Moment to Remember

A conversation I had with Davis this week warmed my heart to overflowing. I know I will forget it if I don't write it somewhere. So, Blog, here you go!

I was relaxing on the couch in our quiet (what!? does that really happen?!) living room with just Davis (ah-ha! NOW I know how it could be that the living room was quiet...!). Davis saw my empty lap and said, "Oh! I think I need some cuddle time." Not a common request by him, I was glad to oblige. Up he climbed, rounded himself into a nine-and-a-half-year-old ball in my lap and just sighed a big contented sigh. I sighed happily with him and said, "Davis, you are turning out to be a really wonderful young man. You know that?"
"Well, YOU raised me, Mom."
"Aw," (big smile) "I had something great to work with, though."
Then he smiled just as big, hugged me tighter and said, "I love you, Mom. I really love you."

Movin' and a Shakin'

The baby seems to have dropped his morning nap. The delightful three-year-old is painstakingly dropping his one and only (still very much needed) nap. In six short months the six-year-old will be in school all day. Last night the eight-year-old took it upon himself to read to his three-year-old brother and then put him to bed - and he was successful.

All my boys are growing up. Sniff. Sigh. A tiny piece of me is nostalgic but the rest of me just loves the move the boys (especially the older two) are all making toward independence and responsibility. What I am finding as we slowly enter this new season is that our roles as parents are changing. The mother-hen, nurture, keep-em-close, protect their world role I have had is giving way to a you-can-do-it mentality (thank you, Ryan, for pointing this out to me). At home, they need to be trained and expected to do more and more things for themselves. As they increasingly face the world on their own, I must create create an atmosphere in our home that is safe for them to synthesize what they encounter out there.

I am hungry for wisdom and resources - and I have found one recently that I think will help equip both Ryan and I for this new season (and it informs parents in the preschooler-season as well). It is a Parenting DVD series that I am previewing for our church and hoping to offer to other families in the fall. (I thought I would tease you fellow C-stoners a little bit...) My favorite concept so far has been this: It is one thing to want to do a good job raising kids - to have well-behaved kids who know their Bible and know how to act in church. It is another thing entirely to raise great kids who are all that God intend for them to be as adults. The two can go hand in hand, but the second one can also be missed, especially in a home that relies too heavily on either legalism or license.

I am excited for what the Lord has for us in this new season - and anxious to share what I am absorbing with my friends!

Reduce, Reuse

RECYCLE!

I came across a couple of funny posts today so I thought I would recycle them. If you care to comment on any of them, I encourage you to comment on the actual, original post, rather than going to the trouble of coming back to this post to comment. (I get all the comments emailed to me, regardless of how old they are. I love Blogger!)

Funny post #1 is brought to you by Jackson, at age four.

And this one, courtesy of Jackson and Davis, last Christmas.

Here is some fact checking from my brain.

And finally, some chuckles from Weston. If you really wnat something enjoyable, be sure to click on the links that are in this post.

Going On Ahead

I fall into a strong temptation as I peruse the blogosphere. Perhaps the scenario is familiar to you as well: I love reading about how some of you out there are running your lives. The details of how you home school, the descriptions of your family life, the . You follow a blog or six long enough and you really get a picture for the vision each family has. One blog that I love to follow is my friend Kristy, who home schools her girls. She and her husband are living their lives on a farm of their own making and have a strong passion for raising their kids to love and serve the Lord. Another blog I enjoy is Joy's. She and her husband are missionaries in Indonesia. You catch very quickly their vision for how they want to raise their kids and the specific values they are passig down. And then there are the random links I follow to other blogs on occasion, where I take a quick glimpse into the lives of people I have never - and likely will never - meet.

You might think that the temptation I am about to talk about is "spending too much time in the blog world." While that is something I must monitor closely, the temptation I am speaking of is much more sinister.

