StevenLaura

K's Old McDonald Remix

2011-05-23T20:28:00.002-05:00

K has been working on her musical performance skills lately. Here is some of her best work to date. Don't miss the long improvisational piano solo in the middle or the Old McDonald/Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Battle that she gets into with E.

Adventures in Capitalism

2011-05-23T19:08:00.002-05:00

I recently had to return a piece of electronic equipment to the manufacturer for replacement, and I just got the new item in the mail. My extensive knowledge of economics lent me comfort as I figured that this profit-maximizing firm would find the most efficient way to ship the item back to me. Capitalism = little waste. That's what I teach my students. So consider this an experiment.

E helpfully agreed to serve as my model:

The package seemed large, given the object, let's see if you agree.

Wait, a second package in the box? Bubble wrap no less? Well that is one safe object.

Wait, there is packaging in the bubble-wrap mailer that was in the box! Well now we have gotten to the end, right?

Nope, there is a tiny plastic container in the packaging in the bubble-wrap mailer in the box! Well the thing was safe, anyway.

And we finally come to the object. An SD card. No, wait, a Mini SD card. E is somewhat confused that so small a present would come in so large a box. I am confused too. E asks: "Daddy, is this efficient?" (OK, she didn't, but it would have been sweet if she did.)

A birthday card

2011-05-23T14:51:00.000-05:00

My four year old, E, made me a card for my birthday. She loves to write letters, but she doesn't always intend to make words. Often she'll just write a bunch of letters down, and then AFTERWARDS she'll figure out what it says. That's what she did this time. S had the girls in the arts and crafts room in the basement most of the morning so that I could sleep in. While he took my 2 year old to the potty, E snuck up the stairs, snuck into my bedroom, and handed a very blurry eyed mama a card. "Happy birthday momma!" she said, "I made you a card. It says... ... Fumpy." I looked, and there, in large letters on the front of the card, were the letters FUMIMIP. Which, I guess, spells "Fumpy." Which is about how I felt that morning. Older and much frumpier.

What a fabulous way to wake up -- a thoughtful card, AND a reminder not to take ourselves too seriously.

A dust of cloud

2011-05-20T06:41:00.003-05:00

S & E & K walked to day care today.

They saw four rabbits and six ducks.

They also saw a lot of fog.

S explained that fog was a cloud. E and K saw that there was cloud all around them, just out of reach. They walked across the lawn trying to get into the cloud. Then they turned around, saw daddy, and said, "Daddy, now YOU'RE in the cloud. Let's go walk to daddy so we can be in the cloud, too." Sadly, as soon as they got to daddy, it seemed the cloud had moved just beyond their reach yet again.

E kept referring to the fog as "a dust of cloud."

"Just like when the Berenstain bears land on the moon," she said, "there was a dust of cloud there, too."

Thing is, I thought it looked like just a dusting of cloud on the horizon as well.

----------------------------------------

K spelled her name for me today. She does this a lot, and it always goes like this:

"I'm K-I-M-I-A, 2. That spells Kimia." She knows that two is how old she is. She always holds up two fingers when she says two, right after spelling her name. She also knows that she will soon be three. Why she throws it at the end of her name, I'm not sure. I think it's "just in case." You never know what adults are REALLY asking for.

She also practiced spelling "life" today. Because it's her favorite cereal. She explained to me this morning that she doesn't like coffee, but "Life cereal is my FAAAVORITE."

Early literacy

2011-02-12T13:51:00.003-05:00

E made some valentines for her grandparents today. She was especially fond of drawing people and writing things on the hearts. On one side of the heart she wrote "Mimi" (for K-, since she can't write her own name yet and so therefore E "helps" wherever she can). On the other side she wrote (unconventionally from right to left, with all the letters backwards, so you could tell you were supposed to read it through a mirror) "AEFL"

me: "What does that say, E?"
E: "I don't know... [looks at her letters] it says 'Ah eh fuh luh'"

OF COURSE! How could I have missed it? AEFL mirror image or not says "ahehfuhluh"

Now I just have to figure out what it means.

The cost of kisses.

2011-01-26T17:49:00.002-05:00

Kisses cost $5. E told us so today. She ran out of them, you see. And if we wanted to see any more E kisses, we'd have to go to the store and buy them.

When we expressed our disbelief at the high price of kisses, she explained that the $5 was for a box and then further told us that a box has 31 kisses. That price isn't as bad.

Now I just need to figure out where the kisses store is.

Not so worried any more

2011-01-07T19:16:00.005-05:00

At preschool, E is learning all sorts of things. She can read many words now. She yells "S-T-O-P STOP" at every red stop sign, and she is sure to point with much animation every time she sees "God" on the screen at church.

Sometimes, though, I wonder about some of the things she might be learning. I was shocked when I walked into her empty class room one morning and saw two poems on the story board, side by side. One said "I am a boy, and I like toys" and then went on to explain how the boy also liked cars, etc. It had a nice picture of a boy in blue. On the girl half the girl said, "I am a girl and I have curls" and she likes dolls. And she wore pink. Ick - pink.

So E and I had a talk. "Do boys sometimes have curls?" I asked. She named a few boys in her class who had curly hair. "And do girls like to play with toy

s and cars?" She assured me they do. "And can boys play with dolls?" She was sure they could. She'd seen it happen before. So, I was relieved. That is, until her teacher (not the lead teacher, thankfully) came in the class and saw what I was doing. I explained that I was just pointing out how girls and boys could BOTH do the things listed in each poem. The teacher said, "Well, it's just to teach them r

eading." As if the content were TRIVIAL! I lost a LOT of faith in that teacher that day. THAT was her excuse? With that reasoning, almost ANYTHING could be used, as long as the phonetic sounds were right. That's a bit scary. (And they weren't even good poems.) -- Sigh.

Today, however, E assured me in more than one way that she has not decided what to like and dislike based on gender norms. For that I am grateful. This morning E told me that she wanted another Cars cake for her birthday again this year, just like last year. (I wonder if she'll want the heart on the road, too, again this year, or if she'll ask for princesses instead.)

This evening she told daddy all about the lego men she built with her friends. She was so excited, because together they had made Batman, Cap'in 'Merika, and Two Face the Bad Guy.

One thing I can tell you for sure: She wasn't the one lead

ing the play at this point. She didn't even realize that Cap'in 'Merika was supposed to be pronounced "Captain America" until S pronounced it back to her. That said, at least she doesn't think she must contain her play to only girls. Or, if she is, her girl friends like to watch "boy" cartoons. :) (It's been confirmed-- she was

, indeed, playing with two little boys when they built lego men.)

Alright, since you've read this far, you deserve some pictures.
First, K being cute (hasn't she grown?). Second, E on her first ice skating adventure, skating on the very same rink that I used to learn to skate. I am happy to report that she was brave and, even though she tired easily, she really did remarkably well and ended the adventure skating herself to the other side of the rink so she could go home. (I was astonished that she didn't ask me to carry her.)

Cало

2010-08-27T14:52:00.002-05:00

My mother and my grandmother are both at least bilingual.

As such, they are acutely aware of words and meanings that may exist in one language that either don't exist in the other, or exist but not with quite the same meaning. While I was growing up they would use a foreign word because it didn't QUITE have an English equivalent.

As a kid I'd be just as likely to be called "yawili" as "rambunctious," and probably more likely to be "yawili" than "mischievous," for example. Or there would be days that I'd be talking to Grandma and she'd have only the French word come to mind, because the English equivalent didn't quite fit in the situation.

I'm not bilingual. That said, I understand the concept. There are words in Russian that just don't have an English equivalent, that I have to explain my way around. Cало (Sala) is one of those. Or, so I thought. Then I stumble upon today's Russian word of the day on a favorite blog and discover I'm wrong. The English word does exist, it's just not in my lexicon.

Ready for today's "learn a Russian word and its now existent English equivalent" adventure? Here we go.

Cало (Sala) is a "delightful" dish that I downed in Khabarovsk only to make my host father proud. He was sure that, since I couldn't roll my "r"s I couldn't be a real Rrrrussian. BUT, if I could down some raw pickeled pigs fat? THEN I could prove my Russian-ness. (In hind sight, it was really a loosing battle to begin with.) So, I downed the salted inverse of bacon. I consumed the fat with no meat that could keep a fisherman alive for a month. And then I decided I better learn to roll my "r"s. And I was glad that we didn't have the equivalent in English.

But, wait, WE DO! "Fatback." Fatback? OH! SURE! I've read about it in novels. I guess that makes sense. But I've never consumed it -- except, it's cало -- so I guess I have. Fat back. Got it. Now, someone translate the Russian on this page into English and see if Google Translator agrees. And someone else, who grew up in a culture that eats fatback, tell me what it is, so that I can see if it fits my definition of cало.

You learn something new every day.

WARNING: BABY BRAGGING BELOW.

2010-07-31T11:05:00.005-05:00

My one year old just smoked me in Memory.

In an effort to get K- to stop crying after Daddy and E left on a fun errand without her, I offered her the chance to play a NEW game, one of E's games. A game she's never been allowed to play before (and hasn't really even seen played more than once, as we normally don't take it out until after she's in bed).

We took out the classic Memory Game.

She smoked me. I blame it on not enough caffeine this morning.

Well, I really didn't play against her, so I don't know who won, persay, but 80 to 90% of the time, if I knew where the match was, so did she.

She clearly grasp object permanence, matched well, and remembered well. She was able to name all the objects as she turned them over. And when I set out 12 tiles and she started to "tag team" counted with me (I said "one," we both said "two"and "three" she said "four" I said "five" she said "six" etc.) all the way up to 12. (She said "seven" for "eleven" but I gave her a little grace on that one.)

I think sometimes she forgets she's only one.

2010-07-08T20:52:00.004-05:00

Begging the question (a child development report from Laura)

2010-07-08T20:36:00.004-05:00

Tonight on our way home from a friends house (N & L Carlson, for you life-long Blacknallites), E our mighty three year old, did something that would make any philosopher (and lots of other highly trained academics) proud. She almost correctly used the term “beg the question.” If only she'd stopped there. Her next sentence revealed that her use appears to have been accidental (or merely a mimic) and she doesn’t ACTUALLY grasp the concept. Read on for more. (We were discussing our broken garage door opener. )

Why does daddy have to fix it, mama?

Because it’s broken.

No, mama, that’s not an answer.

Oh, am I begging the question?

Yes, mama, you’re begging the question. Why does daddy have to fix the garage?

I don’t know.

BECAUSE, mama, BECAUSE he has to fix the INSIDE and the OUTSIDE of the garage. THAT’S the answer, mama.

Thank you, E.

And now, for something entirely cute:

My network connection is too slow to post pictures. I'll try again in a moment.

Sweet bits

2010-06-19T09:09:00.003-05:00

My daughters just proudly paraded into the house from their trip with Daddy to the grocery store. They had big white balloons that said, "Krispy Kreme" and HUGE smiles on their face, with bits of glaze around their lips.

"You guys went to Krispy Kreme, didn't you?" I asked.

"Yeah," they said, with huge grins.

"Did you bring me any?" I asked.

"No," Daddy and E responded.

Meanwhile, clear as a bell, K (20 mos) responded,

"Yeah!" as she looked down at her open and empty hands, "And I ate it."[Here she put her hands up to her mouth to show me what happened, with a HUGE, but slightly apologetic, grin on her face, then shrugged her hands off as if to say, "oh well, guess not this time mom."]

I wish I'd gotten that one on tape.

THAT was sweeter than any Krispy Kreme.

(sigh) They grow up so fast.

Change is in the air -- and it's all my fault.

2010-04-22T08:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I made a batch of cookies (vegan) for a bake sale. I saved out a small portion to share with other administrative assistants at yesterday’s lunch. I froze some of the dough for later.

This morning I sent out a reminder to my department that we are having a student & faculty potluck lunch together today. As I typed, I regretted that the rest of the batch of cookies was still frozen in my freezer. I could have made them and brought them to lunch, I thought. A larger-than-usual percentage of our department’s student body is vegan, it would have been appreciated.

It turns out my fretting was for not. A few moments later, the animal ethicist in the department walked in for work. “Change is in the air,” he said, “look what I found at the bake sale.” He then proudly held up all my vegan cookies. “I bought them out” he proclaimed. “ You know, they look like the ones you brought in yesterday.”

… That’s because they are the ones I brought in yesterday - so that vegan students could buy them - at the bake sale - where you just bought them. And now they’re all sold out.

BUT – at least I don’t need to feel bad about not having any at today's lunch.

6 am musicals

2010-04-13T11:13:00.002-05:00

This morning I mentioned to S that I had a headache.

E instantly decided to make that statement into a song. She pranced, danced, and clogged up and down the hallway singing about headaches.

It was quite the musical number.

The good news is: I have a creative toddler.

The bad news is: Musicals are NOT good cures for headaches.

Thank you, E.

A Child's Prayer

2010-03-29T17:10:00.003-05:00

E is learning to pray. Here is her latest:

Bless us o Lord

Dear Jesus

Thank you for, thank you for numbers

thank you for trees

thank you for follers (flowers)

thank you for, thank you for doors

thank you for teapots

thank you for daddy

thank you for K

thank you for, thank you for, thank you for tad (???)

thank you for...I want spell stop.

S...t... no I will do it

s...t...o...p...Yay!

(Are you still praying E? Maybe its time to say Amen?)

Amen!

Yay!

We are working on focus, but her heart seems to be on the right track. Her first line "thank you for numbers" is actually her taking a position on a difficult theological problem (did God create numbers?)

Eggstras

2010-03-19T15:02:00.001-05:00

Shortly after New Year, our family resolved to stop supporting factory farming practices. This meant, until we could find a reliable source of animal bi products, we would choose to forgo those bi products. So, if you’re reading between the lines, yes, we went vegan. And we are/were fairly successful at it, too. But, I kept my feelers out for good sources of eggs -- you know, for a special “treat.” Several students in my department are actively working out ethical eating / creation care / take your pick of terms. I asked one of them where she got her eggs. From her friend’s mom who gets them out of their back yard, where the hens are treated well, she responded. “They even all have names. I gathered eggs myself last time I was there. ” “Next time your friend brings some for you, I’ll buy a dozen off of you,” I promptly responded.

