Day 5 - My two lights!

Claire and Henry are the lights of my day!  I love their smiles and playing and curiosity and love.  The other night, Claire told Matt, "Daddy, I wanna play with Mama."  We had been playing Mama Monster and she loves it because she has my undivided attention - my goal - pursuing her - and it's fun too!  I love spending time with my kiddos and a family and am so grateful God has entrusted us to raise them. I am so grateful that they still love spending time with me, as I know it won't always be so!  I pray that I can be the type of parent that is respected, but still fun, that I can set an example for my kiddos and their friends, even in those teen and college years, so much so that they will 'want' to hang out with me and their friends every once in a while. :)

November 4 - Non-negotiables

Matt and I are both so grateful for amazing friends that feel like family, and for celebrating special occasions together!  Today we were honored to be included in celebrating the baptism of Benjamin John.  He's just a little peanut, but God already has so much in store for him!

Sometime within these past six months, I heard about 'non-negotiables.'  It may have even been from a movie, but I liked it and it stuck with me.  The advice whomever gave was to make some events non-negotiables in your best friends' lives.  For example, a wedding would be a non-negotiable, meaning you'd do everything you possibly could to make it to a friends' wedding.  It shows value in the relationship and support for the life event, not to mention creating memories together, which is super important to this 'quality time' minded girl!  I talked with Matt about this idea, and we decided we liked it and it was a good way to ensure that we stay in touch with friends that we don't live near (let's face it, that's ALL our friends right now!).  It's so important to us to keep these wonderful friendships strong that we made in DSM, even though we've moved!  So...births, baptisms, 1st birthdays, weddings, and sadly, deaths...non-negotiables!  And THAT'S why we had a road trip today...and it was well worth the time in the car!

November 3 - I'm His

Today I'm thankful that I get my worth from the Lord.  That means even when I've done everything wrong, and am feeling at my worst, I can take comfort in knowing He made me in His image, to glorify Him, and I can do all things in Him who gives me strength.

Lately I've noticed my need for that strength more!  Whoever said this being a mama thing was easy had never tried it.  I actually did think, in a way, that being at home with my kids would be 'easier,' though that's not the right word.  It definitely is more laid back and flexible as far as schedules, getting out the door by a certain time, are concerned.  But it is in no way easier.  I think it wears me out even more than teaching!  Matt and I are both exhausted by the end of a day of parenting.  There have been a few days lately when I've really felt like I'm doing nothing right, and yes, that's in my exhausted state of mind, but it's then that I turn to God and ask Him to remind me that I'm His.  He has adopted me as His daughter.  And even though I'm not doing this whole parenting thing perfectly (and as much as I try to do it perfectly!), I have faith that my Savior is in control.  His plan is greater!  He has marked my children as His since the day they were conceived, and He knows them better than anyone, and though they may stray, He will always have open arms when they run back to Him!

November 2 - 30 Days of Thankful

Today I have been thankful for sleep, especially super restful and rejuvenating sleep!  When I woke up this morning, I was astonished to see the time - 6:30.  Henry had let me sleep from 11 until 6:30.  Folks, this was big news!  Then he slept with me until 8.  I woke up feeling...tired?!?  Yes!  But only because it was the best I'd slept in...well, 11.5 months.  I had slept so soundly, but felt great once I woke up!

Grandma Diekema always told mom, "All the while they're asleep they're growing taller, and all the while they're awake they're growing smarter!"  Henry is going to be one smart cookie!

In other news...yesterday and today, Henry has been a more motivated walker.  He has been standing up and then walking to objects and people without our prompting.  He also had a great time climbing today...the stairs, boxes, chairs.  He was pretty proud of himself for getting up on the living room chair.

Claire was a super good mama today and made sure her baby had a clean diaper, went poo on the potty, and had warm pjs on.  Yesterday she fed Baby chili and cheerios.  Yep, she's a good mama.  She's been imaginative playing more lately.  It's so fun to watch.  She also had to call the doctor several times on her cell today to report that Henry was injured.  She even made him an appointment.

Cross your fingers that Henry sleeps well again tonight.  Matt is even hopeful (hence sleeping in our bed again).  We'll see!  :)

November 1

I'm SO very thankful for my husband, Matt!  Especially when he recognizes what I need and does something seemingly little that makes my day or makes me feel a ton better!  :)

Last weekend as I was heading out the door to a 31 event, he ran outside in his socks as I was driving away to give me the pancake that he'd just finished cooking...all so I could have breakfast.  I couldn't stop smiling!

Then yesterday, when I wasn't feeling so great about myself after shopping and not finding anything that I was happy with, he invited us in to his work for lunch.  He knows that sometimes lunch is a stressful time at home when it's rushed before naptime, so he thought it would make it easier on me to eat lunch together (even though he'd already eaten!).

