My, my--milestones!

I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen--and now it has! For quite some time, Judah has been sort of Army-crawling, on his belly, as if he's wriggling under barbed wire in enemy territory. (Already, he has an active imagination!) But he moves so quickly using this method, he didn't seem to have any inclination to get his belly up off the floor, even when I supported it or lifted him up with his overall straps. Generally speaking, he fussed and whined until I set him back down on the floor, where he'd continue to evade the enemy's snares (Already a theologian!). I have been more than ready for him to start crawling for quite some time now.

I even asked the pediatrician if it was anything to be concerned about. I have heard that there's a link between crawling and reading--that crawling develops the reading part of the brain, so if that crawling milestone isn't met, the child may have difficulty reading down the road. Well, hello--I was an English major (though the grammar and syntax in this blog may suggest otherwise). I will do everything in my power to help my kids love reading, even if it means intensive crawl-training. The pediatrician said that he wasn't familiar with that link (but I swear I've heard it multiple times from several different sources, and I believe it to be true), and said that I shouldn't worry.

Judah is also an adept sitter, but only achieves a seated position with assistance or from a standing position. He has never crawled into a sit, or pushed himself off the ground to sit. Again, I've been trying to teach him this, but to no avail.

But look at those pictures! Last Wednesday was the first time he crawled with his belly off the floor--but it was only about two strides, and he hadn't done it since, until this morning! He crawled enough that I was able to get the camera and take some pictures, and then he finished with his dismount: a reverse half-somersault in the tuck position for a perfectly stuck butt landing! While he was diaper-clad, he was a crawling fiend! When I put clothes on him, I think he found them a bit too slippery to support him, and his knees kept sliding out from under him. Even so, I'm calling it: as of today, Judah is officially a crawler! Yippee!

Climb Time and Water Wonders

I wanted to give you a couple of snapshots of the kids. This first one is my illustration of the fact that Judah can now climb stairs without any assistance. On this day, I followed him at a small distance taking pictures, just to document it. [My brother bemoans the fact that my parents' picture-taking--or perhaps just picture developing--habits dropped off significantly between their first and second child, so I want to make sure my son won't have the same thing to whine about. :) ] Anyway, I digress. So there I was, snapping away, holding steady as Judah kept advancing. It finally occurred to me that if he should fall, I was too far away to do anything, so I moved closer. About 10 seconds after this picture was taken (and you'll note that he's at the top of the stairs), he looked back over his shoulder, and his body followed. He tumbled down about four stairs before I caught him mid-air and upside-down. He was a little shaken, but otherwise fine, and I was thankful the Holy Spirit had moved me to move closer!

These next two pictures were taken when we went swimming with Yia-Yia and Auntie M. They are a good illustration of the kids' differing responses to water. You'll see that Judah doesn't hold on at all--indeed, he gives the impression that if you'd only let go, he'd swim away. He splashes and laughs and just generally seems to be having the time of his life. I wish we could take him swimming more often, if only to encourage this kind of joy.

Charis, on the other hand, loves water where she can touch the bottom--like in a bathtub or kiddie pool. But get her in water more than 3 feet deep, and she keeps a death-grip on whomever is holding her. If you let her go, I think she'd panic. No, check that--if you let her go, she panics a lot. I suppose she does warm up to the idea somwehat the longer she's in the water, but she's still very timid. I have a feeling that swimming lessons will be very important for her.

It's yet another illustration of how every kid is unique--here we have two kids with the same parents, growing up in the same house, but in regard to water and swimming, they are polar opposites. It's such a joy to see how God has made them to be individuals, and wonderful to be able to encourage their uniqueness. I know that at their tender ages, my kids have only just begun to reveal to us who they are, and that makes me look ahead with anticipation to knowing them more and more fully.

Literally ogling the goodies

I meant to put these photos on the "Post-Christmas Christmas Post," but lost them for some reason...but I just think Charis is too cute here, greedily eyeing the feast. These are the leftovers from Christmas lunch, set out for people to much on for dinner--not that any of us needed it--and it is amazing to me that there was this much left!
Charis mostly ended up eating bread and grapes, and she paid for it with a doozy of a diaper rash. It actually woke her up that night, and she was crying so hysterically that it woke everyone in the house up (except Judah--go figure). We've figured out now that grapes and grape juice are verboten to her. Poor girl. They're only her favorite food in the world.

Shhhhh.....

Charis has a cute new habit, though I try not to encourage it... sometimes, she just doesn't want to hear me talk. Either I've said the same thing over and over ("Charis, pick up the blocks. Charis! Blocks, please! Charis! I just stepped on a block!"), or I'm telling her something she doesn't want to hear ("No, you can't have gummy bears for breakfast."). It is at those times that she will look me square in the eye and say in her loudest whisper voice, "SHHHHHHHHHHHH! Brother's SLEEPING!" Even if he's, say, fully awake and sitting on my lap. I'm not sure who she thinks she's fooling...

She has also taken to calling Judah "Bub." As in, "WAKE UP, BUB! WE'RE HOME!"

Judah has discovered he loves eating yogurt. And graham crackers. And pretzels. And cheerios. And shredded mozzarella cheese. And floor lint.

Man, I love those kids. Tonight, I got away for a couple of hours to go see Moriah play volleyball, and the kids stayed home with Abe. While it was nice getting out, and while I sure didn't break the speed limit getting home, it is always amazing to hug your kids after you've been away. That's the best part about being gone--the coming back.

...And a little Christmas rant to go with it...

