Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Back When...

Today I was looking at a Facebook page of someone who just had a first baby, and I came to the "leaving the hospital picture", and suddenly I could totally feel how I felt with the newness of baby Gabriel, the first. When the blue blankets were just waiting to be used, all the clothes were new, the room was waiting, all with that sparkle-shine smell of newness...that thrill of anticipation to see this baby, the looooonnngg last week or two, just waiting, waiting. Back when the house was quiet. That pioneerdom of motherhood, waiting to see all the milestones, the first food, the first tooth. They seemed to take a lot longer, then. Now it feels like they whiz up. Suddenly the baby has four teeth and is starting to stand by himself, and that very first little baby Gabriel is almost five, with arms and legs that seem to lengthen startlingly quickly, a torso getting broader. And there is a shrieking, hurtling, bright-eyed two-almost-three year old between the two of them. Now the blankets are well used and there are many, and I have to pick up some new used clothes from Goodwill now and then to even out different sizes at different times. And time does fly.
Here's to remembering. I hope I always can.

Say What??

"God can make us into a squirrel! He can make me into a squirrel, he can make anybody into a squirrel!"

Gabe quote of the day out of the blue while munching happily on raw almonds, ie. squirrel food.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Life As It Is and Friends Indeed

Well...it's been going. :) Sometimes well, sometimes not so well, but all that aside...we love our new house and will love it even more...when the unpacking is done...in a few years...maybe. Sigh. I was lamenting to Mom the other day that the problem with unpacking a house with three young children is that 5 people in the house need to eat three meals every day and continue to need clean clothes and continue to do things like cut paper into tiny pieces and play with toys and leave messes around. Things that I can spend all day chasing down anyways. So my solution to making the most time for me has been "supper from a box". :) Heh heh heh. I bought, like, 5 frozen pizzas from Walmart the other day and two or three non-nasty looking frozen meals. Things that don't require much cleanup or any prep time.

On top of everything, we have vacation bible school at church this week, which this year goes from 6 PM to 9 PM, and which Tim and I are both involved in. So we get home late, and the kids are getting CRRAAAANNNKKKYYYYYY. Arrrrrrrrrrgh. And Mommy is getting CRAAAAAAANNNNNKKKYYYYY. Mommy is very tired of wailing children. Mommy wants wailing children to pad quietly and peaceably to their beds and take long significant naps when they feel tired, instead of standing in the kitchen diaperless for the third time in 30 minutes wailing at the top of their lungs for sundry reasons, involving things like the fact that Mommy wants to put a diaper back on them, or that diapers exist in the first place or that Mommy won't carry your bare butt to bed, but tells you that you have to walk yourself if you don't have a diaper on. And then said child will lay on the floor while being diapered wailing about how he needs powder. And then wailing to be carried to bed. For the third time that morning. And then, when he is in bed, wailing with maximum distress about something that you cannot for the life of you understand. Just that it is causing great hiccuping sobs and many many many tears. And then there is Gabe, miserably sniffling because he can't have a cookie until he eats his lunch, of which he has first said is too spicy, (which it is not) and then when given a choice between that and a tuna sandwich decides to eat the tuna sandwich and then bursts into tears because there is lettuce on it and says he can't get it off by himself, then decides he doesn't like the tuna sandwich, so it is back to his initial meal, and he pokes and whines and carries on and asks me to feed him and then drops it out of his mouth and then decides, well, he doesn't want a cookie, after asking me to make them about every 7 seconds during the morning until I told him that if he kept asking me I wasn't going to make them (these were from premade cookie dough, in case you were impressed at my baking diligence), and then when I get hungry for them myself and make them, we go through the whole same tearful rigamarole and finally he takes his blanket and falls asleep. Phhheeewww. And then there is Little Squerk, who was busy and slightly cranky and busy busy busy. I sat at the computer with everyone sleeping one hour before we needed to leave with sort of a wild gaze and all nerves at maximum fray.

