Time Out

Well it’s official… I don’t have time for this… I should be doing any number of a hundred things on my mental to-do list… that’s right… I haven’t even had time to make an actual list, perhaps because I don’t even know where to begin. The floors are covered in dog hair & were covered in little pieces of Christmas tree, but the dog took care of those for me (thanks Sampson… I knew you were good for something!)… My kitchen appears to have no counters… the refrigerator has more food that needs to be thrown out than things one can safely eat… there is sewing to be done… cookies to make… a tree we finally purchased but have yet to decorate… Wes has made valiant efforts to reduce the laundry mountain, yet somehow there is still more to wash... But here I sit, using the few minutes of precious and rare naptime to type. Even I am not sure this is the best decision, as I am sure you might agree.


If by chance you are anything like me, perhaps you look around and wonder where to start and how to make this Advent season less... well, just less… less stressful, less busy, less messy, less commercial. I run through my calendar and my to-dos and I cannot seem to find one thing to strike from the list, nor can I find time in the next three weeks to do it all. I want this season to be about and for Christ but I keep getting lost in my own sea of worthy to-dos. I know who and what are the most important things on my list but somehow there is conflict in my heart… I WANT to do these things for the people who are the most important, yet the normal things I MUST do for these same people (diapers, laundry, grocery shopping, feeding) seem to get in the way. I am at a loss, and so I type and pray, hoping that somehow I will find a way to make time. Make time… maybe I can sleep less? Make more time… more coffee? Make even more time… forget the laundry?

And then, I realize… how bold am I to think that I can make time… only God can make that thing so precious… the one thing on all our lists, no matter our age… the thing that we cannot purchase, nor google a way to DIY… T I M E.O U T.

That’s what I need… a time-out. Can I just go sit in the corner one minute for every year I am old and think about what I’ve done wrong? Please! I need it! Can I cram my buns into the naughty seat? I would love to! I need a time-out, for thinking that I have the power to somehow make time… for thinking that I am capable of producing the “perfect” Christmas, focused purely on the reason we celebrate and yet encompassing every wonderful, memory-making thing and experience for my children, while capturing it all in photos I will treasure forever. WRONG! And so, I give-up... And I give up my time to the one who created it.

I am throwing my mental list out the figurative window and deleting things off my virtual calendar. You’ll forgive me please if I don’t make an appearance at your event… if my children do not wear matching holiday outfits… if my cookies come from a box… if your gift seems sub-par and store-bought… if my photos are mere iPhone snapshots… if your Christmas card arrives after Epiphany… and even if I wear sweatpants and no makeup every day of the week. I am forgiving myself… foregoing my list… and giving up what was never mine to begin with. Now back to the poop, spit-up, tantrums, and undecorated house I love so much… my time-out is up.

Gratitude...

I’ve never been a huge fan of Thanksgiving… I’m not sure why, and yes, I realize that makes me sound like a bad person, BUT… it’s not that I don’t like Thanksgiving… it’s just that I try to be thankful every day, not just once a year. Of course I am thankful for all the “usual” blessings of family and friends, health and home… but I hope that we remember and teach our children to thank God every day for all things, not just once a year for the good things.

So this Thanksgiving, I decided to think of those things that I tend to be least thankful for and take time to thank God especially for these less-than-exciting things…

For traffic when I’m running late, long lines, and the check-writers who make them even longer … Thank you God for teaching me to be patient.

For poop, poop, and more poop… Thank you God for healthy tummies!

For watching people we love slowly slip away… Thank you God for memories… may the good ones far outweigh the bad.

For stubborn four-year-old sassiness… Thank you God for the strong spirit of a child… may she never lose her feistiness!

For noises in the night that make me nervous… Thank you God that these remind me to cling to you when I am scared… and thank you that You never sleep!

For 45 minutes of non-stop screaming in the car… Thank you God for every breath this child takes.

For medical bills… Thank you God for those who care for us… Thank you for sharing your power to heal and knowledge to help.

For the never-ending mountain of laundry… Thank you God for washing machines and dryers! And for clothes, towels, sheets, and diapers too.

For freckles, break-outs, blonde eyelashes, and bad hair days… Thank you God that you make us all different and that your measure of beauty is not like the world’s.

For Wal-Mart… Thank you God that we can go just down the street to get what we need… and for people who make me feel “normal”.



