You've gotta love winter, right? Especially here. Monday we had near-record highs of 40 degrees. It was beautiful, warm, the snow was melting...then came yesterday. We had a cold front move in which steadily dropped the temp from our high at midnight (15 degrees) to -6 when we went to bed. This morning when I woke up? -15, without the windchill. What was the windchill? you ask. Well, this cold front also brought wind, too. So with the windchill, our "feels like temp" as the meteorologists say, is -40 to -50. Yummy. Needless to say, school has been cancelled and we're just chilling out here at home today. At least I didn't have to debate Alayna's health and whether or not she could go to school today!
Stay warm, everyone!
Our Life with 3 Daughters...and lots of animals, plenty of frustration, and tons of love.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Independence
There comes a time when a child no longer needs their parents for certain tasks. Usually, the child adamantly refuses help numerous times before the parent finally gives up and lets them take the lead in whatever task is at hand. Then there's my children. They have all been quite independent, but just sort of flow into it. There's no huge declaration of "I CAN DO IT!" They just...do it. Why is this on my mind? Because of this morning.
I was folding laundry in the living room, watching Mikayla as she snacked on her Cheerio breakfast in the kitchen. Lilly was upstairs washing her hands from her own breakfast and making little to no noise. I continued to fold the load of towels, when I heard Lilly's sweet little voice from behind me. "I'm all ready, Mommy. Do you need help?" I turned to look at her and she sure was all ready. She'd gotten herself completely dressed, combed her hair and put a barrette in. Of course, she was wearing Khaki pants, a mint green t-shirt with a flip-flop decal on it, a long-sleeved pink shirt that's almost too small and light blue socks, but she was dressed. And she proudly showed me that all the tags were in back. I knew she could get herself dressed, but she had really brushed her hair (the snarly-monsters were all gone, she informed me) and the barrette was actually holding it back. I was impressed.
When she asked again how she could help, I gave her the kitchen towels and asked her to put them away. She happily carried them to the kitchen, and I heard the drawer open and shut. Then she came back into the doorway from the kitchen to the living room, holding a hot pad. "Mommy, this isn't a towel! It's a lily-pad and it goes up there!" she said, pointing to the rack we hang pot-holders and hot pads on. And she was right. That was right where it belonged and I'd put it in with the towels. Silly me.
Then she decided she wanted to color, so I gave her a large sheet of paper and some markers, and she spelled her name perfectly! It was so good so of course, I had to take a picture. Along with her name, she outlined some horses and her hand, and drew a few apple trees and a snowman! See her name in the bottom corner? Her Y runs into her last L, but she did it all on her own!
I hate how sometimes our kids just seem to grow up overnight. Lilly has always been a little more mature than her age, as is Alayna, for that matter. But it's still not something you expect to just crop up like that. While I encourage and welcome the independence, there's a certain degree of sadness in it, too. I know the time will fly and before I know it all 3 of my girls will be grown and not needing me for anything more than a piece of advice or a few dollars. Ahhhhh!
I was folding laundry in the living room, watching Mikayla as she snacked on her Cheerio breakfast in the kitchen. Lilly was upstairs washing her hands from her own breakfast and making little to no noise. I continued to fold the load of towels, when I heard Lilly's sweet little voice from behind me. "I'm all ready, Mommy. Do you need help?" I turned to look at her and she sure was all ready. She'd gotten herself completely dressed, combed her hair and put a barrette in. Of course, she was wearing Khaki pants, a mint green t-shirt with a flip-flop decal on it, a long-sleeved pink shirt that's almost too small and light blue socks, but she was dressed. And she proudly showed me that all the tags were in back. I knew she could get herself dressed, but she had really brushed her hair (the snarly-monsters were all gone, she informed me) and the barrette was actually holding it back. I was impressed.
When she asked again how she could help, I gave her the kitchen towels and asked her to put them away. She happily carried them to the kitchen, and I heard the drawer open and shut. Then she came back into the doorway from the kitchen to the living room, holding a hot pad. "Mommy, this isn't a towel! It's a lily-pad and it goes up there!" she said, pointing to the rack we hang pot-holders and hot pads on. And she was right. That was right where it belonged and I'd put it in with the towels. Silly me.
