I'm loved

Well, we started school on Monday. Once again, I barely got a "goodbye" from Mary Ella. She had pure excitement/joy written all over her face. I must say though, I do get a very enthusiatic greeting from her at the end of the day. Certainly that counts for something, right???

Addy??? First of all, I had a hard time choking back the tears on this one. The whole way to school I kept thinking, "Addy hasn't had enough time to be the baby of our family" Guilty, guilty, guilty....I felt like I was somehow cheating her. In reality I know this "gift" of another sister will mean so much more to her in the long run. So we get there and we showed up to a room full of little ones crying. She, like many of them, became nervous and held onto my leg for dear life. I made a quick exit and, of course, she quickly settled. I showed back up to pictures on the door of playtime, art time, snack time, etc. She was engaged and happy in all the pictures. However, when I peered at the half door, I noticed her little pom pom pony tail. She was watching each mother come to the door and as soon as she saw me she began whining with a BIG smile on her face. Yeah, I'm loved.

Moms at Cracker Barrel

So I walked out of school the first day and there was a group of moms heading over to Cracker Barrel for coffee and breakfast. Well, coffee and pancakes...this was a no brainer. Of course I followed. Annette (Caleb's mother) met us there and we had a great morning laughing together and just enjoying some genuine fellowship time. I have been so blessed to be surrounded by many wonderful women and the mom's at Mary Ella's and Addy's school are no exception. All of them are so much fun and such good people.

Overall, it was a successful first day!

Bragolicious

I HAVE to brag on my two babies (Yes, our children will always be called my babies. I feel like I've earned that right given how many hours I've spent changing diapers and holding them!)



I'll start with Mary Ella. I know I write about her strong-willed personality often and we all laugh about the "sassy juice", but I truly get more compliments on her behavior outside of my presence than I give her credit for. For instance, picking her up from school, church or Vacation Bible School, these are the things I hear:



"Mary Ella is so empathetic with the other children"

"Mary Ella is such a polite child"

"She is very cooperative and such a good friend"

"She is so eager to please"



I'm documenting these things because naturally she tests me more than anybody because, well, I'm mom. As "mom", I see these things in her and would like her to always be this way; however, rationally I know it would be a problem if she was always cooperative and did what I said like a robot. So in a way I am proud that she is an assertive child and tests me rather than feeling like she has to test the outside world, am I crazy???? Ok, don't really answer that! However, this week I got to observe her as she tried out a gymnastics class. Let me get off the subject for just a second and tell you how precious she was in a leotard. She was so well-behaved (no impulsivity that I sometimes brand her with), brave, adventurous, and GOOD! I was so proud of her and, more importantly, she was proud of herself. She would cut her eyes over at me every once in a while to make sure I saw her success. WOW, what I think means that much to her. Later, I got the ultimate compliment from her when she said, "goodnight ballerina mommy", then she turned to Scott and said, "good night superman daddy." Now those are pretty big compliments coming from a four year old!



Now on to Addy Scott. She has become our little adventurous, OPPORTUNISTIC, yet incredibly loving child. She is strong-willed in her own way spending her time organizing, sorting and demanding cookies that are whole and NOT broken (Heaven forbid!). Bragging rights? She is quick on the uptake noticing immediately when a door has been left open or going to check chairs that may have been left pushed out (prime climbing opportunities). She is continually coming to me, Scott, or Mary Ella for a sponanous "snuggle" moment sometimes having an alternative motive like keep Mary Ella out of my lap. However, most of the time she just wants to give and receive a little "love". Many who see her remark on how engaging her big brown (almost black) eyes are and then when she smiles, it will melt your heart.



It amazes me how Scott and I can produce two completely different children who love each other SO much despite the differences. We often think about how Molly Kate will fit into this picture. However, we know God has picked a personality to make this the perfect threesome. I can't wait to see this plan unfold in all His Glory.

Juiced

Disclaimer: The following might be offensive to some :).

Mary Ella is four. What does that mean? It means that she is more independent with self care, play and various other activities. It also means (for a girl anyway) sassiness peaks. I believe, well, I know (from experience) there is another peak around 14 y/o. Let's just say her social emotional development is right on target. I can't even tell you how many times a day I say, "That is disrespectful and you will not talk to me that way." This statement usually is followed by time-out and if it has been really persistent we move on to spanking (ugggh, I don't like getting to this point!). Bottom line is, neither has been working, so I started taking away precious toys....didn't work either. The sassiness continued and even escalated somewhat. Then I got a piece of advice from a friend....Sassy Juice. It is basically diluted vinegar that is kept in a "special" bottle. I held on to this idea for a couple of weeks, not wanting to use it until one day.....things went from BAD to WORSE.

