Monday, June 22, 2009

Happy Birthday to Me.

Hmm...

Just as I suspected.

I woke up this morning on my thirtieth birthday...

And I feel just the same as I did yesterday. ;o)

Only I guess I've been more celebrated and gifted by my wonderful family and friends today. Which is wonderful and great and makes me feel so loved. It's great!

So now I am officially thirty. 30. Three decades done, the fourth begins today.

I can only hope that God has in mind to bless me with a few more wonderful decades to come. But, for today I am just thankful for the years I have had, and the day I have been blessed with today.

Oh, and I'm thankful for my new HUGE wooden picnic table that my Dad and Hubby got me for my birthday. Now my whole family, and guests, can eat all together on sunny days in the backyard. It's so exciting!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A public "Thank You"

Thank you Mary Grace...



... for everything.

Monday, June 15, 2009

That's a first...

We've lost plenty of teeth in this house.



In fact, this morning the 10th tooth of the family was lost. So it wasn't the actual losing of a tooth that got to me this time. It was the method by which said tooth was lost.



Today while I was making lunch Punky and Finny were upstairs in their room working on tidying up their Lego area. Finny came running downstairs full of excitement and anticipation to tell me about how his already loose tooth was suddenly REALLY loose. He had been taking apart a Lego creation and had used his teeth to pry apart a particularly stubborn piece. Of course I never allow them to pry Legos apart with their teeth. I've actually a purchased a nifty little tool made specifically for prying stubborn Legos apart just so that my children will not chip and crack their precious teeth. But when I'm not looking, apparently they just do it anyway...



But I digress...



So He asked if I could pull it the rest of the way and I told him it wasn't quite ready for that, but that I thought it would surely come out sometime this week.



I thought that was the end of it, as he happily went back upstairs to finish the Lego cleaning. But then I heard a wild stampeding of feet as someone came galloping across the upstairs hall and down the stairs into the kitchen where I was still working towards making lunch.

And there was Funny, smiling maniacally with a slight tinge of blood in his mouth and a tooth in his hand. He was so excited as he announced with a thrill, "Mom, Punky came up with this great idea and he got my tooth out!!!"

I was still trying to piece it all together as Punky came trotting up behind Finny to tell me in better detail what exactly had happened.

So apparently Punky's "brilliant" idea was that if a Lego had loosened the tooth to begin with, then surely that was a good tool to use to remove the tooth once and for all.

And so he happily presented this idea to his little brother, who trustingly allowed his big brother to wedge a long, thin Lego piece to his wiggly little tooth... and yank with all his might until the thing popped out.

Yes. My seven year old pried out my five year old's tooth with a Lego piece.

Ick. Ewwww. Talk about giving me the willies.

It is funny now in hindsight, to imagine Finny happily going along with his brother's genius plan of tooth removal. Now let me just state for the record that never in a million years would Punky let anyone near one of his loose teeth with a Lego in hand. Oh no. That boy starts crying at the mere thought of discomfort, let alone the actual real potential for pain.

But apparently he had no trouble whatsoever inflicting that kind of pain on his little brother. Nope. No trouble at all.

Finny admitted that yes, it did indeed hurt quite a bit when he did the actual yank. But as soon as the tooth was out, it didn't hurt anymore. So that's good, I guess.

So there you go. Yet another moment that I never saw coming in my years of mothering.

And just for the record... I did tell that that Legos were not an acceptable form of tooth removal in the future. Next time, just come ask Mommy for the floss and I'll let you try to tie the thing up and pull it out that way. I'm not sure why, but it's somehow much less creepy.

But hey, A+ for creativity and ingenuity, huh?

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Tick, tock.

My birthday is a week from Monday.

I'll be 30.

Crazy.

I never thought I'd ever be anything but twenty-something. And I know that I'll feel exactly the same way when I wake up on the morning of my 30th birthday as I did the night before.

But still. It just seems weird.

I just had to post that. Not sure why. I'm not exactly worried, and I'm not really feeling "old." I guess it's just one more reminder that nothing ever stays the same. And since I've never really looked beyond this time of life, when I am young and can do pretty much anything with ease and am having babies and raising my young children... well entering into a new decade is just a strange reminder that someday these days will be gone. And my life will be really different.

