12.5.11 a surprise present

Today I picked Caleigh up from school and she had a gift bag that she had decorated with glue and glitter.
me: Caleigh, is this for you to put a Christmas present in?
Cals: Yes.  It's for me to put your Christmas present in.
me: Oh fun, I can't wait to see what it is.
Cals: Silly mommy, it's a surprise.  I made it for you at school.
me: Ok - we can put the bag under the tree until you bring home my present to put in it.
Cals: Ok Mommy.  But Mommy - at home we have a wreath on the door that isn't a surprise.

Can't imagine what my Christmas present might be...
A wreath?

Can't wait to see it.

Love this sweet girl!

11.15.11 neighborhood walking

Love being able to take walks around our sweet little neighborhood.

Yes ma'am

Caleigh: Don't say that to me Andrew. What did I just tell you?

(She doesn't want to talk right. She is having quiet time.)

Andrew: Yes ma'am Caleigh.

Oh my.

9.20.11 frozen blueberries

9.22.11 only our son

9.8.11 baby teeth

Today I laughed out loud hysterically at the kids.  The really do say the funniest things.

Andrew had fallen down earlier and scraped both of his knees again and was unusually sad about it, probably because he was hungry and tired.  After we got in the car, Caleigh was trying to make him feel better (I guess) so she said in a super sweet voice: "It's ok, Andrew.  In just a minute my teeth will fall out.  My little tiny baby teeth.  It's ok, Andrew."

I just laughed and laughed.  We have some friends whose kids are losing their baby teeth and Caleigh has been asking a lot about it - so maybe that explains it.  So funny though.

9.7.11 first day of preschool

Today Caleigh had her first day of preschool in the 3s class. She had already been in to meet her teacher and was really excited to go. As soon as she woke up this morning she got herself dressed in the dress she had picked out and put on her backpack. She wore her backpack all morning until it literally wouldn't fit in the carseat.

Adam and I took her out to breakfast at the pancake house (just her!) for a special treat before the big day.

She had such a great day and when I picked her up her teachers kept saying how sweet she was. Which is true. This really is the best way to describe our precious first born.

9.2.11 shopping

Picking out bedding for our sweet baby girl on the way. I love nesting and I especially love to start it as soon as possible (as in the day after we found out that this sweet baby peanut is a girl)! I also love how much I am starting to feel sweet baby girl moving around and kicking those tiny feet. Such a blessing!

9.1.11 gender reveal!

We had our big 18 week anatomy scan ultrasound this morning at 9:30 and then saw the doctor at 10 and he confirmed that the ultrasound showed... we are having a healthy baby!  We were so so thankful and we decided to have them not tell us the gender (and she told us when to look away during the ultrasound).  After the ultrasound she sealed the gender and the baby ultrasound pics in an envelope (licked, closed, and sealed with 2 layers of tape).  I dropped the envelope off at Mary's house who made a gorgeous cake for us!  We were totally 50:50 - we had no idea whether this sweet baby was a girl or a boy.  Andrew and I voted boy and dressed accordingly...

The cake was beautiful and had a neutral outside... we had NO clue what the inside would reveal...

 Adam and Caleigh voted girl and also dressed accordingly...

I made dueling chicken pot pies - a boy one and a girl one... still no clue...

 Another cute pic of the ones going for pink...

 Ummm, Mom... just cut the cake... Andrew kept saying, "I bite it cake? I bite it cake?"

And (cue video) it's a...

GIRL!  Adam was so right - he really thought it was a girl (and so did Caleigh and I in the beginning).

 The table was set and we enjoyed a great dinner with friends... We are so thankful for the sweet friends who joined us around the table to celebrate this evening - Mary, Dave, Carrie, Tyler... we are so thankful for you guys!  And a special shout out to Melissa and Jake Hunt who stayed up extra late (Prague time) and joined us via speaker phone for the big reveal - thank you guys for making it special!

And I SO appreciate this sweet friend being the first one to find out the news, keep it totally secret, make a great cake for us, and tolerate with grace complete chaos at her house.  I'm so thankful for you, Mary!

So we are really really excited.  Thankful most of all for a healthy baby - I really was thinking it was going to be a boy and I am totally surprised that it is a girl - but we are very happy and very thankful.  Praise the Lord for this miracle of life!

Rock of Ages (When the day seems long)

I have been absolutely clinging to this song the past several days.  I love so many of the words in it.  Listen to it if you haven't heard it.

