Well, that's nice

Got a voice mail message tonight.  It seems Jeremy's weekend job, the one he just works on Friday and Saturday nights to bring in a little extra cash, has decided to close.  Effective immediately. Blah.

Where does Johnson fit in?

I realized I had explained our choice of the name Noah, but did not explain his middle name, Johnson.  Jeremy and I had decided way back when we had Elijah, we wanted our sons to have a first name from the Bible, and a middle name that honored family.

Elijah David- David was my grandfather that passed when I was only 16.  None of my kids had the pleasure of meeting him, but he was a great, GREAT man.

Isaac Whitley- Whitley is my dad's last name.  My dad does not have a son that carries on his last name, and we felt it was only right for our son to honor him.

Nahshon Jeremiah-  Jeremiah after his daddy, Jeremy, and he's a great daddy too!

Micaiah Gregory- after Jeremy's brother, the Marine.  I met Greg when he was only 11, and he's grown into an admirable young man.

Noah Johnson- after my great grandmother, Ruth Johnson.  She passed about 5 years ago, and was a wonderful, funny lady.


Never did we think we'd be blessed with 5 sons to name, but we're lucky we have so many family members we love and want to honor.

His name is Noah

Saturday evening I was standing in my yard with my friend Stephanie, telling her I was very happy that as long as nothing happened between then and Monday, Jeremy was finally going to be able to get our bathroom finished.  Well, I guess I should've knocked on wood.  Sunday evening I got so sick so fast that I ended up in the ER.  The doctor ran a mountain of tests, only to come back with no answers.  Among the tests were an EKG, an MRI, tons of bloodwork, and an ultrasound of all my insides.  All that is, except the ONE thing we really wanted to see.  When the doc said they were going to be doing an ultrasound, but not of the baby, I immediately began thinking about how we might convince the tech to move her magical wand down two inches and let us take a peek at our little one.  After she ran her tests, she said she was going to very quickly take a heart rate of the baby, and Jeremy casually mentioned that if a body part happened to show itself, please feel free to tell us.  Luckily we had a very friendly tech who happily took a few minutes to look around, and surprise! Boy #5!!!  Can you even believe it?!?  Before any of the results came back from the tests, the doctor was already talking about the possibility of surgery. (appendix, gall bladder)  I told Jeremy this baby boy needed a name before the doctor came back with the results, because there was just no way I could allow myself to go into surgery without him having a name, if it came down to that.  (it's a very scary thought, to have surgery while pregnant and the baby still so young)  Jeremy rattled off every name from the Bible he could think of, and we decided his name is Noah.  God loved Noah, and took care of him in the midst of disaster; and we had faith God would do the same for our Noah if things turned out unfavorably with the tests.  Luckily, surgery was not necessary.  Unfortuately the doctor wasn't able to figure out what made me so very sick, and sent me home with vicodin and zofran.  Funny thing is, when we left the hospital, the rain was POURING and the parking lot was flooded!  I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that we've had a beautiful dry winter, and then suddenly we have a torrential downpour the night we decide to name our baby Noah.  Today I'm feeling pretty crummy, as if I've been steamrolled by a tractor, but I'm over the moon knowing we are going to add another adorable baby boy to our family. 

Noah Johnson Cranson

due August 16, 2010

Things only Genna would say......

Most girls Genna's age might think about wanting to meet the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus. But, like usual, Genna's in a group of her own.  Who does Genna want to meet you wonder?  None other than Tony Shalhoub! (AKA: Mr. Monk)  She's a strange young lady, but I like that.

I'm gonna miss this

Everyday Isaac says to me

"I wuv you very a wot!"

and follows it up with the biggest hug ever and a sweet kiss.

These are the moments I know I'm going to miss so much some day.  Makes me think of that Trace Adkins song




Ahhh..........

recommendations and non-recommendations.

Today I picked up Where the Wild Things Are from RedBox because Genna and I had both been wanting to see it.  What a sore disappointment!  It is such a fantastic book, and my kids are always filled with excitement and laughter when we read it together.  The movie however, was the complete opposite.  It was so sad and depressing.  The story line between Carol and KW was way too grown up and serious. The only thing I enjoyed was the music.  This is one that we certainly will not be adding to our collection, and I do not recommend as a family movie.

Seeing this movie reminds me of another one we rented a while back from RedBox; Cloudy With A Chance of Meetballs.  This movie remake was far better than Where The Wild Things Are, but I still can only rate it as mediocre.  Again, they took an idea from another fantastic book, but fussed with it too much and it didn't come out right.  Had the movie been an original, I may have liked it more.  Knowing the initial story line though, I knew exactly what was missing.  It's a great book that sparks the imagination of a child, but so much was lost in this translation.

