The Leonard Family

The beach and.....stalling

2010-08-16T22:03:00.010-05:00

We have had such a busy summer and I am sooo behind on catching up with our summer activities. We have been to Arizona, Atlanta, the beach, more doctor visits than I want to remember, and a few other places in between. With all that we have had going on this summer, we really were doubtful that we would even make it to the beach. Thankfully, we were able to go, have a wonderful trip, and didn't see a single tarball. I think we could move to beach. My kids, especially my oldest, could spend all day, everyday on the beach.

She immediately made friends with another 4 year old sitting next to us. Some days I wish we could all be more like young children. I think their conversation went like this;

4 year # 1 "I like your swimsuit"

4 year #2 "Thanks, I'm building sandcastles, want to build them with me?"

#1 "Yeah! Ok!"

Bam! Instant best friends.

They immediately started on their project, but it only involved prep-work. Somehow all they ended up doing was filling buckets with water and pouring it in the sand near our chairs. They never actually built a sandcastle, but they had plenty of wet sand. It ends up that her parents live about 10 minutes from us and her grandparents live 3 houses down the street from us.

After "sandcastle building," it was time for a raft ride. Sister asked to ride along, but we said that her friend should get to have the first ride alone with her dad......and this happened right as those words came out of our mouth. While swimming out, a wave hit them
Flipped the raft
And sent our new friend flying
Dad valiantly held on to the raft and pulled her out of the water. Everyone was fine, but the raft was retired for the day.
Next activity? Bury Papa in the sand! He was such a trooper for letting these kids bury him in the July heat in Florida.
See ya, be back after lunch. Just kidding, she just wanted to get more water to "set" the sand.
Thanks for being such a fun dad. He said it took days to be rid of all that sand.
One evening we went to Baytowne Wharf. Our plan was just to eat dinner, but right as walked in sister spotted the bungee trampolines. It was great bribery during dinner though for us! We went straight to the trampolines after dinner. Sister was just barely big enough to do it. I was a little concerned that she would get frightened once she got up there, but I was completely wrong-she was in heaven!
I don't know what type of 4 year old cuteness she pulled on the girls working there, but she had 3 turns of jumping. She would have jumped for hours.
She kept yelling "watch me do gymnastics!!!! Coach Krista would say I'm doing a great job!"
We had to spend a few evenings out on the beach. I love going out later in the evenings. Any time I can spend on the beach with my kids that I don't have to slather them up in sunscreen sounds good to me.

Such a fun trip. I'm ready to go back!

Summertime

2010-06-25T22:36:00.007-05:00

We had the yummiest and easiest kabob dinner tonight of summer foods and thought I would share! We are cooking lots of squash and zucchini right now since this is the time of year for it. All the produce is at great prices at the store right now.
For the vegetable skewers-squash, zucchini, and onions. For the fruit skewers-pineapple and mango. They are simply cut up into about 1 inch cube pieces, so they will stay on the skewer while grilling. We like to keep our pieces touching. It seems to keep the food from getting dried out and it retains the juices that way.
The chicken is cut the same size. I always end up with some smaller strips of chicken when I'm done cutting it up and I just put those on the skewer in a "C" shape, skewering both ends of those pieces.
The sauces are what makes this. For the vegetables we use a salad dressing, such as balsamic/red wine vinaigrette or caesar, but NOT italian. For the chicken we use whatever marinade we're in the mood for that day-BBQ, tequila-lime, Dale's, etc. For the fruit, and this is important, we ONLY use Brianna's blush wine vinaigrette. If you don't use that dressing, I'm not responsible for the outcome! The pineapple and mango are absolutely unbelievable, and could even be served as a dessert.

Once all the pieces are cut up we get 3 Ziploc bags or tupperware containers and place each veg/fruit/meat in the separate containers with desired marinade for at least 30 minutes (tonight we marinaded for 2 hours). The fruit only needs about 3 Tbsp of dressing, just enough to coat the pieces.
Once skewered, head to the grill. Our grill has 2 levels. We put the vegetable and chicken skewers on the bottom rack, directly on the heat, and the fruit goes on the top rack. Cook for on med to med-high heat for about 20-25 minutes (chicken should be at 175 degrees). It is so good! Added bonus-both of my kids devoured it! In our house, adding a novelty at dinner, like chopsticks, goes a long way in getting kids interested in the food and eating well. Sister ate hers right on the skewer.
Brother isn't quite ready for the kabob yet, but loved it anyway.

We do have one addition that I think we will try next time. We were at a dinner recently where we had grilled angel food cake for dessert. They sliced the cake and lightly grilled each piece. It was served with fresh fruit and lime sorbet. It was soooo good, and I think the pineapple/mango would be a great addition to it.

One

2010-06-22T22:33:00.007-05:00

Guess what little man? You're ONE!!!!

Seriously Mom?!?!

That went by pretty quick!
We had a very eventful weekend of celebrating our first year with this little guy and getting the all clear from the doctor. No surgery, no scarring, and no more dressing changes!! He's back to his normal very happy and content self, with one addition. Meet Bla Bla.
Anything else he gets in his hands is thrown, chunked, banged, clapped, hit, or any other activity that would be expected of a baby boy. But Bla Bla, is cuddled, carried, never let go of, and even stays in the crib with him.

Mom, can you stop taking pictures please? I dropped Bla Bla and need you to pick it up for me.

Little man, your personality is definitely shining now. You love to open and close doors, empty baskets, be thrown in the air, swim, play in the tub, flip pages of books, and look out the window to watch sister and Papa throw the ball with Lily.

You love your dad. In the last few weeks you have also started holding onto us when we hold you and I really love that. I especially love it when I'm putting you to bed and you snuggle your head into the left crook of my neck, grip my left shoulder with your right hand, and wrap your left arm around the right side of my neck.

You love your dog and she loves you. When I can't find Lily I always know to look for her under your crib or sleeping in front of the door to your room while you nap.

You love your sister and immediately start grinning and giggling when she walks in the room. The first you do in the morning is start calling for her if you don't see her "Sis, sis, sis!"

You love to sit with her while we ride in the car, holding hands, dancing, and jibber-jabbering with her.

And your favorite may be when she shares her ice cream cone with you.

You like to sleep with your pointer finger of one hand in your mouth, while the other hand grips the edge of your ultimate crib sheet.

You love the park and laugh uncontrollably on the swings. So much that the other moms within earshot say "Wow, he really likes the swings doesn't he!?"

My precious son, you are an absolute gift from God and a complete joy to us. We love you more than I could ever adequately put into words. We are so thankful for you and treasure every moment we have with you. We are excited to see the boy you are becoming and eventual man that you will become.

It's Your Birthday

2010-06-12T17:24:00.008-05:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a cookout/pool party/early birthday party for brother, since part of our family would be out of town for the actual day. If was a somewhat last minute get together, so Mr. and I were trying to decide if I should make a cake, of if we should just buy one. Well, that decision was made for us when 4 year old ears heard that conversation. She was aghast that would even consider buying a cake. "Mommy, we HAVE to make a cake for brother!" Since it was last minute I couldn't order a cake and would have had to pick out a pre-made cake and have a birthday message written on it. That would've been fine, but thought the proud big sis and I could could do a special project and since 1st birthdays are special.

I initially planned on this (fairly) simple fish cake. It would just be a sheet cake, with the corners rounded, repositioned to be fins and tails, icing, and decorating. That idea also got shot down by the 4 year old. She quickly let me know that brother does not like fish, but really likes crocodiles! I guess it's a good thing she let me know, because I had no idea :). So we proceeded with a crocodile cake, which was an undertaking for this self-professed uncrafty mom. First, we had to make a bundt cake, cut in into 3 sections (with one of them cut diagonally top to bottom), and arrange the sections.

Then we iced it. She would drop a big glob of icing (vanilla with green food coloring) and I would spread it. She frequently licked the spatula before the next application, but we kept that our little secret. Somehow 4 year olds don't see the big picture of licking it at the end as not to spread germs when there's yummy icing staring them in the face! Then we decorated with candy. There might have been a few pieces of candy eaten along with those used for decorating. Sis was so proud at the end she had to give our crocodile a kiss.

Then {because better is always the enemy of good :)}, we decided he couldn't just sit on the cutting board, but needed a scene, and thought a swamp would be appropriate. We were going to do chocolate dipped pretzels for logs, but somehow the chocolate turned into balled up bits. We improvised and used it as dirt instead and covered the pretzels with chocolate icing.

I was pleased with the results and honestly a little shocked that I didn't have to ditch our efforts and run to Publix for a cake! It wasn't too hard, just time consuming. I was glad I made the cake the day beforehand, because it took a good chunk of the morning to decorate it.

The company arrived that afternoon for some grillin' and chillin' by the pool

Papa is pretty sly and snagged the umbrella from the outdoor table while he cooked the burgers, hot dogs, and ribs.

After dinner we brought out the cake. Doesn't brother look so thrilled by our hard work?

He took one bite of it, ONE BITE, and was done. This is my son that has eaten anything we have ever given him-broccoli, green beans, asparagus, squash, olives, tomatoes, bell peppers, mango, blueberries, watermelon, avocado, etc, and yet wanted nothing to do with his cake! Maybe there's some type of survival instinct that tells you not to eat neon green food :)
My thoughtful nephew even tried to cut it up and feed it to him, but he still wasn't interested.
Then he said, thanks but no thanks. Here you can have mine! As least that's what I think he was saying. I'm not going to lie and say my heart didn't do a little backflip when he turned down sweets!
It was such a fun day. I got the cake instructions here. I did change a few things. I made the green icing a little lighter than the picture and used candy that I thought stood out more: green gum drops along the back, yellow sour gummy candy for claws, and junior mints for the eyes and nose. The whites of the eyes are marshmellows cut in half and the teeth are broken yogurt covered pretzels. I also think it should call for more icing. I got 2 cans of icing, 1.5 for the alligator and the remainder for the water. I'm not a pro at bundt cakes, but my MIL is, and recommended a thick layer of Baker's Joy (not Pam or butter) and then flour in the pan. I also waited 10 minutes for it to cool, then put the cutting board on top of the pan, flipped it, and tapped the pan. I was so afraid huge chunks would stick to the pan, but it came our perfectly! Good luck if you try it-if I can do it, trust me, anybody can do this one.

As for an update on my little guy, he continues to improve! It already looks much better than it did on Thursday when we went in for a checkup. We have to keep up the dressing changes and go back on Thursday.

Thankful

2010-06-10T22:10:00.004-05:00

I'm being lazy at this point and copying an email I sent out this evening, so if you already got the email, it's basically a duplicate. Just wanted to forewarn you :). Sorry, I'm just running on little sleep and have had a knockout headache all day.

Today's visit was thankfully another encouraging one. Our physician and the other staff at the burn unit all said that it is definitely looking better and should be on the road to healing. They think as long as it keeps progressing this way it may heal on it's own in the next 1-2 weeks without grafting and may not even scar!! We have to continue the dressing changes and go back for another visit next week. On the drive home he threw up in the car and we got a crack in the windshield, but it was certainly a promising afternoon overall :).

Please continue to pray for his healing. We are so thankful for the progress he has made as it was beyond everyone's expectation, and clearly healing from God. Sister, brother, and I have also developed some type of upper respiratory infection, so pray for healing for us a well as I'm trying to take care of the kids while feeling like my head is going to explode, we now have 2 sick kids on our hands, and Grant's little body is fighting 2 things now.

Thank you so much for your prayers, comments, calls, emails, meals, watching sister while we go the doctor, and all the other ways that you have supported us. It has meant more to us than we can express. We are so grateful for you and for what God has done and will continue to do.

Good Report!

2010-06-08T00:30:00.005-05:00

It has been a looonnnggg weekend, including dressing changes every 3-4 hours and whenever there's a dirty diaper, but it was worth it for our follow up appointment today. Our doctor and the other staff were impressed with how brother is doing. They all said that it looked better today than they expected it would, which was incredibly encouraging to us. If it continues to progress as it is now, it could likely heal on it's own without need for surgery or grafting. We are so grateful!! We are to continue the dressing changes for the next few days and go back in on Thursday. We are praying for continued healing without scarring or surgery. Since this is in the diaper area it is also critical that the area stay as clean as possible and we are praying that he remain infection free. We are certainly not out of the woods yet, but it appears we are moving in the right direction.

Thank you so much for calls, emails, comments, words of encouragement, and especially your prayers. The outpouring of love and support we have experienced has been immense and an unbelievable help to us. Thankfully, we haven't often been on this side of a situation like this. I know there have been times when friends and acquaintances of ours have gone through terrible experiences and I want to support them, but sometimes I'm not sure how to go about doing that. I think "should I call? Do they want to be left alone? I don't want to bother them...Could I make a meal? Should I offer to have their kids over?" I want to support, but not bother and interfere. I have to confess, there have been times that I have just ended up praying, but not taking any tangible action toward them. After this experience, I will be much more prone to step in without fear of interfering/bothering. I don't know if any of you ever have those same feelings, but I would encourage you to put those thoughts aside and call, email, go visit, keep their kids, pick up groceries, etc. I also encourage to not only pray FOR people, but pray WITH them, in person or even if it's just over the phone.

I have so many other thoughts congealed in a mess in my head, but I'll have to wait for further posts to make any sense of them. My head feels like jell-o and I have to be up with him again in an hour, so I'm going to try and get a little sleep. Thanks again for your support. I'll give more updates this week and definitely after we go back for our next appointment in a few days.

Seeds

2010-06-06T17:26:00.004-05:00

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The last few days have been some of the hardest days of my life, but we are so thankful for our faith, family, and friends. An unexpected source of encouragement has been this CD, Seeds of Courage. It is a entire CD of scripture set to music and it is wonderful!! It was given to us as a gift for our daughter, but it's not typical, purple dinosaur children's music. It's drums, guitar, great singing, really good music that J and I love, along with the kids.

We have been playing it in the kitchen while we cook and eat dinner for the last 3-4 weeks and all of us are memorizing scripture through it. I don't know about your house, but late in the afternoon/evening is often the hardest time of day around here. No matter what my attitude is, when I start this music, I immediately feel better as I listen to these songs of God's word an and am reminded of his love and promises to me and my family. I dare you to buy them and see if you can stay in a bad mood and if your kids stay grouchy during dinner.

It is called Seeds of .... because they use it as a seed to spread God's word. Each CD case actually comes with 2 of the CD's in it and a dividable case. That way you keep one and pass one on to someone else. I think $12.98 is a bargain for 2 CD's and the benefit of my family being transformed literally before my eyes through it. The only reason I even know about it is by a friend giving me their extra CD. It can be ordered here. There are 4 other albums: Seeds of Faith, praise, power, and encouragement. Go buy one or all of them (which is what I did 2 days ago) and make sure to pass on your extra CD.

As for updates on sweet brother, we don't have much new to share yet. He has done well over the weekend. His pain medicine is controlling his pain very well. He is sleeping a lot and the only time he is upset is when we change the diaper and dressing. It looks like it is making progress to us, but we'll see what our doctor says tomorrow. We are praying for mighty healing from God, as we know only He is able to do, and for a full recovery without scarring or the need for surgery. Thank you for calls, emails, words of encouragement, and especially your prayers. I will try to update tomorrow after our visit.

Little Man Needs PRAYERS!

2010-06-04T21:57:00.008-05:00

I'm sitting here trying to think where I should begin. I was planning on posting about our recent trip to Arizona, or a late Mother's day post, or how we had an early 1 year birthday party for this little man with some family that will be out of town on his birthday. Instead, I am desperately asking for your prayers and that you would ask others to pray for him.

Poor little guy has had some bad diapers {what we call cha cha around here} this week. A friend was watching him and he had terrible blow out mess in the crib while he was sleeping. She went to put him in the bath, tested the water twice before putting him in, and set him in the tub, but didn't plug the drain. In just a matter of seconds she put the diaper in the trash and grabbed a towel off the rack. When she turned back to him the hot water had come through the pipes at that point and was hot enough to burn him.

