For Those who Live in Caves

OK so there are plenty of non-cave dwellers that don’t have Facebook, but I was looking for a creative title. The subject of Facebook came up at lunch the other day amongst some of my co-workers. These particular co-workers also happen to be my family members. More on that later—or maybe not. Anyway, one of them said “I just don’t get Facebook at all—why would you want to post ‘I’m going to the bathroom now’ and every single move you make?!” I tried in vain to mention a few things that were good about it, which was met with mild interest, and then we all went back to work. This exchange reminded me of one of the times my mom tried to explain to my grandma what the internet was, though the Facebook conversation wasn’t NEARLY as complicated as that. Have you ever tried to explain the internet? Apparently, according to Wikipedia, she should have just said “The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (often called TCP/IP, although not all applications use TCP) to serve billions of users worldwide.” If only she’d gotten that explanation, Grandma would have surely said “Oh! I understand now!” But anyway the point is that if you don’t actively use it, it’s extremely hard to explain, and to a lesser degree, so is Facebook. So I wanted to take a moment to go over some of the things that are great about Facebook, which I will now begin referring to as FB because I’m tired of typing it out and I don’t want to cut and paste.

1. The ability to keep in touch with friends and family, regardless of distance. This is HUGE. Plus instant picture sharing and instant conversation through messaging or comments. Get engaged? You can put a picture on FB 30 seconds after he asks for all your friends to ooh and aah over. Having a baby? Get first pictures in the first few minutes after he/she is born.
2. Comrarderie and friendship. Aside from pictures and messaging, FB gives you the ability to post about things you need help with, positive, encouraging thoughts, funny things, exciting things, things for sale, blog posts, prayer requests and everything in between.
3. Gaming- As a former gamer, I can appreciate that a lot of people really enjoy the games that FB has to offer. Play Words with Friends (aka Scrabble) without finding a perfect time to get together. Play with 2 people, 10 people, 50 people, as much as you want, when you want. Create your own farm or castle that your friends can “visit.” Compete against each other’s scores in Bejeweled Blitz. There are lots more and you can play by yourself, with others, or a combination of both.
4. Espionage. Sorry but I don’t think there is anyone who has a FB page that hasn’t spied on someone, it’s just a fact!
5. Groups. You can create private groups for organizations, family or any other groups you can imagine. For my husband’s immediate family, we have a closed group that is only for us to plan get-togethers for the holidays, birthdays and the like. We can post the kids’ wish lists and easily discuss things without having to make 5 different phone calls or get a ton of emails. You can also create public pages for events, organizations, schools and other things to easily update a large number of people at the same time.
6. Couponing/Sales. Many businesses offer FB only deals and coupons for “liking” their page. And by sharing offers, you can take advantage of some great things! Just this week I got a coupon for a free dessert at Chili’s, just for clicking on the link my friend shared. Since most websites or blogs have FB pages, you can see updates from those places all in your news feed instead of having to go around to different sites. As an example, I regularly see articles from Focus on the Family, recipes and pictures from Weelicious and Heavenly Homemakers, Scripture from several different sites and posts from Publix and Disney World. If it’s something interesting, I can click on it and if not I just scroll on by. (haha get it?)

Certainly there is a lot that can be bad about FB. Concerns about privacy abound, just ask those involved in the huge lawsuit about how personal information is handled and the vague and conflicting responses that FB has issued when questioned about such things. Many people do not know how to fully make use of the privacy settings that FB does have in place. You can restrict people from seeing certain things (or everything!), even if they are on your friends list, and you can lock down your page so that people you haven’t approved as a friend can’t see anything. One problem is that people forget who all they have friended! Teenagers are moving away from FB in droves to other social networking sites such as Twitter because their grandma and every other extended family member has FB and is seeing their “personal” stuff. Sometimes you can get sick of sites and/or people that update too frequently (like the going to the bathroom example above in the initial question about FB- some people actually do update their every move) Thankfully, there is customization where you can hide updates, or subscribe to “most” or “only important” updates when that occurs. And thankfully I do not have that problem with those on my friends list but I have in the past. Speaking of friends lists, another negative is that it can be awkward and result in hurt feelings to not accept friend requests from family, church members, co-workers and others. In fact, the #1 thing wrong with FB is D-R-A-M-A. Oh my goodness I don’t even think I can go into explaining that further.

