A Mom's Life

Baby on the Move!

2009-03-30T16:02:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling the baby move now for at least a month, and Mark felt him/her for the first time a couple of weeks ago. My favorite part of pregnancy is the second/early third trimester, when I feel great and can feel the baby move around. It was especially exciting just this afternoon, when I felt several strong kicks in one spot. I called Irene over, and pressed her hand into my side, where the kicking had been, and sure enough, within 20 seconds, she'd felt the baby for the first time! I loved watching how her face lit up and she wanted to feel over and over! Helen wanted to try, too, but wouldn't keep her hand there long enough to feel anything. I was 20 weeks yesterday, and the craziest thing is that I didn't even feel my first baby (Irene) until at least 20 weeks!

We had our ultrasound a week and a half ago, and everything looked good. It's always fun to be able to see a baby moving around in there! I think it was the best ultrasound experience I've had yet, since the tech runs exactly on schedule because of the full bladder thing. With Irene, I had to wait for at least half an hour past my appointment time, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it. Helen's was better, but I still had to wait five or so minutes past my appointment time. Side note: we like to leave some mystery until the birthdays of our babies, so we don't find out the sex.

Potty Training, Round Two

2009-01-26T11:14:00.000-05:00

We've had a fairly good couple of months since my last entry. No huge parenting challenges, except for potty training. A week or so before her 2nd birthday, Helen decided that it was time for her to start using the potty. She would take her diaper off, and if I left it off, she went in her little potty when she had to go. I can not believe how much easier this is than with Irene! It's been a month and a half now, and she has had a total of three accidents as long as she has a bare bum. She's been wearing dresses lately because she wants her bum to be covered and training pants still haven't conveyed the idea that she needs to still use the potty when she wears them.

She is starting to talk more and more. The word of the week is "akshey" or actually. Yesterday, she was feeding her daddy play ice cream and after he "ate" it, he asked for more. She went and picked up a plastic egg, and he asked if that was more ice cream. She said, "no, egg, akshey".

Irene has been a joy these past few weeks. She's gotten to spend a lot of time with both parents, and that is very important to her. She is starting to be able to reach things on the countertop, so I can ask her to run little errands for me. She is usually glad to do it, but sometimes she is in the middle of something else and doesn't want to stop. I can certainly understand that! We're working on conveying things like that respectfully, rather than whining about them. Whining doesn't get her out of anything, but respectfully giving me her reasons may make me decide that I can do it myself after all.

In other news, baby #3 is on the way!!! I'm about 11 weeks along, with an expected due date of August 16. The past month and a half, I've had morning sickness. Yes, potty training started around the time morning sickness started; *I* didn't choose the timing! It actually has worked out pretty well, because I can handle emptying poop from a little potty MUCH more easily than changing a poopy diaper. Nausea seems to be on its way out, and I'm getting interested, even excited about cooking again. The sink is starting to look like a sink again, rather than a dirty dish receptacle, and the dishwasher is starting to get loaded more regularly again rather than run only when we run out of bowls.

Both girls have been sick, too. Helen got sick the day before we planned to leave to visit Mark's family right after Christmas, and Irene got sick two days before we planned to leave for the substitute visit in mid-January! They appeared to be sick with the same thing, as the symptoms were the same and the illness lasted for the same length of time. Irene had been well for one day when Helen woke up in the middle of the night with croup. I took her immediately to the bathroom and ran the shower on hot for a few minutes, but I quickly realized that once wasn't going to be enough. We both slept on the bathroom floor for much of the night, well she slept and I tossed and turned. We had pillows, and even thin foam pads to cushion a bit, but it was still extremely uncomfortable. She had a nasty cold, but the croup was the first symptom! We battled it with a humidifier in her room, starting the second night, and she only had the croupy symptoms that one night. The cold is still around, but it appears to be in the final stages by now. I'm praying that they are both well by this weekend when we try yet again to visit Mark's family!

Good and Bad

2008-11-28T23:21:00.001-05:00

Oh, my, so much has happened since my last entry, good and bad. I'll start with the bad. On Nov. 3, Irene cut Helen's hair. It had never been cut, and I could put the hair on top of her head into a cute little ponytail. No longer. It can still be pulled back into a barrette, but if left down, it looks awful. She also cut her own hair for the second time. The SAME day, Irene got hold of a Sharpie, and drew on everything she could find, including the kitchen floor, the bathroom counter and cabinet, and various walls. Thankfully, rubbing alcohol takes that off of most surfaces. Wait, was that all the bad? There HAS to be more, but I think all the rest was not newsworthy.

Ah, the good! Just one week ago, our family room remodel was finished! We did all the painting ourselves, starting on election day (yes, the day after the haircuts and Sharpie). We got a couple of girls from church to come and watch them, and when they got here, they understood why we needed them. Basically, the last four weeks have been very busy with finishing up the painting, choosing carpet, cleaning the house, moving back into the room, setting the other rooms to rights...

Then yesterday we hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner! It turned out quite well, all in all. We had six adults and 11 children here, and there was enough food for twice that many. Except for the dressing. I actually made more dressing today because everyone liked it so much, and what I made today was nearly cleaned out as well. Not all of my in-laws were able to come, but we still had a very good time together. Some of them are still here, others are just coming for the rest of the weekend. We still have a full house, and we are all getting along except for little kid squabbles here and there. Have I mentioned that I have the greatest in-laws ever? Perhaps my husband's are equally as good, but I'm too biased to say.

Bad Day or Good Day?

2008-10-20T16:34:00.002-05:00

Apparently I can't count. Nor can I do simple arithmetic. Anyway, I'm wondering why some days are just BAD. Today started out GREAT. I felt good, I made waffles for breakfast, I cleaned up the kitchen, I went online. Maybe that was my mistake? But that wasn't quite the end of greatness. I found out some exciting news from a good friend, and we chatted for a little while. Then, from the living room, CRASH. UH-OH. I called out for the kidlets to stop in their tracks because I had no idea how close they were to the mess (and knowing that they had caused the crash). They had knocked over a torchiere lamp that was no longer working. But it had a bulb in it, and the bulb was very broken all over my slate entryway. I swept up the broken glass, then went over the area with damp paper towels. I went over it four times before I no longer saw shards on the towel.

Meanwhile, the kidlets were put in their bedroom because how much can they do in their bedroom? Well, they had a pen and a checkbook. Helen drew all over her body with the pen, and Irene had drawn all over the checkbook. Thankfully, she had missed the unused checks. By this time, I was ready to give up as a mother. I was obviously a failure.

Things did get better, though. I made the lasagne I've been meaning to make for two weeks now, and it is happily sitting in the fridge waiting for dinner tonight. I gave the kidlets a snack and they are currently coloring at the table with [washable] crayons. So I guess it wasn't a bad DAY, just a bad HOUR. That is nothing new. I have those all the time. When I was in the midst of it, though, it sure felt like the whole day was bad. I'm back to feeling great, actually! Irene and Helen are happy, and I love them. I am not a failure after all. I love being their mom!

Alphabet?

2008-09-29T11:55:00.000-05:00

*gasp* Three days??? So yeah. I'm posting again. I just recently realized that Helen is getting into puzzles. We have one of those puzzles with the individual pieces that fit into holes. She can do that puzzle very well, and I wasn't even aware of her doing it. She's actually playing with it at this moment. Anyway, I realized this last week, and on Saturday, at a friend's house, she found an alphabet puzzle. All the pieces were out and she was working on putting it back together. I watched her pick up a B, look at it, scan the puzzle board, and plop the B into the B spot. She had to fiddle with it a bit to get it to fit, though. Same process, different letter, again and again. She did mix up the C and the G, and the V and the Y, but they DO look fairly similar. Remember that Helen is 21 months old. No, she doesn't know her letters yet, she was doing it solely on shape. A four-year-old friend of Irene's wanted to help Helen because she didn't think Helen could do it. I told her to watch for a minute, as Helen picked up a Q, looked at it, scanned the board, and plopped in the Q spot. Irene's friend looked at me and said "She found it! But *I* knew where it was supposed to go already!" She was convinced, however, that Helen didn't need her help.

Remodeling and Other Updates

2008-09-24T17:11:00.001-05:00

*gasp* Nearly two months! Sorry! We have big changes happening around here, with a house remodeling project going on right now. It seemed to take forever to get started. Mark took out the chimney, fireplace, inside brick wall and all paneling and drywall in our family room in March. The contractor we chose started work the middle of August, and it looks like he might be done by the middle of October, the way things are going! It will be a warm room when we're done, as we are replacing the traditional fireplace with a gas fireplace, fiberglass insulation with foam insulation and the slab floor with a crawlspace and wood-framed floor.

