Super Hero Squad

Happy Halloween 2012!
Trunk and Treat @ church and some neighborhood treating made it a night!
We sorted through all our piles and made keep bags, give away bag for our friend who was sick for Halloween, and a bag for THE GREAT PUMPKIN!
Dylan went to bed tonight saying, " mom, I can't sleep because I'm thinking of the Great Pumpkin!"And about 5 minutes later they were sacked out!
The Great Pumpkin visits our house the night after Halloween and trades treats for candy. Brody is very particular when he sorts-every candy is sorted by type and the sub-catorized into brand. Then that's followed with counting how many are in the pile. He does this EVERYTIME he chooses a candy. Dylan dumped his pile on the table, made 3 piles of it, and went to play his toys. :)
A fun night had by all!
And the first night probably in 30 years I didn't have one piece of candy. Boo!

Tales from the cript

Just in the short car rides, I am cracking up.

1. I'm like a "snuk" and an "alls" I never sleep at night! -Dylan
2. Daddy's toots are REALLY big. When we are Dads we aren't going to have big toots. -Brody
3. ...no when we get big we aren't going to be tooters, we are going to be rescue heroes. - Dylan
4. While throwing a fit: Zero people love me. (waiting for a reaction...) Zeeerooo people LOVE me! (He hears a snicker from his mom and dad) this is not funny! -Dylan

P.S.

Oh, yeah. On Michael's way to the bank the truck died.

And B has a fever.

I'm not kidding, y'all.

2 steps forward 5 steps back

I promise I'm not the negative Nelly I have been sounding like lately.
I honestly believe that we are being spiritually attacked. Nothing has gone smooth since we came to AR. So I'm hoping and trusting that what we are doing for the kingdom must be pretty threatening because personally its a rough go.

The latest and greatest is I was greeted with a laundry room full of water this morning. I called Michael immediately and luckily he was able to come home. As he was trying to find the source, I went into the boys playroom to get some toys out for them. Dylan asked, "why is the floor wet?" I took my slippers off and found the carpet completely saturated. I called out to Michael and we found thy the carpet had been soaked through out half of the room. The room mind you that I have been spending days on unpacking. I then checked the bathroom next to the bedroom-a towel left on the floor complete saturated and water seeping out from the baseboards.
It was the hot water heater. The hot water heater that we had concern about in the inspection. The same hot water heater that we had a professional Plummer come and inspect. The water heater that we were assured of not needing a pan underneath and how it would not leak in the house.
So began the calls to the home warranty who doesn't cover secondary damage. And our home owners insurance that has a sweet price tag of $1,000 deductible for this claim.

We just moved in. The hot water heater was inspected and approved a month ago.

So now instead of taking a shower
( and I can't tell you how disgusting my hair is!) And doing some much needed laundry, I have "packed" up the very room I just unpacked and am now packing overnight bags. (well after I finish my rant.)

Oh, yeah. It's Halloween party week. Not much going on or anything. Poor Michael has a crazy workload this week as well.

Yes, 2 steps forward. 5 steps back.

This is how I cook 'em

I thought

"Yeah! One baby-I'm going to be like all the normal pregnant women! I won't be as sick, I'll be able to walk and shop, and go, go, go without missing a beat!"

I'm finding being pregnant with one has been just as hard if not harder for me.

I was way sicker this time and continue to battle that out.

My latest discovery is it wasn't the weight of the boys that made it so hard to walk and be on my feet. It something call "round ligaments."

I remember with the boys it started about 18 wks.

This time I noticed it at 16 weeks. 

There's great discomfort when I walk an extended amount-like shopping at the grocery or a target run. If I'm on my feet for more than 30 minutes I begin to experience the stabbing and throbbing pain.

I feel like the only mama out there with this. Pregnant Friends and co-workers just seem to be able to shop and take trips or even cook a meal.

This is just how I cook babies. It's a speciality of mine. Equal Opportunity for Singleton or Multiple.

So it looks like my dreams of shopping for Clothes, bedding, and all those fun things will be done again from the laptop.

And that's ok.

I'm thankful that I get to experience these "growing pains." I love being able to make all these comparisons between a singleton pregnancy and a multiple pregnancy.

I have a great team of boys that continue to be the most compassionate and caring teammates I could ask for! My co-captain is amazing and has taken the duties of SAHM in stride. Sure, my house is a total unpacked disaster. But, I continue to work really hard at letting that go. (and it has been really hard sometimes!) I'll get us settled even if I do it in 30 minute increments from now until 2013.

Go Team M!

I will continue my daily regimen of hot soaking baths followed with lots of tummy kicks.

