Happy Birthday, Maryn!

Here's Maryn checking out our new bookshelf. LittleTyke is like, "What?!"

Maryn turned 17 months old yesterday. I guess everyone forgot because we didn't receive any cards! Fortunately, Hope came to the rescue and took us out shopping, even buying Maryn two lovely gifts--two new pairs of sunglasses! And Maryn actually wears them! Here she is with Hope (also known as "Hepp" in Maryn-speak) at the mall.

Maryn's favorite store was Pottery Barn Kids, where she played in the little girl section with all the kitchen stuff, taking special interest in the shopping cart. We had a super great time visiting all the kids stores everywhere (Pottery Barn Kids in one mall, Babies R Us in another plaza, and The Children's Place in yet another mall).

Since Maryn is now 17 months old I feel I should do a special post about her development so that when our next baby is 17 months old I can compare them...lol, just kidding. Anyway, my blog seems to be the most reliable place to store this information.

Maryn weighs about 25 pounds and is moving into 18 months clothes. She has been wearing 18 months shirts quite well, but her pants are still 12 months. She has a long torso and arms and short little legs.

A week or so ago, Maryn had 12 teeth but this week she has gained a few more. Some molars are even coming through right now. It's pretty miserable and there seems to be no way of helping her find relief. She cried or whined all morning.

Maryn is Mommy's Helper and is starting to understand when to help and when not to help. She likes to be by my side when I do my hair, makeup and when I cook. She impersonates pretty much everything I do. She follows directions extremely well and will get me whatever I need, even if it is in another room--as long as she can reach it.

Maryn's vocabulary is astounding. She understands nearly everything we say, and speaks or signs 50 words or more. I'm not sure if everyone would understand what she is saying, but we do and that's pretty much all that matters. Some of her latest words are squirrel (sewel), choo choo, and one, two, three (hu-wun, thoooo, twee!).

Maryn has a bit of a jealous streak in her lately. She was even jealous of the apple pie I was holding in my lap yesterday. I hope this subsides a bit by the time her new baby brother or sister comes along. Here's hoping.

Maryn is doing great in the nursery and with babysitters or family members. She seems to have a pretty secure attachment and warms up to people pretty quickly. She'll give you a kiss if she's known you for an hour or two.

Maryn's favorite toys right now are her trains, her kitchen, and her stuffed animals. She has a new "lovey" every day. Sometimes it's her bunny, sometimes Tigger, sometimes one of her blankets, and today it was her elephant. It was elephant's first time being her lovey, so he is just elated. She gives each of her animals lots of love and attention. She loves to make food for her babies and her scary looking plastic velociraptor in her kitchen, too. She tucks them in and rocks them to sleep. Yes, she even rocks her velociraptor to sleep and feeds him "soup" or "pizza" probably every day.

Maryn hasn't been into crafts much lately, but she sure loves crayons and markers! She puts them in and out of their containers and takes the marker caps on and off, on and off. So craft time has been less exciting for me, but she loves it.

Maryn remains to be a fabulous eater. The only things she doesn't like are sloppy joes, anything barbecue-saucy, and ketchupy things. But if we give her sloppy joes, she will try them again and again, making her sour face every single time. I'm so glad she's willing to try things. If we put something new on her plate, something she's never seen before, that is the FIRST thing she tries. And she loves it. I have my mom, Donna, and the Gaddises to thank for the tips in feeding babies and children. As well as the nutrition class I took in college.

Maryn's favorite foods are cheese, pasta (especially pasta salad with pepperoni), and many other things as long as it's not the same thing too many times in a row. If I feed her peas two days in a row, she won't eat them the second day even if she loved them the first day. I guess she likes variety (she gets that from me).

All in all, Maryn is a sweet, smart, active, healthy and imaginative little girl. We enjoy her and thank God for her daily.

