The Bartholomew Family

Going, Going, Gone!

2010-08-29T18:26:00.001-04:00

Look what Tyler learned how to do today:

READY …..

SET….

GO!!!!!!

Hey! It’s Max

2010-08-16T14:59:00.001-04:00

Hey everybody! Max here! I figured that it has been a very long time since I updated you and told you happenings from around the house so here I go ….

I am now 20 months old and growing like a weed! I am very tall and very skinny. I weigh 24 pounds and the doctor was so proud of me! I heard Mom say that when Tyler was 20 months, he weighed 34 pounds! He must have been fat!

I do not really like to eat … unless it is gummies. Mom will not let me have free reign of the gummies and it really confuses me because she is always begging me to eat. Women!

We had a very fun summer. We had some friends from Texas come visit us, we went to Savannah for Mom’s birthday, we got new neighbors to play with, we went to the zoo, we went to a water park, we swam in the backyard…

Mom even threw a back to school party for Tyler, Isabella and some of their friends! I heard it was fun … but you can’t ask me because Mom planned it during my nap so I missed the whole thing! So not fair! But Tyler and Isabella started school ~ Tyler is in first grade and Isabella is in Pre-K at Tyler’s school. Mom was happy for them to go off to school but then she got all weepy. Don’t know what for, but I heard her talk to Dad about how fast they are growing and that Tyler is 1/3 of the way done with his life at home. Come on Mom, get over it … you still have me!

Now who couldn’t love a face like mine?? Any who … school:

Then those two got ICE CREAM when they got home from school! That is not fair because for me to get ice cream, I have to bang the freezer and yell until Mom gets the picture! Again, Mom always wants me to eat more but she is not willing to give me what I want! What is wrong with her??

Well, that is life around here. I am still pretty much calling the shots and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Oh wait, get this … I am a real dare devil (I hear Mom and Dad saying that I will keep the ER’s in business). I LOVE to stand on the coffee table and swan dive onto the couch. I also like to climb onto the end table and swan dive from there. The other day, Mom walked into her closet and caught me standing on her stool and diving down onto a pile of laundry. I was just fine, but she just about lost it! I just laughed!

Our neighbor came to dinner one night and Mom and Dad kind of wish they hadn’t. Mr. Will taught me to hold onto his hands, walk up his body until I am standing on his shoulders, then he flipped me back down to the floor. It was soooo much fun, but Mom and Dad don’t like to play that game. I hear them often say “Wait until Mr. Will has kids….” Not sure what that means though.

Here is one last picture. It is of Mr. Will holding Isabella and me upside down! I sure love that guy!

Bye!

This is a practice

2010-08-07T19:01:00.001-04:00

Hey, I am just practicing to see how this is set up….

December around the house

2009-12-29T10:19:00.034-05:00

December around the Bartholomew home was B-U-S-Y!! We began preparing for Christmas on Thanksgiving night, once all the food was eaten and all the thanks had been said. Mason and I shopped and shopped on Black Friday - in shifts of course! Mason hit Toys R Us at midnight and didn't finally get through their line and out the door until 4:30 am, just in time to hit Target at 5:00! Once he got home at 7:00 am, he tagged me and I was off to the mall! We got a lot done that day. A lot of people think shopping all night long on Black Friday is insane. I will agree, it is. But I guess I am insane because I LOVE IT (and although Mason will deny it, he does too!)!

As I have already posted, my baby girl turned 4 years old on December 8Th. Then, to make matters worse, my baby boy turned ONE YEAR OLD on December 18Th. The kids are just growing up way to fast. It is sad, because I realize this but yet I still find myself shushing them when they are too loud, or trying to coralle them upstairs to the toy room to play rather than them dragging the toy room to the living room to play. I often question that and am conflicted. I REALLY want a moment of quiet and cleanliness now but, at the same time, I know the day is right around the corner when I will be BEGGING them to come downstairs, spend some time with me, climb on my lap, and make some noise (I think I will still be able to do without the mess though). Then I also find that I am getting mad at myself because I am spending so much time dwelling on the fact that they are growing up, won't like me soon, and should enjoy it now .... I am spending too much time in the "what is to come" nostalgia portion rather than just enjoying the here and now. I need to work on this. OK, enough pathetic-ness (yes, I like to invent words)....

For Max's birthday, I took him to get his first hair cut. He did fairly well. He cried off and on but I guess that is expected.

Mason can no longer call him a "Hippie Baby"!!

Max got his first taste of cake. He ate a little but didn't really tear into it and make a big ol' mess like most babies do. He tried a little, squished a little, and was done!

Max and his presents!

Becky, don't have a heart attack that he is sitting on the table. We were right there and I sanitized it first!! ;)

Max opening presents. He looks thrilled doesn't he? A little more excitement would have been nice! :)

Well atleast the other two enjoyed Max's new toys!!

Happy Birthday Max!!!

Mason's Uncle and Aunt treated all of us to a Stone Mountain Christmas. We got to enjoy a Polar Express 4D movie, a train ride, a parade (well SOME people got to enjoy the parade, others of us had to take a little girl to the bathroom RIGHT as the parade was about to start and miss the whole thing because they are standing in line then can't make their way back through the crowd to the family. This is the same little girl who did NOT have to go when asked 15 min. BEFORE the parade started ...), food, and the beautifully light Stone Mountain Village. It was fun but crowded and SOOOO cold, but I guess it would not have felt right if it weren't so cold.

Poor Max was bundled up SO much he looked like the Marshmallow Man and couldn't move!

Oh wait. That IS the Marshmallow Man that I made for Tyler's cake! (hehehe, I will take any opportunity to re-post that darling little guy won't I??!!) Here's Marshmallow Max!

One night Mason was working late, so the kids and I had a McDonald's picnic in the living room. We have learned that Max LOVES McDonald's chicken nuggets and tried to keep stealing Isabella's away from her every time she turned her head! :)

As we entered into the week of Christmas, we all got hit with the stomach flu! YUCK! First it was Tyler and me, then two days later Isabella, then the day after Christmas it struck Mason. We thought it was very nice of the bug to allow Mason to celebrate Christmas and his birthday before striking. Although the bug had a BIG, STINGING bite, it only lasted 12 hours. Max never got it that we know of, THANK GOD. He slept a whole lot last week so we do not know if that was his version of it or what but I will continue to hold my breath until we clear this week!

On to the random pictures:

I got bored and decided to color my hair!

Max LOVES to climb out of everything. He is a master at figuring out how to get out of seat belts. Falling out of his high chair TWICE has not even deterred him!

Reindeer Isabella!

Isabella's favorite Christmas present: her ballerina outfit!

Tyler opening presents:

Happy 33rd Birthday Mason!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that!

2009-12-10T17:08:00.004-05:00

Tyler is learning how to vacuum!! Yea! It is about time!

Max is meeting Santa for the first time at Isabella's Breakfast with Santa at her school (she was very crabby this morning and wouldn't crack a smile which is why there are not any pictures of her!!)

Rough night Max?

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Chateau Elan to watch the fireworks and the lighting of the Chateau. I got this picture of Isabella and just love it!

The lighting was SOOOO cold!

My boys!

Just because we are in Georgia now doesn't mean that our children do not need to learn important hand symbols! 'Hook 'em Horns'

My 4 year old big girl!

2009-12-10T16:14:00.009-05:00

So my daughter thinks she needs to continue to grow up and is now 4 years old! "4 years old?" you say??? I know!!! Can you believe it??!!

On Saturday, December the 5th, we celebrated Isabella's birthday with a Princess tea party! Isabella had 7 friends join us in the celebration and they all had a great time! The girls started by making tiara's, necklaces, and bracelets. Then they moved on to dressing up in their princess gear, getting makeup on and painting their nails. On to the tea party where they found their seat marked with a cookie adorned with their name on it. The princesses dined on heart shaped PB&J sandwiches, oreo truffles, chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes, and pink lemonaide. The girls even got to use real china! It was very cute how carefully they handled their tea cups~ very dainty! The good-bye gift was a crown shaped cookie, nail polish ,and lip gloss ~ all fit for a princess!

On Tuesday, December 8th, we celebrated again as this is her actual birthday. She had school that day so I took a cookie cake to school to share with her class. That evening, we KIND OF let her choose where she wanted to go for dinner. She picked the mall .... yes, the mall food court! Unfortunately, it was rainy, windy and COLD and it is a very long walk from the car, through the outdoor village, to the entrance of the mall .... soooo..... I talked her out of it and we decided on Cracker Barrel!

Isabella had a great time celebrating her blessed 4 years of life. We are so thankful to have her. We just wish she would stay little just a little while longer!

Tyler is 6!!

2009-11-08T13:27:00.000-05:00

Well folks .... my baby is now 6 years old! I can't believe it! The time has gone by so fast, but yet there were times that seemed to last forever (the not so fun parts!!)! I am so sad that he is already 6 but I am excited about the experiences we can share with him as he gets older. The last few days I found myself thinking back " 6 years ago today, we checked into the hospital; 6 years ago today, he was born; 6 years ago today, I finally got to see him....". I guess the nostalgia will never end though.

