Archive for August, 2009

My birthday was Saturday, and it's true, I'm beginning my last year as a 20-something. I was absolutely miserable on Friday with this cold I've been fighting, and was relieved to feel a little better for my birthday. Jay took me and the kids to Cracker Barrel for lunch after we dropped my car off at the dealer so they could fix my window. It turns out that getting it fixed is a pretty expensive birthday present, and they are waiting for a part, so we are having to share Jay's car until Tuesday. I'm not looking forward to getting the kids up extra early so we can take Jay to work in the morning!

Today after church we headed over to my parents' house to eat lunch with my siblings. My parents are out of town for a few days at a conference for my dad's work, so my youngest brothers and sisters are having to fend for themselves (at ages 22, 20, 17, and 13, they should be fine!) My sisters even made a birthday cake for me, and we had a little party. We ended up spending the rest of the day at their house, and I loaded the dishwasher and made a couple of gallons of sweet tea before I left, to try to get them through the next few days. I think maybe they'll survive!

As if turning 29 wasn't bad enough, I also got to pull James' first loose baby tooth on Saturday. I feel like we are being ushered into some new phase of parenthood or something. Out with the old, in with the new, I suppose. And to think, we will be starting the whole journey over again come January, with a new little being!

We are sick. Less than a week back in school, and we had already caught a bug. Jay has been miserable for a few days; I started with a sore throat on Wednesday that has progressed into an awful cold; and James has been very congested and just not feeling well. Eliza has been sneezing a lot, but doesn't seem to be feeling bad…maybe her immune system has been able to handle it a little better than the rest of us. Because James has not been running any fever, I have been giving him Sudafed and sending him to school, making sure to let the teacher know that he has a cold. I can't take Sudafed, though, so I just have to suffer through the terrible congestion. It has not been a fun couple of days!

Thankfully, Eliza was well enough to go to her 4-year-old check-up at the doctor yesterday. She weighs 37.8 pounds (68th percentile) and is 42 inches tall (87th percentile). She got a clean bill of health, and was also given the shots she needs before starting kindergarten next year. She did very well with the shots; she was excited about getting them, and only cried a little when they actually stuck the needles in her legs. I'm glad they are able to give them so fast; four shots is a lot! She was a little sore later, but was proud to have made it through!

This morning after dropping James off, Eliza and I were headed to her school when something strange happened. As I was pulling onto the frontage road of the interstate, all of a sudden my car window slid down about half-way into the door. I thought at first that the electrical system was having trouble, but then I realized that the window just fell off its track somehow. It freaked Eliza out, she was nearly in tears by the time I got her to school. I guess we'll have to get it fixed tomorrow; I'm about to take Jay to work so I can use his car the rest of the day. I don't really feel like driving around with the window down in my current state, and there is a chance of rain today. Isn't that just great?

It has been fall for the last few days around here! Temperatures in the lower 80's, getting below 60 at night! I have enjoyed the break from the heat. Saturday Eliza begged me to get the little swimming pool out for her, and so I did, knowing it was probably the last time I would fill it up this summer. She got cold when she was out of the water, though! I made James go out there and play to get him out of the house, and they had a good time splashing around in the pool (when they weren't complaining about being cold.) Jay did yard work for most of the afternoon, and after resting and eating supper, we wanted to get back out and enjoy the weather some more. We got our bikes out and rode around the neighborhood a little bit. We didn't ride long, just enough to get our bike-riding fix. We haven't ridden very much at all this year, and soon, it will be a while before we can ride as a family again. Maybe we'll get to have one or two more rides before it gets too cold (and before I get too big!)

Sunday we had a great time of worship and fellowship at church, both in the morning and at a special worship service that night. We don't usually have a service Sunday night (we meet with community groups instead). We sang lots of great songs, both old and new, praising God for who He is and thanking Him for all He's done for us. I was sitting with the choir for the first part of the service, and our Worship Pastor, Leslie, asked the congregation to finish this statement: "I love the Lord because…." Several people spoke up, telling in just a few words why they love the Lord. After a few people had spoken, I heard James' voice, loud and clear, from where he was sitting in the congregation with Jay: "I love the Lord because He helps me." (He had apparently asked Jay to make sure it was okay before speaking, but had no prompting from him; he just wanted to be a part.) The congregation murmured their approval, and it was all I could do to keep from tearing up; I was just so full of pride and love for my son, who is incredibly difficult at times, but is also such a blessing. And growing up so fast! I treasure little things like this; it makes all the pain and heartache of raising kids worth it!

