Good To Be Home - But Hard To Say Goodbye

enjoyed some loving from Sam. We even saw Aunt Christina and Uncle Rob on the web cam. We went to the Children's museum, the Audubon Zoo, visited a New Orleans Cemetery, swam at the club, had a BBQ with both families, had a little 1st birthday party for At the end of August we went down to Birmingham to speak to a couple of churches. Damien couldn't take any time off of work so he flew back home and Nina (my mom) came and picked me and the kids up. It was the first time we'd been away from Damien. I think in our entire 8 1/2 years of marriage I'd gone to Germany once for about 5 days and he'd gone to San Francisco for about 5 days. And other than the one night he spent away for his grandmother's funeral while we were in Orlando at training camp, we haven't been apart. So we knew it would be hard, especially for the kids. On the positive side, it was great to see family! I got to see everyone in my family besides Aaron (even my grandmother - who the kids call "GG" flew down for a couple of days). Orin, Micaiah, and Pops bonded on the floor each night around a huge tub of ice cream. Micaiah, who is hooked on anything sweet, wouldn't leave his side. They read books with Nina, Aunt Emily changed diapers, saw Uncle Andrew's new LSU campus, petted the Kitty's with Uncle Ryan and even got a surprise visit our last night from Uncle Joel. We even got to spend some great time with Damien's family. Mimie got up with them in the morning, fed them breakfast and let mommy sleep in a little. Orin loved playing with Sam and Zach and MicaiahMicaiah, and lots more. I probably have over 200 pictures of the trip. I wish that we could stay down there that long every time we go - of course, with Damien with us. By the end (well even at the beginning) we all missed him terribly. Orin would sometimes randomly say "Daddy's at work" which is what he says if Damien's not at home. Micaiah seemed to like Emily's boyfriend who had long brown hair - I think he really reminded him of Damien. A couple of days before we came home we got on the web cam with Damien. Orin was a little shy at first. Damien had shaved his goatee so I think Orin may have been a little confused. But Micaiah couldn't have been more excited. He bounced up and down, pointed at the computer screen and said "Ooooooo". When we saw Damien at the airport they both had a similar reaction. Micaiah wouldn't let go of him for an hour (not even to come to me) and Orin seemed to not know how to react. But he warmed up pretty quickly once he knew it was actually Damien. Interestingly, they've both had a bit of separation anxiety since we got home. Orin has only cried a handful of times when we've left him since he was born but he's cried every time we've left him since we got home. He cries at church and at the gym which he's been to many times. Luckily he stops after a minute or so. But Micaiah is another story. Both Saturday's at church we've gotten called to the nursery because Micaiah is crying so much. It's not just fussing, it hysterical crying which takes us even 10 minutes to settle down. Strangely enough, he's been ok at the gym nursery. The first day he cried for about 5 minutes but was fine after that. Hum, not sure about that one. So it's good to be home but hard to say goodbye. I wish that our family could know our children better - they are both missing out (kids and family). I'll put some pictures and videos up soon.

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Curry Simple

For my birthday this year Damien took me to the "DC Wine & Food Festival". You could sample wines from tons of winery's and there was also some great food. One booth was selling a product called "Curry Simple". It's pretty much curry sauce (like what you would find in a Thai restaurant). They had Red, Green, and Yellow and it was already made in a packet you just cut open and pour. It is AWESOME! It really is better than what you can get in most restaurants and it's SO easy. I just saute' some sort of meat and vegetables and add the sauce. If you like curry sauces and fast dinners you should try it out. (It's not in stores so you have to order it on the web site.)

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So Say The Little Monkeys

Orin has always loved books and since we've pretty much memorized every book we own, I realized it was time to get a library card. Our closest library is the Chantilly Library only 3 or 4 minutes away. Orin is enjoying books with stories more (although he still loves the vocab books). So on Wednesday we went. I think Orin was quite in awe when we first go there. He was pretty excited to see SO many books. I told him he could pick out 5 which he did in a matter of minutes. He found one he wanted me to read right then but he couldn't pay attention because he just wanted to look around at all of the new sights. He's wanted to read the five books multiple times each day since we've gotten them. His favorite is "So Say The Little Monkeys." I'm really looking forward to going often and adding a little variety to our reading life!