We immediately got him to the ER and were treated in the burn unit and told it looked like a second degree burn and would probably take 10-14 days to heal, but may get worse over the next few days. We took him back today and in fact, it was worse. Now they think it could actually be a third degree burn. We initially thought it would mean 2 miserable weeks of our poor baby in pain as we would have to do multiple dressing changes a day since he is in diapers, but today were informed he could need skin grafting. We were utterly devastated by that. Our doctor said we will have to wait until Monday to know what the likely outcome will be. It could heal on it's own within 10-14 days with little to no scarring or it could be to the point that skin grafting is indicated.

Please pray that God will work mightily and heal him without scarring or the need for surgery. I know my God is bigger and more powerful than I can even imagine and we have already seen His hand in this tragedy. We are thankful that the drain wasn't shut and the burn is only on the right buttock. It could have easily been all over his bottom, legs, hands, feet, or anywhere if he had tried to crawl away from the water. We are also thankful that the diarrhea is much better, reducing the risk for infection and how often we have to change the dressing. Also, amazingly enough, the only time he really seems uncomfortable, or is fussy, is when we change the dressing. He is on pain medication, which makes him sleepy, and he is sleeping most the day and night. This helps his pain level, but also helps that he isn't moving the area and pulling on the dressing.

We do have specific prayer requests

1. As above, for healing. That God would quickly heal him in a way that would clearly show His power. That it would heal on it's own without scar, surgery, or infection.

2. That the diarrhea would resolve. Again, as above, it would reduce infection risk, help with dressing changes, and make him more comfortable.

3. Wisdom for our doctors and nurses. Much of burn treatment is decided by opinion as to what the best healing methods are and what treatment is indicated. Pray God would give them clear wisdom to know the best treatment for him.

4. Pray for J and me. We are experiencing so much guilt right of now of "what if we had done....." I think hindsight we both feel ways the situation could have ended differently and we are torturing ourselves with those thoughts. It has also been a long week in general-we had to have our chimney repaired, our garage flooded on Monday, and before we went to the hospital for our follow up appointment today we had a plumber here to repair ALL the toilets in our house. Of course, all these are minuscule in the big picture, but are certainly not helping my sanity right now.

Thank you so much for your prayers. We are so thankful for the friends and family that have come around us and supported us at a time when I feel I am on on the verge of physical and emotional collapse at any moment. Meals, words of encouragement, prayer, and the many other ways you have served us have meant more to us than I can express in words.

Most of all, I am thankful for a God that heals, that is all mighty, wise, and powerful, and that only He is able to do more than I could ever ask or imagine. I am thankful that He understands the heartache of watching His son in pain. As we are told all throughout the gospels, He is powerful to heal with just a touch of his cloak or one word from his mouth. Please, please pray, ask others to pray, and if you have blog (and wouldn't mind) ask for prayer there as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Hebrews 4:14-16 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Jeremiah 17:14 Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.

Psalm 34:17-18 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted  and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Conversation installment # 3

2010-05-29T23:42:00.003-05:00

We've had a complete computer blackout around here recently. We got a Mac this year. I love it, but the charger cord died recently. To add insult to injury, our router decided to die as well. We've been sans internet and computer for a little while, but all is up and running again.

I have a number of posts floating around in my head, but for now I have to record a few more of my conversations with my very imaginative 4 year old.

1. Jonathan was taking Av to school a couple weeks ago and "Paradise City" from Guns N Roses came on the radio. Av started jamming out immediately and playing air guitar, air drums, and crazy drums. {Crazy drums: spastically playing the drums with your hands on any surface within reach}. Then she said "This song is AWESOME!! Is this the Country Bears?" (as in the country bear jamboree from disney world) Jonathan said he almost wrecked the car he was laughing so hard.

2. At dinner a few nights ago I noticed that sister what looked a full bite mark on the inside of her calf, as in a complete impression of upper and lower teeth. I immediately had thoughts of who did this? Was it a kid in her class? Why didn't she tell me about this? So I asked...

Me: What happened to your leg?

Sister: Ummmm

Me: Did somebody bite you?

Sister: Weelllll, umm,

Me: Did you bite yourself?

Sister: Well, I bit my leg when I was pretending to be somebody else biting my leg

Me: [.......crickets chirping]

3. This child LOVES to pretend to be just about anything. She is a dancer, cat, dog, gymnast, ballerina, chef, baby, mom, dinosaur, you get the picture. She is also committed to the part. She changes clothes, her voice, walks on tip toe, crawls, drinks water out of a bowl on the floor, etc. This one happened when she was pretending to doctor me. She had her play doctor kit with stethoscope, otoscope, blood pressure cuff, thermometer, and needle. After she had given me a full exam, including about 16 "shots"

Me: You are such a good doctor, I'm so thankful I have a doctor like you!

Sister: Mommy, I'm your daughter, not a doctor! I'm just pretending to be a

doctor!

4. We read a chapter from her children's Bible at night before she goes to bed. Some nights we read through in succession and some nights I let her pick out what we should read, which is what we did tonight

Me: What should we read tonight?

Sister: Read about when the people step in poop

Me: What?

Sister: You know, when the people have poop on their feet

Me: (completely clueless as to what she's talking about) What is it again, I don't think I know which one that is.

Sister: Yes you do Mommy! (she's getting exasperated at this point)

Me: Tell me more about it, I just don't remember sweetie.

Sister: You know, when the people stepped in poop so Jesus had to wash it off

their feet!!

She is the most entertaining thing in my day. I wish I could capture every word that comes out of her mouth! I actually wish I had video of it all to capture her voice and facial expression as well, but this will have to do for now.

Dirt

2010-05-08T22:25:00.006-05:00

Mr. called me recently to say that he and sister had a surprise for me. I was on my way home, but was instructed that I could NOT park in the garage. I had to park in the driveway, but go straight into the house, only through the front door and stay in the house! No going in the yard or garage. This was my surprise.

Our peach tree that J planted a couple months ago was blooming.
He and sister had visited Lowe's and spent the afternoon with their hands in the dirt.
I was greeted by fresh herbs in lovely containers on the porch.
And potted plants on the front porch and in hanging baskets in the backyard. He let sister pick out all the flowers and containers and let her decide where to place all of them.
She was SO proud of herself and her work. Definitely a worthwhile afternoon.

Good vs Evil, Teachable Moments, and the Old Testament

2010-04-12T22:48:00.003-05:00

Sister loves a princess story--Cinderella, Snow White, etc. Recently she has been asking about "the bad guys"-the wicked stepmother, the queen, and specifically Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. "Why did Maleficent want to hurt Sleeping Beauty? Was Sleeping Beauty scared of Maleficent?" I can't think of a time that she has encountered intentional malice and I think the concept is hard her to understand, and I tried to use this as a teachable moment with her.

I learned the idea of teachable moments while working in youth ministry in college. The goal of the teachable moment is to relate scripture and the truths of God into what is going on in your daily life. For example, we have been having our Spring overhaul in the yard. So while planting and pulling weeds (lots of weeds this year), these were a few of the scriptures that ran through my head to talk about with sister.

1 Corinthians 3:7 "So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow," or the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, or John 15:1-8 . I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener...Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

So, that's the idea of the teachable moment, now back to Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. I thought, aha, teachable moment. I explained that Sleeping Beauty might have been scared when Maleficent turned herself into a dragon because she was big and strong. The good part was that even though Maleficent was strong, Philip loved Sleeping Beauty, fought for her, and defeated Maleficent. Just like we might have times that something is somehow bigger or stronger than we are and it seems we will be defeated, but God is always bigger and stronger than whatever our circumstances are and He defends us like Philip defended Sleeping Beauty.

I have to confess I thought, "good job, way to use an overcommercialized Disney story and use it to teach about God."

Her response? "Right Mommy, like Joshua at Jericho, or David and Goliath, or Moses and the Israelites with Pharaoh and the Egyptians?" That's right, she went Old Testament on me.

Me {proud of her, but also surprised, and somewhat dumbfounded} "Umm, why, yes, those are all good examples."

Apparently she has this "big guy vs the little guy" thing down already. Maybe we should start working on the larger catechism :). Seriously though, I love a teachable moment and I love that she is learning scripture. I hope that these lessons will stick with her and she can think back to them when she is older and in situations needing direction.

50 mm

2010-04-08T22:01:00.006-05:00

My hubby is good to me, really good to me {on most days :)}. We each got cash from family for Christmas presents.
I'm sure he considered getting himself manly things like a fishing rod, gun, duck hunting paraphernalia, a new pair of boots, or something else along these lines.
Instead, with HIS Christmas money, he bought ME a 50 mm lens for my camera. Cause he loves me and is very generous.

So, I've been having a good time practicing with it. Nothing spectacular, but I'm learning.
Oh my word, brother is so adorable.

Brain Damage

2010-03-28T22:32:00.005-05:00

These are the shoes that I wore to church this morning. Together. At the same time. I would like to say that I was being a sacrificial mom who let her children pick out her clothing. I would also like to say that I realized it quickly, like when we got in the car, but J said we didn't have time for me to run back into the house and change shoes. Alas, neither are the truth.

The truth is I slipped my shoes on (thinking they were both the black shoes on my right foot), grabbed my purse and diaper bag and walked out the door to get in the car. I didn't realize it when I was in the car. I also didn't realize it while I walked through the house to the car, on the way to church, as I carried brother to the nursery, or as I walked into the sanctuary......even though they have a slight difference in heel height. No, I didn't realize until there was about 10 minutes left in the service. I thought, "huh, why do my shoes feel weird? Are my pants caught in the back of my shoes? Why does it feel like I have one backless shoes on and one with a back?" Oh, that would be because I WORE 2 DIFFERENT SHOES church...that are 2 DIFFERENT COLORS!!

This is what it actually looked like at church. Maybe not TOO terribly noticeable. Right? Right?!? Well, if it was noticed, nobody said anything to me. Probably because they were snickering as I walked away :). I'm pretty sure they weren't wondering if I'm on the cutting edge of the newest fashion trend.

Does anyone else out there feel like your IQ has plummeted since you had kids? And does it get worse with each subsequent child? J has a theory that those stinkers somehow suck your brains out when you're nursing. He may be onto something there.

Playtime

2010-03-27T21:41:00.006-05:00

We have a little demolition/reconstruction project going on in the playroom, so other rooms in the house are now getting their fair share of playtime. Somehow our bathroom gets a large percentage of it.
It's actually sister's favorite spot to practice gymnastics {even though she has a mini trampoline and a balance beam J built for her in the basement}. It's oddly large for a bathroom. Even enough space to throw the tennis ball with Lily, which is quite entertaining to brother.
Sister, who used to be quite camera shy, is always interested in having her picture taken now that there's another kiddo around.
She has a knack for jumping in front of camera right before I snap a picture, which is OK since it makes me giggle right along with her.
So what do you think about the bathroom? If you're wondering, yes, in fact that IS carpet in my bathroom. It's a little strange to me, but at least my feet stay warm in the morning. I recently read that Heloise {the cleaning queen of Good Housekeeping} has her entire house, including the kitchen, carpeted, so it could be worse I suppose.
Can you tell it was done in the 90's? Carpet, gold fixtures, and wallpaper, oh the wallpaper. It's blue, forest green, cream, and maroon striped. But it gets better. There's also a foiled/reflective flower pattern on it along with the stripes. If only it were also textured, that would really seal the deal. I hope to change some things eventually.
In the meantime I'll just have to ignore the background and focus on those blue eyes and rosy cheeks instead, which isn't too much of a challenge for me.

Sally sells seashells..

2010-03-22T21:38:00.005-05:00

We have a slight seashell obsession in our house. I thought this would be a fad of sister's, but this fad has lasted for over a year now. I find them in her play kitchen, by the bathtub, in her dress up, in my purse, decorating the table, you get the idea. The most common use for them is play food, specifically Creme de La. At least according to sister they are. You might think "Creme de La what?" Creme de la creme? No, just Creme de la, as in "Mommy, I made creme de la for you and all my babies, come have some." Here's what she had prepared for us on the coffee table recently.

I should be used to all of this by now but I have to admit that this surprised me:
This was a new one. Seashells might not be a common find in the average produce drawer, but not around here. Sister walked in right as I opened the drawer and {in a very proud of herself manner} announced "I made you apple pie with sauce and ice cream!!!!!! Eat some Mommy, it's delicious!" I love how she even put spoons in all the containers.
I certainly get my daily dose of laughter from her. She melts my heart and brings me more joy than I can put into words. She's also a REALLY great big sis.

Don't worry, she's not feeding brother creme de la here, just oatmeal :).

More Conversations

2010-03-07T22:02:00.002-06:00

Yes, I know the last post was also a recent conversation with A, but these are the things that I never want to forget. I LOVE this age. I can see that she is trying so hard to process life and make sense of everything. I love that she has questions and opinions and is still at the age that almost anything and everything that comes to her mind also comes out of her mouth.

Between she and J (Papa to her) in the car recently

A: Papa, when I grow up I am going to get married, my husband's name will be Fritz and we will live in Arizona. We are going to have 2 kids, a girl named Abby and a boy named Shepherd. I am going to drive a red car with musical stickers, a crown, boots, and a veil on it. Fritz is going to be a, um, a, uhh, Papa what are you?

J: I'm a project manager

A: Fritz will be a project manager and work in Connecticut. I'm going to be a nurse-doctor-nurse. We are going to have 17 cats, named Abby (even though her daughter will also be Abby), Sninka, Nina, and, um, 13 others. [I guess she got tired of coming up with names, but at least her math was close :)]. Mommy won't be able to come see us since she's allergic to cats, but you can come over!

J: Ummm, well good, I'm glad I'll be able to come and visit you.

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Another one in the car with me recently. I'm seeing a theme here. I think maybe she knows that in the car she has our full attention-no phone ringing, dinner cooking, laundry folding, etc, and I think she also knows that, in a sense, she has us cornered!

A: How do we get to heaven?

Me: Well, when you know Jesus, you go to heaven when you die.

A: Right, but how do we get there?

Me: To heaven?

A: Yes

Me: (totally dumbfounded on how to answer this and starting to sweat at where this conversation is going) I don't know exactly, but Jesus will take us to heaven after we die, and we'll know then

A: Hmmmm, I think {pauses as she comes up with an answer, because she always has an answer} that he comes down with a rope and takes us up to heaven.

Me: Well, maybe that's what happens.

A: And I think there are lots of cats in heaven.

A couple things I gleaned from that discussion (1) A apparently thinks Jesus bungee jumps out of heaven, grabs you, and flings right back up (2) she is not pleased with the fact that I'm allergic to cats and therefore we don't have any.

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Again, in the car. Last week we took A, G, and our nieces to the zoo. Our niece, O, was in the third row seat, behind A and G. O propped her feet up on the armrest of G's seat, but not touching A or G.

A: Papa, O has her feet on brother's seat!

J: Don't be a tattletale, O is fine. You don't need to worry about what's going on behind you, just worry about yourself and what's going on in front of you.

A few minutes later J reprimanded A about something, can't remember exactly what it was....A's response?

A: Papa, don't worry about what's going on behind you, just worry about yourself and what's going on in front of you.

I'm impressed J didn't wreck the car he was laughing so hard!

Sometimes I wish I could just jump inside her head and experience what's going on in there.

Cousin

2010-02-23T21:16:00.002-06:00

Conversations with 4 year olds are funny, entertaining, tender, and well, sometimes mentally exhausting. Av always keeps me on my toes with the comments she makes and questions she asks.