We've also had the floor raised to the same level as the rest of the house so that the dining room, which will be completely open to the family room, can be expanded if we need it. The kitchen countertop also extends over the cabinets along the length of the family room, so we will also be able to put stools there if we want to. I'm very excited about having the room back, too, because I would like the toys to be confined to one room, and right now that isn't really feasible. They have taken over my house! I'm sure that there will be a fairly steep learning curve once toys have to stay in one room, but hopefully, the kidlets will learn eventually.

Speaking of the kidlets, they are both growing up so fast. Irene is excited to have learned how to write her name and is also learning how to write other letters. No reading yet, as far as I can tell, but she doesn't really seem to want to yet. She IS only four. Why read when Mommy will read to you? She also loves to sing songs of her own making and put her hair in a ponytail. Helen's hair is now long enough for a little ponytail on the top of her head, and Irene has tried her hand at putting Helen's hair up as well. Swimming is a popular activity with both kidlets, and Irene is now willing to "go under", while Helen wants to feel solid ground beneath her feet when in the water.

Helen's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, but she still doesn't speak in sentences. Her first (and only sentence to date) is "Hep me!" (Help me!) She can string foam beads onto a shoelace without much difficulty, but she was stringing them on then immediately pulling them off when she looked at me and said "Hep me!" for the first time. Her favorite toy by far is any baby doll. She pushes them around in strollers, rocks them, bounces them, shhhhhh's them, feeds them, kisses them, and in general mothers them. She, too, loves to sing, but she doesn't sing on her own; she wants me to sing with her, and she especially loves songs with hand motions. She copies the motions, but she doesn't sing many of the words yet.

In other news, I have a beautiful new niece! I spent all of last week helping out my sister and brother-in-law and bonding with Brooklyn. It was strange to be without my children for that long, and I missed them about as much as they missed me. There were no theatrics when I came back, thankfully, just pure joy at seeing Mommy again. I got lots of hugs and snuggles, and they haven't even been overly disobedient this week. I was expecting to be challenged constantly, but that hasn't happened! Of course there have been challenges, but nothing really out of the ordinary.

Conferences and Carriers

2008-07-26T12:02:00.000-05:00

This past week, we had a huge victory! I thought it was a victory, anyway. We went to a church conference and Irene went to her class without a fuss every day but the last, and the last wasn't a big fuss, she was just ready to be done. She is four years old, and this was her fifth conference. Always in the past, I have tried to leave her in her class, but she would cry. It wasn't just any cry, and she wouldn't calm down at all. This year, even the last day, she never shed a tear, just said that she didn't want to go to class. I explained to her that she wouldn't have to go tomorrow, and that she wouldn't be able to finish her craft if she didn't go to class. That was enough to convince her! Wow. Not having to chase a 2-3 year old around was refreshing...except that I still had a 1 1/2 year old to chase. I chose to keep Helen out of the nursery because she had been exposed to a very contagious-but-not-serious disease and I didn't want it to have to shut down for disinfecting a second time if Helen came down with it.

My mei tai really came in handy! I hadn't used it much in almost a year because Helen started liking the stroller and I didn't need to wear it all the time for long walks. My shoulders weren't terribly happy with it because I wasn't used to it anymore, but I had discovered how to tie it on the hip just last week. That was much easier on my shoulders and I was able to carry her in it a lot more than I would have been able to carry her in my arms. She was ok with it at first, but she really started liking it by then end of the week, so much so that she would get excited and say "Yeah!" if I showed it to her!

Growing Kidlets

2008-06-17T17:33:00.002-05:00

Sorry friends (if I have any left!). I'm trying to strongly curtail my computer time so that I have more time for my children and household responsibilities. Irene is four now, and very grown up. Just today, she randomly stated that she needed to do her kitchen work. (FTR, she doesn't have kitchen work yet, other than what I ask for her help on or she offers to help on.) After hearing doors opening and closing and a little pot banging, I went to see what her kitchen work was. She was unloading the dishwasher! Yes, it was clean, but she didn't know exactly where everything went. Since she started, I let her finish as much as she could, and she really knows where most things belong already! I think I need to start giving her more to do in the kitchen!

Helen is starting to talk, and says some very odd little things. If she hurts herself a little, like if she bumps into a door on the way past, she says "ow" very softly. Another is when Mark gets home from work or someone she knows well walks into our house she says "hai!" excitedly. With Mark, she sometimes says "hai, Da!" I just made up a list of all of the words I could think of, and then I compared it to Irene's list at 18 months (Helen will be 18 months very soon). The differences were striking. Quite a few of Irene's words were names while Ma and Da are Helen's only names. Even more striking was the difficulty of the words. Helen's words are all one syllable, and either with the consonant sound at the beginning or at the end, with three exceptions: baby, hot and wow. Compare that to watty (water) or zockies (socks) from Irene. I've known for a while, though, that Helen's language development is much slower than Irene's was, and that's ok! Her physical development has been faster so far, so she isn't behind, just focused on something other than talking.

The Story of a Couch

2008-04-30T15:24:00.003-05:00

A couple of years ago, we bought a new couch. Two new couches, actually. One might be called a sofa and the other a loveseat. The loveseat is the one that has had an interesting existence, and is the couch of this story. Both couches are upholstered with a durable, deep purple microfiber.

Shortly after it came into our home, Irene was found sitting on the couch with a strong smell filling the room. It was the smell of nail polish. She had decided to paint her toenails by herself. Unfortunately for the couch, some had spilled onto the seat cushion. Fortunately for the couch, the nail polish was a similarly dark color. Nail polish remover was used, but there is left a small residue of sparkle because I did not want to ruin the fabric.

Some time later, the arm and one seat cushion were found covered in a pattern of lines of ChapStick®. Removal was puzzling. What product would remove ChapStick®? Enter Goo Gone®! It would prove to be a valuable discovery in the future.

The next adventure involved crayon. The window near the couch was covered in scribbles, and while cleaning it, I noticed that the same arm and seat cushion had also been scribbled on. I knew that Goo Gone® could clean crayon from reading the bottle, but would it clean crayon off upholstery? Thankfully, it worked quite well. Once again, the couch looked new!

It could not last. I had switched from ChapStick® to another lip balm. Irene's lips get chapped in the winter, so I allowed her to use my lip balm with permission. Well, once allowed means always allowed, right? Use only on lips doesn't really mean that, right? With the couch as her canvas, she tried to replicate her earlier ChapStick® artwork. Armed with the knowledge of experience, I cleaned it up.

Not two weeks later, Irene came to show off some body art with an ink pen. She had drawn on her arms, legs, and belly. Thankfully, I knew that rubbing alcohol would remove ink pen from skin. After she was clean, I went to the living room to relax. I sat on the couch. I was admiring my surroundings when suddenly I saw a line drawn on the seat cushion. I looked more closely. Not just one line. There were circles. I followed the lines onto the back cushion, the arm, down the side of the couch, and even a little on the back. I was afraid to try rubbing alcohol, so I left it and went to calm down. I casually mentioned to a friend that the day had not been going well, as I had just discovered ink pen on my couch. "Don't worry! I have just the thing! It should work if you haven't used anything on it yet." Amodex® Ink Remover was what she brought me that night. Once home, I immediately went to work. It took out every last bit of ink without damaging the fabric! Perhaps the adventures of the couch could come to an end, finally.

It was not to be. Today, I found Irene beind the couch with her washable crayons. I looked further, and she had decorated most of the back of the couch in yellow, green, and blue. Excellent, I thought, at least they're washable. But how does one wash a couch? Perhaps a baby wipe is the answer. I tried one on a small area. It worked! This time, instead of cleaning it myself, I handed the baby wipe to Irene. "You made the mess, you need to clean it up," I said. She did, and the couch is like new. For how long? I wonder.

What are the kidlets up to now?

2008-04-02T09:20:00.001-05:00

We have an update on the dairy thing! Helen is not allergic! Perhaps she was three months ago, perhaps she wasn't. I re-introduced it, watched carefully for a reaction, and got none. I'm thrilled to be able to feed her foods that are more in line with our family diet, but I got a taste of the difficulties moms of kids with allergies face in this day and age. There are so many hidden allergens in our processed foods. Even some of the less processed foods have surprising ingredients. I am thankful that our government requires ingredients to be listed, and even more recently that they are listing common allergens together at the bottom of the ingredient list.

Helen is quite the busy toddler. She is very focused and very girly. Her baby dolls are pretty much her favorite toy, as she can often be found holding one to her shoulder while patting its back. Kisses are freely given, and have recently progressed from wide open mouth touched to kissee to a *smack*. The *smack* doesn't require her lips to touch anything for her to consider the kiss made. She gives Irene goodnight kisses that are aimed in her general direction, but from a safe distance.