As a result of my own thinking, planning and praying (with the extremely helpful input from my blog community) I have a solid, Biblical idea of how to best raise up my four boys so that they will love and be effective for the Lord in all they do. I am so thankful for all the wonderful (really, truly WONDERFUL) ideas out there that have helped me form a vision for the kind of boys I want to raise - and how to do it.

"Ah," You say, "Why Jenne, I had no idea you were a single mom." Single Mom? What gave you that idea? Oh, I see that I HAVE given you that idea because that is how I am pursuing our family vision: as though I am the one to set it and pursue it.

In all my reading, planning and praying, I mistakenly consult the blogopshere rather than my husband! And as I march on ahead with what I believe to be "clearly the best vision" under which to raise these boys, I have marched right on ahead of my husband. Up until last week, Ryan and I had never even discussed this together - I had never asked him what his vision for our family is! I must have thought that a.) he could read my mind or b.) he couldn't possibly have a vision or c.) he wouldn't be interested in what the vision is (afterall, its my job to raise the kids anyway). Maybe it is a strong combination of all three options. Oh what a fool I have been!

You might not be surprised that the discussion came up as we were reviewing how baseball season went. We all had a lot of fun, but I was sharing my thoughts about how sports were not really going to serve to accomplish the goals "we" have toward raising these boys for the Lord. And my dear husband was quick to gently correct me. As he described HIS vision for our boys, I realized my foolishness. Please note that the point is not about who is right or wrong, or whose vision is better. I would have liked to argue with him that my vision is more godly than his. I would have liked to make clear to him how I have thoughtfully, carefully considered all that there is to consider. (And OOOOhhhh am I good at making myself heard in this arena!) But the Lord closed my lips and spoke to me loud and clear: I must begin pursuing Ryan's vision for our family. The nuances of that vision can be up for discussion later, but before I have any ground to stand on in such a discussion, I need to come under my husband's leadership. No more going on ahead of my husband - not even in the name of "godliness" because there is nothing godly about ignoring or failing to consult the head of the family.

I suppose you will find it ironic that all these thoughts were made clearer to me through a blogger who wrote this post by, yes, someone I have never and will never meet. Go figure.

Bound to Happen

Let it be known that on March 19th, 2009 at the age of NEARLY four months, Drake spit up on Mommy for the first time.

It was bound to happen. I count myself very fortunate to have non-urpy kids. The upside of that is obvious. The downside is I never have a burp cloth when I need one, and my reflexes to catch spit-up before it hits the floor are seriously lacking.

Do you feel sorry for me? No. I didn't think so.

Just some fun pics

Perhaps you have figured out by now that I recently downloaded about 28 years worth of family photos. I am making up for lost time this week and I hope you are enjoying this because it might be another 28 years before more pictures appear on my blog.

They were pretending to be frogs.

OK. so this one just oozes personality. Every child is absolutely showing their true colors. Hilarious.

Here is our weekly "Friday Night Movie Night." This week I pulled sleeping bags out for each kid (they thought they were in heaven!) and let them watch Looney Tunes. Sleeping bags might be the new tradition.

And this is one tired kid. He just woke up (I happened to catch him mid-blink and it only MORE reflects his fatigue). Can you see the sleep lines on his face, and the sweaty head? Classic.

Meet My Brothers

Hi! I'm Weston.

Wanna meet my brothers?

Gack

Dee-Dee

Bee-Bee Uh.
La-La taught me his real name, so now I sometimes call him Bee-Bee D.

(Aren't we cute?)

He Found It!

His thumb and first finger. He finally pulled it out of that vice-grip fist of his and is now enjoying the fruits of his labor. I have another thumb-sucker (they are so cute when they slurp-slurp-slurp).

Way to go, Baby Drake!!

Hip-Hip-Hooray, Bubbles!

I have four kiddo vignettes today.

#1
Jackson, calling out to me from our storage pantry: "Mommy, Weston is wanting to blow bubbles outside." And before I can really even say no, he continues: "I know we can't. I know that. (insert thoughtful pause here) But...we could if we caAAAAAan!"

