Go Figure

I've often heard mother's say "Just when I had this sleep (feeding, carseat, etc) thing figured out the kid goes and does something totally different!" Parenting is all about flexibility, it seems, as our carefully construed schedules for our children are (at least in my house) rarely followed. I admit, schedules for kids are not totally overrated as sleep and food are usually necessities in a toddler's life. But as predictable as some things in life seem, my kids are NOT.
Sadie has seen a total of 4 movies in her life, at the movie theatre, only 2 of those were with me. So far she has wept many tears at each movie, usually in fear of "the bad guy", but also when Simba's dad died (which prompted a very sweet conversation between her and Steven regarding his mortality). We took her and 3 of her cousins to see "The Smurfs" at the dollar movie last weekend and pretty much every time Gargamel made an appearance she held onto Steven for dear life. She ended up in my lap by the end of the movie for the big fight scene where the smurfs defeat Gargamel once and for all and throw him in a heap of garbage. Literally 2 minutes before she was begging to go home, weeping over captured Papa Smurf, then at the end of the movie she turns around and says "I loved it, that was my favorite movie and I want to watch it everyday." Go figure.

Eli, as I have mentioned, has given us some sleep and diaper issues lately. He used to be so easy putting to bed and a great sleeper so I'm not sure where we went wrong, but lately he's discovered he doesn't have to stay in bed, he can get up and walk around, play, usually he just crawls really slowly through the hall. We have found him asleep many times at the top of the stairs, in the hall, or on the floor next to Sadie's bed. The other night we let Sadie fall asleep in her bed and put Eli in ours (usually we do it the other way around since they share rooms, the move Sadie to her bed after she's asleep). We came upstairs to check on them and go to bed and Eli wasn't in our bed. Where was he? In his, fast asleep. Go figure. And tonight, after weeks of talking about potty training, occasional peeing in the potty (and pooping once), Eli NEVER mentioning that he has to go, I turn around while giving David a bath and he is sitting naked on the potty, peeing and pooping all by himself, with no prompting. Go figure.

Now for David, he is perplexing me as well. From the beginning he gave me pretty good stretches of sleep, but the last month he has seemed to go backwards and wanting to wake up and nurse more in the middle of the night. So the last few weeks I bit the bullet and started putting him to bed in his own room, in his crib, and feeding him in there in the middle of the night (vs. taking him back to our bed). He was not improving, in fact he seemed to be waking up more. (Crying it out wasn't really working, either). So, last night he was up by the time I was turning out the lights to go to bed. I let him cry for a few minutes then just gave up and went and got him and brought him to our bed. He ate a little, then fell asleep between us and slept until 7:15 the next morning. Go figure. 

To conclude, one of my favorite parenting quotes "you just gotta find what works." That's the theme of my home lately, it seems. If I figure it all out, I'll let you know. :)