That was three weeks ago. Three days ago, around the break table at work I discovered that one of my co-worker’s (R-’s) sons raises his own chickens. “Hey, next time you get a chance, bring me a dozen.” (Only $2, a good deal.)

Then yesterday I got sick. I felt icky. And I really really wanted an “Egg McMullen.” It had been around two months since I’d eaten an egg. But it seemed like just the right comfort food. Fried up fresh and put on a lightly toasted, lightly buttered English muffin… mmm… And, even though we’d agreed to go local on eggs, I couldn’t help myself, I went to the store and bought myself the friendliest, happiest, tastiest looking egg I could find. Lots of labels on the package like “vegetarian fed free range” and such made me feel more secure in my dubious decision to buy for my comfort food breakfast.

This morning I was greeted by one of my department’s students. “Hey. I’m glad you’re feeling better. I have eggs for you. They’re in the fridge… I got them for free, so they don’t cost you anything.”

Later I went downstairs, to the break room area. “Did you see? R- brought you some eggs. They’re in the break room fridge.”

Oh goody. So, one dozen at home, one dozen in the downstairs fridge, and one dozen in the upstairs fridge? Nope. It’s better than that. The student, generous soul, brought me two dozen farm-fresh eggs. FOUR DOZEN EGGS!!! I don’t have a CLUE what I’m going to do with so many eggs. My high-cholesterol suggests that I not eat them all in a week. Perhaps I’ll have S eat them “every morning to help (him) get large.” Then someday he’ll be “roughly the size of a barge” (which means we’ll need a bigger house).

I wish I could say I was thrusting my vegan robe off with great gusto and rushing to the feast. But I still feel icky. And thus the idea of 4 dozen eggs doesn’t sit well.

What happened to “eggs as a special treat”? I am glad Easter is right around the corner. Egg-decorating, here we come!

P.S. Anyone want some locally-grown eggs from ethically-treated chickens?

Falafel

2010-03-06T20:02:00.002-05:00

I am working on learning to make falafel. My first attempt today loosely followed this recipe. Ours did not end up looking anything like the picture though, and I decided that a little egg replacer helped it stay together a lot.

The result was quite tasty, with very little spice to it. So if you like spicy falafel, you could add some cayenne or something.

of a castle, trees, and a broken heart

2010-03-05T10:19:00.001-05:00

This morning I dropped S off at work on my way to daycare. S works on the north end of campus, I work on the south end. After dropping him off, as we were driving south to the main road, E looked over at the Science/Math/Economics buildings and said, “that’s not your’s work, momma. That’s daddy’s work.” A little later, she looked over at the cluster of buildings on the south end of campus, including the campus chapel, (as well as my building) and said, “That’s your’s work momma. That’s the castle.” I asked clarifying questions, and sure enough, I work in a castle. I asked her if she didn’t mean “chapel,” and she said, “Yeah. You work in the Capstle.” After a few more tries, she finally got out “chapel,” but I think I like her first statement better. My whole world seems a lot more whimsical when I consider that I’m an administrative assistant in (or at least, next to) a castle.

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A little later, out of the blue, E asserted, “Look at all the cars, momma. Sometimes cars drive in trees.”

[what?!?]

“Sometimes cars drive in trees. Like in the book. And sometimes in Green Eggs and Ham the trees are purple.”

[Ah. Gotta love Doctor Seuss.]

“Oooh! Look at all the trees mama [points to the trees on the side of the road].”

(Me: ) “Yes, they’re very beautiful, aren’t they?”

“I think God made the trees, too, momma.”

[Every morning for the past week, we’ve been telling Ella about how God made the beautiful sunrise, and how she can thank him for it.]

“Thank you for the trees, God.”

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In other news, one of S’s students is currently undergoing open heart surgery. Please pray for this student. He is far from family. His name is also S.

2010-02-22T19:42:00.007-05:00

Overheard:

E "Mommy, daddy! Look at my castle!"
M "Wow, E, did you make that all by yourself?"
E "Yeah!"
M "That's really good! Daddy, come see this castle E made."
E "See, daddy, it's a weally tall tower."
D "Wow, that is really good!"

A few minutes later, in sing-song voice we hear
"It's my big caastle, my weally big caastle.
Mommy and daddy liiike it."

I think she was pleased at the reception of her first architectual masterpiece.

Really, this is the first time we've seen any sort of design out of her castles. Usually they're just random blocks stacked on each other. So, we were quite impressed when she came up with this on her own:

And now for something completely different -- E & K playing nicely together at church.

Happy Birthday, E!

2010-02-13T20:04:00.000-05:00

E finding her "big present"

That is SO cool

2010-01-21T12:35:00.003-05:00

As most of you know, I recently inherited the office of one of the longest administrative assistants at my institution. She sat in the chair I am now sitting in (lunch break, you know) longer than I have been alive. She worked for the college in other departments for 24 years beyond that. That's a lot of years.

One cool thing about inheriting an ancient office is inheriting cool toys. A typewritter, of course, but also fun things like this:

My parents, of course, had one of these when I was small. But they never let me use it.

Yesterday I had reason to label something. So out came the labeler. My student assistant had never seen one, but once I started using it, noted that the labels looked like that retro-looking font you get on some computers.

"That's so cool!" said the student assistant, "you can, like, label things... This would be good for language learning. You could label everything in your house... why don't we still have these?"

(Um... because we have laser printers and sticker labels now?)

Still, I couldn't help but agree, these machines are way cool.

Why being a vegetarian doesn't mean losing weight

2010-01-17T19:58:00.002-05:00

So, despite what the title says, I'm not a vegetarian. But we almost are. We bought a turkey for thanksgiving, fed three families, and (2 months later) are still living off the meat of that turkey. That's right, we haven't bought any other meat. So, we're close to vegetarian. And I subscribe to Vegetarian Times, which means every month I'm inundated with more reasons to become a vegetarian. Maybe, on this tragectory, in five years we'll be full vegetarians, almost vegans.

Eating like this has gotten a lot of comments from my family. Usually positive. Often in the form of, "Well, the way you eat, you'll be sure to lose that baby weight in no time"

Well, family, you're wrong. And let me introduce you to the reason why.

Vegetable Wellington. Tonight's delight. Every bit as good in person as it looks in the picture.

Goat cheese mixed with pesto (home grown, in our case!) and vegetables, cooked up in a puff pastry, delivering fat to all my most favored fat deposits.

And worth every bit of it.

MMmmm....

Here's a link to the recipe for others who desire this delight. http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10504?printer=yes

P.S. In case you didn't believe me on the fat thing, here is the nutrition information:

Per SERVING: (and we each had two servings) Calories: 405, Protein: 15g, Total fat: 28.5g, Saturated fat: 10.5g, Carbs: 25g, Cholesterol: 48mg, Sodium: 657mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugars: 6g

Yummy yikes!

Our house

2009-12-12T17:04:00.003-05:00

A peek into our home.

S is the reader (and a great one at that). K is yawili and likes to squeal. E is bossy and L has been a mom long enough to speak in up-speak. Yikes. (Gotta work on that one).

Getting in the Christmas spirit

2009-11-28T20:04:00.005-05:00

Despite L's inability to talk, we still tried to (as tradition mandates) get our home ready for the holidays. K didn't quite get decorating the tree (as you'll see below) -- she thought it rather sad that one would just barely get their hands on a cool toy, and then have to give it away. By the time it got to putting the angel on the tree (traditionally the job of the youngest) she was outright ENRAGED. How could daddy take away all the coolest new dolls!?! NOT FAIR!

A bath calmed her down. (Alright, so "calm" is not the word for it.) By the time we got to reading the bedtime story (Paul & T, you have to watch this last video) K had found one thing that made the whole ordeal worth it -- dancing snowmen. Thanks, mom and dad. The diabetic duo is a huge hit again this year. As is the epileptic penguin.

Language explosion

2009-11-13T18:34:00.007-05:00

Two days ago I went to pick my youngest daughter up from day care. She is 13 months old.

As soon as she saw me, as usual, she got a huge grin on her face.

"Hi!" I said.

"'Ow-r-ew" she said.

"How are you?!" I asked.

She got a huge smile on her face as if to say "yahoo! you understood me!" and said "yah."

"Did she just say 'how are you?'" I asked her teacher, Kelly.

"Sounded like it to me," she said.

Woah.

Today, in addition to calling her dinner by name ("be" she said, pointing to a bean), she also picked up a few other words ("Mimi," among others) -- and she wasn't even repeating me!

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Here's tonight's story:

I was watching her play in her toy room. She had a toy hot dog in her mouth.

"Do you like the hot dog, K?"

"ummy" she said.

No kidding. Yummy."

"Wow. Are you talking now?" I asked her.

"eee-up" she said, nodding.

And then she got a smile on her face and shook her head in baby disbelief. ["silly adults. what crazy questions they ask. of course I'm talking, can't she hear it? seriously."]

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Ah, yet another family member to be proud of! Go, Mimi, go!

Are you talking now?

2009-11-13T18:34:00.001-05:00

Indoctrination

2009-11-12T20:36:00.002-05:00

Steve is doing one tutorial this semester. Every Thursday he gets together with a guy named K- at noon and discusses public finance for an hour.

Today Steve decided to try to squeeze a flu shot in before hand. "It's okay" said I (munching on my lunch) "I'll just hang out in your office, and if K shows up, I'll tell him you'll be right back and give you a call so you know he's here."

K showed up punctually at noon. He looked around the office for Steve. "He'll be right back," I said.

"Oh, okay," said K, "I'll just get the tea started, then."

... "the tea started" ...

As the impressionable young undergrad walked off with the hot pot to get new water, I thought, "Wow, Steve, you've done your job."

Steve later informed me that, since beginning his tutorial, K has not only become a tea drinker himself -- well versed in the differences between white, green, black, and oolong -- K has ALSO introduced all his housemates to the joys of tea.

That's right. Somewhere in this fine town, a group of four or so underclass men are discussing the finer points of tea drinking. K informs Steve that soon they will purchase a house tea pot so that they can brew their tea together each day.

I'm so proud.

E -- The Negotiator

2009-11-02T19:14:00.003-05:00

Based on E's performance in properly depositing her excrement (potty training), she is rewarded with candy. The sudden influx of holloween candy has given her options for rewards, which she decided to test today. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Congratulations E! You did it!

E: I get candy now!

Me: Thats right.

E: I want three candies!

Me: actually, you can have either four M&M's, or two holloween candies.

E: I want four holloween candies!

Me: Nice try, but you can have either four M&M's or two holloween candies.

E, deciding to play hardball: I want four holloween candies!

I repeat my ultimatum.

E, seeing the need to compromise replies: I want three holloween candies.

Me: Good try, but I control the candy supply, you are in no position to negotiate.

E: I want three small Halloween candies.

I repeated my terms, and she re-iterated her offer two more times, until finally.

E: I want holloween candies.

Me: Good choice.

In retrospect, I am quite proud that my two-year-old is a rather sophisticated negotiator. I guess this just proves that kids learn skills fast when they have something to gain.

Vainglory

2009-11-01T13:30:00.005-05:00

I am a mover. I like to be on the go.

I am a creator. I like to orchestrate and make things.

I want to be an observer. I am a pathetic observer.

I want to be a listener. My own thoughts get in the way.

I've been reminded again and again over this weekend of the value of allowing GOD to move and create; of providing space for the creator to work and me to observe in wonder; of being still and knowing, trusting, beyond myself; of introspection. These are things I don't do well. I am engrossed in vain-glory, entrapped.

Several years ago I saw my father-in-law head out to work. Brief case in hand, dressed in suit and tie, he started down the sidewalk. He didn't get more than ten paces when he stopped, stooped, and stared. No, stared is not quite it. "Observed." He observed, interested, as if what he was looking at was of more importance than catching his bus, than the work he was to do in the city. A butterfly had perched on a flower. He continued to watch for at least a minute. Do you know how long a minute feels to me in those circumstances? So much of me cries "you will be late for work" or "someone is waiting for you" or, simply, "you're on the move, don't stop now." But stop he did. And looked. And wondered without words.

I want to be still. I want to observe a butterfly with wonder. Furthermore, I want to be known by actions more than words.

I have found art.

I am finding silence.

I hereby commit to studying both over the next few weeks.

Art I will study because it is my stepping stone to observation. I create, I move, I do... and yet, in order TO do ART, I must first be still and observe.

Silence is my (perhaps vain) attempt to rid myself of vainglory. I was challenged this weekend to try a modified vow of silence. (Which I will begin after I finish this post -- and may be after tonight's small group study.) No more talking about myself. No more stories, no narration to justify actions, no explaining myself. No posts on facebook that explain my feelings or discuss what brand of toothpaste I tried this morning. Silence. How will one know me? By actions. Do not justify. Let actions justify. And where actions fall short, rest in an identity that is free from human approval.

With this last goal in mind, this post is peppered with irony.

Gosh, art is a lot easier than silence. I am already anticipating failure within the first hour of trying.

The sweetest not-sweet thing you could say...

2009-10-24T19:01:00.003-05:00

E has been pushing bedtime all night. We've all been there, when everything else seems so much more interesting than sleep. So, she's been pushing the boundaries. She's discovered how many times she can play the "I have to go potty" card before mom and dad catch on. Sadly, not nearly as many times as she'd hoped.

So, she's had to branch out.

"I want another bandaid" (for a small rash that really doesn't need a bandaid -- that one didn't fly.)

"I wanta be in yours arms" -- that one is the kicker. She's been crying it for the last forty five seconds. How can one deny the cry of a toddler shouting and screaming at the top of her lungs that she wants to be in yours arms?

Now it has switched to "I want mamma."

dagger.

I think I'll give my daughter ONE MORE hug and kiss goodnight.

-----------------------------

post script.

It worked. She's now eyes closed, drifting off to dream land. I guess she just needed one last touch of affirmation. Ahh... peace and quiet. Now it's my turn.