To celebrate his birthday, we went out to dinner (this was Friday). We let him pick... well kinda. He first chose Chuckee Cheese. WE did not want Chuckee Cheese. So we were awful parents and we reminded him of all the germs there and that he may get sick and have to go to the doctor and get a shot. (Horrible, absolutly horrible, we know!) But there really are just too many germs going around and too many minimum wage workers at Chuckee Cheese who really do not care if my family gets sick! So Tyler chose his next favorite place, the Airport Restaurant (actually named the Flying Machine). It is a small airport with private planes and the restaurant is right on the runway so you can get a good look at the small planes and watch them land and take off. It's pretty cool. The food is really good too. We have only been after church on Sundays so this was our first night time visit. It was a lot of fun! There was some guy on the stage singing (he actually took our drink order when we first got there. He must be a man of many talents). Later on he called Tyler up on stage and had everyone sing happy birthday to him. It was sweet and Tyler felt really special. The atmosphere was great and I got to dance with my children during some of the songs too (that was the highlight for me). It was a really nice time and a great birthday for Tyler (better than Chuckee Cheese anyday, in my opinion atleast!!).

On to the birthday party ....

On Saturday, we had Tyler's birthday party. He finally ditched the transformer party idea with a bit of persuading from Mom (ok, LOTS of persuading)!! He had a Ghostbuster party. It was a blast! I made the birthday cake, complete with the Marshmallow Man! Because Ghostbusters is a trademarked logo, the grocery stores wouldn't make one for me... So I was forced to make it myself. I practiced for the two weeks leading up to the party and when it was all said and done, I think the entire first floor of my house was covered in a layer of powdered sugar! I decorated the cake on Friday and, by Saturday morning, the middle of the square layers was starting to bulge out making the cake loose it's shape. But whatever! What are you going to do at that point? I just reminded myself that they are all 6 year olds and won't know the difference! I am most proud of the Marshmallow man!

Pretty much everything for the party was homemade. You can't really find Ghostbuster stuff at the stores anymore. So ....the invitations:

The goodie bags came with 2 ghost cookies, a thing of slime, and a thank you card. Yes, I said Thank you card! Yes, I write them ahead of time and they are very generic. They read "Thank you for coming and celebrating my birthday with me. I am glad you are my friend." I believe strongly that if Tyler and I both thank each person for their gift verbally, a thank you card is not needed... but I know other people feel otherwise. So for those other people, here is your card. It is generic, but still from the heart and it satisfies the need for a thank you card! So stop looking so shocked!!!)

The party was at the park (which I liked SO much better than doing it at the house) and we could not have asked for a more gorgeous day! The kids played a game of freeze tag (the kids were ghosts, the person who was "it" was the ghostbuster, and then the Marshmallow Man could come around and un-freeze you); and they also played a game of "Ghostbusters" where the kids had to run through the park and shoot the ghosts hanging from the trees with their silly string. They seemed to have fun and used up alot of energy!

Tyler was super anxious to open his presents. Once we finally got to that point, he was very pleased with his gifts.

I was happy the marshmallow man survived the day. I fully expected that once he was propped up against the cake, that he would be all hunched over by the end of the day!

The "big gift" from us was Tyler's bunk beds and a "Transformer" room. He has been asking us to put his bunk beds up for like 2 years now. I wanted to paint all his furniture black and make everything coordinate better so Mason spent the past 2 weeks painting everything while I did all the party work. The room ended up looking so much better than I expected and Tyler loved it. My big boy finally has a big boy room! The only thing left from his nursery is the big airplane shelf in the middle of the wall. I guess I will take that down in a few weeks when I attempt to paint a brick wall there (wish me luck)!!

Happy birthday Tyler! We love you so much and thank God everyday for you (even on the rough days!!)

...Now on to working on Isabella's birthday party in a month!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-08T12:54:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween!

Love,

Batman, Spider, and Belle

Max ~ 10 Months

2009-10-20T13:09:00.005-04:00

Max Kissing the Mirror

2009-09-23T22:14:00.003-04:00

Do I have a conceited baby or what??? :-)

Cauliflower and Cheese

2009-09-23T16:25:00.006-04:00

OK, so I am a horrible Mom, but I know this about myself so it is ok!

I am a mom that laughs when her child eats something he doesn't like and, instead of not feeding him that anymore, she runs and gets the video camera and tries to get him to eat more!

This is about one minute long. Watch his expression. It gets REAL good about 30-45 seconds into it so don't blink! Oh, and then it ends with a bang! - Again, HORRIBLE, horrible Mom!)

Enjoy!

THE Man!

2009-09-23T15:47:00.002-04:00

Well....(clearing my throat) .... Tyler is the man! It seems that everywhere we go, kids are yelling "Hi Tyler". To which, he casually turns around, holds up his hand and goes "Hey". This happens at soccer games, at the grocery store, walking through the halls at school after class, wherever! The hilarious thing is that, most of the time, Tyler can't even tell you who the child is! To make matters worse, he has told me of one girl in class whom he does NOT want to invite to his birthday party because she always tells on him. Then there is another girl who is not allowed to come either because she hits him. BUT ... there is a girl named Iris who IS allowed and she made him a picture last night and gave it to him today! My this sure starts early!!! Luckily he does not seem to be returning any of the crushes .... yet! :)

Speaking of birthday parties though, Tyler wants a transformer birthday party. I know his birthday isn't until Nov. 6th but you have to send out invites 2 weeks in advance which takes us to Oct. 23, I need a week to prepare the invites which takes us to Oct. 16th, and I need to plan, budget and figure out the details which takes us too .... well .... a week ago! I'm late!! But the worst part is that it is TRANSFORMERS!!! I don't know anything about Transformers! I know they are ugly, but that is about it! How on earth am I going to plan a Transformer party that will be fun??? Why can't he want a Halloween party or a Cars party or something I can work with? Last year we did bugs and we had all sorts of fun - worm digs and such, but Transformers??? Furthermore, at a 6 year old party, do you still do "stuff" or do you just do cake and let them destroy the house??? Any advice would be nice! AAAGGGHHH!!!

Catch Up

2009-09-22T11:51:00.006-04:00

This is a catch up post! I had a lot to add and then our computer crashed! And I mean TOTALLY crashed .... the hard drive began chirping and then died! So we ordered a new one and now I am back!

To start with, Tyler started soccer! He did not enjoy practices very much but then we found out why .... he didn't know HOW to play soccer! In practice, there were drills and skill work, but none of us thought to sit him down and explain to him HOW to actually play! So Mason stepped in and did his Daddy duty and the season began! Here is his first game:

Tyler is still enjoying Kindergarten. However, he would like the day to be one hour long rather than 7 1/2 hours!! His teachers also tell me that his behavior is one of the BEST in the class! I was SOOO relieved, espcially if you remember how the beginning of Pre-K went!

Isabella started school! For the longest time she told me that "Isabella's don't go to school" but then Tyler and our neighbors started school and left her home .... and she got bored! She had even resorted to going next door to play with the Mom next door! I guess I REALLY bored her! Luckily me neighbor is a good sport and would take her in. So I had been looking for somewhere to put Isabella that would be a good fit for her and our budget. God answered our prayers and we found something great for her. She goes Tues., Wed., Thurs. mornings from 8:30-1:00. She is even upset when she cannot go on Mondays and Fridays! Startling, huh? Here is her first morning:

As you may have heard, Georgia has been hit real hard with all the rain the past week. Here is little missy playing in the rain (when it wasn't thundering of course!)

And, well, Max.... Max is just being cute little ol' Max!
He is now 9 months and exploring his world. He is not crawling yet, nor does he seem to care too. He is concentrating his efforts on standing and getting his balance. I think his mission is to walk ... forget the crawling thing, he is going for the gold!
Besides that, the rest is good here. Keeping busy, trying to train the new dog... and the kids! : P

Just For Laughs

2009-08-17T21:28:00.003-04:00

Thank God for Seatbelts

2009-08-10T08:11:00.004-04:00

THANK GOD FOR SEAT BELTS!!
And that's all I need to say :)

Tyler is officially a Kindergartner

2009-08-07T07:45:00.005-04:00

Tyler started Kindergarten yesterday and he did great, Mommy not so much, but Tyler did great (I guess that is the important part though!!)!

He jumped right out of bed at 6:30 in the morning (we will see how long that energy lasts) and was ready to go. He was a bit disappointed because he wanted to ride the bus to school in the morning with the neighbors but I wanted to walk him into his classroom and make sure he got there and was all fine (Mommy thing I guess?? A tad over-protective maybe? Do I care? Not really!!). So the WHOLE family took him to school and into his classroom where his class Paraprofessional was there, happily waiting for him (his teacher was busy). Tyler walked right in and started chatting her ear off with no looking back my way (sniff, sniff). I snapped some pictures (probably much more than Tyler wanted me to) and I desperately tried to get his attention to tell him bye. My attempt failed and I didn't even get so much as a "Bye Mom" or "I love you Mom" or a "I'll miss you Mom" or anything! Geez kid, can't you throw your mom a bone!! :)

I must let it be known that I did NOT cry ... my eyes filled with tears but nothing actually fell from my eyes so I feel that I can say with confidence that I did NOT cry! All that being said, I was very happy to see him comfortable enough to go into his room all fine and confident! I know that is the important part.

After school, he did get to ride the bus home, which he enjoyed. He quickly told me that he needed to start riding the bus to AND from school with Logan (our neighbor)!!