I frequently exchange emails with a group of friends from college days, known as The Bank Girls (we lived in what was formerly a bank). When we have a lapse in emails, someone will initiate another string so we can get caught up. This is a copy of an email I sent in response to one of those emails. My friend had asked us all to tell about our favorite memory from this past Christmas, and also a favorite gift we or our kids received...

"hey, all! it has been a while. well, i thought a lot about these questions, and they were actually hard for me to answer right away, which i think is a sign that we haven't developed any super traditions yet, but here is what i came up with:

Favorite Memory: I am divided between two: 1)the evening the week before Christmas when we bundled up and took the kids to a park downtown that is all set up with lights and stuff. There are these candy cane lanes where you can walk underneath arches of giant candy canes, all lit up, and there's a light fountain, and a (close to) life-size manger scene ("Look! God!" Charis said, and proceeded to ride on the sheep, saying "yee haw!"), and then after that, we walked a bit more downtown and then went to our favorite coffee shop for hot chocolate and coffee (for us). My other favorite memory is 2)when we celebrated Christmas, just the four of us, which we didn't get to do until New Year's day. I counted up all the different times we "celebrate" with different parts of the family and the kids open presents, and it came to 6!--6 times they are bringing home more stuff. It's a little bit ridiculous. But for all of the times I watched them open gifts, it was the best and most memorable whan we were at our own home, and I made breakfast quiche and bacon and our traditional Christmas Morning sicky rolls, and we made a big huge mess of paper and toy parts. I liked it best because it was ours.

Favorite gift: I pretty much got one gift (and a few stocking stuffers)from Abe, and it was a DVD-Recorder, and I'm pretty psyched about it. I have for a long time hated our vcr recording quality, so this will be nice. We also got a few "gifts to us--" a great speaker system for our computer, and also a new stereo for our car. I feel incredibly technological. I should also mention that I'd asked for 3x5 recipe cards from Moriah, and she MADE them for me--hand decorated every single one. The best things the kids got...hmm...Judah got a blanket from Abe's sister-in-law Lindsay. One side is flannel, and the other side is fleece, and she hand-binds them with a running blanket stitch. She made one for Charis when she was tiny, and it is Charis' favorite. I was sooo hoping that she'd make one for Judah! You know, they will last forever, and they mean so much more than something purchased. Charis got...a truckload of toys. Nothing fantastically special, I'm afraid, except a bear/blanket thing that my mom made for her to cuddle with. I mean, she made the bear and everything. I wouldn't even know the first place to start. I guess I love those homemade things because most of the other stuff will end up as garage sale fodder at some point, but I know those handmade gifts will be things to cherish. Of the toys the kids got, I'd say my favorites are the ones that aren't battery-operated. :) Blocks, toy trucks, a doll that wets, a doctor kit, puzzles, books...

The more I get into being a parent at Christmas, the more ridiculous the whole thing seems, with the presents. Especially between adults--we did a gift exchange with Abe's immediate family, and decided on a spending limit, and then all pretty much got stuff off of the other people's wish lists. It was definitely cheaper than buying for everybody, but it later struck me: if we all spent the same amount, and didn't actually have to think about getting something meaningful or special, all it means is that we went shopping for each other, which we're all perfectly capable of doing by ourselves. So what does it mean? Why do we do it? Gift cards are the worst--they say, "I have no idea what you want, so you get it...but you can only get it at this one store." It's a half-step away from handing someone a check. Don't get me wrong, I still give gift cards on occasion (and received some pretty handy ones this year), particularly to family members I don't see often and therefore don't know very well, so I am speaking to myself as well.

Here's what I think Christmas should be:

...Traditions of doing things together as a family--memories, not things, are the true treasures of Christmas.
...Giving each other gifts that cost more than money, gifts that cost time and effort and thought--that probably means fewer gifts, but I think that should be okay.
...Getting together with family and just enjoying one another's company, not necessarily centering around the tree celebrating commercialism.
...Enjoying the simple things: baking Christmas treats for people, singing carols, decorating the tree, watching White Christmas or The Grinch or It's Christmas, Charlie Brown...
...Doing for others--caroling, picking out a couple of toys for "Toys for Tots", or picking out coats for "Coats for Kids", or shopping together for a box for Angel Tree. I am hoping some of these things will replace the marathon gift-opening sessions we now have.
...Celebrating the true reason for the season. Our nativity scene is a lovely ceramic set hand-painted for us by a family friend, and it's beautiful and very breakable, so I put it up, and I put it up HIGH, away from little fingers. But I would love to have a plastic one that we could set up as a family, and maybe read the Nativity Story from Luke 2. What if my kids grow up believing that Christmas is about presents? That will be a true shame. I do think we should celebrate Christ all year, but Christmas gives us a chance to focus on His birth, and what that meant for the world, which is what life is all about.

There is is. I'll get off my soapbox now. I want to note that these are things I aspire to--definitely not things we currently do. I just spent a lot of time "doing" Christmas this year, and the fact that it took a while to think about my favorite parts of it made me realize that it was all a blur, and I don't want my kids to have blurry memories of Christmas. I don't want to have blurry memories of my kids' Christmases."

Now, if you read my previous post, you will realize that I didn't think our Christmas(es) were bad--but where we are now, standing at the crossroads of our own childhood traditions and making new ones for our kids, has really put this on my mind a lot. I want my kids to look back and remember the important stuff about Christmas. Several of my Bank friends chimed in with great ideas and their own family traditions--the Fisher Price Little People Nativity Set was a recurring one, and I love it--but I always love to hear about others' traditions. If you've got a good one, let me know!

