Noah's 4 Year Old "Garbage Truck" Birthday Party

For Noah’s birthday party, we invited grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and a couple close family friends from our church.  Since Noah isn’t in daycare and since we don’t go to a large church, he doesn’t really have friends his own age.  I also have a strict policy now about not inviting people just to create a larger crowd so my party decorating efforts are wider appreciated.  And I also have a strict policy of not inviting people who won’t bring my child joy (so if the people aren’t really Noah’s choices, they don’t come.  And this is true for all parties of my children now). 

We decided to have the party at dinnertime so that the cake could act as the bedtime snack for my boys.  Aaron has hand made every birthday cake for our children.  This time, we made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and Aaron piped a garbage truck on top.

We served some dinner appetizers, along with Cheetos (Noah’s request), and sodas (which I printed off pictures of the garbage trucks Noah loves and taped to the soda labels).  

We had little cake plates that had a garbage truck, school bus (another Noah favorite), dump truck, and monster truck on them.  

We also had green plastic ware that I stuck in a garbage can toy.

Michael, my mother in law, and I played “pin the garbage truck on the dumpster.”  Noah didn’t want to play and was more concerned with cake, Cheetos, presents, playing with presents, cake, and playing with presents.

Our family friends happened to find a garbage truck toy that Noah didn’t have yet!  He was thrilled!

And my mother in law found some garbage truck pajamas for him! 

It was a low key party, but that’s just perfect for us!

Until Next Time, 

Much love, Reba

Avery: 5 Months

Avery turned 5 months old on January 20th!  I just cannot believe it!

The boys are still enamored with her & I'm hoping that never ends!

At her 4 month check up she weighed 13.1 pounds and was 24 inches tall.  She is in the 25th percentile for height, weight, and head circumference-- a very proportionate little girl.  We don't have another doctor visit until her 6-month check-up, so I'm just having to guess on her weight, which I think is around 15lbs now.


Clothing: Avery is in 6 month clothing.  CUE. THE. TEARS.  One night after a feeding, I started to change her diaper and realized she'd need a clothes change too.  So I grabbed one of her 3-6 month pajamas, and I stuck one of her feet in it, and I couldn't get the pajama to come all the way up to her shoulder for her arm to be able to go in.  So, I had to fumble around in the dark for a 6 month size pajama.  The next day, I sorted all her 6 month clothes and stuck them in a drawer.  She actually has quite a bit of size 6 month things, so it's really okay to go ahead and dress her in them before she graduates to size 6-9 months (which sounds huge).  I haven't cleaned out her size 3-6 month drawer yet because I just can't bear it. I'm sure she could still fit into the onesies, and some of the pants, (just not the one piece pajamas due to the length) but I'm not going to attempt it.  I'm sad that she left that size range because lots of those pieces were given to me at her baby shower.  So, I'm keeping that drawer closed for a little bit until I can bear to sort through them to find which items I'd like to keep.  She has a good variety of size 6 month things (some new from Christmas, and some hand-me-downs).  Everything is cute, so I'm pumped about continuing to dress her in all the cute practical clothing.  

Diapers: She's very comfortably in size 2.  I'm about halfway through a box of size 2 diapers, and have an entire box left.  I think we'll end up buying probably 2 or even 3 more boxes of this size.  

Sleeping:  She is fully sleeping in her own room now!  We transitioned her the weekend after Christmas.  Avery had her 4 month sleep regression for naps, and seems to be pulling that into her nighttime sleeping a little bit.  We're going through a transition with how much she is eating right now, and I'm not sure if her waking at night is due to teething, or filling up on milk so that she doesn't have to drink as many bottles during the day, or what.  She goes about 3-4 hours for her first stretch of sleep, and then 2 hours after that until the daytime.  She's going down for the night anywhere between 6:30pm and 8:30pm.  She's waking up around 7:30 in the morning.  