Mind-reader

2009-10-04T06:16:00.004-05:00

When you have a toddler at home, you have to be a bit of a mind-reader. Sometimes the sentences that come out, while I understand all the words, just are not comprehensible. Unless you can read minds.

Yesterday I scored one point on this front.

PUZZLE: E kept referencing the fire pit in the ceiling. She was insistent that there were fire pits in the attic.

SOLUTION: It got cold last week. "Day care" started using their furnace. They have a small tin chimney that I've noticed has been working hard. Every time we drop E off, we see little bits of smoke rising from the roof. She can see that roof from their playground.

The only experience she has had with smoke has been from either burning food or the fire pit in our back yard.

The chimney was spouting smoke in a steady fashion, and nothing smelt like burnt toast, so I guess, given her knowledge base, I might have logically made the same conclusion as well.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes I need S to solve the problem. This morning he scored one point.

PUZZLE: E was "just practicing" on the potty. We like to encourage her to do this as long as possible, so we let her read books while she "practices." If she succeeds, she gets to play with a special stuffed bunny all day. "I want to read the book with the bunnies. Lots and lots of bunnies." --- so I brought her the only book I could think we owned where bunnies were the main character. "No, the OTHER book" she said. "WHAT other book?" I asked. "The bunny book. The other bunny book," she said.

SOLUTION: Steve to the rescue. "The book with the little girl, L. The one one where the little girl gets a new sister. 'I'm a Big Sister Now.'" "THAT's the BUNNY book?!" I asked. "Yes, the little girl walks around with a bunny."

Skeptical, I got the book. "Thanks momma!" E exclaimed.

We open the book. The inside of the front and back of the book are papered with pictures of big sister's baby bunny.

I guess S was right.

A conversation

2009-10-03T08:30:00.002-05:00

I'm in an educational policy class.

This morning we were looking forward at what we'd discuss today.

I pointed to the "should we include homework?" part of the future discussion and said to my small group, "My husband wrote his dissertation on this."

"It's pretty much useless, right? Homework?" said my classmate, as if everyone knew the answer already.

"Actually, NO... he found it's extremely effective (at least in math) in decreasing the SES achievement gap."

Hurry up and publish that dissertation of yours, Steve! We all need it.

Birthday Girl!

2009-09-20T14:45:00.004-05:00

Congrats, K-- on making it through the first year of your life. We love you so much. Now, to celebrate, for the folks at home, here are some pictures of the birthday festivities. (And K- showing off her walking skills.)

First off is the video of K celebrating her birthday by walking to L.

This picture shows mom and dad playing with K's new blocks once the kids were in bed.

Following the tradition of messy-face pictures on first birthday's, K dutifully pasted her face with bananna cream pie.

The Squirrel and the Chipmunk

2009-09-10T11:38:00.003-05:00

I sat on the main floor of the library today, reading during my lunch break and watching out the window as students passed to and fro.

A chipmunk and a squirrel caught my eye. The squirrel was closest to me, working steadily at digging a small hole, and then studiously burying it again. Up and down, up and down the squirrel's little nose went as he inspected his work. The chipmunk, in the background, simply skittered here and there, seemingly aimlessly. I had a notion that the chipmunk and the squirrel were somehow related, but I couldn't figure how.

When the squirrel was convinced that his job was well done, he slowly retreated, checking other spots in the ground as he left his buried treasure.

A second had not passed before the chipmunk's skittering brought him precisely to the spot where I'd observed the squirrel. Barely a split second (and flurry of digging) later, the chipmunk had a nut in his hand and was, as if knowing his guilt, quickly retreating from the scene of the crime, getting as much distance between himself and the squirrel as possible.

The squirrel continued his consciencious plodding, oblivious to the theft.

------------------------------

Sometimes I feel like I'm the squirrel.

Teeth and pox

2009-09-06T07:54:00.002-05:00

K discovered yesterday that one should not gum on one's lower lip once one gets teeth. She was sitting in her high chair eatting when, out of the blue, she started screaming and a little blood appeared on her lip. In case there was any doubt before -- yep, K's lower two teeth are in.

Also discovered yesterday: the chicken pox. All over K's torso, legs, and arms. The case is not confirmed yet, but I've no doubt that's what it is. E got vaccinated for it when she was 1. We're about to discover how well the new vaccine works. I think K will be clear of symptoms by her first birthday. (Here's hoping). And, needless to say, looks like she WON'T be getting the vaccine.

-----------------------

I'm officially an "avid knitter" (I'd say "knitter/crocheter") as evidenced by the three projects littering my living room chairs, and the fourth project stuffed into my bottom drawer at work for "spare moments" like lunch break, or when my computer needs a reboot.

I'm really excited about one of the projects. For Christmas this year I'm attempting something I've never done before. I was inspired by my avid knitter friend in KS, whose attempt at the same project proved quite successful (almost too successful, I'd say, based on the amout of requests she recieved for said item after she completed it). I spent way too much on yarn, and just the right amount on buying the pattern (I'm happy to support those who designed it) and am spending almost every spare moment on it. Wahoo. Who is it for? What is it like? Does it involve "felting" or any other cool knitting technique? Is it even knitted or is it crocheted? ... These questions will not be answered for another three and a half months. But I am excited to see how it turns out. (Some of you, based on my cryptic hints, the ghastly colored yarn littering my living room, and your own faithful reading of KS knitter's blog, may already KNOW what this project is -- but please, keep it on the "d-l.")

Strange things are happening here...

2009-08-05T18:08:00.004-05:00

Two noteworthy occurrences happened tonight, of very different nature. Noteworthy because I am sure, in both instances, I will want to remember (with a smile) the image of the babe in my arms after the event.

---------------------------------
Tonight in a rare tantrum, E bit me. The catalyst? I wouldn't let her wash any more dishes (she was rinsing, I was scrubbing). In a sobbing fit (after the hitting and biting), cradled in my arms, E could barely get out the words, "Ma... ma.... I... wan... na... do... mo'... dis... ses!" *sob.* She got, instead, an early bedtime.

------------------------------------
K started walking unassisted. The catalyst? I stood her up and smiled at her. She smiled back at me and decided it'd be really fun to be in my arms. So she put one foot in front of the other, twice, and then, once within toppling distance, dove toward me.

------------------------------------

In less noteworthy news:

Yesterday K & E went swimming in a local pool. If I ever get my hands on S's cell phone, I'll post pictures here. (Or, S, you can...) It was the first time K went swimming, and the first time all season that E would allow her head to get wet.

In noteworthless news:
Today S and I had a date at the mall in the morning. The catalyst? The 40-person long wait at the local license plate agency. It gave us enough time to wander through three or four stores and enjoy a two course lunch at the crepes kiosk.

K steps

2009-07-22T06:25:00.002-05:00

First unassisted step: this morning, Wed July 22 at 7:30 am.

Ten months and two days old.

E & $$$

2009-07-14T19:30:00.003-05:00

E, daughter of Economist.

Last week's cute comment

"We needa go to da store, daddy. Needa buy more money."

To which daddy agreed. As long as the money was being sold for the right price. Say, 80 cents on the dollar?

(E is very into talking about buying whatever we lack... I guess she picked up on our finances?)

Today:

S told E they were going to the bank. She got very excited. "Do dey have piggies dere?"

"Piggies?" asked S, "As in piggy bank?"

"YEAH!"

"No"

"Oh... Do dey have doggies dere?" she responded with a sly grin.

"No, no doggies."

"No, no doggies. Do dey have chitties dere?" ...

And on the game went, with E inserting whatever animal she could think of. And maybe making up names for animals when she couldn't think of one? I still don't know what a chitty is. Any ideas?

-----------------

As to K's development:

K is very proud of her standing and assisted walking skills. Very proud. And her clicking skills (she loves to blow kisses like E does -- clicking her tounge against the roof of her mouth to make a kissing sound).

K is very very very animated. Very animated. And very happy.

Shall we dance?

2009-07-03T16:02:00.001-05:00

A picture of K "walking" (with assistance).

How fun!

Trip to Great Grandma's

2009-07-03T15:21:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we went north to where E & K's grandma grew up. The reason was sad -- E & K's great grandpa's funeral. Spending time with family, however, was delightful. We were especially struck by how similar E and her older cousin look. They look more like sisters than cousins, I think. And they absolutely loved hanging out with eachother. Here are some photos.

K Stands.

2009-07-03T14:09:00.001-05:00

K stands (as of yesterday) and has been cruisin' around the living room all day today. She's quite proud.

Prophetic... I hope, I pray.

2009-06-22T21:42:00.004-05:00

I have wondered at our naming choice for K. Strange name, forever mispronounced.

Yesterday I was rewarded strongly for our bravery. My family met J.D., at a dinner my work was hosting. He is a Congolese living in a foreign (African) country because his own country lacks the infrastructure for him to pursue higher education. He is attending one of our seminars on genocide and its impact/existence in the Christian world. His higher education pursuits are in peace and conflict.

I introduced him to my two young children. At the second one's name, he asked "what is her name again?" I told him, and he said, "wait, that's Swa... Lingala?" "Yes." "Wow..." he responded, "just, wow..." (Lingala is one of the most common trade languages in his home country.)

So, to the confused Dutchman standing with us, I explained, "K-- means 'peace' in Lingala."

After which a still stunned J.D. responded, "That is prophetic. May I take my picture with her?"

I never thought I'd hear her name described as prophetic.

He went on, "Our country is forgotten. When people meet her, they will hear of us, we will not be forgotten."

A tiny infant, not even a year, bringing hope of peace.

"I named her it because I wanted to point to the peace within. I wanted a reminder that peace did not come from us, that we could not achieve it on our own, but that it came from God," I said. "In Congo, there is not peace, but there is Peace."

J.D. nodded and pointed to his chest. "Yes," he said.

--------------------

I will never question my choice in names.

And, at his request, J.D. now has a picture on his camera of him, a Congolese man, holding on to "peace."

K crawls

2009-06-18T20:37:00.001-05:00

Mimi moves.

Is that a Dutch name?

2009-06-10T20:21:00.004-05:00

We live in a Dutch immigrant town. A VERY Dutch town.

We go to church in a Dutch church. A VERY Dutch church.

We work at a Dutch school. A slightly-less-so-than-a-decade-ago Dutch school.

Often after church, we (being new) will be asked our names. Then, when I responded "L and S" we're asked our last names. After hearing "McSomethingorother," the conversation would (nine times out of ten) end or change course. Nope. Not Dutch.

Today at my book group, which is comprised of women faculty, staff, and spouses of aforementioned school, I met an older lady who had missed the last few studies. "What's your name?" she asked. I answered with my first name (I'm still not used to this last name business). "What's your last name?" she patiently asked. "I'm not Dutch." I kindly responded. And she nodded. A perfectly fine answer to her, I guess.

Later, over lunch, the conversation shifted to pastors in the denomination and their preaching styles. "Oh, I do like Pastor MacSomething" said one of the book club ladies.
"Who?" asked someone else.

"Pastor MacSomething."

"Is that a Dutch name?"

"No, it's Scotch."

"What?"

"Scotch... as in, Scottish."

"Really? And he's one of our pastors?"

"Yes."
"But, raised in one of our churches?"

"Yes, out East."

At which point, a story had to be told about how the pastor's grandfather, a Scottish immigrant and carpet maker, had decided to raise his children in the Dutch church in town after laying carpet in their sancutary and discovering the Psalter hymnal. "A whole hymnal on the Psalms? This is the place to raise my children" and thus a MacSomething was introduced to the denomination. This seemed to please the rest of our group enough to satisfy curiosity at such a strange name in their midst.

---------------------------------------------------

Yes, I've a Scotch-Irish last name, too. Which also gets strange looks from time to time. I have more than once heard "so, how did you hear about [our school]? Why did your husband decide to teach here? ... Do you come from a Dutch background?"

I explained today, unprovoked (I couldn't hold it in any longer, so I didn't wait for the question) that [our school] was, actually, a really well known school. That S had considered it for undergrad, and that I'd always known of it. It had a good reputation outside of this little community. That surprises people here. And that that surprises people surprises me. (Sigh.)

Incidentally, a side note to VL (who introduced me to this denomination in the first place). I did play a bit of denomination/dutch bingo myself over lunch. Turns out that this is the same book club that your mother was in years ago. Strange to think that I'm in a book club that has been going on that long.

Perhaps I should become a VanderSomethingorother after all. Or perhaps I should just stick around long enough for McSomethingorother to become part of the denominational bingo game. Then three decades from now, our grandchildren will mention their last name and hear, "Oh, so are you related to the McSomethingorother that..." Then I will sit back, smile, and know we have finally become full-fledged citizens of this community.

Until then, I need to figure out more Dutch traditions so I can fit in better. So far all I've got is windmill cookies during coffee hour after church, and the family's matriarch placing her hand in her purse half way through the service for mints, which she passes down the row to all her family and any of their guests. I haven't been able to figure out what mints she is to buy, though. It seems it is a specific kind. The white ones. Not gum, not peppermint, not the tiny ones you get with nuts... not sure where to get them. So, do the Dutch do those chocolate advent calendars? I hope so, I like those. Perhaps they're sold at the same store as the matriarchal mints.

Guess the Baby, Round Four

2009-06-03T20:51:00.006-05:00

It's been a while, eh? Time for another round of "Guess the Baby." You know what to do. Make your guesses, and when you are sure, check the comment section for the correct answer. And, while you're there, leave a comment telling us how you did. (It'll motivate me to keep posting pictures.) Without further ado, welcome to round four.

1. Baby on a blanket with a ball

2. Baby in the sky (with diamonds)

3. Baby on the floor (with fast hands)

4. Sanitizing the baby's mouth (my babe is on the left).

5. Smily baby with a bow

6. Baby with a hat

7. Baby with a doll

8. Baby with Steve

9. Sick baby

Hint: I think all of you will get at least # 10 right (I included it because I think she's adorable and -- because I hope that this season of life is done).

I'm also guessing all but maybe one of you will get at least one wrong.

