I'm not creative enough to title this one...

...I just figured it's been a while since I did an update, I had better at least do SOMETHING. It's not that I've been incredibly busy, it's just that it seems that when I'm feeling particularly creative, I don't have the time to type, and when I do have the time...well, you get the idea! I tend to type my blog entries between 9:30-10:30pm (I should go check my history and see how accurate that really is) and that is not my greatest time of day, but what the hay, I'm doing the best with what I've got!!

Luke: Has started sleeping on his tummy and is finally (mostly) unswaddled!! My parents (and plenty of other people) give me flack about swaddling my children so long. They never did it in "their day", but I do it with my children, and all of them stopped being swaddled at around the same time-when they started rolling over and it made me worried!! Luke is still wrapped from the waist down at night, mostly to keep him warm while he sleeps. He's been napping wonderfully though and....DRUM ROLL PLEASE....he's FINALLY eating food!! Yes, yes, he's been "eating" food for a while now, but now he's actually seeming to enjoy it...and WANTING it. He usually eats oatmeal with banana for breakfast (he'll GLADLY fee himself banana--he's actually rather good at feeding himself finger foods) and yogurt with cereal and some other fruit/veggies mixed in. I haven't gotten him to eat any real savory stuff yet, but I just bought some chicken thighs that I'm going to cook up for him and try some chicken and noodles, chicken and rice, etc. and see how he likes it.
Luke is sitting up quite proficiently these days. He likes to be outside watching the other kids playing...it keeps him rather entertained. Savannah has started giving him "dancing lessons", she plays music for him and starts dancing and he'll start rocking back and forth along with her, it's very cute! Luke also babbles a lot, usually saying DADA or some form of the word...tonight we were praying and as I was praying he said, "DADA" really loud...so I said, "yes, we pray for Dada too" because Jeremy wasn't home. It was cute how Luke threw that in! Oh yes, one thing I was going to add in about him eating more is that he's started sleeping even better. Of course I don't want to jinx myself, but he's had quite a few nights recently where he goes to sleep just after 8pm and doesn't wake again until 9ish in the morning. No wakings at all. It's been marvelous!!!
There was something else that I wanted to note, but I just cannot remember...it's hard enough typing right now with my blurred vision from the tears in my eyes from yawning so much...perhaps I should go to bed and finish this tomorrow!!

An "Ah Ha" Moment...

God's quirky sense of humor never ceases to amaze me.
I've been talking with a good "friend" of mine (you know who you are) about an issue I have regarding children who aren't my own. I've admitted to her...and now I'm admitting to all of the people who read my blog that I'm not a lover of children. Don't get me wrong...I ADORE my own children. Just watching my children brings tears to my eyes and there is no way I could ever explain how deeply in love with them I am. It's OTHER peoples children I have the problem with.
Growing up I never wanted to have children. It wasn't until I was dating Jeremy (my husband) and his cousin had a baby that I even considered that I might one day want a baby of my own. I became an auntie when I was 9 years old. My nieces were darling, but when they were in their cutest stages I was at some of my worst (early teens--yuck!), so I never appreciated them...they just got on my nerves...why would I ever want that??
Anyway, I digress. Loving other peoples children has been a very difficult thing for me. I see the flaws in my own children, of course, but my love for them covers many, many imperfections. With other children the flaws stick out like a sore thumb and I don't have that deep love to override the annoyance of these less than perfectly behaved children. It's not that most of the children I've known are any worse than my own...we've definitely had some "fun" issues to deal with, it's just that it's so much more blatant with other children. Perhaps it's that with my own children I see their "issues" as something to work on, habits to change, behavior to mold and for some reason with other children it seems like more of a character flaw. Please, don't get me wrong...I know this is flawed thinking, I'm FAR from perfect I'll be the first to admit.
Okay, so onto the whole point of this--God's sense of humor. We moved into this neighborhood when Abby was 2 months old, Savannah was 19 months old. We were outside and all, but with such small children, interaction with other children was fairly limited...not to mention that our entire block had just been remodeled and we were the first family to move in. Shortly thereafter our neighborhood filled in nicely and all was well--until the interaction began. For anyone who has never seen my neighborhood, let me just tell you: It is a sight to behold. A family must have at least 2 children to live in the homes that make up my neighborhood. There are a TON of children around here. God has put me amidst not just a couple "difficult" children, but a PLETHORA of "difficult" children. It all started with the neighbor whose daughter seemed to delight in making Savannah cry (let me just say, it's not hard to make Savannah cry, she's VERY sensitive). I cannot tell you how many times Savannah came running home in the early years of our residence here crying her little eyes out because Jackie wasn't her friend anymore. *sigh*. Then there was the kid who I would watch pinch Abby (she was just a toddler) and when she would cry he'd comfort her and say "Oh, what's wrong" as if he had no idea what made her cry (he was 7 at the time). We had a little girl who would mouth off to me like you wouldn't believe. I actually had to make her leave my house once because she opened a card and "read" aloud, "Dear Mom, I hate your freakin' guts" (she was 3). There is the boy who called me "STUPID" because I wouldn't let him have candy without his parents permission. Oh the list goes on and on and on. Some of the things have been pretty outrageous and others are just things "normal" kids do...but when you multiply it by 10-15 kids EVERY SINGLE DAY, it's UNREAL! The hitting, biting, screaming, name calling, stealing toys, coming into my house at 6:45am...just to START the list...is just a bit overwhelming to someone who doesn't particularly "like" children! Hahahaha...so tell me, is God funny or what??? Do you think he put me here for a reason??? And the sad thing is that I'm just starting to understand that. My "friend" I've been talking to just opened my eyes to this fact. I need to learn to see children for their hearts, the way Jesus saw them, and the way He wants me to see them. He wants me to see past the behavioral issues and into their little hearts that need His love, His compassion and His salvation. WOW! Afterall, child or adult, who wants to be defined by their worst behaviors?? Not I!
Thank You Lord for this revelation!!

