wow... good bye 2011

This year has sure flown by. I know they say once you have kids the years just go faster and faster and I never really believed it till it came true and now I can't seem to slow the clock down one bit!

This new years eve I am sitting in my quiet living room with all 3 little princess tucked in their beds and sleeping so soundly. My husband is working tonight and I am laying here  and counting all the blessings we have surrounding us and how grateful I am for this year. It has been a adventurous one With Sarah turning 4! then Sophia turning 1! Then me turning 29! lol the last of my 20's! Then the birth of our Sydney pie. Then hubbys surprise birthday party! Adrian turning 16! Steven getting the position at Kiaser!

So many more milestones in between. So many blessings and challenges and memories. I will be forever thankful for 2011 for it was a year to remember for sure. I have grown in the Lord. and I have learned so much about friendship and family.

Tomorrow as we wake up it will be a new start to a new year and another chance to make some new resolutions.

My personal resolution is to get back in shape. isn't that a classic one? lol but i just joined a weightless challenge and I kinda would love to win! competitive? nah.

I wanna set a few more personal ones to. More time with God. keeping a journal and continuing my devotionals. 

So I welcome u 2012!! 

slowly i exhale

Slowly I exhale as i sit in complete silence and the only thing on is the christmas tree and my laptop. I had a hell of a day. and I didn't even leave the house! Everyone was whining today ALL day and I seriously questioned investing in a sound proof box, like the size of a telephone booth and placing it in my garage and locking myself in there and screaming. 
Today didn't start out that way in fact it start out awesome! laughs, giggles from all 3 girls and then right before lunchtime it hit and it was melt down town! time outs and naps were handed out and mommy time out with an extra cup of coffee (this is where i put the gate up blocking off the kitchen and sit on the rug in front of my stove so no kid can see me, just so u have a visual). Then Sydney didn't want to nap and she started crying and woke up Soph  early.Then Soph decided she was cranky and whines about everything when she is tired. Then Sarah pissed her off and Sophia started in with the screaming. Got Sydney down for a nap and Sophia and Sarah were good watching tv so I snuck up to take a shower. (i do this often with no problems) then Sarah snuck over gate and went upstairs and with her loud voice she woke up Sydney and then I was upset and yelled at her to go downstairs. Lets just say Sarah spent most of the day in time out and didn't even get her popsicle after dinner. 
I have my melt down and start crying cause i just wanted to have a nice pj day at home and enjoy my kids and play and hug and kiss on them and they were making it impossible... Sydney wanted to nurse all day! and Sophie wanted to eat all day and Sarah wanted to bug Sophie all day and obviously fell in love with the time out spot cause she was there often sometimes even got sent back as soon as she got out!
Days like this i miss my job! I miss being able to clock in and out and leave my work behind and even the option of calling in sick or going home early cause I'm sick. Sometimes during these days I don't even know who to call or text or who to turn to for prayer or advice or to see f they are going through this to and to see what they do... sometimes I feel so lonely in this world. My husband works so much and so hard and he is often sleeping during the day that i can't even text him or talk to him about this cause as soon as he wakes up he has to go right back to work again.This mommy hood is no joke and sometimes I sit back and I know God has a reason for everything but with how close these babies r Im just not seeing it and that makes me sad but sometimes its soooooooo hard to be joyful when I have days like this. which i should be grateful are few and far between. but today not so much feeling grateful here.... I know sad!
I also feel like i put myself out there and try to be friends with people and invest time and energy and sometimes I feel like I must not be worth it cause i don't get it back in return. Then there are those friends who say they are but really aren't cause all they do is talk about u or share your stories with others and i don't know who to trust cause i don't know who will keep my struggles between us and not share them with everyone. right? those aren't true friends so I've learned my lesson and don't share much anymore and don't put myself out there anymore. intact I've become a bit of a very private person and shut people out and then I find myself in this spot where I feel lonely. I get to the point where I feel like well why should i be the only one trying? why should i continuously try to call, text, email, see.? 
I guess tonight is my chance to throw myself a pity party cause I feel defeated by all 3 of my kids and I don't feel like I did enough and I feel like I failed today as a mom and a wife. 
This is where I'm needing God. As i put my first 2 to bed I closed their door and sat down in the rocking chair to nurse Sydney to bed. I asked God to be with me and to comfort me as I feel lonely weak and overwhelmed. I asked him to forgive me for my sins and to please fill this lonely feeling. I need him lots tonight as I lay here wishing I would press the rewind button and do it over. and praying for a new day tomorrow.

