Precious little ones

Recent updates on the kiddos:

Nathan:
Just this week...

• I noticed him running away from me when I reached down to pick him up. Running. He just turned 11 months old.
  
• He started trying to open up doors.
• He started pointing to the fan, a nose, ears and hair.
• He started clapping; although I think after he realizes his hands made that sound, he's more mesmerized and stunned. Then he claps no more.
• He started signing the word "more" when referring to food.

Katherine:

• On the way to school or church, we pass a section of the road where they're widening it from 2-lane to 4-lane and she likes to point out all the "exvagators" and "dumpdozers."
• Home decorating tip #1: Door knobs can be so drab so dress them up with hair bands. And don't stop at your bedroom door; decorate the whole house with multiple hair bands, preferably the ones with extra ribbons or sparkles, to add a little pizazz.

Some things I'll miss when my babies grow up:

• Watching Katherine and her cousin R dance in church. They enjoy feeling the spirit so much while singing that they are moved to dance. It's quite entertaining to whomever is around.
• My little boy has finally let me cuddle with him. Usually a little bit before he sleeps and I take full advantage of it after he wakes up.
• Them needing me so much. Sure, it gets old not being able to eat a complete meal without having to take a bathroom break, wipe a face, pick up toys off the floor, keep food off my white pants and try to keep my fingernails clean. It's emotionally draining not being able to get out of the house more often. Sleeping in is no longer anywhere on my radar, unless I dream of it. Spending more time than the bare minimum to get myself bathed, hair dried, make-up applied and clothes thrown on that are free of food or bleach stains is the norm. Not being able to have a conversation that lasts longer than 2 sentences without being interrupted is one I struggle with the most. And wiping saliva or nostril fluids off my legs is just plain gross. But Jim and I talk about what it would be like if our children ever moved far away. We also ask each other how much longer it will be before we can half-way enjoy a meal with them there. Neither one of us know the answer but I do know this: there is a blessed circle to this life. We start with these precious, helpless and beautiful creatures that need our undivided attention 24 hours/day. And with our guidance, love and unceasing prayers, they eventually grow into productive, self-sustaining adults (at least that's our goal). God made them to need us and he'll make it to where we are more comfortable with separation, one step at a time. I'll still miss their little needs and I try my best to appreciate them now.

Neighbors, water & singing

I don't know what's gotten into our sweet little neighborhood. Two years ago we had a house go up for rent and a lady moved in there with her twin toddler daughters. Her situation seemed harmless and most neighbors were ready to help at a moment's notice, but the daughters went to live somewhere else, the delinquent teenage daughter came to live there with her boyfriend, along with a friend, an uncle, the friend's friend and they had people visiting ALL the time. Usually for about 15 minutes then they were gone. After about 8 months of being convinced drugs were involved, and me living in fear while at home with a 9 month old, they finally moved out the house was sold and the home owners live there now.

And today, the drama continued. Another house on our street is causing concern. Around noon, I walked outside to say good-bye to a friend and saw three police cars in front of the troubled house. By the time all was over, there were four police cars, two EMT vehicles, some shouting, handcuffing and tons of speculation.

The three-year-old's take on the whole situation was: "Mommy, I want the police to come to our house."

We really do live in a good neighborhood and good area of town with great neighbors. For some reason though, some minor troubles have settled near us.

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On a much lighter note, we enjoyed some water fun today because Gracie needed a bath.

Again, little dude has no fear of the water.

Then, after supper, Katherine had a yogurt pop and decided to share, but first wanted to get a picture with brother. He looks a little apprehensive about the idea.
Cautiously, he takes a bite.

I don't think he's that impressed.

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I love it when Katherine wants to sing while playing the piano. Now Nathan has joined in. She's singing "Little ones to him belong."

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Nathan's near big break

Thought you might enjoy seeing the commercial I had Nathan audition for...

