Wordless Wednesday - Aunt Ruthie's Pictures

This has NEVER happened in our house before.

For those of you who know how much this girl loves her food... She actually fell asleep mid-meal at the dinner table last night. It was priceless.And this little guy has been pouting like crazy lately. Here is is with the classic pout look for his Aunt Ruthie. If anything doesn't go his way this is the reaction you can expect to get. He flops onto his bottom, stares at the ground and sticks that bottom lip out as far as he can. It usually comes out much further than this:

Enjoying his rice

We're having a pretty good weekend. Thursday through Saturday we worked a booth at the Speed Street Festival. This festival is one of the largest Charlotte has each year and comes before the NASCAR Sprint Cup held in town. So from 12-8 p.m. each day we were out there doing health screenings. It was exhausting, but we've got a week full of new patient appointments as a result, so definitely worth it.

We are working at the office for the morning shift today and then going to enjoy the rest of our day with Ruthie and Chris and the kids.

What's the worst thing...

...your child has ever eaten?

I just got to put one on the list for Kaleb. He ate a small piece of cat poop on Friday. About the size of a cheerio -- and that's exactly what he thought it was. And the worst part is that I thought it was a cheerio too... I watched him put it in his mouth. About 30 seconds later he made a horrible face and stuck his tongue out. Why it took him that long to figure out it was poo, I have no idea, but I quickly grabbed what remained off his tongue. ICK.

Saturday afternoon he got a fever. Not sure if it was the cat poo or the 6 teeth he is currently cutting. But he got adjusted and some Immunoberry supplement and we let his body do its thing. And it did -- just like it always does! Once again demonstrating that unless the fever hits an emergency level - 105-107 degrees - Tylenol is unnecessary!

So now just to make me feel a little better and to entertain the readers... What is the worst thing your child has ever eaten? Or for those without kids, the child of someone you know. And Kelli I'm hoping you'll comment -- cause I'm not sure if yours can be beaten. :)

Who Tooted?

On Thursday during Tony's birthday breakfast, Kaleb ripped a very loud fart. I asked him, "Kaleb, did you toot?" He violently shakes his head NO! I ask, "Well, who tooted then?" He smiled and pointed to his bottom.

A round of laughter followed from everyone.

Apparently he doesn't realize they are one in the same.

Introducing... Baby Cakes

Kaiya got a new doll this weekend. She was found at a yard sale for 25 cents. Possibly only 25 cents because she was naked. But we quickly remedied that by digging into Kaiya's old preemie clothes. Kaiya was so excited when she saw this dress that she wore for Easter:





And it fit the doll just perfectly! She decided to name her doll Baby Cakes. I call Kaiya that sometimes, I guess. But I didn't think she really liked it because she would always tell me that she is not Baby Cakes - she is Half Pint (Papa's nickname for her). So I was surprised that she decided to name the doll Baby Cakes. I taught her how to swaddle the baby last night and she really liked that. It's been fun.

Happy Birthday Tony!

Yesterday was Tony's birthday! The night before I told Kaiya that it was his birthday tomorrow and she got very excited. "I will make him pancakes for his birthday!" she decided. So when we woke up, we let Daddy stay in bed a little bit later and got started on his birthday breakfast. Look at my two little helpers!

Quite proud of themselves for getting Daddy's birthday breakfast ready.

When I thought about a birthday post for Tony, I really kept getting struck with the thought that I'm so thankful for his life. So Laura, thanks for choosing life for your son. Look at the blessing that he has become to so many people because of that one decision you made to give him life. I try to step back and imagine what it must have been like for you - young, single - a whole life ahead of you, people in your support system encouraging you to have an abortion. By choosing life for Tony you have given me a wonderful husband and beautiful children. He's not only impacting lives for the kingdom, but also making a major impact on our patients' health. He is changing lives. Just one choice... that changed my life. Happy Birthday Tony!

And... we're all actually looking!

Kaiya: Was Money Bags (our cat) in your tummy too?

DISCLAIMER: I am not pregnant. We've only been discussing things being in my tummy because Kaiya was convinced she was in my tummy before I married Daddy. Had to set her straight on that one.

31 Cent Ice Cream

Tonight is Baskin' Robbins 31 cent scoop night! From 5-9 p.m. you can get a scoop of your favorite flavor. They are raising money for firefighters. So not only do you get a great deal, but you support a cause at the same time! That's a win-win!