my heart....

my heart has been aching lately, not sure exactly what this is or where its taking me. But its been aching and Ive been in prayer a lot lately. I find myself just praying for the kids all over this country and right here in our own backyard of OC I know there r some kids who r dealing with neglect and who go to bed without kisses or hugs and maybe not even have enough warm blankets or a pillow. Im thinking of these kids and praying for them and the ones who r in foster care and those who are aging out of the system and who are being told to go and be the adult they were hardly taught how to be and don't know where to go. 

So my heart aches because if I knew where I could go to hold and kiss and hug every one of them, read them a story, play with them just simply love on them and be a positive influence on them I would right this minute and feed them and love them and I wish that would make all their problems go away even though I know it wouldn't but Im just so saddened lately thinking of them. 

Im praying God will open doors for me to help in some small way to use up all this love I have to share not only with my own kids but how it really is endless and I could use it to show love to others as well.

Just a little prayer I wanted to share and jot down where my heart has been 

Family pics!!

Im sooooo thrilled that we got our family pics done and that it all went smoothly... as smoothly as it can go with a bunch of kids and a teenager and 2 adults lol but i think it went well and I am sooooo pleased with them :) So here r some and I can't wait to print them out and hang em up everywhere! Thanks to Shara a friend from Nurture :) she is truly an amazing mom of 3 also and a awesome photographer!

 silly girl

 hehehe

 sister love!

 seriously love these girls and wouldn't know how to live without them! so blessed to have all 3!!

 this is soooo funny how much Sydney wanted that candy cane!

 Handsome teenager! 16! yikes!

 and of course "boy" he is part of our family and got where ever we go he is one of us for sure

 sweet, beautiful Sophie

 Funny, loving Sarah

 silly, squeezable Sydney

 the ground was so cold! srry baby but this is a really cute face!

 my babies!!!

 my Husband he is so wonderful and I love him lots

 kisses

 yea I think he loves me to!

 love having shots of just us!

 yep! thats us!! gotta love us!

Christmas time at the Sandbergs

So this year i have been busy decorating and getting festive in here. 

Christmas tree-check!

Wreath hung on front door-check

nativity scene-check

ginger bread bought

cookie supply bought 

presents bought

yep almost ready!

this yea it has been on my mind to set some real traditions and possibly ones my kids will want to carry on. this is something we didn't have growing up there was never any real traditions and this year i would really love to start some. 

It was super fun to talk about this at my mommy church groups and to hear what other do and to adopt some of theirs into our family. 

1st- with our nativity scene we removed baby Jesus and will place him in the manger on christmas morning and for now Sarah gets to place him there and next maybe Sophie and the next maybe Sydney :) 

2nd- 3 presents for each kid! symbolizing the 3 wise mens gifts. 

   Gold: something they want

   Frankincense: something spiritual

   Myrrh: is something u need.

3rd.- is doing something for someone else as a family. this year we haven't decided what that looks like yet.

4th- drive around looking at christmas lights with hot cocoa and while we have babies who don't enjoy looking at lights from the car we decided we r going to the Newport beach boat parade :)

lastly 5th- bake cookies and deliver em to the neighbors while looking at the neighborhood lights (this we have done for the past 4yrs)

we were gonna do the advent calendar this year but time got away from us and I decided i have enough stuff on my plate I'm gonna skip it and maybe do it next year :)

But i do read Christmas stories and the Jesus story from our kid bible and play Christmas music and have some fun crafts for the kids leading up to christmas day.

been a while?

yep its been a loooong while. a whole month has gone by with no blogging. i start off with good intentions f bloggin but get so buys with other things and it slips my mind till i see everyone else blogging and thinking "o yea i need to to" 

So lets see so much has happened this past month yet so much has stayed the same. 

