As we near our little Brooklyn's first birthday (only a week away!), we are continually enjoying watching her grow. She is incredibly independent and does not like to be fed, unless its a dessert and you keep it coming... quickly. She loves to feed herself and with that, of course, means all the mess of the textures that come with it. Once she starts reaching that point of being full, the fun really begins. She will paint her highchair tray with whatever food pieces remain, smearing as fast as she can from one side to the next. Or, she'll sick back as far as she can with her little Buddha belly stuffed with food and hang her arm off to the side and ever so slowly drop the food to the ground. As soon as she releases it, she'll look over as quick as she can to see it land. Tonight however, a new game began. We were eating Mexican food so she had been dining on some black beans, pieces of chicken and beef, avocado, and other random pieces from our meal. She started reaching that point of fullness and that's when it all started. She picked up a bean, examined it, and then put it on her head as if it were a barrette. She then looked back and forth at Steve and I as if to say "well, how does it look?" It didn't stop at just one bean, it was pieces of beef, and then back to the beans. Each time would get a little more smooshed between her thin hair strands. I need to add too, that she WILL NOT keep any headbands, barrettes, bows, anything in her hair or on her head! I guess this is all part of her independence. She may not like what we put in her hair, as she has ideas of her own...
I sure love my almost-one-year-old and all of the entertainment she brings to the table!
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
To be a child again
How is it already September? I feel like I was just trying to get caught up on my December events and now here it is September. Marley has started 1st grade and absolutely loves it. In her first week one of her biggest highlights was getting to go to chapel. I am so proud to see her so excited about learning the Lord's word in between math and reading. I feel truly blessed that she is in a class of 14, opposed to 30 (or more) and she lights up when she gets to be the "prayer helper" in class. She is such a bright little girl and just recently has started learning that bad things can sometimes happen to good people.
I think it started when we were in Hawaii a couple months ago. The trial was going on for Casey Anthony for allegedly killing her daughter Kailey. We were following the verdict and Marley asked us what happened to the little girl. That was the first time she has really questioned not only why bad things happen to good people, but why would someone hurt kids? As a Mom, that is a hard question to answer. You spend day after day trying to protect your children from getting cuts and scrapes for running too fast. So, to have to understand for yourself how someone could intentionally harm any little person is hard enough for you to comprehend, let alone explain it to a 6 year old.
The amazing thing after all the questions and talks was that night after night she asked if we could pray for the kids that had bad things happening to them, to protect them from bad people, and that they would get nice moms and dads instead of ones that hurt them. Children are such amazing little creatures, such blessings and so surprisingly insightful. I am fortunate and blessed to work in Children's Ministries and I'm constantly amazed by the compassion and strength children show. I believe we need to protect these little people and embrace them with as much love as we possibly can - for these children are often the ones teaching us about the greatest values we should posses.
It is with their innocence and raw understanding of life that I often feel we need to get back to. Not that we need to be naive to the bad things that happen around us, but to love more and trust with childlike faith.
Matthew 18: 2-4 "He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
I think it started when we were in Hawaii a couple months ago. The trial was going on for Casey Anthony for allegedly killing her daughter Kailey. We were following the verdict and Marley asked us what happened to the little girl. That was the first time she has really questioned not only why bad things happen to good people, but why would someone hurt kids? As a Mom, that is a hard question to answer. You spend day after day trying to protect your children from getting cuts and scrapes for running too fast. So, to have to understand for yourself how someone could intentionally harm any little person is hard enough for you to comprehend, let alone explain it to a 6 year old.
The amazing thing after all the questions and talks was that night after night she asked if we could pray for the kids that had bad things happening to them, to protect them from bad people, and that they would get nice moms and dads instead of ones that hurt them. Children are such amazing little creatures, such blessings and so surprisingly insightful. I am fortunate and blessed to work in Children's Ministries and I'm constantly amazed by the compassion and strength children show. I believe we need to protect these little people and embrace them with as much love as we possibly can - for these children are often the ones teaching us about the greatest values we should posses.
It is with their innocence and raw understanding of life that I often feel we need to get back to. Not that we need to be naive to the bad things that happen around us, but to love more and trust with childlike faith.
Matthew 18: 2-4 "He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Thursday, March 24, 2011
A December to Remember
Boy, was it an exciting month. A month filled with a slashed tire that was done by a five year old, a possessed Christmas tree, and a mouse. It was definitely a December to remember! Let's start with the our new house guest, the mouse...
When you have a new baby, it causes everyone to have to adjust to the noises, cries, and coos - even the dog. We all sleep upstairs (except Ozzy, the dog) and since moving Brooklyn into her crib in her room, we've started using the monitor. Mainly, we use it when we put her to sleep and we are still downstairs. Sometimes, we forget to turn it off, which means Ozzy is interrupted from his slumber when she gets up for the midnight feedings. Early in December though, it was HIM that started interrupting our slumber with whines and uneasy noises.
At first we thought it was just from leaving the monitor on and he was hearing the baby, and then we thought, well - maybe he needs to go the bathroom? Maybe, we forgot to feed him (don't judge, we are busy and just hope to remember to feed the kids). However, nothing seemed to be working. This went on for days, but nothing we were trying was calming him down. It was like clockwork, every night for about three nights at about 11pm each night. Then one day, I was emptying the bag of recyclables in the pantry and found the evidence left by our new house guest.
