A zoo is a place of learning, of beauty, of interest, of curiosity. And it's also where the monkeys live. Our zoo here is part online diary, part spiritual notebook, and some gravy for the grandparents! Thanks for stopping by to peek into our world, even if you can only stay for a moment.
Last night, we all got to go hang out with Poodle's BFF's family and we had a blast! Mama BFF cooked some YUMMO Bbq sammiches with potato salad and baked beans, and she had brownies and ice cream for dessert. Hello! I could have really made a pig of myself, but chose to exercise restraint. But I didn't wanna.
Whilst we were there, I took some family photos! We didn't have a whole lot of time - literally about 10 minutes before the bottom dropped out. Actually, during the last 4 or so pictures, the raindrops were truly fallin' on our heads.
I didn't get a chance to take any Mama/Daddy pictures or any individual kiddo pictures because of the rain. But, we'll get together again, and we'll get another chance! And next time, we'll have more light outside, and I won't have to use the itty bitty f-stop that made the kids a bit blurry.
(Mommy kisses Tooter for doing something sweet for Poodle.)
Tooter: Mommy!!! Don't kiss me! (He's on a No Kissing kick right now. It comes and goes). Mommy: Whoops! So sorry. I totally forgot. Poodle: That's right, Mommy. Tooter hates kissing. Tooter: Nooo! I don't want to hate it! I just don't want to love it!
This post really spoke to me to me today, and I thought I might share it with y'all also! It's from www.baptistbiblehour.org.
Salvation
My salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior… – 2 Samuel 22:3
David had sought refuge in the mountains countless times while being hunted by King Saul. He knew both the discomfort of being exposed and vulnerable, and the peace of being safely tucked away in a strong fortress. Now David, as an old man, writes a hymn of praise to God, after being delivered once again, and calls God his salvation, his tower, his refuge.
Do you have a refuge? Perhaps not from a ravaging army, but from a smarting conscience? Do you have a safe place to run when you realize that there are sins in your past that cannot be undone, mistakes that cannot be corrected, wrongs that cannot be righted?
When your sins come rushing in on you, when you come to realize how far short you have fallen of the perfect and good standard of God, then your first tendency may be to save yourself — but you cannot be a refuge for yourself. You need someone else to shelter you from the just wrath of God. You need the perfect goodness of Jesus to be your refuge, your high tower of defense.
When you feel exposed and helpless before the all-seeing gaze of God, realizing that you are a sinner and that your only hope is a savior to intercede for you, know that Jesus Christ is a strong tower, a refuge into which you can run and find safety. This refuge will last, this tower will hold, this savior will save.
Sweet baby of ours. On this, your Uncle David's 34th birthday, you also turn 10 months old!
Speaking of Uncle David, you are very pleased that he is engaged! You love your Aunt-Leah-to-be, and she is so sweet to you. They are planning for a wedding later in this year, and we are very much looking forward to it!
You're still pulling up on ev-er-y-thing, and I've caught you a couple of times trying to stand up on your own. I don't know if you mean to do it, or if you start to do it by instinct, get halfway into it before you realize that you really don't have anything around you to hold onto! I figure we get to enjoy your crawling stage a little bit longer. At least I hope so. It's so sweet, and you're really pretty effective with it. You can get from one end of the house to the other on your own. (And you're usually looking for me when you do it). I love the sparkle in your eyes when you crawl over to my desk chair, pull up on it and say whatever is the consonant of the day to get me to pick you up. Speaking of consonants, you're saying "ma-ma's" (not for mommy), "da-da's" (not for daddy, yet), "ba-ba's", and you've just started this crazy "ha" sound that is accompanied by a crazy, wheezy, hyper-ventilating sound. lol... Sorry. It's hard to describe!
You love to turn over the garbage can at my desk and take out every.single.piece of what-have-you that's in there. And, yes, I let you do it. It's pretty much just paper. And it amuses you. And I get a blog post finished. It's all good.
You have become strangely uninterested in baby food. You'll eat it, but not with the delight you had been having. You want to eat cheerios and corn chex and things like that. You want to nurse a lot instead of eating. You like to squish beans and peas in your mouth, but you don't want to eat them. It's a conundrum. Thankfully for you, your mommy is so busy with all the rest of life, that I don't have time to worry about it. I have enough of a memory left to know that it will all work itself out. And since you're still nursing, I'm not worried about nutrition. (And your blood tests from your last check-up confirmed that you don't need vitamins, so it's all good).