I tried like mad to find out about his day at school but that was like pulling teeth! After many attempts by me and Mason, this is what I got:

* He made stuff.

* He played.

* He made a friend, however he doesn't know his name.

* He saw our neighbor, Logan, in the cafeteria.

* He did NOT get to play with the same toys he did at Open House.

* They read and made a Gingerbread man, and did the hunt around the school for him.

I guess that info will have to do! :)

All ready for his first day!

Yes, those are cupcakes I made for the teacher; a little brown nosing never hurt anyone!

A shot of his classroom with the Para.

Tyler got straight to work on the activity on his table all the while telling the Para that he already knew how to do the activity because he did it in Pre-K! (Maybe that is why her hands are on her hips???)

At open house - from left to right:

Ms. Howard (the teacher), Tyler (the Kindergartner), and Mrs. Fields (the Para)
Getting off the school bus (Yes, I took pictures of that too!!)

Tyler completed his first day and is still smiling!

** PS - Tyler DID get to ride the bus to school this morning! HOWEVER, let the record show, he did not like it in the morning saying it was "terrible" and has asked me if he can be a car rider in the morning from now on! So all that fuss was for nothing!! (FYI - the morning bus is High School, Junior High, AND Elementary all together! I think that most certainly would be terrible!) **

Tyler on God

2009-07-24T11:53:00.002-04:00

Tyler has amazing faith. He is always asking about God, praying to God, and saying how God has helped him through various situations.

Swim lessons have been a big source of stress around here the past 2 months. Tyler hates swim lessons and is terrified of going. So we have been reading Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." So when it came for his time in the pool last week, he began to cry and all jazz. I started whispering in his ear Isaiah 41:10 and trying to get him to rely on God. He looks at me with tears and his eyes and says he wants us to pray before his lesson. I said a prayer in his ear and he went on to swim lessons more brave than he had before. (I also need to add he did AMAZINGLY well and tried things he had never done in the past! ) The only thing is that he wasn't blowing bubbles out his nose. He informed me he did not need to because God was taking care of that for him!

Back in May, our church had service at the Gwinnett Braves Stadium (the minor league team for the Atlanta Braves) and all 5 of us attended. A few days later while driving in the car, Tyler had a very puzzled look on his face and the conversation went like this:

Tyler: "Mom?"
Me: "Yes, baby..."
Tyler: "Jesus died on the cross, right?"
Me: "Yes, he did."
Tyler VERY confused: "So ... Jesus died at the ball park?"

He keeps me on my toes! :)

(Oh, and then Isabella chimes in "Who is God?" AAAAGGGHHH! Guess we have some work to do there!)

MY FUTURE SALESMAN

2009-07-24T11:39:00.002-04:00

I guess Tyler watches too much tv, either that or he just pays WAYS too much attention to the commercials (he even has me rewind some commercials if he missed one that interested him)! He has become quiet the salesman:

1. At Wal-Mart while shopping for night-light bulbs, Tyler looks around and points to the spiral, energy efficient bulbs and says "Mom!! Get those over there! They will like last forever and save you 20%!"

2. While on the phone with Becky complaining about a stain on something that I didn't know how to get out, Tyler taps me on the shoulder and says "Excuse me Mom, Kaboom can get out stains."

3. When I was finishing up on the treadmill, Tyler comes in and tells me about this new ab machine that you put your knees on and rotate side to side (I don't remember what it is called) that he saw on tv. I asked him if he was telling me this because he thought I was big (loaded question, I know!). He sits there for a moment, pats my behind, and says "Mom, just order it" then walks out of the room!!!

4. One day, right before we bought the new home, Tyler wanted me to take him to McDonalds. I told him no, that we needed all of our pennies for the move. So he sits there a minute and goes, "You know Mom, there is this place. You call them, they will send you and envelope and you just put all your jewelry in it and send it back. Then they will melt your stuff and send you money. Then you can take me to McDonalds."

5. We were down the cleaning aisle in Wal-Mart (yes, we are at Wal-Mart alot) and Tyler got all excited and started pointing to the Rug Stick. He proceeds to tell me HOW to use it - "you just spray this stuff on the carpet, then rub this other thing back and forth and the carpet is like BRAND NEW!! You should get that Mom."

6. At dinner the other night, Isabella dropped something on her dress. Tyler tells me that it is ok, I can just go to Wal-Mart and buy this stuff you put on it then throw it in the wash. "It will be as good as new". Mason asks him "Tyler, do you know what it is called?". Tyler replies, "Yes Dad, it is OXI-CLEAN".

I think these companies need to start sending my child compensation for all of his endorsements!! :)

Texas Tour

2009-07-10T11:54:00.011-04:00

So much to catch up on .... I will start with my self-proclaimed Texas Tour and do another posting at another time!

OK - so the Texas Tour ... 6 days after moving into our new home, we were off to Texas for 10 days! We all started in Stephenville for GG's 80th birthday party, then I went on to Galveston for Stephanie's wedding (which was beautiful and made me insanely jealous because it was on a cruise ship before it set sail and I was unable to stay on to cruise!!). After that, the kids and I took off for Taylor, then Buda (Austin), next came San Antonio, and finally back to Houston for a few more days. It was exhausting but it sure was nice to see some people. I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to see but time was so short, plus the time to actually drive to each place .... blah blah blah.... at least I got to see SOME people (including my sister whom I haven't seen in a year and a half)! Maybe next summer it will be easier to take a longer Texas Tour since the kids will be older. Anyways it was a nice time it just really stunk having to come back to Georgia to BOXES!!

I have been trying to put in a slideshow rather than 20 individual pictures, but for some reason the slideshows have not been working for me for the past several months. So here are lots of individual pictures but they are out of order from the way the trip happened! That is driving me absolutely nuts but I am giving up on fighting with the computer to get the pictures where I want them; I will just have to deal with it! Oh, and my camera had died by the time I got to spend time with Becky so I don't have any pictures to share of that :( Maybe she will send me some and I can those posted too (hint, hint).

Tyler, Isabella and Grandma at the farm

At the farm in PJ's right before heading back to Houston

Max walked right under the table at Grandma's house

Isabella and Grandpa

"The stars at night are big and bright ..."

Tyler and Grandpa

Max and one of his future brides (Morgan)

Mr. Max!!

The gang at Rhonda's house

Isabella really enjoyed the pool at Rhonda's

Gammy and Isabella at GG's Birthday Party

Tyler, Isabella and their cousin Justin

Tyler and Isabella swimming at the hotel

So much more to add but I will leave it be for now.

Here is our new Georgia info and I will send pic's of the house later!

179 Braselton Farms Drive

Hoschton, GA 30548

706-658-4544

I Guess We are Georgians Now!

2009-06-19T18:01:00.006-04:00

Today we closed on our new home! Isabella even offered me 8 cents to help in the purchasing of the home!!!
We are very excited ... especially the kids! Isabella is most excited about the curtains I have made her for her new room. She calls them her "magic curtains" because she says the curtains will keep the thunder sound out of her room during rainstorms! We will do all the moving tomorrow when it is suppose to be 98 degrees! Want to come lend us a hand?? :)

Our new address is:
179 Braselton Farms Drive
Hoschton, GA 30548

Our home number will change and I will get that new number on Monday so I will send it out then.

Max was pretty bored today during closing. One of the agents took this:

So I guess we are officially Georgians now ~ makes the day kinda sad though (I will always be a Texan at heart .... The Stars at night are big (sniff, sniff, tear) and bright (sniff, a few more tears) Deep in the heart of Texas ..... (lots of blubbering now).... )

Pre-K Graduate!

2009-05-14T22:42:00.008-04:00

Well, my baby graduated from Pre-K on Thursday!! He even had a real graduation service that evening at 7:00. (It was funny .... in preparation for the ceremony, we went to Target to get him a long sleeve, button up white shirt to wear under his gown. He asked what the white shirt was for and we told him for graduation. He replies "But I already have my costume"!!!)

He got to start the day in class with an end of year party. He got his actual diploma then from his teacher and got to say his good-byes (Mommy got to say her goodbyes to the teacher too and shed a few tears).
After school, a little girl in his class held a pool party to celebrate. It was lots of fun except .... Mother of the Year here forgot to put sunscreen on the graduate! So he has very rosy cheeks in the next photos!

Next stop, graduation: The ceremony was sweet with all the little kids up on stage waving to their parents. At one point, Tyler was waving to us and mouthing "Hi Isabella". Isabella saw this and SCREAMS "HI TYLER"!! Everyone turns to look at her and Mason and I start giggling. It was just toooooo cute! But Isabella got VERY embarrassed and began to cry. It took a while to get her to calm down. It was so sad but it was so cute and funny the way she started yelling from half way back in the chapel!!

After the ceremony, there was a little reception in the gym of punch and cookies.

But ... my baby is a graduate! I got as many pictures as I could get of him with a decent look on his face (maybe a pool party on such a busy day wasn't a good idea - he was crabby!!).

All in all, it was a good day. And Tyler has already begun asking how many days are left until he starts Kindergarten!!

Tyler's Questions

2009-05-07T12:56:00.005-04:00

This is an email that came to me from Tyler's Pre-K teacher about the questions he is asking her:

From Tyler:
"Can God fly without a cloud?"
"Does God wear shoes?"
"I think God has power shoes!"