Rock of Ages, when the day seems long
From this labor and this heartache I have come
The skies will wear out, but you remain the same
Rock of Ages, I praise your name

Rock of Ages, you have brought me near [through these circumstances]
You have poured out your life-blood, your love, your tears
To make this stone heart come alive again
Rock of Ages, forgive my sin [of pride, of independence, of self-sufficiency, of not loving others well]

chorus: Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages
Bind your children until the kingdom comes
Rock of Ages, Your will be done

Rock of Ages, when in want or rest
My desperate need for such a Savior I confess [Lord, I cannot do this on my own]
Pull these idols out of my heart embrace. [of pride as I idolize myself and am so self-serving]
Rock of Ages I need your grace.

Rock of Ages, broken scorned for me.
Who am I that you would die to set me free?
To give me glory, you took the death and pain
Rock of Ages, my Offering

repeat chorus

Rock of Ages, "It is done!" you cried
The curtain's torn and I see justice satisfied
Now write your mercy, on my heart and hands
Rock of Ages, in faith I stand

Rock of Ages, my great hope secure.
Your promise holds just like an anchor to my soul [Heb 6:19]
Bind your children with cords of love and grace.
Rock of Ages, we give you praise.

repeat chorus

potty training: take 2

I started potty-training this sweet boy again (a second try) today.  In the midst of the chaos and uncertainty of what our life will look like in the near future it has given me something concrete to focus on - something to do with my time.  We cleared our calendars to go to Ohio today with Adam's family with plans to come back on Monday, but with my dad in the hospital until Saturday at least and my mom's recent diagnosis it just felt like too much to do.  I wouldn't be able to be fully there.

I am so glad to be done with day 1 of potty training.  Potty training really stresses me out.  I decided I would go ahead and train him because #1 even though for a boy he is young to train I just really feel like he is ready and I know that he can do it, #2 we have an incredibly busy fall and this is truly the only time I will be at home with no plans and nothing at all to do for at least 3 days, then church on Sunday, and then a couple of days into next week, and #3 I would love to be out of diapers for a little bit before sweet new baby Dyer makes an arrival in January.

We decided to take a naked approach for the first day or two and then on Saturday we will try undies.  We started out the day with Andrew saying, "Mommy I don't want to pee pee on the potty" when he actually did need to go but he would hold it until he sat on the potty and went.  He had one accident in the morning where he went on the floor and then came and told me he needed to "pee pee potty." Later on he showed me where he went on the carpet.  He really did great though and a little later in the morning he started to have a little bit of an accident on the hardwoods and then he stopped himself and said, "Mommy I pee pee potty again" so he sat on the potty and finished.  The morning went well, especially after 2 #2 success (not including the 1 #2 accident on the floor).  He was in a much better mood after that was over.  We had planned not to leave the house at all but after his nap we decided to go see a friend who was briefly in town - we walked up to get frozen yogurt near our house.  I put Andrew in undies and shorts for the first time and packed a change of clothes.  At the yogurt place (despite the distraction of several little friends and a big bowl of ice cream) I asked him 3 times if he needed to go pee pee on the potty.  Twice he said yes and once he actually went.  Then right before he left he walked over to me (from playing!) and said, "I go pee pee potty."  We went to the potty and he went again.  I was so thrilled - I felt like that was success.  My distractable son actually left playing to tell me he needed to potty.  Hopefully he really gets it but only time will tell...

But for now - we are so proud of sweet Andrew!

8.23.11 Tuesday

Tuesday was a crazy day.  My mom called me around 9 and told me she had breast cancer.  She had had a biopsy on Friday and we were waiting for the results.  They caught it very early on a routine mammogram but we won't know anything else about it until she meets with the oncologist in the next week or two.  She has ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).  At the very least she is facing surgery and radiation.  Today (Wednesday) is one of my best friend's birthdays and her bridal portrait for her wedding which is one month from today and in which I am honored to stand beside her as her matron of honor.  Joy and pain.  Today (Wednesday) my dad is having a knee replacement that has been scheduled for quite some time - the day after having found out that his wife has cancer.  The knee replacement will require lots of physical therapy and intense rehabilitation - and we have no idea what to expect.  A month from today (Wednesday) we need to be moving out of our condo as we have found someone to rent it for the next 2 years - a huge praise.  But we have nowhere to go - no idea yet where we will live.  It all seems so uncertain.  