A new dress & dino

For Kaleb and his new dinosaur from Nannie, it was love at first bite:

Kaiya wearing the new dress I made her. Alli - thanks for sending the pattern! Not quite as cute as the ones you have made for Emerson, but not too bad for my first try. :)

Ted Haggard at Elevation

Two posts in one day? *Gasp!*

But I just couldn't wait to post this one. Sunday at Elevation Church is going to be interesting! Here's a little news video clip that shares what is going on this weekend at our church: Ted Haggard at Elevation Church

If you think of us on Sunday, would you pray that the story would be told effectively and that God would work?

Roaches & STDs

You had to know this one was coming, right? I haven't posted on vaccines in awhile. The general consensus from a large majority of people is that the Gardasil vaccine is a bit sketchy. So the reason I post about it again, is not to try to convince you to spare your daughters (& sons) from this one, but to show you another example of the unethical practices of pharmaceuticals and the FDA. Is anyone else seeing a pattern here?

Gardasil Contains Roach Killer?

Verbal Abuse

Kat, our nanny, has begun suffering verbal abuse on the job. In the span of 24 hours, here's what happened:

Kat was moving one of the riding toys and bumped against something. Kaiya yells, "Be careful, you idiot!" Kat asked - "What did you call me?" Kaiya: "Idiot!" Apparently she learned this lovely phrase from Sebastian on The Little Mermaid. She got a time out and was told to remove the word from her vocabulary.

The next afternoon, both Kat and I were home, relaxing in the living room. I can't remember what prompted it, but all of a sudden Kaiya looks at Kat and says, "You are ugly!" After making an attempt to explain what ugly means. In case you are wondering...this is not easy to explain to a 3 year old. I used several Disney analogies and did my best to communicate the hurt that these words can cause. After some probing, I discovered that she learned this line from Sound of Music. One of the boys tells Frauline Maria that her dress is ugly.

Seriously... the kid is a sponge right now. And she watches TV with her breakfast and again while dinner is being made. Which I thought was a reasonable amount. We may be coming up with a new game plan... Then again, maybe this is just part of being three.

I didn't watch the pageant this past weekend, but have read plenty about it over the past few days. Does anyone else just want to give Miss California a hug? The poor girl is being lambasted by the media and supposed "friends" over her answer to the question. If you missed it and haven't seen any coverage of this, here's a video from YouTube:


Could someone release a positive statement of support on this already? Makes me wanna send the girl some fan mail.

When being good doesn't feel so good...

Friday night I headed to Harris Teeter to get some flowers. They had flats for $6, which is about half of what the rest of the city has them for. I had decided to buy 2 flats to plant around the house. I picked out my flowers and took them inside to pay for them. The cashier rang up the flowers and I noticed that my total was only about half of what it should have been. You know what saving money does to me. I've mentioned that it is like a drug addition for me. :) Not many things make me happier. So inside my mind I am thinking... is he done scanning the flowers? Am I gonna get all these flowers for $6? He tells me the total and I scan my debit card, pay for my purchase and leave the store. As I walk to the car I can't believe my luck! Gobs of flowers for $6.44! I'm almost to my car and I really start to feel like I need to take the flowers back inside and get my receipt adjusted. So I trudge back inside... you know what I mean... where you want to drag your feet behind you and are practically having a Jim Carrey moment in the parking lot where you are throwing yourself forward and backward and practically dragging yourself into the store. Yeah that was me on the inside. For appearance's sake I managed to keep it together. I waited at the customer service counter reminding myself that Harris Teeter gives you the item free if they overcharge you and you catch it. Maybe they will do that for undercharging me too! Umm... they don't. When you tell them you think you were undercharged, they stare at you in disbelief and tell you that "no one" comes back for being undercharged! As if I needed another reminder of the alternative plan of taking my deal and running!

I paid the difference and trudged back to my car. When I went to the store I was fully prepared to pay $12 for two flats of flowers and still all I could think about was... that sucked. On my drive home I really started thinking about how doing the right thing doesn't always give you the warm fuzzies. Sometimes it really does suck. Sometimes you hate every minute of it. But that doesn't change the fact that the right thing is still the right thing. It could be having a tough conversation with someone that you have hurt. It could be swallowing your pride and admitting you are wrong. It could be saying no and risking social rejection for not doing the popular thing. Bottom line is that we aren't called to do the right thing because of how it will make us feel. We do the right thing because He asks us to.

