A Little Update

Sweet little girls

2012-01-02T22:06:00.004-05:00

Two extra monkeys at the zoo on New Year's Eve

A few quick updates of sweet moments to treasure away -

Ellie has such a good sense of humor. She loves to laugh and joke. Her favorite joke right now -

Me: "Ellie, how are old are you?"
Ellie: "I'm twoooo! Hahaha!"

So sweet. Ellie is also a very good at hide and go seek (better than Kate, who tells you where she is hiding :) Ellie will run and hide behind the bedroom door (I can't believe how quickly she's running!) Tonight when it was her turn to seek, she was yelling out, "Dada, where are youuuu?" What a cutie. Here she is giving Brett one of her sweet kisses -

A sweet end to the night, Kate wanted to feed Ellie her bottle. She did a wonderful job. While she was feeding her, she would say, "Ellie, I love you so much." Precious. After she was done, Kate and I were enjoying the moment and just looking at Ellie. Then Ellie, clear on the schedule, pointed to her bed and said, "Nigh, Night!" Okay, we've got it, sweet girl :) So cute.

Here are a few pics from New Year's Eve. Brett and I went to a fun concert on the 30th at Southgate house, so we decided to spend the 31st with our 2 favorite girls. We went to J. Alexander's for dinner to celebrate the end of a great year, where Brett finished his first year of school, Ellie celebrated her 1st birthday, and Kate is growing into a sweet little girl. Then we went to the zoo and saw the 9pm fireworks. A great way to end the year.

Sweet updates

2011-10-14T13:21:00.004-04:00

Fun updates lately:

Ellie is sooo funny :) Such a joy. We played peek-a-boo yesterday and her belly laughs were so big. She is a delight.

Ellie's favorite phrase right now is "TANK OOO" (thank you.) She says it anytime you help her or give her something. She is so sweet.

Ellie is close to walking. So close.

Kate is loving school. She sits in her bed during naptime having circle time with her animals and talking through (out loud) every part of her school routine. She is an auditory learner, and she is so comfortable and happy in a traditional school environment. I think she will always love school.

Kate's brain works non-stop. This was our recent conversation:
Kate: "I don't want to wear jeans. They aren't fancy."
Me: "Jeans are great. They go with everything."
Kate: "So jeans are like cheese."
Me: "Huh?"
Kate: "You know, cheese goes with everything, just like jeans."
Brett said, "Maybe I should have had Kate take the analogy section of the GMAT for me."

Brett is doing well in school. Kate loves going to UC with him to get his books.

Kate was so awesome in her swimming lessons this summer. So brave. Here's a pic of her going off the diving board.

All is pretty well for the Littles!

Funny

2011-09-08T20:54:00.006-04:00

Ellie has such a great sense of humor. Several times today, I feel like she was trying to make me laugh. Just getting in my face and being silly, saying funny stuff (not that I understood, but she did and thought it was very silly.) Her favorite book is Goodnight Gorilla, and seriously she read it like 10 times today. She knows it's hilarious. She's so desperate to talk; I know she will be telling jokes soon.

Some things Ellie is saying lately: She can go, ball, dora, jenny, kate, nana (banana), oh!, whoa! She was grabbing for Life cereal and said, "I want those!" At the pool I thought she was drinking from a pool toy, so I asked her, "Ellie, are you drinking the water?" and she said in a funny little tone, "I drink water!" Everyone around the baby pool started cracking up and thought she was older than she is.

Kate is such a sweet girl. She does such a great job with Ellie - she is so kind and loving with her. She even shared her orange peanut butter crackers with her today :) She's a snuggly little girl. Her joke of the day - "Why do some people say 'Ah, Man!' at the end of a prayer?"

Note on these pictures: isn't it funny that in both pictures we have the same expressions?

Blessed

2011-08-08T22:36:00.004-04:00

I'm happy. Really happy. No particular reason, I guess. But I love my family. I'm proud of my husband. He works so hard, and it's a labor of love. I love my girls. Kate is so funny, and she's really starting to "get it." She went a whole day yesterday and controlled her emotions - when she wanted to get upset, she didn't. It was sweet to watch her process in her head, "I want this, but I'm not going to freak out even though I can't have it." Kate started swimming lessons today - I was so proud of her. She's cautious, but she jumped in and despite drinking the pool, she said being brave was her favorite part. Ellis is dying to talk. She's saying words already - dada, mama, kaitlyn, thank you, gandma, papa, no, yes. She's such a cutie. I just love her up. She's made of sweetness - full of honey, I think. I'm blessed. Sometimes really tired, and blessed with every moment.

Outside fun

2011-05-04T14:59:00.002-04:00

I wish I blogged more, but somehow I never make the time for it. But I had fun today and thought I'd share it:

Ellie LOVES to be outside. Of course, everyone likes being outside, but I think it is Ellie's favorite thing. If she is really upset, we take her on a walk and she calms down in no time.

Yesterday while walking, Kate was cracking me up. We played "I spy":
Me: "I spy with my big eyes, something red."
Kate (after looking for a while): "I don't see anything red."
Me: "Look right there, that car."
Kate (laughing): "Mom, you're being silly. That car is maroon."
Me: "Oh, well, I guess you're right. Sorry, Kate."

Then we get into an absurd and very silly conversation about a squirrel::
Me: "Look girls, a squirrel."
Kate: "I wish I had a squirrel puppet."
Me: "What would you do with a squirrel puppet?"
Kate (already amused with herself): "I'd put it in my room. Then I'd by another one." (at this she just started cracking up at herself.) Then the two squirrels would be friends for life."

I'm just laughing, not knowing how to respond, when she adds, "Now, I'm just kidding, Mom. I don't really want a squirrel puppet. Don't buy me one for my birthday." Okay, Kate :) So silly...what fun these two are!

Joy

2011-01-04T21:10:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty sure Ellie is the most joyful person I've ever met. She laughs and smiles more than anyone I've ever known! Peek-a-boo is the funniest thing on the planet. When I tickle her, she loses it :) I pray she doesn't lose this quality. What a sweetheart!

She's also quite a little athlete! She rolled over today and looked like she wanted to crawl across the floor :)

Things that make me smile

2010-12-02T20:38:00.004-05:00

I'm starting to think that 2 years is the height of drama - the highs are so high and lows are low. Kate is a very emotional person. Seemingly small things can really upset her. And when she is excited, wow! Lately she's been making me laugh with her funny sayings and take on the world. She really picks up subtly in conversation. A few conversations we've had recently:

Me: Kate, look it's snowing.
Kate: Is that the white stuff.
Me: Yes!
Kate: Well, can we celebrate mommy?

Kate: Mommy, you're not wearing a shirt.
Me: Yes I am, Kate. I'm wearing a black t-shirt.
Kate: Oh, you are wearing a shirt. Just not a very pretty one.

Me: Kate, if you have faith in God as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you.
Kate: But mommy, I don't like mustard.

Brett (first thing in the morning): Kate, do you have a dry pull-up?
Kate: Maybe, maybe not. You never know. We'll have to check and see. (these are many of her favorite phrases.)

Elli is as sweet as she could be. What a darling little girl! She is SO joyful! When she smiles, her whole face lights up! It is so sweet. She is so talkative too. What fun!

Fighting off Mush

2010-11-21T21:53:00.002-05:00

I recently adopted a new parenting strategy - when Kate asks me "why" she can or can't do something, I've started giving her the actual reason versus just saying "because." I'm happy to report that it seems to be working, as she's submitting more easily. A specific example is, when she asks to watch TV and I tell her no, I've explained it's because "if you watch too much TV your brain will turn to mush." Now she nods and moves on to something else. Here is a funny example from today of what this strategy is producing:

Kate: "Mommy, can I have another cookie."
Me: "No"
Kate: "But Mommy, I really want another cookie."
Me: "I understand you want another cookie. I would like another one too. But we can only have one cookie."
Kate: "Because our brain's will turn to mush."
Me: "No, if you eat to many cookies, your belly turns to mush, not your brain."
Kate: "And we don't want a mush brain or a mush belly."
Me: "That's exactly right, Kate."

Our home

2010-11-02T21:15:00.000-04:00

Finally, our home looks like it belongs to us! The outside has not matched who we are, and the new red definitely does. Yay!

One of the best things that has happened to me in making improvements to our house - I'm starting to get confidence in my design aesthetic. I've struggled to embrace it at times, and I've learned that's at least partly because, I like things other people don't. I appreciate BOLD, UNIQUE, and DRAMATIC. I like things that are different, in general and in design. So, when I get other people's opinions, it often is not the same as mine, which hurts my confidence. The worst is when I don't go all in - then it's sort of a half-baked version of what I enjoy - lukewarm, blah. Kind of like the old exterior -

I'm so happy with the new colors. I think we've done the best we could with what we had to work with. Our neighbors definitely enjoy it - it fits in our unique and eclectic neighborhood well. Most of all, it reflects our family so much more. It feels like our home.

Gator!

2010-11-01T21:25:00.000-04:00

This is probably my favorite wedding pic so far! Bride, Groom, flower girl, maid of honor, friends galor doing the GATOR at the wedding. Awesome! I love that Nikki is down in her dress, I love that Kate caught right on, I love that it's from Animal House, I just think it's awesome! A great event - fun had by all!

Faith

2010-10-30T20:33:00.000-04:00

I'll start by saying - I LOVE THIS STORY! It is a testimony of God's goodness in my life. It's a goody: I had always questioned if I would physically be able to have children. There was plenty of evidence that suggested it would be difficult if not impossible. However, about 5 years ago, I stopped putting confidence in the difficulties happening in my body. Instead, I started listening to my heart and my spirit, and I knew I was going to be a mother. God started confirming this promise to me - I was going to bear children.

So, I started acting on that promise. Brett and I selected names for our unconceived children, we painted the bedrooms where they would sleep, and we started buying our unborn children clothes. About 5 years ago, I was shopping at Target and saw these adorable shoes, and I bought them for my future daughter. I had no sense of sizing, so I picked up the size that looked cute. Well, about 2 months ago, I stumbled across them, and what do you know, but Kate wears a size 8! A perfect match with Kate's red flower girl dress!

3 pairs of red shoes, 3 red dresses, 3 cute girls :)

Also noteworthy - a year ago, I interviewed my Grandma and learned a little more about her life story. One of the clear themes was, although she had endured challenges in her life, her FAITH never wavered. She never questioned the Lord's goodness toward her. We know that blessings endure through generations, and I know we will see the gift of faith in all our children.

Look at sweet little Ellie Belle :0)

I just bought her these shoes - they are a size zero! Who knew they made shoes in a size zero. Adorable

Andrew & Nikki French!

2010-10-29T20:19:00.002-04:00

Congratulations Nikki & Andrew! Their wedding was awesome. I don't think I've ever been to a prettier reception - it was held at the Akron Art Museum and the setting was amazing. It was a fantastic, super fun party. Amazing.

Kate Little absolutely had the time of her life. She danced NON-STOP! She did a combination of running around the dance floor and shaking it.

More pics to come, but a few good ones from my camera:

G.Nana and Ellie - both having an amazing time :)

Brady & Brett

Krissy, Nikki & Cousin Mike

Mom, Nikki, Krissy & Dad

2 cute married couples

Receiving Grace

2010-10-28T20:52:00.000-04:00

Overall, things are still going very well around here. Although, about a week ago, I ran out of grace for myself. What I mean by that is, when Ellie was first born, I considered myself successful if everyone was alive. Now all the sudden I've raised the bar much higher, and I can have a tendency to feel like a failure at everything. Another big issue is, I've started working on small projects, which I really enjoy, but finding someone to watch the girls on short notice has been a huge challenge. I may only have an hour call to do, but it becomes a big issue. I'm still working through that. But, we're doing our best. I think it will continue to get easier, and I've got to give myself more grace when it feels like Kate's watched too much tv, I didn't cook a great dinner because I was holding Ellie who couldn't fall asleep, Brett and I haven't gone out and had fun in too long, I didn't have time to work out, I didn't have time to read, pray, etc. Physically, mentally, spiritually & relationally I may be falling short of my bar, but my bar is too high. I need to receive more grace.