I can do a lot of things

But I can not master the cake ball.

They always taste fine. ( at least that's what I'm told since I can't eat it)

But getting the chocolate to go on smooth and not so thick is always my problem.

I have tried different chocolates, the wrist tap, freeze and then dip...they always come out thick balls of goop.

Today for "school" we worked on Halloween themed things. We closed our school time with cooking these " Oreo Ghost."

All was well until it was time for "the dip." what a mess! I started off letting them dip, but then took over that roll. They were the eyeball boys.

The end result:

I'm no Bakerella!

Nobody said this was easy

When we found out I was pregnant, I didn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. How could this be?!?
I was supposed to be 8 weeks at our first appointment, but actually was only barely 6 wks. When you don't really ovulate anymore the formulas don't really work.
I told Michael this pregnancy I was going ALL OUT! With the boys I was so sick for so long and then they were so heavy I just never felt like doing anything. Shopping was not fun and walking any amount of distance was painful.
This was one baby! I am going to be a like a " normal" pregnant person!
WRONG!
Actually, this has been the HARDEST thing. I tried to survive as long as I could on my own. The vomiting began week 7. But, this time I had to take care of 2 boys. Let's be honest-I was a warm body. I can't describe how terrible it was. Awful rent house, new town, no family, no friends, no routines.
I had hyperemesis with the boys. It was bad, but by week 10 the twice a day zofran kept me going.
With hyperemesis it gets more severe with each pregnancy. So this time it was even worse. Gone were my hopes of a normal pregnancy. July 17 was my last day out of my house and out of my bed until the end of September.
I got really bad off. I had lost 20+ pounds in 4 weeks and went to the ER. That did nothing and by that point I was just vomiting blood. All this sickness was irritating my gut issues and a day later I was in the hospital for 5 days trying to keep things down.
Mind you, we have just moved to AR. We have no family, no friends yet. It was bad. The boys were troopers, but stressed. So with me in the hospital my mom flies in to rescue the boys! Michael had responsibilities at work he couldn't get out of so Mimi had to take care of the boys in a town and in a home that was foreign.
I still was very sick even once I got out. I took zofran and phernergan in massive dosage amts and just laid in bed for weeks.
I can't eat hardly anything bc of my stomach issues. Coupled with extreme nausea and I spent many days eating nothing at all.
But, I made it! Week 16 I turned the corner and went to church for an hour.
Week 18 I finally went to target!
Week 19 I finally got to do Fun Friday with the family.
I know those don't sound monumental but I have been so physically and emotionally isolated. My connection to the world was through my phone. I read more FB than I ever care to, watched the laguna beach marathon followed by the hills marathon, and even decided that the craftmatic bed doesn't sound so bad. I have resisted the tortilla bowl maker...for now.
It still is a challenge. My stomach is still giving me terrible fits and will have me sick for days. I'll have a nauseated day and just stay in bed.
I hate not being there for my kids in the way we planned. This is our last year at home together and I had great plans for us. It breaks my heart that the boys are so familiar with illness. It makes me sad that Brody wants to go to a restaurant and eat all together as a family and that's something that I may never be able to do again. It breaks my heart that they think my tummy will stop hurting when the baby comes when I know this is a lifestyle for me.

No, definitely not easy.
Who said motherhood is easy?!
But is there joy in suffering-yes!
My boys bring me the greatest joy I have ever known. Their sweet spirits and love of life warms my heart.
All this is worth the Joy we will meet in March. I still can't believe it, but we are blessed and excited to meet Baby!

Just a pic from my first outing again!

Fall exists in Arkansas

First off, Thank you for all the congrats on FB and here for our little bundle of joy! We feel very blessed to have such love and support of so many great friends and family!

I didn't think that AR would be that much different than TX. I mean, we are neighbors and I can get 

to Dallas in 5 hrs. However, FALL has been so pretty here. ( Maybe its bc I haven't been able to leave the house since July. But that's another blog.) The leaves have changed to such a pretty red and orange. It rains at least once a week. The weather is nice and crisp. Pumpkins grow on real vines here.

We had a great time picking pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. It was my first Friday Fun Day to actually get to go on. Friday is Michael's day off and each Friday we go and do something fun. Sometimes the boys plan it. Sometimes I plan it. All summer they went bowling for free. Check out kidsbowlfree.com to see if a bowling alley near you participates. We loved doing this in Abilene and were excited to find a Conway alley that participated. They have gone to chick fil a, target shopping trip complete with a new toy, the Jump Zone ( an indoor inflatable park), the movies, Little Rock, and this week we went to the Pumpkin Patch!

