Thursday, February 28, 2008

Another Haircut Story

Let's just say that someone in this house got a haircut today. By Abby.



Now I know to keep my scissors put up while I'm clipping coupons & have to walk away for a minute.

Our Quiver Runneth Over

Psalm 127

A song of ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.

2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to [a] those he loves.

3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.

4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.

5 Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.


Yup, our quiver is full of them. Lots of kids, you know. I was asked (again) today if seeing Ethan walk well makes me want to have more kids. Sometimes, yes, but sometimes no. Seriously, having newborns is horrible, horrible, horrible sometimes! But what mother doesn't look back at every second of her children's babyhood and long to try it just one more time?

Although lately, I've really wanted to get a dog. Hmm... I'm not sure which is more work, but I don't see anything in this Psalm about a houseful of puppies!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Another First/Last


I finally gave in and cut poor Ethan's bangs. He says he felt like a sheep dog. No kidding. Those were his first words.

But really, he did do that blinking in disbelief thing all the time - unfortunately, the disbelief was in how much his long bangs got in his eyes. Now he's less of a baby... More of a toddler... Closer to a kid... Almost a man!! Like I've said before, I have a hard time letting go. This was Ethan's first hair cut, but my last first haircut to give. If that even makes sense to anyone but me.

However, lately I've felt that my kids are still quite young, and I have a long way to go before they're grown. I don't know which is better - feeling that time is flying and being depressed because they're growing so fast, or feeling that they'll be little forever and not noticing that time is flying by. It's just so hard emotionally to be a mother - I wonder what dads think?

Enough of this - I think the snow and clouds are effecting my mood. Also, that new Superchick song is on the radio, and it's very depressing....

On a lighter note, here's a cute picture of Ethan cross-dressing!

Friday, February 22, 2008

A Break to Examine Eyes.


Every person in my house has a different color eyes. Weird, huh?

Monday, February 18, 2008

He's My Boy

This past weekend was another one of those weekends. While the kids seem to be getting better from their sicknesses, mine hasn't really gone anywhere at all, and Daniel is off and on with his own form of sickness. Well, now the kids are acting sick again. This has been the sickest winter ever for us - an award we're very reluctant to accept.

Yesterday was Sunday, and since only Avery and I appeared to be well, we headed off to church. This was after a lot of bathing and dressing and coercing. We finally got in the car, nice and clean, neat and tidy, and ready for church. Since eating was not a part of our getting ready for church that morning, we were forced to stop at Tim Horton's for donuts and iced cappuccinos (just kidding, only one!!) on the way to church, despite having barely enough time to get to church before the Sunday school class I teach starts.

Everything is going great. Avery's got donut holes, and we're within a couple miles of our church, with 5 minutes to spare! Avery's in the back seat talking and singing and acting Averyly, so I have the rear view mirror adjusted so I can watch him be Averyly (safe, I know.). I watch him stuff an entire donut hole in his mouth. Despite my warning to "be careful," he starts to slowly, slowly choke on that donut. The bad thing is, I didn't even think "Oh my gosh, my son is choking!" I thought more about him spitting the whole thing out and where it would go. That's also an Averyly behavior.

Well, he spit it out alright, along with all the other donut holes he already had in his belly. He "spit" them out all over the front of his coat, his pants, his shirt, and his carseat. Did I mention we're within a mile or so of church and have 5 minutes to spare?

He's crying, saying he threw up his "donut balls." I'm trying to comfort him, keep him from getting it anywhere else but his seat, and drive all at the same time. Moms are definitely multi-taskers. I pull over to see what can be done to get this kid to church. Hmmm... Nothing. Nothing at all. So I attempt to clean up the mess with the two napkins Tim Horton's gave us, some wipes, and a plastic bag. I also have to turn my head every few seconds to prevent myself from adding to the mess. I have a very weak stomach for these things.

So, I finally give up and take Avery's pants and coat off, and sit him in Ethan's carseat. Thank goodness we have three carseats crammed into our backseat!! I cover him in a blanket, and we head to church.

At church I have already decided to head home, but I need to find someone to cover my Sunday school class. Well, when I get there I feel guilty for planning on leaving, so I run around the bottom floor looking for pants for my kid, and a friend is running around the top floor looking for pants. There are no pants in our church.