Pink Cake

One of Kaiya's favorite parts about church is the snack (no surprise here... the girl loves to eat). Typically she gets goldfish crackers for snack, which is great because it becomes something special at church and I don't have to buy them at home. A few weeks ago I picked Kaiya up from Sunday School and we were heading out to the car and she told me that they didn't have goldfish at church. I asked her what they had for snack and she said, "Pink Cake!" Tony and I exchange a look that is translated, "They wouldn't really do that, right?" And so we keep peppering her with questions:

Are you sure it was cake? Yes.
And it was pink? Yes.
Did it have anything else on it? Yes, pretzels?
Pretzels? Yes. On your cake? Yes.

So now we think that she is possibly making this story up. But she keeps insisting. I don't think she has ever had cake before, so I asked her what it tasted like. She said, "It was good." Well, that would probably be true of cake.

Then I remember that I can call a friend who has a little girl in Kaiya's Sunday School. So I text her and ask what Jasmine said they had for snack. She replied back that Jasmine said they had cake. So that solves it. Kaiya is not just making things up. They really did serve cake to the 2 year old Sunday School class at 8:30 a.m. I couldn't believe it.

Fast forward to the next week at church. I very sweetly ask the teacher if they know ahead of time what snack will be each week. She said they never know... as someone else is in charge of that and just brings it in each morning. She asked if something was wrong with last week's snack and I just said that Kaiya told me they had pink cake and we really don't allow her much sugar and so I was just curious. She smiled and said - oh! Snack last week was a small rice cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting. And then they put smile faces on with pretzels. We had a good laugh over that one. And I told the teacher that snacks like that would be fine.

Aha! Doesn't that make complete sense! Pink Cake! Because of Kaiya's inexperience with cake, she had no idea what she was actually eating for snack. She heard them call it cake and so cake it was!

Elevation Church Easter Opener from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

Thought I would share this neat video with you. Our church put this together for Easter. Tony did a little digging and we found it! We thought it was pretty cool.

Happy Easter!

Praising God this morning for the 100+ who accepted Christ at the 8:30 service.

Now that's what I'm talking about!

This past Sunday at church, we were gearing up for Easter Sunday... like most churches around the country. I learned something new and saw some great ideas that I thought I would share because I thought they were so cool. This is possibly because I lack creativeness in general... unless of course, it involves saving money. Then I can get pretty creative. :)

During the service I learned something new. When you think about Easter -- for churches it is one of the biggest Sundays of the year. And so doesn't it make sense that pastors and their families would be going through some of the toughest spiritual warfare during the days surrounding big Sundays? I needed that reminder this week. Check out this insightful post by my pastor's wife. And pray for your pastor this weekend!

Cool thing #1: Everyone was given a box of Peeps with service times for Sunday on them. Mission - give the box to someone you want to invite to church.

Cool thing #2: When I went to pick up the kids from their classes, we were given two sets of door hangers. I thought this was so creative:


So now we have a very non-threatening way to invite our neighbors with kids to church! And... I've also figured out that minivans and SUVs have the perfect door handles for these. I've left a few on cars parked in the "with small children" parking spaces at Harris Teeter. :)

Happy Easter!

Shouldn't the "choice" in pro-choice be for doctors too?

A friend recently brought this to my attention and I thought I would pass the information along. If you believe that pro-life doctors and nurses should have the choice about whether they will perform abortions and whether or not they will be discriminated against in terms of receiving funding based on whether they perform abortions or not, then you will want to visit this site: http://www.freedom2care.org/ They explain it much more accurately than I, and from this site there is an easy link to send a Message as a Patient or Message as a Healthcare Provider to let your voice be heard. The deadline for public comment on this proposed plan is tonight, April 9th, at midnight - so please visit now! It's a really easy form to fill out - they have done most of the writing for you! I encourage you to share the link on your blogs or on Facebook so that we can get the word out!

Boys

Being in a family with boys is a new thing for me. I grew up with two sisters so I have quite a learning curve when it comes to raising boys. But I'm loving every minute of it... and it provides daily laughs for me.