Look at this sweet picture of Elizabeth GRACE - a beauty :)

The blessing of family

2010-10-27T20:12:00.002-04:00

We are so lucky to have such a wonderful family. Here are a few shots during Ellie's first month with people who love her so!

The School Girl

2010-10-26T20:35:00.007-04:00

Kate started pre-school back in September, and she LOVES it!!! It is so good for her. The second day she came home and said, "Mom, it's time for Circle Time. Please sit down." Circle Time is a very structured time each day where they learn new things, sing songs, pick jobs, etc. She loves being in school. By the second week, her teacher told me she had made a friend, Avery. They like to do everything together - how sweet :)

I think I posted a while ago that I had planned for Kate to go to 2 different schools. One of the things I do as a consultant is "scenario planning." I think the second school was to ensure that if Ellie & I were having a tough time adjusting, particularly with sleep & energy, that Kate would still have fun and stimulating things to do. The great news is, with Ellie being such a wonderful and easy baby, Kate is only going to 1 school, Hyde Park Redeemer for 2 days a week, and then the rest of the time we're all doing stuff together. It's been really nice and a great blessing.

Today was the Halloween party - Avery, Kate's buddy, is the Fairy Princess in pink. Kate is a princess - way to go Tom Maybin on the idea of recycling the flower girl dress, adding a tiara and tada - a princess! Also pictured are the teacher, Mrs. Ahrens, twin brothers Joel & Joshua, and Mckenna the chicken. I loved today that Kate had something really fun to do, and I didn't have to plan or organize it.

Ellie had fun today too - here she is playing with her zebra toy from the Seddons. I think she's giving it a kiss :) What a cutie! Kate said today, "I love Ellie's pretty smiles :)"

Smile!

2010-10-19T20:29:00.003-04:00

Look at this beautiful little baby!

(I will catch up my blog at some point, but I couldn't wait with this cute pic!)

6 weeks!

2010-09-27T20:14:00.002-04:00

The past 6 weeks have gone by so fast, I can't believe it! We have been so busy it's been kind of ridiculous. I think we've been out of town in some capacity as a family for the past 4 weekends. Sort of a lot with a newborn, eh :) And still, we are doing great.

I'm a little hesitant to post about this for fear it will come out wrong, but it feels so important I'm going to try. We have experienced a complete gift and blessing with Ellie - she is an absolutely incredible sleeper. Now, I know baby sleep is such a loaded topic. I know this from experience from difficulties we've had with Kate over the years. But still I want to share this. Why? Not because we have some "secret" - it's actually quite the contrary. We were given a gift. But I will tell you that it is a gift we asked for many times.

I was so nervous before Ellie was born because I believed that without 8 hours of sleep I am a waste; that everything will fall apart in my world. And with 2 kids, I didn't know what was going to happen. But, or maybe because of this, a month before Ellie was born, I surrendered my control of sleep to God. I said my sleep was his and I trusted him to sustain me. The thing is, I never imagined that he would sustain me with actual sleep! Ellie was going 6 hour stretches before she was a week old and has never looked back. We are not doing anything; we can't take any credit. This is all an amazing gift.

Psalm 116:1-2 says "I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live." Right on. I mean seriously.

Everything else has been going very well too. Kate LOVES Ellie. She is incredible with her. Of course with so much activity lately she's had her share of meltdowns, but what can we expect. I've had a few myself ;) But she is so in love with her little sis. What fun it will be too watch in the upcoming years.

A few more pics below over the past 6 weeks...more to come!

Elizabeth Grace Little - The Story of her Birth

2010-08-20T20:54:00.005-04:00

This will be the highlights because I need to go to sleep, but I can't believe how good this is! Things are going so well I can't believe it. This whole thing has been amazing - gentle and serene just as God promised. I feel incredible. Ellie is doing great. Kate is doing great. Brett and I are a great team. So, so good. Let me run down how the story of Ellie's birth:

Monday at my doctor's appointment, Dr. Allen said we would have a "discussion about induction." When we got there, the discussion went like this, "Show up at the hospital tomorrow at 7:30am." Good talk, doc. It was exactly what I wanted though, because I had told Alli that day that I didn't want to have to make a decision about induction, and I didn't have to - he's the expert, we trust him, and he decided. He said we were playing with fire at 40 1/2 weeks so she needed to come now. Great, sold.

Brett and I were all packed up and ready to go. It was nice to get to be so prepared. My parents came in town that night, and the next morning Kate was so excited to see them. Brett's parents came down that afternoon, so Kate was all set for an awesome day.

The labor basically went exactly as Dr. Allen said it would. They gave me pitocin at 9am. I got an epidural at 12:30pm - he said I could have it "whenever my little heart desired", and with contractions every 2 mins, that felt like the right time. Funny side note - we were watching movies, "The Proposal" and then "Alice in Wonderland", and it was during Lewis Carroll's story with Tim Burton's interpretation that I felt the need for drugs...go figure :) They broke my water at 1pm, and then we had a little bit of unwanted excitement. The cord was around Ellie's neck and when my water broke, she slid down and her heart rate got really low for about 12 minutes. Stressful, but they got it back up again and took me off the pitocin to get her back up to normal. I felt good the whole time, although the nurses said with a younger doctor it would have been c-section, which was the same thing that happened with Kate. Luckily Dr. Allen is patient. I was a little bummed at this point thinking the labor would now last a long time, but at 3pm I was ready to go. They said, "Don't laugh until the Dr. gets here or the baby will come out." Uhhh, okay. I didn't believe it, but 4 mins after Dr. Allen got there, Ellie was born.

This time, I watched the birth, and it absolutely floored me. I think part of me still wasn't convinced there was actually a baby inside me. And then when Dr. Allen handed (well sort of threw her) to me, I was absolutely overwhelmed. In that instant, I was overcome by how much I loved her. I had just met her, and I loved her as much as I love Kate and Brett. I guess in advance I thought somehow I'd have to share the love I already have with her, not that it would be an all new capacity and amount. Love works in different currency. I can't get enough of her.

It is incredible how good I feel. I feel like I had a great experience with Kate, and with Ellie it's 10X easier. I guess pushing for 4 mins versus 2 hours helps a bunch. Being scheduled made us so much more well rested, so that is great. I was worried I wouldn't remember anything about having a newborn, but it's coming back to us really well. Overall, just so, so good.

Kate couldn't be more excited. She came into the delivery room after Ellie was born and was so sweet. She ran in, wanted to hold her and give her hugs, she had bought her a little Grover present. She is such an amazing big sister, it makes me cry.

Our parents were such a wonderful help. It means so much to have that kind of support and love from them. THANK YOU GUYS! We also have such wonderful friends who've been visiting and calling. The whole thing feels easier with that circle of support.

I have to admit I'm still just a bit nervous about having enough energy to do it. I'm trying to surrender my control and nervousness about sleep and trust that God will carry me and sustain me. In the hospital my daily Bible verse on my blackberry was Isaiah 46, and vs. 3-4 says "Listen...you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs
I am he, I am he who will sustain you.
I have made you and I will carry you;
I will sustain you and I will rescue you."
I trust that and I'm trying to remember it so I don't get scared.

Ellie is a wonderful baby. Things I already know about her - she is gentle, peaceful, feminine, delicate, loving, joyful, kind, and patient. She's eating really well and sleeping well too. She's been amazingly alert right from the start - looking at us with these big, dark & deep blue eyes. She smiled last night while she was sleeping and it was so beautiful. She's a real treasure.

So overall, the best experience we could have envisioned and hoped for. Welcome to the world Elizabeth Grace Little! We love you soooooooo!!!!

A feat of bravery!

2010-08-15T22:47:00.003-04:00

I'm so proud of Kate! Today at Coney she went down this big slide! Brett took her to the top and she definitely had a moment of hesitation, but then brave Kate went shooting down the slide. I was at the bottom to catch her, but she had to shoot under water for a few seconds. And the best part was, she loved it! She wanted to do it again. It was great. By nature, Kate definitely likes to think things through and understand how they'll go before she jumps right in, so this was a big deal for her.

She was a champ today at the pool - she also did a great job floating, both with and without us. With her little arm floats on, she'll go out by herself and sing her little song she learned in swimming lessons, "I'm a little pancake on my back, I'm a little pancake nice and flat." (to the tune of I'm a little teapot.) She HATED floating before the lessons, so just that alone was probably worth the $100.

Maybe her biggest accomplishment of all was an amazing display of patience - definitely not a strong suit for Kate. She was dying to get in the water but Brett and I were still getting ready to go in, so she asked if she could sit on the ramp and wait for us. It was a great test, and she sat there patiently for one, maybe even two minutes. That's HUGE for her! All in all, such a big day. So sad to think that all winter long she'll forget most of this!

What Kate's talking about these days

2010-08-14T22:14:00.006-04:00

Kate is so much fun these days. I love being with her. Here are a few snip-its of the kinds of things we talk about during the day:

Kate - "I was in Mommy's belly when I was an itty bitty. Then God told me it was time for me to come out."

Kate - "Can I play with this?"
Me - "Daddy said you're not allowed to play with it."
Kate - "But Daddy's not here."
Me - "Wow...you still have to listen even though he's not here."

Me - "You have an umbrella just like this one in this book."
Kate - "Well, it's similar Mommy, but mine has more colors."
Me - "Uhh, you're right. I stand corrected."

Me - "Do you want a glass of water?"
Kate - "Yes. Can I please have a pink cup to match my pink shirt?"

Kate - "When Ellie gets here I'm going to huggle her, huggle her, huggle her!"

Kate - "Daddy, is that your cup on my furniture?"
Brett - "Yes, Kate, that's mine."
Kate (laughing) - "Silly, Daddy, that's not where we put cups!"
(Note to readers - I swear we're not trying to raise a neat freak. We don't talk about it, but actions speak loudly apparently.)

Kate - "Can I please get Ellie out of your belly?"
Me - "God says when it's time for her to come out."
Kate - "I'll just get her out for a little bit. Then we can put her back. I want to hug her!"

Kate (singing to my belly) - "I'm your big sister and I love you! I love you! I love you!"

Another shot of summer fun - Luke and Kate chillin in the pool

Quack Quack

2010-08-13T20:26:00.006-04:00

Another day of fun while waiting for Ellie :) Today we went on the Cincinnati Duck Tour with the Russells - Kelly, Mac, Bode & Chaney. We loved it. It's a boat and a bus that looks like a duck. I learned some good new facts about Cincinnati, like the original state of the Ohio River is 20ft X 5ft (which was how it was during the Civil War when it served as the Mason-Dixon line) and that P&G started making soap because there was so much lard left over from the pigs being slaughtered here in "Pork-opolis." I always love being on the water, although today at 100 degrees it felt HOT.

Although there are still a few hours left in the day, it's looking promising that Ellie will not be born on Friday the 13th, which I'm very happy about. Not that I believe in all that junk, but who wants to have their birthday on a day given over to the occult. Any other day from now forward feels good. I'm starting to think we're going to have to go in and get her. She seems a little too comfortable in there. I'm still fine, but looking in the mirror I can definitely tell she's getting big. If it's not before then, I have an appointment on Monday with my doctor to discuss induction, which I am very fine with. So, we shall see!!!

Let's get this straight -

2010-08-12T14:13:00.005-04:00

Boy is this a good one... Today Kate and I went to the Museum Center with Tara, Hyland and Lydia. We had an awesome time. Kate LOVES being with the girls. Very fun. Anyways, Kate and I were walking out to the car, just the two of us, and here was our conversation:

Kate - "I'm going to get in my car seat by myself."

Me - "Because it's so hot, I'm going to put you in your seat so you don't get burned."

Kate (repeating herself, but this time with a kick) - "I'm going to get in my car seat by myself because I'M IN CHARGE."

FULL STOP ON THE SIDEWALK.

