I Love These Kids!

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Another Snapshot

So, just when I was wishing I could fast forward through this week and be done with it all, I encounter one of life's little moments...

Last night I was sitting in Claire's room getting her ready for bed. We'd brushed her teeth, gotten her pjs on and picked out her night time stories. This was literally all I could muster. If I had to read the books, say the prayers, or sing the lullabies my throat would probably literally have fallen out. So, I was in her room sitting on the floor slumped against her bed waiting for Kevin to finish with Jude and come take over with Claire. (He's sick too, so he was in super-husband mode!) As I sat slumped over, Claire was being Claire. She's leaping over constructed obstacles, clambering across my knees, and spinning in circles-all the while talk-talk-talking. It was like an endless cacophony of movement and noise. Too much for my sick pregnant brain that, at this point, had not slept in two nights. (We're at three nights now, in case you're keeping score.)

Then, she suddenly stopped, came over to me, and put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry you're sick, Mamma. Here..." Then she leaned over and gingerly draped her arms around me. "This is all my love." She hugged me tenderly, then stepped back with her hand still on my shoulder and looked earnestly into my eyes. "I love you," she said. Then it was back to jumping and climbing and spinning and talking.

Just like that, a Kairos moment broke through my fog. And then I realized how much I would have given up had I skipped this seemingly grueling part of that night, this week, this time. Those moments are few, but they matter.

On being sick

So, Jude has passed on the "Cold of Death" to Kevin and I. As I sit here in bed during nap time attempting to make up for my second sleepless night, I'm trying to decide which is worse: A 24 hour flu or the common cold.

I had the flu over Christmas. It was horrible. I basically was useless and in bed the whole time. Kevin was completely on his own and I really didn't see the kids for a whole day. If you're a mother of small children, you literally cannot do your job. But it is short. Sure, that time is spent reeling from fever and nausea, punctuated by periods of ralphing, but you're generally only going to lose one night's sleep.

With a cold, however, you never feel completely incapacitated. Just crumby for a day or two, then pretty miserable for a few days, then kinda crumby again for a few days. Then, there's the first night you can't sleep because your throat is so sore and swollen you can barely breathe. And the second night you can't sleep because your face is so congested it feels like a hippo is sitting on it. And when you do dose off you wake shortly because your tongue has turned into cardboard. So then you attempt to sleep sitting up to drain your sinuses...but who can sleep sitting up? And then there's the third night that you spend hacking and sputtering all night and end up moving to the couch so you don't wake the whole house up. So, a week of feeling sick, three nights with no sleep, but an ability to more or less complete your daily functions. Sure, you walk around in a fog, the TV's on a lot, and you feed the kids candy for lunch, but you're there. They may laugh at you when your croak out their bedtime song, and it's a miracle you're still standing at the end of the day, but it's no flu.

What do you think? Which is worse: Quick and dirty or long and drawn out?- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Jude The Toddler

I've been meaning to publish a post forever about Jude, but I have been distracted by life! In the last few months he has really grown up and changed quite a bit. He now talks a lot (not reaching epic Claire proportions, but still impressive for an almost 15 month old!)

He now does most all of the animal noises (except for some inexplicable reason he pants for a pig.) He will do the hand motions for "Happy and you Know it" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." He can sign or say almost all the foods he likes to eat. He even combines a few words like "up please," "book please," etc. Also, my nerdy SLP side is impressed with how many final consonants he can say like: hot, help, book, please. He says at least 55 words (I stopped counting when I hit 55, but I'm sure he knows a few more that I couldn't think of) and just signs at least another 10-20 on top of that. It seems like he learns at least 2 new words a day, so it's really fun to listen to him talk now! My favorite new addition to his vocabulary is "tsi tsisy" for sissy. I think I had my expectations set a little low because Claire was so advanced with her language. Also because Jude is a boy, and a second child, I never wanted to compare his skills to hers and end up worrying unnecessarily. But as I sit down and catalogue everything he can do, I can see that he's doing great!

His favorite things to play with are books and the singing rocking horse he got for Christmas. He can read forever and ever. He will bring you book after book and plop on the ground so you can read it to him. Sometimes he just wants to turn the pages, but other times he'll get frustrated if you don't actually read the words to him. He loves to dance to music, and will activate his singing horse over and over just so he can bop along to the song (we've only had it since Christmas and he's already shorting out the music buttons and wearing down the batteries!)