Then she decided she wanted to color, so I gave her a large sheet of paper and some markers, and she spelled her name perfectly! It was so good so of course, I had to take a picture. Along with her name, she outlined some horses and her hand, and drew a few apple trees and a snowman! See her name in the bottom corner? Her Y runs into her last L, but she did it all on her own!
I hate how sometimes our kids just seem to grow up overnight. Lilly has always been a little more mature than her age, as is Alayna, for that matter. But it's still not something you expect to just crop up like that. While I encourage and welcome the independence, there's a certain degree of sadness in it, too. I know the time will fly and before I know it all 3 of my girls will be grown and not needing me for anything more than a piece of advice or a few dollars. Ahhhhh!
Monday, January 28, 2008
A Weekend to remember
This weekend was a weekend that our entire family (well, except for Mikayla) will remember, for all sorts of different reasons. It was good, bad and ugly.
First, I'll tell about Lilly. She will remember this weekend as a fun time at Gramma Lynn's house, followed by a night with Daddy and her sisters. Then she'll remember it as a night of throwing up and not getting to go rollerskating the next day. Of all that, the not rollerskating will be her major remembrance. She was so upset to not get to go skating and asked us 12342 times if we were still going skating. Guess who ended up with a promise to go in a few weeks?
Alayna will remember the weekend for the same reasons as Lilly, though she got much sicker than Lilly. In fact, she's home from school today because she still has a fever, though she hasn't vomited since 11:00 yesterday morning. She is not too happy about being home, but she gets my bedroom to herself, with complete control of the remote and the entire bed to lounge in. She'll be fine. We did have to promise, however, that we'd go rollerskating as a family in the next few weeks to make up for the missed opportunity yesterday.
As for Andy, he will forever remember the one time that two of our girls got sick during the night while I wasn't home to help him with the clean-up, condolences, hugs and tears. He doesn't do well when the girls aren't feeling well anyway, as it literally pains him to see them in pain or hurting. But, they all survived.
And where was I during all of this? Having a great time at a scrap booking retreat with my friends! We got together on Friday night and scrapped all weekend until Sunday afternoon. We shared meals and snacks, laughed so hard we hurt, complained about politics, childbirth, and other things, shared ideas and inspiration for our pages...it was a blast and something we plan on doing yearly from now on. It was all good until I heard about my poor girlies being sick, then the mommy-guilt hit. "I should have been there." "I wish I could have comforted them when they weren't well." You know how it goes. But I can't change the past and I know that Andy did a great job with the girls. But I also know that everyone of them was very happy to see me come Sunday morning, and it made me so happy...even if I was cleaning up vomit within minutes. It's all part of the job, right?
First, I'll tell about Lilly. She will remember this weekend as a fun time at Gramma Lynn's house, followed by a night with Daddy and her sisters. Then she'll remember it as a night of throwing up and not getting to go rollerskating the next day. Of all that, the not rollerskating will be her major remembrance. She was so upset to not get to go skating and asked us 12342 times if we were still going skating. Guess who ended up with a promise to go in a few weeks?
Alayna will remember the weekend for the same reasons as Lilly, though she got much sicker than Lilly. In fact, she's home from school today because she still has a fever, though she hasn't vomited since 11:00 yesterday morning. She is not too happy about being home, but she gets my bedroom to herself, with complete control of the remote and the entire bed to lounge in. She'll be fine. We did have to promise, however, that we'd go rollerskating as a family in the next few weeks to make up for the missed opportunity yesterday.
As for Andy, he will forever remember the one time that two of our girls got sick during the night while I wasn't home to help him with the clean-up, condolences, hugs and tears. He doesn't do well when the girls aren't feeling well anyway, as it literally pains him to see them in pain or hurting. But, they all survived.
