Scrapblogging
November 12, 2007 at 11:00 pm (General, Photography)
Oh, I did have photos to share after all…sorta. Chuck showed me this website: www.scrapblog.com, and you can make scrap book pages for free there. It could get a little addicting, so be warned
Here are some I’ve made:
[I apologize for posting them as bigger than normal...I'm afraid that the normal smaller size will make it to hard to see...Then you'd get vision problems from squinting...and send me the dr bill.]
So if you decide to try it out yourself, I wanna see what you make! If you want, just post it as a comment here!!
More tidbits about the boys
November 12, 2007 at 8:38 pm (Chance, Chandler, Charlie, General)
I have more updates on the boys, but I had thought I’d wait until I process my latest batch of pictures. Hmm, nevermind…
Chance has some new words. He now says “look,” although it’s more like “wook.” “Wook, Mommy, Wook,” is the new phrase I hear all day. It’s so cute, and irresistible. Also, he’s started saying “please” (“pweeze”) which makes it hard to deny his request.
Chance is getting more comfortable with babies. Maybe it’s because we’ve had 4 nephews born since May. At first, he did not like it when I would hold a baby, but now he doesn’t mind. He’s actually somewhat fascinated by babies now.
Chance also loves to tickle people, although it’s more like pinching, and not the greatest experience for the target of his tickling. He has become more rough and tumble now, I think in part to the fact that my dad loves to wrestle with the boys. Thanks, Dad!
Also, he and Charlie are becoming more in need of a referee everyday. Today Chance was sitting at the table eating jello, and Charlie came up beside him, and said happily, “Let’s share, Chance.” Chance promptly exclaimed, “No!” and then a phrase I hadn’t heard out of his mouth before: “Go away, Cha-ee.” Chuck and I both had a hard time keeping a straight face as we corrected him on that one.
Charlie has often found that when he wants a toy from Chance, he can trade him for another toy. But lately Chance has been more reluctant to trade, and Charlie will tell me, “I was sharing with Chance, but he won’t share with me.” LOL I’ve tried a million times to define trading versus sharing…
Charlie is really growing in his learning. A few weeks ago he started asking me how to spell certain words and identify written letters. His Aunt Mitsi got him a dry erase book where he can practice drawing letters and numbers, which he loves. And starting about a week ago, he busted out with the “A B C” song. In the last few months he’s become quite the singer, always wanting to sing songs. I’ve been impressed with how many songs he’s learned in Bible class at church…he’s even taught me some new ones. Also recently the dvd player broke (
) so we’ve begun listening to the Veggietales Greatest hits cd, which Charlie now knows by heart. In a way, I don’t miss the movie player, because we get to sing together. One of his favorites is “God is bigger than the Boogie Man,” and we often sing it together when he gets scared at night.
Our nighttime regime is in transition. Before, one of us would sing to Chance then put him in his crib and leave the room. Then we’d read a book with Charlie, pray, kiss and say “Goodnight,” leaving him to sleep in our guest bed. I have a bed for Charlie in his room, but since Chance is a light sleeper and sleeps in there in his crib, we’ve let Charlie sleep in the other room. But last night, for the first time, I actually put them both to bed in the king sized bed in our guest room. We read a book, prayed, kissed, then I laid in there with them until they both passed out. It sorta worked… Chance woke up at 3:30 crying that he was scared. I know we’re going to have to get them sleeping in the same room eventually, I’m just not sure how to get there. Any ideas?
And this morning, Chance woke up again around 8 which is a little early for him…because he had a fever. It was about 100 degrees, but otherwise he had no symptoms, so I put him in bed with me where he slept for half an hour longer, until Charlie woke him up. Once awake, he was acting normal besides the fever, but I was concerned. He wouldn’t eat much, only an apple for breakfast. Then his fever broke and he was acting normal and wanted to eat an orange. Half way into the orange, he threw up. Considering his nose has been running for 4 weeks now (usually clear snot, but still…), I called the doctor who had me bring him in. The good news is, other than nasal congestion, he’s completely well. And his tubes, which have been in for 11 months, are still there, which is remarkable! The doctor said maybe he threw up just from all the congestion…I dunno, but we’ll be staying home until it passes. He’s been energetic all day, and has eaten plenty this evening without a problem.
I have to say, I know this summer we had many health issues, and it’s been so nice to go thru the last few months with little to no illness in our home. Also, I had complained often of how Chance was an early riser, but in the last 3-4 months, he’s become my late sleeper. The boys rarely wake up before 8:30 anymore…which is so nice when you’re pregnant and in need of more sleep!
I know I’ll miss all this sleep once baby3 is born, but for now I’m relishing every minute of it! It’s also nice to not be under a school schedule yet, in that respect. Kids may eventually break me of my night-owl personality, but for now, life’s pretty easy going with the boys.
“Oh God!”
November 6, 2007 at 6:45 pm (Chandler, Charlie, General)
I’ve blogged a lot lately, but not many funny stories about the kids. Probably because my pregnant brain doesn’t retain the stories for very long.