Feeding: She hates bottle feeding and refuses to accept a bottle when she's in her own home.  She hardly took her designated bottle amounts this week at my mother-in-law's house, so we've cut back on the amount we're heating up for her. She tried rice cereal for the first time and did okay!  She's done much better since then and has finished her bowl each time.  Then I'm prepared with a wet paper towel to wipe off her face, because she instantly screams when she knows the cereal is gone and I have to quickly get her out of her chair and nurse her briefly for her to calm down. 

Tummy Time:  She loves being on the floor now and particularly enjoys rolling over.  Her favorite time to roll over is right at the beginning of a diaper change, so it's a bit of a game now to get her to stay still!

Habit: She now wants to sleep with her pacifier in her mouth and will wake when it falls out, unless she's in a deep sleep.  In the night when her paci falls out, she'll lift her legs and slam them on her bed making a thwap, thwap, thwap sound in the middle of the night.  Most time, I can just go in her room and find her paci and stick it back in her mouth without her really waking up.  When she does wake up from that, I just feed her a bit and she seems to fall right back asleep.  

Aaron & I still just sit and stare at her in the evenings after the boys have gone to bed.  We just can't get over how cute she is and how blessed we are to have her in our lives!  

Until Next Time, 
Much love, Reba

Michael Foot Injury Update

Even several days after getting his cast off, Michael continued to have difficulty walking.  As we watched his heel during this time, it progressively got more purple and red.  Eventually it looked like a major blister.  My mom takes Michael to school in the mornings, and one morning she looked at it after I described it to her.  She immediately texted me after dropping him off at school and said he needed to go get it seen by the pediatrician just in case it was infected (again, foot injuries are something we can't play around with in conjunction with Type One Diabetes).

So Michael and I went to the doctor on Tuesday afternoon last week.  The pediatrician was very concerned.  She even brought in another doctor at the practice to look at it. They agreed that the best practice was to lance it and send a culture to the lab.  I knew what this meant.

The doctor told me exactly how to hold Michael (who weighs 59 pounds).  She explained to Michael what she would have to do, but instructed him to turn towards my face and not watch her.  She even brought in a nurse to help me remain a stead-hold as I held him.  The doctor had to lance it twice (she didn't get far enough in the first time).  I held Michael with everything I had.  My ears burned from his screams right into them.  The nurse beared down so hard on my shoulders as she aided in keeping me steady while Michael thrashed about (and I don't blame him one bit-- the procedure was extremely painful, especially when it had to be done twice at no fault of his own).  Once it was over though, Michael was so much better.  While the doctor was apologizing to him so sweetly for causing pain, the nurse brought him a bouncy ball.  The doctor was explaining that she had to send the fluid to the lab, and Michael's already teary eyes just spilled over into a flood of tears because all he heard was "flu" and he was so sad thinking that he had the flu!  He said "But I got a flu shot!"  The doctor and I both quickly assured him he did not have the flu.  :)  She called in a prescription for him for an antibiotic to aid the foot now that we would have to deal with an open wound on his heel. He was instructed not to wear a shoe until his foot completely heals.  We're 8 days past the lancing procedure now, and I think he might be able to wear a shoe tomorrow.

We were supposed to go to a follow up appointment on Thursday last week, but the doctor called me and told me that they had diagnosed so many children with the flu that day and she didn't want us exposed.  She gave me instructions for what to look for that would warrant a call-back, but that I should be able to handle the cleaning and monitoring of it myself.  I was so thankful that she called us to keep us from coming in!  We have been avoiding the flu so intently, and Michael is even out of school this week to avoid it since so many kids at his school got it.

His foot is looking so much better now!  The lab results showed nothing wrong with the fluid build-up.  No staph, no MRSA.  They said it was totally clear, meaning the issue on his heel was just a pressure blister from having a cast on.  We're so thankful!