Me (calmly but clearly) - "No Kate, that's absolutely incorrect. You are not in charge. Mommy and Daddy are in charge."

Kate - "But I want to be in charge."

Me - "I totally understand that, but it doesn't work that way. God put Mommy and Daddy in charge of you. You don't get to be in charge."

At this, she starts sobbing. I took that as a positive sign, like she got what I was saying, but of course was not happy with it. I'm a betting woman, and I'd put down cash that this is an issue we'll come back to...learning to submit to authority is not easy, Kate, you are correct.

Cute girls at the museum :)

Gentle

2010-08-08T20:34:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, when I was thinking about when Ellie would come (which I do quite often these days :), I felt like God said to me that the process of her birth and everything around it would be gentle. This past week was the first week I really felt like she could come, and it felt so relaxing, almost boring at times. It was nice to just have rest.

Gentleness is a strong contrast to Kate's birth - she came almost a month before we expected, my water broke at Babies R Us while buying everything including diapers. I'd describe her birth as dramatic, exciting, and energetic. Those are all words I'd use to describe Kate's personality as well.

I've felt like Ellie's birth would be gentle and serene, so expecting the pattern to hold true, I will look for those things both in her birth and personality. Delightful :)

Honestly, for me, while I'm really excited for Ellie to arrive, I'm not restless about it but instead pretty patient. She will come when the time is right; I feel good about that. I'm not overly uncomfortable, so we're just excitedly awaiting. Kate on the other hand seems very ready. She keeps digging in to understand if she can't take her out, when God is planning on it. It's very sweet.

And so we wait. At the swimming pool :)

Making Improvements - Part 2

2010-08-07T14:07:00.000-04:00

As I said in the first "Making Improvements" post, home projects are not for the faint at heart. The second big project of the summer, which actually started as the first project but is currently still in progress 2 1/2 months later, is painting the exterior of our house. The background on this project is, I've always hated the way our house looks from the outside; I wouldn't have come to look at it if our realtor and friend Steve hadn't insisted that we see it. He was right - I love our street and I love the inside of our house; but I've never liked the outside. It lacks any charm or character; one person said correctly, "It kind of looks like the back of a house." A few months ago, I had a vision for how I wanted it to look and I got really excited about it. But bringing that vision to life has been a chore to say the least.

The major part of the vision was removing the white paint from the bricks in the front. Sounds easy enough, but wow, it hasn't been. I talked to tons of people and no one would even give me a quote to do the work. No one, except Timmy. I found this hilarious guy Tim would said, "Sure, I can do it." And he did, but I thought it might kill him. Tim is awesome - he's the most perseverent guy I've ever met. To get this paint off, he has tried everything under the sun, twice. He explored chemicals, blow torches, sand blasting, power washing, scraping and more. And he refused to give up, even though I'm sure he wanted to. Even more, he always was in good spirits about it, determined to find a solution. Eventually, he found a way with special products and a method he developed to get this paint off. And let me tell you, I think it looks beautiful! I'm not going to put up a picture until it's done, but we have several people stop in front of our house daily to say how much they like it. It is a dramatic change, and I'm so happy with it.

But as I mentioned, this type of thing is not for the faint of heart. As if 2 1/2 months of trying to get the project complete weren't enough, there is another issue. After the process was complete, I started to consider that we could have an issue with lead paint because our house is from 1956. The internet had my mind spinning, so this morning I took paint samples to the health department to be screened and Kate to the doctor for a blood test to ensure we are okay. The lead division at the health dept screened the samples for me immediately and while it's not totally conclusive, the 10 samples I took them (yes, I'm thorough :) all came up lead free. We'll hear about Kate's results next week, but I'm sure she'll be fine.

Again I say, this type of thing is not as easy as you think it should be. Who would have thought that repainting our house would take 3 months and involve city departments and doctors. The bright side is, I have a terrible memory so in time I will forget the pain of this and just enjoy the beauty of the improvements. And then, when enough time has passed, probably start a new project.

Just another "before" shot...when the giant new house was built and happened to be almost the same color as our "little" house, that was the final straw in my aggressive work to get this project rolling. Pics coming soon - as a tease, last night Rob Seddon come over to our house, as he has many times before, and starting driving by our place because he didn't recognize it!! :)

Shepherding a Child's Heart

2010-08-06T20:31:00.001-04:00

I just read this book, and I highly recommend it. I don't agree with everything, but overall I really found it helpful. It's a book about raising kids. The main point is, you can't get stuck on changing behavior but instead you should look deeper into what is happening in the child's heart that is causing the behavior. It really impacts a lot when you can assess what is driving the behavior, have a conversation with the child about it, and then work to correct that heart issue.

Other things I found helpful -
1) Obedience should come without waiting, whining, or warnings (my summary.) Disobedience is an issue between the child and God because my authority represents God's authority. I felt convicted about not trying to control Kate's behavior but rather to focus on understanding her heart and temptations to correct her and restore her to blessings. Obedience rescues them and pulls them into safety - "Honor your parents that it may go well with you and you may enjoy long life, the first commandment with a promise." Proverbs 19:18 says, "Discipline a child for in that there is hope, do not be a willing party to his death."
2) Another main point is that shepherding is about leading a child on a path of discovery of himself and the world. I loved the book's description that the main goal of parenting is setting the child up to know and love God, and that all you need to do is present the good news of Jesus and expect that they will be drawn to its attractiveness. Discipline itself sets them up to receive - we are all sinners in need of a savior. It also talked about striving for your kids in prayer - excellent.
3) Having clear goals for your kids - Primary focus is on knowing your child so you can develop a plan to draw out their strengths and address their weaknesses.
4) Children must see their inability to do what God requires without God's help and strength. Correction must hold to God's standard of righteousness which then turns them to the cross and God's grace. Appeal to their conscience so they indict themselves. Bring them to a sober assessment of themselves as sinners, then the mercy of God who sacrificed Jesus for them. Here we teach them that God is their only hope, not themselves.

There's a ton more, but those are my highlights. And it reads super fast - I had to stretch it to 3 days to let it sink in. It's got some good stuff.

And here's a pic of my two favorite cuties :)

Preschool

2010-08-05T20:31:00.002-04:00

An update on our choice - Hyde Park Redeemer is our favorite. It is not the biggest or most popular choice, but it felt most consistent with our family. Things there felt more ordered, less chaotic (as preschools go, of course.) The space is big and new, the teachers are very experienced, there is an order and schedule to each day; it just felt right.

The drawback - at 2 years old it's only 2 days a week from 9-11:30. I then realized another objective of preschool - giving me time with Ellie, which this doesn't do much of. So, Kate will go to Redeemer on Mon & Tues, but then also to Goddard on Wed & Thurs. Goddard was my second choice. Not as good as Redeemer - the teachers, while degreed, are not as experienced, and the classes are bigger, still good ratios but just more kids and therefore more chaos. But they have a good and probably more academic and well-rounded environment. It's pricey, so we'll do it for a while and see how it goes.

The thing I'm most nervous about is Kate getting sick, and then Ellie getting sick (and probably the rest of us too.) I don't know that there is any way around it; I pray we don't have a year of sickness. But I know Kate will love it so that's no reason to keep her in a bubble at home.

I think she's really going to love it, so I'm super excited for her. Especially with Ellie here, I think it will be so good for her to have her own new, special thing. What fun!

KML Consulting

2010-08-04T20:54:00.001-04:00

Did you know I started my own company? It's funny - I've never had a desire to be an entrepreneur (actually, I just had to look up the spelling of the word.) It just kind of happened, but it's been fantastic.

Here's the short story - I quit P&G, took 2 years off, then went to work at a small consulting company. It was good, I was basically doing the same work I did at P&G but it was less intense and less work at 4 days and then 3 days a week. But after a year, I realized that by consulting back to P&G, it was really hard to be truly part time. So, I thought, what if I just did this on my own so I have more control over how much I'm working. And that's what I've done. It's been great so far. I've been working primarily with the consulting company I used to work for doing projects for P&G as a subcontractor. It's really fantastic. When I have a project I work a bunch, and when I don't, I don't work at all. Feels like a more realistic way to get balance. So far, so good. I'm not going to do anything for a few months, and then will probably be back at it in the winter at the same pace.

What is it I do? Excellent question that I can't really answer very well. Ironically, I've always had this problem. As an Industrial & Systems Engineer, people would say, "What do you do?" and I couldn't really answer. As a Brand Manager at P&G, people would say, "What do you do?" and I couldn't really answer. Now it's probably of the most importance because I want people to hire me, and I still can't articulate it all that clearly. Here's my best answer - I do the same types of things I did at P&G (but admittedly, that doesn't help since I can't exactly describe what I did there.) When pressed I say my current focus is on helping companies develop new product and commercial ideas. If they need a $1 Billion idea they need a plan to get there, and I work with them to develop a plan to come up with the next big idea. I understand their goals and objectives and develop workshops to help their team think differently to think of a great idea. Clear as mud, eh.

As for my company, I've done very little develop it thus far. I chose the name because I wanted it to sound strategic not executional - so "KML Consulting" vs. a "Bang! Splash! Whiz!" type of deal. I'm not totally married to KML Consulting, but it works for now. I need a logo - maybe I can find someone to draw something up (lemme know if you're interested!) Brett is my partner, so that's fun since we've always wanted to be in business together (although at this point, his "contributions" have been purely for tax advantage.)

I've never really been one to have a "master plan", which is maybe how I ended up here. I never expected I'd be doing this, and I love it. You just never know...Here are a few shots from my recent work trips to Singapore and Brussels:

Singapore was like Hawaii in beauty. Absolutely gorgeous public park at the National Orchid forest which had hundreds of varieties of Orchids. Amazing. Too far though - 26 hours of flying, and I couldn't sleep as much since I was pregnant and had to walk around. It was a little weird though - there are so many rules, like no drugs or they kill you, that it felt a little bizarre and false. Too clean (you aren't allowed to chew gum.) Sort of pleasantville-ish.

This was my CRAZY fish pedicure in Singapore - absolutely nutty! You're supposed to let the fish eat off your dead skin for 45 mins; I couldn't last 5 mins! The lady said, "You are giggling like a small child!" Yes, because fish are eating my feet!!

The streets of Brussels - me acting like a tourist. It was actually a delightful European city with all the cafes and shopping you'd expect. Surprisingly nice.

Making Improvements

2010-08-03T20:17:00.000-04:00

We've been making a lot of improvements to our house lately. First let me say, improvements are not for the faint at heart. They take an amazing amount of effort. And that's even when you are hiring people to do the work. I've always been amazed at how difficult it is to find workers. Not even superb workers, just people willing to show up and do work. The Bible is right, the workers are few...It's a task just getting people to call you back to come give you an estimate to do work. But after quite a bit of effort and diligence, we've found people to come out. It always takes longer than expected, it's always more expensive, and there are always problems. But if you can make anything happen, I call it a victory.

Our major victory of the summer was adding a bedroom to our basement. This was huge. With Ellie moving into the nursery and Kate moving into what was the guest room, our 3 bedroom house no longer had a space to accommodate any visitors easily. At the great suggestion of friends, we realized that the space next to our basement family room would be a perfect place for a guest room. So, the previously unfinished space has become a bedroom. And for our house, it's a great location for guests because it's more separate and private. Also, we think we now technically go from 3 bedrooms to 4 since we have walkout access and 2 points of exit, so that's a huge improvement to our space. We are very pleased with the result. Doug Kraus did the work and he far exceeded our expectations. It turned out much better than we could have envisioned. We are very happy with the results - see below (or come over for a stay :)

We've got one more project in the works. Here's a little preview. I doubt it will be completed before Ellie gets here, but hopefully before the end of summer. The exterior of our house is going to look much different soon...

