Random Thoughts

This post is going to be several random thoughts poured into one long post. I haven't kept up the past couple of days because Chris and I have started reading the book The Love Dare by Stephen Kendrick and so instead of posting here at night, we have been reading. The book takes 40 days to read and do the "dares" and at the end of the 40 days your marriage is supposed to be stronger than ever. Chris and I are in a really good place right now so fortunately the first two dares have come easy. I am sure over the next 38 days though we will be challenged but I am ready for it. It is based off the movie Fireproof. A terribly, terribly bad acting movie, but a good movie nonetheless. So that was my first random thought.

Random thought number 2:

Eliza is standing in the bath tub now. You can see the determination in her face as she is trying to balance herself and pull up. Then when she gets fully standing and balanced, she looks at me or Chris with the biggest grin ever. As if to say "Look what I did!" She is very proud of herself.

Random thought number 3:

The lady that I order our bows from sent us a surprise package last week with two things in it. One was a zebra hat with a hot pink bow that has black polka dots on it. Very, very cute. And the other was this big pink peony on this pink band.

Yes, it is too big for her head.

No, you are not the first person to think it.

And yes, I love it!

Unfortunately, she doesn't always feel the same.

She is learning to grab whatever I put on her head and pull it off.

But we are working on it.

Random thought number 4:

Chris has started teaching Ethan to tie his shoes.

And let me tell you, this is no easy feat. (or feet! ha!)

He is left handed so Chris is having to think about it from Ethan's point of view and that is not easy to do when you naturally do things right handed.

And finally, Random thought number 5: we are trying to plan a beach trip in September to the Outer Banks area, either than or Emerald Isle. We have been looking at beach houses online and dreaming of warmer days, flip flops, sea shells and hot tubs. One of the last vacations I remember taking with my mother was at Emerald Isle. She loved watching the Shackleford Horses.
Tomorrow starts another busy week and March is proving to be stressful already and it isn't even here yet.

Focus on Marriage

If I had been a better planner, I would have planned for Chris and I to attend the Focus on Marriage simulcast tomorrow. It is being broadcast at a local church and is from 9.30-4.15. I debated on calling to see if they have someone in the nursery that would be watching children, but I don't know. That is an awful long day for them. This is one of those times when it would be wonderful if we lived close to family. The speakers are going to be Gary Thomas, author of Sacred Marriage, Kirk Cameron, actor from Fireproof, Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love (which I have and am trying to find time to dive into), Stepher Kendrick, author of The Love Dare, Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages and another couple that I had not heard of before, Les and Leslie Parrott.

The fact that they are calling this conference Focus on Marriage 2010, gives me hope that there will be a 2011. So maybe next year.

Nutritionist Appt

Ethan and I had our appointment this morning with the nutritionist at his pediatrician's office. And overall, I am doing ok. There are definitely places we can improve and I am going to. For example, it was brought to my attention that I give my children way to many carbs and not enough protein and fiber. We already eat whole wheat bread and now that is going to extend to bagels and any other bread type product we consume. They need to be eating more peanut butter for protein and even better than peanut butter, we are going to try almond butter. She had a chicken nugget box and a big mac box in her office and a small tupperware container inside the box with the amount of lard that is in each of these things. To say it was disgusting would be an understatement. It was fowl. Even Ethan looked at it and turned up his nose. She had an empty 8oz coke bottle as well with the amount of sugar inside the bottle that would be in an 8oz coke. Granted the children don't drink soda but if 39 grams of sugar is in an 8oz coke and 22 grams of sugar is 8oz of orange juice (and they do drink orange juice) - it is a lot. That was a good visual. And we will be moving to a lower sugar orange juice.

I am sure the boys are not going to like the changes I am going to continue to make, however I refuse to allow them to continue down this road and end up with major health problems when I can try to prevent it now. And they aren't on that bad of a road, but clearly family history is playing a major role in their current health. The nutritionist spoke of a 16 year old boy that was in her office earlier this week that is already on insulin for type 2 diabetes, he has high cholesterol and high blood pressure. She is trying to teach him healthy food choices but without a mom or dad to re-enforce a healthy lifestyle, her attempts are futile.

My children are fortunate that I do pay attention and I do see to it that they are given healthy choices. And now they are going to get even healthier choices.

So You Say You're Southern Baptist

I have always said I was a "southern baptist." Not just a baptist, but a southern baptist, because well, I live in the south and I was raised baptist - get it - southern baptist? Anyway....

Tonight at church the pastor preacher (pastor always seems more uppity to me, but if I am calling myself a southern baptist, I am going to keep it real and say preacher) talked about a friend of his, a good friend of his, that happens to be a Methodist minister. They have been friends for many, many years. Used to pastor preach at churches across the way from each other. Our preacher, Preacher Keith, believes whole heartedly, in the King James version of the bible. No room for interpretation. It says what is says and it means what it says. Whereas his friend the Methodist minister interprets things a little differently. For example, in the Methodist church it is ok to sprinkle and call it baptism. Preacher Keith says, "No way. No how. You gotta dunk'em." His words, not mine. As a matter a fact he said "Dunk'em til I see'em start to bubble." No doubt about it, ain't no sprinkling gonna be sufficient. Ok, no problem. I was dunked. Can't remember if I started to bubble, but I was definitely dunked. I actually remember wearing white pants and a white shirt for my baptism thinking that seemed more pure - you know being white and all. Only it wasn't pure at all when I came out of the dunking pool and you could see straight through my clothes. Note: If you haven't been baptized and you are thinking of doing so, don't wear white.

