The Story of Hope

After giving birth to our twins in mid July, my husband and I found out that we were expecting baby number four the Monday before Thanksgiving of the same year! We were thrilled!

Our due date was July 28th, but seriously what baby comes on their due date (maybe some, but none of ours listened!)

July 15th was a Wednesday and I went to church as usually and knew something was not right everytime I bent over to sit down or stand up during our song service I was losing fluid--I knew that my water had not broken, because there was no gush of anything, but I was losing something! I called the clinic and the doctor on call said it was probably nothing or just that the baby sitting on my bladder---Seriously! I knew better, so the next morning I went in to be checked and sure enough, there was a small tear in the baby's sac, in other words I was in labor!

The doctor wanted us to 'rush' right to the hospital---I thought yeah right! We had three little ones at home that we had to make arrangements for and it was bill paying day. So we went home and made a few phone calls, went and paid bills, and I went grocery shopping. I know what you are thinking, but these things 'had' to be done, or so I thought!

It was a little after 1PM and I still was not in any pain, but my husband and I thought we might as well go ahead and go to the hospital.

We said goodbye to our children Luke (2 1/2 yrs.) Seth and Hannah (our twins, 4 days from being 1 year old) and the grandparents.

When we pulled into the hospital parking lot, several of our friends had beat us to the hospital; which I found hilarious, but they did not.

We got signed in, taken up to "The Floor" and there were no beds for us. So we sat on some very uncomfortable stools behind the nurses station. So far I was still in no pain. As we sat there for the next three hours, we listened to women scream, fathers hollering for the doctor's and a bunch of other stuff---lol!

Around 5:30PM there was finally a room available and we finally got to go get ready for the delivery. They hooked me up to all the monitors, the doctor checked me and he told us that this was going to be a long night, because I wasn't making much progress at all---and I still was not in any pain.

The doctor left and I got out of bed to go to the bathroom, hollered for my husband to come quick FIRST LABOR PAIN and it was VERY INTENSE!

Things started to move fast, and it was time to push, the nurse asked what names we had picked out, I said, "Hope Elizabeth." Right after that, I had another labor pain, and the nurse began talking to my husband and the conversation went like this:
Nurse: So you are having a girl?
Husband: We are having a baby, not sure if it's a boy or girl
Me: The baby is a girl (spoken during the contraction--so all you moms know exactly how this was said!)
Nurse: Oh, I see
Husband: Every time we had an ultrasound, the baby would not cooperate and we never found out.
Me: It's a GIRL! My gut feel tells me it's a girl!

We had no boy names picked out, so this baby had to be a girl!

It was 9:20PM, the doctor said to push with all I had and Hope Elizabeth was born! She had a head full of black and weighed 9 pounds 4 ounces!

Big brother waiting up to meet the newest addition to our family Hope Elizabeth.

Hope turned 15 this week!

And this is the Story of Hope!

You do not need a lot of Money to do Something Thoughtful!

One of the things that I hear so often from people is if I had more money then I could do more for my husband/wife. I am hear to tell you that you do not need money to do something thoughtful for your spouse. Something that I do for my husband just about everyday is to pour him a glass of sweet tea (his favorite drink) in his favorite glass and have it sitting on the counter for when he walks through the door from work every evening.

You can do it too...you know your spouse the best, you know the simple things they like, so surprising them with something simple will probably mean more to them than a hundred dollars! I know is does to me and my husband.
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Homemade Stawberry Pie

I made my first strawberry pie the other day, I didn't like it, but my husband and boys did and that is the {ONLY} reason that I am sharing this recipe with you! So, here it is....
Ingredients:
1 can of Sprite
1 box of strawberry jello
2 Tbs. cornstarch
1/4 c water
2 cups of sliced strawberries
1 graham cracker crust
Cool Whip

Directions:
::In a saucepan, pour one can sprite, add a box of strawberry jello, mix with wisk, then add 2 Tbs. cornstarch which has been mix in 1/4 c water. Cook till it becomes clear, stirring constantly till clear.

::Cool completely, then add 2 cups sliced strawberries.
::Pour into a graham cracker crust pie shell.
::Cool in a refrigerator several hrs. Garnish with whip topping.

Apple Pie Enchiladas

I have eaten all sorts of different enchiladas, but these Apple Pie Enchiladas are probably my favorite!

Here's the recipe........