Denying Myself

"We indulge ourselves in many things which to us do not appear sinful—but which leave on our soul a touch of blight, a soiling of purity—of which we do not dream. We permit ourselves many little habits in which we see no danger—but which are silently entwining their invisible threads into a strong cable, which some day shall bind us hand and foot. We omit self-denials and sacrifices, thinking there is no reason why we should make them, unaware that we are lowering our standard of living, and permitting the subtle beginnings of self-indulgence to creep into our heart." JR Miller, 1894

"And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels." Luke 9:23

I am missing this place today.

The New Zealand countryside, near Matata (north island).

Ohope Beach, our second home while I was in NZ.
Literally, the house was was there on the beach.

I know it was foolish, but I just never thought I'd really, really miss it here. Someday maybe I'll get to take my family to New Zealand. Or John and I can go sky diving there when we're old. :)

Pie Baking Adventure

Wow. What a day. I had the perfect plan to make an apple pie during Maryn and LittleTyke's naps. I made sure I had all the ingredients, but I didn't get them all exactly ready. For instance, I needed butter "at room temperature." And I didn't thaw my refrigerated pie crusts.

So...the pie crusts were kind of unthawable, freezer burnt...just a total mess. John can usually bring home whatever I need from Target every afternoon, but Target was sold out of pie crusts. Seriously? Seriously.

But apparently, it was all meant to be, because the pie turned out great. I did a crumble top/lattice top pie from Paula Deen's recipes on FoodNetwork.com and ended up making my own crust from the Crisco website, substituting butter flavor Crisco for original. It was looking absolutely perfect. John said it looked even better than Costco's apple pies, except it didn't have a caramel drizzle. So, what did I do? I melted up some caramels and made a caramel drizzle, too.
Okay, so the crust edges are pathetic. I made the bottom crust a bit too small and the edges did not quite meet happily. But it held together okay. The crust was perfect, the crumble top and caramel drizzle totally rocked. And it baked perfectly thanks to my Pampered Chef pie crust protector thing, thanks to Kendra's fancy wedding gifts.

This was my first time making a lattice top, and honestly I would do it again. I loved it! And it looks great even though I was pretty sloppy. One drawback to the pie is that it was a bit runny. The recipe called for a whole 16 ounces of applesauce! Kind of weird, but it tasted great.

I would NOT have made a pie if I knew I'd be making homemade crusts. A one hour project became a three hour adventure with a toddler who, every 5 minutes, had to come give me kisses. Thank goodness JR was still here to keep her mostly occupied. And I loved and needed her kisses, too. Also thank goodness John and JR were up for ordering pizza and wings from Pizza Hut! 50 cent wing night!

But nothing beats a homemade crust. I may do it again sometime, but I will plan ahead and make the crust a day or two ahead of time. And take my time rolling it out. And maybe make the bottom a little bigger, since with a lattice top it's not such a big deal to be a tad small. And I'll do it on a day when LittleTyke isn't here, for sure.

So that's the story of my baking adventure. Now for some random photos.

Peek-A...

BOO!

News? Not much.

Maryn loves to sleep on her Pa-paw.

We had a surprise visitor this week! My JR came down last night and was able to help me lots with Maryn, and watch her while we went to have the ultrasound today. Also, John works Tuesday nights and is at class all morning, so Tuesdays are normally kind of tough. But JR was here to give Maryn her bath and share the day with us, and I was able to get so much done without all the stress. I even sat and watched an entire movie with him (Glory Road, which I highly recommend and is one of our favorite movies--perfect for basketball season!).

So....the ultrasound. It was kind of a let-down, in a good way really. I had worked myself up pretty good beforehand on whether it was twins or something was terribly wrong and had devoted myself to mindless distractions or dedicated prayer. But everything looks fine, at least to us, and there's ONE healthy baby. No cysts in sight and a normal amount of amniotic fluid. I have an appointment with my doctor on March 4th to find out why else I could be measuring so large. The baby is healthy and adorable, and is the appropriate size for my due date nearly to the day. The baby kind of looks like an alien. This is one of the reasons not to have an early ultrasound! It was neat to show Maryn pictures of her new baby brother or sister. She loved the pictures and gave them lots of kisses. She pretty much gives everyone and everything kisses these days.