It was on the floor and four shelves up, hundreds of little brown rice size mouse poops. It was everywhere. Now, I got the fun task of cleaning, organizing and disinfecting my pantry. I threw away so much! This little organizing and cleaning task would have been much more fun when I was still pregnant.
I took it upon myself to clean and organize, but when it came to the little unwanted house guest, I would leave the mighty hunter (my husband, Steve) to evicting him. He picked up a trap that night on his way home and set it with a dab of peanut butter on it. Now, the waiting began.
Just as we settled into bed his phone beeped. He was getting called into work and I was going to be left in the house alone...with a mouse. I was awake at every little sound. The dog would stir in his kennel, the heat would click on, and I was wide awake thinking about a mouse in my pantry. Steve still hadn't gotten back from work when I got up to feed the baby at around 2:30am. Just as I was finishing, I heard a loud SNAP! Agh! It was the mouse, he got the peanut butter! Ewww... Now, I had to worry about getting up with Marley in a few more hours with a dead mouse in my kitchen. Wait though, was it really dead?! What if it wasn't? What if I went down there and opened the door and it was running around only half dead with the trap hanging off it?! What if it was dead and there was blood all over?! Why couldn't Steve be home to deal with this?
I laid back in bed and stared at the 3:30am red letters on my clock and did my best to fall back to sleep for a little while longer. Just as my alarm began going off at 7:45, I heard a wonderful sound! I heard a key unlocking the front door... Steve, my mighty hunter was home alas! I filled him in on the nights events and the loud snap I heard. He went down to investigate the pantry. Sure enough, the mouse had entered the trap for his peanut butter treat, only to have the trap smash him and quickly bring him (bloodless) to his death. He didn't run around, his body wasn't hanging out, in fact - without looking inside the trap, you couldn't even see it.
That was that. Usually these little pooping buggers have friends or family, but in this case, he was a lonely little mouse that was enjoying our pantry of goodness all to himself. We reset the trap for weeks after, but nothing. No more unwanted house guests and no more evidence of poop.
December was only beginning though... I had no idea a five year old could slash a tire.
When you have a new baby, it causes everyone to have to adjust to the noises, cries, and coos - even the dog. We all sleep upstairs (except Ozzy, the dog) and since moving Brooklyn into her crib in her room, we've started using the monitor. Mainly, we use it when we put her to sleep and we are still downstairs. Sometimes, we forget to turn it off, which means Ozzy is interrupted from his slumber when she gets up for the midnight feedings. Early in December though, it was HIM that started interrupting our slumber with whines and uneasy noises.
At first we thought it was just from leaving the monitor on and he was hearing the baby, and then we thought, well - maybe he needs to go the bathroom? Maybe, we forgot to feed him (don't judge, we are busy and just hope to remember to feed the kids). However, nothing seemed to be working. This went on for days, but nothing we were trying was calming him down. It was like clockwork, every night for about three nights at about 11pm each night. Then one day, I was emptying the bag of recyclables in the pantry and found the evidence left by our new house guest.
It was on the floor and four shelves up, hundreds of little brown rice size mouse poops. It was everywhere. Now, I got the fun task of cleaning, organizing and disinfecting my pantry. I threw away so much! This little organizing and cleaning task would have been much more fun when I was still pregnant.
I took it upon myself to clean and organize, but when it came to the little unwanted house guest, I would leave the mighty hunter (my husband, Steve) to evicting him. He picked up a trap that night on his way home and set it with a dab of peanut butter on it. Now, the waiting began.
Just as we settled into bed his phone beeped. He was getting called into work and I was going to be left in the house alone...with a mouse. I was awake at every little sound. The dog would stir in his kennel, the heat would click on, and I was wide awake thinking about a mouse in my pantry. Steve still hadn't gotten back from work when I got up to feed the baby at around 2:30am. Just as I was finishing, I heard a loud SNAP! Agh! It was the mouse, he got the peanut butter! Ewww... Now, I had to worry about getting up with Marley in a few more hours with a dead mouse in my kitchen. Wait though, was it really dead?! What if it wasn't? What if I went down there and opened the door and it was running around only half dead with the trap hanging off it?! What if it was dead and there was blood all over?! Why couldn't Steve be home to deal with this?
I laid back in bed and stared at the 3:30am red letters on my clock and did my best to fall back to sleep for a little while longer. Just as my alarm began going off at 7:45, I heard a wonderful sound! I heard a key unlocking the front door... Steve, my mighty hunter was home alas! I filled him in on the nights events and the loud snap I heard. He went down to investigate the pantry. Sure enough, the mouse had entered the trap for his peanut butter treat, only to have the trap smash him and quickly bring him (bloodless) to his death. He didn't run around, his body wasn't hanging out, in fact - without looking inside the trap, you couldn't even see it.
That was that. Usually these little pooping buggers have friends or family, but in this case, he was a lonely little mouse that was enjoying our pantry of goodness all to himself. We reset the trap for weeks after, but nothing. No more unwanted house guests and no more evidence of poop.
December was only beginning though... I had no idea a five year old could slash a tire.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)