much too much. April 29, 2009

I am currently reading an awesome book called, The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule. This book is so much fun! It is full of fabulous ideas for crafts and fun things to do with the kids. One thing I found particularly interesting was that she shares my opinion on children’s toys! I’m pretty sure that our families already know how we feel about this, but I thought I’d share this. I remember our first Christmas with Greta, we came home with an entire van filled with toys…literally.  I felt so guilty.  I never want the “stuff” to take away from celebrations like Easter, Birthdays and Christmas.  Joe and I have  decided that for Birthdays and Easter, we will give our children each one gift. For Christmas, we will do 3 to symbolize the 3 gifts from the 3 wise men.

Well, I could go on and on, but she explains it much better-

“When it comes to playthings for our children, I can’t emphasize enough that for creative play, less really is more in regard to toys.  Between generous gifts from family members, hand-me-downs, and accessible inexpensive toys, it is quite likely that our homes are cluttered and full of playthings. A sad product of our modern world is that our children are taught early on to over consume and to want more, more, and more. Chances are that they do not need more toys, but fewer. When there are too many things around, there’s little room for imaginiation.  Clean out some of the toys you have now that are not used often, and think more critically about the ones you let into your home. Tell family members your philosophy and ask them to share it when they make purchases for your children. Rotating toys in and out of the play space can also be a helpful way to use fewer at a time, and it can provide a “new” way of looking at an old toy.”

G.K. Chesterton. March 30, 2009

I’m not sure exactly how old I was, but I would guess sometime in my early highschool years I had an obsession with looking up and memorizing quotations.  I would go to the library, find the very thick books on quotations, look up any particular saying that I found relevant to my teenage life and commit it to memory.  Sometimes I would write out a quotation on paper, make it all pretty and hang it on the wall.  Looking back, I can see that it was the beginning of my thirst for the word of God. I was looking for wisdom, answers from those who knew much more than I.  Now that I am older, I get any wisdom I need from the Bible.  I actually do not read much else.  Memorizing scripture has been an invaluable asset to my life as a Christ follower.  As a throwback to my highschool days, I’ve decided to share some of my favorite quotes as of late. They are all quotes of G.K. Chesteron…

“The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister.”

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.”

And my favorite-It’s long, but worth it!

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

princess gigi. February 24, 2009

Greta insists on being called either “Gigi” or “Princess Gigi”.  She got a few Gigi- God’s little Princess Books for Christmas and has become a quick fan!  In fact, when I was moping around the house last week sick- she told me, “It’s OK, Mommy, you just need to be God’s little princess!” If that doesn’t cheer you up, I don’t know what will

lil’ trouble maker. February 20, 2009

Surely not Miles??? Yes, I am in fact talking about sweet little Miles.  This week, he has learned how to- unplug things from the wall, shut himself in his bedroom, dump out his toy box and open the bottom drawer of his dresser! He might not be walking or even officially crawling yet, but he is getting into everything! We are just loving our little guy’s new passion to explore.

****UPDATE**** Add to the list- escaping from his exersaucer (about gave me a heart attack) and opening his closet door and hiding inside!

Resolution. January 27, 2009

Ok. It’s official. I’ve made a resolution for 2009.

*****To be less self centered******

Sure, we are all a little self centered. It is our nature.  I was at the grocery store tonight and let the person behind me in line go in front of me (he only had 2 items). This is something I used to do all the time, and it dawned on me that I don’t think I’ve done that once in the last year!  I’m not perfect. I’ve never been perfect, but I’m pretty sure I used to be  a lot less self centered. I used to be the kind of person who would never forget to send a thank you card. The kind of person who would just send a note in the mail letting someone know I’ve been praying for them, or that I’m thankful for them. Something has happened.

I can pinpoint it to the exact date- September 13, 2007. This of course, was the day we found out that something would be “wrong” with our baby. When you get news like that, the only way to survive is to go into protection mode.  I  spent so much time praying, worrying, thinking, researching about this disease.  Then when Miles was born, I spent all of my time caring for him, setting up Dr.’s appointments, therapy appointments and again thinking, praying, worrying  if he’d meet a milestone or if something else would go wrong. I would be a horrible mother if I didn’t do those things. But…enough is enough! No matter how bad things are, there is always someone worse off.

I think it’s time to pop the bubble I’ve been living in. I resolve to notice, help, appreciate those around me. Because, I haven’t been doing my job!

creepy crawler. January 19, 2009

Ok, he’s definitely not creepy.  But, I have some great news about Miles!

He has figured out how to army crawl!!! His motivation- a cell phone. Put a cell phone out in front of him and he’ll do anything to get to it . It is very hard work for him and he’s still pretty slow, so once he gets a little better, I’ll get some video of him scooting along. Yay, Miles!

