Cherishing Family

My wonderful sister-in-law, Becke’, tagged me to write about why I cherish my family. So here it is:
Lee:
1. I adore my husband. I think he’s hilarious. He truly makes me laugh all the time. He’s funny when he’s not trying to be. We always tell each other what geeks we are, and it’s true. We’re dweebs. But we make each other laugh despite that fact.

2. Lee’s a great dad. He is so involved with the kids. He is always willing to give me some time off, to let me go out with friends or just get out if I need a break. He doesn’t put any guilt on me for leaving him with the kids. I love that. He takes on a lot of responsibilities around that house, which I am so grateful for – especially now! He wrestles ith the kids and plays with them and they truly adore their daddy.

3. Lee loves the Lord. On eof the things that I’ve alwasy admired about him is his knowledge of the scriptures. He knows the Bible and can defend his faith. He desires to lead our family spiritually and prays with and for the kids and me faithfully. He really is the leader of this home and I’m grateful for that!

4. Lee is a great businessman. When we met and got engaged, he was a youth minister and that was how I saw him. After we got married and he entered the business world, I was astounded at what a good businessman he was, and I’m still amazed. He is wise and confident and makes good decisions. He’s not afraid to take risks (even though that goes against his nature). He is the physical provider for our family as well. He’s awesome!

Sloan:
1. I love Sloan’s personality. He’s so funny and fun. He’s outgoing and from the time he was a baby has never met a stranger. He’s always ready to make a new friend. He loves people and is so sweet.

2. Sloan loves to be a helper. He loves to clean the bathroom for me (which consists of nothing more than shoving everything off the counter into the drawer) and is so proud of himself when he does it. He knows he’s helping me and that brings him great joy. I love that about him.

3. Sloan is just funny. He says funny things and does funny things. He is a mimic, like his mama, and can do funny voices and funny dances. It’s so fun to watch him grow and develop with each passing day.

Katya:
1. I truly never expected to have a little girl and would have been perfectly content with all boys, but oh how I cherish this little girl! I adore her precious little face with her big eyes and chubby cheeks. I am madly in love with her.

2. Tia is developing into a little character like her brother. I love to watch her follow him around and mimic him (I kow it drives poor Sloan crazy though). She literally does everything that he does, almost exactly as he does it. It’s hilarious.

3. Tia is very sweet natured. She does not like to see people upset or crying. She is a snuggler and hugger. I love watching her interact with Lee. She snuggles up on his lap and I can see him turn to mush. I love watching her become more motherly with her baby dolls. It’s so sweet.

Landon:
I don’t know much about Landon yet. But I kow I’m in love with him. I love the way he turns his face into my neck when I’m holding him so that his chubby little cheek is right up against mine. I love how he looks up at me with his big sweet eyes while I feed him. I love they way he is moving his little mouth around, trying to figure out how to stretch it into a smile. I’m excited to see what his personality will be like.

So that is my precious family. They are all unique and darling and I feel blessed beyond measure to have each one of them!

Captain Random

Here is a conversation Sloan and I had yesterday in the car as we drove past a cemetary:
Sloan: “Mommy, why does that garden have all those statues in it?”
Me: “Those are headstones. That’s a cemetary.”
Sloan: “What’s a cemetary?”
Me(starting to sweat a little at the thought of explaining this): “Well, when people die, we bury them in a cemetary, then put a headstone with their name on it so we know where they were buried.”
Sloan: “We bury them in the dirt?”
Me: “Yes.”
Sloan: “But I thought people went to heaven when they die.”
Me (really sweating now): “Well, if people know Jesus, they go to heaven. But their bodies stay here. You remember when Mr. John (our neighbor) died? He went to heaven but his body stayed here. (At this point I really began to hope that he didn’t need further explanation. How do you explain the spirit to a 4 year old?)
Sloan: “I don’t want to go to heavn.”
Me: “Oh, yes you do. Heaven is a wonderful place with streets of gold and angels…”
Sloan: “I don’t like angels!”
Me: “Angels are wonderful! They’re nice and they love God and love to sing praises to Him.”
Sloan: “Not the bad angels in the forest.”
Me: “Ummm…but we’re talking about angels in heaven.”
Sloan: “No, I want to talk about bears.”
Me: “Uh…okay.”
Thus ended a potential teachable moment and began a ten minute dialogue as to whether bears cry and what a bear cry sounds like. As you can see we must always be on our toes when talking with him!