Not just new-baby-different, or new-school-year-different, or new-schedule-different... but really, REALLY different. Like no-one-living-at-home-to-make-a-mess-different. And only-seeing-my-kids-on-holidays-and-family-gatherings-different. Like I'm-the-Grandma-and-not-the-Mommy-different.

But the whole name of this blog - Psalm 118:24 - defies this thinking. TODAY is the day the Lord has made. And for me, regardless of if I'm still in my twenties or if I'm fifty something, He has something in TODAY for me to do and to learn and to receive and to give.

So yes, my birthday is just days away. And a new decade will be starting. And I know very little about what that decade will look like for me.

But today I'm still 29. ;o) And I am still blessed to be a daughter of the King. My husband still loves me and my children are still a blessing to me all day every day.

So I'll worry about that whole "30" thing tomorrow, I guess. ;o)

Friday, June 12, 2009

Goose

Oh, and by the way... Goose is totally over strep now. He started the antibiotics last Wednesday, and the last time he measured a fever was sometime Friday. By Saturday he was much more himself, and he was totally fine by Sunday.

So Goose is healthy. And we're happy.

And praise the Lord that no one else in the family (so far...) has had even the slightest hint of a fever or sore throat...

Check.

I just finished a new Occupational Therapy activity schedule for Finny that includes more summer-friendly activities. It also includes more activities that I think I will be able to stick with, and most of the choices that take a lot of time and energy on my part (the choices that often got skipped, in other words...) have been replaced by more Mommy-friendly activities. ;o)

Anyway. I just feel REALLY GOOD to have a new list of fun activities to do with my boy! And most of them I know at least Goose, and probably even Punky, will want to participate in. So that will make for some fun summer family time.

I'm excited. I hope Finny likes his new activities. And I am reminded how much better I do when things are new and changed up... I get complacent when schedules and activities get a bit stale. I need to take a mental note for the many years of OT and homeschooling ahead of us...

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Nine years later...

Nine years ago today I made a promise...

...to love, honor and cherish one man for the rest of my life.

I never dreamed I would be so blessed as I am today.

Nine years ago today I was a naive 20 year old young lady with a huge ego, big plans, a whole lot of control issues and no clue what life was really about.

Nine years ago today I thought I could make my husband into the Perfect Man...

Nine years ago today I thought I knew what the Perfect Man was.

Nine years ago today I did not know the Lord, nor did I consult Him in one of the biggest decisions of my life.

But over the past nine years, God has blessed me despite my ignorance and disobedience. Instead of letting me have what I really deserved - a life full of pain and trouble from going my way rather than seeking out His will - He has filled my life up beyond measure with gifts, love, peace, grace and family.

In His infinite wisdom God knew I would not be asking His will in my marriage, but He chose a wonderful man for me anyway. He knew I would not look to Him to plan our children - no, I knew much better than He did what kind of family I wanted, after all - but He still has blessed us four times over with beautiful children, true gifts from Him (which I now know, of course!).

God also knew I might not find Him on my own, so He blessed me along the way with a wonderful best friend and Christian mentor in Mary Grace who has patiently walked alongside me and has challenged me to grow in my faith and in my role as Godly wife to my husband.

And here I am today, still married to the man I thought I had chosen but now realize God had carefully picked out long before I was on the lookout. I am the mother to four beautiful children whom I did not earn or deserve, but somehow God trusted me to be their mother and to raise them alongside the husband he chose. I love and follow Jesus now in a way I not only never imagined, but sadly for many years of my life never even wanted.

So the point of all this is to say that nine years ago today, I was blessed to marry my husband. And he has loved me well through all of my faults and weaknesses, through my stubbornness and pride, my selfishness and blindness.

God has been patient and gentle with me over the years.. but He is, after all, God. He promises that and He never breaks His promises.

But my husband is just a man, like anyone else. And he too has weaknesses and faults. And though he made a promise to me nine years ago today, he is just a man and men are weak - there was no guarantee that beautiful June day that the promises he made to me would be kept.

But... through sickness and health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse... through all my pride, selfishness, stubbornness and blindness, my husband has indeed kept his promise. He has loved me and has taken care of me and has forgiven me more times than I care to think about.

So today, nine years down the road of the blessed marriage, I am thankful.

I am thankful to God for His presence and His blessings... and His grace and forgiveness, and for the man he provided in my husband.