What was most disappointing to us was that the ultrasound technician could not take a guess on the sex of the baby, but as soon as I saw his/her profile I was sure it was a boy. I know. That's impossible. I just had that boy feeling.

Boys kind of terrify me. Especially after seeing videos of my sweet, laid back husband as a child. He was a little bit wild. So with wild child-ness in his genes combined with my quirkiness, I'm just not sure we would create the most pleasant little boy. Boys, boys, boys. I just don't know.

Plus we are having serious marital discord about boy names. If the baby does turn out to be a boy, we may enlist in marriage counseling. ;-)

exhausted, jealous and spoiled

Yesterday we went to Sam's Club and Kroger. All in one trip. Not a big deal, right? Well, with an 18 month old and a pregnant lady it really isn't that much fun. Plus, I was really missing the good old days.

You know, the days when we could just grab a bit to eat after a long day of shopping. Or the days when we could order pizza. Or the days when we could stop for Starbucks or a smoothie to hold us over until dinner.

It was 5:30 as we drove home--our dinner time--and we had a hundred groceries to put away, a whiny, tired, hungry toddler, and two frazzled parents. We passed Pizza Hut, Smoothie King, McDonald's, China Gourmet, Subway, Penn Station, Starbucks, Tony Boombozz Pizza...but we had to get home to make chili mac (thanks for the suggestion, Kendra!) and cornbread. So I tried to swallow my self-pity, grin and bear it.

I'm not trying to make this a woe-is-me post, but I never quite realized how often we used to just stop for food or refreshments. Every time we went to the mall or shopping, we would stop for something. Maybe it was just a Coke, but it was often ice cream or smoothies. Which are harder things to avoid while pregnant. Once the little seed of desire gets planted in my mind, my hormones seem to shout for my wants.

It really is absolutely ridiculous and sinful of me to battle over this like I do. But I see it's a struggle for a lot of people, according to facebook statuses. It sure does seem like a lot of people go out for meals, like, all the time. Maryn's never even been out to breakfast. Never. Mostly because people don't buy us gift cards for places that have breakfast! lol.

Why do I feel so envious? Why do I crave exactly what I can't have? Especially when most children in the world have never even been inside of a restaurant. It's ridiculous how spoiled I've been, growing up in America. It's ridiculous how spoiled all of us are. And how I think I'm entitled to that cheeseburger because I crave it and I'm pregnant and I just had a really long, exhausting day and I really don't think I could stand for 10 more minutes to make my family a meal.

John and I regret spending so much money on those little refreshments, so I encourage you all to really think about your eating out habits, even if it's just stopping for ice cream. Plan ahead, you know? And save some of your money. Because you just never know what's going to come along.

15 Weeks

It's not just my imagination--

--the doctor says I am measuring quite large for 15 weeks.
So we are having an ultrasound on Tuesday and another appointment
shortly after to find out what is growing inside of me. Or how many.

Please pray that both baby (or babies) and mommy are healthy.

In other news, John and I both have serious pregnancy brain. I'm not joking, people. It's bad. This is what our conversation was like as we were leaving for grocery shopping. We were all packed up in the car and John was about to pull out.

A: Wait, does she have her sippy cup?
J: Um...no.
A: I know I didn't pack it.
J: Sigh. I'll go get it.
A: Get the snack trap, too!
J: Sheesh!
A: I was going to the kitchen to get both and I got distracted!

After we're in the car, seemingly settled.

J: You got the Sam's Club one day pass, didn't you?
A: Pshh, no! I thought you got that. Did you get the WIC checks? (Hysterical laugh)
J: Nooooo. (Hysterical laugh)
A: I'll go up this time. But now I gotta pee, too.
J: You JUST peed!
A: It's been at least 5 minutes!

Wonderment

I was working on dinner in the kitchen and all was quiet in the house.
Not a good sign usually. So I walked out and found Maryn just like this,
slouched against the wall, blank stare...