Irene has started playing the piano, using one finger/note at a time. Sometimes it sounds like a real song for a while, then suddenly a note that you don't expect and she goes off into her own song. It probably is only coincidental, but it is still pretty cool to recognize bits and pieces of songs in her playing. She hasn't started any lessons yet, but her dad is already watching her form, and noticing that it is not too bad! As far as other learning goes, she almost knows her whole alphabet now! We have been taking a relaxed approach for now, after all, she isn't even four yet. She can "read" Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, even to knowing whether a "he" or a "she" monkey fell off the bed (she can tell from the picture, but she really impressed her grandpa before he realized that--she said "One fell of and bumped his head. Oh, I mean her head.")

Laundry

2008-03-06T10:58:00.001-05:00

Irene did the sweetest thing today! I threw in a load of laundry this morning, which happened to include her brand new "big girl underwear". I had more than enough for one load, so I left the second load in a basket in front of the washer. She was strangely quiet for a while, then she came to me and asked if I would start the dryer and the washer so that she could wear her new underwear soon. I went downstairs, and she had transferred the load from the washer to the dryer and the load from the basket was in the washer!!! I started the dryer, and went to put detergent in the washer. We have a front-loading washer, so the detergent goes in a drawer. For that type of load, I use powdered detergent so I can add Oxy-Clean. Lo and behold, the detergent compartment was FULL of powdered detergent! There are three compartments in the drawer, detergent, bleach and fabric softener, and ONLY the detergent compartment had anything in it. I didn't know she knew that much about washing clothes, even though she's been watching me do it for a long time! I had to scoop most of the detergent back out, so I'm very thankful that she didn't use the liquid that I also have. I was stunned. I'm still in shock at what my THREE YEAR OLD just did! For once, I'm in shock in a good way.

Children Are Not Easy

2008-02-01T13:28:00.000-05:00

I'm slacking big-time. Two kids are really killing my blogging. We do have some big news around here, but it's now over two months old. The week after Thanksgiving, Helen started walking. Today, she is nearly running. She and Irene are both climbing to new heights, as today I found Helen standing on the toilet and Irene standing on the counter in the same bathroom. Helen was only banging on the lid of toilet tank, but Irene had just started playing in the medicine cabinet. HOW does one keep dangerous things out of the hands of the three year old who knows better but does things anyway??? And can reach the highest shelf using chairs and such. *sigh* This parenting thing isn't getting any easier.

Helen's first birthday came and went with as much fanfare as we could in the midst of the holiday season. We discovered a potential dairy allergy that I'm praying she grows out of. I say potential because it hasn't been confirmed, but she does break out on her chin whenever she consumes dairy. I really had no idea how many things have dairy in them! It's almost like swearing in a movie that would otherwise be suitable for children. Does not need to be there. I mean, whole wheat bread? Chicken nuggets? Animal crackers? Cheese stick...wait, cheese is dairy... C'mon!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-27T15:36:00.001-05:00

The second trip was to Beaver Falls, PA for Thanksgiving. For the first few years of our marriage, I felt bad coming to Thanksgiving dinner and not contributing anything. Then I noticed that the pumpkin pies were always store-bought. Aha! Something I love to make and I wouldn't be stepping on anyone's toes! This realization came at about the time that I graduated from university and didn't have classes going up until the day before, and I could actually come early to make them there. For three out of the last four years, I have contributed the pies. (Last year we missed because Helen was a month from being born and I didn't want to chance the trip.) Every year, we are surprised when we are also expected to contribute the whipped cream. Duh!

This year, I made six pumpkin pies, two with half the sugar (by accident, forgot to double to sugar part of the recipe), which delighted a brother- and sister-in-law who are on a low sugar diet. There are those in the family who actually don't like pumpkin pie, so we also bought an apple pie from Costco. Mark's aunt and uncle brought a pecan pie and some fruitcake, so we had a delightful spread of desserts. The rest of the table was no less stellar, with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, ham, green beans, cranberry sauce and rolls. Irene was thrilled with the ham, and Helen gobbled up turkey.

My favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner is always the dressing, the mashed potatoes, and the gravy. If I have seconds of anything, that's what I have. Seconds are always my downfall. I've been working very hard since I had children to curb my desire to overeat good food. One full plate of food is enough to satisfy my hunger, and having seconds for me usually means eating to fullness/stuffedness. I still nearly always have seconds at Thanksgiving, and this year was no exception. I'm not talking about denying myself certain foods here. I've already eaten a fair portion and thoroughly enjoyed it. My diet theory for myself is eating all of the foods I want to eat, but only eating until I'm no longer hungry rather than eating until I feel full. If I have to ask myself if I should or not, then I shouldn't have more. Trouble is, I know that, so I didn't ask myself. LOL.

Again, a good trip. Helen was a bit fussy at times on the way home, and nearly started crying about 10 minutes from home, but hey, we can stand crying for 10 minutes! Irene was sick on Wednesday, so I didn't get much done, but thankfully, I had made the pies on Tuesday, so there wasn't anything I HAD to do. I pretty much knew that she was sick when she woke up crying in the morning. She then went back to sleep and slept until 1:45pm! It was just a low fever, no throwing up or anything, all day. Helen also slept very late, but she wasn't sick. Irene got to watch four episodes of Blue's Clues over and over and over and over and... She doesn't watch Blue's Clues normally, but she really enjoyed it, and after a Veggie Tales break, she went back to Blue's Clues. Actually, she doesn't sit in front of the TV normally. Her illness couldn't have come on a better day. That was the only day that we didn't really do anything. God even works out illnesses!

Sunday, we heard an excellent sermon on loving and helping our fellow man, messiness and all. Mark's parents' pastor also talked about being real ourselves, and not showing off a plastic, perfect exterior, but showing the messiness inside so that those around us can help where they are strong and we can help them where we are stronger. After all, we owe our strength to God, and He is glorified when we share His strength. It was very convicting to me, because I tend to not want to get involved with others when they are messy, nor do I want others to know that I am less than perfect. I am not perfect. I am lazy. I am selfish. I eat too much. I don't want to put myself out for others. I get angry when my children aren't perfect either. Yet though I do all these things, God loves me and has forgiven me and helps me overcome them..

Toronto

2007-11-27T14:42:00.000-05:00

This is turning into a more of a travel blog than anything else! Yes, I have had two trips since the last post. I think they each deserve a post of their own, so after posting approximately monthly, there will be TWO new posts in ONE day.

The first was a trip to Toronto by train with Helen. I wanted to go, but couldn't see myself driving there without adult company and two children. As it turned out, the train wasn't terribly expensive...for one person. To take Irene would have been half again as much. Helen was free, of course. Unbelievably, we received our passports in less than three weeks, without getting them expedited, so we got to use them for the first time. There was quite a backlog over the summer and passports were taking up to 12 weeks to come in rather than the normal 4-6 weeks. We didn't really need passports this time, because we were crossing the border by car, and birth certificates are sufficient up until sometime in January, 2008.

Irene stayed with my family, and cried when I left (but was soon her happy self again, I was later told). I reminded myself as I drove away to treasure these moments because it won't be long before she doesn't miss me at all when she's away from home. Mark dropped us off at the train station in Windsor the next morning before work. We had a nice four hour ride on the train, two hours of which Helen slept in my arms. That was also time that I treasured, as I don't often get to just sit with Helen, totally focused on her. We had a great time with my very good friend of over 20 years and her new husband. I was reminded how much easier one baby is than even one toddler/preschooler. I'm sure that they will get easier again someday. (10? 12? 16? 18? 25?) Train travel was so much nicer than car travel. No traffic to worry about. Predictable stops. No need to stop to nurse. But then, I had to pack as little as possible to fit everything into one small suitcase. I couldn't take anything extra along. I had to struggle with the stroller and carseat. All in all, I would travel by train again, but if I take Irene too, I'll need money to tip for all the help I'll need.

Teething and Travel

2007-11-01T17:32:00.000-05:00

Ahhhhh. *happy sigh* Our most recent trip went beautifully...both ways. Helen was happy/sleeping the entire time. Granted, it wasn't as long of a trip. Helen has a tooth!!! The tooth came through the day we left, so maybe that's why it was a happy trip?

It's a scary thing to have a baby. Especially a crawling baby who puts everything in her mouth. Take Sunday, for instance. We were going to leave after church, so the car needed to be packed beforehand. Mark was busy, so I was trying to keep an eye on the kids and pack the car at the same time. Not exactly possible to keep a close eye on a busy baby. So we went to church, I nursed her during the service, and she took a short nap after nursing. She was drooling like crazy, but I figured she was just cutting another tooth. After the service, a dear lady was admiring Helen, and asked what she had in her mouth. She tapped Helen's cheek, and said there was definitely something hard in there. No way! How could I have missed this? She normally gags or makes some other noise that lets me know there is something in there even if I didn't see it go in. I dutifully checked her mouth, and there was a metal button, like the kind you would find on a pair of jeans with flap pockets! One of my nieces had lost the buttons off her jeans the day before, and had apparently not put them up in a safe place. She had that button in her mouth for AT LEAST an hour and a half. God is so good! He kept her from choking on it, so it was much less scary than it could have been!

