Chistmas 2009

Here are some pics from Christmas. They start with a few from Cleveland. The sweet girl with the boys is our cousin, MG. The boys adore her and she is so good with them. She bought them a garbage bag full of gifts with her own money. What a sweetheart!

Then the pics continue with a few from our week with family in Cincy. We took the boys to a place in Mason called Run, Jump and Play. It was a blast! Indoor park equipment and inflatables. Then there are a few from my parents house. I didn't end up with too many pics. As the action increased throughout the week, I forgot to take my camera out.

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Pictures from C's 1st Birthday

Momma and the birthday boy! I love my sweet C!

Partied out. Not liking the big crowd of people staring at him. He didn't even try the cake.

Didn't want to open presents, either. Just enjoyed chasing this ball around the house while his brother and cousin opened his gifts for him.

C's new sled. Now all we need is some snow!

Playing with his big brother.

Happy Birthday, C

I can't believe it's been a year. C, you are such a smiley, happy baby. Despite the rough start to your life and all the sickness you've dealt with this year, I am continually amazed by the great attitude you have. Anytime I take you out somewhere, strangers tell me what a happy baby you are. I love the happiness you display. Your smile is contagious and leaves me smiling even on the days when I am tired.

Happy Birthday, C. You are no longer Baby C. Just C. I can't wait to watch you as you continue to grow this year. I love watching you learn new things. You are so proud of yourself when you learn something new. You get this huge grin on your face. I love you, C, and I can't wait to see what this year has in store for you.

Birthday Party

We had a family birthday party for baby C last night. It was so fun to have the family together. Of course I had to laugh that C wasn't interested in cake adn didn't open many of the presents. Luckily he had a 2 year old brother and cousin to help with both. :)

I haven't had a chance to download any pics yet because we took off this morning for Cleveland to visit P's family. Tomorrow will be Christmas party #1 of 5. I know the boys will be overwhelmed by the 40+ people there, but that should melt away when the presents get pulled out.

For now, check out my sis's blog. She posted some pics from the birthday party last night. Thanks Aunt M! You are way more on the ball than I am :)

Some Good Books

I've been doing some more reading lately. Here are some great books I've finished, in case you are looking for a good read.

Irresistible Revolution
The Barbarian Way
Crunchy Cons (still working on this one)
Reckless Faith
The Outward-Focused Life
Sacred Parenting

And I just picked this one up at the library today. It doesn't exactly fit with the rest of the list, but I am a huge Nicholas Sparks fan. I am automatically put on the waiting list for his books when he comes out with a new one. :)

Night night, mommy

P got up with the boys today and let me sleep a little longer. Before they went downstairs, A came to the side of the bed and started belting out the Alphabet Song. When he finished, he patted my back and whispered to me, "Door opened or closed?" Then tiptoed out of the room and said, "night-night, mommy." It made me laugh so hard!

Baby C is officially a walker, though he chooses to crawl most of the time since it's faster. He loves his newfound mobility!

Wearing daddy's hat

With Nonno

This picture makes me laugh so much. A has a new fear of the vacuum cleaner since he says it hurts his ears. So, when I vacuum, he insists on wearing C's winter hat which is much too small (why? I don't know). Since it covers his ears, apparently it makes the vacuum so much less noisy. Then he gets out his toy vacuum and helps me do my chores. He is such a funny kid with so much spunk and creativity.

Most of my family after running/walking the Fighting Hunger 5K to benefit Matthew 25: Ministries It was a gorgeous day, and a lot of fun. They even had a chocolate fountain at the end of the race! Now that's my idea of great exercise :)

Thanksgiving week

We are back and settled after a great vacation week. We took off last Sunday to head to South Bend to visit great friends of ours. It was a very encouraging and refreshing time for all of us, and A and C had a blast playing with their 5 kids. Then we drove to Cleveland to visit P's family. The 4 1/2 hour trip ended up to be 3 1/2 hours since the speed limit was 70 and we made NO STOPS!! The kids were such troopers.

We were met at the door of Gramma the Great's house by P's cousin MG. She's 9 and couldn't wait for the boys to arrive. So, A had an instant friend who even spent the night so she could be there as soon as he woke up. And we had a built in babysitter. It was great! We enjoyed time with family, ate a TON and then the boys did great on the trip home. We almost didn't have to stop, but about 20 min. away, C started melting down. He hadn't eaten lunch, and I decided it's too messy to try to feed babyfood to an infant who's facing backwards in his carseat. So we took a brief 5 min. stop, fed C really quickly and headed home.

