Nate knows the answer to the first question in the Children's Catechism.
Q. Who made you? A. God.
The other day I asked him, "Nate, who made the birds?"
He thought for a minute, then said enthusiastically, "A big snowman!!"
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Friday, January 25, 2013
Nate and Evie update
Nate and Evelyn are growing up!! Here are some recent developments that are worthy of note, at least to me! =)
Nate is 2!
- he still adores cars and trucks. He must have a large collection of them with him in bed. Apparently they are essential for sleep. I don't mind at all though because he usually plays quietly in his bed for a while after awaking.
-he knows some of his numbers. The favored ones are 1,2 and 8,9.
- he loves being outside, but can disappear into a neighbor's yard in a matter of seconds. I cannot wait to get our yard fenced! Hopefully this spring. He is very adventurous and loves wandering around with Lexi.
-coloring and painting are some of our favorite indoor activities. And dancing.
-Nate calls Evelyn, "baby Evie" and takes good care of her. If she gets into something (he thinks) she shouldn't have he yells "Oh no no Evie!!"
-he is talking like crazy and repeats everything I say, even when I don't think that he is listening. Today we went to Hobby Lobby and he kept saying, "Nate going to wobby wobby." I was chuckling from the front seat.
Evelyn is 9 months old!
-she has been crawling well for a while and can move around very quickly. She loves going up stairs and has become proficient at the up part but shows zero interest in learning how to go down. We have tried to teach her many times to no avail.
-she cruises along furniture and stands up easily on her own without any support. She wants to keep up with Nate so badly!
-she loves her baby-doll! She carries it with her everywhere and insists on sleeping with it too. This results in a frequently very dirty baby doll because it is difficult to find a good time to wash it! Evelyn also loves stuffed animals, pictures of people, and basically anything with a face.
-she is extremely happy and laughs all the time. She crinkles her nose up when she smiles and it looks hilarious.
-she adores Nate and jumps up and down in excitement when he wakes up and she first sees him. In fact, she will climb up the stairs, go into his room and wake him up if I let her. =)
-just in the last month, she has began sleeping well at night in her own bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (It is impossible to put too many exclamation points after that statement) Usually she wakes up once or twice to nurse in the middle of the night. I can handle that! For a while there she would only sleep right next to me and would wake up many times and not want to go back to sleep. I now have an entirely different perspective on life...a much more cheerful one. =)
-she now loves food with a passion and devours large quantities of almost anything. Including mushrooms.
That's all that comes to mind right now!
Nate is 2!
- he still adores cars and trucks. He must have a large collection of them with him in bed. Apparently they are essential for sleep. I don't mind at all though because he usually plays quietly in his bed for a while after awaking.
-he knows some of his numbers. The favored ones are 1,2 and 8,9.
- he loves being outside, but can disappear into a neighbor's yard in a matter of seconds. I cannot wait to get our yard fenced! Hopefully this spring. He is very adventurous and loves wandering around with Lexi.
-coloring and painting are some of our favorite indoor activities. And dancing.
-Nate calls Evelyn, "baby Evie" and takes good care of her. If she gets into something (he thinks) she shouldn't have he yells "Oh no no Evie!!"
-he is talking like crazy and repeats everything I say, even when I don't think that he is listening. Today we went to Hobby Lobby and he kept saying, "Nate going to wobby wobby." I was chuckling from the front seat.
Evelyn is 9 months old!
-she has been crawling well for a while and can move around very quickly. She loves going up stairs and has become proficient at the up part but shows zero interest in learning how to go down. We have tried to teach her many times to no avail.
-she cruises along furniture and stands up easily on her own without any support. She wants to keep up with Nate so badly!
-she loves her baby-doll! She carries it with her everywhere and insists on sleeping with it too. This results in a frequently very dirty baby doll because it is difficult to find a good time to wash it! Evelyn also loves stuffed animals, pictures of people, and basically anything with a face.
-she is extremely happy and laughs all the time. She crinkles her nose up when she smiles and it looks hilarious.
