April 2, 2017, at 10:05 pm | 
Baby T is ten months old now! She’s sleeping reliably through the night (finally – yay!!), taking two to three naps every day, cruising along the furniture like it’s her job, eating everything like a champ, and basically being the happiest, most charming baby we’ve ever seen. She is so much fun! She’s walking, copying laughter, sounds – like daddy, all done (ah dah), approximates her name, says a “cheese” sound, starting to say “mum mum” when she wants more. She loves to put toys into containers. She’s the BEST!
April 2, 2017, at 9:16 pm | Here’s a running list of recent things that I want to record so I don’t forget in the days ahead…
The way Susie loves to immediately replicate any activity she reads about in a book, like forming her own detective agency or becoming a spy or architect or pet shop owner.
How Becky leaves papers everywhere that she has decorated as a cover of a new book she is creating. She rarely gets past the cover and first few illustrated pages, but they are marvelous stories and pictures and I always want to see more!
The way Baby T hides her head for peek-a-boo, how she growls with happiness when she sees her big siblings, how she rubs her head back and forth in her carseat or high chair when she’s excited.
How Jimmy’s voice drops down lower and his enunciation gets more proper when he’s explaining something about history or something technical that he wants you to understand. It’s like he instantly gets ten years older.
The way Jimmy absorbs historical information and loves, loves, loves to learn just about anything about anything.
The way Danny softly talks to himself when he zooms cars around to entertain himself
How Danny loves to nuzzle his head against Baby T and say, “I love my baby sister” and then request that she give him goodnight tickles before he goes down for his afternoon nap.
How Susie adorably mispronounces words because she reads voraciously but doesn’t always hear the words spoken out loud – hence, “peninsula” becomes “penny-soola”
How Danny instantly drags a chair over to help me at the kitchen counter if he sees I’m baking (partly because he just wants to lick the batter out of the bowl!)
How Becky loves to wrap up in a blanket every morning as she eats her breakfast
How Danny’s laugh gets more uncontrollable and infectiously giggly when he’s sleepy
How Danny always asks at night after we’ve tucked him in: “What are we doing tomorrow? And what are we doing not tomorrow, not the next day, not the next day, but the next day?”
How Baby T laughs heartily whenever she hears someone else laugh
How Susie takes super long showers and sings to herself while she’s washing up
How Jimmy doesn’t like to eat anything for breakfast – unless it’s scrambled eggs or cold leftover pizza
How frequently I have to go to the library to replenish the girls’ stack of books they’re reading – they go through several books per week, in addition to their school library books!
How Becky loves to do her whole evening routine as soon as she gets home from school (pack her lunch for tomorrow, do her chore, do her homework) so she can get into her pajamas and read as much of the evening as possible
How Jimmy loves to use the copy machine and I frequently find copies of random papers that he found worthy of re-printing
How the girls talk and giggle at night together in their room after we’ve tucked them in, as if their life is (still!) an endless slumber party
March 31, 2017, at 10:53 pm | Can you spot the two girls tucked away in their closet?? They’re always on the lookout for new reading nooks!
March 30, 2017, at 10:20 pm | Apparently, the big kids are teaching Baby T the game of hide-and-seek at an early age!
 
March 29, 2017, at 10:14 pm |
Susie: “When I die and the rapture hasn’t come yet, maybe they’ll make an American Girl doll of me and this will be the outfit!!”
March 27, 2017, at 11:06 pm | Now that the calendar says it’s spring and the snow has almost melted away from our yard, I’m looking forward to finally packing away the boots and snowsuits so we can make room for warm-weather clothes. This winter wasn’t too bad, as we had occasional breaks from the cold and only a handful of big snowstorms. But one of those storms we did have certainly gave me a few grey hairs.
