Sunday, July 27, 2008

Dresses and Flowers

Yesterday, Lou Lou, Birdie, and I went with my teacher friend Tracy and her mom Lynnette to Greenville. We went to find a flower girl dress for Lou Lou to wear in Tracy's wedding. We found a white one pretty quick, and it was affordable. She loved trying on the dresses and twirling around in them. Afterwards, we got something to eat at Cracker Barrel. Lou Lou was so growny acting. Being mature comes along with being the first child, I think.

Bear was with MaJe and Papa J. They went to their local gym and swam. Then they played racquetball, which is now Bear's new love.

Bug spent time with Jimmy. He told me that she said, "I love you Daddy. Can you give me some of your sugar?":)

Last night, all the girls and I went out to eat with MaJe and Papa J. We ate at a table right by a window, and there were some thornbushes outside the window. Bug pointed to the bushes and said, "Look, MaJe. Those are some sharp flowers!". We laughed our heads off. I couldn't help thinking of MaMa and PaPa. They would have used this same "sharp flowers" term as they pointed out some nice flower arrangement at a party or at someone's house. Bug always keeps us smiling and laughing!

Birdie is almost one. We're only three days away from her first birthday. She is crawling around like crazy and putting everything in her mouth, including Elmer's glue from Bear's picture the other day. She is pulling up a little bit. She can get up on her knees pretty good, especially at the bottom of our stairs or in her crib. She is waving a lot now. She especially likes to stick out her arm and wave to strangers as they come our direction at Wal-mart or anywhere else out in public. She does this on her own without any prompting from us. She'll also wave at family members around the house without prompting. This is so sweet, because I love thinking about what goes on in her head to make her decide, "I think I'll wave at that person." I can't wait to see what Birdie will be like as a bigger kid, because she is such a laid back, good-natured baby. Almost nothing, except food, is worth crying over for her.

Moving In

We've been working on FINALLY moving in the last of the boxes from the garage. In the last two weeks, we've been able to park the van in the garage. Moving in the boxes and going through them has been fun. It's fun to go through old stuff, and of course we love finding "gifts" for the Salvation Army. Also, it's nice to have the garage relatively cleaned out. Now, all that's in the garage is bikes, balls, bats, bubbles, and other outside toys along with tools, cleaning supplies, paper towels, and toilet paper.

However, because we've been moving more stuff inside, the stuff that was already inside has felt neglected at best. Each day, as I choose what task to tackle next, I leave several other tasks "waiting" for my attention. The big job of keeping everything running seems impossible at times. I've done pretty good this week at not getting frustrated and overwhelmed and totally stressed. It's a good thing that we're doing the cleaning out and final moving in stuff in the summertime, because when I felt this overwhelmed feeling during the school year, it was a lot tougher for me.

I've been trying to make sure at least one twin learns how to do a cleaning job each time I'm doing something (putting away the towels, washing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, etc.). They are both very good with the vacuum cleaner, and we take turns with vacuuming up crumbs after we eat if there's a big mess. The "new" has almost worn off of the fun, vacuuming job. I always want to get a chore list together, so that it's written down what each twin will do to help out around the house for each day of the week. I can't seem to get this done because there are so many things to do and I don't know which chore will be most pressing for each day. I think once school starts, I may try to figure out some generic chores that will always need doing no matter what day of the week it is.

Picture Progress...We did get a few pictures hung up, which makes it feel more like our home. We got all the peach pictures hung in the kitchen. We also got our big "It's A Wonderful Life" board hung and the pictures hung all around it. I went all through our mess of mixed-up snapshot pictures and tried to organize them. I'm going to try to put them into albums next week.

Our time is drawing nigh as August 18, our first teacher workday, seems to be rapidly approaching. If it doesn't get done prior to August 18, it being anything that needs doing around here, it may not get done until Christmas or even next June. Here's what we're doing with the rest of our time. Today after church and naps, we're leaving for the beach. We're visiting with our cousins there. I'm excited about going, but the packing task overwhelms me. We'll come home on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, Jimmy and the twins will leave with Mama C (JR's mother) on a trip to Florida to visit Jimmy's sister, TT. They'll be gone until the following Thursday. During that time, I'm going to visit with some old teacher-friends, spend time with MaJe and Papa J, and watch The Cosby Show every weekday from 12:00 to 1:00. This is one of my favorite TV shows, but I've only watched it twice this summer because I'm usually busy doing something with the children. The baby girls may be asleep and I may have a bit of old-fashioned TV time. I love the Cosby show because it makes me laugh. When the rest of the family gets back from Florida, we are going to have a birthday party for Birdie, who turns one year old this coming Wednesday.