Feeling hot, hot, hot - NOT

2010-08-02T17:21:00.008-04:00

This may be the most no brainer, no insight thing I've ever written about, but it's interesting to me so here goes. Yesterday one of our friends stopped by our house and we were outside. When I go outside our house in the summer, I usually wear pants and my hooded sweatshirt. Why? Because I hate mosquitoes, and they are always attracted to me. So, despite the 90 degree weather, not to mention my pregnant belly, that's what I think would be best to wear. And that's my standby outfit when I go outside to play with Kate or take a walk. To me, it's much better to be a little warmer than to get bit by mosquitoes. I also hate the feeling of Off, the other obvious solution; once I put it on I must take a shower afterwards, and that doesn't always fit in my schedule. So, there I am in a hoodie in August.

And here's the no brainer that just hit me - every human must process temperature very differently. I think our friend thought I was NUTS being dressed the way I was. But here's the thing - heat doesn't bother me. Sure, I may sweat, but who cares. I think it feels good to be hot. Now what I hate on the other hand, is being cold. It physically hurts me to be cold. Like sitting at a football game in November - it gets painful. Maybe it's the Lebanese blood. Brett has also observed that my mom and I drink enough water to hydrate most camels preparing for desert conditions, so that could also be connected.

Now this conclusion is my own - I think more people are bothered by heat than cold. I'm making this judgment based on how often I get comments on how terrible it must be to be pregnant in August because of the heat. Everyone talks about it, and it's really not of concern to me.

One other update for today - I've been thinking that today or tomorrow is the "big day." We'll see, because the clock is ticking...I may be wrong. Although there is still a little time...I also felt last week that the word around Ellie's birth would be "serenity", which is defined as "calm, tranquil, peaceful, composed." Those all sound good, eh.

(Oh, and in case you're curious, we've got a project brewing on the house...more to come soon!)

Buddies are a gift

2010-08-01T20:01:00.003-04:00

We've had some great buddy time lately! Here are a few pics with friends:

Cana and Kate enjoying some quality pool time!

Nolan and Kate having a fun dinner at Panera - cheesin' it up :)

The Girls, Alli, Zoe, Kate, & me, at Coney. Definitely the highlight of not working is days at the pool!

We are so lucky to have such great buddies!

Kate's Birthday

2010-07-31T14:42:00.000-04:00

Although a few months late, I wanted to post a few pictures from Kate's birthday party. What a wonderful time we had! I loved planning it for her - the preparation for the event was fun for me. The best part of all was that we had all of our family in town, and so many friends there to celebrate. It was really special to us that everyone came in from out of town - Nikki & Andrew, Keith Nancy & Mike, G. Nana & Susie, Al & Suzy, Brady & Emily, and of course Grandma & Papa Little & Maybin. Then with all her best buddies there, what more could she ask for!

She definitely got into the presents! Boy did she love all the fun gifts! Everyone gave her such fun things.

She really wanted a monkey cake, ala Curious George, so that was the theme. After the party she said, "Thank you so much for my birthday party mommy and daddy!" It was so sincere and so sweet. She had such a great time. What a delight she is! Happy 2 years, Kate!

"Inducible"

2010-07-29T18:29:00.003-04:00

That's my status as of yesterday's doctor's appointment - "inducible." Basically means although they aren't planning to induce me, they could if they needed to. Feels like progress, as last week they said they would try to stop labor if it started. Now I'm dilating and effacing and all the other important mumbo-jumbo, so I could go whenever. My doctor said, "Could be tonight, could be 3 weeks." I like that kind of expectation management - I really have no idea. With Kate I wasn't making any progress and he said, "but your water could break in the parking lot." And that's not far from what happened. It's a funny thing to have no control over something so important. I suppose control is really just an illusion anyways since big things can always happen, but I tend to maintain that illusion as best I can. I guess it's great preparation for what our world's going to look like. I'm getting more and more excited everyday. Also a bit more uncomfortable ;) Ellie, we can't wait to see you!

Family Camp

2010-07-28T14:22:00.000-04:00

This is so amazing - we have a group of friends who decided they wanted to organize a camp so our kids could have memories together with their family and friends specifically connected to their faith. Last year there were 20 families, and this year there were 40 families (and they had to cut it off because it was so full.) Basically there are fun activities, skits, games, songs, swimming, etc. with all of your best friends. When we got back Kate wanted to know if we could go back the next week. It was so sweet.

It's cool to see people who are so gifted bring their best to planning an event for kids and families. There were songs written for the event by songwriters, shirts designed by graphic designers, books written and illustrated by children's authors, financial matters covered by accountants, first aid handled by doctors - you name it, it was first class. And how cool to see that just for kids. At night, they brought in Mae Klingler, a friend of ours who writes and sings children's songs, to perform. It might as well have been Bono to this audience - the crowd went wild. Here is a video of Kate and Cana rocking out...

Flower Girl

2010-07-26T14:15:00.001-04:00

Kate is JAZZED to be a flower girl for Nikki and Andrew! As we've been planning the showers she's asked if we were having a birthday party for Nikki, to which I responded, no, it's her wedding. So, she keeps singing "Happy Wedding to you, Happy Wedding to you, Happy Wedding Nikki & Andrew, Happy Wedding to you!" She is excited to be a helper and wear a red dress. What fun! We'll see how she does walking down the aisle in front of all those people - Kate really likes to be prepared before she does anything, and there is really no way to get her prepped for that scene, so hard to say. But no matter what, she'll look cute!

Awkward, fun progress

2010-07-24T21:11:00.001-04:00

Well, this pregnancy is definitely not the same as last time. I'm physically much more tired here at the end, which makes sense while playing, carrying, and hanging out with a 2 year old all day. But I'm still feeling good, just physically tired and a little uncomfortable and awkward. Luckily, I love the heat, so that part doesn't bother me a bit. I'm not swelling and my back is fine; I just have a giant belly. The other day while swimming with Kate, I kept feeling like I wanted to fall forward because I was so off balance. It was so funny. It was a great day - Kate said I should take a turn on her "timmy the turtle" raft, which I did, and it was so relaxing! She was right. We played and she jumped off the dock about 30 times. She said to me, "You are the best mommy I have ever seen" and I started to cry at Coney it was so sweet :)

At my doctor's appointment he said Ellie is in perfect position and I'm starting to dialate, so that's good news. No telling on timing, but I'm still guessing early August. Kate came at 37 1/2, my due date is Aug 15th but I think that's technically a week early, so I'm still sticking with first week in August.

We shall see...throw out a guess on the date!

New Rooms

2010-07-23T14:14:00.000-04:00

We've had a big move lately - Kate has recently moved to her new, big girl room. She has done an amazing job. We approached it with what appears to be the one and only strategy I know - cold turkey. Luckily, it seems to work for her. We've been talking up the new room for quite some time, and we made the decision that as best we could, when the time came we would move her to the new room, and specifically new, big bed for good - naps and nighttime. Brett came up with a back-up plan (thank God for 2 parents :) that if she rejected the big bed she could sleep in her pack & play in her new room, which was great because then she still had a choice but it did not include the crib. The big thing was, we didn't want to buy a new crib for a 2+ year old. Luckily, it really worked well.

Kate has been amazing in her new room. She really loves it. We have been picking out decorations for it for almost 2 months, so I think she really feels ownership of it. Her favorite color is blue, so there is lots of teal everywhere. The furniture was mine, and also my aunt Susie's before that, and I'm so happy with it. Our FANTASTIC painter Graham said, "I'd like to give you a gift and paint your furniture for free." Uh, absolutely Graham, I love gifts, you can definitely paint the furniture for us. He did a great job and I'm really happy with it. (PS - if you need a painter, Graham is amazing and very reasonable- see his website at www.vfpainting.com)

The day before she moved, we threw her a "new room party." She wanted a monkey cake (the same as her birthday), so this time I made it pink and blue. We celebrated with the Pattersons, and they showed her their big beds. It was perfect - I think both the party and the big kid room tours were clutch. The first couple of times she pulled a typical Kate negotiation - "I think maybe my Pooh crib would be better for me for my nap." Nice try, cute girl, but we're going to your new big girl bed. Now she's excited to be in there, which is so lucky for us.

I'm really happy with the way Ellie's room has turned out. It feels totally different to me than when it was Kate's room; just new bedding and some new pictures, but it makes a big difference. I'm excited to be in there with her. Kate seems to get that it is now Ellie's room. Hopefully she's still good with it when Ellie is here. But so far, she is doing great. Lucky for us - what a blessing!

Celebrating Ellie

2010-07-21T20:07:00.012-04:00

I received the best gift recently. My friends Alli and Sara threw me a shower for Ellie. I would probably have to say it was my favorite party ever. Let me tell you some of the reasons why:

First, they broke the "rule" that you don't have a shower for babies after the first born. The truth is, the best part of any shower is celebrating the baby who is coming into the world. I felt so blessed to get to celebrate Ellie uniquely. Secondly, the party really felt like a perfect celebration for who Ellie is. It was very feminine, held at the Bonbonorie Tea Room. It was light and fun. There were so many beautiful gifts just for her. It was awesome. Next, and probably the best part, was the invite list. It was very small and included my very favorite people. With my dearest friends there, it just felt right. Probably connected, I received the best presents ever. I'm not normally a "gift person", but every single gift was just delightful and perfect. I guess from the people who know me the best, that makes sense.

The theme of the shower was gifts just for Ellie, and that was perfect. I really felt compelled early on that Ellie shouldn't just have everything from Kate. Her room should feel different; she should have different things that reflect her. This shower made that happen in lots of fun ways.

Overall, it was such a beautiful event. It made me so happy. Happy to have such amazing friends. Happy to receive this beautiful new girl. Just happy.

Expectation

2010-07-18T21:43:00.003-04:00

I'm definitely getting excited for Ellie's arrival. I had an experience the other day that really felt like a gift, so I thought I'd share.

Now that I really look pregnant, it's fun to get people's reaction. Of course it's nice to have people want to help you with things, like offer to carry something or open a door. But even better is when you can see that they are celebrating the joy of pregnancy with you. That's always cool, even from a stranger.

The other night, I went to Target to do some quick errands by myself around 8pm. (Aside - I was shocked at how many people had their little kids there, and then watched as they got frustrated that they weren't behaving - I wonder why!) Anyways, 3 times in the same trip, I interacted with people who were clearly excited for me. One woman was 25, she looked married, not yet ready for kids, but excited by the prospect. Another woman was 40 and was in the thick of raising her kids, and was excited about that newborn stage. The last woman was around 65, her kids were grown, and she looked at me with a fond remembrance and knowing joy of what was to come.

All of these women had an overwhelming look of love and joy in their eyes. They didn't know me at all, but they were excited by the expectation of a new baby.

My friend Josh, who some would say has a bit of a hard exterior, said recently when looking at his newborn son (his 5th child) that "babies are like crack to him." When I asked why, he said, "because this is as close as we are to perfection. So innocent and pure."

I can't say for sure what it was for each person, but there is something very exciting about the expectation of a newborn baby. It's a love that's very raw. While I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed logistically by the thought of a newborn, I am ready for that kind of love.

Tonight at 8pm

2010-07-16T07:21:00.005-04:00

You should turn on NBC and watch "The Jensen Project." Our buddy Steven wrote the original script for the movie, and he wrote and sang a song that is in the movie. I'm really excited for him - this is his first time doing something like this. Randy Jackson from American Idol picked all the songs, so he was probably more excited about his song getting selected than even about the movie. Hopefully the movie is good - he didn't get to write the final screenplay since he's not yet in the writer's union. No matter what, I'm super excited.

Steven's blog is linked on my site, as is Dora's wedding blog Viva Bella events. His music is at stevemanuel.net. (Steven led Kate's dedication, in case you're trying to place him...he's also our pastor.) Here's what the Cincinnati paper wrote -

P&G movie storyteller's big chance
By John Kiesewetter • jkiesewetter@enquirer.com
July 15, 2010

When Steve Manuel of Oakley saw the helicopter with "The Jensen Project" logo, he realized that he finally made it as a movie writer.

"We made this thing up on the phone, and now hundreds of people were making our vision become a reality," says Manuel, 37, a singer-songwriter-screenwriter, about his February visit to the Montreal set for the TV movie.

