Valentine MeMe

Eph2810 tagged me for this Valentine meme. I decided I better write it while it's at least February!
What is one thing you have learned to different in your marriage Hmmmm....I put plenty of thought into this one. I wanted something that was true, not just something that sounds good. Honestly, I can't think of anything big I do different. I think I have learned - am still learning- not to take advantage of Jeremiah's personality. He pretty much would give me anything I ask for. I try to limit the asking.
What is one thing that is important to a good marriage? Little things. Its the little things, like when your husband brings you chocolate home for no reason, that make you feel appreciated. Its also the little things, like...ahem...when your spouse buys the wrong garbage bags, that you just have to let slide.

Misc...

• Yesterday, when Elijah was in a surly mood I invented a new game. It's called "try to look at Jonah without smiling." None of the boys could do it. (Note that Jonah himself must be in a good mood or it doesn't work.)
• Today as I was putting my contacts in, somewhere between my right eye and my left eye my brain forgot that I was putting contacts in, not taking them out. I would be embarrased to tell you how many times I jabbed at my eyeball before I came back to reality.
• Yesterday, Elijah told me I was Mary Jane.
• What did people use to make pie crust before shortening existed? Lard?
• At some point they are going to discover the mutant gene responsible for not being able to return library books on time. I have it.
• We are currently out of chocolate. Earlier, Sammy came and handed me a perfectly wrapped Nestle Treasure (the kind with caramel inside). Where he found this, I have no idea. For all I know it miraculously appeared in his little paw along with a voice telling him to bring it to me. Maybe I should of sold it on e-bay as miracle chocolate, but I ate it instead.
  

I'm a Dying Breed

While We're on the Subject...

of comments, I have to ask about something. People are always telling me I don't look old enough to have this many kids (i'm old enough to take this as a compliment). I generally just smile and say something like "good genetics I guess". However, there is always this awkward pause like they are waiting for me to tell my age. I generally choose not to tell my age, although i'm not sure why. Would you (or do you) tell your age? Or if you were the commenter would you expect to hear the age?

Large Family Comebacks

I had a good laugh reading this site yesterday that suggests some comebacks when people comment on your family size. Believe me, I have heard every one listed. My favorite ones:

Are you going to keep going? - Yes we're going to keep going until we get an ugly one.

Haven't you ever heard of birth control? - Oh yes...Thats great stuff for people who have ugly kids.

No, we don't try to overpopulate the earth, just to outnumber the idiots!

Of course, I would never be that snarky in real life, but I can say it in my head.

Exciting Things Are Happening...

...just not here. Its pretty boring here. However, Denise had her baby!! And my sweet baby sister got her nose pierced! I'm anxiously awaiting pics of both.

You Write the Post

Dear Readers,
I want to hear from you! Choose a question and answer:

1. Has anything unexpected happened so far in 2006?
2. Any recent good intentions, that remained intentions?
3. Have you recently discovered a cool website?
4. Are you contemplating a change?
5. Do you know of a kid friendly recipe that includes spinach?

And, so nobody has an excuse not to answer
6. What did you eat for breakfast?

Preoccupied

Its time to come back to the land of normal. For the last two weeks we have been so preoccupied with this house thing. The listing, the cleaning, the looking, the leaving (for showings) and most of all the waiting. Waiting for phone calls. Calls that somebody wants to see the house, calls about times we can see another house, calls about papers that need to be signed, calls about papers we forgot to sign. Its time to resume our regular scheduled programming.

We already found the house we want. They accepted our offer contingent on selling ours. That doesn't really mean anything, however, since its still on the market. If somebody else makes an offer we get x number of hours to come up with the money to buy it, but thats not going to happen. I'm trying to stay realistic here, its a great house for a great price. The other houses we looked at didn't even come close. I'm trying to prepare myself for losing it, but I know I will be crushed none the less. Inside I feel like a toddler throwing a tantrum..."I Waaaaaaaaaaannnnttt thiiiiiiiiiis one!"

Moms, Trust Those Instincts!

Three things happened last week that boosted the confidence I have in my "mommy instincts".

First, on Wed night Isaac did not want to go to Awana. He would cry when we tried to drop him off. Jeremiah was pretty upset and wanted to talk discipline. I said I thought he was either very tired or not feeling well. I know that Isaac enjoys Awana, even though he is very shy and doesn't talk much. Sure enough, the next day he was running a pretty high temp.

Then on Thursday I brought Jonah for his 6 month (six months!) checkup. I told his doctor I wouldn't be surprised if he had an ear infection. Turns out, both ears were infected. Also at his checkup the nurse wrote down his stats for me. The paper said that he was in the 90th percentile for length, 50th for weight. That just didn't seem right to me. That would mean Jonah is significantly bigger than the other boys were at this age, and he doesn't seem any bigger. This kept nagging at the back of my mind until finally I got out my baby book with the growth charts. Turns out, that she charted him as a 4 month old! Really, he is more like 75th for length, 20th for weight .

Duplo Burger King

Isaac made this this morning. I thought it was great, you can see the guy behind the counter
and the guy eating at the table.

Sammy with the nebulizer

He has a cold that triggered his asthma. He did very good giving himself the treatments. 

Jonah and Grace

Yeah yeah, we're cute. Stop with the pictures already! 

Growing Up and Growing Out

Jonah was six months old yesterday! I wanted to post a pic of him and his girlfriend, but I think I need a new usb cable for my camera. He is rolling around, attempting to get on his hands and knees, and has two teeth that he cut on the same day. He babbles and yells just to hear himself make noise. We'll be slowly introducing some foods now. All in all we think he is kind of cute ;D

We just listed our house for sale. Its a buyer's market in our area so it could take a while. We're going to start looking at houses in a few days but I really don't want to get attached to any yet. Thats going to be hard though since i'm already a little bit attached to a couple just from their pictures. I'm not even going to talk about keeping a house in showing condition...

Haiti will always have a special place in my heart, and i'm thinking about them today as they have their first presidential election in six years. This is a country that has dealt with political corruption and instability for a loooong time. I hope that many of the older children I spent time with 9 years ago are voting today.

Liberation

I recently read a book called Messie No More by Sandra Felton. I once heard her speak on Focus on the Family and thought I might like to read one of her books. I checked out this book assuming I fell into the messy category, expecting advice on how to run a cleaner ship. As I was reading I kept thinking "okay, when does she get to the part that describes me?" Because -shock of all shocks- the messy description was not fitting me. Imagine my surprise when I finally found my description...in the "average" section!

See, she divided housekeepers into cleanies, average (I think a better word is balanced), and messies . I thought I was a "messie" because I am sandwiched between two "cleanie" sisters, and that is who I compare myself to. However, the goal isn't to be a cleanie! Did you catch that? The goal is not to be a cleanie! Actually, they have their own issues, the goal is to be balanced. I might not always be ready for drop in company, but give me a few minutes and I can be. The beds might not be made, but they don't have anything piled on them. There might be cracker crumbs on the floor, but they will be vacuumed up in a reasonable timeframe.

The ideas in this book were recently confirmed. A few days ago, we cleaned the house spic and span, probably as clean as its ever been since Samuel was born. You know what? It was not. worth. the. effort. It really wasn't.

You don't want your family to walk on paths between all the clutter, but you don't want your family to worry about dropping a crumb or moving a cushion out of place either. The answer is somewhere in between. I admit, i'm on the messy side of average. I will work harder to be average but I will no longer hold myself to the "cleanie" standard of my sisters! :D Thats liberating!

Haiku

The moon glows outside
buzzing swarming roaring thoughts
curse insomnia