#2
Weston and Jackson were running up and down the hallway together. Back and forth, back and forth. They would stop at the end of the hall long enough to get set up to run back. But before the mock race started up again they would both wait for Weston to count to three. His way of counting is not your traditional One, Two, Three, GO! Oh no. Its so much cuter. It goes like this: Eight, oh, eight, EIGHT!! (He has his numbers and letters fused together. To him, the letter "O" is as much a number as it is a letter. He is well prepared to tell people our area code: "five-oh-three."

#3
After reading a picture book telling the Easter story, Jackson said "IIII-EEEEE KNOW WHAT A MIRACLE IS!!" You do?!? Tell me!! "Its when you get sick and then you are UN-sick. When you are hurt and you get UN-hurt. When you are dead and you get UN-dead! ...But I don't know how they do that. How do they do that and why can't IIIII-EEEE do that?"

#4
Weston continues to be a potty-trained champ. We seem to have progressed beyond his obstinacy and are finally in a phase of "joyful release." Sitting backwards on the toilet seems to have made the biggest difference because he can finally see what is going into the toilet. And that is fascinating. When he discovered that forcefully peeing created some great bubbles in the toilet he screeched, "Buuuh-booos!" And yesterday, he added a new phrase. "Hop-hop-ho-way, Buuuh-booos!" (Hip-hip-hooray, Bubbles!) Its the cutest stinkin' thing I have heard in a long time.

A Flurry of Events

I did not ever post wintery pictures, or Christmas shots. We PNW folks have certainly all seen enough "Valley Floor snow" to last us the entire season. But for posterity sake, I must-must-must sneak one or two in here.

Above: The view out one of our family room windows. The barn is not ours, but we enjoy looking at it. And the icicles were 12-18" long SPEARS!

Above: Just two shots of the backyard. In case you can't tell, that first picture is of the creek covered in snow and ice!

And I cannot pass up this opportunity to throw in shots of the kids opening gifts and making gingerbread houses at my folks house.

I wanted to include a video of the kids opening up presents but it is a little long and is a huge file. Instead, a simple description of one scene. Weston is oohing and aaahhing over a book, while the big boys are opening up downhill skis in the background. I just love the excitement you see and hear from each boy at the gift. In the foreground is little 2yo Weston, who is absolutely THRILLED with the farm animal book he received (and I mean thrilled... you hear him squacking about in the background when the attention turns away from him and onto his brothers). And in the background is Davis, super excited about the set of awesome (used) skis he received - oh, and they are way cool looking... thanks Grandpa and Grandma! Jackson receives a pair, too, and upon seeing the present's shape my 4yo - smart as a tack - says, "Well, I already KNOW they are ski's, Daddy."

This Christmas will be known to us as "The One With All The Hats." Each boy received a total of 4 hats. That's 16 new hats floating around the house right now. My oh my. The photo above is the boys wearing stocking caps that Ryan and his two sisters wore some 25 years ago. I think they are the coolest!

And then (below) you see us melting snow by our fireplace. What would possess my husband to do such a crazy thing? How about not having running water in our house for more than 24 hours. That's WAY FUN with an infant, let me tell you! We were very thankful to learn that it turns out we did not have frozen pipes but rather a neighbor(?) turned our water supply off by mistake inside our neighborhood pump house for the shared well.

Thanks for peeking in at the fun we had in these past several days!

Several Piles and a Panic

A couple of nights ago... Little Drake had peed out of his diaper so many times the night before that i had zero bundling blankets or easy-zip jammies left. So I was destined to do a load of laundry in the morning.

It took all day long to get the single load of laundry done (shocker!) so that evening after all the kids had gone to bed I was folding it. It just so happened that this laundry load was the first ever containing clothes belonging to all four boys. I don't usually do the big boys' laundry, but I needed to add to the relatively small load so the big boys got spoiled, I guess.