It was so much fun and it was nice to have the weekend to recoop and readjust to the "real world." A and C miss their friends and P and I miss our babysitters.

Amazingly with all that traveling, I forgot to take any pictures! We were just enjoying ourselves too much!

I was putting A to bed last night. As I was leaving the room, I said, "Sleep well, and sleep in. " He just looked at me with this super excited smile and said, "Tomorrow I have a muffin for breakfast!" It was so random, but reminds me how simple life is for a child. Is that why Jesus asks us to be more like children?

One other random story. Neither of my boys have a "lovey" (special animal or blankey that they sleep with). Instead, they both like playing with my hair to calm down. Keeping that in mind, I had this conversation with A the other day.

A- "God is powerful"
Me-Yeah, He is. Where did you learn that?
A-Ms. Connie taught me that at church.
Me-Oh. Do you like Ms. Connie?
A- (then he got this really goofy, shy smile as though he was a young boy in love) Yes, She lets me play with her hair!

I can just picture him sitting on the lap of this lady he barely knows playing with her hair. It made me laugh so hard just picturing that. No wonder Ms. Connie is his favorite teacher at church!

C is feeling better. They gave him some medicine at the doctor's office that helps him breathe easier. He no longer sounds like a barking seal. He's still congested and a little clingy to mom, but he's had two good nights of sleep in a row. It's been months since that happened!

We leave tomorrow am for South Bend to visit some good friends. I'm so excited to see them and get to catch up. Then Tuesday we head from South Bend to Cleveland to spend Thanksgiving with P's extended family.

We are excited about both of these, but are really praying that C does well in the car. He's got about a 45 min. max of being content in the car. That doesn't bode well for a 5 hour car ride, then a 2 hour car ride then a 4 hour car ride. Could be painful. We'll see.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

sorry it's been so long.
c's got the croupe...again. poor kid just can't catch a break.
sick kid = short or no naps = tired momma with no time to blog. i'll try to update soon.

Just had to post this picture of my boys. What a great daddy!

Fall 2009

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quick update

The antibiotic did it's job, and the ear infection is gone. For now. We ended up at an ENT with baby C this week, and have decided to have tubes put in his ears. The ENT looked in his ears and said the infection was gone, but there was still fluid in his ears. It's basically just a matter of time until he gets another. Pretty much every time he gets any congestion, he'll most likely get an infection. So, tubes it is. November 11th is the big day. They say it's the fastest surgery in existance and that the parents won't even have time to drink a cup of coffee before they are called back. We'll see. Not looking forward to it, but I am excited for the prospect of having my happy C back. The poor kid has had a rough start to this life.

I'll post some new pics soon. The boys dressed up for Halloween (A - soccer player, C- lion). We made it to one house before A saw some big kids in scary costumes and wanted to go back home. So the night was cut short and P carried him home with his head burried in P's shoulder. But, at least we got him in his costume and out the door this year, which beats last year.

I also have some cute pics of the boys playing in leaves. It's been fun to see them enjoying the fall, and we have one tree in the front yard that has provided enough leaves for many, many piles. And there's still more to come.

Alright... I'm off to read in bed. The boys haven't adjusted to the time change, despite having tried to keep them up later this week. They went to bed at 9:00 last night but C was up for the day at 4:45 am with his big brother not far behind at 5:45. Made for a long day. I'm praying hard that they'll sleep in tomorrow, but I'm also going to bed early just in case :)

Ended up at the doctor's today... again.
With Baby C... again.
Turns out he has an ear infection... again.

Poor kiddo. This is #6. Let's pray the antibiotic works fast!

banana bread

A- "Mommy, my belly is saying feed me some milk"
Me - How about I feed you some banana bread, too?
A- Ooohhh! Yes! Can baby C have some, too?
Me- Sure. He's never had banana bread before. Why don't you tell him what it is?
A- OH, Baby C! You will love banana bread. It tastes like peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

hahahaha! what a funny kid!

