Babies Don't Keep

I have always loved this poem.  It's a great reminder of what's really important.  I need it framed on my wall somewhere!

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

- Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Sick

What have we been up to lately?  Trying to get this little guy healthy.  This has been no little challenge, and we're still not quite there. 

Over the past month and a half Evan has been on 3 rounds of different antibiotics (ear infections)  and two rounds of a steroid for his lungs (after being hospitalized for RSV).  We are on our second BOX of the medicine for his nebulizer treatments (for his lungs/wheezing), and today was our last of three consecutive daily visits to the clinic for antibiotic shots to see if we can finally get his ears to clear up.  I've been to the health food store and started giving him a probiotic and infant multivitamin to try and boost his immune system.  After all this, he is still. not. well.  What am I going to do with this kid?

I WANT him to be healthy and happy, but I also NEED him to get healthy, fast, so he can have his cataract surgery that is scheduled for the end of the month. 

Thanks to a great family optometrist who insisted that it is important to get your childs eye's checked when they are still a baby (I have NEVER done this when any of my other kids!), we found out that Evan has cataracts in both his eyes and later found out he has a subluxed (misplaced) lens in his left eye.  He can't see out of his right eye at all. His left eye can see what we think is a somewhat blurry (non-detailed) image.  Surgery was scheduled for May 2nd, but because of his recent RSV it had to be pushed back.

It's hard to sit and wait for his surgery when we've been told the longer we wait the more chance of complications and vision loss.  We've been told it's possible that his eyes may begin to tremor/shake (a risk associated with his right eye getting no stimulation), and if they start, they generally shake for life.  Our prayer as we wait is that this won't happen, and that his eyes won't worsen any other way.

So, for now we continue to focus on getting and keeping this baby boy healthy!  Maybe some warmer weather will help?  I'll take any help I can get!

Feeling Crafty

I'm never considered myself super crafty, so I'm not sure what came over me the Friday before Easter when I was reading a few blogs (I like to look at other peoples craftiness) and I came across this tutorial for a super cute skirt and this one for a fun appliqued tie onesie.  I remembered a week or so before when I had seen this little man tie tutorial and I suddenly had the urge to make all of them for my kids to wear on Easter Sunday, one and a half days away. 

I will admit that half way through the skirt for Nicole (which was the first thing I decided to make) I was ready to call it quits.  Maybe I should have started with a tie? I'm glad I hung in there.  I learned a lot and ended up feeling pretty happy about the way everything turned out.

Here are the kids on Easter morning:

Sweet Sisters:

Ethan looks so grown up to me in this picture.  Too grown up.

Evan was feeling pretty sick that morning.  He hung in there for some group shots, but I didn't try and take a bunch of him by himself.  Poor little guy. 

It was fun to make the kids matching clothes and fill their Easter baskets with treats, but what I am really thankful for is the moments during the week leading up to Easter Sunday when we were able to sit with our children and talk with them about the real meaning of Easter.  To share again with them the events leading up to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  To help them remember that Christ truly did overcome death, and what that means for us today and always.  Those are the moments and things I hope they will remember at Easter and always.

Here I go again!

Recently I have come to realize two things about myself. 

First, no matter how many times I tell myself that one day I am all of a sudden going to print the thousands of pictures I have on my computer and turn them into cute scrapbook keepsakes for my kids, its just not going to happen.  There, I finally said it- I'm not a scrapbooker.

Second, I really struggle with journal writing.  This is something I feel is really important and still wish to become better at one day.  Hopefully that "one day" will come sooner rather than later,  but in the mean time I am bringing this blog back to life in the hope that some part of my life will be recorded.

So, after over 2 years of no blog posts....here I go again!

A lesson in hygiene

I have found that bed time often provides an opportunity for a learning moment with one of my kids. A couple of nights ago I was putting Ethan to bed when he asked me to tell him 4 stories. "How about 2?" I said, "Mommy needs to go to the store to get some things before it gets too late." (don't worry, Bryan was home!)

Ethan: "What are you getting?"
Me: "Just some things we need, like diapers for Nicole and deodorant for Mom and Dad."
Ethan: "What's deodorant?"
Me: "Well, when you get older, sometimes you can get sweaty and a little stinky under your arms. So we put on deodorant in our armpits so we don't get all smelly."
Ethan: "Wow! That's better than a bath!!"

Oh dear. We are going to have to keep an eye on him when he gets older!! Seriously though, it cracked me up. He seemed so excited about this new "discovery" that would keep him from having to take a bath! I then of course had to explain that deodorant definitely does NOT replace the need for a bath!

Photo Shoot Troubles

Last week we had a perfect overcast day so I decided to haul the kids outside to get some pictures for our Christmas card this year. So here we are, 10 days before Christmas and still no Christmas card photo. Why? Because I could do flips in the backyard and my kids seriously would not all look and smile at the same time. Actually, forget the smiles (that may be expecting too much) but I would be happy if they would just look! Out of the 50 or more photos that I took, here are some of the best:

So tell me, what are all of your tricks to getting your kids to take a decent picture together? After this photo shoot I haven't had the courage to get them all ready and try again. So I think maybe for Christmas this year we may just have to go with this one:

Let it Snow!

This morning the phone rang around 6:45. I ran to the phone thinking if someone was calling that early something must be wrong (I know, I shouldn't think the worst!) It turns out it was one of Bryan's employees letting him know that she would be late into work today because of the snow. The snow??!

The last time it snowed in this area was 10 years ago. I actually remember it! We were living in Houston. I was outside on a trampoline at a Young Woman leaders house and little snow flurries started to come down. I remember being SO excited! I don't think anything even stuck on the ground, it just felt amazing that it was "snowing". I couldn't help but smile when I heard the neighbor kids outside this morning before school playing and yelling. The thought came to me that those kids who have lived here their entire life have probably never seen snow before. When Ethan woke up I took him to the back door to show him that it had snowed and he was glad, but not very impressed. He just pretty much told me that we need more snow and a big hill. I guess living in Idaho, Ohio, and Iowa makes snow a little less of a novelty.


So, here it is! A picture of our exciting Texas snow!

Yes, someone truly did call in late to work because of this.