Archive for January, 2007

Well, not really. But we do have airplane tickets, so I guess it's official—we're all going to New York! We leave February 18th, and we're spending 3 weeks in the Big Apple. Jay will be traveling with us, thankfully, so hopefully it won't be too difficult. It will still be quite an adventure flying with a one-year-old and a three-year-old. We also still do not have a definite place to stay, but we are hoping that will be settled soon. James is very excited about flying in an airplane and going to the "big city". I am excited that we will get to see Jay every day!

Eliza has been learning and changing so fast, it's hard to keep up. She has started saying a few sentences, like the other day in her highchair when she was saying, "Where toast go?" I looked over and she was covering it with her hands! Another morning she was closing herself in my closet (one of her favorite pastimes), and she got her foot stuck under the door. "Feet! Feet!" she yelled, until I came and got her unstuck. She is very funny sometimes, especially when you explain something to her and she says, "Oh." She still loves singing, and while she doesn't know all the words to many songs, she is usually able to fill in the last word of each line: "Jesus loves ("me!"), this I ("know!")." She is learning her colors and can count to at least three. She does get in trouble sometimes; twice now I have found a DVD in the VCR and had to get on to her. James still thinks she's great, even though they do get into fights sometimes. He usually lets her have her way, though, as she can be quite persuasive! I love to watch them interact, because they can be so sweet to each other. I think they are going to be good friends.

This week was my last week to sing in the praise team at church for a while. I decided to take a break as we will be traveling a lot and we have trouble making it to practice Sunday mornings at 8:30, with our crazy weekends! I will miss it, but maybe I will be able to rejoin someday. I was one of a three-person team, so hopefully they will be able to find a replacement for me! Singing to God and about God is something that I delight in. I am still part of the choir, I will just have to miss singing when I'm traveling.

We are finally mostly over our colds. It feels like we have all been sick since Thanksgiving! I still have a little bit of congestion left over, but maybe we can stay mostly well for a while. My Granny is home after breaking her hip, and is recovering well. She gets around slowly, but surely, and has been able to stay by herself. Jay's Mimi is now in a nursing home, and seems to have settled in, even if she's not thrilled to be there. And we keep on taking life one day at a time, because it's definitely not easy, but we know God is in control!

While I was practicing with the praise team Sunday morning before church, James came up onto the stage to dance and greet everyone. The pianist, Ms. Cheryl, asked James how he was doing. I heard James answer, "I'm sick!", but Ms. Cheryl couldn't hear him and motioned for him to come over to her. After we were finished rehearsing, I walked over and she told me how the conversation went:

• JAMES: I'm getting better.

• MS. CHERYL: I didn't quite understand that. You're getting bigger? Or you're getting better?

• JAMES: I'm getting bigger and better!

Because she didn't hear him say he was sick, she was having trouble understanding why he would say "I'm getting better". But James decided that both were appropriate!

We ate at Cracker Barrel yesterday for lunch, and an older couple with a young woman sat down across from us. They were playing with Eliza a little bit, and so we started talking to them. They asked James how old he was, and after a little thought, he answered, "Three. But I'll be four on my next birthday. We have to wait a long time; we have to wait until I'm four." They asked him what he was waiting until he was four for, and he replied, "My next birthday!" Of course!

On New Year's Day, Granny (my dad's mom) fell down the steps at her back door. She broke her hip just below the joint, and has been in the hospital since then. She had surgery last Wednesday (Jan 3rd), and is recovering fairly well. They are having trouble regulating her blood sugar (she is diabetic) and that is affecting her appetite, but she managed to take a few small steps the day after surgery, and was sitting in a chair the next day. She is supposed to be in rehab for another week and then possibly go home, but the details of her home-going have not been figured out yet. She seems to be doing okay, but what a way to start the New Year! She is a very independent person also, so it might be difficult for her to accept the help she needs. I'm sure she would appreciate your prayers, though, that she would recover quickly and be able to stay at her own house. Also pray that she would be able to give her body the rest it needs to heal…she's a bit of a workaholic!