I think this is the easiest verison of "Guess the Baby" to date. We shall see.

A lovely icky day

2009-05-19T14:26:00.005-05:00

E is home sick today. K is home to hang out with her. S watched them this morning, I am watching them this afternoon. Other than a slight temp, E seems to be doing great. So we've dedicated this time to more toilet training.

She's doing fabulous. She's still very interested in the potty (that's a blessing) and her response time is going down (thankfully) from half an hour of waiting on the toilet (yes, I told you, she's stubborn) to closer to five minutes. Wahoo. She had around six successes today and two ... oh, um... make that three (be right back) misses. Good job, E!

In the late afternoon E felt good enough to go outside and play. Here she is digging up a garden while K lounges around.

A stubborn child...

2009-05-16T16:04:00.004-05:00

... can sometimes be a blessing.

You folks in CH will have a hard time believing this, but we have a strong-willed child (otherwise known as a "two year old.")

Over the last month, she's really keyed in to three particular words. "I do it." (If you knew me as a toddler, you are not surprised.)

This phrase applies to everything from climbing into her car seat to feeding her younger sister. And if you HELP?! Then she protests and starts over. If she's three quarters of the way into the car, she climbs out and starts over from the asphalt.

Recently she decided to take this independence one more step. She decided she needed to change her OWN diaper. So I explained to her that not even I could do that, which is why adults wore underwear, not diapers.

So she decided she needed some underwear, and informed me I needed to go buy her some in the store. This morning she reminded me no less than four times that we needed to go to the store to buy underwear.

So we did. I picked up a book about going potty and training pants (for nap times) while I was at it. I explained to her that if she wore underwear, she'd have to go potty on the "big girl" potty.

She has. All day. We got home at 9:30 am and since then it has been her obsession. She has had five successes and three failures. She has read the potty book no less than 8 times. She's shown her doll how to go potty. She's had way too much diluted juice. And she can diagram how it goes from the mouth on down.

I noticed at 11 am that she was only NOT wanting to go potty when she actually HAD TO go potty. So I had a talk with her about it. "Does it feel funny in your tummy?" She said yes. "That's okay! That's what it feels like when you have to go potty. That's just fine, though, you're on the potty. You can let it go. Just let it go."

I left the room. Behind me I heard, "Let it go, let it go, eyya," as she worked to train herself in this new sport.

At 12 it was bedtime. Or so I thought. From 12:35 until 1:10 she screamed at me from her bed that she needed to go potty . Absolute tantrum. (She went twice during that time, so she was right, but the screaming was more about over exhaustion and less about her training pants.) Finally I calmed her down, she fell asleep, and two hours later woke up. The first words out of her mouth were, "I needago potty, mommy!"

She hasn't had a mistake since then. She's been diligent about telling us when she needs to go, and although it takes a little time for it to come out, she appears to get the concept now.

She's also really cranky. Too much sugar. I should have used milk, not diluted juice. (I really did dilute it a lot... sigh.)

Remind me when the terrible twos hit harder that stubbornness can sometimes be a good thing.

Put together.

2009-05-01T13:05:00.003-05:00

My sister-in-law (Steve's sister) gets married tomorrow. I'm very excited. We drove up to her home town a couple of days ago for the wedding. Or, should I say, STEVE drove up a couple of days ago for the wedding. I'm a little too doped up to do driving.

Yesterday all the girls in the party went out for manicures, pedicures, and dinner out. Ahh... pretty nails. Granted, by the time dinner rolled around, my meds had worn off enough and I was worn down enough that I was barely able to eat and not at all able to talk. But I did VERY much enjoy my time with the girls, and was even able to hold conversation fairly well during the spa time. So, I must be improving a little.

While out, one of the ladies mentioned that she regularly reads this blog, as a reminder to herself about how good she really has it. (Sorry, friend, I forgot what your words exactly were.) When she was 7 months pregnant complaining about heartburn, all she had to do was look at my blog and see how I was on bed rest at the same time and, whala! Life suddenly didn't seem so bad. Frankly, I don't think my life has been THAT bad over the last year. Hard, yes. But I've been blessed with a wonderful husband and two adorable daughters and job security that is to be envied in these times, so really, what more could I ask for?

That said, it is about time that things get a little less exciting for our household. I feel that things are starting to come together.

Today K and I went out with my brother's wife and youngest daughter. I coerced her into going dress shopping with me to get a dress for the wedding. (After all, I couldn't go out myself due to pesky restrictions on driving while on narcotics, or some such thing. Silly). We quickly (because she had to get back to work) picked out a cute black-and-white dress and some bangles -- earrings and a necklace -- to go with it. I got home and was exhausted. Still not better. So I rested.

When I got up, I took a shower, put on a black dress (not the one for tomorrow's wedding, but my "back up" in case we hadn't had time to shop) as well as the bangles I purchased today. Clean, nails professionally painted, hair cut short and cute (oh, yeah, I cut 7 inches off my hair a few weeks ago) and cute black dress on. Steve came in and said "you haven't looked that good in a while." "In what sense?" I asked (health, prettiness, etc?) "All of it. You look like you're feeling better, and you look actually PUT together." "Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it?" I said.

And indeed, it has been a while. It feels nice.

Everything you can do, I can do, too.

2009-04-27T07:23:00.008-05:00

E was playing with her Dora doll yesterday. Everything Daddy would do, E would do. It's subtle in this video, but watch carefully. (Sorry, no sound on our camera.) Even while she doesn't seem to be watching him, you can tell she's aware, and she'll try to copy. The two pictures below were taken one right after each other. Upside-down baby time!

Incidentally, and my mother and grandmother will laugh at this one, E's favorite phrase, is "I do it!" Getting in the car seat? "No, I doooooo it, mama!" Putting the milk in the fridge? "I dooo!" Feeding the baby? "Eyya do it, mommy, Eyya doooo!" ... the list goes on. And, if mommy doesn't think "eyya" should do it? Tears. Lots of tears.

Hmmm... who do you think E takes after here?

Also, last night, she spent no less than 10 minutes rearranging a blanket on K until she got it on her JUST RIGHT. E proclaimed "I did it!!!" just as K let out one big KICK of her leg to undo the whole thing. E was in good spirits, though (because SHE was doing it) and got right back to work rearranging the blanket. S wonders if there's any obsessive compulsive disorders in my family's past. (I wonder what makes him think these behaviors are coming from my side of the gene pool.)

We Like the New House

2009-04-27T07:08:00.004-05:00

We like our new house. We like to watch after our baby dolls in our new house.

We like to bounce in our new house.

(E LOVES the purple rocking horse you see in the background, a housewarming gift from her little friend, R. Thanks, R!)

We like to swing in our new house (thanks, "gwampa wockie")

"I swinging! I wunning in da sky, mama! I wunning in the sky!" (E likes to "run" while she swings. Can't slow that one down.)

We like having mature trees in our yard.

We like reading in our living room.

All in all, our new house is pretty neat.

Good Idea, Bad Idea

2009-04-25T16:18:00.002-05:00

Good Idea: Cleaning the cupboards and kitchen appliances in your old house so that your landlord can show and rent it out faster (thus getting you out of your lease agreement early).

Bad Idea: Going five days without any solid food, puting narcotics into your system, and then getting on a step stool in a warm and humid house to clean out the top cupboards.

Okay, so maybe it's a bad idea, but it sure did make things more exciting! Weeeeee!!!

(And, I'm proud to say, I didn't fall. Not even once.)

hmm... ya think?!

2009-04-21T18:44:00.002-05:00

Total caloric intake today: around 1000 calories (and I was taking in liquids seemingly nonstop).
Recommended caloric intake for a nursing mother: 2500 calories per day, 500 of which go to baby.

I'm not usually a counter of calories, but do you think I might lose weight if I keep this up for the recommended 7 - 10 days?

Funny thing, I'm not hungry. Probably because of all the drugs.

And, for those that may worry about this sort of thing, no, I'm not letting K have my milk today (although she basically begged). I draw the line at passing morphine on to infants. Mmm... morphine....

-----------------------------
Cute baby story (since I'm loopy and have nothing better to do):
For Easter, Grandpa Rocky got E a swing for our new back yard. It was a huge hit. "Big poosh, Bampa Rocky, Iwanna big poosh, big poosh, peez!" .. "Eyya up in da sky, gammpa! Eyya up in da sky!!!"

Last weekend K was in her small baby swing in the living room. E saw her, "Mimi swing!" she said, "Mimi wanna big poosh? Big poosh Mimi? Say peeze!"
Then E took K's right hand and had "Mimi" sign "please" on her own chest. "Big poosh peez? Okay, big poosh!" And then E gave K a "big push," which, thankfully, wasn't TOO big, and which Mimi absolutely LOVED.

In general, the two girls love each other. It is fun to watch.

New House

2009-04-14T20:06:00.002-05:00

Quick update for those keeping tabs (at this point, it seems like "keeping tabs" is about all we have time for. We apologize and hope to emerge from this soon).

We have moved into a new house. Thanks to the generousity of near-strangers, we have clean windows. Thanks to my parents and friends in town, much of our stuff is in the new house and the new house is mostly operational. Thanks to the good folks in the Sears appliance section, we have ways to cool and cook food.
Steve is going to his first professional conference this weekend. Bonus that it is in a town where a grad school friend resides, so he'll (hopefully) get to see her while he's there and pass along our greetings.
When Steve gets back, we have approximately one day to complete cleaning in our old house before it goes up for show (the sooner it's rented, the less double-payments we make!)
Then the next day, I get my tonsils out. I am going to stop blogging now so that I can do research on adult recovery times and what to expect. I hear usually one is out for two weeks, ten days for the really tough. That's convenient, since ten days after they're taken out, we'll be "back home" for a wedding. I hope I'm really tough, or I won't be able to eat any of the yummy goodies my in-law is making!! (Or read the scripture in the service -- yikes!)

GOOO Ter-ro-line-ah!

2009-04-01T11:07:00.003-05:00

Those of you who know S and me will be shocked, but E is proving to be one of the "cool kids." That's right, she's self-confident, has GREAT dance moves, and is a bit of a two year old jock. Uh-hu, E loves sports. We don't know where she gets this, but as her sport of choice is basketball, and her team of choice is Carolina, we're more than alright with this. She loves to RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN (this comes from being two years old, I think). Here are a few cute stories to demonstrate.
-------------------
E has learned what numbers are, but isn't good at getting them in the right order when she's counting. That doesn't stop her from counting down to the next race down the hallway, however.

From one end of the house I will hear a little voice, "one, toooo, teee, eight, fo, nine, WUN!" (1, 2, 3, 8, 4, 9 RUN!) and then the stomp-stomp-stomp of a two year old sprinting down the hallway from her room to the livingroom and back again. She'll burst into whatever room I'm in and say "Eyya WUNNING, mama. Eyya WUNNING!" ("Yes, Ella, I know you're running.") And then, before I can say anything more, she turns around, gets this "I'm going to beat my old record" look on her face, briefly turns to see that I'm watching, turns back to the hallway and shouts "One, tee, six, seben, nine, WUN!" And she's off again.

------------------

E LOVES basketball. She sat and watched Carolina play for the first half of last Sunday's game. (Yep, that's right, a half an hour before she got bored.) Not only that, but she narrarated the game for us most of the time, so you knew she was paying attention. "Da ball! Da ball, momma! Da guy, and da ball!" "Bak-ket. Da guy, da bak-ket. YEA!" (Basket, the guy made a basket.) "Wunning. Da guy and da ball wunning, mama!" (This of course, was very exciting to her, as balls and running were two of her favorite things, as well) "Bak-ket! YEAH!!!! Bak-ket!" "Oh, no! Oh no, da-yeah [daddy], da guy! Da guy fall down!! Da guy fall down!" During the whole game, she never ONCE rooted for the wrong team. (Smart girl... or perhaps it was just that a lot of her exclamations falled on the tail end of our own shouts.)

-------------------

She eventually bored of watching the game and we got her ready for bed. Then I sat and fed K in their bedroom while E played around a little bit. The first thing she did? With great purpose she dug into her blue toy box and pulled out her Dora soccer ball. (How a-dora-ball.) Then she said "Bak-ket ball, mama." and tossed the ball into her clothes hamper. "Eyya, bak-ket ball!" (Ella basket ball.) She pulled the ball back out and did it again. "Fy-ying! Da ball fy-ying momma. Eyya bak-ket ball! YEA! Diddit!" (Flying! The ball flying, momma. Ella basketball. Yea! Did it!)

I guess watching the game isn't enough for her any more. Glad the house we bought comes with a basketball hoop! Now all she needs to do is grow two or three feet.

-----------------

[In health news: two days after finishing off my antibiotic, the strep appeared to have come back for me. I was put back on antibiotic and am going to see my doc in an hour to talk tonsilectamy. (Oh, and just because I think it's funny -- This weekend, between both bouts of strep? That's right. I got the stomach flu. Ah, lovely.) E is on eye drops for an infection in her eye that has basically cleared up, so she's definately on the mend. K is on antibiotic for double ear infection still, but recently picked up bronchilitis as well. She's in great spirits, though, and has spent the last two days with either mommy or daddy. She is currently sleeping in her car seat next to me in the office. My boss loves having a baby around, so that's good. Based on how K is doing today, she's definately on the mend. S is feeling better although a cough persists. His recent visit to a specialist shows some promise.]

[In house news: Our new fridge comes tomorrow! Our garage no longer allows rodents into our attic, and we're a little closer to having the kitchen cupboards painted. We had planned to move in 10 days, but given the likelihood of surgery for me, we're probably pushing that off a bit.]

House and life update

2009-03-25T04:38:00.002-05:00

We got a new stove Monday! That evening, after the girls were in bed, I started to do some deep cleaning. Time to clean out the fridge so we can use it. First, though, does this appliance work?

Short answer: of course not. It's the only major appliance left in the house.

Turning it on, it sprayed white powder (sort of baby-formula consistency) at me through the vents. Lots of it, like it was snowing. While pondering what to do about THAT, I unplugged the fridge. "Hm, that's strange, it's plugged into a two prong plug. How does that work?" I turned the cord around and discovered that the third prong on the plug had been torn out to make it "work."