Before sending her to time-out for the offense, I said, "Maybe I ought to make some sassy juice that Claire's mommy uses." Not even knowing what it was she responded with a "No" and went to sit in time-out. When time-out was over, I went to have the same conversation I'd had several times before about being respectful, saying "I love you" and so on. The response was, "I don't care." My response was, "I guess I'm going to have to give you the sassy juice then."

I left the room and she retreated to the corner with her hand over her mouth. I mixed the vinegar and water, put it in the medicine syringe and managed to hold her down long enough to get it in her mouth (another one for pregnancy olympics). Response? Do you remember the "skunky beer" commercials...well, enough said. This was a week ago and now all I have to say is, "That sounded awfully sassy" and the behavior improves. Thank goodness I haven't had to use it again and hopefully I won't.

Mmmm, what other juices can I make???

Third Trimester Olympics (EDITED)

OK, now that I have almost completed three pregnancies (only 8 1/2 weeks until delivery, by the way), I have come to find humor in the way I must look when completing some day to day activities. My body has to contort in all sorts of directions to get some tasks done and it occurred to me things like grooming and cleaning in the third trimester could really be considered a sport as they require lots of creativity, balance and coordination. Oh, yes, and endurance. Here is a list of some of the things I would rather people I know not ever see me trying to do in this condition:


1. Painting my toe nails. I can't even put into words what kind of twisting and breath holding I have to do to get this one completed. Somehow it just gets done. I literally broke a sweat yesterday trying to do this.

2. Shaving. We have a shower stall, so I don't really have to explain this one, do I?

3. Bathing the kids. Seriously, chasing wet, slippery kids around a tub while sitting outside the tub. Let me put it this way....the belly takes about 10-12 inches away from my normal arm length and they've learned to get just out of fingertip reach.

4. Exiting a grocery store. Groceries, kids (one that is arching her back just enough to slip through my arms and no waist to stabilize against....how do they teach themselves this trick?) and the Walmart person taking her time to check the receipt on the way out. Some of the "receipt checkers" do have mercy and tell me to go on.

5. Cleaning the kitchen. I somehow always manage to come away from the sink with a water-soaked underbelly. Humorous looking, I'm sure.

6. After last night, I HAD to add another one: Turning over in bed. You can do this one of two ways a) Make 3-4 scooting motions taking your belly over the top OR b)Taking 1-2 sweeping motions allowing your belly to go under while "sweeping" the bed; however, this does involve getting up on all fours.

I exited the shower the other day and got the comment from Mary Ella, "Mom, you are getting big!" and my first thought was "Exactly what angle did you see me from????" Ahhh, the brutal honesty of a child, refreshing isn't it?

Alright, I'll play...

My friend, Jeanine, tagged me. Read on...


The Rules: 1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts. 2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. 3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (**if you’re a non-blogger, you can email them!) 4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. 5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.


1. I have an ideal "coffee experience" I fantasize about: Sitting in cool (not cold), crisp mountain air on a porch with a Soy Latte from Starbucks.

2. Upon completion of residency, it is not the bigger house or time for vacation I'm looking forward to...it is being able to stop at Sonic or Starbucks for a treat without feeling guilty about it.....I know, Scott says I'll be easy to please.

3. I spend more on the children's shoes than I do my own....Thank goodness flip flops are acceptable 9/12 months down here!

4. The last movie I saw in the theater was.....Anchorman...Pathetic, I know.

5. I usually keep cookie dough in the refrigerator and after the kiddos go to sleep, I eat a couple of hot cookies with some milk. I'm waiting for the question, "why does it always smell like cookies after we go to bed?" I've done this since college. Oreos do the trick too.

6. I have been able to smell body oil during my last two pregnancies. This does not make going to Walmart very fun. I have been able to smell people from the next aisle over. Thankfully, this goes away as soon as I deliver.

7. Speaking of Walmart, or any other store. One of my bigger pet peeves is when people don't put their carts up in one of the 20-30 collection sites in the parking lot. This, along with people who deliberately litter, really bother me.

8. When each of our kiddos has begun kicking in the middle of the night, I have put my belly up against Scott's back so he can experience it too. These have been such sweet moments.


