October 31, 2009
October 24, 2009
I took the kids out for lunch at Pizza Inn in Cape today, which has a nice view of the “Baby’s Name in Lights” billboard at St. Francis Medical Center. Eva was reading some of the names of the new babies when this conversation ensued:
ME: Eva, what do you think you’ll name your kids someday?
EVA: Molly, Matthew, Derrick, Cassidy, and Sophie or Sophia.
ME: Cool. Eli, what will you name your kids?
ELI: (with no hesitation) Zeke and Basketballman.
October 21, 2009
October 18, 2009
(or reason #4950 that I might be a terrible mother.)
Eva has been fever free for over 24 hours and the weather was beautiful, so we decided to go to the pumpkin patch after church and lunch today. We were originally going to go yesterday, but we wanted Eva to have a day of rest. Then, at lunch, Eva started looking flushed. Sure enough, her temperature was rising. But, she already had missed so much—daddy’s kids doing a performance at her school, cheerleading camp and performing at the football game—I decided we should give her some tylenol and go. I could tell Bob was reticent, but I figured it wasn’t like I was putting my vomiting child on TV after staging an elaborate hoax right?
Her fever was gone by the time we arrived and she went on to have a wonderful time, as did we all. Will we pay for this choice tomorrow? Perhaps, but we will have wonderful memories of today!
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October 17, 2009
Hey, it’s been a while! I have totally fallen off my weekly listography wagon, but I thought I would post a quick list of what was going on.
1. It is mid-term/fall break at the U and I feel like I still have not got on top of the semester. Maybe it’s the six classes I’m teaching. Maybe it is the third child I have. I dunno, but I hope to feel more on top of things soon.
2. Lily is now able to feed herself puffs and small cereal pieces. This morning she also signed “more” for them! This is great for many reasons, but also because it supports my theory that maybe she would eat better if she could feed herself. She has to be in just the right mood to submit to being fed baby food, but will eat the puffs anytime. Little Miss GDI.
3. On that same note, we recently had to revisit The No Cry Sleep Solution with Lily. While she had become quite the awesome sleeper by her third month of life and started sleeping through the night to the tune of a 12 hour stretch, she started getting teeth at 5 months and gradually regressed to the point where I was up feeding her twice a night. This led to her being nursed to sleep which as any sleep expert will tell you is no good. So, I dusted off my copy of the book that helped us get Eli to start sleeping better when he was a baby. Bob and I have been using some of the techniques this week with pretty great success. Hopefully, in a few more weeks, all our kids will be great sleepers again!
4. Eva got sick this week. There has been a lot of Type A flu going around her school and that may be what struck her down on Thursday. Big time fever. She handled it all really well, considering she missed the last two days of the after school cheerleading camp she had been going to, as well as the football game performance. She woke up feeling better this morning—the challenge will be getting her to take it easy so she doesn’t have a relapse. Also, I feel like I am waiting for the other shoe to drop in terms of the other kids’ health. I’ll just keep lysol-ing and bleaching and washing till then…
5. Henry has been staying with my parents this week while Krista and Chad are at a conference in MN. He cried the first night mom tried to get him in the bathtub, so Eli and I have been going over so the boys can take a bath together. The first night, Eli welcomed a smiling Henry into the tub with, “See Henry? That’s what fun is all about. Being with friends.”
I’ll try to be back soon with more musings and updates. 
September 28, 2009
September 20, 2009
Sitting, waving, getting four teeth on top…it’s 7 month old Lily!
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September 12, 2009
Because he’s getting older, and because I tend to forget:
Eli sweats when he takes a nap. Not just a little bit, but his entire body is damp when he wakes up. We had to buy a special cover for his pillow because all of the sweat was making his pillow (not just the case) stinky. This makes his hair extra curly when he wakes up.
Eli loves making a joke, and loves to make me laugh. Sometimes I’ll have to tell him that it’s time to stop repeating something if it made me laugh, because he keeps trying to get more comedy mileage out of it.
Eli loves to wrestle. This activity will trump just about anything else (including the wii). He doesn’t really know a lot of “moves” so it just involves him running around a lot and jumping.
Eli’s top interest in life is superheroes. He can name a surprising number of characters and can tell you quite a bit about them. He’s also very interested in their origin stories, and seems to be disappointed when the origin doesn’t involve a chemical/radiological reaction in some way.
As much as he loves wrestling and superheroes, Eli is also very sensitive and cuddly. He loves giving and receiving hugs and kisses. He also gives a lot of unsolicited declarations of love.
Eli’s most ticklish spot is the underarm. Both sides are equally ticklish.
Eli has stubby little hands with thick palms. I fear I have passed on my little hands to him.
Eli is really impressive when it comes to building and problem solving. He can create very complex symmetrical creations with LEGO. He’s very aware of how to keep things balanced so that they’ll stay together better. He can also solve levels on LEGO Batman and LEGO Star Wars (wii) better than I can. Frequently we’ll be playing a level together until I become frustrated and stop playing. A few minutes later, he’ll complete the level on his own by figuring out whatever needed to be done.
Eli says “plus” instead of “equal” when talking about math: “What does one and two plus?”
Eli has a very George W. Bush-style concept of “good” and “bad.” In his mindset, you’re either with us or against us.
Eli is very sociable and loves to play with kids, but names are not at all important to him. He’ll be talking about a kid that he loves to play with at school and can tell you all of the things they did together, but when asked his name: “I forgot.”
Eli is very aware of what’s for girls and what’s for boys and will be hesitant of girl stuff but not avoid it altogether. For example, he’s not above playing a game or two on Barbie.com.
Eli is the best expert on how to get Eva’s goat, or as they say it “pull your goat.” He’s mastered the art of using a single facial expression or sideways glance to send her into a rage.
Eli is very sweet to Lily but sort of has to be reminded to connect with her. I think that when she’s able to be a bit more active, he’ll delight in playing with her. He likes the idea that she looks up to him.
Eli still won’t draw much. He loves to cut things with scissors, though.
Eli still loves costumes, but is sort of out of the phase where he was in costumes more than he was in regular clothes.
If you are an Eli fan, feel free to leave your own observations that you don’t want to forget.
August 31, 2009
This is the kind of Mama I am. This is the kind of Mama I want to be.
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I have been struggling with parenting lately. I have been doubting myself a lot. Then, I saw these pictures that Bob took of me and the kids petting the Stingrays at the zoo this weekend. Eva and Eli had been excited, but nervous at first. I had thought I would stand back and observe until Bob was done taking pictures and he could hold Lily, but when I saw their hesitantance, I got down with her on my hip to help them put their hands in the water. Here, in these pictures, I see the Mama I want to be….confidently sharing the experience with my kids, having fun with them, checking out their reactions, trying to educate them a little bit, hoping to get their take on the event, being literally up to my elbows. Then I am reminded that it is the Mama I AM…it just gets lost sometimes in the anxiety that I have about raising them to be good little people. Today, I am resolving to do what I need to do to make sure I don’t get so lost in worrying about who they grow up to be that I forget to love who they are.
August 22, 2009
…we finally post about the “new” car.
Oh, no, it wasn’t purchased during Cash for Clunkers, though it well could have been. No, this is the car Bob traded in his Blazer for at the end of May. Bob was working on a great post about all the wheeling and dealing he did on it, but it proved almost as exhausting at the actual negotiation process. So, here it is, the end of August, and we haven’t blogged about our sweet ride. It is a 2007 Honda CR-V. We really, really like it. And it gets much better gas mileage than the Blazer. Not to mention, its speedometer works! Ah, the old speedometer…it kept us guessing.