He makes my day complete!
Love him!

Posting by Max:

2009-05-07T12:06:00.008-04:00

Well, I have been here with my family for almost 5 months so I decided I would personally let you know how I am doing. Things here with my new family have been good. They are pretty nice people and I have been enjoying myself. My brother and sister are real good to me. They love to play with me. Tyler always comes and talks to me when I am upset and Mom can't get to me. Isabella loves to help Mom "buckle" my diaper when I need a changing. Yea, they are good to me ... I think I will keep Tyler and Isabella around and not ask for replacements!

The Doctor said I needed to start eating food in the morning and night. I gained 4 pounds my first 2 months alive but then I only gained a little over one pound the following 2 months. I thought that was strange because I LOVE to eat!! I will nurse for hours if Mom would let me! So, per the Doctors orders, Mom started me on rice cereal. I didn't really like that too much. But she made me eat it for about a week before she would move on to something a little more tasty.Mom is a very cheap lady! She decided to start making my baby food rather than buying it. What is that??? I was skeptical at first, but then, when I found out that she was mixing breast milk in with the food, I was s-o-l-d, SOLD!!! I have even found that I LOVE carrots made that way!
I am driving Mom nuts with the way I sleep! I HATE it when she puts me in bed awake for naps so I let her know exactly how much I don't approve of her methods!! I get very upset and scream and scream and scream. Sometimes I scream SO much that you can't even hear me scream anymore. At that point, Mom comes and gets me (hee,hee,hee!! I have her so trained!). I WILL nap for her though if we lay in her bed and I get to nurse my way to sleep! I have made my naps a big challenge for her. However, I do go to bed at night very easily. In return, I ONLY ask that she comes and gets me at 5:30 in the morning so I can snuggle in her bed with her and nurse. That is my favorite thing to do! Can I tell you a secret? DON'T TELL MOM - I am not even sure if I am hungry at 5:30 am!! HEE,HEE,HEE!! Remember, you promised not to tell her! ;)

Anyways, I am very happy here and doing well. My smiles say it all:

With much love,

Max

Max's New Trick

2009-04-20T23:25:00.002-04:00

Thrifty Kids

2009-04-20T17:17:00.002-04:00

Back at Christmas time, Tyler wanted a Buzz Light Year real bad. So I, I mean Santa, finally found one at Target. Christmas morning Tyler was so excited to find his Buzz Light Year but then that excitement quickly turned to disappointment as he learned that his Buzz Light Year did not have wings that opened. Santa did not know that there as a difference.

Fast Forward to yesterday. We were at the mall and what does Tyler find at the Disney Store? A Buzz Light Year with wings that open! "Please, please, please can I have it??" I tell Tyler that we can go home and put his Buzz Light Year on Ebay to earn some money to go buy the one he wants. He goes for this and decides it is a plan.

Then Isabella is in Old Navy and she sees these house shoes that she wants that are $22.50. I tell her no, that they cost too much. So she says "That's ok Mom-Mom. We can go home and put my shoes on the computer to get money to come buy these"!!!

I think we are on to something here!!! :)

Mr. Max

2009-04-18T18:31:00.003-04:00

Max is 4 months old today. He is growing so fast and is still just the sweetest thing! I think we will keep him :)

Easter

2009-04-10T14:39:00.002-04:00

I recieved this email last year at Easter and I saved it to share.

CLEAN BLOOD

The day is over, you are driving home. You tune in your radio.
You hear a little blurb about a little village in India where some villagers have died suddenly, strangely, of a flu that has never been seen before.
It's not influenza, but three or four fellows are dead, and it's kind of interesting. They're sending some doctors over there to investigate it.
You don't think much about it, but on Sunday, coming home from church, you hear another radio spot. Only they say it's not three villagers, it's 30,000 villagers in the back hills of this particular area of India, and it's on TV that night. CNN runs a little blurb; people are heading there from the disease center in Atlanta because this disease strain has never been seen before.
By Monday morning when you get up, it's the lead story. For it's not just India; it's Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and before you know it, you're hearing this story everywhere and they have coined it now as "the mystery flu".
The President has made some comment that he and everyone are praying and hoping that all will go well over there. But everyone is wondering, "How are we going to contain it?"
That's when the President of France makes an announcement that shocks Europe. He is closing their borders. No flights from India, Pakistan, or any of the countries where this thing has been seen.
That night you are watching a little bit of CNN before going to bed. Your jaw hits your chest when a weeping woman is translated from a French news program into English: "There's a man lying in a hospital in Paris dying of the mystery flu." It has come to Europe. Panic strikes.
As best they can tell, once you get it, you have it for a week and you don't know it. Then you have four days of unbelievable symptoms. Then you die.
Britain closes it's borders, but it's too late. South Hampton, Liverpool, North Hampton. It's Tuesday morning when the President of the United States makes the following announcement: "Due to a national security risk, all flights to and from Europe and Asia have been canceled. If your loved ones are overseas, I'm sorry. They cannot come back until we find a cure for this thing."
Within four days our nation has been plunged into an unbelievable fear. People are selling little masks for your face. People are talking about what if it comes to this country, and preachers on Tuesday are saying, "It's the scourge of God."
It's Wednesday night and you are at a church prayer meeting when somebody runs in from the parking lot and says, "Turn on a radio, turn on a radio." While the church listens to a little transistor radio with a microphone stuck up to it, the announcement is made,"Two women are lying in a Long Island hospital dying from the mystery flu."
Within hours it seems, this thing just sweeps across the country. People are working around the clock trying to find an antidote. Nothing is working. California, Oregon, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts. It's as though it's just sweeping in from the borders.
Then, all of a sudden the news comes out. The code has been broken. A cure can be found. A vaccine can be made. It's going to take the blood of somebody who hasn't been infected, and so, sure enough, all through the Midwest, through all those channels of emergency broadcasting, everyone is asked to do one simple thing:
"Go to your downtown hospital and have your blood type taken. That's all we ask of you. When you hear the sirens go off in your neighborhood, please make your way quickly, quietly, and safely to the hospitals."
Sure enough, when you and your family get down there late on that Friday night, there is a long line, and they've got nurses and doctors coming out and pricking fingers and taking blood and putting labels on it.
Your wife and your kids are out there, and they take your blood type and they say, "Wait here in the parking lot and if we call your name, you can be dismissed and go home."
You stand around scared with your neighbors, wondering what in the world is going on, and that this is the end of the world.
Suddenly a young man comes running out of the hospital screaming. He's yelling a name and waving a clipboard.
What?
He yells it again! And your son tugs on your jacket and says, "Daddy, that's me."
Before you know it, they have grabbed your boy.
"Wait a minute, hold it!"
And they say, "It's okay, his blood is clean. His blood is pure. We want to make sure he doesn't have the disease. We think he has got the right type."
Five tense minutes later, out come the doctors and nurses, crying and hugging one another some are even laughing. It's the first time you have seen anybody laugh in a week, and an old doctor walks up to you and says, "Thank you, sir. Your son's blood type is perfect. It's clean, it is pure, and we can make the vaccine."
As the word begins to spread all across that parking lot full of folks, people are screaming and praying and laughing and crying.
But then the gray-haired doctor pulls you and your wife aside and says, "May we see you for a moment? We didn't realize that the donor would be a minor and we need. . . we need you to sign a consent form."
You begin to sign and then you see that the number of pints of blood to be taken is empty.
"H-h-h-how many pints?"
And that is when the old doctor's smile fades and he says, "We had no idea it would be a little child. We weren't prepared. We need it all!"
"But but..."
"You don't understand. We are talking about the world here. Please sign. We - we need it all, we need it all!"
"But can't you give him a transfusion?"
"If we had clean blood we would. Can you sign? Would you sign?"
In numb silence you do. Then they say, "Would you like to have a moment with him before we begin?"
Can you walk back? Can you walk back to that room where he sits on a table saying, "Daddy? Mommy? What's going on?"
Can you take his hands and say, "Son, your mommy and I love you, and we would never ever let anything happen to you that didn't just have to be. Do you understand that?"
And when that old doctor comes back in and says, "I'm sorry, we've - we've got to get started. People all over the world are dying."
Can you leave? Can you walk out while he is saying, "Dad? Mom? Dad? Why - why have you forsaken me?"
And then next week, when they have the ceremony to honor your son, and some folks sleep through it, and some folks don't even come because they go to the lake, and some folks come with a pretentious smile and just pretend to care. Would you want to jump up and say, "MY SON DIED! DON'T YOU CARE?"
Is that what God is saying?
"MY SON DIED. DON'T YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I CARE?"

"Father, seeing it from your eyes breaks our hearts. Maybe now we begin to comprehend the great love you have for us.
Amen "

~Author Unknown~

Isabella goes to the "Library"

2009-04-02T09:48:00.002-04:00

This is an update that Isabella will kill me for sharing once she is older and knows better, but until then, it is too cute not to share! :)

A few minutes ago, Isabella runs into the living room urgently saying "I have to poop! I have to poop! I need my magazine! Where's my magazine?"

(Her magazine is the James Avery catalog that she takes into the bathroom with her and picks out all the jewelry she wants!!!)

Loose Tooth

2009-03-20T09:18:00.003-04:00

OH MY GOODNESS! Tyler has his very first loose tooth!!!