And where was I during all of this? Having a great time at a scrap booking retreat with my friends! We got together on Friday night and scrapped all weekend until Sunday afternoon. We shared meals and snacks, laughed so hard we hurt, complained about politics, childbirth, and other things, shared ideas and inspiration for our pages...it was a blast and something we plan on doing yearly from now on. It was all good until I heard about my poor girlies being sick, then the mommy-guilt hit. "I should have been there." "I wish I could have comforted them when they weren't well." You know how it goes. But I can't change the past and I know that Andy did a great job with the girls. But I also know that everyone of them was very happy to see me come Sunday morning, and it made me so happy...even if I was cleaning up vomit within minutes. It's all part of the job, right?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Lilly-isms
Lilly is such a humorous little girl that we've taken to calling her funnies "Lilly-isms." This morning, she's been full of them, so here's a little sampling from just today...It's never boring with her around!
*She walked up to my desk, grabbed my mini stapler from the drawer and held it up to her mouth. "Milk, butter, eggs," she said into the stapler, then put it back in the drawer and walked away like nothing had happened. When I busted out laughing, she gave me the most innocent look like, "What is so funny?!" (She loves to watch The Saddle Club on tv and they always have the same commercials. One is for a key chain gadget that can record your voice for things like where you park-row B12, a phone number, or your grocery list-milk, butter, eggs. Lilly thinks its the greatest thing and always says I should buy it! Apparently it's on her mind, though the tv hasn't been turned on yet today.)
*We just shared a piece of gum and after a minute or two, Lilly ran into the bathroom. I asked if she had to go potty and her response was, "No, a drink of water just goes really good with gum!"
*Lilly loves to take pictures and asked to take some of me (no, I will not be sharing any of them) Just as she was about to take the picture of me smiling obligingly, she goes, "Say, 'I love my kids!'" Where she got that one, I have no idea!
*Right now, she's practicing writing her name. As she wrote the first L, she sneezed, causing the bottom of the L to make a slight upward hook. She held her Doodle Pro up so I could see it and exclaimed, "Look it's an elf shoe!"
*This one is from the other day, but it's hilarious and one I have to share, too. Lilly has a bit of a hairy back, not long by any means, but the fine hair on her back is darker than the hair covering the rest of her body (you all know what I'm talking about here) Anyway, I made a comment that she was a monkey baby the other day because of her hairy back. The next afternoon she asked "J", one of my daycare kids and Lilly's best friend (along with "R"), "Hey, J, do you want to rub my hairy back?"
*She walked up to my desk, grabbed my mini stapler from the drawer and held it up to her mouth. "Milk, butter, eggs," she said into the stapler, then put it back in the drawer and walked away like nothing had happened. When I busted out laughing, she gave me the most innocent look like, "What is so funny?!" (She loves to watch The Saddle Club on tv and they always have the same commercials. One is for a key chain gadget that can record your voice for things like where you park-row B12, a phone number, or your grocery list-milk, butter, eggs. Lilly thinks its the greatest thing and always says I should buy it! Apparently it's on her mind, though the tv hasn't been turned on yet today.)
*We just shared a piece of gum and after a minute or two, Lilly ran into the bathroom. I asked if she had to go potty and her response was, "No, a drink of water just goes really good with gum!"
*Lilly loves to take pictures and asked to take some of me (no, I will not be sharing any of them) Just as she was about to take the picture of me smiling obligingly, she goes, "Say, 'I love my kids!'" Where she got that one, I have no idea!
*Right now, she's practicing writing her name. As she wrote the first L, she sneezed, causing the bottom of the L to make a slight upward hook. She held her Doodle Pro up so I could see it and exclaimed, "Look it's an elf shoe!"
*This one is from the other day, but it's hilarious and one I have to share, too. Lilly has a bit of a hairy back, not long by any means, but the fine hair on her back is darker than the hair covering the rest of her body (you all know what I'm talking about here) Anyway, I made a comment that she was a monkey baby the other day because of her hairy back. The next afternoon she asked "J", one of my daycare kids and Lilly's best friend (along with "R"), "Hey, J, do you want to rub my hairy back?"
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Random Things...
*Mikayla now has a handful of words, including Momma, Dadda and Daddy, Bumpa (Grampa), Buppy (puppy), Hi. She also knows and understands yes and no, and will shake or nod her head accordingly.
