Smiley Girl! 4 Months Old Today!

Julia movie

Our sweetie is getting so big and she especially looks that way sitting up! She is just barely starting to sit alone for a few seconds..think it's because of her big ol' cloth diapers that give her a wide base!

http://community.webshots.com/album/577467545SBETEM?vhost=community

We survived!

Yesterday I had to take all 3 kiddos for shots. We went to the Health Dept because we are on a high deductible insurance plan now and so we have very low premiums, but not much coverage. Going to the Health Dept was a little scary to me and it's always hard dealing with healthcare people and vaccinations, since we choose to spread out the kids' shots and not follow the recommended schedule. And then there was the fact of dealing with 3 children's reactions to the shots, which made me hugely dread the day. I enlisted Cindy to help me and boy was I glad she was there because it took FOREVER in the nurse's office for her to get all our info in the system and the boys were getting pretty restless. Towards the end, they decided to hide and be as quiet as possible, which was nice! All in all it went well. The nurse did not pressure, question, or lecture my decision and the boys were so brave. Joshua didn't even cry and Gray did only briefly. Gray was getting the MMR and the nurse said it's a bad one as far as stinging when it goes in. Even little Julia only cried for a minute. Then we went and played on the playground. I was so relieved to have that over with. We won't take the boys back for quite awhile, but will have to take Julia pretty often over the next year. It's so much easier to deal with a baby with shots, though, and now when everyone has a checkup at the pediatrician's office next month, I don't have to dread it because I can tell the doctor we just got shots, so that should alleviate some of their problems with me and then I can tell the boys that nothing bad will happen to them. So anyway, I'm feeling much better today and thankful that God answered my prayers about such a dreaded errand.

Soccer Picture Day!

Sorry to bore you with so many of these, but just thought it was funny how somebody's doing something funny in every picture. And of course my favorite was the one of Joshua tickling Katie.

(Krista, let me know if you want me to email you any of these!)

He did do really well in the game today, by the way. He was slow to warm up to it at first and then after a little sideline game with Gray, his friend Jack and brother Josiah, he was ready to play and even scored a few goals! Everybody was really starting to get it this game. Joshua still would not run through the tunnel at the end, but oh well...baby steps.

The Accidental Cry it Out method

So last night I thought things were going really well with Julia. We had gotten in a little later so she went to bed about 8:45 and then 4 hours later, I woke and was surprised she still hadn't gotten up. Same thing 5 hours later. Then at 2:30 I thought we were having an amazing night, but I needed to go check on Gray (we started doing the no diaper at night, take him to the potty thing like we had done with Joshua) so I walked to the steps and heard...Julia screaming. I went back and looked at the monitor. It was on but not registering anything. Oh man. I ran upstairs and poor little Julia had been crying quite awhile I could tell. She had done a 180 on her back and kicked her long socks and leg warmers totally off. I felt so bad. I fed her and was tempted to hold her all night long. I know, I know. She survived and it was no big deal...only 6 hours in between feedings, which she has done before. But what can I say? She's definitely got me wrapped around her sweet little finger. Anyway, I put her back down and went to deal with a soaking wet Gray (who was sucking his thumb, by the way....guess he likes the taste of the "Thum" stuff. what's a little acetone and cayenne extract when you like your peas straight out of the toilet?) and then tried to test out the monitor. It still wasn't working so I went and slept in the guest bed by Julia, who slept the rest of the night through.

Gray-Gray

Conversation between Gray and Joshua just now:

Gray: Joshua, I drank all your water and then Mommy gave you milk!

Joshua: Don't ever do that again! That's not funny!

Gray: Yes it is. It's funny as can be.

Conversation between me and Gray this morning:

Me: We're getting some flowers for Mimi for her birthday.

Gray: I think she would also like a gun. And a guitar.

(Sounds just like Mama, huh?)

Conversation between me and Gray last night:

Me: Nanny and Stacy aren't coming to work out because they are going to go out to eat and shop.

Gray: I want to go too!

Me: Well the thing they are going to is called Ladies Night so you can't go since you're not a girl.

Gray: I MEAN, I just want to go shopping!

Me: But you can't go because it's for ladies.

Gray: I MEAN, I just want to go sit in the car!

(Guess he'll take anything he can get!)

Thanks, Jeannie!

Jeannie made this cute dress for our little cutie, which we got in the mail yesterday! (the dress, not the baby)

Julia's Baptism info

For the few of you that are coming to Julia's baptism next Sunday (May 2), thought I'd give a reminder and some info. Our church starts at 10, lasts about an hour, and it's small and very casual. The address is

515 Meadowlands Dr., Ste. 500

Hillsborough, NC

It's right by the Sports Plex.