Sydney just tuned 7 months!! and this is the longest i have breastfed and I am really enjoying not buying formula on a weekly basis yet I am sure wishing this baby would take a bottle here and there... 7 months of breastfeeding means 7 months of not getting a real break! No mommy days out no dates no long walks on the beach no picnics with the hubs.... BUT i have to say that this has totally been worth it. As much as I have complained and asked for advice, every time I sit down to nurse and stare at that sweet precious babe nursing away I feel so blessed and loved so much by her that she is able to be nourished and fed from me. Its a special bond I will never forget and this time in life though it can be rough it is soooooo precious to me and is slipping away way to fast. 

As I type here the 3 little princes sleep soundly in their beds and I can just picture all their sweet little faces and want to run up there and kiss em all over. I am such a blessed mommy to have these 3 blessing call me "mommy"

My day to day prob looks a lot like yours if u have 3 kids. and even though I may whine a complain about how tired I can get and how low my patience can get I always try to remind myself of how fortunate I am that I am able to have this life and love on those kids all day. 

I tend to be a very optimistic person and so much tho that I can come off as if I have it all together all the time and that I seem to be doing it all and that I must never loose it and get mad and frustrated or that nothing goes wrong over here and that my kids must be perfect....

The truth is sooooooo far from that but the truth is that I choose to focus my energy and give attention to all the good things that go on in my life cause the bad moments shouldn't be aloud to waste any of my energy and they don't deserve the focus. 

I to have many times in my day specially with 3 kids and one 4yr old who thinks she is going on 10 sometime and 2 babies! yes 2! Sophia is sooooo not much of a toddler yet she is such a baby still and is very needy and wants to be held and cuddled and played with and Sydney who is wanting all of me too! So I am spread thin and I loose my patience and I can yell at my kids and scream and want to run away. Im sleep deprived and hungry and thirsty and need to held too! Im a needy girl too! lol so this house is full of needy girls! HELP! lol poor husband. Who yes is needy himself too...

But i have come up with a great way to sneak around all the negativity that can consume us and can take over our day by giving attention to all the bad moments in our days. 

only give attention  and engery to the good things in life! (sounds optimistic? nah ) by doing this it helps me to feel happy and to move past the hiccups in the days. I love to only focus on the brighter side of things and then pray for the frustrating parts of my days which is usually Sarah talking back to me or repeatedly doing something I asked her not to do. 

I have also become a huge friend of schedule since I became a mommy. If I live by my schedule then we r all happier around here! it can be bent or broken sometimes but while hubbys working many many days in a row which usualy means many 24hr shifts in row for me, I usually won't break it unless is a special outing or activity that can't be rescheduled.

Ive been printing out task sheets and set em up for us and along with a house cleaning schedule so no bathtub or toilet got un scrubbed and no one runs out of underwear... which yes btw has happened!(cause i hate laundry soooooooooo much) So task scedhule r a must here in the Sandberg house for sure! I also don't do everything in one day which has saved me from going crazy from being overwhelmed. 

I also love to be organized and everything has its place and I like to be able to say its upstairs in the closet to the right on the top shelf and have that thing be right where i say it is... so is that what they call OCD? not sure but whatever it is its working for us. 

Ill have to blog and show my schedule and post pics of our meal planning and house cleaning and daily task sheets. soon. 

6 months she is!

Sydney pie is 6 months old!! she is growing so fast! she is 14lbs! and is perfect in every way. She is 100% breastfed and loving it. She refuses to eat solids. No teeth ye slough must be teething cause she drools like crazy. She loves to watch her sisters and loves loves loves Toy story 3! lol yep her fav movie! i know she is young but when u have 2 other kids watching movies its hard to not let the baby relax and watch to while mommy gets some time to sit. I love how much she adds to our family and I love how much all my girl love each other and how they will have each other forever! they make me so happy and filled with so much love I never knew i had.
Doctors order to be aggressive with solids food 3x a day and to try lots of mixers with cereal and veggies and fruit. So we will try try try.... today marks day 1. ill see how it goes.
Although her doc apt turned into a 3 for 1. Sophie seemed congested and it turns out she has rev and needed a breathing treatment to clear her lungs and Sarah too since she had the beginnings of it. Turns out its just a regular cold for us adults like hubby has but for the babies it can turn into rsv. So one more treatment for Soph tomorrow morning and then continue meds for both  the girls and should be in the clear for now..... cold season you suck!
So Sydney and I are following our doc orders and stayed out all day yesterday getting some fresh air. We went to some thrift stores and walked around the spectrum :) fun day with me and my girl. we missed our family so much tho!
Today Im gonna run a couple more errands and then Im gonna lock myself in my room and do some sewing :)

Today's rant

What are called to do as Christians? Set an example of Gods love.
Why?
Cause he showed this to us and continues to even when we don't deserve it.
When?
Always
How?
By loving others and giving grace where needed.


