U.S.N.

I personally didn't believe that the world would end today.  Although I joked with my husband that I would never have to turn 30 (tomorrow, eek!), I truly never believed any of the hype about the world coming to an end today.

However... Last night around 11:25, I might have given the possibility of the world ending a thought.  Or, at the very least, the world as we know it ending.  Go ahead and laugh; call me crazy.  But last night, if you had been in my shoes, or pajamas, rather, you probably wouldn't be laughing.

I was sitting on the couch, half-asleep, nursing Jack, when all of the sudden the eeriest thing occurred.  It was a U.S.N., an Unidentified Scary Noise.  If it can even be called that.  It was really more of a feeling than a sound.  As I was sitting on the couch with Jack, I felt my house literally quiver.  And, while my house quivered, I could hear the windows rattling.  It only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was long enough to completely freak me out!

I immediately started praying, begging God to keep my children safe.  I really thought that what I heard, or felt, was a bomb.  That we were being attacked by terrorist.

After it happened, I sat on the couch, stunned.  I kept waiting for Chuck to come in the living room, but after what seemed like an hour he still didn't come.  I got up to go into our bedroom and get him, but he met me in the kitchen.  In reality, it was only a few seconds after the actual U.S.N. happened that he came rushing in, asking if I heard THAT.

We tried to figure out what was going on; he even went outside with his gun to check things out, but we weren't able to.  I was too afraid to even look out the window!  Chuck suggested thunder, but my gut instinct was that it was most definitely NOT thunder.  I told him I thought it was an explosion somewhere.  Or, possibly a military plane that flew over, really, really low.  But I was certain that it was not thunder.

After a few minutes of trying to figure it out, we decided to turn on the police scanner just to see if they were talking about it.  Thank goodness they were.  And, come to find out, it was an explosion!  There is road work going on not far from our house and part of that work included blowing up a bridge that was no longer safe.

But, even though I knew what it was and that it was an explosion in a controlled environment, I couldn't shake the fear that I felt.   I laid awake in bed for a while thinking about this incident.  And, I began to think of the people in other countries where explosions happen on a regular basis.  I just can't imagine.  I can't imagine the fear that they live with, wondering if the next one will be the last for them, for their children and other loved ones.

I fell asleep last night praying for the people who experience these things.  Praying that God would bring peace to their hearts.  And, also, thanking God that my children don't live in a place where explosions are a regular part of life... which is something I don't thank HIM enough for.

So, with my thirtieth birthday just hours away, I think I will make a list of (at least) 30 things I am thankful for.

What are some things that you are thankful for?

Should...

I should be cleaning my house since both kids are napping.  I should be finishing thank you notes from the gifts we received over the weekend.  I should be catching up the laundry, ironing, organizing or about a million other things that are on my to-do list.  But, I'm not.

In the last five weeks, since Jack's arrival, I have somewhat neglected myself to take care of my family.  I do it by choice, and I do it happily.  And, I will continue to do it as long as I need to to make sure my family is well taken care of.  But, for now, for these next few moments while both kids are asleep, I am doing something I want to do for me... write!

I have loved every moment of the last five weeks.  I love having two babies.  I love taking care of them and Chuck.  But, I have missed blogging.  I have sat down to blog on several occasions, but couldn't get the words to flow.  I felt guilty for taking a few minutes away for myself and doing something I love.  Not that that is anything new for any given Mom out there, just a reality.  But anyway...

Things have been great around our house since Jack's arrival.  He is such a precious baby!  And, Emma is an excellent big sister.  She loves him so, so much.  I haven't had a chance to share some of the cute things she has said or done relating to him.  Such as, when he first was born, Emma kept calling him a HER.  She would say, "I wanna pet her."  No matter how much we tried at first, we could not get her to say HIM.

She finally has gotten her pronouns straight, but now refers to Jack as her 'Brother Sister.'  Not really sure why or how he is both, but it's cute to hear her refer to him that way.  She also loves to  'get Jack kisses.'  Poor little guy gets kissed a million times a day!  And, usually, I find him with a variety of lip print colors and debris.  Usually, it is the powder from white donuts, chocolate or strawberries.

Emma has been really good with Jack and knowing her boundaries with him.  Although she says she wants to pick him up, she hasn't tried to... YET.  She asks him all the time if he wants a bite of whatever she is eating or a drink of her milk.  Only once have I caught her trying to feed him something.  She was trying to shove cereal in his mouth the other morning!  I explained that he didn't have any teeth so he couldn't eat her food and that seemed to make sense to her.  Hopefully, she won't try that again!  Wishful thinking, huh?

When we are driving and he cries, she alternates between the sweet, 'It's okay, buddy' and the not so sweet, 'HUSH!' Most of the time she does responds sweetly to him crying.

I guess the hardest thing for her was me breastfeeding.  At first, Jack was jaundice and pretty lethargic.  It would take him forever to nurse.  And, my milk supply seemed low, so I felt like he wasn't getting enough to eat.  He would nurse often and that took a lot of time and attention away from Emma.  She would cry and become demanding when I would sit down to nurse.  However, that has gotten better.  Jack feeds much more efficiently and she is much more tolerant of not having my undivided attention.

Overall, life has been good here and just keeps getting better.  Not to say there haven't been hard days, because there have.  Luckily, they have been few and far between.  We are settling into a routine and getting the hang of being a family of four.

I look forward to getting back to blogging more often and sharing pictures of the kids... I don't think I have uploaded a single one to share with anyone since Jack was born!  I've got to do better!

Happy Tuesday!