Anyhow, since the sonogram incident, Charlie has not brought up the subject of the baby much. No more “my baby.” When people would say, “Are you glad you’re having a baby brother?” he’d respond, “But I already have a brother!” That was the extent of his communication about this great disappointment in his life.
Until yesterday.
Out of the blue, as we were sitting together on the couch he asked me, “Mommy, why are we having another boy?”
“Because that’s what God knew we needed. Maybe it’s because you’re such a great big brother to boys that God thought you needed another little brother.”
With accusation and realization he said “God!!!”
Then he changed his tone to more of a lament, “Oooh God! I wanted a GIRL.” …like maybe God misunderstood.
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Today we were in Target and noticed that all their halloween costumes are on sale 75% off, so I asked Charlie what he thinks his baby brother would like to be next year. He said a pirate (oh yeah, like they make pirate costumes in baby size!). And he (Charlie) would be a ninja, and they could fight. And now he calls him, “my other brother.” At least he’s getting it…it’s amusing to watch him work thru this. I know he’ll be great friends with this little one, it’s just fun seeing the transformation. I keep telling Chuck I want to name this one’s middle name “Jonathon” since Charlie’s middle name is “David.” (David and Jonathon were best friends in the Bible.) We’ll see…
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Chuck left Monday morning for his week long trip to New Hampshire for his new job. Monday night Charlie was talking to him on the phone, and he exclaimed, “Mommy, Daddy got me a new hampster!!” So I got the phone back from Charlie and inquired of Chuck, the hater of all pets, especially indoors. He said he didn’t know what Charlie was talking about. Quite a mystery…
On Tuesday, Charlie said something about Daddy and I said, “Daddy’s far away in New Hampshire, remember?” He said, “He’s getting me a new hampster?!” Ahh, I get it…
Love & Respect
November 4, 2007 at 10:51 pm (General, Philosophy)
This weekend Chuck and I attended a marriage conference. It was the first we’d ever gone to, and it was incredible! I’m not much for mushy emotional conferences, so we were both delighted to see this one didn’t have much…make that “any”… of that! The speakers were Dr. Emerson Eggerichs and his wife Sarah. He’d been a pastor for 20+ years (and also has a doctorate in Family psychology) when he felt that this message about marriage was meant to be preached on a wider scale. The basic principle is really simple, based on Ephesians 5:33:
“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” (NIV)
He talks about how women have the need to feel loved and men need to feel respected. The first part of that probably comes at no surprise, but the respect part…that’s not heard much in our culture. If you’ve ever read “Bringing Up Boys” by James Dobson or “Wild At Heart” by John Elderedge, you may have heard some of this. More and more I’m realizing how much I had been indoctrinated with feminism and it affected how I treated Chuck and viewed myself and my worth (which I wrote about here, for instance). This conference had a great message, well balanced and really explaining some things that had always been confusing to me (such as what submission really means).
It was so neat to see the little things I’d finally figured out over these almost 8 years come together and totally make sense (I’m a slow learner!)…things like how women prefer to talk face to face, heart to heart…men prefer to do things “shoulder to shoulder.” I didn’t realize that until a few months ago!! All this time I thought Chuck didn’t want to bond with me because he didn’t have this need to talk heart to heart like I did! And I even used to think it was absurd when I was in high school and my dad would say he wanted to spend time with me, but then he’d want to sit together and watch tv… I used to balk at that and say, “I don’t get it. Just let me go out with my friends (who talk to me face to face), rather than sit here and waste time watching tv.” Now I know that that was his idea of bonding…) And Emerson talked about “the crazy cycle,” where “without love she reacts without respect,” and “without respect he reacts without love.” Want your husband to show you love more? Demonstrate your respect for him more. Novel concept, huh?
Emerson also got very deep into some Biblical principles which really made sense and there were a lot of “ah ha!” moments where everything worked together. And he showed us the bigger picture, the purpose of marriage. How God uses it to make us more like Christ. He said things like “God wants you holy more than He wants you to be happy.” Definitely a message we need to be reminded of in this “love saturated” culture we live in. Yes, God loves us, but that doesn’t mean that He will always make us happy. As I talked about recently, sometimes His plan for us means being uncomfortable…even experiencing great loss. It doesn’t mean for a minute that He doesn’t love us.
Anyhow, all this to say, if you ever get a chance to attend this “Love & Respect” conference, it’s worth every penny! And there are books, small group curriculum, dvds of the conference, etc. on their website, Love & Respect.com. Emerson is also a talented speaker, and I had a lot of respect for his willingness to take on some hard topics, and explain things so simply. Most of all I loved how he and his wife both said, “This is nothing new, and not our idea. Ephesians 5 has been there for 2000 years, a treasure hidden in plain sight.” This isn’t a new fab in pop theology, but practical wisdom. I also loved how it was a conference that, although overtly Christian, was meant for anyone, and didn’t intend to make anyone feel uncomfortable, regardless of religious background. I especially liked how it wasn’t mushy, which means men can enjoy it! Chuck really did! Also, I gained quite a few insights into parenting, and I’m going to be changing a few of the expectations I had for my boys… This conference really equipped me to be a better mom, although that wasn’t the intention!
So if you decide to enrich your marriage with this material, let me know…I’d love to hear what you think.