...trying desperately to hold in a big fat giggle. lol.

Hamming it up for the camera:

Small wonder...

Eating her very first Oreo:

Helper to the Rescue

Maryn eating her beans with a spoon. YUM!
See, our meal wasn't THAT bad. Just some plain pinto beans, steamed peas and carrots
and Hamburger Helper. Sue me.

This is how Maryn asks for more of one particular item.
She points to the section and says "mo!" Here you can see
that she wanted more Hamburger Helper. She actually
had three helpings.

Three helpings later and we have a totally cleared plate!
That's my girl.

"I will only wear this bow if I can put it on MY-SELF."
...and even then she wears it like a bow tie instead of a hair bow.

Okay, I feel better now. John and I had a long talk and he solved all my problems. Hahaha NOT really, but you know what I mean. He helps. It helps so much to just talk about it all. Anyway, he suggested I (we) get started rearranging the house to get ready for the baby. And we're going to figure out a budget so that I can plan and make necessary purchases myself. That's all I really needed--a creative outlet, you know? And some kind of big task to fulfill that won't be undone within 12 hours. So, it's not so bad.

F in Homemaking

Today I felt like society had failed me.

I am trying to learn how to sew, but every other word in my sewing books is new vocabulary to me. It makes it very difficult to understand.

I made no-bake cookies today, kept up on the dishes (handwashing-ugh), kept the house relatively clean, did a load of laundry, had my quiet/prayer/Bible time (even though I did fall asleep during it), I read of chapter of my Spiritual Disciplines book by Dr. Donald Whitney and I even managed to make a healthy breakfast, a healthy lunch and a decent dinner.

Decent. Today I made Hamburger Helper for my family for the first time. I feel like a failure. Why? I don't know! This should not make me feel guilty. Or maybe it should. I'm a stay-at-home mom. Mothering and housekeeping is my JOB. If I were being graded, I just know I'd get an F. Why can't I plan ahead and get a decent meal on the table each and every night? I guess I'm just human. Sigh.

For some reason this just isn't working out for me. I'm not sure what to do but I think my heart needs a big change.

What is Valentine's Day like for a young, married seminary couple with a toddler and a baby on the way?

Here's the question of the day: Why is it colder and more snowy here in KY than it is in Vancouver where they are having the WINTER Olympics?

I kind of chuckle inside at the facebook statuses of some of my single friends. I know it's awful being alone on Valentine's Day, but I'm not sure their view of married Valentine's Day is completely accurate. Some married couples I know had perfectly lovely Valentine's Days with a date night, an exchange of little wrapped up boxes and a candlelit dinners. Our Valentine's Day was a little different than the ideal. I'm not complaining, because I loved it! I'm just saying....I don't know what some of my single friends think sometimes.

Our Valentine's Day started like any other Sunday. We went to church, but Maryn had a yucky runny nose so we decided not to put her in the nursery. So she and John walked around the church while I sat in Sunday school class. Then, we took Maryn into worship with us where she did her usual Pentecostal style dancing, only to conk out during the second song. She slept for the rest of the service.

Then we went to Qdoba where I guess John got his Vday present in the form of Mexican food. And the only reason we could go there was thanks to my friend Beth who recommended these great coupons. We didn't save as much as we could have because it was our first time there and we weren't really sure what to get for Maryn. So we just got three full meals and two drinks, all for ten dollars. John had a burrito sans coupon, but Maryn and I both ate for $3.00. Maryn ate TWO whole tacos minus the shell, and shared her nachos with John.

I have never seen an 18 month old eat Mexican food quite like Maryn does. She loves chicken, salsa, guacamole, beans, cheese, onions, everything! I love it! She's totally taking after her father.

Then we went home, gave Maryn her Valentine's Day gifts (Markers, crayons and a notebook all in a shiny little purse). John forgot my Valentine's Day present at Target because he has pregnancy brain, too. And Maryn and I made John brownies. Thrilling, I know.