Last night Kaleb was taking a bath, he stood up and I couldn't get him to sit down. I've learned from previous baths that this means he has to pee. And apparently, he prefers to do this standing up. He yells out the one of the only words in his vocabulary, "Bah!" and begins peeing. Like past times, he surprises himself and is completely enthralled with the fact that he can pee. He reaches down to grab the pee with his hand, which somehow interrupts his concentration and the flow of pee immediately stops. He stands back up a little bit and then starts peeing again. Reaches down... sure that he can catch it this time... nope! It stops again. Starts back up... Third time is a charm, right? Yep! He caught it this time! And boy was he pleased with himself! I swear I could hear him humming "Bad" by Michael Jackson...

Fear of the Whoopie Cushion

A video of Kaleb's fear of the whoopie cushion. I'm slightly antagonistic as Tony so kindly points out. Don't judge y'all. :)

Oh where did the diapers go?

**update below**

Have you heard the VeggieTales hairbrush song? I've been singing it all day, except substituting my own words. Oh where did the diapers go? Oh where did the diapers go? Oh where oh where oh where... did the diapers go?

I went to Wal-Mart to purchase Kaleb's diapers and nearly fell on the floor in a heap when I saw that the brand I usually buy is no longer on the shelves. And there wasn't even a gap where it used to be. I was frozen in my tracks. You know how you get so used to buying what you buy that you could do it in your sleep? And God forbid they ever move things around in the store. It was like I didn't know what to do when the diapers weren't there. I just stood with my mouth gaping open staring at the diapers. I must have said, "This is not good." Because a few minutes later I heard Kaiya saying it repeatedly... meanwhile I was still in shock.

I trudged off to find a Wal-Mart employee. I knew they wouldn't know. And of course, they didn't. Where have the White Cloud diapers gone? Not only are they cheap - they are also one of the only kinds that Kaleb doesn't actually leak out of.

Back to the diapers I went. Staring at the packages I think... "Is it too early to potty train?" Finally I decide just to get the Parent's Choice brand in a small package until I can come up with another game plan. I reach over to the shelf and *gasp* they don't have his SIZE!!!!! He's right on the fence with sizes so I get a size down and call it a day.

I called my sister and had her check her Wal-Mart. Gone there too. Obsessively I went online to see if I could get these diapers anywhere else. They are exclusive to Wal-Mart. But their website is still up and running so maybe they aren't gone forever. I'm about to write a letter begging for the diapers back. Certainly they can at least wait until I have Kaleb potty trained before they discontinue the diaper. That's not unreasonable is it?

**********
The following is the response I got to my contact w/ the company:

Thank you for contacting the Consumer Helpline regarding the White Cloud diapers. Unfortunately the White Cloud diaper line has been discontinued; however the Parent’s Choice brand will still be available. (She forgot to insert here that they SUCK.)

The White Cloud diapers were a brand that was exclusive to the Wal-Mart retailers; therefore they are not available at any other retailer. If you’re looking for something comparable to the White Cloud diaper, we manufacture the Member’s Mark diapers for Sam’s club.

***********
Guess I'm off to Sam's Club today to give Member's Mark a try. :(

Two memos

Memo 1:
To the woman whose positive pregnancy test picture I stole off Google Images:

Thank you! And Congratulations.

Memo 2:
To everyone else:

Gotcha! :)

Love,
Rachel

Wordless Wednesday

Red Envelope Day

Have you all heard about this? I know it's been pretty well-circulated on Facebook. Check it out here: Red Envelope Day

I like the whole idea of it. And I had the best intentions of participating... but hey... I'm busy. So I wasn't sure that I could pull it off, and then I worried about getting it there on time, etc. When I watched the video I was really excited to learn that I could pay them to send an envelope for me. The best part is that I could pay via my Paypal account which I happened to have a balance in from some stuff I sold on eBay. I really didn't feel like the mark-up was that much to have them send my envelope. It was $1.10. Figure... 42 cents is the stamp and then I saved because I didn't have to go to FedEx and buy a whole pack of red envelopes.

So check out the video!

How great a father's love...