When the forecasters first started predicting one of the big storms in February, I found myself panicking. Jim was going to be out of town, and my father-in-law (who is always wonderful about helping out in a pinch) was stuck at home with an injury, so it was just going to be the five kids and me in our house, riding out the storm. Now perhaps most people who grew up with snow wouldn’t panic at the thought of being housebound for a day or so, but I’m afraid I’m still a California wimp at heart. I started thinking of a thousand “what ifs” – what if someone gets hurt and I can’t get them to the hospital quickly because our driveway isn’t clear, what if we lose power and I can’t keep the kids warm, etc. etc. As it turned out, everything was fine. Jim told me how to use the snowblower on the tractor, the lights stayed on, and the kids and I had a great day enjoying each other’s company and watching the snow fall. But in the moment, when I felt like the responsibility for taking care of my family was all on my shoulders, I was a wreck.
A little over a month later, we got word of another impending storm, even bigger than the last. The forecasters were describing the storm in apocalyptic terms. But I wasn’t scared or even the least bit nervous. Why? It wasn’t because my experience in the last storm had taught me I could handle whatever happened. It was because I knew Jim was going to be home. I had complete trust in his ability to handle the plowing, keep us warm in the case of a power outage, even snowmobile us to safety if the situation called for it. I knew he would take care of us.
I was recently thinking about all this, about the fact that my perspective on the storm was based on whom I was trusting. I trust my husband to take care of our family in a literal storm; how much more should I trust the Lord to carry us through ANY storm, literal or figurative? Just as my mind is at ease when I consider Jim to be in control of our family’s well-being, I can have complete peace, peace that passes all understanding, when I remember that the actual Creator of the universe has my family in His Hands, and has promised to never leave me nor forsake me. He has promised to care for His children far better than Jim could ever care for our children (and that’s no slight against my husband!). So there’s no need for fear or worry or dread when I think about the future. Sometimes I scare myself thinking about those “what ifs” when it comes to the kids, especially since we’ve been hit the past few months by so many stories of family and friends’ cancer diagnoses. Possible illnesses and injuries and tragedies in the future, while they seem as dangerous and unpredictable as an ice storm, should not shake my sense of peace. I can even release the day-to-day worries that creep in, such as: am I going to have enough energy to keep up with these kids today? How am I going to stop this child’s tantrum? It’s not up to me, or my store of energy, or my bag of tricks. My sustenance, on a moment-to-moment basis, is in God. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit” (Jer 17:7-8). Just as my salvation is entirely dependent on who God is, not on what I have done, so is my peace of mind dependent on His character and His sovereignty, things that are blessedly out of my control. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength” (Isa 26:3,4).
March 26, 2017, at 11:00 pm |
March 23, 2017, at 9:38 pm |
March 21, 2017, at 10:34 pm | Leave Becky and Susie alone with cardboard, tape, fabric, and tiny furniture, and what do you get? New dollhouse creations! I especially love the loft in Susie’s house on the left, as well as the rocking chair she made out of an empty duct tape roll, and Becky’s welcome mat and sparkly roof!
 
March 20, 2017, at 9:48 pm | Jim brought this paper home from school last week:
Translation: “I smile when I see my friends because I love them.” I especially enjoyed his addition to the paper – I asked him what the white squares on his face were, and he said, “My teeth!” I love his toothy grin!!!
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ABOUT US I'm blessed to be saved by the grace of God, loved by my wonderful husband Jim, and embraced by my twin girls, Rebecca Faith and Susanna Joy and my sons Jimmy and Danny. I started this blog in May 2008 when I was hospitalized for pre-term labor at 24 weeks gestation. The Lord allowed me to keep the girls inside until they were 34 weeks along, and on July 27th, Rebecca made her debut, followed by Susanna, five minutes later, on July 28th. We ecstatically welcomed Jimmy into our lives on April 25th, 2011, and Danny on August 31, 2012. This blog has been a personal journal of faith and motherhood and the only way I can remember which child did what and when. Thanks for stopping by to share in my Faith and Joy! Feel free to e-mail me at: [email protected]. |
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