My creativity level has gone down. Why? Because I'm sick. Day and night, night and day, I am sick, sick, sick. And when I am not feeling sick, I am trying to do the necessary day to day stuff. Not that I've been very creative lately anyway. I AM working on a great Strawberry Shortcake page in Maryn's new coloring book with her new sharp crayons. :-D

Then we delivered some Valentines to the neighbors and THEN John made us a fabulous pot roast for dinner. I know that sounds a bit weird, but I haven't had pot roast in about 6 years. Floridians just don't eat it and with all this ridiculous snow I was craving some.


In other news, Maryn decided to show her true colors for the camera today!

You wouldn't believe how sick she is by seeing these photos unless you look
at all the drool and mucus surrounding her nose and mouth. :)

This was her exact reaction to her Valentine's Day present.
Pleasant smile.
She squealed with absolute delight when she opened Grandma
and Grandpa Erdman's gift of pajamas, socks and her dress. Sigh.
She is such a girl.

Running for a Cause

Allow me to introduce to you our new friends, Ken and Sarah. If you have been reading this blog for the past year, you know that John and I both have a big heart for adoption. You also know that we do not feel called to adopt right now, but we would like to help others and help the greater cause of adoption. You also know that we um, don't have very much money. :) Ken and Sarah are in our Sunday school class here and have shared their testimony with us. They are the sweetest people you could ever meet--totally overflowing with the love of Christ. They plan to adopt two children from the Ukraine and we are ecstatic for them.

Nothing in this world quite illustrates the gospel as does adoption. God adopted me into His family. Ken and Sarah will, hopefully before too long, will hold two little ones in their arms and be able to share this same kind of love with them. Love that can only come from Jesus. Isn't that awesome?!

Enter us. What can we do to help them? Members of our Sunday school class are running a half marathon to raise money for these little ones. So John has enlisted and will be running 13.1 miles in May-or March? I can't remember.

We will update you with more information later on how you can help us help Ken and Sarah. These little babies may be born or unborn, so in the meantime you can pray for them and their hearts, the adoption process, and how you may be called to help.

I have prayed about Ken and Sarah for a while now, and God has laid it on my heart to give them $400 for their adoption. This means that, if 15 people (I KNOW at least 15 people read this blog) give about 2 or 3 ($26-30 total) dollars per mile that John runs, we will be able to give this sweet couple $400!!!

Please pray.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Picture Catch Up

Surrounded by boys

Calling her girl friends:
"Yeah Suzy, we're having a great time over here!"

Maryn really likes to stay hydrated.

This is Maryn's new, but already classic,
"You may have told me no, but I am going to do it anyway" look.

Building a tower. She and I made an excellent train track and tower the other day.

Cuddling her baby doll.

Maryn hasn't had a great interest in her baby dolls so far. She feeds them, rocks them, kisses them and bathes them from time to time, only to throw the babies down a second later. But today she really wanted to kiss and cuddle her baby. This is a good thing, I guess, since 6 months from now we'll have a real baby in our arms.

Remember This

On Monday, I will officially enter the second trimester. My baby will be 14 weeks old. He or she is making facial expressions as their facial muscles strengthen. The baby is producing urine and can pee. The baby can also probably sucks his or her thumb. Here is what our baby will look like in just two weeks:
Did you know that many abortions happen between 14 and 16 weeks, and some even later? Sometimes when there are complications during an abortion, a doctor will choose to use a 4D ultrasound to help. Doctors have witnessed babies let out a silent scream as they are dismembered and their body parts are removed from their mother's womb and disposed of.

Why all the gore, Amanda? If there was a holocaust occurring in your backyard, would you not want to know?

I remember seeing a video at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. of a young mentally disabled girl, about 10 years old, having her head shaved and being electricuted. This sort of behavior happens when people start thinking of other people as less than human. No one reading this blog is unintelligent enough to consider a 10 year old girl, mentally disabled or not, as less than human. So why do so many think our 14 week old babies are? Just like that mentally disabled little girl, these are the voiceless. And you should know, and you should remember.

