Turning 30

Well I realize that I have not posted in quite awhile, things have been buzzing along like crazy here at the hive and I just haven't had the chance to take a breath, but yesterday I turned 30 and I realized that life is too short not to stop and breath. So here I am **BIG EXHALE** to write about my family and remember the things that are important now, for they will be forgotten tomorrow unless they are written.

I am actually going to start this post with me for a change, I had what some might consider a very boring birthday, but it was heaven to me!! A date with my J, which literally was an hour long dinner b/c we live in the smallest town ever. We went to the one restaurant that had a wait so we felt too guilty to loiter at our table drinking margs like we originally planned. Instead we came home and cuddled while watching Robin Hood. At first I was disappointed until I had the revelation that if I, at the age of 20, could see what my life would be at the age of 30, would be overjoyed.  Then to emphesize my point, sweet J made  plans with some dear friends to meet at a park with our kids and the pint sized 4-wheelers.  J brought a cake and candles (just a 3 b/c he forgot the 0) and we had a blast.  My little birthday party at 30 reminded me of one I would have at 3 (appropriate since that's what my cake said).  I am in a wonderful marriage with a man who Loves me with a capitol L. We have BEAUTIFUL, sweet, and amazing children whom we Love with a capitol L. I get to stay home with my babies to experience every first, every smile, every tear. And yet I still get to have a creative outlet through my sewing, and at this point my creative sewing endeavors are beginning to pay for themselves. Who knows this year I might even contribute to the family income (probably not, but that's fine with me). I have amazing friends from all over the world and their outpouring of love yesterday brought me to tears.  I even got to meet some of these amazing friends to have drinks last night, real drinks at a real bar. It's wonderful to be thirty, I can't wait to see what happens in the next 10 years.
What's new with the babies?

DJ is becoming cooler and cooler with every day that passes, just becoming much more of a little boy and such a delight to be around. He is really starting to miss his daddy a ton, and whenever J leaves for work we deal with some mini depressions. I am so thankful to be here in OK where the ops tempo is nowhere near what is was in SC. My favorite things he says right now are "Hokima City" (Oklahoma City) and "Mama, I can't stop growing because I am just bigger and bigger and bigger!" He also tells me, as he performs feats of strength, "wanna see I'm strong of it?"

Asher is the naughtiest child on earth, SO NAUGHTY!! But with his huge cheeks that make his eyes disappear when he smiles (oh, and those huge teeth that light up my life) I always end up giggling as I punish him, sending mixed signals to say the least! Asher can officially come and go from his bed as he pleases, so we will be moving him to the bottom floor of the "stuck together" bed very soon, which is a huge milestone. Asher still gives me 100 kisses a day and is the ultimate mama's boy. My favorite thing he says right now is "of course" instead of yes or no.
"Asher, do you want to play?"
"Of Course!"
"Asher, did you hit your sister?"
"Of course not!"
Its hysterical.

My Izzy is crawling and pulling up and making my every moment with her better than the last. She is barely surviving life with 2 big brothers, I don't know how many times a day I pull a brother off of her head, snatch her from her brothers well meaning arms as they try to pick her up, or finger swipe a sticker or car part or other small toy that made its way up from the play room into her mouth. Izzy has a smile and a glow about her that stops even strangers in their tracks. What an overwhelming job that lies in front of me to make her humble and sweet, to make sure that she knows the light inside of her is a gift from God to be used for His glory, not her own.
J is continuing to excel at work and has been so blessed to be able to fly his plane in air shows and travel all over lately. We miss him at home, but he is surely out living his childhood dreams, and what could be more amazing than that?

Sorry for the long post, if you made it this far I promise to be back more frequently!

Snowy Days and Cute Kids

So what is new... Well today is a snow storm here in good old Altus so we are all of course still in our pajamas!  Asher is walking around in his frog footie pajamas and snow boots (on the wrong feet of course) and he told me while looking out the window that the snow was "bootiful."  Asher is also starting to play pretend with "guys" and cars (his current fav is the firetruck) and he also loves to pretend to eat your face (he may have gotten that from me).  I also love that he turns most single syllable words into two syllable words like "yeeeaa" or "thaayaat."

