Give Me Some Money!!

Jesse has the flu. He's going to be fine but he's sick. Last night during evening church, he began to feel bad. By the time we stopped by the pharmacy for oscillococcinum (www.oscillo.com) and picked up a Hot-N-Ready Pizza, he had the flu. He went straight to bed.

So, I fed and bathed the children. I was a little paranoid that they would also get sick. The last thing I need is a house full of sick people. I'm sure I was making a nuisance of myself: Are you okay? Are you tired? Do you feel sick? Are you sure? Poor kids, I'm going to convince them they are sick when they are perfectly healthy. Hannah said she was fine but then changed her mind.

Hannah: I don't feel so good.
Mommy: (trying not to freak out) Really, are you sick?
Hannah: My legs hurt.
Mommy: (oh, no. flu aches and pains) They do?
Hannah: (sitting down) Yeah, they hurt. I can't walk.
Mommy: (pretty sure she's faking it) I'm sure it's not that bad.
Hannah: (still perfectly happy) It is that bad. I can't walk.

She then dramatically throws herself on the floor.

Hannah: I can't walk. Give me some money!

A light bulb clicks in my brain. I go to her, grasp her by both shoulders and proclaim:

"Gold and silver have I none. But what I do have I will freely give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, stand and walk."

Hannah leaps up and jumps on Katie's bed, "I'm healed! I'm healed! Praise Jesus! I can walk again!"

Wow. I'm thinking that Bible class was about Acts 3:1-8.


Acts 3 (if you are not familiar with the story...)

3:1 Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
3:3 Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
3:4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
3:5 And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
3:7 And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
3:8 And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

A Crockpot Resolution

I stumbled upon a fun blog today. This woman has resolved to use her crockpot everyday in 2008. She blogs daily regarding her experience. Check it out at www.crockpot365.blogspot.com
I love my crockpot but my family hates soup so I think I am in love with this site.

A Garden for 2008

Here's what you need for your spring garden

Plant Three Rows of Squash:
1. Squash gossip
2. Squash criticism
3. Squash indifference

Plant Seven Rows of Peas:
1. Prayer
2. Promptness
3. Perseverance
4. Politeness
5. Preparedness
6. Purity
7. Patience

Plant Seven Heads of Lettuce:
1. Let us be unselfish and loyal
2. Let us be faithful to duty
3. Let us search the scripture
4. Let us not be weary in well doing
5. Let us be obedient in all things
6. Let us be truthful
7. Let us love one another

No Garden is Complete Without Turnips:
1. Turn up with a smile, even when things are difficult.
2. Turn up with determination to do your best in God's service.

After planting, May you Grow in Grace and in Knowledge of our Lord andSavior Jesus Christ (II Peter 3:18) and may you reap rich results.

Aunt Amanda

Yep, you read it right. I have officially moved into the coveted position of aunt. My sister in law gave birth to a baby girl late Saturday night. Sorry, I don't have express permission to publish their private into online. So, you all will have to wait for pics and stats until I ask my brother. Until then, just call me Aunt Amanda!

Still Here

I am surprized to see that I have not made an entry in a full week. My apologies to my faithful readers. This week has been busy and fun. Here is a quick catch up on our activities:

Friday: Truth Project Bible Study
Saturday: Daniel Island Garage Sale, afternoon at the mall getting Easter presents, Chris and Phyllis stopped by that evening, Jesse went fishing that night
Sunday: Easter Lunch with Earl and Ashley, spent the whole afternoon
Monday: Lunch with the Webster family, spent most of the afternoon at her house
Tuesday: Grocery shopping, lunch with April
Wednesday: Ran errands in the morning, Evening church, ice cream with Tommy and Becky

Notice the large amount of time spent with church friends. I like living in South Carolina for a lot of reasons. My favorite part of our life here is the church. We attend a wonderful church with a great membership. It is great to have friendships with so many people of different ages and life situations. We really are very happy here.