Tooter and Poodle both can make you giggle. Your daddy can *really* make you giggle. And I'm still the person you have to have at night. :-)
As of today, you have your fourth tooth! You now have two on the bottom, and two on the top (with the 2nd one on the top having juuuust broken through the gumline). Teething is not your friend. I was hoping that maybe you'd be less susceptible to all the pain of it. But, maybe that will come with the later teeth, like it was with your brother. I hope so. Because your nighttime sleep is pretty yucky right now. Not that I mind. I mean, I understand. And I know that it will get better. I just wish you could sleep better. Sweet baby.
You've been to Florida and Alabama in the past 5 weeks. Had a nine month well-baby checkup with vaccinations. Been through an annual meeting at church as well as Singing School. Survived the kitchen getting new countertops. And you're getting through the summer heat as best you can! It's been a hectic month for you. I will admit to some crazy-mommy moments because of all the activity, but you have that instant forgiveness for crazy parents that God blesses the babies to have. Ahhhh, that we all could have that knee-jerk forgiveness trait again!
It's a little disconcerting that you will be a whole year old in just two wee months. But I can not tell you how blessed we feel because of you. You are loved by your family, by your church, by your siblings' friends. (And their mommies!)
And your daddy and mommy feel lighter and brighter when we see you. We feel warmer and more complete when we hold you. And we know that our family is better because of you. Happy 10 months, our darling girl!
A variety to enjoy. :-) Since Lollypop's newest favorite activity involves pointing at pretty much everything she sees or wants or momentarily thinks about, I had precious few pictures made without that wummy widdle finger pointing at something. Thing is, that's what she is doing at nine months. I like that this is what I will remember about her at this age!
I really enjoy this fellow. He's just... well, you've got to watch this. Now, it would be great if you could go back and watch all five parts of this video, but if you only have 5 minutes, just watch part 5 of 5. It's a great summation of how the Bible is believable - not because you "want" to believe it, but because simple logic and basic intelligence leads to the end result that it is a believable document.
And the last thing he says is a reference to the beginning of his sermon here.
We've been doing some PHO-tography 'round here the past couple of days to get Lollypop's nine month portraits done. At the end of today's session, the older two wanted in on it. So I got some shirts on them, put them in front of the camera and just started clicking. There was much noise and chaos, but we got a few cute ones!
I'm still working on editing the baby's pics, so those will come later. I want to brag a little bit on the quilt that you see behind them. It was made by a beautiful sister in Christ from my church. She has been making quilts for most of her life, and she made my mother a Dutch Doll quilt a few years back. A couple of months ago, she blessed ME with one of those beautiful quilts! Technically, it's Lollypop's quilt. But, I lay claim to it a little bit too. :-) Thank you so much sweet Sister Jean!
We just got back from Watercolor, Florida where we got to spend almost a whole week with Jmk's family! It was just as beautiful as I remembered it from October 2008. That place is just THE place to go if you are looking for a relaxing, beautiful atmosphere.
Thanks to the generosity and uber-awesome planning skills of his Aunt Jennifer and Uncle David, we all got to stay in a perfectly beautiful resort home for a week. Fancy digs for us, for sure! We were only missing Brecken (who had just started a new management position with her company and couldn't leave) and Grandmother (who isn't in a position to do that kind of traveling).
Biggest fun of the week for Jmk was the deep sea fishing day! Awesome amberjack for him along with a few king mackerels and red snappers for the whole group of guys that went.
NOW - how did the kids do? Well, to be 6 and 4 and 9 months and to have no other kids to play with in the house and to be somewhat out of their routine, but still at the mercy of a baby's schedule... they did awesome! Granted, Jmk and I realize that we need to alter our idea of vacations now, moreso than we had already altered them. But, regardless, being able to spend time with the family in such a picturesque setting (and before the oil got there) was such a blessing!