You’ve probably heard the old cliché that “it’s the simple things in life that make living so grand”… but it’s not just the simple good stuff that we are supposed to be thankful for… the simple nuisances, frustrations, and sadness are great causes for gratitude too. Maybe I do like Thanksgiving after all.

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18


“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” ~Psalm 34:1


“[give] thanks always and for everything to God the Father…” ~Ephesians 5:20

Inconvenient Blessings...

This morning I got everyone ready for preschool and a morning of running errands… hopped in the car… dropped the goose off… drove to Target… calmed Sissy down… put on my makeup… and then… realized I had forgotten my wallet… back home we went, hoping that we didn’t get pulled-over on the way.

By now, Sissy was finally asleep, so I turned off the radio and enjoyed the soothing sounds of the sleep sheep (Sissy’s white noise maker). It was then I realized just how long its been since I stopped to enjoy the quiet. Its not that I haven’t appreciated these brief and rare peaceful moments, trust me… I appreciate every minute of silence... But I usually take this time to clean-up, or catch-up. These moments are spent on ordinary chores, which though necessary and often overdue sometimes lead me to neglect the most important things.

So today, instead of grabbing my wallet and rushing back to my morning errands… I am going to enjoy this time. Instead of using Sissy’s nap to scrub toilets, wash clothes, or sew I am sitting by the window watching the sun shine through the trees… thanking God that I left my wallet… thanking Him that instead of being frustrated with my forgetfulness, somewhere along the way I have learned that we will never know what good may come from ordinary “inconveniences”… learned what things are worth getting upset about and what things are better to laugh at… learned that sometimes its better to turn your chair toward the window, let your house be a mess, and let your heart be full.

Or, as Frederick Buechner puts it in his book Listening to your Life
(a book which if you don’t have you should)…
“There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him but all the more fascinatingly because of that [….] Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”

I hope you forget your wallet today… or tomorrow… or someday when you need to turn your chair away from the mess and toward the window.

"The heavens declare the glory of God,and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,and night to night reveals knowledge."
~Psalm 19:1-2

Boo... BooHoo!

Ah Halloween... what fun... that becomes what chaos... that always ends in weeping and gnashing of teeth... followed by months of when-can-i-eat-more-candy negotiations.  But still... what fun! 

This year the goose decided early on, while browsing through a pattern book, that she wanted to be a "nurse-doctor" (which is ironic because this year I did not actually make her costume. Sigh...).  Surprisingly, she never changed her mind and happily declared she was a "nurse-doctor" right on through Halloween night.  This decision was sealed when we found Sissy a onesie that looked like scrubs AND later when the real pink stethescope arrived... there was no turning back!

You may be asking yourself, exactly what is a "nurse-doctor", well you see... if you have your "doctor coat" on, you are, of course, a doctor.  BUT... if you take said coat off and just have on your scrubs... you are a nurse.  Simple enough... and comical too... as the Goose took her coat on and off her shoulders declaring "I'm a doctor! I'm a nurse! Now... I'm a doctor! Nurse! Doctor! Nurse! Doctor!" You get the picture :) 

hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work she goes!

Little Bo Peep found her sheep & brought him by to trick-or-treat!

... But sheep found a stroller & ran off to play...

 About this time in the evening, I think the Duggars came trick-or-treating at our house... seriously... a mini van followed by a 15-passenger van pulled up and out poured at least 20 kids... no lie! They came from all directions... trampling Wes' newly-planted grass... tumbling down the hill... falling in the ditch... they swarmed the candy bowl taking it from full to nearly empty.  In all this mass chaos, Little Bo Peep and Dr. Goose, who had just been arguing over who got to hold Nurse Sissy for the picture, both decided that it is more fun to handout candy than to hold a baby... abandoning poor Sissy at the same time without a thought to who may or may not be holding her.  Luckily... Mommy didn't trust them too much and my hand was right there to catch the baby.  I only wish we had a picture of her sitting alone on the porch :)

What a rough night for a baby!  Sissy needed some "down time" after all that fun... So she headed to her favorite spot... The changing table :)

Whew!  That's enough Halloween madness fun to last a whole year... Thank goodness!

Month in review... October

I’ve been trying to write this blog post for days… make that weeks! But somehow a month has come and gone with no updates. They say time flies when you’re having fun! When you have a minute or ten to spare, catch up on all our October fun… just pretend these happy highlights were spread out over the last four weeks!