-On Friday, I took the boys for a walk after dinner because I had to get out of the house. While we were out walking around, it started to drizzle a very cold, windy drizzzle. Since my boys have been sick for 2 1/2 weeks, I decided it was probably not in our best interest to continue being outside. I turned us around and started for home. Since it was so cold, I started jogging while pushing the stroller. For the last three blocks, A shouted, "Go, mommy, go! You can do it! Go, mommy!" I ended up stopping the jog because I was laughing so hard. What an encouraging little kid.

-We always pray before we eat, but in the middle of dinner last night, A folds his hands and says really solemnly, "Let's pray." I stop eating, fold my hands, too, and he begins: "Dear Jesus, I love you. Amen." It was so precious.

-Baby C is finally starting to feel better. I sure did miss this happy baby. He was so grumpy for the past two weeks (rightly so), and I wondered if this was his new permanent state. But, man it's nice to see him smile again. He really is the sweetest little baby. I guess not little baby anymore. He looks more and more like a little kid these days. He's got sneakers that we borrowed from his big cousin, and seeing him cruising around with sneakers on makes me realize that he's more toddler than baby these days.

-We went to the museum center yesterday with Uncle K, Aunt L and Granddad. It was a lot of fun. A always loves the museum, but it was so fun to see C getting to play, too. He crawled around, played with toys, went down slides. It was pretty cute. Afterwards we went to Skyline for lunch. My picky little 2 year old, who won't eat anything, practically inhaled a chili-cheese sandwich, then asked for more. I guess he really is a Cincinnati boy.

Sickness Update

A's fever finally broke. He's still coughing and a little congested, but obviously feeling much better. Poor C ended up in the doc's office yet again this morning. I was worried that his antibiotic wasn't working, but it turns out that it is. His two ear infections are looking better. Still a little fluid, but the doc is convinced that the antibiotic will take care of that by the time we are finished with it (5 more days). BUT on top of the two ear infections, he also has the Croupe. Poor kiddo. He is just a mess. He got a one-time steroid medicine at the doc's office that should hopefully kick in soon. I'm really, really hoping he feels better soon. He must be wondering why he ever left the comfort of the womb to come to this crazy world. Between the colic, reflux, five ear infections and the croupe, it's been a rough start for him. Maybe he's just getting it all out the way now and it'll be smooth sailing from here. I can only hope.

Funny stories

• You can learn a lot about yourself from a 2 year old. For example, we were driving in the car today and there was a lot of traffic. A yells from the back seat, "What are you doing on the road, cars?!" in this annoyed voice. Hmmm.... frustrated in traffic? Wonder where he learned that!

• Sometimes we sing a thank you song before bed as a prayer. This is a classic that we used to do when I was kid. We go in a circle and say what we are thankful for and then sing about it. Today when I asked A what he was thankful for, his answer... The Pizza Party Game. I tried to generalize it to make it fit in the song, but nope... he insisted on singing, "Thank you Lord for giving us the Pizza Party Game." What a funny kid!

• A finally ate brocolli without putting up a fight. This is the first time, maybe ever in his two and half years of life. The trick... We called them "dinosaur trees" and pretended to be dinosaurs. Who knew it would be that easy?! Anyone have any other creative names for veggies or fruit that we could try? Aunt K already suggested calling sliced peppers "Fireman Hoses". I'm up for any suggestions!!

Where are you guys?

Just a short story to share:

The other day Baby C and I were up early (gotta love my early risers!). When A woke up, he didn't cry, he didn't call for mommy, he didn't just get up and come find us. Nope. I hear a call from the next room saying, "Where are you guys? Guys? Where are you guys?" I laughed out loud. It sounded more like a teenager looking for his football buddies than a 2 year old trying to find his momma.

Sick AGAIN!!!

Man, I used to pride myself on the fact that my family was pretty healthy. But these days I feel like we are ALWAYS sick. Last week, C had a low grade fever for a couple of days. He was acting alright, but a little fussy. With a little tylenol, the fever went away and he seemed more back to normal. I wrote it off as teething, since he got two new teeth this past week and has 6 more teeth swollen and ready to pop through.