So, I have a half-naked Avery in my arms, a huge picnic blanket wrapped around him, and he smiles up at me and says "I'm hungry, Mommy." We leave church early, and head back to Tim Hortons.

Friday, February 15, 2008

The Middle Ground


So, yesterday was Valentine's Day. This is my very first Valentine's Day with a kid in school. I've been looking forward to this for years - I love making Valentines, I love making those covered boxes and cans to hold the Valentines, and also hearts are just really easy to draw & cut out.

Well, I didn't want Abby to be different from everyone else in the class, but I didn't know if the other kids would be making their Valentines or just signing the store bought Valentines. So Abby & I made some, and we bought some. We cut hearts out of red foam, punched holes in it, stuck in a sucker, made pipe cleaner bees, and wrote "Bee Mine" on the hearts. And last time I was at CVS, I picked up some Valentines that held suckers. I know, sucker overload, right?

Well, we get to the Valentine party, and most of the kids brought store Valentines. However, this one kid and his mom took microwave popcorn packets, wrote "You make my heart pop!" on them, and made paper hearts that they sewed together and stuffed with candy, and made the teachers cookie-mix-in-a-jar, covered with country-ish fabric and a picture of the kid (I'm not kidding, here) wearing a cowboy hat and dressed in a western shirt.

So now I have a question: Is there a middle ground here? I mean, is it possible to not do too much, yet still do something worthy of putting your kid's name on it? I doubt any parent wants their kid to be the only one that brought nothing but a card, and I personally don't want my kid to be the one that does it all. Of course your kid is worth all this work, but is it really for the kid - or for the other parents?? Of course all the other moms and the teachers told this mom "you're so crafty!!" I wonder if they were also thinking "and you must have a super amount of spare time on your hands!!"

I just don't have the time to do that, and I doubt I have the will to do that with 3 small kids. There are only 8 kids in Abby's preschool class - what will it be like next year when she has closer to 30 in her class? I'd better start reserving that pony now....

Friday, February 8, 2008

Voices

I have quite possibly found the most child unfriendly device know to man. It can be dangerous, it can be annoying, but it can also be funny. If you've ever called your mortgage company, your bank customer service, your power company, or anyone else that doesn't realize people have kids - then you probably know what I mean.

It's the voice-automated phone systems that are everywhere these days. I suppose they make life easier for... someone... but not me. I call one these numbers, and inevitably, my kids run in the room screaming. The "woman" on the phone either says "I didn't quite understand you," or "I think you said... buy a boat." This could really be dangerous.

But even if you don't have problems with your kids, you could (read: will) have problems. Have you ever tried to use one of these systems when you have a cold? Each cough sends you to a different department. Or if you walk past a TV, who knows what Dora will make you buy!

What ever happened to waiting on hold for an hour and then being transfered to twenty other departments before you're told they can't help you??

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

5 Bad Things and 1 Good Thing


This weekend was just horrible. Yucky and bad. All 3 kids, Daniel, and I were sick with (I guess) the flu. Now everyone knows how bad it is to be sick. Everyone with kids knows how bad it is to have even one sick child, let alone 3 at once. But really, can you ever get over being sick, and having 3 sick kids at once? I've never actually done this before, and I hope to never, ever, ever, ever do it again.

So that's the 5 bad things (5 sick people). Now for the one good thing. Daniel was just really, really awesome this weekend. He cooked (even though no one wanted to eat, exactly), he washed dishes, he did laundry, he put away the laundry, he cleaned up throw up, he cleaned up barf, he cleaned up vomit, and he generally did everything else. What on earth would I do without him??

Daniel does react differently to being sick than I do, and he always has since I've known him. When I throw up, I feel much worse and know for sure that I am sick as can be. When Daniel throws up, he's happy because he feels better and knows that he's getting better. When I'm sick I don't like to be touched or even talked to. When he's sick, Daniel wants to be cuddled and paid lots of attention to. When I encounter sick kids, I get sick myself (just at the sight). When Daniel encounters sick kids, he just cleans them & gets on with what he was doing.

While I was sick, lying on the couch and not eating, Daniel was sick, holding two sick kids in bed and eating eggrolls. Not all at the same time, but you get the point.... Thank goodness for Daniel.

 
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