The Combs Krewe

When I was pregnant with Jathan, the doctor I was seeing asked me if I planned on having a tubal ligation since I would have both a girl and a boy. I was kind of taken aback by his question because I felt so young and had always pictured having a big family. I got the feeling from the doctor, however, that this was pretty commonplace. After all, who wouldn’t want the boy-girl set—part of the American dream, right? When I became pregnant with our fourth child, people became more forthright in their questions about our sex life. I was surprised at the number of people who actually asked me, “Was it a surprise?” (Thank goodness no one said ACCIDENT!) In my mind, no, she was not a surprise because God had her planned since the beginning of time! Equally disturbing were people’s seemingly light-hearted question usually directed at Jackie, “Don’t you know how THAT happens?” I’ve always wanted to respond, “Why, yes, we do. I see that you’ve only managed to have one child…do you need some po...

Saturday was a busy day for us! Jathan and Ryland were invited to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's at 9:30 a.m. You know, the time when we're usually just waking up. At first I thought it sounded crazy but once we got there I understood. It was awesome being almost the only ones there! The boys had an absolute blast playing games and riding rides and Jathan was completely enthralled with the costumed version of Chuck E. We left just before lunchtime when everyone else was piling in and we were worn out. Jathan had won 52 tickets and got some glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth with them. He thinks they are so cool and even wore them to church today! So glad that Victory shared her special day with us!

Mardi Gras is drawing near and I say when in Rome, do as the Romans! So we've decked the house out in green, purple, and gold. I used some Christmas decorations, Keeleigh's mask, and some beads to spruce up our table. We are using Keeleigh's boas on the wall over the table and I'm so happy to have my little Lucky Doll from the French Market hanging out on my shelf this month! We used our beads from years past on the balcony where we also put up some colored lights. I hung the rag wreath that I made on the front door. And I made the boys some Mardi Gras shirts out of the leftover fabric. Now if only I could find a maternity tutu to wear to the parade, we'd be good to go! = )

I am 25 weeks pregnant today! That means I only have 15 more weeks to go. Give or take, of course, since I've never actually made it to a due date. I end up counting down differently--like, only 8 more weeks and Jathan was born, only 10 more weeks and Ryland was born, only 12 more weeks and Keeleigh was born! I am ever prayerful that baby sister will be 42 weeks gestation and I'll be desperately hoping for her to come out already . = P If something *should* happen though, I'm taking comfort in the fact that many babies survive being born at 25 weeks. My little one's lungs are capable of working and she's getting stronger each day! I feel her move often now and try to picture what part it might be protruding. It usually feels like she's sideways in my tummy but whether it's an elbow or foot poking me, I don't have a clue. I'm just thankful for each little movement. There just aren't many things better than feeling your baby move inside of you. I n...

In New Orleans people will use any excuse to party. At my house I will use any excuse to craft. President's Day passes without so much as a glance at the calendar for some but I'd been making a long list of ideas for quite a while, scanning the holiday pages of my February Family Fun Magazine half wishing I did have a kid born of February 21st so I could have one of the cute theme parties they feature. Yes, I am THAT dorky. So I checked out a few books from the library. I really wish I'd done my homework before I went but I didn't so I just had to settle for what I could find in the short time I was able to hold Ryland down in between the aisles before he started screaming. I got one book based on the song This Land is My Land and one based on America the Beautiful. I also got one that I thought was really cute called Grace for President. It was about a young girl who couldn't believe there had been no girl presidents. Her teacher proposed a class election and she d...

While he's certainly not the first free-spirited child I've had (ahem, Keeleigh!), Ryland does have a very unique personality which includes a precocious ability to climb and "explore" in other ways that make his mama want to scream. Here he is halfway to the freedom I was trying to keep him from! I swear, he scales ANYTHING he can get a foothold on. I've since turned the gate around so that he can't get onto that bar. Here's hoping that keeps him! And here is his latest conquest--lifting the toilet seat all by himself! Honestly, shouldn't someone be watching this kid? = P

Was actually a bit late since he was almost 13 months old at the time. Better late than never, huh? Perhaps not since he was running a fever within a few days of being in that surely germ-infested waiting room! Moving on, however. Ryland was found to be in excellent health! He weighed 20 pounds and was in the 10 percentile for both height and weight. Yes, he's small but I'm glad! I really don't know how I could carry around a chunky baby. Plus all of my children have been small and have caught up. Keeleigh was petite (5 pounds, 12 ounces at birth) and is soon to surpass me in height. She's already got me beat on shoe size! We chose not to have Ryland vaccinated this time for the first time. I know its a controversial issue and that not all people think it was the wisest choice (including his doctor). But many factors contributed to our decision and I wanted to share some of them in case you are deciding whether or not to vaccinate or are just curious why people like us ...

