Quick Update On Our Crazy Life

Oh boy...TIME...there's just not enough in a day!!! I hate that it has been so long since I last blogged! Here is a brief update in photos!

March 6th, Joe's 36th Birthday (He's going to love that I put his age out there)!

Don't you love his "Princess" birthday hat! It was on the floor because Ansley had been playing w/ it earlier. He agreed to wear it for the picture - my goofy husband!

AJ directed how everyone should pose for this picture! He's so funny!

Without us even knowing that Ansley was capable of climbing into a crib, she couldn't resist climbing in to hang w/ her little brother! Poor little Austin doesn't get any space when Ansley is around! She just smothers him w/ love! Although it is very sweet to see her love her baby brother so much, she gets a little carried away at times! The other day she thought it was cute to just lay across his face! When I told her that she couldn't do that she said "K momma!"

Home...for the next 2-3 years! 4 bdrms, 3 baths, basement, sidewalk community with community pool 7 doors down, playground, and tennis courts...not that we play or anything! It's been nice being here! We moved in Valentines weekend and the kids love it! There are several kids on our street for them to play with and with the sidewalks I feel a lot safer letting them ride their bikes/scooters out front! We are also a lot closer to everything...other than my parents unfortunately! :(

Foyer

Kitchen and Living Room

Kids Bathroom w/ double sinks - HUGE problem solver in the mornings w/ AJ and Aleigh!

Master Bedroom - Love all the windows!

My Little Valentine!

Ansley's playdate with Tessa!


ANSLEY IS 2!!! I can't believe it!!! Our little Valentine baby is growing up way too fast! She is so sweet, funny, confident, never meets a stranger and just so full of life! She is so incredibly adored by all of us! We LOVE YOU SOOOO MUCH "Ansley Pansley!"

We originally planned to have Ansley's birthday at home w/ our close friends and their kids. Then, when we realized we were going to be in the middle of packing/moving, we decided to move the party to Joe's studio for the party! It was so nice to not have to worry about cleaning the house! We just brought a few decorations for her "Abby Caddaby" party and ordered pizza! It turned out perfect!

While I was out doing my christmas shopping one night (@ Toys R Us) I saw someone scan the rose petal cottage at the price check and it said $14.99!!! I wanted to get it for Aleigh when it first came out a few years back but it was $90. It's still around $80 normally, but that day Toys R Us was having a HUGE sale and I was able to get the rose petal cottage, the nursery set, the market, and some accessories for under $40! The photo below shows Aleigh and Ansley in the the market.



Madrina (the kids godmother) came and we got to meet her new man, Mike! He's an awesome guy and liked by all! He is very good to our Madrina and makes her very happy!

Feeding daddy her cake!

Ansley and two of her sweet little friends, Casey and Tessa! Their so cute together! We were missing Hayley...she must have been eating cake or something! :)

Ansley adores her papa!

"CHEESE!"

She was so excited to get her gift from Aleigh - Buzz and Woody Colorwonders book! She LOVES Buzz and Woody...a little tomboy! At least she still lets me dress her the way I want to! All too soon she will have an opinion just like her sister and won't like anything I pick out!

Bryson and his sweet girlfriend Elizabeth!

Tammy and sweet little Hayley! Tammy gave birth to another baby girl just a week prior! Baby Camden stayed home w/ her grams!

More presents!


We have a couple of Daddy's Girls!

AJ and Aleigh showing their donations for Haiti! Their school gave out these bags titled "Pennies for the Poor"

Sweet Austin @ 2 1/2 months, ready for bed!

Ansley hitchin a ride on AJ's plasma car!

I can't help but kiss on those cheeks all the time!


Aleigh is such a great big sister! She tries to be so helpful by holding Austin, but it only lasts about 30 seconds because he gets too heavy for her! Ansley got this adorable tricycle from Uncle James and Aunt Amy for Christmas, but since Ansley can't quite reach the pedals, Aleigh helped find a way for Ansley to be able to enjoy her gift! Yes....Aleigh is wearing boots with her pajamas! She's so funny!

Austin! I can't believe this was just 2 months ago! He has grown a TON since then...but not vertically! ;)

The girls trying to stay up to ring in the new year w/ us! We let the kids camp out in the living room. Ansley was the only one that made it until midnight and then had to go to bed in her crib!