This morning Tyler was sitting on the couch and he says "Mom, my tooth is wiggly". I thought he didn't really know what he was talking about so I quickly went over there to assess the situation. Sure enough, it is wiggly .... very wiggly at that! My eyes filled up with tears - silly I know, but I was NOT prepared for this! We just went to the dentist at the end of Feb. and they didn't forewarn me (oh, but that could be because I am a bad mom and only had them take back x-rays instead of entire mouth since they are so expensive and insurance only covers it once every 5 years - crazy I know). OK, so maybe I could have been a little more prepared. :(
However, I can't believe my little baby has his first loose tooth! He JUST turned 5 in November. Don't you have to be in Kindergarten and almost 6 before you can get a loose tooth? Tyler does not meet those requirements yet; he is still a baby.

I am going to have start packing him up for college soon :(

It Snowed .... a Week ago!!

2009-03-09T17:00:00.005-04:00

We finally got snow here in Atlanta .... well, a week ago that is (I am a little slow!!). And today it is 77 degrees! CRAZY weather!
It actually snowed on Sunday March 1. It started by sleeting at about 10 am then turned over to snow by 11am. About an hour after that, we heard a few sizzle sounds and a few pops, then no power!! That finally came back around 5 pm. The snow didn't begin to slow down until after sunset. So we actually had a full day of snow... a gorgeous day of snow. They were HUGE flakes but I couldn't get the camera to really capture the beauty of them. :(
It didn't get below freezing until after dark so there wasn't too much accumulation. I would say, in my expert snow opinion, that about an inch stuck on the grass and cars and stuff but about 4 inches fell according to the weatherman's expert opinion!!

Tyler was trying to catch the snow flakes on his tongue!

Isabella sure makes a cute snow bunny!
Tyler making snow angels
It was a fun day for all of us. Tyler didn't even have to go to school the next day due to the snow!

WARNING!

2009-02-17T15:40:00.003-05:00

WARNING:

When decorating cookies with a three year old, NEVER leave her alone with 3 bottles of sprinkles ... even for a minute:

I promise, there IS one cookie somewhere under there. I will give you a hint, it is shaped like a heart. Can you find it?

For Valentine's Day, Daddy got his baby girl her first flowers.

A Little Bit of Everything

2009-02-11T16:03:00.011-05:00

Well, Tyler has recently fallen in love with glue and tape. He has become SO creative as he builds and creates things with his new found love. It doesn't really matter to him if he is building with boxes (he has made a robot out of boxes, a sled out of boxes, a trap for bad super-hero's, etc), or trying to tape together pages of a new book he has made or taping his toys to the banister.... it is keeping him very busy - and me too as I get to scrape the tape off of the banister and scrub the glue off of the hardwoods!!! Here is a picture of Tyler's room where he has decided to use the tape and all his projects from school to re-decorate his room!

Isabella is being such a good mother-hen to Max. She even helps me change his diaper!! She tries to help me bathe him, but I really try to do that job when she is not around because it is really hard to get her to stop dumping water on his head as she is "helping"!!

Isabella is growing up so fast. I finally realized exactly HOW big she was when we had Max .... let me rephrase that, when I had Max .... there was no WE involoved in pushing him out!!! :) Although Isabella can be quiet the whiny girl, she can be the sweetest thing. She has even picked up some things that Tyler always does by coming to me and asking me if I am happy or if I love her. I think my most favorite thing is her name for me - Mom-Mom. Not Mommy or Mom, but Mom-Mom. No idea where she got that from, but I love it!

When it came time to take down her Christmas tree in her room, we were both heart broken. So we found a new use for it:A Valentine's Tree!!!

Max is now 7 weeks old, going on 8 weeks on Thursday. He is now smiling, although you still have to work at it to get him to! We are just loving him to death and still feel so blessed to have him. Here are some shots of his nursery since some people have been asking for that! The artwork was done by my friend Jen. We copied some pictures we saw in Pottery Barn that were WAY over priced (surprise, surprise!!). The curtains were my creation, as were the pillows and Max's name. The crib bedding I designed (I couldn't find anything I really like at the stores) but my mother-in-law is actually the person who sewed it all for me. The monkey under the radio was from Build-A-Bear where the kids kissed hearts to put inside the monkey and wished for his safe arrival! This nursery was really put together with the help of many loving hands!

When I went for my 6 week post-partum check-up, I was asked to come back in the afternoon for an ultrasound. No, I'm not pregnant again! When I had the ultra-sound, it confirmed what my Dr. was thinking - there was still some placenta left behind. The Dr. was amazed it was not infected by that point. So the next morning I was brought in for a D & C!! This was on Friday Jan. 30th. Things went well and I am fine now, I was just more scared than anything. I go back for a follow up on Friday Feb 20th. Other than that, things are good here.

Bedtime Snacks and Waffles

2009-01-27T10:01:00.014-05:00

Bedtime Snacks:

Last night, pretty late for the kids to be going to bed I might add, I was on the couch nursing Max. Tyler and Isabella needed to be in bed but were STILL stalling (they are masters at that). Well now came the time for them to start BEGGING for a bedtime snack. I, still nursing, began growling at the kids because it was 9:45 pm (yes I know, parents of the year here) and they needed to be in bed, not eating. So then little wise man Tyler comes to me after being told he did not need to eat anymore he needed to go to bed, and asks me "Why does Max get to eat?"

Waffles:

This morning Isabella and I were retunring from dropping Tyler off at school. I asked her what she wanted to eat for breakfast. She tells me a waffle. Sounds good I thought but I remembered she said the same thing yesterday and didn't even take one bite of it. I reminded her of this and she tells me that she wants to try again!
"Alright" I thought.
So we get home and I ask again "You want waffles, right?".
To this she replies "No Mom, I want eggs!"
I said "Eggs? I thought you wanted waffles? Do you want both?".
She giggles and says "Mom, I said J-U-S-T eggs".
"Alright. Whatever. Eggs it is" I thought to myself. But I decided waffles did sound good so I popped some in the toaster.
I crack the eggs, "Isabella, do you want eggs or waffles?".
I still get the egg response.
I begin cooking the eggs, "Isabella, do you want eggs or waffles?"
Still get the egg response.
I put the eggs on her plate and give them to her.
Then the waffles pop up.... and she says ...."Mom, I want waffles".

Old Emails

2009-01-21T09:50:00.002-05:00

I have 2 email accounts - both kimbart777 but one is hotmail and one is gmail. The hotmail account used to be my primary account but now I just use it for when I am buying stuff online or registering online as they always distribute your email (grrrr - I hate that!!). Anyways, I hadn't checked the hotmail account in a few days to clear out all the garbage and so when I did, I was overloaded with over 200 emails from solicitors. So I just spent the past 30 minutes going through some of them and unsubscribing. (I promise I have a point to this .... ) While doing all this, I found some old emails from friends that I have saved because they were either too funny or just priceless. I thought I would bring these few emails back to life and post them, hopefully brighting your day!!

Girls Night Out:
Why females should avoid a girls night out after they are married!..
The other night I was invited out for a night with "the girls." I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, "I promise!" Well, the hours passed and the margaritas went down way too easy.
Around 3 a.m., a bit loaded, I headed for home. Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hall started up and cuckooed 3 times. Quickly, realizing my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times. I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution,in order to escape a possible conflict with him. (Even when totally smashed...3 cuckoos plus 9 cuckoos totals 12 cuckoos = MIDNIGHT!)
The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, and I told him "Midnight". He didn't seem pissed off at all. Whew! Got away with that one!
Then he said, "We need a new cuckoo clock." When I asked him why?, he said, "Well, last night our clock cuckooed three times, then said, "Oh. SHIT ", cuckooed 4 more times, cleared it's throat, cuckooed another 3 times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and then tripped over the coffee table and farted."

Fishing:
Saturday morning I got up early, dressed quietly, made my lunch, grabbed the dog, slipped quietly into the garage to hook the boat up to the truck, and proceeded to back out into a torrential downpour.
The wind was blowing 50 mph. I pulled back into the garage, turned on the radio, and discovered that the weather would be bad throughout the day. I went back into the house, quietly undressed, and slipped back into bed. There I cuddled up to my wife's back, now with a different anticipation, and whispered, 'The weather out there is terrible.' My loving wife of 20 years replied, 'Can you believe my stupid husband is out fishing in that stuff?'
I still don't know to this day if she was joking, but I've stopped fishing.

Thoughtful:
'To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.' When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence... 'The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'

My Boys

2009-01-20T12:11:00.000-05:00

Tyler at 4 1/2 weeks

Max at 2 weeks

My Boys!!

Photo Session

2008-12-31T12:27:00.003-05:00

We ventured out and had pictures taken yesterday. Here are some of my favorite from the CD we were given. The CD has UN-EDITED pictures.... keep that in mind!!!

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T20:55:00.002-05:00

We wanted to share with you Tyler's prayer that he said at dinner tonight. It brought tears to our eyes, ok maybe just mine, as he sums up Christmas:

Dear God, ummm, I mean Jesus,
Thank you for Baby Jesus and the girl, ummm, Mary, who layed him in the hay in Bethlehem ... ummm.... yeah, Bethlehem. Thank you for letting Him grow so fast.
Amen.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We Are Home

2008-12-21T10:58:00.008-05:00

** I have been trying for 3 days now to get this updatedd but everytime I add pictures, the internet locks up. So ... the blog info is a day or two old. **

Well, we are home with a NAMED BABY - YEAH!