If you are someone you know has had or is thinking about abortion, or is in a crisis pregnancy situation, please find a pregnancy center in your area. They offer post-abortion counseling, parenting classes, information about adoption, and can provide you with information or baby supplies, etc.

Wisdom and Folly

The other day, I wrote about our snow day and the igloo John built, which was torn down within an hour or less of building it. This situation keeps running through my mind, and all the meanings and lessons I can pull from it. Lessons about children, adults, parenting, and sin.

John, about 8 children from the neighborhood and I helped build this igloo, which took at least an hour to complete. And it was cold, hard work. Bending and lifting, bending and lifting. Carefully sculpting. The little girl in question--we'll call her Julie--was one of our biggest helpers. She wore no gloves and yet helped patch up holes around the igloo to help make it sturdy and beautiful.

So why did she, an hour later, so brutally massacre this igloo that she helped build? I know you might be thinking, "She's a kid and that's what kids do." Well, that may be true, but I think her choice speaks volumes about humanity and sin.

"The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down." Proverbs 14:1

When I was teaching in the little impoverished city of Immokalee, I was a little surprised to see that the children who had nothing were some of the most destructive children. How I wanted to be able to send books home (or to the shelter) with them, but eventually I had to stop. It's the same type of thing as the kids in projects who vandalize or destroy their own playgrounds. Why this behavior?

But all this makes me realize, do we not do the same thing? Do I not try to teach Maryn and train Maryn and discipline Maryn, only to grow frustrated and wrongfully angry with her when she's upset because I've been on Facebook too long? So often my behavior is in direct opposition to the very things I am teaching. I try to teach her to be kind and sweet, but can shoot off like a bottle rocket when my patience has finally worn thin--only to witness her sweet little face fall apart in heartbroken sobs.

This is not the way it is supposed to be. When sin entered our world, Adam shifted the blame to Eve. Eve shifted the blame to the Serpent. They hid from God. They learned shame. They learned guilt. They learned anger, impatience, impurity. They destroyed their lives with their very own hands.

"Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he is old he will not depart from it."
-Proverbs 22:6

"If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe." 1 Timothy 4:6-10

By our teaching and lifestyle, we can help our children, families, neighbors and churches set their hope on Jesus and live fruitful lives. We toil and strive because we have heavenly hope. He is building His Kingdom and we are so privileged to even know Him, to even know His name. Work hard, be good stewards of all that He gives us. And we must teach our children to work hard and be good stewards of all He gives us, even if it's teaching them not to color in their books and not to write on their walls or smear poop on the floor. These little lessons may seem mundane and annoying, but we are training our children to "wisely build up their homes," and hopefully with much prayer and training and help from His Spirit, folly will have no room to enter their hearts. They will not tear down their own homes. And will look toward their heavenly home. Where we will spend eternity with them.

Snow Day 2010

Tuesdays are usually a rough day for us, as John leaves for class before 7 am and goes directly from class to work, returning at 7:30 or 8 pm. So usually John doesn't see Maryn on Tuesdays, and Maryn misses her Daddy. We were excited to find out that class was canceled as well as my WIC appointment. It was a day home with the family.

Maryn seemed to realize this was special, as all she wanted to do today was roll on Daddy, lay on Daddy, jump on Daddy, and play with Daddy. She was all smiles all day.

Then we decided to take her out to play in the snow. Really play. For the first time ever. We made her a sled out of a Rubbermaid tub, bundled ourselves up and headed out. Here we are bundling up:

Layer One:

Layer Two:
Maryn hates her snow boots.

Maryn was pretty shy about the snow at first, and she didn't like

being pulled in our sled. But as more kids came around to play,
she warmed up to the idea and we ended up playing in the snow
for about 45 minutes. She would have made it longer if her
Daddy hadn't taught how good snow tastes, and her mouth and nose
hadn't turned to ice from eating so much of it. Ha!

We decided to use the sled to make an igloo.

The neighborhood kids started to pitch in.

Maryn stayed in the middle, eating the igloo as we went along.

