8 DAYS! And sunny side up.

8 days until Lorelai is due! I am really excited to meet our newest family member. I say a lot that the baby stage is my least favorite, but that doesn't mean that I don't instantly fall in love with my babies. I remember looking at Dominick and thinking "wow, he's awesome." The great part is it just keeps getting better for me from there. Yes, dominick has his challenges (he's screaming at me right now to get on my lap which he no longer fits on), but I love him even more than I did on the first day I officially met him. I know Lorelai will not be any different. I love her so much already and I just can't wait to see the woman she will become. That being said, right now she is being a little bugger, is face up and will not move for me. At least not yet. I have been doing exercises to get her to turn all week and I guess I will have to continue until she's born. Brenda is also super excited. She's counting down the days as well. If all goes as planned, she'll hold my hand when Lorelai is born and she wants to cut the cord. I hope I get some great pictures of this. It should be an awesome bonding moment between sisters, that is as long as there are no complications.

They are so excited about the new baby! Ok, Dominick was excited about getting his picture taken and Brenda was excited about Kitty Aaryn letting her pet him, but on the inside, they are excited about their baby sister. :)

Fear of the Unknown

       I really wanted to post more than once a month, but since the news of Aaron's deployment, our lives have been crazy. He's been gone for over a week now and I miss him terribly. The kids miss him, too. I caught Dominick getting on Skype today to try and call Daddy. Every time the phone rings or my computer makes a noise, he yells with excitement "Daddy! Yay! Daddy!"
       To make the stress and sadness of the situation worse, both kids have not been acting normal for the past month. I'm sure it's because of Aaron being gone. That's a lot of change for littles. Brenda will lose it over the smallest things. I don't even know how to respond to it sometimes. Dominick is just difficult. He started hitting, throwing toys and screaming at me. Time outs are a common event for him. He doesn't want to go to anyone else if I am in the room. He clings to me at church or when we go anywhere, that is unless I want him close to me, then he bolts at the first possible opportunity. Let me tell you, he's FAST! Much faster than a 36 week pregnant woman. I wish there was something I could do for them to make this easier.
         This all makes a time that should be a joyous occasion, the birth of our third child, terrifying. I'm so scared of how Dominick is going to react when he can't be the center of my attention anymore. He's the one I'm worried about and to top it off, I have to do it alone. It's not fair to Lorelai. She deserves the bonding time that I may not be able to give her. She deserves to be able to eat without her brother screaming in her ear for my attention. She deserves the cuddles and kisses from her Daddy. It's not fair.
         I am so thankful that I will have one of my best friends here and my sister here for her birth (if she comes on time), but a few days after she is expected to be born, I will be alone with my three blessings and I'm terrified. I know that in a few months, I will be used to my new normal and it will all be ok. It's the unknown of how I'm going to handle everything that I'm terrified of. I pray more than anything that Lorelai will be an easy baby and that she is the only one in there, because, God, that would not be funny!

Thinking about the good things

I think the stress of everything is starting to get to both Aaron and I. Tonight it became a five hour storm. The storm has past for now and I can once again focus on the things that are the most important things in my life. Of course, I'm talking about my three little blessings. Why God wanted me to be their Mommy is beyond me. They are wonderful. 

Brenda

Brenda has this caring nature about her that I hope she never ever grows out of. She tries so hard to make everyone around her feel better. She's still working on how best to do this and reading other's social cues, but it will come with time. I pray that she never stops trying to help people. 

She is an amazing big sister. Even though, Dominick frustrates her sometimes, she still loves him so much. She also loves Lorelai. She talks to my belly and sings to it. Every day she asks about when Lorelai is going to pop out. She can't wait to officially meet her baby sister. 

Dominick

Dominick is hitting the testing stage. He's testing every limit he can think of and is now a time out pro. He's always been challenging though. Believe it or not, my favorite part of today was when he woke up at 5:15 this morning. I was already up, so it was no big deal. I did try to get him to go back to sleep just because being up that early is not good for him. Anyway, my favorite part was from 5:15 to around 6 where he cuddled on my lap in a rocking chair. He doesn't smell like a baby anymore, but I still can't get enough of his smell. We rocked and I rested my head against his so I could smell his hair. I'm surprised he stayed in my lap so long. I think we were both so content just being together. Then he looked up at me with his sweet face and said, "Mommy. Cereal and milk." That's love. 