Introducing Maxwell Reed Bartholomew:

I felt so bad for Mason ... he worked for a couple of hours doing an update for everyone then somehow lost it when trying to add in a slideshow. He was really bummed. So I guess I will start from the beginning:

I went into the hospital on Wednesday night (Dec. 17th) to begin the induction. As I had made very clear, I did not want to be induced but I was done being pregnant and Thursday the 18th was my due date. My doctor said we could have given Max a couple more days before pursuing an induction, but I didn't want it to creep into Christmas and Mason's birthday! I was just really struggling with wrapping my brain around WHY I was having to be induced. Tyler and Isabella were early, why was Max taking so long? WHY was I still pregnant - your body is suppose to know and give you the perfect timing for baby's arrival so who was I to say "Ok, let's do it now!". I just felt like there had to be SOME reason why Max hadn't come yet and my interfering was bothering me. Well obviously, I swallowed these feelings and went in for the induction!!

The first several hours were boring. It was just getting me settled in and hooking me up to my first round of anti-biotics which had to be in for 4 hours before any labor medicine could start. So Mason got me checked in and then went home to be with the kids. As all you moms know, the night really sucked!! With the two monitors hooked up to my tummy that would move everytime I had to switch positions or go pee (which between the two was every hour), I didn't get much rest. I was happy to see the sun come up!! I think it was around 3 am that I got my second round of antibiotics and they started me on Cidatek (spelling?). This medicine was suppose to just soften my cervix and get things "ideal" for starting the pitocin later. I think pitocin was started sometime mid morning.

Things progressed VERY slowly. In fact I didn't think Max was going to come despite the medicine!! When arriving at the hospital I was dilated to a 2 1/2. By mid-morning, I was only a 3!!! So they pushed me to a 3 1/2. The contractions started and were strong. But by lunch I was still a 3 1/2... so the pushed me to a 4. I got my epidural around 1pm ~ YEAH!

By 5 pm I was fighting the tears. I really wanted this baby out by noon and we were way past that deadline and STILL sitting at a 4 1/2. I wanted to see Tyler and Isabella. I wanted to meet the baby. Then more pain began. It was very low and in the middle and painful, despite the epidural. The nurse noticed that with every contraction, Max's heartrate would drop. They thought Max's head was pushing on my cervix which they said was good because he would help me dilate faster. I asked how long his little body could tolerate that and the nurse told me he was ok for a short time. I started to mentally prepare myself for the Dr. to come in and tell me I was having a c-section since I hadn't really done much dilating on my own that day.

At 5:15 I was an 8 (yes, 4 1/2 to and 8 in 15 minutes!!). YEAH- progress! But now Max's heartrate was staying low and not coming back up. The nurse and Dr. began to think something was wrong and thought that Max's head was smashing the umbilical cord. So at 5:30 I was an 8 1/2 and they filled my uterus with Saline to hopefully "float" Max into a new position so he wouldn't be smashing the umbilical cord. That did not work and I was suddenly overcome with a panic attack. So while I had oxygen on me, Mason was fanning me with a notebook, I was trying my dammest to control my breathing and calm down, the Dr. said he would be back in 30 minutes to see if I was ready to push. 5-10 minutes later, the nurse called the Dr. back in. The Dr. sat on the bed with me and did a cervix check and said, very sternly, that it was time to get the baby out and then he hesitated and said "yea, she is full". I guess he meant fully dilated but by his face, we do not think I was. He told me to push while he was still sitting on the bed and I thought that was weird but I did as told. I pushed through that contraction then he got up and broke the bed away and got everything "properly" ready. He told the nurses to get the vacuum and I remember thinking "NO - I pushed the other two out in record time, I don't need a vacuum, no, no no" .... I didn't say anything though of course. Mason knew at this point they were really concerned about Max but luckily I had no clue.

So anyways, next contraction, I push. I push a little more. I hear the nurse ask right away if the Dr. wanted the vacuum and he said "No, she is a really good pusher, a really good pusher". I was very proud of myself! So back to pushing!.... Within 10 minutes from the start of pushing, out came Max.

This is where I learned there WAS a problem. The umbilical cord was wrapped around Max's head not once, but TWICE! And to complicate things more, there was a huge knot in the umbilical cord. So when he got into the birth canal, his heart rate was not rebounding well because the cord was being pulled tighter on the knot and also around his neck. The Dr. pointed out that this is exactly why we have babies in hospitals, NOT at home. He said Max was a little miracle that it all went well. Apparently they were prepared for the worst ~ glad I didn't know about it!

But I guess I got my answer to WHY I was induced and didn't go into labor on my own! With how fast my body jumps into gear (once it finally decides to make it's move that is!!), if I had been at home with Max's heartrate plummeting like that, he may not have made it. God has a reason for everything and I REALLY need to learn to relax and stop questioning everything and simply trust in Him.

After that, we got to hold Max for an hour or so and then Mason left to go get the kids and I was moved to my post-partum room. Things got really bad for me after that with clots and blood and contractions and lots of crying .... oh, the crying. But it is something I would gather many of you don't care to hear about so I will spare you! Just know that I am ok now and all is well! :)

We got home Saturday night, had your typical rough first and second night, having an emotional first day at home with him - love those hormones! , but adjusting.

Here are pictures captured from the past few days!

He's Finally Here!

2008-12-18T23:47:00.004-05:00

OK, so I typed out this long detailed description of the day, our feelings and what not... and erased it trying to add the slide show. here's the stats you care about since it is so late now. Kim can send out the detailed version later.

Baby Bartholomew#3

born 6:23pm on 12/18/08

8.002 pounds

full head of brown hair

no length since they don't do that right away here

and seriously, no name yet.

When is this baby going to come??

2008-12-16T20:27:00.003-05:00

When is this baby going to come out??
Well ... I have an answer!! YEAH!!
I am officially due on Thursday but my body isn't really moving too fast in making something happen and the baby seems VERY content to just hang out in my belly. The doctor tells me the baby is about 8 1/2 pounds but we still have time to see if he will come on his own! I am like "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? You want me to let this baby get even BIGGER before doing anything?" MEN!!! Plus I have already opened a BOX of NB diapers that this kid IS going to wear even if his tushy is hanging out ~ let's get him out now while he still has a chance of fitting into them! SO ... even though I do not want to be induced, we are taking matters into our own hands! I go to the hospital tomorrow night (Wed. night) at 9:30 pm and they will begin a round of IV anti-biotics for 4 hours. Then 4 hours later, around 2:30 or 3am, they will start me on another round of anti-biotics and begin the medicine to induce labor. They are not starting me right off on Pitocin but another drug that I can not remember the name of, but it is weaker. Then we will go from there. That may be enough to make this baby jump ship or we may need to go up to the stronger Pitocin. When it is all said and done, hopefully we will have our name-less baby boy on Thursday!

Mason is going to be updating the blog to let everyone know how things went. Then when I get home, I will tell you how it REALLY went!! :)

Here are a few pictures of my other babies taken last week!

Isabella's Birthday ~ Monday, Dec. 8th

2008-12-09T18:27:00.003-05:00

My little girl just turned 3 years old on Monday! I can not believe how quickly she is growing and what a beautiful girl she is becoming (when she is not whining that is!!)! She is definitely my pride and joy, my baby girl!

It took Isabella a while to understand it was her birthday. It was a bit confusing to her since she already had her birthday party with Tyler a while back. But as the phone calls came in throughout the day from everyone calling to send her birthday wishes, she began to understand and just had a gorgeous, beaming smile with every phone call! She was so happy when Daddy finally came home from work and she got to open her presents. We had to repeatedly explain to her that the presents in front of the fireplace were the only ones she could open, NOT the ones under the tree! Even this morning she tried to go for the ones under the tree again!! She was very excited to get her baby dolls, princess dress, and Dora dollhouse!

I just want to thank everyone for making this day so special for her. I was so worried about her getting lost in all that is going on with awaiting Baby and since she already had her party .... I just didn't want my girl forgotten so THANK YOU!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday:

Getting Ready for Christmas

2008-12-08T11:44:00.006-05:00

The kids have been having a great time getting ready for Christmas around the house. We began the day after Thanksgiving by decorating the tree. I let the kids decorate the tree first ... then I went back through and re-arranged (to put it nicely!)!!! I tried to get a picture of how well the kids decorated those 2 branches on the tree with ALL the ornaments, but a picture just never seemed to do it justice!! So here is what I did capture:

Last night Mason decided to tackle the Gingerbread house with the kids. I tried it for the first time in my life last year and it was an UTTER disaster so I had personally decided not to even mention it this year. I figured if I didn't bring it up, the kids wouldn't remember and it could just die a natural death. However, Mason thought it would be a breeze and decided to create one with the kids with the hopes of putting my mess last year to utter shame (not that that was hard to do!!) I guess I will start with the really bad picture of the really bad gingerbread house from last year:

Now Mason's "looks" neater but not near as decorative!!! Here is the one created last night:

Mason decided that it was harder than it looked! The kids had fun and I guess that is all that matters!

