Sighing

There are two moments in the day when I sigh that deep sigh of relief mixed with exhaustion... The first moment comes around 3:30 in the afternoon when I'm just about to lay down to rest/nap. I've been going hard all morning, preparing 2 meals (simple though they are), cleaning up after those meals, teaching Kindergarten, protecting Micah from imminent danger (i.e. his older brothers), breaking up spats, training my boys in the way they should go, doing special Luke-school time, sometimes preparing things for supper, etc., etc. You get the picture. Then around 3:00, it's time for Micah's afternoon nap. After he goes down, it's time for Luke's "rest time". Sometimes he sleeps, sometimes he just looks at books in his bed. I get Joshua settled playing his computer learning games so that I can finally get to that wonderful moment. I go to my room, close the door, set my alarm for about 20 minutes, snuggle under the covers, put on my headphones playing lovely piano music, and the sigh inevitably escapes my lips. It's only 20-30 minutes of peace and quiet (well, most of the time), but it is a beautiful part of my day. And it helps me get geared up for everything else that comes after it. Now, to be honest, even when I do get a good nap in, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm #1 mommy all evening. In fact, there are often days when I can't wait for Daddy to get home from work so he can take over things with the boys, particularly training responsibilities. You know, there are some days when patience seems to abound, and there are days when it's not so much. But I digress... The 2nd sighing moment happens around 8:45 or 9:00 when we've finished family devotions and the boys are all down in their beds. Daddy comes back into the room and we just look at each other like, "Wow, I'm exhausted, how about you?" Raising 3 little ones will always generate such a response, trust me. By this time of the day it's really hard to be motivated to get anything else done that day. Unfortunately it's about the only time we can get any tasks done, so we press on. That is, on the days when we can push ourselves to do anything. :o) There are the evenings when we just watch Cosby Show episodes (we own all 8 seasons), then go to bed. All in a day's work of being a mommy, I guess... I wouldn't trade it for anything else in all the world!

The Progression of a Name

When we chose the name for our 2nd born, it did not occur to us how hard it would be for him to say his own name correctly. Of course, this shouldn't be a problem after 3 years old, so it's really not that big of a deal. But since Luke is only just now 3, he's still learning how to say it right. :o) For a long time he introduced himself as "Woot". Then eventually he was able to pronounce the "k" sound so it turned into "Wook". Just in the last few days we've been really working with him to pronounce his "l" sound, which until now, has proven very difficult for him. Now, today, however, he's all about the "l" sound (when he's trying and thinking about it). So he can actually say "Luke" - Yay! Since this is such an accomplishment for him, and he's quite proud of himself, he goes around saying every word he can think of that starts with "l". "Luke loves lions and leopards." Last night when saying his verses after supper, he kept saying "The Lord is my leopard..." (as opposed to shepherd, that is). Anything to show off his new skill! I'm proud of my Luke!

Special Tummy Issues

WARNING: Um... when you have small children, talking about vomit is a normal thing. So if you don't really like to discuss things like that, you might not want to read this post. :o) I tried not to be too graphic...

My children seem to have their own style of stomach issues. Well, that is, in comparison to other little kids that I know. Maybe this is a normal thing with other kids (that I don't know) as well. Anyway, every once in a while one of the boys will wake up saying he's sick to his stomach. You know they're for real when they are all lethargic and can't get out of bed, since, you know, not much slows down a 3 and 5 year old. So, they lay around, eventually throw up, then they're fine for the rest of the day. There are variations on this. Sometimes they end up laying around for a few hours and throw up several times. But, almost always, by lunchtime they are fine and running around like nothing ever happened, even eating normally. Joshua did it Sunday before last. Woke up, laid around, fell back asleep, threw up once, then was fine for the rest of the day. Luke did it this past Friday morning, except he didn't really want to lay down, but couldn't help it. He threw up like 4 times because he kept saying he wanted to eat crackers. Then he was fine by 10:00 that morning and never showed a trace of sickness after that. Last night Micah wouldn't eat anything for supper, which is very strange for him. He wasn't acting sick; he just wouldn't eat. So I was waiting for it today. He was fine this morning and ate breakfast like normal. But at lunch he wouldn't eat again. He eventually threw up his water and little bit of food that he had eaten. After that he seemed perfectly fine. We'll see how he does at dinner tonight. This whole cycle is kind of normal for Joshua and Luke; it's not the first time they've done it. And they often seem to do it around the same time. I am thankful that they at least the whole thing doesn't drag on all day long. I wish I knew what caused it, though. Our close friends here (who have 3 kids the same ages as ours) recently dealt with almost 2 weeks of awful sickness that went through all the kids and the father. We thankfully didn't get that bug! The Lord is so gracious to us in taking care of our health, especially in a place where it's hard to get good medical care.