This weekend we had some issues with her arguing with me and talking back. We had a discussion about her behavior and attitude. After our discussion she had to sit in the dining by herself. When she was allowed back into the kitchen she informed me that I "hurt her feelings and broke her heart." Drama. She then let me know that the next time I argue with or talk back to her, she will put me in the dining room. This brought on a conversation that we have had over and over and over and over .....again. I am the mom, J is the dad, she is child and that God tells children to obey their parents.

I think she pondered all of this for a while and tried to come up with a way to get around it. The next morning we were having breakfast and she informed me that she wasn't my daughter, but actually my cousin! She proceeded to refer to herself as "cousin" for the remainder of the morning. She would also speak in the third person, as in, "Cousin is thirsty, can she please have some milk?" I guess she thought if she could convince me that we're cousins, that would make us equals...and therefore she could do whatever she pleased without consequences or discipline. I will admit that it did give me a good laugh and I was somewhat impressed with her creativity and thought processes on this one, but, oh my, if she is already this (I almost hate to use this word, but if the shoe fits..) calculating, what I am going to have to deal when she is a teenager? Never a dull moment around here right now :)

As is often the case when dealing with kids, it reminds me of my own relationship with God. How often do I try to justify my actions, deny my position, and somehow excuse myself from unwanted consequences?

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Here's another one from her that's not quite so mischievous. We have been discussing some basics of faith. We having been trying to explain that God is Holy, and without sin, and that we have sinned and therefore are not holy, which is why we need God. She is very interested in this one aspect and mentions it quite frequently. We were in the car running errands a few days ago and she asked "if the holiers love the sinners"

Timber

2010-02-16T23:31:00.002-06:00

I was out and about recently when J called to inform that lightning had struck a tree in our neighbor's yard. My first thought was "great, where did it fall and what damage did it do?". It ends up it didn't fall, it's more like it exploded. As you can see below, it was as if all that was left was huge shards of the tree. It took out the treehouse and swing set next to it.

J said it sounded like a bomb had gone off outside and he actually felt it in the house. The tree is in the back corner of the neighbor's yard and the "explosion" was so powerful that 8 foot long pieces of tree cleared our yard and ended up in the next yard, easily over 100 ft. away. These pieces were like 4-6 foot long spears sticking out of the ground. They were so firmly in the ground that they stayed like that through the storms and for the next few days until we took them out.
I have to brag on my hubby now. Our neighbor is a single mom with 2 daughters who would not have been able to clean this up on their own. She tried to file with her insurance, but since it is classified as an act of God, they wouldn't cover it. J decided that we (read 90% by him) could handle it for her. I love his integrity, concern for others around him, and how hardworking he is. It was as simple to him as "it's the right thing to do," so we did it! Thankfully J wrangled our nephews into pitching in as well.

J is quite handy with his chainsaw, so he would cut and carried and loaded. The amazing part of the whole thing was that nobody was injured and no major damage was done. The treehouse is no more, but the 2 girls next door are teenagers that don't use it anymore. One piece of our fence was hit, but J fixed it. We were in awe of the power in the storm, God's creation. Oh-and we have firewood to last for quite a while!

Little Man

2009-12-07T21:18:00.004-06:00

Recently I got to have a "girl's only" weekend at the beach. Well, it was actually a "mom's and nursing children" weekend, but since that's as close as I can get to freedom at this point, I'll take it. It was me with G and J with her daughter, MC. We had so much fun. I am so thankful for J's friendship. She is one of my very best friends and I miss her terribly since we moved last year. We can talk about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and I think we did talk about anything and everything that weekend, literally. We.talked.the.entire.weekend. I think we were catching up for the last year since I moved! J-hope I didn't completely wear you out :)!

J is a many talented woman, one of those talents being that she is a fantastic photographer. I got 2 great presents from the weekend. J gave me a photography lesson and took some fantastic shots of G! Feast your eyes on these. I know I'm biased, but I can barely stand how cute he is!!!

Oldie, but a Goodie

2009-10-27T20:55:00.004-05:00

Recently I got to spend an afternoon with one of my best friends who happens to live in our former city. One of the best parts is that our daughters are also best of friends.

As you can see....

they were quite excited...

to see each other.

I could barely get any decent pictures

because they were too concerned with hugging/tackling each other. I did enjoy the absolutely adorable, constant giggling of those 2 little 3 year olds.

Four

2009-10-20T22:33:00.003-05:00

This little guy.....is now 4 months old.....

14 lbs, 9 oz and 26.5 inches long

We survived the Dr's visit and the shots much better than our last appointment. He has been cleared to progress past a completely liquid diet. I fed him oatmeal tonight, and, oh my, did he enjoy it. I would have given you a pic of the experience, but I'm afraid it would have just been him screaming while I paused from feeding him to snap a picture. I was supposed to give one Tbsp of oatmeal mixed with breastmilk to a very runny consistency. He. ate. an. entire. bowl. and was giggling with delight through the entire experience.

In other baby news, G has learned to flip over. Very exciting, but he can only flip one way, so he's quite "turtle-ish" in that regard. It was quite an issue for a while because he would only do this during his sleep, so he would wake himself up.......and then be stuck.....screaming. Thankfully, he's figured it out and now sleeps on his back or his stomach.

Updates

2009-09-17T00:12:00.002-05:00

This little guy is changing too fast! He'll be 12 weeks in 2 days. The pic is G and my dad this past weekend. We had a great lttile trip to visit my dad's family, but will have to post about that tomorrow--too sleepy tonight. I'll share one part of the weekend though. That little guy started rolling over while we were there! He had his first meal other than breastmilk tonight. He's seemed hungry in the afternoons, so I thought we should try some oatmeal and it was a huge success. He's also dropped his late night "dream feed" and is now sleeping 11 hours a night! Can I get a hallelujah on that one?! A lot of change for one week, but he's done well with all of it.

I had another typical motherhood moment tonight. We were having enchiladas for dinner and, of course, the moment I had finished cooking and we were going to sit down at the table, G woke up from his late afternoon nap. I ended up nursing him while sitting at the table eating dinner. As I was finishing my last couple of bites a huge glob of sauce dropped from my enchilada and somehow splattered G and me. It landed in an opportune spot and we joked that it appeared I was lactating enchilada sauce. J's response? Let him know when I start lactating whiskey. Glamorous.

Big Time

2009-09-07T21:29:00.004-05:00

So I'm late in getting this up, but better late than never right? Right? If my only options in life were "on time" and "never," I'm afraid there would be a never. Are any of you like that as well? So what am I late in doing--posting G's 2 month appointment that was weeks ago, so here it is. I added in a few recent pics as well!

We're going on an outgoing? Yay!!

What do mean shots are involved?!?!
2 months. 13 lbs 4 oz. 24 inches Our pediatrician let me know that I've got a big guy on my hands. Nice to know the numbers, but I had already figured that one out on my own :)

He seriously did NOT like shots. I had heard his hungry and tired cry, but had never heard his pain cry before. It was completely pitiful and heartbreaking. He calmed down in the office a couple minutes after the shots, we went home, fed him, and put him down for a nap. 2 hours later he woke up SCREAMING in pain, so I fed him to calm him down. Normally he barely comes up for air when he's eating, but that day he stopped multiple times to start screaming again, especially if I happened to touch either of his sore legs. Pitiful! Thankfully, a warm bath after he ate was what he needed. Neither of us are looking forward to the 4 month check-up. He wasn't quite himself for a few days, but now we're back on track.

Finally got a shot of at least one of the dimples

And back to Mr. Serious

Seriously Mom, that's enough pictures

When There's Smoke......

2009-08-28T13:23:00.006-05:00

there's usually fire. That, of course, is a good thing for roasting marshmallows, a candlelit dinner, the fire pit on a cool fall night, but not so much when it's in one of the walls of my house. That's right folks, we haven't even been in the house for 2 months and have already had our first major incident.

The picture above is what one of the walls in our garage currently looks like. The pipe and faucet above go to an outdoor faucet in the backyard that had been dripping. This past Sat they went to work to repair it, which included welding****.

That afternoon J and I noticed that the smoke smell continued to linger in the house. He went downstairs to find a garage full of smoke, but thankfully, no flames. We have 2 smoke detectors in the garage and both had been checked 2 days before by our alarm system company, but somehow neither of them went off. He cut a small section of sheet rock away and sprayed the fire extinguisher in it, but the smoke continued, so he cut the large whole in the pic. The hardyplank (SP???) that is between the outer brick and inner sheet rock had been smoldering all afternoon. We had been in the yard most of the day with the garage door open, so nobody noticed the smoke since it was burning so slowly and just going outside. The only reason the smoke finally built up enough to notice it was because J had shut the garage doors when we came inside.

To top it off, J and I were about to go on our first date since little man's arrival. Mom had helped us with yard work all afternoon and was staying for the evening to watch the kiddos for us. So we had both just showered and dressed to go out to dinner and a movie and ended up sweaty and dirty all over again to deal with the above. By the time everything was under control and we felt (mostly) comfortable with leaving, we quickly grabbed sandwiches at Firehouse Subs(ironic, isn't it) and ate them in the movie theater. I felt sooo rude doing that, but I excused it in my mind since I think it falls in the category of "extenuating circumstances"---house on fire and first date after having a baby.

The evening made me quite teary and I felt so shaken up by all of it. I tried as much as possible to not "what if" the night.....as in what if we hadn't smelled the smoke, what if it had started burning the sheet rock and wood...during the night, what if my mother and children had been injured while I was enjoying myself at the movies.....can you see my mind reeling? It was terrifying, but I am thankful that we are all safe and there is no major damage. J and his dad will easily be able to repair it.

Moral of the story-go hug and kiss your kids and spouse, make sure your smoke detectors are working properly, and if you smell smoke-check it out IMMEDIATELY!!

****I will give the disclaimer that J and his dad are fantastic with house projects-they know how to fix everything! Nothing like this has EVER happened to either of them in the past, and I trust both of them completely to work on any part of our home.

Faithful

2009-08-18T23:01:00.001-05:00

We decided is would be better to explain what today would be like to Av in advance and I am so thankful that we chose that route. We told her we would be seeing the doctor and he needed her tummy to be empty, so no breakfast, that she would wear a special gown so the Dr could get to her tummy, she would get some medicine that would make her sleepy so she wouldn't feel it when he checked her, and she would have to go to a special room with just the Dr. and nurses, but that we would be there waiting for her. Two of my biggest logistic concerns were keeping her without food/drink and how she would react when taken back to the OR without us. Av wants to eat breakfast immediately on wakening. But since we had told her no food until after we saw the doctor-she didn't even ask for anything to eat that morning. We got to the hospital at 10 am, and they didn't take her to the OR until around 1 pm. She mentioned that she was hungry a few times, but that was it! I am so proud of her. She had a great attitude all day, didn't complain, never seemed upset, no crying--it was incredible.

A wonderful friend of mine, J, sent Av a care package that helped keep us entertained all morning. We tried anything we could think of to keep a 3 year old occupied in the hospital! We wore our new princess slippers.

We put stickers on everythingMy "waterproof" watch isn't working after wearing it in the pool for all of 5 minutes, but Av graciously shared her watch with me.Av made me a lovely beaded necklace that matched my shirt quite well.

Let Av practice her photography skills

Once we were in the preop room Av gladly changed into her gown since it was like dress-up to her!

She snoozed peacefully after surgery. It was somewhat heart wrenching to see her with IV tubing and wires connected to her. When the nurse came to discharge us Av asked the nurse if she could take everything off herself. She unwrapped her blood pressure cuff and took all the tape of her own hand so the the nurse could remove the IV!

Av did enjoy riding in the wagon as her transportation to the car (even though it doesn't look like it in this pic-she was still a little zoned out from the anesthesia).I think what I learned from the day were 2 things that I have heard before. Kids are resilient and they can often handle more than believed they could. We are so thankful, but somewhat shocked at how smoothly the day went. I also think we definitely made the right decision to explain it to her before hand. Of course I didn't include all the details in our talk, like the fact that the Dr would be cutting her stomach open, but as much as I thought would be beneficial and understood, I shared with her.

I gave her some Tylenol yesterday afternoon and that was the only medicine she has had. Today it was as if she had already completely healed. She didn't even mention her tummy or complain of pain and it was like any other day around here! Thanks for the prayers, calls, and words of encouragement.

Home

2009-08-18T00:23:00.004-05:00

We are home and the day went incredibly well. From the great to the small details, God was faithful, as He always is. Thanks for your prayers. I'll share more tomorrow, I'm off to bed.

Psalm 117

Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.
For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD.

Anxious

2009-08-17T00:04:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow is the big day to take Av to the hospital for her surgery. I'm quite familiar with the OR, but I'm going to be on the other side this time. We have to be there at 10 am, which surgery will hopefully start by around 11-12. I think one of the most challenging parts is going to be keeping her without food or drink all morning. Av is ready to eat breakfast IMMEDIATELY after she gets up in the morning. We have told her that she can't eat/drink anything until after she sees the doctor and she accepted it well tonight, but we'll see how that goes once the situation is actually here.

I'm trying not to be too nervous. I wanted to sleep with her in my arms tonight, but I knew that it would be better for both of us to get a good night of sleep. I have also have tried to remind myself that I am not in control, no matter how much I think I am, but that God is. She is His more than she is mine and His love for her is beyond mine, even though it's hard to comprehend anyone loving her more than I do.
He loves her more than I do
He loves her more than I do
He loves her more than I do
Please say a prayer for us and if you want to mention it on your blog to get others praying as well I would really appreciate it! Thanks, and I will let you know how everything goes once we are home.

Ephesians 3;17-19
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Observation of the Day

2009-08-15T13:53:00.003-05:00

After I had just finished nursing and burping G, Av very excitedly announced "Good job brother!!! Mommy, brother is good at spitting up on towels!!!" She's such a proud big sis :).

Reading, Writing, and....

2009-08-13T21:04:00.004-05:00

So last year we worked on learning the alphabet, and clearly I'm not the quickest teacher on the block, but we are finally getting to the next step. This summer Av and I have been working on sounds and early reading. My generous SIL passed her phonics program onto us and it has been a huge success!

We are using the Frontline Phonics program, but there are many other excellent programs out there. The program includes

1. Picture flashcards (ie frog with F)and upper and lower case flashcards of each letter.

2. A lesson manual. There are about 40 lessons total [each letter, 2 for vowels (short and long), and review lessons about every 5 letters]. We do one lesson a day and it takes about 10-15 minutes. We also make that lesson the "letter of the day" and try to do things like point out objects that start with that letter throughout the day. There are also suggested activities such as Licking a Lollipop on L day.

3. 6 early reading books that Av has really enjoyed and is already sounding out words in them.

4. (Her favorite part) A CD with a full alphabet song that reviews each letter and then each letter has a song that goes with it to go over the sound of the letter and a few words that start with it. I think she has the entire CD memorized and it helps her to think through the song if she is trying to think of what that letter says.

5. A workbook to practice writing the letters and it has coloring and matching activities.

I have been really impressed and surprised by how easy it has been. Av has also really loved it and is SO PROUD OF HERSELF! We have really tried to emphasize the importance of learning something new, that it is OK not to have it perfect on the first time, and we have to keep trying. It has been a joy as a parent to see her putting effort into this and growing her confidence as she learns. I highly recommend a phonics program for your young ones! You could do this on your own by making flashcards to save on the cost, but I really think we would have missed out had we not had the CD. Something about setting it to music has really her helped her pick this up quickly and made her excited about it.

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Totally unrelated, but for your viewing enjoyment

Nothing But Blue Skies

2009-08-12T21:22:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday, the rest of our week at the beach was gorgeous! Thankfully my mom was kind enough to stay at the house with G so J, A, and I could spend some time together on the beach. It was beautiful!! The sky was clear, the water was calm and warm, and there was a huge sandbar so even A could stand in the water. The men did a little fishing and A wanted to join in on the fun. They even caught spanish mackerel.

