Back Home with Mama

Weekend Together

Our weekend away was lovely. The boys were happy and good for their grandparents. Brad and I had great conversations; read some books; (I) wrote; we ate at a great restaurant; saw a good movie (Slumdog Millionare -- a Bollywood romance of sorts); met some interesting people who we were able to have nice rambling conversations with; saw some "old" friends; listened to some encouraging lectures; and discovered a bird who can mimic chainsaw noises spot-on. It was a bit difficult to return to "real-life" though we love the boys. Thank you to all of you who prayed for us to be refreshed by this vacation away together -- It was very very good for us. Thank you, Nancy and Tom, for loving us (the boys) like this for us.

Family Play Time

Last Saturday Brad and I took the boys to the indoor playground at Edinborough. The giant climbing maze (a couple stories high fashioned like a tree of sorts) was where we spent most of our time. But Saturday mornings are a crazy busy time to visit such a place and with little ones like ours you spend your time keeping track of your kids and helping them up through the labyrinths and in and out and through the throngs of people, so I only have photos of the more sparsely populated gym area. We all had a fun time together and were glad to have the boys have lots of running and climbing time.

Bucket Game

Baby Cakes

Brad's coworker/friend at work, Vicki Violet, gave us this diaper cake to celebrate baby #3 coming soon. Her daughter-in-law, Anna Hartse, makes them through her business:
http://ittybittybabycakes.weebly.com
Thank you Vicki and Anna! (-:

Cuttin' It Up

Atticus can now use real scissors. We made these "masks" last week -- I folded them and he cut them up. Atticus took the pictures of me.

Happy Birthday, Aunt Bekah!

Oh, Atticus...

For those who pray for us, our kids: Please pray for Atticus. Brad said he thinks it is quite possible that he spanked Atticus more times this one weekend than he has the rest of Atticus life. To complicate matters, most of these acts of disobedience came with a blank look or a smile -- and the same expressions came with the consequential discipline and "debriefing" following the discipline. There seems to be no remorse. It is all very unusual for Atticus who is usually very quick to repent and to empathize with hurting his parent or brother or friend. And though it has been a frustration that the repentance is often short-lived, it has still appeared very real. The last half week has been so weird. Brad and I need prayer for wisdom and patience and hope; Atticus needs God to come in and mend/quicken his thinking/spirit. I love him so much -- I don't want to break his spirit with discipline -- Ultimately I want Christ to capture his whole being and make him the person he is meant to be. Short-term, I just want him to be kind, thoughtful, and safe. (And I want him to trust -- at whatever level of understanding he is at -- that his mom and dad love him and try very hard to give him reasonable rules and boundaries for his own good, for the "greater good".)

Atticus Makes a Party Hat (Boat)

34 Weeks

Respite

So the boys and I have been sick all weekend. Thankfully, thankfully Brad came home Friday night and after we got Dietrich to bed, he sent me to bed and took Atticus to Home Depot. I slept pretty much 12 hours straight. Brad's been on nighttime kid duty both nights so I slept 8 hours last night too -- though I am still sick, my head and spirit feel much better. And even the kids and I being sick, Brad managed to get the ceiling fan/light installed in the boys room, and Atticus and I retrieved groceries for the week. AND the last two days have been sun-flooded and mid to high 30's: So Saturday we took the boys out for a walk to the local coffee house and we all had a simple happy break with the boys being low-key and well-behaved (mm...eyes-closed thankful); and today I took a walk all by myself at the beginning of the boys' naps. Dietrich still has a fever and both boys have a cough and runny noses but the weekend still felt like a refuge and retreat for me. I am entering this week thankful for Tylenol Cold medicine being safe to use during pregnancy.

The only light in this room prior to this project was a string of Christmas lights over the window -- How wonderful to have real light now (and it's adjustable for right before bedtime or if we need it on low to help one of the boys in the middle of the night). Here's Atticus on the ladder. He was eventually barred from the room because he was chronically disobeying how high he could go up the ladder.

Before Brad returned the ladder to the rental place, he let Atticus climb to the top.

Now we plan to do the duct work (to get heat and air directly into the room) next weekend and after that, install real doors between the bedroom and family room and on the attic storage space. Once the ductwork and doors are done, I will repaint the dark grey bottom part of the room chocolate brown and add a shiny orange strip at the border of the brown and "Tiffany's" blue top. A nice beige/tan neutral-ish carpet will "finish" up the room.