Mr. Thumb

Noah is an avid thumb sucker. He's been since he was a tiny baby. He never liked the pacifier. Elijah was a thumb sucker too, but he gave up his thumb at around 11 months. Not Noah. He looooves his thumby. As soon as he gets his geen ganket, in goes the thumb. I know I'm supposed to not like this bad habit, but I do so love it. It's so cute. When I rock him before bed and he is sucking his thumby, it's so sweet and baby-like.

Today before nap, I gave him his ganket, and he told me that he had a hawt fingaw (hurt finger). I wasn't really listening to him, but he kept complaining about it, so I non-chalantaly asked him where it hurt, how it got hurt, etc. just to make him happy. He said Sophie did it (his explanation for everything), and he said it was his thumb. "Turn the light on", he said. So, finally, I did and checked out his thumb. It appeared that his beloved right thumb had a blister that popped or something because his thumby was red and he couldn't suck it because it hurt.

I encouraged him to try his index fingers, both of them, and then his left thumb. They didn't seem to "fit" very well. It was so funny to watch him try to get comfortable with all of the different fingers, He'd move his head back and forth, reposition his ganket under his head, and habitually start to put his right thumb in his mouth, then he'd quickly take it out. This went on for a few minutes. He lasted the longest with his left thumb, but it just wasn't quite right. He looked up at me and said, "this thumb doesn't taste so good!".

He fell asleep without any finger in his mouth. There's just nothin' like 'ole faithful, I guess.

Bedtime Babblings

Tonight my little guy and I had one of our bedtime chats once again. I asked him a question I ask often:

Mom: Noah, are you a big boy or a baby

long pause

Noah: I'm actually a girl!

He then proceeded to tell me that his name was Leah.

Ouch and More!

This afternoon, I made the mistake of carrying a couple of pillows and baskets to the basement in my bare feet. Halfway down the stairs I decided to switch the things in my hands around to better put them away when I lost my balance, my feet went straight out from under me and I bounced down the stairs. It was a delightful feeling, from which I screamed rather loudly. I hit my head the worst, but also my back. It seems the babe is kickin' just fine though. I was so upset because I thought I wouldn't be able to go to church and see our new friends join the church and hear one of our dear missionaries preach. Well, a bit of ibuprofen solved that. However, now the meds are wearing off and I am feeling a large, large egg on the back of my head and another on my back.

Graeme was gone in Puerto Rico last week for work from Sunday 'til late Friday night. I don't like to tell that on my blog b/c I'm a fraidy cat, but anywho, he was gone.

It was an interesting week. The boys were sick. Graeme also got the dreaded stomach virus in Puerto Rico. There were many other unforseen issues and problems to deal with. I am tired. It's cold. My skin itches. We shoveled snow. Noah wandered the house in the wee hours of the morning in the pitch black darkness. I got hives in the middle of the night again. I had to take benadryl and slept through Noah waking up in the morning b/c of the meds and woke to find him in the family room with cheerios and a tupperware bowl, helping himself to breakfast. :) We had fun with friends and family at the end of the week when everyone was feeling better. It was a long week. I think it was one of the harder trips (for me).

However, all was well when Daddy got home. The kids were sooo excited to see him. We had a nice Saturday at home. My outlook on life is always better when Daddy is home, whether it's after a week long trip, or after a day at the office. We love having Daddy with us...but he has to go back to work tomorrow...sigh...

God is Good All the time, All the Time God is good.

A while ago, a preacher preached at our church and he said over and over, "God is good all the time, all the time God is good". It has stuck with my and I have found many applications of this truth, just in the last couple of hours! Here goes:

God is good, all the time...when you have a headache and everywhere you look is mess, mess, mess, and there's no end in sight...all the time God is good. - Look up not around.

God is good, all the time...even when you hear your kids screaming, "Noah's peeing" and you race to the scene not only find that he is going pee-pee, but he's done something even more substantial. All the time God is good. - Thank you Lord for a healthy child, and big kids that can yell! :)

All the time God is good. Even when your little one has just used the potty and he carries a dripping wet toy tractor out of the bathroom and says, "my tractor not like to go in the potty", God is good. My baby can speak...quite well, a blessing.

God is good, all the time...when your kids are rambunctious from being in the house for days on end with just you and no one else and you lose it. All the time God is good. - He remembers our frame, that we are dust.

All the time God is good. As you hold your sweetly sleeping two year old and rock him just a bit longer, God is good. - God loves me and holds me in his arms.

All the time God is good. When your little girl reads her reading lession quickly and efficiently, God is good. - Diligence is rewarding, praise the Lord for the opportunity to teach my girlie.

When everything seems to be going wrong and out of control and you want to beat your head against the wall, God is still good. All the time God is good.

Ps 107:8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

That Ugly Word Called Submission

Isn't submission such an ugly word in our modern day? Submission is hard to act out in a day and age of "watch out for number 1", but it is Biblical and necessary for a home, workplace, etc. to run smoothly.

I have been thinking about Biblical submission lately and thought of a few tidbits I want to remember. It is so easy to get out of line as a wife, Mommy, or employee, and it is good to be reminded at times of the importance of this underused character trait of submission.