Circle of Life

Shannon Hills is having special meetings this week and showing a video series entitled "The Truth Project." We went tonight and I thoroughly enjoyed being intellecutally challenged about philosophy and biblical worldviews, it was great reminder about "renewing our minds" (Romans 12:2). A good deal of the lecture was about the definition of philosophy and Carl Sagan's view of the "cosmos." Ironically, as we were walking through the parking lot to our car Sadie was singing "Circle of Life" (from the Lion King, eerily familiar to the humanist's God-less perspective on life). We have some work to do.
To Sadie's defense, she did just go see "The Lion King" (in 3D!) with her Daddy. A couple weekends ago I got a call and decided to work a 24 at the Charlotte job instead of travel to Richmond, VA, where Steven was speaking the following day. The boys went to Charlotte with me and Sadie got a "special trip" with Daddy. When I asked if she was behaving Steven replied "of course she is, I'm giving her everything she asks for today" The trip started out with a Dollar General run to stock up on Candy and Fruit Loops. She talked the entire 3 hour trip and after they dropped their stuff off at the church (they have this great little apartment attached to the church that the speaker stays in), they went to McDonald's for dinner and then the movies. I talked to her that night and she was in no way missing Mama, she told me she was going to send me a postcard. Steven says she was wired and probably not quite asleep before he was. I hope that was the first of many sweet trips they get to take together.
Eli is still cracking us up most of the time. He is quite dramatic and can be such a whiner (who ever said girls whine and boys don't was wrong, at least in the Harrell family). He gives lots of kisses and likes his "pogams" on tv but spends most of his time finding the highest horizontal surface, climbing onto it, then jumping off. No broken bones yet, but he did break a lamp this week. He is loving to read lately and I've just had to get used to his constant repeating of every word I say. His favorite one right now is "Uncle Bigtoot (bigfoot)" We are still doing a lot more talking about potty training than actually doing it, I tell him most days how big boys (which he is, he has no doubt) pee in the potty. The other day he walked in on Steven using the bathroom and after looking him up and down to make sure he knew what was going on he replied with certainty "you a big boy!" 
Speaking of big boys,I took David to the doctor today and he weighs in at 15 pounds, 5 ounces! It's only the 50th percentile but he seems huge to me! After scrawny Sadie I never thought I'd have such a chunky monkey. I also thought if I ever had a fat baby that surely he would sleep through the night by now, but apparently I was wrong about that too. That being said I should close this out so I can get some sleep while I can. Between my night owl, my early riser, and my night feeder my sleep is quite deprived at the moment. But I know this too shall pass... and then I'll just miss them being babies! Goodnight~

Vipers (and a lot of poop) in diapers

My old pastor used to refer to young children as "vipers in diapers" referring, of course, to the depravity of man and how our sinfulness becomes evident pretty early in life. That is definitely the case in our kids, and if you think your children are sinless you must not be paying very good attention. Steven was asked to fill in and speak at a church down the street that we had never attended. It was a sweet group of people and Sadie had enjoyed her time in the children's church and nursery. As we were leaving I noticed she had something under her papers and discovered it was a box of crayons. I told her to put them back and, to my dismay, had to keep telling her to as she was very determined to steal the crayons. I'm sure they'll have us back, the young preacher and his thief of a daughter. :)
Meanwhile, our Eli is having a bit of trouble in the potty department. He has this pooping issue where he will go several times a day which inevitably makes his bottom red. He has learned several responses to try to get us not to change him, including "I'm not done yet!" and "it's just gas!" Once he realizes his rear is going to get cleaned, he then yells "gentle!" and "I need keem! (cream)". I told him the other day that this was ridiculous, and he needed to poop in the potty. I sat him on there and he actually peed and pooped a little - I felt like I was witnessing a birth. I was cheering, chanting "push, push"....it's amazing what I've succumbed to as a mom! Unfortunately, that was the last time we had any potty success. Oh well.
David is, as usual, perfect. The only thing he does slightly wrong is needing to eat in the middle of the night. But I'll take it as opposed to the sneaky stealer and constant pooper. I know his days are coming, too, I need to prepare myself for 3 little sinners in my care. Hopefully, I can instruct them and show them a fraction of the grace and mercy my Lord has shown me. I am daily thankful for the task and pray for His help as I lead these little ones.

