Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Where does the time go?

I'll tell you where it goes ... unpacking and making a home and let's not forget the LAUNDRY!!! I think I've been caught up on the laundry (all washed, folded and put away) only once since we've lived here. Let's see, we've been here almost eight weeks. Oh, yeah, and I'm pregnant. Wow, that one was a shock. This is it for us ... the last go-round. Number four and we're done. Apparently I got pregnant that weekend we moved in. You know, the one when the kids were all at Grammy and PawPaw's house?

Everyone's settling in nicely. I absolutely love having Mitchell's room downstairs. He can nap while the other kids play and play and play upstairs, so we're all enjoying that. John planted 60+ shrubs around the fence and 12 trees in the backyard. That was quite a weekend of work, but it looks really great and will look even better in a couple of years.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Both Jack and Holly Grace have been known to call the singular of "clothes" a "cloe" (rhymes with "toe"). They are so funny. I was packing Holly Grace's things to go to Grammy and PawPaw's house and she asked me to pack "this cloe". Oh they make me laugh.

I put all three of my beloved children on a Cessna 182 with their Grammy and PawPaw today. It's funny that I didn't really think it was a big deal (flying on a small plane) until my friends started freaking out about it. All three of my kids on a small plane? As if I would just pick two of them (and so increase their chances of crashing) because I loved them less than the other one! So then I got kind of ... what's the word? ... somewhere between paranoid and sentimental. Kind of ushy gushy when I was saying goodbye. Made sure I looked each of my babies in the eye and told them how much I loved them and to be GOOD and obey PawPaw and for heaven's sake be quiet and don't distract him during take-off and landing. Well, everyone's safe and sound on the ground in Amarillo.

One day till closing. Three days till MOVING DAY!

A whole month later

We're about to move. !!! In two days, we close on the new house that we've been "growing" for the last seven months. I can hardly believe it's already here! All three kids are going to Grammy's house for the weekend so that we can actually get some work done. Holly Grace can't even believe that Mitchell gets to go, too! Most of the rooms in the house are packed now. Boxes everywhere. Ugh. I can't wait to get settled in and give everything a home.

These kids! Whew! They grow so fast I hardly have time to update. Let's see ... Mitchell. The child still isn't walking (fine with me!). He's a year old now! He nursed for the last time on October 10, and then had his last bottle on October 20. It's whole milk in sippy cups only now. Oh, man, and I am so glad. So, he gets to go on the trip to Amarillo, too. Watch out, Grammy, here they come!

Holly Grace is trying to be every bit as big as Jack. She has a memory verse at school, too, and every time Jack and I are practicing his verses, she pipes up with hers, too. "Tell the good news!" It's pretty cute. We are working on sleeping better at night. For 3 1/2 years, the child has not been a good sleeper. I finally took her to the doctor last week and said, "I'm at my wits' end. I'm exhausted and I don't know what to do." The doctor said no more hugs or cuddles in the middle of the night. Holly Grace should stay in her bed, or at least in her room, until a set time in the morning. And you know what? It's working! We put the baby gate across the bedroom door and across Jack's bathroom door (so that she can get to the potty if she needs to) and set the timer for 7 a.m. We tell her that night-time is for sleeping and she can get up when the timer goes off. Oh, and we put her in bed somewhere between 7 and 7:30 p.m. every night. (An hour earlier than we used to.) And you know what? It's working! She's been sleeping through the night and waking up delightful. It's truly a blessing to NOT have little visitors in my bed at 5:30 in the morning.

Jack is progressing right along in school. He has a memory verse every week. "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. Ephesians 6:11. Mommy, what are 'schemes'?" :) Do you know how many words you can make with H, G, O, L, P, and T? A LOT! We're reading now! And spelling, too! It's really fun. But, man! Can the child ever get bogged down in coloring.

The kids are excited about the new house, too. Jack says his favorite part is going to be his room with all the windows. We've told him he can have his bed wherever he wants it. He wants the top bunk against one wall and the bottom bunk in front of the window. Okay, whatever. Holly Grace says that her favorite room is the gameroom. That makes me happy! I am wanting it to be a tidy, welcoming, kid-friendly room.