It's been a while since I devoted a blog to stories, so here goes…

Eliza is growing and learning so fast! She definitely has a mind of her own, but we are trying to teach her some manners. Whenever she wants some more of something, she starts off by yelling, "Muh! Muh! Muh!" I say, "How do you ask?" and she says, "Ah-un muh."("I want more.") "What do you say?" I ask. "Peeese!" Hopefully soon she won't need to be reminded, but it is pretty cute right now! She has started recognizing letters and numbers, but she calls them all "S". She loves to sing, and the list of songs she knows grows every week. Some of her favorites include "The Wheels on the Bus", "If You're Happy and You Know It", "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", and singing along with our Blue's Clues videos. I can usually tell what she's singing by the motions she does.

I guess clear speech is not a priority for Eliza like it seemed to be for James. He was always very interested in saying things right. I can usually understand what she's saying, but it gets her into trouble sometimes. The other day at Mammy's house, she was sitting in the highchair and had just finished eating. "Do you want down?" one of the kids asked. "Nah!" said Eliza, so they walked off. She seemed to be getting frustrated and so they asked again. "Nah, nah!" said Eliza. Finally I walked in from the kitchen, where I had been listening. I asked her the same question. "Nah!" was the reply. I got her down and she was happy again. I explained to them that "nah" is her word for "down". Not only do "no" and "down" sound alike, but her word for "again" also sounds very similar. When we sound out the words with her, she can say them clearer, but she always reverts back to her old speech in the heat of the moment.

James continues to amaze us with his memory and his understanding of things. He almost has the concept of aunts, uncles, and cousins down. He often tries to sound out words that he sees on signs, even though he doesn't always figure out the word without some help. He loves computer games, video games, and even the dinky little games that come on some DVDs (that's what he's doing right now). He still says some pretty cute stuff sometimes, like the other day when we went out to get the mail and James started spinning around with his arms outstretched. "Look, Mama!" he said, "I'm a wind angel!"

Eliza understands a lot more than we often give her credit for. I was cleaning up the movies that she had drug out from under the TV today, and she walked over and proclaimed proudly, "Mess!" This morning Eliza and I were playing with her new Little People doll house. I told Eliza, "Look, I put the daddy at the computer." "No!" she said, removing him, "Mama pyu-puh," and she put the mama at the computer. Perhaps I've been spending a little too much time at the computer!

Christmas portrait

Today is the first day of 2007. It's hard to believe another year has come and gone. This one is starting off a little difficult, because we are all sick with colds and Jay is flying back to New York today, after being with us for a week and a half. At least we had a few days at home to recuperate from the holidays!

We spent Christmas Eve at home, going to church in the morning and spending the rest of the day just being together. We used our Little People nativity to recount the Christmas story to James and Eliza, but James knew most of the story already, and Eliza just wanted to play with the people. It was fun anyway! Christmas morning the kids woke to find Santa Claus presents at the fireplace, and we ate breakfast casserole and played with the presents most of the morning. That afternoon we packed up and headed down to Brandon, MS, to Jay's mom's house, where we opened some more presents before going to bed. The next morning Jill and Robbie came over, and the kids opened some more presents. Then we all went down to Prentiss to visit Jay's grandmother (Mimi), who has been in the hospital. She was found weak and dehydrated at her house a few weeks ago, and will probably not be able to live by herself anymore. She seemed a little down, but was glad to see us and we had a good visit. Then it was back to Brandon to spend a little more time with Jay's family, and then we packed up again to head to Memphis.

In Memphis, we visited with my mom's family Tuesday night, then opened more presents on Wednesday at Granny's house. I think we are set for toys now! At least until the kids turn 5 or 6. :) We had a good time and Jay and I even managed to sneak away Thursday night to go out to eat at Applebee's. Friday it took much of the day to pack all the beds and clothes and presents, and we made it home around 10:30 P.M.

The kids started getting sick Saturday, with runny noses and coughing. Eliza was running a fever Sunday morning, so we decided to stay home from church. I felt pretty bad most of the day with a headache and sinus pressure, and James was running a slight fever by Sunday night. Jay didn't feel great either, so it was kind of a rough day. I felt better today, but the kids have gotten a little worse, with higher fevers and bad coughs. They have been in pretty good spirits despite their ills, so it hasn't been too bad. Jay made it to the airport this afternoon to find out that his flight is delayed 2 hours, so he is stuck there waiting. Hopefully he won't get to New York too late tonight.

Last night we didn't even notice when midnight rolled around, so the excitement of a New Year was lost on us. It seems like kind of a bad start to 2007, but I'm not worried. We are blessed beyond measure! I hope everyone has a wonderful 2007!