We already have reverse polarity issues on the only remaining three prong plug in the kitchen, so (another) call to the electrician and (another) visit to Sears for a new fridge should fix the problem.

Good news: The fans in the attic work, as does the switch to turn them on.

Replaced/will be replaced(*): Water heater, furnace, oven, fridge*, washer*, faucet in the bathroom

Appliances not tested: the 20 to 30 year old dryer and 30 year old oven/fridge in the basement kitchen, microwave.

And, on to life....
K = ear infection, E= fairly normal, just a cough, I am on antibiotics for strep that won't quit, but am feeling fairly good, just a cough and cold symptoms. S = out for the count. High temp and (I'm sure later today) will have chills. He has not been well in the last 6 weeks, looks like it's getting worse again.

Last week we spent with S's family for his grandfather's funeral. It was a very good time and I'm very glad we were there.

Free Burritos!

2009-03-23T18:20:00.003-05:00

Today I was invited by my friend to have lunch at Chipotle, an invitation that I would have a hard time resisting under any circumstances. Today I was on spring break, which means that the opportunity cost of my time is much lower. So off we went.

As usual I dropped my business card in the can to try to win a free burrito. And today the unthinkable occurred. I won!

They called me later in the day and let me know that I had a week to come in and claim up to five free burritos!! I told them - truthfully - that I had dreamed about this day.

In a world where Chipotle Burritos are given away for free, surely God must exist.

Update

2009-03-12T19:28:00.005-05:00

In the last ten days or so, here is what has happened:

I finally posted the promised cute K pictures. She's a little bundle of joy and peace, full of smiles and aptly named. It appears she thinks she's a pirate. Her favorite game is to say "arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr." She laughs when you repeat the "arrrrrr" back to her.

K got constipated from the solids we put her on. We fixed it. 'Nough said. That was the easiest fix of the last week and a half. She continues to love solid foods. As you can see above, K's second favorite game seems to be wearing a beard of food. (Maybe she thinks it helps her look like a pirate?) She has also started rolling ALL over the floor. It's the newest, funnest, thing to do. She's gotten really strong over the past two weeks! It's remarkable!

E has caught another cold. She is coughing up a lung in her bed as I speak. K aslo has it (minus the cough). That said - BLESSINGS! - E does NOT have an ear infection or a high fever!!! It appears having the tubes in is helping!

S continues to, very slowly, much slower than we'd like, recover. He is still sick.

I saw a specialist today to see what to do about my throat. Apparently I never got rid of the strep last month. And I had strep in December as well, so I guess that's not good. "Not good" enough that my doc sent me to this specialist, who gave me a different dose of antibiotic, and told me to see him again if it didn't get better to talk 'tonsils.' (This "reoccurant strep" thing has happened to me before.) That said, I think this should kick it. I'm not worried.

The rodent guy has caught 5 red squirrels. At $50 per squirrel, that's an expensive little family of rodents! I guess it's nice to know that our new house didn't go COMPLETELY unused over the last 9 months to 3 years (or however long it's been since it had regular occupants). The rodent guy ("Josh" -- he goes to our church, so now we know one more church person) is now working at fixing up all the entry points, as it appears we have caught the entire family.

We figured out where the smell in our new house came from -- it was all the stove, after all. It appears, after doing some more digging, that a rodent had NOT fallen into our wall and died, but instead a family of mice had, at one point, lived in the insulation in our stove. I looked in to their little home and I can't blame them! It was easy to crawl into, following the gas pipe up from the basement, and very cozy. But they're not tidy animals, and they left little reminders of themselves all throughout the oven's insulated and hard-to-reach if not impossible-to-clean nooks and crannies (as well as on the floor under the oven). So, the smell came because we'd turned our oven on.

That's the bad news. The good news is -- the mice appear to have vacated the house long ago (none of the traps throughout the house have sprung over the last few weeks and their entry point to the kitchen had been patched up by the previous owner) and WE GET A NEW STOVE! Thanks to a "no down payment no interest for 12 months" deal at Sears, tonight we bought our first appliance for this new house. We decided on a stove with FIVE stovetop burners, oh what luxury! S's really excited about the fifth burner, as it's extra long and a perfect size to heat up our oval dutch oven. We're both really excited about having a gas oven.

Josh the rodent guy is going to drywall our garage next week so that the rodents stop using it as their playground/ accessing our attic through it, and before that we'll have an electrician come in to find out why the outlets in the garage don't work. (IF YOU KNOW A GOOD ELECTRICIAN -- we're still looking for someone, so let us know!!!)

All in all, this house is EXPENSIVE so far! Here's hoping that all these improvements help, long term! And here's hoping that last lingering W2 gets to us soon so we can get our tax return!

Blessed

2009-03-02T12:02:00.006-05:00

Two weeks and one day ago -- Sunday, E's birthday. E had just gotten over a bad cold and ear infection. S had also just gotten better after battling a nasty infection. K & I (as in "me") spent the day in urgent care and the ER where K's respiration count was WAAAY too high and I was merely sick. K got an inhaler for bronchitis.

Monday we found out we would not be able to close on our house on Tuesday, as planned, because of some funny stuff on the seller's end of things.

Tuesday results came back from urgent care and I found out that my "merely sick" was, as I feared, strep. I was laid out for the week. My attempts to go in were shooed by coworkers who felt a combination of pity for my state and fear that they might catch it, too.

Friday of that week K was still sick but breathing better. E came down with a fever. I brought her in to the morning clinic and was told it was viral, just a cold, not in her ears. That night my parents came into town for K's baptism and E's birthday party.

Saturday E's birthday party plans were downscaled as E's fever spiked higher. Her birthday was no where near as fun as I'd hoped. Most of the day she spent staring into space or begging to be picked up. As you can see by the pictures (below) her face was quite flushed.

Sunday the baptism went well. K was all smiles.

Monday we went back into E's clinic where we found out she had an ear infection. She was referred to a specialist and given a shot of antibiotic. S got sick.

Tuesday S stayed home with E. Both very sick. E got in to see the specialist, who made an appointment for surgery in six days (today) for her to get tubes in her ear. By Tuesday night E seemed to be feeling better, perhaps the shot was working. No more fever. S had antibiotics and other drugs sure to help him, too, to feel better.

Wednesday S canceled classes and stayed home. All others were at work or school ... for half the day. At 3 pm E came home from school with a temp of 103.4. Our realtor called that afternoon and given the final closing-cost numbers and told to show up at the bank on Thursday to (finally) close on the house.

Thursday E joined mommy and daddy as we signed a LOT of papers and, eventually, acquired our first home. (E was remarkably good throughout the whole thing.) I couldn't miss any more work because of all the work I HADN'T done the week before (b/c I was out with strep) and daddy had to teach, so for the afternoon E came and napped/played in my office.

Friday was much the same. S watched E for part of the morning at home, a friend came for a couple of hours to watch her while S taught, then S brought her in to my office where she slept and I worked until about 3. From 3 to 5 she rearranged paper clips and coasters (because her own toys weren't fun enough) while I got a remarkable amount of work done, considering.

Friday night S was still feeling nasty, so he stayed home with the girls while I went to the new house to start cleaning. Shortly after getting to the house, I turned on the sink in the kitchen. The small furry creatures in the wall started complaining. Apparently I disturbed their sleep.

Saturday we spent a $50 gift card at Home Depot, and loaded up our car with items we were sure would help make our home feel more like "ours." We also brought along a frozen pizza to break in the oven.

We didn't stay as long as we thought we would. E was not feeling much better and spent most of the time in the new house complaining. The oven worked fine but dust built up in the vent of the oven burned off and produced an icky smell. That smell, however, was NOTHING compared to the smell that showered down upon us as soon as Steve opened the door to the closet with attic access. Apparently this home was not only home to the furry creatures in the wall, but also the furry creatures in the attic. For those of us who knew us in our "hippy commune with squirrels in the ceiling" days, opening this door made the whole house smell like our entry way at that place used to smell. It was gross. I called the critter guy today, and he guesses red squirrels in the attic and mice in the basement.

Sunday I was feeling pretty discouraged. We hadn't been able to keep up on housework because of all the illness, and with the smell of rodent still fresh in my nostrils, I was feeling pretty down about what should have been the good things that had happened over the past week. To top that, our usually delightful toddler had hardly smiled or laughed at me all week. She was feeling so miserable that most of the time was spent with her demanding to be held by me, or daddy, or me and then daddy and then me again as she searched for SOMETHING that would help her feel better.

I decided a little cleaning before church would do some good. We don't normally work on Sundays, but I needed to do SOMETHING.

The first item I picked up was S's coat. It'd been on the floor of our bedroom for FAR TOO LONG. I decided to show it who was boss. Here was one thing I could control. I couldn't make my family better, I couldn't erase the smell of squirrel, but I COULD pick up this old COAT...

Perhaps I was a bit too enthusiastic about the whole thing. The sleeve of his coat wrapped around the ceiling fan... the ceiling fan that wasn't ours, that belonged to this house that we were renting ... and as the coat crashed to the bed, so did the fan blade, cracked off at the base. I think the whole light fixture, thus, needs replacing.

That was the last straw. Could there be any more straws? I didn't think so. I needed an excuse to get out of the house. I needed a break. We had left pizza out at the new house the night before (as we left in a bit TOO much of a hurry, trying to rid ourselves of rodent smell). I could picture THOSE RODENTS all over MY KITCHEN eating the left over pizza, and it was too much for me. So, I used that as an excuse. "Hunny, I'm leaving, but I'm not leaving you. I need a break. I'm just going to go FIX something that I CAN fix. I'll be back as soon as I get the pizza out of our new kitchen." "Grab yourself some coffee as a treat on your way home," my dear husband suggested.

As I pulled out of the garage, I glanced down at the odometer and thought about how much we needed our tax return. "Paying for a new lamp fixture and rodent guys?! What else?!"

--- CRUNCH ---

This, I'd say, was the low point of the day. I looked to the right -- my rear view mirror had been ripped off the car by the siding on the garage door. It's hard to say which one won that fight. Both garage door (again, not mine, renting) and car looked pretty bad.

I didn't get my coffee. I didn't get the pizza out of the house. I ran back inside, curled up on the bed, and cried. S and the girls came in to visit. S called a friend, who agreed to pick K and me up for church (as S & E were still too sick). By the time she arrived, my tears had dried enough, and I was able to relay the story without totally losing it.

She told me about their neighbor, who had bought a house only to find a skunk had been living under it. It took six months for the house to be fumigated enough for them to be able to live in it.

At church the pastor mentioned how so often we don't understand why bad things happen -- we don't understand when kids got sick (my ears perked up) with things like leukemia (I was suddenly humbled), we don't understand why spouses are unfaithful, why good people lose their jobs, how hard life can sometimes be, etc.

A ceiling fan, tubes in her ears, sick husband, rodents, strep, ER, colds, moving, garage door, car door, etc. I was feeling sorry for myself. But this was nothing. Homelessness, leukemia, unfaithful husband, skunk, HIV, no hospitals, no possessions, no transportation... I had a job that allowed me to be sick and friends that could step in in a crunch.

I had it pretty good, after all.

That night I got a phone call. As usual, I had been missing my NC church, my NC peeps. I haven't had time to build the community here that I had had there. The phone call was from the mom of one of my "NC peeps." Her mom lives in town here, and had heard through her daughter that our family was struggling and I might like some prayer. "I was wondering if you couldn't maybe use some food, too," she said. I almost cried on the spot. When I talked to my mom this morning, she said she had prayed that someone might offer us food, to encourage us in all this.

This morning was E's surgery. She's resting now. In the recovery room she wasn't doing too hot, but before her nap here at home she was already showing signs of feeling better. The doc says that, as far as ear infections go, she had it pretty much as bad as it could be, in both ears. I'm hoping this surgery fixes all that. While she was in surgery, I called the rodent guys. They'll take care of it all tomorrow morning. When we got home, I called the insurance guys. All the damage done to the house is covered, without deductible. The damage done to the car has a high deductible, but I am less concerned about our own property, so the mirror can wait. A friend gave us some duct tape, and that is good enough for now.

And I don't have to worry about dinner tonight.

I feel blessed. Truly blessed. In all of this I am humbled by how God lifted us up and taken care of us. I cannot explain all the bad in the world, but I CAN see, in this situation, God's hand in healing. And I realized that, in all this, I am still blessed beyond measure. Thanks, friends, for your part in this.

[Please continue to pray for S. 8 days into the antibiotic, and he is still not better. Thank you for your prayers for E and K.]

Yours,
L

P.S. K started eating solid food last week! She hates rice cereal (just like E) but loves apple sauce and sweet potatoes. I'll see about posting a picture here.

More weekend pictures

2009-02-23T20:46:00.002-05:00

By Grace, Another Year

2009-02-23T19:39:00.006-05:00

We had a big weekend! Grandma and Grandpa (aka Mom and Dad) came to celebrate two big events: E's 2nd birthday and K's baptism. Here are some pictures.

BTW, bro -- E LOVES the presents you gave her. Thanks so much!

Prayer

2009-02-23T19:26:00.004-05:00

Please pray for my family. I'm worried about us. I'll keep this short, as this post could very easily become emotional and the complaints and worries could fill a small book.

In short we've all been really ill all season. I'm the "well" one. I realize as I think back that it's not the amount of illnesses that we've been getting that is suprising, but the severity of those illnesses.

[Since Christmas we have had: 4 or 5 ear infections (all E, all lasting at least a week); 4 bouts of pnemonia (1 K, and S just started on his 3rd round of it); and 2 rounds of strep (I'm the lucky one here). E is seeing a specialist tomorrow. S has appointments for two different specialists over the next few months. K doesn't have a specialist, but she DOES now have a trip to the ER under her belt.]

E & S worry me the most, but I do find it odd that K's cold lasted as long as it did when she's getting so many good antibodies from me. E's colds at this age never lasted more than a week.