My favorite wife book is, "On the Other Side of the Garden", by Virginia Ruth Fugate. She does a wonderful job of explaining submission and a godly wife's role. I've read her book and referred to it often. I know everyone has their favorite, I'd love to hear yours! :)

She uses the text in 1 Peter 3 about Sarah being a godly example of a submission wife. In essence, Sarah is our model of submission as wives.

"For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement." verses 5,6

When I do Bible study, I like to look up definitions of key words and sometimes read the passage with the definitions. Like this:

"For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted (expected, hoped, and confided) in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection (a subordinate in obedience and submission to) unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed (took heed and listened attentively to) Abraham, calling him lord (supreme and honored master): whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well (as a favor or a duty), and are not afraid (frightened) with any amazement (alarm)." verses 5,6

Who of us ladies can say that our hubs have always acted correctly? I know mind hasn't, and he would be the first to admit that...what a guy. :) Who can say that Abraham in the Bible did? He lied about Sarah being his sister, not once, but twice! Yet, Sarah submitted to him. God's order for our lives, especially as ladies is to put ourselves under the guidance of our husband, employer, pastor, etc., all of which are fallible people.

I think it comes down to the following truths for me.

1. We are to trust God's order (example: husband as head of the home), and rest in that plan. Yes my husband is going to do things that I may not agree with, and perhaps he is completely wrong at times, but if I don't respect and honor his decisions, then I am going to be wrong too. In trusting God's order of placement in the home, I don't need to worry if my man is doing everything perfectly. I just need to support, offer input when necessary and pray for the Lord to direct our family. It is really a very peaceful existence, this submission business! :)

2. I need to listen to those in authority and give great weight to their decisions and direction. As you will note, the definition of Sara obeyed, took heed and listened attentively to. I need not take my leader's words lightly.

3. Thirdly, Sarah called him lord. Lord meaning supreme and honored master. She gave great respect to her man or leader. 'Ole Abe was a scoundrel when he put Sarah in precarious positions twice by lying about her being his wife, but Sarah still respected him and his God-given office of leader of their home. No matter what your opinion of your husband or leader, it is never right to de-fame their name in a public or private manner, no matter what they have done, or you think they have done to you. Twisting of scriptures to indict them, rude comments are never scriptural or edifying to the brethren.

I am so blessed to have a wonderful hubs who has been patient and continues to be patient with me as I learn Biblical submission more fully. I must say, it really does work swimmingly! It's so sad that submission is such a bad word in our day and age, as it is really a wonderful thing. I find it very liberating! I don't have to worry about the details, I just need to make sure I'm in my place, encouraging, offering input and respecting my man. It's much easier than trying to be my own boss.

Thank you, Lord for your order for us as people. Help us to rejoice in your plan, respect and uplift our husbands and leaders, and in doing that glorify your name.

More Winter-ness

The sickness has spread. All the boys have fallen prey, but Sophia and I are still healthy...for now. :)



We had Graeme's fam. on Saturday and we thought Noah was feeling better.....we were wrong. During lunch he started to fuss. I could tell he needed to go potty, but he was very resistent. I bribed him to sit with a lollipop, but then he started to gag on it and then the rest is history. It was very interesting as we had a house full of guests. Thankfully we were in the downstairs bathroom, but I needed a change of clothes for Noah and myself. I called Sophia to get Graeme to get clothes, and just after he came and I was out of dirty clothes, Noah began, e-hem, the other "half" of the illness, all over me and the bathroom. It was highly disgusting. Graeme came back to the room and said, "it smells interesting in here".



All the while the family obliviously enjoying lunch. I was so glad they didn't know what really happened in the bathroom! After 2 or 7 cleanings and an overdose of anti-bacterial room spray along with multiple loads of laundry, and a napping two year old, all was well....until Sunday when Eli started!



I do believe age four to be the age of "vomiting maturity" as this seems to be the age when they really do well with the bowl/bucket concept. He was going until about 3am Monday morning, but he slam dunked every time with no mess. I love the age of "vomiting maturity". It's so much easier. I still slept in between and he didn't cry and fuss.



I also would like to take this opportunity to give praise to the Lord that all eruptions (so far) happened on solid surfaces. I think the Lord knew I wouldn't be able to handle carpet cleaning right now. :)



Sorry for the gross post, but it's part of our family history and I just *had* to record it. :)

A few things...

It is c-c-collld today! I am so thankful to have a warm-ish house!

Noah has come down with a stomach virus. It started yesterday, and he is a lot better today, just sleepy and lethargic, which is, I'm sorry to say, kind of nice. Last night we lounged around all evening, and I thought to myself, "why don't we do this more often?". Then I looked over to my little boy sucking his thumb and gripping his ganket and laying on the floor and I immediately knew why we do not lounge around. He's usually not still for more than about 11 seconds.

We were at the farm show this week. I hope to post a few pictures of that. Noah loved loved loved the tractors. he could have played on them all day. I enjoyed all the food...yum! Elijah loved the sheep and the school bus ride (shuttle service) to the farm show from our parking spot. Sophia liked everything, she said. It was a fun, exhausting day. It's always nice to look forward to every January.