But, last night A came down with a fever. I checked C just to see how he was doing, and the little bugger had a fever too. Low grade, but high enough to not be normal. When they woke up this morning, they both had fevers of over 101! I ended up taking C to the doctor and turns out he has an ear infection in both ears. The Doc thinks C had a virus last week that ended up causing him ear infections, and that most likely he gave that virus to A. So, we spent the day today trapped inside resting. I think A LOVED being sick as he got to drink OJ all day (which is a super treat) and he watched Dora, Diego and Little Einsteins all day while laying in mommy and daddy's bed. He NEVER gets to watch that much tv in one month, let alone one day. I'm hoping all the rest will help him feel better tomorrow. I can't handle another entire day trapped inside.

Sorry, no pictures to post. Maybe when everyone is back to normal we'll get some cute fall pics. We are going to try to go apple picking this weekend and maybe to a fire station open house. I'm really hoping the kids are feeling better so we can do these fun trips this weekend.

Cardboard boxes are always great toys!

He loves to "feed" himself. What a mess!

Sporting his "Tackle" shirt that Grandma got for him. It's perfect since that is his favorite thing to do. He'll play tackle football anytime, anywhere with anyone (whether or not they want to play, too!)

Pile on!

Brother love... or tackle football. I am not sure which.

Playing trains.

Climbing the stairs is his FAVORITE thing to do in the whole world.

Getting ready for a family walk.

We're still here. I feel like each day is so long but at the same time I have so little time to get the things done that I want and need to do. We've been fighting some fevers here. Mostly baby C, but his big bro had a fever yesterday, too. The doc thinks C's is due to teething and I agree. He just had two teeth finally pop through last night and two more are almost in. He's also extremely congested, so he's not sleeping well (as if he needed any more reasons not to sleep!). So, my days are spent holding a very needy, whiney, sick kid while still trying to entertain his hyperactive brother. We had a good night tonight, though, so maybe that means we'll actually get some sleep tonight? Or is that asking too much?

BUT... I absolutely love my kids and think they are pretty much the cutest kids in the world. I have some new pics to post to prove it. :) Enjoy!

What a difference two weeks can make!

Two weeks ago, I could sit Baby C down in the middle of the room, go get whatever I needed to do done, come back, and he would still be exactly where I left him giving me a toothless grin.

Now, he has found the freedom of mobility and is loving every moment! He can crawl almost faster than I can chase him, he can pull himself up on the furniture, cruise around from one chair to another, and (his FAVORITE thing to do) climb the stairs. No matter where I put him, he gives me an impish smile (with 4 teeth showing through!) and takes off at full speed for the stairs. So, within the span of two weeks, C has found his freedom and I have lost mine.

Other updates... A loves to play pretend. Often he plays Bob the Builder and recruits other family members to help fix Farmer Pickle's barn. Another favorite pretend game is to reenact the things he's learned in his Sunday School class. He'll tell me, "Mommy, I count to three and then you shout 'I worship God when I love others." It was adorable the other day when he said, "Mommy, you be David and I'll be Goliath." I asked him what I should do if I am David. He said, "You should pray." It was so cute. The most recent theme in his Sunday School class is army guys (I think maybe being part of God's Army?). He loves to march around the house, yelling "Ten hut", doing jumping jacks and saluting. He is obviously learning something on Sunday mornings.

That's it for now. I always try to update my blog more often, but I just can't seem to get to it lately. C is adapting his nap schedule and more often than not, their nap times aren't overlapping for long. It's definitely running me a little ragged, but I am trying to remember that it's just a stage. I love my boys and cherish the time I get to spend with them, even if it means my house is a little messier than I like. They grow up way too quickly and I know I will miss these baby days.

California!

We spent Labor Day weekend traveling to southern CA for my friend, Beth's wedding. We have been friends since I was seven, and were inseparable as kids. It was so wonderful to be able to be there for her on such a special day.

The ceremony was beautiful, the boys did great traveling and we enjoyed some gorgeous (but hot!) weather. The boys never changed time zones, so we were up at 4 am every day and the boys were asleep by 5 pm. It left little time to hit the hot spots like the zoo or sea world, so we enjoyed more laid back time at the beach, the pool and a park. My parents traveled with us, and it was so much fun to get to spend the weekend with Grandma and Nonno.

My grandma's assisted living home had a picnic. It was fun to take the boys to see her. The highlight for A was feeding the ducks. They were fighting over the bread, and he thought it was hysterical.

On a field trip with A's speech class. The kids were so intrigued by everything we saw. They got to pet animals, water plants and pick vegetables from a garden. It was a lot of fun.