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Over The Hump

Well, we made it to 50%!!! After a few months of not really gaining any support, God has really blessed us with some amazing, generous people who have helped push the numbers up quickly. Sometimes when we receive a pledge sheet in the mail or when someone emails us with the amount they'd like to support us I'm in awe. Of course, whether the amount is small or large, we are always incredibly humbled and thankful. It has been a little hard not to get discouraged as things certainly seemed to be stalled for a while. I know without a doubt this is what God wants us to do but it's amazing how easy it is to try to do it in my time frame. I've actually been surprised that most of the time I've been emotionally stable and calm and know that if this is God's plan it WILL happen. But every once in a while I panic a little and my sinful thoughts take over and I wonder how in the world it will ever happen. I feel like we've tapped out all of our contacts and that there is just nowhere else to go. But I'm always amazed how God continues to provide and bring me back to a better focus. We still have a long way to go and I've heard that the second 50% is harder than the first, but God continues to remind us that he is in control. I'm just excited to see His plan for the next 50%!

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Exercise

A couple of months ago I joined Gold's gym - no I'm not trying to become a body builder or anything :-) But it's close, cheap and has day care which means I can go during the day. I decided to join because in May I was carrying Micaiah up a couple of stairs and my legs felt like jello. I knew I needed to get in shape but it was becoming painfully obvious that if I didn't do it soon I might not be able to walk at all (OK, maybe a little over exaggeration). Also, if/when I ever get pregnant again, I want to be in good shape before hand. I'm not getting any younger so it will be harder and harder to drop the pounds after as well as not gain too much weight during. Damien also thinks I'd be tempting fate since I've been so lucky to not get stretch marks or to retain the extra pounds so I want to make sure my body would be ready :-) So I have to say that I LOVE it. One reason I joined a gym as opposed to just jogging or exercising to videos at home is that I need that extra bit of motivation of "I'm paying money so I'd better use it!". I also enjoy taking classes. I never seem to be able to push myself quite enough so it helps when there is someone else to do it. The gym has also been recently renovated and has this cool cinema room where it's dark and they play a movie on a large screen. Very distracting which is great - plus I like the dark room where you feel like no one can really see you. The day care area is cool and has a mini- basketball court and McDonald's-like play set. The people are nice but sometimes I worry a little when there are way more kids than adults. But now that school has started again the numbers are down. It's amazing how exercising just for a couple of week can already make a difference in how you feel. So now, three months into it I haven't lost weight (which isn't a goal anyway) but things feel a little less jiggly and I can carry the kids without getting winded. I'm hoping I can keep the motivation up to make this part of my life-style. I guess we'll see!

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Things I Love

1. I love that Micaiah wraps his arms tightly around my neck whenever I pick him up
2. I love when Orin tells Micaiah "No talking baby" or "Be quiet." It doesn't sound cute but it is! He gets it from when we tell him that when he's in time-out.
3. I love how excited Micaiah gets when we cluck our tongue - usually after he starts doing it first.
4. I love that Micaiah claps every time he hears Orin start singing...or any time he hears music in general.
5. I love that for the first time recently Orin was able to tell me why he was saying sorry to Micaiah after being in time out (for hitting him on the head).
6. I love how freaked out Orin gets by bugs and screams "Yucky bugs" and that recently he looked at my hairy legs and said "Ew, yucky bugs on momma's legs!"
7. I love when Orin and Micaiah are in the back seat of the car and just start cracking up for no reason as they look at each other.
8. I love that Micaiah still loves to nurse and often tries to pull my shirt down to do so.
9. I love that Orin asks to sit on the potty ALL of the time but that nothing ever happens. But he is so proud after doing it.
10. I love how both kids get SO excited when Damien gets home. I also love that sometimes Orin says "Mommy hold baby (or "Baby hold Mommy") sometimes when Damien is holding both of them.
11. I love how we can so easily convince Orin to take an nap, even when he says he doesn't want to just by building it up by saying "But don't you want your two passys and your sound machine, and big blanked (his quilt that Nina made that he loves), and Ernie & Elmo?
12. I love that 99% of the time Orin wakes up in the morning or from a nap he is in a GREAT mood! When I open the door after his nap he runs to me, gives me a hug and says "Mommy, I wake up."
13. I love that Micaiah wants everything that Orin has but that he's already learned (much of the time) just to wait until Orin drops it instead of taking it from him.
14. I love Micaiah's two bottom teeth (the only ones he has) that he's had for 4 months with no other teeth in sight.
15. I love that when Orin is done eating, even after eating tons of food, instead of saying he's done he'll say "I don't like it."
16. I love that sometimes when Orin does something he finds exciting - even if it isn't anything hard - he'll often jump up and down and say over and over "I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it!"
17. I love that I almost always get a kiss from Orin and Micaiah if I ask (even if it sometimes takes some convincing.)
18. I love how when Orin wakes up from a nap and wants me to come get him he'll yell out "Re-nae, Re-nae" as well as "Mommy, Mommy."
19. I love that Orin has been able to recognize his letters and numbers since 21 months but still doesn't get the concept of colors. We thought he was starting to know some of them because he can correctly name many of the colors but it seems he has just memorized the pages because even though he can name the items and their color, if you give him random colors he is usually wrong.

