Watching the Phillies Win

Here is a little photo journal of Jim watching the final inning of the World Series last night:





We're overwhelmed with excitement now that the Phillies have finally (after 28 years) won the World Series.

Stuck

Jim and I were amazed recently when Kyra suddenly added the word "stuck" to her vocabulary. Not only does she say "stuck", but she uses it appropriately, when she really is stuck. We can't for the life of us figure out where she picked up the word, since Jim and I don't exactly go around saying that we're stuck, but nevertheless we've been quite amused by Kyra's use of the word. Here is one example of when the word has been appropriately spoken:

Rain, rain go away....

...the Phillies need to win today!

They are SOOOOOO close to becoming the World Series champions. I know it's driving everyone up here just absolutely nuts having to wait for the end of the game to be played out after it was suspended last night due to this crazy rain we're getting. And even more so wondering IF the game will even be played out or if we'll have to start all over again tomorrow in Florida. Ack! The nerves are too much!!

So I'll change topics...

The weather is crazy today. Rain coming in sideways. Wind whipping the trees around. And it sounds like my awesome Wal-Mart silk and plastic flower fall wreath is trying to bust down my front door. I mean the thing probably only weighs a pound, if that, but from where I sit in the family room it sounds as if it was 50 lbs of solid metal. Nevertheless, here is the scene inside the house today:


And, to help brighten our rather dreary day (and warm our feet), I declared today colorful warm sock day.

The Shack

Having two kids under the age of 2, I don't have a ton of time to read books. However, I had heard a lot of buzz about this book, The Shack. Nothing about the plot or characters or anything like that, but people saying that it was "controversial" or that it changed their Christian viewpoint. Our church even held a group discussion one evening for anyone who had read it. All this struck a note in my curiosity. So without knowing anything about the book, I bought it on a whim. (There was a big, shiny display at Wal-Mart.)

Contrary to my normal book scoping routine, I read the back cover of the book after I had gotten it home. Fear immediately gripped me and I put the book on the kitchen counter. If you've read the book and you know that I have 2 little girls, you might get why I was afraid to read it. I didn't want to face the emotions that I knew would come as I read about Missy in The Shack. But the book still had me curious and I finally gave in, being sure to read the first several chapters in broad daylight. :)

As I continued to read the book, I found myself reading and rereading certain pages carefully and intentionally, trying to wrap my brain around the concepts presented in the story. Certain things in the book just made sense to me. Other things were so simple yet my mind kept trying to complicate them to make them more comfortable to process. Especially the stuff about the Trinity and hierarchy and government. And I'd love to go on a huge rant here and tell you all the things in the book that completely blew my mind and rocked my self-righteous little world, but I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who hasn't read the book. I want you to be just as caught off guard as I was because I think it makes you more vulnerable when you don't know what to expect.

All I can say about this book is that it did turn my spiritual world upside down. It has really made me step back and think. Think about life, love, good, bad, and God. If you have read it, I hope you found it to be just as fascinating and life changing. If you haven't, I encourage you to read it but only if you will read it with an open heart. Its a work of fiction, but it may prove to be the most non-fiction, fiction book you'll ever read.

(For more information about The Shack you can visit the website: http://theshackbook.com/ )

Kylie found her feet

Yesterday as I was changing Kylie's diaper, she suddenly grabbed hold of her toes. She loves to kick her legs up in the air when she is lying on her back, so it's no surprise that she found her feet so quickly.

Kylie's Dedication

On Sunday we had the pleasure and honor of dedicating Kylie at our church. Along with three other couples dedicating their children, we stood before the body of Christ and declared that as Kylie's parents, we would do our best to raise her up to know and love God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength. Since her middle name is Joy, Jim spoke the scripture Isaiah 55:12 over her "You will go out with JOY and be led forth in peace. The mountains will burst into song before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Jim also referred to the Carrie Underwood song "All-American Girl" as he stated that he was that guy in the song who had big dreams for his first born to be a boy and play sports, only to find out that he had a girl. But then as soon as he saw his little girl(s), his heart was changed and he was immediately wrapped around her finger. Our pastor then prayed a blessing over the parents and children. It was a great reminder of how blessed we are that God entrusted Kyra and Kylie to us.

