Hope that this finds you all doing well. We're good. Since my last post, we have traveled to Elkhart, Indiana, for the Easter holiday. Kaylee received several cards and goodies and she seemed to enjoy the festivities thoroughly. Before our trip, Kaylee and I made Easter cookies. This was quite a feat. We both ended up with flour everywhere but many critics commented that the cookies were delicious. Matthew was doubtful at first but after some icing and sprinkles, we made a believer out of him. The Easter bunny visited Kaylee twice. I don't know if he had heard false testimony of her good behavior or if she was just receiving gifts on Sydney's behalf, but either way, she had a good time exploring her baskets' contents. Both girls spent the holiday weekend with runny noses and for two nights, Sydney slept with us, which is something I don't allow, so you must know it was our last resort. During the holiday, we were also able to celebrate Jacquie's birthday by enjoying a delicious meal at Cracker Barrel (where Kaylee met the Easter bunny) and finish it off with an ice cream cake! Kaylee was over joyed that a birthday was being honored and was absolutely certain that it was her birthday despite being told otherwise. The last of these attached pictures show Kaylee's bottom lip which had an altercation with her teeth on the eve of Tuesday, March 25. Kaylee was standing on her bed (which she's been repeatedly told no to do followed by some more firm displays of discipline). She decided to do an Olympic dismount only to do what she does best...fall awkwardly off the bed and cry loudly. Sydney, of course, was lying on her changing table, crying herself, for who knows what reason (we keep blaming the crying spells on her incoming teeth, but so far, no teeth, which may be a good thing, at least they can't pierce her bottom lip.). Matthew was in the bedroom changing his clothes so that he could make a brake for it to the weight room as soon as the girls were in bed, so he has no idea until he hears the commotion and I holler, "Hey, I need an old wet rag. We got a bleeder in here." It was lovely. And this children, is why you save intimate relations for marriage. How else would you keep your sanity as you rear children if it were not for sharing parenting responsibilities with another semi-capable human being? These are the memories we've been making. Hope that ya'll made some memories as well over the holiday weekend but with a little less crying and a lot less blood. Have a great rest of the week!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Spring Pictures...Again!
So, I'm just a sucker for fun times! Why not take my children to another photo studio and endure...um, I mean enjoy the event one more time? At least this time, we came home with photos. Sydney was all smiles upon entering the studio; however, after about two shots, she began crying and then, spit up all over herself and the photographer. And I must say, Sydney handled it much better than the photographer, but after a moment and a consideration of changing into a new shirt, only to decide she should wear the dirty one while finishing our session, we continued taking pictures in an outfit with some yellow stuff on it that I managed to rub into the blue of Syd's dress. Kaylee was not any better about sitting still; it simply ain't happen'. And every time she said "cheese" she looked up at the ceiling. If she managed to look at the camera, she screamed, "ahhhhhh" or simply had no expression at all. We did manage to get several good shots of Sydney where she was either solemn or was crying but it could pass as a smile. Nevertheless, I have attached the two shots we came home with for your viewing pleasure. I just close my eyes, count to ten, and remember that these are the moments we live for...when another photographer from another shot comes over to wipe my oldest child's nose for fear that her snot will be smeared all over the toys in the kids' section. These are those moments. Have a great weekend everybody and a happy Easter!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
It's been a little while...
Well, time has passed and I'm trying to think of some updates. Our biggest news is that Matthew has chosen a specialty. Yes, folks that's right. Matthew knows what he wants to be when he grows up...a physiatrist.
A physiatrist (fizz ee at' trist) is a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Physiatrists treat a wide range of problems from sore shoulders to spinal cord injuries. They see patients in all age groups and treat problems that touch upon all the major systems in the body. These specialists focus on restoring function to people.
And from everything I know about it, it definitely suits him. So, we're super pumped about that. Matthew will get paid to give out encouragement and help people help themselves. What better job can there be? Except for my job, which I have come to value more today than ever before.