Lorelai

First, I want to say that I love every move and kick of my littlest. She's saying hello as I type. However, I am scared of her only staying in there 7 more weeks. I'm not ready for her without Aaron. I want to be able to love on her just as much as I did my other two as newborns, but without Aaron, that's just not going to be possible. I already feel like she's getting the bad end of this deal and unfortunately she is. Of course, she is loved so much and I will get used to my new normal with her in it, but reality is that she is the third child. I haven't gotten any belly shots with her, she is going to wear hand me downs, and she's the first of my babies without a nursery. She is going to have to compete with two older siblings for my attention. Good news is that I am aware that I'm afraid of her not feeling as loved as the other two, so I can make an effort to do something about it. But how? How can I show you how much I love you baby Lorelai? I hope that my cuddles when you come out will be sufficient. Please know that I am going to do the best I can to show you, because I love you so much.

Our bad luck continues

        I'm trying so hard not to be pessimistic this year. We have so many good things happening for us. I have a loving husband and 2 and a half amazing kids. I have to wonder if that is why issues are getting to me more. I want them to have a nice house and safe vehicles. The more things we get fixed, the more issues are coming up and we don't have the budget to fix it all.

Here is a recap of the last year:
We had ants come up through the floor and make a hill in my daughter's closet.
We had ants in the kitchen and bathroom, too.
Our foundation is cracking so quickly that our backdoor will no longer shut properly.
There is a crack in our ceiling from wall to wall that makes me feel like the ceiling is going to fall in.
We have roots growing in our pipes causing random backup days.
Our toilet is coming off the floor.
Our van is currently broken down right after we fixed the Jeep, which was broken down before that.
Our oven caught fire and I had to tear apart two of our kitchen cabinets to get a new one in.
Wasps, black widows, and more ants.

        Like I said, we are working hard to get all these things taken care of. Today, we have a plumbing guy scheduled to start tearing up our yard to put in new pipes. We're getting our van looked at this week and we are getting our foundation looked at next week. Yesterday we had pest control out to rid us of our bug issues. This is where our newest problem came up and why I am up in the middle of the night worrying about this.
        Along with getting rid of the ants, wasps, and spiders, we had them check for termites. We got good news to start with. They didn't see any termite damage even though that didn't mean we didn't have them. I was so happy! Finally, something not wrong with our house! Then, he told us about this house he's currently treating where the termites are flying around there kitchen. Wait. Termites can fly?! You can see them with the naked eye? For some reason I was under this delusion that termites were like lice on wood. I thought that they were very small and that you would see damage before you knew they were there. My mind was blown in a bad way as this nice man was describing these flying bugs that can eat my house. I looked them up online and low and behold the strange flying bugs that infested our bathroom last year were termites! From everything I read, that means that we do in fact most likely still have them living in our walls and eating our house. The cost to just eliminate the stupid, scary, little pests is over $2000 to start. Yay....

Our almost memory master!

       Brenda was absolutely amazing with her memory work this year for CC. She mastered Latin, English, History, Math, Science, the 50 states and capitals and the presidents in order of office. She did have a few mistakes in Geography concerning the features and the Timeline where there are pauses in the music, so she didn't officially get memory master this year. We celebrated anyway! She's 4 and many kids don't attempt it until they are around 8 years old and many kids never try for it. That's ok, too. My kids are trying every year and we are going to celebrate every year. My almost memory master requested a trip to Mr. Gatti's for our celebration, so that's where we went. We also decided on an extra surprise while we were out, because she worked really hard and deserves it. We got her a new pet. A red betta fish that she named Red.

Vacation 2015 highlights

For the most part we had an amazing 3 week road trip vacation. Here are some of the highlights:

 The Science Museum

  

The Little Rock 

Happy and Grandma

Fun at Massanutten

  

  Easter Baskets!