Manuel and pal Jeff Davenport of Denver created the story for "The Jensen Project," which debuts Friday night on NBC and is the second family-friendly NBC movie produced by Procter & Gamble and Walmart.

LeVar Burton, Kellie Martin and Patricia Richardson star in the film about a rogue genius stealing cutting-edge research developed by the super-secret Jensen Project.

It turns into a "Spy Kids" story when two teen-agers (Alyssa Diaz and Justin Kelly) try to rescue the boy's parents.

Manuel and Davenport pitched about three dozen ideas to Brian Wells of Cincinnati's Front Porch Entertainment, which is producing the films with P&G. He's an executive producer on the film.

"P&G makes movies much the way it makes soap, finding out what people want and need. Then they put the ideas into testing and see how people react. The Jensen idea got traction, so we expanded on it," he says.

The part-time music leader at Crossroads church also wrote "Anything Is Possible" for the TV soundtrack album produced by "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson. They met while recording the movie trailer music last month in Los Angeles.

Manuel was awestruck walking into a Hollywood recording studio filled with session musicians who had played with Paul McCartney, Sting, Michael Jackson and Madonna. Then Randy Jackson asked him to join back-up vocalists on a track, after working with Manuel's song.

"After plugging away for 20 years as a singer-songwriter, to be able to write, sing and perform for Randy Jackson was pretty satisfying," he says.

Manuel has been helping friend Sam Hills prepare to open the High Five hair salon Aug. 19 in O'Bryonville. Manuel's wife, Dora, plans weddings and events through her Viva Bella Events company in Kenwood. They have a 9-month-old daughter.

Manuel says he and Davenport want to write more for Front Porch and the P&G-Walmart family friendly campaign. The companies plan to make at least two more films, says Jeannie Tharrington, P&G publicist.

P&G launched the movie series in April based on research showing that only 23 percent of U.S. viewers are satisfied with family-oriented programming.

To Manuel, it's as simple as the "You Are What You Eat" message on his T-shirt.

"We want to tell stories that inspire, teach life lessons, and model integrity that impacts all who watch them," he says. "When you have good stories of hope and caring, then that's what people will aspire to do."

More coming soon...

2010-07-13T15:35:00.002-04:00

I promise I'm going to have some updates soon!

The third trimester hasn't been bad, but I've been napping during my normal blog time.

But expect to see more details on the following soon - A super sweet shower for Ellie, Kate moving to her big girl room, our almost complete construction projects, and more.

I promise, more soon! But we're all doing well!

Updates at 2

2010-06-18T15:34:00.006-04:00

Kate had her 2 year check-up, and she is doing great on most things. Her only real challenges are things that are messy (such as drinking from a cup) because we've given her no exposure - that's what you get from 2 neat freaks :) She is off the chart on height (and head size :), but the doctor said sometimes with girls it's not totally predictive. Who knows why. But I doubt she'll be short.

Verbally she has exploded lately - it's so cool to see the way she puts her thoughts into word combinations she's never heard before. At this stage she should be able to put 2 words together that are a noun and a verb (like "puppy runs") but she is way past that. For instance at the store the other day she said, "I think it would be better for me to walk not have a cart." She's got the gift of persuasion for sure. Another example I thought was funny - yesterday something smelled really bad when we walked in the house. I couldn't figure out what it was. Kate walked in the kitchen and said, "Why it smells like poop in here, Mommy?" Excellent question, Kate; I don't know why. Where this is not super helpful is when she tells me all her opinions about what she would and wouldn't like to do - man, she's got a strong will! We're working through it though.

Overall things are going well. We're in swimming lessons right now, which are awesome! More on that later, but it is so fun to have a water baby! PS - how funny are these pics! I love that dancing one!

On the run

2010-05-27T12:57:00.000-04:00

Every morning and afternoon, Kate and I go out on trips. Sometimes we have a specific purpose, other times we are just going out to see what fun we can find in the world. I can't see any reason to just sit around our house. There is fun out there, and Kate and I will find it.

But, occasionally, we do need to be at home - a contractor's coming over, I have a commitment that forces us to stay in for a while, etc. It doesn't seem noteworthy enough to mention to Kate, "Hey, this afternoon, we're just going to hang out at the house," but I am starting to see that she may need that type of notice.

The other day after her nap I had a painter coming over at 4:30 so I was just sitting on the couch. She put on her shoes, stood at the door and said, "Come on, Mommy. Let's go. We need to go on a trip. Let's go to the mall." I casually said, "We're just going to hang out here," to which she replied, "No, we need to go on a trip. How about Target? Or even Home Depot?" I've not only trained her that we need to always be on the go, but also that there is a hierarchy of places we can visit. When the mall isn't an option, we settle for Target, or even Home Depot when we are desperate.

This is just more data to support that Kate needs to be in preschool when Ellie gets here. Kate needs to be out in the world, having fun, burning energy, while Ellie and I are getting some sleep. Clearly a priority we are going to need to invest behind for everyone's sanity :)

Alli said - I was just remembering that I used to be on the go a lot more with just Andrew. I even remember thinking "maybe I'm teaching him we always have to be going somewhere. Is that a bad thing?!" Anyway - good news: he's a 4 year old now who is perfectly content to be at home or on-the-go. No harm done. :-)

Happy Birthday Kate!

2010-05-24T20:14:00.004-04:00

I can't believe she's 2 (tomorrow)! What a cutie! Here are just a few things I know about this sweet girl -

Kate is loving. She cares deeply about those around her, aka "her buddies."
Kate is smart. Good grief. That brain of hers is strong.

Kate is passionate. She's all in, all the time. Her intensity is high.
Kate is fun. She loves to laugh and make those around her laugh.

Kate is a shepherd. She is inclusive and wants everyone to be involved.
Kate is joyful. What a joy and delight she is!

Compliment or Insult?

2010-05-22T20:42:00.003-04:00

So, I'm not sure how to take this - what do you think?

Today I saw a friend that I hadn't seen for a couple of months. We chatted for a while, she complimented my outfit and told me how cute I looked, and then she asked me if anything new was going on. When I said I was excited about the baby she said, " What! You're pregnant!" I feel like this happens to me more often than it should, and I don't know how to take it. Is it a good thing that my body handles pregnancy well even at 6+ months, or is it a bad thing that people think nothing of me gaining 20+ pounds primarily in my stomach? It's one thing with strangers or people who don't really pay attention to physical appearances, but a girl friend who clearly had noticed how I looked and not noticed, I don't know what to do with that.

Seriously??

2010-05-14T13:55:00.000-04:00

Kate and I have been checking out preschools lately. Kate loves it. She says, "I have to do work. I need to go to school." I don't know where she got that but it's funny. She loves being around kids, and when the baby is here in August, I really want her to have her own, big girl thing to do.

As we look at these schools, I have to admit I'm way out of my element. The level of chaos in a preschool far exceeds my capacity. But all the kids and teachers seems to be loving it so here's to them.

But I do have my limits. At one school we visited, the director was explaining one of the school's policies to me and I could barely keep my composure. Here's what she said - "If a child is playing a math game and says that 2+4 = 5, we don't correct them or tell them that they are wrong. We don't want to discourage them!" I stood there with my mouth hanging open in disbelief as she continued, "We want them to like math, so we just try to model the right answers in hopes that they will get it right next time." Ummm, seriously? You've got to be kidding me. I promise you that kids who think 2+4 = 5 will not have math as a love of their heart over time. I swear it was the stupidest thing I've heard in a long time. And probably the thing that shocks me the most is, I'm sure it's a philosophy being taught in a university setting somewhere. She also added, and I guess this won't surprise you based on what I've already shared, that they don't tell the children "no" or "don't do that." I certainly think there is a time for redirection, but how can you not acknowledge the need to tell kids - who are just small people - no. Absolute lunacy. So the search for Kate's school continues...

On being a mom

2010-05-11T19:41:00.006-04:00

I was in the bathroom at a restaurant Saturday night, and there was a woman washing her hands at the sink next to me. I noticed her because she was strikingly beautiful, but I couldn't figure out what about her made her so attractive. She was fairly average in every way, and yet, I found her so beautiful that I was kind of staring at her to land on the heart of her beauty.

As I was glancing back and forth at her subtly, she kind of caught me off guard by asking me, "Are you a mom?" I of course said yes and she wished me a happy Mother's Day. After assessing that she was about my same age, I asked her the question back and she replied yes, so I bid her the same. I then added that I had another on the way, and she congratulated me.

(This is a separate point - I feel like when I meet strangers, or even see people I haven't seen in a while, I need to tell them I'm pregnant and not unfortunately shaped or letting myself go. I have to say it's hard - I just had some people I see pretty regularly find out and be surprised to learn I'm pregnant. Good grief with the long torso - it's 6 months already!)

Back to the main story, so after being recognized as a mom, I stopped and considered what got her to the conclusion. And at first, I was upset - I thought, "Am I wearing a 'mom' outfit? Do I have a 'mom' haircut?" I hope my body at least makes me suspicious, but based on her reaction I wasn't obviously pregnant to her. So basically, all of my first reactions were negative - I didn't want to look like a mom.

But then I thought, maybe she thought I looked soft. Maybe my smiles seemed loving to her. Maybe she could see that I'm nurturing. Perhaps even the beauty I saw in her that I couldn't identify was her softness and grace, and that's what she was also seeing in me. I liked this idea better so I stuck with it. :)

My Mother's Day was outstanding. Brett and Kate made it a perfect day. I knew what I wanted to do, asked for it, and received it. They took me to breakfast, gave me sweet gifts, hung out, had Dairy Corner custard - all my favorite things. Kate really understood it was a day to celebrate me - she kept asking to "cuddle mommy" and hug and kiss me. Adorable little girl. I love being her mom :)

What's in a name

2010-05-08T20:29:00.000-04:00

So it looks like we have a name for our new baby girl. Once we knew we were having a girl, her name came to us pretty quickly. With Kate, we knew her name before she was even conceived. We also have had our boy name picked out for years - Jonathan Thomas. But we weren't sure on our second girl right away...here's a little background on the process:

We started with Grace, but felt like Grace Little would be read as "Little, Grace" and we want lots of Grace not a little bit. Our next fave was Alli, but I never really liked that TV show "Kate & Alli" and I thought I'd always think of that. Lillian has always been a huge favorite of mine - that was my grandma's name and I love Lilly as well, but Lilly Little just doesn't roll off the tongue for me. So, we kept thinking.

Brett and I have both always loved the name Elizabeth, but we could never land on a shortened version that felt right to us. But then Suzie Zakany, Brett's aunt, suggested Ellie or Elle. YES!!! My response was, can you do that? Well sure you can. So it looks like her name is going to be Elizabeth Little, and we will call her Ellie. When she gets older, maybe she'll want to transition to Elle, but we'll have that be her call. As for the middle name, the lead horse is Grace (the issue above doesn't bother us in the middle)...Elizabeth Grace Little.

The name Elizabeth is Hebrew and means "Consecrated to God." Uh, yeah, that's awesome. In case you don't use the word consecrated every day, it can be defined as, "dedicated to the Lord," "set apart for God," "devoted to God." Yes, please sign our daughter up for these things.

So don't hold us to it - there's still time for a change, but I think we're feeling pretty solid on this one.

Partying at 5am

2010-05-04T20:13:00.004-04:00

The other night it was storming, and Kate had to go to the bathroom at 5am. When she heard the thunder she was confused and said, "Daddy's awake! Let's go see Daddy!" I told her he was still asleep and that it was raining outside. She started laughing like I was crazy and said, "I can't go outside in my pajamas!" Apparently she was looking for action. I explained we were staying inside and going back to bed, to which she replied, "But I need to get the newspaper." Yes, it will get all wet, but it will be okay. The conversation continues like this for a while... While there are advantages to a potty trained kid, I could do without this early morning excitement...but she is pretty stinkin cute :)

A cute nest

2010-04-25T20:44:00.002-04:00

So, the nesting phenomenon must be real. Just like when I was pregnant with Kate, I've got about a hundred projects going around the house. It could also be that I'm off work again and I spend too much time watching HGTV...but anyways...