(So I jumped on the thankful bandwagon.  I was just going to do it on Facebook, but I think it would be great to have this record!)

Jesus Love Me, This I Know

As we were driving to preschool this morning, I was singing Jesus Loves Me to Claire and Henry.  It's pretty typical that we are singing in the car whenever we're not talking, but this song was a new one.  It took a while to get it flowing too, as it was the first time I'd ever tried to translate it while singing.  You can imagine.  ;)  Anyway, Claire was loving it and kept asking "noch mal" (again) everytime I finished.  She got to talking more and clearly didn't have a clue who Jesus was.  I guess we're a lot better about saying "God" than "Jesus."  So I went into this explanation about Jesus being God's son just like Henry was Daddy's son, how God sent Jesus to the world to die for sinners, and that she and I and everyone were sinners.  I tried explaining how every time we make a bad decision, that's sinning.  And how God loved us so much that he forgives us every single time we ask for His forgiveness.  Well, I thought we were doing pretty good at understanding all this.  Then Claire replied, "I'm licking my toothbrush."

Claire's Three Year Old Wandering Mind: 1.  Mami's Explanation: 0.

I just had to laugh!  :)

Our Little Monkey and His Big Sister

Henry is 11 months and 8 days old!  He's quite the little monkey.  He loves to crawl superfast everywhere.  He also likes to climb on anything and everything.  This weekend he used the toys to get himself up onto Romber's coffee table ottoman.  He also had fun climbing in the big-girl doll pink jeep and through the end table legs.  At home he climbs the mountain of cushions and scales the easel that's been tipped over onto the walker toy for quite a while now.  Whenever Henry is missing (don't worry, only for a few seconds) I hurry to the stairs.  He's usually already half way up and looooveeees when I come to get him and chew him out in a fun little 'just joking' voice.  Here are some other Henry updates...

• He understands 'no' - we tell him this mostly in context of touching electrical outlets.
• LOVES the stairs and railings at Omi and Opa's and Grandma and Grandpa's!  Both sets have recently watched the kids for a couple hours in the evening and Henry thoroughly wore Opa and Grandpa out.  Somehow they both got the job of following him?! ;)  He and Opa climbed the stairs a dozen times.  Henry is really good at knowing that he needs to climb down 'backwards.'  When Matt and I got back to Mark and Brenda's after our dinner out, Mark's words were "you take over now!" in an exhausted and relieved tone.
• Steps!  Henry has been taking some steps when he slows down enough to try.  His record is eight!  It won't be long until he's walking if he decides it.  Right now he's so much faster crawling that he really prefers that.
• Language!  He still says Dada and once in a while, Claire, and we have added Riley and Grandpa into the mix.  Grandpa is a tough two syllable word, but he makes the sounds consistently when he's excited to see Grandpa out the window.  I'm sure he's learned it so well since Grandpa is always out here and we talk a lot about what he's doing outside. 
• Books!  We are doing a better job of listening to them and looking at the pictures instead of just chewing on them.  Though it's still difficult to get Henry to sit still long enough to listen to even a short board book.
• Henry is going to be a tough little boy!  When Claire trys to 'help' with him or take over, she often grabs him in the most awkward ways to move him.  He's really tolerant of her most of the time!
• Food - he loves trying new foods and has only made a face a couple times when trying something.  He is totally feeding himself, so sometimes we have quite a bit of food that he drops, but he has fun trying and gets some in!  He likes to nurse still throughout the day and usually once at night.
• Naps are not very routine because we are out and about three days a week.  We always make it home for an afternoon nap for both the kids and he naps in the morning for a couple hours if we are home, but if we're running errands or going to preschool or Kindermusik then he catches a catnap in the car to or from.

ClaireClaire is such a spunky little three year old girl.  It's amazing how one minute she can be a perfect little angel, making all the right choices and being so polite and sweet, and the next minute we can have a sharing or obeying problem.  She can be a little stinker and knows how to passively 'push buttons.'  With consistent reinforcement, I'm sure she will learn to share and obey.  And it's such a great responsibility (and exhausting!) that we've been entrusted to teach her.  Good thing God will grant us wisdom in raising his children!

I love our little monkey and his big sister and their papa so much.  I cannot imagine our life together any other way.  Lately I've been feeling incredibly blessed, for reasons that I've taken for granted.  I love when God uses someone else's story to inspire us or in this case to remind me to have an attitude of gratitude and leave my critical tendencies behind.  I can hear "don't sweat the small stuff" a hundred times, but until my heart is ready to hear it, it doesn't click.  Praise be to God for making it 'click' for me this week and for using other people's stories to bless my life.