On a different note, yesterday I was brainstorming potential blog ideas. I prefer to write funny articles that are entertaining. I feel like our life just hasn't been funny lately. So, as I am deep in thought regarding our not-so-funny life, I smell something weird. It was dinner. I burned it so bad. I hadn't done that since our first six months of marriage. It was terrible. Then we sat down to eat what we could and I realized the baked potatoes weren't really baked. They were like hot, raw potatoes. It was pretty bad. With a lot of salt and ketchup we were able to eat it. Hannah had cheese for supper. Katie didn't seem to notice the burnt meat and ate three helpings. It's a good thing she ate so much because no one else ate anything. I trashed the leftovers and made cookies when the kids went to bed.

My Fashion Bug

Here is a picture of the outfit Hannah wore to church last night. She picked it all by herself. It is a pale pink tee with a picture of a pony and a floral skirt. Hannah assured me that the tee and skirt matched because the skirt has flowers and the pony has a flower in her hair. Oh, all right. I gave her the choice between a ponytail or a long braid. She selected pigtail. Okay, we can do that.

We have entered into a whole new parenting arena. She looked cute but I'm not sure about this whole picking out her own clothes issue. I'm not sure that my baby girl is that old yet!

No More Naps?

Nap time presents a dilemna for me almost everyday. Eliajh (being a baby) is a great napper. The girls just don't seem tired enough for a nap. They are getting tired as the day progresses but to lay down and sleep is too much. They are not tired after lunch so I usually wait until 3:00 to put them down. Yesterday I decided to just skip naps. I guessed that if we skipped naps the girls would go right to sleep after Bible Class. Here is Katie at 4:00 yesterday afternoon: Asleep on the living room floor!! So she does need naps! Notice the stuffed animal on her head. Before I noticed that Katie was asleep, Hannah was kind enough to decorate Katie with a stuffed dog. So sweet.

Adventures in Grocery Shopping

You haven't lived until you have braved a grocery store with three small children.

I know that many of my readers are now saying quiet prayers of thanks that they have never lived. Cowards, all of you. I frequent the grocery store once a week, sometimes twice of week with all three children in tow. My husband doesn't come. He's working. Somebody's got the fund this operation.

The grocery store excursion usually starts Monday morning at breakfast.
Hannah: "Can I have some more cereal?"
Mommy: "Nope. You ate the last of it. We're going grocery shopping."
Hannah: "Can I have some pretzels."
Mommy: "Nope. They are all gone. We're going grocery shopping."
Hannah: "But I'm hungry."
Mommy: "Then let's go grocery shopping."
Hannah: "I'm too hungry to get dressed."
Mommy: "Then we'd better go buy some food before you starve."

So, we all get ready. I can get ready to walk out in door in 25 minutes. This includes shower, dressed, breakfast, hair done, make-up on, and wallet in hand. The children cannot get themselves ready. So, multiply my 25 minutes by 4 (myself plus 3 kids) and that is 1 hour and 40 minutes. Giving myself another 20 minutes to deal with crying, locating the debit card that Katie has invariably pulled out of my wallet, and to redress anyone who pees on themselves before we actually leave the house, and it will take us just over two hours to get ready to go to the grocery store.

We finally load up and drive away. We frequent Publix. Publix is a chain here in the southern states. The stores are small and clean. They offer a good selection of organic foods and they carry out the groceries for you. That's right: good, old-fashioned baggers. Publix prices are a little higher but it's worth it. I really like shopping at Publix. Up until a months ago the kids did great. No crying. No fussing. They would just eat their complimentary cookie from the bakery and be happy. In the past few weeks, my ability to shop with three children has deteriorated. People used to compliment me on my great kids and my ability to keep it all together. Today wasn't exactly like that.

The crying started before we exited the minivan. I'm not an expert but I'm gonna say that is a bad sign. So, we cry all the way into the store. Once inside, I put Elijah into a baby shopping cart. It has a baby seat that lays back. It looks like a carseat. He get grumpy in the sitting up seat. He's good and probably won't cry the entire time. I calm the girls down and they both opt to ride in the basket. We go to the bakery and get a cookie. So far so good. We get all the dry goods and head toward the milk. Katie freaks out. Hannah starts crying. I don't know what the problem is and I don't care. I calm them down again. "We're almost done. Look at a book. Let's go get some eggs." Then Katie asks to get out. Note to self: Katie does not want out. She wants to be carried. I get Katie out with no intention to carry her. She throws herself on the floor. I put her back in the cart. She kicks Hannah. They are both screaming.