All tuckered out.

hello 2009. January 1, 2009

Well I can honestly say I’ve never been so happy to be done with a year! It was kind a rough one for our little family and I don’t know how we would have made it through with out the help and encouragement from our friends and family.  I just know 2009 is going to be great.

Here is a rundown of our last year…I think if I had to choose one word to sum up the year it would be surgery. Yikes!

JANUARY- Birth of our wonderful 2nd child, Miles Jacob, via c-section and followed by 2 weeks in the NICU and shunt surgery. This month was spent learning all about our new little darling.

FEBRUARY- Lots and lots of visits and meals from friends.

MARCH- Greta had tubes put in her ears. Miles had surgery to repair his encephalocele.

APRIL- Wedding season started up.  Joe’s Grandfather had surgery on a brain tumor. One of Joe’s generous co-workers bought tickets to a concert for Joe and I- it was a much needed break and our first time away from Miles for more than a couple hours.

MAY- Joe had surgery on his foot and leg.

JUNE- Joe’s 29th birthday party! Miles learned to lift his head!! The kids and I attended the Adams Family reunion.

JULY- We had an awesome 4th of July at Joe’s fathers house. We went on our first family picnic- just the 4 of us, a great memory!

AUGUST- Our 6th wedding Anniversary.

SEPTEMBER- Miles had a botox injection for his eye. Miles also his first (and only so far) seizure during this month.

OCTOBER- We took the kids to the pumpkin patch! Joe said that that was the best day of his life My 29th Birthday. Trick or treating with fancy Nancy and a carrot. Miles mastered sitting.

NOVEMBER- I started a new job working as a floral designer for Sherbondy’s Flowers.

DECEMBER- Greta’s  3rd Birthday. Lee Floral Design’s last wedding.

I’ll close with my favorite photo taken in 2008 of each of my loves.

‘Tis the season. November 22, 2008

I don’t think I’ve ever seen Greta as excited as she was today. For months now, she has been asking me, “is it Christmastime?”. She has become utterly obsessed with Christmas trees and all things related.  Well, today was the day! I drug that old, dusty, rickety tree out of the garage and hoisted it up in the living room.  Normally, I wouldn never dream of putting up a tree before Thanksgiving, but I am so excited for Christmas this year…I can hardly contain myself! Last year we did not put our tree up. I was VERY pregnant and the thought of putting up and taking down the 10′ tree sounded like a dangerous task.

When we found out that Miles had hydrocephalus, the Dr.’s told us that he might not be “compatible with life” and we’d find out when he was born if he would make it. So, we didn’t know if there would be a baby’s first Christmas. BUT, he is here and he is a miracle. Words can not express how overjoyed I will be to see my little boy sitting side by side with his big sister opening presents for the first time! Tears fill my eyes just to think of it!

I am definitely not alone in my excitement. Every time Greta would leave the living room to go get a toy or to go to the bathroom, it was as if she’d temporarily forgotten about the tree and each time she came back into the room, she would exclaim, “It’s Christmastime! Look at our beautiful tree!” or my personal favorite, “this tree makes me so happy!”.

Here’s a sneak peek at our decorating and soon I’ll be sharing with you the ornaments that I made for our tree this year. I just have to finish them!!

looking back. October 18, 2008

It is so easy to get caught up in the things that Miles should be doing. He is not yet crawling, rolling over consistently, etc.  We work and work just to get him to catch up. And we are so busy that I rarely take the time just to look back at how far he has come. I was looking through some old files of photos and decided it would be cool to share a bit of how far he’s come.  Some of the photos from his first 2 months do not even look like the same child! I originally had the song “For Good” from the Wicked soundtrack, as this is Miles’ favorite song. Whenever he hears it, whether it is the CD or Mommy singing it- he immediately calms down and listens intently. Apparently, that song is carefully guarded by copyright, so I had to find a bland, boring song. I think you get the idea though. Enjoy!

pumpkin patch. October 16, 2008

We are fortunate to have an awesome pumpkin patch just 30 minutes from home. Monday, Joe and I took the kids. We met with Joe’s cousin Ann and Lola, the little girl that Ann nannies for.  It was pretty muddy, but we went early and managed to not actually get rained on until the ride home. We rode a pony, ate kettle corn, took a hay rack ride and so much more. We took photos of Miles sitting with the pumpkins and some of Greta sitting with the pumpkins. We wanted to get some of Miles and Greta together, but when we tried- Miles seemed to think that he should lay down on his sister…so that didn’t quite work. This pumpkin patch is so cool that Joe and I are planning a date night at the pumpkin patch!