Celebrate

I don't have the energy to write what's on my heart. To keep it simple, yesterday I celebrated a birthday of a little boy who's not yet in my home. And today along with my dear friends Bonnie and Tony, we remember the devastating loss of my friend Scott (their little boy) 14 years ago.

The emotions are many today.

Today I will fill my day with friends for at least two hours as we help some good friends of ours raise support for their upcoming mission trip to Belize.

Weekend Report

I spent Friday night and Saturday morning at Beulahland Bible Camp hanging out with the Mexico City team. It was great to bond with old and new friends while we did some cultural presentations, shared what God's doing in our lives, prayed with our partners and studied God's Word. It was exciting to hear two of our team mates express a desire to be baptized. Both of them had been baptized at a young age but want to be baptized now as a public statement regarding their faith. What a cool end to our time together.

At noon Ryan, the kids, and our friend Elaine met me at the camp for a picnic and fishing. It was cold and rainy but we were prepared for lunch and Scott was determined to fish. It was a light rain so we managed that but were cold. Scott caught a big fish right away but after that Elaine was the only one who caught fish. As an international student from Malaysia, this was her first fishing experience and she loved it. I also paddled around the big pond with the kids and they loved it but my quads didn't!

Saturday night we did a quick run to Ryan's folks and grabbed some pizza in town before getting to their house. We ate our "diet" pizza [I think thin crust pizza is like being on a diet cause I love bread] had a quick tour of the remodel project, helped them move some things, showed them the waiting child list for adoption and picked a little girl that I want to get some more information about, stopped at WallyWorld on our way home and got in bed late.

Sunday was a full day at the church. I was home at 3pm and had a lazy afternoon with the family. Ryan left to work on the train that he and a few guys are building for vacation bible school, and eventually I got the wild indians in bed. [I seriously wonder how differently they would act if they didn't have sugar in their diet.] I popped two tylen0l pm's and headed to bed!

Embarrassing Moments This Weekend

1. We were the greeters at Church on Sunday. When Bethany ran off into the sanctuary Scott offered to bring her back. Grammy hauled the children back after the Church watched Scott put his arms around Bethany’s neck and “bring her back to where she was supposed to be”.
2. “shutup” is a naughty word at our house. Ryan and I used it in a playful manner and had to remove it from our vocabulary. Yesterday on our way home after a long day of shopping in Rochester, Scott reached for Bethany’s toy and she voiced her irritation with a squeal. He looked at her and adamantly said “shutup Bethany”. Where do they learn these things?

a Few Fun things

The kids are hilarious. They make us laugh, often. The other night we put the kids to bed and decided to watch a movie in bed before we went to sleep. A few minutes later Scott was out of bed. As I tucked him back in, he said: "mommy, turn your light off, I'm tired and want to sleep". His door was shut, our door was shut, it wasn't really keeping him awake. Good excuse though for a 3 year old.

Another funny moment was when the recycle truck was dumping the canister (think big trash bin on the curb). We live in the country and don't have that so we made a deal out of it and had Scott watch how it worked. Only the truck grabber didn't get a good grab and instead of the top popping open, stuff falling out and the canister getting set back down, the canister slid right out of the grabber into the dump truck. The driver took out a piece of paper and peered at the house seemingly looking for the address before he drove off. Today there is a new recycle thing out front.

Bethany has a new nick-name. I know I don't like them but this is fitting. We've been calling her Bethany-zilla or boo-zilla cause she's into everything. I've found her playing in the toilet multiple times. Today I left the bathroom for a minute and when I came back she had dropped a phone in the toilet and was playing in the toilet water (Ashley, if you read this before I get to tell you, just know that we will be buying you a new one).

He's Three Much

Scott walked in the door to my mom's this morning and within a minute said: "how did you sleep last night grammy?"

It was so cute.

We often tell Scott that he's "too much". So, when you ask him how old he is, his answer was always "two much". Now that he's 3, he doesn't always know how to answer the question.