OK, so who is tagged??? Well, Jeanine knows the bloggers I know. I'll tag my brother Robin, Jillian (you need to be blogging anyways), Katharine (I know yours is private, but you'd be good at this one), Keely, Kristy, Stephanie J., Jennifer V., and Kristin G. These are people I know who read this. Put your eight things on your blog, an email or in the comments section...you don't have to sign in or leave your last name if privacy is a concern. If you are not tagged, leave your "eight" in the comments section anyways. It would be fun to read them.

Routine? Yeah right!

Scott's presence this month is scattered at best. When he is home, he is a HUGE help from distracting the kids while I'm cooking dinner to helping bathe since I can't easily bend over at this point. This makes chasing two wet kiddos around the bath tub a little challenging. When he is not here the show must go on. We have a fairly typical evening routine. I start cooking around 5 pm. We sit and eat around 6-6:30pm and immediately retreat to bath. By 7-7:30, we have squeaky clean girls, and so on. Tonight we got took a meal to a sweet friend of ours who just had a baby. Mary Ella was this precious new baby girl and the look on her face was priceless. She truly "gets it" this time around and is SOOOO excited to be accepting a new little sister into our home. She did remind me she will be the babysitter and I will wash the dishes...again.

Anyways, we got home, ate dinner a little late...no big deal. We retreated to the bath tub where Addy proceeded to "Christen" the bath water...no, I'm not talking about liquid waste. Thank goodness it was the end of the bath, so I jerked both girls out of the water, got them dressed for bed. I went back into the bathroom to do the "pre-clean," came out and my little climber, Addy, had gotten on top of the dining room table and dumped my bottle of water out (I'm still not sure why I didn't take that off the table with the rest of the dishes, but anyways...). I immediately cleaned that up so the table would get water marks and I hear Mary Ella yelling from her room. I quickly waddle to see what is wrong and Addy is doing her third favorite thing (1. getting the phone 2. Climbing onto anything), emptying out Mary Ella's dresser drawer. Whew! I get those clothes folded and back in the drawer. I closed to the door to Mary Ella's room so Addy would stay confined while I got that taken care of. All of those little "fires" occurred within about 5-10 minutes. It is amazing how fast these little people can move from one thing to another! After I sat down, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. Is anything really ever routine?

Thought to ponder....

So I went to Caleb's Celebration of Life vigil last night. It was truly remarkable and truly a rememberance of Caleb's short, but FULL life. Many tears fell, but it was beautiful. At the end of the service, people were invited to share thoughts with the family. Have you ever heard someone put something into words that you could never figure out how to say (or even attempted for that matter)???? Well, it happened to me last night and I thought I'd share it with you and document it for my children.

Caleb's pediatrician stood up and said some beautiful words to the family then said,

"In knowing Caleb I have now learned why God gives us children....They are here to show us the same containless, boundless love Christ has for us."

It may not have been said exactly like that, but all I can say is...."well, ain't that the truth!!!???" You don't have to have your own children to understand that. I think at some point, everyone's heart has been touched by a child's containless love. Just thought I'd share...

Caleb Joshua

I am sad but, in a strange way, relieved to tell you Caleb has been freed from his earthly body only to be received by our precious God. I have been blessed to witness such amazing things over this last year as Annette and David's precious son lived more than many of us live in a lifetime. It might sound a bit cliche' but the quote "It is not about how many years one has in his life, but the life one has in his years" defines what is possible for one little person to experience in such a short life. God gave Annette and David the immeasurable gift of accepting His plan for Caleb and giving Caleb every opportunity to LIVE over this last year. From meeting Cinderella to eating Taco Cabana several times per week, his parents NEVER hesitated, made excuses, or ignored Caleb's desire to live life to it's fullest and they savored every moment of it. God is so faithful! It just proves God blesses us with good things even in the midst of life's trials. Our job is just to look for it, recognize it, and glorify Him for it. This is what Caleb's parent's have done over this last year with complete humility. So please continue to lift them up as they learn to live on this Earth without their son.

In addition, Scott lost his 50 y/o cousin this week as well. He lived in the Woodlands, fell asleep with his wife of 26 years, then passed in the early morning hours unexpectedly. His name was Bob Burleson. Please lift up his family as well. They too have been comforted by God's grace through this unexpected event and a Devine peace surrounds them.

So, yes, it has been a rather emotional, but blessed week around here. We continue to give thanks to the Lord for the days he does give us. My children and husband might start getting tired of all the hugs and kisses, but they will just have to deal. I love them and you all to pieces!

Thank you God for giving me every opportunity to witness and participate in your work. I know you don't need me to accomplish anything, but you invite me to be part of it which is so humbling. Thank you for being so faithful and continually creating good out of seemingly challenging situations. Amen