More Travel

2007-10-04T09:24:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, we had a wonderful visit with my sister and brother-in-law in PA. The trip out there was the best drive we've had since Helen was born (out of eight round trips of at least four-and-a-half hours each way). Our time with them was lovely! It is so fun to see my sister in her own home, seeing what she's done to make it "home", and seeing the new family dynamics between she and her husband. The trip home was another story entirely... Irene was a gem. Helen was miserable and cried for over half of the more than seven hour drive.

A child crying in the car is one of the most miserable experiences, especially if you can't find anything wrong (i.e. fed, changed, recently awakened from a nap, burped, nothing in carseat is pinching). If you know what is wrong, you can pull over and fix it. Does anyone have any ideas on how to keep a baby from crying in the car? Nursing is not an option, because there is no way I can do that in a way that is safe for both of us. Solid food only lasts so long. Toys only keep interest for short periods of time. Singing does nothing. She cries whether or not I sit in the backseat. A light on after dark helps, but not if she's been crying since it was light out. Neither of my babies have been great travelers, which is difficult, because we travel OFTEN. Help?

Fashion Statement?

2007-09-07T18:27:00.000-05:00

Note to self: if you grab two dark-colored flip-flops without turning the light on, at least check your feet before leaving the house. I thought I grabbed two dark brown ones on my way out the door to prayer meeting, though I had vague thoughts of a dark blue one as we drove there. I got out of the car and looked at my feet. You guessed it. One dark brown and one dark blue! I quickly laughed off my embarrassment by pointing out my fashion mistake to my husband and tried to forget about it. Nobody said anything, so either no one noticed, or everyone who noticed was too polite to say anything.

Can You Say Projection?

2007-08-24T10:04:00.000-05:00

"Daddy, Helen doesn't want you to be at work. She wants you to be here." -- Irene, just now. She and Helen are hanging out in the living room, and Irene just randomly sang out the above.

A Moving Baby

2007-08-23T18:21:00.002-05:00

I was so not prepared for Helen to start moving. She is now a baby on the move, and nothing is sacred! Just now, she gagged, and I found her with a magazine that she had pulled off Irene's little table. One wet piece was in her hand and another in her mouth. Not only is she crawling like a pro, but she pulls herself up on anything she can get enough grip on. She isn't cruising yet, but I'm sure that isn't far. I hope she doesn't walk soon, but I suppose that once a baby is on the move, the mode of movement isn't such a big deal. Watching her go is so strange, because Irene was only sitting up at this age. She hadn't started scooting even, and Helen has been crawling for a month! Helen is about the same size Irene was at the same age, so I'm seeing this teeny-tiny thing crawling around on the floor and this entirely too cute little head popping up over chairs and couches!

Smile!

2007-08-08T16:01:00.000-05:00

When I took Irene to have pictures done the first few times, it was so easy! She smiled on cue and just generally seemed happy to be there. Not so today. Helen was the easy one. The photographer did have to work a bit to get a smile out of her, but her posture was fine and she wasn't nervous at all. I think the second take was good. Back to Irene, we had probably 10 takes before we got a decent picture, so as soon as I saw that it was decent, I said, "That one's great!" The photographer wanted to get some of the two together, so we tried that, and she saved a couple of takes before Irene said "I'm done. I don't want to hold Helen anymore." I ended up getting one print of the two of them because it did turn out cute and it wasn't as expensive as I remembered it being.

We go to Wal-Mart, and they usually take the package picture then six or so more to try to sell you lots. This time, she didn't take more than a package picture for each child and the two shots of them together. I usually go to a different store, but I'm going back to this one! I don't think they're supposed to let you do two packages in one visit, but she did! This should be the only time I need to do this, at least until I have more children, because I currently do 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, etc. and they were born in May and December.

Sometimes Food is Good Enough to Post About

2007-07-24T21:42:00.000-05:00

Last night, I experimented, and came out with an amazing dinner. My husband and sister said so. :-) I love grilled veggies and meat on a skewer, but I've never made them before. Automatically awesome presentation! I found an easy marinade recipe, for which I had all the ingredients on hand, and marinated chicken and green pepper, onion, mushrooms and zucchini for a few hours (veggies and meat separately). When I put them together, I added grape tomatoes. Sadly, our grill ran out of propane, so we put them in the oven at a high temperature for about ten minutes. We cooked some rice to go along with it. The veggies were delicious, but the chicken flavor was out of this world.

I used the Italian Marinade recipe found here. The only changes I made were 1T. dried basil instead of fresh and I added 1T. dried oregano.

Holidays and Trips

2007-07-06T09:20:00.001-05:00

Busyness! Here's a brief update on life. Mark had this past week off, so we have been getting lots of family time. On the 4th, we went swimming before lunch, and Irene had so much fun that we had trouble going home. We cooked out for dinner and watched the New York City fireworks display. Yesterday, we had some time without kids. We went to a driving range then out to lunch. It was lovely, and the kids did great with Grandma and a few aunts and uncles. Tomorrow, Covfamikoi starts! That means that today, I am packing. Happy Weekend!

Solids and More!

2007-06-28T17:51:00.001-05:00

*tear* My second baby is growing up. *tear* Helen started solid food on Monday, started scooting backwards on Wednesday, and was able to sit up unassited today. STOP growing up already! As far as the solid food and sitting up are concerned, she's pretty much right where Irene was at the same age, but Irene was two months older before she ever scooted backwards.

We started with rice cereal mixed with expressed breastmilk (to give her a familiar flavor), and she seemed ok with it the first day. The second day she liked it, and by today, she can't get enough, nor can she get it fast enough. I think she still has a bit of tongue thrust, even though she is over six months now. She has some trouble swallowing it, but has figured out how to sort of suck it off the spoon.

"It's ok"

2007-06-09T15:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, a friend and I went to a meeting together. She and I have babies who are only one month apart, and Irene is friends with her two other children. Mark and Irene hung out with her husband and older kids while the babies went with us. Well, her baby was wailing when we got back because he was hungry, and Irene came running up to try and cheer him up. My friend's daughter said, "Irene! Come see your baby! She's over here!" Irene went running over, took a quick look at Helen, said, "Oh. Helen's happy." then ran back to the other baby and started talking to him. "It's ok, it's ok..."

Hotel Success

2007-05-31T13:25:00.001-05:00

Yay! Maggie, Irene, Helen and I are going to visit Betsie and Scott for the weekend! I haven't seen them since early March. This will be my first time visiting them (and Maggie's as well). I think that we'd probably overcrowd their little apartment if we stayed there, so after being horrified at the hotel prices around there, I decided to try priceline.com. Now, the way priceline works is that you choose an area and a star rating and name a price. You can try again the same day if you change either the area or the star rating, but if you just want to change the price, you have to wait 24 hours. If they find a hotel that accepts the price, then they charge your credit card immediately. Only after you are committed do you find out which hotel and where it is. The first price I tried, no one would accept, so I waited 24 hours and tried again with a higher price. It was accepted! Not only did I get a hotel with the highest possible star rating in their town (2 1/2 stars) for more than 50% off, the hotel is less than five minutes from their apartment!

Birthday Party!!!

2007-05-29T16:21:00.001-05:00

My first baby is almost three! We had a birthday celebration for her with my family on Sunday. I did not have it all together. Late Saturday night, I realized that I had not purchased a birthday gift for her yet. So, out to Meijer with Helen *hoping* that they carried some acceptable set of duplos. They did. Yay! Then, after gift-opening and a meal that went quite well, dessert time! Oops! The only birthday candle in the house was one left from her first birthday...in the shape of a 1. We turned it sideways and used it anyway. She blew it out before we had a chance to sing, so we lit it again. She blew again, but missed, then blew it out. At least she blew three times!

Her grandparents also gave her duplos, but it was a different set, so it was great. She has been playing with them ever since. The only trouble is that my independent player now wants Mark or me to play with her all the time. We made a piano with a bench today. Since her daddy is the one who plays the piano in our house, she sat the "daddy" duplo man on the bench.

Babywearing!

2007-05-04T11:20:00.000-05:00

Helen is very different from Irene in many ways. One is that she dislikes the stroller. Irene loved riding in her stroller, so this was new to me. How could I take walks if Helen cried in the stroller? Irene still rides in a stroller, so I couldn't carry Helen and push Irene at the same time. Or could I? Oh yes! I had bought a Baby Bjorn carrier at a resale shop and only used it with Irene when I vacuumed because she needed that security from the noisemaker. I tried it with Helen, but I didn't like how little support it gave her, and it didn't feel very secure on long walks. I checked out out some slings online, but they are soooo expensive. Pattern search time!

