Joel's latest trick

Joel picked Christmas Eve to learn how to crawl out of a pack n'play. Which meant I couldn't just put him in it and expect him to go to sleep. Instead I'd put him in it and two minutes later he'd run into the living room to see what was going on. So, since I can go back to sleep within 10 seconds of waking up, I got to sleep with Mr. Man during our trip. The only nice part of that is that on Christmas morning, I woke up to two little hands on my chest, followed by a knee in my stomach. There was no way I was going to open my eyes, because once he knows you're awake, it's over. You're up for the day. But after he crawled close enough to my face, I got a big kiss to wake me up. Sorta makes up for having to wake up at 5:30 each morning.

Once we got home, we figured we were fine, because his crib is lots taller than a pack n'play. Nice thought. Five minutes after I put him in bed, he walked into the kitchen and said "Hi mom", like it was completely ordinary for him to be there. Out came the KoolAid spoon that he gets, um..........'reminded of the rules' with. Poor little guy- he got swatted while he was mid-escape, hanging over the edge of the crib railing. I left the spoon in sight to remind him what would happen if he disobeyed again and he stayed in bed. But I woke up at 6:15 to him playing in his room; I put up a gate in his doorway so at least he couldn't get out and run around the house without us hearing him knock the gate down. So now do I buy a crib tent or just teach him to stay in the crib, even though he is capable of getting out? There's no way I trust him in a bed; that's FAR too easy to get out of. At least in his crib, he has some sort of visual reminder that he's supposed to stay inside.

Sweet Mimi

The other night we were driving home in the dark, and David kept braking. When I asked why, he asked if I couldn't see all the little critters running across the road. I couldn't, and said he should just hit them (I'm not overly sentimental about rodents). He said ok, and right after that we drove over a pothole. Naomi asked if he hit an animal. "Yep, I just ran over Boots the Monkey!" She didn't seem concerned about that, so David started pretending to hit all the Dora crew. Naomi thought it was funny and encouraged him to take out Dora.

The next night we were again driving down the same road in the dark and I heard Mimi muttering from the back seat, "watch out, Tico."

Faulty reasoning

I showed Hope this picture of Bryn, and asked her who she thought it was.
"Didi?"
"You think so?"
"Yeah, it's didi"
"But look, does Didi have a tattoo?"
"Is it aunt Mandy?"

Cause Mandy has a tattoo that only Hope knows about??

Little things that make your day

Yesterday at work we were all in the break room, and something was said about one coworker going to talk to someone about less-than-stellar service. I said that I wished I were like Steph, who's so tactful that even her complaint will sound friendly. "If it were me, I'd end up sounding like I was being a beeotch." One of my coworkers, who I've never been great friends with, laughed and said "Of all of us, you're the last one who could ever act like that. I can't imagine you being mean to anyone". I told her that, although she was completely wrong, I was so happy that she thought that about me! Who knew anyone actually thought I was nice?!?

G-U-M

Somehow in the past few weeks, Naomi discovered gum. Hope started spelling it out so Naomi wouldn't know what she was asking for, but it didn't take Naomi too long to catch on. So she started asking for g-u-m, and that turned into g-u-m-hum (she can say 'g' in some words, but not at the start of words, so gum is hum). The other day we were running low on gum and needed stuff for lunch, so we went to the store. David asked Naomi if we should get some more g-u-m, and then asked what we should get for lunch. Apparently she doesn't understand that g-u-m actually spells gum, because Naomi's suggestion was "g-u-m-tato-ships". I'm all for chips, but chip-flavored g-u-m does NOT sound good.

Logic according to Naomi

Last night I was reviewing boys and girls with Naomi. She knew everyone in our family and at daycare. Then I asked "Is Chloe a boy or a girl".
Naomi: a girl.
Me: what about Grantie?
Naomi: He's not a girl!!
Me: Ok, then, what is he?
Naomi: He's Grant!!
Me: But is he a boy or a girl?
Naomi: He's just my cousin!

She also thinks Alex and Lucy are both boys because they have the same hair, although she refers to Lucy with female pronouns. She's confused.

The Importance of Enunciation

Hope and I have been learning basic America stuff in school, so I decided I'd try to teach her the 50 States song. Even though I was sure I'd never want to hear it again after listening to mom sing it from here to Arkansas and back, it's an easy way to memorize the states.