Brennan gets MAJOR kudos for his maturity and compassion and his truly accommodating nature. Being a young, single guy staying in the part of the house with the family with the young kids takes a special person, and he was GREAT! And it was such fun watching Tooter with his newest love, Megan. (Megan 2, that is. Poodle has already claimed Megan 1 as her own). You see, Jmk has a couple of cousins who are brothers who are both married to/will be married to a Megan. It's so cute!
What I don't have this time? Pictures from the actual beach or the pools that are on the resort. Not a one. GrandCandy has some that she will send me, but I didn't take a single one. sigh.... Well, what can you do? It's durn near impossible to keep the camera protected at the pool or the beach when you are handling a baby and attempting to help your sweet husband keep an eye on the older two kids. (And, I couldn't find our point and shoot camera before we left. Whoops!) BUT, see, it's okay. I can assure you we made plenty of sandcastles and spent a lot of time getting thoroughly waterlogged in the Frog Pool. You'll just have to believe me, even though I have no photographic proof of those activities.
Now it's back to reality and time to get ready for an upcoming church meeting, Singing School, out-of-town family visits and I'm sure a few other things that I've forgotten about. And that's just June. :-)
Oh, my dear one! I'm a bit late in posting about your nine months birthday. Not that we forgot. We didn't! I just haven't had a chance to get to it until now. But you've been a busy, busy sweet baby this past month.
Let's see.... well, you are crawling everywhere now. And when you are ready to picked up, you'll crawl to the person you want, get yourself situated on your tushy, look up at said person, and start bouncing your arms up and down like you're about to take flight. Usually with a grin on your face. It's the cutest thing, and I hope I never forget what it looks like to have you flappin' those precious, squishy arms at me!
You've taken quite a fondness to little pieces of bread. And those little puffed pieces of junk that gerber makes. They are awful for nutritional value, but they have really helped you learn how to chew and push things around in your mouth.
You tend to exhibit low tolerance to new foods by getting a diaper rash. And, oh baby, they are awful! You just cry when I lay you down to change your diaper.... breaks my heart. I've never had a baby to get such bad rashes. But you're just as sweet as you can be once I pick you up. You were supposed to have your nine month well-baby check up last week, but you were sick with a stomach virus and I didn't want you dealing with vaccinations while sick. Then, right after you got over the stomach thing, (literally a day later), you came down with a cold. Bless your heart! You'll have that check up this Friday, so I hope your system can take all of that along with an out-of-town trip that you're about to take two days later. Thankfully, you're still nursing, so if it all goes haywire on you, at least I know I can feed you. Precious baby.
What else have you done.... well, you're "talking" up a storm. Everything is ba-ba-ba and da-da-da, and you blurble and babble with ease. You've taken to pointing to things and people. And when someone tells you the name of the thing or person you're pointing to, it makes you smile so big! I swear it's like you're trying to input that information already!
Poodle and Tooter are still in love with you, and you with them. You have the best grandparents in the whole world. Just this past Sunday, GaGa was looking at you over lunch and he said that "you're going to have those boys groveling on their knees with those eyes of yours". He's smitten himself, I think! :-) It's not just your eyes. It's your laid-back, easy-going, ready to smile and have fun manner that you have.
You've graduated out of the baby tub and into the 2-inches-of-water in the big person tub for your baths. Although lately, bath time has been tough because of the diaper rashes. I really would have thought the water would feel good, but apparently it doesn't. Definitely going to talk to the pediatrician about that one on Friday.
And you have a second tooth! That booger cut through on Mother's Day. Thankfully, we don't have any more about to emerge - they definitely bother you the way they did your sister years ago.
Three quarters of your first year on this earth have whisked by in a whirl of laughter and colors and beauty and whimsy. Your daddy and I get a little overwhelmed when we allow ourselves to think of the blessing that we have been given with our children. We are so grateful to God for you and your sister and brother. We love you so much little Lollypop!!!
For almost 30 years, our local Symphony has had a big fundraiser where they held a contemporary music concert, outdoors, on the banks of a local "lake" that we have here. While being on the shore, spread out on a picnic blanket, was always fun, I have always wanted to see the concert from a boat. There are lots of folks that do that, and it always seemed like such a cool thing.