Are you sure you’ve done this before???

I fear I learned nothing with the Goose… or at the very least, I seem to have forgotten everything from her infancy. I am sure people look at me and wonder if this is my first baby… as I scramble to find a diaper only to discover there is only one in the enormous DIAPER bag… as I take 5 minutes to change one dirty diaper… as my poor child screams in the aisles, check-out line, and parking lot of Walmart*… as I fumble to get the carrier out of the car… all the while wondering when I will go out in public with make-up on instead of sunglasses.

*Meanwhile... how is it that people go in the walmarket looking like the posterchild for rednecks today and no one gives them a second glance BUT... if you look half-way decent and have a screaming baby whom you are trying desperately to soothe while you attempt to check-out THEN people look at you like you have four heads????  I must say though, one very kind soul came to my aid in the parking lot, helping me load my trunk and taking my cart for me so that I could get said screaming baby and her sister into the car.  God bless you nice lady... wherever you are. 


Goodbye stretchy pants!

Elastic-waist pants are great… if you are in preschool, but for those of us over 6… nothing beats a good pair of REAL jeans. How happy I was the day I put away the last pair of stretchy pants and finally returned to the land of real pants with zippers, buttons, and pockets! Sure they are a little tighter than before, but maybe they can pass for “skinny jeans”??? Who really needs to put anything in their pockets anyway?!?



Lots of Hands & Wet Socks…

Sissy lost her cord at only one week, but we felt that was still a bit too early for a real bath… and she didn’t seem to mind the changing table “bath” too much, so we were in no hurry. When the day finally arrived to introduce Sissy to the tub, the Goose was SO excited! She decided she needed to get in the tub to “help”… As we all oohed and ahhed in our best baby-talk voices, Wes began to chuckle… not at the silly sounds we were making to reassure Sissy that the tub is fun, but at the sheer number of hands there were in one small tub… that’s right, there were eight! Two’s company, Three’s a crowd, but EIGHT… Eight is great!

Not so many days later, I found myself running late (if you can imagine that!), so I decided to delegate baby duties to speed things up. Daddy has always been in charge of bathtime for the Goose, so after four years of practice, I felt confident in his abilities to bathe Sissy by himself… that is until he says… “By the way, if you wonder why Sissy’s socks are beside the sink, they are drying out… I remembered to take her diaper off, but I didn’t think about her socks until she was already in the tub.”



First Trip to Church…

At three weeks, we felt ready to return to church. After scrambling to feed, bathe, and find weather-appropriate clothing for all, we finally set off with over-packed diaper bag, grouchy 4-year-old, and screaming baby in tow. Arriving a mere 5 minutes late, we had high hopes for Sissy sleeping through at least half of the service… WRONG! She made it through a song and the greeting time before the meltdown began. I decided it would be best to listen to the sermon from outside the door after a quick diaper change… only the quick change turned into a huge mess as Sissy not only spit-up all over her pretty smocked dress, but peed all over it too. The ensuing wardrobe change led to a screaming fit, which required a feeding to calm the angered child and, of course, another diaper change. By the time we returned to church, church was over… perhaps Sunday school would go better? Not so much. (Though we did enjoy a few minutes of peace thanks to Pam!) Returning home, Wes and I reminisced (over the screaming) how the Goose slept through church for months… ahh memories… we will remember Sissy’s first church visit as an epic fail. Thankfully, we were not easily defeated and week two proved to be a much more enjoyable experience without any major meltdowns.



Daddy’s new toy…

I didn’t keep an accurate count, but I think the Goose got at least as many presents over the last few months as Sissy did! She is one spoiled well-loved little girl! I only hope she knows how lucky she is… no one wanted her to feel left-out when her baby sister arrived. I think Wes might have felt a bit neglected though, so he had to get a new toy too… I am pretty sure the highlight of his month was the arrival of our iPhones… that’s right folks… we’ve entered the 21st century… our phones are now officially smarter than we are. And we wonder how we ever lived without them!



Pumpkin Patch Fun!

Sissy celebrated being one whole month old with a trip to the Pumpkin Patch! She and the Goose were both on their best behavior… loving every minute of pumpkin-picking, maze-walking, picture-taking fun! Really, it was a fabulous afternoon for all of us… even Daddy... as we shared our first “family tradition” with Sissy.

