Rain-X Car Care Kit Giveaway

Check out Meghan's Mindless Mutterings and enter to with a Rain-X Car Care Kit!

Giveaway

Check out this RC Airplane giveaway:
http://mommosttraveled.com/flying-model-aircraft-with-children/

Looks way fun!

This website has a bunch of cool stuff too: https://www.modelaircraft.org

9 Months Old

Eli was nine months old yesterday and we went to the pediatrician for a check-up. She wants us to take him to a specialist to be evaluated for a possible speech delay, but I'm really not worried about it. I mean, we'll take him and have him evaluated, but I'm just not worried. And here are his latest stats...

Weight: 18 lbs 13 oz (20th %ile)
Height: 26.5 in (4th %ile)
Head Circumference: 46 cm (70th %ile)

Movie Review

I went out for a late-night movie last night and saw, appropriately enough, 'Friday the 13th'. My review in four words: Don't waste your time. Rating: F-

I mean, I wasn't expecting anything amazing. This is Friday the 13th, Part 73, after all. But there was nothing remotely original about the plot. Several hedonistic young people go out into the woods and die horrible bloody deaths. Just like Parts 1 through 72. The sex was borderline pornographic. The language was foul. The horrible bloody deaths were... horrible and bloody. (that, at least, i expected.) The only redeeming quality was Jared Padaleki whom I have a soft spot for. He was also the only non-idiot in the movie.

All the Tens

Lila just said something so random and funny that it almost made me cry. Doug and I were discussing a weekly park day on Friday and I mentioned that it starts at 10:30 or 11 a.m. when Lila piped in with,

"Yeah! It starts at 11, and then it's 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and all the 10s get tornge."

I... umm... what?!?

It was all I could do to look her in the eye, with a straight face, and try to clarify this statement. She did, in fact, say 'tornge', though I have no idea what that means.

Confused

I'm sitting in the living room right now, listening to Eli cry. He woke up about 15 minutes ago and is refusing to go back to sleep. I'm guessing that I'll wait about four more minutes and then try feeding him. Hopefully that will settle him down and he'll sleep. I'm glad I decided to stay up late tonight because if I had gone to bed at the same time as Doug, then I would have been awakened after only 30 minutes of sleep. That is far more painful than not getting to go to sleep in the first place.

I'm feeling rather confused this evening over a big decision that I just had to make. I started reading a book recently called 'Just Courage' by Gary Haugen (i think that's the author's name - the book is in the room with my sleeping husband). [pause while i follow through on plans to feed baby and put him back to bed. seems to have been a success.] Anyway, this book is about following God's call to fight against injustice in the world.

I chose this book to read almost at random, but it has turned out to be quite challenging. In fact, it's the first thing I've read in a long time that challenged me to the point of making me uncomfortable. It started me really thinking about how comfortable I am in my little 'Christian cul-de-sac' and got me thinking about mission trips more seriously than I have before. Just after this seed was planted in my heart, I heard about a mission trip that my brother-in-law, Keith, is leading to Uganda in May.

Well, Eli has woken back up and started crying again, so I'll make this the short version. First I was excited about it and willing to do whatever I needed to make the trip work. I talked to Doug and he was generally on board. I got more details and it looked a little more daunting, but after some discussions it seemed like it still might be a good fit. I prayed and thought about the decision a lot and was feeling pretty confident that this was the direction God was leading.

I got Doug's input on the idea again and then suddenly (though not because of anything he said, i don't think) started getting very upset at the thought of leaving my kids - especially the baby - for so long (the trip is 2.5 weeks). I then went through a brief but intense internal battle where I felt like God was leading clearly in one direction, but my emotions were trying to take me in another. After more prayer and wrestling, and a couple of helpful conversations with other moms, I started to have some peace and excitement over the idea again.

And now it has basically fallen through due to logistical difficulties. If I had an extra month to research and plan before I made a final decision, then I might be able to do it, but there's just not enough time. So, what was that all about? Was it a test of willingness? I am happy to say that, though there was some resistance, God did find a heart that is willing to follow wherever He leads. Was this preparation for another, upcoming opportunity?