At this point I become very painfully aware of the number of people looking at us. An employee stops me, "Would your girls like some free balloons?" Hmm, let's think. Screaming like a banchee, throwing myself on the floor, and kicking my sister = a BIG RED BALLOON.

We proceed to the checkout without the free balloons. We checkout. The crying subsides. The girls get out of the basket. I pick up Katie and hold Hannah's hand. The bagger looks at me and says, "Are you going to get this or do you want me to help you out?" I look at the cart full of groceries, Elijah in the cart, Katie on my hip, and Hannah standing next to me and I say, "Uh, yeah. We're going to need some help." Sheesh, that's why we go to Publix.

About Me and Not the Kids

Things I Do Not Like to Do

1. Shop for other people
2. Work in the 2 & 3's church nursery
3. Go to Wal-Mart
4. Drop stuff off at Goodwill
5. Feed baby food to babies (mine or anyone else's)
6. Put away laundry
7. Pack lunch for my husband
8. Clean out the fridge
9. Change the sheets
10. Clean out the vacuum

Things I Like to Do

1. Write for my blog
2. Buy clothes
3. Sleep on fresh sheets
4. Play outside with my kids
5. Play with dogs
6. Mop my kitchen
7. Read my friends' blogs
8. Go to Friday night Bible study
9. Scrapbook
10. Research nutrition

Things I Know How to Make (just call me Suzie Homemaker)

1. Crackers
2. Bread
3. Pancakes
4. Pies
5. Chocolate chip cookie bars
6. Pizza
7. Dishwasher Detergent
8. Laundry Soap
9. Toothpaste
10. Plantain Salve

Books that I Enjoyed

1. Nourishing Traditions
2. Created to Be His Helpmeet
3. Don't Make Me Count to Three
4. The Baby Book
5. On the Shores of Silver Lake
6. Total Money Makeover
7. The Man Who Owned Vermont
8. The Last Battle
9. Revolutionary Parenting (ok, I haven't read it. But my friend ordered me a copy and I'm super excited to read it.)
10. The Holy Bible (currently reading the Old Scofield Study Bible, KJV. It's fantastic. I've found that KJV really is the easiest version to read, understand, and remember. Who knew?)

Baby Names that I Liked that We Didn't Use

1. Savannah
2. Brooke
3. Cora
4. Bridget
5. Laura
6. Lucy
7. Carly
8. Daniel
9. Thomas
10. Jeremiah

Elijah's New Haircut

Here is a picture from a plantation near our home. We really do live in the deep south, complete with slave plantations. These are cypress tress. They generally grow in water. Most of the plantations near us have land along a river. The plantations are now tourist attractions. So, come to see us and we'll take you to a plantation.

Busy Weekend

Happy Friday to all of my friends in blogland! Our family has a busy weekend planned. This evening we are going to a home Bible study with a few families from our church. We are doing the series "The Truth Project." It is a series of lessons on the Christian worldview in comparision to a secular worldview. Jesse and I are really enjoying it. The host family hires a group babysitter so the girls get to enjoy playing with their friends. The host family has 5 children. The youngest 3 are girls ages 5, 3, and 7 months. Hannah and Katie enjoy these girls a lot.

Tomorrow we are going to a birthday party for another friend from church, Audrey. Audrey will be turning 3. It is a princess party and all the little girls will wear princess dresses. My girls would be ecstatic if they knew about it! I opted to save myself the craziness and let them know about the party when it is time to get dressed for the party. Thus I save myself from the non-stop questions and confusions. They will have a blast!

So, I hope to blog more this weekend but if not, at least you all know where I am. Love you all.

