car names

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids to Trader Joe's for our weekly grocery visit. An older, friendly grandpa walked us out to the car to help me unload the bags. As we were walking, Madeline said to him excitedly, "That's Chitty!"

He seemed a little embarassed and chuckled a little bit, saying "Ohh-kay."

I knew he thought Madeline just cursed at him, but I explained that she named our car "Chitty" from the movie "Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang!"

He seemed relieved. "Ohhhh...I thought she said..."

Yes, I knew what he thought. So now she's calling our car it's full name instead of the nickname.

bedtime prayer

Last night while I tucked Madeline into bed, she offered to pray. Without any prompting, she got down on her knees beside her bed and asked me to repeat after her.

"Dear Jesus, please heal Papa Joe, Gigi Ruby and my puppy Jack (all are deceased)...please give them food and water and please let them play with you...Please heal Van, my Gigi's brother who I've never met (we actually just saw him last weekend at a party) because he's very sick (with cancer) and has to go to the hospital. In Jesus' name, Amen....Mom, why do we say Amen?"

epiphany

What kind of behavior do I want to model for my children?

Do I want to be the kind of mother who walks around complaining all day about cleaning, kids fighting, paying bills, and other responsibilities?

Do I want Madeline to grow up and be a complaining mother and give me all the credit?

Do I want Grant and Evan to choose wives that complain because that's all they saw?

Do I want them to believe that parenting is a burden?


Absolutely not!


Of course everyone has bad days, but they should be the exception not the rule. And I realize that this is a choice I have to make every moment of every day. To give my children the gift of truly believing that the joy of the Lord is my strength. It's not just a cliche, but it's the actual bread of life that feeds my very soul. I don't want to just say I believe in God, I want to live and breathe His life in all I say and do.

I will still have bad days - I will be a sinner until the day I die. But I can make it the exception, not the rule.

It starts with me.

love language

Nathan was at school last night and I decided to just go-with-the-flow in terms of not being so rigid in getting the kids to bed at a certain time and doing things a certain way. It's much harder with 3 kids wanting/needing your time and attention, especially when my husband is gone one night a week. I realize that our family has been under some serious spiritual attack and decided to go into battle armed and ready.

We had a wonderful time together. Of course there was chaos and brother/sister fights and all the other usual distractions, but I knew the Lord was with me and strengthening me.

Grant went to bed and I told Madeline that we could play for awhile. She decided we should play big Barbies (that's what she calls them) and so we did and Evan sat with us, too. The time flew by so quickly, and we had laughed and talked and joked around. It was time for her to get ready for bed and she happily got up and walked away. She then stopped, turned around and ran back toward me, kissed me on the cheek and said, "Thank you!" She left again and then returned again, kissing me and telling me she loved me and said again, "Thank you so much!"

I was stunned and sat there wondering what I had done. We were just playing Barbies. But then it hit me.

Quality time is my Madeline's love language. Just sitting, talking and laughing together is what makes her feel the most loved and cherished.

And I do cherish her.

Evan's first bath...

with the big kids!

Yes, he does look a little scared, but he absolutely loved it! Not so much when Madeline accidentally let him slip down and the water creeped into his mouth, but he didn't even cry. She quickly picked him up and he just loved being one of the big kids!

my birthday boy

Happy Birthday, Grant - you're 2 years old!

Where was I when you changed from a baby boy to a big boy? You're very independent and you have a strong focus on the things that you enjoy doing. Last year on your first birthday you weren't even walking yet, which is a good indicator of one of your personality traits - everything is done in your own time - that seems to be your life motto. When I'm good and ready, Mom! I like that in you. You know exactly what you want and go after it.


Some wonderful things about you now:

You LOVE dinosaurs - I can't even count how many you have all over the place, in your room, outside, in the car, on the porch - we will never be in need of toy dinosaurs. You also LOVE animals - you have learned to express yourself through ASL and can sign a TON of different words/animals/colors/people/food, etc.

When you get mad at me or daddy in the car, you take off your shoes and throw them. Your converse shoes that we had to double knot to keep them on. I just know you're laughing on the inside.

