Sometimes I forget

I'm running around, taking care of children, teaching school work, fixing food, getting Sunday School lessons ready....and I wonder why I feel so worn out. I wonder why my stomach is turning upside down, and my hips are starting to ache........and then, I see a wonderful, God-glorifying story like this, and suddenly, I'm reminded. Reminded of the absolute joy of a newborn. Reminded of their sweet smell and their soft skin. And then I remember....oh yeah, we're gonna have one of those in a few months :) And suddenly, I don't feel quite so guilty about the afternoon naps.....the occasional frozen dinner......the topsy-turvy stomach that requires snacks 'round the clock......or the clothes that are fitting more snugly every day. We're going to have a baby, and nothing else really matters :)

If you have time, go over and see Beka's Blog and her new little bundle of joy. We have been praying for them for a long time now, and are rejoicing with their new little family!! God is good, ALL the time :)

Proof that Pregnancy really does steal brain cells....

I plugged the light in the wall in Eli's room. Nothing. Hmm. I turned the switch. Nothing. Must be a dead light bulb. I went to the other room, and got a light bulb from another lamp. Still nothing. Okaaay....must be the lamp. I went and got the lamp from the other room that I had just taken the light bulb from, replaced the light-bulb, and tried plugging the new lamp in. Nothing. I turned the switch. Nothing. I tried every electrical out-let in Eli's room. Nothing!

Hmmm....there's something wrong with the electrical outlets!! So, Joel came home, and I told him. He asked me if I had checked them all, and I assured him that I had. So, he spent a half hour after dinner finding the right breaker to that room, turning off the electric, and taking out all the outlets to find the problem.

Here is where I start to feel stupid...gulp.

He came to me a little later." Um, Love.....Did you use the two lamps in the hall-way to check the outlets?"

Yep!

"Okay, well, one of them doesn't have a light-bulb, and one of them has a dead light bulb."

Oh....um.....I had never thought that the light-bulb in the second lamp might be dead as well! It had just never occured to me. The light-bulb in the first lamp was dead, and then I put another dead light-bulb in it! Here I was, thoroughly convinced that there was something wrong with the outlets, and it was just two dead light-bulbs. Good-grief.

Fortunately, my husband still loves me...

Conversations worth recording

Eli: Mommy, are boys sweethearts?
Me: What?
Eli: Cosette says I can't be a sweetheart 'cuz I'm a boy!
Me: Well, you're MY sweetheart, aren't you? And Daddy is also my sweetheart. You are BOTH boys :)
Eli: See, Cosette? We're Mommy's sweet-hearts!
Cosette: Really, Mommy???

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This happened just after dinner, as we were getting a plate of cookies to the table for dessert. Cosette had already left the table to go read a book, but Noah was still in his seat.

Noah: (Pointing quite determined) "Ungh, Ungh, UNGH!"
Me: Um, Mommy doesn't know what you want, Noah? Are you wanting your cookie now?
Noah: (Looking frustrated) Ungh, Ungh, Ungh! (More pointing, this time in the direction of Cosette's usual seat at the table)
Me: Um, Do you want more to drink?
Noah: (Really frustrated this time at his Mommy's in-ability to understand him) "UNGH, Ungh, Ungh!! (More pointing toward Cosette's seat, and this time, looking all around the room for her.
Me: Oh, do you want Cosette to come back and sit in her seat and have a cookie?
Noah: A look of delight crossed his face, he smiled a HUGE smile, and clapped his hands together.
Me: Ah, Do you Love Cosette, Noah?
Noah: Finally spots Cosette behind him in the living room, and flashes her a smile sweet enough to melt your heart.
Cosette came back to eat her cookie, and at last Noah was finally happy :)


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Me: Eli, Mommy's stomach is rather upset---would you go get me a soda from the pantry shelf? (Since I was a little girl, a coke is my 'go-to' for an upset stomach---it's probably all in my head.)
Eli: Sure Mom!
He came back a few minutes later, carrying a can of mandarin oranges. LOL!!
Me: Um, I don't think that'll do the trick, Bud....
Eli: (looking terribly downcast and re-jected)
Me: But thanks for your hard work and effort!
Eli: Flashes me a big grin :)

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A telephone conversation with Daddy at lunch-time:

Cosette: Hi Daddy! Yeah, well, I tried to draw a picture of a Parrot, and I couldn't do it right, and I got mad at Mommy 'cuz she couldn't help me, and I had to go to my room, and...well....that's pretty much been my terrible day so far.