That following week, we may send the children to daycare so that we can tie up loose ends around here and get things "livable" for the coming school year. I always go back and forth about sending them to daycare when I'm not technically back to work yet, but I really feel that getting the house to a more manageable place will make the whole school year smoother. Also, it seems impossible to make lasting headway on any project here while they're all four around all day long. When they're here, I want to do fun stuff with them rather than fold clothes, organize pictures, organize music, plan church music, etc. Oh well, feeling guilty about my decision certainly doesn't help anybody. Even the children like it better when everything's straight, so I guess it's worth it for them to spend a few extra days at the daycare. By the way, the daycare's a wonderful place. It's just not home with me. Anybody else would say, "Don't worry about it! You deserve a break!", but I'd rather take a break WITH my children.

Friday, July 18, 2008

MaMa

I'm mainly doing this blog so that my children will be able to read back at all the crazy stuff we did. I don't like forgetting all the good stuff. However, this is just as good a place for me to record memories of other people so they can know about them too.

My grandmother passed away on Friday, December 21, 2007 in her home in her bedroom. It wasn't in her bed because she was in a hospital bed. That day, a home health nurse had come by and said that it wouldn't be much longer for her. She had been dealing with skin cancer since 2006. The cancer started in her left hand and then spread to other places. In "dealing" with this cancer, she had a skin graft from her arm, had her pointer finger removed, and then had her hand and wrist removed in an effort to get rid of the cancer. By the way, she was 95 years old when she died. My grandmother had a very good sense of humor, and through all the surgeries, her comment was, "Well, I'm going away from here little by little."

I want to write other funny and good memories of MaMa (and PaPa), but I'm starting tonight with the day she died. I want to go ahead and get this one over with. It's not that I mind thinking about it, but it's still tough to realize that I can't go and see her. After my mom got the word about the nurse's comment that morning, she called me. We had scheduled our fourth annual Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus Party for that night. I called around and told people that it was cancelled. Then Birdie and I headed to Clayton. Birdie was almost five months old at the time. When I walked in, I walked right into her room. She did not make eye contact with me, and her eyes were sort of glazed over. It seemed so sad to see her like that that I felt like it was time for her to go. She was such an active woman all her life that I thought this was especially sad for her. Being "helpless" definitely was not her cup of tea throughout her battle with cancer. Seeing her so helpless made it seem like it was not her.

Anyway, I sat down beside her and grabbed her left arm. Her face was sort of turned towards the other side, but my mom was on the other side in the chair. I sometimes think about how it would have been different if I had gone over to the side where she was looking. Although she was still breathing, it didn't seem like she was really there with us anyway, so me going over to the other side wouldn' t have changed anything probably.

When I got there it was about 4:30. I stayed in the room with her, and I think my aunt must have had Birdie most of the time. Her breathing was very labored, and my uncle said that he had given her some medicine to help with that. While I sat there, I read a quick book that Hospice had given the family. My mom got up and was on the phone with her sister at about 5:25. I was in the room with MaMa and began noticing that her breathing was slowing down and not quite so labored. Then I noticed that it kept taking longer and longer for each breath to come. In the hospice book I had read, it said that patients might breathe very slow for periods of time and that was normal. This came to mind as I watched and listened to her breathe. Then the next breath didn't come. I kept waiting, still wondering if this was just normal. After a few seconds, I called for my mom to come in there, and she called her brother as soon as she got in there. None of us were very emotional because it was like we were just figuring out what had happened. My aunt came in with a mirror to check if she was breathing. In the middle of all this, I remember thinking, "How smart and how CSI to use a mirror!" :)

We called the home health nurse and she came and declared her dead at 6:30 p.m. She had to give her a bath before the funeral home people came. I stayed in there with her while she gave MaMa a bath. I wanted to be in there with MaMa as long as I could. I would have thought it would have been difficult to see the funeral home men carry MaMa out of there. I think it was better because I saw it. Sometimes fear of the unknown is worse than actually going through it. They asked us if we wanted her face covered up with a sheet or not, and I spoke up and said no. I know I probably should have left that up to her actual children, but I wanted her to still seem like herself one more time.

Before the home health nurse got there, the youth from MaMa's church came to sing Christmas carols to her. It was so sad and strange to have to turn them away because MaMa wasn't with us anymore.

That night, Birdie and I spent the night at MaMa's house. My mom and I stayed up so late and read MaMa's entire 2006 journal. We laughed and cried at all the funny things and sad things that she wrote. So many times throughout her journal, she wrote at the end of the day, "So this was just another day, but a good day." We decided that that would be the title of the 2006 journal:)

I dealt with MaMa's death so much better because I was able to be there with her. I thank God so much for answering this prayer for me.