Baby C can officially crawl! And he can cruise around the furniture. Walking isn't too far away!

Playing with shaving cream! Very messy but fun.

After a bath.

Thanks Erica for this gift for baby A... it is still a favorite and I love watching them play together.

Here's to hoping that this season is better than the last. Go Bengals!

Me with my boys, my nephew and my grandma. She loved seeing the boys. There's something about little kids that just brightens great grandma's day. I'm sure she took a nap when we left. It was exhausting just to watch A run with his nephew!

Amazima

I don't know this girl, but I have been following her blog based on the suggestion of a dear friend of mine. Let me sum up the story of her life for you real quickly. She is 20 (I think) and has left her family and the love of her life in the US to move to Uganda. She started a non-profit to help pair people in US with kids in Uganda to provide schooling. Now, this organization provides 350 kids with two meals a day and Christ-based education to hopefully break the poverty cycle. She has also adopted 13 girls that she cares for in her home. I can't imagine being a mom at 20, much less a mom to 13! Her life is difficult, her heart is beautiful, and I highly recommend checking out this most recent post at her blog here. I am still trying to process it.

Clean!

Before we moved in, the landlord supposedly had someone come in and clean our townhouse. But it was very obvious that they put the least amount of effort in as possible. There was still a lot of dust everywhere and just walking on our floors was turning our feet black.

So today, as a "housewarming" gift, a sweet lady named Sue came to clean our house. She spent 5 1/2 hours scrubbing our floors, wiping down the baseboards, dusting, etc. She was even more detail oriented than I am! She worked non stop and didn't even take a lunch break. It was amazing. I have never had a cleaning lady before, but I have to say I could get used to it.

It was a little sad to watch her leave. I was hoping she might bathe the kids and do my laundry, too :) I was getting used to propping my feet up and reading a book while someone else did all my work for me!

Payback is Sweet

I shared the story of A peeing on C's head during a bath. Well, today C got his revenge. After church, we were hanging around talking to some friends. P was holding C and A was running around (as always!). In Hollywood-perfect timing, C's acid reflux kicked in and he puked right on A's head. It was classic! I wonder how long he's been plotting that and waiting for the right moment :)

-For those of you that haven't witnessed it in person, A LOVES to play the air guitar. Not just your run of the mill 2 year old strumming in the air. Oh, no. If his hair was longer and dyed some bright color, he could be in an 8o's rock band. He jumps in the air, headbangs and strums his pretend guitar with every ounce of energy he has (which is a lot!). There is a new twist, now. We went to Gramma's company picnic not long ago, and A got to watch some big kids playing Guitar Hero. He watched so intently, and definitely picked up some new moves. Today he turned on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and told me, "I rockin, mommy". He then starts jamming on his air guitar, and as the song ended, he pretended to smash his guitar on the ground. I have to say it was the most intense version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star I've ever seen!

-We took the boys to get their pics taken today at Olan Mills. It was cute, but exhausting! I thought C would be the hardest to get to look at the camera, but it was his big bro that couldn't sit still for two seconds. He pretended to be shy, he tried to climb up the wall which was really just a curtain (luckily it didn't break!), he dove head first onto the ground and tried to tackle his brother when they were sitting together for a cute shot. Luckily we got a few cute ones of them together. And as a special treat, Gramma came too! She took A to play in the shopping carts that look like trucks while Daddy and I picked out the pics we wanted to order. She was a life saver!

Sorry it's been so long!  The days are long, but flying by at the same time.  I'll try to update:

-I taught my first piano lesson this week!  Once a week, we will be heading back to our old stomping grounds and teaching piano to two girls that used to be our next door neighbors.  The greatest part is that A and C get to come with me.  A LOVES these kids and hasn't gotten to play with them since the big move.  As we pulled up yesterday, I was expecting a whole slew of tough questions about why we weren't going into our old house.  But I was surprised!  A told me "you passed it mommy" when I parked in front of our neighbors' house instead of pulling in the old driveway, but I reminded him we don't live there anymore.  That was it.  No tears. No tough questions.  Yeah!  And he had a blast playing with the kids!

