Too blessed to be depressed

I am way overdue on a post, I know, but things have been a little busy. My beloved Grandma Nash passed away about a week and a half ago. Below are a few pictures from last summer, and a tribute I wrote about her the day after she died. I will post again soon about the other happenings in our lives.

I was blessed to be the 2nd grandchild born to Thelma and Homer Nash. I was a bit of a surprise, being a girl, since Thelma had birthed 4 boys and then my brother came along. Being around so many boys, however, Grandma did not lose her femininity. She loved cooking, jewelry, flowers, and clothes. It was like heaven itself to visit Grandma and Granddaddy’s house as a kid. We were greeted with fresh sweet tea, and often a spaghetti dinner followed by chocolate cake. One of my favorite memories was waking up to the smell of breakfast, and not just any breakfast. Grandma’s famous grits, which she could keep in perfect consistency for hours on the stove, awaited us as we straggled in one by one. There were also eggs, bacon, and toast. Grandma was the picture of southern hospitality, but it was truly genuine. I never once heard her gossip or talk badly about anyone. She loved people unconditionally and had great relationships with her daughters-in-law. She taught me those unspoken but valuable lessons of what a family should look like, by her love. She lost her beloved after 50 years of marriage, and it was a privilege for me to watch them together. As a child I used to tell my parents to “kiss like Grandma and Granddaddy.” Any time one of them left they would kiss three quick times, which meant “I love you.” To honor her, on our wedding day, Steven and I gave each other three quick kisses after our vows.

I am sitting in the room that my grandparents shared for most of their married life, just one day after Grandma went to be with the Lord. Earlier today I saw the dry-erase board in the kitchen, which Grandma wrote on several years ago. Thankfully no one has erased it, as I believe it was a theme in her life. Several years ago Grandma was struck with a disease that severely weakened her, and she has been unable to get out of bed without assistance, living in a hospital or nursing home for years. Despite all this, she has maintained her sweet smile, enjoying life as much as she could. I never heard her complain. Looking back on it, I hope I would be that brave. She truly had a humble, grateful spirit, and honestly believed she was “too blessed to be depressed.” What a legacy.

This 31 year chapter in my life is ending, the one with my grandparents. From the blessed childhood of growing up on their knees, to learning valuable lessons from them as a teenager, to watching my own children bring them joy, it has been a gift. Hopefully I can pay it forward one day if the Lord sees fit to give me grandchildren.

Too much cuteness.

I feel like I need to "write these things down" that my kids have been doing/saying or I'm going to forget them. Who should I start with? Eli, I guess, since I don't have as many things on him...yet. I have the feeling he's going to be a ham. The other day I heard him call for me and, lo and behold, I turned the corner in my room and he was laying down on the floor with a diaper in one hand and the Desitin in the other. He did need both, smart little fella. My best friend Julie visited today and has a little boy that is 8 months old. Eli waved at him and immediately brought him a ball. It's like an unspoken code, I think. He is getting more interested in books lately, too, which is exciting to me. One of his favorites is a very cute little Sandra Boynton book called "Moo, Baa, La La La" in which the "cow says moo, the sheep says baa, three singing pigs say la la la." I was reading a different book to him today and pointed to a pig, asking him what a pig says. He answered immediately "la la la". And finally, his most (in?)famous moment these last couple weeks, is the following....A picture is worth a thousand words.