Without a doubt the most valuable commodities that FB has to offer are outlined in the first two items above. Even though I didn’t expound on them in great detail, this is such a great thing. I’m in touch with people I graduated high school with, my husband’s extended family, a few people from work, my extended family….there is no way I would get to see them, hear from them and know what’s going on with them without FB. It’s so nice to be able to bounce ideas off of multiple people from multiple perspectives or to have several people give you encouraging words when you post about having a bad day, a sick child or a job interview. And despite the negatives I certainly won’t be leaving FB anytime soon and in fact am sad to say that I’m somewhat addicted. One of these days I need to go on a FB fast, though it would probably be as difficult as giving up chocolate. Pathetic I know but unfortunately true. I really think the best way to detox would be to go on a cruise. Oh well, gotta do what you gotta do!

Emotional Eating

I have come to realize that this blog is about raising children, family, faith, couponing, life and food. And of course it also serves as a memory book for me so I can document things as they come along so I won’t forget them. Tonight’s post is about food. Food is so emotional. I really don’t think there’s anyone that doesn’t have some sort of emotional attachment to food. I don’t necessarily mean eating when you’re sad or because food is your only friend, but in our culture because of deep traditions and memories, food turns from a sustenance issue to an emotional issue. When was the last time you heard someone say they were looking forward to Thanksgiving pizza or Christmas crackers?

I think that Mark’s switch to a gluten free diet has been harder on me than it has on him. He doesn’t really care that much about what he eats, (though for someone who says that he sure eats a lot of candy bars!) Besides, I’ve been cooking a lot more, he’s had more meat than he probably had all last year so really, he’s doing just fine. But I have all these wonderful memories with him that surround food; our first date at Cracker Barrel, frequent lunches at Subway, eating pizza and calzones together, sharing soft pretzels at the mall…the list goes on and on. Somehow making gluten free pizza at home just doesn’t cut it. I miss making brownies or stacking up oreos in a glass of milk for him. I still eat pizza but I eat it alone. I feel sad about this a lot.

I know the solution is just to make new memories and all that. But that’s the thing about memories, isn’t it? There’s no “never play again” setting on the playback. There’s no replacing those files. Like everything else though, with time I probably won’t think about it as much.

Let me just say that some people might be rolling their eyes thinking “if that’s her biggest problem, she’s got it made!” It’s definitely not my biggest problem and is infinitesimal in comparison with some of the other things going on. But I wanted to write about it because…well because I just wanted to write about it.

I will now go take comfort in a Cadbury crème egg.

A Samuel Update

I was reading back on some previous posts and I had one that was saying all of these issues that Samuel was having. So I thought I would post a quick update.
This Tuesday, impossibly, he will be 11 months old. I can’t believe it! And a piece of major news is that, miraculously, he has almost completely stopped spitting up! Just like that! I was afraid to actually say it out loud but after a week went by we realized this was really happening! Sometimes he wears the same clothes all day long; it’s just incredible. Also, he goes to bed super easy, he’s sleeping very well at night again and even sleeping in a little more. When he does wake up early (7-7:15) he will play in his crib for a good 45 minutes, sometimes longer. He’s taking two naps most of the time, though they are short, but usually one of them is an hour. He’s still having difficulty with separation anxiety at church with the nursery workers, bless their hearts. We’ve had this announcement in the bulletin about needing nursery workers and all I can think is “no kidding!” because I figure he’s chasing everyone away! LOL
The only thing I can say is that like all babies, he is constantly eating things he finds on the floor, though I don’t remember having as much of an issue with Emily. Maybe because we didn’t have any other children in the house! Recent findings include pieces of wood (where they came from, I don’t know), barrettes, stickers, puzzle pieces, various assortments of lint and other floor things, cat food (though he really does know he isn’t supposed to touch the bowl he seems to think a stray piece on the floor is fair game) and a ladybug. I could sweep and vacuum every day and it wouldn’t matter, he can find the tiniest, most microscopic little things.
So other than the daily danger of choking to death, things with Samuel are going very well. He has the best little mommy of a big sister and watching them play together is definitely the highlight of most days. Emily says that he is her best friend.