-The only way I was able to pull him away from piano lessons was because our friend Miss Christie was coming over!  Christie is a wonderful friend of mine.  She just graduated from Purdue and got a job as an engineer at GE (she's way smarter than I am!).  We have a new deal set up where every week, she's coming over on Tuesdays.  One week, she and I will hang out (yeah for girl time without kids!), and the next week, she'll watch the kids so P and I can hang out!  So, for the first time in I don't even know how long, P and I went out to dinner yesterday for no reason with no kids!  It was great!  Thanks Chris!!!

-We are getting more and more settled.  If this ridiculous heat would break, we could spend more time outside, but we're surviving inside for now.  I know, I shouldn't complain.  After all, it is August.  

-When I was in college, one of my roomies used to keep old bananas in the freezer with the intent of baking with them.  It became an inside joke because the pile of bananas would take over the freezer.  But, I can no longer joke with her.  Today I made two loaves of banana bread and 1 1/2 dozen banana cupcakes!  And there are still enough bananas in the freezer for two more batches!  

-This is random, but it was pretty funny.  I put the boys in the bath today and A immediately says, "uh oh".  I look, and a stream of pee is hitting C in the forehead!  At least it was at the beginning of the bath!

-Baby C is no longer toothless!  He has 4 (yes... that's right... 4) teeth popping through.  Two have just broken the surface and the other two are ready to bust through any day.  He has been MISERABLE so we are all looking forward to the arrival of these teeth and hopefully the return of sweet, happy C.  

Even more random!

So I thought throwing a party in someone else's yard was random. Today's event tops that.

This evening was the final walk through for the house. P had to go to let the new couple into the house, so he dropped the boys and I off at the library. I had to pick up a few things on hold, so I was waiting in line to check them out. One librarian was helping a teenage girl check out literally 20 or more DVDs. The other was trying to help an elderly man who was obviously confused. He was trying to send an email to someone, but he didn't have an email address. As the line grew longer and the patrons faces grew more irritated, I decided to help out. I offered to sit with the man at a computer and set up a free email account for him. The librarian looked relieved, so I showed the man to a computer near the kids area so I could keep an eye on A who was reading books by himself.

As I was pulling up gmail to open an account, I asked the guy if he had the address he was sending a letter to. He wrote it down for me, and it turns out it was a website, not an email address. He said we could find the girl he was emailing at the website.

This website turns out to be some kind of Chinese mail-order bride site! He didn't remember the name of the girl that he was going to marry, so we had to search for her; I typed in the following criteria "Age: 42 Height: 5'6" Weight: 132 lbs." I was kind of surprised that he remembered all of these criteria and still couldn't remember her name. I felt like pointing out that this didn't quite have the makings of a successful marriage, but I refrained.

By this time, the librarian came over to see if we needed any help setting up the email. I had no idea how to respond, and she looked confused as she checked out the site we were on.

I just had to share this story. It seemed like I was on some hidden camera show, and I still laugh out loud when I think about the whole interaction.

Housing Updates

Sorry it's been so long. We have been extremely busy packing up the house and unpacking boxes in our new place. Just thought I'd take a minute to quickly update you all.

The old house is almost completely empty. Only one or two more car loads and it'll be ready for the walk through tomorrow night. We officially close on Friday morning, and are praying that all goes smoothly with that.

The townhouse is good. We are waiting on maintenance to paint our walls in the basement, so there is basically a huge pile of toys/boxes in the center of the basement. After it's painted, we can finish unpacking and setting up toys. It will give A a place to run around, which will be great.

The boys have adjusted well. I've been prepping A for the past few weeks, and he was extremely excited for his new house. He came in the first night super excited and yelling, "mommy... my toys! look mommy... a kitchen back here." Then when we took him upstairs to show him the room he'll share with Colin, he jumped up and down on his bed with his hands in the air shouting, "My... New... Room!!!!" I think he'll enjoy it even more when we have the basement to play in. And it's been raining a LOT, so we've been stuck inside. We have taken a few walks, which was nice to burn off some energy.

C is not sleeping well, but that's not new. It's been about 3 weeks. I think he actually has 4 teeth coming in at the same time! Poor kiddo. And poor mommy and daddy. He's been waking up 10 or more times a night! He is writhing in pain and doesn't even open his eyes... just cries. Last night was better, so I'm hoping that means they will all pop through soon. I feel the sharp tiny corner of one tooth, but that's it so far.

