2.28.11 painting

2.25.11 first trip to the dentist

And she did SO well!

2.24.11 helping in the kitchen

2.22.11 sibling love

2.21.11 daddy treats

Adam brought back some fun (fun for the kids, not a fun clean-up for the parents) lollipops from his ski trip last week.  The kids LOVED eating them and it was quite funny watching them (especially A) try to figure it out.

2.20.11 from Charleston with love

2.19.11 why not?

Taken in downtown Charleston.  Just because.

2.18.11 weekend at IOP

This is our first-thing-in-the-morning pic - and actually the only one I have of us from the weekend.  We went down with the Kulps and the Dirks for a grown-up retreat Thursday through Saturday.  It was the best time - the weather at Isle of Palms was actually so beautiful.  It was an unseasonably warm couple of days with highs in the mid 70s (in February)!  I feel so blessed.  So blessed to know and love and live life with and be spurred on by these amazing families.  To know them and to be known by them.  I am so thankful.  I am so blessed.  I have been given a gift I don't deserve in these friendships.  I felt like this weekend I was living life to the full - the full life that is found in Jesus alone.  Thank you Lord for this gift!

2.17.11 it's bright outside

2.16.11 yogurt face

2.15.11 sweet gymnast

2.14.11 Valentine's day

I was so thankful for these sweet flowers from my Valentine!  I felt so loved even though he is so far away - thanks babe!

2.13.11 post-church

2.13.11 pre-church with the Dirks

By the grace of God, we made it to church with time to spare and not too much drama!

2.12.11 playing at the Dirks'

Valentine's weekend

Here are the sweet Valentine's cards that Caleigh helped me make to hand out to her friends at school yesterday for her Valentine's party.

She decorated the back of the cards.

Tonight Adam and I are having a little eat-in Valentine's date - this weekend we are living at the Dirks' house and watching their kiddos from this evening until Sunday around dinner time.  We will double the number of kids we are responsible for!  Caleigh is really looking forward to spending so much time with Maggie and Henry!

We have supper club on Saturday night - tapas - yum!  I am making a bacon-wrapped jalapeno popper for the appetizer.

Sunday after church Adam flies out to St. Louis for work until Monday night and then on Monday night he flies from there to Colorado to go skiing with some friends from church.  He flies back from Colorado on Thursday and lands in Charlotte at noon.  We leave Charlotte at 1 pm (sans kids) to head to Charleston with some friends and we will be back Saturday evening.
So... all that to say we have a busy week coming up!
All that plus a house showing on Sunday and Wednesday (=must keep the condo in top shape) = busy week - praying this week that I will, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." (Eph 4:2) This is actually a verse that I am praying for myself this year... But especially this week I am praying that in the midst of the busyness I will be gentle with my kids, that I will be patient with them, and that I will bear with them (and their sin) in love.

tubes in & adenoids out for Caleigh girl

Well, yesterday Caleigh got tubes in her ears (for the 2nd time) and her adenoids out.  She has been having a lot of trouble hearing, often asking, "What?" (several times a day) and saying, "Mama, I can't hear you, talk louder."  In her gymnastics class she often couldn't hear the teacher and would just stare off until the teacher came right up to her face to talk to her.  Her language development has plateaued and she has had fluid just sitting in her ears since the end of October... not to mention the 4 infections she had from the end of October to the middle of January.  We felt like it was a no-brainer to do tubes again and the EENT that we saw the first week in February agreed.

It felt different this time going for the surgery because she could now understand so much about what was going on.  When she was 13 months the first time she had no idea what was happening - I had a hard time though with that surgery because she was my first child, I didn't know how she would respond to the anesthesia, etc.  I vividly remember going to have her pictures taken the day before the surgery and crying in the car on the way back thinking, what if these are the last pictures I ever have of her.  Of course they weren't, and that must be why the Bible says, "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." (Matthew 6:34)  Someone told me one time that worry is like paying interest on a debt you may not owe.  I love that quote.  It is so true!  This time around I felt the Lord's presence so clearly.  By the grace of God, I sought to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corin. 10:5) - especially in the area of worry.  I especially did not want to project fear or worry on to Caleigh.

Caleigh is naturally very trusting of doctors and really enjoys going to all doctors, being examined, and examining all her baby dolls (and Andrew) at home.  So she was not worried (she was actually a little excited).  We talked about how she was going to go to the hospital and would put on a special hospital dress called a gown and that they were going to give her some special medicine that would make her very sleepy.  (She loves medicine too, so that wasn't a problem for her at all either.)  We talked about how the doctors would take Caleigh away on a big bed with wheels to fix her ears and that Mommy and Daddy wouldn't be able to come with her, but that she didn't need to be afraid because God is always with her.  She has such a child-like faith, instantly believing that of course God would be with her and she didn't fear.  (So convicting!)  We read Joshua 1:9 several times before the surgery and the morning of to prepare her for what I felt would be the most difficult part (separating from us) - "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."  And God was so faithful to us and to Caleigh. 

