Archive for November, 2006

We were traveling again this Thanksgiving, visiting relatives in Memphis and Mississippi. I drove to Memphis Wednesday with the kids. Jay flew into Memphis Thursday morning (he was supposed to get in Wednesday night, but missed his flight), and I picked him up and we drove to Philadelphia, MS, for Thanksgiving lunch at Mammaw Barrett's house. From there we went to Brandon to spend some time with Jay's mom and Jill and Robbie. We had a pretty good visit, except that most of us were sick. I took Eliza to the doctor Wednesday before we left town, and they said she had an ear infection, so she was on antibiotics. James and I both had bad colds, and Jay's mom was fighting a bad cold, too. Saturday we went back to Memphis to spend some time before heading back home Saturday night.

We got Jay to the airport Sunday just in time for his flight back to New York, and I took the kids with me to children's choir practice that night. Our Christmas program is this Sunday! I still don't know all my lines yet. I should be studying them now! This was Eliza's first practice as baby Jesus, but she was fighting a fever (left over from her ear infection), and wasn't in a great mood. I hope she does a little better next week! It won't look very good if baby Jesus points his finger at his mother and yells, "No!", like Eliza has been doing to me lately.

James has been difficult to deal with, I guess mostly because he hasn't felt great recently. He can be so stubborn, and he has pitched a lot of fits for not getting his way. He can still be funny, though, like the other morning when I didn't give him his drink of choice, and he said, "Mama, I'm disgusted that you gave me apple juice and not chocolate milk."

I am slowly getting over my cold, but I have a bad cough that only shows up at night and keeps me from sleeping very well. It is hard to get well when you can't get enough sleep! I just hope my voice recovers enough that I can sing my solos this weekend! Even with all that's been going on, we still have a lot to be thankful for!

Jay's sister Jill is expecting a baby! We are so excited for her and Robbie, and that we are finally going to have a niece or nephew, and for James and Eliza, a cousin! It will be the first for all of us, as crazy as that sounds. However, the not-so-good news is that Jill has been really sick-feeling throughout the pregnancy so far (she is about 16 weeks along). She was actually admitted in the hospital this week because she was throwing up so much and had to spend a few days there to recover. I'm sure she would appreciate your prayers!

James has a pretty good grasp of the whole "going to have a cousin" thing. I explained it to him the day we found out, which was before Jill and Robbie were telling everybody the good news. That night, we went out to dinner with my family for my birthday (Jay had surprised me by inviting them). Somehow the conversation turned to babies, and James all of a sudden blurts out, "I'm going to have a cousin!" Jay looked at me reprovingly, as I tried to shush James and tell him it was supposed to be a secret. So my family accidently found out, but it turns out that most of them forgot. When I was telling them Jill was in the hospital, my sisters said, "I didn't know Jill was pregnant!"

James and I recently discussed having a cousin again, and James was very curious: "Is it coming now? Why does the baby have to stay in its mama's tummy? Is it going to pop out?" I'm not quite ready to discuss all of the specifics of pregnancy and childbirth with my three-year-old, so I gave him some very general answers and he seemed satisfied for the moment. He is excited about having a cousin!

James and Eliza both have colds right now, so that is not much fun. Jay continues to go to New York every week, and is enjoying his job as much as is possible being so far away. I am actually going to New York December 14th to spend the weekend with Jay while the kids stay with my family. It's exciting and scary at the same time! It will be my first time to fly by myself, and the kids' first time to spend more than one night away from me. We'll see how it goes! We are also still planning on spending time in New York as a family next year. Jay is still looking for an apartment, and it has been a little frustrating. Please pray that God will provide just what he is looking for! I know He can.

Eliza continues to grow in personality and independence and vocabulary. She has a little phrase that she says every time she doesn't want to cooperate. It sounds like, "Ah dohmm!" and she makes this face where she scrunches her eyebrows. I know it when I hear it (and I hear it several times a day)! She can be quite difficult, especially when she is sick like she is now. But she is too cute. When she is feeling agreeable to my requests, she says "Ah-tay" (okay). When I start to get on to her for something, she immediately starts saying, "Hi, mama, hi, mama," and waving. She loves James, and tries to do everything he does. I caught her the other day about to jump off the stage at church during praise team practice. James had just done it, and she was standing at the edge bending down, just about to go for it. She just came to me while I am sitting at the computer to feed me some pretend food off her play spoon, which she is dipping into a cup, and she is making eating noises. This is a fun age!

Well, we have some interesting news. Jay just found out he will be spending the next 6 months working at the same place in midtown Manhattan. He will most likely be getting an apartment there, which opens up all kinds of possibilities for us to go and spend some time with him there. I never thought I wanted to live in New York, but this seems like a cool opportunity to do something different. It will certainly be interesting with two kids in a little apartment and no car. We are just excited that we will get to spend some weeks together!

This week has been especially difficult. I think it's partly because the "new" of this job is wearing off, and I'm starting to miss Jay more. James has also started asking when Daddy's coming home. He doesn't get sad, he's just wondering. We are trying to keep busy and not think about it too much. There are plenty of things to do between now and Christmas! Jay and I are playing Joseph and Mary in the children's Christmas musical at church (Dec. 3), and Eliza is going to be Jesus as a toddler, so we are trying to get ready for that. The adult choir is also doing a musical (Dec. 10), so I am doing double duty! I am excited about both of them, though!

Halloween was fun, but it was kind of sad because Daddy wasn't there. James was Batman and Eliza was a leopard. We went to Trunk-r-treat at our church, and Eliza was the cutest one there! (Okay, I am kind of biased, but she was cute!) Check out our pictures. We also went to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago when Daddy was home, and we got some great pictures there, too!

Eliza has started saying some sentences, like when I tell her she doesn't need something and she yells, "I do!" Wonder where she heard that? The other day she dropped a piece of paper off the couch, and I promise this is what she said: "Uh-oh, I dop pay-pah." I was so amazed I just stared at her in disbelief. She has started saying "mine" and "no", those hallmarks of toddlerhood. She has also started to try and repeat the words "I love you". She loves to greet me and each of my family members: "Hi, Mama. Hi, Pah-pah (Pappy). Hi, Mah-may (Mammy). Hi, I-djah (Lydia). Hi, Beh-jah (Benjamin). Hi, Ah-yan (Alayne). Geh-jah! Hi, Geh-jah (Gerald)!" (She loves Gerald!) She is very sweet, but she wants her way!

James can sound out words! He gets tired of it quickly, though, so we haven't made it through a whole book, yet, but we are close! He is always asking questions about how things work, and he loves to try out new words. This morning he said something was "impressive". He didn't know what it meant, but he was trying! He cracks me up sometimes.