When the boys pretend together they always want to play the villain, and always like to pretend to be frozen.  "mommy I frozen" and they strike a pose only to be freed if I tickle them silly!  I love that they are playing together more and more these days.  The other day when I took them to school, DJ found Harley's leash in the car and when we got out he informed me that he was the puppy and Asher was the boy and Asher was going to walk him to school.  SO, Asher walked DJ into the school on a leash like a puppy dog, there are some battles I just choose not to fight and some memories I will cherish for a lifetime.  Here is a video of the evil villain laugh (professor bug is from a backyardagains episode)

DJ got a big boy bunk bed that he calls a stuck together bed, now he is sleeping on the top.  We let him pick out his own sheets, "How to Train Your Dragon" sheets, and I am in the process of making comforters (and by process I mean the material is sitting in a box by the front door).  Asher is jealous beyond words of the "stuck together bed" so we are going to brave getting Asher a mattress for the bottom bunk and move him out of his crib, dum dum dummmmmm.

Iz is still the stinkin cutest thing on this (or any other) planet.  She just absolutely lights this family up with her shy sideways glances and big belly giggles. She is really starting to move with a steady army crawl that she is slowly perfecting into a real crawl, when that happens I will have to post a video, until then here she is in her most favorite toy, the jumperoo!! 

Here are the boys new super hero boots! Yea, snow here we come!! (when it is warmer than 8 degrees out side and the wind isn't blowing at 100mph)

Also, we put the kids in a bath all together for the first time last night, there is a picture of that, but I think we will save it for immediate family and future prom dates.

Finally I have been a sewing mad woman full of inspiration from all of these awesome blogs... I made this scarf (and soon to be matching earwarmers) for my mom...

I made this scarf to go with the "bracelet" that didn't turn out from the last post

And I made this shirt up-cycled from a shirt that doesn't fit J anymore...

Love to you all, stay warm!

The Monster Talk

DJ:  "Mom, Dad, can we talk?"
Mom and Dad: (with very amused curious faces) "Sure Son, what's up?"
DJ:  "Sometimes I am scared of monsters and that's ok, because I am only scared when there are real monsters here, not when there aren't and sometimes I am scared of the big weed (this is a reference to Larry Boy and the Rumor Weed for those not fully versed in Veggie Tales the way we are; and Veggie Tales is a Christian animation series with talking vegetables for those of you without kids :-)
DJ: "Mommy just sometimes I am scared, is that fine?"
Mommy:  "It is fine to be scared sometimes DJ, but do you know who can help us when we are scared?"
DJ: "Jesus and God?"
Mommy:  "Yep, God's Word says 'be strong and courageous, do not be afraid..' so if you are feeling scared you can repeat that to yourself and God will help you to be brave." 
DJ:  "Ok, but can Daddy come outside with me so I don't have to be brave now?"
Daddy: (melting into a little puddle) "Let's Go Man!"

Why is our three-year-old afraid?  Does anyone have any advice on helping him through this?  This is an exact conversation we had last night, but it is VERY similar to conversations that we end up having almost everyday.

Things That Mama Made

SO, since my fast from FB I found a new obsession, crafting blogs!  These women are amazing!!!  The things that they create, and then they tell you how to do it!  I was posting things that I made on my Etsy shop FB page, but that was getting confusing.  So now I just think I will share my new creations on here with you all and hopefully you can be inspired to create a few things yourself :) 

This is a cuff bracelet that I made using the tutorial on this site http://littlemissmomma.blogspot.com/2010/10/victorian-lace-and-ruffles-cuff.html, and this was my second attempt however, because in my first attempt I used felt for the fabric (she says stiff fabric, but felt made me feel like I was about to brave a snow storm not wearing a fun piece of jewelry) 

This is the felt fabric first attempt.  I still thought it was so pretty and I had to find something to do with it.  So I put 2 broach pins on the back and pinned it to my sweater.

Not bad, but its a little long.  I think I might try to find a shirt to pin it on military style?  Who knows!?  That is the fun of it!!!

The Backpacks are finally done (I have only been planning on making them since August).  I made them out of J's old flight suits and J is ordering some patches with the boys names on them so they can look more legit.  They turned out pretty well.  There are definitely things I think I would change if I did them again, but that will NOT be any time soon :)

And finally this is a onsie I made for the IZ.  Why is she not wearing it you ask?  Because Sunday she wore it to church and before I could take a pic of her in it she had a huge blow out diaper.  Today it was clean but I didn't really have the heart to put her in it and make her pose for pictures since she has a bit of a cold and was a pretty pathetic little girl all afternoon.

So here is a picture of a happy Izzy B and some leg warmers I made for my Etsy shop.  We had a photo shoot with a professional photographer of all of my Etsy goodies, so that I can start taking myself a little more seriously.  Thank you so much to all of you who have taken me seriously already! 

More blogs on the babies to come soon...

Twinkle Twinkle

Now, while it seems a little cruel to post this ADORABLE video right after the news about Asher.  I feel that it is really important for us to be normal, to remember that nothing is in our hands, and to post fantastic videos for the grandparents and aunts and uncles who miss these "fresh berries" very much!