-she adores Nate and jumps up and down in excitement when he wakes up and she first sees him. In fact, she will climb up the stairs, go into his room and wake him up if I let her. =)
-just in the last month, she has began sleeping well at night in her own bed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (It is impossible to put too many exclamation points after that statement) Usually she wakes up once or twice to nurse in the middle of the night. I can handle that! For a while there she would only sleep right next to me and would wake up many times and not want to go back to sleep. I now have an entirely different perspective on life...a much more cheerful one. =)
-she now loves food with a passion and devours large quantities of almost anything. Including mushrooms.
That's all that comes to mind right now!
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Evening walk at the park
As you can see, some of Brett's siblings (Leah, Kristin, and Preston) met us there. I was sad that I only had my phone with which to take pictures because there were so many beautiful moments.
I am looking forward to the spring! Hopefully we will be visiting the park more often when it is a little warmer. I am envisioning picnic dinners by the lake!
Yarn Along
I have wanted to link to Ginny's blog for a long time but have never gotten around to actually doing it before! Her blog is one of my favorites. She takes gorgeous pictures and writes about life homeschooling six children, knitting, being outdoors, and chickens.
I am not going to go into any details about my above knitting project because it is a gift. There are many other projects on my mind that I would like to cast on but have been restraining myself until this one is finished. It seems to be taking much much too long!!
I received Dishes, Diapers, and Dominion as a Christmas gift and am about half-way through it. The book's focus is encouraging women to actively glorify God as moms. I seem to need such encouragement continually, so I have been enjoying it. Since becoming a wife and mother, my reading has gone from consisting mostly of classics and fiction to mostly "practical theology" books. I used to read voraciously but have much less of late. That needs to change.
At the beginning of this year, I started a read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plan. I have been reading it on my phone. At first I resisted this idea, because I love the feel of an open book and I wanted my children to see me reading the Bible instead of thinking, "There's mom on her phone some more!" Practicality won out however and so far the pop up reminders have helped me to remember and stay on track! I am very happy to be reading God's Word regularly again.
Friday, January 11, 2013
On colds and sleeplessness
I think this was the first year I have ever been happy that Christmas was over. The thought that I was happy makes me a little sad...like the magic of Christmas is gone forever now that I am an adult. Maybe that is a little bit true, but we had a bit of a rough Christmas this year so that definitely clouds my judgment for now.
We drove up to Maryland a few days before and Brett was getting sick on the way there. He had a fever for a couple days and nights, bad congestion, and cough. Then Evelyn and I had it as well. Thankfully Nate never had more than a runny nose. Poor Evelyn did not enjoy Christmas morning at all. She had had a high fever the night before and it continued throughout the day, though not as high. She was not even perky enough to smile at the gigantic stuffed elephant that Papa B and Nana gave her. With the fevers and coughing and the resulting even-less-sleep-than-usual, the trip exhausted all of us.
We had a great time visiting with my family though. Thankfully they did not kick us out after we made them all sick too. =) One of the highlights was the snowfall on Christmas Eve. Nate loved the snow, and was almost as excited about it as I was. Though it melted quickly, enough fell to cover the ground and make everything that beautiful sparkly white.
Evelyn and I were still sick on our drive home, which made it pretty miserable and seem extra-long. Brett and I decided that trips in the future should be made by air, not road.
Now, over two weeks later, Evelyn is finally almost completely better. I am so thankful that we are all well again. As miserable as it is to have a fever/cough/runny nose yourself, it is ten times worse to watch your baby suffer.
Evelyn has not been sleeping well for months, to varying degrees. Recently we had resorted to letting her sleep in bed with us, which was something I thought I would never do. I do not sleep well with her next to me, but at the time it was working better than anything else. This week we broke down and bought her a real crib, hoping that the increased comfort and size would help ease the transition away from our bed. She has been sleeping in a pack-n-play ever since she outgrew the bassinet and she is pretty picky about her surroundings. Today she napped in her new bed and slept for 2 hours!! Yay! I did have to go in and pat her when she woke up in the middle, but this was still a wonderful day in the nap category. I am not going to just leave her to "cry it out" for long periods of time, but I am very, very hopeful that she will learn how to sleep on her own soon. Then I will be able to get some sleep again!
This week (and last) I feel like I have been busy but have not gotten much "done". Mostly we have been focused on healing, eating grain and sugar-free, and just getting settled back into our normal routine. I love being settled. =)
I have many pictures I would love to post, but have not had time to find a good solution to my "memory" problem. Google is telling me that my Picasa web album is full and that to upload any more pictures I must pay a monthly fee that I do not wish to pay. Has anyone else run into this problem?