The second thing that he talked about was that a woman should never be head of a church. Minister, Pastor, Preacher, whatever. It is not a woman's place. This is where my head cocked and the feminist in me thought, well why not??? Well, Preacher Keith says it is in the bible that way. That the man is the spiritual head. Hmmmm......so you say you're a southern baptist. He said a woman is the only person that is good at being a woman. A man is not good at being a woman and a woman is not good at being a man. Each has their place. Hmmmm........there he goes again with that "place." This is hard stuff. The feminist in me says I can do anything and I want to raise my daughter to believe she can do anything. I am not saying I won't come around. I am starting to change my beliefs about several things after reading different scriptures here and there. I am just saying it is hard for a long time feminist to change over night.

Just a thought - but maybe I am half Methodist. My dad's family was Methodist. Does that count. :-)

Out and About

Eliza was sent home yesterday from school with a fever of 101.

She was a little warm, but seems fine today with the exception of a runny nose. It is possible though that the fluid on her ear has not gone away and we are heading into ear infection #2.

I sent her to school in this dress (made special by MiMi) because they were having pictures made with a real bunny. Owen sat with her and he surprisingly did wonderful with his pictures but she wouldn't sit still. Of course, her teacher also mentioned Owen kept elbowing her telling her to scoot over. That probably didn't help the situation. Oh, and she did have a pink bow on, just not in my pictures. :-)

She and I have been home this morning and Chris is coming home at noon to relieve me so I can go to work. What do two girls do when they are free for the morning? Shop, what else? There is a consignment sale in Raleigh for the next couple of days called The Divine Consign Sale and I love it! It is all boutique overstock clothing and some consigned boutique brands mixed in too. They have one in the fall and the spring. I got her a few dresses last fall, including her Christmas dress.

And this cute one.

Today I picked up these three. I love the vintage look to this first outfit. And I can definitely see a made to match bow coming in these colors. It is made by Flit and Flitter, which I had never heard of.

And this one will make an adorable summer dress. I love the ants carrying the watermelons and may end up having a bow made to match for it as well.

And I couldn't resist this one, even though it is probably going to be too big for this Easter. It will still be cute for this spring and summer.

I love, love, love smocked dresses.

Chris should be home soon and I will be off to work. Tomorrow is Ethan's appointment with the nutritionist. Wish us luck. I am hoping she is going to be able to let me in on some secrets to healthy cooking that I am not aware of.

Crawling and An Extra Treat

Here she goes!



It still counts even if she is fussy about it.

She's Doing It!

Updated!

I will try to get a video to post later tonight.

No pictures because we are trying to get out the door this morning - but Eliza is crawling!

Hosanna!

And one more song that I have recently heard and it was actually sung at church today. The first time I heard it on the radio I loved it! Just wanted to share it with you.

Every Day

I got in my car the other day coming home from work and this song was on the radio.



And it brought me back to February 12, 2002. It was my birthday and it had been a hard day. You see, for 27 years the my mother had been the first person to wish me a happy birthday. From the time I was a baby, to a child, to a teen, to a young adult, to an adult. No matter where I was, my mother called me first thing in the morning on my my birthday to tell me happy birthday. To let me know that February 12th was not only special to me, but special to her as well. And February 12, 2002 was my second birthday without hearing from my mother. Chris and I had been dating for a few months. I had seen him at work that day, but I remember about mid morning leaving work and taking the rest of the day off because it was just turning out to be one of those days that you just shouldn't get out of bed. I went home, sulked around, walked Lou and Buddy, cried off and on all day. And around 8pm, I guess I had just reached the peak of loneliness and I called Chris and asked him to come over. I was crying and he came over. I will never forget him coming in my room and finding me balled up crying in the floor and he just held me. I wonder what he thought at the time? What kind of crazy am I getting myself into????? And I can tell you without hesitation, that losing your mother at such a young age IS a whole lot of crazy. Rascal Flatts describes it perfectly when they say "you could have bowed out gracefully, but you didn't; you knew enough to know to leave well enough alone, but you wouldn't." And "every day" since then he has saved me. Sometimes from the pits of depression and other times from the throws of anger. He is faithful. He always does what I ask of him (even if I feel like I shouldn't have to ask i.e. pick up your dirty clothes from the floor). And most recently, he just goes to church with me. He just does it. We don't fight about it. I don't have to beg, borrow or steal. He gets up with me on Sunday and he knows this is what we are going to do now. And he even said today that the pastor "speaks" to him. My response was, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. He laughed me off and said "maybe he just keeps me interested more than the pastor at St Paul"; bless his heart. Whatever the case, it thrills me. Every Day.