Earlier today, I watched a fourteen year old boy hold his mother's hand while looking down on her as she lay in a coffin. It is a memory that immediately brings tears to my eyes and makes me realize that I have no idea how much time I will be given to be a mother to my children, so I must seize each moment and be the best godly mother that I can be. Lucky for me, I have a wonderful example to look to and today, more than ever, I thank God for my mother and for her being there through the dating and the beginning of a marriage, through two pregnancies and diabetes and tonsillectomy and wisdom teeth surgery, through my first kiss, every vacation, and especially my baptism. I would not trade anything for having her there at each of those moments and it breaks my heart that there are those in this world who will not have a mother or father there for those moments. So, it's with a heavy heart and a lump in my throat that I ask you to pray for all of those who don't have that example and steadfast rock in their life for their own moments and I equally urge you to love your children and live for each moment.
A physiatrist (fizz ee at' trist) is a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Physiatrists treat a wide range of problems from sore shoulders to spinal cord injuries. They see patients in all age groups and treat problems that touch upon all the major systems in the body. These specialists focus on restoring function to people.
And from everything I know about it, it definitely suits him. So, we're super pumped about that. Matthew will get paid to give out encouragement and help people help themselves. What better job can there be? Except for my job, which I have come to value more today than ever before.
Earlier today, I watched a fourteen year old boy hold his mother's hand while looking down on her as she lay in a coffin. It is a memory that immediately brings tears to my eyes and makes me realize that I have no idea how much time I will be given to be a mother to my children, so I must seize each moment and be the best godly mother that I can be. Lucky for me, I have a wonderful example to look to and today, more than ever, I thank God for my mother and for her being there through the dating and the beginning of a marriage, through two pregnancies and diabetes and tonsillectomy and wisdom teeth surgery, through my first kiss, every vacation, and especially my baptism. I would not trade anything for having her there at each of those moments and it breaks my heart that there are those in this world who will not have a mother or father there for those moments. So, it's with a heavy heart and a lump in my throat that I ask you to pray for all of those who don't have that example and steadfast rock in their life for their own moments and I equally urge you to love your children and live for each moment.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Dayton or Bust
About a week ago, Matthew and I discussed a trip to Dayton, Ohio, to visit his grandparents and decided that this was probably our best opportunity to make the trip for a few months, so we called the grandparents and confirmed our lodging accomodations at the Arbaugh Plaza. We had agreed to leave Thursday after Matthew got home from work since he was off the following day, and we would come back on Saturday afternoon, so we could be here for worship on Sunday. I'm not sure why we thought we had it all planned out and that that's exactly how it would go. Didn't we remember that that's how we got Kaylee in the first place...we had a plan? Yeah, sometimes plans change and by now we're getting pretty good with going with the flow.
Thursday morning, Matthew's granny sent me an email saying that they were expecting 3-5" of snow on Friday and maybe some more snow showers on Saturday, but they'd leave the decision up to us about still coming. I called Matthew and we decided that we had dealt with way more snow than that and we were still heading for Dayton that evening. Then, around three that afternoon, I received another email from Granny. Now, they were expecting around 3-10" of snow starting sometime Friday and continuing until Saturday afternoon. Again, I call Matthew. We still felt that this was going to be our best opportunity to go for a while, so we'd stick with the plans. Yeah, the plans again! We left for Dayton, specifically Beavercreek, around six Thursday evening and made excellent time arriving around eight. We were in, we were save, and there was no snow on the ground. Things were good. Then, somewhere around 8 or 9 Friday morning, things went south, or rather north, like Alaska north. It began to snow, just a bit, but it was snowing. However, by lunch time, it had picked up and big flakes were falling rapidly and it was blowing everywhere. Still not a huge problem, we can totally deal with a few inches. By the time we went to bed Friday night, there was probably 4 or 5 inches on the ground. Cool. It was pretty and we didn't have any where to go for another 18 hours. However, while we slept, it continued to snow and snow and snow and snow. We awoke Saturday morning to roughly 10 inches of snow and it was still pelting the ground and the wind was wild! By five o'clock Saturday evening, the snow was beginning to slow and eventually tampered off and we rounded off the day with roughly 14 inches of snow. We were so not going back to Indy on Saturday afternoon. Instead, Matthew got out with his grandpa and they cleaned off the driveway and dug our car out of the snow and we headed for Indy at 7:30 Sunday morning and made it safely back in time for worship.
