Things that Make Me Smile

• The word 'tilapia'
• The smell of wet grass in the morning
• Skipping with Natalie.
• Putting on a pair of jeans that fit just right.
• Feeling like I just got a good deal.
• Having my wedding ring cleaned.
• Having time to read.
• Finding my keys before I lose them.
• Flipping on a trampoline.
• Seeing my kids play together.
• Getting a pedicure.
• Having my car washed and vacuumed.
• Feeling a sense of accomplishment.
• Running with Cooper biking beside me.
• Doing crafts with Luke.
• Getting the laundry done (temporarily).
• Peter Pan peanut butter.
• Getting dressed up for a date with John.
• Finishing a good book.
• Seeing my office all clean.
• Queso.
• Getting a good picture of all the kiddos together.

Claire's Skills

Claire's best skill so far? Smiling. I love to see her smile and she does it A LOT now. Her smile can turn my whole day around.

Claire's other skills:

• Stretching her arms completely straight, directly over her ears while she pulls her knees up to her tummy.
• Alternating straightening her legs and pulling her knees up while I am trying to change her diaper. Makes for a fun diaper change.
• Sleeping in the car seat. Claire can sleep 2-3 hours in her nice and cozy car seat. That is good for all of us.
• Wearing a bow or large flower without complaining or ripping it off. (For me, this is a very good skill to have!)
• Chit-chatting - usually once a day Claire will get really chatty. She will just start making little cooing and gooing noises. They are so cute! It sounds like she is really trying hard to talk.
• Taking a bath - Claire loves to take a bath in her little pink tub. She just sits there and grins. No crying in the bathtub for her! She just loves the water.
• Puking - though I do not view this as a 'good' skill, Claire definitely can do some serious puking after she eats.
• Burping- in the middle of a bottle, Claire usually lets our a very not-so-lady-like burp that is quite loud in relation to her tiny little body.

Luke's Sayings

That dog looks exactly like Tar except he's different.


I can hear you Mommy except when I am sleeping.


Mommy, Natalie won't play War with me because she is shuffling the cards.


Mommy, Cooper did not let me win at all, except once!

Mommy, if I read 20 books tonight can I go to Target tomorrow?


That Bakugan is Cooper's when it is not mine.

Mommy did you know that you can cut off a droid's head and he can still live? But not a human.

I am not a little Padawan! I am better than that!

Mommy, Natalie won't read to me because she is reading inside her head.

I do not have to go potty. Ok, maybe just a little, but that's all.

Mommy, can I play in the workroom if I promise to just take my shoes off for a minute?

Can I have a drink of your shake Mommy? Mmmm, that's good, but I don't want any more of that yucky stuff.

God's Trump Cards

Back in biblical days, leprosy was the great leveling ground. No matter who you were, if you got leprosy, you were banished from society and maybe even sent to a leper colony. I see cancer as today's version of leprosy, without the physical stigma attached to it. Anyone can get cancer. Anyone from the healthiest health nut to the smoker who works with asbestos. And the trump card is, you canNOT heal yourself. That is up to God. You can go through an infinite number of chemo treatments, try every experimental drug, and still not be healed. That is completely up to God when you will be delivered from the fire or through the fire.

Fertility is the other trump card. Anyone who has studied how reproduction occurs and all the processes that must be in place and occur at exactly the right time for a baby to be formed HAS to know that it is not happenstance. A woman cannot MAKE herself pregnant. There are a lot of actions a woman can take to 'increase her chances', but the creating life thing comes directly from God. He gets all the credit. He let the technology be developed for IVF, IUI, Clomid, etc., but ultimately it does not happen unless He allows it.

Thank you Heavenly Father for my 4 wonderful, beautiful, healthy children!

Play Dates

I love play dates. Sometimes they may be a drop 'n go and sometimes it may be a stay 'n play. I guess it depends on how good of a friend the parent is and/or if I have 14 chores to run while I am 1 or 2 kids less.

Today I took Cooper to Mansfield to play with his friend from preschool, Cooper. The only time they get to see each other is at birthday parties and scheduled play dates. Today, I dropped Luke off with Cooper. I would have loved to stay and hang out with Kathy, Cooper's mom, but I really needed to get a few things done while I just had Natalie and Claire. Plus, this was some 'girl' time, which Natalie craves and cannot seem to get enough of.

It is funny how play dates have evolved since Cooper's very first play group. I joined a group when Cooper was just 6 months old. Back then, play dates were really for us moms to get a chance to have adult conversation and to troubleshoot different problems each of us were having with our children. I cannot wait for Claire to have playdates, since there are so many of my friends that have had babies this year.

Swim Thursdays

My girlfriend, Mary, dedicates Thursday afternoons during the summer to swimming. In fact, she opens her house and invites anyone and everyone in our community group and beyond, to come over and swim, eat and fellowship. There may be as few as 2 families or as many as 8-10 families. Sometimes everyone may show up at once, other times there will be 2 completely different waves of people. We usually eat around 6, and it is a piecemeal effort. Everyone brings one component of the meal. What a great time we all have together: swimming, talking, laughing, eating and enjoying the time that God has given to us.

Sentences

My favorite form of discipline for Cooper and Natalie? Writing sentences. You would think that I am making them write with fiery coals on a volcanically hot tablet. They cannot stand to write sentences! The usual amount that they have to write? 10. If they actually sat down and wrote all 10 without talking, arguing, crying or screaming, they could do it in less than 5 minutes. This is not common though. They both feel the need to argue with me and/or declare that they are NOT going to write the sentences. Nope, sorry. Once I issue the punishment of sentences, it sticks. I will not recant. When Natalie knows she is wrong and is remorseful, she will write them quickly and efficiently. However, there have been times that she has had to sit at the table for over an hour because she refused to write them. Cooper is the same way. Rarely will he write the sentences without putting up a 15-20 minute argument. (He only relents when I threaten 10 more sentences.)