Maybe the children will do something extra funny tomorrow so that my next post can make me laugh instead of cry.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Patient Kids and Poop

These days, we get up and go to swimming lessons each morning. We used to go in the afternoons, and I felt like I got more done during the day. I like going in the mornings because it's cooler. It's an indoor pool, so if you're not getting in the pool, it gets very warm. However, just the act of getting everyone there, packing and carrying all the stuff, and getting back home wears me completely out. I have less energy and motivation throughout the day to get stuff done around here. Today is their last day of lessons for awhile. Bear loves, loves, loves the lessons, but Lou Lou is scared to jump in the deep water. She's done it several times, but still isn't sure of herself. Right now they're in the Guppy Class. While we're there, the baby girls and I all get in, or just Bug gets in. Bug is happy either way. Birdie absolutely loves getting in and happily lunges towards me into my arms in the water whenever I sit her on the side of the pool. I don't put her face in, but she shuts her eyes every time she comes in as if she's going under. It is just so cute when she does this, and she would "jump" in a million times if I kept doing it.

We played a game with a pile of odds and ends yesterday while the baby girls were asleep. We had about 15 small items. We studied the pile, and then one of us (me, Bear, or Lou Lou) would pick up an item and hide it while the other two were out of the room. Then we came back and tried to figure out which object was missing. This kind of game is not the funnest in the world to me, but they really enjoyed it.

I thought they would enjoy a cruise through Target before church. We have not many groceries and I need to go shopping desperately, but my time and energy never meet up. When I have the time to go grocery shopping, I don't have the energy. When I have the energy to go, I don't have the time. Anyway, I needed to pick up something for Birdie to eat at church so we took off to Target. I also wanted to look at some of their soaps. They have some more natural-brand soaps, shampoos, etc. now which really interests me. I bought a lavender bar soap already as well as some Method laundry detergent, Method hand soap, and 7th Generation dish soap.

When we got to Target, I got out and opened the door to get Birdie out. She was being her usual jolly self and smiling up at me, but I discovered by smell and sight that she was sitting in poop as I picked her up out of the car seat. Once I had in her in my hands, I had to hold her out away from me so it didn't get on me. We definitely didn't have time for me to go home and change my clothes. I immediately began praying that I hadn't forgotten my wipes. Lou Lou got up and laid out a swimming lesson towel. (I guess there are times when it pays to not clean out the car each time you go home:)) I kept my hands on Birdie while Lou Lou and Bear looked for wipes. When we couldn't find any, I began praying that we would quickly see someone we knew in the parking lot. After a minute or so, I saw the wipes. Thank goodness, the pack was almost full.

I began wiping her off and had to throw the yuck diaper, yuck outfit, and yuck wipes onto the ground by the car. The whole wiping process took at least five minutes or what seemed like five minutes. After awhile, I could tell that these wipes could not accomplish the job, but soap, water, or grownup help was unavailable for the moment. Meanwhile, Bug had gotten out of her car seat. Come to think of it, I know I didn't unbuckle her, so who did? I guess she asked Bear to in all the commotion. She moved herself up to the driver's seat and began pushing and pulling and sliding any button she could get her hands on. The car was turned off, so we didn't experience the fruits of her labor until I turned the car back on after we went in Target. A car pulled in to park beside us, and the Dad saw the mess on the ground. I heard him tell his daughter to not get out on that side and that her Mom would get her from the other side...Smart move! The mom and daughter went in and the dad stayed in the car in the passenger seat (close to the pile).

After I got Birdie moderately clean, I wrapped the poopy clothes, toys, etc. in another swimming lesson towel and tried to wipe off the car seat. While doing this, Bug starts beeping the horn. The man in the car beside us looked at us and gave us a half smile, like this wasn't really cute but rather annoying. Anyway, I told everyone to get out of the car. I knew we were going to be late for church, but had no choice because I still had to get Birdie some food. When the rest of the kids got out of the car, Bug started trying to open our neighbor's car door. Again, he gave a half smile.

Our trip in Target was less eventful, although they all did so good about not asking me to buy this or that. I guess the twins knew I was frazzled. They were all so patient through the whole thing. Maybe they were entertained. I don't think they'll forget this adventure.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Girl Scout Update

I decided to look on the Internet for more information about the Girl Scouts. I found a pile of information. Of course, it was split right down the middle. Half of what I found was writers appalled at the asterisk and several other things I read about. The other half thinks the first half is crazy. Here's one website: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=40508.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Cookies and Popcorn

The Girl Scout Promise: On my honor, I will try: To serve God* and my country, To help people at all times, And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
The Girl Scout Law: I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do,and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout.
* The word "God" can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on one's spiritual beliefs. When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word "God" with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate.
from http://www.nccoastalpines.org/home/about.aspx

The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.