Today, we're in a winter wonderland again (2-3" of snow).  I'm working from home.  Aaron's work is closed today.  Michael actually had to spend the night at my mother-in-law's house because Noah developed a fever yesterday and it took all day to get a prescription for Tamiflu called in for him (Michael already had a prescription for Tamiflu in case he got any flu symptoms, and as soon as Noah developed a fever, the nurse called in a prescription for him but it took us until 5:00pm yesterday to find a pharmacy that had it).  So Michael had to go to my mother-in-law's house just in case Noah does have the flu.  Hopefully we'll get to go pick up Michael today.  Our roads are covered in snow & ice and the EMA isn't expected to do any road clearing until this afternoon.

Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba

Noah is 4!

Oh my gracious!  Time just flies around here!

I'm seriously having difficulty accepting the fact that Noah is four!  His birthday was yesterday, but I can so clearly remember the day he was born.  It doesn't seem like it was four years ago.  A lot has happened since that time.

Noah is still my spunky child.  He is still a great self entertainer and his imagination is through the ROOF!

He's my trooper child.  He has to be told to "wait" a lot when we're doing blood sugar checks for Michael, etc, or when Avery is crying and I'm trying to feed her or change a diaper.  Noah, from day one, hasn't ever been ignored or forgotten.  His cries at birth were a sure indicator that he would make his presence known, and he has!!!  But I do acknowledge that he has to put up with a lot of "wait"s in his little life.  He's such a trooper about it.

He is the epitome of "grazer," which is how toddler eating habits are described.  We really couldn't let Michael be a grazer, and fortunately he wasn't one to graze.  But Noah absolutely can graze like a champ.  His eating habits are like waves.  Some days, he's on the crest of the wave and can eat a big bowl of cereal, four lunchables (one for snack, two for lunch, one more for snack), and dinner.  Other days (read: MOST DAYS) he's a nibbler.  He'll typically eat cereal for breakfast (we use Fairlife milk for it's carb to protein ratio for Michael's benefit, and the fact that it's lactose free for Noah's benefit).  He's pretty good about eating most of his lunch.  However, dinner is basically a no-go.  He does understand that he won't get a bedtime snack if he doesn't eat his dinner (or that dinner will be his bedtime snack if he doesn't eat at dinnertime).  Most of the time, he doesn't care.  I know that he doesn't know how to purposely starve himself, so I'm okay with letting him go about his business in the evenings.  I'm careful not to let him fill up on snacks during the afternoon hours though.  This past week he's done exceptionally well at eating dinner.

Noah is a rule follower when it comes to bathroom hygiene.  If the rule is to go potty, wipe, flush, wash hands with soap, dry hands, turn off the bathroom light-- Noah follows the rules.  If Michael doesn't flush, or doesn't turn off the light, Noah is quick to let us know!

He is enjoying being the only one who can pick shows to watch during the day at my mother in law's house.  Michael is at school, and Avery obviously can't choose shows yet.  Noah's selection of choice?  Watching garbage truck videos on YouTube.  Seriously.  My mother in law's TV can display YouTube, and she searches "garbage truck videos for children" and Noah makes a selection.  Most of the videos are compilations of people filming garbage trucks driving through their neighborhood and picking up trash.  My mother in law and I are so tired of these videos!  But Noah's been on this streak for months, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down!

Noah is OBSESSED with garbage trucks. He dressed as a garbage truck for Halloween (wearing a t-shirt that Aaron drew a garbage truck windshield, steering wheel, and wrote MACK on).  He still wears that t-shirt today.  He pairs it with a pair of bright blue cotton pants, and that's his uniform.  He'll choose this exact outfit probably 4 days a week (the other 3 days, I'm washing the items).  My mother in law found garbage truck pajamas that she bought him for Christmas.  He wears the pajama shirt (embroidered with a garbage truck patch) on the days when his white t-shirt is in the wash.  My sister-in-law in Georgia has a Cricut machine, and she has made Noah 5 t-shirts with 5 different garbage truck designs on them.  We will get those this weekend when we attend my niece's first birthday party.  Noah doesn't know about the shirts, so I'm sure he'll be thrilled and will then have an entire wardrobe of garbage truck shirts to choose from.  I might as well clean out the rest of his shirts from his drawer now. :)

Noah is a skinny minnie.  His 4-yr check up is at the end of this month and I'll update then with his stats and percentile.  He wears 4T pants and shirts.  The shirts are very big on him.  The pants are slightly big in the waist, but they are the right length.  We think Noah is very tall for his age.  He still wears size 9 shoes (been in this size for over a year).