Danger! Danger!

“Hi, please come attack me, I’m the perfect target!” This is the message I feel is conveyed when I am outside of my car with the double stroller at the mall. It’s a shame that it’s that way, but it is. Of course, it’s also if-y with a single stroller but if you have an infant carrier, if you have the purse and the diaper bag on your shoulder, you can just swoop up the carrier, click it in, fold up the stroller and you’re pretty much on your way. Not so with a double, because you have double of everything (well, bags and children at least) so that means one child is in the stroller still when you’re snapping the other one in. One of the scariest times in my life was at the mall when I was putting Samuel in with Emily still in the stroller and out of NOWHERE this man appeared asking for money. I firmly told him he needed to get a man to help him, pointed to a man across the parking lot and he left but still. He could have simply run away with Emily in the stroller (after all, the handle was facing him!) or any number of other horrible things. Next time I went to the mall I looked around for one of those security guards on the segue things (segway?) to walk me to my car because you know, they’re always around. But this time, I walked the entire mall and nothing. I went to the service desk—nothing. Someone later suggested I should have gone into a store and said I needed security and they would have known how to contact them but I didn’t think of it at the time so I just went as fast I could and got in the car, chest pounding.
I feel like I am as safe as possible. Before exiting the mall I always have my keys in my hand, as well as all bags and I am constantly looking around. I pray for safety before getting out of the car and before leaving the mall. I try to exit when other families are exiting at the same time, though this isn’t always possible. I throw everything in the front seat and start the car, put Emily in without buckling her while still facing Samuel, go around and buckle Samuel in, fold up the stroller and put it in the back, buckle Emily in, get in, lock the doors and leave. Of course every plan has flaws; by turning on the car, someone could come and jump in and take off, though they’d have to run me over to do it unless it was clear in front of us. I’ve heard arguments both ways about cell phones; one side is that if you have it out, someone knows you could call the police or alert whoever’s on the other end that there is trouble. But the other side of is that you might be distracted when on the phone and not notice potential danger (not to mention having only one hand to do things) I find the latter more convincing. One additional step I could do is to have mace in my pocket or in my hand but I am unsure if I could keep up w/ it or avoid spraying myself if I were to panic. Paranoid? Maybe. But I just think you can’t be too careful sometimes.
Before everyone thinks I am like this in all areas, there are plenty of things with “potential danger” that we allow. Jumping on the bed and running in the house come to mind, although she does know that is only allowed when we are at OUR house. Letting Emily ride her bike or scooter in her “lady shoes” comes to mind too. But letting them do things where they can hurt themselves is far different than opening the door to let someone else do it. And with all the evil in the world today, I would rather be safe than sorry.

Death by a Thousand Socks

It is no surprise that adding people to your home causes more laundry. When you have a baby, it is very funny to all of a sudden have small things around, tiny little suits and pants and shoes and socks. You wash the baby’s clothes separately, on delicate, in Dreft. For awhile. Quickly, the Dreft is eliminated from the shopping list, the tiny clothes end up taking a surprisingly long time to fold and put away because there are SO many of them and the socks become completely and totally unmanageable. When you add another baby, the sock problem just gets even more ridiculous because you can’t tell whose is whose, 70% of them don’t have matches and it’s just a big ordeal. Oh, that there were such things as disposable socks! I basically wear Mark’s socks most of the time so we don’t have an issue keeping ours separate. (is that weird?)
It used to take me a solid half hour to put in Emily’s laundry because I would spray each outfit, bib and burp cloth with stain remover until my finger cramped from pulling the trigger on the spray. That practice did not carry over when Samuel came along. I wash everything he has 2-3 times per week and it sitnks that most of his clothes are stained but sometimes you just have to decide what you want to spend time doing.
I am thankful that it is warm most of the time in Florida because that reduces the occasions that I have to put socks on Samuel…at least for a little while longer. I’m not a fan of sandals and I’m a hater of crocs so the time is coming when Samuel will have to be wearing shoes and socks all the time when he starts walking. I have heard suggestions about getting a lingerie bag and just putting all the socks in there so they all stay together. That is SUCH a great idea! But it just won’t work with our life. Clothes get all over our house and even if I kept it in the laundry room, the bag would be missing all the time, there would still be socks that had sunk to the bottom of hampers (why do they do that??) and it just wouldn’t work for us. So my idea is that I am going to get a whole bunch of white socks and just have them share like Mark and I do. I can still get fun little socks from time to time because it won’t be hard to keep those separate but I really think this is the solution to the problem. The washer/dryer will still eat single socks like it does for everyone but if they’re all the same, it won’t matter.