Scout Oath
On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

Scout Law
A Scout is:
Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent.
from http://www.scouting.org/media/mission.aspx

We've been talking with the twins about joining the Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts. They haven't been overly excited about it because they don't know much about these organizations. As I looked online early this morning for more information about joining in this area, I stumbled upon the dreaded asterisk (above). The asterisk shocked me so much. I can't support something and have my child participate in an organization that openly says there could be another God. After I found it, I searched around to see if there was any question about God in the Boy Scout oath. Thankfully, there was not.

I talked to Jimmy about it and he agreed, although he said he didn't feel as strongly as I do about this. Lately, I've been getting fired up about things. Jimmy did say that possibly the same argument could hold true for public schools, because as a teacher you can't talk about God in the classroom. Maybe there is something to what he's saying. At this point, I don't feel God calling me and my children away from public schools. I also don't feel God calling me to sign Lou Lou up or to purchase Girl Scout apparel or cookies. To me, taking a stand for what we believe takes priority over adopting a tolerance for all things that is so popular in our culture.

When I was in second grade, I wanted to be in Brownies SO BAD. It didn't happen because the Brownie group met on Wednesday nights, and my parents felt that church attendance was more important. At the time, I thought that we went to church enough already, even if I cut out Wednesday night attendance. I didn't harbor a big grudge, but always wanted a little brown outfit.

When MaJe (my mom) was in high school, she wanted to join the basketball team at her very small high school. Her parents said no because the team practiced and/or had games on church nights. MaJe had to be at church to play the piano.

I investigated some alternatives for Lou Lou since Bear is still going to participate in Boy Scouts at this point. We talked about how good it would be for him to be with boys for a change, considering our family makeup. GAs (Girls in Action) is a mission organization just for young girls. This is what I was doing most Wednesday nights as a child when I was missing Brownie meetings. I'm going to look into this further. Lou Lou will be upset at not joining Girl Scouts, but will be excited to do something (GAs) here with me. I'm going to pray that God would bless and grow our GA club. (I guess we'll call it a club. Little girls, and boys I assume, love to feel a part of a "club".)

Jimmy and I did discuss that actually eating a Girl Scout cookie that someone bought was okay. After all, the cookie didn't say there was more than one God. When I started talking about this (at about 2:30 this morning), Jimmy laughed. Maybe I'm a Froot Loop or just crazy. I have to do what I think is right for Lou Lou.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Early Reading and Late Waving

Bug is keeping us all entertained this summer. She's always saying something crazy and funny. The twins are getting old enough to "get" that she doesn't "get" some things. Lately, she's been really into noticing the alphabet. She doesn't know names or sounds for letters but she does know "who" goes with each letter. For example, she knows her letter, Teency's letter, Bear's letter, etc. When she sees any letters, she points them out to me and says, "Mama, here's some ABCDs." Sometimes she tries to read what it says.

At Vacation Bible School, they had pudding cups. The top said something like Jello Vanilla Pudding. After Bug pulled off the top, she asked me if I wanted her to read it. I told her I did, and she said as she pointed to each word, "I am pudding!"

While the twins are in swimming lessons, the baby girls and I sometimes get in the pool. The first time we ever got in this year, Bug walked over to the depth marker that said "2 Ft". She again asked me if I wanted her to read it to me. When I said yes, she said, again pointing and emphasizing each part, "Get Wet!"

Birdie has been a solid thumbsucker since maybe four months. As of the last two months, she has started pulling on her ear with one hand while she sucks her thumb on the other hand. In the last week, she has discovered her belly button. She has a herniated belly button which juts out a bit. While sucking her thumb, she pushes her belly button in and out.

I've noticed that she doesn't wave bye-bye often at all. The ladies at the daycare said that she did wave there from time to time. I really don't worry about it much, because she seems developmentally fine. This week, I thought to myself, "No wonder she doesn't wave bye-bye more often. She has no free hand to wave with, what with the thumb, the ear, and the belly button duties!"

Birdie is all over the place. She still does the army man crawl, but has started pulling up to her knees at the bottom of the stairs and in her crib. She, unlike the older three children, puts everything in her mouth. Last week she ate a piece of paper that I could never seem to get out of her mouth once she got it in there. She is still very happy, and mostly eats fruit, yogurt, bagels, Cheerio's, sweet potatoes, and mac and cheese. I keep offering vegetables, but no such luck yet.