What a morning we had! I had the kids' oatmeal ready for them and we were sitting down to eat. Kaiya very sweetly gave Kaleb her Elmo chair to sit in. Quite happy, he plopped right down without even glancing her way. Before feeding him, I asked him to say "thank you" to her -- or rather... sign it. We know he can do this sign, he's just very moody about signing and only does it when he wants to. So he refused. And once you go down that road, you just have to finish it. So he wasn't able to have any oatmeal until he said thank you to his sister. And the temper tantrum began. About 15 minutes in, I was starting to wonder if Tony and I had too high of expectations on this one. Was it reasonable that he should tell Kaiya thank you? I told him one more time -- "Kaleb, say thank you." He violently shook his head no. Ummm... yep. He gets it. Just being stubborn.

About 30 minutes in, we realize that he seems obsessed with having me hold him while he has his fit. So, Tony took over and I removed myself hoping that he would give it up sooner without me around. As I was busy doing things around the house I thought about poor Tony who was doing nothing but sitting with Kaleb through this stubborn fit. Then I realized how thankful I am that Tony loves his son that much. I mean -- how easy would it have been on us just to give in to the tantrum, feed the kid his oatmeal and get on with our day. Instead, Tony sat by Kaleb, keeping him propped up on the couch (so Kaleb wouldn't fall asleep) and every now and then checking in to see if he was ready to say thank you. Tuesday is one of our mornings off. And trust me, the list of things Tony needed to do was quite long. But being a good dad comes first. He helped Kaleb learn an important lesson today and I was so glad for the reminder of what a great dad my kids have.

Here's Kaiya trying to coerce her brother to say thank you. She offered him her princess doll if he would say it. Needless to say, he wasn't interested...

And here we are -- after an hour and ten minutes he finally decided to say thank you. He's happily eating his now cold oatmeal.

And as if that weren't enough... shortly after this episode I took Kaiya to the grocery store. She laid it out right in the middle of the U-Scan line at Harris Teeter. I was allowing her to help me scan some items, but she was starting to get a little violent as she chucked them on top of the scanner, so I stopped her. And she wasn't too happy about it. So not only was my 3 year old yelling at me... but the U-Scan lady inside the machine was yelling at me too. "Please take the item out of the bag and scan it." "Please see the attendant for assistance." "Please scan your item." Meanwhile, Kaiya is in a heap on the floor. I finally told her that I would finish checking out and that we would have a conversation in a minute. I paid and we moved through and sat down at the magazine rack where she got a talking to. I asked her to apologize and told her that we were going to sit there until she did. She turned her little back to me and sat there with her arms crossed for a minute or so. Then, she turned around and said, "I'm sorry." We have been encouraging her lately to say what she is sorry for, so that we know she understands why she is apologizing. So I said, "You're sorry for what?" She wrinkles up her face and says, "I dunno!!" Well, I guess we'll sit here until you remember. We sat there for 10 minutes. Finally she "remembered."

Stubborn, I tell ya!

A Pillowcase Dress!

So I saw a friend had started making these a-dorable dresses for her baby boutique. And it gave me a little sewing bug to try and make one for Kaiya. So I picked up a pack of pillowcases at Wal-Mart, some elastic, and ribbon and tackled this today, my day off.

They are really so easy to do. If you want instructions, check out this video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtuGUB-jsH8 It's a pretty good tutorial! After making my first one, there are some sizing adjustments that I will make for my second one. This one is a bit big for Kaiya. The great thing is that it can become a shirt when she outgrows the length of it.


So I'm thinking that this will fit Sammie perfectly. Connie, this one is headed your way! :)

Would you rather...

Cook or Clean?

For me, this one is not hard to decide on at. all. I would rather cook than clean any day. The only catch is that in order for me to enjoy cooking, my kitchen has to be in order before I can start cooking. But in terms of what makes me happiest, it's cooking for sure. I love cooking and baking all sorts of things... I've dropped incredibly subtle hints to Tony about enrolling me in a culinary class at Johnson & Wales (a well known culinary school) here in Charlotte the next time he needs a gift idea. Anybody in Charlotte reading this who wants to join me, just let me know. :) I'm game.

Cleaning on the other hand... maybe my lack of perfectionism makes me a better cook than cleaner. A few crumbs on the floor? A little dust on the tv? Don't worry about it!! I'd much rather inhale wonderful aromas than cleaning solution vapors. :) But Mom and B - you would be proud -- I've made my bed EVERY day for the past week. I'm working on forming a new habit.



