We are quite the motley crew around here.  Somewhat haggard look.  

Gabe is on Day 3 of coughing and fever sickness.  Israel started coughing yesterday.  Zion woke up around 2 AM with bad croup, and spent the rest of the night in our bed, with me checking his breathing nervously and unable to sleep anyways from a left leg that is aching so bad for some unknown reason.  I actually went to the ER Saturday night to get my leg scanned to make sure I didn’t have a bloodclot in it, since I am at increased risk for something like that since I am pregnant.  No blood clot, thank the Lord.  But my leg still aaaaccchhes.  

Don’t we sound pitiful?  :)  I am, however, willing to endure all of this as LONG AS WE DON’T GET THE STOMACH FLU, which seems to be zooming all over the US, according to Facebook.  I. Don’t. Want. It.  

I just feel like we move from one virus to the next.  I don’t get sick, just the kids.  

Aaaaand Gabe just vomited.  Ummm.  Excellent.  This may mean that on TOP of all the coughs and colds and fever, we also have the pukes.  

Stay tuned for more RIVETING updates.  

“Mom, Jeremiah and me don’t like girls.”

“What’s that, buddy?”

“Jeremiah and me don’t like girls.  Jeremiah and me just like moms.”

Check back in ten years to see if anything has changed on this front.  ;)

It’s one of those nights.  It is 9:30 PM, Tim is gone at a meeting, Zion is asleep, and Gabe and Israel are alternately fussing and yelling and my mental teeth are grinding together and I am MAD and I wish I were a mom who always responds gently and lovingly and gives them extra time that they probably need, but all I want to do is GET OUT OF THE ROOM and for them to GO TO SLEEP!!!!!!  ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Israel spent the longest time ever bellowing about a toy piece he couldn’t find, then I took the toy away and told him it was time to sleep.  I gave him a short backrub to try to calm him down, and Gabe has been calling out every thirty seconds about how “It’s NO FAIR” that Israel got a back rub and he didn’t.  Which keeps Israel from going to sleep, and reminds him that not all is well with the world.  I don’t want to go back in there to admonish Gabe, because then Israel will see me and start bellowing all over again.  Why can’t everybody just settle down peacefully???  Why do I have to get so stressed out about evenings???  They are when I experience the most stress every day.  Expectations.  They bite you in the butt every time. 

I had a dream a few weeks ago, where I was short tempered and snappy with the kids as they were getting ready for bed, and I rapped Gabe on top of the head when he was acting up while brushing teeth.  Awfully life like.  :)  And not so terrible, you might think, but I woke up with that sick feeling of regret.  So often I get grouchy with them at night, and so often after they are asleep I regret.  When admonishment and discipline is born out of irritation and frustration and irritability, you don’t feel good about it.   That’s why I’m not reacting punitively tonight – I’m not at the right place emotionally, and my gut is that they actually need some time.  And I don’t have it in me tonight.  

Sigh.

A day in the life.

I just every day think about how I don’t want to regret things about their childhood.  I’m sure the reality is that you might not necessarily know what you will and won’t regret until you have that 20/20 hindsight.  The reality is also that no one has boundless energy or time.  The practicalities of life must be balanced with the idealism of motherhood.  I tend to err much more on the practicality side anyway, just because there are so many immediate demands when you have three small children.  I just don’t want to let the truly important things slip by…now if someone could just remind me what those were in the moment so that I could instantly drum up patience and gentleness for them.  

I read a quote the other day that I really liked.  It said “The greatest thing that she’d learned over the years is that there’s no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one.” (Author unknown)  

Just another example of why I am so needful of empowerment beyond myself to perform this task where there are so many ways to do things, and so many possible interactions with my children.  I need grace and wisdom far beyond myself, and am reminded of that so often.  God is the best teacher of love in action that there is, and I will shout to the heavens that I NEED HIM!!!!!  

Jesus, guide my parenting.  Show me how to serve you in it, and how to lay myself down when I need to, and how mix gentleness with firmness.  Give me grace, gobs and gobs of grace and wisdom, and may I be a mom who can reveal your character to my children.  Open my eyes to the important moments, and don’t let me pass them up.  Give me sensitivity to the voice of your Spirit, which is my guide.   Give me joy in my journey, and real peace in the process as I am guided by You.  And bless those babies with the presence of Your Spirit.  Amen.