You come up to me sometimes and ask for lovies.

You pat the ground when you want me to sit down and play with you.

You walk around with a stinky diaper and I ask you if you did a poopie and you say, "No."

You copy everything that Madeline does - you are really beginning to mimic her expressions, movements and words. We tell her that you do it because you just love her so much. She likes to hear that.

Sometimes you will just stop what you're doing and go over to Evan and talk to him. Yesterday you placed your dinosaurs and other animals next to him while he laid on the floor.

You say lots of words now...Mommy, Daddy, Oma, Pops, Nana, Poppy, Sister, Baby, Gigi, Papa, Car, Truck, Baaa (Sheep), Ohk-Ohk (Pig), RAAAAR (Lion, Bear, Tiger, etc.), OOOOh-OOOh, AAh-AAh (Monkey), MEOUWWW (Kittie), Uff-Uff (Dog), Neeeeeehhh (Horse)...there are so many now, but of course your favorite is Choc-O-Lit (That's how you pronounce it!).

You love antagonizing your sister. You will hit her, laugh and then run away. We're still working on this.

When you're ready to come out of time out, you rub your chest which is sorry in ASL.

You and Madeline like to run around the house naked...definitely from your dad's side of the family.

You love watching Finding Nemo (you call him MEMO), Cars, Signing time (especially the Zoo Train - you start singing the beginning song to let me know you want to watch it!)

You love to walk over to the fence to play with Gigi and Papa - when we walk over to their house together you say, "Die, Mama!" which really means "Bye, Mama - I'm going to play now!"

In order to brush your teeth, we have to lay you down on the floor and do it. You've realized that this isn't always your favorite way and so you have begun to just cooperate and open your mouth. Thank you - it's so much easier that way!

You love reading books together in your yellow rocking chair, especially the toddler Bible book and the Dinosaur books!

You're still not sure about having a pillow in your crib - sometimes you like to sleep on it, sometimes I find it on the floor when I check on you at night.

You are learning to share - when you and Maddie both want a toy one person plays with it while the other one counts ("one mississippi, two mississippi, etc.). So now when it's her turn I can hear you saying, "Two, Three...My turn!"

You have a most contagious cackle, gut laugh - I love it! Maddie acts silly just to hear you laugh, too!

Sometimes you start showing me your snoring sounds and you say, "Daddy"...meaning, "Is Daddy sleeping?" I tell you that he's at work and you say "Wuk" and cross your arms to show me the sign.

You made your sister cry the other night when it was bath time. She asked me, "What if Grant poops in the bath again?" This has happened a few times. Not sure how to stop it, but anyway...

When you make bad choices I will sometimes say, "Grant, stop doing that. Do you want to go in your bed?" And you say yes. I then think to myself, Why am I asking a toddler if he wants to be disciplined?

You are learning to show that you are now "two" by holding up all five fingers on one hand - that's my boy!

I love going into your room after we've already said good night and you say, "Rockie?" and reach out to me. I love picking you up and snuggling you on the rocking chair. I also love hearing you say good night to everything and everyone you can think of "Cookies, Chocolate, Doggie, Kittie, Lion, Monkey, Daddy, Sister, Baby, Gigi, Papa, Auntie, Milk..." Then I know you're stalling, but it's still fun just being with you.

********************************

In the last year, so many wonderful things have happened as you've grown and developed. I found out I was pregnant with Evan in late March and although I was excited (and surprised!), my heart sank because I didn't want you to be overlooked, as middle children often are. I cried for you because I asked myself How am I going to be able to take care of 2 babies? I didn't want you to feel left out or ignored. Daddy and I have had many discussions of making sure that you know how special you are to our family and so we try to incorporate special time with you and Madeline on a regular basis so that you know just how much you are loved.

Here are some of my favorite memories with you during the last year...

June 2007: You started walking on Father's Day, while relaxing together in the play room.

