Eleven Years Today

In Honor of Our Eleventh Anniversary, Eleven Things I Remember About Our Wedding Day:

1-Sweating for outdoor pics at 9:00 in the morning! (yeah, you gotta love Dallas in August, see the shiny faces??)

2-Watching my dad, who never drinks, guzzle a glass of champagne before walking me down the aisle to give me away

3-Being deliriously happy during the ceremony

4-Realizing that the dinner served at the reception was not the dinner we had chosen in advance, but also realizing that it just didn't matter!

5-Getting cake shoved in my face & up my nose...and then dishing out the same to you...and trying to clean it all off afterwards

6-Finding out that my family only got crumbs of the wedding cake but not being able to do anything about it because the servers served the head table last & cut the pieces of cake too large...

7-Realizing that a trip to the bathroom while wearing a wedding dress is not a one-person adventure!

8-The fish on the tables at the reception and then hearing those same fish all night in the hotel room (who knew fish make noise??).

9-Fruit Loops in my dress, hair, and everywhere (not exactly the traditional choice of what to throw at the bride & groom as they depart)

10-Tighty-whities dragging along behind the car...

11-Relief that the planning & execution of the whole event was DONE!

But wait, there's more...Eleven Things I Love About You, Honey (In no particular order):

1-I love how much I've seen you grow spiritually over the course of our marriage.

2-You're a phenomenal dad, the happy, fun, wrestling dad that our girls need.

3-You might not cook, but you're given me great freedom to obtain the tools I need & desire to help me do the job better & more efficiently. And you don't mind leftovers!

4-You make me laugh. I'll be remembering the request for duct-tape to tape your toothbrush back together after the handle broke! (No, I didn't honor the request, just in case you're wondering. We can afford another toothbrush, after all!)

5-You're committed, to me, to the girls, to God.

6-You're not ruled by your emotions (at least not on most days). Oh, how important this is in a houseful of girls! ;) We need at least one clear-headed thinker amongst us!

7-You're a hard worker, and you provide very well for your family. We never lack anything we truly need.

8-I love how you treat me extra special when you know I'm pregnant with your child. (And no, I'm definitely not pregnant again!)

9-I love how you've gotten better at washing dishes. ;)

10-You love to travel...but you love to travel with me best of all!

11-You chose me!!! And I'm so glad you did...and you still do!

May there be many more years of making memories together! I love you!

It's Official - She Laughed!!

She just laughed!! Sometimes just a cough sputters out, but sometimes she actually laughs! What a sweet sound...may there be many more of those to come!

Milestones

It seems that little people are growing up all around me, even without my telling them to do so! I remember pushing Shanan towards the next milestone because that's what you do with firstborns, right?? ;) I hope she forgives me when she realizes it. ;) Anyway...here's a list of recent accomplishments:

Shanan
She is my number one baby helper. She's amazing. She changes wet diapers, burps & soothes a fussy Genna (better than her daddy, I might add).

She is sooooo helpful in the kitchen. Last night, she even bailed on a wrestling match with Dad to see if she could help me with dinner. Wowww! I am one lucky mama! She is a great vegetable peeler & slicer. And she's learning how to make things like noodles & eggs. And she's not intimidated by multi-step instructions that involve both removing items from the fridge, warming them in the microwave, & assembling on a plate...unlike a particular male in the household, not naming any names, of course!

And another accomplishment of the summer, shared by both the big girls...learning to crochet, at least to finger crochet a chain and crochet a chain with a hook. I admit we didn't get the single crochet mastered yet, but that's my fault (I ran out of patience). Perhaps on another day...

Alyssa
She has learned to tie her shoes. It all started when she came to me about 2 weeks ago & showed me the bow she had tied in the back of her dress. Yes, I did say back. How she managed her first tying experience behind her back without being able to see is beyond me. But she did it, and we confirmed it by tying her shoes next.

She learned to jump rope this summer! In place, while moving, in the house & on the sidewalk. She's quite good, and she taught herself.

She can change poopy diapers. Need I say more?? She's an amazing little girl to have around because she's not scared of a little poop. ;)

Genna - Of course, she's smiling, and growing. Steve thinks he heard a short, little laugh. I can't verify that it actually happened, but either way, I know that it won't be much longer before we hear lots of chuckles, mostly for her sisters, I'm sure. She coos like a dove and is beginning to squeal a bit, as well. She's also discovered her hands. She goes cross-eyed staring at them, and she loves to pull them close & suck on them. And just today I noticed that somehow, she's actually scooting across the floor. Definitely not rolling over, but by kicking her legs & digging her heels in, she is working her way across the floor. She's not even 3 months old yet!!

"I hope it's not Dad."