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Excuses

It sure has been a while since I've posted. I seem to blog like I do most things in my life...in spurts. I get onto something for a few days/weeks/months (like keeping my house clean) and then sort of let it go. My life (and certainly my kids) is not on any sort of schedule so things just happen as they come up. Other things I do sporadically are reading books (I've been reading "Graced Based Parenting" for about 3 months and haven't gotten that far), eating (although I eat on a little better schedule these days since my children are so darn hungry all of the time and insist on three meals per day ;-) ), fixing my hair (this gets done for about a month after I get it cut and then is in a pony tail until the next time it's cut), and plenty of other things I can't think of right now. With blogging, I also feel like I need to have something to write about...which I haven't really had recently. I'm trying to take a break from taking SO many pictures of the boys...once a week would be plenty...plus Damien keeps complaining how he has to constantly delete stuff from our hard drive since most of it is full with pictures and video. Oops :-) I'm also definitely not as open in my blogging as many people are...it's just not me to pour my heart out online where anyone could read - partially a personality flaw as well as it being something special with someone special when I share my heart. I think it also depends on my mood. So my excuses are as follows: I've been a little sick after catching Micaiah's cold. This only makes me tired and when I have time to myself I just want to lay around and watch TV. Unfortunately (or fortunately since I don't end up watching too much TV) I haven't gotten much time to myself lately. Micaiah is down to two naps and Orin is taking one pretty long one. Amazingly, they rarely overlap for more than 30 minutes. So I end up having one awake almost all of the time. It's not bad though since it keeps their amount of time together at a minimum. As much as they are starting to love playing together Orin still enjoys his alone time where there is no baby 'Caiah there to take everything he is playing with or mess up his train track. Another excuse is just the busyness of life. Most of the busyness comes from the partnership development (i.e. raising support) and what comes along with that. Writing newsletters, printing address, stuffing and sealing envelopes every three months for over two hundred people takes more time than I would have thought - granted we have definitely gotten a lot faster with it all. I've also have never written so many emails before. The busyness just makes me so thankful that I'm not working anymore. Amazingly, I've actually stayed home more in the past month than I have in years. I'm trying to do this for a few reasons: I need time to call, email and send letters out to churches, more time to actually play with the boys, spending less money (if I'm out I'm often at a store running errands and eating out), letting the boys actually have regular naps, etc... Other busyness comes from being involved with two couples Bible Studies, nursery committee, random church ministries. Wow, it makes me a little tired just thinking about it. But the best part is that life is good! I actually thrive on the busyness and I have to keep myself in check. So now that I completely forgot what I was writing about in the first place and I'll just stop where I am!

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New Music

As many of you know, Orin LOVES music! We love to have it on at home or in the car. Most of the time it's just in the background as we talk and play. And since we live in such a huge city and drive far to church, play group, lunch with daddy, etc., we spend probably 7 hours in the car each week. Damien and I were definitely sick of listening to the same few CDs we've had since Orin was born. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of great kids music out there. And we had heard our Veggie Tales, Sesamee Street and Kids Bible Song CDs way too many times. We do have some great classical music we put on as well and a couple of other intersting kids CDs, but we were ready for something new. And it's amazing how few CDs you can find at Target and Walmart. So Damien went on a mission to find some good kids music. Surprisinly, (at least to me) there is some out there. "If You Ever Seen an Owl" is by a band called The Terrible Two's. It's great and we just love the creativity of the songs. The lyrics are fun as is the music. There is one song that Orin just cracks up to every time it comes on. "New Orleans Playground" is another CD he found. It so reminds us of home! Various artists sing songs, many of which we heard growing up. It's great. We also really want our kids to grow up with an appreciation of the culture of our home city. (On a side note, one of the songs has the word "Ax" (instead of Ask). One of the first times we were listening to the music at home, Orin ran to one of his puzzles and pulled out the letter "X". For some reason I think he missed the meaning.) Another CD called "For the Kids" is a compilation of various popular artists signing different kids songs - some old, some new. Lastly, we got the Soundtrack to the film "Curious George". Thanks uncle Doug and Aunt Crystal for introducing us to it! Damien and I are definitely enjoying the new music...at least for now until we get sick of it too! But it's nice to have CDs that are high quality musically and fun for the kids.

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A Few More

The kids often enjoy snacks right before bedtime - and I'm open to anything that might help them sleep in as late as possible in the morning! :-)


Orin singing "Jesus Loves Me." He's our little star. I'll post more of these later.


Orin sometimes likes to read in our bed before going into his room to sing and pray.


One of the first times Micaiah pulled to a stand in Mid-June.

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Daddy & Micaiah Playing

Ok, I'm attempting my first video, so here goes!

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