Ingredients:
::1 (20 ounce) can apple pie filling
::6 (8 inch) flour tortillas
::1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
::1/2 cup butter
::1/2 cup white sugar
::1/2 cup brown sugar
::1/2 cup water

Instructions:
::Spoon one heaping quarter cup of pie filling evenly down the center of each tortilla.

::Sprinkle with cinnamon; roll up, tucking in edges; and place seam side down in prepared dish.
::In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, white sugar, brown sugar and water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly; reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes.

::Pour sauce over enchiladas and let stand 45 minutes.
::Bake in 350 degree preheated oven 20 minutes, or until golden.

Serve with vanilla ice cream--I sprinkled the ice cream with cinnamon too...making it cinnamon ice cream!

Disclosure Policy

The purpose of Everyday Ramblings with Rebecca is to help encourage and inspire you in your everyday living. By sharing my thoughts and ideas on many different topics, recipes, money saving ideas, coupons, goof ups and whatever else I decide to throw in from time to time is meant to inspire you to be more frugal in your everyday living.

I want you to know that this blog has never and will never be influenced by money, but at the same time, I do believe that it is okay for me to receive a small kick back from all the work I do on here. I use affiliate links when appropriate, and allow advertising on my side bar, through different ads.

Every view and opinions expressed on this blog are mine and no amount of money received from affiliate links or side bar advertisements will ever influence that.

Commenting Policy:
Users can comment on this site. Please note that comments can and will be deleted at the sole discretion of myself. If personal affiliate links are posted on this site, I can and may delete them at my discretion
As this blog grows, I will update this disclosure policy when necessary.

One of my Guilty Pleasures!

I know it's from McDonald's and loaded with calories, but I love these! I do not get these often---I can't, but when I do I savour each bite!

What's your guilty pleasure?
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Baked Cheese and Penne---The Meatless Wonder Meal!

We love this meal, there's no meat in this dish, so healthy and it is easy on the pocket book too!

Ingredients:
8 ounce ricotta
8 ounce shredded mozzarella cheese (I had Italian blend in my fridge and it worked great!)
4 cups of spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup of diced roasted peppers (buy them whole and dice them yourself to save some money)
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
3 small zucchinis, chopped
1 pound box of Penne Pasta, cook as directed on package

Instuctions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
Mix Mozzarella, ricotta, spaghetti sauce, peppers,zucchini and garlic powder in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Toss cooked pasta with sauce mixture and add to 13 x 9 baking dish.
Top with grated Parmesan or mozzarella cheese (optional)
Cover with foil
Bake for 20 minutes covered
Uncover and bake for 15 more minutes.

You can serve this with a vegetable, salad or garlic bread---we opted for corn tonight.

Sand Pudding

Momma is off of work today and is cooking dinner tonight, just made this sand pudding for dessert tonight!

I didn't have one, but it would be cute to serve it in a sand bucket with a play shovel to scoop it out!

SAND PUDDING:

Ingredients
1 pkg Vanilla Wafers
2 Oreos
8 oz Cream Cheese
¼ C Butter
⅔ C powdered sugar
 2 small pkgs French Vanilla pudding mix
2¾ C Milk
12 oz Cool Whip

Instructions

::Add Vanilla Wafers and 2 Oreos to your food processor and crush until they resemble sand.

::In a small bowl, cream together softened 8 oz cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar.

::In another larger bowl, mix pudding with milk. {{use the amount of milk listed above, NOT on back of the pudding packages!}}

::Add Pudding mixture to the cream cheese mixture. Fold in all of the Cool Whip.

::Layer into bucket or dish in this order: sand, pudding, sand, pudding, etc.

::Allow to chill in fridge at least one hour before serving.


*If you would like to make this a little bit healthier, you can use fat free cream cheese and milk, sugar free pudding and lite cool whip.

Good Things are Coming Down the Road....

My Better Half!

This man and I just celebrated 19 years of marriage back in May. It started with a date to Taco Bell and a little street racing---yep, street racing!

I love this man!
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Ladies: It is Okay to Give Your Husband that Needed Push in the Romance Department!

Ladies, I am here to tell you that if the romance is missing from your marriage, it is okay to give your husband that 'needed' help in the romance department!

Here are 11 "Romance" starters that are sure to spunk up any relationship!