There were lots of playground structures to play on. They had pre-picked speciality pumpkins and gourds, and you could take a hay ride to The pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins off the vine.
We each picked our own pumpkin. Thanks to the last 9 years of teaching the pumpkin life cycle I was able to show it to the boys in real life. There were still vines with the blossoms and lots of green pumpkins.

It was such a fun day!
The boys even had an impromptu camping trip with friends that night!

Fall is here. I'm enjoying the harvest!

Silly Jack-O-Lanterns

Baby Bump Pic

Baby Mercer (19 wks) and the family of pumpkins we picked

Picking pumpkins sure is fine,

Picking pumpkins off the VINE!

Pumpkins of the Caribbean

Dylan said, " Now this is the PUMPKIN EXPRESS!"

What's a pumpkin pick without a sno-cone?!

Daddy and the family of pumpkins

Promise

So back at the end of 2011, I decided 2012 would be the year of the promise. 2011 was filled with great loss of so many things. I was being drawn to that word.

PROMISE.

You can read about that here.

2012 has brought lots of promises. Michael and I began a new journey following the calling to be a preacher. It's 10+ hours away from family and we don't know a soul here. Michael has been wanting to follow this since 2004 so it definitely marked a new day.

However, May marked 3 years of trying for a baby. Even with a new diet I was getting nowhere. Actually, I'm only getting sicker. I saw my rhumatologist in May and he thinks I have developed Crones or something else on top of the other diseases.

It was the first week in our rent house and I was physically just feeling terrible! My arthritis was worse than it ever had been, I couldn't eat anything, I felt like I was being hit by a truck...just bad.
One night in June I had finally reached that point. The point where my idea of the promise and God's idea were not matching. We even had to have to talk with the boys about God answering prayers. As much as it hurt ( and it was like a piece deep in my soul was crying out) I told Michael that I just couldn't have a baby like this. With me being in such horrible shape, no promise* of even being able to conceive...it was time to let go of the "old promise"

So imagine my

SHOCK

AWE

BEWILDERMENT

when we saw that there was a

PROMISE

Growing inside.

This miracle baby will be making the miraculous debut in March.

PROMISE. 

It's what the Lord gave me.

This is the move that never ends

At the beginning of June, we said a sad goodbye to Texas and took a leap right into central Arkansas.
However, as soon as we crossed the state line it seemed that nothing went right. The moving company was very stressful ( Allied of Abilene, Tx is TERRIBLE! Do NOT use them!) The move was double what we were initially expecting. And let's just say Michael and 50 uhalls could have done better. We had a sizable claim to place due to their mistakes. I'm still very sad to have lost what we did in the move.
We rented a house (that I hadn't seen until we were moving things in) which wasn't bad on service level. However, within hours it only got worse. Move in day was just hard! I'm watching my belongings not come out of the truck in one piece or damaged followed with finding out that fleas infested our "home." Then the next day the garage broke and the front door so you couldn't get out of the house!
I was just about to explode with stress and had no place to relax and let things go.
More things continued to go wrong.

It was a hard, hard, move.
It has been a hard, hard, summer.

But, now at the end of October I can say things are slowly coming together.

There's an APP for that!

I have been procrastinating the updates for so many reasons. Most of the time I never have my computer when I'm ready to blog! So a day late and a dollar short...I finally figure out how to blog from the phone!

So much to update since the summer so I'll get on that!

Until then, hooray for many future random post and picture dumps via the phone.

Daddy-O

The boys adore their daddy.

They want to look like him, dress like him, and act like him.

He is their HERO.

  

 

Dylan said the other day, " I love Daddy. He's a good daddy.  The bestest Daddy. God made Daddy a good daddy."

Continuing our Father's Day tradition, here is what Dylan and Brody think about their Dad.

My father’s name is Daddy Mercer.

My favorite thing about my dad is going to the beach with Dad!

My dad likes to go outside and build airplanes at Lowes.

It makes my dad laugh when I feel silly.

I love my dad because I love him so much.

 By Dylan, age 4

My father’s name is Daddy.

My favorite thing about my dad is wrestling.

My dad likes to wrestle.

It makes my laugh when we wrestle.

I love my dad because he is the best dad ever!

By Brody, age 4

Mom, When is Sister Coming?

At least once every day I have to answer this question.

But, I have 4 year olds so it is more like 20x followed by 20 "why's?"

Every house we have looked at the boys pick out a room for "sister."

Every night we pray for her.

Apparently, they talk about her to other people at church because I got the...

"I heard you are expecting." Umm, no...I can't find my spanks and I am fat.