 Now for Sadie. As I'm sure I have mentioned in the past, Sadie is our little night owl. If she takes a nap, or even sometimes if she doesn't, that girl can easily see 10, 11pm at night. The other night she was really wired but was obediently staying in her room. I went up around 10:30 and she had cleaned her entire room (it had been quite messy). I was very impressed, and will no longer take the excuse that she can't pick up. I gave her 30 more minutes to wind down then was ready for bed myself. I went in and laid down with her, thinking surely that would get her to go to sleep. She kept wiggling and I told her she needed to stay quiet if she wanted me to stay in there. Her reply "I just can't keep my eyes and my mouth shut." The story of her life! She was in the nursery at another church just last night and there was a little bitty baby there. The nursery worker was asking her very kindly to not get too close to the baby. Sadie was a little confused so she said "is she allergic to people?". I apoligize if these are not new stories (they usually make it briefly to facebook before I get around to blogging). As I mentioned earlier we had some great company today. Sadie loves Anna and Abbey Hylton but at times the two 3 year olds are a little too strong-willed and forget how much they like each other. We worked through it though and I think in time these 3 little girls will be best buddies - if they're not already. Here is a picture of a good moment.

Until next time.....Goodnight!

The difference between boys and girls...

My cousin told me this summer about a book she read, talking about gender differences. The author of the book had a little girl and determined to raise her gender neutral (she didn't buy her "girl toys"). She thought she had proved her point that culture creates the feminism of little girl's interest, until she came into the room finding her daughter putting the fire truck to bed. It was tucked under a blanket and the little girl was telling it goodnight in a completely motherly way. If I had any doubts that we are born girls or born boys, from the inside out, they have been erased since having Sadie and Eli. She is so maternal, almost always carrying some sort of "baby" around with her. I have realized this week that the only toy necessary for Eli is a ball. He was throwing apples around today in the kitchen. That and beating things with his golf clubs (usually Sadie). Here are some pictures to prove my point:



You can see the buggy behind Eli, filled with balls (lemons and oranges, actually)


Meanwhile, Sadie's buggy is filled with a good assortment of grains, veggies, and fruit.


 Eli's choice of profession, I guess, includes wearing a hat and yelling.


 Sadie's profession, as suspected, involves babies.


 They did work quite well together at the pizza shop (part time job in a few years??)



And putting on a wild animal show.


 Just a hunch, but I'm pretty sure Papa is the favorite in Charlotte.


 And clearly the admiraion is quite mutual with these two.

I am thankful for my girl and my boy, and that the Lord made them just as they should be!
p.s. Isn't Sadie's new haircut cute? :)

Preschool!!

I can't believe it, but Sadie started preschool today! She usually embraces life, anything new, so she surprised me this morning by saying she didn't want to go. I woke her up a little after 8 and she tried to go back to bed. So Steven started talking to her and said that she at least needed to go to get his money back, since he'd already paid for a month of preschool. She thought about that a little, then told me that she'd get some other money for Daddy. I was making pancakes, not making a big deal about it, when Sadie spotted her new lunchbox. I told her she wouldn't need that if she didn't want to go to school....so she said "maybe I'll go for just a little while". Carrying her backpack and lunchbox was very exciting, and she did great with the drop off. Eli, on the other hand, had a very concerned look on his face the whole time, and when we got back into the car he looked at her car seat with a sad face and said "dadie" Again at home he seemed to be looking for her, so I think he took it the hardest. He was very happy to have her home this afternoon. She bounded into the car, very excited, and seemed a little more grown up. She was very proud of her sticker, and told me she got it because "I beed good and sat still". I'm hoping this extra authority and structure will be good for her because her behavior has been unusually good today. Even in the bed tonight she told me, when I tucked her in, that she was being still (all except for her feet).
I am guilty of living a little in the future, always looking forward to the next thing. Too much so, and I am doing better lately of enjoying the present. Especially when it seems like just yesterday that we found out we were pregnant with Sadie (but it's been almost 4 years!) and today I packed her up and sent her to preschool. I (finally) weaned Eli just last week. My babies are growing up right before my eyes! And I'm loving every minute of it.