His personality is also evolving, some for the cuter, some for the worse. He loves to give kisses, he says "hi" and "bye bye" to every person we pass in the store, and he adores his Sissy (except when she is taking his toys or pushing him off things, of course!) He is very stubborn, and will continue to touch things long after he knows they're off limits. And one disconcerting thing that has been around recently is quite a grouchy disposition. This manifests most unpleasantly in walking up to other children, screaming "No! and hitting them. This happens anytime another child enters the room. It's the first thing Jude does immediately after seeing them. So horrible! He's totally "the mean kid" at playdates! I know it's just a developmental phase...probably has something to do with marking his territory against challengers, or something animal planety like that. I've tried a few things, and have settled on a reminder to "be gentle," which seems to work about 80% of the time. Hopefully this will not last much longer, or friends will start to dread our company!

We love our little monkey boy and it's so exciting to get to know every little new thing about him!

The Christmas Story According to Claire

This afternoon Claire and I were discussing the Christmas story. We were talking about the chorus of angels announcing Christ's birth to the shepherds, and how they followed the star to find the baby. The rest of the conversation went as follows: Claire added, "The wise men followed the star too."
"That's right!" I responded.
"Yeah, and bears dressed like camels too." Claire added matter-of-factly.
"Wait, what?"...
"Yep."

It took me a while to realize she was referencing a Berenstain Bears book we had read a few days ago. So then followed a conversation wherein I try to explain that the book is about a pretend world where everyone is a bear. So, in that book wise bears followed a star to a bear cub Jesus. And the brother and sister were pretend camels in a christmas play. Yeah... it was epic and confusing.

Parenting win or fail?


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Why Claire is Awesome

So, Claire's Sunday school teacher had a great story to tell me when I picked her up after church yesterday, and I have to write it down because it's that good. It goes like this:

The teacher has her daughter in the class with her who is also 3. For whatever reason, the little girl was having a hard time and was crying. Claire walked up to her, took her hand, and said, "It's ok friend. Let's come over here and we'll play together, ok?" Then Claire took care of her for the rest of the day!

She really is amazing! We have talked before about how she isn't shy, so if one of her friends at school is sad then she can comfort them and be their special friend. It's great when we can actually see her carrying out the things we talk about! She has such a big heart for others, and loves to be friends with everyone she meets. I think her special gift is going to be making others feel loved. I'm so proud of her!

Jude is One!

I can't believe our little boy is already a toddler! What a fun few months it has been. Jude has a very sweet personality. He smiles constantly and is generous with hugs and kisses! After mastering simple walking, he has now moved on to more challenging tasks such as spinning, running, and going backwards- and he has the bumps on his face to prove it!

For Jude's first birthday we went with a Rock n Roll theme. He, of course, wore a Beatles shirt that said "Hey Jude." It was a fun time, and we were blessed to have so many friends- old and new- to share it with!

We also used his party as the perfect time to tell everyone that Squiddy #3 is on his/her way! So now Jude is both a little, and a big brother. Claire is hoping for a sister and is insistent that we name her Quesadilla. (We're taking it under consideration.)

For Halloween we took the kids trick-or-treating at the mall. Claire was elated by the concept! She dressed up as "Alice's Wonderland" as she put it. We dressed Jude as a dragon. He tagged along, but did not do any actual trick-or-treating. Claire had so much fun! When we got home I let her choose a few pieces to keep and the rest went into the bowl of candy we were giving out to the neighborhood kids. She then got to hand out candy to everyone who came to our door. I think she had just as much fun handing out the candy as she did getting it earlier. We used it as a good lesson in generosity- giving most of the good things we've been given to others to make them happy.

In house news: They have started construction! The hole is dug and I think the foundation will be poured today or tomorrow! Kevin and Claire get giddy watching the tractors work! We go over every day to watch the progress. We have already met some of the neighbors, and Claire has spent some time playing in one little boy's backyard. We're so excited!

The next year promises to be filled with many big adventures! Before the end of 2012 we will have a new house and a new baby. Crazy!