This is true but not always possible right?
Right. It's hard for us humans to be perfect all the time. But we must try, try our hardest to show other love, grace, forgiveness.
With that said.
There is a certain someone who has chosen to say they are a believer but sure not setting a good example. And for those of u who aren't it sure can be a discouragement to see these who say they are and talk the talk but sure aren't walking the walk. And yes we are all human and we all sin, but if u are repeatedly trying to cause tension, friction or pain or reminders of mistakes that's not only sad but it's so the opposite of what we r supposed to do as followers.
*If you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, your Father in heaven will forgive you. (Matthew 6:14 CEV)
*Hatred stirs up trouble; love overlooks the wrongs (proverbs 10:12)
*So I command you to love each other. (John 15:17 CEV)
*Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him. (Romans 12:2 CEV)


DON'T HOLD GRUDGES and don't be mean its really not becoming of u and u look foolish.
Don't waste time wasting others time.

End of my rant.

Purdging

So i am cleaning out our toys boxes and clearing out unneeded stuffed animals and things we no longer need ! I've wanted to do this for some time now but when i go to do it i can't seem to part with anything either for sentimental reasons or just cause i think we might "need" it one day. The fact is I'm taking time to reavaluate and reorganize some things in my life and this is where I'm starting is our "things"
Im only keeping a few toys the girls play with and the rest is out. Im keeping the good ol learning toys but the rest is outta here! yay! can't wait!
When I had Sarah I kinda spoiled her and wanted to my hands on every toy so when i went to the consignment stores id find toy after toy for so cheap it was hard to pass up but now that i have 3 kids and see how little they actually get played with and there r only a few favorite its time to say goodbye.
This process is not easy and no its not cause of me its cause of the kids! really it is! I have to do little by little and hide them in my room under my bed and in my closet till friday night then i can load em in my van and then hopefully sell em at the garage sale Saturday! :) yippy!

oh yeah!

So its been a few days and its going great.! 

the sleeping arrangements that is. I am happy to announce that it wasn't all peaches and cream in the beginning specially the first night but now Sophia is getting used to it. She is the only one who rebelled against the idea of new sleeping arrangements. She screamed for about 15min the first night, 10 min the next night, and 5 min the next... the funny part is she is totally fine for naps doesn't cry AT ALL! but bed time when her sis is in the room is when she screams! so i partly think it was because she doesn't want to share with her sis (kinda having that battle going) and partly cause she is like "wait why am i stuck under this thing" lol well I'm happy to say despite of all that its going wonderful and i can't even express in to words how fun it is to have my room back to myself at night and to be able to move around and when my hubby is home i don't have to tell him to roll over when he starts snoring. off subject but I LOVE his snoring! yeah i know silly crazy weird all the above. but yes I do I LOVE it. it soothes me and puts me right to sleep. (another story another time)

Well Sydney wakes a couple of time and i thought i would hate getting up and getting her but actually its nice cause i know as soon as we r done nursing i can wrap her back up and lay her back down and i get to have uninterrupted sleep and same with her. she doesn't do the "snacking" feeds anymore and mommy gets way more zzzzz's :) 

So I'm happy this is all working out for the better for us all!

First night....

So tonight is the first night of different sleeping arrangements. Sarah and Sophia are sharing a room again for now and Sydney is asleep in her own room swinging away in her swing. I have got to get this last baby sleeping through the night better and better. Hopefully less wakings.
So I put sydney to sleep first and then finished up baths with Sarah and Sophie. Then me and the girls went down waits to have some Popsicles (frozen gogurts shhhhh) and then we came up stairs to read a story and then said our prayers and tucked em in. Sophie screamed and cried for 10min! Ahhhhhhh I thought it was never gonna end! Went in and gave her back her paci and ave her a hug and she seemed to calm down and finally fell asleep. Let's home they stay that way. Lol!
I retired to my own room!!!! I haven't had my room to myself for a long time! And free to make noise and free to watch a show! It was lovely :) I put away piles of laundry and I took a long bath! And watching a silly soap called basketball wives. Now to go to sleep and hopefully not wake to many time :)