Tattling

Hannah is beginning to tattle. While I need some advice to stop this behavior, I have to admit that her tattling is very funny. Hannah is no good at tattling and she does it all wrong. I remember being little. The purpose of tattling is to get the other child in trouble. The secondary purpose is to call attention to the fact that I (the tattle-tale) was not involved in the incriminatory behavior.

Hannah doesn't get all this tattle-tale psychology. She just tattles.

Hannah: "Mommy, Katie is wearing her shoes!"
Mommy: "I know, I put them on her."
Hannah: "Mommy, Elijah is in his room!"
Mommy: "I know, I put him there. He's always right where I left him."
Hannah: "Mommy, Katie is too close to the TV!"
Mommy: "Did you ask her to move?"
Hannah: "Mommy, Elijah is chewing on his toy!"
Mommy: "Thanks for the update."
Hannah: "Mommy, Katie is eating a banana."
Mommy: "It's her breakfast Hannah."
Hannah: "Mommy, Katie is talking to me."
Mommy: "Well, she is your sister."
Hannah: "Mommy, Katie said Nah-Nah to me!!"

Saying Nah-Nah has been a huge issue between Katie and Hannah. Katie constantly says it, but only to Hannah. Hannah is constantly taking offense and tattling on Katie. Yesterday, I heard Katie say it again in context. Nah-Nah is Katie-talk for Hannah!!! All this time Hannah has been tattling because Katie is trying to talk to her. Good grief, no wonder Katie doesn't talk very well. Everybody needs some positive reinforcement now and then. So, Hannah has been banned from tattling on Katie when Katie says her name. Well, that's improvement!

Twin Speak

Hannah is very smart, at least too smart for me a lot of the time. She has developed a sort of twin speak, although she doesn't have a twin. Katie has no interest in Hannah's twin speak. Hannah just makes up words when she does not know the English word. She just assumes that I will know this word, since I know all the other words. At first this behavior was so irritating! Why couldn't she just talk like a normal 3 year old? After a lot of anger on my part, Jesse suggested that I just try to learn her language so that I could teach her English. He's so smart. In the past few month I've learned a lot of her language. Some words are simply different then the English ones. Others are for concepts that we just don't have a word for. When she comes up with words that we don't have an equivalent for I just think, I hope God knew what he was doing when he gave me this one!

1. Mommy cereal: shredded wheat
2. Daddy cereal: anything cereal with food coloring
3. our new back garden: the grassy area behind our apartment
4. circle fish sticks: salmon patties
5. Mommy apples: pears
6. bouching: to wear knit pants, particularly ones that look like pajamas (rhymes with couch).ex: I am booching in my new brown pants. I can't go outside! or Mommy, is that lady booching at the grocery store! We can only booch at home.
7. mockie: potato masher.ex: Can I play with this mockie? to which I brilliantly reply, "It's a potato masher. Go ahead."
8. boching: getting on her nerves (rhymes with coach).
9. gouchie: clothing that is too bulky or long to manage easily with the coordination of a 3 year old.ex: (crying and whinning) I can't buckle my carseat! My jacket is gouchie. to which I reply, "Bulky. You need help because your coat is big and bulky." or Help! My shoe is stuck in the gouchie. to which I reply, "Your shoe is caught on your long dress."
10. tookie: anything that is uncomfortable physically. this could be a rock in her shoe, her tee shirt on backwards, her hair in her face, sticky hands, shoes on the wrong feet, her pants twisted, etc, etc. this is an extremely useful word. I don't use the other words, but I use this one.ex: My pants are tookied. or My carseat is tooking me or I have a tookie in my mouth (it was actually a piece of bark. I guess that would cause discomfort).

I am thankful that I listened to Jesse when he told to learn her language. When she uses a new word, I respond, "I don't know that word. What does it mean?" She can usually show me well enough for me to get a working definition of the word in question. Oh well, she'll learn english soon enough. In the meantime, my gouchie is tookied and it's boching me so I'm going to bouch off to bed.

Developmental Differences

Hannah and Katie are only 14 months apart. Because of their closeness in age, I assumed that I could expect Katie to be doing the things that Hannah was doing a year ago. If Hannah learned to put on her own shoes at age 3, Katie would also learn at 3. I was glad to have an easy reference point for various developmental milestones. I was wrong.