Overall, we had a great visit. Matthew's granny kept us fed with some great food. We watched some great basketball games and disccused potlitics (boy, don't I feel like a grown-up!) and took lots of pictures. Matthew and I got Kaylee in the snow for a little while and she had a blast. Sydney enjoyed watching Baby Enstein on her great-grandparents new flat screen. Overall, a good time was had by all and we're looking forward to our next visit, just hopefully without 33 hours of snow!
Thursday morning, Matthew's granny sent me an email saying that they were expecting 3-5" of snow on Friday and maybe some more snow showers on Saturday, but they'd leave the decision up to us about still coming. I called Matthew and we decided that we had dealt with way more snow than that and we were still heading for Dayton that evening. Then, around three that afternoon, I received another email from Granny. Now, they were expecting around 3-10" of snow starting sometime Friday and continuing until Saturday afternoon. Again, I call Matthew. We still felt that this was going to be our best opportunity to go for a while, so we'd stick with the plans. Yeah, the plans again! We left for Dayton, specifically Beavercreek, around six Thursday evening and made excellent time arriving around eight. We were in, we were save, and there was no snow on the ground. Things were good. Then, somewhere around 8 or 9 Friday morning, things went south, or rather north, like Alaska north. It began to snow, just a bit, but it was snowing. However, by lunch time, it had picked up and big flakes were falling rapidly and it was blowing everywhere. Still not a huge problem, we can totally deal with a few inches. By the time we went to bed Friday night, there was probably 4 or 5 inches on the ground. Cool. It was pretty and we didn't have any where to go for another 18 hours. However, while we slept, it continued to snow and snow and snow and snow. We awoke Saturday morning to roughly 10 inches of snow and it was still pelting the ground and the wind was wild! By five o'clock Saturday evening, the snow was beginning to slow and eventually tampered off and we rounded off the day with roughly 14 inches of snow. We were so not going back to Indy on Saturday afternoon. Instead, Matthew got out with his grandpa and they cleaned off the driveway and dug our car out of the snow and we headed for Indy at 7:30 Sunday morning and made it safely back in time for worship.
Overall, we had a great visit. Matthew's granny kept us fed with some great food. We watched some great basketball games and disccused potlitics (boy, don't I feel like a grown-up!) and took lots of pictures. Matthew and I got Kaylee in the snow for a little while and she had a blast. Sydney enjoyed watching Baby Enstein on her great-grandparents new flat screen. Overall, a good time was had by all and we're looking forward to our next visit, just hopefully without 33 hours of snow!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Spring Pictures
So, many of you may have been expecting some Easter pictures of the girls. I must admit that I too, thought it would be a grand idea. I had this vision in my head of my beautiful children in coordinating outfits in front of a beautiful background; however, fate had a different idea in its head. And thus begins the story...
So, yesterday, I called Target and made an appointment to get the girls' Easter pictures made. We had heard very good things about the Target Photo Studio and had seen good results from a close friend of ours. However, I had intended to make the appointment for our Greenwood Target but unknowingly, I made the appointment at our Southport Target which we found out at 10:05 this morning when we arrived at the wrong Target. Immediately, I called the correct Target to see if we can get a later appointment. The girl says that she has no appointments for a couple of hours, so just come on over and we'll get the pictures done. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?
We head on over making good time and arrive in only a tiny but of distress. I smell poop! Thankfully, I hadn't yet dressed the girls in their coordinating outfits, so we're okay, no thanks to Sydney and her bodily functions. So, we quickly get the girls changed and posed perfectly in front of a lovely blue background.