1. Go for the gusto, start off with a bang, just do it---run your fingers softly through your husband's hair--works everytime!
2. Give your husband a massage {back rub, foot massage, or full body massage!)

3. Light candles and have extra in the bedroom

4. Wear your husbands favorite perfume and spray the curtains and sheets too!

5. Plant a trail of rose petals leading to a low lit room

6. If you have a lamp in your bedroom, put a red colored bulb in and turn it on!

7. Chocolate, feed your husband chocolate (of coarse the kids shouldn't be around when you do this because there would be no chocolate left and probably no romance either!)

8. Strawberries---always have strawberries in the refrigerator. There's just something about strawberries that get you in that romantic mood---especially if you feed them to your husband!

9. If you are not used to wearing makeup, put some eyeliner or lipstick on---I guarantee that your husband will notice!

10. Listen to your husband, listen to how his day went---you, yourself do no talking except with your eyes...:)

Number 11 is for you, my readers to answer---excited to see your ideas!
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The Birth of our Twins

Early Friday morning my husband left for work and I returned to bed. I looked over at the clock and the time was 5:15; I rolled over in bed to try to get my 7 month pregnant self comfortable. I took my husband's pillow and pulled it next to myself, closed my eyes and then it happened--I had to go to the bathroom! I rolled over to get out of bed and realized I was in labor.

Panic immediately set in because it was not anywhere close to the twins' due date---I was two months early. I sat on the bed crying and praying, "Please Lord let my babies be OK." I composed my self and went and checked on our 19 month old, whom was sound asleep, called my husband, called the doctor, called my best friend at the time {Mary P}, called my in laws {aka Mammaw and Pappaw}.

I wasn't really in any pain yet, only my water had broke up to this point-- so I jumped into the shower, my husband made it home while I was in the shower and immediately wanted to know what I was doing! I thought it was kinda obvious, but I went ahead and answered him, "I'm taking a shower." He was in a panic and told me there was no time for a shower and lets go. So I got dressed and we left for the hospital.

As we were getting signed into the hospital, labor came on fast--I was hurting. Trying to sign my name on the dotted line was hard to do during a contraction! We finally got to our room and the doctor was able to run a test on one of the babies' lungs to see is they were developed and thankfully they were. The twins were in two different sacs, and my water had only broken with one of the babies; so the doctor could not tell if the other baby's lungs were developed or not. So they gave me some medicine to stop labor and shot me full of steroids hoping that this would help developed the other baby's lungs if they were not developed.

This was at 7:30AM on Friday morning.

My labor did stop and I actually felt fine other than the worry that loomed in my head.

I could not eat, I could only have water and ice chips or hard candy to suck on---I wasn't really too hungry, or so I thought until our friends Frank and Candy R. came to visit us and brought a gift bag full of butter scotch and peppermints. Best 'food' I have ever eaten!

The hours were passing slowly, we had a lot of visitors and received several phone calls. I felt like I needed to be doing something for my babies { I realize now, I was doing a lot for them by resting and staying off my feet and letting the medicine do its job}.

From 3PM on Friday, we didn't see the doctor again until Sunday at NOON--the nurses would still come in and check on us and change out the IV bag, and the machines that I was hooked up too.

At NOON on Sunday, two doctors came in and things started to move very fast, I was hearing everything that they were saying, but my brain was stuck on their words, "Let's get you ready to meet your Babies!" I'm thinking I am not ready, my babies are not ready IT IS TOO EARLY!

Scared to death for my babies, praying that they would be OK, they wheeled me off to labor and delivery, did a spinal block, preformed a C-Section and at 1:03PM Seth Michael was born and at 1:04 PM Hannah Marie was born.

They both came out crying--joy to my ears!

Because they were early I didn't get to see them right away, the nurses and NICU doctor and nurses were checking them out, so I told my husband to go take their pictures and after a few minutes of him being gone, my husband comes back with a big smile on his face saying that both babies are going to be fine, shortly after that the doctors told me the same thing---MY BABIES ARE OK!"

To me, they were so tiny, but for 2 months early they both weigh a little over 4 pounds each! The doctor was very pleased with their weight.

Even though Seth and and Hannah were born two months early they were healthy for the most part. They had to stay in the NICU for 6 days, just so the doctors could monitor their weight and body temperature. They were a little jaundice and had to be given a little sugar---but they were healthy, they were here, they were ours!