Blackie Romeo

I'm pretty sure I've already blogged about Sadie's maternal instincts. Most every day hours are spent carrying babies around (be it actual baby dolls or stuffed animals, the preference changes daily), tucking them in with blankets, packing a pocketbook with their things, and telling everyone to be quiet because they are sleeping. For quite some time she has been attached to a little black dog (stuffed animal) appropriately named Blackie. For some reason Blackie didn't like my parents for awhile, but they've since made up. Blackie accompanied us to Virginia this weekend where we went to visit Steven's grandma. On the way up we were talking about who all we were going to see, which included a (real) dog that Sadie is also very fond of named Romeo. Suddenly Blackie's name was changed to Romeo, which often happens in Sadie's world. What made me laugh was that when we got to Roanoke and Sadie was talking to Robin (owner of the real Romeo), I prompted Sadie to tell Robin what her dog's name was. She slipped up and answered "Blackie" so I said "Oh, I thought you changed her name to Romeo?" She hesitated for just a moment before saying "That's her last name. She's Blackie Romeo." I worry about the stories she might come up as a teenager....
Meanwhile Eli's vocabulary is growing.....louder. Does that count if the words aren't new but he yells them now? Actually, he does have a couple of new words. He can officially say Mama (or Mimi), Dada, Nana, Papa, Sadie (Dadie), uh-oh, hot (ot ot), ball, Jude (dude), and supposedly has said "yogurt" and "all gone" but I can't get him to repeat those. He is a mess, but a cute one.
We had a great weekend in Virginia. Steven's grandma has some lake property at Smith Mountain Lake so after staying at her house in Roanoke we spent Saturday at the lake. We took the kids on the Sea-doo and the paddle boat (Sadie wasn't impressed with the paddle boat after riding the sea-doo), and Eli got a kick out of Steven wakeboarding (I think the falls were the real entertainment). Sadie kept saying, "let's get him back in the boat," I think she might have been worried about him. It was a fun day and we are thankful to have his Grandma as well as the rest of the family in our lives.
It is officially tomorrow so I need to get to bed. Until next time!

Back to one...

Sadie is staying with my parents for a few days in Charlotte, so we have just Eli for a couple of days. You wouldn't think it would be so strange to go back to having 1 kid, I had just 1 kid for 22 months before little man came along. But it just doesn't feel quite right around here without her. I know she's having fun though, so it's worth it. We have had a fun couple of weeks, lots of pool days, a family reunion, dinner with friends. I took both of the kids to a well check up and it's official, they're scrawny. Approximately 97 percent of 3 year olds weigh more than Sadie. Eli is a whopping 22 pounds, which puts him in the 10th percentile. Oh well, they sure are easier to carry around this way!  And thankfully they checked out ok. I do thank the Lord for healthy chidlren. In other news, Eli (sort of) said his first sentence. Which is amazing because he only says like 6 words (mama, dada, dadie (sadie), nana, papa, and ball) but the other morning we were trying to get Sadie up to go to SC and Eli went up to her face and said "hey dadie". Very cute, and fitting, since he's pretty enamored with her. He isn't such an easy playmate these days, though, his newest joy is taking whatever Sadie is playing with and either taking off with it or throwing it across the room, much to her dismay. He's getting her back, I think. Gone is the little boy that cries from a cross look, he is showing his true colors now and being a bit defiant at times. The sinner in us comes out way too soon, if you ask me :). Speaking of sinners, Sadie has been trying my patience these last couple of weeks as well. It is something most people refer to as "temper tantrums". I like to call them "demonic episodes". Thankfully she usually just does them for me, although my mom and a couple of good friends have also witnessed them. Hopefully this too shall soon pass, as we are trying hard to nip it in the bud as ole Barney would say. I thought it was cute this week when she was pretending to be a puppy. I was going along, nurturing her imagination, when suddenly the puppy wanted a fudge ram (a fudge round, a little debbie chocolate cookie) and to watch Max and Ruby. Pretty clever little manipulator.
We went to a family reunion this week, as I already mentioned, and it is definitely worth a quick paragraph. My Grandma Nash was the youngest of 8 kids, her parents were Sadie (hence our Sadie) and T. Eddie Lee. There are 23 first cousins (my Dad being one of them) and 21 of them came on Saturday for the reunion, as well as many 2nd and 3rd cousins. My Grandma is the only one of her silblings still living. All told there were about 125 people. It's a little strange to be in a room with so many people that you're related to but don't know. They had a lot of neat stuff for the kids, delicious food (about 4 trays of fried chicken), and sweet fellowship. I am thankful to be a part of the Lee family.
I guess I better wrap this up. I am thankful that we have a few more weeks of summer, lazy days to take the kids swimming and enjoy no schedule. In just 2 short years we will be getting Sadie ready for Kindergarten (yikes!) so I am enjoying this time now. I hope you are too.
Goodnight!