Birdie and Bug are both easygoing and laid back. The terrible twos for Bug are not all that terrible. After going through the true terrible twos with the twins, just doing it with one two year old who has such a laid back personality is less exhausting for me.

I try to get a lot of work done in the morning before any children get up. For the first part of the summer, each time Bug would get up, she would come find me and say, "Mama, I wake Birdie up for you!" with this beaming "I'm so proud of myself" look on her face. After talking to her about this, she has snuck out the last three days without waking up Birdie. Yay!

Last week, my sister YaYa came with her three girls. The children had a large time. We did all sorts of things...ate spaghetti, played in the sprinkler, went to a cool new park, went to BK for some greasy nasty food, watched YaYa play her trumpet, and took turns holding the Karate Kid. It was fun and good times for the kids!

Time with Lou Lou and Bear

We have had a pretty calm summer so far. This is the first summer I've had that I thought staying home with the children is just as hard as teaching school during the year. Prior to this summer, I've always considered the summertime as a break for me. It's not that Birdie herself is a particular challenge, but just that there are four children who can all be challenges in their own ways from time to time.

The twins have been taking swimming lessons, which gives us something to do each day, but sometimes wipes me out for the rest of the day. Jimmy is teaching summer school Mon.-Thurs., and his absence around the house sometimes leaves me feeling wiped out. Sometimes the energy level needed and my own current energy level are so drastically different that I'm left feeling unmotivated and ready to turn on PBS Kids for awhile.

Today Lou Lou and I went to see the new American Girl movie. This was the first movie we have been to see since Curious George was on the bigscreen. It was a great movie, and we had fun together. I had to whisper to her throughout to explain what "foreclosure" meant, which was the real crook, and how Kit figured it out. She knows how I am with movies, and kept asking me, "Are you crying?". She is a very sensitive child, but doesn't cry at movies (not yet anyway). However, once when she was three, she did cry during a movie. We borrowed Dumbo from the public library. When we got to the part where Dumbo was separated from his mother through the jail cell bars, I looked over at Lou Lou and her eyes were filled with water. I asked her if she wanted to stop watching it and she said yes. When I got the video out of the VCR, she grabbed it and said very seriously to me, "I want you to throw this tape in the trashcan." She felt so strongly about this movie that she never wanted to see it again. Lou Lou craves time alone with me, but I've figured out that sometimes the more she gets, the more she wants. I try to sneak in some quiet time for us as often as possible during each day.

Bear had a Perfect Attendance certificate for Logan's so we took Birdie along with us. He enjoyed our time together I think. Time alone with Bear involves answering lots and lots of questions about all kinds of things, which is fine but sometimes a bit exhausting. I try to keep my "answering" endurance up. Here is a sampling of tonight's questions...How big is a tarantula? Is a tarantula as big as a dinner plate (an idea from a book we read)? Which plate is a dinner plate? Do spiders only live in bushes and plants? Is that man drinking beer or root beer? How do you make beer? How do you make honey mustard? Can Birdie eat peanuts yet? Are there people in this world who don't believe in God? Why don't they believe in God? The questions and conversation continued, following no particular path except the trail he was following in his head, bouncing from one idea to the next. When we got home, the rest of our crew had taken off to get something "different" to eat. Lou Lou had said that she was tired of eating the same old mess. Since everyone else was gone, Bear, Birdie, and I went on a walk. Birdie rode in the double jogging stroller while Bear rode along on his bike. It was a good night with the Brother Bear!

Friday, July 4, 2008

Stuff, stuff, and more stuff

When I read about the 100 Thing Challenge (having 100 or less possessions), I was curious. Later, on Christian radio I heard someone preaching about human's inability to take material possessions with us when we die. This was not news to me, but the timing of this message on the heels of my interest in the 100 Thing Challenge really got me thinking. I don't think I could go down to owning only 100 things, and don't care about what number I have right now. Instead, I particularly felt challenged to give away some of my stuff.

My husband and I are Salvation Army crazy. He makes a trip to the Salvation Army every 1-2 weeks to drop off whatever we've decided that we no longer need. This 100 Thing Challenge is the perfect opportunity for me to increase my donations to the Salvation Army. In other words, we already are in the mindset of "give it away if you don't use it", but I just feel like cranking this up a notch now. If I'm not using it and someone else can use it, then why should I hold on to it? It's like I'm looking at everything around my house through a new, critical lens.