It is confusing for obvious reasons and leaves me feeling slightly insecure because I feel like I fought this major spiritual battle against my flesh and overcame it by the power of God... but for nothing. Now I know that's not true because nothing is for nothing. But I can't see clearly what it was for. Hmm... I think I'm starting to talk in circles now. And Eli is still crying, so I'd better go. Just thought I'd take the time to finally post something real. :)

I keep thinking of all these wonderful things that I'd like to post about, but I've been buried under a mountain of email for a week. I'm mostly posting this photo to let you all know that I'm still here. Don't give up on me! :oI~

even princesses have to pick their nose sometimes...

...but do they have to do it with gloves on? in the middle of a birthday party? while people are taking photos?

Very Mysterious

Lila totally freaked me out the other day. We were on our way out the door, headed to Double Dave's for peproni rolls. Doug had already taken Eli out to the car, I was gathering some last-minute item from the kitchen, and Lila was getting a jacket from her room.

Then Lila says, "Mom!" -- (she calls me 'mom' now) -- "I found something mysterious! Behind my closet."

I was, first, amused by the fact that she was using the word 'mysterious' and, second, intrigued by what she might have found in her closet. Doug had taken a piece of furniture out of there to fix it, so there was no telling what might have been under it. Anyway, I come into the kids' room and Lila is standing a few feet from the closet, sort of leaned forward and staring into it.

"Mom... Do you see it? [she's pointing into the back of the closet]... It's very mysterious... Look..."

This is the point at which I started getting a little freaked out because I didn't see anything. Was there some insect that she saw, but I didn't? I was looking very closely where she was pointing as she continued.

"Do you see it?... It's teeny tiny... It's a little tiny baby guinea pig!"

Oh. All this was about an imaginary animal. Whew! I thought one of us was crazy! Well... arguably, we both are. What inspired this sudden mysterious discovery in the closet, I don't know, but the guinea pig joined us at dinner and has "shown up" now and again since then. We found out later in the evening that it's a BLUE guinea pig.

I'm glad we have someone to keep us on our toes.

Sooo Tired

We have been going non-stop all day long and I am so tired. [see photo] We had school all morning, lunch at Chick-fil-A, a marathon photo session at the mall, then dinner at Chuy's. Now Eli is crying in bed, Lila just got out of the bath, Doug is sick, and I think I might fall over. All that being said, I don't have time for a full update, but I wanted to post something.

A New Clarity

Something amazing happened to me at the gym today. I was laboring away on the elliptical machine and people-watching when I suddenly saw the people I'd been looking at. And what I saw amazed me! They were beautiful. All of them! They were youthful, wrinkled, overweight, lean and toned, energetic, careworn... and breathtaking.

True, there were still a handful of people that I had a hard time finding the beauty in. I was making assumptions about their character based on characteristics they shared with people I'd known in my past. The woman whose posture told me that she was emotionally withdrawn, even from those closest to her. The man whose eyes told me that he was a talker, the constant flow of words a habit developed over a lifetime to keep at bay the questions and thoughts that were lurking in moments of silence. The young lady whose apparent conviction that everyone was watching her bespoke a heart that had not yet learned to put others before itself.

But I forced myself to put aside those judgements and keep looking until I saw the beauty underneath. And it was there, in every person I saw.

Directly in front of me, there was a mother and daughter working out together on a pair of stationary bikes. The daughter was wearing a diamond engagement ring, which I gathered, based on the way she flashed it for her mother, was a recent addition. I was caught off guard by how their beauties were reflected, not only in their own faces, but in each other's face as well. Beauty multiplied by being near a loved one.

How long will this clarity last? How soon will I absentmindedly slip those lenses back on and start looking at people through the filter of my own past and biases again? Well, truth be told, it's happened already. (i'm remembering my thoughts as i watched someone approaching the door of my neighbor's house.)

I will pray most earnestly, however, that I may see the people around me as God does more and more often, until it is a part of who I am.