Post-Christmas Christmas Post

Well, once again, we've done all of the shopping and the decorating and the visiting that the Christmas season entails, and I wanted to jot down a few highlights. . .

First of all, if there was one word I'd use to sum up this season, it would be busy. All tolled, we celebrated Christmas 6 times, with different cross-sections of our families. It is always so nice to see family you haven't seen in a while (in some cases, last Christmas), and the yummy food that usually accompanies the visiting is a nice bonus (even if it does mean our clothes don't fit until February).

This year, our first celebration was on Christmas Eve Eve with Abe's immediate family. That one is always a fun time, mostly because there are four children--Charis, Judah, Gideon, and Elise--to watch and enjoy. Charis (age 2.5) and Gideon (nearly 2) are at the stage where every present is theirs--and even if it isn't, they unwrap it anyway. Judah and Elise don't seem to mind. Pardon me if I think the kids typically enjoy the unwrapping more than the actual present. The first picture above is Charis and Gideon enjoying Uncle Jed's wild ride in Great-Grandma's walker. Charis is a little bit of a drama queen, as you can clearly see. Judah is pulling himself up to stand and cruise along furniture quite a bit these days, so it was particularly fun to be able to let him go and explore. We don't usually have the chance to celebrate with Abe's family so close to Christmas--or on a weekend, for that matter, so it was great to be able to do a Christmas breakfast (complete with the traditional sticky rolls, of course) and spend a long day playing with the kids, watching White Christmas, and making good use of all of our gifts.

A few days later, we headed to my parents' house to celebrate the second and third Christmases with my side of the family. I love this particular picture because c'mon--Judah looks a little bit sauced, Charis looks...um, frightened? surprised? and Grandma just looks happy to see her grandkids. Christmas was very full--breakfast in the morning with Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Aunt Connie, followed by the first (and LARGEST EVER) round of present-opening of the day. Charis and Judah got lots of neat stuff and were, of course, spoiled. With Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Aunt Connie living so far away and getting this yearly opportunity to lavish gifts upon the munchkins, the kids didn't have a fighting chance! Charis had her fill of paper-ripping. But then, it was on to Charis and Judah's Great-Great Aunt Gee's house to visit with my mom's extended family and gorge ourselves on delicious food...and of course, open more presents!

Our fourth Christmas celebration was with Abe's mom's extended family, on New Year's Eve Eve. We gathered at his grandma's assisted living home, in a huge room perfect for the little kids to run around in. There are five kids under six, and a seven- and nine-year-old, so room to run is imperative. We did a sort of potluck with sandwiches and lots of dishes to pass--everyone went home with lots of leftovers, as usual. And again, the kids got lots of presents. Charis' favorite seemed to be a chunky kids' version of a barrel of monkeys--ah, the simple things in life.


In the middle there, we went to a New Year's party with our friends Tim and Tanya and Jake and Julia, and all of their kids, and it was great fun. The kids are actually getting old enough to play with each other, which left time for the adults to play a hilarious game of Balderdash. What a luxury!

(This picture of Judah with a Cheerio stuck to his lip has nothing to do with Christmas, but I just get a kick out of it. If you must know, it was firmly attached with some nose goo, and stayed put for quite some time. He never even seemed to notice...)

The fifth Christmas celebration was no less raucous or gluttonous, but thankfully resulted in fewer gifts for us to find homes for. It was with Abe's dad's extended family. The kids mostly received money or gift cards, so we'll get to decide what to use them on. The highlight of the event was something that has become an annual occurrence--the Great Paper Toss. This involves the adults chucking wads of paper at a ceiling fan set on high. It started last year when my husband casually tossed a crumpled piece of tissue at the fan, and everyone was apparently thrilled with the result (We are a simple people.). Now, it's a new tradition. Some things you just can't make up.

The sixth celebration was--finally--our own. We didn't get to do it until New Year's day, which I hope will not always be the case. Abe went hunting in the morning, but when he returned at about 11:30, we pretended it was the first thing in the morning and had breakfast and opened the presents. The kids are still so little that we haven't really come up with (yet) what will constitute a "traditional" Christmas for us. But I really do think that this was my favorite celebration of all. Not that we don't enjoy celebrating with our extended family; we do. But there's something about sitting in your home, in your pajamas, opening gifts and having fun with your kids...it's just pretty cool.

I know this was not the most entertaining post, and I promise you that I will have more posts soon with funny kid stories, but I knew if I didn't get this down soon, it'd be gone.

I hope your Christmases were a blessing to you as ours was to us!

Well, we tried...

This past weekend, my parents came to visit. Right before they left, they said, "Hey! Let's get a family picture of you guys in front of the tree! One, two, three, CHEESE!"














"Okay, let's try that again: One, two, three, CHEESE!"















"Well, third time's a charm! One, two, three, CHEESE!"
















"Okay! Tough crowd! One, two, three, CHEESE!"


"We'll try again on Christmas."

Concolor Fir

This is our fam last Sunday afternoon in front of the Christmas tree Abe felled for us.

We went with Yia Yia and Papa and Auntie M and Aunt Beth and Uncle Tim and Gideon and Elise (whew!) on our annual pilgrimage to the tree farm. Yes, those are plastic bags on Charis' feet--she had no boots at the time due to her parents' woeful lack of planning.

That situation has since been remedied.

Here's Charis helping Daddy carry the tree.

...and also plotting a snowball attack.

Here's Judah trying to stay warm (if not exactly fashionable).

...and also curing forever his case of the munchies.

