Lily and Martha

Hello? Does anyone live here???

Man, I stink at posting lately. I take pictures but don't post about it. There are so many things that I have wanted to post about. What's the hold up you ask? I've got a baby in one arm and I refuse to spend an hour typing out a post one-handed.

Anna is now in bed and is likely to be in bed asleep until about 2 in the morning, so I have a few hours with which to use my two hands to type.

First, my magazine. It came in the mail on Thursday and I immediately took it outside and took many photos of it, intending to post right away about how I had finally received it. I suck.

I've looked through the magazine several times and Mom has looked through it and we've picked out several good recipes we'd like to try out soon.

Thank you thank you thank you!!! It's the perfect birthday gift!

Second, I would like to post about my 18 month old, Little Lily, the tyrant. Even though she throws tantrums like I've never seen out of any of my children before and screams at the top of her lungs for fun, she has her pluses. Check it out.

She doesn't look like she's having a good time but she could ride all day long. Things I love about this photo: the dimple in Lily's arm, her feet skimming the ground and her tiny little hands gripping the seat. Too cute.

She loves Anna.

Chocolate, it'll cure all your ails.

She likes tools. She's a problem-solver. This poses a few problems for her caregivers.

Fitness Friday - Time Capsule

Our assignment from Brenda this week was to make a time capsule. This is such a good idea, because real and sustainable health changes can be slow, and this is a great way to see the full impact of the progress that we miss since we see ourselves each day! Here is what I am including in my time capsule:

• a pair of black stretchy pants (These are the kind of pants that no one ever intends to wear, ever. They are dangerous, too, because I could wear those pants now, or 15 pounds heavier and they would still fit. Not good.)
• My measurements
• A picture of my greatest current struggle - chocolate. Don't worry, ladies. It is just the wrapper from the chocolate bar in there. I took it off my son's Valentine's Day chocolate bar, which I have not eaten from at all! Woo Hoo!


• Exercise goals: I want to be strong enough to jog for 20 minutes without stopping to walk, have definite muscle definition in my arms and legs
• A current picture of me. (Top quality photo, too. That's right - I'll be forming classes for photography lessons soon! Clear your calendars!)

This was hard for me to put together because it forced me to truly look at where I am now. It was eye opening, but I need that. For more Fitness Friday posts, visit The Family Revised.

Fitness Friday - Free For All

This week Brenda didn't give us a specific assignment, which is good, because I haven't done anything specific...I probably wouldn't even post at all, but since I missed posting last week because I was out of town, I didn't want to skip this week too! I am still out here - just not doing anything noteworthy!

The last two weeks we have had illness rotate through all three children and me. Currently, me and my oldest son are sick. That has pretty much ruled out all exercise, and good cooking for that matter! We are on the upswing, though. I haven't gone totally off. I did get a roasted chicken to add protein to salads, and today I am making a nourishing chicken stock with the carcass. One huge change I have made in the midst of this is that I have started asking myself before I eat something, "Is this going to nourish my body?" If the answer is no, I am putting it back and finding something that the answer is yes. This means I am snacking on fruit, veggies, yogurt...and not pop tarts, candy...you know, the things my brain thinks I want. Now before you think I've found a cure-all, I just started this yesterday. I'll update you on whether or not it makes a long term difference!

At least the shot worked...

So I don't have the flu. But I do have some virus that has been going around that the doctor said, "I'd just rather have the flu than this virus." Great. Me too. ::sigh:: She said that since mine just started yesterday, it will probably still get worse before it gets better. I am supposed to alternate Tylenol and Advil and get lots of rest (laughing hysterically) and fluids. But at least it's not the flu!

Rebellion

I think I must be in my blogging teenage years. I am experiencing a bit of a bloggy rebellion. I am not reading my "daily reads" daily - some I haven't read in a week. I am also rebelling at posting. It's not for lack of ideas; I'm even still taking pictures to go with my ideas. They just aren't making it anywhere close to a post... Hopefully, soon I'll hit my blogging 20's and start up again!

I am filling my extra time due to not blogging with good things, though. My house is actually starting to feel like a place to relax in again. I am not the world's best housekeeper in the best of times, and after a baby everything goes way downhill. I am so happy to say that my bathrooms and kitchen have been clean - truly clean - for a week!

I'm also sick. I actually called the doctor and scheduled an appointment for this afternoon. If I had a fever, I'd say that I had the flu. I have every other symptom, though. I got a flu shot, so I am hoping it is something they can actually fix for me.