We've been proactive about vitamins, hand washing, filter-replacing(furnace), mold-removal, and healthy eating choices. I'm not sure what else to do.

Time to end this post. You get the idea. Thanks for your prayers, and please feel free to give suggestions.

P.S. We've thought about the daycare factor, and before they were in daycare on a regular basis, they were going to MOPs and nursery a few times a week, with the same result. A new cold every other week. So although day care is contributing, pulling them out may make things a bit better but is not going to break this cycle by itself-- unless we make a commitment to never go out or play with other kids. Which we can't do.

Happy Birthday, E!

2009-02-15T11:35:00.002-05:00

E is two today.

Because I'm sick and because G&G don't come until next week, party pictures will have to wait.

Cute E story to celebrate the day.

This morning we realized a bit of the generational gap between us and E.

She picked up K's toy keys, said "keys!" then pressed on one of them as if it were a button and said "beep-beep!"

...

I don't think _I_ did that as a kid, did I mom?

Words, words, words

2009-01-26T16:46:00.009-05:00

E talks in complete sentences now. Sort of.

Here are sample sentences:

"I wan-na-dtookie! dtookie, peez." (I want a cookie! Cookie, please!)
or
"I nee-a-wree-a-buh!" (I need to read a book) [Last week, in the back of the car, it was, "I nee a wree a buh! Buh, mommy! A... A po apple. E - Eyya!" (I need to read a book! Book mommy! A for Apple. E for Ella!)]

Sometimes she'll still revert to one word exclamations. Her favorite now-a-days is
"Lay-lo!!!!" (Lego).

You get the idea. Basically, the only important consonant in her mind is the first one. Unless it's too hard to pronounce, then the second one will do.

This weekend a friend of hers stopped by to play for the morning. He's about three or four months younger than her. He does not speak in complete sentences yet. As such, I was shocked to suddenly hear, as they played with their favorite toy (happened to be the same thing, convenient!) "LEGO!"

What?! Who said "Lego?!"

And then later, as they looked at an animal book,
"BEAR!" and then "Milk." And the list goes on. He almost got a complete sentence out when E left for a toy. "Wha -- Ella?" (I can only assume that was "Where's E?")

E's friend, apparently, has mastered ALL his consonants. When he starts speaking in sentences, he (unlike E) will be instantly understood by all. Hmm... maybe they should hang out more often. Maybe his pronunciation will rub off on E.

K enjoyed watching the action from her bouncy seat, one of her favorite places to be. (Number 1 favorite is in parents' arms, followed closely by looking up at their faces while on the changing table.)

(she's soooooooooo cute!?!)

Great days

2009-01-20T05:46:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was a good day. I found out that not one, but two of my friends will be interviewing at my place of employment over the next month. I love the idea of both of them finding employment in our little community. On the family end -- K sat by herself for the first time (for several seconds only, but still, it's a new date for her baby book) and E used the potty sucessfully!

Funny story about E -- we've been talking about the potty a lot over the past few months. She can recite to you (with lots of baby babble and "uh-huhs") a huge monologue about how one uses the potty. We've practiced a lot. This weekend I even showed her how her baby doll goes potty. (now that's become part of her monologue, too.) I'm encouraging this mostly because I know daycare is putting her on the toilet a couple times a day at minimum, so I thought I'd work with her at home, too. But I don't have huge expectations. I figure I'll wait for the push in training until this summer.

But last night she went!! As soon as she was done, I didn't get any cheers or "mommy, I diddit" like I expected. Instead, she calmly stood up an opened the lid to the adult potty, because she knew that was the next step -- dump it in the adult potty.

A serious one, this little girl.

p.s. congrats, K! You've made it 4 months!!!

Sick child

2009-01-12T15:30:00.002-05:00

E stayed home sick today. S took the first half of the day with her, I took the second. Since we know she has a high probability of having been exposed to strep, I took her in to the doctors in the afternoon.

Before visiting the doctors, we had pizza for lunch. I only mention it because E's way of saying "pizza" ("Pee-dah!") is so cute. And she was SOOO excited about the treat. When I first mentioned going to the doctors, she nodded her head, like she knew it was a good thing to do, and then, with loads of seriousness, looked down at her thumb and started jabbering away about something.

It took me a second to remember that last time we went to the doctor, E had had a lead test done. In order to do the lead test, they had to prick her thumb and drop blood onto five round circles. She had done really well despite the ordeal. She hadn't cried and barely winced at it all. Apparently she remembered, and was telling me all about it. I assured her there would be no thumb-sticking today.

When we got home (she has an ear infection, again), I mentioned that now it might be time for a second nap (she napped two hours in the morning). Before I was done hanging up the coats, she was gone from sight. I assumed she'd gone to her room or the livingroom to play. When I walked into her room, however, she was not playing but instead busy trying to climb (and for a one year old, it really is "climb") into her bed. Apparently she was ready for that nap.

Tonight's yummy veg meal

2009-01-11T19:11:00.004-05:00

We didn't make any New Years resolutions (other than "buy a house,") but we have been discussing eating more vegan/vegetarian meals. Here's tonight's yummy creation, Chickpea Tagine with Cinnamon, Cumin and Carrots. I give it a 4.0 (on a 5 point scale.) If you go for the vegan version (no yogurt), it's still yummy, but downgrades to a 3.0 as it looses the yummy tang of the yogurt. We couldn't find the Greek-style yogurt the recipe recommends (anyone know where we can find that?) but it tastes great with regular yogurt, too.

It is a slightly sweet, flavorful Moroccan-like stew. It is very quick and easy to make, the only chopping involved are for the carrots and onion. (We used pre-minced garlic from a jar, which also helped speed things up.) Total prep time is about 5 minutes, total cook time about 25. I LOVE cumin, so I knew it would be a hit. I am glad I restrained myself and did not add chili (smile). I was afraid it would be too bland. It is not. The fresh parsley, however, is a "must" for flavor.

Were I to make it again, I'd add more currants and carrots and a little more water -- it seems a bit chickpea heavy. (Hint: if you don't like garbanzo beans, you won't like this dish.)

I encourage you to follow the link above and have some yourself! If the link is dead, talk to me, I'll pass along the recipe. (This is from October's issue of Vegetarian Times. Thanks again for the subscription, Grandma R!)

So far...

2009-01-06T06:04:00.002-05:00

I had a good first day at work.

More importantly, E LOVED day care. No real suprise here. She came home more riled up than she was on Christmas, talking about EVERYTHING. (Unfortunately we only understood half of it.) She only napped an hour and a half at day care, though. Must have been the excitement.

K also, it seemed, did well.

Awkward Conversations

2009-01-04T17:00:00.005-05:00

Over the holidays I met up with a well-respected elderly woman from our past. We excitedly introduced her to our newest addition, then S got caught up in another conversation. The woman asked me, "Well, looks like you're keeping busy with these two! I suppose you're staying at home now?"
"Well, yes, I am, but I start a new job on January 5th."
"Oh... (she looked taken aback) But, how much?" she asked. I could only assume by that that she meant "full time or part time" and was not actually asking about my salary.
"Forty hours a week, full time." I responded.
"Oh..." she said, looking even more awkward, and the conversation ended. The silence spoke volumes.

She didn't ask why, she didn't ask if I'd struggled with the decision or wished it was only part time. I'll answer a little here, as best as I can. I do wish it were part-time, it would blend the best of both worlds. I did struggle over the decision to accept this job, I prayed over it more than almost any major decision in the past few years. The answer to "why" is a bit more complex. Perhaps because it fit my resume well and I knew I'd like the job, perhaps because we needed the money, definitely because of the location of the job... The timing wasn't exactly right, I would have liked to be at home a bit longer, several more years even. The hours aren't right, I'd like more time with my girls. But the job seems like precisely the one I'd like to have for years to come. It is both low stress enough and engaging enough to leave me energy and time for my family in the evenings yet intellectually engaged in the academic world my husband lives in.

Her silence struck a chord. I've spent the last two months mulling over this decision, asking for advice from everyone I think might have good thoughts on this. I was surprised that basically all sought-out advice resulted in a "yes," even from those I was sure would say "no." I pray I've made the right decision, I take comfort in that I can always pull out, and I believe that overall this is the right thing for my family. I have, since the beginning, had the support of my husband. Had I not, I would not have considered this as an option. That said, I still mourn a little, especially as I think of her silent words. They cause some doubt. Am I selfish? Am I wrong? Is the old-fashion way the best way? The last six months have been some of the most isolating and lonely times for me. Perhaps I'm just trying to run away from that. Do I not love my children enough? But my family is my world! It is for love of family, in large part, that I am excited about this position. [S wonders (tongue-in-cheek) why our friend didn't ask about HIS decision to accept full-time employment.]

Well, I'm diving in. It's been fun being a stay at home mom. Wish me luck!

P.S. If you have anecdotes or encouragement for a working mom, I could probably use them. Feel free to share!

Rebellious Daughter

2009-01-03T09:35:00.006-05:00

E recently started reading a pamphlet I have laying around the house titled What it Means to be Reformed. Our conversation with her went something like this:

S: "E, you are reading the book upside down."

E turns the book right side up

S: "Good. You know that if you read it upside down you become an arminian, but if you read it right side up, you become a calvinist."

E: [Mumble Mumble] Translation: "OK, I think I want to be an arminian."

E turns the book upside down and continues reading.

Between her recent cheer for Duke, and now this, I suspect that my oldest daughter will be quite the rebel.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T17:18:00.003-05:00

We are grateful for all this holiday season brings -- family, friends, and a reminder of Christ's coming.

Happy Christmas, all!

Short snapshots of our week.

2008-12-22T09:16:00.003-05:00

S was grading final exams today. "Argg!!! These people do not know the difference between long run and short run! [he looks down at his toddler] E, give me two decent policies that you would propose that would result in long-run economic growth."

E, without missing a beat, claped her hands together with great excitement, and started running to the next room.

"Honey, I think all she heard in that was 'long run.'" Apparently, for E, a "long run" means "into the next room."

Brilliant. Steve gave her half a point for cuteness.

------------------------------------------

K was on the floor this morning, having her "play time" (also known as "MOMMY TORTURES ME BY PUTTING ME ON MY TUMMY!" time.) K generally spends this time talking to us, letting us know that this is hard work, but not crying, as she reaches for her toys or arches her back so that her feet and arms are no longer on the floor.

This morning I slipped into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Shortly after I did, I heard her vocalizations suddenly go from babbling conversation to a suprised cry. When I ran out into the livingroom, there she was, face up, staring at the ceiling with a concerned look on her face. "Mommy, how did this happen?!"

"GOOD JOB!!!" I said, "You TURNED OVER!!"

When Daddy, too, came in the room and showered praise on her for the new feat accomplished, she looked a little less concerned, and gave us great big, baby-proud smiles.

-------------------------------------------------

K is, indeed, growing up fast. She turned 3 months on Saturday. In addition to the "rolling over" milestone, she has recently reached another wonderful milestone. Last night she slept from 7:30 pm until 5:45 am. That's right, folks, over 10 hours!! She woke up briefly at 4:30, but decided all she wanted was a pacifier. AHHHH... there's a LIGHT at the end of the tunnel!

-----------------------------------------------

Since finishing the semester, we have had fun spending time with family. Last night we had a birthday party for my brother. I got to meet my new neice and nephew. We now have many cute pictures of the three little ones together. Pictures to come, I am sure!

E was very cute (as always) as we drove to see family. Instead of "Are we there yet?" (which, mercifully, she doesn't know how to say) she'd periodically say "All done" in English and ASL (in English it's "Ah-dah" so the ASL helps for clarification). When she realized that that was NOT getting her out of the car, she tried a new tactic. She clapped her hands together, said "Eyyie, Annah, Eyyie, yeah!" (Translation: "I'm excited to see my cousins, Ellie and Hannah, and I know that we're on our way to visit them now, and we'll be there soon, right mom?") Then she said "Ya-ta!" and threw her hands up in the air (translation: "My parents have been watching and quoting _Heroes_ too much, and so now I've picked up how to say 'I did it' in Japanese") and then clapped her hands together again and said "did it!" (Translation: "Just in case you don't know Japanese, I meant 'all done, we did it!'"). She put the icing on the cake by then granting me the LARGEST grin she could muster.

"No, E... We aren't there yet. Sorry."

Poor, patient, little girl.

A VIDEO!

2008-12-12T17:30:00.003-05:00

A while back my sister in law, a new mom, asked me how I do it with two under two. My initial, gut response was "neglect." I didn't tell her that, though. Honestly, most days I simply shuffle between the demands of one and the demands of the other. Sometimes I even get to go to the bathroom in peace. I do the best I can, and it's getting easier.

Some days the oldest is quite helpful. As helpful as a one year old can be.

Since we haven't had video on here in a while, let me demonstrate with the help of youtube. Enjoy.

A Question of Lifestyle

2008-12-12T07:51:00.007-05:00

Yesterday we visited a couple of houses around town. Both within our price range. We were excited to see that, with our limited income, we could still get a nice house! The realitor told us, before we headed to the second house, that they were as different as night and day. She was right. One was a beautiful, completely updated Victorian with almost no yard (and no garage) near a lively district of town (with lots of coffee shops, my favorite hippy yarn store, and a vegetarian restaurant). The other was a boxy, boring, one-story bungalow with a large back yard within walking distance of work, but not near any thing else. It is in desperate need of some asthetic repairs. For example, it's got a finished basement, but when we went down to look at it, the ceiling fell in on us because it was poorly hung. We know this is something we can fix, but this is one of many "projects" we saw around the house.

So, do I become urban and trendy (in a house that needed no repairs) or suburban and boring (in a "fixer-upper"). At first, I screamed "Urban!! Coffee shops, book stores, neat neighbors!" And then I realized that the choice was not mine to make. My children had made it for me. We could fix up the boxy house, it would take time but we would fit better in it in the end. We cannot add a yard and a garage to the Victorian, however.

I love the Victorian home. But I love my children more. The other house is messy, but then again, so is life with kids. Goodbye, trendy "Carrboro" self, whatever of you existed in me! Welcome, to all the "mess" that comes with motherhood!