ANYWAY, I was struggling to keep the piles straight ("Let's see... this is Jackson's shirt, and this one is Weston's shirt - no wait, these are both Weston's shirts... and this pile I started is who's? Oh, Davis'. Right. Now where is the Drake pile? Here - no, HERE it is. Oh. I guess he has TWO piles..." And so on and so on). It was during the laundry folding/pile sorting process that it really sunk in: I HAVE FOUR KIDS.

FOUR.

And I tried not to panic.

Pictures, Pictures, and More Pictures

At the risk of great personal embarrassment, I start this post with a "Before" shot. I still can't believe how far that kid stuck out! Whew - glad he's on the outside.

And "After." Labor went very smoothly. (I will spare the bloggy-world the details.)Here he is!

The boys came and visited at the hospital. They were all so sweet and excited.

Davis has been Davis: Excited and sweet, and anxious to hold him and introspective and mature and contemplative... he is the best biggest brother a baby could hope for.
Jackson could hardly put the little guy down. And the questions he has asked are so cute. Like, "Can he live with US?" and "Does he have ears?" and "Why is his cheeks so soft?" jackson's big brown eyes were just HUGE all day. I LOVED watching him with Baby Drake. What a treat.

Weston wanted to hold the baby a ton, too. He was extremely gentle and tender. He kept pointing to Baby Drake and then looking up at me to make sure I saw that he had a baby.

Please stand by for developing news

No baby yet, but the plan is to arrive at the hospital Monday morning at 6:45 to begin the induction process. My wonderful sister will give updates on my behalf (thank you Ming!).

Davis asked this evening, "I know you don't KNOW when the baby will get here, but what is your prediction?" (I love it when he uses grown-up words.) And I told him that my prediction is 5pm. So, we shall see how close I come to being right. Believe-you-me, I hope it happens sooner.

You can join me in praying that the hospital has room to keep me (you know how they do that annoying thing of turning non-laboring women away in order to accommodate those pesky women who go into labor all by themselves). And I am also praying that the baby comes through the delivery safe and sound.

Hopefully the next post you read from me will be from my sister!

False Alarm

We went to and then were sent home from the hospital last night. I really thought it was time. But no so. Baby is still cooking.

Funny thing... as my husband's stomach is tied up in knots and he is saying, "Come on, Jenne, let's just get to the hospital," I actually paused by my computer for a moment, wondering if I might take a quick moment to blog. I would have, had Ryan not been so anxious to get us there. He would have killed me if he had to deliver this child on the side of the road because I insisted on first posting a "little something" about labor.

And as it turns out, I would have had to retract my post anyway. Oh well.

A Poopy Morning

So technically my morning started at 2am, when I woke up and was unable to fall back asleep. But then I did, at 5AM, and my loving husband let me sleep in until 8AM. And therefore, technically, the first thing I got to do this morning was sleep. That automatically makes it a good morning.

Thirty minutes before 8AM, I vaguely heard Ryan put Weston in the tub (a favorite activity of this toddler). I fell back asleep and awoke at 8AM to Weston half-yelling, "Uh-Oh" and "Nayah!" Those two words in succession are a good clue that something must be addressed in short order. I got up and found Weston standing in the tub, pointing to the water.

You already know what I found. The question is, was is solid or not? The unfortunate answer is "not." Floating in and amongst our modest supply of bath toys was a copious amount of poo. While Ryan hosed Weston off in the other bathroom's shower, I spent the next little portion of my morning scrubbing, bleaching, and sanitizing the toys and tub. Of course any toy that had cracks or crevices automatically earned a one-way ticket to the garbage can. So now our bath toy collection includes only cups. All the cute little fish that, when you pull the cord make a swimming motion have been sacrificed in favor of poop-less-ness.

I easily return my thoughts to the part of the morning where I was sleeping and can say that the morning - despite the poopy tub - was a good one. Thanks, Ryan, for letting me catch those extra Zzzz's.

