Saturday, May 31, 2008

Blessed with laughter

I don't know how anyone parents without a sense of humor. At least, it makes my parenting more fun to look for the joys in being a mom.

So now, for your reading pleasure,

MY SHOWER....

rinsing hair...

Kid 1: MOM!!!

Yes?

WHERE ARE YOU??????!!!!

I'm in the shower.

now standing in the doorway DO YOU HAVE TO WORK TONIGHT??!!!!!!!

Yes. soaping up....

AWWWWW!

Why?

I wanted to walk on the bike trail.

Go ask Dad.

Oh. Ok.

scrubbing...


Kid 2: MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!

Yes?

Do you want me to put the dog back in? Sunshine let her out.

Ok. rinsing....

immediately followed by:

Kid 3: MOMMMM!

What?

Can I have rhubarb?

uh huh. turning off water...

immediately followed by...


Kid 4: MOM!

What? drying off...

Do you have to work tonight?

Uh huh.

Oh. What's for supper?

Go ask Dad.

DAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Mom's Taxi Service: Your Safety is Our First Priority!

Remember how I said we lived in a hilly area? Well today we were driving home from town and I drove slowly and in my lane around a curve. Banana Boy says admiringly, "You're so good at not crashing us, Mom." eep!

And today at the park, they wanted to play monkey, so he asked me if I'd be the ZeeKooper. Sure, Honey! Anything for you!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Our little man's surgery

Today was Sunshine's day for ear tubes. We got the call yesterday for our surgery time: be at the hospital at 6:30 am, surgery at 8:30. YAY! I was told we'd be asked to arrive at either 6:30 or 8 with surgery to follow two hours after that. YOU try keeping a 3 yo who is used to eating at 6 am every morning busy until TEN!

So happy I was, yah, to leave the house at 5:45 am. The three middles slept over at Nonny's and Rose Bud was able to get herself up and ready for school on her own.

Mr. GT took the day off, so Sunshine thought it was an absolute PARTY! He narrated our drive from his carseat: "Brrrrm! Brrrm! (yes, Sunshine, cars) House! House! Nunner house! Up, up, up! Down, down, down, down, down (we live in hilly country)" Mr. GT said it was like having our own live altimeter in the car.

Once we got to the parking ramp, he started clapping, he was so excited! We walked into the hospital and easily found the outpatient surgery area. He greeted the receptionist with happy squeals.

We were escorted to a 6x6' room with a curtain for a door, two chairs, a hosptial bed, a trash can, a small cabinet and a tv on the wall. I changed him into hospital jammies and he admired his new duds.

The nurse came in and did vitals. He showed her his ears, soon to be "fixed." He cooperatively offered his armpit for the thermometer and his arm for the blood pressure cuff. However, he was so wiggly for the BP reading that she just recorded his BP as 80 over 40-something!

All that took about 20 minutes. Then we waited. And waited. We read several books I'd brought along. He sat on the bed. He sat on my lap. He peeked out the curtain. He ran away down the hall. We played with some puzzles I'd brought. We played with some cars I'd brought. We sat. We waited.

Finally, after about 45 minutes, the anesthetist resident came in and asked questions, including, has the dr. been by? No.

The surgery RN came by and asked questions, including has the dr. been by? No.

The admitting nurse came back. Has the dr. been by? No.

The anethesioligist came in. Has the dr. been by? No.

RN back. No dr.

Anethesioligist resident back. Dr? No.

Anethesioligist back. Room is ready. 8:25. Dr? No.

8:29 Dr comes by, signs all his paperwork and we're off.

I get a cool yellow scrub outfit with a non-matching green hat. Sunshine thinks I look awesome. (thanks, Baby!) RN gives me some fashion tips for the hat. The anesth. resident and nurse lead the was to the surgery room, pushing the bed. I carry Sunshine who thinks it's neat that his bed is driving down the hall.