*She is still not what I would consider a walker, but she's close. She will walk between people or a person and an object, but she doesn't consciously let go and walk herself yet more than a step or two. She's so close!
*Mikayla is down to only one bottle a day, right before bed. I LOVE that, as it's much less dishes and just less hassle as a whole.
*Her favorite food seems to be broccoli. When I make it, she can't shovel it in fast enough. Though, that seems to be the case with most of her food. You'd think we were starving her sometimes with how she attacks her meals.
*Lilly has informed us that when she gets big like Mommy, she will get a baby and it will grow in her tummy with her food.
*While eating breakfast this morning, Lilly exclaimed, "That's amazing!" when I put craisins in with my Chex. "Amazing" is her new catch phrase for everything.
*She knows all of her upper case letters and we've begun working on lower case. She also likes to practice spelling her name.
*Lilly knows her full name, phone number, where we live (but not full address), birthdate, Mommy and Daddy's real names, and her sister's full names.
*Alayna just finished her 2nd quarter as a first grader. She was tested on her reading comprehension the other day and reads at level L, which apparently means late 2nd to early 3rd grade. Her basic reading (sounding out words correctly, etc) was tested to a sixth grade list.
*She is a tremendous help and seldom complains when I ask her to help with her sisters or help me do another task around the house.
*She can't wait until it's nice enough to ride bike and horse again. She also can't wait until it's simply warm enough to play in the snow (we haven't been above 10 for about 5 days now).
*She is still not what I would consider a walker, but she's close. She will walk between people or a person and an object, but she doesn't consciously let go and walk herself yet more than a step or two. She's so close!
*Mikayla is down to only one bottle a day, right before bed. I LOVE that, as it's much less dishes and just less hassle as a whole.
*Her favorite food seems to be broccoli. When I make it, she can't shovel it in fast enough. Though, that seems to be the case with most of her food. You'd think we were starving her sometimes with how she attacks her meals.
*Lilly has informed us that when she gets big like Mommy, she will get a baby and it will grow in her tummy with her food.
*While eating breakfast this morning, Lilly exclaimed, "That's amazing!" when I put craisins in with my Chex. "Amazing" is her new catch phrase for everything.
*She knows all of her upper case letters and we've begun working on lower case. She also likes to practice spelling her name.
*Lilly knows her full name, phone number, where we live (but not full address), birthdate, Mommy and Daddy's real names, and her sister's full names.
*Alayna just finished her 2nd quarter as a first grader. She was tested on her reading comprehension the other day and reads at level L, which apparently means late 2nd to early 3rd grade. Her basic reading (sounding out words correctly, etc) was tested to a sixth grade list.
*She is a tremendous help and seldom complains when I ask her to help with her sisters or help me do another task around the house.
*She can't wait until it's nice enough to ride bike and horse again. She also can't wait until it's simply warm enough to play in the snow (we haven't been above 10 for about 5 days now).
Monday, January 21, 2008
It was a good ride, boys!
Well, my Green Bay Packers are no longer in the hunt for the Super Bowl. Last night's game sealed our fate and the NY Giants are going to meet the Patriots in Arizona. As much as I was hoping it was going to be the Pack heading to Arizona, it just wasn't meant to be. In last night's game, there were plenty of chances for both teams to wrap it up. Penalties, incomplete passes, turnovers and missed field goals all added up to a tie at the end of regulation. Unfortunately, Favre threw an interception in OT that set up the game-winning field goal for NY.
I was disappointed, but what can you do? They had a great season and went much farther than all but 3 other teams. It was certainly farther than most people expected at the beginning of the season. There was talk that the team was too young, Favre was too old, etc. But they did a fantastic job of working together as a team and proving all those nay-sayers wrong. They pulled it off and almost made it to the big game. There is no shame in that. Now the big question is...will Favre be back?