In other, less stressful news, Zion is (has been for a bit :)) 8 months old now. He hit the 8th month mark during our move and has been tackling new developmental phases like crazy. In a span of about two weeks, he switched from mostly breastfed to a lot of table food and baby snacks (still breastfed, too) basically at his initiative. He started crawling, and he is speedy!!
He also is sitting up very well, and can push himself from a crawling to a sitting position. He also gets up on his knees a lot. He just got his second bottom tooth and is working on his top two front teeth. He can feed himself baby snacks on his highchair tray. He started saying "Da da da da da" and "Na na na na na". He is so observant and cognisant. He will chortle and grin and loves to laugh at you and be laughed back at. He seems like he gets more agitated since he can get around now, because he sees things he has to go GET!!! and he wiggles and squirms to be put down. He has started putting his feet down flat on the ground when held in a standing position, instead of up on his toes. He will play very happily for long periods of time by himself or with the boys around. He is a very good natured baby and has lots of happy grins. He is still in 6-9 month clothing and size 4 diapers.

Here's some pictures from life of late.

The Move

The Wisseman's install a gate in the chain-link fence.
Gabe had to get a blanket and watch.
Then the boys even got to take a ride. Tom was the man of the hour.
Some beautiful fresh-picked strawberries Al Adams brought us when he came to help paint.
Anita Martin and Becky Wright help paint in the bathroom.
Gabe and his buddies that came along to help. :)
Our first morning in our new house (before our stuff was moved over). We celebrated with a breakfast from Dunkin Donuts, which we can walk to. :) Smile of happiness.
The Snooch was present, too, just to make sure that everything looked okay with breakfast.She's a good girl. Wouldn't want anyone to die of donut overload, or anything.
Kind of makes a doggie yawn hungrily.
Der Poor Hungry Snitchity Snooch
Spring Festival

Last weekend we had the Spring Festival at Greenwood Mennonite School. I looove stuff like that and spent plenty of time marching around happily buying food. :) Fresh homemade donuts, whoopie pies, pulled pork sandwiches, iced vanilla lattes with whipped cream, sweet tea...mmmmm.

The boys loved it too, but for different reasons. Gabe made a beeline for the inflated Clifford the Big Red Dog jumping thingie, but as soon as he caught sight of the water slide, his day was decided.
He spent hours on it, with no break, while Israel chortled over the chicks (with help from Aileen Crossgrove),cuddled the kitties, babied the bunnies,and oh-so-delightedly rode around in a little barrel car.I finally fished a drenched Gabe off the slide with the lure of a two hour late lunch.He informed me that he wanted a hot dog, a sandwich, and BBQ chicken. I told him we would start with the hot dog and see where we went from there. He made it through that and the sandwich. While wearing his new dry clothes. :)
Hey, you go with what works. We sat tiredly under the tent, sunned and well-fed,and listened to the worship team from Hickory Ridge, led by Chad Sterling who I went to Rosedale and Cedarville with.Zion worked busily on his own snacks.And finally, here's the boysies. It was just beautiful the other day and we settled out on the lawn in the shade for a pretzel picnic. It was a good day. With many more to come. We have had so many wonderful people show us so much love and help as we have transferred houses. Thank you all so much and we love you so much!!!

Monday, May 25, 2009

And So It Begins...

We (horraaaay!!!) closed on our new house at 3 PM on Wednesday, May 20 and have been feverishly working in it ever since. We have had WONDERFUL helpers come to help us out. My parents and brother were here till Saturday and we have had lots and lots of people from church come in to give us a hand or knock down a shed or PUT UP a shed or pull out a bathtub or slave away over kitchen cabinet doors. Thanks SO MUCH to everyone so far!!!

A whole TROOP of guys came in to knock down our shed and haul it away.
While they were there, they also helped steam off wallpaper, and pull out a 300+ pound blue cast iron bathtub that I waved a very very cheery goodbye to.
By the end of the evening I was gazing delightedly upon this glorious sight.
It did my heart good. Andy and Courtney came the next day to further disassemble the atrocity known as the hall bath and replace it with much better things.
Can you tell I harbored great hatred towards this bathroom? I'm pretty sure it was one of the ugliest I have seen. Old blue tub with matching blue toilet and blue sinks, wallpaper of grey weathered paneling (I mean, who WOULD'NT want that in their bathroom, pray tell?), a grey marbled tub surround stretching all the way to the ceiling, a red board at chair rail height to give it a nautical feel, a shuttered medicine cabinet, nasty old old gold and white lineoleum, and a ceiling with sponged blue paint. As our house inspector had put it - "there's a little of everything going on in here." My heart seriously smiles everytime I pass that bathroom and see how it looks nothing like it used to. Andy came by on Saturday and put in white tile for us. Sigh of happiness.