GIVE and SAVE!

So before I mention what I really want to share, I have to explain that I have tried SEVERAL times to upload christmas pictures to go w/ the blog entry I started a couple days after christmas. For some reason my photos won't upload to my blog! It just shows a bunch of crazy codes/letters instead of the photos! I will keep trying!

In the mean time I want to share a special moment that Joe and I had w/ our kids last night. A moment that made us both a little proud!

Joe and I have both made some poor financial decisions in the past, and its unfortunate that we both love to shop and spend money! However, 2009 put a big stop to all of that for us and we are now facing the consequences of our poor spending choices. In Feb. we were introduced, by our church, to Dave Ramsey's plan for financial freedom(www.daveramsey.com). He does offer a course that we have not yet had the opportunity to take together because it's usually during weeknights when Joe works. We also have to consider child care when we do find it on a Sunday. Anyway, Joe downloads his daily radio show off of his website and we try to listen to it together. I will be honest though, I was not into listening at first because it was ALL Joe talked about and all he listened to!!! He literally walked around the house w/ his MP3 player and two speakers listening to it (loud enough so that I could hear) ALL THE TIME! We drove to El Paso, TX last February and thats ALL we heard all the way down there and a good bit of the way back home! We couldn't have a conversation w/out Joe talking about getting out of debt and doing everything according to Dave Ramsey! I was over it before I could even get into it! LOL!

Finally, once Joe allowed me to come around on my own time (about 6 months later), I was on board and listening. I actually went online and purchased us tickets in September to go and see Dave Ramsey live! It was awesome and we both TRULEY believe in this guy! He is an awesome christian man and explains how important it is to give, save and buy w/ cash...NO CREDIT! Never become slave to lenders!

Although we are still dealing w/ our financial struggles....these days who isn't?! We can't wait until we are in a position to give even more and save!!! We quit using credit cards last February and, believe me, it has been a real eye opener for us to pay for everything in cash...somehow it just seems to evaporate on its own!!! ;) LOL! We are now learning to budget, but more importantly trying to teach our kids the importance of handling their money correctly!

Back in September, when we saw Dave Ramsey live here in Atlanta, we purchased Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace Jr." for the kids as a christmas gift! It comes w/ a collection of books, envelopes, and charts. It's really awesome and the kids are really into it!



Well, last night AJ was really choppin at the bits to get us to sit down and discuss the Financial Peace Jr. together! Keep in mind, AJ and Aleigh both have quite a bit of money that they have been holding on to for some time. They have earned some of it by doing extra chores around the house, and the rest is gift money from their Grandma Rojas and Tia Mayo!

Both AJ and Aleigh ask for things all the time and we either tell them to wait for christmas, their birthdays, or buy with their own money! They, almost never, opt to use their own money!

One of the tasks they were asked to do was to write down a list of things that they want and then both Joe and I would help them figure out the ONE thing on that list that they wanted to save up for. At first they both had a few items on their list. As we began to discuss what they wanted to spend their money on the most, suddenly neither one of them wanted anything! We went on to explain that its ok to reward yourselves w/ your hard earned money but whatever they decide to do w/ their money is THEIR CHOICE nobody else's, not even mom and dads! We have talked to them about the fact that we feel it's important to give and how rewarding that feels. However, I personally feel that it's even more important to INSPIRE them to WANT to give. I don't want to make them feel guilty or force them to do anything w/ their own money! We have taught them, and they have learned from church, that the bible asks you to give 10%. I still refuse to decide for my children what they do with their money! I explained that if they don't want to let of go 10% and want to give a little less, that was entirely up to them.

The next thing we knew the kids had brought their money downstairs. They layed out their labled envelopes (GIVE, SAVE, SPEND) and AJ pulled out a $20 bill (10% of his money), w/out hesitation, and stuffed it in his GIVE envelope! Then Aleigh shows me a $50 bill and a $20 bill that she had pulled from her wallet(she had a little under $200 total in her wallet). She holds out the $20 bill and says "I want to give this to our church." She then holds out the $50 bill and says "This is what I want to give to St. Judes Childrens Hospital!" My heart filled w/ pride because we have never even discussed with the kids about giving to anyone other than simply giving to our church or anyone we personally know that is in need. Aleigh says that she feels sad for the kids on the commercials who are sick and need medicine so she wants to help! We tried to encourage her to just start out w/ giving 10% and save the rest. She was very strong in her decision, but we are still giving her a little time, just to be sure. We want to make sure that she isn't just trying to please us.