(We still don't know where Charis found that paci.)

Warming the Cockles of My Heart

Last night, we sat at the table for dinner--a rare occurrence in our home, indeed. We instructed Charis to fold her hands and close her eyes so we could pray, and she was definitely not in a cooperative mood. In general, it dawned on me, she is not overly excited to pray, even when I explain to her that it's our chance to talk directly to God. We pray before bed every night, but it's usually me praying while she's arranging blankets or something.

"Why doesn't she like to pray?" I asked Abe anxiously. Perhaps she's already rejecting the faith? At such a young age?

Abe looked at me and said drily, "She's only two."

Still.

So tonight, Abe put her to bed with stories and whatnot, but she requested (as she always does in these instances) that I lay down with her after he was done. ("Mommy, bed!") So I did. We hid under the blanket, we sang "Head, Shoulders...", and I got up to leave.

"Mommy, BAY!"

"Bay?" I asked.

"No, BAY!!!"

"Pay?"

"BAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Pray?"

She nodded. "Yeah, pay." So we prayed. She had us get on our knees, then sit on the pillow together, and she held my arm while we prayed.

And she's only two.

...A Very Good Place to Start

You know when you haven't talked with a friend in such a long time you actually put off calling them because there's just too much to say? You know the phonecall would be easily six or seven hours long before you were all caught up, so you put it off, and put it off, and put it off, until you realize that something's got to give. So you suck it up and call, and hope you cover everything...

That's where I am now.

How can I possibly write down all of the things that have happened in the past couple of months without creating a terrifically long and boring blog? But I must suck it up and begin.

Truth be told, I created this blog mostly for my mom. It's hard being a grandmother living several hundred miles away from your precious grandchildren. After that, I created it as sort of a journal for my kids--so that one day, they will be able to read a bit about their formative years. After that, well, I guess it's just about putting it out there. And whoever wants to read it will, I suppose. And whoever doesn't want to, won't. So this blog promises to be lengthy; I know my mom will read it, and someday, my kids will. As for the rest of you, you're under no obligation. But here goes...

Judah

Judah is growing...fast! He is somewhere in the neigborhood of 20 lbs.. To put that in perspective, Charis was 19 lbs. 4 oz. at her 1-year check-up. Judah isn't even 9 months old yet. He's sleeping much better, which is to say that on a normal night, he sleeps from about 9 pm 'til 6 am or so. He has developed the new trick of self-soothing, which was heretofore an unknown concept to him. I am a huge fan. Of course, we still have rough nights occasionally--especially the night we arrived at Andrew and Beth's house. The poor little fella (that is to say, Judah--not Andrew) was so stuffed up, he couldn't breathe through his nose at all--which meant that he really couldn't nurse, and he really couldn't sleep on his tummy, so Judah and I spent the night--most of it awake--sitting on the couch together, dozing on and off. Yes, that night was the roughest.

But as I say, things have improved significantly, probably because his intake of solid foods has SKYROCKETED. I mean, the kid can seriously put down some FOOD. He looks like a little miniature linebacker. Applesauce and oatmeal is his go-to meal--I think he would eat just about as much of it as you'd care to toss down his gullet. Frankly, of the usual meals of peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, bananas, or pears, I don't think there's a thing he doesn't like. He has also begun experimenting with Cheerios and star puffs and the occasional stiff bread crust. His pincer grasp is really coming along, so more and more things are actually making it to his mouth.

As far as physical milestones go, he is light years ahead of my last post in September. He rolls over with great ease now, so no more getting stuck like a turtle in the middle of the night. He's also sitting up--without tipping! Seriously, it is as if one day he woke up and decided to show us his new tricks. He is also creeping--if you can imagine an Army guy crawling under barbed wire, you can picture Judah creeping. He really does get around lightning-fast for a creeper. I'm still trying to persuade him to get his belly up and off the floor, but he is not quite interested.

A couple of things he is interested in are:
1) Swimming. We've taken him to a pool a couple of times, and he kicks and flails so much you'd almost believe that if you let go, he'd swim away. He laughs and splashes and just generally loves it.
2) Ditto for baths. Where Charis has a definite aversion to getting water in her face, Judah seems to enjoy it. Go figure. We very often give them baths together these days--it's just quicker--and Charis likes to dump water on Judah. Good thing he likes it!
3) Charis. He thinks she's quite funny. Last night, the two of them were on the couch hiding under a blanket, and we could hear Judah cackling away.
4)The Johnny Jump-Up. Charis mostly dangled in it when she was a baby, but Judah has springs for legs and actually jumps up in it. It is especially handy when I am trying to clean up in the kitchen--he can bounce while I work. Though, the other day, Charis decided to push Judah as if he were in a swing, which he of course loved...until his head smacked into the door jamb. It was all downhill from there.
5)Power cords. If childhood fascinations are any sort of indication of a future profession, Judah will be an electrician. He is drawn to outlets like a moth to a flame, much to our chagrin. We've actually taught Charis how to tug on his feet to remove him from a dangerous power cord situation, and we have random things strategically placed in front of all outlets to try to discurage his interest, but he has established object permanence, so he still knows they're there.


Charis

What a little actress! You never have to guess what Charis is feeling--she shows it at every minute of the day. When she is happy, she is the smilingest little girl you've ever seen. This morning, I caught her standing in front of the Christmas tree gazing at her distorted image in a glass ornament and cracking up. And yesterday, I taught her the "Don't Smile" game: she puts on a grumpy face and I say, "Oh! So grumpy! You'd just better not smile!" And goodness, she tries...but cannot contain it. She practically erupts with laughter. Do this a few dozen times, and she never even makes it to the first grumpy face.