Brothers

I think it is in every brother to annoy his sister and/or in every sister to think her brother is gross. My brother is 17 years old than me. We lived in the same house for one year, and that was the first year I was alive. But through the years, he made sure he got in all the brotherly stuff just the same. For one thing he liked to scare me, which if you know me at all, is not an accomplishment as I am very jumpy. BUT—get this—reportedly he started this when I was in my BABY SWING! I have vivid memories of being held down on the ground and having him dangle spit over my face when I got older. Of course, he also did fun and funny brotherly things, like hanging lizards off his ears, taking me on the jet ski and other stuff but this post is about the gross side of brothers. Apparently this begins at birth. From Day 1, Samuel has done something that grosses Emily out. Who would think that at age 2 years and 4 months that someone could be grossed out by anything, particularly something they themselves did a little more than a year prior? Of course, that would have been half a lifetime ago for her.
The first time it happened, they were in their car seats. We heard Emily gagging, and since she’s not one of those kids that throw up all the time, we were alarmed. We then realized Samuel had spit up and we asked ourselves “could that really be making her gag?” Yes, it could. We started having to tell Emily “Don’t look at it! Look out the window! Watch the trees! Read a book!” when we were in the car because even simply getting buckled in his car seat causes him to spit up. She’s gotten a little better about it, but today on our walk, they were riding in the wagon and Emily picked up the waffle (play food) Samuel had been holding, put it in her mouth and…well you can guess what Samuel had done on it. Just a little bit but still, the gagging began, but didn’t stop. She threw up on her shirt, then went through another round of gags. We had no water on us, we were still a good ways from home and she was crying for us to take her clothes off. So we took off her shirt and Mark was going to just let her hang out that way till we got home! We argued about it for a few minutes because I think she is just definitely too old to be without a shirt in the neighborhood. So I made him take his shirt off and put it on her. I wish I had a picture of it, she looked so funny riding her little bike with Daddy’s big shirt on! (I forgot to mention earlier that Mark had been carrying her bike because she wanted to ride in the wagon with Samuel for awhile) Mark looked a little rough though, cruising through Eagle Harbor shirtless and shoeless! (he’d gone walking barefoot)
Gross though they may be, good brothers are very much a blessing. There are many times my brother has saved the day, has saved me from bugs and scorpions when I was at home by myself, has helped me with different things from moving to helping me when I was sick to closing my garage door when SOMEONE forgot to close it (everyone think “Mark”!) He was there when Emily was born and he was the first person (besides Mark) that I saw after Samuel was born, which was amazing considering how quickly he had to drop what he was doing because Samuel came so unexpectedly. And though he was present for my most humiliating moment yet in life, he helped me out of it and never even teased me about it. (No, I will not be telling about that. Ever. And don’t ask him either!)
I hope Samuel will be a good brother. For now, Emily thinks he is great, she tries to play with him all the time, loves feeding him, making him laugh and even comforting him. As long as he doesn’t spit up.

Worms and The Easter Story

Emily was on the porch and I heard her talking animatedly and sweetly to something outside. After awhile I asked her who she was talking to, thinking Minnie was out there. She said “I’m just talking to this little worm out here. See? Here you go sweetie, here’s your breakfast!” She had made a nice little pine straw bed surrounding it and was bringing it flowers. I should point out here that the worm had long ago been baked to a crisp in the sun on the sidewalk.