John still had to go to work at 1:00, but it was a pretty fun day. You should have seen the igloo by the time John finished it. We had to go inside to make lunch, and the neighborhood kids got bored, so John just kept right on building till it had a roof and everything. It was big enough for most of the kids to stand up in. I believe he got a picture of it on his phone that I may be able to post later. The igloo was thoroughly destroyed ten minutes after he left for work. :-/ Kids will be kids.

Excuse Me

My sweet girl (look at that curl!)

Let me take a break. And tell you a little bit about what's going on around here.

Maryn only wants to read The Wheels on the Bus. She only wants to watch Imagination Movers. She is giving herself a diaper wedgie right now on the couch because she doesn't want to wear pants today. She's been waking up on weekdays at 6 am. Today we took a bath/shower together and discussed how today would be better than yesterday. Less whining, less temper tantrums, less hitting mommy in the face and less kicking mommy in the stomach.

What's all the fuss about? First, LittleTike* fusses and whines and cries all day. They've changed his medication and it seems to have changed his personality a bit. So...I think Maryn has caught on to that. Plus she's a toddler. Temper tantrums? She throws them when she can't do what she wants when she wants--and it usually involves laundry. Laundry must be taken from the dryer immediately and folded immediately. Or else we witness the very worst temper tantrums I've ever seen from my girl. She usually ends up wailing it out in her bed. Behind a very closed door.

Now I know why most kids start watching a lot of television around this age. I admit, it's hard to resist. Maryn is limited to half an hour per day. But....we may have broken that rule a lot lately.

I forgot how difficult and boring winter can be. I liked hibernating for a few weeks. But I'm used to getting out at least 2 hours a day. SWIMMING year round. Going to the playground every day. I have lots of rainy day ideas--you know if you read this blog we do lots of fun activities. But I'm SICK. I'm TIRED. I'm BORED. Which is what brought me here to my blog even while Maryn is awake. Even when LittleTike is here.

Why so tired? Well, first trimester obviously. But I've also been waking up at 3 am and I lay there until 6 when Maryn wakes up. Sometimes I take a shower and eat breakfast while she plays in her bed. I hope my progesterone levels adjust themselves soon. If it happens tonight, I think I'll just get up at 3 and read something other than The Wheels on the Bus.

The one thing that is getting me through the madness is praying through the Psalms. 150 Psalms over 30 days, 5 Psalms per day. Today's Psalms, for example, are Psalms 8, 38, 68, 98, 128. I don't always get to them all, but I choose a few parts to meditate over or mindmap over and it, especially the mindmapping, helps me keep those prayers in my head all day.




*LittleTike is the little two year old boy I babysit.

Maryn's first cookie baking adventure

I have put off making cookies for a LONG time
because Maryn drives me nuts in the kitchen.
She always wants to help.
She always wants to sit on the counter.
Today I realized she'd be big enough for our stool.

Mmmmmh! I love cookie dough!

What do you want me to do next?

Let's do this again soon!

Bling

Maryn may not be into hats, gloves, shoes and dresses to dress up in,
but she does love jewelry. Notice the cookie cutter bracelet.

"I can't get this off!!!"

Cooking in her kitchen. She puts the oven mitt on and gets the pan out of the oven
with the OTHER, ungloved hand. She gets that from her Mammaw.

She makes food for her baby. I can't believe I caught a smile!
She's been very camera shy.

My trip to Germany

Last night I had a dream that I was on a mission trip to Germany (visiting Whitney too, of course) when I was captured and thrown into a prison camp. The prison camp was incidentally manned by some of the jerk guys from my high school. I tried to plead with this guy Mike before he took me to be branded on the stomach with 3 flaming hot car lighters, and though he seemed sympathetic my pleas didn't work. I tried to explain that he was defending an evil dictator and that didn't he want to live in a democracy? But he didn't know anything about history and therefore didn't really know about dictators and governments. He just wanted the money from the evil dictator.