Over the next hour, we only manage to get four shots and in none of them were both of the girls smiling, not to mention there was at least 6-8 inches between the girls in each picture. We began the photo session with Sydney hollering her head off in hunger. Of course, who wouldn't be hungry after emptying your stomach contents into your diaper? After we take a five minute break to replenish Sydney's fluids, we begin shooting again. Except there's no shooting going on, just sheer frustrations and madness. Kaylee refused to sit still and she most certainly was not going to smile in anything resembling a normal smile. More definite than all of that was the fact that Kaylee could only hold Sydney in a choke hold. Holding Sydney gently around the waist was a request that she simply could not comply with! Matthew and I took turns trying to get the girls to both look at the camera and then simultaneously smile. That's not asking for too much, is it? Apparently it is. When I got behind the camera to get the girls' attention, Kaylee could only mimic what I did. If I clapped, she clapped...Sydney fell over. If I jumped, Kaylee bounced...Sydney fell over. If I shook my arms in the air, Kaylee shook hers...Sydney fell over. You get the idea. Every time Sydney fell over, she cried. Then, we get her happy again only for Kaylee to let go of her or choke her and the result was the same, Sydney cried. Of course, Kaylee's response was, "What's wrong with Sydney?" At this point, I am near tears and Matthew has had enough as well. Somewhere around the hour mark, Matthew says, "Let's give it another five minutes and if we don't get something, let's call it quits." No sooner had he gotten the words out of his mouth, but Sydney spits up down the front of her outfit. We exchanged looks and decided it was the end of the road. We got the girls changed back and sadly enough left without ordering any pictures.
So, yesterday, I called Target and made an appointment to get the girls' Easter pictures made. We had heard very good things about the Target Photo Studio and had seen good results from a close friend of ours. However, I had intended to make the appointment for our Greenwood Target but unknowingly, I made the appointment at our Southport Target which we found out at 10:05 this morning when we arrived at the wrong Target. Immediately, I called the correct Target to see if we can get a later appointment. The girl says that she has no appointments for a couple of hours, so just come on over and we'll get the pictures done. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?
We head on over making good time and arrive in only a tiny but of distress. I smell poop! Thankfully, I hadn't yet dressed the girls in their coordinating outfits, so we're okay, no thanks to Sydney and her bodily functions. So, we quickly get the girls changed and posed perfectly in front of a lovely blue background.
Over the next hour, we only manage to get four shots and in none of them were both of the girls smiling, not to mention there was at least 6-8 inches between the girls in each picture. We began the photo session with Sydney hollering her head off in hunger. Of course, who wouldn't be hungry after emptying your stomach contents into your diaper? After we take a five minute break to replenish Sydney's fluids, we begin shooting again. Except there's no shooting going on, just sheer frustrations and madness. Kaylee refused to sit still and she most certainly was not going to smile in anything resembling a normal smile. More definite than all of that was the fact that Kaylee could only hold Sydney in a choke hold. Holding Sydney gently around the waist was a request that she simply could not comply with! Matthew and I took turns trying to get the girls to both look at the camera and then simultaneously smile. That's not asking for too much, is it? Apparently it is. When I got behind the camera to get the girls' attention, Kaylee could only mimic what I did. If I clapped, she clapped...Sydney fell over. If I jumped, Kaylee bounced...Sydney fell over. If I shook my arms in the air, Kaylee shook hers...Sydney fell over. You get the idea. Every time Sydney fell over, she cried. Then, we get her happy again only for Kaylee to let go of her or choke her and the result was the same, Sydney cried. Of course, Kaylee's response was, "What's wrong with Sydney?" At this point, I am near tears and Matthew has had enough as well. Somewhere around the hour mark, Matthew says, "Let's give it another five minutes and if we don't get something, let's call it quits." No sooner had he gotten the words out of his mouth, but Sydney spits up down the front of her outfit. We exchanged looks and decided it was the end of the road. We got the girls changed back and sadly enough left without ordering any pictures.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Family and Friends
It's been a normal week in this household. Matthew had an easy week starting each day around 8ish and finishing up between 5/6. No weekends this rotation. I think he's just about to decide what he's going to be when he grows up, either a physiatrist (A physiatrist (fizz ee at' trist) is a physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Physiatrists treat a wide range of problems from sore shoulders to spinal cord injuries. They see patients in all age groups and treat problems that touch upon all the major systems in the body. These specialists focus on restoring function to people.) or a family medicine doctor. Both have great hours and salaries that will pay the bills on time. Both also allow you to build a relationship with most of your patients. He finishes this rotation up on the Thursday before Good Friday, and has declared he will be able to either rule it in or rule it out at that point. Yay! We are both looking forward to him having some direction concerning the rest of his schooling. His fourth year has a few specific rotations, but otherwise he chooses elective rotations which will help him build a foundation of knowledge and experience for his residency program.