We celebrate both sides of Easter in our house; we dye eggs, get new Easter clothes, have Easter baskets (though like our position on Santa, we don’t do the Easter bunny thing where he comes in the house). And we definitely celebrate Resurrection Sunday and plan to ensure that Emily and Samuel are raised knowing what the holiday is all about. This is truly my favorite of all the holidays. (I posted on this at length last Easter if you’re interested-look at posts from April 2011)

Upon reflecting on the funny scene with the worm, I realized something—I don’t think she is old enough to understand the Easter story! She doesn’t know anything about death, she doesn’t understand the word “kill” or even what it would be like to take punishment for someone else. I tried doing some online research and found a number of great projects, crafts and activities to do with children to celebrate the Resurrection, here are some of the ideas http://www.southernsavers.com/2012/03/easter-traditions-and-diy-crafts/   (my favorite is the Resurrection rolls!) I looked in Emily’s toddler Bible to see how they portray the story, but even it is too complex. I thought and thought of how to simplify it enough for someone who visits with dead worms. But try as I might, I cannot for the life of me think of a way to share any aspect of the story with her, except for Palm Sunday. I never realized the complexity of it; she’s used to reading Bible stories, but I have come to the conclusion that she is just too young for this, which is really sad. So for now I will have to tell her it’s a very special day we celebrate Jesus and be glad that she knows part of “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.”

The Great Question

An age old question, one that people have been asking for all time is “Why do bad things happen to good people?” This occurrence is not an accident, it’s not just by chance; the Bible tells us that it will be so. Matthew 5:45 says that the rain falls both on the righteous and the unrighteous. “But why?” we silently ask.

There was a story about an elderly missionary returning to the United States to retire. He and his wife had spent over 40 years serving in Africa. But now he was alone. His wife and two children had long since found their final resting place in the soil of Africa.

As he got off the plane he saw a great crowd of people waiting at the gate. Some were holding signs, others were waving banners, and he could even hear sounds of music above the shouting voices.

For a few seconds he thought, “Can it be? After more than 40 years of service, all of these people have actually come out to welcome me home?”

But no, that was not the case. On his plane was a politician returning from a visit to Africa.

During his visit the politician had been catered to and waited upon and all his needs had been met. And now he was being welcomed back with all the ceremony his nation could provide.

As he waited and waited at the airport, the contrast was almost more than the old missionary could bear.

For a moment he began feeling sorry for himself, and he started to pray. “Father in Heaven, why? I’ve served You faithfully and for so long, and yet, look. I don’t expect much. But is it wrong to desire that there be some kind of a welcome home?”

Then, almost as if God had spoken out loud, the old missionary heard Him say, “But my son, you’re not home yet.”

That story was an excerpt from today’s sermon. This was such a sad, but profound illustration to me. I felt so sorry for the missionary who had lost his family, who had served so faithfully. And I know there are countless others who have died while serving. Similarly I know people who have been faithful their whole lives—even preachers!–and had unthinkable, tragic things happen. The explanation I’ve always heard for the great question is that God’s glory can be revealed exponentially through tragedy. And when a Christian person goes through something horrible and still remains faithful, it’s a testament to others. I think this certainly can be true, and I also understand the meaning of the story above in that the true reward is in heaven. But I think there is something else.

It’s necessary. As humans, I think there are certain great fears we all share: cancer. Losing a child. Something happening to loved ones that we can’t stop. Spiders. If someone was told that all they had to do was accept Christ and they’d never have any of those things, never have financial woes, never have unexpected pain, who wouldn’t sign up?! But it would be for the wrong reasons. And God is not into coercion. From the very beginning, he gave us free will. He doesn’t want slaves, he wants followers and there’s a definite difference. No doubt there are promises to those who choose to confess Him, but those are not for worldly comforts. This world is not our home.

The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous because it has to. And for some reason, that is a comfort.