So I was singing it to her, and about halfway through she started giggling. When I asked what was funny, she said she thought New Hamster was a funny name for a state!

Sinnerlings

 Chris Mueller used to say that children were little sinnerlings. Nobody had to teach them to lie; no one tells them to be disobedient or selfish or mean. They're very obiously born with a sin nature. Joel is certainly proof of that. I was getting out his bigger clothes and had a stack of pants on his shelves. He came over and started to play with them, and I told him not to touch them. He looked at me, turned back around to the stack of pants, stuck out one finger, and poked the top pair of pants. I pretended I didn't see it and walked away. He's such a little sinnerling.

Ignore or Implore?

I've been praying for direction on an issue for months. Over a year, I suppose. I gave God a timeline. About a month ago, I tried to revise that timeline. "Ok, God, by Thanksgiving. I want a definite answer by then."


Thursday, I felt the familiar cramping that meant I was soon going to be reminded again how much I detest my uterus. I had a sleep study scheduled for Saturday night; not exactly wonderful timing since I can't sleep through the first night without flooding. So Friday morning, I asked God to please just hold off till Sunday. I didn't want to cancel the study. So Saturday I kept waiting, but nothing showed up. Sunday morning, as I was being unhooked from all the wires, I felt the floodgate open.


Ok, God. I get it.

Perhaps my not getting the answer I want IS my answer.


But I just don't think I can live with that.


So, do I ignore a very direct answer to a half-hearted prayer? Do I assume that God is capable of answering some of my prayers in my timeline, but not others?


Or do I continue to beat down the door of Heaven pleading? Do I keep extending my timeline, hoping that God will change His mind. Or maybe there is the answer I want, if I just can be patient and not attempt to make God answer my prayers on my timeline. Maybe His timeline is different than mine, and if I could just go with whatever, I might still get what I think I want.


Do I ignore one answer and not the other, or do I keep on asking? And does it matter anyway? If I continue to ask, is that disobedient?

How do you know if the answer is really No or if it just hasn't been answered yet?

Water Baby

While the girls went to a movie with David's cousin, Joel got to play outside in the pool. He quickly got out of the pool when David started watering the garden. He stole the hose to help with the watering process; he loved spraying it over his head, and when David would tell him to take a drink, he'd stick his face right in the spray and try to drink some of it. Joel LOVES the water and, I'm afraid, has no fear of it at all!

4 kiddos

Zach was here for two weeks this month. The kids had so much fun with him. Hope talked him into setting up their little pool and watching them- David and I get sick of sitting out there, but Mr. Never-sunburns is fine with being in the sun till the girls are sick of the pool. While he was here, I had to work on one of my normal days off. I took Joel to daycare, but Hope and Naomi stayed home with Zach. I think all they did was watch Spongebob and play in the pool. Joel liked having someone besides his sisters to play with; they wrestled and had sword fights and played in the back yard. I enjoyed having someone actually eat what I made for dinner and enjoy it:) Too bad he has a job- he couldn't stay very long because he couldn't take a month off of work. It sure was nice to have him here even if it didn't last very long.

Stinkbug...........or Snugglebug?

Naomi has always been my little Stinkbug. Hopey is Sugarbug, and Stinkbug definitely described Naomi for the first two years of her life. Joel was such a cuddly little baby that he became Snugglebug. But now every night when I put Naomi to bed, she says "snuggle me?" before I leave. She loves it when I just lay in bed with her. And Joel has become more of a stinker; maybe I nicknamed them too soon.

The other night after I'd snuggled Naomi for a few minutes I told her it was time for me to go downstairs. When she asked why I said I had to go see about David. In her sweet little voice, she said "No, see 'bout me." I stayed a few extra minutes to see 'bout precious little mimi.

Breakfast choices

Sunday I asked Naomi if she wanted breakfast. "Yes, I have cheese and crackers". I asked if she'd rather have some cereal, or maybe some oatmeal. "Uh, aybe eyesheem?" No, maybe not ice cream, you goofball. I guess there's no harm in trying, right?

I'm a genius!!

Hope has had a spelling test every night for the past week or two. The catch: she has to write her spelling words on my back:) I've thrown in an art lesson by having her draw some pictures on my back as well. I'll rent her out- all you have to do is come up with simple words for her to spell.