Alright, I'm off to unpack a few more boxes before I crash for the night. I'll try to update again soon. And no pictures until the boxes all get put away. :)

Two Reunions

This summer, P has had two reunions, but neither are the kind you would expect. In June, we attended a weekend-long reunion of his Junior High class. There were only 8 people in his 8th grade class, so it was fun to have them all together again.

As random as that is, I think last night's reunion is even more random. We got together with P's college housemates. Now, this in itself doesn't sound so weird, but I feel compelled to retell the night's events.

We showed up in front of their old college house, which they had named "Paradise City". It has since been renamed several times, but ironically is called "Paradise City" once more with no connection to the original name. After all of the roomies showed up, including one who now lives in CO and another who drove in from Pittsburgh just for this event, we knocked on the door of the house to see if we could have our reunion in their yard. The confused college girls seemed less freaked out once they saw that we had kids with us. They agreed, and the next thing you know, we had music plugged in (led off by "Paradise City" of course), corn hole set up, and blankets and chairs on the ground in the front yard of their old college house.

After a little while, one of the old roomies asked if we could get a tour of the house. The girls agreed, and led all 10 of us plus 2 kids through their home. They had no idea how giddy they were making these 30 year old men. The old stories started rolling out, and at each turn of a corner, someone had another, "Oh, remember..." story. It was so fun to watch.

Now, this seems awkward enough already, but don't worry, the awkwardness is only just beginning. After about 15 min. of wandering through their house, one of the guys asked if he would be allowed to climb into a hidden storage crawl space to retreive a "Paradise City Time Capsule." She granted him permission, so he pulls out a head lamp and crawls into a tunnel opening about the size of a checkerboard inside this girl's closet. He finally emerged successfully carrying a plastic container ducktaped shut.

We brought it into these girls' living room, and all of the guys gathered around to open it together. The contents were random and included the following: a pink flamingo, a bon jovi poster, old unopened mail for each of the guys (luckily nothing was too important), other random items that had adorned the walls during college and a collage of pictures of the roomates from each year that they lived together.

We ended up staying in these girls' house for probably an hour and were finally able to drag the guys out when one of the wives declared that she was hungry, and since she's pregnant, you don't mess with a pregnant hungry woman.

Don't worry, it was all documented on video and in pictures. I am still laughing about it thinking of what these girls must have thought. I can't imagine this was how they had planned on spending their Thursday evening, but they were so gracious and hospitable as they allowed these grown men to take a trip down memory lane. Thanks to the girls from the new Paradise City for allowing this random reunion to occur and to be so much fun!

God's Purpose or Mine?

I wanted to share an excerpt from a book I was reading today called, "My Utmost for His Highest."

"We tend to think that if Jesus Christ compels us to do something and we are obedient to Him, He will lead us to great success. We should never have the thought that our dreams of success are God's purpose for us. What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself. If I can stay calm, faithful and unconfused while in the middle of the turmoil of life, the goal of the purpose of God is being accomplished in me. God is not working toward a particular finish- His purpose is the process itself.

God's purpose is to enable me to see that He can walk on the storms of my life right now. If we have a further goal in mind, we are not paying enough attention to the present time. However, if we realize that moment-by-moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious."

It was a good reminder to me in the midst of this huge life change. Just thought I'd share it with you all. I hope it is an encouragement to you as well. Was it a super-sappy Stephen Sharp song that said, "I'm learning if I focus too hard on the end, I forget to love the process of the means."?

New Home

A quick post to let you know that we did find a place. We are super excited about it and feel like it will be a great fit for our family. It's a little smaller than our current house, but there's a park literally right out our back door. And there's a fenced in backyard and a usable basement.

New address: 6613 Murray (same city and zip)

Yep... we are sticking in the same town. So, P and I have been married for 7 1/2 years, lived in 3 places, all within a mile of each other! God sure has a sense of humor!

We start moving our stuff into the new place this coming Friday and then close on our house the following week (Aug. 7th).

I've got to get dinner started. I'll type some more updates later.

One long day

We've had some very busy days lately, so I decided to let yesterday be a day of resting at home. My plan was for both boys to get good naps on their regular schedules in hopes that we can get back to some kind of routine. What's the saying about the best laid plans?