On Tuesday after I got off the phone with my mom I cried.  I cry maybe a couple of times a year or less. It is overwhelming to think about this path that I (my family) am about to walk down.  As I drove to meet some dear friends at the pool I cried some more as I felt the flutters of this beautiful new life in my womb and mourned the sadness of these bodies of sin and death in which we live.  A tension.  New life to rejoice over and the groaning of this world to mourn.

My circumstances feel overwhelming.  Tuesday afternoon after I had lunch with my parents for the last time before my dad's surgery I found out that Andrew had Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus - so that was why he has been absolutely miserably grouchy.  And I had been thinking that the blisters on his feet were the result of ill fitting shoes.  And then I thought that Hand, Foot and Mouth virus is the one that is really bad to get if you are pregnant - and after several phone calls to several doctors - and much prayer for protection of this life that God is knitting together - I found out that Fifths Disease is the one to be feared in pregnancy and I exhaled. And praised the Lord.  And exhaled again...

Looking at my circumstances from an outside view it doesn't feel doable.  How am I doing this?  How did I go to work and work a normal day today?  How did I go straight from work, to look at a potential house to rent (that is no longer a potential house to rent), to see my dad in the hospital, to meet my inlaws and kids for dinner, then home for 10 minutes before heading out the pray with a friend... it feels like too much.  Loving this quote from Piper, "God doesn't give strength today for tomorrow's trouble.  That's what it means to live by faith in future grace.  It will come."

And I have been clinging to Hebrews 12:1-2.  Praying that I would fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith.  That I would focus on the One who is perfecting my faith through trials and growing in me perseverence (James 1:2).  And I have been praying continually, asking for strength to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Th. 5:17-18).  From Hebrews 12:1 I have also been praying that I would run the race marked out for me with perseverance... that I would not compare my race with the race of another.  That I would know that the Lord is good in everything he does.  I am thankful that I don't feel defeated in the midst of this and I am praising the Lord for a good outcome for my dad's surgery.  I am thankful for the baby in my womb that God is growing more and more each day and whose gender we will get to find out next week!  I am thankful that Andrew is feeling better and sleeping better already and I am SO thankful to friends who have loved me well, supported me, brought me meals, prayed for me, and listened to me talk.  Much to be thankful for and much to process.  And I am thankful that my God is full of compassion and mercy (James 5:11).  This is where I am at.

So if you are reading this pray for me!  I need it.

7.25.11 sleeping on the floor again

7.23.11 pizza maker?

I had such a funny conversation with Caleigh in the car today.  It started when Caleigh and Andrew began playing this "game" that they play from time to time in which Caleigh tells Andrew, "Andrew, you say yes and I'll say no" (or something else similar that opposes each other).  In this game Caleigh will say yes, to which Andrew will say no and they start out in normal voices and by the time I come in there to stop them they are usually both yelling their respective yes-es and nos.  So... in the car today they started playing some version of this game with Caleigh instigating it as usual and so our conversation began.

me: "Caleigh are you promoting peace or stiring up strife?"

Caleigh: "stirring up strife"

me: "The bible says you should not stir up strife, instead you should promote peace.  You should be a peacemaker."

Caleigh: "But Mommy... I don't want to be a pizza maker."

 

We laughed so so hard about this.  I love when kids say stuff like this and I love that Caleigh is getting into that age.

7.19.11 this little piggy...

Caleigh this morning, playing with Andrew's toes:

"This little piggy went to market, then water park, then eat cupcakes, then eat doughnuts, then wee wee wee all the way home."

I think she is trying to tell us something...

7.18.11 nicknames

I had to laugh today during this conversation with Andrew:

me: "Andrew what is your name?  Andrew, what?"

Andrew: "Andrew Bruiserman" (a nickname we use for him)

me: "Your name is Andrew Dyer.  What is your name Andrew?  Andrew, what?"

Andrew: "Andrew Bruiserman"

Apparently we are going a little overboard on the nickname usage!

7.14.11 Caleigh's craft

Caleigh has been drawing so much lately and I love it.  She has really gotten into drawing faces - her favorite medium is markers which we don't often let her use but she loves it.  Her faces/people are usually a face like you see in the picture below - a big head with eyes, a nose, and a mouth - sometimes with hair and sometimes with arms and legs coming out of the head.  I love it - so cute.