Aside from garbage trucks, Noah loves school busses.  We go outside every morning to wave to my dad as he drives the elementary bus through the neighborhood.  Then about 20 minutes after that, we go back outside to wave to the driver of the middle school bus.  Noah's favorite day of the week is Monday, because that's when our trash truck comes.  So he gets to wave to the garbage truck driver, and two school bus drivers on Mondays.  Hopefully he'll always be so cheerful about Mondays!  I can't even be disappointed when Mondays roll around, because I know Noah is so excited about them!

Noah made a cake with my mother in law yesterday.  He was certain he wanted "cupcakes and a cake" so they made one 9-inch round, and 12 cupcakes.  He brought home the cake and 2 cupcakes (one for him, one for Michael).  He chose a yellow cake with bright green frosting and lots of sprinkles.  He wanted pizza for dinner, so Aaron picked up some on his way home.  My mom came over after dinner and she helped us sing Happy Birthday to Noah.  We each had a small piece of cake, but Noah had his after a go-gurt, which he insisted that he had to have before eating cake. :)  Michael had a cupcake and was in hog heaven.

We will have Noah's party next weekend (garbage truck themed!) and I'll be sure to post pictures.

Noah is just so sweet and I'm pretty sure his love language is physical touch.  He needs hugs, and loves to sit in my lap, and cuddle on the couch.  In the midst of all of the waiting that he has to do, he needs to know that he's still very much loved and appreciated.  I can see a big attitude change in him on days when I make sure to give him the extra holds that he needs.

I love you, dear Noah!  Keep being a spunky, shining light!  I pray for you to seek Jesus early and always because that will bring you true everlasting joy, my love!

I'm so happy that you're excited to be four years old!  I love you forever and ever.  Love, Mommy


Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba

The Cast

So.... around December 15th, around 10pm, we had to do a blood sugar check for Michael-- who had a bit of a stuffy nose.  Usually, he doesn't wake up for blood sugar checks at night.  But this night, due to his stuffy nose, he woke up.  Then he got frustrated in his half-awake half-asleep state, and couldn't figure out how to breathe through his mouth and still suck his thumb (I know) and not breathe through his nose.  During this frustration, he kicks the wall with the side of his heel.  We didn't really think anything of it at the time, but the next day he started limping.  And he limped all day long.

For a while, we thought maybe he bruised his foot and would get over it soon enough.  But the limp continued into Sunday.  Five year old's can't milk something for that long.  The limp was real.  We checked his foot and it wasn't swollen and we didn't see a bruise, so we sent him to school on Monday.  His teacher and the nurse texted me separately and told me that Michael couldn't walk on his foot at all.  I called our pediatrician at that point.

The protocol at our pediatrician office is to send families straight to the After Hours Urgent Ortho clinic rather than having families come into the pediatrician office first.  So after Aaron got home, my mom came over to watch Noah and Avery while Aaron & I loaded up Michael and headed into the city to go to the after hours clinic.

They did x-rays, which showed no break.  But with children, orthopedic doctors treat "aggressively and conservatively."  I found out that this means-- cast. So, Michael got a short leg cast.  It came up to about halfway up his calf.  He chose blue as his color, to represent Auburn Tigers as well as the Seattle Seahawks. :)

He got a boot also, and the doctor is telling us that he can walk as long as the boot is on.  However, the doctor was not actually in the room after the cast and the boot were put on.  So after the cast dries, etc, and the tech gets the boot on, Michael gets down from the table and still can't figure out how to walk correctly.  In fact, Aaron carries him out to our van.