Well, I'm here to tell you that it IS. A cool thing, that is. We attended via watercraft on Friday night and it was a blast! My dad and mom took us out on their boat. We ate supper out there and enjoyed the concert. Because there were some fantastic fireworks at the end of the concert, we were out there until about 9pm. The kids did great staying up way past their bedtime! Yay for the boat! :-) I'm thinking of decking it out with Christmas lights next year. heehee. I'm sure that will just thrill my Dad to NO end.
MooMoo and her sweet Lollypop
Tooter. Extreme Closeup. Yikes.
The Captain and the Kid
The Captain and the other Kid, who is actually old enough to listen to the Captain.
My baby. And his baby. ;-)
Poodle's opinion of the evening!
Poodle took some pictures while the sun was setting behind us.
And she shall be our Squishy. And she shall be our very own.
The sun set leaving behind pinks and oranges to thrill all the little girls in attendance.
The baby took a short nap, but couldn't stay asleep for long. There was playing to be done. And sea legs to be developed.
The boats' running lights came on as the skies grew indigo. The hillside was full of happy kids and grown-ups. The music was wonderful and the breeze was heavenly!
A nice couple, enjoying the evening just above their decorated boat. Didn't know them, but I like their enthusiasm. Made me want to play copycat next year!
The running joke in most families is that, a great many times, little kids love the boxes that gifts come in more than the gifts themselves. Who can blame them, right? Limitless possibilities is the beauty of a plain ole box. And apparently, even with babies, the same holds true. A diaper box is better than a walker any old day. Lollypop demonstrates this principle:
Dear one dear one! Where to start. It has been a busy month for you!
You have your First Tooth! It broke through on 4/12/10. Ohhhh, it gave you fits. And its next door neighbor (these are your bottom front teeth) is trying to make its way up through your gums currently, and isn't being much nicer to you. Add to the teething issues, you've battled a cold for the past almost 3 weeks. You're beginning to get better now, else I'd be getting worried. But, this has been a doozy of a cold. You've had a runny nose for weeks, and quite frankly, you're sick of it!
A few weeks ago, you got to a sitting position all by yourself for the first time. :-) It was in the cry room at church, and Sister Donna and Sister Heather (along with Jaxsen and... uh oh, I can't remember which of Heather's babies was in there... Probably Wyatt) were in there to see it. So proud of you!
Your sweet big sister helped to keep you from taking a header off the chair while I tried to get these pictures. Your sweet big brother was the one making you laugh by going crazy with Ballerina Bunny!
You are eating sweet potatoes, yellow squash, and carrots. Tried green peas a couple of times... ha! We'll get there. Total fail right now. Your food still needs to be very smooth - no chunks. I have discovered, quite by accident, that you can pick up a cheerio, but you Can Not Eat Them. Whew. Interesting to me, though, is that you can pick up that cheerio with your first finger and thumb. Good hands, little angel, good hands.
You are definitely a sweet hip baby now. You've just gotten big enough that a person can carry you around on their hip. But the position you love best is being hoisted up tall enough so that your head is near the head of the person carrying you. You still love the cheek-to-cheek feeling, and OH, how I love that too!
Tooter takes the most interesting pictures of you. :-)
From time to time you'll also lay your head down on our shoulders. Ohhhh..... that is THE best feeling. I love it!
And, buhm buhm buhm... you've begun to crawl. As of today, you have this crawl on one knee, push with the other foot thing going on. You'll get about 2 feet before you stop! So, I suspect that by this time next month, you'll be quite the mobile little munchkin. You're also trying to pull yourself up to standing on people, things, stuff, etc. Such a big growing-up girl!
A video taken on 4/16/10 of your beginning crawling. Your wanting to be just like Poodle has already begun!
I think that's all of your new tricks over the past month. I won't even mention your sleeping this past month. Between teething and the cold, let's just say it hasn't been great. But, it will get better! You're almost over the sniffles!
I love you, you sweet baby angel. You are our favorite little squishy!!!
Toofies gone! Toofies coming!
This should be a post about Lollypop's 8 month birthday, but I don't have all the pieces-parts together yet. Poodle, however, wants the world to know about her toothlesness! She's so excited. Lollypop, on the other hand, will be very glad to have her teething struggles take a break for awhile. Poor baby.