Anywho. One of the main jobs we are doing is painting EVERYTHING. Walls, ceilings, woodwork, cabinets. Anything formerly known as brown is now white. Or will soon be.
This is Marti Miller and Alan Peterson hard at work.

And Alan again and Tim.
Goodbye dark paneled walls. Goodbye red carpet. Goodbye the brownness of the door. Goodbye brown shutters. Goodbye brown toilet with mold in it. Goodbye brown trim. Goodbye brown window frame. Smile of bliss.

The boys are also, OF COURSE, VEEERRY helpful on the painting front, as you can well imagine.
Here is Painter Gabe. Incidentally, today someone asked him how old he was and he said he was four. They told him that they had a 14-year old grandson. Gabe responded by informing him that he (Gabe) is also a superhero.

We got a video from the church library the other day called BIBLEMAN. (I'm sure you all have seen it. How could anyone miss such a blockbuster?) Gabe's eyes were HUGE during the whole thing. He told me that Bibleman was his FAVORITE!!! :) :)

Today Tim overheard him telling one of his babysitters that he was a superhero, but then he asked her if she knew who the greatest superhero of all was, and she said, "No, who?" and he said "God!" :) That's right, buddy.

Here's another MASSIVE project.
Tom and Wanda and Ronnie Wisseman have singlehandly constructed this ridiculously confusing puzzle of a backyard shed over several days. It is now all finished and I am ridiculously happy about our new shed. :)

Dad and I pulled up from a lengthy, arduous, and very productive Lowes trip where I earned lots of money back on my 10% moving discount :) to find these cheery greeters on our front stoop.
The boys really are enjoying themselves. Lots of people to see and play with, boxes around to make into "cars" to drive on the couch,
storage boxes to take a bath in (cause, hey, why not?? :)),
calculators to lick,
(ok, so fine, that doesn't really relate, but I just had to get a picture of that silly little tongue. :)),
front stoops to watch the world from,
flowers to smell,
cuddles to receive, and giggles to giggle...
...it all just makes a body tuckered out.
Zion has thankfully napped very well at the house. That is a huge help!

I just can't say thank you enough to everyone that has been so helpful. We have also had meals brought in, which are a HUGE help. (I'm pretty sure my husband is going to look at me askance in regards to all my capitalizations in this post, but I can't HELP IT!!! ;))

We have to be out of this house by next Monday. So...adios from my happy state of new house! :)

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Mess Mouses

"Someone" wandered out of our bedroom the other day, where he had been hard at work carving a niche in his hair-cutting history. His scissors were still raised to the task when his daddy caught sight of him.

"GABRIEL!!!"

Gabriel jumped about a mile and then scurried to his mama's side with a very abashed expression on his face. He popped two fingers in his mouth that remained while his hair was thoughtfully examined by his mommy and daddy. :)
Tim gave him a haircut with the shortest guard on his clippers, but Gabe's "artwork" is still visible. Gabe checked the box for this "every kid" activity. Goose.

The other week he went along with Tim while our friend Chuck worked on our minivan. Gabe had a SPLENDID time and kept very very very busy the entire time. This is what he looked like when he got back.
He was FILTHY!!! He looked like a little chimney-sweep.

Speaking of another mess mouse, there was one busily painting on the deck the other afternoon.
Painting himself, I mean.
Dude. This child right now... Place weary head in weary hands and utter weary sigh. After a wooonderful loooong break from any colds, this child is back to work hacking and coughing and snotting. And wailing and having VERY. LOUD. breakdowns. The kid is the loudest thing in the world. I hate colds.

And for the final mess mouse...
Dis wittle snoogum woogum is very busily growing right now. He is still cutting his two bottom teeth at the same time, which, along with his own cold, is wreaking havoc on our sleep schedules. Dooby.

His red Clifford ball is one of his gnawing objects of choice right now.
He is also, for the second day, rocking on his hands and knees.
I just cannot hardly believe he is old enough to crawl!!!