Change

So it seems it's ever changing here in our house...
So now its room swap time again. Mommy is in desperate need of some better sleep and in order to do that we gotta get Sydney sleeping in her own room. But now we have to have Sarah and Sophia share a room for a bit so I don't have 2 babies waking and wanting to be held at 2am!
We got a new bed for Sarah and she is so happy to have it. We set it up last night and it's a really tall loft bed. And sophies crib will go under it today and this way we can save play room in their room. Sarah did really great her first night. It's huge up there for her. She of course invited all her "pets" up with her and it sure looks cozy :)
So tonight will be the test to see how Syndey does in her own room and hopefully this won't take to long so I can get the two babies back together. We shall see... They both nap alot still so I feel like someone is always sleeping. Lol
Sarah 4yrs
Sophia 20month
Sydney 5 months

k parents... one thing i have been working on this past year is being "present" with my kids. I hope u will join me. In fact yesterday it was so awesome when moms and more (women's church group) talked about this topic and it spoke right to my heart and confirmed what i have been feeling and trying to do in my own home. So here it is....

Put down the phone, turn off the comp., turn off the t.v., ignore the faxes emails, text etc!
lets interact with our kids and lets teach them to enjoy "play" !

I pray you all will join in and teach our kids that there is way better stuff to do then to be glued to technology. And spend some real quality time with them while they r still willing to play with us and want our attention.:)

play a game, go on a scavenger hunt, read a book or 2 or 5, make lunch together, color, play dough....etc.

I know i am guilty of just handing Sarah her phone (my old iPhone) in the past and just letting her get lost in the games. which can be great learning tools as well! But now I have been more structured with it and with the t.v. We allow 1 hour of t.v. a day and on a stay at home day I allow 2hrs. which usually means one show for sarah and one show for Sophia in the morning while we "wake-up" and then a show for Sarah during "rest time" in her room. and then the rest of the time we r paling and Im practicing being "present" with her. I also spend a whole afternoon each week setting up school lessons and busy bags for Sarah. I have folders for everyday that i can set in front of her and she can go through them and do a bunch of activities the subjects we do is writing, math, tracing, coloring, cutting, matching, memorizing. etc. Our busy bags consist of little projects I've collected from the dollar section at target or michaels and Joanns. I also put a puzzle in there and I also have these really cool magnetic play sets which she loves.
Anyway this was my goal for the past year and will continue this till Sarah goes to Kindergarden. Im not ready to let her go to real school yet! ahhhhhh

When the sickness passes...

The windows are open doors opened and the house is filling with fresh air and everything is cleaned and vacuumed and mopped and the laundry is washing. Everything is getting germ free and it feels wonderful.
You might say I have a problem with germs. I'm kinda a germaphobe (?) I have to clean quite often prob more then the average. I used to spend a lot of my time wondering if this is normal or if it was a result of living with my mom whom I love lots but she is a neat freak herself.Now ive just accepted myself for who i am... Lol r u proud of me?
I'm hoping I'm normal but then again what is "normal" anyway? I think we r all a bit crazy and abnormal. I like things clean that's ok right? I know I'm a mom with three kids so I should just let the mess happen right? Well I do with toys and such but not dirt. I can't handle dirt. I prob clean my floors 2x a day cause in my silly brain i know there is a good chance someone will eat off the floor or lick it knowing my kids. And there are rarely dishes in my sink and if there is a sink full of dishes there is easily an explanation and it's usually either I'm sick or one of the kids are (thank goodness that seems to be rare) We dont allow shoes in the house and and I still prob vacuum 3x a week.
Oh but my room is kinda the exception. I'm not afraid to share my dirty little secret... My room is the "dump all" place. Partly because there is always a baby sleeping in there or my husband who sleeps during the day so I can't really put things away so I just leave piles here and there of things that need to be filed or put away in drawers. So if you ever come over don't go in my room! Lol and if you do I warned you!!
But let me tell you my down fall, it's laundry!! I HATE laundry.! In fact my friend had the most awesome idea and that was that I would bring all my dirty laundry over and we would both have a huge Bon fire! Yea that would be awesome!! Well if we had a bunch of $$ to go buy new stuff it would have been a great problem solver right? Lol
I do not enjoy it at all! People have said it therapeutic to fold laundry... If your one of those people I've got lots for u to come do any time you need some therapy! Seriously anytime! :-)
Can't wait till the girls r older and I can give each a chore to do! Those will be the days! I already have it planned out
Sarah: laundry (she already folds the best)
Sophia: car washer (cause she loves music so she can blast it while she washes)
Sydney: dishes (I think she already like the sink since she loves her baths there)
Mommy: taking a bubble bath!!