There are moments in my day -- when my daughter says something that takes me by surprise and makes me laugh; when I pick up my son and he buries his head in my neck -- which leave me certain that I am the most wealthy woman I know.

3 going on 30

My daughter said to me, a little while ago, "I need to understand myself so I can figure out how to go to sleep at night without back pats."

Wow. I knew she was a lot like me, but that's just unnerving!

By the way, this photo is not very impressive as a small image, but if you click on it to enlarge, it's quite cute. This is when the girls were 'ice skating' around the living room. Actually, this was taken right after Lila discovered that the bags would fly off if she kicked her feet!

Kids

I love this photo of Eli. He is sitting in the floor, watching the preschool girls 'skate' around the living room with paper bags on their feet. We frequently do things during school that make him question what kind of nuthouse-- er... family he's been born into. You should have seen the way he looked at us when we were flapping around in circles and making turkey noises!

I've come up with a few of analogies for what it is like to walk with/behind a 3-year-old. Maybe they aren't all this way, but mine is.

First, when you are walking behind one and want to get around them. It's like being stuck behind someone who's driving 10 mph below the speed limit and swerving in and out of their lane. Every time you think about passing them, they swerve right into your path.

Second, when walking with one... anywhere. They are like a drunk snail. Again, with the slowness and swerving. Don't even get me started on how easily they get side-tracked by everything in sight!

Third, when you, for example, are at a fast-food restaurant and you get up to grab more napkins and when you turn around to come back to the table they have started to follow you and are drunkenly weaving their way toward you, directly in your path. OR they've come up behind you quietly and you turn around and step on them/knock them over. This one is a video game analogy. If you've ever played a game where you are the main character and you have a secondary character who follows you around and is good for virtually nothing - this is the 3-year-old. The secondary character who follows you like they are attached with a bungee cord and only manage to wander into your path so that you are back to the first analogy.

There are definitely times when these tendencies are maddening, but overall, I find them highly amusing!

potty talk

Lila and I were just having a discussion about going potty. I was telling her how great it is that she's just been going potty when she needs to lately. She used to tell us she needed to go or just stand around doing the potty dance until we asked her. For the past few days, however, she's been going in there and taking care of business all by herself.

Anyway, she was sitting on the potty seat that goes on the big potty and she was talking about how one of her school friends can sit on the big potty all by herself. Lila recently discovered that she can also do this, which I pointed out to her. I said she could use the big potty or the potty seat, whichever she wants. She then said...

"Big potty... Potty seat... Big potty... Potty seat... Big potty... Potty seat... So many chances!" [i believe she meant 'choices']

Too funny!

P.S. - I do realize this is not a photo of Lila. It's actually a picture of Eli, sitting in the floor at Grammie and Papa Joe's, watching 'Wall-E'. And speaking of Eli...

He has decided to out-do his sister by beginning communications even earlier than she did. If you don't remember, Lila started speaking at 8 months of age. (Her first words were, "Hi Lila!") Well, Eli has started at 7.5 months, BUT... He must also do things a little differently because he is his own man, after all. He has learned to do the ASL sign for 'all done'.

We weren't sure, at first, that he was actually signing, but over the past 24 hours it has become quite apparent that he knows exactly what he's doing. He's signed 'all done' at least twice at the end of a meal, once when the doctor and I were holding his head still so she could look in his ears, and again just a little while ago when I was invading his personal space with lots of kisses on the cheeks. So cute!

The way he does it is exceptionally funny and adorable, so I'll be trying to get it on camera in the next day or two. We'll see if he cooperates. :)

Kiddies and Kitties

While we were in Houston, someone had the idea to take all the granddaughters to the movies one day. After some discussion, we realized that it would not work due to attention spans, energy levels, and competing naptimes. Instead, we popped some popcorn and everyone (except me - i escaped for a little while) settled in to watch 'Wall-E' at home. This photo shows Hope, Cole, Kuncle Keith, Olivia, and Lila. Oh, and Papa Joe's left shoulder.