If you give a girl some Christmas money, she’s going to want to get a rug for the hallway.  

When she gets a rug for the hallway, she’s going to want a plant or basket or some item to put at the end of the hallway.  

While’s she is thinking about the plant or the basket, she will look at the walls and think, “It’s time to put up pictures!”  

While she is deciding what pictures to put up, she will realize that she needs to get some pictures developed.  

This will make her think of the picture albums that are years behind.  

When she thinks of the picture albums, she starts to get project-y feeling.  

When she gets that project-y feeling, she is going to want to go get the pictures stacked in the closet, just waiting for such inspiration.

When she gets the pictures and albums in her arms, she’s going to want to go find a place to get some work done. 

And chances are, when she loads up the kitchen table with pictures and albums after padding over her new hallway rug…she’s going to think of If You Give a Moose a Muffin.  

 

p.s.  This will be a post that only people who have read If You Give a Moose a Muffin or If You Give a Mouse a Cookie or If You Give a Pig a Pancake will likely get.  So be it.

I read this today on Resolved To Worship‘s site, and loved it:

“A lot of times we can get so involved in some system of child rearing that we forget our little kiddos aren’t projects, but people. The end result of our parenting is not to make sure they make us look good in church, or somehow make us a “success.” Our children are hearts and souls who need relationship without us checking off a check list or matching them to books, seminars and people who tell us how it all should be done.

They are all different. Discipline is good. It has benefits. It’s good for children to know there are boundaries, goals, direction, vision. That you are the mom, not them – which by the way, that does come to an end too – there really is an age you must claim they are an adult and you need to step OUT. And that’s not age 30.

But there is more to parenting then teaching little 12 month olds to sit on a blanket and play quietly for an hour. More to making sure they can sit through the church service at a young age so that you can be praised as a spiritual parent. There is more to parenting then making sure your little one somehow sleeps through the night be a certain age or is potty trained before they turn two, sign languages please by the time they are six months and can read by the time they are three.

Now, granted some folks have kids who do all the above. Some of my kids did a few of those things too, despite me ha! But it won’t make them better adults. It won’t make them better teenagers. And if your kid is perfect, they can’t play with mine LOL!

‘Cause I’m not after kids with perfection. I’m after kids who know they have a need for Jesus and have witnessed the failures of their mom and dad and watched their parents humble themselves and be honest with their need for a Savior as well.

God doesn’t call us to be parents who have it all together. He calls us to be parents who humbly confess we don’t, but we know where to go to find the source of our power in life: Jesus Christ. That’s the bottom line to parenting – relationship with God, drawing near and holding fast to our Guide and Savior.

Our kids will know the difference. They will know whether we worship ourselves and thus carve on them to make them what we want them to be (just like in the Old Testament when an idol was carved because the children of Israel didn’t believe God was enough).

And they will know whether we love them more, or the bedtime schedule. Whether we love them more, or making sure they don’t make us look bad on the basketball team. Whether we love them, or being that perfect parent who does it all “right.”

If a child is loved, loved for who they are and not what they can do or be for us, they will know it.”

- A. Welch from Resolved to Worship

We’ve had a woooonderful lazy day Christmas around here today.  

Zion woke up when it was just starting to get light, and wanted out of his crib, so I carried him over to our bed and laid him on “his pillow” (which he has claimed as his own after doing this one other time) and he went back to sleep.  Gabe and Israel woke up next, wondering several times when we could have Christmas; I told them that we could after Zion woke up.  I watched him lay there, arms stretched wide, hogging more than the square footage of his little body.  I thought about taking his picture, but I was too lazy to go get my camera.  He started to stretch awake as I was watching him, and he opened his eyes, and immediately puckered his little lips and sat up for a kiss.  HELLO ADORABLENESS!!!!  He had to come back for about two more.  Is that sweet or what.   Phew.  :)  

Tim read the Christmas story to the boys,

while Baby fussed about me not giving him the cane of Hershey’s Kisses he had spotted in his stocking

and then we opened the much anticipated stockings,

and then the presents under the tree.  