After being branded I was led to a place where I would be hung crucifix style between two posts with chains by my wrists. This was not appealing at all, so I knew I must find a way to escape. I made a sweet friend in my barracks, but as soon as I saw a way out I left. I just walked out the back door of my barracks, no electric fence in sight. I ran through the woods and into a nice neighborhood. I saw some soldiers coming after me, but they were chubby and slow. Shwew. I crept right into the front door of a nice old-person-looking house. And elderly couple was sitting in the parlor, a ways off, so I crept into a spare room--part dining room, part guest room, it seemed--and hid between some shelves. Not very covert. I heard the couple rustling around and anxiously talking, sighing, when the man came and looked right where I was hiding. I smiled. He covered me with blankets and didn't say a word. That's when the chubby soldiers came in. They didn't find me! Close call.

I spent the next week with the couple and their sweet family. I'll never forget them and their kindness to me! Their names were Mr. Hansel and Gretel Lederhausen (I don't know much German). I had to try to find a way to let John know I needed to be rescued from dictatorship Germany, so I sent him an email that was written in backwards code. I sent a copy of it to Veronica just in case John couldn't figure it out.

The Lederhausens' daughter came over to help me build up a disguise. She lent me her ID. We cut off most of my hair and dyed it blond, and she gave me some very stylish clothes and makeup, as well as a great pair of large Gucci sunglasses.

I decided to pretend I was deaf since I know some sign language now, so that no one would suspect I was American. I made it by bus to the US Embassy but the whole road was guarded by the dictator people. So I went up and acted like a very confused deaf person trying to make it across the street to Qdoba. Eventually the soldiers grew very annoyed with me and let me pass. At that time, I dashed for the embassy gate and made it all the way to the door, where my sweet Johnniebear was waiting for me. He had figured out the secret backwards code and gone to all the necessary authorities to have me rescued, even if I hadn't made it to the embassy myself.

So I would just like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Hansel and Gretel Lederhausen, their family, Veronica, and Johnniebear for being my heroes. And I hope my friends from the prison camp are safe now.

...And that is the dream of a pregnant woman.

Tips from the Occupational Therapist

Maryn was hard at work today in her office:

Maryn did a fantastic job painting with watercolors today,
except that she tasted it a few times. Yuck.

LittleTike* has an occupational therapist that visits with him once per week, and this week she came to our house for the first time. She gave me several ideas and tips for helping LittleTike with his self-awareness delays, and of course any of these ideas could be used with any toddler. So I thought I'd share some very clever advice with you about helping toddlers eat, learn, play, and my favorite--clean.

Eating: Our problem with LittleTike is that he doesn't focus on his eating or pretty much any task at hand, which makes mealtimes pretty messy. First the OT made sure we were using good plates (shallow, contrasting colors, interesting things to look at, don't move around a lot on the tray). She said ours were PERFECT. Score. Then she suggested having LittleTike eat in front of a mirror. This helps with self awareness. Who knew...lol. Also, help kids walk on their hands before lunch to get their hands ready for eating.

Learning and Playing: The OT showed me how much he loves to walk on the non-slip rug thing that we have. Walking on his hands, walking on his feet, doing flips...he loves it all. He also loves to be swung by two people in a blanket or drug across the floor on a blanket, which also helps with self-awareness. Maryn has never been fond of that activity.

Painting with pudding, whip cream and yogurt. We've done these and they're so much fun!

Use the tub! Toddler having a bad day? Some tub time will calm him down.

Grocery shopping: Pretend grocery shop by letting the kids push around a laundry basket and put clean, used cereal boxes inside. The pushing and putting things in and out is extra good for them. Use some lighter cans to add some weight to the basket (tuna fish cans wouldn't hurt their toes TOO much if it fell on them).

Let kids push other things around--chairs, little tables, push toys.

Clean Up: Try cleaning up in front of a mirror. Have toys sorted in small baskets and start him out on one item in one basket.

Any more ideas or if you try any of the ones I listed here, let me know. Have FUN!



*For privacy reasons, is this how I will refer to the 2 year old boy I babysit 3 days per week.