After weeks of chilly weather, the sun finally has decided to shine again! Sunday was the first day of beautiful weather so we decided to head to the French Quarter to enjoy it. Judging by the crowds in the streets, we weren't the only ones! We've lived here almost 3 years and I found myself wondering how long you have to live here before this gets old. I just love the Quarter (give or take a couple of streets). The architecture, the music, the food, the interesting characters you're sure to pass! Here are a few shots from our afternoon. See how blue the skies were? Decorating for Mardi Gras! I think I know what I'm going to do with all of our extra beads now! The Louisiana Supreme Court Building. Sunday was the first time I'd even noticed it! Keeleigh lookin' all urban chic! Jathan and his balloon animal made by one of the clowns wandering around. Ryland and his ill-fated balloon animal. There's a reason they call bal...

It's always a sad thing to take down the Christmas decorations for me. Though you regain some sense of order and normalcy, I do love having things look festive. So we decided to try to do at least a little decorating for each holiday beginning with Valentine's Day this year. It was so hard for me to wait for February 1st to sweeten things up around here! Back in January (told you I was an eager beaver!), I made my first ever rag wreath after I was inspired by a Facebook friend (thanks, April!). I would much rather craft something that just go out and buy it and I think it looks really cute on our door! Then we bought some of the little dollar clings at Walmart and the kids enjoyed decorating our balcony door and homeschool window with them. Then we took a craft idea from this month's Family Fun magazine and made some yarn hearts . (Follow the link for directions.) Keeleigh made some "stained-glass" hearts to hang on over our dining room table and in our school roo...

Monday is traditionally red beans and rice night in Louisiana (because Monday was wash day and it was a no-fuss meal to cook) but we had it last night as our Tuesday night meal (incidentally after a full day of washing!). It simmered on the stove while our Mexican cornbread cooked in the oven and I waited anxiously for Jackie to get home to eat because it all smelled SO GOOD! Being one of our favorite meals, we all (except Keeleigh, our "discriminating" eater) scarfed it down. I just think it's adorable to see Jathan scooping big spoonfuls into his eager mouth and little Ryland in his highchair grunting for more and more. No baby food at our house! Pretty soon they'll be asking us to pass the hot sauce. I'm so glad that I found a great recipe that we enjoy so I wanted to share it with you guys. Here's how I make red beans and rice: 1. Go make groceries. Buy: 2 cans Blue Runner cream-style red beans (You're out of luck if you don't live in LA on this on...

Check out Keeleigh's new campground! She and Jathan had fun hanging out playing in the new tent on the breezeway today. Shhhh, no one tell housing we're violating fire code!

Alternately Titled: I'm Really Excited That We Saved a Boatload of Money Today. Today was a super busy day! First off I took the boys to the doctor--more on that later. Then we went to Target to get Jathan some church shoes (and a Barrel of Monkeys). When we got home we left almost immediately to go to Mellow Mushroom for Jackie's birthday. Yep, he's another year older today but don't worry, he hasn't shown any signs of growing up yet. = P We had gotten a couple of gift certificates to Mellow Mushroom, one of our favorite pizza joints, through New Orleans Perks where you can get 1/2 price certificates to different restaurants. So instead of spending $30, we spent $15 and filled up on some DELICIOUS cheesy garlic bread and the house special. After Mellow Mushroom we went to Academy Sports so that Keeleigh could look around. She's been wanting a tent to play in and they had a 7x7 one on clearance for $16! She's so excited that she wanted to set in up on the b...

Some couples make it a priority to have a regular date night. Jackie and I have not been so great about doing that. In fact, last night was the first time we'd been out alone in about 2 years! So I was very happy that we're blessed with wonderful friends who volunteered to keep our kids for a few hours while we went out to eat. Jackie got reservations for Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (unfortunately the one downtown was booked up so we went to Metairie) and we headed there for some yummy, yummy steak, garlic mashed potatoes, and sauteed mushrooms. The only thing that could have made it better was if they'd had Dr. Pepper, ha ha! It was so much fun, I hope it's not another 2 years until we do it again!