I think the plan is to go out to lunch at Foster's in Durham afterwards. There's another baby getting baptized too and their family and some other church friends will join us.

Think that's about it. You can let me know if you're coming, or just show up.

Always eat your vegetables!

Gray was in the bathroom going potty in the middle of supper. I went to check on him and he was standing there with a wet hand, pee in the potty, peas in his mouth. Yes, you guessed it. He dropped the peas in the potty and like a good little boy, he knew he needed to eat all his food, so he fished them out and put them right back in his mouth. I think he wins the Gross Kid Award!

Mary, Martha, and Joshua

So yesterday in Sunday school, the boys learned about Mary and Martha. We talked about it at lunch and Joshua retold us what happened in the story. I told him that was a good lesson for me because I get so caught up in all the stuff to do around the house (like Martha did) that I don't take time to pray and learn from Jesus, the way Jesus praised Mary for doing. So just now, Joshua was asking me when I was going to fix a toy he broke and I told him that wasn't on my radar. He asked what I meant and I said that I have lots of stuff to do around the house beside fix toys that he breaks. He said, "Don't you remember the story I told you the other day about Mary and Martha?" Uh, yep. I asked him if he said that because I was doing too much housework and he said yes. And then I asked him what I should be doing and he said, "Talkin to Jesus." Out of the mouths of babes, huh?

Weekend

It was a busy weekend but I think it was a pretty good one. It went by so fast I don't really know!

Friday night we had the World Relief get together, which was fun. There were tons of kids and they had a great time playing together. It was really nice for the adults to be able to talk to Cok Kaw and Pah Kue through the interpreter. We learned that they went to the refugee camp for safety reasons. Pah Kue's race (I guess that's what you call it) was being persecuted and their houses were being burnt down. Cok Kaw's father had been abused by soldiers and he felt he wasn't safe either. The couple met at the refugee camp and that's where their 4 kids were born. Life was very hard there, but Cok Kaw was working as a headmaster at an elementary school and was a geography teacher. Pah Kue was a midwife there at the camp. It's all very interesting and really good to be involved in helping them settle here.

Saturday morning we went to Joshua's soccer game. He resumed his shy/strange behavior for the first part, but ended up doing okay and even scored a goal. We did have to get him away from Katie a couple of times when he was supposed to be playing, but he did okay. Then the rest of the day was spent on the new gym stuff. We did a ton of work getting the new website ready and it ended up taking us till 11-something that night to get his domain switched from the google site to the iWeb site. It is finally up and working though (www.crossfitorange.com) and we're pretty pleased, though it's not a "professional" job of course. Matt also spent a good bit of time making boxes for jumping on in the gym. Barnette and Cindy's neighbor is a wonderful wood craftsman and had some great machines/tools to use for the job. At the end of the day, the boys, Matt and I took some time to paint, which was messy, but we needed to do something fun together after being busy all day.

Sunday we had church, did more website stuff, made a dessert, mowed the grass, and headed back to church where our pastor was being "installed." Think that about covers it.

Here's a link to soccer clips from Saturday, though I won't be offended if you're not interested in viewing! Krista, you should watch though, because I got Jack's awesome goal on camera. He was great!

http://community.webshots.com/album/577391206dtGMeR?vhost=community

Julia, trying to roll....sort of

Well Julia is following in her brothers' footsteps. She's 3 1/2 months and not nearly rolling. This probably means she's going to be on time or late to crawl and walk after all. This is fine with me! Anyway, when I put her on her belly (rarely) she does act like she's trying to roll on her back, but she doesn't get anywhere. I took these pictures of the process the other day and I must say that the screaming face looks awfully like her chubby cheeked middle brother:)

A little bit on everybody...

This week has been pretty busy for us and I thought I'd just share a few of the highlights...

Julia: Well our little angel seems to be trying to get the most out of her "unlimited plan", as some nights she is up every 2-3 hours to eat. It definitely wears me out for the next day, but we have had 2 pretty good nights as well, so that's getting me through. Plus she is just so good when she's awake! She is very into blowing bubbles this week and doing lots of talking.

Gray: He's had a pretty good week. Some days it's been so good because he is his same jolly old self, so happy and excited about even the littlest things. (Like right now, he is beaming because he asked when he could be done with having to sit in a booster seat at the table and I told him "now", so he's happily sitting in a regular seat eating his breakfast, practically dancing with every bite.) And then other days, he is arguing about everything, crying about everything, and eating everything, books and toys included. Still not sure if he's sucking his thumb still. Matt caught him doing it after his nap the other day, but he insists that he has stopped. His new thing is to get naked in the backyard. He did it the other day on his own and has tried to twice since then...even on a 60 degree day. Gray moved up to Joshua's 3/4 Sunday School class on Sunday and he seemed to do pretty well, though he is the youngest in there.