They called us back and we went back to the pre-op holding area where Caleigh changed into her hospital gown.  A child life specialist came and talked and played with her (she was AWESOME) - she let Caleigh decorate the oxygen mask she would wear with stickers and she let her "color" the inside of the mask with several different flavors of scented lip gloss so that the gas would smell good to her.  She showed her the IV "bag of water" that would be hanging beside her when she woke up and showed her the bag that they would be bagging her with.  She was very interested and did a great job interacting and learning about what would happen.  I was so grateful to this specialist!  She got her special 'sleepy' medicine (some oral Versed) and we waited for it to take effect... which was hilarious.  She was basically acting drunk - she was watching a little princess video on her hospital bed and she would say, "Mama, I can't see the moooovvie" and then lean in really close to the screen.  So so funny.  They wheeled her away and nobody cried.  She looked back to see that we were just standing there and she was so brave.  We felt so bathed in prayer and so in the presence of God.  It is truly a testament to the Lord that I was not fearful.

During the surgery I prayed Psalm 139 for her which I just love and I was so comforted by verses 7-10, "Where can (she) go from your Spirit? Where can (she) flee from your presence? If (she) goes up to the heavens you are there, if (she) makes her bed in the depths you are there. If (she) rises on the wings of the dawn, if (she) settles on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide (her), your right hand will hold (her) fast." And our faithful God did hold her fast.  Join us in praising the Lord!  

The surgeon came out about 30 minutes after we left her and let us know that she was done, that she did great, that he drained a ton of thick fluid out of both of her ears, and that he did indeed take out her adenoids, which he said were huge.  About 15 or 20 minutes later, after she started waking up in PACU the allowed one parent to come back there to be with her.  I could hear her crying as I was walking through the PACU doors... that strange, psychotic sounding cry that I remembered from the first time around.  I laid in the bed with her and she drifted back off to sleep for probably 30 more minutes.  Then they took us in to the step-down area where Adam was able to come back and that is when Caleigh really started to perk up and ate 2 popsicles, some cinnamon Teddy Grahams, and drank 2 containers of apple juice (continually saying in a very cute hoarse voice, "I a thirsty girl.")  

(After we got home - around 4ish - she really was pretty much back to normal, especially after an early bedtime.  I wish I had gotten some pictures of her in the hospital but I didn't even think to bring the camera.  You can see the remnants of the IV in her left hand and her ID tags.)

We arrived at the hospital around 8 am and we were home by 12:45.  When we first got into the car after leaving the music level was set to an 8 (lowish medium) and the first think she said (after, "I'm cold") was, "Mama, turn the music down - it's too loud." Which is huge because nothing has really ever been "too loud" and over the previous weekend the music had been set to a 10 and she said, "Turn it up Daddy, I can't hear it," and he had to turn it up to 15 until she could hear it.  I am so thankful that she can hear now!  Since yesterday she has said to stop using the disposal in the sink because it was too loud and to turn off the hairdryer because it was too loud.  This morning she said, "Mama, I can hear better.  God made my ears all better."  He did - and join us in praising Him - we are so thankful!

my busy busy mess

This evening I left Andrew alone for too long (= 5 minutes)... I was helping Caleigh with something (and she was a little high maintenance after her surgery today) and Andrew was being so quite (too quite, really).  I came in the living room to find this little boy...

Those are "silky" crayons - Crayola Twistables - they are crayons but write more like markers.  Andrew decided he would decorate his face.  And his hair. And behind his ears. And the floor.  And the baseboard.  All with this bold blue color.

Grouchy face (or 'I don't know what I think about this/you face')...

(Duke blue as my mom pointed out, and on the day of the Carolina v Duke game no less... Hopefully he is not trying to tell me something about his future!)

Sweet boy face... (Note the blue teeth and blue tongue)

The "Andrew, say cheese" face...

Thankfully it all came out in the wash.  Now I know what people mean when they say that boys, "get into stuff" ... or maybe not necessarily boys... maybe just certain personality types.

Caleigh did get into stuff but NEVER to the degree that Andrew does.  If I leave him alone for 5 minutes in the living room he does this, in the kitchen he plays in the trash or gets all the napkins out and tears them all into little pieces, in the bathroom he takes the tops off the deodorants and tries to rub them on his tummy.

He is a busy busy mess - and I love it - but boy does he keep me on my toes!

shoulda know he was too quiet

This evening I left Andrew alone for too long (= 5 minutes)... I was helping Caleigh with something (and she was a little high maintanence after her surgery today) and Andrew was being so quite (too quite, really).  I came in the living room to find this little boy...

 Those are "silky" crayons - Crayola Twistables - they are crayons but write more like markers.  Andrew decided he would decorate his face.  And his hair. And behind his ears. And the floor.  And the baseboard.  All with this bold blue color. (Duke blue as my mom pointed out, and on the day of the Carolina v Duke game no less)

 Grouchy face (or 'I don't know what I think about this/you face')...

 Sweet boy face... (Note the blue teeth and blue tongue)

Andrew, "say cheese" face...

Thankfully it all came out in the wash.

2.9.11 UNC v. Duke - getting ready