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A child's point of view:

Cosette: MMmmm, Mommy, these special yogurts you got at the store are SO delicious!

The same food from an adult's perspective:

Joel: Hey Jaime, that yogurt in my lunch today was, um, well.....interesting :)

Good Motivation

So far in this pregnancy, everything is going great. Baby is healthy and strong, I'm starting to get over my 'always wanting to sleep' first trimester stuff, and the maternity clothes are starting to come out of hiding....However, that dreaded '12 week' mark is coming up next Monday, and I'm trying not to think about it. It was at exactly 12 weeks last time with Noah that I was rushed to the emergency room and put on bed-rest. It is twelve weeks when the placenta finishes forming and attaching. I'm trusting God to get us through this time without that happening. Still, I can't help in the back of my mind thinking about what it was like last time...

I was not expecting that at all---I'd had two previous, completely normal, no-issue pregnancies. I had no reason to believe that this one would be any different. So, I was not at all 'prepared' that morning of Dec. 31st in the hospital room when the doctor informed me that I was on 'indefinite bed-rest'. I remember coming home to a messy house, no meals ready in the freezer, closets all un-organized, my rec-room was, well, a wreck! My husband, family and friends were soooo amazing. I had people fixing food, staying here all day, and taking care of my kids. I remember watching my wonderful mother-in-law scrub my bathroom each week, and feeling so bad. I remember the day my best friend came over, and I sent her downstairs to clean the rec-room. "Just do your best to find the floor', I informed her. I remember wishing the whole time that I had 'seen this coming'.

So, I guess you can say this time that I'm 'preparing for the worse', but praying for the best. I hemmed my living room curtains this week. I pulled up my garden and got it 'winter-ized'. I cleaned out my freezer and have everything in neat little baskets, nicely labeled as 'bread', 'meat', etc. I cleaned out my linen closet and have all the towels and sheets folded nicely and in perfect order. I sorted through the kids toys and took a bunch to GoodWill, leaving only toys that make sense and are easy for them to clean up on their own. I sorted through my recipes and organized that cupboard. All of my cleaners are in good, working order now, with plenty of wrags and cloths to get the job done. My pantry shelves are stocked, I have meal-plans ready to go.

Wow, considering that it's highly UN-LIKELY that anything will happen this time.........I'm in good shape for once in the past six years :) I hope that I am the one who gets to benefit from all of my mad organizing ;)

The Happy Dance

I have had numerous people say to me "Is Noah ever not smiling?" And I do have to answer 'yes'---for instance, when he has to get a shot, or when his big brother is being too rough, or....well, that's about it. Seriously. He is one happy little guy. I've never seen such a happy baby. He smiles when I get him from nap time. He smiles whenever you say anything to him. He just basically smiles all the time, and it's pretty much been that way since he was a baby. And his smile---oh, it gets me every time. He crinkles up that little nose and wrinkles his big brown eyes, and I have to scoop him up every time and plant a big kiss on his cheek. I just can't help it.

But, as cute as that smile is, for a while now, he's been doing something even cuter. A happy dance. I kid you not. He takes his two little feet, goes back and forth and back and forth on them, and grins up at you the whole time. If you say "Noah, do you want a snack?" he does his happy dance. If you say "Noah, it's time for sleepy-time", he does his happy dance. If you say "Noah, do you want to play trucks with Mommy?", he does his happy dance! It's toooo cute. It's like his way of communicating that yes, this is something that he would reallllly like!

I love to see the kids personalities start to take shape. I can look back and see little glimpses of who Cosette is now when she was 6 months, one year, two years, etc. I can definitely see Eli's bright, inquisitive, curious nature shining forth from the moment he was born. Most babies sleep for hours after birth---but not Eli. He laid there in his little bed, wide awake, taking it all in---and he hasn't stopped in 3 1/2 years! So now, I wonder, what will my Noah Boy be like in three years? If he is so pleasant and happy and 'easy' now, will he be the same when he is four or five? I wonder :)

The 'proper' way to eat an ice-cream sandwich.....

