The Preacher's Wife

Out of the woods and into the heat

Out of the woods...

Over the weekend Elijah came down with a dreadful hand/foot/mouth type virus.  Our whole family has had the yucks for days.  Last week I noticed that I had 3 mouth sores which I thought a bit odd.  Well lets just suffice it to say Elijah got it bad.  Funny thing is, when he gets something, he always gets the worst case scenario.  He had at least a dozen ulcers in his mouth.  It was so pitiful.  I must say, it was rough on the whole family.  We endured a lot, I mean, a lot, of crying and whining, some caused by the mouth sores, others caused by the hunger.  Still more whining by from his personality.   

Anyway, I am elated to say that Elijah did not wake up this morning screaming "My mouth hurwts!!" and he has eaten well today.  Thank you Lord.  I was running really low on sympathy.  I know, moms are not supposed to admit that.

Into the heat...

Was it really this hot last summer?  I mean last summer I was in my third trimester of pregnancy and avoided the heat at all costs, but I swear it was not 100 degrees in JUNE!!  Yesterday I broke a sweat just walking to my mail box.  You know this was hard for me because I hate to sweat.  Maybe I forgot.  I think that God makes us forget so we can look forward to the next season.

A whale has found a home

I am proud to report that Elijah has officially joined the potty club. 

Yesterday I had a meeting at the church offices and Elijah was home with the babysitter.  She said that he was standing at the fridge, looking up at the whale.  He said something about how he really wanted that whale.  She said lets go try to poop.  And low and behold, he pooped in the potty.  And I missed it!

He proudly carried his whale into the church office later that morning.  We were so excited!

I know this is not the end but it feels great to get one poop behind us!

Adventures in Potty Training

I have read the books.

I have checked the readiness chart.

I have posted a sticker chart on the fridge.  Eight pees equals a prize from the prize box on top of the fridge filled with all kinds of exciting candy and toys from the dollar section at Target.

I have managed to purchase or obtain two potty chairs (one that even sings thanks to Grammy, that one is Graham's favorite) and two of those little seats that fit in the big toilet seat (one Elmo and one Diego).  We have even tried sitting backwards on the big potty.

We have jumped into the deep waters of potty training and we are not going back this time.

We are on about day 8.  We have had lots of pee make it to the potty but no poops yet.  We have had several wet underwear, two poops in underwear (can I say NASTY!), lots of poops in diapers and pull ups in public.  Twice He has actually told me he had to pee and we made it to the potty in time.

Our current status is that mommy is officially trained in asking and demanding frequent trips to the potty.  Elijah is able to keep his underwear dry as long as mommy is around to make him go.  Poop we have not figured out.  We have a stuffed killer whale waiting on top of the fridge as a reward for the much awaited event.  We talk about it all the time.  I think I might even throw a family party if he were to actually poop in the potty.  Every time Elijah poops he says next time he will go in the potty.

Most of the time, Elijah is really good about going.  Every now and then he tells me that he doesn't want to potty train, he just wants to wear his diaper.  This always brings a smile to my face as I picture him graduating from high school with an adult diaper on.  I guess thats the comforting thing about potty training, eventually, everyone gets it.

I can't leave Graham out of this post.  He loves our frequent trips to the bathroom.  He loves to pull up on the potty and watch us flush the toilet paper down.  Elijah and I are constantly telling him "No, Graham thats dirty."  He doesn't care.  Its the small things that bring excitement to an 8 month-old's life.

Photo Shoot Part 2

Here is installment number two of our family pictures.  I think the one of the boys at the window is my very favorite.  Having Sean come to our house was so much better than chasing our kids around a studio and being frustrated with their behavior.  Although I was still frustrated with their behavior.  Getting kids to cooperate for pictures is torturous.  We had to bribe Elijah with a dolphin pool float.  You know, whatever it takes.

Photo Shoot Part 1

About 2 weeks ago, Sean Lyon, came to our house for a photo shoot.  Sean is an awesome photographer and he really captured some great moments.  He did the new picture of me and the boys on the side bar and the picture in the previous post of Steven and I.  Elijah even made it on Sean's site in the gallery for kids!

I am going to post our pictures in installments to keep you coming back for more!

June 1

Today is June 1, 2008.  This day, six years ago we got married on what must have been the hottest day of the summer.  I remember I prayed and prayed that it wouldn't rain because we didn't have a back up plan for our outdoor wedding, but I failed to ask for cool weather.  Well, it didn't rain but it was so hot that my knee caps were sweating, and if you know anything about me you would know that it had to be hotter than Hades for my knees to sweat (I hardly ever break a sweat).