When she's sad, though, you know it. If we reprimand her, she slumps her little shoulders forward and hangs her head--the same expression you might expect from an over-acting mime.

But usually, she's the life of the party. This week, we had the opportunity to get together with an old college friend of mine and her husband, who are home on furlough from Hungary. We went to Panera, and I promise you she visited every single person in the restaurant. At one point, exhausted from the chase, Abe and I were gathering up stuff to leave and getting Judah bundled, and I turned around to see Charis had actually climbed into a booth to visit with a lady. Our shy little girl was standing on the seat, leaning across the table saying "Hi!" when I scooped her up and carried her out to the car.

She has a couple of favorite sayings: one is "Oh, Okay, Mom." That is my favorite. But the other night, Abe and I were both putting her to bed when she must have done or said something hilarious. Abe chuckled and said, "Oh, crap." To which Charis replied, "OH, RAP!!!" He has become a lot more careful lately. But the best thing she says--hands down--is "I love you." The first time I figured out that's what she was saying, she was hugging Judah, and said, "Love you, doo-dah." What a way to melt a mom's heart. "Wuv OO! Mom!"

At bedtime, we usually read two books, but if it is late, we only read one. The other night, though, I told her, "Only one book tonight. It's late."

She shook her head, held out two fingers and said, "No. Two books."

"One book," I said.

She shook her head, grabbed a handful of books and declared emphatically, "TWO!"

She also loves to sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes," "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," and "My God is so BIG." She can count to ten (most of the time--sometimes it's "seven, eight, seven!"). She now knows hundreds of words. One of my particular favorites is banana--which she refers to as "mynana." She can also finally say Judah, though it has a distinct "doo-dah" quality to it. She also assigns ownership to things, like "My church, mama's car, daddy's truck, mama's house, Yia-Yia's house, Beth's house".

Well, that's all for now. I know there's more, but isn't that the beauty of blogs? And of children?



And once you've talked with your friend, after long last, you hang up the phone and think, Why was I so worried? That was fun.

Did you miss us?

Well, after much ado, we're back online, and I'm WAAAAYYY behind. We've been without internet since the beginning of October, and it's a long and boring story why it took so long to get connected, but suffice it to say it was the type of situation where they tell you, "Hey...this week. For sure." --and you just roll your eyes and say something like, "I'll believe it when I see it." So I've had to go to the library to do things like, you know, pay bills, and with a 30 minute limit at the local library, not much else gets accomplished. So anyway. Not that you should wait with bated breath, but I do have updates and anecdotes to share about the kids... to come.

A quick tidbit:
On a recent trip, we had the opportunity to stop in at IKEA. Yay for us! Anyway. Charis was in one cart and Judah was in another, and some cute little old ladies approached Judah in a "Oh, how cute!" kind of way. You know, sort of the pinch-the-cheeks kind of approach. Charis, a few feet away, all of the sudden got very serious and pointed both fingers at the ladies and said in her most authoritative voice, punctuating each word with a wag of the fingers: "Don't touch, guys! Guys! Don't touch!" Very protective of her little brother, our little miss muffett.

To come: Why Judah wants to be an electrician and Why Charis had occasion to use the word rap.

A Little Perspective

Thank you to April, Katie, and Charity; and also to my friend Shea, who didn't comment on the blog but, as a mother of a 7 month old herself, offered a lot of support over the phone; and also to my sister-in-law, Beth, who, as a mother of a 17 month old and a 3 week old is also not sleeping, but who sympathized nonetheless: all of you have been so helpful and most importantly, encouraging.

April, I tried feeding Judah as per your instructions yesterday--I even sent along a jar of baby food with Judah to the church nursery. I also set up the pack n play in our room last night. I am very sad to say that it didn't go well. Believe you me, I wish it had. I had such high hopes when we climbed into bed last night, but Judah was up to his old tricks, and it was another bad night. I have spent the better portion of the day trying not to break into tears out of sheer exhaustion. I made a vow with myself this morning not to do a stitch of housework, and I have stuck to it! It was especially encouraging to have the reminder of how long this lasts--Ruby is such a little girl, in the blink of an eye. It is so good to have you on my side.

Katie, you haven't crossed the mother threshold yet, but you know more than you think. It was good and right and kind of you to offer the glass-half-full perspective; children are a blessing, even at 1, 3, and 6am. I really have no right to complain, given the alternative. If I have to get up and cuddle someone several times a night, it may as well be my beautiful little boy, right? If I could only view it as a God-given opportunity to hold my son, I'd be better off; I know that all too soon, he will be too cool to let me do that anymore, and I will long for him to awaken me at 3 am just to be held and fed.

Charity, I don't even really know you, and yet, from reading your blog and from reading your comments on mine, I feel instinctively that if I lived near you, we'd be friends. Thanks for being the voice of permission to do whatever it takes--I forget sometimes that when the kids change the rules on us, often we must choose to do whatever we can to survive. Even give them Benadryl--the real smile is that you weren't the only one to suggest that! I plan to give the cry-it-out approach another go. It worked well with my Charis (perhaps too well). The complicating factor is the rolling over. If I figure out how to clear that hurdle, I have no problem whatsoever letting Judah go for a while.