Now the question is: Do I delay learning my lesson so we can stay here for 4 more years?!?! Hahahaha...JUST KIDDING (kind of!)

So many updates, so little time!

I honestly should be folding the myriad loads of laundry I have to fold, but I just wanted to post a VERY quick update...more to remind myself to come back to finish it soon.
Abby is now 4 years old and finally PACI-FREE!! Yay!! I'm so very proud of her...although I have a funny story to share about that, but it shall have to wait until later.

**Funny Story** Updated November 15, 2007--finally!
Abby went down for her nap on her birthday--first nap with no paci. I have to admit, I was rather nervous. She got up a couple of times and then finally settled down for her nap. It was awfully quiet and after quite a while it was time for me to go wake her up--just as I do for EVERY nap she takes. I thought, "Wow, that was easy...she had NO problem with a paci-free nap!"...I walked into her room and there she was, absolutely zonked out with a PACIFIER in her mouth!! WHAT?!?! She must have stashed one away and then found it and plugged it in and dozed off happy as can be! I knew there was a paci missing, but I had no idea she took it!! It was so funny! Thankfully we've had no hitches without her paci...she's been doing GREAT!!


Jeremy had his birthday and returned safely home from Portland, flew out to San Diego and is back from there now. He arrived on the evening of his birthday, so we didn't get to celebrate too much...but we're having a family birthday party tomorrow, so that will hopefully make up for it!
Luke had his 7 month check up...the boy is a big guy! He's 19lbs6oz and 28inches long. Apparently there are some HUGE babies out there though because he's only 50th percentile for weight! OH WOW!

Okay, I know that's very sad, but that's all I can manage at this moment...I've got lots of work to do for the birthday party tomorrow...and we're having a "Cake Party" this evening for Abby...so I'm busy, busy, busy!!

Cupcakes....

As long as I can remember, I've always called children's (and mens, I suppose) nipples "chocolate chips". Savannah said something about her chocolate chips today and looked at me and said, "What do you have? Cupcakes??" Hahahaha...she is so funny...I've never thought about it before, but hey, it's better than the alternatives!!

The Precious Things They Say.

I had a bit of a rough evening. I shouldn't say it was particularly rough, but I did lose my cool. Jeremy is gone for the week and I do NOT like having to care for all three children by myself. Luke hasn't been going to sleep nicely lately and it's been a bit rough. Abby pushes my buttons constantly...she is such a loose cannon! I lost my temper this evening and yelled at her and kind of kicked Savannah's drawer closed--hard--and Savannah, being the soft-hearted sweetie that she is, started crying. Once I got Luke off to bed and had some time to pray, I went into their room (where they were both reading so cutely) and told them both I was very sorry, that I lost my temper and wasn't being a good example of self-control and I asked them to forgive me. Savannah looked into my eyes and said, "Mommy, of course we forgive you, we're your children!" Oh my...talk about melting your heart! What a precious thing to say. I tend to think that God gave us the children we have because of what WE have to offer them...but it's times like this that remind me that He's blessed us with these precious gifts because they're the children WE need.

Luke is officially sitting up!!

Here's my big guy...sitting up all on his own! He's 6.5 months old and the girls didn't do this until they were 7.5 months old. It'll be interesting to see if he does other things physically more quickly or not. He didn't roll over until WAY later than the girls, so we shall see. Now if only I could get him to eat his food well!!! Still struggling with that!!

Tea Party!

Today we invited a couple of the neighborhood girls over (Felicity, Josephine and Rowan) and their moms and we had a tea party/craft day. It was rather fun. First I got up and baked a delicious Apple Cake, courtesy of Paula Deen (Grandgirl's Fresh Apple Cake from Georgia and my moms famous Spinach Squares. Boy did the house smell FABULOUS!! I brewed some black tea and some peppermint tea, set the table and we started. The girls weren't the most well-behaved I've ever seen...not mine, the other girls. My girls were good...well, Savannah was great, Abby was distracted! We made a decopauge (sp?) picture frame and put in a photo of all of the girls present. I'll have to take a photo of the frame I helped Savannah make (actually we moms did MOST of the work). All of the girls had their frames say, "Best Friends Forever" except for Savannah...she was adamant that hers say, "Green Martians"!! I had a terrible time finding all of the right letters so she says, "Mommy, would it be easier to do 'Blue Martians'??" Hahahaha...what a goose!! Anyway, we had a very fun time...it's definitely something I'd love to do again soon.

And here is the photo we put in the frame we made: