Vacation, dentist, illness & super Ben

Lately I haven't felt like I have had any time to write here.  But, thanks to strep, I have nothing better to do!  Strep is a beast.  I don't want to ever ever ever get it again. I wish you could become immune to it once you had it.  Wouldn't that be SO great?! Then you wouldn't get it a month after you already had it...

Let's not talk about sickness anymore, it makes me crazy.  We should talk about vacation instead!!!  We went on a trip to Florida.  But we took the long way by stopping overnight at Ben's parent's house in NC and then to Augusta, GA for a few days to visit friends we met in seminary, and on the way home stopping in Mississippi to see friends from when we lived there and Ben's sister.  We had a BLAST.

Here are some highlights...  I painted Grace's toenails for the first time EVER on the trip! It was super fun... but in the last 10 minutes a friend posted THIS on facebook and took all the fun out of it. Ignorance is bliss!! Wah.

I love Grace's smile in the picture below. She was trying SO hard.  She loves wearing dresses. I think I have two girly-girls on my hands.  

Anna Sue was getting pretty brave jumping in the pool.  Grace got brave too.  So brave, in fact, that she went in without her puddle jumper. Since she was just on the stairs, I thought it was no big deal.  You know, my firstborn would NEVER ever consider doing anything remotely dangerous.  But Gracie kept on walking down until her head was underwater, and she was struggling.   I had to jump in and rescue her.  You know, I was basically a day saver.  It was about 60 degrees out, and I had been in the hot tub.  The good news is that the pool was heated to 87 degrees.  I'd like to say she won't do that again, but who knows with that silly girl. 

Here we are, all 6 of us heading to the pool.  Notice the park behind me, that was basically in our backyard!! 

We let the kids watch a movie one night, and you can see they were REALLY into it.... must.stop.sucking.fingers.

Naturally there was a cold spell in Florida for a number of the days we were there. And, the day we went to the beach it was reeeeaaaallly cold and windy.  The bigger kids made the best of it and still enjoyed playing in the sand.  

Mom, Ben and I traded off holding Drew and tried to rescue him from the fierce winds. Since Drewbie thrives on being touched, he was basically in heaven while being smothered.

Grace loooooved wearing her shades.

We left the beach after not too long, and went to the park that was nearby.  It warmed up a bit as the sun came out more, and the kids had a lot of fun! 

   We HAD to have them get a picture in their matching outfits.  

I just thought this picture was hilarious.  This is what you get when you try to take a picture of 4 kids 5 and under.... 

We had so much fun swimming together!! And we were SO thankful for the heated pool because it allowed us to swim even when the weather wasn't warm!

So, overall we had a GREAT trip.  It was super fun to be together for two weeks straight and to have no one sick!!! We really enjoyed seeing old friends too.  It was a very, very refreshing time for both Ben and me. 

A while back I posted a picture on facebook of the four kids, but I thought I'd share this one now because Andrew looks so cute here even though Anna isn't smiling.. or sitting up.. and her diaper is hanging out.  But seriously, how amazing would this picture have been if Anna had been looking!?! Dah! 

A couple weeks ago we were sick with some 24 hr stomach bug (which I would take ANY day over strep).  We are getting REALLY good at getting sick.  I'm thinking our finger sucking addiction is causing some of this... it's certainly not helping, that's for sure! Anyway, we think Drew may have started it but aren't sure.  It went through Anna, then Grace, then me, then Caleb.  And we were all better thinking it was over, and then it hit Ben.  I had told Ben I wanted him to take the kids to the dentist because I thought it'd be a fairly traumatic experience, and I have this amazing ability to handicap our children with my very presence.  Unfortunately, he was ill, so I had to take them.  Grace was a CHAMPION! 

Caleb refused to leave the waiting room with me and Grace, so I had to leave him there by himself while Grace and I went ahead in.  I didn't want to have to perform some crazy dragging screaming kid maneuver to get him in the room. Of course when he went with Ben 6 months ago, he had no trouble (Remember, I handicap them with my presence?).  Anyway, after Grace was settled in, I made my way back to the waiting room and convinced Caleb it was a brilliant idea to see the dentist.  He chilled out pretty quickly. Both kids were a bit freaked out about the chair moving every which way. 

So, Drewbie loves me.  The most.  In fact, I think he loves me more than any other kid has ever loved me at this age.  He will be fine until I walk in a room, and then he will be immediately fussy until I hold him.  Sometimes his love for me gets out of hand though.... Like when he is attacking my face with kisses and pulling my hair and glasses off.  Although slightly uncomfortable, it's pretty stinking sweet to get Drewbie kisses.

 Caleb and I are still plugging away with school.  We are doing "Peter and the Wolf" for music, and it's SO fun!! We have cut outs of all the characters and what instruments the different characters are.  When we went to the Seven Last Words performance last Sunday, Caleb recognized the flute playing and immediately told me it was the bird from Peter and the Wolf.  I loved that!

This little guy has been crawling for a little under a month now, and he's getting pretty fast.  He's only fallen down the stairs once so far (well really like one and a half times.).....oops.  Thankfully just the stairs by the front door.  And he hardly cried.  Stop judging me. 

I'll end with this.  I took this today while I was laying in bed.. you know, since that's all I've been doing the past couple of days.  I think they were discussing how they were going to make it through another day of mom being down. ;) They've been bonding the last few days.

Over and out!

Melanie 

Clean kitchen, thrush, sickness, wipes, math, prayers & a video

First things first.  I made 6 goals for the new year, and so far, it's going quite well.  My new handy dandy planner helps me keep track of what my goals are and if I'm staying on track.  Otherwise, I'm sure I would have forgotten by now. Did you make any goals?  One of my goals this year is to go to bed with a clean kitchen.  It's been life changing.  Oh, you always go to bed with a clean kitchen?? Don't steal my joy ;).  For those of you who don't know, when you wake up to a clean kitchen every morning, it's an AMAZING start to the day.  So at night, when the last thing I feel like doing is cleaning the kitchen--aka clearing the counters that seem to always pile up with STUFF, I do. And I'm always, always, always glad the next day. And so is Ben. I've been quite surprised at how easy it's been too.  It's so nice to have little victories like that, you know, small things that make a big difference.

I've been battling thrush for a while now.  And let me tell you, its been horrible.  It's excruciatingly painful.  I was completely dreading nursing Drew for TWO weeks, and that's so sad!  Thanks to Dr. google, I was able to self-diagnose.  The problem though, is when your child doesn't have symptoms, no one believes you have thrush.  So there I sat, eating raw garlic, applying coconut oil, writhing in pain on my bed, and reading stories of other women with my same issue whose child showed no symptoms.  And I smelled.  Although--side note-- I did google the health benefits of eating raw garlic, and I'm pretty convinced we all should be doing it.  We'd be way healthier, AND, if everyone is eating garlic, I bet we wouldn't smell it. ;) Anyway, I eventually threatened my pediatrician and was able to get Drew medicated along with myself.  The last few days I've been experiencing relief, and it's AMAZING.  My life for a few weeks has been constantly boiling pacifiers and washing sheets and clothes in hot water.

I made wipes the other day because I thought they'd be easier on Drewbie's toosh.  It was QUITE easy, and they work just like regular wipes! It's thrilling, really.  See how they're attached?! They just rip apart. Isn't that cool!?

We've been confined to our house for a while now with sickness.  There must be some nasty cold viruses going around.  Anna had it first, now Drew, and Grace has a mild version.  Praise God for podcasts. It makes being stuck home a bit easier. (Although missing church two weeks in a row is the worst!! =( ) If your kids are also sick, and you want some encouragement as a mother, I've been really enjoying THESE podcasts while I clean out my basement.. and kitchen cabinets, and every other space in my home.  Anyone else have the clean-out itch?! And, if you want to hear some killer sermons, I've been loving my husband's James series, which you can find HERE.  And I'm not just saying that because it's Valentine's Day. 