I am not the least bit artistic or crafty at all but it is neat to see her get into something (whereas Andrew may spend about 5 seconds - 1 minute on a project before he is done... for example: When painting with watercolors the other day he was done with the watercolors after maybe 3 minutes so he experimented with slowly pouring the colored water on his paper and then balled up his paper as if it was a paper towel and tried to wipe up the spill.  This was after he painted on the wall.)

Caleigh has recently been loving color wonder markers (so have I - no risks!) and she is getting so good at coloring in the lines on paper.

7.13.11 picking blackberries

We went again this year with my parents to pick blackberries.  I suited the kids up in dark colors and sunscreen and we were off to this great little place up in Concord, NC.  The kids did a great job and were much better at actually picking the berries than they were last year.

But it was HOT and that made Caleigh a little grumpy...

Andrew ate a ridiculous number of berries... probably more than a pint.

Dad wanted a picture with mom with his mustache before he shaved it off and this one turned out great!

This one is so cute too!

We picked a flat of blackberries and though it was late in the season and several were overripe it was still good - perfect for making cobbler.  Can't wait to do it again next year!

7.10.11 meeting baby Haven

On July 8th one of my dear friends, Carrie Dirks, gave birth to this bundle of joy - sweet Haven Katelin Dirks.  She is my hero - as she birthed this sweet girl with no drugs - and we didn't know whether she would be a girl or a boy until she was born.  I got to be in the delivery room when Haven was born and it was amazing - I have never experienced a birth before (except for when I was the one giving birth) and it was truly spectacular.  Such a miracle of life.  On Sunday the whole fam went over to meet sweet Haven at home.  Andrew was particularly enamored...

 Isn't she gorgeous for a 3 day old?

 Caleigh was absolutely precious with her -

C

 And then the kids had a fight about who got to put the paci in...

And a big kid pic - the girls hamming it up for the camera (especially Maggie - and the boys looking slightly bewildered while staring off in the distance)...

We already love this sweet addition to the Dirks family!

7.6.11 roomtime

Sound asleep on the floor after 30 minutes of playing in roomtime...

7.5.11 sibling love

happy 2nd birthday to Andrew!

On June 14th (a Tuesday) we celebrated sweet Andrew's 2nd birthday.  I thought it would be weird to say that he was 2 but he definitely seems like a 2 year old.  He seems older at 2 than Caleigh seemed at 2.  He is really verbal and really active and physically coordinated - he has been jumping up and down and off of things since 18 months or slightly before (whereas Caleigh didn't jump up off the ground until almost 2.5).  On Tuesday morning he opened his gifts - 

 A scooter (isn't it disguised so nicely? - we won't be able to get away with that much longer)...

 Sissy wanted to help of course and even since his birthday she has been talking non stop about her birthday (several months away!).

 He got his first remote control car...

And he LOVES the scooter.

Andrew at 2 LOVES balls and all things sports related.  He loves to point out which kinds of balls are which and throw everything as if it is a ball, even if it isn't.  He is actually quite talented at throwing (again, more so than even Caleigh is at 3.5 - it is so neat to see the many differences between boys and girls even at such a young age).  So... we thought a ball cake and cupcakes would be great -

 I think it turned out pretty cute - there were a bunch more cupcakes, decorated like soccer balls, baseballs, and basketballs.

 We had the cake on Saturday when Gigi and PopPop and KK and Gammy and Bampa all came over to celebrate with Andrew.  They brought more gifts... and more balls!  Andrew was thrilled.

 More matchbox cars which was great because one of his other (non pictured) gifts from us was a big rug with a racetrack and all kinds of places to go and park his matchbox cars.

 He also got a sweet book, The Little Engine that Could, from KK with a sweet inscription in it.  He is really getting into trains too so this was right up his alley.

 He got a helmet that he loves for his scooter along with the balls from Gigi and PopPop.  It also comes with a (rather loud) horn that Andrew loves too (but we didn't love so we had to put it away - way too loud in a 1200 square foot condo).

 Trying out the scooter with his new gear...

 And the patented foot raise - pretty cute...

 He was super excited about the cake...

 And made a pretty good attempt at blowing out the candles...

He choose a baseball (which Adam is already rejoicing over - praying that he indeed chooses baseball to play as a sport - and with Andrew's left-handedness Adam really has high hopes for him) - and Caleigh choose a soccer ball cupcake.

We had another special moment at Andrew's birthday party which I will share in another post!
Happy happy birthday to our sweet 2 year old boy!