Why do think I had kids? Duh!!!

Playing dress up with hair clips

Sometimes a girl can't have enough hair accessories
Sophia wanted all these in hair she asked for more and more and more

After.....

Do you like?

Plastic surgery?

This is me before... I decided to have a "little" work done... I know I'm only 29 but it's never to late to start right? I mean come on it was bound to happen at some point I do live in So Cal.!

Happy girl

My girl loves her stationary play thingy

Sick days....

I'm grateful for they don't come around here very often. My poor Sarah princess pie woke up this morning around 1am throwing up. After mommy did alot of cleaning and changing of sheets (needless to say I only went to bed a couple of hours prior) we snuck downstairs and watched a movie and she continued to throw up :( my poor girlie. I hate seeing my baby sick and something this mommy (who wants to fix everything) can't.!! Isn't that the most frustrating thing about motherhood? We can't fix it all and sometimes we have to watch our babies suffer :(
I took the night shift so to speak. I needed husband to be rested enough to help out today so I stayed up and nurtured our baby girl. Fed Sydney a couple of times and then crawled into bed about 5ish and woke up hubby to go down and be with Sarah. I think I got a couple of hours of sleep... Maybe?
Sarah has been sleeping for a few hours now let's hope it's a few more. I am doing lots of praying and spraying. Yep you read that right. Walking around praying over my family and spraying everything they touch with Lysol. Windows and doors open and fan on so we can kill and air out bad germs.
And let's not forget to mention I'm on my second cup of coffee and maybe even a 3rd later today. Its time like this I will admit I wish Sydney wanted formula. Then I can be all hyped up on caffeine and it wouldn't affect anyone but me. but ok ok ok I won't do it... Yet. Lol hehehe
Ok well our spirits r still up as of now. But we r accepting prayers for us today. Never really ask for much but this I would so appreciate :-)
And I know this is silly but when I post it on Facebook it really does help when people respond saying they will pray. I love having that quick instant connection with friends from all over.
Thanks friends

Theme of today... Let it be and pick it up later

So our days have slowed down and I am choosing to enjoy them! It is officially 1 yr till our lives get busy with drop off and pick up from school for Sarah and I am choosing to enjoy these days where we don't have to be anywhere! Of course except my moms groups at church and our occasional co-op preschool group 2x a month. But besides that our theme for our days it relax and enjoy each other! So we have been enjoying our home a lot and my girls love staying home and playing with their toys and coloring and playing with sidewalk chalk and paints and playdough.... You name it they love it. I spend a lot of my day watching them enjoy these messy days and I know these days will be in the past some day and I want to look back and know that I throughly enjoyed em. My girls have brought me such joy and I'm so grateful for them.! Who knew I would have three 3 girls to raise? Not me! Lol I never imagined I would have these three little blessings calling me mommy and looking up to me and depending on me to feed em bathe em and love em.! My goodness that's a lot to ask of me and I can only bring it back to one point. That God must love me so much and trust in me so much to give these girls to me and my husband.
With that said.... I am by no means a perfect mommy I loose my cool like everyone else and somedays I have zero patients for the "kid" stuff and sometimes I wonder if I am doing a good job at this job I was given and I pray I don't fail and I pray God guides me through this gracefully and calmly and that I hope other people will also see how I am trying and I also hope people see I'm not perfect but that I am doing my best at being a good mommy and I wake up every morning with the same thoughts and prayers that today I will show my children Grace. And that I will remind myself throughout the day that it is an absolute honor to be their mommy and that I get to serve them.! That's a huge thing and words can almost not describe how I feel about this honor.