My day....

Oh where to begin.... let's start at the very beginning (it's a very good place to start). It didn't get off to the best start, but I've had worse beginnings before, so I was still mostly optimistic about how the day would turn out.

Kyra was extremely mischievous this morning, climbing on our bar height kitchen chairs, rummaging through the diaper bag, and just blatantly ignoring her mother every time I warned her against touching certain household items that are "off limits". I had to be the judge, jury and executioner several times issuing a couple of spankings over the course of our morning. Kyra of course was very disapproving of my correction and had a serious melt down around 10:00. She was crying and throwing herself all over the place. After a near miss with her head and the coffee table I decided to put her in her crib to calm down. (I can't put her in her big girl bed for this sort of thing because, well, she can get out of it.) After about 20 minutes of off and on crying she seemed to be mostly calm, so I trekked upstairs to rescue her. As I opened the door, my eyes were immediately drawn to the center of the bedroom where her pants lay wadded up next to, of all things, her diaper. Yes, she had once again successfully escaped from the bottom half of her attire. This time, however, everything remained dry. (Insert huge sigh of relief here.) I diapered and dressed her and decided that she was way to feisty for us to stay home today, so I packed the girls in the car and off we went.

I decided to run some errands I had been putting off to at least make the most of our outing. I went to the post office to mail a birthday gift (I know Lindsay, it's WAY late, but hey at least its on its way!) and Kyra immediately took off as soon as we made it through the door. I scooped her up and returned to the line where Kylie was peacefully holding my place. Kyra cried loudly as she wriggled with all her might to escape my hold on her. As I quickly observed that everyone in the post office was staring at me and my crazy daughter it hit me that I was THAT parent. You know, the one that appears to have no control over their child in a public place. Yeah.... I suddenly felt an extreme guilt over every time I've judged a stranger whose child was making a scene. Thankfully the line moved quicker than lightning as customers hastily completed their transactions so as to escape the hysteria. Hmmm... some good may have come from this chaos after all.

The post office now behind us we made our way into the mall. I got what I needed in record time and allowed Kyra to play for a bit at the indoor playground before we had lunch at the food court. Kyra was extremely delightful as I watched her play and even lunch wasn't too crazy, especially considering I allowed her to eat at the table instead of in a high chair or in her stroller. Our day was turning around. And I just knew that it would only get better once we got home and Kyra went down for her nap.

But Kyra didn't wait for home to start her nap. She fell asleep in the car just about 10 minutes before we arrived back at the house. For those of you who don't have children you may think "oh, that's great that she fell asleep in the car", but anyone who has children will tell you that a 10 minute car nap is one of the quickest ways to wreck your entire day.

As soon as we pulled into the garage I hopped out and did my best to quickly scoop Kyra up out of her car seat and get her into her crib before she woke up. But alas, I failed. She awoke as soon as I started up the stairs. Still, I dropped her in her crib and ran out the door, praying the entire time that she would fall right back to sleep.

I didn't hear anything for a few minutes, so I figured it was safe to clean my kitchen floor. I moved everything out of the kitchen that wasn't nailed down and went for the broom. No sooner had I made the first swipe across the floor when I heard it.... hysterical crying. Not just the kind of crying that indicates "I can't fall back asleep" but the kind that says "my head is stuck between the rungs of the crib" or "my bear is trapped in the teapot". So I dropped the broom and ran.

I opened the door to find Kyra terrified in the front right corner of her crib crying and dancing and pointing as if there were a snake in her crib with her. I immediately grabbed her and put her on my hip, at the last minute noticing that she was again naked from the waist down. Crap. Literally. A good sized log right in the middle of her crib. And I had put her on my hip. Awesome. I fling her up onto the changing table to discover it was not only on her bottom but on her feet as well. And she is still crying uncontrollably. Despite my endless chants of "It's okay honey, it's only pooh pooh." I begin wiping her down with baby wipes and after going through about a dozen or so I decide I'm better off giving her a bath. She finally calms down after I dump her entire bag of bath toys into the tub and all traces of the scary brown log are gone. I clean up the rest of the mess, including myself and we go down stairs to watch a movie. The drama is over. At least in this case.