Speaking of January, I think it's the hardest month of the year, followed by February and into March. I think the combination of dreary, sunless weather, freezing cold, being cooped up in the house with rowdy boys (they are much rowdier in the winter! ;)), sickness, darkness and my dry skin (eczema) make for a difficult month(s). I am determined to be joyful in January, but some days it's just plain hard, kwim? I never used to mind the winter months, and then I had kids and it all changed.

This year, however, I am very thankful for our garage as it makes going out with the kids sooo much easier than at our previous home where we parked on the street and gambled losing our parking spot everytime we went somewhere, not to mention trying to put kids in carseast with a massive snowbank next to the van. Yes, indeedy, the garage is a wonderful blessing!

Someone's calling...gotta go for now...

Photo Tag

Jeanette tagged me for this fun photo essay.

Here are the rules:

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag four people to do the same.
5. No Cheating (cropping, editing, etc.)

Here's my picture:

This is Sophia when she was five weeks old. Graeme dressed her, but he put her dress on backwards, as you can see. I guess to a man, buttons always belong in the front. :)

I think most people have done this post or have already been tagged, so if you haven't, consider yourself "it"! :)

Before I forget...

I always forget to write down the things the kids say, so her are a few Noah-isms of late:

Treadmilk (tread mill)

"Someday, when I grow up I'm going to drive a big grader".

His favorite song right now is "How Did Moses Cross the Red Sea". When I put him to bed at night, he sings it for me:

How did Moses cross the red seek,
How did Moses cross the red seek,

He doesnt' sing melodiously, so if you say it aloud with an emphasis on the "k" at the end of seek, that's how he does it, it's funny.

Elijah has been coming up with lots of funny saying too, but, *wink*, I can't remember what they are. I hate it when that happens. His newest thing is every day after his nap he says, "Mommy, didn't I take such a good nap!?" I'm so glad I'm having another sleepy boy. :)

The other week when Graeme was off work and Scott was working mega-overtime, we took the kids and Abbi took her kids to the local farmer's market, after which the girls and boys split up. Graeme took the boys home for a nap, and the girls went shopping. Isn't that an interesting little math equation:

boys + sleeping = girls + shopping

Anyhowser, Joey and Elijah took a nap together on the top bunk and one woke to go potty, but then they both went back to sleep. I thought that it was cute that they would actually sleep together on the same bed.

Today is my day off and I am off to hopefully score some house decor deals. The last two weeks I have spent in the teens and twenties/thirties on food for our family to save up for this day. Yee-haw!

And the winners are....

...the boys! Sophia was quite happy herself. None of them really cared, but when you asked, the boys were for boy and Sophia was for a girl. Sophia's princess reign continues. :)

IT'S A BOY!!!!

Here's a profile picture of the little man...
Here he is with his fist at his mouth.

As soon as the technician put the scanning thingy on my belly, he was spread eagle, just like a proud little man, showing us what he had! It was so funny and nice. There is no doubt we are having a boy! :) In the car on the way over I was thinking it would be awful to know, but not for sure, but our littlest man left us no question as to his manhood.

The kids were happy. Noah noticed the clock on the wall behind the ultrasound machine, more than he did the ultrasound. The big kids liked to watch. Sophia was enamoured with how cool it was, as was I. Elijah knew that the office has lollipops, so that was his biggest concern.

Our office got a new U/S machine and it is really nice and soooo much clearer than the old one we used to have. He kept putting his hands by his face and sucking on his fist (hello thumb sucker...yippee!). He has Eli's big bulb head...ugh for the delivery of that noggin'.

He's measuring in the 75th percentile and was almost 18cm (7 1/2 inches) and 1 pound, 3 ounes. Atta boy!

I am so thankful for a healthy baby boy! As I posted last night I thought, knowing the gender is exciting, but most important is a healthy baby. I am so glad to know that he is doing well. I was on sooo many meds when I was sick, it made me a little paranoid. We are so incredibly blessed to have a fourth, healthy child on the way. Thank you, Lord.

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." Psalm 127:3

Just about to leave...

...for our appointment. The sides are divided, the boys want a boy and Sophia wants a girl. I'll let you know, Lord willing, who the lucky winner(s) are in a few hours...

Tomorrow is the big day!

We are having our ultrasound tomorrow...so we will know if I get to buy pink or blue!!! We never found out with the other kids so I am looking forward to the new experience.

I'll let you know tomorrow, if the babe cooperates!

Elijah says...

..."I love vitamins, Ethan, and shrimp!!!"



Here's the little man after he put on Daddy's tie. He wanted to wear it and he wore it half of the day...following in Daddy's footsteps...

No, No, No, No....

Ever since Noah turned 2 he's started with the "no" phase. I'm always sad when the sweet baby leaves and the disagreeable two year old comes. Almost every question lately is answered "no" by him. Today I asked Noah if he wanted to sit on my lap to which he replied, a hearty, "no"! After which he monotonely said, "I say no about everything." What a stinker.