rough start

Thanks to the plane rumbling over at 7 this morning we all got off to an unhappy start. I tried to recover, but my own attitude plummeted as the house became increasingly cluttered.

Gigi came to the rescue and has the boys now for a good time at their house with cousins Calista and Caylen. So I've managed to clean the gunky fridge door, straighten the deck, shower and repile some of the main living area's clutter. Also begged off duties as Board Treasurer at the meeting tonight. Time soon for a nap and cuddling with Claire. And then so soon my Love will be home to pick up the frazzled pieces of me if the nap fails to restore.

I want so much to make his house a home and a happy place to dwell. I'm remembering again the early days of bringing home a new child; it was the same with Micah. The company is not so frequent now, meals are dwindling, responsibilities falling back to me, and he's back to work. Balancing priorities is difficult; wanting the house put back together before he arrives to make it welcoming to him vs. just living and dealing with the "stuff" later that we might have happier children and mommy to return to. Will this balance ever be properly met?

all by myself

Made it out to Library Story Time today with all three and was only 10 minutes late! Even managed craft time and checking out a few books with good results. Then ran errands successfully.

This is no credit to myself. The children have been fabulous! Micah's learning to understand directions and follows through more often than not lately. And Izaak has stepped up to and beyond his calling as the biggest sibling; holding Micah's hand, gently steering him away from trouble and back to Mom, and making fun for them both. I am so delighted with who he is and his ever-growing ability to communicate logically and imaginatively with us. I’m also thrilled that Micah loves him so well and responds well to him.

Izaakisms

After I told Micah to sit down in the stroller Izaak turns to me and says, “Mom, don’t worry about Micah; just worry about yourself. Okaaay?”

Izaak looks up at me while sitting on the couch reading books together. “Mommy, can you teach me how to read the words?”

Sweetly to Claire as she’s crying: “It’s okay, Little Sweetiepie, Momma’s coming. Mommy’s coming to take care of you.”

"Mommy, we better say thank you to the people for giving us cookies." (after devouring a delicious meal and opening gifts delivered by a church family).

to Tyler, our 7 year old neighbor friend as we were leaving the playground. "You better hold my hand now since we're walking."

A conversation with our neighbor upon playing on their new slip n slide.
Izaak: Where did you get this?
Neighbor: At Walmart.
I: at OUR Walmart?
N: yes.
I: Oh! Where?
N: in the toy section.
I: Oh. Okay! In the Toy section!

Old Wives Tales are full of Baloney

To induce labor:

Walk alot
run up and down the steps (sorry, Bev)
Lift/move heavy objects
Clean the house
Scrub the floor
Eat spicy food
Eat eggplant
Eat watermelon
Eat pineapple
Drink Red raspberry leaf tea


Lies! Lies! All LIES!!!

The last few days have been filled with activity and joy. Saturday we cleaned the house from top to bottom. aka - i put Drew to work cleaning my nest. It's so peaceful to walk in to a house put together and free of dust. It won't last. Surely a part of the curse designed especially for women!

Sunday we enjoyed two hour naps, grilled chicken, fresh guacamole, neighbors, and convicting, yet mostly encouraging preaching on spanking. what a relief, prod, buffer to know that spanking is God's design for turning souls toward Him. It doesn't make logical sense, but it WORKS! I am convicted that I need to be more in PRAYER specifically over discipline and their souls...not relying only on the procedure and on having "christianness" so much a part of our lives. WHY is praying so hard????

Today I took the boys to Field Day at Reeceville. They were great! It's fun to see Izaak engaging so much with the older kids. He even ran a relay and did a fantastic job! His face was all lit up and all the kids were clapping and cheering him on. He definitely does not have the inhibitions of his mother.

When we came home the "worker men" were in the back yard starting work on the playground walkway. Izaak and I sat on the grass with our ice cream lunch and his hard hat and watched them cart stones and dig the base. I took "sticks" from his finger...for which he was still and appreciative. We sat together in the sun and enjoyed the day and each other. Then he went to build houses in his sand box.

Micah is ailing again. Slept all of the day that we were home. Woke with a fever and I just put him back to bed with one of 103.5. Guess this means a call to the doctor in the morning to find out what is going around that he might have contracted. I've been hoping to meet "Lula" tomorrow...just because it seems a convenient day for so many ppl who will be helping us. But I would feel so sad leaving my sick baby boy behind for 2 days, especially not knowing what's wrong. So here's hoping the activities intended to start labor will not prove effective at least until late afternoon. And besides, I remembered tonight that I still want to go shopping for a special brand new coming-home outfit for her....that isn't pink. some weird vanity of mine.

All men of the house are in bed, only Lula and I remain awake. Hoping for a restful night in spite of her (precious) pointy appendages and the fact that I ran out of Zantac last night. Off to try to find a comfortable horizontal position, and decide which of my 7 books to close the day with.

lazy summer days

Izaak today has been a sheer delight! We started off the day with an agenda: dust 3rd floor, laundry away, etc. While I was putting away laundry in the boys' room he initiated his own imaginative game or being Mike Rowe (from Dirty Jobs). He cleaned out all the books and toys from under his bed. Insisted on wearing gloves, so we put socks on his hands. Micah was required to play along too with socks on his hands and pulled under the bed along with Mike 1. so precious seeing their little feet and rear ends sticking out from under the bed. And not only was he delightfully playful and engaging and congenial, he was HELPFUL too!

He's played well by himself or with Micah all morning. Then he helped me to clean the windows...again, his initiation. While he and I were downstairs during Micah's nap he kept bringing me little packages and singing "happy birthday". Then he found a rubber bath fish and insisted we needed a tank for him. Filled up a tupperware container with water, and now we have a "pet" fish.

Poor Micah's sick again..snot everywhere! Taking antibiotics for a supposed ear infection. (hopefully not the swine flu...yes, i'm a hypochondriac). He's waking now after 3.5 hours sleeping. Thank God, I've gotten so much done on my "To Do" list already today. The weather is beautiful, sun shining. I have a lot to do to wrap my brain around this QB project...but I guess there's time for that later. On to love my boy now.

took Izaak on a date today to see his first movie at the theatre. He was wide-eyed with wonder at the large cutouts, lights, and huge screen. we shared popcorn and gummy worms and he took turns sitting on my lap or drew's because the seats "move alot." We saw "Earth" and enjoyed it very much.

This morning was Mr. Bob Grant's funeral. We took the boys and they both did very well sitting in the back. Izaak had lots of questions about what happened to Mr. Grant and where he was. A 3 year olds understanding of death and what comes after is limited. It was hard to for Izaak to understand that Mr. Grant was in a box and in Heaven with Jesus at the same time. I'd like to know what thoughts are rattling around in his head as he tries to sort it out.

37 weeks today. Officially full term. Still wrestling with names. Hopefully she'll name herself once she arrives. She's moving a lot, hiccuping now, and actually some contractions that i'm trying to drink away...just so my hopes don't get up for no good reason. We're excited to meet Lula. Excited and apprehensive to see how this changes life for our young little family. God is so good...we could never have imagined this!

back to blogging?

we'll see. I've missed blogging. but don't know how coherent i'll be to put thoughts longer than FB status updates into words.

still, here's to a new attempt at cataloguing the life of my little family...more for my sake than anything else. I'm too lazy to hold a pen and journal on paper. but, MAN, my memory is going so fast, if i don't write things down somewhere my whole life is going to pass and I won't remember anything that I did with it, or how i've grown and changed, or more importantly, the special moments with my favorite people.

maybe this will keep me from thinking in status update lines all day and actually put some more depth in my momentxmoment life.