We also caught a crab. This was as close as she would get to the crab because she wasn't too keen on that big left claw.
Strangely, she was very fond of a dead fish that J found and planned on using for bait. I guess she likes animals that aren't squirming and she knows can't bite her. I can't say that I blame her! Please excuse the very old and chipped nail polish. I've learned that instead of investing in polish remover I can just allow time, salt water, and pool water to get the job done. I think she was going in for a kiss The beach was a little more crowded than usual. We joked that we mind need to find a new spot at the beach if we have to keep dealing with crowds like this every time we go :)!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2009-08-11T20:58:00.008-05:00

As I mentioned yesterday, we spent last week at the beach. Av was ready to hit the water as soon as she could.

Unfortunately, we were greeted with this shortly after we left the house.

We tried to watch and wait patiently for the rain to stop.

And passed the time by catching rain drops

Watching the puddles forming around the porch
And practicing gymnastics Thankfully the rest of the week was beautiful, but that will have to wait for another day. Both the kids are now in bed and I am off to get some rest myself.

A Few of My Favorite Things

2009-08-10T21:35:00.004-05:00

I have a couple of newly found items that have moved to the top of my list and I thought I would share! One is for me and the other for the bambino.

1. I LOVE coffee, however, J says that I love a little coffee with my creamer, milk, and sugar. He is a straight black coffee drinker and I do get quite a bit of grief from him for how light my coffee is. I am normally a vanilla/french vanilla creamer girl, but it is time for vanilla to move over! We were at the beach with my fam this past week and mom brought Coffee-Mate Italian Sweet Creme creamer. Even J agreed that it is wonderful. It smells like a pastry shop-yum! Thankfully, my mom loves me and sent the bottle home with me!

2. We are swaddlers when it comes to our kids. With Av we used blankets and it worked very well. The same blankets worked OK with G-for a little while. Even our best swaddling blankets are not working well on him since he is the size of the average 3 month old already. He squirms all over the place and kicks out of the swaddling....and then wakes up from his nap. With Av we had tried special pre-formed swaddling blankets and was very unimpressed. I received the miracle blanket as a gift and had my doubts at first, but it is fantastic!! It has a pocket for the feet, inner fabric to wrap around the arms, and 2 outer pieces of fabric to swaddle without velcro or snaps so it fits no matter what size the baby. One of the outer pieces is longer and I am able to wrap it around G twice so he is as snug when he gets up from his nap as he was when he first went to sleep. I don't use the arm wraps, but leave his arms out and start the swaddling under his arms. He fights it if I pin his arms down and sleeps better with them free. There are instructions on it here and you can order one here.

Be back soon with updates from the beach! Oh and very exciting news-G starting sleeping through the night last week!!! More on that later as well!

Doctor, doctor

2009-07-30T21:08:00.003-05:00

Whew! It has been a schedule of doctor appointments this summer-OB visits, having G, my postop visits, G's well child checks, and now taking Av to the surgeon. The news is-Av will have to have surgery in a few weeks. I was 99% sure that this would be the verdict, but I'm not looking forward to it. She has been the healthiest little bit-never been on antibiotics and the only time I have even taken her in for a sick visit was when she had pink eye. I know that this is the best thing for her, but taking her in the day of surgery and handing her over to the OR team is going to be REALLY hard for me, and I think it might be even harder for J. Thankfully we will be able to be at a pediatric hospital with a highly recommended surgeon. Amazingly, he said that kids her age are normally fine in 48 hours and don't usually need anything more than Tylenol for pain. Will keep you posted. I'm off to bed since both of the kiddos are asleep!

Sister

2009-07-28T20:52:00.002-05:00

Can I tell you how proud I am of this little girl? Since brother has gotten the blogging attention lately, I thought it was sister's turn today. First of all, I have loved every stage, but I am really loving the 3 year old stage! It's definitely challenging, but I still love it. She is so fun, imaginative, and full of personality and excitement. She is also an all-star big sister. She has adjusted to her new role so well. She is incredibly loving to our new little man and has become a huge help to me. Many people I have talked to noted that their older chidren wanted to play the role of the baby or "regressed" somewhat with things like potty training. I feel that we are experiencing the opposite. She has grown up so much in the last month. She is very aware of G and his needs. She is so quick to rush to him if he loses his paci or try to comfort him if he starts fussing. She tells him "it's OK brother, it's OK," rocks him in his chair, and gently tells him "shhhhh." Makes my heart melt! She has also become a HUGE helper and loves to help change his diaper, get me wipes, kiss him, put him to bed, etc. She even refers to herself as the "other momma" sometimes and tells me "I'm the mom!" At those times J is her husband, my mom becomes her mom and my grandmother, and brother is my brother. She refers to me as "kid." Her name is L and my name is Av. I just love it!

One reason I wanted to make this about her is to ask for prayers as well. Av has an umbilical (bellybutton) hernia. She has always had it. The standard is to see if it closes on it's own. Av is at the age where if it was going to close on it's own, it would have by this point...so tomorrow we have to see a pediatric general surgeon and schedule surgery. I'm trying to tell myself that this is a "minor" surgery, but honestly, when it's your child is any surgery minor? Now I know how my patients feel. I'll let you know how everything goes tomorrow. Thanks!

Bliss

2009-07-12T23:07:00.003-05:00

I don't know any way to better describe life right now. It is busy, sleep deprived, and chaotic at times, but it is completely wonderful. I feel incredibly blessed, joyful, content, and simply happy. It's as if we have reached a new level of family. I know that we were a family even when it was just J and I, but now it somehow seems more real, fuller, and deeper. I love we are now a family of 4, that we have more than 1 child, and that Av now has a sibling. Pure bliss. I am overwhelmed by God's grace, faithfulness, and goodness.

I love every little bit of him and already feel like I have to capture it because he is changing so much. He is growing so fast. His cheeks are getting full. He no longer stays in a little ball all day long, but is stretching out now. He makes the cutest sighs and coos while sleeping and awake. He has an entire range of facial expressions already and I wish I could capture every one of them in a picture. He is already holding his head up-he actually did it while we were still in the hospital (have to admit that freaked me out a little bit :)). I love every little bit about him and this period in our life.

Call Me Crazy

2009-07-10T15:24:00.006-05:00

Last Fall I let you know how we had quite a few major life changing events in a very short time span. I guess maybe I didn't learn the lesson at that point, because we did it to ourselves again! On top of J starting a new job recently, having a C-section 3 weeks ago, and becoming a family of 4....we have bought a new house! We have been looking for a while and finally found a house that we really love and that has almost everything we have been looking for in our home. We closed on the house when G was 11 days old and have been moving in since then. Thankfully, J has been a workhorse and our family has been immensely helpful in the moving process. Here are a few pics.....can you guess one of the reasons why we love it??

Anyone up for an afternoon of poolside margaritas?

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In newborn news, G had his first visit with the pediatrician today. We might not be calling him Little Man much longer--he is now 22.5 inches long and weighs 9 lbs 15 oz. Our pediatrician was quite impressed with how much he has grown and noted on more than one occasion what a big guy he is! He got a clean bill of health and we were all thankful to hear the good news.

I tried to give you some pictures of the visit, but am having issues with the pictures from today.

Let Me Introduce Myself

2009-07-01T21:32:00.006-05:00

I do have a name, but my mommy is a little funny about putting our names on here, so you can call me G. I don't hear my name much at home anyway. I typically get called brother, brother man, little man, boo, bobo, and some others. I'm a pretty big guy, well at least for a 10 day old. I have already moved out of newborn diapers, and am pretty much out of newborn clothing and onto the 3 month stuff. I don't really like bath time and I always voice my opinion on that-as you will see below.

I do love to be snuggled up in my warm blanket after my bath and it calms me down immediately.

I have REALLY cute dimples and Mommy keeps trying to get a picture of them, but I wanted my paci, so I just stuck my tongue out at her instead.

I keep trying to find my fingers. I know they're out there somewhere since they end up in my mouth sometimes.

Aaah, I finally got my paci and made sure that no one was going to take it again!

I do love my dog, Lily, but I think she has been feeling a little left out lately.

Before and After

2009-06-23T21:25:00.006-05:00

Friday 6/19/09, 5 AM2.5 hours, 9 lbs 1 0z, and 21.5 inches later........He was a little bruised since he was a good bit larger than what we were expecting

Av was incredibly excited to see brother (which is what she calls him).

She immediately ran to him, kissed him, sang him a lullaby, and wanted to hold him. So sweet. I think she would kiss him a hundred times a day and hold him all day long.

1 day after being out of Mommy's tummy. This little man has already stolen my heart.

Ready or Not

2009-06-18T22:24:00.003-05:00

Bottles and Pacis have been boiled

Bumper pad, sheets, and all other linens have been washed and put on the crib

The pack-n-play is up in our room

Bags are packed

Av has been punted to my SIL

Bought diapers, wipes, and new parts for the breastpump

We have to be at the hospital at 5 AM tomorrow

Somehow even though getting to check off this list makes me feel calmer, I don't think it's prepared us for adding another child to our family. We are so excited and I can't believe that the day is here.

Did I mention that we still don't have a name? I thought we had pretty much nailed it down.....until last night. At around 11 last night J decided that we needed to "think out of the box" and basically start from scratch with names. I thought I was going to lose my mind or strangle him--don't worry, neither one happened. J is still here and I think I'm still sane. Soooooo, we'll see. He might be baby boy Leonard for a little while.

I think we have WiFi in the hospital, so if I can give pics tomorrow I will! I would REALLY appreciate your prayers!

Farming Freedom

2009-06-17T22:58:00.005-05:00

I thought I would share our last weekend as a one child family. Av was with J's side of the family at the beach last week. I love my daughter, but at 9 months preggers it was bliss for me to rest and get last minute things done without trying to keep up with a 3 year old. We spent part of the weekend at the farm. J just had to get a pic of me--again 9 months pregnant, sweaty, no make-up, AND by the tractor. J loved it, but I know he wished that I had on waders with either a shotgun or a fly fishing rod on my shoulder.We have had incredible amounts of rain, but thankfully the lake was not overflowing. I have to admit I was a tad concerned that we could get stuck in the mud and that I would go into labor out in the woods. Thankfully that didn't happen either.

The blackberry bushes have really benefited from all the rain, but not ready to pick just yet.

Most of the blueberry bushes are at the same stage as the blackberries.

There were a few blueberries ready to be picked and I wanted to get them before the farm bugs and critters did. We were able to get about a quart of the blueberries, and they were gone in 4 days! They don't last long around Av and me, I'm ready to go back for more.

Anyone want to join us next time? We don't have running water, but we do have this lovely toilet "chair" to take in the woods to avoid, um, squatting. What can I say? We're a high class crowd around here :).

Villainous

2009-06-16T21:43:00.003-05:00

I had to give an update on my sweet little girl and how she is dealing with adding another kiddo to our little family. Overall she has done very well, especially since Mommy has been so sick and I definitely have not been myself this entire pregnancy. The funniest and actually most consistent thing has been that Av decided months ago that she also has a baby in her tummy. She says that brother is in my tummy and sister is in her tummy.....and her name is Surla. Yes folks, that's Surla. Where did that name come from? We have no idea! Av likes to lay on her back and push her stomach in and out to show us that "Surla is kicking." We then have to go over to her and put a hand on her stomach to " feel" Surla.Sometimes Surla is in her tummy, but other times she's in Av's back and it makes her back sore. I have to give it to her, the girl's got imagination.

The other recent change is that J is the new hero and AV is not very interested in me. My only guess is because I am carrying her future sibling. She wants to cuddle with J, have him read her books, put her to bed, etc. Another part of it is that Av likes to assign people characters from books and movies. She is typically sleeping beauty, Cinderella-you get the idea. J is prince or hero and I have consistently been the villain. Recently I have been the wicked stepmother, Malificent, and the "bad cheetah" from Kung Fu Panda. I thought those were pretty bad...until this weekend. We were eating dinner at my parent's house when Av starting telling us all what characters we were that night. When it got to me Av informed me that I was a mouse (Cinderella) so that the dragon could eat me!! It was hilarious. I couldn't believe it.

Tonight's post is for Becky-not only 2 posts in one month, but 3 in a little over a week :)! 3 days left to go until baby boy Leonard is here! Still no final decisions on names.

The Name Game

2009-06-11T22:02:00.004-05:00

All right folks, would you like to help with name options for our son? We have a number of family names that we are considering, but we just haven't been able to get it nailed down yet. I don't have any one name that really stands out to me. So here are some of the names on the short list-what do you think? It will probably be some combination of 2 of the following.

Brett
Shepherd
James
Owen
Andrew
Jonathan

We really do like Shepherd, but does Shepherd Leonard sound to sing-songy (-erd -ard)? We would probably call him Shep anyway?

On to the OB update. Saw my DR yesterday and so far, so good. I had a C-section with pregnancy #1, so will also be having one this time around. It's scheduled for next Friday-yes, that's 8 days from now!! I have started dilating and he is almost completely dropped, so I am a little nervous that I will make it until next Fri without going into labor.

On a completely unrelated note, funny story of the day. I had an adult male patient today wearing a metal bracelet. I hadn't paid any attention to it until someone asked if I had read what it said. I assumed it said "peace" or maybe had a Bible verse on it. I could not have been more wrong. It said "I 'heart' boobies*"All I could think was, at least he's honest! Think I should get one for J for father's Day?

Go vote on baby names!

*Can anyone tell me how to make the heart symbol?

Countdown

2009-06-09T22:12:00.002-05:00

Well folks, I have 10 days to go until Baby Boy Leonard is here. Next Friday is supposed to be the date.....as long as I can make it that long. The C-section is set for 5 days before my due date, Av was 9 days early, so I am slightly nervous. I'm probably also nervous b/c I still have quite a few things to do in these last 10 days. Right now my list is topped with coming up with a name for our son and finishing organizing the nursery.

As to my last post, I did pass boards!!!! Thank you for any prayers-I can now continue practicing medicine :). I did put quite a bit of studying into it--hence the lack of blogging and I went to a review course in Dallas. I guess it all paid off in the end. The review course was quite torturous-sitting in a hotel conference room from 7 am to at least 5 pm daily and then taking a 2 hour practice test every night. I know you're jealous.

Actually here's the part you might be jealous about. So I love Fleetwood Mac, found out they're on tour, and was determined to see them in concert before they "retire." Possibility 1-they were in Atlanta...the night that my flight was booked to fly to Dallas, so that was out. Possibility 2-they were in Dallas while I was there for the conference, but a that wasn't quite feasible with the all day class and nightly test. Any other city they were in would have been an additional plane flight and hotel stay somewhere...while in my 3rd trimester, also out of the picture. I gave up, decided it was more important that I pass boards, and just decided to hope that they would tour again one day...sigh.

One day at lunch while at the conference hubby called to check in and let me know he had quite a dilemma.....2 14th row, center stage, on the floor tickets to the concert that night in Dallas. I was supposed to go out to dinner with Becky that night and thought J had sneakily arranged for the 2 of us to the concert. Turns out he had gotten the grandparents to watch the kiddo, flown to Dallas that morning, and was in the hotel lobby when he called me!! I was completely shocked! I did have to call Becky and let her know that I would be ditching her that night-sorry Beck, but thanks for being so understanding. I skipped my last lecture (so unlike the nerd that I am), got dolled up, headed to Capital Grille where J had made reservations, and then onto the concert--that was fantastic!!!! He's so thoughtful and creative. I still can't believe that he pulled it off, our entire family was in on it.

I have an OB appointment in the AM and will let you know of any news tomorrow. If you think of any great boy names, let me know!

Pray!!!

