"[My sister-in-law] takes a most prosaic view of
this proceeding, in which she detects malice prepense on my part. She says I
shall now have one mouth the more to fill and two feet the more to shoe, more
disturbed nights, more laborious days, and less leisure for visiting, reading,
music, and drawing. Well! This is one side of the story, to be sure, but I look
at the other. Here is a sweet, fragrant mouth to kiss; here are two more feet to
make music with their pattering about my nursery. Here is a soul to train for
God; and the body in which it dwells is worthy all it will cost, since it is the
abode of a kingly tenant. I may see less of friends, but I have gained one
dearer than them all, to whom, while I minister in Christ's name, I make a
willing sacrifice of what little leisure for my own recreation my other darlings
had left me. Yes, my precious baby, you are welcome to your mother's heart,
welcome to her time, her strength, her health, her tenderest cares, to her
lifelong prayers! Oh, how rich I am, how truly, how wondrously blest!"
As for me, it's been fun to be at the pool without a support stocking (like I had last summer). Something about the water still makes me feel like a kid. I even wore the orange goggles for a while. I'm not attempting the high dive, though. That wasn't even that much fun when I was a kid.
I found out that some Clanners actually read this blog, which makes me feel motivated to start at it again. It's no longer October 7, Marianna...Life goes on!
"Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing." ~Mother Theresa
Here's Daniel's two month shot with his bear. The best part about this month has been his first smiles. He's smiling and cooing so much now. I love it! His eyes are still really blue, so I'm gonna call it a done deal. His hair, however, is starting to really have a reddish cast. I've always wanted a strawberry blonde, but didn't figure I'd have one. We'll see if the red sticks. Daniel's still waking up at least once during the night. Hopefully, sleeping through the night will be the big thing to report with his three-month picture.
Erin loves her weekly tumbling class(!), but has yet to grasp some of the most basic stunts. Don't try to tell her that, though, because in her mind, she's giving Mary Lou a run for her money. Last week, she asked me to take a picture of her doing her "cawtwheels" in the living room. I have to say, looking at this picture, she doesn't look that far off, but in real life, she was doing some strange contortion that no one could possibly recognize as a cartwheel (although it may pass as a "cawtwheel"). Anyway, the funny thing was that when she finished, she would look at the pictures I took, and then give me this confused look. "No," she'd say, "that's not what I did. Get a picture of me doing my cawtwheel!" This went on for some time until I was able to distract with a new game. The reality of the pictures didn't seem to squelch her enthusiasm at all, so maybe someday she will be able to do the stunt I was supposed to be taking a picture of!
For our first child the nursery and crib were set up and ready to go months in advance of the blessed arrival...We've slacked off some since then. We did have this graciously donated crib set up (in the corner of Joe's room) before Daniel was born, but I had yet to buy the bedding. Well, I found a cute bumper and crib skirt set on eBay, and decided, yeah, maybe we'll need that. So Daniel now has his own bed, with sheets and everything. I guess he's officially in the family.
My mom, aka "Baboo", celebrated her sixty-first birthday last month. We had the traditional apple pie. It looked a little prettier than last year's but tasted awful! A word to the wise: Even if your little apple variety chart says that Gala apples are "excellent" for pies, don't do it! Shoulda' used Macintosh.
A full week of all day Kindergarten, and this is how Ellie spends her Saturday afternoons. She's really doing great with school. No complaints, and she comes home chattering about every little thing that happened. The only way we know she's tired is the raw emotion, usually in the form of tears, when something goes wrong. Little things, like dropping a cracker on the floor, have caused moaning and wailing enough to make me think she'd broken her arm! And the thing is, in my sleep-deprived state, I totally understand.
Sometimes "vintage" is a good word... Our computer crashed last month (first time ever!), and we had to take it to an Apple store where I had an appointment with one of their "geniuses" to see if he could get us back up and going. As soon as he saw our computer he told us that it was "vintage", and I thought, "cool". Then I learned that "vintage" is just a nice way of saying "if your hard drive is gone, we can't replace it". Thankfully, our genius came through for us and was able to repair our hard drive without losing any of our stuff (most of which wasn't backed up). He told me I should thank my lucky stars...I don't believe in lucky stars...It was the hand of God. He also told me to run, not walk, and buy an external hard drive, so that when this seven-year-old dinosaur crashes for good, all our "stuff" will be safe and sound.
My Taylor roommate, Polly (Pol), has recently started a blog called Yoga is Yummy, which is well-worth the read. Pol is very passionate about Jesus Christ, her family, her friends, good nutrition, and yoga. Not to mention, she has more energy than anyone I know (except my son...It's a tie there, which still says a lot!)
When Ellie was in her "dresses-only" stage a couple years ago, I bought this little number at WalMart. It soon became her favorite, and she wore it almost every day the summer that she was three. When I packed it away at the end of that summer, I was already looking forward to seeing it again when Erin was three. It has been Erin's favorite dress, too, which has only added to its sentimental value. So here we are, approaching the end of the summer, and I know that soon I'm going to have to pack it away, this time, for good. I know I'll heave a pretty hefty sigh as I do. It will probably end up going into the box reserved for the most special clothes, which I will keep. Not a bad fate for a little $7 dress from WalMart.
Daniel celebrated his on month birthday on Sept. 2. I'm going to try to take his picture on his monthly birthdays sitting next to this bear, so we can see how he changes over his first year. He's still pretty flopsy, as this picture shows, but he is definitely growing. He probably weighs 11 or 12 pounds now and has outgrown his 0-3 month clothing...without even wearing most of it! I think his eyes might just stay blue. His coloring reminds me a lot of Erin's and her eyes were blue until until they turned green at 18 months old. Daniel's personality continues to be easy-going. We're just thoroughly enjoying him!
Some people say "little mommy" jokingly, but Ellie has taken it to heart. When she gets home from school, the first thing she tells Daniel is, "Your little mommy is home now." I think all the attention is making a difference. Daniel does seem to follow her with his eyes and will turn his head toward the sound of her voice.
Ellie's kindergarten orientation was last week and was a complete success! Kindergarten launches are EVER SO much easier the second time around. She will be in Mrs. C's room just like her brother was last year. I'm so thankful for that!
Joe had his first day of first grade last week. He was much more comfortable with the whole school thing this year, and wasn't event hat nervous about having a different teacher. We know he's in good hands with Mrs. S., and it hasn't been hard for him to hook up with his friends from last year during lunch and recess. It has been terribly hot, and our school isn't air-conditioned. We actually had an early release one day last week, which I thought was very kind of the powers-that-be.