.....is with your spoon. Silly boy :)

The Circle of Life

I was sorting through my freezer the other day, and found a loaf of pumpkin bread. Big deal, right? Well, it was the pumpkin bread that my Grandma gave us as a gift last December. Every year around this time, she would go on a mad hunt for Black Walnuts, and if she found them, she would make up a big batch of pumpkin bread and give it to lots of people as gifts. Well, we had frozen ours and never gotten around to eating it. And there it was on my shelf. It was marked 'December, 2008', in her handwriting. And now, I don't know what to do with it. I know it's silly, but---should I eat it? I don't think I could. To taste her baking, now that she's gone, would probably leave me in tears. To throw it out would seem just wrong, somehow. I couldn't do that either. So, should I just leave it in my freezer indefinitely?? I have a real dilemma here!

And, thinking of the pumpkin bread made me think of other ways that Grandma's 'legacy' still lives on, even though she is gone. Take Cosette's recent art-work, for example:

Leo the Lion

She seems to have a real gift for drawing and coloring, especially for a four year old. She certainy didn't get that from me! No, she got it from her Great Grandma! And I know that Grandma would be sooooo proud right now to see Cosette's art-work, and her super-neat hand-writing skills, which are also just like Grandma's. It's amazing to me how different characteristics and personalities are passed on so visibly from one generation to the next!


I miss my Grandma terribly. But, I will find ways to make sure that my children never forget her. Maybe we'll bake up our own batch of pumpkin bread with specialty black walnuts :)

Relieved beyond words

So, I lost Eli today for about 60 seconds.

How's that for an opening line for a post?? Here's what really happened....


I had finished up my grocery shopping, and just needed to run into Giant Eagle for two more things--yogurt and mangos. Joel stayed in the car with Cosette and Noah, but Eli had to go potty, so I took him in with me.

I was standing there looking at mangos, and Eli was right beside me. It may have taken me a whole 20 seconds to pick out my two mangos, and then I turned around. Eli was gone. I didn't think much of it, thinking he had just wandered down the next aisle. I looked---no Eli. I looked in the next aisle, and the next. I started looking FASTER, running all over the produce section. I couldn't see him anywhere. I had NO idea where he could have gotten so quickly! I started to have mental images in my mind of some horrible, weird person dressed in a goblin Halloween costume picking up my precious boy and making a dash for the door. Panic seized my heart, and I started jogging through the aisle. I began to yell his name as loudly as I could. "Eli! Eli! Eli! Answer me NOW!" Nothing. I started looking around frantically for an employee, or anybody to ask for help. Suddenly, the voice of an angel. Well, it was actually just a nice lady, but what she said sounded like music to my ears.

"Are you looking for a little boy?"

"Yes!!"

She pointed waaaaaaay down to the end of the deli section. "There he is."

I turned, and suddenly, there was my Eli guy. He was turning around in confused circles, big tears running down his cheeks.

"Eli, Eli, Mommy's right here!''

I ran to him, literally, and he ran to me. We threw our arms around each other. He was sobbing, poor little guy.

"Mama, I couldn't find you!! I was wookin' everywhere for you!!"

" I know Eli, I'm sorry. I was looking for you too!"

I hugged that little man as closely as I could, never wanting to let go. I have never felt such relief in my entire life! And in that hug, it seemed like every moment from the day of his birth until then flashed through my mind, and I squeezed him even tighter.

All I can figure is that he must have turned around to look at something, and then when he didn't see me right away, started walking really quickly in the wrong direction!

So God, thank you for watching over our little ones when we are a little too distracted with trivial things like mangos......

Lovin' Life....

Tomorrow, I am going to.....

• enjoy having my husband home from work for the WHOLE day :)
• go get my flu shot
• give a piano lesson (yes, I remembered it this week!!)
• go grocery shopping for one week instead of two, which I am loving!
• blow raspberries on Noah's belly and watch in delight as he giggles and giggles
• get a Sunday School lesson ready for Eli's class--gotta love those sweet 2-3 year olds!
• attempt to make a delicious Spicy Honey Chicken Salad which my sister-'n-law fixed for us while we were at the beach this summer---ummm....good stuff!
• Try a new fruit salsa dip with cinnamon chips for dessert

Yep, it's gonna be a good day! (All except for the flu shot part......)