2009-05-18T20:25:00.003-05:00

Hey everyone, I know that I have been an incredibly absent blogger lately, but I have a good reason. I have to recertify for my boards every 6 years......and guess what year it is? I have boards tomorrow starting at 7:30 am. It is a 360 question test over 6 hours. It's exhausting just to think about it. For at least the last month I feel like most of my free time has been spent hunched over books studying. Thankfully, it will all be over by this time tomorrow and I will feel more like a normal person again. If you think about it, please say a prayer for me-for recollection, anxiety, and of course that I would pass! Thanks so much and I will be here more often now that boards will be over. I have enjoyed reading your blogs though, they've been great study breaks!

Jesus and the Naughty Chair

2009-02-24T22:08:00.002-06:00

Have I told you how much I love Av's school? She recently came home and informed me that when you do something bad, like disobeying your parents, it's sin which make your heart dirty and God is the only one that can clean it. Wow! An exposition on sin at age 3. Along with the recent topics at school, 3 as become more of a disicpline challenge for us. Well, I'm thinking that as a result of these 2 things, we had the following conversation recently while we were driving the grocery store.

Av: Did Jesus have to sit in the naughty chair?

Me: No, he was good and obeyed his parents

Av: Did Jesus have to go to time out?

Me: No, sweetie he obeyed his parents and didn't have to sit in time out because he was good

Av: I think he did

Me: Repeat above statement with more explanation

Av: I think Joseph spanked him

Me: (Again) He obeyed Mary and Joseph so he didn't get spankings or time outs

Av: I think Joseph spanked him and I don't like Mary and Joseph

Me: Why don't you like Mary and Joseph?

Av: Because they don't love me

How many ways can you explain that Jesus was a man, yet without sin to a 3 year old. After Av's last statement we had arrived at the store and she changed the subject to what we should buy. I can't say I didn't welcome the subject diversion! Theological discussions with a 3 year old-what next?

Imagination

2009-02-19T21:48:00.003-06:00

OK, so one of my friends actually called me after my last post, somewhat concerned for me. I wasn't trying to be a downer, but just sharing what I had been reflecting on over the week Now onto to today's post.

Can I tell ya'll how much fun Av is right now? I find her completely hilarious and the stuff that comes out of her mouth is priceless. I know that if I don't document it here, I will soon forget it, so here goes.

A few months ago we were getting ready for bed and Av informed me that we had to take the baby squirrels to bed with us. I had no idea what she was talking about as I watched her walk over to empty couch, bend over, and scoop her hands together as if picking up, well, a group of baby squirrels off the couch. That's right folks, my child's first imaginary friends are a group of infant rodents. Then she "carried" them upstairs, "tucked" them into her bed, and then climbed into the bed herself. Over the next month we continued to put the "squirrels" to bed, bathe them, read to them, etc. I even accidentally sat on them one day, but Av immediately let me know and I quickly jumped up to move to another seat. Well, we haven't heard much about the squirrels for the last month...until a couple days ago. I lifted up Av's bed skirt looking for a shoe I couldn't find. I didn't find the shoe, but I did find her pink lamb stuffed animal, Esmerelda (don't ask me how a 2 year old names her lamb Esmerelda). I let her know that Esmerelda was under the bed--her response?--"Yes, she's there with the baby squirrels." It was a very "duh, Mom" statement from her. I guess they're all hibernating for the Winter with Esmerelda guarding over them. Silly me for not knowing where they have been for the last month.

Change

2009-02-16T21:10:00.002-06:00

Change might be the one word that best sums up the last year for us.

Jonathan and I have both had job changes-at times not by our choosing, causing large swings in our "expected" income.
We sold our house and moved to a different city
My brother got married
We found out that I am pregnant

There are others that I could add to list, but these are the major points. Some of this is change that we sought out and desired, but other parts of it were unexpected {our future son was planned, if you're wondering :)}. I think I've decided that all major change, even wanted change, can be stressful. The last few weeks have been especially difficult and I had a couple moments of breakdown recently.

I was blessed to be in a fantastic Bible study while in our former city and one thing my teacher frequently stated was that it's hard to complain when you have an attitude of thankfulness. I've tried to take this attitude recently, and focus on the many, many blessings that I have in my life, instead of the circumstances that I'm not so fond of right now. We are blessed with wonderful friends and family, we have transportation, food, health, freedom, a (generally) safe country to live in, shelter, and countless others

This thought process did make me thankful and helped to alleviate my stress level, and although I do want to be thankful for all these things and keep an attitude of gratefulness, there is part of this thinking that is flawed in a sense. All of that above list is conditional and could change by the time I am done writing this post. Instead of being thankful for the effect, I need to be thankful for the cause, a God that is constant, unconditional, and unchanging. He is the only thing that I can place my trust and confidence in and that can give me peace. I do not want to take the gift for granted, but first and foremost, my focus needs to be on the giver.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

Cranky to Crafty

2009-02-10T21:18:00.007-06:00

Do your children wake up grouchy from their naps? Av is chipper and ready for the day when she gets up in the morning, but not so much in the afternoon. She was so crabby today that she was sent back to bed until she could come out with a different attitude. 10 minutes later she said she could come out and be nice :) After (1) an entire afternoon/evening of crafts and (2) a good dinner , all was well.

(1) Av has a Valentine's party Thurs and needed 12 valentine's for her class. I am a self proclaimed uncrafty mom, but we opted for homemade Valentine's this year. We started with construction paper.
Then I let Av color/scribble all over it and we cut hearts out of her "pictures"
I thought I had glitter, I was wrong. These sprinkles I bought for cookies and cupcakes worked just fine........and I noticed that Av kept licking her fingers.
The final product. Valentine's handcrafted by a 3 year old.

Our "craft" table when all was finished.

(2) We tried a new recipe tonight. We try to eat healthy around here, but we don't eat much fish. J and I both love it, but we just don't cook it much. This weekend I decided to search allrecipes for a few good fish recipes, and this is where we started. So quick, easy, and good-Av even ate all of hers! We did adjust the recipe for a smaller serving since it was only J, Av, and me eating tonight.

Balsamic Glazed Salmon
The pic is from the website, but we had roasted asparagus, brown rice, and spinach salad with it--YUM!

INGREDIENTS

6 (5 ounce) salmon fillets
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon white wine
1 tablespoon honey
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
Coat a small saucepan with non-stick cooking spray. Over medium heat, cook and stir garlic until soft, about 3 minutes. Mix in white wine, honey, balsamic vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for about 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened.
Arrange salmon fillets on foil-lined baking sheet. Brush fillets with balsamic glaze, and sprinkle with oregano.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 14 minutes, or until flesh flakes easily with a fork. Brush fillets with remaining glaze, and season with salt and pepper. Use a spatula to transfer fillets to serving platter, leaving the skin behind on the foil.

Since my skillet was lined with foil, and I brought it up over the edges, this is what the skillet looked like immediately after I served the fish. The clean up involved trashing the foil and putting the skillet back in cabinet!

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Please take time to pray for precious Hannah Grace. She is the same age as Av and is struggling medically, but she is fighting and God has already worked wonders. She and her family would greatly appreciate your prayers on their behalf.

Beach Beauty

2009-02-08T22:49:00.010-06:00

Here are the pics from the beach trip from over a week ago. Enjoy.

Making cinnamon muffins for breakfast.

Then bike riding and throwing the tennis ball with Lily

Heading down to the beach and then everyone enjoying their favorite activities. Av searching for seashells, J fishing, and Lily playing in the water.

The only people I saw on the beach that day-J, Av, Lily, and one of our neighbors. This is what it's like most the time, even in the Summer, at my parents' house-no beach chair rentals and no fighting for a spot to put your stuff....although sometimes it would be nice to have the "beverage" hut and for a waiter/waitress to bring me a pina colada when it gets hot :).
This scene makes me sad. You can see all the erosion that has happened with hurricanes over recent years. Even a stairway that was destroyed and hasn't been rebuilt yet.
Our "neighbors" are from Canada and were renting the house for the Winter. She went to the beach and collected seashells almost daily and was decorating the porch rail with them.
I tried to get a few cute photos of Av and Lily one evening. I think Av is contemplating the candy and ice cream store across the street in the bottom photo.
Av and I ended up going to the candy store. Out of the entire candy store Av picked ONE bite size tootsie roll! Lily had to stay in the car and this is how I found her when we finished. I think she was ready to head back to play in the ocean.
Here is the dreaded scorpion that struck Av. Little, but packing a powerful and painful punch.
I'm ready to go back right now!

Sick

2009-02-04T17:27:00.003-06:00

A GI bug has hit our house. All I have eaten in the last 2 days is half of a piece of toast and some yogurt. I have spent the remainder of my time either in my bed or bathroom. Will be back when feeling better.

BEACH!!!

2009-02-02T22:06:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone. We have been at the beach since last week and just got in this evening. On our way to the beach we had a quick, but wonderful visit with some of our friends in our old city. I miss all of them so much and Av misses their kids! They are exceptional friendships that were my family while we lived there.

I took quite a few pics this weekend, and wanted to post while we were at the beach, but of course, forget my cord to download them. We had a great time over all. Lots of activity outside, sleeping in, drinking coffee on the porch, 65 degree weather, minimal TV (had to watch the Superbowl!), and great food.

We did have one episode of drama yesterday afternoon. I put Av down for a nap and then heard her calling for me an hour later. She needed to go potty. After the potty break we went back to her room and she asked my to read a book (we're doing Proverbs with her). I started reading, she was sitting on the comforter, and then suddenly jerked her leg. As I picked her up I saw a scorpion under her leg that stung her. I immediately took my shoe off and killed it, but oh, she was screamed and screamed and screamed and..... Normally she's very easy to console, not this time. Growing up out west I was prepared to immediately jump in the car and run to the ER, but since we're in the southeast, it just needed to be treated like a bee sting-wash it, cold compress, and watch for allergic reaction like swelling, hives, trouble breathing, etc. She calmed down with the cold compress and ice cream for bribery. It never got any bigger than a mosquito bite, and all was fine in 10-15 minutes. Whew-I can't believe my toddler has been stung by a scorpion. I wonder what the likely statistics are of that happening.

I'm off to bed, hopefully pictures will follow soon.

Keeping it Real

2009-01-30T23:09:00.003-06:00

*****************WARNING*********************
The following post contains graphic and probably inappropriate info to share on a blog, but it cracked me up yesterday and I had to share.

I am now almost 5 months pregnant and, well, let's just say that my stomach isn't the only thing on the front of my body that is expanding. In fact, I think the change in the size of my tummy is less noticeable at this point than the change in other things. The following conversations occurred last night while we were sitting on the couch.

Me: (Actually somewhat annoyed by these things that I'm not used to, can be a hassle, and get in my way) Why are my b***s so big with this pregnancy??? I'm only 5 months pregnant and haven't even started nursing yet?!?!

J: Because God loves me

Such a quick, but perfect nutshell view into the male mind. As if any of us doubted that in the first place :)!

It's a .............

2009-01-29T22:05:00.005-06:00

BOY!!!!!!!!

That's right, when we bring our additional member of the family into the world in June, it will be a boy. I was fairly shocked and also quite excited to hear the news. I was somewhat suprised. This pregnancy has been so similar to my first one with Av, that part of me was thinking it was probably another girl. Show's how much I know. J was almost floating as we left the Dr's office yesterday. Every time we have asked Av if she was going to have a brother or a sister, she always responded "sister!" So I wasn't sure how she would react, but she has been excited and telling anyone that will listen that she is going to have a brother.

We are incredibly thankful that baby boy Leonard and I are doing well and seem to be healthy. We are also thankful that we will get to experience having a daughter and a son. I know that I have much to learn about the world of little boys. We have become so accustomed to the life of dress-up and princesses and now we will have to add trucks and dinosaurs. Do any of you with boys have pearls of wisdom you would like to share?

Land of the Living

2009-01-19T22:13:00.003-06:00

Hello all. I know, I know...I keep making worthless promises of not blogging so infrequently. I will be 18 weeks pregnant in a matter of days and most of the "can I just stay in my bed and sleep until the baby is here?" days are gone. I have returned to a semi-normal level of functioning and the nausea and vomiting has also passed for the most part. I have found that I have an incredibly active child inside me. Av began practicing karate and gymnastics in the womb, and I thought this child might be different, but apparently it doesn't want to be outdone by it's older sister. I have my ultrasound next Weds. to possibly find out if we will have pink or blue balloons on our door in June. Av is quite adamant that she's going to have a sister, but--shout out to the Stickler's--her name will be John Martin. My brother and sister-in-law are trying to convince us that we should wait to find out what it is until the birth, but I just don't know if I can do that. Any thoughts?

I would love to give recent pictures, but the only things that have consistently been on my priority list lately are eating, sleeping, and bathing myself and child at least once a week-kidding, at least twice a week :). The other problem is that most of our belongings are still in storage and what we do have accessible is not highly organized...so finding the camera, battery, battery charger, and USB cord to download pictures can be challenging.

I do have lots to update you on, especially about Av--for one thing, she turned 3 in the interim since my last post, but that will have to wait for a future post. Hope to be posting more frequently, buy I'm not making any promises. Would love to hear how all of you are doing.

Hello!

2008-11-14T10:08:00.003-06:00

OK, so I am actually still here. We have had A LOT going on lately, and even though I love blogging, it has not topped the priority list. I have hardly even been reading any of your blogs, much less composing any of my own. So here's a nutshell of our life over the last few months.

1. We have put our house on the market, sold it, packed up all our belongings, and moved.

2. Started new jobs

3. Had my brother's wedding last weekend

4. While all of this madness has been going on, I'm pregnant!!! Of course, it's wonderful news and I'm very excited, but I'm also very sick when pregnant. With Av I wasn't sick until I was 8 weeks, and it lasted until I was about 20 weeks. With this one it started at around 4-5 weeks. I'm 8 weeks now, so we'll see how long it lasts. I can tell you that it has been challenging to pack, move, be a bridesmaid in heels all day while my 2 year old was the flower girl, and do all the normal activities of life while feeling completely cruddy all day every day. The good part is that I know it will come to an end before too long, and the end result is worth it :)

Hope all of you are doing well and hope to "talk" to you more frequently!

Embarassing moment #463

2008-10-28T22:15:00.003-05:00

OK, so I'm not actually keeping count of all the embarassing moments, but those of you with children get the idea. Can we really keep count of all those moments. I've already lost track of mine and I only have one child :). As for the specifics of the day....of all places, it was at the OB/GYN office. I love my doctor and he is the best ob/gyn I have ever had. Thankfully today was just a "talk in the office/no exam" day, so I took Av with me. Dr. P was born and raised in the south, but his heritage is Indian. In the middle of our discussion Av blurts out "Mommy, what color is he?" Can you say mortified!!! Av then followed up with a question about one of the pictures on the wall. Since I was dumbfounded I did not address the first question. I don't know if he noticed it or not, and I don't think he would have been offended by it anyway, but OH MY! I can't understand why she said that! She has never made a comment about skin color before today. Oh well, I'm sure this won't be the most embarassing moment by my children, but it was the worst one in a while.

Sorry for the bloggin infrequency lately, I'll give an update on the details soon. I have been so thankful for wonderful and considerate friends this week that have watched Av for me, pitched in with all that I have to get done, and brought me dinner (homemade chicken soup from Darby)! It was wonderful to not have to think about what I would cook tonight, spend time cooking, or clean my kitchen. Thanks so much to my great friends--I love you!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-20T22:11:00.011-05:00

We got to spend a wonderful Saturday at the Pumpkin Patch. It was a gorgeous, sunny, but crisp, Fall day.

Posing on the pumpkins

"This stem isn't too comfortable!"

Washing hands after the petting zoo

A good squeeze before the hayride

All morning Av asked to ride the "horse" (that was actually a donkey). I thought she would get to her turn in line and not want to ride. There were 2 donkeys and she firmly expressed that she wanted to ride "the red one"-the bigger one had a red saddle. J set her in the saddle and she was all smiles the entire time. She loved every second of it.

I was so proud of my adventurous 2 year old!!!!

My favorite pic of the day. J and Av checking out the corn maze.

BOO!

2008-10-14T21:10:00.007-05:00

I love Fall. I love the cool, crisp air and no humidity. I love Fall decorations. I love pumpkin bread and pumpkin lattes. Lately I have been loving all the great blog posts about fall. It makes me want to put on a sweater and sit by the outdoor firepit being warmed by the fire as the sun sets and the night gets cooler. I have been trying to find some fall projects for Av and I to do. I found these pumpkin carving and decorating ideas. All you have to do is print off the stencil design.

This one is my favorite. I think it would be easy enough for Av to do with me and this one we would get to carve and paint. But the following are some others I also thought were cute.

Do you think I could find a pumpkin big enough for a 2 year old :)?

Evidence

2008-10-13T22:28:00.009-05:00

So here are the pictures that I promised yesterday in my tired stupor.

This was the view from our patio after earlier yard projects this year. Not so attractive to look straight into our neighbor's house/yard. We didn't plan on clearing out our yard to put in a new fence, only to have our neighbor's do the same to their yard and voila-it's howdy neighbor 24-7.J was at Home Depot by 7 am on Saturday to rent this mean machine for $75. We had to plant 6 trees and 10 shrubs. J's shoulders and this auger had the holes dug in 45 minutes!! If we had to to handle that on our own with just shovels we would still be digging. If you are planning on planting any trees or need multiple holes dug, this is definitely the way to go. Well worth the $.

The lovely holes ready for the new greenery.

The finished product! As for the trees-3 Dwarf Magnolias in the center bordered with a Japanese Cryptomeria at each end. There 3 Lorapetalum (sp?) in a triangle formation of 2 in back and one in front b/t each magnolia (6 total) and there are Pitsporum b/t the magnolias and the cryptomeria. It doesn't completely block the view yet, but they will as they grow. What an improvement!

I'll share some pointers that our local nursery gave us. Plant in odd numbers, as in 5 trees, so that way there is a center that the eye is drawn to in the grouping. Same theory in planting the shrubs in groups of 3-the one in front draws the eye to it. Our biggest DUH moment was that we had already somewhat traced out the beds and placed pine straw months ago....somewhat good planning. We didn't even think to rake back all the pine straw before using the auger to dig-so all that pine straw was buried in dirt and we had to completely redo it. Thankfully we have a good pine straw connection. Not too terrible, but a lesson learned.

I have found that I shy away from gardening b/c I feel I don't know enough about it, but I really enjoyed this weekend. The more I make myself get out there and do it, the more comfortable I am with it. I also helped that Saturday actually felt like fall. It was overcast and cool most of the day-I started out with a t-shirt and quickly changed into long sleeves for the rest of the day!! Bring on outdoor fires and pumpkin lattes!

Happy Anniversary

2008-10-13T01:00:00.002-05:00

J and I got married 6 years ago on October 12th. I am very blessed to be married to my husband. To tell him I was pregnant with Av I gave him a little book I made with my "Top 100" best things about J-my #100 was that he would be a great dad. He loved it and I thought I would share some of his best traits. I don't know anyone that works harder than he does, in all areas of his life. He is very loyal, generous, fun, funny, passionate, intelligent, and wise. He makes me laugh {even at myself sometimes :)}. He is almost always the first one to apologize and ask for forgiveness. He is a great dad and Av adores him. J is a fantastic handyman, in fact, we have only paid to have something fixed on our house twice, J has done all the rest of it (which is a lot since our house is almost 60 years old). He is a man of integrity and loves God. He is more thoughtful than I am. He is very intuitive and picks up on the nuances of people and life in general that I don't even notice. He's a great husband and father, and I am a better person because of him.

We celebrated our anniversary this weekend by working ALL weekend on house projects!! We are both sore and exhausted (more on the project on another post). Thankfully my mom kept Av all weekend for us, so even though we worked the whole time, it was just the 2 of us. We headed to Mom's house 2 hours late today. We were supposed to eat dinner with my fam, but we missed out on that. Our anniversary dinner was 2 quarter pounder's from McDonald's on the way to Mom's.......and I have to say, it was great.

I would add a pic, but it's 1 am, and as mentioned earlier, I'm exhausted, so it will have to wait for another day. Sorry about the infrequent blogging, I'll give you the why soon.

Tumble Dry Low

2008-10-01T00:06:00.005-05:00

Laundry didn't bother me so much when I was single, but now that I have a husband and child it's a different story. I used to wait and only do laundry once a week or (gasp) every other week. I would wait until a had a full load of each category-whites, colors, delicates, towels, darks, etc. I dreaded when laundry day arrived because it would take ALL day! This picture epitomizes the feeling-buried in laundry. Notice the hand reaching for freedom-too funny (or is it too real to be fuuny?).

This summer I had an epiphany after spending time with my MIL. I realized that I don't have to be so uptight about washing clothes. I can just have a delicates and towels load, and then wash everything else together on cold! I also don't have to have a full load since I have a front loading washer. What a relief! Now only I do a few loads once or twice a week and it hardly takes any time. It is so much better taking it a little bit at a time instead of letting it get to the point that every basket I have is overflowing with dirty clothes and I spend my entire Saturday washing, ironing, folding, and putting away clothes.

I do have one other new trick that has saved time and effort. Instead of unloading the clean clothes into a basket to sit and wrinkle, I now take the clothes out the dryer and immediately fold/hang them and put them away-which only takes about 20 minutes. This way I don't feel surrounded by piles of laundry and it significantly cuts down on ironing. To tell the truth I have always done minimal ironing, but J likes this method much more! Another way to "lighten the load " of ironing (are you groaning at that pun) is to use fabric softener. J actually taught me that one. This is more like what my laundry room looks like now. Definitely not as stylish, but it is clean, organized, and free of piles of clothes! Happy washing and share any tricks of the trade you might have!

Pictures courtesy of Flickr

Check Yes or No

2008-09-25T21:39:00.013-05:00

I need help with, well, many things, but today it will be limited to my haircut :). For the last 8-10 years I go through cyclical phases. I grow it out long, get tired of the long hair, whack it all off to about my chin, keep it short for a while, and then grow it back out again. I guess this has a "the grass is greener on the other side" aspect to it. Now that it's been long for a while I feel like it's in my way, I usually pull it up by the end of the day, and since my hair is fine I feel like it has "stringy tendencies." Of course when it's short I enjoy it...until I decide like I actually like my hair better when it's long, and then have to go through the awkward growing out phases. Below I've posted some pictures of both styles. Sorry to fill this post with pics of me-I'm having trouble with the decision and I need outside help. It's long now, but I'm quite close to taking off multiple inches-what do you think?

Phase I-Long

Phase II-Short

Phase III the middle/grow out phase

[The above shot is in in the hospital the morning Av was born-can't you tell by the "it's 5:30 AM, get this kid out of me!" look on my face?]

Forget about this McCain/Obama thing, I need votes on my hair :) PLEASE!

Wii Wii

2008-09-22T23:46:00.006-05:00

I realized that I posted about J giving me a Wii for my birthday, and haven't updated you on what fun it is. He got the Wii and the Wii fit. They are both so much fun. I can completely understand why physical therapists use them. So far, I have kicked J's tail in boxing every time we play (I don't think he likes that very much). We even got Av in on the fun. At first it scared her when we were boxing and saying that we were "punching" each other in boxing. J gave Av a controller and told her to "hit" me. Well, Av took him seriously, walked over, and punched me on the leg. We had to have a little explanation, and then I think she got the idea. Here are some pics. Av is, of course, in dress-up.

School Days

2008-09-18T20:44:00.009-05:00

I realized I haven't shared anything about Av's first day of school. She has loved it and she is blessed with 2 wonderful teachers. Here are some pics from her first day-these were the best that I could do. Does anyone have any pointers on getting 2 year olds to look at the camera and smile :)?

She was ready with her cup of milk and her book. "Where are we going Mommy?"She wasn't quite sure about these kids."Are you in my class?"

She finally warmed up a little bit.

balance

2008-09-16T12:33:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let all of you know that I have not gone into a spiralling depression over losing Allie. I went back and read some of my posts, and thought "maybe I should pull myself together more before I blog the next time I'm that emotional." I'm not normally overly emotional, so that was pretty melodramatic for me. I even felt somewhat guilty being that upset when others are going through hurricanes, sickness of their childern, etc.

We did tell Av when she asked about Allie. We told her that Allie was too sick for us to help her, and too sick for the vet to help her, so we had to give Allie to God. Av was upset and cried that she couldn't see Allie anymore, but she has done well since then.

Thanks everybody!

Heartache

2008-09-13T22:31:00.006-05:00

Is that an awful post title for this? That's all that I could come with today. We did put Allie to sleep this afternoon. {For earlier posts with the history go here and here} When we took Allie to the vet he drew blood off of her abdomen, which meant she had internal bleeding from the tumors and it was only a matter of time before she would be gone. We decided to put her to sleep then instead of waiting it out and keeping her in pain. Our vet was so gentle and respectful, which made it easier. They placed her on the exam table, gave her an injection, she fell asleep within 20 seconds, and moments later she was gone. I felt like Sally Field in "Steel Magnolia's" when Julia Roberts dies--watching Allie's last moments. last breaths, last flutter of her eyelids. Then the vet left J and I alone with Allie for a few minutes, to pet and hug her one last time. I was an emotional wreck. I asked J at one point if I had mascara streaked all over my face. His response was that I didn't have any mascara left anywhere.

We knew that we didn't have much longer with her, but I didn't think it would happen this quickly. I am thankful that J and I were both there with her today. We took Allie while Av was home napping (with MIL at home). Av hasn't asked about Allie yet-why she's not here. I'm not really sure what we're going to tell her. Will Av remember Allie when she's older? How do I explain death to a 2 year old? We haven't ever talked about heaven with her. Do I tell her that Allie is with God? I don't think I actually believe that, so would I be lying to my child? Ugghh. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm also wondering how our other dog, Lily, is going to respond to this.

She really was the most incredible dog and I will be shocked if we ever have another dog as wonderful as she was. Thank you so much for your prayers and kind words. Being able to blog about this has really helped me these last couple of weeks. I'm also thankful I'm writing it down to preserve these moments. Thanks again. Go hug your pets, take them for a walk, and show them some love!

Man's Best Friend

2008-09-13T13:25:00.003-05:00

J and I are leaving in about 30 minutes to take Allie to the vet, and I'm really worried that Allie won't be coming back home with us. Today has been terrible for her. She seemed fine this am. She got up, ate, went outside-the normal routine, but since then she hasn't really moved. All she has done is lay on the hardwood floor to stay cool and she is panting heavily.

We decided it was time to go the vet. J and I discussed what options the vet is probably going to give us. This, of course, made me start crying. We were in the kitchen and I didn't want to upset Av, so I just buried my face in J's chest. Av is too perceptive for that and immediately noticed my shaking shoulders. She asked "Mommy are you sad?" I realized she had climbed out of her chair to comfort me when I felt her little hand rubbing my leg. I tried to pull myself together and turned to her. She had her arms outstretched and asked "Momma, do you need a hug?" I picked her up and she nuzzled her head into my neck and gently patted my back and said "Does that make you feel better? You'll be alright." After a few moments I set her back down. She reached out for my hand, walked me back to the table, and had me sit down next to her chair. Then she climbed into her chair, took my yogurt and started feeding it to me. Her gentleness warmed my hurting heart.

How can my 2 year old sense my pain and how to comfort me? She is incredibly silly, stubborn, and independent, but those traits are matched by her sweetness, gentleness, and empathy.

Well, we have to head out to go to the vet. Please pray. I'll let you know when we get back. Thank you.

Toddler Theology and Vocalulary

2008-09-09T20:28:00.007-05:00

I have not been so good about blogging lately, and I definitely have been lacking in adding pictures. Today {since I know some of you are only here for an Av update} I'll try to be better. Av really says some hilarious stuff and if I don't record it here, I will quickly forget it.

We are trying to "introduce" Av to God and making sure Av knows He is in all part of our life. We pray, read her Bible, try to find teachable moments during the day, etc. She is taking it in, but I think sometimes a few wires might get crossed. Tonight Av decided that she would pray before we ate dinner. Here was her prayer

God is good.

Lord, we tank you for dis day.

Let Jesus pray,

Amen.

I think this was a combo of "God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food." and more freestyle prayer of "Lord, thank you for our day, thank you for our food, in Jesus' name. Amen."

Av's Bible has pictures in it and she has decided that every man with white hair and a white beard is Moses, and every man with dark hair and a beard is Jesus. Daniel, Jonah, Elijah, David, are all Moses to Av. John, Paul, Peter-they're all Jesus.

Some of her other funny words

Brestast Translation: breakfast

Hippollamas Translation: Hippopotamus

Helitractor Translation: Helicopter

Lillypops Translation: Lilly pads

Gumanola Translation: Granola

The pictures are from yesterday at the park with our friends Reed, Paige, and Morgan.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2008-09-09T09:28:00.003-05:00

You can decide where the following items fall into the above categories

>Played at the park for hours with some cool moms and their kids
>Since we live in south Alabama, you might have thought we were actually in the Amazon it was so hot and humid outside
>We all left the park red faced from the heat and soaked in sweat
>I got to have quiet time to myself for the day's Bible study
>I went to the gym for an hour during Av's nap
>Between going to the park and the gym I felt hot and sweaty all day long
>After I got home from the gym, J asked if I had just gotten out of the shower.....umm, no, my hair is just so greasy that it looks wet. Definitely not my most attractive moment.
>Yes, I did take a shower after that
>My house is clean
>All the clothes have been washed and put away
>We ate leftovers for dinner, so no major mess to clean up in the kitchen
>Av has been sans diapers during nap time for over a week now
>Allie, overall, seems to feel OK. She even brought her tennis ball to me to play with her last night
>I ordered a pair of Chaco's for my birthday (thanks Dad!) and the UPS man brought them yesterday! (If you want a pair they're on sale here-$60 and free shipping. Normally $95)
>Av is so excited about her dress-up that she slept in it last night-without the shoes. When she woke up this AM she immediately asked for her Sleeping Beauty shoes and has been wearing them all morning.
>After I already had my cart half-filled at the grocery store, I realized I had left my wallet at home on the kitchen counter
>I have a life insurance physical in 30 minutes

That's the last 24 hours in a nutshell.

Thank you so much to all of you who have left comments, called and emailed about Allie. Your kind words of support and encouragement have been so comforting to us.

Gifts

2008-09-07T21:28:00.003-05:00

J and I try to be fairly low-key parents when it comes to gift giving. Thankfully, between gifts and hand-me-downs from friends and family, we don't often buy clothes, toys, etc for Av. I would have to say Av's favorite playtime activity might be dress-up. She has a whole tub of dress-up clohes in her room, and I think I have only purchased one of those outfits for her. Her current favorite is Sleeping Beauty. Av has already told me that wants to be Sleeping Beauty for halloween, and she had a complete melt down recently at a friend's house when it was time to go home and she had to take off the Sleeping Beauty shoes {her favorite dress up item-shoes}.

J and I decided maybe we could actually get a pair of shoes for her. At first I looked on Ebay-and found a new pair for $0.99, but then decided to just go to the store for them. We went to dinner first at a Japenese Hibachi steakhouse-and Av LOVED it! The fire tricks, flipping eggs around, cooking right in front of her, the food-it was one of the best eat out nights we have had with her. After dinner we let her know we were making a special trip to the store....just for her shoes. This is the only time I ever remember taking her someplace to get something just for her. We found a package with a dress, shoes, a purse, and a crown for only $15. She was so excited that she carried the box, even though it was almost as long as she is, out of the store "all by herself."