Gabe was the MOST excited about when he would get to open the big presents.  :)  Didn’t really matter much what was in them, just that they were big.  Among other things, they received costumes (Israel got Spiderman and Gabe got Ironman – I got them on clearance after Halloween and quite satisfiedly patted myself on the back about it, too ), a toy chainsaw (Gabe), a toy circular saw (Israel), the aforementioned Lights Alive (which they really liked), a drawing board (Israel), and Gabe’s magic kit.  Zion got, among other things, a furry kitty that purr and meows when you pet it, a Jack-in-the-Box, and Spongebob PJ’s.  :)  So far they have played the most with the costumes, the saws, the Lights Alive, and the drawing board.  Zion LOVES his Jack-in-the-box, and cackles with delight when it pops up.  He told me as he was turning it, “The bad guy is coming, Mom, the bad guy is coming!!  

We hungrily devoured pancakes with maple, blackberry, and raspberry syrup, yogurt and whipped cream for breakfast.  Gabe was almost as excited about the pancakes as he was about Christmas.  Tim has played guitar, I read to the boys, took a nap, and Tim has been very sweet with playing with the boys; he played MarioKart with Gabe, Gemini on Nintendo 64 with Israel, and all three are currently dancing in front of the TV to Just Dance which Baby loves.  I danced a little too, and think I woke up the wee baby in my belly because now I feel her moving around.  :)  I think we might watch Swiss Family Robinson again tonight, per Gabe’s request.  

A lovely day.  

I’m trying to balance the desire to make this a relaxed day to enjoy with my family with the awareness of things that still need to be done before we leave on Wednesday.  I might make party mix later.  That’s relaxing.  And maybe wash and dry some laundry without folding it.   

The sun is bright and slanted and there are still patches of snow on the ground from our first snow a few days ago.  I’m snacking on cheeseball and thinking about making potato soup for an early supper tonight.  My house is warm and cozy and chattering and yellow.

I’m treasuring life today.

Tonight is the night before our Christmas, since we have a crammed busy day on Tuesday, and leave for Virginia on Wednesday.  So Mommy is busily wrapping the last of the presents, and Tim is making a last minute Walmart run for a special pancake breakfast tomorrow after we open presents, and here is our life in December 2010.

*Pingu the Penguin is playing on streaming Netflix on the TV, trying to distract the bright-eyed two year old who had an illegal nap today.

*I am 32 years old and 22 weeks pregnant, wearing aqua fuzzy pants; a mite frazzled thinking of all there is to get done before departure on Wednesday.  

*Israel could hardly get to sleep tonight, what with bouncing around in excited anticipation of Christmas coming tomorrow, and asking repeatedly if we are going to have snow for Christmas, which I don’t think we are.  Also he has a hacking cough that he inherited from Zion.  Splendid.

*We had a very busy day today; church in the AM, lunch at Grottos Pizza with friends, back home for 1/2 an hour and off to go Christmas caroling in two horse-drawn wagons with bells.  Very fun.  AND COLD!!!!!  Goodness.  Back for hot chocolate and cookies and prolonged conversations and then we’re home.  Now time to get to work.  :)  I think we’ll sleep good tonight!!

*I have a helper who is VERY helpful in wrapping gifts.  VERY.  He has made it very hard to wrap gifts this season; it always seems like he is up late for one reason or another.  Tonight I’m just taking the plunge – most of his are wrapped already anyways.  He really likes to help with the tape, and after asking me for help, and thanking me “Dank u, Mommy”, he carefully sticks the tape on a random part of the wrapped gift.  Very cute.

*The dog and the baby keep trampling over the wrapping paper on the floor.  The baby keeps chattering non-stop: “‘Dat yo’ pweasant, Mama?  Dat yo’ pweasant?  Dat Is’ael’s pweasant, Mom.  Dat Is’ael’s pweasant, Mom.”  

*Gabe has a Christmas program on Tuesday evening. He keeps proudly telling me, “Mom, I’m a wiseman.  And you don’t have to worry about a costume for me; Mrs. Warfel has it all taken care of.”  :)  I can’t wait to see him in all his wisemanishness.

*I pulled a muscle in my back last night, after twisting to the side while carrying a heavy load of laundry to be folded.  My back is always more prone to injury when I’m pregnant.  NOT so convenient for a Mommy who has to pick up after three little ones, bend down to fold clothes, and sit on the floor to wrap presents.  I was quite decidedly cranky after this event.  

*Weird.  For a minute there, I totally forgot how to spell the word “presents”.  I tried spelling it like, “preasants”, and “presants”.  Also not “preseants”.  Not working out so well for the pregnant brain tonight.  I also totally blanked on my PIN number for my debit card at Lowes the other night.  Still have no idea. 