Me holding them both for the first time.

Daddy feeding Hannah for the first time

Happy and Thankful parents!

We have them home!

First diaper change at home--look at that tiny little foot!

First time Mammaw and Pappaw holding them at home.

First time in crib together. :)

Big brother helping to feed them...isn't he cute!

First doctor's appointment after we got home.

Seth and Hannah are 16 now!

Is Your Bedroom Inviting?

Is your bedroom inviting? Is it stress free?

When you walk into your bedroom, do you feel like it’s a haven, or do you feel like it’s just a place to sleep or a place to store things that you didn't have 'time' to get done that day, i.e. the laundry! Let's face it, if your bed is collecting the unfolded laundry, and the dresser is collecting the mail from that day and last weeks---then your bed room is not stress free!

We tend to make it a priority to keep the kitchen and living room clean, because that’s what other people see when they come into our homes ( I never really have company, but for the sake of this article--I am going with it!). We tend to think, the bedroom is just for us, a place to sleep, so if it’s a mess, no one ever sees it; and so the bedroom is often last on our list to clean, organize or make it a haven.

Our priorities are all wrong. I think the bedroom should be one of the first places we decorate and clean; even before the kitchen, living room or baby's room {a baby doesn’t know or care if their room is filled with boxes or if it’s decorated straight out of one of those fancy baby magazines!

You, on the other hand, do know how your bedroom looks; and if you’re going to nurture your marriage, you need to have a room that you feel is a haven...an inviting place for you ... and your husband!

And for Heaven's sake do not put a TV in your bedroom, or bring your work to your bedroom (guilty here!) ---- there's no need to be watching CSI or America's Funny Home Videos, or checking the latest blog post (read Swapppin' Spoons when you get up in the morning! tee-hee!). Instead you and your husband should be talking at night....among other things!

My husband works hard everyday, so when he gets home I want one room to be just perfect for him, a room when he can go rest, get his thoughts together, alone time with me---no kids. And I truly believe this room, is the bedroom.

What are your thoughts, share them below in the comments.

Keeping the "R" in Romance

My husband and I will celebrate 19 years of marriage in a few months and I wanted to share some things that we do for each other that has kept that "R" in our romance.

I am sure there are a ton of other things that I can list but here are a few ways that we keep romance in our marriage.

1. Say I love you--say it, text it, email it

2. Kiss--we like to kiss, most people tend to kiss in the morning when leaving for work and when they get home from work, but do it unexpectedly like in the middle of a football game, before you put the kids down, at church, etc...

3. Write a love note and give to your spouse or stick a note in his/her lunch and tell them to have a great day.

4. Buy them a gift--something small, maybe his favorite chocolate and give it to him right before bed or stick it in his lunch bag with a little sticky note with words of encouragement, or better yet, write something steamy on it. My husband gave me 6 yellow roses a couple of nights ago, for no reason--other than he loves me.

5. Give your spouse a neck rub or back massage---or better yet a foot massage.

6. Have candles lit in the bedroom, and leave the electric lights off!

7. Prepare his favorite meal or dessert

8. Constantly surprise each other---you know your spouse best, so surprise them: out to dinner, do the dishes for them, overnight trip, take the kids to a baby sitters and spend the night alone, go shopping together, grab a coffee together, etc...this list can go on and on.

9. Hold hands--my husband and I still hold hands whether at home or out in public, when we sit by each other, he will always put his arm around me (until his arm falls asleep!) (OY!)

10. Forgive One Another and make up like there is no tomorrow!
*Early in our marriage my husband and I would sometimes argue over different things (yes, I know we were very immature), but "loved" making up afterwards. We do not argue anymore (there's no point in it), so every now and then one of us will say, "Want to go make up?"

How are some of the ways that you have kept the romance in your marriage? I would love to know...Leave a comment below.

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In Just 10 Minutes....

I love mornings, you know when everyone first wakes up---my husband, my children---just the newness of the morning--a new day of new beginnings!

However, there's a certain 10 minutes in the day, that I claim as my own, no one else in the room,  no phones ringing---no interruptions! Just ten minutes----600 seconds!

In those 10 minutes, I sometimes feel like I can conquer the world; today I cleaned my whole house, found a cure for cancer, put a stop to abortion, and lost 50 pounds!

Those 10 minutes in my shower, I wouldn't trade for anything!
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