Childhood memories

Periodically I have flashbacks of my childhood. I remember one time in particular something didn't go my way. I think I was around 6-9, can't quite remember. It was me, mom and Mark at home and whatever it was that didn't sit well with me, was NOT in my plan (however minor it might have been). So, the only solution to my unhappiness was to pull out the drama and kick it up a notch or two, compared to my normal drama.

I proceeded to wail the best fake cry I could muster, trying desperately to produce a tear or two, dragging it out even after something had distracted me for a second. I would quickly re-compose myself and remembered the goal of proving that this not-my-way stuff is for the birds and everybody else would just be better off if I got my way. I think my mom was busy with something else, like being a mom, and she wasn't there to shush me up so I continued. Wailing, fake-crying, falling to the ground, minor foot-stomping etc.

Since I was getting no attention, I threw myself on the bed, face down and proceeded to wail even louder. (If it weren't for my paralyzing fear of the stage, I'm sure I could have been a GREAT actress.) My arm was folded up underneath my face and I remember concentrating on making the crying sound genuine and heartbreaking so I could force misery upon my perpetrator. Hours went by, well, it felt like hours. Minutes went by while I perfected the best crying scene I could generate and

WHAM!

Out of the blue, a hand smacked my rear-end, I was so proudly sticking up in the air (part of the staging I was working on). And quickly the proclamation followed: "There. That'll give you something to cry about."

Oh my heavens! The wailing continued, but this time with more gusto and heart to back it up; because of pain. My mother, who no-doubtedly had heard enough of my practicing-for-Broadway antics, gave me a real reason to cry. But this time it didn't last as long for fear of receiving another reason to cry.

I learned a big lesson that day: When pulling out all the acting stops, don't leave your rear-end exposed.

Enter: Katherine not wanting to take a nap. Need I say more? She didn't get her way today while I was feeding Nathan his bottle and she decided to pull out all the stops. There was no Wham-ing. Just calmly reading some books as a distraction, but I got so tickled remembering my childhood. Speaking of childhood memories, the story about the movie Annie and singing the song "Tomorrow" is at the bottom.

* * * * *

Today, Katherine's bestest bud AC came over to play for a little bit. I thought it would be a great opportunity to bake some cookies I've had sitting in the box on the counter for about a month. The cutie-patooties put on their aprons and stood on chairs next to the counter.
They combined the pre-measured ingredients, mixed it up and placed dollops of dough on the cookie sheet. We talked about what a recipe is, how the cookies change when they're baking and had a taste test after they cooled.
Conclusion: Even boxed cookies don't like me. I'm convinced the culinary Gods are upset with me and have placed a 'hit' on me.

Thanks to some wise intervention and experience-talk from AC's mom, it maybe had something to do with the cooking stone, humidity, the fact that they came in a box and just plain wrong cooking times on the instructions. I'm going with that because I'm sure it had nothing to do with me and my abilities.

* * * * *

Annie (Soundtrack)

Another treasured memory of mine was when the movie Annie came out. My favorite part of the movie: when Annie sang, "Tomorrow."

So, I'm in our back yard, where we had 5 acres separating us from neighbors, at 7 years old singing "Tomorrow" at the top of my lungs, trying very hard to hit each note on pitch and remember the words. I sang it all the time and there was probably some dancing/choreography included.

What my parents heard was a non-stop bad version of the soundtrack to Annie stuck on one song. What they saw was a little girl dancing around, oblivious to the rest of the world, singing her heart out.

What my parents didn't know was that I was convinced that if I sang good enough and loud enough our neighbors, who were 5 acres away, just might have a talent scout at their house. And that talent scout would hear the melodic voice of the next Annie-on-Broadway-replacement singing her heart out and he would ask that little girl and her parents if she would be interested in, gasp even better, being in the movies!

Don't laugh, it is soooo do-able in a 7-year-old's mind and that's exactly what I thought. I eventually got tired of singing the song over and over again and moved on to wanting to be a gold-medal gymnast like Mary Lu Retton.