What about you?

Somebody's Three!

Pictures of Pure Joy

Birthday Dinner - per Kaiya's request:
Egg Scramble & Pancakes

And some little fairies came and made her pancakes little hearts!

I love this - total shy look when we were singing to her.

Flowers from NannieLovin' the fruit!

One happy little girl! Thanks for all the presents!!

Calling all book worms!

Time for everybody out there to get talking again! :) I'm ready to get my nose back into a good book. I've requested the books in the Twilight series from the library, but literally... I'm number 87 in line to get the first book. I need some suggestions!

Here's just a little video I took the other day. At the end of it, I ask Kaiya about the Lion King and she gives a little commentary about it. It's a long video though. :) Just trying to keep the grandparents happy.

Lion King Parenting

So... Kaiya had a timeout today for being disobedient. After every timeout, we talk about why she was placed in timeout, what she could have done differently, etc. Today after she recounted a play-by-play of what got her in the timeout, I said: "Yes, Kaiya. The bottom line is that you were disobedient."

She quickly begins nodding her head and says: "Here's da deal mama. On Lion King, Simba no not obey his fawdder. He no not obey and go to the hyenas. But Mufasa say no Simba and Simba no not obey Mufasa. And Simba get in trouble for dat."

At least she is making the connection. Clearly... she understands the concept of disobedience.

Out of the mouth of babes

An American Girl catalog came in the mail today and I gave it to Kaiya to look at. I have no idea how we made it on the mailing list and she has no idea what American Girl dolls are. However... the catalog is fun to look at. So she is browsing through it and comes to the page with this doll on it:
and says in a sing-songy voice: Oooooo.... Sexy Lady. I did a double take! Did she just say, Sexy Lady? She repeats the phrase several times. Yep. When she prances around in her pretend high heels or dances in her dress, that is what Tony and I say to her. Oops. We'll be changing that to something like: Hot Stuff. Sexy Lady has been eliminated from our vocabulary until Kaiya is old enough that I don't have to explain to her what "sexy" is.

The next question is -- why of all the dolls does she declare this one as sexy lady?

2nd Trip up the Mountain

Pinnacle Peak take two. We did it again and it was just as hard the second time. We had the kids in packs on our backs and it was a more even sort of weight distribution, but geesh... still a climb. Here is the hike in pictures.

Poor Kaiya had to christen the top of the mountain. Her first outdoor potty experience. Her description: "I go potty on the mountain! Dat was silly!"

Weekend Recap

It was a great weekend. On Thursday, my friend Connie came for a visit. For Valentine's Day this year, she got a ticket to come out and see me. I'm hereby nominating her husband Tyson for the Husband of the Year award. He watched all 5 kids this weekend, gave her spending money for the trip for some splurges and let her come see us!

I'll be posting some pictures... but the quick recap is that we climbed Pinnacle Peak again on a beautiful 65 degree day. Later that same day, I was introduced to Zumba class. I survived - and it was fun! We worked in the office on Friday, made some hairbows, watched Newsies (how's that for a throwback to our childhood?). Got pedicures at a day spa, went to IKEA (her first time), experienced Elevation Church. It was lots of fun.

She got out just in time. We got our third snow of the year! Very unusual for this area to get even one snow during winter. So this is a treat.

Now it's Monday - back to reality. We decided to do Lent this year. This is my first time and just a few days into it, I know it is going to be a great thing. For where I'm at spiritually, I knew I needed to both "put off" something, and "put on" something. I am putting off my laziness in the mornings. Normally I wait for my kids to wake me up and then we frantically get ready to go out the door. For the next 30-some days (and hopefully this habit will stick much longer) I am giving up my laziness. The alarm clock is getting set early, giving me enough time to work out and read by Bible before the kids get up. And that leads to what I am putting on. Daily Bible reading. I've been really sloppy about reading God's Word and it is long overdue for me to get back into it on a daily basis.

The best part is that Tony is joining me in this - and we're doing it together. Great for accountability and it's much easier to get up when he's getting up too. I was blessed by reading about some friends in India who are doing Lent, and the sweet boys who are finding things to give up when they have very little to begin with. Here are the links so you can see their stories - I know you will be blessed by them as well:

Amanda Lehman
The Reichanadters