School is going well with Caleb.  I am super thrilled with his ability to read and his love for reading.  The other day I started feeling like I was making school not nearly as fun as I should be, so I decided that we would play Monopoly Jr. for math.  I think it's brilliant because he has to make change and figure out how much to pay etc. PLUS, learn the skill of being a good loser.  We're working on that.... 

The other day I got this GREAT idea from another mom.  She said she put names on craft sticks and put them in a jar and she and her kids pick them out and pray for those whose names are picked.  UM, yes please!! I had Caleb help me write, as you can probably tell below, and we all named people we thought we should pray for. (Caleb can write better than it appears, don't panic)

 Our routine is every morning after breakfast the kids and I read out of whatever story Bible we're reading, (THIS one is our favorite), do our memory work  (currently Psalm 145) and then often have prayer requests before we close in prayer and sing a song.  The prayer requests were getting a bit....... repetitive (For example, Grace only wants to pray for a certain 3 little girls from church). So I thought this would be a GREAT way to pray for other people and to help my kids be familiar with and love praying for others! I have them choose a stick and then they each pray for the person who is named (even Anna!).  So far they love it and usually ask to do two rounds-- they get so excited to see who they will pick, and I honestly think Grace would pray all day until she chose the stick with her favorite 3 girls on it. Yesterday we used our prayer jar at lunch with Ben, and those are all the sticks we picked!  I'm looking to add more missionaries and names, but we have a good start. 

Andrew started real food!  So far we've tried avacado and butternut squash. I love him in the high chair.  How cute is he?!?! He's the sweetest.  And crabbiest ;) And, I actually loathe feeding baby food to babies.  They just don't seem to get it for a while, and I have to wipe their mouths over and over and over and over. 

I'll go ahead and leave you with that sweet picture, plus I have to exercise while the kids nap or I'll lose a bet to Ben.  And that would be horrible.

Melanie

Recap NC, Birthday, Christmas, cookies,

Ah! It's been so long.  I better recap.

We took a trip to North Carolina to visit Ben's parents mid-November and celebrated a very early Christmas. Caleb got Catan Jr. and loves it.  Ben and I like playing it too, which is a huge bonus! 

My sweet Anna turned TWO!

This year I decided me and the kids should bake Christmas cookies and bring them to some senior saints.  The picture below looks like we were having an awesome time, and it WAS fun overall. However, baking cookies with 4 little children isn't that great.  ALSO, I forgot to put in... oh, over half the flour, so the cookies were RIDICULOUSLY sticky.  The good news is I figured it out before it was too late.  Phew.  Next year will go better.  It was my first stab at Christmas sugar cookies. 

Caleb, Grace and I took the cookies to the Holland Home with my parent's church while we caroled.  And then we also took some to people from our church at Village Woods.  It was awesome.  We were so blessed.  Gracie handed out the cookies and Caleb followed with the napkins.  How precious is this picture?!  I love that Caleb is visiting with that lady in the background.  I so desperately want to teach my children to love serving others!!!

Then we had the Christmas program where Caleb and Grace BOTH participated.  No tears!!! WOO HOO!!!  

My whole family was out for Christmas, so that was nice.  My sister moves to India soon, so we were glad to spend some time with her! Not a bad picture for using a tri-pod eh?!?

My mom got the girl's this play kitchen, and a friend gave me those awesome aprons and hats!  The kids LOOOOOVE it.  How adorable are they!??! I can't even stand it.  They play with this kitchen all the time.

Gracie came in my room like this and proclaimed "I'm Mary." And then she ran off calling for Joseph. 

She's so sweet.

I'll end it there for now, just wanted to catch up a bit!!
-Melanie

Smother, smiles, park, school, Cubs & Bible

I am a child smotherer.  That means, I smother children. When a child has cheeks like this, it compels me to smother them.  AHHHHHHHH. Wouldn't you?

Mr. Freak-out-cry-pants aka Andrew, has been a bit better lately! Although usually once a day he has some sort of meltdown where he cannot be soothed, it is for a much shorter period of time than it was. He's been sleeping like a champ, so I'm thrilled with the progress we've made.  He's three months by the way. (Say what!??!)  Someone asked me today, and I basically was scrambling to figure out how old he was.  I'm an awesome mom, and I'm sure they thought so too. 