I felt like the new baby should have her own new space. Of course I don't want to buy all new stuff - reusing some things is just practical. But I also feel like she should have a room that is for her, not just Kate's old room. I was looking at thousands of designs for cute nursery stuff and coming up dry. Alli said to me, "Why haven't you looked at Pottery Barn?" Well, I think there stuff is so expensive that I wanted to check everywhere else first. But then I broke down, and sure enough, I found the BEST stuff at Pottery Barn. It's so cute!! We went to the outlet and found stuff for Kate's new room, and then the main store for cute bedding for the baby. I'm so excited - the rooms are really looking great :) What fun! Here's a preview of the rooms:

Kate's new stuff

New baby's stuff :)

We love Nikki!

2010-04-23T21:01:00.005-04:00

Yesterday Nikki moved to Baltimore from Cincinnati. I am so happy for her. It is such a good decision. She and Andrew are getting married in October, and this seems to be the perfect way to start their marriage. Andrew has a great job that he enjoys. It's a cool, exciting city. It just feels right in every way. What an exciting time for them!

But of course, it's sad for us. We will miss having her a mile away. It was hard to say good bye. We love her so much. But it felt so selfish to feel bad for ourselves while she is making such a great decision. It is so good for her, and I'm so proud of her for doing it. We love Nikki!

This was Nikki and "Big Bird" (Kate dressed up in a yellow coat - she decided she was Big Bird)

Perspective

2010-04-13T09:04:00.002-04:00

Just when I think Kate is so smart she should work for NASA, I get perspective and remember she's still one...this morning I heard her choking in her room and I thought, there is no food in there, so there's nothing I should be concerned about, right? Wrong. She walks back to me and says, "I ate the crayon. The green one." This is where I have trouble with discipline. I say, "Kate, repeat after me - We don't eat crayons." She says, enthusiastically, "No eat crayons!" I start laughing. I mean, it's funny, right. They're non-toxic, she didn't choke. Now she has the hiccups from eating the crayon. Awesome.

Swimming :)

2010-03-24T14:32:00.002-04:00

We just got back from two weeks in Florida, and it was awesome! My favorite part - seeing that Kate loves the water. As you may know, I LOVE water. There's nothing I'd rather be doing than swimming, really just playing, in the water. Last year Kate enjoyed it, but now that she's a little older, she was CRAZY about it! She would play for an hour, get out, and then immediately want to get back in. Fantastic. I can't wait until summer!

Random updates

2010-03-02T14:33:00.002-05:00

Here are a few random things to know about Kate right now:

Her hair is crazy curly! Sorry, pics soon, but take my word for it! I need help on styling such hair - wow! If I don't wash it enough it starts to turn to dreads. When it's wet it goes down the middle of her back, but dry it still bounces up above her shoulders.

Favorite activity is still dancing. Also loves spinning in circles, and she can do it like 100 times without falling over! Crazy!

Trying to learn the ABCs...super cute! Also learning to count. Not a fan of numbers 8 & 9 - she'd just assume we get to TEEENNN!!!

If you ask her what color something is, she will always tell you Green. If she was a boy I'd probably have been worried by now that she was color blind. But after some probing we can get to other options. It's pretty funny, especially because no one in my family likes the color green ;) Except maybe Kate!

She's got a pretty witty sense of humor. I don't know if I can give you a great example here, but she picks up on things we say and uses them in funny settings. And she's a ham. Once she sees that she's making you laugh, she will keep at it!

She's a shepherd. Nikki and Andrew were the first to observe it. She wants everyone together and involved. She never wants anyone left out or off by themselves. Everyone should be in the mix. It's funny because on the phone, no matter who's she's talking to, she'll ask for the person who's not there, and then when they get on the phone, she wants the other person (example - if talking to Nikki, asks for Andrew. If talking to Andrew, asks for Nikki.) Very sweet.

Her memory is better than mine in many ways.

She likes to do things by herself.

She's loves to pray for her buddies. She'll say "again, again!" until she feels satisfied.

She's full of emotion, zeal, and intensity. She's learning to contain it (just like me :)

She wants me to sing Jesus loves me to her over and over before she goes to bed - "Jesus! Jesus!"

She's pretty tall - 95th percentile at last check-up and solidly in size 3T.

When she runs, she sort of shakes her hips and swings her arms from left to right.

Her laugh is hilarious, and once she starts she has trouble stopping. It's so contagious!

She is so sweet and loving :)

Ninny Himmy

2010-02-24T14:29:00.002-05:00

As a principle, I try to talk to Kate like I talk to any other person. I do my best to acknowledge the fact that she's still learning the English language and stretch myself to communicate concepts as simply as possible, but it's kind of the same as when I'm talking about math or physics to people without a background in the topic - I do it with respect and understanding that this is a smart person who just needs the idea communicated basically.

My friend Alli does this beautifully. When I first observed her with her son Andrew 3 years ago, it was huge in helping me realize I could be a good mother to a baby/toddler. I think I thought that to be good at parenting small children you needed to talk in a weird high voice (you know I'm an alto so that wouldn't work) and use phrases like "de do bo be ga" or other such nonsense. Alli just talked to Andrew like a normal person, and probably not uncoincidentally, Andrew is an excellent communicator.

But I do have at least one exception to this principle...

Kate LOVES Nikki. Everytime Nikki comes to visit, Kate gets SO excited. Her enthusiasm is so overwhelming, it actually moves her to dancing. When Nikki arrives, Kate runs around the house doing a little dance. She goes up the hall bopping back and forth, and then bops and spins around in our entryway. It is adorable and hilarious. We coined her dance the "Nikki Shimmy."

But Kate has trouble pronouncing words that have a similar first and second syllable, and often just repeats a version of the first syllable twice (e.g. Tara is Ta-Ta and Nikki is Ninny.) So when Kate tries to pronounce the dance as she's doing it, she calls it the "Ninny Himmy." It cracks me up. It doesn't help that she puts her fingers up by the side of her head and starts bouncing back and forth saying "Ninny Himmy, Ninny Himmy."

So, I've given up on this one and agree that the dance is called the "Ninny Himmy." I've spent a lot of time teaching her the correct pronunciation of Nikki and she can now say it correctly, but the dance move may keep its given name - "Ninny Himmy."

As I always say, rules were meant to be broken!

Rough night

2010-02-22T21:23:00.003-05:00

Poor Kate is sick, again. She's been healthy for all of about 5 days since the new year. Poor little girl :( This times she's throwing up. Even sadder, it was all over Brett (both times.) And sad for me, cleaning it up. That really good sense of smell when you're pregnant is not helpful in moments like this one. I pray she's done getting sick. Please Lord, let this be the end. I want her to feel better tomorrow, PLEASE!

I'm back

2010-02-20T01:53:00.003-05:00

I'm going to officially declare it - I'm coming back into the world. Where have I been? Off growing a baby. For those I haven't seen, I'm 15 weeks pregnant. It's going well, but like last time, the first trimester has been exhausting. I believe, and am now declaring, that the exhaustion stage is ending. Now if I can just get past jet lag (it is 2am right), I'll be in great shape.

I've got so many updates for the blog - it's been 3 1/2 months (you'll see the correlation to age of baby...) As more perspective, this year our Christmas tree almost became a Valentine's Day tree. It was painfully depressing, but I just didn't have it in me to get that thing down. The day before Valentine's Day, it finally happened. Brett dragged all the boxes up and helped me take the pitiful thing down. Of course, Kate thought it was a new and permanent addition to the house, so she was sad to see it go. She was the only one.

So, maybe you'll see some catch-up posts, or maybe we'll just go from here. I'm not going to commit to that now. But I am committed to coming back to my rhythm of about a post a week. I like giving the updates, and I like reading others blogs, so I'm going to try to get back to it.

The cutest Kate update of late - I love her little catch phrases lately. They are so funny in her sweet little voice. She'll say, "Come on, Dude!" or "No way!" and I lose it every time. She is so happy and fun to be around. What a delight :)

Amen!

2009-11-09T19:49:00.004-05:00

Today at dinner, I was praying - "Thank you God for blessing us" and Kate shouted "AMEN!" So sweet!

Doesn't she look cool in Scott Dill's hat???

HAPPY :)

2009-11-05T13:26:00.004-05:00

Kate makes me smile :) When we put Kate to bed, I rock her and give her milk, and Brett prays for her, blesses her, and gives her a kiss before he says goodnight. One of the things he always blesses her with is joy, and he tells her how happy she makes us. Well recently, every night when he says "you make us so happy," Kate stops drinking her milk, gets a big grin on her face and says, "Happy!" I really think she understands what he is telling her. She is such a delight :)

Winnie the Pooh

2009-11-02T19:45:00.006-05:00

Wow, did we have a great Halloween! Check out the pics below :)

You'll see in the video, she was "Pooh!" and Pooh likes to eat "Honey!"

So Hunny Pot in tow, off she went!

The last video may be the best - she got a chocolate eyeball from one of our neighbors and she thought it was the funniest thing ever!

Take me to the fun!

I'm "Pooh" and I like to eat "Honey"

Brett and Pooh rolling around

Here's Brett and Pooh having a serious conversation.

Off she goes!
Grandpa can't resist a tickle
"Kikki", "Dew", and "Pooh"
Kate couldn't exactly identify what this "candy" stuff was, but she thought she was onto something good. Nikki seemed like a great person to confirm with...

What a cutie!
Follow me, Guys!
Grandpa, Ilsa the Puppy, and Winnie

The Pooh Bear's Family

This is just Kate cracking us all up :)

No Shrimp for the Little One

2009-10-27T20:48:00.004-04:00

Poor little Kate Little. Tonight I gave her a bite of my shrimp and she broke out in hives :( We called Liz & Jeff (our friends who play doctors in real life) and they said give her benadryl and watch her. She appears to be fine. We called our pediatrician and they want to see her tomorrow, but they thought she'd be fine too. They said it's possible to grow out of a childhood food allergy, so we're praying that by her teen years she'll be enjoying shellfish with the rest of us. But for now, no shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, oysters or scallops for Kate.

Look how cute she is, even with hives

I like cheese :)

2009-10-23T13:25:00.005-04:00

Kate said her first sentence a few weeks ago. We were at the Peters house for dinner. Rachel knows that cheese is Kate's favorite food, but after pulling it out of the fridge, Rachel looked at me and hesitated. I knew she was wondering how much cheese Kate had already eaten that day. Kate was observing our entire interaction, and shouted confidently and clearly to Rachel, "I LIKE CHEESE!!" Yes, let there be know doubt, Kate likes cheese :)

Here are a few pics of Kate and Cana from Norris :)

Here's Kate dancing and Cana imitating a monkey :)

Choo-Choo

2009-10-19T13:47:00.001-04:00

Kate has been saying so much lately. She has been so fun to be around. I love her so much.

One of her very favorite things to talk about is the car and going on trips. Not far behind is her "Choo-Choo." Here are a few fun pics of when she first started riding it all by herself :)

Hug Fest

2009-09-11T13:54:00.001-04:00

Cana Peters recently came over to play with Kate. The best way I can describe it - Hug Fest '09. These two couldn't be any cuter if they tried. What fun!

She is Love

2009-09-09T20:37:00.000-04:00

Have you heard the song "She is Love" by Parachute? It is wonderful; delightful.