Kaylee is good. Just wild. I don't know how to control her without crushing her spirit. She thinks everything is funny except for when it's not and then the drama unfolds as the tears flow and the whining is never ending. She a dramatic one, that one! I was changing her diaper (yes, she's still in diapers!) this past week and she had her fingers stuck in her mouth. Then, she removed them just long enough to say, "What that tongue doing in my mouth?" I had no response. I just smiled and thought how unfortunate it is that we don't appreciate those simple and easy years until they are long gone.
Sydney is good too. She's getting chunky; I love it. She smiles most of the time and laughs every time Kaylee looks at her. It's precious. She'll just sit in her seat and stare at Kaylee while Kaylee runs around the room, jumping, marching or just shouting, "Hay is for horses!" Sydney is really itching to go somewhere. She rocks back and forth in my lap constantly, but unfortunately, she just can't seem to make all of her limbs cooperate and help her go in a particular direction, unless it's face first into the floor! She'll figure it out soon enough and then I'll have real madness on my hands!
I'm good. A little unhappy with the unfairness of it all, but good. I don't understand why people have to die before their time. I don't understand why people have to deal with obstacles they will never be able to overcome. I don't understand why I'm allowed to encounter problems that I can do nothing about. In the end, I just pray a lot and try to enjoy all of the goodness I get to enjoy on a daily basis. Great family. Wonderful friends. A loving husband and adorable, healthy kids. God is good. May the Lord be good to all of ya'll this week. Love you.
Kaylee is good. Just wild. I don't know how to control her without crushing her spirit. She thinks everything is funny except for when it's not and then the drama unfolds as the tears flow and the whining is never ending. She a dramatic one, that one! I was changing her diaper (yes, she's still in diapers!) this past week and she had her fingers stuck in her mouth. Then, she removed them just long enough to say, "What that tongue doing in my mouth?" I had no response. I just smiled and thought how unfortunate it is that we don't appreciate those simple and easy years until they are long gone.
Sydney is good too. She's getting chunky; I love it. She smiles most of the time and laughs every time Kaylee looks at her. It's precious. She'll just sit in her seat and stare at Kaylee while Kaylee runs around the room, jumping, marching or just shouting, "Hay is for horses!" Sydney is really itching to go somewhere. She rocks back and forth in my lap constantly, but unfortunately, she just can't seem to make all of her limbs cooperate and help her go in a particular direction, unless it's face first into the floor! She'll figure it out soon enough and then I'll have real madness on my hands!
I'm good. A little unhappy with the unfairness of it all, but good. I don't understand why people have to die before their time. I don't understand why people have to deal with obstacles they will never be able to overcome. I don't understand why I'm allowed to encounter problems that I can do nothing about. In the end, I just pray a lot and try to enjoy all of the goodness I get to enjoy on a daily basis. Great family. Wonderful friends. A loving husband and adorable, healthy kids. God is good. May the Lord be good to all of ya'll this week. Love you.
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