I feel like an idiot

So we made our first trip to the ER for the year 2008. Awesome. We’re eating dinner tonight and Lee looks down at Landon and notices that he looks a little pale. A little? He looks like Casper with red hair! So, we both have a minor moment of panic. Lee picks him up and walks him around a little and the color returns to his face, but his hands are still pretty transluscent so we make the necessary all to the doctor. After describing the symptoms, the on call nurse recommends we go to the ER so we pack up our wheezing baby and head back out into the subzero night, this time driving through spitting snow. I hate winter…
Anyway – we get to the ER at Missouri Baptist, (which is a great place by the way, I highly recommend it) and they take his vitals. First, they tell us the kid weighs
10 lbs. 9 oz., which I’m not sure I believe since he hasn’t eaten more than two ounces at a time for four days now but whatever. Then they check his lungs. Was he wheezing? NO! The kid had nary a cough or rattle. We’re starting to feel foolish but we go with it. Then they put us in a room where they take his vitals yet again – he’s still fine. He’s even breathing through his nose, which he’s done little of these past few days. We feel even more foolish. When the doctor came in I found myelf sending out telepathic signals. Cough, Landon. Show them how sick you really are. It seems to work for a moment as he lets out a nasty, chesty wet cough and I feel momentarily vindicated. See, he is sick. But then he stops coughing and again starts breathing through his nose. They must hate people like us! Anyway, it is a praise because he tested negative for RSV and everything else looked fine, other than minor congestion, a nasty cough and a goopy eye. So, $75.00 later they tell us what we already knew…he has a bad cold. As we drive home, I swear I hear him giggling in the backseat. That’s right, my dear sweet boy. You made us look foolish. But, we will sleep better tonight knowing you’re well so I guess it wasn’t all that bad!

A letter of encouragement…to my body

Dear, ummm, me…
So I thought it was time to give you a little pep talk. I know I’ve been rough on you these last few years, what with the constant weight gain and loss and all that comes with pregnancy, but fear not. I won’t do that to you anymore. In return for that favor, however, I have a few favors to ask of you.
Let’s start with you, dear legs. Remember the days when you were fit and trim, when you could handle a brisk walk up a steep hill without screaming out in pain? Think back on those days and strive for that again, would ya? Now I must confess, I’ve never really cared for the upper half of you guys…you know, the thighs? But I’m willing to give you guys another chance if you’ll just help me out here. You guys shape up and I’ll quit complaining about you…fair?
Now, on to my stomach and my hips. Remember what it felt like to be flat, to slide into a pair of pants without having to be painfully sucked and tucked in? Let’s get back to that. Tell you what, I’ll do my part and try and eat foods that help you in that goal, if you’ll do your part and shrink. I’ve already started! I’m mean, I ate that nasty bowl of flax cereal this morning didn’t I? Okay, so I added a little sugar to it – I had to, though. I gotta keep the tongue happy! Anyway, I all want is for you guys to trim up. That’s all I ask. And I’ll just remind you that there is a wardrobe of pants hanging in the basement just waiting to be worn – and none of them have elastic waistbands! Oh yeah, and we will be wearing a bathing suit in a couple of months. You don’t want to be humiliated do you?
On to my arms. Is there any way you guys could tone up and not look quite so, uh, masculine? That’d be great.
Moving on to the chest. Riiiight. Since you’re probably the only part of my body that will immediately shrink back to pre-pregnancy size, there seems to be little I can really say. So, you know…whatever.
And you, dear chin. Could you tell your twin to take a hike? You know, the one who keeps popping up in photographs. That’s not cool.
To my face – listen, the chubby cheeks are adorable…on the baby. On you? Not so much so shape it up okay? And if you, my dear eyes, could quit looking so droopy and red, that’d be great. I realize you’re exhausted and are sorely lacking rest, but come one, buck up! Keep looking bright and shiny for me!
Finally, to the part of my brain that keeps sending out cravings for things like chocolate and cookies, please stop! Send out a craving for broccoli every once and awhile. Be satisfied and content with a salad and quit sabatoging (sp?) everyone else’s hard work!
So, there it is. You guys can do it. If we all work together and boldly march forward, each carrying within us the motto “Remember the Glory Days!” I know we can return to our once comfortable shape. It’s up to you all! I know you can do it!

Kelli
Oh yeah, and I need to throw this in. To my big toe, you know the one with only half a nail due to a most unfortunate incident invloving apple juice, a slippery floor and a table leg, could you please grow back and repair yourself before summer? No one wants to see you looking like that. Thanks.

Kid’s Say the Darndest Things…1

Last night some friends brought us dinner. Sloan asked what they brought and our friend kindly replied, “I brought you Enchiladas!” Sloan just furrowed his brow and looked concerned. After she left Sloan turned to us and said, “Can I eat something different because I don’t like to eat Chihuahuas.” Hee, hee, hee

The Plague is Upon Us!