Another Tale from Crazy Town

Traveling with small children is largely an exercise in logistics. Last December when I heard Veggie Tales Live was coming to Jacksonville on Friday night, March 23, I knew this was a mission that would require especially careful strategy. We would come straight from work in Jax back to Fleming Island to pick up Emily from preschool and Samuel from the sitter’s, have to all somehow eat dinner in the car and be back in Jax at Evangel Temple as early as possible to get a seat since the show was scheduled to start at 6:30. Lately Emily loves Veggie Tales, even more than Mickey & friends at the time, so we decided we definitely wanted to go. I knew for sure we needed the double stroller. I had trouble thinking about a meal that Mark could eat on the go because it seems almost all fast food except salad has gluten in it. Can’t pack a sandwich because the GF bread is frozen, at least the kind we have, and everything else I could think of would require a stove or microwave. And as far as Emily, while snacks are no problem, a meal is a different story. Finally I settled on a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat for her, a Tupperware w/ GF cereal for Mark, applesauce (which everyone can eat), bananas (which Mark & Emily eat) and oatmeal squares & animal crackers for Em. Add 3 bottles, 1 bottle of water, 1 formula container, 2 containers of baby food and 1 container of Gerber puffs and Samuel’s food was more than supplied for. Funny how the smallest family member requires the most stuff! For me, I decided we’d go by the Subway in the Shell station on the way to pick up Em and there I could get a container of milk for Mark’s cereal & for Em to drink too. I packed 2 empty sippy cups, 1 for milk and 1 for water for Em, 2 plastic spoons and for good measure threw in 3 folded paper towels. Oh yes, and two complete changes of clothes for Emily (which we always have with us) and 2 extra clothes, bibs and burp cloths for Samuel since we knew he’d ruin the 4 or 5 outfits we sent with him to the sitter’s during the day. (which he did) Surprisingly, all of this added only 1 extra bag to what we normally carry since Emily and Samuel each have a bag with them at all times.
Everything was going like clockwork…until Emily spilled some of her milk in her car seat, which in turn got her pants & underwear wet. We pulled over, I got her out, took her pants off & cleaned her car seat. We left her shoes off and didn’t replace the pants (she was wearing a dress, and she did get new underwear!), thinking we’d just do it when we got there. As I got back in the car, I noticed the sky looking particularly ominous. Mark assured me that the sky looked clear where we were headed. So when we got near the church, obviously it was a terrible storm. After a fair amount of traffic, we inched closer and I then realized that the stroller was definitely not going to work…and that we had no umbrella. Mark got to where he could drop Em & I off at the front, and he was going to go park & feed Samuel & hope it would let up. We debated on whether we should all just wait but it looked like there was no sign at all of it letting up anytime soon & it was almost time for the show to begin. I reached back and Emily managed to get her shoes on, Mark pulled up as close as he could, we unbuckled Em’s car seat and Mark got her in the front. The rain was coming in sheets, just absolutely pouring down. I grabbed Em’s bag and my purse, stepped out of the car and was immediately drenched. I took Emily, who instantly clung to me and started crying as the wind and rain assailed us. Of course my glasses were completely covered in water and I could barely see, but I did happen to catch that we didn’t have a clear shot to the entrance where the crowd was huddled; there was a ditch beside us with a thin caution tape stretched between two trees. I plodded through the grass until I managed to finally see the sidewalk entrance & got us up under the overhang. I struggled to reach in my purse for our tickets and someone said “you can have this one, someone gave it to me!” I thanked her, handed off my ticket and we were in. Other children were huddled with their parents, soaking wet, crying. Emily was still very upset, and of course cold and wet and I felt like the worst person ever for doing this to her. “This is such a mistake! I will never do this again, we should have gone home!” I thought over and over again. I got her in the bathroom, used 2 of the paper towels I had transferred from the food bag to her bag at the last minute, changed her into some dry clothes & kept telling her everything was okay. Finally she calmed and we were able to go out and find our way to the auditorium. I called Mark and tearfully said “Whatever you do, please don’t do this to Samuel, don’t bring him out in this!” He promised he wouldn’t & told me to text him when we found a seat.