Since no visible break was seen, Michael only had to have the cast on for two weeks.  We made a follow-up appointment to be seen at the clinic in our own town.

Fortunately, Michael only had to make it through one full day, and then a half day at school before he'd be out for Christmas break.  He had such difficulty walking at school that they brought a wheelchair for him to use when going back and forth to the nurse's office for blood sugar checks.

He eventually learned how to get around in the boot.  He chose to walk on his toes mostly, even though we were trying to coach him on walking correctly in the boot.  He also had to call me every morning to help him get out of bed so that I could put his boot on him so he wouldn't put any weight on the cast without the boot on.  It was also torture trying to figure out how to bathe him.  We'd wrap his leg with a garbage bag and seal it with duct tape.  Then we had him sit on one of the styrofoam coolers that his insulin comes in through our mail order pharmacy.  This elevated him enough where he could prop his leg on the edge of the tub.

So, bath times were difficult.  Bedtimes were difficult (trying to get comfortable with a cast on is hard!) Walking was difficult.  Basically, Christmas break with a cast was disappointing.  It was even hard on us as the parents and that made Christmas break hard for me.  (But I am really glad that he was off of school for the brunt of this cast journey.)

At Avery's 4-month appointment (which was 3 days after Michael got the cast put on), I asked the pediatrician about the "aggressively and conservatively" treatment of Michael's foot.  She said that there is a major growth plate in the heels of children and a broken growth plate won't show up on x-ray until a week after the break, when the ossification would show up.  So, she says that orthopedic doctors choose to cast kids just in case the growth plate is broken.  I'm glad she told me that because it made the cast journey more understandable.

Last week on Wednesday, Michael and I went to our local ortho clinic (a branch of the main clinic) to get the cast removed and follow up x-rays done.  All of our family members were excited to get this behind us!!! Michael was very curious about how they'd remove the cast, and I was very nervous about how he'd react to it!  I had my other mother-in-law on standby, my father-in-law on standby, and my dad on standby just in case Michael bowed up and refused to get the cast off.  In the waiting room, he kept asking me what the process would be, so I cautiously looked up a picture of the cast removal tool and showed him and we read about the process.  That helped a bit.

He actually did really well during the removal, although I did have to hold him down a bit.  I thought Michael's foot looked rough.  I talked to him about the fact that he might have to get another cast on, and that made him teary. We saw a different doctor (even though I was told we'd see the same one).  So I had to tell the story again.  The doctor pressed lightly on Michael's heel and Michael cried out in pain.  We got follow-up x-rays taken at that point.  The x-rays still showed no visible breaks, which is good.  It's possible that Michael just incurred a deep bone bruise that will have to work its way out.  The top of his foot was yellow bruised from the pressure of the cast.  The side of his heel was horribly purple and swollen.  Apparently both of those things are normal though.  The doctor wanted to see Michael walk, so Michael walked across the exam room and the doctor was satisfied enough that he chose not to recast Michael!  This was such a praise!  He wrote a note to excuse Michael from PE for this first week back at school (started today).  He told me to call him back if Michael was still in pain in 10 days.  That time line will be up this Saturday.

I pulled out his sock and shoe (really hard to remember to bring the extra shoe after going two weeks without having to put it on him!) from my purse.  (My mother in law actually reminded me to put his shoe in the van just so I'd have it with me.  That morning, I transferred it from the van into my purse).  He let me put his sock on, but not his shoe.  He tried, but it was just too painful.  He limped out of the clinic the same way he had learned to walk in his boot-- on his toes.  I didn't make him put on a shoe on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.  He put on his shoe to go to church yesterday, and to school today, so that's a major improvement!