I am guessing they heard from the boys.

Now, I am answering the questions from the boys:

"Mom...when is sister coming?"

"Mom...why is sister not in your belly?"

"Mom...why is sister taking so long to come from heaven?"

Bless their hearts.

We have been talking a lot about God's promises and how He always gives us what we need.

It may look different than we thought, but He always hears and answers our prayers.

Then that's followed with a choir of "why's."

Got to love the minds of a 4 yr olds.

It's "Mad"ness!

My most favorite show,  Mad Men has been out of control this season.

First, we had to wait insanely long for it to return.

Then, once it does it is FULL of shockers.

Last week was amazing. I kept thinking of it all week long.

Peggy fights for everything she has in the 1960's workplace.

Even if she has to leave her mentor and the place that started it all.

Joan is also a woman in the 1960's trying to survive.

She did it in a very different way.

And who is this handsome Don? The hero? The one that does the right thing?

Tonight was no different.

***Spoiler Alert***

Lane is caught with the embezzlement from a few episodes ago.

It was the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day.

It broke my heart to see his world unravel all in one day that started off with such great news.

Life can really change in an instant.

Since we are moving all of our shows on the DVR are no more as of tomorrow.

So I can't go back and watch it again and again as I fold the laundry.

Instead, I had to take it to the blog!

P.S. When all your house is packed in boxes and there is no cooking or cleaning to be done, you can get a lot of blogging done! ;)

Enjoy it while it last because the next few days I am without internet, an address, or a home.

Countdown to Goodbye

Things I will miss about Abilene:

cajun cones
amanda's monday meals
bbq-turkey
the BEST PART TIME JOB EVER
young children's world
highland church
acu
being able to see friends that come to the great vacation destination of abilene, ha!
(but, it's true. people are always coming to town.)
hendrick health club- i heart body jam.
our neighbor, PawPaw who makes us great wooden treasures.
our fabulous friend and photographer debbie riggs-pure photography
no traffic
abilene mall-did i just say that? yes! you can run in and out in a few minutes and get free samples at coastal cookies for the kids.
seeing someone we know no matter where we go
knowing someone that does ___: cakes, monogramming, sewing, ect.
all of my friends... some long-time friends some new-time friends
our great street
our home where we have raised our family

this is an exciting time, but abilene is where michael and i fell in love, the two most precious miracles were born, and where we became a family.

this is hard.

so i just keep really busy so i don't have to do a goodbye.

Clean-ish eating

So it's been about 2 months since I started this experiment.

I followed the Whole 30 experiment for 30 days and had pretty good luck with feeling better.

About 1/2 way in I was getting sick again and the only thing I had consistently been eating was salad.

So now Lettuce is on the Black List, too.

In May, I experimented with adding things back in.

I had terrible luck and have stayed with a clean-ish diet.

My ish part-

* I eat white potatoes. Since I no longer can eat salad, a dry baked potato is my out to eat choice.

*I will eat some sugar on occasion.

Cookies, Cake and Ice Cream I am pretty sure I can't do 

(haven't tried, but don't want to pay for that mistake)

But a sno cone or some candy are my guilty pleasures.

And that Sonic Diet Raspberry Sprite.

* 100% Natural

nuts- Back to Nature are my FAVORITE!

potato chips- Lays Natural Potato Chips with Sea Salt

I also like the PopChips-They are Gluten Free, but do have some unpronounceable ingredients.

Still haven't had any BREAD, CRACKERS, DAIRY, RICE, PASTA, BEANS, ect.

At this time of year, I really have only missed being able to take boys and get ice cream cones together. It's not something I ever bought at the store, but it would be something we would do together.

Oh, Ice Cream.

R.I.P.

(For those keeping up with my medical saga, I am off to a gastro doctor to help solve these issues. The speculation from my rhumatologist isn't encouraging, but it is what it is. I am just thankful I can still have a Sonic Drink to carry me through these 100+ degrees days of Summer!)

They're Coming!

"They're coming to take me away! Ha-Ha! They're coming to take me away. Hee-Hee"

Tomorrow begins the the big shuffle.

I am shuttering to begin to imagine our home full of boxes.

I am already over unpacking and the packing hasn't even started.

Oh. Boy.

Say it ain't so.

A Memory Filled Weekend

After closing up my last day in my 9th year of teaching, we headed down to San Antonio.

We have loved being just 4 and half hours away from Sea World and have gone there a lot on our passes.

The new Aquatica water park just opened and Saturday was the only day we could make it before we move.

Friday we did the Sea World part and the boys picked what they wanted to do. 