Good grief. We were back at the pediatrician yesterday, this time for Landon. That’s 80 bucks in co-pays in just five days! Poor little guy has a terrible cold. Of course, yesterday when I took him, he was just congested but his lungs were fine. Today his nose seems a little better, but he has the most awful sounding cough. We are just praying that this clears up soon and doesn’t worsen into the dreaded RSV. The only advice the dr. had for us at this point was to sit in a steamy bathroom with him, which I did for about 40 minutes at 3:00 this morning. I guess it helped a little but he still seems pretty miserable. As long as his breathing remains regulated and his color stays pink we should be okay. So far so good in those areas…
I’m learning a lot right now about God’s perfect will and His Providence in our lives. I’m reading a great book called With God in Russia about a priest who was falsely imprisoned in the Soviet Union during World War II. He was an American priest who went over there to share God’s love with the Russians, but was ultimately accused of espionage. He spent 15 years in a Siberian labor camp before he was finally released and sent back to the United States. His attitude and recollections toward that time are amazing and convicting. But one thing he says over and over is that he relied on the knowledge that God had a purpose and a plan and that he was in that place for a reason and that reason was to bring glory to God. Even when he spent an entire year in solitary confinement, he looked for every opportunity to glorify God and spent hours a day in prayer and meditation. In light of that, my momentary trials seem pale. I am trying to spend more time today thinking about how I can glorify God in this situation and less about how I can feel sorry for myself and how tired I am. It’s 8:43 right now and so far I’ve had a pretty good attitude. We’ll see how I do at 5:00. That’s the true test! Anyway, that’s me this morning…

Tia Tales, Part One

Warning…The story I am about to post is gross…really, really gross.

So it was a fairly nice day today – chilly, but the sun was out, so I decided to take the kids on a walk. I got Tia all dressed and ready and sent her outside while I bundled Landon up and put him in the Baby Bjorn. When I came out, Tia was chewing on something and looking at me with that guilty look, which is never a good sign.

Assuming she was eating a piece of dog food (something she is prone to doing), I asked her to spit it out in my hand. When she did, I almost threw up. It was not a piece of dog food, but was, in fact, Landon’s umbilical cord, which must have fallen out of the garbage can.

Ewwwww…I am gagging even typing this out. Sometimes I wonder how children survive childhood!

Bandwagon here I come!!!

So, I must admit I’ve never fully understood the concept of blogging. Is it a journal? Is it a brag site? What am I supposed to do here? But, I must admit, I’ve become intrigued after reading the blogs of several friends and so here I go…I’m jumping on the blog bandwagon. I like the idea of family and friends being able to access our crazy world and take a peek into our life. The kids are growing so fast and changing everyday. I’m afraid if I don’t start documenting it, then I will forget and these days will be lost forever.

So I guess I’ll just dive right in…Things are crazy here. Three kids is definately intense. Of course they are each precious and wonderful, but they will wear you out. Lee was out of town for five days – he just got home today. Why is it that he always has to go to national sales meetings just days after we have a baby? I did survive the time, but only thanks to my mom. Had she not been here, either I or one of the children may not have made it! Of course as soon as he left Sloan got sick, which meant we were pretty much house bound. With Sloan sick and not sleeping well, and Landon not sleeply hardly at all, it was crazy. My mom ended up pulling a couple of all nighters so that I could rest, bless her heart. All in all, though, I was pretty darn proud of myself for making it through this week. But I am beyond relieved that Lee is now home. Life is much easier when daddy is around.

Tia has decided to start trying to talk this week! Since she’ll be 2 in a couple of weeks, it’s about time! But I think in the last few days she has added four words to her very limited vocabulary! She also decided that today would be the day that she starts climbing out of her crib. All of the sudden I heard a knocking on her door this afternoon and there she stood, lovies in hand, grinning proudly – little stinker. I was not ready for this and am praying that it doesn’t become a problem. She’s my good sleeper so I don’t want anything to affect that! We’ll see what happens. I’m not ready to switch her to a big girl bed!

Landon is precious, but he is not a good sleeper. I think he’s got stomach issues. He is so loud at night. He grunts and groans like he’s going to explode. It’s really astounding the sounds that he can make. I keep reminding myself that he is only three weeks old and I can’t expect too much. So we’re hanging in there. It’s a season and it’s short, though right now it seems so long.

And then there’s Sloan who is four and a half and is full of it! He is so funny and fun…and sassy. As I was typing this very sentence, he came running out of his bedroom (he’s supposed to be asleep) to tell me a story abouta dinosaur that came out of a volcano and stepped on all the cars. This is his favorite story to tell. I hear it daily..multiple times. He loves preschool and has been so bummed the last couple of days to not be able to go. He told me this morning that if I let him go to school he promised not to breath on anyone. He then pursed his lips together to show me how he wouldn’t cough or sneeze. But he couldn’t breathe through his nose and had to open his mouth to catch a breath. Hopefully tomorrow he can go!

So this is it. My first blog. It wasn’t so bad…We’ll see if I can keep up with it!