Friday, January 18, 2008
Men, take note
The link below is an incredibly humorous look at pregnancy, from a man's view! A writer for BabyTalk magazine was asked to wear an empathy belt for a day. Like most men, he thought it would be a walk in the park. And then reality hit. If you are looking for a good laugh, I strongly recommend you take a few minutes, sit back with your coffee or cocoa, and enjoy this link...
http://www.parenting.com/parenting/pregnancy/article/0,19840,733950_1,00.html?topic=11960
http://www.parenting.com/parenting/pregnancy/article/0,19840,733950_1,00.html?topic=11960
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Perspectives
Last night, I was awake for over an hour in the middle of the night. Mikayla has a bit of a cold and was coughing periodically-not enough that it woke her up, but enough that it woke me up and kept me awake. And while I was lying there at 1am, all I could think was Thank God that she was healthy and able to cough. That she wasn't in a hospital bed somewhere, or something much worse. Morbid? Maybe. But I couldn't help but say a prayer of thanks for my healthy, beautiful, wonderful girls and family.
Funny how your perspective of things can change. Before yesterday, I still would have thought those things, but not so intently or gratefully. But I also haven't been able to think about much else than the story of Nathan, Tricia and Gwyneth since reading their blog yesterday. It really put things into perspective. That family is dealing with SO much right now. One of their instances is more than most of us can imagine, but they are dealing with 2-3 life-threatening events all at once. And their faith and spirit and humor are not failing. Even during their intense time of trial, they are asking for prayers for others who are in need that they meet during their journey.
So all I ask is this...No matter how bad things may seem, please remember that unfortunately, they can always get worse. That doesn't mean you can't complain or vent or whine about it a little bit-we are human after all. But take a moment to reflect on the wonderful things you do have. Take a deep breath and refocus on the good things in your life. Then try to remain positive and see where that takes you. I'm sure it will take you a lot farther than you think.
Funny how your perspective of things can change. Before yesterday, I still would have thought those things, but not so intently or gratefully. But I also haven't been able to think about much else than the story of Nathan, Tricia and Gwyneth since reading their blog yesterday. It really put things into perspective. That family is dealing with SO much right now. One of their instances is more than most of us can imagine, but they are dealing with 2-3 life-threatening events all at once. And their faith and spirit and humor are not failing. Even during their intense time of trial, they are asking for prayers for others who are in need that they meet during their journey.
So all I ask is this...No matter how bad things may seem, please remember that unfortunately, they can always get worse. That doesn't mean you can't complain or vent or whine about it a little bit-we are human after all. But take a moment to reflect on the wonderful things you do have. Take a deep breath and refocus on the good things in your life. Then try to remain positive and see where that takes you. I'm sure it will take you a lot farther than you think.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Please pray for this family
While reading the blog Keeping Awake I was asked to please pray for Nathan, Tricia and little Gwyneth. Something moved me to check out their blog and I'm so glad that I did. I found myself reading from the very first post this past fall all the way to now-crying, smiling, laughing and praying for them all. Their story is one that is uplifting, terrifying, rejoiceful and so many other things. Please read their blog if you get a chance and say a prayer for this family.
http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/
http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/
Green...who me?!
Not exactly. But I have decided that there are certainly things that I can do to go a little bit more "green". I don't know if I've bought into all of the hype yet, but I know that there are some tried and true things that I can do to help lessen the impact that myself and my family leave on this beautiful world of ours.
For one, we are out of light bulbs. When Andy and I go shopping this weekend, I have every intention of buying high efficiency light bulbs. I've also been trying to be more energy conscious by simply turning off the lights when not needed, doing 2 or 3 things at once that will all use the same appliance, etc. I've also stopped buying paper towels. I mean seriously, we have 436 kitchen towels that just sit in the drawer, why can't we use those over and over and over again? Nothing too spectacular, but I figure every little bit helps, right? If in the end, all I've done is help save one tree or one little monkey, that will be alright with me too.
For one, we are out of light bulbs. When Andy and I go shopping this weekend, I have every intention of buying high efficiency light bulbs. I've also been trying to be more energy conscious by simply turning off the lights when not needed, doing 2 or 3 things at once that will all use the same appliance, etc. I've also stopped buying paper towels. I mean seriously, we have 436 kitchen towels that just sit in the drawer, why can't we use those over and over and over again? Nothing too spectacular, but I figure every little bit helps, right? If in the end, all I've done is help save one tree or one little monkey, that will be alright with me too.
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