July/Aug 2007: You took your second trip to Hawaii. Our first night there you decided that you were well rested and ready to wake up and play - at 3am. Daddy took you in the car and drove you around. You finally fell asleep, while he watched the sunrise from the car. And this time around, you were able to walk and get around on your own. You loved playing in the ocean water and would actually run toward it as though you had been a professional swimmer your entire life. There was always someone running after you, so that you wouldn't plunge in face first. On this trip we also visited with the Kirk side of the family, and you were fascinated with Pebbles, Grandma and Grandpa's cat.

September 2007: I was already in the third trimester of my pregnancy and the time was quickly coming for us to welcome the new baby. You were only saying a few words, and having many tantrums...many due to not being fully understood or being able to express yourself the way you wanted to. You were also becoming famous in our household for throwing whatever you could get your hands on when you couldn't get your way. That was definitely a hard time. Time outs were becoming more frequent, but you also began to realize (I believe) that while we were trying to set consistent limits with you, we were also trying to figure out what it was you needed.

One of my favorite memories was that you wouldn't call me mommy. You called Daddy "Da-Da" and you called me "Da!" We were both your dad. So when you would wake up in the morning you would call me "DA!" and then you would point to your mouth and say "EE" meaning you wanted some breakfast to eat. While Madeline went to preschool, I tried to use this time for us to spend quality time together. It was nice just letting you take the lead and show me what you wanted to play. Sometimes we took a walk and collected rocks. Other times we just roamed around the back yard or jumped on the trampoline together. There were moments when we would just lie next to each other on the trampoline and stare up at the sky. I could tell that you enjoyed being together just the two of us. I did too.

October 2007: You discovered your favorite holiday - Halloween - because you had unlimited access to chocolate! I still wonder what went through your mind as you went from door to door, following your big sister, knocking, receiving candy into your bucket and already asking us to unwrap it while we pulled you in the wagon. Madeline was Belle and, well, naturally you were the Beast - the good Beast, we told you and Madeline..you hated the costume.

November 2007: You spent much time playing at Gigi and Papa's. You began to notice more things...airplanes in the sky, cars, trucks, animals. You didn't necessarily know their names, but you would point and grunt with all your might. Your Papa gest a big kick out of you. Everytime I would pick you up, he and Gigi would tell me their stories of the wonderful things you did or played with. You would spend so much time just exploring outside and playing in their fireman fountain. You would eat crackers with peanut butter and drink milk and eat cookies - you love playing over there.

As the new baby's arrival was nearing, I became more anxious because I didn't know how you would respond. We decided that the baby would sleep in Madeline's room because we didn't want to change anything in your little world that would cause you to feel cast aside. One of the hardest moments was when you got the stomach flu - two days before I went into labor. You were so sick, and you just wanted to sit on my lap. I knew I was going to get whatever you had, but I just held you knowing that was all you wanted and needed.

The baby arrived and I remember seeing your face just stare at him after he was born. You weren't sure what to think. He came home and I waited for you to react negatively toward him. You never really did. You would get frustrated when I couldn't always give you my full attention, but you never took it out on the baby. And you would go up to his bassinet, get on your tippie toes and look at him saying BayyyyBeee in your cute toddler way.

The last few months are almost a blur except that I noticed a big change in you. You began talking more clearly, doing more sign language with us to help us understand you, and you even began calling me Mommy (I couldn't believe I wasn't DA anymore!)! One funny moment was when we went to a neighbor friend's birthday party and you learned a new word - CHOCOLATE - your life has never been the same.

I write this because I never want to forget this time in your life. You bring me such joy, sometimes I just burst out laughing at your funny antics. You're such a kind and loving boy with definite ideas and yet, you have a teachable spirit and a desire to be close knit in our family unit.

Thank you for being my sweet son. I am so proud to be your mommy and I can't imagine my heart loving another little brown hair, blue eyed boy as much as I love you!

Happy Birthday, my sweet Grant!

mom, let's play dress up!

And of course, I was the prince and Madeline was the princess. That's to be expected. She has all the princess outfits, while I have...hmmm...one of her old hats and a hawaiian lei. She said I looked princely.