Scott

I suppose if Bethany gets an update, so should Scott, right? Let's just say that he's daily testing my patience. The child has a few new habits that are very displeasing to this mom:
- name calling. His "names" aren't even real words but the emphasis is definitely there.
- peeing in his undies. and thinking its funny. not sure if the child comprehends that its not funny and he's just being a snot or if he doesn't get it.
- not pooping on the toilet. he holds it in people. i tell him it will make his tummy hurt and he'll have to go to the doctor. but no, he holds it. i've even threatened to not let him go to cubbies on wednesday. last night, i put some of bethany's laxative medicine (don't worry, its OTC) in his juice which he promptly sucked down. he spent some time on the potty last night and finally pooped. yes, he was proud and even carried the potty chair into my room so Bethany and I could see it. Atta boy, son.
- He can spell his name and he almost has his phone number memorized.
- He knows his key bible verse for Cubbies. His grammy has been bragging to everyone that he had it memorized the next morning. Sweet Grammy, I informed her last night that he's known it for a year now.
- Scott loves his new shoes. We're finally forgetting about the crocs that he had to wear everyday. Sorry son, its getting cold out and crocs just won't cut it.

Bethany

The past two weeks have flown by. Some have asked about an update on Bethany post seizure. I'm excited to report that she's been fine. With that in mind, here's a quick update on my little wild one's adventures:
- the week of the seizure she was really starting to stand up more and would go from sitting to standing quite easily
- while on the phone with Ryan (he was in Kansas City) I told him about the standing and he said, "is she walking". I promptly replied "no" and as soon as the word came out of my mouth, she turned around and took 3 steps before grabbing on to the quilting machine!
- Bethany is mobile people, watch out! She's not walking quite yet but she'll be there before we get to California I'm sure. She will take 3-4 steps at a time and might take more if she wasn't so excited.
- The other night she stood up from her sitting spot on the bottom stair and walked half way across the room. It was so fun to watch her accomplish the walking. She hasn't repeated that yet!
- Friday night I sat her on the piano stool to play at the piano while I cooked supper. She giggled as she "tickled the ivories". A bit later, I heard a faint whimper and came around the corner to see that she had crawled up the piano and had one foot on the keys and one foot where the book goes and was holding on for dear life. That's my girl!
- She loves to stand and play on her bed. No fear of falling the 3 feet to the ground. It scares me.
- She likes to sing the Larry Boy song. You wouldn't have a clue what she was saying if you didn't already know but its pretty cute.
- Bethany loves music. She won't hold still during church worship time. It's kind of distracting but I don't want to discourage her dancing. She also loves to clap her hands and dance any time music is playing.
- I still can't get her to sit still while in the tub. She's always trying to climb all over, drink the shower water and stick the shampoo container in her mouth.

I think my mom is getting a kick out of Bethany all the while laughing at me and thinking "pay back, baby, pay back..."

fun with the kiddos

Last night we went to the park for a bit. Some friends were gathering for volleyball but I decided not to play. Instead I pulled the weeds in the one flower garden they have and it looks much happier now. When I was done with that and friends were all showing up, I took kid duty. We had fun. Z and B were having a "guy party" since their mom and sister were out of town. Their dad brought them toys to play in the sand and even thought to bring toys for Scott. It was such a sweet gesture. After they were done in the sand (mostly because Scott kept throwing sand at Z and B, naughty boy), we played on the swings. I wish I had a picture of it. I had 4 kids in swings and was running back and forth pushing them as high as I could, telling them to hold on tight, pushing their little butts back into the swing, pushing some more, listening to them giggle and getting quite the work out.

Not sure if my arms are sore this morning from the swingset work out or from loading fire wood on Saturday!

Kids Questions

In the midst of a million questions this morning while Scott was in the kitchen with Ryan, I overheard this:
S: Daddy, can you play with me?
R: After breakfast I can.
S: Daddy, can DJ (our dalmation) play with me?
R: Yes Scott.
S: No, DJ can't play with me Daddy.
R: Why not?
S: Because he doesn't have hands!
R: Oh, okay

And because curious little boys ask a million questions, the conversation continued while Ryan fixed his breakfast. Scott wanted to know why/how DJ got on his legs and the answer "God made him that way" wasn't enough so he asked more and more questions until he was either satisfied with the answer or distracted with something else.