Our Daredevil

Yes, Luke has been at it again. On Saturday at the park, he was hanging from some monkey bar type things (not quite the same playground equipment here as in the States). He decided that he wanted to drop to the ground, so Daddy was right there ready to catch him. But he tells Daddy that he wants to fall by himself. Now, this is about a 6-7 foot fall, but Luke's pretty determined. So Daddy decides it can't hurt him that bad, right? Let him be brave! He falls. Boom. Crash. Skid. Screaming ensues. Thankfully there were no broken bones or teeth. Somehow he landed then hit the ground face first and slid a little bit in the dirt. It tore the little piece of skin on his gums just above his two front teeth so he had blood coming out of his mouth and nose. We are SO thankful that we didn't have to take him to the doctor here. There are American doctors who live here that we could have seen, at least. Where we lived before, that wasn't even an option. Anyway, he ended up with strawberries on his nose, upper lip, and chin. And, you know, the determining factor as to whether or not an owie is really serious is if there is blood. There was definitely blood. But we had him swish water in his mouth and spit it out, then tried to clean his face off a bit and he was off and playing again within 15 minutes. The funniest thing was when we got home and he saw his face in the mirror. He started counting his face owies and was like, "Mom, I have 1,2,3,4...5 owies!" Like he was proud of them. Just as long as he didn't break anything... Here's a commemorative picture of Luke sporting the face owies. This is actually the day after, so they look a little better than the first day. Crazy kid.

Little Boy Spirituality

I've been wanting to write a post about this for some time now as the boys come up with new things all the time. For starters, for some time now, one of Micah's favorite words has been "amen". He especially likes to say it when we are praying before we eat a meal. Of course, sometimes he's so hungry that he will start saying it while the person is still praying. It sounds kind of like, "aaaa-muh" - very cute. Sometimes when I sit down next to his chair he will say amen because he knows he doesn't get to eat until after we pray. He's a hungry boy pretty much all the time.

Now Luke seems to be more spiritually sensitive to things than the other two. Sometimes when we're praying, whether before a meal or during devotions or at house church, he will murmur, "Yes, Lord" or "hmmm-mmm, yes". It's so cute! The interesting thing is that he seems to do it at the proper time. He's not just making noise or mimicking others, he seems to be making his own comments on the prayer at hand. So sweet, really. Also, recently we were praying for the people of Indonesia because of an earthquake they experienced. Ever since the first night we mentioned it Luke has asked about the people of Indonesia and wanted to pray for them. His prayers are something like, "Lord, please, please, please make the earthquakes and mudslides in Indonesia stop and please help the people know Jesus there." Though Luke is my hyper one, he is also very tender-hearted.

Yesterday, I gave Joshua something and he asked me why I gave it to him. I explained that it was "grace" which is when you receive something you don't deserve. You know, you never know if your kids are listening to anything you say. But then last night I asked Joshua to put his toys away and go put his pajamas on. He politely asked if he could have a few more minutes and I told him 2 more minutes, but then he needed to put everything away. He ran over to me and said, "Thank you, Mommy. You gave me grace! I didn't deserve to play longer, but you let me! Thank you!" It was very sweet. Oh that I could always exhibit grace to them!

Finally, we have recently been stepping up the scripture memory in our home, so we've made some charts and have stars (you know, the colored foil stars we used in VBS growing up) and everything. The boys love the charts and they love getting stars next to their names. Anyway, both boys have started making up their own verses - it's so funny! Luke today said, "Mommy, my list says, 'Brothers should be kind to each other and work together to get the job done.'" (Yes, it's Bob the Builder that works together to get the job done.) Then he told me where it was found, Proverbs 20:3,4,8,9,24. Joshua then said his verse was, "Brothers and sisters should always help each other." Proverbs 52:20,8,9,34. At least their "verses" are good things for them to be doing! But the references are the funniest part. We'll keep working on learning actual proverbs along with other verses. :o) I love my boys!