And I am thankful to my husband for his love and his grace and forgiveness of my sins towards him. I am thankful to him for going to work each day and working twice as hard, just so that I can stay home and raise our children. I am thankful for his laugh and the twinkle in his eye. I am thankful for his silly fetish with cameras, because though I roll my eyes at the purchases, I do very much appreciate all the beautiful moments of our life captured on them. I am thankful for his BBQ skills and his un-picky eating habits and his mellow nature and his comfortable presence. I am thankful for the man he has become over the nine years of our marriage and the father I have watched him grow into over our seven + years of parenthood. I am thankful that he does the dishes more nights than not. I am thankful that he puts hours and hours into decorating our Christmas tree and our house with lights every Christmas, even though he doesn't care - just because he loves me and wants to make me happy. I am thankful that he embraces my Christian morals and the Christian raising of our family, even though he does not (yet) know the Lord as his personal savior.

So nine years later... I'm older, wiser, more humble and know a whole lot less than I thought I did way back then. Nine years later I realize I am not the wonderful woman I thought I was... and my husband is a much better man than I realized he was.

Happy Anniversary, My Love. Nine years. Thank you for loving me - no matter what.

Oh, and by the way... I love you, too. ;o)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Update on Goose

So with a fever that keeps hitting 104 +/- whenever the ibuprofen wears off, plus the nasty looking white patches on each of little Goose's tonsils... I thought it best to bring the little man into the walk-in clinic at our local doctor's office (the regular docs didn't have any openings today)...

And he has strep throat. It's the first time anyone in our family has ever, ever had it. Neither my husband or I had ever even had it as kids.

But I am thankful to God for a kind on-call doctor who was more than happy to prescribe a full Z-pack for my boy without even putting him through the pain of the throat swab... I guess when you look into an almost-three-year-old's throat and see nasty white patches on his tonsils and measure 104.1 degree fever in the doc's office, you just get the poor kid on some drugs as quickly as possible.

On the bright side though, he has been an absolute angel. He's been cheerful and mellow, watching lots of movies but happy to play, too. He's not complained or fussed about anything. In fact, I'd almost go so far as to say he's been more pleasant during his illness than he has been as a general rule these past few weeks. ;o) So at least he's not acting miserable or clearly knocked out or feeling horrible. I'm so glad he's been so good through it all. I'd be so sad if he were clearly miserable.

So that's the scoop. He already got his first dose of zythromax this evening and will be noncontagious by tomorrow evening. So here's praying it stays with him and doesn't spread around to all the rest of the house. Strep can be a nasty, nasty bug if it festers too long... ain't that right, Mary Grace? ;o)

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Goose's zoo day

Poor Goose.

We went to the zoo today. We were all thrilled and excited to head out the door. So when Goose said he was cold and I measured his temperature at 100.3, I didn't think it was worth all their disappointment to stay home. 100.3, after all, is in the territory for us of just a minor cold setting in. Besides, he was acting fine and perfectly happy. So I dosed him with some ibuprofen, just in case, and we went anyway.

To the zoo. Over an hour away. On an 85 degree day.

Sigh.

Well, he was totally fine the whole time. I gave him full priority in the stroller and he rode the whole day, but he was pleasant and happy. He had a great time and really enjoyed seeing the lions, penguins and gorillas. Oh, and the jaguar (Because what 2-ish year old boy doesn't love Baby Jaguar from Diego!?). Honestly I pretty well forgot he had even measured a temperature at all this morning.

Then we got home... and as I removed him from the carseat and carried him across the driveway in the 90 degree heat (our town is always hotter than the city) I noticed he felt much warmer than he should after sitting in the air conditioned car for an hour.

Yeah. That would be because he had a 103.7 degree fever... which kept going up until it hit 104.2 at its peak. Now with fresh ibuprofen he's down in the high 102's.

My poor baby! I feel so bad. I have no idea how long his fever has been that high. He really did seem fine at the zoo. Seriously. But the poor guy is just burning up!

Well, anyway my little man is now parked on the couch watching any and every movie he wants until dinner and bed tonight. He's happy and seems perfectly comfortable.

So I'd say that pretty much blows my chances of the Mother of the Year Award. ;o) I can't believe I took a not-quite-three-year-old to the zoo with a 104 degree fever.

OK. Off I go to snuggle with my guy and hope he's feeling better soon. He's such a little trooper.