To Coupon or Not to coupon....that is my question

I know, I know, I need to get a real problem. But Steven recently overhead someone (who will remain nameless) talk about all the money she saved with couponing so he has decided that I should try it. He has been very discontent with our Walmart bill as of late, and so I agreed to at least look at the websites and see. I know people save a lot of money doing this but I am just not convinced that it is for me....and here are my reasons....
1. I shop at Walmart and Food Lion, which I have heard that neither of these places double or triple coupons. The closest Harris Teeter is 20 minutes and I don't even know where to find Kroger and BiLo.
2. I don't buy very much of the food that is in the coupon fliers, the yogurt and diapers that I do buy I use coupons for. Everything else, for me, is cheaper to buy generic at Walmart.
3. I have 3 children that make a very simple grocery store run quite exhausting, I can't imagine spending even more time looking for the exact brand, size, and quantity of items that (I have heard) are often sold out of if it's a really good deal.
Ok, so those are my reasons, but....I will give it a good ole college try, for Steven's sake. Or maybe I should make him do it. Just reading the SouthernSavers website has made me tired. I will say, I am growing fond of Aldi's. I shopped there today with Eli and David and thought I was prepared. I had my quarter for the buggy and bags for the food (last trip there I was 8 months pregnant, carrying everything, with Sadie and Eli running around). I was feeling quite smug until I finished checking out and was reminded they take only debit or cash (who carries cash these days?), and I haven't used my debit card in so long I had forgotten my pin. It was quite embarrasing, but thankfully the lady at the bank was familiar with Aldi's and kindly reset my password right there so I could use my debit card. Lesson learned.
Eli is quite the handful these days. I think age 2 is the cutest but also the most trying age (I say that, but I don't currently have a 3 year old - so I might retract this statement next year). He constantly says things like "I a big boy" and "I wanna do it by mydelf" but just as quickly whines like a baby when he can't get his shoe on or spills syrup on his shirt. He has so many funny things he says, I'll try to list a few:  pee-cool (preschool), dunday cool (sunday school), yo-rick (yogurt), pampakes (pancakes), and tousins (cousins). Of course right now I can't think of anymore, how is that possible when he talks all day long? I'll ask him if I should coupon. I'm sure he'll have an answer for me. Comments are welcome, as well, on the issue. Goodnight!

Sibling Love

 I still can't believe I have 3 offspring, but I have to say it is starting to sink in. For the kids too, they are getting pretty attached to each other. Steven and I just spent a few days in California and just took the baby. It was a great weekend in Tiburon for my cousin's wedding, then we spent a couple days in San Fran with Steven's high school buddy and his wife. Lil D traveled pretty well but I have to say I am pretty ready to just be home for awhile now. The big kids stayed with my in-laws and were excited to see us, but especially David, when we got home. It was cute.

This picture doesn't really have anything to do with my post, I just thought it was too cute not to include. She was the flower girl in a wedding last month and this is her at the rehearsal dinner.

 And here is my little man, getting bigger all the time! He's the only one that's hit the 50th percentile on growth so far. Sadie is 4 years old and 32 pounds, which puts her just under the 3rd percentile - par for her course. Eli's about 27-28 pounds, so not far behind Sadie.

 As you can see, David is quite enamored with his big brother. The 100-200 "tisses" every day from Eli don't seem to bother him. Below is a kiss in action (Eli prefers to give fish kisses, if possible, and to me he says "I want to tiss you on da mouf!"). Yeah, I will definitely pull this picture out when they're all tough and playing high school baseball together.

Now these 2 are quite the pair these days. They have fun together and get in trouble together. Sadie is pretty bossy but Eli usually doesn't mind and for the most part they play well together. The other day Sadie was on a special trip with Daddy and Eli and I were having lunch together while David took a nap. I said a quick blessing for our food and time together and he immdiately shouted "Mommy you didn't pay fa Dadie!" (pray for Sadie, if you don't regularly interpret Eli).

 Sadie's first day of preschool was today! She was very excited and had a great day. She said she even climbed under the bathroom stall to "rescue" a little girl that couldn't unlock the door. The only reason I believe her is because that's a pretty elaborate story to make up if it's not true. She has several "old friends" in her class from last year but assured me she was going to make some new ones too. I get that Girl Scout song in my head every time we talk about that, you remember, "make new friends....but keep the o-ld....one is silver and the o-ther gold". At least it replaces the Fresh Beat Band songs, which are usually playing (in my head, embarrasingly).

 I have to mention a little cousin love, mainly because I couldn't not put this picture up. We actually saw a little pee-pee out of this experience, but in general potty training is pretty much at a standstill. I'm not worried about it, he wont wear diapers to kindergarten.....right?

This has been a very random post but my brain is working sub-par these days, so forgive me please. My camera is again in my posession so I am trying to take more pictures these days (it was left at a church for about 3&1/2 weeks in August, and hiding in my pocketbook for a couple weeks in July). Until next time!!

Enough Sweets!

