dancing in the rain

Our December calendar has been packed. There have only been 2 or 3 weekdays the kids and I have stayed home all day all month, and our weekends have been busy with Christmas preparations and gatherings. All the running has worn me out.

But the Children's Museum was having a special music presentation today that I knew the kids would enjoy, so I mustered up the energy to take them. Everyone was finally ready a half hour after I had wanted to go, and we stepped outside to -- rain! Mind you, we hardly ever get rain in December. It's 34 degrees- which is wonderful because I deemed it warm enough to skip mittens- but we still have about 2 feet of snow on the ground.

There's a song I always sing with the kids when it rains. It goes, "If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops, oh what a rain that would be..." The kids immediately started singing it. I was slightly less amused. I ran to the car with Reggie while Brett and Lydia tagged along behind me. I was buckling Reggie in his seat when I turned to see if Brett and Lydia were coming. All I could see was Brett with his little tell-tale grin that something was going on-and I was not going to like it! I finished buckling Reggie in, and went to investigate.

What I found was Lydia giggling and jumping in a half-frozen puddle on the patio, directly under the edge of the garage roof where water was pouring down onto her head.

After a change of clothes, we went to the museum. But it was a good reminder to stop and enjoy what's happening at the moment. I am continually surprised by the amusement my kids get out of the simple (even dreaded) things in day-to-day life. They didn't need to go to an overcrowded children's museum for a special music presentation. A little rain and a puddle would suit them just fine.

I'll be posting pictures of our Christmas gatherings after this coming weekend's Second Christmas. For now, back to laundry and packing...

a trip down memory lane

I have not been this excited about Christmas in a long time. I think it has something to do with the last three Christmases we have been sleep deprived, but a big part of it is that Brett and Lydia are old enough that they are really enjoying all things Christmas!

My parents provide emergency foster care and this past week they had two young children in their home. My mom told me the little girl was excited because Mom and Dad had a Christmas tree up. The kids didn't have a Christmas tree in their home. I felt really sad to hear that - not that families have to have a Christmas tree to have a happy holiday season - but that there are so many children that don't have happy holiday seasons.

We've been celebrating Christmas in some way or another the whole month! Putting the tree up, reading Christmas books, singing Christmas songs, baking cookies, visiting Santa, going to Macy's Santaland, and we're just getting started! Why? Because we want our kids to have great memories of their childhood Christmases.I've discovered a truth about being a parent: we get the most joy out of seeing our children experience joy. Seeing them run ungaurdedly through 2 feet of snow and eat big sugar cookies from Mrs. Claus' Bakery at Macys Santaland and light up when they discovered Santa left them a few surprises has been far more delightful than experiencing these things myself!So I spent some time reflecting on my childhood Christmas memories. There are only a few about the gifts that I received. The gifts I do disticting remember receiving have more to the story. Around the age of 5, I remember receiving a teepee that was handcrafted by a friend - the reason I remember this is because I found it before Christmas hidden in a pair of my Dad's overalls (I also remember it because the teepee is now in my basement and my kids play with it!).

(Record-breaking total snowfall this December=33.5 inches so far!)

Another gift I remember was when I was about 4. The family was all in the basement when my Dad went upstairs. When he came back down, I asked him what he was doing, and he said that it was just Uncle Jim at the door. Later, I discovered Santa had left me a Care Bear under the tree. For the next few years, not only did I believe in Santa, but I believed Uncle Jim was Santa!

But most of my Christmas memories have to do with family gatherings and traditions. Every year, on my Dad's side of the family, Grandpa would have someone read the Christmas story and it was an honor to be chosen to read from the Bible. On my Mom's side of the family, we would sing Christmas carols from red songbooks before we opened gifts. Us three grandkids would be so eager to open gifts and then my Grandma would want to sing The 12 Days of Christmas. And then every verse of We Three Kings!

This week I made a special trip to the grocery store so I could make candy cane cookies and puppy chow with the kids - two goodies I remember from my childhood.I asked Bryan to think about what childhood Christmases stood out to him. He didn't think for even half a minute and told me two memories. His first memory was about going to his Grandpa and Grandma's and going sledding down their hill, and then Grandpa would pull them up the hill with the tractor. His second memory was about playing shake-dice...specifically, the year everyone won pantyhose and put them over their heads! (Lucky for me, this memory was caught on tape, so I have had the joy of watching it years later.)

I hope our kids have will have happy memories of family traditions and just having fun with cousins, grandparents, uncles and aunties. These are the memories we both cherish and strive to create.