On a more positive note however, last weekend we rented Princess and the Frog, which my kids thought was downright fantastic!  The moment it was over, Genna could not stop talking about what a great movie it was.  I didn't watch the whole thing, but did hear it playing in the girls room over and over and over and....... we ended up keeping it for 5 days! (love that about RedBox)  The music was pretty good, and I'm so glad Disney has another princess movie out.  This will probably be one that my girls (and boys!) do want to add to our home collection.

life is better with waffles

Isaac loves waffles.  He really, really loves waffles.  But not quite in the way you would normally expect a kid to love a certain food.  To Isaac, waffles show love.  If you are sick, he'll make you a waffle.  If you've done something nice for him, he'll thank you by making you a waffle.  If you've had a bad day, you're sad, you're exicited, or he just wants to show you he loves you, he'll make you a waffle.  You know you've really made it in his world when he makes you the "big huge". (two waffles, on a plate, with butter, syrup, a fork, and a napkin)  Conversely, if you make him a waffle, you will be met with smiling eyes and a bear hug, because he knows what you mean with that waffle.  To Isaac, waffles just make life better.

They do exist

This picture is off Google, not from the store I was at today, but it's just as heartbreaking.

Today one of Elijah's fish got caught in the filter.  Elijah freed him, but he promptly went belly up.  Elijah was very bummed, but since we have community fish, I told him we would be replacing the lost fish this afternoon.  We went to PetSmart and got a new orange tetra, and decided to stop off at a store called Pet Pourri on our way home. Jeremy told me he stopped there when we first set up Elijah's fish tank, and said they had a great fish selection.  Elijah has two african dwarf frogs, two glow fish, and two orange tetras, but it's such a big tank we've been wanting to add a few more residents.  We decided to see what this store had to offer.  Despite the fact that this store is right around the corner from where we live, I've never been there.  I walked in, and almost walked right out.  I could not believe what I saw: puppies in window cages!  I honestly have not seen puppies for sale in pet stores since I was a child.  I know shelters and rescues often hold weekend adoption events at pet stores, but I did not think stores existed that still sold puppies.  They had purebred huskies, chihuahuas, westies, and hounds, as well as "designer dogs" (which were formerly known as mutts) for $600-$900!!!  One of them was even on "sale".  A couple of them looked very thin and sickly.  We looked at them briefly, but I couldn't stomach standing there looking at these little babies and thinking our own little princess at home.  I just cannot believe these kinds of places are still around. So very sad.

Evil genius or just bad brother?

Because of Isaac's allergies, we always keep Benedryl in the house. We used to have to fight and bribe him to take the medicince when we saw an outbreak coming on because he absolutely hated it.  About nine months ago Isaac realized he could swallow the tiny allergy tablets, so we don't even keep the liquid stuff in the house anymore and we haven't had a fight since.  The other night Isaac was having a strange reaction to something he'd come in contact with, so I handed him his medicine and told him to take it.  Instead, he grabbed Genna's soda, poured it into a cup, and dropped the allergy pill in.  Completely puzzled, I asked him what he was doing.  His reply, with an evil grin: "I'm melting the medicine in pop for Nahshon.  It's going to make him nice and sleepy"  Ok now, Nahshon is in his terrible two's, and his mood can go from happy to sad to excited to angry in the blink of an eye, but this is a little over the top!  I honestly don't even know where he got the idea because we have NEVER dissolved medicine in anything before.  (I wouldn't be surprised to find out they learned it on PBS kids though, they spout out all kinds of random knowledge after watching those shows)  Not to worry though folks, I dumped it out before he could carry out his nefarious plan.

How about a little Friday night freak out?

So, Jeremy just got an email stating that his work will be closing on Sunday, March 14th.  For those needing to reference their calendar, today is Friday, March 12th. That is two days. TWO DAYS PEOPLE!  Our family was FINALLY in a good spot and moving forward.  I know I need to trust that all will work out, but inside all I'm doing is screaming ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!  I know it's nothing compared to what other people are going through, but sometimes it feels like it would just be so nice to catch a break for longer than a couple months.  If anyone knows anyone that is hiring for daytime positions, please feel free to let us know.  :(

A world unknown

Not long ago Bella and I were out shopping, and she spotted our favorite candy- Cadbury Mini Eggs.  She didn't even ask, just knowingly tossed them into the cart and we went on our way.  The moment the rest of the crew spotted the purple bag amongst the groceries at home, they started begging for me to tear it open and shower them with chocolatey goodness.  Isaac doesn't get candy very much as it is, so the idea of egg shaped candy was completely perplexing and overwhelming to him.  I dropped a couple into Isaac's hands and assured him they were in no way real eggs.  Just moments later I heard a strange tapping and when I turned around I saw Isaac at the sink preparing his egg candies for eating: by taking off the shell!  Poor kid, he was just too out of his element.  Thank goodness he has Bella around to show him the ropes.

Well, at least the vet won't get Parvo

Today Estella went in for her booster shots; two total. After the vet gave the first shot, I saw her pick up the cap from the syringe and in my head I immediately started thinking there's no way she's going to recap that needle, is she?  Sure enough, that is exactly what she did, and sure enough, she stuck herself.  She was a very nice lady, but hopefully tonight she is brushing up on her universal health precautions

A little too much Fat Wedding?

Tonight Genna was cleaning in the kitchen, and Bella came in and passed gas. (no surprise there)  Genna, being frustrasted that her sister was stinking up the freshly clean kitchen, decided to spray down Bella's rear with Windex.  I told her next time to go for the Febreze instead; at least that way when she uses the Downy scented one, Bella will just smell like freshly washed clothes.  Although, I'm sure either is a vast improvement.