This One's Just For Ming

Somehow my boys and I got talking about what my name "used to be."
"I used to be Jenne Snodgrass, but now I am Jenne Glover," I tell my kids. They snicker, like every kid I grew up with did when they learned my last name. In almost defense of my proud heritage, I added: "And Megan's last name used to be Snodgrass, too."

Davis replied with a puffed up I-know-I-am-about-to-be-right, "Yeah, but now her name is Ming-y Wood!"

Meg, I guess it is official now. You might as well change your birth certificate.

Evidence and a Diaper

Story 1: Evidence

Many people ask me if my kids are excited for the baby to come. Yes, my two "big boys" are. But Weston is a little young to be excited. Their next question is "do you think he understands that there is a baby coming?" Always I reply that he is clueless. Well, today he gave his first hint that he understands (at least in part) that a baby is growing in my tummy. During our family Sunday School he lifted up my shirt - luckily I had a fitted tank underneath that he did not grab - he lifted my outer shirt up just enough, pulled his binki out of his mouth and poked the binki into my 37-week pregnant belly. So, he gets it that there is a baby in there. The question remains as to whether or not it has occurred to him that the baby will actually eventually be on the other side of my skin. I will break that news to him gently, in about three weeks.

Story 2: a Diaper

So my husband is enjoying a day trip up to Seattle with a bunch of great guys to watch the Seahawks play a game. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it has shaped up to be a great day to watch football. To pass the day more quickly, I brought all the kids to my parents house directly after church to play and relax.

So, when it was time to put Weston down for his nap, I set up our travel bed, which is a Peapod Plus (the best travel bed in the history of kid gear - see picture). It gets hot inside that little tent when it is all zipped up so I decided to keep him in his shirt, but remove his pants. About 15 minutes later I hear him really hollering for me, "Nayah, nayah! NAYAH!!!" (That's what he yells when he wants me to come get him from his bed. What it means, I don't know. For a while I thought it was my name, but last night he pointed at me and said in a sing-songy voice, "MaaaAAaammaa." So "Nayah" is apparently some other word.. "I up," perhaps??)

I digress - my apologies. So, I come into the room he is in, notice immediately that he has unzipped the Peapod entry/exit flap - but has not yet ventured out. I pull open the flap and he immediately holds out his diaper to me, which he has removed completely from his body. Let's all take a moment and imagine the possibilities at this point, and then praise God with me for big blessings (and small miracles): The diaper is completely clean and dry. No horrible mess to deal with. But what I will say is that he was MIGHTY PROUD to have disrobed himself. Once I took from him the diaper he was handing me, he darted out of the room in a gleeful escape and ran (bare-bottomed) into the kitchen to greet his Grandma. It was pretty cute. Needless to say, I had him in a diaper AND PANTS upon the second attempt at a nap for the little cutie. Thankfully, the second attempt was a quick success. He was sawing logs in moments.

All Things Kids

Things around here have been pretty normal lately. I have just enjoyed my kids in the many things they have been up to. I thought I would share some random but fun pictures of the crew.


Thumbs up, Jackson draws his pumpkin face design.

I love it when all three boys find something to do together. Even Weston got in on this little game of badmitten by being the cheering section

The lovely Jenna - cousin and best playmate in town!

Toothless Joe, here, lost a tooth at school. Its a good thing, too, because I am squeemish when it comes to wiggley teeth.

And here is the happy two year old. A language update: he is up to 5 words now. In other words, no update necessary. We are utilizing some MESD services to get this kid some expressive language!! Despite his lack of words, he is not a frustrated kid. Go figure.

Back from Legoland!

I've been up since 3am and am fading FAST!! The trip was great. we stayed with Ryan's folks, who spoiled us in every way possible. I can't hardly form two consecutive sentences so i will just post a few pictures of all the fun and call it good.

Results

The test results did not show a smaller mass or same-sized mass. Instead, the mass has completely disappeared. It is gone. For whatever reason, the Lord has allowed this one to pass us by.

Praise Him! Praise Him! He is merciful and mighty to save.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for us today. I needed to be held up in prayer.