The other night we were watching coverage of the Olympics on t.v. They interrupted coverage of the games for an interview with our president, George W. Bush. I explained to the girls that he is the current president of our country, but I also mentioned that there would be an election in a few months to choose a new president. There was a bit of a pause, and then Alyssa said, "I hope it's not Dad." "You mean you hope Dad's not the new president?", I asked. "Yeah," she responded. I thought about it for a second (while also trying desperately to disguise my amusement), and replied, "Yeah, I'd have to agree with you. As much as I like Dad, I don't want him to be the next president, either!"

Life's Not Fair

We always know it, but we certainly feel this truism more acutely at certain times than at others. Although I most often hear this uttered by kids over simplistic issues, this morning I'm thinking of the big stuff, the stuff where we have no real choice but to let God work out the details because it's bigger than we can manage. Specifically, I'm thinking of the parnership with God to bring new life into the world. Why do some women get to do it and others don't? Why do some get to do so with much ease & for others, the sacrifice is so great?? There are women who have lost babies before they even knew them. There are others that get a baby in the end, but the path to get there is difficult. I have sisters that have nearly lost their own lives in the process of bringing new life into the world. That, is not fair, is it?

Today, my thoughts are focused on my sister Wanda. And for once, I'm not thinking that somebody else got the better deal here. Although I have done nothing to deserve it, I've had a comparatively "easy" time of it when it comes to pregnancy & birthing & healthy babies. Wanda, on the other hand, has not. Though it is nothing she has done, she has had two high-risk pregnancies, with complications galore. She has two beautiful little girls after spending her last two months of pregnancy in the hospital with daily monitoring, and now she has a handsome little guy who is still in the hospital a week after his birth following placental abruption. Although I trust he'll be okay in the end, the path has been a bit rocky.

It was just last Tuesday morning that I got the call that Wanda, 35 weeks pregnant with placenta previa, "bled out." As I drove over to her house, I was calling family & praying, and God comforted me with this song, "Oh No, You Never Let Go." Life is NOT fair, but when the ride feels hard to bear, even impossible to bear, He is with us, holding on, and when it feels just right, He is there, and all the times in between, He is there. I pray that you feel His presence more strongly today than ever before, Wanda & Tracy. I'm sorry, so sorry that you are having to go through this. I wish I could snap my fingers & it would be over, I wish I could hold you in my arms & sing you a song & make it all better like I can still do with Alyssa, but I cannot, and so the even better choice here is to ask God to do what I cannot. He is capable of handling the big stuff & the little stuff, and it is already obvious that He was there in the midst of the storm on Tuesday, lining up the details. He will never leave nor forsake you. Love you guys...you are being lifted up in prayer by many.

Tired

It's been awhile since I posted, and a lot has transpired in that time, from crises that no one cares to repeat to whirlwind trips out of town with fun & festivity. Much to write about, not much time or energy to do so. However, if I can wrangle my hubby away from the computer a bit more (it's all tied up when he works from home), and I can relocate a few more brain cells that I lost with this pregnancy & postpartum & in the many hours of driving this weekend, I have some pics to post of my newest nephew. Words cannot express how grateful I am that he is here, he is okay, and my sister Wanda is, too. And now...to bed, to bed.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things

Speaking of postpartum shape, Alyssa got a good chuckle out of me yesterday. In search of new shirts, I hauled all 3 children into the teeny little dressing room & was trying on an assortment of shirts in various styles & sizes. I was feeling a bit frustrated at my lack of success when Alyssa announced, "Your boobs are just too big to look good in any of those." Yes, there were others in the dressing room, and no, I've never heard those words used to describe myself at any point in my life. Yes, I laughed. And while these same children can inspire great frustration on my part, they also help me to remember how to smile & laugh heartily at the times I need it most. After all, they were the first ones to tell me that I was so skinny just days after Genna was born. Don't all new moms need to hear that, 'cause the reality is that although we feel much thinner after giving birth, most of us are nowhere near being able to be described as such. :) So even though they haven't exactly been charming today, I think I'll keep 'em! :)

Behind

Yeah, I'm not talking about the thing you sit on. ;) I'm talking about that propensity to be perpetually two steps behind where you think you ought to be. This morning I was so tired that I dreamed about doing the thing that I should have done yesterday. Except then I opened my eyes & realized that it was a dream, and I'd better get out of bed & get moving. Realizing I'd surely function better after coffee, I proceeded to make it, only to hear the beep saying it was ready about 20 seconds after I had pushed start. It really couldn't be ready, so I went over to examine and discovered that I had missed pouring the water from the carafe into the reservoir. Oops!

So back to the behind bit, I'm behind on blogging, behind on housecleaning, behind on my last few thank you notes from Genna's birth & the kindnesses that followed, behind on being fully prepared for the school year, behind on cleaning maternity clothes out of my closet, behind on finding new shoes for my big girls, behind on finding the new style & size of clothing that fits & flatters my new postpartum shape. Yeah, I'm just behind.

Oh well, for today, I shan't get too out of sorts about my inability to catch up 'cause I bet I'm not the only one. ;)