A woke up yesterday morning calling for me (this is normal). I went to his room and told him he could get up and we'd read books together (also normal). He stood up to come with me and his legs buckled completely underneath him sending him tumbling to the ground (this is not normal). He tried again and ended up on the ground again saying, "I can't walk, mommy!" I figured he slept on his leg funny, so I carried him to the couch and read some books. About 5 or 10 min. later, he stood up to pick out some new books, and his leg completely buckled underneath him sending him to the ground. He spent the morning crawling around, unable to put any pressure on his leg.

We went to check out a new place to live at 9:45, then straight to the doctor at 10:45. She sent us to Children's hospital for some tests. Poor A had to get some blood drawn and an xray of his leg. He was such a trooper, especially since we had to wait over an hour and a half just to get in to get his blood tested. He wasn't a huge fan of the needle, but I the Dora sticker afterwards cancelled out the pain a little bit. We didn't get home until after 2:30 (A's nap usually starts at 1:00).

Not the day I had planned at all, but both boys were such troopers. A is feeling better today, but not back to his normal 2 1/2 year old boy self. All of the tests have come back negative, so we are guessing he just pulled a muscle in his leg and it had stiffened overnight making it harder to walk in the morning. Though he is still babying his leg a little, he can walk today and has even attempted to run and jump a little. I'm hoping the dreary weather and constant rain will keep both boys asleep a little longer today to make up for the missed naps yesterday.

Two stories

Two stories from today:

1- We went to a birthday party for a neighbor boy who turned 3 last Friday.  A was so excited.  We made a card, and he got to wake up early from his nap to go to the party.  We were there for maybe 10/15 minutes when a lady started doing face painting.  The birthday boy got a blue batman logo painted across his entire face, like a mask.  As soon as A saw this, he jumped into my arms and buried his head in my shoulder shaking with fear.  We ended up leaving the party because he was petrified.  The rest of the night he kept crying because he wanted to go back to Owen's party, but if I offered to take him back over, he started shaking with fear again.  Even as he was falling asleep tonight he kept saying, "No like Owen with blue paint on his face."  I am interested to see if he wakes up with nightmares tonight.

2- The boys are now sharing a room.  A's bed is on the floor since he still tends to fall off every now and then.  Today, I was laying next to him for a little while before he fell asleep.  C was in his crib right above us.  I thought he was just rolling around in his sleep, but when I looked up, his little smiley face was looking over the edge of the bumpers looking down on me and his brother.  It was too cute!  Hopefully the image of his baby brother's smiley face will replace the image of Owen's blue face.

Four days later...

Was it only Tuesday I posted?! It feels like a lifetime ago. Here's the quick updates:

-We are under contract again. Same couple, but this time they were a little more willing to compromise.  We were quickly able to come to an agreement, so we close on August 7th.  

-No... we still don't know where we are going.  We are looking to rent in the nearby area.  There are a LOT of places for rent, but not a lot that fit our needs.  Part of me is so worried about the details, sad to leave a home and neighbors that we love and overwhelmed by this whole situation.  But the other part of me is excited for this next step.  I am currently reading this book and the chapter I read last night was ironically called, "A House is not a Home."  And, it's true.  All I need are my hubby and my boys, and the rest is just details.  

-So, I'm off to pack some boxes and search online for a place to live.  

Two cute pics

Baby C has acid reflux.  We recently tried to wean him off his meds, which was pretty unsuccessful.  He would scream when he laid down, so I tried to get him to sleep in his swing.  This is how I found him when I went in to check on him.  At least P was smart enough to take a pic before we moved him into a more comfortable position!

And here is an adorable pic of A with our 3 next door neighbors.  He will be so sad whenever we end up moving and he no longer has these three next door.  

Back to the Beginning

Today, we ended our contract on our house. The buyers have been frustrating since the beginning of this process, and we couldn't come to an agreement on the items that needed to be fixed on our house before closing. We feel our house is in very good condition, but we were willing to fix several things for them to help make the sale smooth. However, they wanted us to fix over five thousand dollars worth of items that (in our eyes) were not essential. Needless to say, there was no middle ground to be found.

Though it's frustrating to be back to holding open houses and keeping the house ready for showings, we are confident that this was the right move. A HUGE thanks to Uncle and Aunt YaYa for watching the kiddos today while we raced around the house getting it ready for an open house tomorrow. It would not have been possible without their help, and who knows... the right buyer could come through tomorrow!

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