Now on to me and Baby. Today I am 38 weeks and 5 days pregnant and miserable. I didn't make it this far in either of the other 2 pregnancies, so this is new territory. I am very ready for this baby to come out but he seems to be very content where he is. I was thinking the other night about how the Lord uses 40 quite often ~ you have in the Bible 40 days/nights, 40 weeks, 40 years and it just hit me that a baby is suppose to be in the womb for 40 weeks. I don't know why it took me this long for that to dawn on me, but it did! And then I remembered how my friend Jen had reminded me at the beginning of this journey to try to find peace in the sickness and discomfort for this is the one thing I can do to help God create a miracle. So I am hanging on to that with every fiber of my being (and also trying to remember that when Baby does grace us with his presence, I have to get up every 3 hours to feed him!!). But, I just feel like screaming out to God "I know it is not 40 weeks, but isn't 38 weeks and some days good enough??"!! Well, the little guy is still hanging on and, to continue with the 40 theme, probably will be until he is 40 years old!

I have had some people ask for more pregnancy pictures since most loved ones are not here in Georgia to experience this with us. We went a little nuts last night:

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T21:41:00.005-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Too much food?

2008-11-22T09:55:00.002-05:00

So this morning, Tyler and I are hanging out on the couch together waiting for everyone else to wake up. He asks me when the baby will come out and I tell him whenever God decides it is time. Then he looks up at me and says "Mom, how do you know there is a baby in there and not just too much food?"!!!!!!

Thanksgiving at Tyler's School

2008-11-21T17:21:00.006-05:00

The colder weather arrived about a week or two ago!! YEAH!! It makes me very happy but with it comes a new battle of trying to convince the kids they need to put on their jackets before going outside. What you don't see is that they both have on their flip flops! Hey - you win some and you loose some, right?

Yesterday Tyler's school had their Thanksgiving Feast for the kids and their families. It was very nice. We got to come to his class and he was VERY proud as he took us around (dressed as an Indian) and showed us his work displayed around the room.
Then the kids preformed a few songs for us. It was soooo cute! Now I know what Tyler has been trying to sing around the house lately but never would share because he couldn't really remember the words!!!

I have to tell you, I was most impressed with the spread the kids had!! Maybe it is just because I am pregnant, but hey - FOOD! :) Tyler and Isabella enjoyed chowing down too!

It was a very nice time to spend with Tyler in his classroom and Tyler was very pleased his Daddy could come too. Now he is wondering when he can take the baby to see his school!

The Kids Birthday Party

2008-11-20T17:28:00.014-05:00

OK - so this is a little late, but better than never!!

Tyler's Birthday
My precious baby turned 5 on November 6th. I can not believe he is not a toddler anymore but officially of boy! :( He woke up that morning very excited to open his presents but was quickly disappointed as we would only let him open one and then the remainder when he got home from Pre-K at 12:30. Isabella was also disappointed when she was asking for HER presents and we had to break the news to her that is wasn't her birthday. Poor baby girl!

When I picked him up from school, it was so sweet .... he seemed to expect there to be a party waiting for him here at the house! He asked me in the minute ride from school to home if all his friends were going to be at the house. He was very confused when I told him no! I reminded him that Daddy was home since he took the day off to be with Tyler but Tyler still seemed a bit disappointed that there was not an elaborate surprise party waiting for him! Here are a few shots of opening presents:

For his birthday dinner Tyler decided he wanted to go to Chuckee Cheese, which is somewhere we do NOT take him normally! In fact last time WE took him was when I was pregnant with Isabella and all he did was cry and throw fits! The second, and last time, he went was last Christmas when his Gammy and PawPaw took him. Mommy and Daddy do not make a habit of going there!! But ... .since it was the kid's birthday, we agreed. Here are a few pictures taken of that (when Isabella was still feeling well as she woke up in the middle of the night throwing up Chuckee Cheese - see? I told you, we do NOT go there and this is another reason why we shouldn't!!!)
After that, we came home and sang Tyler happy birthday. Here is his cake as the night ended:

Tyler and Isabella's Birthday Party

Tyler and Isabella had a double birthday party on November 8th. The theme was Bugs and Butterflies - bugs for the boys and butterflies for the girls. Tyler's classmates were invited to "Tyler's Party" and all mutual friends were invited to "Isabella's Party" so that no one felt like they needed to bring 2 presents or anything like that. Poor Tyler - he must have been set on a surprise party because when he woke up that morning and saw the guest room door closed, he expected all his friends to be hiding in there with presents for him! So he started his day disappointed!

The party went well - I thought anyways! There was an earthworm dig set up outside in a wheelbarrow, painting of butterflies, ladybugs, and bees set up on the house, and a table to make a bug home for the live ladybugs I was sending home with the kids (yes, the moms LOVED me!!). I thought the kids would have loved the painting most of all but you should have seen those kids go after the earthworms! The ladybug homes quickly turned into earthworm homes as the kids decided they wanted to take earthworms home too!!! Like I said, the moms loved me!!!! Here are a few pictures from the party:

The cake for the party was a huge ordeal in itself, or at least to me!!! Earlier in the week I ran across a recipe for a chocolate mousse filling for cupcakes that is also the frosting. I used this to make Tyler's birthday cake and the cupcakes for his class on his birthday. It was so yummy! So I got the bright idea to make the two cakes for the party - one as a worm and one as a butterfly. Well, I CAN"T use a can of frosting from the store, oh no, that is too easy! I decided I need to tweek the mousse recipe to be a white chocolate mousse recipe so I can tint the frosting and it still be yummy. Well .... I am not a cook so the idea of tweeking the recipe must have come at a moment of insanity!! Once I bought the stuff for the cakes, plus all the extra stuff to experiment with the mousse, the cake was going to be just as much as buying it PLUS all the time spent doing it myself. So I returned everything to the store and decided to pay the baker. Well .... Sam's and Wal-Mart both told me the same thing "We have the stuff for butterflies but nothing for bugs, sorry". One of the baker's even went as far as to tell me they can make a plain cake and I can do the decorating. Now why would I want to do that!!!?? So now I am running out of time and don't know where to get the cake!! So I end up at another grocery store and asked that baker only to be told the same story. This time I broke down and began to beg!! I said "PLEASE! Can't you just use your icing and make some green blobs and call it a worm and then make a black blob and call it a spider? PLEASE!!??". So then the baker decides she DOES have some sort of an imagination and accepts the task. This is what she came up with (I was very pleased):

I got Tyler and Isabella their own cupcake so they each had their own something to blow out:

Isabella was very happy because Becky got her the purple princess scooter that she has been talking about for the past several months and another friend got her a Belle Princess dress. Here are some pictures of how Isabella spent the rest of her day:

Tyler and his "best friends":

So my intentions were to also include Tyler's class Thanksgiving Feast that was held today, but I will have to do it later tonight or tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Wonderful Weather

2008-11-12T09:18:00.002-05:00

This morning I walk outside and am delighted by the weather awaiting me. It is in the lower 40's, breezy, and very cloudy. These are the kind of Fall days I just love!! For some reason this kind of weather reminds me of Thanksgiving and I don't know why! Growing up in Texas you are not blessed with this kind of weather every Thanksgiving to make me associate it with Thanksgiving, but whatever!!! So I call Mason to tell him.... well, to tell him the garage stinks ... but to also remind him I LOVE this weather. Tyler hears me and pipes in "Perfect day for swimming"!!!!

Election Day

2008-11-04T19:16:00.002-05:00

This was a GREAT day to be pregnant! I was "escorted" to the front of the voting line, got to skip a 45 minute wait, just because of this huge tummy!!! Maybe in 4 years if I am not pregnant, and I better NOT be, I will stick a basketball in my shirt to get the same privelages! :)

Halloween

2008-11-03T10:57:00.006-05:00

Halloween was lots of fun ... cold but lots of fun! Tyler was Spiderman and Isabella was a cat. We started the evening with homemade pizza that was NOT so yummy, then went to the church for the Fall Festival, and then came home to trick-or-treat a little bit.

Funny story, well maybe only funny to Mason and I who were here, you know one of those "you had to be there" kind of stories! While trick-or-treating, we came upon our house as we made our way down the street. Tyler saw the porch light on and said "Mom, Dad, let's try that house" and ran up to the door step. Mason and I looked at each other trying to decide if Tyler realized it was our house or was just trying to be silly. Then he saw the candy on the front porch and asked if he could have some. We asked him if the house looked familiar to him and he looked up at the house but nothing clicked. Then he returned to asking if he could have some of the candy from the bowl on the porch. Mason and I started giggling as it became clear he really didn't get that it was our house! So we told him and, best part, he didn't believe us!!!! We showed him our car in the drive way and that just confused him more. He finally accepted what we were telling him when we showed him the scarecrow he made in the garden!! Poor kid!

Here are some pictures taken throughout the night:

Feeling Big!!

2008-10-28T16:24:00.003-04:00

Well, I am now 32 weeks and 6 days along. These pictures were taken 6 days ago. Boy, am I feeling big!!

The Air Show

2008-10-25T20:18:00.012-04:00

Last Saturday we went to our very first air show. The day was gorgeous - bright, sunny, cool and windy. Plus, jets and prop planes .... come on - We thought the kids would LOVE it! However, being the WONDERFUL parents we are, we forgot about how incredibly loud the jets are and how incredibly sensitive to loud noises our son is! OOPS!