The two girls make a pact to take five minutes out of a day to sit quietly with a relaxed mind, by themselves, on a pre-determined day in order to partake of some chocolate covered goodness of their choice. Girl Number One starts out the day with all three kids up and going by 6:30am, because despite their genetic heritage, they are early and energetic risers. Breakfast ensues along with the most needed coffee production. Baby gets some extra benedryl because we're all passing around a cold or something-or-other that started making the rounds just after Easter weekend. School lessons begin which take up part of the morning, then baby gets a nap. Some laundry gets dealt with, and then lessons continue. Baby wakes up. Lessons continue, arguments are quashed, books are read, "Poodle get back to your Math", "Tooter, get that toy off the floor before Lollypop gets it", and we make it to lunchtime. Mommy makes lunch, deals with lunch, cleans up lunch. She thinks baby is looking tired, so she's thinking, "Oooh! I'm going to get bonbons at naptime/quiet time!"
Whoops. Mommy has waited too long. Baby is past tired and is all stuffed up and is now crying and throws up because of all the gunk in her sinuses. Bad, bad mommy.
Poodle - quiet time. Tooter - nap time. Baby - nap time. Not all in that order. Mommy sits down to eat lunch. Half way into it, (mommy should have eliminated lunch and gone straight to chocolate) Baby wakes up. (Baby isn't feeling good AND baby's teeth are hurting. Mean, dastardly teeth). Mommy rocks baby back to sleep, tries to lay baby down, baby has other ideas. Ideas which pretty much center on Mommy holding baby and not putting baby down. Back to rocking chair. Now baby thinks it's pretty funny that Mommy sat back down, and won't stop grinning and talking to Mommy.
Mmhmm. Mommy is thinking those little ice cream treats are going to be staying in the freezer, but she hasn't given up hope! Positive thoughts! Raise the roof! Jazz hands!
So, Mommy and baby leave the room with the crib and Mommy finishes her lunch and gets her plate to the sink. Realizes that she will have to unload the dishwasher in order to get the dirty dishes into the dishwasher, and puts baby down. Oh, but no. Baby is not happy with that idea, because the pressure on her tiny hiney apparently makes her gums hurt worse. Or something like that.
Soooo, dishes stay in close-to-over-flowing sink, Mommy handles some email, and then decides to try to put baby back down to sleep. Wait! She needs to get some work done on lesson plans for next week! Ha!, says baby. Okay. Back to rocking chair. Mommy, a.k.a. Girl Number One, steals one bonbon and eats it on the way back to the rocking chair. NOT what I'm supposed to be doing - totally not what this day was supposed to be about. Blah, blah, guilt for breaking self-imposed rules, blah blah.
Rock rock rock, baby is back to sleep! Lays down! Stays in crib!
Mommy comes out, whilst mentally licking her lips, ready to sit down for five sweet, chocolatey minutes. And there's Poodle on the couch. Oh, yeah. Quiet time is over. sigh..... Okay.
Get presents wrapped for birthday party at 3:15, get makeup on so I won't scare the little kids at said birthday party, fill some Mary Kay orders. Hear Tooter crying "Mooooommmyyyyy" from his room. sigh....
Wet bed. That hasn't happened during naptime in eons.
Change him, pull his sheets off the bed, don't have time to put new sheets on because baby is up again. Figure it's okay, because we have to leave in a little bit anyway. Get clothes changed, hair fixed, shoes on, etc, etc. Load everyone up. Phone rings! I figure it's Girl Number Two to check in about bonbon day, but don't have time to check phone.
Off we go for a fun birthday party! Get back home, kids get fed/nursed/etc/etc/put to bed. Sweet Husband is home by now, and he takes care of the older two monkeys. Baby back up 30 minutes after she goes to sleep. Sweet husband goes to get take-out for our supper. Baby goes back to sleep long enough for Mommy to eat. Mommy gets baby back to sleep again, comes out to take some Nyquil and finish the show that Sweet Husband and Mommy were trying to watch.
Good. Night. Irene. And bonbons, for that matter.
Check in via email with Girl Number Two, figuring that since her monkeys were a coupla-few years older and went to outside school, that she had experienced better luck during the day.
But alas,.......
Someone Had Eaten Her BonBons Before She Could Get To Them!!!
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