A spot of tranquility

I've been trying to clean rooms at a time, rather than dust the whole house, vaccuum the whole house, etc. That way at least some rooms feel entirely clean and decluttered. I worked on our bedroom/bathroom/closet last week and it made a big difference. But as I'd walk up the stairs and see our clean bedroom, I'd also see the loft that had become the dumping ground for anything that didn't belong somewhere else. The tv cabinet was open. Hope's video game system was permanently plugged into the tv, as was Zach's xbox. The movie drawers were open, dvd cases stacked on the floor, Naomi's toys that I'd taken away were shoved on top of the tv cabinet so she couldn't reach them. Chairs were set up so the kids could watch tv, which they never sat in when they did bother to watch tv there. Chalk and markers littered the easel, and the box my printer came in was still sitting there, a year and a half after I got it for Christmas.

So the other night I decided to clean it all up. It probably only took 15 minutes to clean up, put away and throw away the things that didn't belong, dust, and shut the electronics up, but oh, what a difference. Now, when I walk up the stairs, it's like a breath of fresh air; open space that feels clear and decluttered, rather than the always-present 'stuff' that robs my feeling of peace. Now there are two, albeit small, but two areas of my house that I have taken back from the three little (and one big) clutter monsters who live with me. Small victories!!

Delayed Response

Pork chops were on the menu for dinner last night. Hope vacillates on pork, chicken, and steak- some nights she loves it, other nights it's gross and why on earth would we try to make her eat it?? David gave her a bite of the pork, she decided she didn't want it, and had chicken nuggets instead.

After I put the girls to bed, I heard Naomi crying so I went to check on her. Hope was also a little weepy, like she'd been crying but was getting herself under control. She told me she really needed to talk to David. When I asked why, she said, "Well, I think it might be too late, but I decided I want the pork for dinner". Yes, Hope, dinner ended two hours ago, it is indeed too late.

All Boy

Joel is such a little boy. Who teaches boys that they should like to wrestle? Or that it's mandatory to make car sounds and push around any object you happen to be holding? Why is the remote the first thing he goes for when he comes into the family room? Today at the zoo, we sat down in a grassy area to let the kids run around. Joel could've run anywhere, but he headed right toward the two boys playing catch with a football. He waited until one of the boys dropped it, picked up the football, and took off. And he wasn't giving anyone that football back. David finally took the football and gave it back to the boys, and took Joel to another part of the field to play. I think the boys thought it was funny that Joel liked their football, because they ended up over by Joel again. And again, Joel stole their ball and had no interest in returning it. Guess we'll be taking a stroll down the football aisle the next time we're at Target.

Nocturnal convos with Naomi

"MMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!" Whatever I was dreaming about is completely gone from my mind as I hear this shriek coming from the girls' room at 3:00 AM. So I go in there to see what's wrong and Naomi is in the middle of the room. She can't quite tell me what's wrong; I assume it's a nightmare of some sort. I put her back in her bed and notice she's covering her eyes- maybe the lamp is a little too bright. Ten minutes later she's wailing again, still with her face covered and buried in her pillow. This time Hope is awake too and a little scared. I go get Naomi and just put her in our bed. David asks what's wrong and she says something about naaah-suh gonk (gonk is scared or hurt, depending on the context). "Nasa? That's the space organization and they aren't going to hurt you. You don't need to be scared." It took her awhile to go back to sleep.

The next morning when I was a little more coherent, I tried to ask her again what was wrong in the night. She told me naah-suh again,and I finally figured out she was trying to say monster. Apparently there was a big green monster in her bed that scared her. I've called dad to see if Boston is missing part of their park, but somehow I think it's a different green monster residing in her room. So now Tubby is the Monster-nator and mosquito spray had become monster repellant, God made the monsters disappear and Naomi still is buying her face in her blanket at night.

Another month gone by.....

...and nothing inspiring to blog about. I had a week off of work and got absolutely nothing accomplished. I was actually going to clean the house all at once, instead of in spurts whenever I felt the need...didn't happen. I was going to walk every day...didn't happen- well, I walked two days. I was going to scrapbook each day...Joel figured out how to open the cabinet I keep everything in, but he's the only one who got into everything. Nope, I sat on the couch, ate easter candy and read harry potter, and gained three pounds. Exciting vacay, no?