This Happy Mama Is Updating Her Blog at 3:30 am

2008-12-11T03:30:00.004-05:00

The good news: K just slept through the night for the first time!!! (8 hours)

The bad news: She thinks "the night" is 7 pm until 3 am.

Still, she's all smiles this "morning." I'm proud of her, too! (Last night she woke up every 3 hours, so tonight was VERY unexpected!)

Mimi vs. Me Me -- Big Cheek Edition (round three)

2008-12-09T13:14:00.004-05:00

K and E both put on weight (and thus nice big baby cheeks) for their 12 week growth-spurt. Can you tell which of these full-cheeked babies is which? The third round of "Mimi vs. Me Me" begins!

Photo one -- "stunned baby"

Photo two -- "stunned baby take two"

Photo three -- "a lesson in economics, on a bib."

Photo four -- "mom should learn to focus the camera"

Photo five "Ahh.. that's better."

Photo six -- "Do I have to smile?"

WARNING: It will be considered cheating if you read the next blog post (which has updated pictures) BEFORE guessing on this blog post.

Alright, this is just a spacer, so that you don't accidentally look at the ADORABLE pictures that follow.

Have you made your guess yet? Please do! Then, check the comments section for the correct answers.

Awww... isn't that sweet?

2008-12-09T12:54:00.002-05:00

Thought y'all ("y'all" being my parents, in particular) would enjoy these pictures.

S and I had our first go at Christmas last weekend, as we both realized that we didn't REALLY want to drag our gifts for each other with us for the holidays, only to have to drag them back. So we made rice pudding, cinnamon rolls, and some other goodies. Then we dressed our girls up in Christmas-y clothes, put on some Christmas music, and unwrapped a couple of presents!

Ahh... it's good to be the parents! (My mom and dad would never let me open presents early!)

Bitterly Sarcastic (but not angry), Shoes, and Babies

2008-12-06T19:59:00.008-05:00

On the way to the grocery store today, I tuned in to one of the many Christian radio stations in town. There are, like, a gazillion in this area.

The song on the radio was some hip new song I had never heard. The words of the song were something along the lines of "Don't be afraid of death, Jesus, because you'll be raised again in three days."

WHAT THE?!?

I promptly switched the station. There were JUST SO MANY things wrong with that line. (So, I may have misquoted the line, I had never heard the song before, but that was the basic message -- if you know the song I speak of, please let me know what the real words were.)

FIRST -- don't be afraid of DEATH?! Gee, thanks. Condescending. That's the sort of thing I say to my one year old! "Don't be afraid of the melting snow on your sock, it'll dry." SECOND, way to trivialize the death! He didn't just die, dummy! He died on a TORTURE device, one of the worst ways invented TO die. THIRD -- "because you'll rise again in three days" Hm... first, he probably ALREADY KNEW THAT, second, does he really need you to write him a song 2,000 years later to TELL him that? Third, is that a reason not to fear a huge torturous ordeal that will ultimately take your life? I think not. I would still fear. I would still cry out to my God asking him to take the burden from me. I'm actually quite glad for the record of Jesus's time in the garden before his death. It's nice to know his struggle. It makes his obedience that much greater.

So, basically, what I heard in this song is, "Silly Jesus, you don't need to be pouring your heart out to God in the garden, asking him to take this burden from you. This is, after all, just death, and you'll conquer it. Sure, it's torturous death, but what are you afraid of? What's a little pain?"

AAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!! [Alright, so I wasn't really as outraged as this blog post seems to indicate, I didn't stew over the song for more than 45 seconds, but I did stew a bit. Wouldn't you? Or am I way out of line here?]

...

So, I went into the store, bought my food, came back out to a nice rendition of Walking in a Winter Wonderland on the station I'd tuned to in haste after listening to bad Christian radio.

Ahh... much better. "And pretend that he's a circus clown. We'll have lots of fun with Mr. Snowman..." I sang along, picturing the clown snowman with a group of kids. Good music. Nothing wrong here.

Then the song ended. It was immediately followed by, "This is station W---, bringing the gospel to the air."

WHAT?!? The gospel?!? Gospel. The good news.

FOLKS: NEWS FLASH -- the GOOD NEWS is that it's snowing outside and we can make snowmen!!! Wahoo!!!

Bad news -- my friends in North Carolina rarely get to experience the gospel, and my mom's friends in central Africa must make a trip WAAAAY north to see what this gospel is all about.

Arg. So, bro, you work in Christian radio. Can you come over here and help these folks clean up their act?

-------

In other news: Lake effect snow. Yep. They weren't kidding. It just keeps coming. We shoveled before going shopping today. My brand-new two-inch high heels barely did the job keeping my feet above the snow when we returned. But at least they got me up to six feet tall, so that I blend in a little better with the uber-tall Dutch locals. (E picked them out for me. She did a good job. At 20 months she has better fashion sense than I EVER have had.)

-------

And, for my mother -- Cute grandkid story of the day.

E and K went to bed at the same time tonight. This is a first, as K usually isn't tired until an hour after E's bedtime. They sleep in the same room. 20 min after putting both girls down, I heard E talking in something between a whisper and her normal voice. "Mimi... Mimi... Mimi!!!" She stopped as soon as she heard me. I went in her room. She obviously had been obedient and stayed in bed, but she also obviously had not been IN her bed -- her sheets were pushed aside, she looked like she had just flopped down on her pillow as I opened the door. I could picture her leaning over her safety rails, whispering to her sister on the other side of the room with all her might, "Hey, baby sister, it's time to wake up now so we can talk and play! The parents are gone now, let's have some sibling time! Hey, Mimi, are you up?... No? How about now? ... How 'bout a nice hiccough, so that I can mimic you? Wouldn't that be fun? Any noise at all would be fun, wouldn't it? Hey, Mimi.... Mimi... " -- Mimi, being only 2 months old, was of course, not stirring a bit. Sorry, E. You're going to have to wait a bit longer to have slumber parties.

Oh, but Mimi is growing up fast! She now sits up fairly well, and is FULL of smiles! She loves having us chat with her, and even coos back most of the time. She's very verbal, and seems quite bright. Her worried looks still come, but usually only when E is around trying to "play" with her.

ironic.

2008-12-05T06:38:00.002-05:00

K's night schedule usually includes waking around 1:30 or 2 and again around 5. Last night I prayed for K to sleep through the night. S said afterwards, "don't worry, she will eventually -- likely the night you have insomnia. God has a sense of humor." He turned out to be right.

Last night K slept 9 hours straight. 9:30-6:30.*

We (S and I) were awake more or less from 2:30 until 4 am with E, sick with a fever and congestion. Around 3:15 am, blurry-eyed and crawling back into bed, hoping this time E would sleep, S looked over at me and said, "Indeed, God has a sense of humor." (Or maybe I said it... hard to remember at that early hour.)

Oh, the irony.

*So, I may have helped K along a BIT. Several weeks ago some girlfriends of mine were discussing "sleep feedings," something I'd never heard of before. The basic concept, they explained, was that you don't waken your baby, but instead simply feed your baby while she sleeps (baby reflexes are great like that) right before you go to bed, regardless of how long she's been asleep, and then that'll help her sleep longer. She usually goes to bed at our bed time, so I hadn't tried it but once -- it backfired big time that time, and I was up four times instead of two. That said, last night I thought it was worth a go again. At 3:30 am, I fed her about half of what she normally eats that time of night. She slept through the whole thing, including the burping and screams coming out of her sister, so I decided not to feed her the other half. That said, she was well on her way to breaking records before I fed her, I think she probably would have gone 7 hours regardless.

I am excited and hopeful that this may be the beginnings of a new, beautiful pattern for K. Even if she only sleeps 6 or 7 hours straight from here on out, that'll be SOOOO much better than 5 and then 3.

For those concerned about E -- she is acting like herself again this morning, no temp, but still obviously stuffed up.

For those wondering where the prayer came from -- you obviously haven't been a parent of a 2 month old. (Smile.) What prompted it last night may have been my discovery that my body can only tolerate two cups of coffee in the morning. Three makes me jittery and affects my ability to feed K because coffee does NOT help hydrate a person. Even one affects my supply, I'm fairly sure. That makes a cranky K. Good news, I've figured out how to optimize. One cup = fine, Two cups = okay, three cups = bad. Bad news, I definitely need to be producing more than I am, especially given upcoming daycare plans. That said, K's sleep patterns make it VERY HARD to for me to live without the coffee. The pattern needs to be broken.

Two can play at this game

2008-11-26T07:34:00.003-05:00

(From E's perspective) Grandma and Grandpa are in town! What fun!

And yesterday they brought me a PRESENT! A pair of singing snowmen to go with the singing snowman I got for Christmas last year! I love dancing to it. Over, and over, and over, and over again. I'm so glad I'm old enough this year to be able to locate the on/off button! (Click here for demo.)

This morning mom made sure to leave both sets of singing snow people in a very accessible spot, so that I could play with them RIGHT WHEN I woke up (at 7:30 am, 6:30 am Grandma and Grandpa's time). I've been playing with them all morning to show sleeping Grandma and Grandpa how MUCH I enjoy them! Thanks Grandma! Thanks Grandpa!

(Mom gives evil grin)

Today and door-to-door salesmen

2008-11-24T18:11:00.002-05:00

Oh, what a glorious and busy day today!
1- I visited a child care place that I really like that is really close to work, and signed the kiddos up! I'm trying not to think about what I will now make per hour post-childcare and post-taxes. I just hope I really really like the job!!
2- When we left the daycare, we realized something magical had happened while we were inside. LOTS OF SNOW!!! It didn't look like autumn anymore!
3- On the way home stopped off and ordered our Thanksgiving pie. Gonna do that part the easy way this year. While at the pie store, bought a coffee and a fruit bar. E consumed half the fruit bar, I enjoyed the coffee, and K slept while more snow piled up outside. Left the store and had to brush sticky snow off the car before going home.
4- Fed the oldest and put her to bed, drove off with the youngest to buy a turkey and a snow shovel. (No worries about the oldest, daddy was home with a nasty bug, so she was in good company. Did you think I'd leave her alone? :))
5- Got home just in time for E to get up from her nap, get her snowsuit on, and join me as I used the newly acquired snow shovel to plow a path through the two to three inches on our driveway and sidewalk. E didn't last long outside, but I found it invigorating (caffeine probably helped) so I also shoveled our neighbor's walk. I was about to turn around and come home when HIS neighbor came out to shovel, mentioning how he didn't want to do it but was stuck with it because his boys were sick. Well, I haven't shoveled in years, so while he went to get his shovel (all he could find was a large shovel for gardening) I got half his walk done. I finished his walk as he started his drive, and we chatted about the sunny south. Apparently he's lived in my former state as well, so he understood my new enthusiasm for snow shoveling (but assured me it would quickly get old -- I don't doubt it).
6- Progressed the laundry. Washed K's sheets. She's been spitting up a lot lately (I think it's a phase) so they REALLY needed it!
7- Got the house cleaned for my family, coming in to town tomorrow!

On a side note, door-to-door sales men. I didn't think they still existed. But they DO! We've had three stop by since we moved in. One just dropped by a few minutes ago. Have y'all ever (this year) encountered one?

Our Little Helper

2008-11-21T18:00:00.005-05:00

I'm pretty sure E's two love languages are "quality time" and "acts of service," which means she wants to help out a lot.

E is quite the little helper. She helps cook (she pours after I measure), she helps do dishes (taking silverware out of the dishwasher and putting it in the silverwear drawer), she helps put K's pacifier back in (whether or not she wants it -- sometimes E takes it out first, just so she can help put it back in) and she helps change K's diapers (she goes and gets a cloth diaper from her changing table so that I can put it on K. Sometimes she gets one of her size four disposable diapers or a size large diaper cover because she gets confused, but most of the time she gets it right).

Anyway, although she is very smart for a one year old who can't talk, she sometimes gets confused. Friends may recall the story about S saying "you're lagging behind" and E stopping, pushing up her pants, and staring at her bare leg for a few moments, trying to figure out what daddy meant. "What's this about my leg? ..."

Tonight she was in the kitchen helping daddy cook. S said "now we need to put the topping on the casserole" and E, without hesitation, ran to the cupboard, opened it, and took out a top to put on the dish.

As a pseudo-applied-linguist (one who dabbled in teaching ESL), I find this "evidence of language acquisition" fascinating. I applaud her efforts and chuckle at the mistakes she makes as she tries to figure us out.

I just can't wait until she starts speaking better, so we can understand more of what's going on in that little brain.

Ahh... Sleep.

2008-11-20T17:17:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I got a bug. It appears it was only a 24-hour deal, but it made quite the show of itself, causing S to come home from work early, twice. This means two days in a row, I have gotten as much sleep as I've wanted in the afternoon (punctuated by an occasional feeding, but those were brief).

In addition I went to bed at around 5 pm last night.

I had forgotten what "normal" felt like. Now I feel it. Ooooh... I am SOOOOO excited for when K finally sleeps through the night!!! I'm ready to feel normal EVERY day. It's been three or four months since I got a full night's sleep on a regular basis.

BUT, it's worth it. Haven't caught those smiles on film yet (mostly because my camera isn't attached to my hip like it was with E) but they're there, warming my heart every day.

The hero of the day and my peaceful (sometimes) one.

My Status

2008-11-19T15:02:00.003-05:00

So, good things have been happening.

I am now within a couple pounds of my pre-K weight, which means I'm 8 pounds away from my pre-E weight and about 14 or 15 lbs from my pre-cruise-pre-E weight. :) And I'm still losing! My goal is to get to my pre-E weight (hasn't happened SINCE E came along) before I stop losing naturally. I figure if I have to work hard to get the 5 or 6 cruise pounds off, it's my own darn fault, and serves me right for overeating when offered unlimited four and five star dining. What was I thinking? :)

In other news, I got the job at S's place of employment. I didn't quite play "dutch bingo"* with the director, but we had our own Evangelical version. So, among other connections, he knows the guy who helped found the school in Congo that my mom and cousins attended, he helped recruit and/or was colleagues with a couple of professors I had at my undergraduate institution. He worked with them at the school I attended my freshman year (his former colleagues were then professors at my sophomore-senior year university). This was all before I attended the school, but it was still fun.