Shea, you are so sweet, and so good for telling my own advice back to me, including your own, and also giving me permission to use any means necessary. It is so good to have a sister in Christ alongside me who is fighting the same fight at the same time! I have come to feel very close with you through experiencing pregnancy, birth, and motherhood along the same timetable. Thanks for hashing it out with me so many times you probably think to yourself "ENOUGH ALREADY!" You are a very gracious friend. I look forward to our baby food making day!

And Beth, you are one of my most cherished people in life, and it is just a small bonus that we are also related, so even when you tire of me and my whining, you will still have to be my friend at family functions. As it becomes increasingly difficult to get together for lunch and not make a scene, I increase in joy at the thought of our phone chats. You are a treasure to me--and thank you also for your advice and encouragement.


Last night, after the 2 am feeding, I couldn't get back to sleep. We'd rehearsed and reahearsed one particular song in choir last night, and it in my head. Don't you hate when you've got something stuck there, and you just keep singing it over and over and can't seem to break free of its clutches? Well, last night, I purposed to use it for my advantage, figuring that God had put that song there for a reason, so I should figure out what that reason was. Here are the some of the lyrics to "Sing and Be Not Silent":

He comes with joy to greet the morning
He gives us hope for each new day
Give thanks, remembering His holiness
Give thanks to Him with songs of praise...

Quick: can anyone count how many things in that song are contrary to what I've been doing? Um...all of them. I have never greeted the morning with joy. Lately, I have lost hope for each new day. I grumble about my "hardships" instead of remembering His holiness, and I definitely don't sing songs of praise to Him when I have to wake up...again.

Yes, I am fantastically exhausted today, but I have been truly enjoying my children to my fullest capacity, and thanking God for His blessings. Perhaps today's efforts will result in a solid night of sleep and allow me joy to greet the morning...I certainly hope so.

I Am Graying Prematurely

Well, I am about to my end. I hardly ever do this, but...I am asking for advice. How on earth can I persuade my precious son to sleep through the night? He HAS done it, at various times, so I know that he is capable. And yet he chooses to torture me. I am turning old before my very eyes. I feel exhausted and decrepit.

Seriously, I do not think he is sleeping enough--every night, he is up 3 or 4 times, and during the day, I am fortunate if he'll nap for longer than an hour, or take more than one nap. I am still hanging in, but by the barest thread.

I do not like to be angry with my infant son, but at 5 am, when he has already been awake twice, anger is the emotion closest at hand. It is hard, in fact, not to take it personally.

In light of these difficulties, I am proposing a contest. You give me your suggestions for better sleep for Judah and/or explain why he is not sleeping well. I will sort through these suggestions and explanations, and if yours ends up solving the problem, you will win a FABULOUS PRIZE! I am not sure what it will be. Maybe a weekend visit from Judah, maybe a few dozen cookies, maybe an '87 Buick. I don't know.

Let me mention some causes I have already considered:

1. Perhaps it is a growth spurt. I know such things happen at 6 months, and that's where he is. But how long can he...spurt?
2. Perhaps he is cutting teeth. Of course, he has popped four teeth through in the last month (another reason for the LOOOONNNGG stretch of sleeplessness), so that seems unlikely.
3. Perhaps he is not eating well during the daytime hours. He eats every three hours or so, and we've also started giving him solid foods once a day, so that also seems unlikely.
4. Perhaps he needs a crash course (no pun intended) on rolling over. More than once, he has woken himself up by rolling over and then getting stuck like a turtle on its back. He does not like being on his back. And believe me, I try to get him to like it--he just refuses.
5. Perhaps he just misses my company. The other night, he slept in the Pack'n'Play in our room because Moriah was spending the night, and he slept like a rock until about 4:45 am, when he (of course) rolled over and woke up. I flipped him back over, and he was off to dreamland until about 7 am, when the alarm went off. Did sleeping in such close proximity to me fulfill some sort of need? The desperate part of me chooses to believe so.

That's all. Let the games begin.

Cutie Charis

A couple of quick anecdotes.
1) The other day, Charis found a bottle of nail polish and brought it to Abe, who was sitting on the couch. "Toes, please?" Charis said. Abe shrugged. "What the heck?" So Abe painted her toenails. And while that's plenty cute, it gets better--Abe was blowing on her toes to speed along the process, and when he would stop, she would nod slightly, as if to say I'll take it from here, and blow on her own toes. It was darn cute.

2)On the same day, I took Charis upstairs to go to bed. Before we could start into our bedtime routine, Charis took the baby doll she was carrying and placed it in the baby cradle. "'Night, baby," she said, and proceeded to cover this tiny baby with a double-size thermal blanket. Then, after she had covered the baby, she cocked her head to the side, looked down at the doll, and said, as if responding to a request, "Book?" She walked over to the bookshelf and picked a small book out, carried it over tothe cradle, took the doll out, and sat it on her lap and proceeded to "read" the story to her. I just sat down on the floor behind her and watched. When she was done, she tucked the baby back in bed, and then Charis and I repeated the procedure all over again.

Elise

Elise Adele

3/4 of the happy family

not elise, but still cute.

The Good Stuff

I have so much to blog, and no time to blog it--which is why you haven't heard from me in a while. But now, I'm so far behind, I have no hope for catching up. So this blog will not be poetic in any way, and probably not particularly well-written, but hopefully it will serve to chronicle for you--and for us--The Good Stuff.