And just after she donned her beautiful outfit she realized we left her shoes in the room where Evan was napping. So we found the next best thing: my shoes!





So we spoke in our British accents and had a picnic on the floor of the playroom while chatting about everyday prince and princess life such as our children being eaten by the horrible dragon, how she's afraid of spiders and bugs, how I need to take the children on a hike, the names of all her grandparents and how her little baby needs a nap.




Dressing up is fun. Why don't we do this more often?

big baby Evan

Evan went to the pediatrician today...and he's getting so big! I can't believe that he actually lived inside of me. He weighs 17 pounds and is 26 1/4 inches. I ran out of his diapers at the doctor's office so I put one of Grant's on him - and it FIT! My boys both wear the same size diaper now - my 4 month old and my almost 2 year old. He is truly my little chub o' love.

my masterpiece

Hi Nana...I finished my masterpiece today. Isn't she beautiful? Her name is Salonya - I named her myself. Thanks for the wonderful gift - I really enjoyed coloring these past few days.

Zoo Day

Nana treated us to a ride on the zoo tram...what a blessing in the 90 degree weather!




Uncle Robert with Evan on the tram




Evan says he's ready for the safari




Checking out the animals with Uncle Robert




Uncle Robert sharing his ice cream??? Only after I wrestled him to the ground and gave him a noogie.



That's my boy! Sharing water after he backwashed in it. Actually, Nana is to be admired for drinking the water.



Evan is thirsty too...



Evan and Nana give lovies

Beach Babies

This was the end of Nathan's spring break...he spent so much time with us this week, especially taking the kids here and there, giving me some down time of my own. So I decided to take the kids to Newport to visit Gigi and Papa so Nathan could catch up on some work. We had a wonderful overnight visit - Evan's first sleep over at the beach house!

serious 4 year old stuff

Madeline: Mom, I'm just so discouraged...what's discouraged mean?

Monrovia Canyon Park

We decided to take the kids on a hike...we decided that it was more fun to settle next to the creek and just play. We have plenty of time to do hikes with the kids.

roasting marshmallows

in our living room...this is the life!










here's Maddie showing me her owie....I don't think she realizes what finger she's pointing at me.

magic beans

One of Madeline's favorite books to read is "Jack and the Beanstalk." Imagine her sheer delight when our neighbors gave her a pail with "magic beans." She quickly coaxed Nathan into immediately planting them in the backyard. We'll see...we could definitely use a few golden eggs.

I know you wanted a sister, but...

this is going a little too far, Madeline!

is there a rock to hide under?

Nathan took the kids to visit his grandma who lives in an adult care facility. Madeline sometimes complains to us before going, simply because there's not much for her to do there. And his grandma really enjoys seeing the kids, even if it's only an hour a week. So he took them last Wednesday while I was teaching piano. As they were leaving, this conversation took place.

Madeline: Gigi, are you going to heaven pretty soon?
Gigi: I hope not.
Madeline: Well, you'll get to see your husband.

Nathan said he just tried to pretend that "little talk" never happened and quickly gathered the children and said goodbye.

campout!

In our play room! Nathan and the kids tied sheets around the room to make a tent. Nathan and Madeline slept under there with flashlights and sleeping bags...Grant preferred his bed and isn't quite ready to camp yet. Evan and I wimped out too.

big sister saves the day

so that I can put Grant to bed...it must be Monday night again.

balloon kite

There's a wonderful book out that said if you tie a balloon to a string and run around with it, it becomes a kite. Grant found it fascinating.

still hungry, big boy?

big sister love

rice cereal time

Evan had his first taste of solid food (yes it's bland and boring but he loves it!) on 31 March 2008...and here his big brother wants to help feed him, but isn't doing it fast enough. Sorry, Evan!

my chub 'o love

isn't he just so dreamy?

this is what Nathan says I do all day...

he's only kidding...in fact, he wishes he had my job!

Jump, Jump!

Grant and Madeline love to take all the cushions off our couches in the play room and then jump either from couch to couch or from the couch onto the pile of cushions!