We're closing on Thursday, then spending all day Friday painting Mitchell's room (pale, pale blue) and Holly Grace's room (pale, pale pink). The movers come Saturday!!! What a ride!

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Memories

Today I scrapbooked with a group of women at Treitsch. I have two words. "Free Childcare." for 3 1/2 hours!!! I couldn't believe it. It was so fabulous to drop the kids off and go have some grown-up time without having to bother John to "watch the kids". I got all organized. Whew. I even got two pages finished. But you should see some of these women's scrapbooks. I'm talking ribbon, metal embellishments, tags, paper galore. It looked way too stressful to me to have to buy all those things. I'll stick with my paper and stickers.

Jack had his first day of kindergarten yesterday. Of course I took pictures and I didn't even cry one bit. He chose to wear his green uniform shirt for the first day of school. Gosh, he was just so big. When I picked him up, one of the teachers opened the door and he just climbed right in! I couldn't even believe how easy it was. It was about a zillion degrees outside and when he got in, the first thing he said was, "whew!!!". And then he talked my ear off about Octopuses all the way home!!! The letter of the day was "O" and Mrs. McMullin read a book about octopuses and so is born a new obsession. "Mommy, did you know that octopuses have a mouth underneath them? Mommy, did you know that an octopus has suction cups on its tenticles? Mommy, did you know that when an octopus feels threatened it stretches out its arms??" Oh my, what an education. So, Jack loved school. Even though he was a little worried about being gone all day. On the way home, he said, "Mommy, was that all day?" When I replied, "Yes, honey, it was! Can you believe it?" He said, "Well, how many hours was I there?" "Seven," I replied. He said, "But a day has 24 hours! That wasn't a whole day!" Then I realized that he must have thought that Kindergarten was a morning till night kind of thing. He has heard me talk about "all-day kindergarten vs. half-day kindergarten". Geez, no wonder the kid had a bit of anxiety. He probably thought he was going to have to sleep at school!!!

Friday, September 16, 2005

These children of mine

Mitchell (11 mos.) woke up from his nap crying and crying. Not just crying but really more screaching and howling. After a diaper change (which I suspect was the root of the problem, but we'll leave it at that), he calmed down and I stood in his room, bouncing him up and down, rocking back and forth, as he discovered how good Mama's shoulder feels on a plump, wet cheek. I savored every moment of holding his unusually snuggly self, and then sank into bliss as his left arm crept up around my neck and held on to my back. Ahhh.

Speaking of Mitchell. I'm pretty sure he's the smartest baby ever. I've been giving him a sippy cup to mess around with for awhile now, usually at lunch, filled with water. Today I stepped out of the room for a moment and when I came back, he was slammin' them back! Really, he had figured out how to tilt the cup up and get the water down to his mouth. Genius! The other two didn't figure out that sippy cup thing until well after a year. Perhaps it's my superior parenting. Or maybe not. Also, tonight, John was taking him up to bed and he blew me a kiss. "Um-mah!" he says as he moves his hand away from his open mouth. Ooooh, I could just eat him up.

It was a right of passage tonight in our house. Jack (5 1/2), John and I watched "The Wizard of Oz" together. John and I had both been "scarred" by the Wizard of Oz as children. My parents claim that they'd already seen it 20 times. Maybe that's why they forced my brother and I to watch it in the living room alone while they enjoyed two hours of coveted adult time. Now that I'm a parent, I understand. But really!!! Could those monkeys be any scarier? And how about the witch? She was green, for crying out loud! John agrees. So, we made it family movie night and watched it all together. And we prepared Jack for the scary parts. Sheesh, it's amazing John and I turned out halfway normal with all this emotional scarring.

And here it is...


My new "blog". I'm on my own right now - one's napping, one's playing at a friend's house, and one's "on vacation" (can 3-year-olds go "on vacation"?) at her grandparents' house. What do I even do with myself for the next hour and a half? I'm sure this blog will evolve over time, should I choose to keep up with it. For right now, I'm not even going to tell anyone it exists. We'll just see if anyone finds me here. :)