Asher

Still on a FB fast, but I feel like this is some info that you would all like to have, so I am blogging about it and then sharing on FB, technically still not spending time on FB :) 
We have an answer for Asher's headaches... Chiari 1 Malformation.  In a nutshell the back part of his brain doesn't quite fit in his skull.  This can be very serious or every livable depending on the length of the brain that is exposed, we don't have that answer yet because we are going to need to see a neurosurgeon to get the majority of our answers.  You can read more about Chiari 1 here...

http://www.conquerpediatricchiari.org/
http://www.conquerchiari.org/index.htm
http://www.relieve-migraine-headache.com/chiari-1-malformation.html
 
This is a pretty rare disease only .1% of American's are affected, and amazingly enough here in small town USA I know 2 others.  Isn't God awesome?  I have become fast friends with a girl here who came from Charleston a few months ago, we have a ton of things in common,  including good friends, and when she heard about Asher's headaches she told me about her disease, Chiari 1.  She had suffered since she can remember with the symptoms of this and was only diagnosed a few years ago, thank you God that we didn't have to wait years for a diagnosis.  The minute I got off of the phone with our doctor I called her, I feel such peace now having an adult who can tell me what Asher is going through, how to best help him, and share with me all that she has learned.  (E, you are awesome and I am so thankful for you!).  Then we called our pastor for some prayer and as it turns out her grandson (also named Asher) has the same malformation!  So we prayed together and shared information on doctors and symptoms.  J is in the process of putting together a binder of information (If you know him you are giggling to yourself because J has a binder for EVERYTHING) and he is planning on making a few to share with those who we have been bonded together with in this war against Chiari.  If you are curious Asher's symptoms are as follows...
Severe and sudden headaches
Loss of balance
Sleep Apnea
Raspy Voice
and these are the ones that are obvious or he can communicate, my friend E has said that often her hands and feet go numb for no reason and she will have cloudy periods of time where she feels like she is living under a blanket, or in a stupor.  I think that I refer to these times with Asher as his "witching hour" when he whines or cries for no apparent reason and only wants to be held and comforted.
SO, we have an answer as to the what, now we need to find the answers as to the fix.  I will keep you all posted.  Thank you for your love and prayers during this time, I can feel them and I have a wonderful sense of peace that I know could only come from God.  I love and appreciate you all.

Let's See...

What is new with the "Freshberry" Family?  Well we still have not heard the results of Asher's MRI.  Which is partly good because that means its nothing major, and partly annoying because my son is still having headaches.  Here is a pic of our brave supermen after the MRI eating "birthday cake" Asher's most favorite treat.

New Years Day we took the kids to see "Tangled" at the "big" movie theater in the city, let them play in the little mall play area (WAY outside of this mom's germ comfort zone), and went to Red Lobster for dinner.  I think we should go to Red Lobster for every dinner now because the boys LOVED it!!  They especially loved looking at the "mobsters" in the tank and when J ordered crab legs for dinner they were obsessed with the claws. 

Gross and Cute at the same time! (well maybe just gross)

Iz is getting bigger every day, she sits up on her own now AND more importantly i put her hair up in her first ponytail.

DJ got a big boy hair cut, he calls it his daddy hair.  When he woke up the morning after getting it cut he said, "look Mama I still have my Daddy hair!"

And finally the most hilarious conversation took place the other night and I have to write it down so we don't forget...

DJ:  "Ash, you want a piece of me?" (like a big tough guy)

Asher: "Nope"

DJ: "AAAAASH!  I said, you want a piece of me?!"

Asher: "Yes, I have a DJ piece"

DJ: "Like Birthday Cake?"

BWAHHAHAH, I know it doesn't come across in written form as hilarious as it was in person, but I am glad I have it written down now, so at least I can remember how stinkin funny it was!

J and I are taking part in our churches 21 day fast this month, starting the year out in prayer and reflection leaving ourselves open to what God wants to do in us and through us this year.  Since I am nursing I can't actually fast food so I am fasting FB.  It has been rather refreshing.  My New Years resolution was to read the whole Bible this year and I am doing it chronologically, so now in the morning over coffee I read the Bible instead of FB and it sets a much better tone for my day.  J is fasting milk which if any of you know him you know that is a super big deal for him.  The other day I caught him eating cereal and I thought he was busted, then it turned out he was eating it with water, ummm yuck, but what ever you got to do I guess.  J told me that no milk feels like he has a big hole in his stomach he can't fill, but that is where God comes in, He fills the big holes in our life. 

I have been painting and sewing and generally creating a ton lately so hopefully in my next post I can share some of that.