*I am VERY excited about a gift I am giving each of the boys.  It actually was a gift I got when I was a kid, somewhere along the line.  It’s called a Lights Alive, and is made by Tomy.  

It’s kind of similar to a Lite Brite, but way cooler, and without the million bajillion tiny pieces.  You press down with the tools, and form shapes and lines, and can draw a picture with the lights, and turn the color wheel to change the light colors.  They don’t make it anymore, which they totally should, but I found two used on Ebay, all looking about 20 years old, and ordered one from the UK.  Love Ebay.  How awesome is that??  

*I am also very excited about the final gift for Gabe Tim found tonight.  It’s a Criss Angel Mindfreak magic kit.  For anyone who doesn’t know, Criss Angel is a magician who has a show that Tim and the boys watch sometimes off of Netflix.  Gabe loves magic tricks.  I can’t wait to see his eyes light up when he finds out what it is.  

*All my anticipation about seeing the boys open their gifts tomorrow makes me think of Luke 11:13, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”  I love how Jesus encourages us to ask the Father for more of the Spirit – PRESS IN, he says, in three different illustrations.  So encouraging for me, who longs for more of the Spirit to show the love of the Father in the world in ways that I am so limited in by my human frailty without him.   I am SO delighted to give these gifts to my children; it’s very amazing to think that my Father God is even MORE delighted to give his Spirit to me.

*Oh look.  It’s 11:23 and Cranky Critter is back up.  Sigh.  The child wears me out.  Off to wrap more presents…or should I say preseants…  ;)

 

We put the Christmas tree up two days after Thanksgiving this year.  The boys have been SOOOOOO excited this year about Christmas.  Israel keeps asking me why Christmas takes so long to get here.  I have been extra motivated this year in terms of preparation.  Almost all of my Christmas shopping was done by the first of December, and I am hoping that leaves extra room for Christmas baking and trip preparation.  We are going to VA and then to IN this year.  Meanwhile we have stuff at church, Christmas party with Gabe’s class, this is my week to take snacks for Gabe’s kindergarten class, Gabe’s elementary school Christmas program, we have a banquet that Tim is speaking at, dress rehearsal dinner for a wedding, a wedding, a birthday party…phew.  All of that in about a week and a half.  So now I’m trying to figure out where to cram in Christmas, making the house spic and span before we leave, finish wrapping gifts…and I still haven’t gotten to that baking!!!  Hmm.  

I let the boys pick out ornaments again this year – I really like that tradition.  Here were their picks.  

Gabe and Zion both got this polar bear with his fish, which is EXTREMELY breakable…Gabe broke one in the store that I had to buy, and Zion just recently broke his.  So we’ll see how long this one lasts.

A sleigh was Israel’s pick.

While we were picking out ornaments, I was fell MADLY in love with some garland I found at Sears.  

I LOVE it!!!!  Happy sigh. 

This is the first year we have used colored lights on the tree – we have always used white before.  Last year I told the boys that we would use colored this year; I figured they would like it.  Sure enough, Gabe LOVES them.  I heard him talking seriously to Israel about how the lights are so beautiful, and they cost more money when they are beautiful like that, instead of “regular”.  :)  

I discovered a little pair of feet behind the tree as I was putting it up.  

Apparently it’s quite a nifty hideout spot.

Our “traditions” also include Christmas stockings, a lighted Christmas village, a fiber-optic tree in the boys room that our neighbor Barry gave them last year, Christmas books (aim is for one a night, but don’t quite always get to it), and an Advent calendar now that their Grandma Edith has sent them for the second year.  They loooooove the calendar and are all very excited about opening the doors, which we do right before bed.  

Just so sweet, all their wide-eyed excitement and enthusiasm and savoring of simple little Christmas things.  It makes you want to make their holiday very special.  :)

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Favorite quotes from Gabe today:

1.  (To Israel) “Well, you can punch me in the butt as much as you want to, but then I get to tackle you.”

2.  (After Tim was talking to our associate pastor, Bob, who is also a pilot, as he getting ready to fly out of Orlando into New York.  Tim had shown the boys on Google Maps where Bob was at, and what the airports looked like from the air.)  ”Can we zoom in on Yew Nork?”  That one just frankly made me laugh.

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Sooooooo.  One day I cast a wary eye into the hall bathroom and saw this. 