2nd post in July

2 more hours left in July and I am determined to have a 2nd post for this month...pretty pitiful blogging these days! We have had a busy month - a trip to Hilton Head, Steven went to camp for a week, then we went to Orlando last week for a few days. Hilton Head was fun but bittersweet since it was our DuBose vacation and the first one without Grandma in 30 years. Almost all of the cousins were there and we had 5 of her great-grandkids (4 and under) running around so it was pretty cute. Sadie and Eli had a blast and Sadie learned how to swim quite far (8 feet?) with no assistance. As her Daddy put it, it was "50% swimming, 50% drowning". My cousin is a pediatrician and married to an ER pediatrician, but despite the monkeys that I call my children, we did not need their services (thankfully). Grandma was dearly missed this year. One night my cousins and uncle cooked several of her recipes in her honor and my Mom gave out 5 or her pearl necklaces to her 5 granddaughters. I don't really think that once we get to heaven we have any interest in turning our gaze away from our Lord, however, she would have loved to get a peek at her ever-growing family and I know she would be honored in the fact that we all still love to be together. On a lighter note, Steven's parents decided to come to Hilton Head for the last couple days of our trip (they were first-timers) to see what the fuss is all about. It was great to have them there and I think they enjoyed seeing a little bit of this vacation they've heard about for years.
The day after we returned from Hilton Head Steven left for Jr. Boys Week at MTYC (Mountain Top Youth Camp). Sadly, I passed the baton this year on the job as a camp nurse (I have done it the past 3 years). Even though Steven thinks I am capable of way more than I can really do, it was the right decision I believe to pass on the job for now. My 2 kids would have been way to much to keep up with on that mountain for me to be able to do anything for the campers. My Mom spent the week with us, a little in Charlotte and a little at home, and it spoiled me to have her around for that long. It doesn't really count as a week of single parenting since I wasn't really alone with them, at all. We did go visit Steven at camp but kept a slight distance from him since he showers less than the 8 year olds while he's up there. Even though he reverts back to boyhood, it is nice to see him so relaxed and stress-free, away from the pressures of work.
As if we haven't taken enough vacation, we took yet one more last weekend to Orlando, through Steven's work. The trip was great, we got to take the kids to Disney and despite the almost 100 degree weather we had a blast. Sadie told Cinderella that "my daddy wanted to spin fast on the tea cup but he couldn't because he would fro up," the photographer actually laughed out loud at that one. I never thought I would wait in line for 30 minutes with 2 tired children to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse, but hey, your priorities really do change when you have kids. And her excitement at meeting these Disney employees dressed up in hot costumes was worth it all. Eli didn't think it was so great, however, the closer we got the more terrified he was. He was a trooper, though.
We are now home for a while, thankfully. I peeked out of the shower this morning to check on Eli to find him standing on the toilet, toothbrush in hand. He can climb onto the kitchen table and his new favorite thing to do is jump off the ottoman in the den landing squarely on his bottom. He is an ER visit waiting to happen, I hate to say it, but it's true. Sadie is hard at work taking care of her babies, animals, or anything she can feed and put to bed. She told Steven's boss on our trip that soon she's going to be 4 and a Mama. It is fun at our house, and I wouldn't trade it for anything!
Goodnight!