Will They Survive

Monday Scott came in the kitchen, grabbed my hand and drug me to the living room while saying "come look mommy, I can roll over Bethany." Yes, my son was steam rolling his 9 month old sister. It looked a little painful as he rolled over her face and she neither laugh nor cried. I allowed him to roll on her so long as he stayed off her face and she didn't cry. After several rolls, he went to the kitchen to grab his daddy. Ryan, protective of his little girl, told Scott not to role but I assured him that they were fine. Indeed they were. Bethany typically laughs at his the things he does like knocking her over, rolling her over, etc. Maybe they will survive.

Scott is recently becoming more of a climber, jumper, physical little boy. Bethany was still laying on the ground and Scott was standing at her side. I was enjoying their interaction. That is, until Scott looked at me and said "look mommy, I can jump". He jumped straight up in the air and landed on Bethany's back. She was on her tummy and pushing up to her knees when one of his feet dug right in. I gasped long and loud and Ryan came right back in to assess the situation. I can't even remember if Bethany cried. We spent the next few minutes trying to explain that he could hurt her (like a two year old understands that). Will they survive? The cute part of it was when we asked if he wanted Bethany to go away like Mocha (the dog that got hit on the driveway) and at first he said yes. But at the next second, he said "no, I love Bethany, I don't want her to go away". Yes, he truly does love and adore her... so far

"get it off mommy"

The other day I met my folks at the local drive-in burger joint to grab a bite to eat and pick up Scott. My son loves to eat at this place and his grammy and papa love to take him so it was a perfect place to meet up after Bethany's doctor appointment and grocery shopping. Of course, as soon as we got on the road, my plugged up baby started pushing something out. Sometimes she's not at all successful and sometimes she gets a little something out. When I met up with my folks, we hopped into their Tahoe and I brought along with me a diaper and wipes.

So, a quick change of the stinky diaper in the backseat isn't easy or simple to do. I got her changed and moved the stinky diaper into the middle seat while I finished dressing Bethany. Meanwhile, Scott was on the other side telling me about his day. I grabbed the diaper and wrapped it up while Scott began showing me his toys that were also in the middle seat. He showed me his shovel, then he grabbed his rake. Then he saw something else and grabbed it up. As he held the poop in the air, with a puzzled look on his face, he asked "mommy, what's this" as he squished it between his fingers. I soon realized that the poop from Bethany's diaper must have rolled out into the middle carseat and Scott found it. The squish got his attention real quick and he threw it down and then proceeded to rub his fingers together (all of the same hand fortunatley) while repeatedly saying "get it off mommy". It was stinkin' hilarious! He had it all over his hand before I could get a wipe out. I was trying to keep Bethany in my lap while at the same time trying to keep him from touching anything else. I tried my best to scrub his hand clean before his hamburger came.

It's probably a good thing he found it or it would have been a stinky mess in my parents Tahoe.

Habits

Bethany has this funny habit. When she seemingly gets nervous, she'll tuck her head down and roll her eyes up to look at you. Now, she does this with an added smile.
Scott has this habit too. He always likes to be holding Bethany's hand. It doesn't matter if she's in her carseat, her jumparoo or asleep in bed, he likes to hold her hand. Its very cute.

Other fun habits that they'd be embarrassed if they knew I shared:

1. They are habitual about when they poop. Scott is a morning pooper and boy am I dissapointed when I don't get him to daycare in time :) Bethany likes to poop when she's in her high chair at the supper table. Its lovely to be chewing on a piece of meat and hear her passing gas, grunting and pushing it out

2. Bethany likes to grab at her genital area when her diaper comes off. Makes for a lot of fun when I'm trying to apply diaper rash cream!

3. Scott will avoid the "big boy potty" at all costs, even if a fresh cookie or dish of change (he loves both) are placed in front of him.