Still No Sleep

Time Reese spent in his bed last night: 5 minutes.

I'm beginning to wonder if we have a high need baby.

Who Needs Sleep?

Who needs sleep? Well you're never gonna get it. Who needs sleep? Tell me what's that for. Who needs sleep? Well you're never gonna get it. Be happy with what you're getting, there's a guy whose been awake since the second world war.

I've been singing this Barenaked Ladies song the past few days. There's not a lot of sleep happening in this house, except for the animals. Reese is teething. Again. And this time it's really bad. He screams when he nurses and claws at his face and ears. He'll be sound asleep, and the second I put him down in his bed, he kicks his legs and starts to cry.

Friday night, Reese slept for 25 minutes total in his bed. I held him until 5:00 or so and George was then able to get him to sleep on our bed for a few hours. Since we only have a full size bed, that meant George had to sleep on the couch.

Last night, he didn't go to sleep until midnight. He was up crying at 12:30. He slept on me until 2 something, we gave him more Tylenol, and George got him to sleep on our bed at 3:30. This time George decided to sleep on the floor. Rudy snored through all of this. Reese slept until 7ish, ate, smiled and talked to us a little, and slept on George until 10:30. At that point I took Reese out of the bedroom so George could sleep. He slept until noon.

I don't know how people manage with more than one child. I am in awe of Michelle Duggar, who is pregnant with her 18th child. She's been through the nursing issues, sleepless nights, and teething 17 times already. Wow. And I know I'm no Kate Gosselin. Those mothers are truly amazing.

Each day I pray God will give me enough patience and strength to make it through the day, and still manage to glorify Him in the process. Today I hope He'll give us all a little more sleep too.



I should note that we did not skip church this morning! Due to plumbing issues at our church, we've been having night services at another location.

Free Dr Pepper!!!

George and I are health nuts, but we are also a Dr Pepper family. We think that although not terribly healthy, life is too short to not enjoy a cold Dr Pepper every once in a while. We've toured the Dr Pepper museum and even use Dr Pepper barbecue sauce on our fake barbecue. : )

Today only, Dr Pepper is allowing every American to print a coupon for a FREE Dr Pepper. The company made a promise that if Guns N' Roses released the album they've been working on since the mid 90s by the end of 2008, they would give away free Dr Peppers. Somehow GN'R managed to finally get it finished and it was released today. It even came out on vinyl.

Now the last time I saw Axl Rose perform, he didn't sound so hot. But if producers can make Ozzy intelligible when he sings, they can definitely help Axl. How could they possibly top Welcome to the Jungle or Sweet Child of Mine though?

Anyway, be sure to get your free Dr Pepper!

Happy 7 Month Birthday, Peanut!

Today is Reese's 7 month birthday! Here are some random pics from the past few weeks.

Our Saturday in Pictures

1. Baby woke up happy.

2. Fresh squeezed orange juice.

3. Guilty dog ate 2 of Reese's socks.

4. New food - bananas.

5. New hair.

6. LA Gourmet - The best pizza in all of Dallas!

7. A quick trip to Whole Foods to purchase our Tofurky.

8. Nap.

9. New clothes.

10. Yummy dinner.

The War in Pictures

From the comfort and safety of my home, I often forget that our country is still at war. I forget to pray for the soldiers whose lives are at risk every second of every day. I forget to pray for the loved ones, who wonder if their soldiers will return home alive.

I often wonder how my grandmother, Mary, coped while her son was in Vietnam, a land she had never seen. I can't imagine how it would feel to send my little boy to a far off land, where he would be the target of bullets and bombs. I can't imagine what it must feel like to be a soldier at war.

One of the blogs I follow posted pictures of soldiers at work in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. You must take a few minutes to view these amazing pictures. Be sure to note the ages of the soldiers. They are all so young.

I pray they will return home safely - soon.

Thank a Veteran Today

My dad is a veteran who served in Vietnam. He was a Seabee, which is the Construction Battalion (CB) of the United States Navy.

The Seabee - I took this photo at Port Hueneme
Naval Base, where my dad was stationed.

The Three Soldiers

George's reflection in the Vietnam Memorial Wall

Thank you for serving our country, Daddy!

7 Years Already?

George and I became Mr. and Mrs. George Thomas Deines on November 10, 2001. I can't believe we've been married for 7 years. Not bad for two people who never wanted to get married!

I am so thankful God has blessed me with such a fine husband as George. He is caring, an excellent cook, funny, smart, and hard working, just to name a few. He often comments that he's my "servant leader" and he certainly does have a servant's heart. Just this weekend, Reese woke up at 5 am and George watched him for 3 hours so I could sleep. Then, he cooked me a delicious breakfast of pumpkin pancakes, faux sausage, and topped it off with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. More important than all of the above attributes, George loves Christ and strives to glorify God and enjoy Him in all that he does.

A few years ago we read a very good book in Sunday school called Sacred Marriage. The book makes a case that God intends for marriage to make people holy, not necessarily happy. Now I'm not saying that we're not happy, because we are. But when two sinners decide to live as one, there are bound to be difficulties along the way. We were glad to gain that perspective about marriage early on in our life as husband and wife.

This year the Lord blessed us with our sweet Reese and we are now a family of three. My transition into motherhood has not been the easiest at times and George has been a huge blessing. Even when working 70 hours + a week, he never hesitated to change a diaper, vacuum the house, or scoop the cats' litter box. (That last one proves he truly does have a servant's heart, huh?) I love to see George interact with Reese. They are crazy about each other. That's another thing I must include on his list of positive attributes - he's a good father.

I pray that the Lord will help me daily to become a better helpmate and wife to George. I hope I am able to encourage him and make him laugh as much as he does me. Most of all, I pray that we will glorify God as husband and wife from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.

We don't have a scanner, so I had to take pictures of these pictures and the quality is not that great. Plus, the batteries in our camera died and I can't find more, so I'll post more pics when I find more AA batteries.

Praying as the ceremony begins

Leaving the wedding - We didn't know at this point that
my little sister, Jessica, was hiding in the back seat under our luggage!

Those Clothes Look Expensive

This is what happens when Daddy dresses the baby.

Free (Good) Recipes

Yesterday we received our latest edition of Food & Family magazine. It's a FREE magazine from Kraft with tons of great recipes. We're always excited to look through it and see which recipes we can make vegetarian. You can go to the Kraft website and sign up to receive the magazine, or find all of the recipes from the magazine archived here. These are some of the recipes in the current holiday issue:

banana-sour cream cake
truffles
candied apple pie cheesecake
three cheese chicken penne pasta bake
cheesy spinach artichoke dip

I'm definitely going to try the Italian-marinated vegetable salad and the chocolate-candy cane cupcakes. Yum!

Chipotle Pics

Our free "boo-ritos" were delicious. Thanks, Chipotle!

My handsome boys