Church, A Party and A Walk to the Park

I know I can go days without posting sometimes because it just seems like life gets busy and it is hard to stop and take pictures, get them uploaded and then talk about them. And then we have days like today where I couldn't have fit anything else in if I had tried.

First was church this morning. The sermon this morning was about judgment. Judgment of your deeds on earth, the good and the bad. What will Jesus think when you are standing before Him in eternity. Will He be proud of what you have done? Will He pat you on the back and say you did pretty good? Will He say, you did ok, but you sure did play it safe? Or have you led a life that when you are before Him He will say "You did it! You really did it!" Because I want Him to say "You did it girl!" I want Him to stand up excited to see me coming. I want Him to think, there she is! Let that girl in here to see her mama! So with that, I am going to be working on where I fit in church. What I can do to do more. To not always play it safe.

When we left the congregation to get the children, I went for Owen and Eliza and Chris went for Ethan. When I got Owen he told me Jesus performed a miracle. And I said what was that miracle? His reply? He turned water into Coke! (John 2:1-11) Can you believe it? Water to Coke! The teacher felt funny talking about wine, so she talked about something the children could relate to. Coke it was.

We came home and were eating lunch prior to going to the birthday party and each Sunday we have the same conversation about how chicken gets to our table. It absolutely disgusts me but each week Ethan likes to talk about how to kill a chicken.

We leave home to head to the party and we pass Preston Wood Country Club. Owen said "Is that a golf course?" And I said, yes. He said "I want to go there after the party." Well, going to Preston Wood Country Club is much easier said than done. I think it comes with a pretty high price tag to be a member and well, we just ain't there. So I told Owen, I hoped that one day he would grow up and go to college and become a doctor or a lawyer or something fancy so he could play golf there anytime he wanted to. In the midst of me saying all this Ethan yells out "I WANT TO BE A CHICKEN SHOOTER!" That's my boy!

We go to the party.

A bowling party.

The boys seem to like bowling parties.

The only hiccup is Owen doesn't like to wait his turn, it takes to long and his mind starts to wander to what he can get into to take up the time.

They both insisted on using balls that were way to heavy for them.

I suppose that is a boy thing. To prove how big and strong they are. Girls just don't care about stuff like that. Give me the pink ball any day of the week.

After the party we came home and headed out to the park. It was about 65 degrees today so a beautiful day to be outside. We walked to the park to give us all more time outside.

Two boys and a baby.

She didn't seem to mind they were the ones doing the pushing. She did a bit of off roading with Owen behind the wheel.

And off they ran.

And ran, and ran, and ran.

We are hoping for an easy bedtime tonight.

Eliza had fun too.

She got to practice her climbing and standing. She is getting so strong.

She always has fun watching her brothers.

Then it was time to come home.

What a great day! I love Sundays.

Just One of Those Days

Today was a hard day. A real hard day. One of those days that you just rather not remember. One of those days that you shouldn't have to have. I don't even have pictures today to document anything. Just the words of a heartbroken mother.

I told you several days ago that the boys were going to the doctor for a cholesterol screen. Ethan was a star. He was terrified, I am sure of it, but he puts on such a brave face. Owen on the other hand, feels no need to put on airs for anyone. He is a raw, in the moment child. And in that moment of drawing blood he was screaming and being restrained by more than one person. But he survived to tell of his battle wounds and other than being able to retell the tale, he doesn't remember how bad it hurt.

Well, I got the results today. And just as I feared. They both have high cholesterol. Ethan's is 239 and when I heard that I started to cry and my head started spinning so I couldn't tell you what the nurse said Owens was, but I do remember her saying it was too high. The high side of normal is around 160. Ethan and I have an appointment next Thursday to meet with a nutritionist at his pediatrician's office. But the thing is, they don't eat a lot of fried foods. It is an exception that we go out to eat and I could probably count on 2 hands the total number of french fries my children have ever eaten - combined! That's just not how we eat. Particularly in light of Chris's heart attack.

So where do I go from here? I am going to have to learn to cook better and healthier. Fortunately I have already signed us up for a Community Supported Agriculture program for this year. We start getting our first round of veggies in April. Next, I am going to have to add fish to their diets once or twice a week (wish me luck! because if it isn't coated in bread crumbs and it doesn't come from a man named Gorton, I am not sure they will even try it) and drop red meat down to once a week, if that. More beans and lentils, less starches. More fresh fruits and veggies for snacks, less processed snacks. And after all that, I really don't know if it is going to help. Let's not overlook the obvious, Chris did have a heart attack at age 34, so hereditary just seems to make sense.

This was a really hard blow for me today. They are just 5 and 4! just 5 and 4! Babies. And already they have build up in their arteries. So wish me luck and it wouldn't hurt to say a little prayer for us.

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Today is Mardi Gras and Owen's class celebrated with lots of beads and a King Cake.

His teacher is from New Orleans so has a party for her children every year at this time.

She is also the reason Owen came home a couple of weeks ago saying "Who Dat?"

Thanks Uncle Cam for giving us beads for Christmas several years ago. Otherwise, we would have been bead-less this morning. As it stood though, Owen had the coolest beads in the class.