Anyway, the main reason I'm breaking my bloggy silence is to post pictures of my baby. Andrew is three months old today! I can hardly believe he made that mark already! I had him at the doctor last week for an ear infection (thank you, big brothers, for passing on the viruses!) and found out that he already weighs 13 lb. 7 oz! He has gained six pounds in his first three months! Go mommy milk! He is becoming Mr. Personality as well. He smiles and talks all the time. He is desperate to get things in his mouth, but doesn't have the coordination to do it yet, which is causing no small amount of frustration! He can grab a toy and lift it to look at it and shake it, but he just cannot get it into his mouth! He is sleeping great, too! He sleeps for about 8 hours at night, and occasionally goes for 9, 10, or even 11 hours! Basically, my baby is the best!

Here are some recent pictures:

Look at that goofy, flirty grin! Andrew is a huge flirt. He will look at you, give you a half-smile and then turn his head in mock shyness - all the while, looking to see if you are still smiling at him! What? He's just so cute that you want a closer look? Okay.

Just look at those big eyes!! Am I ever going to be able to say "no" to this child? Would you be able to?

Andrew finally doesn't scream through his entire bath, praise the Lord! Bath had been a pain in the neck until recently. Now he enjoys the water and even is okay when I take him out and dry him off. His Aunt Barb and Uncle Scott (Scott is from Chicago) sent us this towel. I wanted to get a picture of him in it, but since he has screamed for each bath, I hadn't been able to get a good picture. Especially since the worst part of bath is the drying off time. Just to be safe, I took this picture before the bath, not after!

Just look at that chub! This boy has rolls on rolls. I love how his cheeks just extend right down under his chin! I have to admit that I spend way too much time kissing those chubby cheeks!

Happy three month birthday, Andrew!

In Which I Cry With Relief

We've commandeered Lily's crib. Anna needs it. She's outgrown the Moses basket already and she keeps me awake at night with all her grunting and weird noises. Lily is now in the toddler bed; a scary notion to her father and me.

Let me tell you a bit about Lily.

Every kid eats strange stuff. Things an adult would never think to put in their mouths, children taste, put in their mouths or eat. We've had a few problems with this in the past. Ella ate a couple of things we called Poison Control over but we've been pretty darn hardened to what kids eat since then. Until Lily. Lily challenges our sanity with the fear that she will some day kill herself by eating something poisonous or drowning in the toilet. She has an irrational fascination with the toilet and we've found her MANY times playing in the toilet water. Gross. We've also caught her eating things like paint, when we had the house painted, Head and Shoulders shampoo, nails, thumb tacks, dirt (of course), and she does things like: when it rains here the back sliding door tracks fill with water. They are dirty, hard-to-keep-clean tracks and, of course, oiled so that the doors slide smoothly. Lily gets down on all fours and laps the rain water out of the tracks. There is nothing Lily won't put in her mouth.

You can see our fear with putting her in a bed she can get out of. The crib kept her alive while we all slept because she couldn't get out of it...although she did try very hard to get out of the crib, but the climbing is another post entirely. So, we got a gate for her door. I really didn't want to have to do this, but she simply cannot be trusted. It's been a battle to get her to obey us and stay in the bed. The gate just gives us peace of mind that if, in the middle of the night she disobeys, at least she won't eat poison or drown in the toilet.

Last night, Rachel got up and came to our room and then immediately went back to her room. Odd for her; she usually climbs into bed with us. Then I hear the gate opening and closing and feet and more feet and frantic feet and more gate noise. So I drag my tired self out of bed and confront Ella with, "What in the world is going on here???" It was then that panic ensued as Ella informed me that Lily was not in her bed.

We searched the entire house. All the bathrooms, every single room we searched. All the lights were on in the house and Del , Ella and I were calling her name. Can you imagine what was going through our heads??? All the doors were locked so she didn't get out of the house. Why wasn't she answering our calls? And then Del had an epiphany. What's that we see there?

Is that a little butt sticking up in the air?

Let's shed a little more light on the matter.

There she is. Sleeping under Ella's bed.

These aren't the best pictures because I was crying while I was taking them.

And then I hugged her and kissed her and hugged all the kids and kissed them all and thanked God that they were all still safe in their beds.

Re-do

I posted that picture of Ella's painting a while ago. I thought it was such a bad representation of what the painting actually looks like. I had scanned it in. Here's a picture of the painting on my wall. Doesn't it look better.

Here she is reading her bible. She just carries it around reading it. She reads her bible more than I do. She puts me to shame. She helps me to understand what Jesus meant when he said we are to receive the kingdom of God like children.

We had high tea today with my grandma, cousin Lisa and her daughter Genesis. Lisa and Genesis are visiting my grandma for a few days. Who wouldn't want to escape the cold of Michigan right about now! We had so much fun. Little giggling girls are the best!