I had no clue that 6 years later, I would love my husband more than I did on the day we got married.  Marrying my best friend proved to be great because I never get tired of talking to him and being with him.  He treats me with love and honor and respects my opinion in a way that teaches me to think before I talk.  He even takes me on a date every Thursday night!

Babe, I can't wait to eat sweet potato casserole, molten lava cake, and maybe a steak too with you at Ruth's Chris tomorrow night when we celebrate.  I am excited to spend the rest of my life with you.  I love you!

Broken Record

Yesterday I was upstairs getting ready when I heard Elijah screaming my name.  I ran down to check things out.  What I found was not pleasant.  Elijah had fabric softener all over his leg.  Here is a little of how our conversation went...

Me: What did you do??? (A bit of tension and possibly anger in my voice)

E: Mommy, you don't have to be so gwumpy

Me: What did you do?  ( Leave him standing there to go check out the laundry room.  There is a huge puddle of fabric softener all over the laundry room floor.  Thankfully a tile floor.  I go back to Elijah)

Me: Elijah, what were you doing in there?

E:  Mommy, da pwan is for you to cwean me (in case you didn't get that he said "the plan is for you to clean me")

I finally got out of him that there was some type of crocodile involving the washer and the potty chair that he used as a stool to get up on top of it.  I washed him, put him in time out while I cleaned the floor.  Fabric softener is so slimy (This is not Elijah's first time spilling the stuff, in our last house, he spilled it on carpet.  I bet the guy that lives there walks by that big blue stain all the time, and wonders what that was).  After I finished we discussed, yet again how the laundry room is not a place for him to play. 

Sometimes I feel like a broken record.  Here's a post I found back in December that I never posted...

The other night I was in the laundry room dealing with our never ending supply of dirty clothes.  Elijah followed me in there (of course) and started to get into a little utility drawer.  Here is something like the conversation we had...

Me:  Baby please get out of here, this is mommy's room.

Elijah:  No, dis is my woom.

Me: No, you have a playroom full of toys go play with them.

Elijah: I want to pway wiff dis.

Me: Fine, I will just give all your toys to kids who will want to play with them.

Elijah: No! as he runs to his playroom.

Sun kissed and dried by the good Lord.

When I was in high school, I spent many days in the summer at my grandmother's house.  I enjoyed being there but hated the fact that she made us line dry our clothes.  She only used the dryer in the winter time because she said "Why pay money to dry your clothes when the good Lord will dry them for free."  While the good Lord may have dried them for free, he sure didn't leave them very soft.  I hated my clothes feeling scratchy and stretched out. 

Well, I could hear Nana's voice in my head last week because our dryer broke.  That night at dinner, Steven asked me why our rugs were draped on the deck.  He laughed when I told him, "the good Lord is drying them for free."  He didn't think it was so funny when we came to the realization we had to purchase a new dryer.

Tonight Lowe's is bringing the new dryer and we can look forward to wearing clothes that are soft (although they may not be kissed by the sun and dried by the good Lord).

Its too quiet in there

We had the best weekend.  I feel like we took a vacation at home.  Since Steven's day off is Friday and he didn't preach at church this Sunday, we had a very relaxing long weekend filled with playing outside, pools, food on the grill twice and more!

So on Saturday, I was going to go shopping with Graham and Steven and Elijah were going to stay here.  While I was getting ready, the kids were on Steven's watch.  Graham and Elijah were both in the playroom when all the sudden Steven realized it was too quiet.  Maybe those of you with girls don't know this sound (or lack of it)  but our kids are always loud unless they are into something.  Before looking at this picture, you should also know that Graham has turned into a real eater.  Although he can't have much, he thinks he can.  No one is allowed to eat in his presence without sharing.  Ok, enough suspense, here's the shot Steven snapped (he said the look on each of their faces was priceless).



PS.  Please excuse the mess.  We do clean up the playroom, but cleaning up that room is like washing your car in the rain.

On the Move

I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that Graham started crawling.  He started crawling on his belly about 6 weeks ago.  At first he would just crawl to a toy or something.  Well we are now in full swing of mobile mode.  No more sitting the baby in a room and not worrying.  Nope.  Graham is everywhere- the pantry, the bathroom, the stairs, you name it.  We call him our wiggle worm because he literally never sits still.  Needless to say, he is not a cuddly baby but fun to watch.

This came a  shock to me since Elijah did not even consider crawling until 9 months.  And here Graham is, not quite 8 months old and into everything (notice most of these pictures were taken in one afternoon!).  Video posted at the bottom...