As soon as we got there, we stopped and bought ear plugs - you know the cheap foam kind that you jam into your ear for $3. Those don't work very well apparently. And again, being the wonderful parents we are, we chose NOT to buy to the $15 a pair kind that completely cover your ears like ear muffs like you see the airport guys wearing that might have actually worked. "The kids will be fine, Tyler will be fine ....", so we thought. So we moved on closer to the action, and poor Tyler was covering his ears, crying and just begging for us to take him home. Well.... we drove over an hour to get there then had to take the shuttle bus which took another 45 minutes ... we weren't about to leave the moment we got there!!! So we tried the art of distraction. It kinda went like this ~ "Wow, Tyler ... did you see that? That was so cool, wasn't it? Tyler, wasn't it so cool? Stop crying Tyler .... watch, it is so cool .... Tyler please stop crying....." Distraction wasn't working out to well for us!!

Luckily there were breaks in the demonstrations, enough time for Tyler to relax, and we got to take him around to see the parked planes they had - you know, the non-moving, non-loud planes!!!!!

Tyler even got to sit in one or two.

And in an engine!

But I guess it was an air show so the jets started up again and so did the crying. So we caved and decided it best to leave since the Thunder birds were starting and we figured if one jet made Tyler cry, what would 5 jets flying together do!! Unfortunately this was the part Mason really wanted to see so HE was now crying. OK, so not really crying but definitely pouting! So we leave, have to what in line for about an hour to get back on the shuttle bus with hungry kids, hungry pregnant mommy and pouting dad. I know the day probably does not sound like much fun, but it really was a blast!

Ready for the best part ... On the ride home, Mr. Tyler decided to share his thoughts of the day .... ready for this? "Mom, Dad, that was the BEST day of my WHOLE life!" Man, if that was his best day, we must really torture the poor kid on a normal basis! :)

Halloween

2008-10-05T21:26:00.004-04:00

My sister sent this to me .... I thought it was pretty funny! Enjoy!

HALLOWEEN IS GOING TO SUCK THIS YEAR !!

Little Bit of Everything, interesting or not!!

2008-10-03T16:59:00.003-04:00

Yea, it is October! I love October! I love the weather, the colors, the smell, the leaves, and mostly the feeling I get when it is October. Due to the nice weather, I have been able to open the windows to the house for the past few days and enjoy the breeze blowing through. You just can't beat that!! I am opening the windows even though it is making my allergies act up!! My only concern with opening the windows is that everyone outside can hear if my kids start acting out or crying or mommy yelling or any of our dirty laundry that may go on during the day! Still, the pros out way the cons! What baffles me most in this glorious weather is how no one else seems to have their windows open. I wonder how come they do not want to enjoy natures air conditioner. The only thing I can think is maybe they have more dirty laundry than us!!! :)

The above pictures show a bird house Mason built. Mason deemed it a "Bird Condo" .... however this condo has been ready for a few weeks now and it is still sitting in the garage. I guess the rough economic times are hurting the birds line of credit too!! Anyways, the kids enjoyed painting the condo. I was worried about the paint job that would be done as the kids wanted blue, green, red, yellow, pink, and purple paint. I was very worried the neighbors would be jealous and the birds would be fighting over who gets to take up residency in this new home. Well .... as the kids painted, and painted, and painted, it all became purple! I was kinda expecting a brownish color only found in diapers, so purple is definitely better. Needless to say, the kids really enjoyed painting the condo for the birds and hopefully with this bailout plan passed by the government, the birds can get a loan to get the condo actually up in the tree for them to enjoy! :)

This picture is actually very funny. After the kids painted the condo and no one was really paying attention anymore (silly Mommy and Daddy), Tyler had an "accident", as he puts it! I find it humorous how an "accident" can take your hands to the paint, then take your hands to the floor to leave a hand print, then back to the paint, back to the floor, back to the paint, back to the floor, (shall I continue?) ..... If those actions were unintentional and purely accidental, boy Mason and I better brace ourselves for the future!!!

Today I had a Doctors appt. to check on baby. I am now 29 weeks and everything is going fine. Here is probably the last picture of baby until he arrives. Thought you might like to see it. There was another picture looking straight at his face but I think it is one of those faces only a mother could love. He had very chubby cheeks, but only high up on the cheekbones, then the remainder of the face kinda came to a V by the chin. He appeared to be grinning with very bony, bucked teeth. Oh yes, his nose .... it was more of an outline with a big hole in the middle!! I decided NOT to share that picture! :) Oh yea, baby still doesn't have a name in case you were wondering!

The Georgia Aquarium

2008-09-22T16:06:00.007-04:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to update ... I told you, I am not good at this blog thing!

I LOVE these grumpy looking fish!!

Almost 2 weeks ago now, Cathy (Mason's Mom) treated us all to a day at the Georgia Aquarium. I was pretty excited as we had not been yet because it is so expensive and then factor in that you have 2 young kids who might melt down at any minute sending you on your way home (and making you be out a lot of money)...!

Surprisingly, the day went FABULOUS!!! Tyler and Isabella both loved looking at all the fish, stingrays, jelly fish, lobsters. etc! I was personally shocked at how in to it Isabella was. I totally expected her to be like "Wow .... fish. OK, let's go now!!". But she really enjoyed looking at the floor to ceiling tanks of fish and all the colors. I HEARD Tyler enjoyed it as well but he was off pulling Cathy in other directions from where we were so I couldn't actually tell you his reactions to everything! But she says he had a lot of fun!

The funniest thing, to me at least, was when we went in to see the 4D movie called "Deepo". It was only about 15-20 minutes long and you got to wear these really cool, and stylish I might add, glasses. The kids were both excited about seeing this animated movie .... until it started! Tyler kinda flipped out! The moment the fish jumped out of the screen and came floating in front of you, he ripped his glasses off! Isabella on the other hand was enthralled and trying to pet those fish in front of her!! The movie theatre was set up where they had real water mist that sprinkled on you at times, real bubbles that came out of the ceiling at times, and this air pump thing that shot air out from under your seat ~ I guess to make everything seem even more realistic. Wow, Tyler was NOT liking that at all! He was ready to leave a few minutes after the show started, especially once the shark made his appearance! But being the AWESOME parents we are, we made him stay! ;) After the movie, Tyler was so thankful it was over and Isabella was begging to go see it again! I couldn't help but snicker at how different these two are from one another!

Anyways, it was a great day.

As you can see from the car ride home, it really wore the kids out!

Tyler Starts Pre-School

2008-09-04T14:55:00.001-04:00

The morning of Tyler's First Day of Pre-school

We are on our way!!
Tyler had the biggest smile on his face when

picking him up after school!

Well, I decided it was time I joined the rest of the world and begin a blog for my family! So I guess I will start with my baby starting school.

Tyler started Pre-School at the church on Tuesday. He was very excited about beginning school but he informed us he was a little nervous! When he woke up Tuesday morning, he came to me and told me he wasn't going to cry or have any accidents (he found out he needed a change of clothing in his back pack at all times, just in case). Then he asked me the most important question - what was he going to have at school for snack time!!! :) I told him I didn't know and he would have to wait and see what his teachers gave him!!! When we picked him up he said he had lots of fun and met lots of new friends. He met a new friend on the playground and they played super hero, rocket ship, chase, etc together. He told me he got into a little bit of trouble at school because he wasn't remaining in the center he was suppose to be in. Then, bless his little heart, he told me he was very sorry and he would try to do better the next day and make me happy. I told him that he always makes me happy. He smiled and planted a big kiss on my lips!

The second day of school didn't go so well for Tyler. His teacher gave me a call and told me of ALL the incidents of the day and it wasn't pleasant. My heart broke because I do not want to have the "problem child" that all the teachers pray will be absent that day and I felt bad for Tyler because he really is a sweet child. Tyler and I spent the afternoon talking about everything that went wrong, what was suppose to happen and reminding him school was a place to learn, not play. He had a few punishments in there too for his behavior, to put it lightly. It made me so sad last night though, because he decided he didn't want to go to school anymore, he just wanted to stay home with me. This tore me up inside! I knew how much he had been looking forward to school and I just hope this is just a temporary result from the days events and not a permanent change of heart.

So today was day 3. This morning he drew his teachers a picture as a way to say he was sorry and he had me dictate on the picture "I am sorry for my behavior. I hope you have a good day. I will do better and remember my manners. Love, Tyler". It was a very sweet picture. We spent time this morning remember how to act and praying for God to help him make better choices. I also went as far as drawing a happy face on his hand so while he was at school, he could see the happy face to help him remember to have behavior that would make God, me and his teachers happy. At 12:30 when I was waiting in carpool line, I was just dreading the report I was going to get. I was just praying it was a good report and our efforts yesterday payed off and made a LITTLE bit of a difference. Sure enough, they did! He did end up on yellow (out of green, yellow, red) but yesterday he was like on black! The infraction today came on the playground and he had a bit of a timeout and had to move his clip. Other than that, his teacher told me he had a MUCH better day! YEAH!!! Now let's hope that between today and Monday, when he returns to school, he doesn't forget everything!!!

So there you have it. Tyler started school this week and I guess I will be having to pack him up for college in another month or so by the way time flies!!