1) Abe's brother got married on Labor Day weekend. Let's see--quiet wedding ceremony, three children under 3...not a good mix. I spent the better portion of the ceremony with the three munchkins, Charis, Gideon, and Judah, as far out of earshot as I could get. It was an outdoor ceremony--what a beautiful and perfect day to get married, and at a historic grain mill, to boot--so it was more than a matter of removing them from the sanctuary, it involved herding them as far away from the festivities as possible. Highlights of the day definitely included dancing with the kids and watching the kids boogie by themselves on the dance floor. If I can find a picture of Charis and Gideon dancing, I will post it--unfortunately, I think we were all laughing too hard to even think of grabbing a camera. But here's a cute picture of Charis and her Dad.

2) This past weekend, we had a potluck for the choir, orchestra, and their families. Not everyone attended, and still, we had over 200 people. It was the standard break down: A-H, bring a main dish;I-P, bring a salad; Q-z, bring a dessert, that sort of thing. Anywho. I brought a Greek Salad, with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, and a lemon/garlic/olive oil dressing. Most of which Abe can't stand. On account of the fact that Abe won't touch the stuff, I rarely get a chance to make it, so this was my golden opportunity to enjoy it but not have to eat the whole thing by myself. Well, I got some bad potluck real estate. That is, my salad was at the very end of the salads, right before the desserts, so people had long run out of room on their tiny plates before they got to me. Mine, and the half-dozen salads around me, had more than half of its contents left. So I took it home, and popped it into the fridge. Later on, Charis had disappeared into the kitchen and was being a little bit too quiet, so I went in to investigate. She had the fridge open and had put the salad bowl on the floor in front of it and was gorging herself on Greek Salad. So I grabbed two forks, lay down on the floor next to her, and the two of us proceeded to polish off the rest of the salad. While laying on the floor. In front of the open refrigerator. I think that is one of my favorite Charis and Mommy memories so far.

3) I have a Good Stuff Judah memory to share, but I can't remember what it is right now, so when I do, I will edit this post and put it in place of this disclaimer. In the meantime, he is almost sitting up on his own, and very nearly rolling over from back to tummy, and is also cutting more teeth. AND he is in 6-9 month clothes already, 'cause he's TALL. And in moments of the Din of Toddlerhood, he is my refuge in the storm. Quiet, smiley, and an easy laugher. Great kid! What a blessing.

4) And the biggest news of all: we have a new niece! It was all so sudden! Tim and Beth were almost through all of the steps of the Adoption process. The last thing to do was to create a profile to present to possible birth families to aid them in selection of an adoptive family for their child. Well, crafting the first profile took us forever and a day (and a half) to complete, so were were not particularly looking forward to doing it again, but were ready to start this week. Only, Beth got a call on Friday afternoon that a baby had been born that morning and that they'd been selected to have her--so in the span of a phonecall, Tim and Beth went from parents to one, to parents of TWO. Just like that! Without so much as a profile! Yay! They drove out immediately to meet her, and brought her home the next afternoon. It took a while for them to select a name, as they hadn't even been considering one yet, but yesterday, they landed on Elise Adele. She is a beautiful, healthy baby. She still has that newborn scrawniness, but what she lacks in body fat, she makes up for in cheeks! And hair!

Okay, I've tried to post her picture five times now, and it won't attach, so I'll put some photos on another blog in a minute!

There's a smattering of good stuff for you. Tonight, we start Wednesday Night family stuff--Charis will be in a new class, and Abe will be herding 3rd and 4th graders in the Olympian program. And Judah will be receiveing lots of love from the baby-crazy nursery workers--hey, what's not to love?

A Taste Sensation

My First Rice Cereal

Unshackled

So, I put Charis down for a nap today, and 20 minutes later, I hear her crying, "Mama! Mama!" Turns out she has taken off her diaper and is stressed that she can't get it back on. Ah, the stress of a two year-old...

Wait 'til she finds out about taxes.

The Children Speak

This is Judah today.

He is growing by leaps and bounds! He hands out smiles like they're free samples, and he is daily adding new words to his vocabulary. Heretofore, he has only said "Ooaahg," but today, he added "Googah" and "Aack." He delights us more and more every day as we see his effervescent personality emerge. His favorite trick: If you lean in close to his face, Judah will clasp his arms around your head. Pull away, and he flings his arms back, as if in a free fall, and he giggles. His second favorite trick is to roll over in his crib and play with his toes. Of course, then he's stuck, but just the same, the first 3 minutes of this trick is great fun. Sometimes all he wants to do is lay in his crib and giggle. Of course, he only has this opportunity when I lay him down for what I hope will be a nice nap, so I am sometimes frustrated by it, but sometimes, you just have to chuckle. He is!

This is Charis today.

While she is occasionally ta handful for me--i.e., when she takes Judah's pacifier for the umpteenth time and claims it as her own, even though she has not used a paci for months--she is ultimately a joy. Since our camping trip, her vocabulary has skyrocketed: before the trip, I kept a running list of her words as she added them; now, there is no hope for the list. I simply cannot keep up. For example, here are the words she added in the past couple of days--at least some of them: Pig, Boat, Pop, Four, Rock, Duck, Hair, Water, Walk, Hat, Rock...and those are the ones I can remember offhand. I have been growing impatient with her speech development, and would have been more worried about it, except for the fact that she understands everything she hears. I've just been waiting for her to learn the lyrics...

She has also started to speak in increasingly complex sentences. I thought the day would never come! Today, Judah was in the Exersaucer chewing on one of the toys, and Charis brought a blanket over to me and threw it over our heads.
"Are we hiding?" I asked.
"Yeah!" she replied.
"Who are we hiding from?" I followed.
"Baby, Mama!"
"Okay. Let's count: one, two..."
Coincidentally, I think, she continued, "...three, four, whee!" And pulled the blanket off of our heads.