I found a free pattern for a mei tai, and it looked really easy to make for a beginning sewer like me. My mom has a sewing machine, so that wasn't an issue. A fabric store nearby sends out coupons for 40% off one item, so I was able to get the fabric 40% off. Thread is cheap, and some of the other supplies were on sale. My mom showed me how to cut it out with her cutting mat and rolling cutting blade. Helen ended up needing to eat before we were done, and my mom finished cutting it out while I was nursing. I did every bit of sewing, though. It's a bit big, and it should fit us for a while. I think I need to start rolling up the bottom to make it shorter because she's so little. I LOVE IT! It is easy to put on, and can be worn in so many different ways. So far, we've only really used it as a front carrier, but I expect that to change as she grows. Here's a picture from a wedding reception last weekend. The blue panel is interchangable. I can make as many different panels as I want and put in the one that matches my outfit or mood. (The lei is not part of the carrier; it was a Hawaiian themed reception.)

More Traveling and Potty Training

2007-04-25T09:34:00.000-05:00

Update on our many travels. Helen made her first trip out of the country last weekend. We drove to Toronto for a bridal shower for my very good friend. Irene and I are both in her wedding, and Irene was the gift helper at the shower. She did a lovely job, and was very appreciative of the gifts. E.g., friend opens a food chopper, and Irene's face lights up. She hadn't a clue as to what most of the gifts actually were, but she was very expressive as if she did know. This weekend will be Helen's first airplane trip. [We like to get 'em started young.]

Irene is finally potty training!!! Even chocolate wasn't enough of an incentive, so we are trying a bare bottom while at home to encourage her to want to sit on the potty rather than make a mess on the floor. So far, she isn't doing too badly, and has only wet the floor a couple of times. She still gets a little chocolate each time she goes, so I know she has done something when I hear "I get some CHOCOLATE, Mom!!!"

Travels and Weddings

2007-04-11T09:11:00.000-05:00

Helen is a good traveler! We took our first long trip with her last weekend, and she did well the entire time. She didn't cry for more than 20 minutes in the car each way, and she stretched out her feeding interval by half an hour so that we only had to make one stop each way! I'm very happy because I have two more trips this month. The first is another driving trip, and the second will be Helen's first time flying.

So far, we have FIVE weddings this year. January, April, May, June, and July! Last year, I was getting desperate because there weren't any weddings. At the moment, I can't remember attending even one wedding last year. I love weddings!

Effect of Bathing

2007-03-26T09:48:00.000-05:00

So I was giving Irene a bath on Saturday, and about halfway through, she said, "My fingers are tangled." I was thinking, Huh? What is she talking about? Her fingers are all spread out in front of her. "Oh, they're wrinkled." "Yeah, they're wrinkled, Mom." *emphatic nod*

Of Living and Laughing

2007-03-15T14:29:00.000-05:00

Woah, it's been way too long! Another Irene story for ya. The other day, I was talking with one of my brothers about counties, and mentioned that I live in Macomb. Irene indignantly replied, "We do NOT!" I said, "Oh?" and she said, "We don't live in a comb!"

Helen update: she's laughing now! She laughed several times during her last diaper change.

P.S. My latest posts have been so short because I have to type one-handed while nursing.

Sleepy Times

2007-02-19T10:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, on the way home from church, Irene fell asleep in the car. She woke up briefly when I brought her into the house, then she wanted to go to bed. Two hours later, I turned the hall light on and opened her door, as this usually wakes her up from a nap. An hour after that, she was still asleep, and since it was 8 o'clock by that point, we decided that she was down for the night. She didn't get up this morning until 7:50! I normally don't let her get up before 8, but since she'd been sleeping for almost 15 hours, I decided to make an exception. Besides, she woke up happy! In other sleep news, Helen slept through the night last night and the night before!!!

Just now, Irene said, "I have two booties on...They aren't boots, they're booties!" (They are, in fact, boots.)

Good Job

2007-02-07T17:39:00.001-05:00

Today, both children were down for a nap at the same time!!! I decided to take advantage of the break to clean up the incredibly messy family room and kitchen. No, I didn't take a nap, because I'm getting plenty of sleep at night.(!) Anyway, when Irene got up from her nap moments ago, she looked around the family room and said, "You cleaned it up. Good job, Mom! You did a good job!"

Untitled

2007-02-05T10:29:00.000-05:00

I MISS MY SISTER. Tomorrow, she and Scott will be married a month. Helen is six weeks old. I'm going to be in another wedding. Irene will probably be in the same wedding. Apparently, I'm in random-news mode today. I'm thinking it's time for another Helen pic.

Nails and Fire Engines

2007-01-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

I think it's time for another Irene story or two. I put nail polish on Irene's fingernails for the wedding, and she was very excited about it. When her Grandma came to visit last weekend, I prompted her to show off her nails. She proudly held up her hands and said, "Look at my toenails!" The significance of that statement did not hit me until later. I had always before polished only her toenails.

Helen was baptized last Sunday, and after the baptism, all was quiet as we prepared to walk back to our seats. Just then, a siren sounded from the road outside, and Irene said "A fire engine!!" in a loud, clear voice. Just once wasn't enough. She is very excited about fire engines. "It's a fire engine!" rang out again in the quiet. I think I heard a little ripple of laughter, but I'm not quite sure.

A Wedding!!!

2007-01-11T14:34:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to my sister Betsie and brother-in-law Scott! They got married last Saturday in a lovely ceremony. Betsie was absolutely beautiful, and it was so sweet to see Scott when he saw her for the first time that day. They are coming back from their honeymoon tomorrow, then moving to PA on Monday. Man, I'm gonna miss her! She is the bestest sister ever (all of my sibs agree on that, too!).

She's Here!!!

2006-12-23T19:46:00.000-05:00

Helen Ruth was born Thursday, December 21 at 9:09 am! She was 9lbs. 0oz. and 20 1/2 inches long. We are now home from the hospital, and it is a very good feeling. I mentioned in an earlier post that I was trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section), and I succeeded! With a baby 1/2lb heavier than Irene was! I'm still sort of in shock that I did it. I'm currently very sore, but I feel better at two days post-partum than I did at five days after Irene.

A Classical Fan

2006-12-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

Time for a little Irene story. Mom S., please pass this along to Dad, as I think he'll enjoy it. This morning we were listening to a classical music station on our way to my midwife appointment. The "Hallelujah Chorus" by Handel started playing at some point, and I turned up the volume because that is one of my favorite pieces. Irene said, "That is loud!", so I asked if she wanted it turned back down. No, she was happy to have it loud. All too soon, it was over, and I immediately heard loud fussing and kicking in the back seat. She had a mini temper-tantrum that it was over because she liked it so much!

Boring Pregnancy Update

2006-12-09T20:49:00.000-05:00

How could I let this slip so much?? Sorry, friends. My due date is two weeks from tomorrow, and I'm already worried that the baby won't show up until then. I'm doing as many natural things to induce labor as my midwife has given the OK for (we haven't talked castor oil yet, and I'm not sure I'm willing to go quite that far...). For those of you who didn't know this, Irene was born by C-section after a non-progressing labor, and I'm trying to have a VBAC with this one. It isn't a good idea to induce the usual way (with Pitocin) because it raises the already-increased risk of uterine rupture. Besides the fact that I'd like to go as natural as possible. Anyway, the baby is still very much inside, and I haven't had any consistent contractions, though the total number I get in a day is increasing. Sorry again, because this probably wasn't even very interesting to most of you.

Tagged!

2006-11-21T09:33:00.000-05:00

Laura tagged me, so here goes.

"Once tagged by this entry, the assignment is to write a journal entry with six random facts about yourself.
Then, pick six of your friends and tag them; no tags back. This explanation should be included."

Note: as many readers already know, I do "tags" when I get them, but I do not tag people--you're off the hook!

1. I'm pregnant. That's the foremost thing on my mind these days. I'm getting so close to my due date that I can't move without being reminded, and if I'm not moving, then the baby is reminding me.
2. I live in a house.
3. The second thing on my mind these days is food.
4. My bed is soooooo comfy, and I don't get to spend nearly as much time in it as I would like.
5. Irene is sitting on my lap right now.
6. I made hot chocolate mix yesterday. YUM!

My Future Brother-in-Law (gotta love 'im :-D)

2006-11-18T13:05:00.000-05:00

Edit: Here is a link to the google video that inspired Scott. The specific part is approximately 2:51 minutes into the video. Enjoy!