I don’t know how many people Evangel Temple can seat. I believe it is 1.2 million. Problem is, 1.5 million tickets to this event were sold. It was a ZOO. No seats on the lower level. We went up the stairs, I wish I had counted how many stairs there were, but there were a LOT. When we got to the upper landing, I looked out…AND… IT…. WAS…. SUNNY!!!!!!! No rain! None! I just burst out laughing. We managed to find a seat all the way in the back, which worked out perfectly really, because Emily could stand up and we had a great view of the stage. A few minutes later, there was a short video put on by the church, then a video about World Vision, then a short welcome (Mark and Samuel had found us by this time) and finally it was time for the first song! Then….of course Emily had to go potty. She’d gone when we were in the bathroom in the first time but she had drank a whole glass of milk and a whole glass of water on the way. Down the stairs, down the long hall to the bathroom, back up the stairs and to our seats. The songs were good, Emily LOVED seeing Bob, Larry and the gang and was happily clapping along to the songs. About 15 minutes went by and Mark got a phone call from work so had to go out. About 5 minutes after that, Emily had to go potty. Again. So I had Samuel in my left arm, Emily in my right, my purse on my shoulder and I made my way out. Happily we found Mark on the stairs so I handed Samuel off to him, then down the stairs, down the long hall and back up. 10 minutes later or so, and they announce a 20 minute intermission. Seriously!? By this time it is 7:20, pretty close to Samuel’s bedtime. 20 minutes is a LONG time when you have an infant, but we decided to wait it out. About 15 minutes into that, guess what! Emily had to go potty! Down the stairs, down the hall, only this time there was a super long line. I watched men easily going in and out of their restroom and vowed that from now on we will remember that Mark should take her when we’re in a situation where there’s a crowd because the men’s bathroom never has a line! We got back to our seats and finally the show started again. About 20 minutes into it, they started having technical difficulties. We waited about 5 minutes, then decided to throw in the towel. Mark changed Samuel in the bathroom & we all made the long walk through the puddles to the car.
As soon as we were in the car, Samuel started his super sonic screaming, no doubt from being tired and over-stimulated. We endured it for a few minutes, hoping he’d calm as we got moving in the car. He did not. I got in the back, fed him his bottle and even after that, he wasn’t asleep and he was upset because he wanted me to hold him. I calmly explained that I couldn’t hold him right now, but he would not listen. We pulled off, burped him, and tried to bink him but he went on being upset. So we just decided to press onward and tried to distract him w/ putting the window up and down, which helped some but is only a temporary fix. Finally, at midnight (9:15pm) they were both in their beds.
A few years ago, when I would hear stories like this, I would nod and say “that is exactly why I do not ever want to have kids.” But you know, it is kind of neat to be doing things and realize “wow, I’m actually doing this!” I never, ever thought I could handle half the things that I have. And without Mark, it would be an entirely different deal, I can’t imagine managing without him. While this was certainly not a stellar evening, the fact is that Emily really enjoyed it, they were both very well behaved and I’m glad we went. I miss sleeping in, I miss not having logistical considerations on a daily basis and I miss doing errands during the daytime instead of after 8:30pm. I miss getting to go to the gym, I miss getting to have nights out w/ Mark without them costing double for a babysitter, I miss traveling as much as we used to and I miss a clean house. (wait, we never had that last one) But I absolutely love this time in our lives, managing babies and shaping our little family. Talking w/ Emily about her favorite part of her day, about seasons, butterflies and ladybugs, reading Bible stories, watching her color, paint and try to write her name, even talking about obeying and disobeying, good and bad choices…I love it all. I especially love hearing her play w/ her babies and hearing her say “Come on Samuel, come to my room so we can play!” and all the ways she interacts with him and helps him by feeding him puffs, trying to comfort him when he’s crying, even sharing her blanket and most special toys and babies…. “worth it” is a gross understatement. While I used to think the best of times was long gone, I really feel like the best of times might just be now.