*Shamu Coaster is always 1st on the list.

* Elevator Drop

* The big net playground

*The Bay of Play Splash Park

*Say Hi to Bert and Ernie

Saturday I knew it was going to be crazy....Holiday weekend and one of the first weekends the swim park would be open. 

But, oh.my.word.

Seas of people. 

EVERYWHERE!

We were really lucky and found a short line on the exit side and we already had our Aquatica passes so we got in within 15-20. 

(* GO EARLY!)

Once in the waterpark, we had no trouble doing what we wanted.

(come to find out, they closed it because there were already the max. of people inside)

We didn't do any of the big rides this time because of the lines.

However, the pool areas were AWESOME.

They loved the slides.

The wave pool was fun for Brody.

The lazy river was anything but LAzy. Trying to keep them sitting up on a tube was a joke!

The loved this HUGE splash area with a giant pail of water that dumps out on everyone below.

It was great!

We then left the water park to catch the ski show.

We allowed for 30 minutes to travel across and we needed it!

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER trying to get threw the sea of people.

Stood in lines for 20 minutes to get lemonade refills

But I do love the $1 refills.

The cups are so worth the investment.

I was ready to go, but we had a request for the merry go round and playground time.

Sunday we drove home to make it to a goodbye party.

I didn't remember to take any pics. OOPS!

Monday we had a playdate with our twin friends, Mason and Sawyer.

They had a BLAST! 

They were so cute laughing together!

We will miss them!

We cooked out in the middle of a major storm with impressive winds.

Ate hot dogs and chicken by lantern light.

Talked with the neighbors out in the street and splashed in lots of puddles.

Great Memories made.

And thankful for our FREEDOM to have these precious times with friends and family.

Ta-DA!

This week has been FULL of special occasions, programs and performances.

Sunday was Mother's Day and Michael got home just in time to hand me card and put the boys in bed.

Monday was my birthday and the boys' last program with Young Children's World. 

They have practiced for months. 

My boys are typically very shy and not big singers at all.

In fact, Brody told me he loses his words on stage.

However,

Brody stole the show with all his hip shaking and motions!

They were perfect and I was so proud!

Tuesday I had a great girls night with my ACU Abilene College Besties!

Tamara, Jenna, Kate, and I enjoyed great conversation on Jenna's Farm House Porch. It's perfect for long conversations into the wee hours of the morning. It was 12:30 a.m. before we knew it.

Wednesday we had our last Photo Shoot with Debbie Riggs from Pure Photography.

I told her I wanted to do something "Texas Style."

We all wore our cowboy boots and shot pics at a ranch here in Abilene.

The 6 horses, 2 cows, and 1 friendly farm dog all wanted to be in the pics too.

At one point, all the people were caged in the holding pins as the 6 horses checked us out!

Thursday was the boys last day of school at Young children's World. They have gone to this sweet school since they were 6 months old! We LOVE it and will miss it greatly. 

Michael and I both were misty-eyed as we left one last time.

Friday we were in Dallas for more Doctor appointments. 

I am off to a gastro dr to see if we can figure out these tummy issues.

Saturday was the boys' Gymnastics Showcase. They did a great job and preformed!

Sunday is Senior Sunday and Michael made sure he would be back to give the kids their Senior Charge.

I have loved the past 12 years as a youth minister's wife. It is not an easy life (hello-being alone with  

4 month old twins for 10 solid days...I am not going to miss summer trips!) I am really going to miss this chapter of our lives.

It is also a going away party for our friends, the Thompsons. We have been in small group together for 5 years and have watched their sweet kids, Taylor and Tyson grow up. We are really going to miss them!

 

Through the Looking Glass

What's up through the lens of the iPhone:

 

A princess birthday party for Mom!

My precious bubbas picked out the party goods and the sweetest gifts.

I also got a crown!

(And I get in trouble if I am not wearing it!)

We have LOTS of time together lately!

Mama and sons Dinner dates at Chick Fil A.

(I can eat the grilled nuggets and fruit and still be "clean-ish" eating.)

Nap time together

We got our new Velata Fondue Pot!

LOVE THIS THING!

The top is dishwasher safe. 

The chocolate is Gluten-Free and the Dark Chocolate is Gluten and Dairy Free!

I tried it expecting to be sick...and I didn't get sick!

There are LOTS of chocolates-Milk, Milk Chocolate Caramel, Dark, White.

It has been my go-to thing to bring for parties and teacher appreciation.

We have added it to our Family Friday Movie Night .

It's just so easy.

I had my first Scentsy show at the Baby Expo here in town.

LOTS of work. 

But just as much fun!