ONce in, they have me hold him in my lap while the hold the strawberry-scented gas over his face with a mask. The resident is awesome and rubs his head, holds the mask and tells him a great story about flying to the moon, all at the same time! He watches me and smiles under the mask. So much for their warnings about how he will scream and flail. Within two minutes, his eyes droop and they take him and shoosh me out.

Nine minutes for surgery and nine minutes in recovery and the bed comes back carrying.....a cup of apple juice and a bag of animal crackers. No baby. Oh, here he comes, head resting on the shoulder of a new nurse, clutching his blankie.

He woke up perfectly calm (they said however he went out would predict how he'd come back) and they handed him to me. Mr. GT helped him drink his juice and he snarfed down the animal crackers like he'd never seen food! He only cried when they were gone.

By 9:40 we were on the road home, Sunshine tucked safely under an old beach towel, since they'd promised he would almost certainly barf in the car. Nothin' such. He fell asleep about 7 miles from home.

ONce home I settled into the recliner with him, Dad got us both socks and a snack and some 7-up for him. The only time he really crabbed was when his food or drink ran out. Despite not having complained AT ALL about having nothing since supper, (he only asked once for a drink at the hospital before surgery) he was apparantly REALLY hungry! So he downed a bowl of dry Cheerios and some 7-Up and then was happy as a clam.

He and I had a lovely 2 hour nap together in my bed. He never threw up. He ate another bowl of plain cereal and finished his 7-Up for snack and ate Indian (uppama and sambar) for supper. He happily let us put in his ear drops (3 drops, 3 times a day for 3 days---not sure if we'll be able to remember that!) and VERY happily chomped down his Tylenol meltaways.

The only sign of what he'd been through was that his balance was off all day. He's normally pretty sure on his feet, climbing, running, hopping, doing stairs. But he fell off his bench by the window twice, almost fell of the stool at the counter twice, DID fall off the stool once, I think, and fell down outside a couple of times. Luckily, he has a cement skull.

Whether the balance issue is from the anesthesia or from the messing with his ears, I don't know, but hopefully, he'll be better tomorrow.

All in all, he was a perfect little trooper and came through it all with flying colors.

Oh, why the tubes? He has had non-infected fluid in his ears since AT LEAST January (that's when our ped. first noticed it) and his ear drums were retracted (sucked in) from the pressure. He also failed several hearing tests in a minor way when we had him checked in April. So the tubes will alleviate the pressure, allow the fluid to drain and improve his hearing.

Today I count as blessings medicine that so easily and painlessly fixes his fluid problem, compassionate doctors and nurses who enjoy small children, Sunshine's happy attitude and ability to make us laugh and the fact that he DID NOT THROW UP!, Mr. GT's ability and willingness to take the day off to come along and then help out the rest of the day, and the blessing of my mom who kept the other kids overnight and then took them out for lunch before bringing them back.

Blessings,
Sandwich

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I love Spring!

This is just about my very favorite time of year. Everything is green and lush. The spring flowers are blooming. The grass isn't dead and brown yet. Dandelions bloom in the warm spots of the yard and the robins are sitting on 4 blue eggs. The sun is warm and the breeze is just right. The sky is the bright, bright blue of spring. Thunderstorms crack in the night. All the birds are singing and zipping around the yard. The window is open just a slit in the night and the cool breeze blows over us in bed. During the day the windows are wide-open and the warm wind blows fresh air into the house.

Did I say I love Spring???

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Every Day is a Blessing

You've probably already heard about Steven Curtis Chapman's family. They are huge proponents of international adoption and have 3 daughters from China as well as 3 birth children.

Yesterday, their 5 year old daughter was killed when her teenage brother backed over her in their driveway.

Please pray for their family and especially for the brother. I cannot imagine the guilt I'd feel if I caused such a tragic accident.

Steven Curtis Chapman's most recent song was inspired (I heard on the radio today) by his little daughter, Maria, who was killed.