Joshua: He has been very into playing with Julia this week. It's really nice to be able to send him up to her room to talk to her when I am trying to finish something up downstairs. He often goes without me asking him. We are really trying to work on him not talking "baby talk" this week. He reverts to that sometimes for no apparent reason, but usually when he feels shy or embarrassed about something. He has loved being outside these days and can entertain himself for quite awhile playing in the sand box. He is just so inventive.

Me: At times this week I have felt like I couldn't get it all done, but it's been a pretty good week. Julia and I went with the Burmese mother (Pah Kue) and daughter (May) to an appointment at Duke yesterday and that went really well. Pah Kue has learned so much English since I last saw her and she's just the happiest, kindest lady. I really enjoyed talking with her as we waited. It was pretty neat, too, that my friend Jennifer from our other church ended up being her doctor. So fun to see her for a few minutes. I'm looking forward to a cookout tonight with the Burmese family and all of our families who have been helping them.

Matt: Exciting news coming up...Matt is very close to signing a lease for a space for the gym. If he decides to go through with it today, it will be located on Hillsborough Rd in Durham, about 12 minutes from our house and pretty convenient to Durham, Duke, and Hillsborough people. We really need this to be successful since the building business is so slow. It's a scary move, but as Matt and I were discussing last night, no job is really "secure" because we don't hold our future in our hands. Even if you think you have a steady income and no financial worries, you never know what may happen. We have to trust that the Lord will provide for our needs as he has always done in the past. I was thinking the other day how there are many obvious ways for him to do this, but it's so like God to provide in ways that we don't think of. Then yesterday, we got a sizable check in the mail from Duke medical saying that we overpaid them. Definitely didn't think of that happening! We read a story to the boys the other night about how God loves taking care of us so I'm just trying to keep that in mind as we go forward with this venture! Definitely would be amazing to have this go well for Matt, as he has been dreaming of owning a thriving gym for years.

That's about it for us this week. Now gotta get going on today's activities. Have a good weekend!

Why is it so hard...

to do the little things? Today, despite getting up with Julia more times than I care to admit last night (ugh!), I managed to do all our laundry, clean all the baseboards, clean all the inside sills of the windows, do "preschool" with the boys, and get a lot of work done on Matt's new website. But as I look around the house, I see all the stuff I didn't do...

Putting my glass (okay, 3 glasses) of water by my bed into the dishwasher

Hanging up Julia's calendar in her room

Putting the empty glue stick back in the trashcan that I threw in there and didn't make it

Hanging up the clothes that I tried on the other day and decided not to wear

Putting Matt's wire cutters back in his truck

Taking my vitamin

Zipping back up the boppy cover that Joshua unzipped a few days ago

That's all that comes to mind, but a quick trip around the house would reveal many more things I'm sure. Anyway, I'm just not sure why I find it so difficult to do the easy stuff, but it's a perpetual problem around here!

On a different note, we had a great time at the soccer game tonight. We gave lots of encouraging talks to Joshua about doing his best and using his athletic ability and apparently something worked because he did really well! Aside from tickling Katie a few times, he was participating, not running like he had jelly arms, and even scored a goal! He was laughing and having a good time, so very good to see that. One funny moment was when the kids were supposed to line up beside each other and kick their balls to the other side of the field and back. Everyone was at their place in the line except Joshua, who had backed way up to the edge of the woods behind them and had a serious look on his face. We didn't know what was going on with him. Soon I knew that he wasn't being defiant, but was planning to get a running start on the kick! And sure enough, with fierce determination he ran his hardest and did a great job kicking across the field. Way to go, Joshua!

Did we sign up for soccer or love connection?

So this week's soccer game wasn't much improvement over the last. Joshua is pretty naturally athletic, but he would either stand on the field and watch the game go by or he would run with his legs moving but his arms hanging limp by his side. We kept talking to him about it and at the end he did finally kick the ball a couple of times, but he still had that weird run. After the game I talked to him about how he was feeling out there and he said he was wanting to get the ball and win. Really? Then it came out that he wanted to be playing the dinosaurs' team from last week and he said he didn't feel comfortable and if there was a different team next week, he still wouldn't be comfortable. We did some more talking and we'll see how it goes.

The other thing that side tracked him from playing the game? A girl. Before we left for the game he said, "Mommy, there's this girl named Katie..." in this shy voice with a big smile on his face. He told me a few things about her and how he wanted her to be there at the game. Then midway through the game, he came up and told me he tickled her and she smiled. Eventually during a water break, which Joshua didn't take (who needs water when you're in love?), he started playing a chasing game with her back and forth between the goals. It was cute and I guess he's more relational than I thought, because though his friend Jack wasn't there today, at our last practice, he kept getting distracted from playing because he was trying to talk to Jack/poke him/etc.

If you want a visual to this story, I got clips of Joshua "playing" and chasing Katie...

http://community.webshots.com/album/577314384kXknrQ?vhost=community

First Day of School

I was inspired by Kim (Matt's sister) to do a little more "school" with the boys, rather than a random lesson here and there. We began today, though we didn't do all of my ideas. I found Gray's attention span was pretty short, so I was a bit limited with that. This is what we did today:

Devotion- read some of the ABC Bible Verses and talked about meaning and prayed together

Chore Time- unloaded the dishwasher together (I'm excited about this part of school because it will get me to better teach them to do stuff around the house and eventually take some of the work from me)

Music Time- we put on music and had free dance, then took turns being the leader, with the others following whatever moves the leader did. This was funny because Gray was not wanting to participate and then when I got him to do it, he did the funniest dance, but with a serious face. I so wanted to laugh. Both boys were pretty inhibited about dancing and leading dance, so this showed me an area we definitely need to work on! Surprisingly, the boys said this was their favorite part of the day!

Puzzles- Joshua is awesome at puzzles but Gray tends to start them and give up, so this is definitely something to work on with him.

Stories- The boys picked a book each (a Winnie the Pooh story and A Bug's Life) for me to read

Math- Joshua did addition and subtraction. I asked him simple math problems and if he didn't know the answer, he used his cars to count out the answer. Then I gave him a pile of cars and had him see how fast he could sort them into colors. We tried 3 times to see if he could get faster each time. Gray did numbers. I put cards with numbers written on them on the floor and had Gray race over to grab the card of the number I called out. Then I held up a card and he had to count out that many cars.

P.E.- I taught them jumping jacks (they got the legs but not the arms), hopping on one foot (Gray- not so much) and running games

Then we took a break a played outside and fertilized and watered plants together.

Snack Time

Phonics/Reading- I made some flashcards to review some sounds with Joshua, like 'ea', 'oo', 'sh', etc.

That was it today. I plan to continue to do "school" twice a week. That's about all I can handle right now! It was fun, but will be much easier when Gray is a little older I think. Thanks, Kim, for all your ideas!!

Julia's Baptism

For those who are interested in coming(probably only a few of you!), we are scheduling Julia's baptism at our church in Hillsborough on May 2nd. We have been starting church at 10, but as it's a brand new church, that could be changing. Anyone is welcome to come!

Aloha!

This dress was given to Julia's cousin (now 3) when Matt's parents went to Hawaii.

Oh what fun the nights can bring:)

Julia is not a very good sleeper. She's great when she's awake, but she usually only naps for 45 minutes at a time and at night, has only been going about 3-4 hours between feedings...sometimes only 1 or 2 hours. Now if this were just an every once and a while thing, it would be okay. I know this time with her will fly and before I know it she'll be a "big girl." But it's getting to where the nights that she does badly are coming more frequently and even Gray (who didn't sleep through the night consistently till a year old) was sleeping 6-8 hours at her age, so when I fed her 4 times the other night (not counting when I fed her at bedtime and when she got up for the day), I decided to once again consult my "sleep book." This book was written by a doctor who has made his life's work the study of sleep, particularly in children. He's pretty practical and even gives a plan for those who choose to sleep with their babies, which is a no-no to more strict "experts." I read the chapter on 3-4 month olds, where he enlightened me that at this age up to 9 months, babies may need to be fed twice at night, at around 12 and 4ish. He said it's a mistake to feed when(if) the baby also wakes at 2 because it creates a night waking habit. He says PLEASE do not feed your baby at this time because she is not hungry. So I decided I would listen to him. I recently started letting Julia cry herself to sleep (as opposed to nursing her to sleep) for naps and she does that fine and fairly quickly, so I thought I could handle letting her cry at night. Okay, sorry for all that boring background info...now I'll get to what really happened.