My rationale for sentences: it is a great alternative to spanking or timeout. Cooper is too big to spank. Timeout is only effective some of the time. Writing the sentences (ten times!) may make them think about their behavior the next time. If not, then they will have another chance at writing the same sentence 10 more times to see if it will sink in. Also, at the very least, it will keep their penmanship skills sharp!

Our Reading Goal

My goal for the kids this summer is for them to grow in their literacy. I do not want them to be stagnant and stale as soon as school starts. I am trying to get them to read every day. This is sometimes a challenge. Why? Why do they fight me on this? OK, only one of the kids fights me on this (Cooper). Natalie is insatiable when it comes to books. She just can not get enough. She wants to check out the most books, start reading them immediately in the car and plow through the books as soon as she can. Cooper does not mind reading when it is his idea. He will sit down and knock out a whole chapter book in one sitting, if he is in the mood. Unfortunately, I am not inclined to 'wait' for his mood to strike. I want him to read every day. Preferably 3 books or more. His incentive, not only am I paying him 25 cents a book (or 25 cents/2 chapters in a chapter book), but he also can earn TV time. He earns 10 minutes of TV watching time for every book he reads. And the book reading has to be done first.

My goal for Natalie and Cooper, is for them to read at least 100 books this summer. So far, Natalie is at ~55 and Cooper is ~51. I am quite sure we are going to make it. I will gladly pay $25 for them to read all summer long!

Family Zoo Trip

$56 to get into the Fort Worth Zoo for $5 parking, 2 adults, 3 children and a free infant.

We got there right when it opened. John was concerned about how hot it was, but I assured him it would not be too bad because most of the zoo was shaded. Boy was I wrong. It was so hot and muggy that I had sweat dripping down my back, halfway through the zoo! That is ridiculous! After an hour, John was trying to figure out how close we were to the exit. After the 3 'fits' from the children, we decided to cut our losses and exit pronto. After taking a quick picture of me and Claire, to document her first officially trip to the zoo, we were at the car licketedy split!

We then took the kids to Chik*Fil*A to eat and burn a little energy in the play area while we fed Claire. All in all, it was a good family day...

98 degrees and 80% humidity=one sweaty zoo trip and some cranky kids.

(Even the giraffes were sitting down!)

Our Oklahoma Trip

We went up to Oklahoma on Saturday, July 3 and stayed until Monday, July 5th. We stayed with a friend of John's from law school and her family. She has an 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter.

It is so fun to see how all 5 of them interacted. At first, it was the boys playing with the boys and the girls playing together. As the weekend rolled on, the dynamics were constantly changing. Natalie hung out with Noah for a few hours just chit chatting, Luke and Olivia were playing in the same room (I did not get to see them interact much). They had 2 video games and Luke and Cooper thoroughly enjoyed those. A few times we had to encourage them away from the games, so they would do something else.

Though it seemed to rain 75% of the time that we were there, the kids still had a good time swimming, playing outside in the driveway and playing at the park. I love it that my kids love to play outside so much! They even asked if they could go outside when it was sprinkling. (Sure!) I even went on a run in the rain. They had closed the workout facility early, so running was my only choice. Since it was raining, I chose to run on the golf course path. There was a lot of jumping large puddles and remembering which way to go on the turns. on the way back I almost took a wrong turn. Not only would that have led to a much longer run, I might have even gotten so lost that I would not find my way back. That would have been bad, bad, bad.

We had a good time, but were definitely ready to get back. Even the kids said they were happy to be home. Ahh, home, sweet, home.

Claire - 3 months

My sweet Claire is a little over 3 months now. Her greatest skill? Smiling. Yep, she is a champion at the smiles. She is not afraid to pass them out like candy. It is my favorite thing to try and get her to do. It is amazing how a smile from this little baby can just melt the heart of anyone who may happen to look at her.

One of her favorite activities? Hanging out on her daddy's arm (like a football) or reclining on his chest. It is just so cute to see her sitting there so content. (And he really likes it too!) My favorite thing for Claire to do with me is to take a nap. Of course, I don't mind at all taking a nap with her, but I also do not mind when she falls asleep in my arms. I just love listening to her breath, watching her facial expressions and just holding her. I am really trying to soak it in and enjoy every minute of her.

Claire is also starting to put on some much needed weight. The first 2 months she did not really add any weight, though she grew in length and her head circumference grew. I think now she is adding pounds, and I could not be much more excited!

I had to stop breast feeding around 2 months, because she was not getting enough milk from me. It also was too challenging to feed her from a bottle, then breastfeed AND try and keep up with the other 3 kiddos. Dr. Katzen said that getting to the 2 month mark with breastfeeding was a good milestone as far as nutrition for Claire.

Is she sleeping through the night? Umm, no. Not yet. I feel like that is very soon, but we are not there yet. A few times she has lasted until 4 or 5am, but not on a consistent basis. When she wakes up to eat, she is SERIOUS! Sometimes she is crying and carrying on, she'll even growl if I am not fast enough making the bottle. It's a little funny that she is so worked up; thank goodness all it takes is 4-6 ounces of formula to make her calm down.

Cooper adores Claire and thinks she is the best baby in the world. Natalie is enamored with Claire and LOVES the big sister role. Luke is very sweet with her and always has a kiss for her. I love it that they all three love her and do not seem to mind when she cries too loud. They only thing they seem to mind is when she has 'air' or a stinky diaper. THEN, they feel compelled to act all dramatic about it, like she is the only baby in the world who poops in her diaper! Oh yea, and they are insistent that I change her ASAP.