Presbytery and Other News

2006-11-14T10:02:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long, guys. Right now, we are getting ready for a presbytery meeting at our church Thursday through Saturday. [For those of you who don't know what "presbytery meeting" is, it is elders (delegated by their church) from several churches who gather together to make church decisions.] During the meeting, on Friday night, our new pastor (James Faris) will be installed!!!

He and his family moved here a week ago, and his youngest child is Irene's age. She and Irene have already started getting into trouble together. Irene learned recently how to work the water fountain at church (standing on a footstool), and taught her little friend how to work it as well. Now the two of them have free access to a drink whenever they want. Thankfully, it is only water!

People around the church are hosting the delegates, and we will be having four of them stay with us. One of the four is my brother-in-law! This is exciting for us because we normally see him and his family only at Thanksgiving because they live a lot further from Beaver Falls, PA than we do, and we will be staying home for Thanksgiving this year. The only downside is that his family isn't coming up with him.

Speaking of staying home for Thanksgiving, we are staying home because by that point, I will be 36 weeks pregnant. Only 4 weeks away from my due date. For me, that is a little close to be taking even a 5 hour trip. For those of you who don't know, my sister is getting married TWO WEEKS after I'm due, and I'm her Matron-of-honor. Please, please pray that this baby comes two-three weeks early!!!

Mommy a girl, Daddy a boy

2006-10-27T09:10:00.000-05:00

So Irene has figured out the difference between booys* and gools*. I have no idea how she can tell, but we asked about many people of her acquaintance, and she got them all right. We think it might be hair, but when asked about a very short-haired woman, she said "gool". She would not be confused, either. Mark tried very hard. He's cool like that.

*Booy (Boo-ey) = Boy; Gool (said like "good", only with an 'l' at the end) = Girl

Clean House?

2006-10-17T13:05:00.000-05:00

There is nothing like having a lively, talkative two-year-old to keep you on track. I told Irene that I would sit down at the computer for 15 minutes, and when the timer went off, we would clean the house. She was happy with that and went off to play. As soon as the timer went off, though, she was on me. "Time clean the house now, Mommy!" I tried to brush her off because I was in the middle of something (haven't yet learned how to drop what I'm doing and pick it up later), but she was insistent. I reluctantly got up to clean the house, but have you ever tried cleaning with a two-year-old who is really excited about it? Some of that excitement rubs off! We had such a great time together.

Don't get any marathon cleaning ideas in your mind here. This was just an hour of mirrors, dusting, and vacuuming. Not even an hour, actually. More like 45 minutes, and that was only because we did a more detailed vacuum of one room. We do this every week, so it never gets very dirty. I've been including her in it since she could walk and hold a little duster. Honestly, she really doesn't do much, but she feels like she is helping, and loves it!

Grandmas

2006-10-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of days ago, I talked to my grandma on the phone. When I got off the phone, Irene said, "Was that my gramma?"
"No, that was your grandma's mommy."
"OH, was that YOUR gramma?"
I think she must have heard me saying "Hi, Grandma," but still!

Stories From the Week

2006-10-07T16:41:00.000-05:00

The other day, as Irene was eating her lunch and I was standing withing sight of her, she said, "Mommy, look! My eye is off!" I looked, and sure enough, she has figured out how to close one eye. Later that day, she said to my sister, "One eye off, one eye on, see?"

In other news, today, Irene and I went to watch Mark play outdoor soccer for the first time. We do not normally go because it is quite early in the morning to make such an expedition. He plays with a couple of guys from church and their friends, nothing organized. Irene was beside herself with excitement this morning, and "watch Daddy play soccer" was all she could think about. At one point during the game, I noticed that Mark was making a good play, and I whispered to her that she should say "Go, Daddy!" She started shouting "Go, my Daddy, go! Go, my Daddy, go! Go, my Daddy, go!" He later told me that it was his best play of the game.

Pizza vs. Salad

2006-09-29T08:46:00.000-05:00

Who are you, and what have you done with my daughter??? Last night, we went to Cici's for dinner (a pizza buffet), and Irene was kind of picking at her pizza. I asked her if she wanted a different pizza, and she said, "No, I want salad." SALAD?? My picky child wanted SALAD? Salad she got, and salad she ate! I nearly fell over. This is the child who loves pizza and only recently deigned to eat salad when there were no better options!

Random Rememberings

2006-09-26T12:35:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I took Irene to the local community center pool (where we have a membership), and this particular pool has a waterpark area with a 300 gallon bucket that fills and dumps every so often. Irene hates getting soaked, and is rather afraid of the bucket. She was the only kid in the whole place that night, and it was nearing closing time, and they turned the bucket off early. A couple of nights ago, as I was putting her to bed, she said: "Daddy turn the big bucket off at the pool. That was nice o' him!"

I'm Hungry

2006-09-15T16:53:00.000-05:00

No real updates, just in the middle of making dinner here. The cool weather we've had recently has me thinking about caramel corn. I'm planning to make some tomorrow. My life centers around food right now. No surprise, really, I AM pregnant, after all. Feeling pretty good on that front, the second trimester is the BEST part of pregnancy for me: no nausea, almost-normal energy, don't feel gigantic yet, appetite is huge, and I get to wear all my cute maternity clothes.

Mommas and Babies

2006-09-08T09:36:00.000-05:00

"May I be escused please, Momma?" "I love oo, Momma." "Momma, I kiss our baby?" MOMMA??? Where did that come from? She's two. I thought I was still "Mommy". I thought I'd be Mommy for a long time. Occasionally, she even says "Mom" or "Dad". SHE'S TWO! Stop growing up already!

In other news, she has finally admitted that her baby, Daddy's baby and "Momma's" baby are all the same baby in the same place. Yesterday, though, I think we had a setback. She patted my tummy, and said "Daddy's tummy, right here!" In her mind, tummy = baby and baby = tummy, apparently.

Horsey

2006-08-31T12:44:00.000-05:00

Irene has a new obsession while riding in the car. She has a little stuffed horse, and she starts complaining "Horsey bite me!" My sisters encouraged her in this fancy, and to discourage it, I told her that she could not complain to me about it. Last night as we were driving home, we heard her having a little conversation with the horse.
Irene (in stern Mommy-voice): "Horsey...Do...Not...Bite...I...rene!"
Horsey (Irene with very contrite voice): "Sorry!"
This was repeated often. Apparently, the horse bites her a lot. Keep in mind that this horse doesn't even have a mouth.

Singing and Conversations

2006-08-28T09:48:00.000-05:00

Last night, Irene put her mouth on my stomach and started singing to the baby. How cute is that? She thought it was the funniest thing because I was laughing about it. Mark has done it to her before, but hasn't for quite a while. Did she remember?

Yesterday, at dinner, Irene actually joined a conversation that Mark and I were having. He was telling me about how (while I was gone for 45 minutes) he had lit a candle and she wanted to touch it.
Mark: "I said, 'It's too hot, Irene,' and put her hand over it to feel the heat. Then she said 'I want to turn it off.'"
Irene: "I blowed it!!"

Courthouses and Division

2006-08-21T09:45:00.000-05:00

Sorry guys. Apparently my life has taken a turn for the busier. Mark has a big exam on Friday, so I've been trying to let him study without interruptions (very difficult to do if I am even in the house). Last week, I spent some time in Beaver Falls with Mark's family, and had a great time! I have a new nephew and niece! Their adoption was official last Tuesday, and Irene and I went to the courthouse with them. This week, I just today made plans to go visit my good friend in Toronto.

What would a post be without an Irene story? Saturday night, during family worship, Mark was looking at the number of verses in the chapter for the evening, and decided to split it in half.
Mark: "Let's see...52 divided by two is twenty..."
Irene: "SIX!"
Now, the question is, why did she say the right number? Was it just a fluke? Was she processing the "fifty" into "five" and then saying the next number? Does she really know division? Since she can't count past ten, I rather doubt that it was any display of genius, but it was still amusing!

WHERE is Daddy's baby???

2006-08-04T09:31:00.000-05:00

Oh, my, I had completely forgotten about the update I wanted to make. A few days ago, Irene got bumped in the tummy by the refrigerator door. She didn't really get hurt, but she started saying "My baby hurt...my baby hurt...my baby hurt" over and over. She's conviced that we all have babies, i.e. tummies.
Irene: "Pray for...Daddy's baby. Over there!"
Me: "No, Daddy's baby is in here."
Irene: "NO, Daddy's baby over there!"
Me: "Daddy's baby, Mommy's baby, Irene's baby, all the same baby. In here."
Irene: "No."
Me: *gives up*

Homeschool Alumni (HSA)!!!

2006-07-24T20:38:00.000-05:00

Attention homeschooled friends: I recently found an online community of homeschool graduates, and I'm really enjoying meeting homeschoolers and former homeschoolers from all over the country. There are alot of fun-loving people there, but we also discuss more serious topics. Come see for yourself! You have to be at least 15 years old to join, but can't be a full member until 16 years of age. You also have to have been homeschooled at some point in your life, not necessarily high school (Mark is out, sadly). Let me know if you join! My username is......*drum roll*......covigirl.