Wishing you a Christmas filled with faith, family, and a little magic!

Brett is 3!

Brett is 3 years old! At his last well-child check-up, he weighed in at 37 lbs and was 40.25 inches tall. He is in the 95th percentile for both height and weight! He wears mostly size 4t, but I've noticed his shirts are starting to get a little small. He usually grows into the next size in shirts before he grows into the next size in pants. In shoes, he wears either 10 or 11.

Brett is on his 4th and 5th pairs of glasses since March. In the summer, we decided to purchase an extra pair, since we have to special order them and they take 1-2 weeks to replace. We are very glad we did this! Between him and his brother, three pairs have broken. There were no significant changes in his vision at his last appointment in September.

Since Brett's last "update" post at age 2.75, his expressive language has increased dramatically!!! His working vocabulary has probably tripled or quadrupled, he is using more words to form sentences, and is improving in appropriately answering questions. His articulation needs a lot more work, but we are just very thrilled that he is finally communicating with us! Hooray for speech therapy! He has been doing intensive occupational therapy (3 one-hour sessions a week) for his delays in gross and fine motor for almost a month now, and we are starting to see some subtle progress.

One thing that may or may not be attributed to his therapy is that Brett has started enjoying more constructive and independent play the last couple weeks. One of our challenges with him has always been that he requires constant interaction and structured (adult-guided) activity. This is quite exhausting, but the alternative is constant challenging and destructive behavior. I'm hoping as he develops more fine and gloss motor skills, unstructured playtime will be more fun and less frustrating for him (and me).

Brett continues to love books, music, and dancing. He loves helping in the kitchen and craft projects. Brett enjoys roughhousing, and even though he has never watched Toy Story, he likes Buzz Lightyear and rocket ships. He wants to wear his Packers shirts everyday and eat with his Packers dinnerware at every meal. He has also started enjoying playing with duplo legos and a duplo train set.

Brett usually sleeps from 8pm-6:30am and takes a 2 hour nap. He is a good eater - he usually cleans his plate and asks for more. His favorite food is mac-n-cheese. The only struggle I have with him and eating is he doesn't like many breakfast foods.

Speaking of eating and talking, the other day Brett was asking for a cookie at snack time. I told him no but that he could have a cookie after supper if he ate a good supper. He thought about that for a minute, and then asked for supper!

Lydia is 2!

(It's taken me a while to get to these updates - still want to keep a record.)

Lydia is 2 years old! At her 2 year well-child check-up, she weighed in at 26 lbs and was 33.75 inches tall. Both her height and weight are in the 50th percentile. We always think that she is petite, but actually it's just that her brothers are not! (Reggie also weighs 26 lbs, but is a little shorter and huskier than Lydia.) Lydia wears mostly size 24 months clothes and size 6 shoes.

Lydia loves building and putting things together, so duplo legos, Mr. Potato Head, and puzzles are some of her favorite toys. She also loves playdoh, coloring and other crafts. She likes stuffed animals and will have a favorite for a few days, but then will shift to another one. Of the 3 kids, she is entertained by the TV the most. She enjoys helping in the kitchen and setting the table.

Lydia has become much more fluent in her language, using many words together to make simple sentences. She likes to sing songs and count (to 10, usual skips "6"). Her transition to a "big girl bed" was easy. Lydia is a picky eater - her diet consists mostly of fruits, milk, and breads. She drinks from a regular cup. Lydia usual sleeps from about 7:30pm to 7:00am and sleeps about 1.5 hrs in the afternoon.

Yesterday when I was changing Lydia's diaper, I was putting on a yellow one (cloth) and told her my favorite colors were yellow and red. Her response was, "Lydia pink!" On Sunday, I let her pick the dress she wanted to wear from 3-4 options. She picked the shiniest frilliest one (pictured above). Somehow, she has picked up that girls like pink and shiny things, but I don't think it was from me. I have never been one to concern myself with fashion, have exactly one pink shirt, and don't remember the last time I wore earrings or heals. I did, however, paint her fingernails for her birthday party, and she will be getting her very own bottle of pink fingernail polish in her stocking.

Santa spotted in St. Paul!

You'll never believe what happened today while we were eating lunch at our neighborhood Culver's! We thought we heard a familiar "Ho! Ho! Ho!", so Brett went to check it out: Sure enough, it was Santa!

Oh, the excitement of seeing Santa at Culver's was hardly containable!