Here he is! His smiles are the sweetest. 

And here's Kedzie.  I know, he's huge.  I think Grace loves him the most now of the kids.

Lately it seems like Ben is rarely home.  We were going a little stir crazy one day by ourselves, and I decided that after nap and a really quick supper, we would go to the park since it was WARM.  I invited my mom.  By the time we were ready to leave and all packed up in the car, it started raining.  We went anyway because you don't go through all that trouble of packing up the kids and rushing for nothing. And guess what?! We were the only moms there! Can you believe it? ...  We weren't the only people there though, there were some unruly pre-teens shouting like wild maniacs about how one of them "freaking lied" (at least that's the phrase I heard 3,000 times).  Caleb and Grace watched intently... of course.  We were laughing hysterically at the ridiculous situation.   

We decided to leave after not too long, and we told the kids we were going somewhere for a surprise.  (Mom offered to take us for ice cream).  After we told them about it, I had second thoughts.  Like, "Oh, we forgot the baby's car seat...." and... "Oh, it will take forever, and it's almost bed time" and.. "Oh, then we have to get them all out and back in while it's raining again."  Anyway, due to the trauma of canceling the surprise, I made a one-of-a-kind scavenger hunt.  Trust me, it was stellar.  Ok it wasn't, but Caleb was pleased and requested to do it again and again and "every day".  I highly recommend making scavenger hunts.  I'll do it again when we're going crazy in the Winter.  

This little kiddo becomes more of a stinker all the time: Like when I was busy making dinner, and she was stealing bread off the table.  She was so proud of herself. 

I LOVE having a child who can read! A big reason is, he can read to his little sisters! YES! How sweet is this?!

Speaking of reading reminds me of homeschooling. Although I will admit again that I had no part in Caleb's learning to read. If you ask him, he says "Preschool Prep" taught him to read. The dvds are awesome.  Here's my little boy working hard at Kappers' Academy though I'm still not set on the name.

The Cubs.  You know, the World Series Champs?  Well, we had some kids from the youth group over to watch.  The highs were high, an the lows were low.  See below... 

This was a very serious part. 

 There was pure joy.

I smile looking at these., and it's not just because Aaron is in the background wrapped in a blanket.  It was an insane game, and watching these hooligans was pretty funny.  After the game, someone set off fireworks in our back yard.  Thankfully it rained because when they were shooting them into my tree, and I remembered I have no hose, I was glad for the wet branches.  I was also glad for my enormous husband who shielded me from flying firework sparks and took one for the team on his arm.  Thanks Ben, my valiant protector. 

This bad boy is my favorite Bible story book I think.  We're not quite finished with it, but the kids and I both love it.  We read a story each morning after breakfast, and the kids are usually asking for it because they look forward to it. 

The bad news is that the picture is sideways.  The good news is that I bet you can still see it.  

The neighbor kids have been coming over to play in our mulch pile in the back lately.  Isn't that cute? For the most part I like it. BUT, the one girl is what some might refer to as a "toxic friend".  You know, the kind that ride their motorized scooters and run around in the middle of the road, are constantly screaming at you when you're playing, and tell everyone that you used to be monkeys..

I'm trying to figure out how to handle that situation because the ole' Proverb, "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm" may be ringing true here.  The good news is that they played inside my house today, and I was able to make some rules since it's my house. For example: In my house, I don't allow people to yell at each other.

Unless of course it's me, and I'm screaming at my dog.... HAHHAHAHHA. Not funny.  But sometimes.. he makes me CRAZY.  

Anyway, I think I'll go plan out my day tomorrow.  I've recently found that's key to maintaining some order, staying productive, and having reasonable goals each day. But... maybe I'll just go to bed. ;) 

Over and out,

--Melanie 

Update :)

I'm having issues with titles again lately.

Can you believe it's October?! And my little peanut is TWO months old?! I'd say I want time to slow down, but I'd be lying.  The first couple months after a baby are the hardest for a number of reasons one of them being losing out on a full night of sleep. Which I'm not getting yet.  But that's ok, little man is only 9 weeks and is giving me some very nice stretches in the night lately.  Have I mentioned I love Babywise? Because I still do for the fourth time.