The next thing both AJ and Aleigh did was to take the rest of their money and put it in their SAVE envelope! Joe and I both were like "Isn't there anything you would like to have or buy w/ your money?" and they both responded "No, we don't need anything!" AJ went on to ask how much money he needed to save to purchase himself a car when he turns 16! He said he wants to save $14,000 so he can pay cash for his car! I then explained to the kids that if there is something they are wanting that maybe they could wait and ask for it for their birthday or christmas. Aleigh's response was "No gifts! I don't want anything! Can they just give the money they would spend on a gift to someone else who needs it?" YES!!!

OUR LATEST GIFT - Austin James Rojas :)

I apologize for taking so long to blog about all of the excitement in the Rojas family lately! I know you all understand! I have so much updating to do, I am sure this will be a long entry!

Our sweet new addition: AUSTIN JAMES ROJAS was born on the scheduled C-Section day, October 28th at 8:02 a.m. He weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 in. long! He was born healthy and strong w/ an apgar score of 9 and we knew immediatly that he had a healthy set of lungs by his strong cry...music to my ears! I can't necessarily say that it is STILL music to my ears though! ;) Here is video that the anesthesiologist's assistant was nice enough to get since my husband was too afraid to look over the sheet! It could have looked much worse!

The kids were able to enter the hospital but couldn't go any farther than the nursery (right off the waiting room). They were only able to see Austin if Joe took him to the nursery and then they could view him from the window! My mom is also standing next to the kids taking her own video. Her video is much better because you can hear the kids' reaction and see Joe and the baby better, but it wouldn't upload! The kids' Madrina (godmother) was taking care of the kids for us for the first day and my parents took them for the second day. They were excited to see Austin but so bummed that they couldn't hold him, especially AJ!

C-SECTION:

The C-Section went very smooth! I had great nurses and an amazing anesthesiologist! However, as we were on our way to the operating room my nurse informed us that, starting that day, they were no longer allowing visitors under the age of 18 due to H1N1! We were devistated for the kids, who were SO excited to come to the hospital and hang out in the room w/ us! Aleigh had all sorts of activities packed and had been telling me, for months, how excited she was to go to the hospital and hang out w/ me! I cried on the way to the operating room and was starting to get sick to my stomach because I was so sad for the kids! I completely forgot, for a minute, that I was about to get a big ol needle in my back! Once we arrived in the FREEZING COLD operating room I had to sit on the table for my epidural and spinal and got REALLY nervous because there was nobody there to hold my hand or lean on while he did the procedure (the part I hate the most)! At the last minute, right before the anesthesiologist stuck me w/ the needle, my doctor arrived to greet me and then stood in front of me and held on to my shoulders through the whole procedure! He is such a GREAT doctor!

After the surgery the nurses were all nervous about the post natal hemmoraging I had w/ my last c-section, so for the first 24 hours they were constantly coming in to push, HARD, on my stomach! It was PAINFUL!!! That had to be the worst part of everything...recovery, surgery, etc! Luckily there wasn't too much of an issue w/ hemmoraging this time...thanks to my dr. who administered drugs to prevent that during surgery!

We left the hospital after 2 nights! I was so sad I had not been able to see my kids, that I was bound and determined to prove that I was ready to go! I regreted not staying at least one more night though! There is a huge advantage to being in a bed that you can adjust when you have a huge cut in your belly! Laying flat in your own bed and trying to move around and get up to feed the baby can be very painful! It took me more than a few minutes to get up and walk just 2 steps to the bassinet. My husband sleeps way too hard to hear the baby and help me...the booger!

SPECIAL VISITORS:

Mom was Austin's first visitor who arrived when he was just a few hours old and I was finally out of recovery and in my own room! Labor and Delivery was so busy that day, they actually had women waiting in the halls for a room! Madrina and Austin

Aunt Robin visiting Austin
Uncle Bryson and baby Austin

My dad also came to visit twice, as well as my friends Malin and April! I am dissapointed that I didn't think to grab the camera while they were there!