Apparently this morning's incident with the diaper on the floor was a warning. And apparently I did not take heed. So in the future, I'll proceed with caution when I find a half naked Kyra in her room. But also in the future, I'll have a video monitor in her room, so I can see what is plaguing her before I run in and hastily put her on my hip.

Oh, and for your viewing pleasure.....


(As a side note, I am slightly suspicious that Jim somehow put Kyra up to this as tonight was his turn to give her a bath. Which he now no longer has to do since I have already bathed her.)

3 Months Old

My name is Kylie. I am 3 months old today. I like to spend my time eating, sleeping, cooing, smiling, batting at toys (I'm gonna get that little ladybug one of these days!), sucking on my hands and grasping any object that is within reach. I also soil diapers and spit up from time to time, but I wouldn't say that I actually enjoy doing either of those things. Although, sometimes daddy does put my legs up over my head to help me push some excess gas out my backside and that makes me feel pretty good.

Address Label Art

I have address labels. A TON of address labels. You know, the 'free' ones you receive in the mail with a tug-at-your-heart-strings story about a diabetes patient or a woman with 37 grandkids who needs a new lung or an 11 year old little boy with a cleft palate who's dream is to meet Brett Favre. And before you know it, those 'free' address labels cost you $35.00 because you couldn't stop yourself from crying after reading about the amazing one-armed 16 year old with MS. Yeah.... and no one tells you that once you're on the radar of the Organized Society of Address Label Sending Non-Profit Organizations (also known as OSALSNO), you get new address labels in the mail almost weekly from every single one of them. It was kinda fun for a while to have a mini collection of address labels bearing flowers and lighthouses and American flags and such. But the collection rapidly grew and I could no longer cram additional sheets of peel and stick labels into my once generous sized mail holder on the kitchen counter. So as I struggled with the moral issue of trashing some of the labels, I had an epiphany. And thus I merged my overgrown collection of address labels with Kyra's new found appreciation of all things stickerish. Kyra thoroughly enjoyed spreading the "stickers" all over a simple piece of legal paper until she created an address label masterpiece. And now I can sleep better at night knowing that these little bits of sticky address bearing solicitation are all being put to good use.

Big Girl bed

On Saturday night, we finally made the move to Kyra's "big girl" bed. She climbed right in and got under her adorable ladybug and flower adorned covers. Jim read her a Bible story and said a prayer and we turned out the lights. We barely made it down the stairs when she started crying, but we were mentally prepared for that. I had told myself I'd let her cry for 10 minutes before going to comfort her. But she never made it that far. After a short 5 minute crying session, she fell asleep and slept all through the night until 8:00 the next morning. She woke up happy and chatting to herself. Then both Sunday and Monday nights we've been able to put her to bed without any crying and have had sweet sleep all night long. We both feel SOOOOO blessed that Kyra took to her big bed so well!

Trapped!

This morning I decided to vacuum the house. Risky with a toddler running free, I know, but it was way overdue. With Kylie strapped securely to my chest in the Baby Bjorn and Kyra following me around I began to push the 500 lb vacuum around the house. First the living room, then the dining room. The kitchen and bathroom and family room were all cleaned successfully without any Kyra "incidents". This gave me courage. I put Kylie in her swing and I went to tackle the stairs. I've got 3 stairs done when all of a sudden I hear (over the sound of the vacuum right next to my head) a shrill squeal, followed by loud crying. It's coming from the family room. My mind races. "Did Kyra fall off of something? Did Chase accidentally bite her? Did she pinch her finger in a cabinet door?" As I approach the scene and see the look of despair on Kyra's face I realize it's even worse. Pink Bear is trapped. She is trapped inside Kyra's giant play tea pot and Kyra's attempts to rescue her had failed. I quickly spring into action and remove the giant lavender lid from the dangerous pot. I remove Pink Bear from its plastic entrapment and Kyra quickly snatches her up and hugs her close. Crisis averted. The bear is safe. That is until Kyra returns Pink Bear to her former cage only seconds after her rescue. At least this time she put Brown Bear in the tea pot to keep her company.