Bolt

No, I'm not referring to the cute animated movie about the super-powered dog named "Bolt". My title is in reference to my youngest son anytime he sees me with a tissue in my hand coming after him. The poor little guy has had a faucet for a nose for quite some time now, and he's constantly in need of a nose wipe. He, however, doesn't really enjoy getting his nose wiped, so when he knows that's what's up, he's takes off and bolts the opposite direction. He also does this when he's taken hold of something he's not supposed to have and knows I want it back. He sees me coming, grins really big, and starts running away so I'll chase him, giggling all the way. If he wasn't so stinkin' cute when he's doing it... The picture below is him bolting.


In other Micah news, he's now 15 months old and is still the joy of the family. His brothers can't wait to see him every morning after they get up. Except for the persistent runny nose, he's as healthy as can be, weighing in around 23 lbs. He absolutely loves to pull his socks off and I can't keep them on him, even though it's getting colder and colder in our house. He thinks taking off his socks is really funny. He's also super chatty, saying more words every day. Joshua and Luke both love to try to get him to say things and find great personal accomplishment if Micah actually repeats after them. He was running around saying "Aargh!" like a pirate the other day, so the boys wanted him to wear the pirate hat and patch (see below). When the three of them are laughing together about something, there's not much greater joy for a mommy! Besides just trying to say and do more, Micah is beginning to express his opinion or desires when he can. If he wants something specific that he can't reach, he'll point to it and sign "more" or "please". If I ask him if wants the book, then he'll nod his head up and down in response. If I'm trying to give him another bite of food too soon, he'll be sure to shake his head "no" until he's ready. And there are certain books that he readily recognizes and wants read to him over and over again. "Chicka Chicka ABC" and "I Love You Through and Through" are two of his favorites right now. If you tell him to get one of them, he'll look through a pile of books until he's located the one you asked for. He actually likes to put on hats and wear them around for a little bit. Maybe he knows how cute he is... And for the finally bragging that I'm going to do about Micah, today he did his first push-up. Push-ups are a form of punishment for the 2 older boys, so since Micah sees them do them often, he decided that he should do some too! Aargh!

The Big Switch

Having 3 boys who were all born in the summer (i.e. same season of clothing), I have A LOT of boy clothes sorted into big bags under my bed. Being the anal, I mean organized, person that I am, all the clothes are sorted according to size and season and labeled accordingly. So that does make things somewhat easier to find when I need them. However, even with my organized system, it's still a pain to make the season switch for 3 boys. With the arrival of the recent cooler weather, I finally had to break down and get all the bags out and start figuring out who can fit into what this fall/winter. This also includes not only, trying on things, but also sorting through all the things that are currently in their dressers and packing them up properly. I had high hopes of getting it all done yesterday, but I only got Micah's clothes switched out. This whole process often involves a week or so of having these huge bags out in our room waiting for all the summer clothes (which may be in the dirty clothes hamper or drying on the line) to be packed away or, you know, just waiting for me to get all the winter clothes out and in their dressers. Even today, I had to dig clothes out of the bags for the big boys to wear instead of getting something from their dressers. Maybe I can get work on it this evening after Luke's rest time. Eventually, when I feel satisfied that everything is complete, Jeremy can help me get the bags back under the bed (which requires his muscles to lift the bed while I shove the bags under). It's always nice not to have stacks of boy clothing around our room waiting to be put in the right bag. :o)

Yesterday, when I was sorting through and trying to figure out who had and who needed coats, boots, mittens, etc., the boys had a hay-day trying on hats, gloves, and scarves and running around the house. They were all bundled up shouting, "Winter's almost here!" Luke was laying on the floor making a "snow angel". Even Micah wanted to put his hat on. It was really funny.

Even though the cooler weather is here, at least today was a lovely day. We had our normal house church time, then decided to go out to the park to play little bit. Even in the car, Joshua said, "It's such a lovely fall day!" He does have a way with words, that one. We had a fun time at the park; so glad we went! We usually go on Saturdays, but yesterday was really cloudy and cold and dreary. Today is blue sky and sunshine, though still a little nippy. Fall is my favorite time of year!