Is she a good baby???

This is what I hear at least ten times a week… often more. I have decided that this particular ridiculous question ranks right up there with “Are you going to have another one?” or “When are you going to try again for a boy?” in the Most-Stupid-Yet-Most-Often-Asked-Question-To-A-Woman-Who-Has-Just-Given-Birth List. I am also astonished at the number of complete strangers who ask the aforementioned idiotic questions. The latter two I am wise enough not to answer, but the first… well, the first sort of drives me crazy(er). What I would like to know is does any new mother really answer “No” when asked if their NEWBORN is “good”???? Seriously. Sure Sissy has only two speeds… she is either perfectly content or really, really, really screaming mad. But I am ok with that. She is a BABY… she’s supposed to cry… but that does not make her “bad” folks! That just means she is a baby!



Spilt Milk…

The Goose and her Daddy went on one last trip to Carowinds one warm Sunday afternoon. While waiting in line, Wes was telling her how next spring, Sissy can stay with Gamma and Mommy can come ride the rides with them, to which the Goose replies… “Mommy can come, but she can’t get on the rollercoasters… because if she did, Sissy’s milk would spill all over the place!” Hilarity I tell you.



Best Seat in the House…

Sissy enjoys moving, but only on foot... She does NOT like the car seat AT ALL and is not a big fan of the swing. She will tolerate her bouncy seat long enough for Mommy to get half a shower or eat half a meal, but no more! She is also ok with rocking… as long as you bounce while you rock or if she was already asleep when you started to rock. But her favorite spot… the changing table… go figure!



Six Wonderful Weeks…

Sissy is now six weeks old! She “celebrated” with a trip to the doctor for her first month check-up, which was a couple of weeks late, and a vaccination, which she was not at all a fan of. At six weeks, she weighed in at 10 pounds 5 ounces… up 3 whole pounds! (The doctor told her if she breaks his scale she has to pay for it) She also grew 2.25 inches and is now 21.5 inches long…. As you can tell, she likes to eat!

At six weeks, Sissy is starting to smile a lot and even coos a little when you talk to her. She follows objects and people with her eyes now and recognizes familiar voices. She has lost all of her hair except that in the back (yes, we have a bit of the friar tuck going on for now) and new very-light-blonde baby fuzz is coming in nicely. AND… after WEEKS of protesting… she is learning to tolerate her car seat, even napping in the car on occasion! Praise God for answered prayers!



Precious Pumpkins…

Some people like to turn their pumpkins into frightening faces… but we prefer precious pumpkins filled with even more precious pumpkins! Have a look at our Pumpkin Fun…

 
 
Now you are officially up-to-date on all (or at least most) of the family fun!  Stay tuned for more updates HOPEFULLY coming sooner to a blog near you!  Happy Fall!

Baby Pics...

Spending hours in front of my camera is probably not my family's favorite thing to do on a Saturday morning, but they humored me (with only moderate whining, pouting, and crying of all three participants).  Hopefully someday they will think it was worth it... I certainly do.  Here are more than a few of my favorites... I have a hard time narrowing.  But who can blame me... look at that face!

Snoozing on Mommy's baby bed that BeBa restored...

See my little grin and one dimple!

Surprisingly, Sissy liked sleeping in the basket...

Our best anniversary present... just 4 days early...

The quilt in these pictures was the last quilt made by my Great-Grandmother for my mother...
It is extra-special because Sissy shares the same name as both special women. 

Sissy

Yet again, I am behind at blogging, but this time I think I have a good excuse... on September 14th at 9:50pm we finally welcomed Sissy into the world.  As she was in no hurry to come on her own, she was evicted from her cozy home of the last nine-plus months.  After a week of adjusting, we think she is pretty happy with her new home.  Here are a few highlights from the last week... sorry there aren't more, but for some reason I seem to have trouble getting to the camera!

Meeting Sissy for the first time!

Meeting BeBa...

Sissy and her namesake, Gamma...

Gamma and her girls...



It was unusually cold the day we came home...
So our "coming home" outfit didn't exactly work out. 
Thankfully HayHay had given us this cute hat... so Sissy still came home in style!



The Goose holding Sissy... her new favorite passtime... until her arm gets tired or sweaty...

Ok, so the Goose is totally faking sleep here, but it was too cute to pass up!