In Case They Ever Wonder

Last Thursday, Matt, Sophie, Will and I packed up to go and meet Baby Cole, the long-awaited second son of my very best friend, Ashley. Cole was born at 39 weeks, but since his brother, Jack, was born at 35 weeks, we all felt that Cole was around a month late! Cole arrived in his own time and is a perfect little bundle. I so love witnessing precious new life, and while every new baby is precious and irristable, the love I feel for the child of people I love so dearly is overwhelming.  After my visit with Cole on Thursday night, I returned back to my parents house, showing pictures and talking late into the night. Just as we were heading to bed around 1:30 a.m., the phone rang. It was my aunt telling us that the paramedics were working on my grandfather, though they weren't yet sure if it was his heart or possibly pneumonia. Either way, sleep was out of the question, even though Aunt Pam assured us that Big Dad was walking and talking, totally aware of what was going on around him. ...

Wednesday nights are always a little different at our house because Daddy isn't home. Matt sometimes has meetings or events during other nights of the week, and when he does, we try to plan something fun, but Wednesdays without him are a normal part of our routine, and we shoot for easy above all else.     Wednesday nights look and feel different beginning with dinner. I always make something easy, usually something without meat (Matt doesn't consider a meal to be a meal without meat...), very often blueberry pancakes, oatmeal, or pasta. I don't give the kids a bath on Wednesday nights (unless the blueberry pancakes necessitate one), and I read to and pray for the children together instead of separately. I try to do an extra-long story time since Will and Sophie haven't gotten to experience the absolute joy of Daddy coming home from work, and a long story time takes the edge off. Usually, I just let Sophie pick books, some from her shelves and some from Will's. (She...

With a four year old and eleven month old, late nights out are a thing of the past. Matt and I are both night owls, and Sophie definitely is as well, but we are big respecters of the bedtime routine. Now Soph very often sees 10 p.m. and occasionally even 11 p.m., but she sees it from her room reading books with a flashlight or listening to stories on cd. Will, on the other hand, rarely sees 8 p.m., as he needs to get his rest so he can begin his quest for total domination at 7 a.m. each morning. He wakes up ready to eat, play, eat, play  and eat a bit more - preferably in that order. Wonder of wonders, we seem to have a morning person on our hands. Heaven help us. At any rate, last night we wrapped up our typical bedtime routine, (with a round of  Memory thrown in for good measure), and I came to collapse into a chair, got online and found friends on facebook talking about snow! I immediately rushed to the window and began yelling like a maniac for Sophie to get downstairs to see the ...

For January 19, 2009...  Outside my window ... it is cloudy and cold, but of course, no snow like my lucky family and friends in Tennessee… I am thinking ... how getting up earlier really does help our mornings go more smoothly I am thankful for... encouragement and new perspective From the learning room ...we will spend time watching the inauguration tomorrow. We will continue our phonics and language lessons and spend lots of time in picture books this week. We will also return to A Child's Book of Art . From the kitchen ... we are enjoying smoothies each morning (flax seed, OJ, yogurt, strawberries, bananas, blueberries and walnuts). We are having baked pork chops with green beans and potatoes tonight and Shoyu chicken with rice and edamame tomorrow night. I am wearing ... A Leadership Summit t-shirt, my new favorite black sweatpants and a green fleece pullover when I'm not moving around I am creating ... new plans for this winter  I am going ...to Franklin later...

I read several "mommy blogs," including a couple of dear friends' blogs, but even more that I've found through searching the web. One of the blogs that I enjoy In the Heart of My Home  led me to the blog of one of my favorite authors, Sally Clarkson. Mrs. Clarkson's blog is called I Take Joy , and her recent post " Rest and peace--ahhhhhhhh!"  was just what I needed to hear, and it  reminded me of why I find her writing so encouraging. In fact, I began re-reading one the first books I read by her, The Mission of Motherhood . Already I am so thankful to find myself remembering why I have chosen to do some of the things the way I do, when it seems that there has to be an easier route.  In the first chapter of The Mission of Moth erhood , Mrs. Clarkson beautifully describes my greatest hopes for my children: "...I have come to picture the heart of each child as a treasure chest. Each chest is empty and needs to be filled with the riches of unconditi on...

Many words have been spoken today. Many words are spoken around our house everyday, but too many of the wrong kinds of words have been spoken today. I would categorize today as a tough one. Sophie and I were struggling with expressing ourselves using angry words and Will was struggling with his lack of enough words to express himself at all. I saw behaviors that needed to be addressed, and I felt too weary to address them, but not to weary to be angered by them. I called Matt to tell him the list of behaviors that we must formulate a plan to address. Realizing I am in need of more than a plan, I opened today's devotion to be confronted with: " No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes , or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the o...

Hmm... Why on January 12 is my Christmas tree still up? Why indeed, particularly in a year when my New Year's resolution is for our family to work on developing better habits, starting with orderliness. Let's see... Slow and easy has been my motto. I knew that this month was going to be weird - we'd been gone almost two weeks, and we've been expecting to head back to Nashville any day to meet my best friend's second precious son. (Still waiting on Baby Cole and trying to coordinate arriving in Nashville at just the right time.) We have actually been doing pretty well at returning to a loose routine of Sophie's school on Monday, being home and doing some preschool work on Tuesday-Thursday and having family time on Fridays. We are making progress in the area of orderliness, deciding where things should "live" (as Sophie says), cleaning out space for new toys and bringing them from the house to the garage over a period of a week or so.  I really struggle ...

We just returned home after enjoying one of the most fun, relaxing Christmas seasons we've ever had. We began with a marathon of activities. On the 22nd, we had a  cookie decorating party at Aunt Tori's, on the 23rd, we celebrated her birthday, and on Christmas Eve, we took care of last minute shopping, attended Christmas Eve services, and celebrated with friends until the wee hours of the morning. (We also prepared cookies and milk for Santa and tracked him on NORAD for much of the evening!) Christmas Day began earlier than usual due to the addition of our little "alarm clock," and the adults at our house operated on very little sleep until we were able to sneak in naps! Both Sophie and Will were thrilled with gifts from Santa, and we all enjoyed hearing the Christmas story and  singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.  December 26 brought another celebration with Patti-Grams'  side of the family, complete with family members from LA, Chicago, Nashville, Birm...