We drove up to Maryland a few days before and Brett was getting sick on the way there. He had a fever for a couple days and nights, bad congestion, and cough. Then Evelyn and I had it as well. Thankfully Nate never had more than a runny nose. Poor Evelyn did not enjoy Christmas morning at all. She had had a high fever the night before and it continued throughout the day, though not as high. She was not even perky enough to smile at the gigantic stuffed elephant that Papa B and Nana gave her. With the fevers and coughing and the resulting even-less-sleep-than-usual, the trip exhausted all of us.
We had a great time visiting with my family though. Thankfully they did not kick us out after we made them all sick too. =) One of the highlights was the snowfall on Christmas Eve. Nate loved the snow, and was almost as excited about it as I was. Though it melted quickly, enough fell to cover the ground and make everything that beautiful sparkly white.
Evelyn and I were still sick on our drive home, which made it pretty miserable and seem extra-long. Brett and I decided that trips in the future should be made by air, not road.
Now, over two weeks later, Evelyn is finally almost completely better. I am so thankful that we are all well again. As miserable as it is to have a fever/cough/runny nose yourself, it is ten times worse to watch your baby suffer.
Evelyn has not been sleeping well for months, to varying degrees. Recently we had resorted to letting her sleep in bed with us, which was something I thought I would never do. I do not sleep well with her next to me, but at the time it was working better than anything else. This week we broke down and bought her a real crib, hoping that the increased comfort and size would help ease the transition away from our bed. She has been sleeping in a pack-n-play ever since she outgrew the bassinet and she is pretty picky about her surroundings. Today she napped in her new bed and slept for 2 hours!! Yay! I did have to go in and pat her when she woke up in the middle, but this was still a wonderful day in the nap category. I am not going to just leave her to "cry it out" for long periods of time, but I am very, very hopeful that she will learn how to sleep on her own soon. Then I will be able to get some sleep again!
This week (and last) I feel like I have been busy but have not gotten much "done". Mostly we have been focused on healing, eating grain and sugar-free, and just getting settled back into our normal routine. I love being settled. =)
I have many pictures I would love to post, but have not had time to find a good solution to my "memory" problem. Google is telling me that my Picasa web album is full and that to upload any more pictures I must pay a monthly fee that I do not wish to pay. Has anyone else run into this problem?
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Happy new year...a few days late!
I am so thankful that we have all been given another year together and I'm looking forward to seeing what God brings us in 2013. The last couple days I have been delighting in visions of a new year, a fresh start, and an opportunity to plan what I would like to accomplish in it. I have decided that I enjoy planning way too much...if only I enjoyed doing to the same extent! Planning gives a feeling of accomplishment without any actual work. =)
While planning, this snippet of life in mind kept coming to mind:
A couple weeks ago, I was determined to rake up some of the leaves in our front yard. The untouched drifts of leaves had been really bothering me. I put Evelyn in the backpack and Nate tagged along. He has recently discovered the little row of "woods" along our yard and likes hiding behind the trees and crunching through the sticks and leaves. He had been in the trees for a couple minutes, not far from me, and was quietly doing something.
I thought victoriously, "So, this is how moms with young children get things done! This is not that hard! I just have to bring them along with me and do it!"
About 5 seconds later I looked over at Nate and thought, "He has been standing next to that one bush for a while. I wonder what he is looking at so intently." Then I realized that the bush was covered in some kind of bright red berry, which look very appealing to a small boy who delights in all things fruity. I rushed over to him. Nate looked up at me, pointed to the berries and said, "Yuuummm!"
It did not look like he had eaten more than one or two from the number of empty stems, but I was scared anyway. We went into the house and I gave him a drink. Then we spent a long time researching "poisonous berries in GA". I eventually concluded that they were not poisonous and Nate, obviously, is fine.
The moral of the story is: whatever I think I can get done, with both children along for the ride, I should probably half my expectations. And then I should not be disappointed. And a second moral: some things are more important than getting things done, such as keeping my children safe.