The heel looks much better yesterday and today.  It's bright red, but not purple anymore.  Also, Aaron has been working with him a lot on walking correctly, even if it means going slowly.  Michael is pretty stubborn (gets it from me) and can easily believe that he can't do something and we almost have to trick him into trying, and then praise him extensively when he does it so that he sees that he can do it!  He finally believed yesterday that he could walk correctly.  We've been watching him play since Wednesday, and can see that he can put weight on his heel when he's not thinking about it.  But when he thinks about what he's doing, he freaks out and doesn't believe he'll be able to walk on it without pain.  So it's been a test to get him to the point of walking on it correctly.

I can gladly say that school gets out in 6 minutes, and I've received NO CALLS from the nurse or teacher today regarding his heel!  This is SO GOOD!  I'm anxious for Michael to heel completely so that this journey can just be something we think back on, and not something that has followed us for any length of time.

Until Next Time,
Much love, Reba

The Cattiness of Social Media

Note: This is my blog and all opinions are my own.

I don’t have very many followers, and that’s okay.  Actually, for a long time, I inadvertently set my blog to be so private that I could not be found. I’m very picky about Facebook friends—if I don’t actually know you, I will not add you as a friend or accept a friend request.  I made my Instagram profile private so that anyone who wants to follow me has to request to do so, and I am pretty picky about who I accept.  My Instagram is mostly of my kids—so I don’t want any random creepo to have access to their pictures.  My life is lived, whether or not it’s displayed on social media.

But so many people don’t live by that mantra.  They accept Instagram as truth when really, it’s life through rose colored glasses.  Periodically, I will see someone wave the honesty flag and post a picture of laundry or their messy foyer.  And once, I saw someone post a stunning view of their living room, and then post a “behind the scenes photo” of all the clutter shoved into a corner so that they could take the perfect shot of the opposite corner of the room.  You know, the corner with the most fantastic natural light, perfect paint color and stainless furniture and spotless hardwoods (Heaven forbid that you have carpet!). 

So often, people will post a question and ask for opinion.  Just the other day, someone posted a poll question about whether or not they should dye their hair ends “baylage blonde.” Specifically, this dark brunette asked if she should dye her hair ends “LIGHT” blonde (she used caps).  Since she has naturally dark brunette hair, and olive skin, I thought blonde would look out of place, so I voted “no.”  At the end of the day, the results said “49% yes, 51% no.”  Since it was close, she went for it anyway and dyed her hair yesterday.  She posted a picture, and the ends of her hair looks more red than anything.  It’s surely not “LIGHT” by any means, and most definitely isn’t blonde by any stretch of the imagination.  But her post said something like “I went for it and I love it!”  And I realllllyyyy wanted to respond, “you didn’t really do what you said though since you didn’t dye the ends blonde.”  But I didn’t.  One, because I don’t actually care that much.  Two, I knew that if I was honest and posted anything remotely negative, people who have no skin in the game would jump on my back and essentially virtually whip me for my comment.  So I stayed quiet. This person received so many comments of “oh I love it!”  or “looks good!” or emojis of heart eyes or raised hands.  So. Many. Eggshells.

Honesty is rare now.  It is still a virtue, but it hardly ever drips onto anyone’s keyboard anymore.  We’re all so content to walk on eggshells so that we never disturb anyone else.  That’s not life, people. 

It’s almost like people think if they complement someone enough, or refuse to write anything negative (read: honest), then the person they’re praising will suddenly become their best friend and they’ll live a glamorous Instagram life.  Not true, people.  It’s just not true.

I follow someone who runs an essential oils program and I’m curious about the benefit of essential oils, and natural cleaners/deodorants/detergents/makeup/baby-wipes, etc.  This individual already was well established in the oils community for over a year when she had a health scare.  Although it turned out to be okay, her doctor told her that a lot of added hormones could have caused it.  Now, this could have been from food or synthetic cleaners/makeups, etc.  So she decided to totally wipe out her stock of cleaners and detergents and make up and candles and completely transition to natural products.  That’s super great and I’m super pumped for her, and so relieved that the medical scare was simply a scare.  But I don’t have her income.  I can’t immediately transfer all my cleaning products to natural ones.  I don’t have the cash to do that.  I’m not going to toss my make-up and baby wipes and diaper cream and detergent in favor of all natural products all in one fell swoop, because I simply cannot afford it right now.  Does that make me a lesser person?  It shouldn’t. 