She often says things like, "Read more! " and "More juice, please!" Today, she brought her cup to me and said, "please!" I was trying to engage a stronger sentence, so I asked leadingly, "Juice, please?" and she said, "No--POP!"

When I picked her up from the church nursery on Sunday, I began to carry her down the hall (it's just easier than chasing). "Mama, walk, please!" She begged.
"Charis, if you walk, you must hold Mama's hand. Agreed?"
She pondered this for a moment, then nodded, as if she was striking a bargain. "Yeah."

We were reading a book about Noah's Ark, and everytime she saw the ark, she said "Boat!"
Playfully, I'd say, "No, Charis, that's called an Ark. Can you say Ark?"
She's look me straight in the eye, as if I was trying to pull a fast one on her, and say very seriously, "BOAT."

That's all for today--I'm sure there will be more to come as the days pass!

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

Previously, on "Charis and Judah"... When we left our heroes, Tim and Abe, they were vailantly trying to fix Abe's truck in the parking lot of a truck stop somewhere in Indiana. They had picked up the new hub that they'd had to order the day before, and returned to the truck stop to replace the whole hub (essentially, hub=wheel and all its parts; bearings, etc.) and the brake pads. They had finished the repairs and were about to head home when, on a whim, Abe thought, hey--I'll just check this other hub and make sure that it's okay, too. Big mistake--or, depending on how you look at it, not so much a mistake as pure Providence. It, too, was bad. Very bad. Wheel-randomly-falls-off-while-driving bad. But here's the thing: for one hub to go bad is strange. So strange that the dealer had to order the first one from somewhere else in the state. For TWO hubs to go bad, though...what are the odds? I sure don't know. The nearest available hub was in Indy, an hour and a half drive from the truck stop--and the shop that had it was going to close in 30 minutes. Things looked bleak.

But then, another salesman at the dealership overheard the dilemma, and offered up his daughter's boyfriend as a solution; it turns out he worked 5 minutes away from the shop that had the other hub, and could pick it up before they closed. So this boyfriend picked it up and delivered it to the bar his girlfriend worked at--where Abe and Tim picked it up an hour and a half later. Then they had to drive back to the truck stop and begin the process all over again.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The day had started out ominously. Shortly after the sun came up, Abe woke up and went to take a shower before he departed to fix the truck. Tim did as well. I should point out here that Tim and Beth were the only ones among us in a tent, because the next thing I will tell you is that, shortly after Tim and Abe headed up to the bathhouse, it started pouring. It was raining sheets of water, and the sheets of water were being flung by tempests. It was pouring so hard that they couldn't see the road, which was maybe 25 feet away from the bathhouse. It was pouring so hard that I was scampering to close the many windows on the camper--and indeed, was at the rear of the camper closing the roof vents when I heard a banging on the door.

"Please open the door! Open the door, Please! Hurry! Hurry!" Beth stood outside, clutching a soggy Gideon and herself dripping wet. I opened the door as quickly as I could.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"The tent collapsed!" Beth said. I looked out the window. There was the tent, flattened and being whipped by the gale-force wind. The rain fly had torn off, and the entire contents of the tent--clothes, towels, food, bedding--were drenched. Later, we discovered about two inches of standing water in the bottom of the tent.

The rain cleared for a while, during which the kids all splashed in the mud puddles, but it would only get worse from then on out. The day held rain--lots and lots of it--and very few reprieves. That meant that we all needed to be indoors. In our camper. Four adults and 5 children under the age of 5, in a camper that had seemed huge--but which was getting smaller and smaller by the minute. We would spend the better part of the day in that dumb thing, reading and re-reading every book we had and trying to think of fun things for the kids to do. There aren't that many things to choose from, and we exhausted the list pretty quickly.

It was about 6 pm when Abe called Beth's cell phone. He had both of our phones, and no charger...and both phones were about dead. "Hey," he said. "Wanna hear a funny story?"

"I'm not sure," I replied. "Is it going to cost us more money?"

"Well," Abe said, "We're just going to hop on down to Indy to see Stephanie. We've got to get another hub. We don't have a choice."

At this point, I began to cry. I was so exhausted. All the other parents there could play one-on-one with their kids. But I had two kids, and one of me. And I was not doing well. I sobbed, "I want to go see Stephanie, too!!!" He assured me they'd go as fast as they could, but told me not to wait up. I was despondent. My fatigued mind went into overdrive that night, when everything was quiet and everyone was tucked in bed. I thought about how rough that day had been as essentially a single parent, and it was then that Satan attacked. He filled my head with every possible death scenario. He convinced me that Abe wasn't coming home. I rebuked him several times, and finally fell asleep.

I figured Abe would probably be home by about midnight. So when Judah woke up to be fed at 3:30 am and Abe still wasn't home, I sat down on the bed in a stupor. Suddenly, those scenarios seemed possible, and even probable. I tried to call our cell phones, but they were, of course, dead. Mere minutes later, though, the trucks pulled in, and that's when the floodgates really opened.

Abe and I stayed up to tell each other the stories of our days--which seem a tiny bit humorous now--and then, when we couldn't talk any more, fell asleep.

The rest of the trip was fine, except for the fact that Charis and Gideon would NOT take naps. We got ice cream, we went to the Real Truck challenge on Saturday and Sunday. We laughed. The kids played in the vast field next to our site. We swam in the pool. We gathered around the campfire every night after the kids were in bed and told stories. We even made it home without incident.

Would I do it again?

You'll have to ask me next year...