We have been SO incredibly busy lately.  This addition of #4 was a bigger deal than the addition of #3.  Why? Oh, because Anna was a PERFECT baby and Andrew isn't.  I mean, he's pretty stinking sweet, but he's also needy.  I thought #4 was supposed to be super chill? ;)  The good news is I prepared for another Grace baby.  It just felt like it was time AND you can't possibly get two perfect babies in a row (Side note, Anna isn't perfect anymore...)   Here they are....

Grace Elaine

Andrew William

Grace didn't have a spitting problem.  SO, Andrew runs away with the "worst baby I've had" award as he is a professional spitter. The spitting/fussing combo is killer.  Go Andrew! I WILL say that he has improved in his fussiness level.  I can now leave him in the bouncy seat without him screaming his head off!! WOO HOO!  I decided to give up dairy for the day a few days ago.  But I forgot my lunch had butter in it and then ate a cheeseburger for dinner.  I decided I already blew it, so I went ahead and had ice cream in the evening.  Dairy and I were made for each other.  I don't understand how you would go without, and I don't even drink milk. 

Let's move on to our new dishwasher.  We got one, and now when my dishes come out of it, they're CLEAN! It's amazing.  Also, the man who installed it was hilarious.  He talked to us through dinner with comments like ... "everyone is gladder when they have a flatter bladder" I might use that one as it's extremely catchy. 

I dusted my fans this week with my trusty dusty envirowand (which I love). You can tell it's been a while... and I didn't even do MY fan yet. Yikes!!!!  Fans are those things I forget about until I randomly look at the ceiling and become HORRIFIED at the state of the fan. Maybe one day I'll get better at that.

Mom and I went to True Woman for the 3rd time in a row, and we both loved it again!! I brought Drewbie do along, and he did great overall.  We really used his stroller as you can tell by the mounds of stuff on it. HA!.  Plan on going yourself in 2 years.  It's always a refreshing time! 

This morning I asked the big kids to watch Andrew while I got ready. They did a great job!!! How sweet is this?!  

The kids all have different ways they help me with the baby 

Anna-- she is ALWAYS pleased to throw away dirty diapers

Grace-- always eager to bring me the diapers and the wipes AND reinsert Andrew's pipe (see above picture)

Caleb-- my go getter. I say "go get ____" and he does

Having kids really does expose the sin in my heart.  It's pretty terrible to see, but I know it's good for me!  I always thought I would be this sweet, patient, loving mother who always loved(liked) her children and was kind and full of self control. Then I had children.  Well, really, then I had a NUMBER of children (the combo is killer).  The other day I told the kids they were NEVER allowed to go in the bathroom again *implication, not even to do their business* THAT is what a crazy person says.  I don't want to be a crazy person. ( I don't make a habit of empty, nonsense threats, but it was one of those days.... and seriously, STOP TOUCHING THE SOAP!!!)  Anyway, the point is not that they are so bad, but that I am so bad.  Praise the Lord he gives ME grace, because good grief do I need it, and it becomes clearer all the time!!!  (I needed it just as desperately as before, it's just that sometimes you see your sin more clearly than other times, know what I mean jelly bean?!) 

I'm in full blown purging mode again.  Basically I want to get rid of everything.  Does anyone else get a crazy feeling like that?! I'm really learning less is more.  For example, Andrew hardly has any clothes and we do just fine.  Well, most of the time. UNLESS I'm behind on laundry and then it's an emergency because of the whole spitting thing (yes, even with a bib).  I have to do laundry constantly even though I'm a BIG fan of wearing things again if they aren't dirty.  The PROBLEM is that our clothes often get dirty..... drat.

Did you know it's Saturday today? I had no idea what day it was.  Therefore, the kid's clothes are not laid out (which I ALWAYS do), and they aren't bathed.  The key for me in making Sunday morning smoother  (and being on time) is being prepared the night before.  Key to the preparation is knowing what day it is.... oops.

Over and out,

Melanie