Until it was time to pose for a picture with Santa. No one was very excited about that - and Reggie completely opted out...

But at least he got french fries out of the deal.

this is what I signed up for

At one of those rare and far between moments when I was not being the perfect mom, I caught myself muttering under my breath, "I did not sign up for this!"

It was a Monday morning after a busy weekend. On Mondays, I have to be out the door with the kids by 8am to get to Brett's therapy on time. The morning was filled with the usual chaos - a bed soaked from a leaky diaper, another sheet stained from a bloody nose, one child refusing to eat his breakfast, one child discovering a cup of coffee within his reach, and one child tantruming on the floor because...well, just because. The house had been somewhat-orderly just a half hour ago before the kids got up and now it was an obstacle course of highchairs, half-empty sippie cups, toys, winter gear, and backpacks- and no one except for me seemed to have any sense of urgency about getting to Brett's appointment. Before we arrived at our destination, I would put mittens on children at least 8 times, a hat would go missing, and a little girl would pull her socks and shoes off in the car for the fun of it.

Three years ago today, Bryan and I became parents. I treasure the memory of our nervous anticipation that day. After three weary days of travel, we arrived at a church (the foster mom's place of employment) and waited for a caseworker to meet with us - a stroller in our sight that most certainly contained our new son. I tried hard to hold it together, waiting for the rug to be pulled out from under me. Back at the hotel, with the papers signed, we stared in disbelief at this baby who was now our son. We were parents. His adoption happened in a whirlwind, which has turned out to be how we do things around here.

There was no way of anticipating how Brett's adoption would seem to catapult us into parenthood. We have since wept many tears of joy, laughter, anguish, and sheer exhaustion. I've witnessed 3 babies' first steps; listened to my little girl sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" like an angel; seen my oldest receive two treats and, without prompt or hesitation, give one to his sister; and watched my youngest dance his little heart out to "Tutti Fruity".

Three years ago, if I could have set out how I wanted our life to be, it probably wouldn't have looked like this. But that's that beauty of life - blessings interwoven in our struggle to make a tapestry revealed only one day at a time. That is why when I muttered, "I did not sign up for this!", a deep inner conviction shouted back at me, "Oh, yes you did...and aren't you glad?"

Yes, I am. For all of it.

the silver lining

The silver lining to our 20 inch snowfall yesterday (our biggest storm in almost 20 years) is with the collapse of the roof of the Vikings' Metrodome, the Packer's game is being broadcast on our TV.

snowday

What do you do with 3 toddlers and a forecast for 16 inches of additional snow? First, you cancel your plans for the weekend. Then-knowing the snow, wind, and bitter cold is on it's way-you take the kids out for some fresh air the day before.

Snowangel:

Yum!

Another snapshot of Reggie in motion:

Then, the day of the actual storm, you set your toddlers in front of the window to watch cars getting stuck in the intersection.

When that gets boring, you move on to making snowmen...out of playdoh.After playdoh, time for some vacuuming - Brett's favorite chore.

Next, we decide to try out Brett's new Easybake Oven.

Brett says his cake was good.

And here is how Daddy is spending his snowday:

(this picture does not do the storm justice - it is really snowing, blowing, and drifting)

Now...what to do after nap???

first haircut

123 Sesame Street

On Saturday, we celebrated Brett and Lydia's birthdays. It was a Sesame Street theme, but our "sunny day" definitely turned out to be a "snowy day" - we got 8+ inches of snow on Friday, making traveling a bit treacherous. But Grandma and Grandpa and MeeMaw and Papa all arrived safely for the big day and we had a lot of fun!

Per their requests, Brett had an Elmo cake and Lydia had an Oscar cake. True to their personalities, Brett meticulously ate his cake with his fork and Lydia ate all the frosting off hers.We had a special guest at the party - a 5ft Big Bird helium balloon.And it wasn't a party until we played a good old fashion game of Pin-the-cookie-on-the-Cookie-Monster! Brett and Lydia had a lot of fun with it, but it was the adult men at the party that took the competition very seriously!

Brett and Lydia were very excited about their presents, too, but by that point in the party, my camera had been misplaced. But Brett had fun trying out his new sled with Grandma on Sunday!
This party was brought to you by the letters "B" and "L" and the numbers "3" and "2".

Happy 3rd Birthday Brett!

2 years:25 months:26 months:

27 months:

28 months:

29 months:

30 months:

31 months:

32 months:

33 months:34 months:

35 months:

3 years!