 Fun with Cousins 

                               

 Easter Egg hunt or 2

Chuck-e-Cheese 

 Visit with Liz

My Uncle Jimmy

        Yesterday, my Uncle Jimmy went to be with the Lord. My heart breaks because of this for several reasons. My grandmother has now lost three of her seven kids. A mother should never lose a child no matter how old that child is. My Aunt has lost her husband of over 40 years. I've been married for a short six years and I can't imagine being without Aaron. Last, this earth lost another awesome DeBerry. Most people may not understand this, but my family is awesome. I have never met another family like them. They are chill and loving and accepting and always there for each other and their friends. This describes my Uncle Jimmy as well. This earth will not be the same without him.

        One of my earliest memories of having a conversation with him was when I was in seventh or eighth grade. I was a new teen who of course thought I knew everything. Yeah, of course I was wrong. Our conversation was about relationships and terminology. There was a huge generational gap, so I was trying to explain what terminology was used in my generation. Never having been in a relation for more than two months and he was going on 25 years at the time, I see now just how wrong I was. Anyway, he challenged me to write him a paper explaining terminology and what I thought a relationship was. I started the assignment later that week, but quickly got sidetracked and never finished it and never showed him what I had finished. Looking back, he probably just wanted me to practice writing, but I also think that he cared enough to listen to what a teenage girl had to say on the topic of relationships. Why? I have no idea. 

Dear Uncle Jimmy, 

     I can write to you now and say that I knew nothing about relationships at 13 years old. In fact, relationships are hard and I am still learning. I pray that Aaron and I can gain wisdom from relationships like yours that last a lifetime and consist of unconditional love. 

     I also owe you my life. My mom once told me that you and Penny introduced my parents to each other which is how you are both my uncle and my great uncle. She loved saying that you were her brother and her uncle. If it wasn't for that introduction, my parents may not have ever met, never married, never had me and my siblings, I wouldn't have grown, I wouldn't have met Aaron, I wouldn't have 2 and a half beautiful children, and I wouldn't be in the happiest place of my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you and I will never ever forget you. 

                                                                      Love,

                                                                    Malorie Scott

In loving memory of my Uncle Jimmy

It's a GIRL! and other things

First, I would like everyone to meet Lorelai Elizabeth Scott.

It fascinates me everyday that this little person is inside me right now. She is such an amazing gift from God. 

Here our some other things we've done the last week or so. 

Brenda practiced her math skills with some fun St. Patrick's
Day activities.

I held a lock-in for our youth group and we started by going bowling. My kids came for that part. It was Dominick's first time bowling. 

He picked up the spare here!

We went to a St. Patrick's day homeschool party. This is Brenda playing one of the games.

We got out some Easter stuff and Brenda couldn't wait to do an Easter craft.

Brenda had her first soccer practice.

This is my Wednesday night Rainbow's group. I have a great group of kids.

We've spent the rest of our time preparing for our family vacation and working with Brenda on memory work. She is going for memory master in her classical conversions group. For those who don't know what that consists of, here is the break down of everything she has to memorize with 100% accuracy :

•   160 events and people in a chronological timeline
•   24 history sentences (including the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution,  the Bill of Rights, and U.S. historical events from Columbus to 9/11)
•   44 U.S. Presidents
•  120 locations and geographic  features in North America:  States & Capitals, U.S. Rivers, Mountains and Deserts, U.S. Bays, Canals, and Great Lakes, Historical Trails, Territories, Terrains, and other prominent features
•   24 science facts
•   Latin rules, vocabulary and the text of John 1:1-7 in Latin and in English
•  English Grammar facts (including the principal parts of 12 irregular verbs, sentence parts, clauses, and sentence structures and patterns)
• Skip counting up to 15x15, common squares and cubes, basic geometry formulas and unit conversions, and the algebraic laws of addition and multiplication

She is doing a great job so far preparing for this. She mastered Latin last week of all things. She's close in Science and Math, so we will see. She is also the youngest trying for this. Most kids don't attempt memory master until they are 8 or 9. Brenda is 4. She's amazing and I would love to see her get it this year. Even if she doesn't, I am super proud of what she has accomplished and we will celebrate her hard word and dedication when the testing is over.