Free to Good Home

I am sure we are not alone in this. Recently we had one of those days where we were about to find out if the hospital has a return policy. Samuel was about to have to find a new home. It was one of those days. At Racetrac last Friday, the cashier asked me if I was looking forward to the weekend. I paused and said “Yes, but we have 2 small children so the weekend doesn’t necessarily mean relaxation.” So in a way, I suppose Saturday was a self fulfilling prophecy.
Babies are funny. As in, hilarious. Probably the funniest thing overall is that they know nothing. Blank. Vacant. It is so weird to think that if your baby was born in Japan that he would learn Japanese. They’re born with no language, which can actually work to your advantage. For example, someone could sing “You’re a crazy dirtbag, I’m about to throw you out the window!” and if they sang it with a smile, a funny voice, and/or with head/hand motions, the baby would laugh and make the cutest little sounds in response! Not that we’ve ever sang something like that to Samuel, I’ve just heard that that’s the case…
So anyway, it’s important to understand that for the past month, we have had sickness in the house. 2 sinus infections and colds for Mark and I, 2 double ear infections for the children, 7 doctor’s appointments, 5 antibiotics (maybe 6?). So we’re tired. Samuel started his day around 7, which to us is an extremely early hour. He’s also in a clingy stage and when you do put him down, you can’t walk out of the room because he will scream. Not cry, but scream. This one’s a screamer. He’s such a big boy and he moves around so much that it is really a workout holding him. Also, he doesn’t nap. He sleeps about 40 minutes out of the day. And of course he still spits up constantly. AND due to his recent sickness and WHO KNOWS what else at this time he’d been waking up multiple times per night. Wow I hate to point out all his negatives like this. MOST of the time, he’s a happy, funny, fun baby. Just not so much recently! So I don’t remember everything that went on all day but during the day and into the evening we had potty issues w/ Emily. I don’t really want to gross everyone out but the deal is she has issues w/ #2. She completely freezes in place and holds it and I end up scooping her up to run her to the bathroom, to no avail, because there are usually a bunch of false alarms before the real thing comes later. Sometimes she tenses up so much and holds or strains so much or whatever she does that she actually vomits, which she did that evening. This was after we’d put Samuel to bed like 3 times and it’s about 10:00pm, and of course she’s extremely upset and crying. The saddest thing is that she was saying “Please don’t go get a crib for me to sleep in!” because on rare occasion when she is throwing a fit or fussing for no reason we tell her if she doesn’t stop we’ll go get a crib for her since she wants to act like a baby. I hope we don’t ever have to make good on that (we never have, because she immediately stops! Being a baby is like her worst nightmare at this point lol), but just in case, the pack & play is nearby! But anyway it was pitiful and I had to explain the difference between throwing up because you’re throwing a fit and throwing up because you’re sick or in her case, having difficulty going to the bathroom. We cleaned her up, then about 20 minutes later she was finally successful, after which time we can finally breathe because she’s happy and we know she’s good for a couple days. Samuel then proceeded to wake up every 2 hours. We have no clue why. We had met every possible need, given him medicine, fed him a million bottles…and you know he never did explain what all that was about. Let him cry it out, you say? As I mentioned before, this one’s a screamer. Crying is one thing but you can only listen to screaming and screeching for so long before you decide on a different course of action. So at 4:30am the power went out, and 5 seconds after we woke and realized this, Emily is screaming bloody murder from her room because her light went out. Add in time comforting her, finding her a flashlight (after which she was very happy & went back to sleep) turning off the stupid beeping computers and finally we’re back in bed. An hour later, guess who it is! Samuel! And 45 minutes after that, it was time to get up for church.
At church, Samuel would not even go to the nursery workers, again, for an unknown reason. He’s gone in nursery every Sunday since he was 4 weeks old, these are familiar people who he likes and who like him, though they may have second thoughts if they read this. Mark had to hold him all during praise band practice and part of Sunday school, I had to hold him while I wasn’t playing…Samuel and I were not on good terms.
On Sunday afternoon, while Emily and Mark napped, I took Samuel out shopping because I just could not stand to be in the house managing him. Although it would seem to be harder, often it’s easier for me to be out with him/them when I’m frustrated rather than us being home and messing up the house and just being there. Much to my surprise, we had a great, leisurely shopping trip together! We went to Kohl’s and Publix and he was such a good boy the whole time and was his normal, cute, funny self. I was very happy to reconcile with him and decided maybe we’ll put off checking into the return policy of the hospital for awhile after all.