Heat Wave

2006-07-17T13:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is really weird. Orlando is COOLER than southern Michigan today! Actually, I think that has been the case all weekend, but I didn't check until last night. For some reason, our highs got flipped. I'm reminded of why I don't live in Orlando.

On a brighter note, my church building finally has A/C!!! Yesterday was the first Sunday that I got to experience it, but I heard that it was actually working last Sunday, too. Wow, what a day to have A/C at church! I walked out to go home, and felt like I walked into an oven. Whew! Normally, on a day like that, we would have had services in the cooler-but-still-unbearably-humid-and-slippery basement. Not only that, but the people in my church hang out and chat for a long time after the services are over (we're talking hours here), but on a day like yesterday, the church probably would have been cleared in five minutes with people desperate to get to their air-conditioned homes.

Green Paint

2006-06-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

My living room now has a beautiful new coat of paint!!! It is a lovely, medium-intensity shade of sage green. Maybe, just maybe, I will post a pic of the finished room in a couple of years when we actually get around to finishing it. We're replacing all the moulding in the house, as we do each room, because the old moulding is just...blah. As of yet, we have not even purchased the new moulding for the room, but hopefully that will happen soon.

Painting was a huge step for me (I chose the colors almost a year ago...), and I had a friend who helped. Irene did very well, only touching the wet paint once, and we allowed her to be in the room while we painted because I couldn't get a babysitter. I didn't really want to paint while I was pregnant, but I had removed wallpaper before I found out, and it wasn't really presentable. I did want to wait until the morning sickness was gone (hooray!!!), but not so long that I couldn't sit on the floor for any length of time.

Medium (not mild) Salsa

2006-06-14T11:23:00.000-05:00

Time for another story, peoples. Irene (who else would the story be about???) is developing a taste for salsa. Her way of eating it is rather masochistic. She takes a chip, dips it in salsa, licks the salsa off, then says "Spicy, spicy, spicy" with tears in her eyes. Immediately upon the extreme hotness leaving her tongue, she repeats the process with occasional bites of the chip. The reaction lessens with each bite, but it doesn't seem to carry over to the next time.

Some News

2006-06-07T21:17:00.000-05:00

Ok, online friends, here it is! This may knock your socks off, or it may make you want to put some on. Or it may do neither. A few of you already know this. A few of you do not. A few of you may not care. If you fall into the last category, please do not bother to comment about it. I don't suppose that anyone has guessed it yet, unless you fall into the first "a few" category. So what is this news? Maybe I should just tell you now. [Scroll down.]

I'M PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Irene plans to be a big sister sometime in December. She is quite excited about the prospect, but she doesn't really realize what this will mean to her life.

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!

2006-06-01T10:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, the little one turned TWO!!! She enjoyed the extra attention, and her new favorite song is "Happy Birthday". Her Grandma S. sent her a couple of packages for her birthday, one came a few days early, and the other on her birthday. I took the early one out of the mailing package and wrapped it. She really enjoyed opening it, and when she finally ripped the last bit of paper off, her face lit up as she picked it up and unfolded it, and she said "Pretty dress!!!" It was a dress and sweater set. The contents of the other package were enjoyed as well.

Short and Sweet

2006-05-22T13:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Irene ran up to me, and said, "Mommy, tiss? This was the first time ever... So of course, I let her give me a kiss, and she gave me one on each cheek. When she was done, she said, "I love oo, Mommy!"
"I love you, too, Irene!"
"I love oo, too!"
It pretty much melted me.

Work?

2006-05-15T08:54:00.000-05:00

A short Irene story from last week: Mark was getting ready to leave for work, and Irene said "No work, Daddy. No do* work!"
He replied that he had to go to work, and she answered by saying "NO, do* church!"

*means go, rhymes with go

Silver Cars (my car actually is silver...)

2006-05-12T09:57:00.000-05:00

Today is a very big day. I am finally able to rent a car. My car insurance rate went down today. A quarter of a century of living. Is it called a silver birthday?

Children in Worship

2006-05-04T10:09:00.000-05:00

Woah, I hadn't realized how long it's been since my last post! Sorry! Here are two stories from Sunday, both occurred during worship.

The text for the morning sermon on Sunday was from Matthew 18, and as Rev. Joseph was reading it, he came to this phrase and read it very loudly: "PAY ME WHAT YOU OWE!" At that point Irene was a bit startled and responded, also loudly, "NO!"

A similar thing happened during the reading in the afternoon service, when he again read a sentence very loudly. (I can't find my bulletin, and I don't remember what passage it was.) Irene was shaking a little, and she whispered with wide eyes, "Mommy, scawy*!"

*scary

Ethiopia--and Back

2006-04-25T09:51:00.000-05:00

Hooray!!!!! Paul (Mark's brother) and Brenda finally have their children!!!!! They've had delay after delay, so it this is a great relief for them. The children are so sweet, but please pray for them as they have to adjust to a completely different country with a strange language. They are aged 6 (girl) and 2 (boy), so I expect that the 6 year old will have the most difficulty.

Five Children and It

2006-04-12T21:20:00.000-05:00

FYI, I am skipping out of town tomorrow for 10 days. Mark's brother and sister-in-law are going overseas to pick up the children they are adopting, so Mark's sister and I will be taking care of their other children. I'm hoping that this will be a lot of fun, but I'm sure it will also be stressful to suddenly be a (co-)mother to five children instead of one.

The Moon

2006-04-12T21:05:00.000-05:00

Apparently, Irene stories are my new M.O. The moon is her new obsession. By new, I mean that it started today in the car on the way home from prayer meeting. First, she saw an airplane, then we turned and she couldn't see it anymore. My sister, Betsie, was in the car as well, and pointed the moon out to Irene. From then on, Irene would say:
"Moon!"
"Whey it do?"
"MOON!!"
"Whey it do?"
"Moon!!!!"
"Whey moon do?"
and so on all the way home. Once we got home, Betsie took her to the front window to see if she could see the moon, and soon Irene said "Dey it is!!! Moon!!!" It became a game, where she would turn her back to the window, and say "Whey moon?" then turn back and say "Right dere!" Mark asked her if she would get the moon for him. So she reached toward the moon, then put her hand in his for a moment. He looked at his outstreched hand and said "Where's the moon? I don't see it." She looked at him like he was crazy, pointed to his hand and said "It's in here!!!"

More Counting

2006-04-04T10:20:00.000-05:00

Irene has developed a love for counting. A month ago, she was only saying "One, two, one, two." Nearly two weeks ago, she learned some more numbers. Grandma (C.) has a little purse with five bracelets, and she and Irene counted them over and over and over and over as Irene took them in and out of the purse.

"One, two, free, fie, seek."* Run across the room as fast as you can. Repeat.

What about four, you might wonder? She will say "forr" if prompted, but she apparently doesn't realize that it belongs between "free" and "fie".

As I was doing my devotions this morning, Irene was getting in my face. She doesn't like it when I read, no matter what it is, unless I'm reading to her. Out of the blue, she started patting my Bible and saying "ba-boo, ba-boo". It actually took me a minute to figure out she was saying "Bible, Bible". It threw me because I didn't know she knew it was different from a regular book!

*"One, two, three, five, six."

Praise the Lord!

2006-04-01T13:18:00.000-05:00

Nathaniel is recovered now! See his blog entry for details.

PRAYER NEEDED

2006-03-28T21:57:00.000-05:00

Urgent request: Please pray for Nathaniel, as he was taken to the hospital this morning. His dad left an audio update of his condition here.

Love, Ants, and Windex

2006-03-28T17:03:00.000-05:00

I'm in love. I fall in love all over again every year. But, you may think, that is understandable, since she's married. Well, yes, but I'm always in love with my husband. I'm talking about SPRING here. I fall in love with each spring, and each one is different.

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous! I happened to go outside for a minute, and I knew I had to take a walk outdoors or I would die. Trouble is, I don't enjoy walking alone, even with Irene, and I was leaving the house of my exercise partner when I got that feeling. Even worse, Mark was not scheduled to come home until late because on Mondays he goes straight from work to school. We did some finagling and he ended up being able to come home for a little more than an hour; just enough time to take a lovely walk in the gorgeous weather.