Austin's favorite place to sleep! I probably shouldn't have let him sleep on me the whole time we were at the hospital! He is finally adjusting to his bassinet though!

Austin - Ready to go home!

They are all so proud of their new baby brother, and VERY happy to finally get to touch and hold him!

Ansley adores her baby brother! Thank goodness!

I just love this photo! They sat like this for a while too!

Proud Big Brother!

Proud big sister Aleigh!

I have recovered well, although the healing process was longer and I finished the whole bottle of percocet (for the 1st time), I am feeling great now! Nursing is going well and we are all doing as well as can be expected! Austin had some jaundice for the first month but his levels were never high enough to need the therapy lights. We did have to go to the hospital 4/5 times for heel pricks, but he never fussed at all over that so it was painless. Now that he is no longer yellow he has major baby acne! I can't wait until it clears up, poor little guy! He is such a laid back, sweet little guy who really loves to snuggle! He has the funniest cry though! It's like a squeal at first and then he breaks out into a loud cry! We still can't figure out who he looks like though! He is his own little person and a great addition to our family! :)

HALLOWEEN:

We didn't think we would be able to dress Austin up w/ him being so new/small! Joe was determined to get this on him though! This Karate uniform was actually given to us as a gift when AJ was born!

Ansley dressed up as Elmo...OF COURSE! :) Aleigh as Monsters Bride
AJ as a Convicted Zombie!
We were thrilled to be able to spend Halloween w/ Chelsea this year! She happened to be home for the weekend and was thrilled to get to hold Austin when he was just 3 days old!
A kiss from Elmo! :)It wasn't but a week or two ago that Joe and I dropped off the older two kids w/ my parents to spend the night, and we headed to Wal Mart w/ the babies. Joe was holding the baby and I was holding Ansley's hand as we took our time walking through the store. We were only there to get a couple of things and I was THRILLED to be out of the house...even though I was feeling some discomfort from my incision. As we were walking I noticed an older lady (probably in her 70's) standing still w/ her cart just watching us. She had such a loving grin on her face and as she looked adoringly at Austin and Ansley she said "GODS MOST PRECIOUS GIFTS!" We

couldn't agree more!

Austin, still a little jaundice in these photos, loves looking at the sparkling lights on the Christmas tree!Joe and I couldn't feel more blessed! We may have stressful situations we are facing in other areas of our lives, but we feel like we have the most important gifts anyone could ever ask for, a strong, loving marriage, and 4 incredible and healthy children!!! I look at all of our children and am amazed and grateful for creating them and bringing them into this world! I have been more and more amazed by life's miracles w/ every one of my kids' births! There were many times during my pregnancy w/ Austin that I would wonder "are we pushing our luck to hope and pray for a 4th healthy baby?" You hear so many stories about the struggles that people have to either conceive, stay pregnant, or birth a healthy baby and the fact that we have been blessed four times is something we will never ever take for granted!!! However, WE ARE DONE!!!
It's so funny how you just know when you are done, without a doubt! While sitting in the waiting room at my post natal visit, I looked around the waiting room and saw all of the pregnant women and thought "oh boy! I'm so glad that's not me anymore!" Hahahaha! That is something I have never felt before at a post natal visit! I usually sit there and see all of the bellies and think "awe, I can't wait to have another one!" That thought didn't cross my mind for a second this time!

We are very busy w/ 4, but I tell ya, my two older ones are SO HELPFUL! I am so grateful to them for all they do to help w/ Ansley! AJ was a challenging 2 yr old when I had Aleigh, but in a totally different way than Ansley! Having Austin when Ansley was only 20 months old is a lot closer and much more challenging because Ansley is so mischievous and has been showing her jealousy by either crying hysterically when I can't hold her because Austin is being fed, or by being VERY defiant! I am just happy that she loves her baby brother!

Once again, I have waited too long to blog, but I have been working on this entry for the past month! I don't get many opportunities to blog, but I will do my best! Austin has already changed so much since I last uploaded my pictures! I figure this blog entry has been long enough, so I will take some pictures tomorrow and post those on my next entry.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and has an awesome Christmas!!! :)