Naomi is half-heartedly potty training. She doesn't care. She likes the candy and new undies, but not enough to tell us she's about to pee. So I have to ask her every half-hour if she needs to go to the bathroom; at least she knows and can answer yes or no reliably. Monday I finally just took away the diapers completely; she didn't have any accidents that day. But Tuesday at daycare she had two, today only one- although they did put a diaper on her when they went outside to play and she pooped- at least it was in a diaper instead of her Elmo undies like yesterday:(-- Maybe no accidents tomorrow?? Hope was so much easier- she peed on the carpet once and was trained. Hope realized one of the girls in her sunday school class was on her soccer team last fall, so now all I hear about is "is it fall yet?" Dude, I'm really excited for warm weather and summer- could we not rush it?!?

Poor Joel had a 104 fever last weekend; I took him to the doc on Monday and he figured it was probably an ear infection. He actually offered antibiotics, which is unheard of for this guy. But within 24 hours, Joel had a rash all over his trunk. So I guess I have one child who is allergic to amox- how much you want to bet I'll forget- I'm so used to saying Nope, no allergies... And yesterday I discovered two new teeth in his mouth; no wonder he's been crying more in the night. Luckily he loves tylenol:) Hope has a bunch of wax in her ears and can't hear us lately unless we talk loudly, so we're going back to the doc Friday to have her ears checked. Oh joy.

Hope dyeing Easter eggs:



Mimi's new Elmo runders:


Mr. On-the-go:


And cause he's just so cute:

Joel is 1!!

Stripped down and ready for cake! Notice that he's digging in before the candle has even been blown out- Naomi took care of that for him
Utensils are highly overrated!
He was mad because there wasn't more cake to eat
Clean-up time!

I love you, Baby

A year ago today, Baby took her last trip to the vet. Those were the last words I said to her. I had actually planned on blogging about what happened that day, but my vision is being obscured with tears just thinking about it. I guess nobody gets to know except Baby and me.

A Trip to the Firestation

The other day our new firestation had an open house, so I figured it'd be a good field trip for Hope. Off to the fire station we went. Hope got a fireman's hat when we first arrived. We saw their classroom, library, kitchen and living areas, workout room, and office areas. They showed Hope all their gear they had to wear, and then she got to explore the fire engine a little.
Of course, the highlight for Hope was the firedog mascot Sparky. When then said they had a mascot, I thought they might actually have a real dog; she would've been even more excited about that!
Right before we left, the alarms went off and the firemen had to go save somebody. It was fun for her to hear the alarms and hear the dispatcher tell them all the info she had, watch them bolt for the truck and take off.
So now Hope is the expert at all things relating to fire. We have our fire safety coloring book, fire escape plan (sans schedule for fire drills), and firehats for all the junior firefighters stationed at our house.

Oh Hopey:)

We all know how Hope picks things to dwell on. She's been in tears over if it will hurt when she has kids and sits around wondering what it will be like when she gets married. So yesterday she and I were talking on the way to dance; I don't even remember what we were talking about but she said "It's ok, though, cause Jesus is always by my side, right?" Yep, Hopey, He is. Then I hear her back there talking to herself: "I wonder which side? Naomi sits on my right side when we sit on the couch; what if that's the side Jesus wants to sit on...." "Hey mom, which of my sides is Jesus on?"

'sup homies...

Naomi thinks her name is mimi. If you ask what her name is, she says mimi; if you ask if her name is Naomi or mimi, she says mimi; if you ask if her name is Naomi, she says 'no, mimi'. So in an attempt to teach her what her name really is, we've ditched the nickname for now. But she can't say her name very well. She says Homey. David thinks it's hilarious to make her say What's up, Homey. Poor little girl- she doesn't know he's making fun of her.

Little brothers

Today I saw a glimpse of the annoying, michevious little brother Joel will probably be. He loves to pull hair right now, and since Naomi plays with him quite a bit, she gets the majority of the hair-pulling action. So he grabbed a handful of hair and yanked on it. When she said Ouch and jerked away, he started grinning and clapping his hands. Little poop already delights in tormenting his sister.

Disneyland

For lack of any blogging inspiration, I decided to post some of our disneyland pics.