Guess What's Done?

The Jelly Bean Bed!

There was so much excitement going on up top there that Dan has decided he needs to stabilize it a little more for the long haul, but they're sleeping in them tonight.  Well, I'm not sure how much sleeping will be going on with all the happy energy zooming around that room.

Getting More Than I Wanted

What I wanted:

To cover up the nasty spider webs by my front door.

To fill my flower pots.

My flower pots color coordinating with a nice patriotic red, white and blue.

A quick project to get the kids working a bit.

What I got was:

Pink and orange.  Not the color combination I would ever have put together.

Excess flowers that then were shoved as best I could past the rocks and weed prevention material in our "flower beds."

Eventually giving up and telling the kids we're leaving the rest for Daddy.

An entire afternoon of hot and sweaty work.  Almost exclusively on my own.

A baby crying for most of it.

And

Two kids out of their minds with JOY because I let them play with the potting soil and "water" the plants with the hose.

Worth it.

A few days ago Charlotte put on a "concert."  She wanted all of us to be in the audience.  I laughed out loud when I saw this.  *Hint* look closely at the audience.

 Today was Charlotte's graduation from preschool.  Good mother that I am, we managed to make it to graduation on time, but I forgot my camera and Lee decided he was hungry just before the "ceremony" commenced.  I took this photo later in the day.

 After taking Charlotte's photo Greg insisted that I take his.  He didn't have a hat so he improvised with his dog.

I Finally Got It

I finally managed to catch a smile on video to share with everyone.  While I was searching for that video, I found a few more that I thought I'd like to share.  They're pretty good.

Many wonderful people provided dinner for us after we had Lee.  Many of those people provided enchiladas.  Greg got tired of eating enchiladas.  On the last night we told him he had to sit there and eat them or wait until bed.  He decided to wait...

This is the video where I finally caught Lee smiling.  I rotated the camera half way through because I didn't really think about trying to view it anytime in the future.  Smart, I know.

I also found a few photos on my camera I thought were worth sharing.

 Greg likes to eat his Popsicles on the top of the dog house.  It's got a much better view. 

 Greg trying something new at the park.

 While Katie and Garrett were here we went to Niagara cave.  It was a fun trip and the kids hiked the whole thing themselves.

 This is a photo of the kids at the end of the drive back from dropping off Katie and Garrett.

 A week or so before Katie and Garrett came Charlotte had a fever for a day.  I told her to take a nap and she told me she didn't need a nap.  Five minutes later this is what I found.

On Saturday Dan took all of us to Preston, MN Trout Days.  Our family loves to go to small town celebrations.  After the kids had jumped in the bounce houses and ridden in the tractor pulled train cars and we were sitting on the curb waiting for the parade to start I looked down at Greg's feet and saw that summer truly had arrived.  These are the feet of summer.

I'm not sure why blogger put this video at the end instead of up with the others, but it's too much of a hassle to move it so here's one last video treat.

This last one is of the same video session trying to get Lee to smile.  The real gem doesn't come until the end though.  I've entitled it the interpretation of tongues.

My Excuse for Not Posting

My apologies for not posting much recently.  Just so you know, this is what we've been up to:

 Having a birthday.

 Being a turtle in the Minnesota Children's Museum.

 Climbing around outside.

 Honing our Orthopedic skills

 Enjoying the sunshine.

 Enjoying brotherhood.

 Trying new tricks at the park.

 Loving being a mom.

 Discovering ourselves in the mirror.

 Staring at windows

 Looking at you.

 Throwing sticks in the water.

 Hugging each other.

Eating some ice cream.

All in all it's been a pretty eventful week!  

(PS. Thanks Katie for the good photos, we wouldn't have had any if I were in charge.)

A Life of Purpose

A message I heard at church a few months back has kept coming back to me since having had Lee.  The idea is that God has said that His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality of man.  I had never paid much attention to the first part of that statement before.  His work and His glory.  His work and His glory are the same thing.  He glories in His work.  He (of course) has a life of purpose.