I took Charlie to the vet this afternoon to check out his runny eyes. They said he's got pink eye, picked up who-knows-where, and gave me some ointment to put in it twice daily. What's more interesting, to me at least, is that Charlie is much more relaxed at the vet when Cordy is not there with him.

I always take them together because it's more convenient to make one trip rather than two. And Charlie usually hunkers down on the exam table, hides his head in my armpit, and growls while Cordy explores the room, rolls around on the floor, and generally flirts with anything that breathes. This time he didn't hide his head or growl and even tolerated having his eyes messed with.

When they spent the night at the clinic a couple of weeks ago, the staff tried putting the two of them in the same cage overnight and they freaked out on each other! Cordy got all hissy and spitty and Charlie was hiding in a corner, trying to escape her wrath. They had to put them back in separate suites to calm everyone down. I guess I'll start taking them in separately in the future.

Kick! Kick! Kick!

I'm kicking myself (very hard) in the tush right now. When we were in Houston, we saw an ad for the Wii Fit for only $90 at Target. That is an amazing deal! We were going to stop on the way home from church to try and pick one up. For some reason, I was feeling hesitant on the purchase, so I suggested that we wait. By this evening, I had decided that it really was a good idea (especially since we have gift money to use), but it's too late!

I called five different Target stores in our area and all are sold out. Maybe we would not have been able to get one even by the time we left church yesterday because they are THAT popular this year, but now we'll never know. And I would feel a lot better about missing out even though we got there as soon as we could than I do about missing out because I hesitated! Oh well. Let it go, Angela. Let it go...

We had a great Christmas in Houston with the Peelers and took about 150 photos, most of which you will probably never see. (much like i never got around to posting pictures from halloween.) The one you see here is Eli playing with Lila's favorite gift - a stuffed dog that she named Sparky. Eli's favorite gift, hands down, is his 'jump jump'. Maybe I'll finally take the time to post a little video on here so that you can see him in action. It's hilarious!

Difficulties of Life

Lila just started crying and said that Charlie had scratched her. Since I know that his aggression is rarely unprovoked, I asked her why he scratched her. That's a little more diplomatic than asking what she did to him. Anyway, she said, "I was trying to be kind to him, but I couldn't. I just wanted to be rude." Just to clarify, I asked her if that meant she was being rude to him and she said yes.

She tried to be kind but couldn't because she wanted to be rude.

That, my Love, is what we call 'battling the sin nature'. And it never ends.

The Day's Adventures

Lila and I had a fun little date today. We went to a free screening of Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas at the Alamo Drafthouse (South Lamar)! They even had a live jug band play before the show. Lila's favorite part of the experience was getting to eat (she ordered a corn dog and ate only the corn, not the dog). Her least favorite part was the dark theater. It really wasn't that dark, but I think it was the pre-show anxiety about just how dark it would be that she didn't like.

I also put a big nasty scratch on our mini-van while we were out. I'm usually overly cautious about the boundaries of my vehicle because I just don't have a good sense of them. This time I thought I had room and it turned out I didn't. I scraped the back driver's side against the corner of a dumpster! Ugh. And then I got us into such a tight spot in this miniature parking lot that I couldn't get out!

I was seriously wondering if I'd have to just sit there until someone came and left in one of the cars I was stuck between, when I was saved by a homeless man. There was a guy who seemed to live in that parking lot, right by the dumpsters, and he helped me maneuver my way out. I was so thankful because he really rescued me! I gave him the leftover half of my pizza from the movie and then picked up some cash to give him while we were shopping.

I always wish I could do more though... like bring him home with me and give him a fresh start... I think maybe I have a dream for our future of starting some sort of home/program for homeless, to help those who really want to change and get their life back. Anyway, I digress. Doug is sitting just a few feet away, reading books to Lila, and it's hard to concentrate.

My head and neck hurt and I feel kind of ill. I'm going to do 10 minutes of yoga and see how I feel afterward. If I feel better, then you'll see another post from me this evening. If not...