Here it is:

Cinderella
She spins and she sways to whatever song plays,
Without a care in the world.
And I'm sittin' here wearin' the weight of the world on my shoulders.
It's been a long day and there's still work to do,
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball at the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I'd approve of a dress
She says "Dad, the prom is just one week away,
And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy, please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
She will be gone.

Well, she came home today
With a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says "Dad, the wedding's due six months away
And I need to practice my dancin'"
"Oh please, daddy please!"

So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Ohh-oh ohh-oh, I will dance with Cinderella
I don't wanna miss even one song,
(even one song)
Cuz all to soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

Before you play the video, click on the Pause button on my music player or you'll have two songs overtop each other.

Give all your babies a hug today and spend a little extra time with them. Midnight comes all too soon.

Blessings,
Sandwich

Here is a link to their adoption website, Shaohannah's Hope

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Fixing up Auntie's House

Here are some pics for Auntie from the day we invaded her house. Poor Auntie was not home. She was suffering on a beach in Mexico.


The kids thought it would be fun to de-dandelion her lawn.


Sunshine was the hauler. They'd call him over, fill his shirt with dandelions and send him off to dump into the pile.


Giant mutant dandelion. It looked like 4 dandelions grown together. We didn't pick that one.


Resting with Grandpa after lunch

Doctoring Grandpa





Sunday, May 11, 2008

My Greatest Luxury

In today's sermon, our pastor was talking about the instinct of mothers and also about Pentecost and the Holy Spirit (he did have the two related somehow). At one point he talked about women in the Bible and how unimportant they were in their society in comparison to males. Then he said,(and I've lost some context here, but he still said what he said) "...with all the advances women have made in the world and the workplace, we still have stay-at-home mothers and homemakers..."

WHAT??????!!!!!

Hello! That's me!

And I realized right at that moment how VERY, VERY blessed I am to be a stay-at-home mother (you can take the homemaking part and dispose of it however you like). I am SO blessed that we are able to live on one income and I can stay at home with my children AND homeschool!

Yes, I work part time. I waitress 4 nights a week. But if I had to quit that job today, we would still be able to live where we live and how we live. My money pays for swimming lessons and piano lessons and new clothes for the kids (as opposed to HAVING to shop at garage sales) and my scrapbooking and Bible camp and homeschooling supplies and curriculum and our child sponsorships. So would we still eat if I didn't work? Oh, yeah. But we'd stay home a lot more. We'd be less busy. Maybe even more content. We would not have all those luxuries.

But I am so thankful that I don't HAVE to work to support our family. I'm certainly not knocking anyone that does. Most of my friends work because they have to, at least part time. I realized today what a luxury it is to stay at home.

So I just wanted to acknowledge today the blessing in my life, the very great privelege, the incredible luxury I have of being a stay-at-home mom.

Blessings,
Sandwich

Thursday, May 1, 2008

You Never Let Go

You can read about my day at my homeschool blog: Small Things with Great Love but I'll reprint the blessing part of the post here for you:

BB got 10 M&Ms for finishing his math book. He was very excited and proud! Daisy remembered all the components of writing sentences with quotations in them from yesterday and got all her grammar questions correct. Pepper --well, Pepper is Pepper. I plan to just play math games with her and BB the rest of the summer and wait until fall to begin both of their new math books. Sunshine told me he wanted to use the potty! I don't have a virus on my computer.

I do love homeschooling!


Those are my blessings for the day.

And here's a new song we've all fallen in love with from the new VBS CD. I never paid any attention to this song until we heard it on the Power Lab CD. Click on Track 7.

Lyrics:
Matt Redman - You Never Let Go
From the album Passion 06: Everything Glorious

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I’m caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won’t turn back
I know You are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?

Whom then shall I fear?

Chorus:
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me


And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We’ll live to know You here on the earth

Chorus:

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You
, still I will praise You

Chorus: (2x’s)



The original song by Matt Redman:


Blessings,
Sandwich