August is birthday month, there are 5 people in our family that have birthdays (1 neice, 2 nephews, and both of my parents). My dad's birthday was a big one, the big 6-0. A great tennis score and hopefully a great age, thankfully he still plays great tennis at his age. We had a party for him the night before his birthday and it was full of surprises, which is pretty different for him (usually his Christmas present is something he picked out himself, oftentimes even bought himself). But this year Mom really outdid herself and planned a surprise trip to the US Open in New York City, booking the hotel, flights, and tennis match tickets in secret. She had a great scavenger hunt that led back into the kitchen where we had set up the adorable tennis court cake my sister-in-law made, surrounded by the "stadium" made of styrofoam and pictures of crowds. She had cut out a picture of the two of them, glued it to a toothpick, and stuck it in the top of the "stands". The tickets were rolled up next to the cake. He also received, in his scavenger hunt with 6 little helpers, a book that I put together with input from everybody else "60 Reasons Why We Love Papa". I think he felt the love, so the night was a success.

My Mom's birthday was this past Thursday, and Mandy and I managed to surprise her a little as well. We took a train ride downtown to Imaginon (this great public library in Charlotte), listened to Storytime, had lunch at Fuel's Pizza, then after some nap/rest time at her house had a picnic dinner at a neighborhood park. Since spending time her family kinda tops the chart for her I think it was a great birthday, as well. Giving gifts is NOT my specialty and it has gotten even worse now that shopping is near impossible. Mandy, however, is the world's best at giving gifts and her children have not hindered her at all....with each child she has I think she actually improves the thoughtfulness of the gifts. I basically gave Mom an "IOU" for her birthday (which I did make good on the following day), but Mandy had several presents throughout the day. She is amazing!

All of these parties coupled with my pregnant mentality of eating whatever I want has led to some self discovery. I am addicted to dessert. I like to have people over to socialize, yes, but also because it's a good excuse to make a pan of brownies. Isn't that awful? I started working out again a few weeks ago and the scale has been stubbornly not moving at all. I finally came to realize the cold hard truth - I cannot eat dessert with 1-2 meals a day and expect to lose weight. I am not 16 anymore. So, Mom and I made a pact to eat no dessert until our trip to San Francisco, starting yesterday. (We couldn't start on her birthday because Mandy brought these awesome cakepops...). We leave for San Francisco next Friday in 6 days, but don't laugh. Giving up sweets is pretty serious for me so I am taking baby steps. Today was my first true temptation (I actually felt like I was on The Biggest Loser!), take a look at the picture below from our MOPS planning meeting. I will confess that I popped 1 M&M before remembering my sweets fast but that was my only indiscretion. I feel very proud of myself for this dieting accomplishment. Hopefully I wont eat my weight in cake next weekend.......

The New Normal

I was talking to my good friend the other day that just recently had her 3rd baby, as well, and I asked her how she was adjusting. She said it well, that she was getting used to the new normal, slowly but surely. My new normal consists of a few differences that I have noticed so far. My hair is always air-dried and rarely brushed. Sometimes my makeup can last for 2 days. My pocketbook is the same thing as the diaper bag. Most of my shirts smell like spit up for a good part of the day. So does David. An afternoon or evening swim = bath. And so the list goes on.

 Here is a picture of David from our trip to camp. Steven was the speaker for Junior Boys this year so we went up with him on Sunday. Eli lasted until Tuesday night and went home with my in-laws; Sadie, David and I came home Wednesday night. It was refreshing to be up there, around so many godly young people that are on staff and a bunch of excited little boys, but it is just not the easiest place to be with toddlers. Plus I got Mastitis.....again.

 A couple nights before camp we dressed up like cows (don't make fun, these are what you call "home-made" outfits) in order to get free Chick-fil-a food. We really didn't feel that stupid as most of the people in the restaurant looked nearly as silly as we did. The only stupid people in there were the ones that had to pay for their food. This will most definitely be an annual event.

 The last night Steven was at camp we met my dear friend and her little ones for dinner and Cook-Out milkshakes...a fun evening. Here are our boys (minus David) and the girls below. Sweet friends.

 And on the days that we spend at home, we do a lot of this. Feeding babies. It's been a great summer so far, and I think I'm going to like the new normal.