Tonight it was raining hard. The thunder woke Kate up. I went into her room and comforted her by singing her this song. It was such sweetness. I LOVE hugging her so tightly and telling her she is safe. She IS love. After about 5 minutes, she felt confident and safe, ready to go back to bed. This is a MIRACLE. For those who don't know, Kate had been having some serious sleeping issues. Our best guess is, she would get scared in the night. We prayed for her to not be afraid, our friends prayed, and God answered us with beautiful nights of rest for Kate. God is so good. It was so hard to see our sweet baby afraid. I'm so thankful that she can rest calmly and sweetly. God is Love :)

You can listen to the song on youTube (ironically - it's from the album "Losing Sleep" - not us!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghhivSh1hSc&feature=related

SAW-BEE

2009-09-08T09:31:00.005-04:00

Kate is getting over a little cold, and she wasn't in the best mood today. She didn't sleep much, and was just a bit out of sorts. I was getting a little frustrated with her yelling, so I went in the other room for a break. Kate and Brett were in the bedroom plotting up something very cute. Kate walked out to me and Brett said, "Kate has something to tell you." She gave me a big hug and said "SAW-BEE" (for sorry.) I almost started crying but I didn't want to confuse her ;) It was the sweetest thing ever. How can you be upset with this cutie?

What's new at 15 months...

2009-09-01T20:52:00.006-04:00

We are so lucky to have such a great family. We had a fantastic weekend visiting...pics to come soon! (I'm overwhelmed by all the pics, uploading, etc. Anyone have a good strategy? Tonia does it every quarter, which is predictable. Maybe I could set a date to shoot for every month? I don't know - help needed...)

A few other updates with Kate - she is SO much fun these days. I can't believe how much she understands. And, she has a great desire to be understood - when she isn't, she gets frustrated. Brett wisely told me that I can't get frustrated that she is frustrated, because I am 31 and she is 1 :) But it's hard sometimes. Alli's given me some ideas on how to help her...I'm open for suggestions if anyone's got any!

At 15 months, she weighs 24 lbs and is 31" - 75th percentile for both. She's very healthy and super cute :)

Some of Kate's latest words (she's learning new ones every day, I can't keep up! Although, I'm still not sure anyone else would understand many of them....)

Names - She's got Daddy and Mommy down. She says "TairTair" for Tara, "Bady" for Uncle Brady, "Neek-e" for Aunt Nikki, "Papa" for Papa (obviously :), and "Doo" for Drew (aka Andrew.)
Other faves - Her hot word right now is "Car." Today she said "TairTair Car" when Tara pulled up - pretty good to put the two together! Her other current favorite word is "Tutu" - she has a red one from Emily & Brady. She can say "Pig", "Moo", "Shoe", "Pay" which means play, "Ted-e" for Teddy, and "Cook-e" for cookie (thanks, Papa :).

Big highlight of the day - Brett, Kate and I had a dance party tonight and Kate busted out some very cute dance moves :) Adorable!

Last and certainly least - have you tried "Pluots"? They are a cross between a plum and an apricot. I can't say I'm terribly fond of either of those, but pluots are absolutely delicious! Pick one up today (at Biggs if you live in Cinci.) The "dinosaur egg" variety are the best!

Joy and Delight

2009-08-16T20:38:00.005-04:00

I heard some wonderful parenting advice yesterday that hit me hard. I want to share it (and document it so I don't forget it.) The advice was to ENJOY AND DELIGHT IN YOUR CHILDREN. And when you do, they become a JOY AND DELIGHT to you. There is a verse in John 1:14 that talks about a child being "a joy and a delight" to her parents. The couple that shared the advice, who are great parents of a 14 and 10 year old, said that the way your children become a joy and delight to you is that you enjoy and delight in them. They commented that often children become our projects; we work very hard at raising them right, reading books and learning all we can, etc. But when we enjoy them, they become a joy to us.

My experience with this is so true. I LOVE playing with Kate, and I have to make sure I am having fun too. A recent example - I was getting bored in the morning just sitting around the house playing with toys. So, we started taking walks. Then, I tried to convince Kate to walk continuously, and I was getting annoyed that she wanted to stop every minute to look at stuff. But then I started going with her flow a bit more. I crouch down with her and explore. There is lots of fun new stuff to see - stuff I've never seen before, like new varieties of plants. My point is, there is an intersection point between her fun and mine, and although it takes some work to find it, it's worth it, because at the end, there is joy.

A few other examples - she LOVES swimming, and boy is that a delight to me! She sticks her face in the water and absolutely cracks up laughing! We got a raft for $1 that is a horse; I put it around my waist, she straddles the horse's head, and we gallop around the pool. Hilarious. But today, she only wanted to swim for 20 minutes. I would have stayed much longer, but she didn't want to; so we went home. Not perfect given the amount of time it takes to get there, get dressed, wash off the chlorine, etc.; but still worth it because we both had fun.

At Coney Island (the very cheesy but super fun place we swim most days), there is a sign on the wall that says, "You don't stop playing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop playing." I love to play; it's the best. If you've forgotten how, call me and I'll help you remember what you enjoy. One small thing I do - I buy toys that I think are fun. If I think they're boring, I'm not going to want to play with them, and then Kate and I don't get to enjoy them together. Finding intersection points - very important.

The other main part of the lesson for me is to not get bogged down in figuring out exactly what Kate needs. There are lots of things that need to happen, and I can't focus too much time on those and forget about enjoying her. For example, I hate thinking about what she should eat in a day. It's a stress and a chore to me for many reasons (including I hate thinking about food and I have a ridiculously high bar for what healthy is for her - not only should she eat 5 fruits and veggies a day, they should represent the different colors of the rainbow to give her varying nutrients, then there should be a daily variety, etc.) Well that doesn't ever happen, either because I don't have that many foods or if I do, she doesn't want to eat them. So who cares! If she's not in the mood for blueberries, the rainbow is incomplete, let's move on with our lives. She doesn't fall asleep when she "should" - again, life will go on (even if it means she wakes up in the middle of the night, it will be okay.)

These things rob my joy, and I want to get rid of the burden of performance that tells me these are the things that make me a good mom. It's a lie. If she poops 3 times a day because all she eats is raisins, cheese, yogurt and milk and she skips her afternoon nap and then wakes up in the middle of the night, it's inconsequential to my love for her. Enjoying and Delighting in Kate is what makes me a good mom. And that's when I see my friendship with her grow.

"Liquid Satan" requires self-discipline

2009-08-13T23:02:00.009-04:00

Today, Kate reached for something she wasn't supposed to touch. She knew she wasn't supposed to touch it, and as a result, she used her left hand to hit her right hand and tell it, "No, don't touch." Then, she pulled the right hand back to her chest and the left hand came back and comforted it, "It's okay." [Note - she didn't actually say these words, but it was clear that's what her actions were saying.]

The back story is, starting at about 5 months old, we would discipline Kate by hitting her hand and telling her no. You may say that's too early, but she knew what she was doing. And we believe physical consequences are an important part of the natural world (e.g. I don't put my hand on the stove because it will hurt. Pain is very helpful tool...ask the few people in the world who don't experience physical pain - it's a problem.) Whether you personally agree with us or not, we felt this was right for Kate.

It's amazing to me how naturally obedient Kate is. I love that she is displaying self-discipline (literally, in this case.) I pray that she maintains this skill throughout her life.

I could actually use a little more self-discipline myself. Today someone told me they were reading a book that built a case for why Diet Soda is "Liquid Satan." Yikes. It referenced the amazing and ridiculous way it got approved by the FDA (via pay-offs, shady ignoring of poisoned rats, etc.) So later, I reach in the fridge to grab for one and God says, "Really, you hear that it's the equivalent of drinking Satan and an hour later you can't refrain?" Caveat is, I'm not saying God is universally against Diet Coke (He may be, but I don't know that for sure and that's not what I'm saying here.) But what I do think is, God was challenging me to pick Him over my will and my desire in that moment.

So, my right hand slapped my left hand and said "No, Don't touch." I comforted myself by drinking a coffee instead :)

Kate has a lot to say

2009-08-12T10:31:00.000-04:00

Kate's had a lot to say lately. It's funny to think about what words she's learning first - not necessarily the ones I'd expect, but that's what's fun. Here's some of what she's saying -

"Pooh! Pooh! Pooh!" then she laughs. - We think she means Winnie the Pooh Bear since that's the way her room is decorated, but it could also mean that she's just gone to the bathroom. We kind of wish we would have come up with different words for those two things...

"Wow!", "Whoa!" and "Cool!" - All expressions she's imitating, with lots of enthusiasm. Brett says the first, Jeanne says the second, and I say the last one.

"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" then she nods and smiles excitedly. When she wants something, this is what she says. Also a newer one, if I have something she wants she says "Me, Me" to convince me to give it to her.

"Ball", "Baby", "Book" - her favorite toys, which all happen to start with an easy letter. Also "Balo" which means balloon.

Brett says he's heard her say "Yellow" and Hyland and Scott Dill said she said "Purple" - I guess those are her favorite colors...Christine Wilson has told me that color theory would suggest those colors go best together, so maybe Kate's artistic. (Reference to color theory = primary color + the secondary directly across from it - Red & Green, Blue & Orange, Yellow & Purple.)

"Go, Go, Go!" is a big favorite. She loves to go outside; she gets her shoes and walks to the door to encourage you to take her out there.

"Did it!" is also a huge fave. When she does something new or good, Brett and I say "You did it" and clap for her. Now she encourages herself via self-affirmative clapping and the "Did it!" cry.

Overall, I feel like she's learning so much right now. She seems to be putting a lot of language and communication principles together. She learned where her feet, nose, head, and mouth are. At the grocery store, she plugged her nose - something must have smelled stinky to her. I love this sweet baby!

Pink

2009-08-11T20:30:00.000-04:00

Aunt Emily & Kate - Two cuties in pink...adorable!

What fun!

2009-08-04T20:31:00.000-04:00

Someone recently said that I'm a kid trapped in an adult's body. I think that's probably right. I can't believe how much fun is out there! We took Kate to the zoo recently and it was fantastic! You could feed the giraffe right up close! Kate was not a huge fan of it though, and I realized she's right, giraffe's have gross tongues. She like the elephants and the bears a bunch. Can't wait to go back again soon! A few pics here, and a video of pics.

On the move

2009-07-23T23:34:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, Brett and I were doing all we could to persuade Kate to walk. She's been physically capable of it for a while, but she was being wisely cautious. We'd probe her, "Come on, baby, you can do it!" We'd tempt her, "Look at this exciting remote - come over and get it." But nothing did the trick.

One day, we were at the park and I had to go to the bathroom so badly I decided to use the park bathroom. We went into the stall and I explained to Kate "Whatever you do, DON"T MOVE. Just stand right here. Don't take a step." As I squat and pee, trying not to touch anything, Kate starts walking across this gross little park bathroom! I couldn't take a picture or video b/c my shorts were at my ankles. Kate's first unprompted steps...in a park bathroom. Nice.

This video was a few weeks ago now, and it's already fun to look at how far she has come! She is dashing around the house! So sweet.

Lucky Girl

2009-07-13T20:20:00.003-04:00

A few pics from Father's Day

What a lucky girl Kate is...she has the most amazing daddy :) You'd be hard pressed to find a man more suited for fatherhood. Brett's love for Kate is immense. Watching him with her a beautiful thing.

I love this baby!

2009-06-23T20:49:00.002-04:00

Kate is so much fun! Here we are at the park - is she the best or what!! I love this baby!

Do you know about this???

2009-06-10T10:29:00.003-04:00

Pandora.com

Oh my gosh

It is the best!!!

Free radio, customized to your music tastes. It is GENIUS! It makes iTunes Genius look like an idiot.

It's called the Music Genome Project. You type in your favorite artist or song, and it plays lots of songs you will love. It says things like "based on your favorite artist, we think you'll enjoy songs like this one, with similar basic rock song structures, a subtle use of vocal harmony, acoustic rhythm piano, use of a string ensemble, and major key tonality." WHAT - yes, I'd love that. Thank you Pandora - you are amazing.

Check it out.

Instrument

2009-06-08T20:12:00.005-04:00

This is random, but I was thinking how it's cool that each of us has an instrument we were born knowing how to play...our voice. Of course, some can play better than others, but we all have it. I recently started singing Kate a song each night before I lay her down. And most nights, I make up a new one. Sometimes, they are pretty nice (other times, they are well intended and loving but a bit pitiful.) I was reflecting that I'd love to play my guitar to some of the songs I've come up with, but I'm not that skilled yet. It's nice though that any of us can just make up a melody, lyrics, and sing it. A nice gift, God :)

A side note - I can't get over how much Kate LOVES to dance! I need to get a video of it, but today I swear she was head banging to the live version of Coldplay's Viva La Vida (which is a great song.) She was in her car seat strapped down, so she had nothing else to shake but her head and her feet :) So cute!

