March 12, 2013 Snapshot

Last week was March break.  Which is as good a time as any I suppose to have a husband on night shift, and a house full of sick kids.  The nights weren't too bad though, I had friends over one night to keep me company and my mother for a sleepover another night.  And the sickness wasn't too bad either - you always brace yourself for the worst whenever a bug hits, so it's nice when it leaves just as quickly as it arrived.  Here are some of the highlights:

I can't believe what a difference I'm seeing in this little guy.  I'm sure early potty training has played a big part in it, and I'm so thankful I came across the literature that I did - it was just the right encouragement at just the right time.  Seeing him master using the toilet helps me to stop seeing him like a baby, and treat him like the big boy he is. He's working on getting himself dressed (which can be quite a spectacle by times!) and is becoming quite competent at the most basic of tasks.  Best of all it's helped his behavior - I think because it's caused me to stop coddling him so much and treat him like a bigger kid.

Timothy is such a funny boy.  No matter what I serve at mealtime, he always has a special request for something different (which I never fulfill). He always grumbles and groans that he doesn't like whatever I've made (even if he hasn't tasted it).  On this morning I made oatmeal chocolate pancakes with sauteed bananas and, you guessed it, he turned his nose up.  Until he tried it, and decided it was actually okay.  And by okay I mean he devoured the whole thing.  Judging by that smile, it wasn't too difficult.  It's tough being a little boy when your Mom forces you to eat chocolate for breakfast.

Joseph and Timothy are both taking off in their piano lessons.  Last year our teacher passed on a bunch of piano books from her collection that she was getting rid of, and they play them nonstop.  They flip through and pick their favorites, and are constantly tickling the ivories.  Joseph has actually composed a couple of songs, and has become quite good at putting chords and melodies together.  Now if I could just get them to practice their assigned pieces, I'd be all set...

Jeff and I have been hosting school of community meetings with friends for about two years now, and the boys are always dying to know what goes on after we put them to bed on those nights.  So we decided to do a catechism night with them once a week where we do the same thing - assign a reading at the beginning of the week for all of us to read, paying particular attention to how that reading relates to our personal experience of God during that week, and then opening in prayer, eating good food, and sharing how our week has been and what the readings have stirred within us that week.  Needless to say it's mostly just about spending time with our older boys and talking about faith, at this point it's so new and they're so young.  But I am so excited to have this become a regular part of our lives with the kids.  I look forward to all of us sharing our lives and our experiences together as they get older.

Stephen came up on Saturday to show me an e-card he made for me on his V-Tech laptop.  It said "2 mom", and he was so proud. "Mom" is the first word he's learned how to spell (besides his own name).  That makes my heart burst!  I love this little boy.

I could call this picture - trouble, and more trouble.  These two are always up to something. And it's hillarious.  They are always playing "Mom and Dad", or "Church", or some other game they invent on the fly. It's just about the cutest thing ever.

This week I took Katie with me to clean the office.  I usually take one of the three older boys, and give them a chance to help out and earn some money.  I had previously told her she was too young (because I worried I wouldn't be able to concentrate on my work with her there).  But on Saturday Jeff wanted to take the boys for some badly-needed haircuts, and asked if I would take her with me to ease his load a bit.  Her eyes lit up!  She asked me if four-years-old was old enough to come to the office, and I told her that today it was.  And she was really great, a very big help.  Which reminds me, I owe her some cash...

This baby, blessedly, is back to normal.  And I couldn't be more grateful.  After a week of watching her struggling to breathe and cough, and doing all of that while Jeff worked crazy shifts, we are both breathing a little easier now that she's on the mend.  My second oldest boy had RSV as an infant and ended up needing inhalers for the first two years of his life, but she hasn't needed one at all for at least a week now.  She's also sleeping better - she had started waking in the night to cough, but then wasn't ready to go back to bed after her feeding...I joked that she had just decided that between 3 and 5 am was a good time to get up and play. Thankfully now that she's not so congested sleep is coming much easier, and Mama and baby are both pretty happy about that.

Cheers!