But in some ways, I feel like she doesn’t understand.

I asked her if her eating habits changed since her medical scare, or if only her cleaning products and make up changed.  I told her I was considering adopting a whole foods diet rather than doing a total transition to natural cleaners.  She didn’t respond. 

In my opinion, if you’re still ingesting added hormones through food, what difference does it make if you wash your clothes with Thieves detergent and use wool dryer balls in lieu of dryer sheets? 

I told her that completely wiping out my stock pile of cleaners was expensive, and if the option is available to purchase deodorant and make up and detergent, and essential oils to diffuse rather than burning candles, where does the rabbit hole end?  This could add up to copious amounts of money, so where does it end? 

She didn’t respond.

So I asked if members of essential oil community receive the wholesale discount on every product (because I was interested in the diaper cream and baby wipes for my 4 month old), or if the discount only applied to the oils.  She did respond to that and said that the discount was for all products.

So today on her Instagram oil account (not her personal account), she had a post that said “Changing to oils is an investment.  Not an expense.”  I admit, I’m offended.  I don’t appreciate passive aggressiveness.  I sent her a message stating that I have real medical bills for my son that are horribly expensive, and I cannot afford to do a total overhaul right now. So I asked her if it’s more appropriate to order a starter kit to diffuse oils, or if it’s more practical to spend the money on buying natural detergents and baby wipes.  I am truly interested in joining the oils community, but I want to do my research and make the most impact for my family.  At the moment, I would think that would be using natural cleaners and baby products rather than simply diffusing oils in the air.

We’ll see what the verdict is.  I just don’t appreciate people acting like we all have limitless income and that I’m posing so many questions just to be difficult.  No.  I’m asking because I’m very interested in the responses since they will help guide me to how I can best serve my family in this realm. I’d like to be taken seriously.

In other completely separate news, a TV couple announced a pregnancy this week and America went wild.  Do I think all babies are gifts from God?  Of course I do.  But it is my opinion that this couple was a bit reckless and caved to popular opinion.  Americans love babies.  We dote on them and lavish gifts on expectant couples, and this is all fine.  But some people view celebrity pregnancies like how they view the inability to be honest in hopes that the person will become their best friend. 

No matter how many people tell this couple congratulations, it will not alter who this couple lets into their lives.  And although this couple is very well off financially (now), it will not deter Americans from purchasing gifts for them and finding some way to make sure the gifts are received. 

My thoughts go towards their other children—who are all several years older than this new baby will be.  Up to this point, their parents have shielded them from the limelight.  But how will that change?  America won’t be satisfied if we’re not kept in the loop throughout the whole pregnancy and birth.  So how will this couple choose to shield this baby from the limelight? Or will they?  Will this baby be the one who gets millions of pictures taken and plastered across all social media?  Will the siblings resent the baby for garnering so much outside attention? 

I believe if you know what it takes to get pregnant, establish your family, and then stop having children for several years, you certainly know what it takes not to get pregnant. So don’t blame a romantic concert on being “too romantic” which led to baby making.  No.  I think this couple has pretty much run the gamut of success.  Show, books, home décor, furniture, stores, bakery/restaurant, realty.  What next?  “Oh, how ‘bout a baby?  America hasn’t seen that from us yet.  Let’s do that, and play it off as ‘whoops.’”  Not buying it. 

I do sincerely hope that your family does well and that you relish in the blessings you have.  And I also hope that your other children don’t feel slighted as the baby will become the most sought after member of your family now. 

Again, these are simply my opinions and this is my blog, which seems like a good place to write all of this down.  I certainly can't put any of it on Instagram, for fear of being whipped.

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba