Pictures, just because.

 I love EVERY single little thing about Naomi. I even love her cry and her poop. I love EVERYTHING about this baby.

Sigh. Sigh. Big lovey-dovey sigh. Sigh again.

We all love her.

We've been painting.

He's so serious.

Good music puts them in the zone.

Adah hangs her art.

The walls needed something, he said.

Okay, also, I am going to run a 5k in September. This will be my first race and I am super excited. I like running, I need to lose weight and it just sounds like fun to me.

So, yeah, I am going to do it.

Craft Time

Elijah asked if he could make a mask today. Of course, I am always ready and willing to pull out the craft supplies for my little man, all three (overflowing) drawers full.

He knew what he wanted, but he needed some help making it happen. He wanted feathers, I found a way and helped to attach them. The same for the "monster curls" at the bottom. The rest was the work of his hands.

While we worked on the mask, Adah found a sunny spot on the floor to eat a snack and work on some easy Spanish crossword puzzles.

It turned out awesome, if I do say so myself.

After appraising his handiwork in the mirror,

he declares, "I am a dragon."


Then he chased us around the house.
We screamed like girls, because, we are girls.

Its 1:00 pm now, they are napping. I am still in my pink pajamas, blogging.
I am trying to decide if it has been a productive day or not.
Hmmmm....yes, I think so.

I want to tell you...

...about how our renovations are progressing; how one project wickedly mutated into 10.

...about our upcoming vacation and how we were given $2000 with specific instructions to use the money only for a vacation!

...about the tornado (yes, true) that ripped through our neighborhood and down our street last night, leaving a path of destruction steps from and completely not including our house. Thankfully, all of our neighbors are safe, but many suffered property damage.

...about Gabe's oral surgery tomorrow.

...and while speaking of Gabe, I want tell you how he conquered work that needed weeks to be accomplished in only days, living in a construction zone; our house devoid of all modern comfort.

....and how his truck died last week during renovations, leaving him to walk to work everyday (since we were out of town). His days while we were gone: Wake in construction zone, walk to work, work, walk home, work on the house to the wee hours, sleep in construction zone, repeat.

...also how E. has started hitting me; how we have been so at odds lately, like two people who hardly know how to be together and how sad this makes me; how I know that it is my fault but I don't know how to fix it; about how deeply I long to heal our relationship and fix what has been broken somehow, somewhere.

...how A. is still not crawling (she is almost 10 months old now) and I am beginning to worry. And about the guilty truth that I like that she doesn't crawl because it makes her my baby in my arms for a little longer.

...how I might be depressed, or maybe just tired and overwhelmed.

...about my decision to be fit again; that I will begin with a complete overhaul of my body and mind...how being out of shape, overweight, lazy and gluttonous not only encourages the worst in myself but also mocks God--Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit which are God's. -1 Cor 6:19-20

...how our kitchen and bathroom cabinets ( rather old and rotten) were ruined during our renovations last week; how we have 0$ to spend on new ones.

...and, lastly, how we were given a complete set of kitchen cabinets and a bathroom vanity from a perfect stranger yesterday because the Holy Spirit told him to (his words).



I want to tell you all of these things and more. I want to go into detail and share all this with you as if we were girlfriends sipping coffee, in a quiet cafe, having the mom's night out that I so desperately crave right now. Sigh. Maybe one day. But not tonight and probably not for a while. Life is upside down and I am hanging tight on trying not to fall off until it rights itself.

But the Lord is good. And He is good to us.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
James 1:17

Oh my!

Adventures in Eating

Little Adah is an eager eater. But only for whole foods. She staunchly refuses mush. She will hold the mush in her mouth, never closing her lips ( I think for fear she might accidentally swallow the mush) until the mush runs, all slimey and liquid-y, back out her mouth and down her face. Yuck.

What to do? I did a little reading up on baby-led weaning. For those of you who are totally unfamiliar with this, basically, we skip the mush and go right to finger foods; allowing the child to lead the way with eating solids rather than vice-versa.

Adah has responded to this with aplomb. She attacks the food on her tray, literally lunging at it and pouncing on it with her fat hats, then shoveling into her face. She only eats a little. She still mostly sucks what I give her, tasting it, gumming it, then spitting it back out. It is an awful mess and not for a parent that cannot tolerate cleaning up after true disaster-style messes.



I think it's hilarious and I am happy to make her happy. And truth be told, I feel freed from the annoyance of spending months coaxing her, spoon in hand, to eat mush.