Have I ever mentioned that I like ants just fine when they are outside, but I HATE THEM WHEN THEY COME INTO MY HOUSE! Did you know that occasionally, countless winged ants will emerge from a nest looking to start new colonies? I know, because it happened yesterday IN MY HOUSE. My family room was swarming with the insects. EWWWWWW. Did you know that Windex® kills ants? I found out yesterday, and Mark graciously offered to go around spraying them. I've been spraying them whenever I see them today, and the ammonia smell got kind of overpowering. Did I mention that it's pretty nice outside today? All I had to do was open a window, and now it smells like SPRING in my house. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Psalms and Farms

2006-03-24T22:09:00.000-05:00

At bedtime, Irene likes me to sing to her. Tonight, she wanted to sing "The Lord Builds up Jerusalem" (Psalm 147A in the RPCNA Psalter), and she did all the motions herself! She was watching me do them, of course, be she mimicked everything I did. Soon after we finished, we were having a conversation, and she suddenly started saying "Yi-yi. Yi-yi. Yi-yi-yi." No matter what I said to her, the response was "Yi-yi." Did I finally figure out what she was saying, you wonder? "E-I-E-I-O" is the translation I finally deduced. So we sang "Old McDonald had a Farm".

Pink & Purple PJs

2006-03-13T10:24:00.000-05:00

It's been a whole week! We had a wonderful visit with Mark's parents. While Mark was at work Tuesday, we went shopping! Sam's Club was intriguing, because I am not a member. Costco was also intriguing; although I am a member, I usually know exactly what I need to buy there, and I'm in and out. Irene had a great time hanging out with "Bapa" and "Thamma". Mom brought Irene a very cute pair of PJs. They are too big for her now, but she still wanted to wear them--all the time. It really warmed her Grandma's heart to know that she had found something that her granddaughter loved so much!

Counting In-Laws

2006-03-06T13:36:00.000-05:00

Mark's parents are coming today for a short visit! I they haven't been here since 2004 (I think it was August; I don't remember them coming after that, but my memory has never been faultless ).

"One, two! One, two!!! One, two. One, twooooo!" That is Irene playing and talking to herself. She has just discovered a love for seeming to count. Sometimes a "free" gets in there, sometimes a "nine". Life is interesting.

In Loving Memory...

2006-02-28T23:48:00.000-05:00

Pastor Joseph's funeral was this afternoon. I felt like there was so much said about him, but it didn't even scratch the surface of who he was. He was truly a man of God. We grieve with and for the family he left behind, but there is great joy in knowing that he is now in the very presence of God.

There were so many people there who I haven't seen in ages. In fact, our little church was packed. 150 people, maybe more? People of all ages were there, from 21 months (Irene) up to 90-some years. He impacted so many lives, both inside and outside of our church. There were people he went to seminary with, people from other churches he pastored, people from the presbytery, people from our church, people formerly in our church, people from the area but not the church, and, of course, family.

First Prayer

2006-02-26T19:40:00.000-05:00

Time for another baby story. This evening, I made Irene a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner. As always, I took her hands in mine and said "Let's pray." Before I could start, she bowed her head, closed her eyes, and said "Ow-Fadda-in-headin," then looked up at me and smiled. I think she's getting the idea!!

Marriage

2006-02-21T14:52:00.000-05:00

What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. -- Leo Tolstoy

This is so true. It really bothers me when people claim that they have to have to live together before marriage in order to find out if they are compatible. I firmly believe that compatibility isn't just some vague thing over which we have no control. In other words, I think that a married couple can become compatible if they are both committed to each other. Several friends have commented that they took "compatibility tests" when they were in pre-marital counselling which seemed to show that they weren't compatible at all. The years of happy marriage have since shown otherwise (or else have shown that they deal very well with incompatibility). A friend of mine made a comment that she wondered why Mark and I got married at the time, but now she sees how perfect we are for each other. I wonder: were we "perfect" for each other then (and she just didn't know us very well), or have we become so? Perfect does not mean sinless here.

I've been thinking a lot about marriage lately. This is partially because Pastor Joseph died last week. I mentioned in my last post that he is the one who married us. He gave an excellent short sermon on marriage at our wedding, which we do have on tape, but I haven't listened to it in ages. The main thing I remember that he said was "A good marriage is made up to two good forgivers." I really took that to heart, and no matter who was originally at fault, if I see that any fault lies with me, I ask for forgiveness. Mark is always very gracious to forgive me, and often asks my forgiveness as well. I have to be careful that getting him to confess is not my goal. I also often have to wrestle with God to get to the point where I'm willing to ask without any expectations save the hope of being forgiven. I am completely sensible of the fact that without God, I wouldn't be able to. He is the One who brings conviction of sin and the desire to repent.

The Comfort of a Child

2006-02-18T10:37:00.000-05:00

Rev. Ray Joseph, my pastor for 15 years, passed away yesterday afternoon. He has gone on to Glory to meet his Maker and Lord. It is a glorious thing, yet very sad for those he leaves behind, especially his wife and children. He came to our church when I was 5 years old and he is the one who married my husband and I.

After I got the phone call saying he was gone, I cried on Mark's shoulder. Irene was on the couch with us, and was very concerned about me. She said "Mommy? Mommy?" and put her arm around me. When I looked at her, she had a big smile on her face that said It's ok, Mommy, I want you to smile with me. I love you. It was so sweet. Then I called an out-of-town member (Maggie) and nearly broke down on the phone with her. Irene must have heard the catch in my voice, because she came running to me and gave me a great big hug. I've heard that babies and young children will do everything they can to comfort when Mom is sad, but I've never experienced it before. It was so special!

Jedi

2006-02-13T16:48:00.000-05:00

You ought to check out this awesome post. The coolest part of it is the link. That is sooooo what Irene does with light-sabers. See it for yourself.

Think you have bad traffic?

2006-02-10T19:50:00.000-05:00

I found a list of cities with the worst traffic problems. My own city is in the top ten, and you know what? I sure believe it. Some of the cities on the list are legendary, like LA, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. All of which precede Detroit on the list... I was extremely surprised, though, that Boston did not even make the list. When we visited Boston last year, we didn't even rent a car because of the traffic problems. Mark used to live there, so he knew what it was like. As a result of this, I was under the impression that Boston was worse than Detroit. Weird.

Here is the list, copied from the article linked, but with one typo corrected:
1. Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Calif.
2. San Francisco, Oakland, Calif.
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Atlanta
5. Houston
6. Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Tex.
7. Chicago.
8. Detroit
9. Riverside, San Bernardino, Calif.
10. Orlando, Fla.
11. San Jose, Calif.
12. San Diego

Way to Go, Steelers!

2006-02-08T11:20:00.000-05:00

THE STEELERS WON!!!!!!!!!!! IN DETROIT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, since the Lions weren't playing, I had to pick a team. So I chose the one that beat the Colts. The one that Mark's family loves (they're from Pittsburgh). We went to Orlando to escape the busyness of Detroit surrounding the Super Bowl, but we still managed to watch the last 30 seconds of the game. The weather was gorgeous there! Most of the time. It rained for a day and a half. Oh, and guess what else? We rented a CONVERTIBLE! First time I'd ever ridden in a convertible. Because it was only a two door, we had to switch Irene's car-seat around. There really isn't much of a way that we could have gotten her in and out if we had left it rear-facing. According to my scales at home, she IS 20 lbs. now. The weather was a little cool for convertible-driving, but we just wore our jackets when we drove anywhere.

Here's a little story for you: Irene has a cousin, Joel, who is 3. They have a toy where you put colored balls in colored holes then pound them with a mallet and they roll out. Well, Joel put a chess piece through one of the holes and reached his little hand in there to get it. Unfortunately, his hand with the chess piece in it didn't quite fit back through the hole. He didn't know how to get back out, so he started saying "Mommy, Mommy, I'm stuck!" My sister-in-law got him out and came back to her conversation with us. That's when Irene put her hand it the hole and said, "Mommy, duck! Duck! Duck!" Then she shook her hand to show that she really was stuck and it came right out.

Babies Are Special

2006-02-01T11:37:00.000-05:00

Woah. I just realized that with this post, I will have posted three days in a row. This could be a record for me. Never fear, it won't continue long. I'm leaving for Florida tonight!!!

I also wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS, CAROLIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She had a baby boy eight days ago. I can't wait to meet him!

Uncles

2006-01-31T15:12:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, Irene and I were looking through my wedding reception photo album. Well, actually, she pulled it down off the shelf and the pages all came out. She was looking on as I put it back together. All of the sudden, she got really excited. "Bapa! Bapa! Bapa!" Then, on another page: "Ba! Ba!" Translated: "Grandpa! Grandpa! Grandpa!" and "Uncle Paul! Uncle Paul!" Now, you have to understand that she sees my dad at least once a week and she hasn't seen Uncle Paul in over a month. It's kind of interesting, because Paul's daughter Becca absolutely loved Mark, and now Irene absolutely loves Paul.

A New Blog

2006-01-30T16:06:00.000-05:00

I decided to make a new blog, because while xanga has some nice features, it does not allow anonymous comments. I plan to double post, so the content on my xanga will be very similar to what you find here.