I've also been talking to Dan about the idea of struggling to live a good, moral, upstanding life.  That we have heard many times in our church it can be hard to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It can be, but I've had a hard time with that idea because I feel that in many ways it is much easier to live that life as well.  Dan said that perhaps one of the hardest things is to simply live a life of purpose, where someone doesn't simply take the path of least resistance.

So what does that mean for me?  What is my purpose and how can I go about working toward it and glorying in it?  I don't know the answer, but here are a few things I've come up with.

First, I want my children to know that I love them not just because I tell them so.  I want them to know because I have spent my time and energy purposely showing that love for them.  To show them my love is different for each child.  Right now knowing how to show my love for Lee is easy.  I need to take care of him.  Taking care of him may not always be easy, but at least I know what to do.  Charlotte seems to be taking the entrance of a new baby the hardest right now.  I think she misses me.  How do I show her that I'm still here, still watching out for her, still wanting to cuddle her?  I want to show her those things.  Greg seems to be entering right into a new phase of life right now.  One of great learning and exploration.  I want to be his teacher and his trail guide.  How do I help him to know he can come to me and we will find out the answers together?

Not only do I want my children to know that I love them, but also my husband.  I'm realizing this is a bit harder now than it previously had been.  Work, and TV, and kids, and pets, and the house seem to get in the way of that.  I'm realizing that if I truly want him to know that I love him I need to work at it, I need to do something to love him because otherwise it will be pushed back.  The love seems to hang around on the edges instead of between us.

I'm also realizing that if I'm honest with myself, I also need to spend time and energy focused on me.  On my body, my mind, my spirit.  I want my children to see my example and learn my values because I live them.  I need to focus on myself a bit in order to do that.  How though, how does one do that?

There seems to be so many things that require my work right now.  Many of those things excite and energize me, but also the sheer volume of the tasks ahead daunt me.  I find that I must ask myself: Where do I begin?

Mother's Day Gift

As a belated Mother's Day gift Lee gave me a few huge smiles yesterday.  He looked right at me and then smiled.  It was awesome.

It Never Lasts

Yesterday was awful.

Charlotte was sick and throwing up.

Lee was wanting to be held all the time (as always).

Greg was watching way too much TV and then going crazy.

Dan called in the early afternoon.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"HORRIBLE  When are you coming home?!"

You can always tell a bad day when I ask Dan to come home hours before he is scheduled to.

Today though, is a different story.

Today we slept in.

The sun was shining.

Charlotte was done puking.

I tucked the baby into the baby k'tan, buckled Charlotte's bike helmet, and took hold of Greg's hand.

We biked and walked to the park.

We played in the sun.

We ate lunch and afterwards

We took naps.

Everyone in the house was asleep at the same time for a good 20 minutes.

Today is a good day.

Mega Man

Here's the timeline of Lee's weight:

Birth: 8 lb 12 oz
He had not made that up by his discharge.
He had not made that up by his two week check.
He got sick so he managed to simply maintain his lower weight.
He had yet to regain his birth weight at his discharge follow up appointment.
Today he had a two week post-discharge weight check.

Today: 9 lb 11 oz

He's turned into a weight gaining champion.

Vignettes

A few nights ago I was in the mood for cake.  In fact since having my baby I'm always in the mood for cake, or sugar cookies, or anything that has the sugar and fat combination of baked goods.  As I was at the dinner table and I knew that if I said the word cake the kids would then be asking for it all night I simply told Dan, "I am really wanting some C-A-K-E."  Charlotte replies, "What are you talking about?"  And I said, "I spelled it so that you wouldn't know."  And she asks, "Because you're talking about cake?"

Great, now she can spell.

Lee now has a new trick.  He follows things with his eyes.  Charlotte's favorite is when he's in the car and she shines her flashlight on the seat back that the car seat faces.  He will follow it around in circles.  Then she asks if she and Greg loved that game.  I have no idea.  I never played that game with the two of them.

Greg always wants to help with the baby.  I have to have an eagle eye out because if I'm not careful I will walk into the room where the baby is crying to discover him head down in the baby swing.  It's crazy how fast Greg can "help" the baby into a sticky spot.