heart ramblings

i stay up way too late every night.
why?
well, for one reason, i have a nursing baby that will awaken me even if i sleep, so i tend to take every opportunity while she's sleeping to get some personal time.
this happens from 1-3 am most nights. so. i'm up late. always.

i have a crazy life.

my kids are so close in age and that is starting to wear on me.

dear Lord, i wouldn't trade a single one of them, but goodness it is hard. so very hard.

my sweet liam has major developmental delays which adds quite a few challenges to the mix of raising babies.

i will have a lot more to say on that issue, but for now...

let me just say that life is interesting these days.

i am head over heels in love with my hubby, but we seem to be playing tag team with the working and watching over our little "arrows". it is hard to find time to just connect. i know that many of you out there understand.

i want to brag on him tonite because he took it upon himself to schedule a babysitter for us tomorrow nite so we could have a date. a real live date!!

we so need this. big time.

i have absolutely ZERO clothes that fit. (no idea what i'll wear on the date...)

my eyebrows have needed waxing for probably 6 months now and my toes? lets just say that pedicures aren't exactly on the top 10 of things that can happen when you have a million babies and zero time.

but! folks, i'm happy. shaggy eyebrows and all.

my heart hurts sometimes and i feel a little too "grown up" a lot of days and overwhelmed every single day, but goodness i'm blessed.

i am completely in love with my babies and my hubs hung the moon.

hard times are always going to be there...it's just a matter of getting though them with a smile.

i still have that ability and for that, my friends, i am grateful. late nights and all.

our menu this week...

we do have family coming in town this week, so the menu is a bit extra.

but anyway...

here we go...

tonite: my parents are in town and treated us to a seafood supper...yum! i had grilled grouper.

sun: ham and cheese paninis for timmy, tuna salad wrap for me at work.

mon: tim works late...i'll make a little pot of black beans and rice for me...maybe some homemade guacamole too.

tues: pork and cilantro sausage (hormone free!), homemade mac and cheese, collard greens, cornbread

wed: homemade pizza, salad (i have the BEST recipe for homemade pizza crust...ask me!)

thurs: broiled fish of the day (i get whatever is fresh and on sale at harrys farmers market), my friend denise's orzo w/ zucchini, prairie rolls

fri: grilled turkey burgers w/ fixins on whole wheat buns, sweet potato fries, pickle spears

sat: timmy's awesome ribs on the grill, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans

PASS IT ON!!

we did something fun today. so super fun!!!

my little brother, daniel, just graduated from high school and is getting ready to start college in the fall.

well, since we got our minivan, we have an extra *old* honda prelude that tim had been driving forever...i mean it's OLD. sporty with a sunroof, stick shift, awesome gas mileage...feels like driving a go-cart...lol.

tim bought a scooter to ride to work so we could save on gas and we also have the car we used before the van (old eagle given to us) for an "extra" car when tim needs to cart the kiddies around.

we were planning on selling the honda...getting *maybe* 1K for it at best, but we decided to surprise daniel with it as a gift while they are in town for a visit. we ran the idea past my folks and they approved...but said that dan would have to make the money himself to fix the AC, get insurance...etc.

so after a big family dinner tonite we all gathered 'round and tim reached in his pocket and pulled out 2 keys and handed them to dan.
tim said, "i've got these for you...maybe they go with something in the parking lot"

dan freaked!!

it was a blast to see how excited he was. he kept getting in and out of it...lol.

my uncle gave us the eagle in the same way 3 years ago and we wanted to pass on the giving within the fam.

so super fun! if you have something to pass on, do it! the feeling afterwards is such a high!

yay for my little bro!

"new" job for me (and lifetime fitness)

there is one that opened literally 1/4 mile from our new house. they had major promotions going so we decided to go for it.

OMG.

lifetime fitness...it is so *nice*

i went there this morning at 3am to workout before my 4:45am starbucks shift (uh, yeah...not doing that again...too dang early)

but it is really a very nice gym.
we get 8 hours a week of rockin' childcare with the membership...like incredible security and a paging system if your child cries.
i can bring my kids in cloth dipeys too. whoot!
and there is a cafe with wifi, indoor and outdoor pools, a spa that offers everything from haircuts to pedicures to massage...all on site so you can drop your kids off in the child care and get your nails done or lay out by the pool.

we can walk there!!

i am a little overwhelmed by it. i feel very spoiled. i want to go there everyday just to take a shower and blow dry my hair alone. lol.

hopefully i'll get some definition going in this postpartum body.

yes. i've been an on and off starbucks employee for 10 years now...lol.

i just went back after 5 years because we need a little extra to cover the costs of liam's special diet, his school in the fall and also for the amazing benefits.

the insurance that you get for working only 20 hrs/week will be great for his therapy and such.

so, yes...back to the working world at 4:45 am.
i HATE early mornings, but i also want tim to be with the kids while i work, so my shift ends at 10:45am and tim gets to work by 11.
it's perfect for us although i'm pretty tired.

liam's mental health means enough to me to do it, though.
also, i'm a double tall mocha junkie and that in itself is saving us money by working there...lol. (free employee drinks)

way too cool!

the coolest thing ever happened tonite and i wanted to share!

when i was pregnant w/ garland tim and i were tossing around names and i mentioned that i had *always* loved the name "garland" ever since i had an aquaintence in college with the name.

he loved it and we decided that even though we wanted to use family names that it was the perfect name for her. we just *knew* it.

her name is "garland iris" with the "iris" being a tribute to my paternal grandmother because it was her favorite flower...also, garland was conceived at my late grandmother/grandfather's house (it is now a family house and we lived there for 3 years) and there are purple iris that spring up all around at the right time of year. my name, heather, is a purple flower and yes, we think way too much about meanings...lol.

ALSO "iris" means "rainbow" which has deep meaning for us in that we had a double rainbow at our wedding on the beach AND when i was 3 mos preggo w/ her i started bleeding VERY heavily. on the way to the ER we saw a very random rainbow in the sky and i swore to God that if He would keep the baby safe, and if she was a girl, i would name her "iris" as a testimony to that. (we didn't know the sex at that point)

anyway, garland iris she is. she fits the name.

so fast forward to tonight.

my mom and dad are in town and have been doing some major geneology research on my mom's side...they put together a packet of info about it and we all were reading it and discussing.

my sister said "OMG! heather! look at this!"

apparently i am a DIRECT decendent of a lady named "elizabeth GARLAND" Shocked Shocked Shocked

is that not the coolest thing ever????????????