Rockin' Memories

I have had a pretty fun and entertaining life thus far, despite only being 27 years young, and as a result, I have a lot of "make you feel all warm inside" memories. You know, the ones that when triggered bring a whole flood of good vibes throughout your entire body and you find yourself wearing a humongous smile for the next several hours as a result. Well, I had one of those moments today. And this was the memory...

Growing up my family had a friend who allowed us to stay at their home on Grand Lake for a week every summer. It was THE highlight of our summer every year. Pretty much every year we also invited other friends to join us for our week at the lake. You know, to double the kids fun and divide my parents sanity. One year in particular, we invited another family to join ours. We did the standard swimming, fishing, badminton, volleyball, etc. during the day, but at night, just before we were all about to go to bed, we found a way to work out any remaining energy that hadn't expended itself. We would put on the Jackson 5 album and dance, jump, sing, and shout to the song "Rockin' Robin". We jumped on the beds, spun around the room, and tweeted like a bird. Yep, we put our hands behind our backs and against our bottoms like little feathers on a bird's tail and hopped across the room belting out "tweet, tweet, tweet!". And I felt like a bird during that time. I was free. I was flying. I had a smile on my face and not a care in the world.

I don't know what caused this memory to surface today, but I'm glad that it did. It put a much needed spring in my step and a song in my heart. Now, I'm just wondering how long it will take before I can get the song out of my head.... tweet, tweet!

Swiping a bite

Jim and I have taught Kyra to put her hands together when we pray. It's extremely cute to watch her as she quickly claps them together as soon as she picks up even the slightest hint that a prayer is about to take place. She is especially diligent when we pray before a meal.

Now typically, Jim or I or both of us will keep our eyes open when we pray just to make sure a milk cup or food or utensils don't suddenly go flying off the table during our prayer and we really haven't had a problem with that. So last night, for whatever reason, Jim and I both close our eyes as Jim begins to thank the Lord for the food. I realize about 20 seconds into the prayer that my eyes are closed and I decide to sneak a peek at Kyra. I barely can see through the small slit of my open right eye, but I see enough to observe the following:

Kyra glances over at Jim and no sooner does she confirm that his eyes are closed when she grabs her little fork and shovels a bite of spaghetti into her crocodile wide open mouth. A single noodle strays onto her chin and she quickly uses her hand to push it up into her mouth. Then in one smooth motion she places the fork back onto the table and clasps her hands quietly back together. I can tell she is proud of herself for successfully stealing that lone bite without daddy ever noticing. I try desperately to contain my laughter, but I fail. Instead I make a spitting/laughing noise that halts Jim in his prayer. He immediately questions "Was it something I said?" "No", I reply. "I'm laughing at Kyra."

He regains his thoughts and closes the prayer, at which time I tell him about my witnessing the execution of her well constructed plan to steal that single taste of spaghetti before anyone else. It's amazing what you see when kids think you're not looking.

Harvest Party!

This weekend we had the pleasure of celebrating our friend Morgan's 1st birthday. The theme was a harvest party and everyone came in costume (although Abby's Victoria Beckham outfit was a little bit of a reach). We partied with King Packy and Queen Brandi and their little frog prince, an 80's prom queen and her rocker boyfriend, a monkey, Bob the Builder, David and Victoria Beckham, Princess Belle (aka Kendall), the tooth fairy, the Cat in the Hat, a couple of hippies, Elvis, and the girl of the hour was a cute little pumpkin. As for our costumes, Kyra was a cheerleader, Jim and I were football players and Kylie was the cutest little football you've ever seen. I mean normally, you wouldn't look at a football and think, "oh that's cute", but in this case, it totally worked.

The kids had a blast decorating pumpkins with markers and stickers. Kyra only recently has begun to appreciate the fun of stickers, so as soon as she saw them, she immediately went to work making sure to get as many stickers as she could on such a small pumpkin. And as fast as she could. Jim and my sticker peeling speed were no match for her lightning sticker placing speed.

There was lots of food and cake and Kyra took full advantage of our willingness to let her have sugar since it was a special occasion. The girl had a cookie, cake, and ice cream. Its a good thing we were able to strap her down in her car seat or she would've been bouncing off the roof of the car on the ride home!

2 Month Checkup

Kylie had her 2 month check up on Friday. She weighs 12 lbs, 7 oz and is 23 inches tall! I can't believe how big she is getting!