While we were in Memphis last weekend, I had Jay take some pictures of the kids at a nearby park. Here are our favorites:

We made it! No tears were shed, no worried looks, just hugs and kisses and smiles and goodbyes. This year we had it pretty easy: both kids are at the same school they were at last year, and they already knew their teachers. Eliza got Mrs. Wyndelyn, James' 4-yr-old preschool teacher, who we adore; and James got Mrs. Shaw, the 1st grade teacher who let James come into her class for reading groups when he was in kindergarten. God must have known I would need an easy transition this year! :)

I snapped this picture before we jumped in the car for school. I love being so close to James' school! It makes things so much easier on us, especially since everything else (church, grandparents) is kind of far away. This picture worked a little better than last year's picture:

(Eliza was holding an empty lunch box because she refused to be without it.)

I was a little concerned about how James would do this morning, after his meltdown Monday night. We had been to an open house at his school earlier in the evening, and I guess the reality that school was about to start finally hit him. A while after I had put him to bed, we heard sobbing coming from his room. It wasn't so much anxiety about starting school, though; it was mourning the loss of freedom that comes when summer vacation ends. Jay and I talked to him for a while, and he asked if I would stay until he fell asleep. So I rubbed his back and hummed along with his music until he calmed down and was almost asleep. When I got up from his bed, he stirred, and asked if I was leaving. I told him I was going to bed, and he was okay with that, but he wanted to tell me one more thing. "Crying is not going to change it," he said, "Crying is not going to change the law."

We had an ultrasound yesterday at my doctor appointment. It was quite a crowd in the little ultrasound room: me (of course), Jay, James, Eliza, and my mom (she was going to watch the kids for the rest of my appointment, so I told her she could come see the ultrasound, too!) After a few minutes of taking measurements and just looking around in there, the technician stopped at a particular place and said, "Do you see that?" Yes, there was very obviously something between the baby's legs, and I said, "It's a boy!" The rest of the ultrasound went well; baby boy is growing very well and had all the right measurements, as well as a strong heartbeat. We got some pictures to take home (Jay calls one of them "pornographic" because it's the shot where we identified the baby as male). Everything is going great!

The kids are excited to know the baby's gender. James, who had been hoping for a boy at first, changed his mind a few days ago and was hoping for a girl. He kept saying, "I want to stay Gerald's favorite nephew!" I tried to explain to him that we are not the only ones able to produce a nephew for Gerald. In fact, my brother Joseph and his wife Nicole are expecting their first child in late March! (It's too soon to tell what the gender is!) We are so excited that this baby will have a cousin around the same age. James faked pouting for a second after receiving the news, but I think he will really enjoy having a brother! Eliza, who has been hoping for a girl, decided that a boy was fine with her (she is just excited about having a baby in the house!) Now we just have to come up with a name!

And still going strong! The road has been a little bumpy at times, but the trip was worth it. I love being married to my best friend…it certainly doesn't feel like it's been 9 years! God has blessed us so much in these 9 years, and I look forward to what He has in store for us in the future. Here is a glance back at our wedding day:

And for Alayne and Gerald, who have changed quite a bit in 9 years:

Saturday we took our kids (and my two youngest siblings) to Wild River Country, a water park in North Little Rock. The kids had a great time playing in the wave pool and the kiddie area, and riding the Sidewinder, a small tube ride just for kids. I took my camera and we got a few decent pictures while we were there:

On the way home, we were treated to a beautiful sunset as we crossed the Arkansas River:

It was a good day!

We often have critters visit our backyard, usually looking for cat food that our cat, Susannah, leaves behind. Usually, it's possums giving us trouble; once in the winter I found one sleeping in Susannah's heated bed on the back porch. Lately, though, it seems as if the cat food-snatcher has been a larger specimen; things are knocked all around in the morning, including the tightly-closed bucket that I keep the cat food in. I came home from my ballgame the other night (Jay had stayed home with the kids) to find that there was a lot of food in Susannah's bowl. Susannah had been knocking on the window earlier, so Eliza decided to feed her. I didn't want to leave the bowl of food out over night, so I brought it in. The next morning, I was taking the food bowl back outside, and discovered that something had gotten into the food bucket, and eaten about half of what was in there (thankfully, it was getting pretty low). Apparently, Eliza had not gotten the top back on very well. Whatever it was, it had a good meal that night!

The next night, I made sure the lid was secure on the cat food, and that there was no food in Susannah's bowl. Before heading to bed, I heard a noise outside, and caught it in the act: a huge raccoon. It had turned the bucket over, and was using it's hands to try to get the lid unscrewed. Turning the light on scared it off, and as I was pretty sure it couldn't get into the bucket, I went on to bed. The next morning I went out to feed Susannah, and the food bucket was gone! I started looking around and finally found it at the edge of our yard, which borders some woods. I guess the raccoon decided if it couldn't get it open here, it would take it into the woods where it could work on it without being interrupted! It is not a small bucket, and it is not all that light (although being almost empty, it is lighter than usual). I'm glad the coon gave up before taking it all the way into the woods, or we might have never seen it again. I'm keeping the food bucket in the garage for a while to try to discourage any more visits from the monster coon!