However, I must attempt projects anyway. Otherwise, nothing will ever get done. I seem to vacillate between two views of thought here. First, that this is a season, a difficult time in my life during which I should not attempt large projects. On the other hand, if I take that approach I will not attempt any large projects for a very, very long time! Most people are only intending to have two children, so from here on out projects are going to be easier and easier. But if I am going to continue to have children, with which I am hoping the Lord will bless us, the future for projects looks rather bleak with the "seasons" mindset. If it is difficult to get things done with two babies, what about with two while I am pregnant, and then three, and then four and homeschooling, etc.
No, there will be no "easy" time in the near future. So I must gird up my loins and get done what I can get done and be content with that. It is hard to have high expectations and then be graceful when I fail. At the same time, I must have goals, expectations, plans or we will just watch way too much Netflix (now that we have a Wii)! While there certainly are seasons during which "extras" should be attempted and seasons during which they should not, I don't want to use that as an excuse.
All of that was a grand digression from my original thought, which was my joy in this new year and my hopes for it. My main, and very broad, goals for this year are:
1) to grow closer to my Savior and to seek Him more diligently. I hope to read through the Bible this year, which I have not done for several years. Brett and I are both working towards being more faithful in personal and family devotions.
2) to foster an atmosphere of joy and peace in our home. I want our home to be a taste of heaven for those who live in it. This has always been a goal of mine, but I am thinking of practical ways to make our home more beautiful and inviting...inwardly as well as outwardly.
I hope to blog about a few more specific goals for this year. Writing them out lends weight to my commitment.
A happy new year from our house to yours!!
While planning, this snippet of life in mind kept coming to mind:
A couple weeks ago, I was determined to rake up some of the leaves in our front yard. The untouched drifts of leaves had been really bothering me. I put Evelyn in the backpack and Nate tagged along. He has recently discovered the little row of "woods" along our yard and likes hiding behind the trees and crunching through the sticks and leaves. He had been in the trees for a couple minutes, not far from me, and was quietly doing something.
I thought victoriously, "So, this is how moms with young children get things done! This is not that hard! I just have to bring them along with me and do it!"
About 5 seconds later I looked over at Nate and thought, "He has been standing next to that one bush for a while. I wonder what he is looking at so intently." Then I realized that the bush was covered in some kind of bright red berry, which look very appealing to a small boy who delights in all things fruity. I rushed over to him. Nate looked up at me, pointed to the berries and said, "Yuuummm!"
It did not look like he had eaten more than one or two from the number of empty stems, but I was scared anyway. We went into the house and I gave him a drink. Then we spent a long time researching "poisonous berries in GA". I eventually concluded that they were not poisonous and Nate, obviously, is fine.
The moral of the story is: whatever I think I can get done, with both children along for the ride, I should probably half my expectations. And then I should not be disappointed. And a second moral: some things are more important than getting things done, such as keeping my children safe.
However, I must attempt projects anyway. Otherwise, nothing will ever get done. I seem to vacillate between two views of thought here. First, that this is a season, a difficult time in my life during which I should not attempt large projects. On the other hand, if I take that approach I will not attempt any large projects for a very, very long time! Most people are only intending to have two children, so from here on out projects are going to be easier and easier. But if I am going to continue to have children, with which I am hoping the Lord will bless us, the future for projects looks rather bleak with the "seasons" mindset. If it is difficult to get things done with two babies, what about with two while I am pregnant, and then three, and then four and homeschooling, etc.
No, there will be no "easy" time in the near future. So I must gird up my loins and get done what I can get done and be content with that. It is hard to have high expectations and then be graceful when I fail. At the same time, I must have goals, expectations, plans or we will just watch way too much Netflix (now that we have a Wii)! While there certainly are seasons during which "extras" should be attempted and seasons during which they should not, I don't want to use that as an excuse.
All of that was a grand digression from my original thought, which was my joy in this new year and my hopes for it. My main, and very broad, goals for this year are:
1) to grow closer to my Savior and to seek Him more diligently. I hope to read through the Bible this year, which I have not done for several years. Brett and I are both working towards being more faithful in personal and family devotions.
2) to foster an atmosphere of joy and peace in our home. I want our home to be a taste of heaven for those who live in it. This has always been a goal of mine, but I am thinking of practical ways to make our home more beautiful and inviting...inwardly as well as outwardly.
I hope to blog about a few more specific goals for this year. Writing them out lends weight to my commitment.
A happy new year from our house to yours!!
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