While we walked out, J and I were as giddy as she was b/c it gave us so much joy to bring such happiness to her. I couldn't help but think of the gifts God has already given me, and other gifts He has prepared for me, and that He too pleasures in giving these gifts. How much more joy, on His part and ours, is experienced with gifts that are eternal instead of a pair of plastic shoes?

Matthew 7:9-11

"Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

Allie

2008-09-04T21:20:00.005-05:00

She was J's first blonde and his first love. J says it was love at first sight when they met 12 years ago. She is his best friend. She is our beloved labrador retriever.
Today our vet told us she has metastatic cancer and, at best, she may be with us for 3-6 more months. I can't even write this without crying right now. I know that everyone loves their dog, but honestly, Allie is the best dog I have ever seen. I feel I can say that {somewhat} unbiased since I can't take any credit for how fantastic she is-J had her for 5 years before I came into the picture. One of J's family's friends actually offered J over $5K (yes, that's thousands) for Allie. J kept Allie and knew he had the better end of the deal.
Allie has been with J through highs and lows. She has given birth to champion puppies (best in show in California). She helped raise and train the other 7 dogs in our home and our families' homes. She is fiercely loyal and protective. At the end of my pregnancy with Av, when we had finished the nursery, Allie starting sleeping at the threshold of the nursery, as if to guard it. On another instance she and J were camping at the family farm. They were walking through the woods and spooked a coyote that charged J. Allie immediately defended J and attacked and killed the coyote.
Even though she is fierce, she matches it with her gentleness. She has allowed countless children to climb on her, ride her, pull her tail, and look in her ears. We even have a picture of our nephew, when he was a toddler, pulling her eyelid open to look into her eyes. Allie just continued to calmly rest on the floor while Samuel inspected her.
She has survived pancreatitis, attacks from other dogs, a coyote fight, a very traumatic birthing experience (she only had 6 puppies, but they were so large the vet had predicted she would have 12), and many other experiences I could continue to ramble on about, but now it is coming to an end.
She is more than just a dog to us. She is our friend and companion. She is Av's playmate. She is probably the best dog we will ever be blessed to be around.

If you have a pet in your home, give it a hug and some special attention today. Sorry to be so somber, but this is the outpouring of my heart today.

Timing

2008-08-31T20:08:00.004-05:00

We have had two breakthroughs this week that have certainly improved life with a 2 year old. The first is using a timer. Av is one smart cookie and has learned the art of stalling. Our bedtime routine is a good example. We always take Av to the potty before nap and bedtime. Av figured out that she could sit in bathroom reading her books to prolong going to bed. Recently she has stayed in there for over 20 minutes! Last week we implemented use of a timer. Now I put her in the bathroom and let her know that I'm starting the timer. Now she knows that she has to hurry up in the bathroom or putting her toys away or finish reading her books. I think it is also helping her comprehend concepts of time. The timer is my friend :).

The second, and more exciting milestone, is that Av has took naps, yesterday and today, in her underwear-no diaper!!!! Av has been potty trained for almost 6 months, but still wearing diapers during naps and at night. Yesterday, right before nap time, Av asked if she could sleep in her panties. Of course I was thinking "No Way! This will end up terrible, I just washed all of her bedding this morning. She'll wet the bed and wake herself up, then be awful for the rest of the day since she didn't nap....." Against my better judgement I went along with it and I am so glad that I did!

Sorry if this is trivial and boring news to many of you, but in our house this is exciting stuff! I really shouldn't even be at my computer right now. We're going out of town tomorrow, it's 10 pm and I still need to finish laundry, pack, clean the kitchen, vacuum, and probably mop the floors-whew!

On another front, I think my husband has a crush on the Republican vice presidential nominee :).

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-08-28T21:33:00.003-05:00

Don't I have a great husband!! J has always been a better gift giver than I am. I was expecting some sewing supplies, but instead I got a Wii and a Wii fit! Very exciting. I'm sure that J is going to enjoy my present as much as I am. I really hope that the yoga on it is good. Yoga is my new favorite workout. I'm thinking Av might even join me. I don't think I shared this when it happened, but sorry if I'm repeating myself. My normal yoga DVD is 1.5 hours long. I only had 10-15 minutes left on it a few days ago when Av woke up from her nap. I paused the video, got Av out of her room, and set her up with some yogurt so I could finish my yoga. I looked to my right a few minutes later and Av was on the floor with me trying to do the yoga positions. Seeing a 2 year old try to attempt yoga positions was the highlight of the day. Now she occasionally strikes a pose and announces that she is stretching and doing yoga.
I better run, in the time that I downloaded the picture and posted this J has opened the box, hooked it up the TV, and is playing with it. I can see this is going to be a "what's yours is mine" gift :).

Lessons Learned

2008-08-22T23:03:00.003-05:00

1. ALWAYS check the pockets in your pants before you wash them. I am normally neurotic about this, but got in a hurry today and forget to check one pair. Of course, it would be in my new white J Crew pants. I put my vitamin for the day in my pocket as I was running out the door a couple of days ago. Obviously I forgot to take the vitamin that day. The whole front of my pants were a lovely yellow-orange color when they came out of the dryer. Thankfully, Shout and my Clorox bleach pen saved the day and the pants are fine.

2. Av is learning how to use her feminine charm. Yesterday we decided to spend our afternoon at the pool. Av was playing with one of her friends in the pool and her friend asked Av who her best friend is. J had just walked up to us and Av affectionately looked up at him, batted her lashes, and said "Papa." I think his knees actually wobbled. Can you say "wrapped around her finger?" Girlfriend knows where her bread is buttered.

Beat Down

2008-08-20T21:31:00.003-05:00

Whew, what a day. If we had tequila in the house I would consider bypassing the margaritas and going straight to shots. I think Av's goal today was to see how close she could get to the line and if she would actually get in trouble if she crossed it. We had to go through many "corrections" and even multiple types of corrections. I knew it was bad when the lady behind us in the check-out aisle at Wal-Mart shared advice she had once been given-- that children have bad days sometimes, just like the rest of us do. Part of me was encouraged by her words, and part of me was embarrassed.

Seriously, when do girls start experiencing PMS? In the bedtime routine alone, Av had multiple breakdowns. She burst into tears when we put her toothpaste away after brushing her teeth! Last night we had an owl in yard and we went outside to listen to it "hoot"-{all of you Chi-O's out there would have loved it :)}. Tonight, after she was in the crib with the lights out, she started crying again b/c the owl flew away and we didn't say "goodnight" to it tonight.

All I can say is, I'm thankful that tomorrow is a new day, and God's mercies are new every morning.

If you need a good laugh today, like I did, go read this post from a pediatrics resident.

Are Contacts Edible?

2008-08-19T22:16:00.006-05:00

Av and I joined my mom and a few of her friends at the beach for a girls weekend. We had a wonderful time and Av ate up the attention since she was the only child there. We enjoyed the pool, the beach, and sitting on the porch drinking coffee in the mornings. Mom knows Av is fairly obsessed with dress-up and ,being a good grandmother, got Av a new outfit-dress, crown, jewelry, and shoes! Av had stripped and changed into her "princess dress" within 15 minutes of arriving at the beach. She even wore it to the pool.

Av and Mom, below Av and her pool friend, Maggie

The following is the real story of the post and what produced the best laugh from the weekend. Mom and I shared a bedroom, but since Mom is a gracious host, she gave the master to 2 of the other girls. Our room didn't have a bathroom in it, so Mom's bathroom bag was in the master bath. Saturday night Mom needed to take out her contacts, but the girls in the master had already gone to bed. Mom didn't want to wake them, so she just put her contact in glass, but as we were going to bed, couldn't remember where she put it....the following occurred

11 pm Sun. Mom asked if the glass was on the nightstand, I didn't see it there, Mom figured she left it in the kitchen

6:30 am Mon. Everybody but Av and me left to go to a conference

10:30 am Mon. Av pointed out an empty glass (the same kind of glass Mom's contact was in) on the kitchen counter and said "that glass has yucky water." I had no idea what she was talking about since it was empty. We had margaritas out of those glasses the night before and I wondered if she had somehow tasted leftover margarita.

2:00 pm Mon. Mom came back from the conference and found the glass she had used for her contact. Turns out it was on the nightstand, but behind a lamp-which explained why I didn't see it Sun. night. Oh, and the glass was empty!

We put 2+2 together and came to the conclusion that Av drank Mom's contact and saline solution! She hasn't been sick yet, so I guess everything is fine!

Crazy

2008-08-19T13:51:00.002-05:00

I put Av down for a nap 1.5 hours ago and she has been singing/talking to herself the entire time!! I hope she falls asleep soon, b/c we have to be somewhere in 2.5 hours!

A Day in The Life

2008-08-18T22:41:00.014-05:00

When you have two 2 year olds and a three year old together for hours, lots of activity ensues! Two precious friends of Av's, Morgan and Page (Darby's girls) came over on Friday, and what a great day we had!

The girls played Ring-Around-the-Rosie

Then went to the swingset

Rode bikesAfter all the outside play, they had to come in and cool off by standing over the vents!

Once inside, the girls "helped" with my to-do list. Morgan vaccuumed, Av mopped, and Page went grocery shopping.

Then they discovered a fun game of me "sleeping" on the floor behind the sofa, and they would jump up over the back of the sofa to roar/yell and scare me to wake me.

Then the girls "killed" a tiger and an alligator (toys), but there were significant injuries and we all had to be rushed to the hospital (aka-the sofa). We all had broken legs and I lost one of my legs in battle. Morgan had the most significant injuries. She broke her head, hair, eyelashes, ears, nose, cheeks, teeth, tongue, lips, throat, neck, tummy, shoulders, elbows, arms, hands, fingers, fingernails, back, legs, knees, toes, and feet. Right when I thought we had fixed everything she lost her vision and was unable to open her eyes. Thankfully Av and Page concocted a miracle elixir in the playroom kitchen and, after 5 doses of it, Morgan was able to see and open her eyes!

As you can tell, it was an eventful day. We hope to do it again soon!

PS-I tried to add more pictures, but either blogger or my computer is freezing up when I try to do so! Frustrating.

Whatever You Do

2008-08-14T23:15:00.003-05:00

I love the Olympics. I love watching the talent of such incredible, world-class athletes. I love watching such fierce competition. And, of course, I love the heart wrenching and tear inducing stories. I especially love hearing our National Anthem being played when a US athlete wins gold. I am proud of our athletes and our country.

One thing that keeps running through my mind this week is this: is there any area of my life that I am committed to like these athletes are to their sport. Maybe my role as a wife and mom? I would like to say I am that committed to my faith, but I don't think I can.

Colossians 3 keeps running through my mind, specifically verses 23-24 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

I may be cleaning, treating a patient, changing a diaper, cooking dinner, talking with a friend, but I hope I am doing so with the strength that God provides and giving my full effort, since He is ultimately the one that I am serving. May I have that level of commitment for the big and the small moments in life, because even though a gold medal is phenomenal, there is another prize that is more important to me.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Favorites

2008-08-13T23:00:00.009-05:00

I wanted to share a few items I have discovered recently that are now in my list of favorites.

1. I don't know if you are like me, but when I'm at home I tend to wear scrub pants/pajama pants. Definitely not the most flattering option. I also don't think my husband puts either of them in the "attractive" category, as both of them cause a severe case of flat-butt. These pants from Target are my new solution. The best part is you can get them in short, reg, and tall!! As a 5'10" girl, I need, treasure, and am willing to pay high dollar (but these are only $20) for pants that don't look like I'm waiting for the flood gates to open. I wear them around the house, running errands, for yoga... J noticed the first time I wore them and said they are a significant improvement. Cute and comfortable.

2. I have white-blonde, short, and sparse eyelashes. When it comes to eye makeup, I need all the help I can get. I have used eyelash curlers for years, but always bought mine at the drugstore. I figured, it's a curler, they're all the same why pay $20 for one? Well, J bought me this one, by Shu Uemura, for Christmas and I promise, there is a HUGE difference. Well worth the money.

3. Along the eye makeup line, is primer. I initially thought it was hocus pocus, but just like the curler, it makes a significant difference. It also makes my mascara last much longer during the day. I like Lancome's and Loreal's.

4. Even at 30 I still have occasional, annoying pimples that I wish I could've left in my teens. I like this. It is a clear gel that doesn't leave any sticky, creamy residue. It works very well and gets rid of problem spots quickly.

There you go, some of my current top 10 favorites. Have any you want to share with me?

She's Back

2008-08-12T00:12:00.002-05:00

Last night I experienced a strange, somewhat foreign feeling. Av has been 3 hours away, at my parents' house, since Thursday. The house is clean and hours of yardwork were completed. I caught up on laundry and emails. I even got to spend a day sewing with Darby and Tami, which I really enjoyed-why didn't I start sewing earlier in life? Then yesterday, Sunday, rolled around We got up (at 10:00 am no kid=no alarm clock!) and went to church. After church we actually had a date and went to the movies! We might have seen a movie in the theater 5 times since we've been married. We saw The Dark Knight, and I will warn you, it is a dark movie, definitely not for the kids.

So, back to the strange feeling. After getting home from the movie I didn't even make anything for dinner since neither of us were hungry after having popcorn at the movie. We were on the couch watching the Olympics, which I LOVE, and I had a bleh feeling. I wasn't sad, angry, depressed...but I finally nailed it. I was bored! I can't remember the last time that I felt bored-can you? I had done everything I needed to for the weekend, and Av had been gone long enough. Time for her to come home and put some excitement back into this house! Of course, this is not to say that we should always be running around. God does call us to "Be still" Ps 46.

We certainly enjoyed calm, uninterrupted time and conversation with each other, but life just isn't the same without her around. What did I do before she was here? I think I decided that I would rather have a messier house, frazzled mind, and unending to-do list than a spotless house and completed list if it meant I didn't have her here with me. I'm thankful for moments where I get a "break" from parenthood, but I'm more thankful for her.

I met my parents halfway to pick her up this evening and we're back into full force mode. There's no easing your way back into life with a 2 year old!

War Eagle

2008-08-08T14:45:00.003-05:00

According to this link, if Auburn were country unto itself, it would be #65 out of 205 competing countries ranked by number of athletes in the Olympics. You can also check out the link for profiles of the AU athletes and what days/times they will be competing. Go support the Tigers!!!!

If you didn't have the privilege of going to Auburn, I'm sorry for your loss :). I am immensely thankful I had 4 years of my life there for school and 1 year of work there. I can not imagine spending my college years at any other place. I grew in my faith, got an excellent education, made life long friendships....I could fill up pages of what Auburn has given me. If you haven't been to an Auburn game, you're missing an incredible way to spend a Fall Saturday. I still tear up during the pregame performance of the video, the eagle flying, and singing the National Anthem. I'm about to start tearing up right now. I believe in Auburn and love it. WAR EAGLE!!!

Table for 2

2008-08-07T23:09:00.002-05:00

My parents asked to keep Av for the weekend, so J and I drove 1.5 hours today to meet mom halfway and make the drop-off. J and I then enjoyed an uninterrupted dinner together. It wasn't high class-just pizza and beer at Mellow Mushroom, but, sadly, it was the first date we have had in a long time. We even stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home for dip cones and I didn't have to share mine with a certain 2 year old. We got to listen to our book on CD without having to stop it every 10 minutes to pick up a sippy cup, turn on The Little Mermaid, get a blanket, etc-those of you with toddlers know what I'm talking about.

I called mom when we got home and she said "Av was an angel on the drive home." Yeah, that's because she was strapped into her carseat! Once they got home Mom took Av into the house, set her up watching The Wiggles, and went back to the garage to get Av's bag. Mom said in that little amount of time Av had gone upstairs, rifled through her mom's makeup drawer, found a container of liquid eyeliner, and splatter painted the hallway carpet with it. I hated to laugh, but I couldn't help it. Poor Mom, it's just the beginning of the weekend. I think Av has figured out she can get away with almost anything at my parent's house.

