offices, do we really want to put Jesus on the same level? Secondly, Jesus does not need to be elected, and he's not waiting on my vote. The office of Lord of Lords is already filled, regardless of any poll results. Jesus is already Lord, whether I elect (choose) Him or not. Now, I can decide whether or not to recognize his Lordship in my life, but that choice doesn't affect the reality of His pre-existant Lordship. He's already Lord, whether I "elect" him or not. And really, if we dare to take it a step further, it's Jesus/God/Holy Spirit who does the electing and choosing... but that's a can of worms for another day. :)

So... regardless of this year's election results, one day...
at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 
Philippians 2:10-11


Okay. Venting session over. And if you think I'm being ridiculous, you're not the only one. When I shared these thoughts with Jacin tonight, he begged me not to blog about it. "You're just thinking way too much!" was his critique. Maybe so. But I'm an English major with a seminary masters. This issue combines theology with semantics - right up my alley!!! :)

All Rashy

Bird has always had sensitive skin - like his Momma. In the winter it's dry, and in the summer it gets red in the sun. His face especially tends to break out from the combination of sunscreen, sun, wind, and water. Poor guy.

But this weekend when he got red cheeks, I was puzzled. He hadn't really been out in the sun or had sunscreen put on his face. As the days went by, the rash got worse and eventually spread to his arms, where it was red and lacy. Here are some pics:

 

The diagnosis? Fifths Disease. As the doctor explained, "Fifth disease, which is especially common in kids, usually produces a distinctive red rash on the face that makes a child appear to have a "slapped cheek." The rash then spreads to the trunk, arms, and legs. It's a viral infection that can take one to three weeks to run its course. The child is contagious before the rash appears."

It looks bad, but Bird doesn't even know it's there. The rash doesn't seem to itch or hurt, which I'm thankful for. And now ya know. If you see my boy around town this week, I promise he hasn't been slapped around!