*Dutch Bingo is a western-Michigan phenomenon. People, when they're introduced to you, invariably (yes, really) ask you what your last name is, in hopes that it's a Vander-something and they can then ask you if you know Vander-so-and-so. Then, you can say "Yes! He's my sixth cousin, twice removed! Do you know a Van-so-and-so?" and the game of Dutch Bingo begins. For me, Dutch Bingo only lasts one round. "What's your last name?" "Mc-something." "Oh... nice to meet you." I'm thinking of changing my name to Vander-something, just to fit in. (smile.)

So, that long tangent aside, in January I will start working a full-time job. I think E will love child care, and K will love not being poked in the eye by her sister every three hours. From my previous work-and-parent experience, I am confident that, far from making me a worse parent, this job will help me to enjoy my children more and spend higher quality time with them when we are together. AND it might allow us to actually have enough money saved up for a house down payment by May! (Maybe.) Only downside is the "full time" thing, but (sigh) things aren't always perfect. Half-time jobs are hard to come by at S's institution, and any job outside that school requires a second car or some serious planning. So, this is what we get!

Guess the Baby -- Second Round

2008-11-18T11:30:00.002-05:00

Because it was so popular the first time around, here's another round of "guess the baby."

For those who haven't played before, your job is to decide which of the following pictures is K and which is E at (approximately) K's age.

This time I'm not providing you with a cool back-link to a previous post, I'll simply put the correct answer in the "comments" section. Don't cheat, now! But DO let me know (in the comments section) how you did.

2 Months

2008-11-18T11:01:00.003-05:00

K's 2 month check up:

11lbs 4 oz

23 and a quarter inches tall

Head circumference: 15 and three quarters inches

And, just like that, she goes from less than 50 percent in everything to greater than 50 percent in everything. She must have been making up for lost time! She's taller than 75% of 2 month old babies (roughly speaking) and is in the 60th percentile for weight. When she was born, she was in the 25th percentile for weight.

Way to go, little girl! I guess I must be feeding you right.

Now she feels kind of icky. She's going to need extra TLC today, I guess.

updates

2008-11-17T16:47:00.002-05:00

Last week K slept 6.5 hours straight once and I lost another pound. Every week is a little better.

This week I have a second interview at the place where S works. I may have a difficult decision to make later this week. The job is a great fit for me, but is full-time. Today we toured daycare agencies. E thought it was terrific fun. She wanted to join in. K alternated between making little "I might be upset if I were more awake" noises and sleeping. The place I liked the best offers a "try us out for a day" deal -- for free, just to see if your kids like it. I told my hubby and he suggested that, if I do get this job, he takes an afternoon off, we give our kids a trial run with day care, and he and I go on a date to celebrate. Free child care! I think that sounds great.

Mimi or "me, me"?

2008-11-11T14:22:00.005-05:00

E keeps finding pictures of herself as a baby. Invariably she points to them and says "Mimi!" (E's nickname for K).

We can't understand why the confusion.

p.s. One photo was taken this month, one 18 months ago. If you can't guess which child is which in the pictures above, see here

Suprises in the mail.

2008-11-11T13:58:00.001-05:00

These pictures (especially the dress and blanket) have been brought to you in part by K &M. Thanks, guys! We love them!

African/African American Historians -- read on.

2008-11-08T19:36:00.005-05:00

To my three African/African American History friends who have or are about to have PhDs...
Steve's work has a job opening for you for next year.
You know who you are.
You know where he works.
You know how cool (literally -- sorry, Southern friends) it would be to be here.
Do apply. We want you here.

And, K, the last line in the job application -- that's all for you. It's not just us encouraging you to apply, see? :) But you'd have to become a reformed Calvinist. Think you've got it in you?

Seriously, though, it'd be fabulous to have ANY of y'all come on up/down to work here, and since we know people who fit the bill, we think it'd be a shame not to know the person who fills this position!!

P.S. On an interesting and only slightly related note: I am currently reading a book by Bereket Selassie. It's a good read so far. It's historical fiction.

Smiles?

2008-10-29T08:09:00.003-05:00

K's first smile was over a week ago. Since then I've been trying to catch it on film. So far it hasn't worked.
Here she lets me know that she'd really rather have her pacifire back.

Sometimes she chats with me.

Or makes funny faces at me.

This is a VERY common expression. More common than her smiles. S now calls her his "little worrier." Can you see why? She worries about everything, but mostly how the state of the economy is going to affect her milk supply. (I assure her it won't, but this doesn't stop her from thinking about it.)
Worrying again.

And this sad fuzzy picture is the closest we've gotten to catching her smile. Sorry, folks. I'll keep trying.

p.s. Happy Lunaversary!

2008-10-20T09:52:00.000-05:00

By the way, K is now one month old! (Or will be at 8:53 pm)
CONGRATS, little girl!

No negotiation

2008-10-20T09:45:00.006-05:00

(It's cold enough for E to be in a turtleneck, but she's decided to act like it's summer. She insisted on this outfit. She especially liked the glasses.)

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E's going through a rough time. She's re-learning boundaries.

Today that meant half an hour of re-learning that nap time was not negotiable. During the half-hour cryfest, (after I'd tried to calm her down, lay with her, etc. and finally determined that she just needed to ride it out) I kept repeating to myself "You do not negotiate with terror(ist)s. Especially not 20 month old ones that REALLY DO need to take their nap." So, I sat in the living room, listened and waited, busying myself by reading a book about child psychology (the first page I read said that nap times should not be negotiable, thus helping me feel a bit better about my crying babe.)

Like they'd planned it, exactly 45 seconds after E settled down, K woke from her little nap in the swing and let out a scream for me. I'm getting used to this now, though, (it's a frequent occurance) so I smiled, stood up, and went to see what was the matter. I picked her up, she calmed immediately.

I sat down, sighed, and looked deep into those dark eyes and she stared back at me with a newfound alertness. Then I was rewarded. She gave me her first smile.

AHhhh... Bliss.

A miracle

2008-10-17T12:56:00.004-05:00

Something miraculous happened today.
I found myself awake, happy, for most of the day! It was like a huge fog had lifted. I didn't feel like I was walking around in an incoherant waking dream.
I think it may have something to do with K's record FIVE HOURS STRAIGHT of sleep last night (or maybe even 5 hours and 15 minutes, depending on how you count it.)
Given how exhausted I was, I probably fell asleep 60 seconds after K, so I think I might have gotten five hours of sleep, too.

AHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh

I guess I'm still recovering, though, because my walk through the gardens with my "one (NC) friend" yesterday backfired on me, and last night I went back on heavy-duty pain killers. (Sigh)

That said, I got some beautiful pictures from the outing! If E (or K) doesn't wake up in the next 5 minutes, I'll post them here.
Pretty flower from the garden

K slept through the whole outting.

PUMPKINS with Mrs. M

I will PROTECT YOU little girl!

I will block all evil-doers from you.

Wahoo!

2008-10-15T13:01:00.006-05:00

A week and a half ago my mom gave me her old pants. I was excited to be in "real jeans" again. She had worked hard to lose enough weight to lose the pants. The jeans fit perfectly. Now, after only 10 days of eating whatever I want (including lots of pies and cookies) I am happy to say mom's pants are now too big for ME! WOOT! Keep it comin'!

In other news, God's good. I keep coming nearly to the end of my rope, only to find he's extended it.
Example: Yesterday, homesickness hit. I was in Bible study with a bunch of strangers REALLY missing my home church. It's just too hard to make friends, I had no energy, ick. On the way out the door I got intercepted by two older women who wanted to "ooh" and "ahh" over my newborn. Instead of the normal awkward "I don't know you, let's meet" conversation, however, I got a refreshing conversation. During that conversation I discovered that the woman I was talking to had JUST (last week) visited my "home church" in NC. "D.D. gave the sermon" she told me, "and I visited with S, do you know S?" "Yes! He asked me to help volunteer with the ESL program when I lived down there" "Oh, you have a teaching license in ESL? Could I get your insight on something?..." and the conversation continued. "So, why did you decide to come to E. Church?" "Well, a professor I knew at [my undergraduate institution] gave it to me in a list of churches when I asked for her advice about church shopping. I guess she went here when she was an undergraduate at [a local college where S works]. Her name's V.L." [Side note: I think V.L. went to this church before I was born, if I'm doing the math right.] "Oh! V.L like N. and V.L.!? I know of them!"
Then the other woman piped up, "So, are you from MN then?" "yes." "So am I!!"

(sigh of contentment) Although I'm far from my homes, apparently I'm not so far away after all.

Another (shorter) story: Since my mother/mother in law have left, I've discovered how difficult it is to sleep/clean/eat/etc. with a newborn AND toddler. Today, feeling a bit overwhelmed, I got two invites from people I barely know volunteering to bring me soup so that I wouldn't have to cook.

And I got a sermonette today that really spoke to me. Essentially, reminding me that it's in "trials" that we grow. I have looked at my life of late as a little bit of a trial (albeit a good one) so the reminder that I could rejoice in this time was wonderful, and refreshing. So good.

Her favorite words.

2008-10-13T07:34:00.002-05:00

E's favorite thing to say is "I know." She shortens it most of the time to a simple (and usually high-pitched) "know!!!"

Unfortunately for us, her second favorite word is "no."

And she prefers saying "know" rather than "yes."

If we're lucky, she'll give us a "na-hu" which is her way of saying "uh-hu."... unfortunately she often shortens this to a simple "na."

"no." "know" and "na." ... needless to say her poor parents are very confused and can't wait until she learns more words.

She has a nickname!

2008-10-04T11:57:00.002-05:00

We decided that, although many nicknames can be derived from K's name, we would not choose a nickname for her, but instead leave that choice to her or her peer friends. This is, at least in part, because I love K's full name as is.

That said, as K's only "peer" friend, E has quickly come up with a nickname for her baby sister. K is known (to E at least) as "Mimi." It's not one that I would have come up with, but it fits, and (most importantly) E can prounounce it. So, if you (like most of the English-speaking population) keep forgetting how to pronounce her name (it's KEE-me-ah), then feel free to call her "Mimi."

Here's her birth announcment, made by my sister-in-law. It's beautiful! Thanks, sis-in-law!

Light

2008-09-29T06:47:00.003-05:00

Oh no! She's radio-active! Then again, she IS the prettiest night-light in town.

Our Kryptonian daughter is rendered powerless by the green glowing rock attached to her back. If not for this rock, she'd be zooming around the house.

Pretty glow-worm.

I'm sure you can come up with a better caption for these pictures. If so, please do share.

K has been on a bili blanket for the last four days (24 hours a day) to help her body break down bilirubin so that her little liver doesn't have to do all the work. She's doing a lot better, I think her jaundice is gone. In a sense, it's a shame that that means the bili blanket will likely be gone today as well. No more night-light.

Dark

2008-09-29T06:35:00.003-05:00

I'm not doing too hot. Moment to moment I'm usually okay, but then I get bouts of sadness.

The delivery didn't go like I'd expected, and every day I'm reminded of what I COULD be doing if it had been natural, but can't do because of the surgery. What kills most is not being able to pick up my toddler when she falls down.

Not many people know me here, most that do didn't know me before, so there's very little celebration or "OOOH, can I see?!?" This may seem like a small thing, but for some reason at 4 am when I'm trying to fall asleep, it draws tears.

My devos yesterday helped me to see some good in the alone-ness, the helplessness. I was reminded that these times can cause me to cling to God, as there's little other support for me. So I did that, for the first time in a long time, and it was SOOOO good. Being spiritually fed for me usually resembles my infant when she tries to nurse. I root around frantically, and then after 10 seconds of frantic searching, give up as "I've done everything I could and I got nothing." Watching K reminded me -- God's there with what we need. He wants to feed me, but I'm not willing to latch. I just have to sit in his arms and be still, he'll help me find what I need, and he'll help me "latch on." Trying to get it myself just doesn't work. Thankfully, K is learning that lesson quickly when it comes to her food. I learn a little slower.

Despite the new outlook, I'm still sad. I think I'd have out-right post partum depression if my mom were not here to help out, cheer me on, and celebrate K (and E)'s little moments with me, reminding me of the precious now. K is sleeping remarkably well for a 9-day-old, which is also helping, I think.

That's the raw me. I do cherish my little ones. The next posts will be about them. I just needed to be "real" for a second.

Congrats!!

2008-09-25T12:07:00.003-05:00

As of Monday, I have a new nephew!!! I found out while in the hospital recovering. WELCOME TO THE WORLD, LITTLE GUY!!! I'm excited for you to get my present for you. I think it'll be just the right size, after all.

My sister-in-law's experience, on the other side of the world, was exactly what I pictured MY birth experience to be when I was admitted on Saturday early morning, as far as length, ease of delivery, natural birth, etc. The last time I was in labor I had a relatively easy time of it. Things didn't get painful until I was in transition. This is, it appears, just how her labor went. I was a little jealous to hear about THAT part of her experience, as I remembered just how wonderful and magical it was to be able to hold little E after she was born, and how my body worked miracles over the next week reparing itself while sustaining me with happy endorphins and adreniline and mommy-hormones. My birth experience this time robbed me of so much that she got to feel. I'm still hurting a little (emotionally as well as physically) from the experience.

Then again, I wouldn't want their experience. They delivered in a foreign hospital where they didn't speak the language. Things were strange, things could not be explained because of language barriers, and customs were different. My brother barely got to meet his new son in the first 24 hours of his son's life. Culturally, it was very hard on them. I am so very grateful that things went well for them otherwise and so very excited to see my beautiful new nephew! Welcome to the world, little tyke!

Pictures

2008-09-22T06:20:00.002-05:00

K in L's arms for the first time.

I hate c-sections.

Kimia followed orders, I will be in the hospital watchin the Heroes season premier tonight.

Also, to answer questions: her middle name is Esther. She was 19 inches long.