On the serious side, I am incredibly thankful for how much my parents love my little girl and for how much Av loves them. In fact, Av was so excited to go with Mom that once we put the carseat in Mom's car and strapped Av in she gave me a big kiss and said "Bye Momma, shut the door." Thanks Av, I feel the love :).

I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend of sleeping in and more dates with my hubby. Maybe we'll even go see a movie. I hope Mom survives the weekend.

A Beautiful Mind

2008-08-06T21:37:00.004-05:00

I love seeing children's minds working and learning. I find it remarkable how quickly they learn and process new information and how they change with their newly found knowledge. I mentioned recently how proud I am of her for learning to recognize all the letters. Today I enjoyed observing her imagination at work.

Av received a kid's kitchen for Christmas from her grandparents and it is currently her favorite item in her playroom. I really should get her more "play" food. She has a tea set, pots, pans, and utensils, but for food-only a set of eggs, milk, oj, and condiment containers. Multiple times a day she all the sudden announces she going to make eggs for us. Av runs into the kitchen, "cooks" the eggs, and brings them out to us for us to eat. Of course, she warns us that they are very hot :). She also serves us "coffee" from her teapot.

While I was in the kitchen today she walked in with her shopping cart and informed me that she was going shopping. She had taken almost every single item from her kitchen and loaded them into the cart.

Another step she has taken this week is cleaning up after herself...and sometimes I don't even have to ask her to do it!!! We were about to eat dinner a few nights ago and when I let her know dinner was almost ready her response was "I have to clean up first!" What a blessing. It is so fun to watch her play, see her imagination work, and to see responsibility growing in her. I really do love this age. It seems that she changes and grows daily, making each day so precious. It makes me thankful for the blog world and that I am attempting to keep a record of our daily life to help me remember all these moments.

The area that I am struggling capturing is pictures. Right when I pull the camera out Av stops what she's doing, runs to me, and asks to see pictures of herself. If only I had never shown her the wonder that you can look at the pictures on a digital camera! Here she is right after the above shot asking to "see Av."

Truth in Advertising

2008-08-04T23:16:00.003-05:00

Typically I'm not much of a believer in "as seen on TV" products, but after my experience yesterday, I had to tell you about this one. Have any of you tried the ped egg? I had heard from a few friends of mine that they are well worth the money. I have used things like pumice stones before and they have always done the trick--until recently. This month of flip-flops and constantly working around the house has taken my feet to an all-time low. Last week I noticed my feet really hurt one morning. I attributed it to being on my feet all day until I actually inspected them. I not only had calluses, but they had cracked open and were bleeding. So gross. Right now I don't have the time for regular pedicures and I really don't want to spend the money on them anyway. I decided I would give the ped egg a shot, so I headed over to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to make my $10 purchase. It was one of the best purchases I have made in quite a while. Today my feet are smooth and pain free. If you, or anyone you love, has rough feet-go get one NOW!

Other updates-had my 2nd sewing lesson today (thanks Tami!). I finished the dress from last week and made a sleeveless top and shorts outfit. One lesson I learned: don't buy enough fabric for one pattern only to decide you want to use another pattern later...and realize you don't have enough fabric. I now know firsthand why people say measure twice, cut once.

Success

2008-08-01T21:36:00.004-05:00

I made it to my sewing lesson and it was a success! With Tami's help I made a dress for Av and repaired a sheet that had torn. I really enjoyed the time while we were there and I look forward to more sewing. I'm not anywhere near being an expert, but I know more today than I knew yesterday.

I would have given you a pic of Av in the dress, but this is how she spent her afternoon-cuddled on the couch watching Sesame Street.

Normal

2008-07-31T23:12:00.003-05:00

Did you know that there is town in Alabama called Normal? I found out that bit of info this week. While I wasn't physically there, I felt like today was the only "normal" day I had in July. Instead of frantically working on a huge list of house and yard projects all day, I got to spend the day in my regular routine. Yes, the same routine that I have complained about at times as being boring and redundant, was pure bliss to me today! It reminded me that, at least for me, routine is good and quite comforting. My day went like this: Shower-by myself for the first time in weeks, playing with Av, doing the "normal" cleaning of the hardwoods, vacuuming, lunch with Av {where she requested green beans for lunch-yeah!}, went to the gym for an hour, ran a couple of errands, another shower-this time with Av, enjoyed a couple hours in the kitchen with Av baking cookies from scratch and cooking dinner, played a bit more with Av, put her to bed, read a few medical journals for continuing education, and now I'm having fun blogging. Sorry to throw out a big list of my day, it's just wonderful to see that I did have a few things that had to get done today, but the rest of how my time was spent was by my choosing.

Tomorrow I'm tackling one of those low knowledge and highly self-conscious areas in my life. I'm spending the morning with a gracious friend who happens to be fantastic at sewing, and she has offered to teach me to sew. I'm very excited about it. J says I should be a natural-if I can sew people, surely I should be able to sew fabric :).

I hope you have a wonderful Friday, even if it is just a "normal" day!

Toddler Words

2008-07-31T08:40:00.003-05:00

Since she's 2, I never know what is going to come out of Av's mouth. This week we've experienced comments that ranged from entertaining to embarrassing. My mom always says that whatever embarrassment I experience from Av is justice for the craziness that came out of my mouth when I was a child. I'll give the entertaining moments first

Av loves the zoo and she really loves getting to ride the camel, Big Joe, there. A couple months ago my parents took her to the zoo and my mom rode the camel with her, which is pretty impressive (or concerning to me) since after she had cancer she had to have her hip replaced. So that's the back story. This week we were reading an animal book and when we came to the camel page this conversation occurred.
Av: "It's Big Joe! I rode Big Joe with Beba" (my mom)
J: "You did?!?" (Apparently J didn't know mom rode it with Av)
Me: "Yeah, Beba's cool like that."
Av: "Yeah Papa, Beba's cold chillin'"
It was hilarious. How has my 2 year old learned slang?

The embarrassing moment happened in Wal-Mart of all places. So Av's in the cart and to add insult to injury, we're in the feminine products section. Then a lady with hair down to her thighs walked by us. Right as Av noticed she exclaimed "Momma, does she have BIG HAIR?!?" Why couldn't she say it in a nice, quiet voice? Of course, the only really loud part was the "big hair." I tried to make up for it by saying yes, she has long, pretty hair. By the look I got from the lady, I don't think she appreciated any of it. I always knew the day would come when Av would blurt something out before I could stop her. I also suspected that my moment of embarrassment would probably happen in the grocery store, since that's where I normally embarrassed my mom. At least yesterday wasn't too bad, I know it could have been much worse. I think my mom has even had moments where she told people I wasn't her child and that she babysitting for a friend.
What have your kids said to embarrass or entertain you?

A,B,C's

2008-07-30T12:21:00.003-05:00

Do those of you with young children watch Sesame Street? We don't really watch much TV and we try to limit what Av watches as well. She occasionally watches The Wiggles, Veggie Tales, or one of her favorite movies like Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music. A friend of mine mentioned how much her daughter loves Sesame Street, so I thought we would try it out, and Av LOVES it! Since I'm a nerd at heart, I love that it's educational. Av can sing her A,B,C's and we recently started working on her being able to recognize individual letters. The show and it's "letter of the day" has been such a help with learning letters. She now knows about 13 letters, so we're halfway there. Very exciting to me. It's amazing to me how quickly young children learn. It really makes me wish I still learned that fast.

We have found a few resources that have really helped with learning A,B,C's. One is a leapfrog fridge phonics. We normally go over 1-3 letters a day, but with animal cracker as a reward, Av learned 5 letters in one day!

We also have wipeable (is that a word?) alphabet placemats. It's another great way to work in the letter/letters of the day. Av now loves her placemat and wants them to be nice and clean to have them at meals.

I was going to add more, but I'm having trouble with the computer. This seems to be a reoccurring theme lately. So happy learning, and please share your ideas. I'm not very creative, so I know you all have great ideas on how to get those little minds working!

Sarcasm and bikinis

2008-07-26T00:09:00.005-05:00

For those of you with a sarcastic side, you should go check out despair for a good laugh. They even have a "dark humor" t-shirt about blogging :).

As a side note, Av informed me this morning that she did a good job eating all her bikinis yesterday. I hope she meant zucchini.

Imperfect

2008-07-24T23:32:00.005-05:00

I have to admit that feel somewhat disappointed in myself for my blogging laziness lately. This month has been pretty weak. For one thing, life has been so busy I feel that I haven't had time to blog. On the other hand, I have so many thoughts going through my head at once that it's hard to pinpoint anything down to be concise enough for a post.

One thing I have learned, well, not really learned so much as revisited a lesson I should have learned by now. The problem is that I am often frozen by perfectionism. This week's example is window treatments. Putting drapes up in our den is something I've been meaning to do for quite a while now, but I could never make up my mind about them. What style? What color? What pattern? It is at the point that I had to put something up, so in last minute run to Lowe's I spent $40 on 4 drapery panels-and it is such an improvement!! Now I realize that had I just done this months ago, even though they're not perfect, it would have been better than nothing! Why is it so hard for me to make decisions like this? I think it's mainly b/c if I don't feel confident in an area I question myself and my decisions. I enjoy decorating and gardening, but often shy away from it b/c I feel like I don't know enough about it. I'm now reminding myself to go learn about the areas I don't know about, or just go ahead and take action and if it's the wrong decision, learn from it and move on instead of just staying stuck in limbo.

One cute moment of the evening-Allie was lying on the floor and Av decided she should have a pillow and blankets

Then she decided she should just join Allie.

Frazzled

2008-07-21T23:36:00.004-05:00

Do any of you feel like your brain doesn't work quite right after extended lack of sleep and exhausting work? Well, I do and after this weekend I know J does as well. I will warn you up front that the following does contain graphic potty contents.

In one of the bathrooms we have the regular toilet and a little training toilet. On Saturday J took Av to the potty and afterwards informed me he was impressed that a 2 year old could be so, um, let's say "productive." Those of you moms know that you can't just dump and rinse- soap and scrubbing need to be involved. Later in the day I took Av into the potty and realized soap and scrubbing were not involved when I noted what we'll call "residue" in her potty and this conversation followed
Me: "Oh gross, J!!!"
J: "What?"
Me: "Av's potty is still dirty from the morning!!"
J: "But I didn't use the little potty!!!!"
Me: "Uh, yeah, I meant when Av used it this morning."
Hysterical laughter ensued from both of us.
In this time of fairly high stress and exhaustion, at least we have moments of laughter and lightheartedness to laugh at ourselves, or at least at Jonathan :).

Done

2008-07-18T23:14:00.003-05:00

We made it through the week and I think even my fingernails are tired and sore. I did want to share some of my recent favorite blogs I've found.

Sand in the Gears Great blog that covers politics, economics, society, faith, parenting, family, basically everything. Fantastic writing, entertaining, and thought provoking

6 Year Med Thoughts on medicine and life ranging from hilarious to heart-wrenching. Also great writing.

Testosterhome If you have boys, read this one. This is a witty mom of 5 boys on parenting, faith, and the moments of life.

I have really enjoyed these lately and thought I would share. Happy Blogging!!

2008-07-18T01:08:00.005-05:00

It's 1 am right now and I should be in bed, but we've just now finished our work on the house for the day and I promised I would make a post tonight. So instead of easing off into slumber, I'm at the computer :). Here's the moment I keep thinking about from the beach.

The last day of our trip J wanted to get in a great, full day at the beach. Av really enjoyed making sand castles during the week and we knew we would spend some time building in the sand. Shortly after arriving at the beach Av and I started working on making a whale in the sand. We basically had the form of the whale completely when we started "decorating" it with shells and driftwood. At about this time I looked up and noticed Av wasn't with more anymore. I walked around to the front of our chairs to bring her back to our whale and this is what I found

I guess she decided it was time for a break from the heat and sun. According to J she just walked around to the chairs, climbed up, and kicked back without saying a word. Maybe she thought J had the right idea of how to spend time at the beach.
After recharging she joined me for a walk on the beach to look for seashells.

Rehab

2008-07-16T23:15:00.003-05:00

I'm starting to think that our long trip to the beach was like blogging rehab for me. Isn't that the idea? Keep the addict away from the crack long enough and the desire for it will go away. Supposedly, but you know what they say...once an addict always an addict :).

We went from relaxing days at the beach where our most difficult decision was "do we go to the pool or the beach?" to incredibly busy. I think J would easily qualify for an upper management slave driver. Today we decided to get up early and start working on the yard before the kiddo was up and before the sun would fry us on the sidewalk. So we rose at 6 am to begin mowing, edging, weeding, planting, laying pinestraw...... It was rough, but well worth it. We finished around 1 pm. I'll have/try to post pics tomorrow. Here's one of my little helper transferring plants with us.

I was planning on sharing a very cute beach story, but you have to see the pics that go along with it and my computer is saying it's having trouble connecting to blogger, so I'll post that tomorrow. Promise. I really need to go to bed anyway. I'm wiped from the last few days. I just needed a blog "hit" before I went to bed.

Beach: Phase 1

2008-07-10T23:03:00.010-05:00

Still loving our time at the beach and thought I would post a few pics of the week. When I started downloading pictures today I realized that I have taken hundreds of pics this week. Yikes! It took quite a while to edit them and choose a few favorites. The following pics are from July 4th. Av and her cousins had a great time building a huge sand castle. Here's Av and 2 of her 4 fabulous cousins. Av is the youngest by 4 years, but they are all so wonderful with her. They all look out for her, make her included in activities, and shower her with love and attention. We noticed a theme while at the beach. Great snack bags (read snacks Av doesn't normally get at home) were Av's friend. Since Av was snacking in the above pic we tried to take another pic after we took the snack of the moment away. You'll see the result below.....definitely not happy.

Thankfully, a Capri Sun saved the day :)! These are a new found favorite. I think she can down one of them in under 5 seconds.

I know this isn't the best post out there, but I'm just proud of myself for writing a post while out of town!

Still here

2008-07-09T22:57:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone. Just wanted to check in with you. We've been at the beach since last week and basically, I'm terrible about blogging when I'm out of town. I have internet and could blog, but I never get around to it. I have to admit I would much rather spend time at the beach, the pool, eating great fresh seafood, and staying up late with family. We have had a fabulous time. Soon I'll post new pictures of the trip.
Av has loved the beach and the pool. Currently her favorite activity at the pool is jumping into the pool while yelling cannonball. She picked up this trick from one of her cousins. Swimming lessons were a great decision and I'm so thankful that we went ahead with them this year!

Board, or is it Bored?

2008-06-30T22:42:00.003-05:00

I have to take my recertification exams or "boards" by December 2009. I can go ahead and take them this year to get it over with and check that torturous test off of my to do list. Today I have reviewed some ENT, orthopaedics, and urology. I'm sure you're all jealous that you didn't spend your day doing the same. Sometimes I impressed myself with the information I remembered, other times, I realized I have a LOT of studying to do before the test day is here. So I will be experiencing pleasure and pain through this process of studying and taking boards. I do want to do well on the test, but I also need to learn and refresh myself for the benefit of my patients.

I will admit that I am a dork and I like studying. I enjoy learning and feeling like I'm actually challenging my mind. Since first becoming pregnant a few years ago I have to admit I feel I'm progressively getting dumber-for lack of a better word :). Intelligent thoughts have been edged out by Wiggles songs, pediatrician appointments, age milestones, breastfeeding basics, working to get a child on a schedule, potty training, what today's letter of the alphabet is and how I work it into the day.......How much milk did Av have today? Did I already give her a vitamin? When are swimming lessons? Basically the (what can be consuming) thoughts and questions, great and small, of parenting.

Well, break time is over, back to studying. The next section is covering erectile dysfunction, male infertility, and impotence-exciting stuff. Don't you want to come and study with me?