Music and Movement

One of our favorite things to do for the 4th of July is to attend Symphony on the Prairie. Before we went, we explained to Luke that there would be musicians playing their instruments and fireworks. He was head over heels excited. He even insisted on bringing his ukulele and asked if he could play it on the stage with the other musicians. As proud as we were of him, we had to explain that it takes a long time of practicing to get to be on the stage, but we believed he would do it one day.


He was satisfied with our answer and was content to watch the symphony play. When they started with those first few beautiful notes, he jumped out of his seat and started shouting at the top of his lungs, "it is starting, it is starting!" Sweet little guy. We eventually got him calmed down enough to express himself silently through dance.
We even captured him long enough to get a photo.

Alice enjoyed her evening too, sitting very still to watch the fireworks and dancing to the marches. But, as she is 14 months old, it took a bit more to keep her entertained. I fear my sunglasses may never be the same again.

Pennies and M &M's

In typical Luke fashion, he woke up Friday morning and declared that he would like to go potty in the potty chair. For me, the heavens opened and choirs of angles started singing.

We have been trying to get him interested for a few months but he has always just said "no thank you." we are now on day 4 and have not had a single accident!

He has always done things like this. Not showing interest in something and then just wakes up one day and does it perfectly. We are so proud of him.

We have been trying to come up with something that rewards him and his his hard work without filling him full of candy. We tried a few things but what seems to be working is giving him two m&m's and a dime when he uses the potty chair. The candy is immediate reward, and the dime is working towards a bigger goal. In short, Luke wants a ukulele.

We just laugh at night thinking that out of the entire toy store, our two year old's greatest desire is to own a ukulele. Love that kid to bits.

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"We didn't start the fire, It was always burning. .. "

This child of ours. . . yes, the really cute one with the dimples is a challenge. Not to compare myself with Solomon, but I find myself praying continually for wisdom for this one. You see, Luke is brilliant and curious. But the other day, he set his room on fire.
We had a lamp in his room, which he has never bothered. He's two and afraid of the dark, so we thought we would be great parents and put a nice lamp with a dimmer in there for him. Boy were we wrong. I walked up stairs to get him after his nap and noticed an electrical smoke smell upstairs. I quickly looked through all the rooms but dismissed it as our dishwasher (yes, the auto dry smells that bad). I opened his door and smoke billowed out. I quickly saw that he had stuffed wet wipes, his old night light, bits of the port a crib and baby booties down his lamp, which were black and charred.

I quickly unplugged the lamp, made sure nothing else was on fire and checked him to make sure he was not burned. He was perfectly fine, thank God. After taking a few breaths, I calmly asked him why on earth had he caught his lamp on fire? His reply? He was pretending to roast marshmallows.

I never thought I would be the mother to buy a video baby monitor but I have joined their ranks. Did I mention he can also unscrew his furniture with his bare hands? Sigh.



Then there is this one. She is normally a joyful, content baby, but there is this side of Alice as well. Having an older brother like Luke hardens you at a very early age, I suppose. After she started walking on Easter Sunday, Alice decided that she wanted to take up climbing next. I do my best to keep an eye on her every second of every day, but the child if FAST! At Panara Bread the other day, I turned around to find her scaling the stack of high chairs.
Well, at least we are not board around here. Most of the time however, she toddles around with her hands in the air going "ya ya ya ya!" Sweet baby girl.

"We didn't start the fire No we didn't light it But we tried to fight it" I think Billy Joel had a premonition about my family.

Happy Birthday Dear Alice!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Alice's birthday. There was much merrymaking and cake,

Only a little birthday envy,some slight cake vs. plate confusion,

some loving family togetherness,

And a tradition to uphold, with some help from Daddy. Maybe next year she will be willing to hold onto the balloons. :)

Happy Birthday Alice!

We celebrated Alice's birthday yesterday, even though the official day is Thursday. We had a great time with our family and friends and Alice enjoyed all the attention and icing. After the party, we spent some time with my brother and sister-in-law by participating in a non-traditional indoor game, but those pictures will have to wait until later.

The gospel according to Luke

Part of our bedtime routine for months now has been to read Luke a Bible story. We got through the entire thing and started over. Luke has enjoyed this time but has only recently gotten to the point where he remembers the stories enough to talk about them. The resulting story telling has given us quite a few chuckles.

David and Goliath: "and the king asked David if he wanted to fight the giant and David said "no way, I don't want to fight that big guy!"

Then another night he asked for the story about the baby in the high chair. After much questioning, we figured out that he wanted the story about baby Moses in the basket.

The most recent, and my personal favorite has got to be the temptation of eve. According to Luke, it went something like this "eve punched that sneaky snake and said get back in that tree!".

For all of his enjoyment of Bible time, he is disappointed that there is not a story featuring a raccoon. This one took me a minute, until matthew pointed out that there is a raccoon on the cover of his story Bible with Noah. Apparently, when you are 2, it is ok to judge a Bible by it's cover.


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I am weary

I have been so weary these last couple of days. I am feeling that bittersweetness of my baby turning one. She is crawling and cruising all over the place. I don't want another baby, which is good because I no longer have the proper equipment, but still, that time in my life is quickly passing.

Having babies has been all consuming for so long that I find myself emotionally exhausted. I was warned by a therapist during our years of infertility that I would be much more at risk for post-partum depression then most because of all the stress. Her prediction came true.

Two babies in two years was a lot for my body to handle and then the difficulty of my pregnancy with Alice was almost impossible. It takes real mental fortitude to cope with sitting in a chair for three months. As hard as that was, I am going to say that the gestational diabetes is what pushed me over. I have never had an eating disorder, but I was on my way to developing one after my pregnancy. I have really had to work on not reading nutritional labels.

It has been getting better though. I have some beautiful friends that have been through the same thing and are very supportive. In think what I am dealing with now is healing from my hysterectomy. I keep reminding myself that I have had two major surgeries in the last year and am only four months after the last one. Still, it would be nice not to feel so tired when I get up and I would like to feel more plugged in to my kids.

Pardon the ramblings of a tired girl.


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