Coldplay = Awesome show!

2009-06-05T14:09:00.007-04:00

Unbelievable talent + Outstanding performers = Best Show Ever*

Brett and I went to the Coldplay concert last night and I would have to say it was the best show I've ever seen in an outdoor, large scale venue. That's saying a lot since I used to work at Blossom Music Center (the Cleveland Riverbend equivalent) and have seen tons of shows. (The only other qualifier is that nothing beats an intimate venue.) Nikki, who also worked at Blossom, said the same thing of their past shows (last night she generously watched Kate - Yahoo!) So, Coldplay....

These guys know what they're doing - particularly the lead guy. Brett observed that you know a group is high quality when the crowd has people aged 7-70 years old. And they didn't just sing their incredible songs - they sang from a side stage and a lawn stage to energize the whole crowd. They created new lyrics on the fly about Cincinnati - this guy was genuine. They gave away a 9 song, live CD for free to everyone at the show~they didn't have to do that, and I would have bought a few more songs, like "The Hardest Part", an amazing song I hadn't heard yet. So, a lyric from that song is where I'll end, Coldplay "you left the sweetest taste in my mouth."

So - WHAT'S THE BEST SHOW YOU'VE EVER BEEN TO?

Jesus Loves Me

2009-06-04T21:53:00.001-04:00

For Easter my Grandma got Kate a bunny that plays "Jesus loves me." Kate loved it. She loves music, and when the bunny sings Kate dances. G. Nana (as she likes to be referred :) said "I've never seen anyone dance to church music before!" You see something new everyday, even when you are 87 :)

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-06-02T21:44:00.001-04:00

I love this baby :) A few pics from my first mother's day weekend. What a blessing to be a mama - just look at this sweet baby!

Kate's Birthday Party

2009-05-28T22:23:00.001-04:00

Here are a few shots from Kate's first birthday party. So many family and friends were there. It was such a great day. Kate is so blessed and so loved!

I promise she's mine...

2009-05-27T21:41:00.002-04:00

Kate is clearly her own person. She is an individual, not just "half me and half Brett." She is unique and precious, created by God. One apparently unique trait - she doesn't want to try cake! Nikki offered her angel food cake a few weeks ago and she was not interested. We thought it was a fluke. On her birthday we tried to give her a cupcake, but NO! She was not having it. This video is perfect... It's hard to believe given those wonderful thighs. Give me the carrot please!!

Kate is One Year Old!

2009-05-26T21:30:00.002-04:00

Wow. I can't believe it's been a whole year!

We had Kate's one year check-up today. She is 30 1/2" - 90th percentile for height! They said it's still too early to say that she will be tall; we need to wait until about 2 years before the growth chart stabilizes. But she's not going to be short! And she weighs 22 1/2 lbs - 75th percentile. Everything checked out well - she's very healthy!

More pics to come from her birthday, but a few thoughts on who Kate is:

Joyful - so full of joy! others are joyful around her

Loving - loves to be hugged and give hugs; a snuggler

Great sense of humor and silly laugh

Adventurous - curious, and loves to explore

Smart - a good problem solver

Loves to dance - can't help but move to the beat

Kind - cares for others (and her baby dolls :)

We love her so!

Discipline

2009-05-19T11:59:00.000-04:00

I’m at a conference for work. It’s a business conference where the focus in “Front End Innovation.” The keynote speaker this morning was Jim Collins who’s written several books including “Good to Great.” He is a great thinker & “business scientist” – he loves asking questions and studying data. I found his talk very interesting, and there were several personal implications I walked away with which I thought I’d share.

DISCIPLINE was the most interesting principle. He wrote a new book called “Why the mighty fall.” It’s very relevant right now – he talks about tumultuous, difficult times and why some succeed and some fail. What he found was, the key differentiator was discipline, people who are disciplined in good times are revealed as great in times of trouble. Discipline enables you to be prepared for what you can’t predict.

I feel like this is my new season. I came out of a season of Rest, and I feel like the new season I’m being called into is Discipline. I was reading a book called “Celebration of Discipline” which I’ve never finished. My life lacks discipline. Interestingly, Jim Collins found that often company’s goals are over-reaching, swinging big for home runs, instead of consistent, base hit after base hit. He went as far as to say that mediocrity is driven by chronic inconsistency.

So, Discipline. I don’t get excited about this. It doesn’t sound fun. But then, he brought it home for me when he connected Discipline & Freedom. I’m VERY interested in freedom, so my ears perked up. Collins said that the big win is marrying DISCIPLINE WITH CREATIVITY. He believes that when you create a disciplined framework, freedom and creativity are enabled.

I need to think through ways to bring consistency and discipline into my life to 1) enable creativity, which leads to freedom and 2) to prepare me for what I can’t predict.

Anybody interested in sharing some disciplines in their life?

Collins shared one he recommended – many people have “To Do” lists, but he thought the power was in a “Stop Doing” list. Interesting, huh.

Wow - this amazes me!

2009-05-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

Clearly, babies undertand more than I give them credit for...

Most of the calls I get are from Brett, and whenever he calls, I say to Kate "It's Daddy!" A few weeks ago she started putting her toy cell phone up to her ear and saying "It's Da-da!" It amazes me how much a 10 month old brain can process!

I caught her doing it one morning, so I got it on video.

What do you know about love?

2009-04-30T21:27:00.007-04:00

Today I heard two songs about love. See if you can guess which one I liked better...I'll give you a clue - one paints an absurd, unattainable, unrealistic picture of love. The other one is real. Here are the lyrics-

Natasha Bedingfield, "Soulmate"

"Who doesn't long for someone to hold?

Who knows how to love you without being told.

Somebody please tell me why I'm on my own.

If there's a soulmate for everyone."

Alli Rogers, "Closer to the moon"

"My grandpa says commitment is the key to love.

50 years of sometimes twilight, sometimes dawn.

He's says there were the years he wasn't sure about

But the love they chose was worth the pressing on."

Okay, in case you couldn't guess, I like the second song. Unfortunately, I'd bet none of you have heard of it. (I heard Alli Rogers at a concert - she was the opener.) The first song, however, is all over the airwaves.

The key theme for me is that LOVE IS A CHOICE. This picture "you know what I want and need so I don't have to say it" is crap. It's over-romanticized and sets up poor expectations. It keeps us from actually CHOOSING love, which is what we have to do. Choosing love looks like forgiveness, joy, pain, suffering, celebrating, etc. etc. I guess it looks like choosing to keep going through the ups and downs, the good and bad. I want to be making the CHOICE everyday, when it feels good and when it doesn't.

Decadence

2009-04-29T10:14:00.004-04:00

Lately I've been doing some things that I felt in my head were "decadent." Then, I felt like God said to me "Why don't you look it up and see what it means?" So, I did; hold onto your cupcake...Here's what decadent means -

1. characterized by decadence, esp. culturally or morally: a decadent life of excessive money and no sense of responsibility.

2. unrestrained gratification; self-indulgent.

Wow. So then I looked up decadence -

1.	the act or process of falling into an inferior condition or state; deterioration; decay: Some historians hold that the fall of Rome can be attributed to internal decadence.

2.	moral degeneration or decay; turpitude.

3.	unrestrained or excessive self-indulgence.

Interesting that the fall of Rome was attributed to decadence. America better watch out...or, wait, are we too late??

Playing for change

2009-04-29T09:32:00.001-04:00

This is sweet...watch to the end to see the Mamelodi shout out.

http://www.playingforchange.com/episodes/2/Stand_by_Me

"Super" hero?

2009-04-28T20:07:00.000-04:00

Cincinnati has a "super" hero?? funny

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30445254

What a great Easter

2009-04-28T10:45:00.001-04:00

We are so blessed to have such a great family. The video is one minute long, but for those who can't see videos, I thought I'd post a few pics...

A fun walk -

As an early birthday present, Kate received this red wagon from my grandma, the "rodeo flyer." It was from when Nikki and I were kids.

The egg hunt was a great success...

Kate found 2 eggs! (She had a tiny bit of help from me & Dora :

What snugglers!

Kate and Grandma love to read

Two people who love fun!

What characters we have here!

So sweet :)

Here's the one minute video..

Our brains are fascinating...

2009-04-22T11:18:00.002-04:00

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Cutie pie

2009-04-21T10:05:00.001-04:00

Look at this cutie pie with her Easter eggs :)

Thirst for life

2009-04-20T19:53:00.004-04:00

You saw in the last video that Kate isn't a huge fan of spaghetti right now. But no one could question her love of water - look how excited she is in this video!

Adventurous

2009-04-20T19:40:00.005-04:00

I love that Kate is so adventurous. I think that is a wonderful quality. One of the ways she shows her willingness to try new things is with food. To date, there isn't a single food we've given her that she hasn't tried. She does has preferences of course (cheese is her favorite food - she agrees with Auntie Em that everything is better with cheese.) You'll see in this video that her least favorite food so far is spaghetti...we'll see if she grows out of that.

Easter Fun

2009-04-13T19:59:00.002-04:00

We had the best Easter. We spent time with all of our family and friends. I'll upload the pics soon, but I'm behind in my blogging...I will catch up, but I'm not sure when. In the mean time, for those who want to see some of our Easter fun, copy the link below into your browser (Steven did a fantastic slide show.)

http://www.stevemanuel.net/Steven_Manuel/Photos./Pages/Easter_2009.html

What fun!

2009-03-29T12:26:00.001-04:00

Here are my 2 favorite people, playing with a balloon. So precious!

Kate thought it was so funny!

The best toy ever!

2009-03-29T12:20:00.003-04:00

When the weather got warmer, we took Kate outside to play. She had more fun with this stick than any toy we've given her to date!

What's new with Kate?

2009-03-02T15:54:00.019-05:00

What's new with Kate? Lots! Here are a few new things -

She has 2 teeth

She has curly hair, just like her daddy

She is VERY expressive!She loved Valentine's Day

She knows how to crawl (at first she could only go in reverse, but now, look out world!)

Funfetti

2009-03-02T15:03:00.003-05:00

Kate is taking an extra long nap (who knows - sleep issues abound, but I won't go into that now.)

Today I have a very important thing to say - there is nothing better than Funfettit cake! I discovered it in college at the Tri-Delt house (boy that could be a good post too - what it's like to live with 45 women in one house - yikes, what fun!) Anyhow, Funfetti cake is my very favorite cake. Don't give me Bon Bonnerie Opera Creme Cake (well, okay, you can give it to me :) but Funfetti is my fave. Nikki and Emily made it for Kate's birthday (her actual day of birth - one year is coming up soon!) Tonight we're having friends over, so I made up some Funfetti cupcakes.

Yum.

Kate is now up, so I don't have time to go into all the details, but YAY - Tara is taking care of Kate starting tomorrow! Yahoo! Can't wait for that goodness!

AND - Happy Birthday to Emily!!! We love you!

Week 1 - Success!

2009-02-15T22:14:00.002-05:00

Week one of working was a success. I didn't even cry. I was happy, Kate was happy, Brett was happy, and my parents were definitely happy taking care of her (except my dad, who had pink eye and couldn't touch her, or really anything :( he was sad. but, they are coming back in two weeks, so he'll be happy then :)

Seriously, it was as good as I could have hoped for. It felt good for all of us. I really appreciated and enjoyed my time with Kate before and after work and over the weekend. I enjoyed my time at work. It was fun learning new things and meeting new people. So far, it feels really good. More to come I'm sure, but it's feeling like a good decision.

Gummy Bear

2009-02-08T21:26:00.004-05:00

We've always called Kate "the little bear." My newest nickname, due to her lack of teeth and giant smile, is "Gummy Bear." She's the sweetest Gummy Bear I know!