The Sweetest Moments

For Jim and I, one of our biggest desires as parents is to know that our children are growing up seeing Jesus in us. We often wonder if that is the case...you know, at those moments where you just 'lose it'. Well, God has shown me otherwise in my children. Just today, I can list the sweetest moments.....watching Ian singing during worship time at church, hands raised, eyes closed, voice loud....Avery in her room singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "This Little Light of Mine"....Avery telling me her version of Noah and the Ark and Jonah and the Big Fish.

If it's such complete joy to my heart, I can only imagine what joy it must bring to their Father in heaven!!!!

Avery saying: Playing hide and seek, Avery's turn to count. Avery: "Okay, it's my turn to count. Hide someplace I can find you."

it's a new day

happier entry today. sorry but my shift key has a mind of its own today, so all lower-caps and no great punctuation marks. if you happen to see one, it's because the shift key decided to work at that moment in time.

First, Avery...


This is baby addison. She is Avery's reward for her not sucking her finger anymore. it's been over 2 months now and we don't use the 'anti-finger-sucking' polish anymore. i recommend it to anyone working on the task of removing a finger or thumb. it's called Mavala Stop. heard about it from a friend and ordered it from Amazon.

Avery is extremely proud of her infant baby alive. she takes very good care of her and loves being a 'mom'. When her teacher asks her what she wants to be when she grows up, she always says 'a mom'. hmmm, does she like me that much? yep. This picture is of Addison ...which is what she named her .... buckled in the carseat while Avery is away at school. She told me to take care of her and feed her. i said i would. Don't tell her i accidently left her in the car all day.

Now ian....


yes, we actually have a tooth now. i was helping ian brush his teeth, when all of a sudden i see this white thing on his tongue and blood in his mouth. i freaked with excitement at the thought of actually having one of his teeth. So, of course, this made him freak..luckily with laughter. i pushed his head forward and the tooth came close enough to his lip for me to grab it....no, i was not about to risk losing a finger by putting it inside his mouth. Then i had him try to spit as much blood as he could into the sink. i don't know about your child's spitting techniques, but mine have a lot to be desired. but overall he did pretty good. he was laughing so much that i can't believe he never vomited. bleeding finally stopped, and i'm a proud mom of a tooth that didn't go m.i.a.

Finally, benjamin...


And here is benjamin displaying his pride in his new boots from Christmas. After seeing how much he loved putting on ian's boots...and anybody else's he could find...we finally decided he needed a pair of his own. he wants to wear nothing else. Literally, he would be fine butt naked with the boots. he is sooooooo stinkin' adorable..exclamation point.

OMG!

That's about all I can say these days. Well, maybe I have a few more words, but you don't really want to hear them right now.

After catching up on some of ya'lls blogs (finally), I've realized that I'm not the only one extra tired these days. And I don't mean sleepy type tired. Everything about my life is exhausting me to the point of crying...which I have done. From vomit trying to brush teeth, to really SICK AND TIRED of changing pull-ups, particularly poopy ones, to books being ruined, to markers being ruined, to being woken up at night, to boogery noses, etc., etc.

Here's the real deal...we really do have a lot of sweet days. And when my kids are sweet, they are really sweet. Take for example, the wonderful kisses (for no reason) that Benjamin just came to give me! My real struggle has been that I have not been holding on to God's grace and strength. And because days have been so crazy over the last month or more, I have not stayed in touch with the ones who really challenge me to seek the only One who can get me through this life. I've lost a lot of the 'challenge' (you know, the ones who ask the hard questions and don't just 'fluff' the conversations) in many of those friends, but it only takes one. (BTW, I just got a kiss from Ian too.) So, as I prayed the other day, I will praise Him for all His good gifts (for He knows exactly how good they are). Even when my days are tough, He will get my praise.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am NOT unhappy with my life. Yes, it does get hard to watch 'normal' families, but that doesn't mean I'm unhappy with my own life.

Okay, the next entry will catch up on all the Christmas joys, like listening to Avery tell me all about God's forgiveness!

Avery saying: Avery: "Mommy, how do you spell 'drum'?" Mommy: "You mean as in the instrument?" Avery: "No, I mean as in the word."

Another Tooth Bites the Dust

I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for one of Avery's teeth to come out because the replacement tooth has already come in behind it. It is so loose, I just want to 'pop' it out. But she will have nothing to do with it. It's practically just hanging there.