Hannah and Katie are so different in their development. In many ways Hannah is ahead of Katie developmentally. This comes as no surprize. I am surprized when Katie is more than a year behind Hannah developmentally. Sometimes I think that she will never learn certain. In other ways, Katie is far ahead of Hannah. It is when I realize that Katie is surpassing Hannah that I am most surprized. Katie is better at somethings than her sister. I knew that the girls would be different and be good at different things. I just didn't expect their differences to be apparent so quickly.

So, here is a summary of developmental discrepancies that I have recently noted.

• Hannah learned her animal sounds at 15 months. Katie learned them at 29 months.
• Hannah began to enjoy having books read to her at 14 months. Katie began tolerating it at 20 months and enjoying it at 23 months.
• Hannah started coloring and painting pictures at 2 1/2. Katie does not like to color pictures.
• Katie started coloring the walls at 18 months. Hannah started coloring the walls today.
• Hannah began wearing her hair in pigtails at 13 months. Katie will not leave her hair in pigtails. I became weary of her ripping her hair out with the ponytail holder so I don't fix Katie's hair anymore.
• Katie enjoys Bible class and goes willingly. Hannah still attends the 2 year old class because "Katie needs me to take care of her." Hannah has no interest in the 3-4 class.
• Katie never took a bottle, not even to bed. Hannah took a bottle until she was almost 3 1/2. She would take one today if I would let her.
• Hannah's hair grew long very quickly. Katie's hair is just now past her shoulders.

I have been thinking a lot about the girls' development because Katie has taken a giant developmental leap. She is using a lot more language then before. I can now understand words like: Hannah, Elijah, baby, elephant, zebra, no thank you, again, more, I'll be back (she yells this as she runs away to play). She has also developed some cute behaviors. She will find objects around the house and bring them to the owner. I'll be cooking dinner and she brings my brush. Before I can take it, she yells "gore gel-come" and runs off. Too funny. So, for all of you grateful blog-readers out there "gore gel-come"!

Elijah's Progress

Elijah is now 6 months old. He was born Aug 20. He has gained an average of one pound per week. He is now over 25 lbs, which is just about right for a 16 mth old. I don't really know where this child came from. Jesse and I are average-short people. Elijah is sitting up great on his own. He's not crawling but he can get on all fours. He is getting to be a lot of fun. After supper, I put him in the tub b/c he was covered in banana. When Katie heard the water running, she ran in and stripped all her clothes off. So, they bathed together. I guess at 6 mths and 2 1/2, that is okay. Elijah didn't mind Katie splashing water on his face. He actually seemed to think it was funny. After the bath, Jesse held him up to the bathroom mirror. He laughed and smiled. He had a good time pressing his hand up to the mirror.

Tomorrow I'll post some pics of his haircut.

Hannah Panics!

Tonight our family attended the church's teacher appreciation dinner. The kids came with us and stayed in the nursery. While we were loading up in the minivan, Hannah requested that Mommy buckle her in her carseat. Jesse told her that would be fine. But, I didn't hear that conversation. So, Jesse buckled Katie and I buckled Elijah and we left for the church building.

When we arrived, I went to unbuckle the girls from the back row. Hannah was not buckled. "Hannah, did you unbuckle your carseat all by yourself?" I asked. She looked bewildered and then realized she had ridden all the way to church unbuckled. That is not safe!! She panicked. She cried and cried! "You didn't buckle me! I'm not safe! I'm hurt! I am hurt! I'm probably bleeding. I don't think I can walk. You'd better carry me to the church building."

Hannah is definitely an overreacter. But, we have taught her the importance of wearing her seatbelt. By the time I carried her into the church building, her dizziness had worn off. When she saw the nursery workers serving pizza and juice boxes, the feeling returned to her legs and she was able to join the other children at the table. Pheww! I'm glad she's a quick healer.

Katie and the Eucerin

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http://www.welltellme.com/discuss/index.php/topic,16185.msg157492.html#msg157492

After you click on it, scroll up to the top and read from the beginning.