Do you see anything wrong with this picture?

Ohhh, yes.  Baby had been VERY hard at work.  VERY.  

His Daddy was nominated to the task of cleaning up this industriousness.  :)  

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The Daddy and two of his boys one cold December day.  

This is on the futon in Zion’s room next to his crib.  

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With Zion, all letters are “Bee’s” and all colors are “Gween”.  He crawled up in a chair beside me as I was looking at a takeout menu the other day and cuddled into my side and stated knowledgeably – “Bee’s.”  

He is such a lap buddy.  He is always finding me or Tim to sit on our laps.  He really enjoys being around us, and will often come find us to hang out, even if his brothers are playing in another room.  At night after his brothers are in bed, and he is awake because of an afternoon nap, he sits on us our laps or legs and plays and chatters.  I wonder what he is going to think here in a few months when Mommy’s lap will be shrinking.  :)

He has been very cranky lately about being left in the 2-3 year old Sunday School class at church…often I have had a tag-along to my own class.  Tim took him down this past Sunday, and his teacher Becky told me that Zion won’t come to her to be held; instead he wants Israel, and they kiss and hug each other.  Lol – I thought it was so sweet!!!

He has FINALLY entered the stage of sound sleeping that his brothers discovered at 18 months.  Noises don’t wake him quickly.  Instead of putting him in his crib at night and then closing the door, I started leaving the door open, and discovered that he went to bed much more easily that way.  Sometimes he will chatter a bit and then go to sleep, whereas before, if he wasn’t completely primed for sleep he would demand to be gotten back up.  I think it makes him feel like he’s not missing out so much on what is going on.  

He has mostly dropped his afternoon nap.  If he gets it, he is up late, period.  Which is very wearing for his parentals.  Sigh.  

Still lugging his beloved blankie everywhere.  

Check back to my previous post, where I added some more pictures of him being grouchy about his blanket being washed and dried.   

I consider this a “stage of life” photo.  :)  I like it.

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Rudolph the blue nosed reindeer.

 

Mommy: BOYS!!  Stop it!  Do you hear me? (in reference to the boys giving each other half-playful/half-serious martial-arts-style jabs and kicks)

Daddy:  What are you telling them to stop doing?

Mommy: (crabbily)  They know!! (marching off down the hall to get dressed to leave)

Daddy:  Israel Caleb, come here.  (Israel dutifully shuffles over.)  What is Mommy telling you to stop doing?

Israel:  (pause)  Ummm…government poop?  

Tim:  WHAT??!  (He immediately buries his face in the crook of his arm to hide his laughter.)

Gabe: (scornfully)  No, Israel, that’s not what Mom meant.

Israel:  Government pee?  (Tim’s face goes back into his sleeve.)

Gabe:  (exasperated and quite serious) No, Mom said no more fighting.

Well then.  Glad to know all my parenting messages are getting through.    WHAT??!

We had our ultrasound and found that yes indeed, we are having a girl.  We suspected.  This pregnancy has been so different.  I’ve been so much more nauseated and have had little appetite.  With all of the boys I was not really very nauseous at all, and I was rip-roaring-ly hungry from the first trimester on.  :)  

Israel wasn’t surprised either.  He has been adamantly insisting from early on that he is having a baby sister.  :)  The two older boys are really thrilled.  It’s sweet how excited they are.  

To me it still feels a little surreal, honestly.  I’m having a what??  But I have three boys.  I only know how to have boys.  

The tech was hurried and we didn’t really get hardly any good pictures, but I did like this one of her nose and mouth.  So precious.  :)

So now to pick out a name.  Gabe had some ideas.  He suggested Flower.  I agreed that that sounded like a girl’s name.  He also thought maybe Dandelion.  I thought that sounded like an idea.  

He sat there meditatively for a few seconds, then said, “No, no, no…I was saying ‘no, no, no’ because I was thinking of some names I wouldn’t want to name her; the first one was Lava, the second one was Six Million, and the third one was Ninja.”  (Secret laughter from Mommy.)  I agreed that didn’t think those sounded like girl names either. 

He thought that if we did have a boy, perhaps we could name it Lava Ninja.  

Other girl names suggested were Princess, Pink, Ballerina, and Dress.  We will take them into consideration.     

Personally, I’m leaning towards Six Million Dress, myself.

Here’s the belly at 19 weeks.