In the meantime, Ian is talking to me this morning and what do I notice? A tooth gone! We have yet to actually see one of Ian's teeth that has come out. All we see is a hole in his mouth. I didn't even know that particular tooth was loose! I've been watching another one that's loose.

I figure he either lost it in his bed or he swallowed it. Hmmmm, I think I'll just stick to searching his bed for it.

Looks Innocent, Right?

Ian looks innocent enough holding these wooden mallets, right?.
BUT....add in the words he is saying....., "Bennnnn....come here....NOW!" Not so innocent anymore!

Oh, She's Sooooo Me!

We've been working on getting Avery to stop sucking her finger. So a friend told me about this stuff called Mavala Stop. Goes on like fingernail polish, stinks to high heaven, and tastes worse than fingernail polish. The first time I put it on her, I took the time to try to explain it all to her as to why she needs to stop sucking her finger. She seemed to be okay with it. We even have the bribe going.....when she's stopped for a certain number of days then she gets to go to the store and pick out something she wants. Luckily, I'm catching her earlier than my sister, who just got her 8 year old to stop....but had to bribe her with an I-pod! Whew, I get out cheaper!

I put it on her and she calmly walks away. As she's walking I can hear her under her breath saying, "I'm NOT going to stop sucking my finger." All going okay for a few days, with only minor hissy fits. Then Jim catches her sucking her thumb! Oooh, she's a smart one! So, the next time I make sure to put it on all fingers and thumbs. She didn't like that at all. Cried and cried. I consoled and consoled.

Yesterday when I put it on, she got upset, but not too badly. Then she walked away. Then, she came back, walked past me, and smartly said, "I washed it ALL off. Hmph." NOT a smart thing to say! So I brought her back to me and put more on! Little did she know, you can't just wash or wipe the nasty stuff off. That's the beauty of it!

It's like one of those cartoons, where the character tries everything in their power to accomplish something, but it just doesn't work. I don't think she even realizes that she's doing fine not sucking her finger. She just keeps trying to outsmart me. She's funny to watch, but "OH, she's just like me!"

Bitter Sweet Field Trip

Well, I went to Ian's first field trip of the year. Ian had a great time. Mom had a difficult time. I was in tears before we left and almost left early. I felt like an idiot having the teachers try to console me. Will I ever get past all this? Okay, here's what happened.

First, it's so hard on my heart when I see the kids have difficulty with Ian. They tell the teacher every time he even touches them (and I caught one that told when Ian never even touched him). And when Ian gets a little (okay, a lot) loud, I can see some annoyance in their faces. Okay, now let me give the real story. I am WAY hyper-sensitive to all of it. Truth is, the kids weren't really that bad. But to me, that's what I see.

Second, I felt it was best if Ian didn't ride this wagon pulling tractor thing. No adults could go on it, and if Ian had an inkling to stand up, he could have easily fallen out of the moving vehicle. The risk wasn't worth it to me. Did Ian care? NO! He happily waved bye to the other kids. Me, however.....I hated it. I hated that I even had to think about any risks. I teared up a bit at this point, but managed to suck it up because they were going on a hayride right after (adults allowed).

Third, while the kids were on this ride, we thought Ian had a poopy. Due to a miscommunication, the school did not bring the pull-ups I packed in his backpack (the same backpack his sack lunch was packed in). Luckily, I had one in the van. The walk to the van was a nightmare. I couldn't get Ian to understand that he wasn't leaving, but we had to change him. He screamed, he got angry, and he plopped himself down several times. We get to the van, I took his pull-up off....it wasn't even dirty!!!! He must have just had gas. Now this meant: 1) no more pull-ups left cause I had to put the extra one on him after I ripped off the one he had on; 2) I put him through all that for no reason. I felt horrible. Now in hindsight, he was probably trying to tell me he wasn't dirty.

Fourth, because of that whole episode, Ian missed the actual hayride! Again, he didn't care. I don't think he even knew. But I did. So, as we stood there waiting for them to return, I choked back my tears and decided it was probably best for me to leave (I met the school bus there). When I tried to tell his teacher and the aides......the river flooded. I couldn't open my mouth without crying. I'm sure they thought I was a crazed parent. I told them Ian was doing great, but that my heart just couldn't handle it. They were so sweet, and I see the concern on their faces. Long story short, they talked me into staying. I'm glad I did. Ian really did do a great job and had great fun, and the other kids really did do great with him.

I just want to feel like a normal parent sometimes, instead of always worrying or getting upset over the 'missed' things, especially when it never seems to upset him. Argh!