We got home last night about 8:30 and I fed Julia and put her to bed soon after. At about 12, she woke and I fed her again. Then at about 2:30, I hear her crying again. "Okay, Mr. Sleep Doctor", I'm thinking, "Hear we go." I turned the monitor down and laid down, listening to her. I didn't hear anything. Wow, she already went back to sleep. Whoops- turned the monitor down a little too low and in reality, she was screaming loudly. Time passes and there's no change. I decided to go sit on the step and listen to her. Still crying, but not quite as loudly. Wait some more. It's been an hour now and she's still crying, but there are some pauses and she doesn't sound that distressed. She even stopped crying for a good minute or two, but then started back up. Finally it was 4 am and I decided that since it's normal to feed her at 4, I'm giving up and feeding her. I stumbled up the stairs, so tired and feeling like all I accomplished was sleep deprivation, fed Julia, who seemed desperate for me to nurse her, and went back to bed thinking I am probably not going to try this tomorrow night! Supposedly it takes 3 days to establish "healthy" sleep habits, but I'm not sure I can make it till then.

And more fun happened during that 2:30-4 timeframe. Yesterday, Pogo kept getting in our back fence by way of one gap between the fence and house that Matt couldn't put a post in because of the foundation. It's very narrow and covered with the chicken wire, but he was still getting through it. I try to keep him out because I don't want him to chew the boys' toys. So yesterday when I'd get him out and adjust the chicken wire, he run back over and squeeze in again. So the boys and I filled a bucket of rocks to put in the gap. When Matt got home from work, he couldn't find Pogo. We hadn't been outside since morning so we figured he had escaped again, since he still does that every now and then. I went looking for him in the car and couldn't find him. When I got back home, Matt found him. He was in the fence. Apparently he can get in but not out. So I readjusted the bucket where I was SURE he couldn't get in. Now fast forward to the middle of the night. I kept hearing a weird noise and then when Julia started her crying spell, Pogo was whining too. When I got up, I realized it was coming from the back fence. I turned on the light and found Pogo in the gap of the fence, bucket knocked over. The hose, which was connected to the spigot right beside the gap, was wrapped around Pogo's middle and twisted in a knot. I have no idea how he managed this! I had to unscrew the hose to get him free, at which point he ran inside and to his crate in the laundry room. The fun just never ends with him!

And for those wondering, yes, everyone else slept through both of these events quite soundly:)

Happy Easter

Hope everyone enjoyed today! Our day was mostly good, but there were a few downs this morning. Of course especially on a special occasion, you plan ahead and hope to have a special and smooth family time together, which is what I expected this morning. But there were fits, lack of time for pictures, fussing by children and parents, dirt on "Easter" clothes on our way to get in the car for church, and misunderstanding on my part of the time church started, which meant we were late. But I was thinking, don't all the things that go wrong make Easter that much more meaningful? It certainly reminded me how messed up things can be on this earth and how much we need Jesus. He certainly didn't come to save perfect people in a perfect world.

Anyway, the good things were the time we had talking through our Easter eggs that tell the story of Jesus, enjoying church in our new building, having a nice lunch and egg hunt at Matt's parents, and a good walk at the park. There were other things that didn't go perfectly...pants peed on, several meltdowns, the boys eating too much chocolate, more fussing, Matt's brother-in-law being sick and not being able to be at the family thing...but we did have a good day and I was so thankful we were not home sick this time! It was also neat to see the boys just beginning to grasp the meaning of Easter.

We also had a good day yesterday. Matt's gym hosted some CrossFit Henderson people for a workout and lunch. Our boys really enjoyed playing with 2 little girls that came and everyone seemed to have a good time. We are still doing lots of searching and thinking about expansion, so please keep praying that we will figure this stuff out!

I know I added a lot of pictures here, but if you want to see more, I'll post a link when I get them all on shutterfly.

Self control, anyone?

Most people know I am pretty sweet on sweets. Lately I've been pretty low on the self control. I've found that if it's in the house, I'm going to eat it. I rarely buy candy or cookies or anything sweet, really, but the problem is when people give us treats or I make dessert for an event and have leftovers. So my new method is wasteful, but it seems the only way to save myself (and Julia, who has been getting chocolate milk these days with all the cake I've eaten) is to throw the leftovers away. Sadly, that was the fate of Gray's birthday cake tonight. Since we had no one here but us to eat it and I can't in good conscience let the boys have several pieces a day, yours truly was on the verge of eating the whole thing by myself. Even freezing most of it did not deter me. I just hacked off a piece (or 2) and microwaved it whenever I pleased. So, sweet "Too Much Chocolate" birthday cake, I bid you a fond farewell as I dump you in the trash (eating a few last bites as I go). My headache and irritability is telling me that your recipe title is very fitting and I have indeed had WAY too much chocolate. So anyone out there reading this, please keep all candy, cookies, and cake away from our house as a special favor to me and our little Julia. I would love to say that I could look these temptations in the face and not give in, but in this case, I think I'd better just flee from them!

What's nicer than pretty spring flowers?

How about a sweet baby girl sitting in front of pretty spring flowers:)