Weaknesses Vs. Strengths

I've had an interesting week and a half. There's been lots going on behind the scenes over here. Much of it including sick children and a husband who's been feeling under the weather.

We're on the mend this week (Thank the Lord!) but we've been the kind of busy that has us barely holding the family routine together. Needless to say, chores have suffered. The laundry is piled high, the kitchen needs mopping, and the pool turned green from the rains we've had. And I'm to tired to care much about it today.

It was report card week for our children. ALL of them show improvement over the last trimester. We were thrilled and celebrated with big ice cream sundaes!

However something was communicated to us which we had known, but hadn't known to the fullest extent.

One of our children is significantly delayed in language arts right now. By about a whole grade.

I was well aware of the struggle for the two years I home schooled. I knew there were some delays, and had asked about them but never received a response that indicated concern. This same student, unfortunately has had THREE teachers over the course of the year. One was injured shortly after school began, one recently left for reasons unknown to the parents since it was never told to us directly (she was the one I ask talked with about my concerns) The newest one seems to be the best since she is the first to really communicate with us so far.

At this point I am not sure if the entire class is behind or just our student. Regardless we're been working overtime to try to help boost our child's skills. This includes after school tutoring and working at home at night for about an hour after that. It's been quite intensive. So far this student has been a willing participant but I keep wondering how long it will take for her to tire out.

As a mother it's difficult to watch one of my children struggle while the other two school-aged siblings sail right on through, ahead of most of their peers. I'm so thankful our student who struggles isn't insecure about it (for now. I PRAY that it stays that way.) Dustin and I try often to highlight the concept that we are well pleased with our child's best efforts and that we never compare her to anyone else. We like to draw attention to the idea that she was created for a specific purpose, one that gave her talents and strengths all her own. We try to comfort her by explaining that our weaknesses are those areas in our lives where we are able to experiences God's grace and provision the most.

My mother, having been held back to repeat second grade, has strong feelings about keeping our student behind. She says she never felt the weight of the difference until she was held back, and that it created major insecurities in her which took years to overcome. My mom told me recently that a friend (who was her same age) asked her why she wasn't in their year book. My mother felt embarrassed all over again to have to respond by informing her friend that her picture could be found in the junior class section.

I am not sure how things will turn out for our student. We are prayerfully considering what to do about next year. So far the school has not mentioned repeating the grade. I am requesting a conference with the teacher and principal ASAP. I'll let you know how that goes.

A Warning To Your Sofa

Breaking News:

Boys are BAD for your couch (or anything else which is upholstered or made of fabric, including but not limited to: your silk drapes, duvet cover, favorite shirt, etc., ... and we must NOT forget about the very real and ever-present danger to your carpets)

All kids come with a slimy coating, but my sources have confirmed that boys, in particular, have an uncanny ability to carry their slime undetectably, thus enabling them to carry out covert operations. Be forewarned that Invisible Boy Slime is activated by smearing it on something, (oh, say, like a couch). Once it comes in contact with fabric it loses its invisible properties and sets in like cement (or magic marker, whichever supersedes 1,000 years of perpetual attempts to remove said slime). Once the Slime has been deposited good luck getting that stuff out. EVER.

This concludes my public service announcement

PS- I would have posted a photo for educational purposes but my camera battery is dead and a certain boy we know and love has momentarily misplaced the charger. As soon as he finds it he assures us it will be returned to the rightful owner.

Jonas

He starred in an impromptu photo shoot this morning. I can't get enough of his ham-tastic antics!

What? I'm just being cute and minding my own business.

I haven't done anything yet

Okay maybe I've gotten into a *little* trouble, but look how cute I am!

Again, have you noticed my cuteness?



I'm not sayin' I got away with it, but....

What am I gonna do with this kid? He's living up to his new nickname Dennis the Menace. He doesn't mean to get in trouble at all, but he's oh so curious and he loves to "help" in ways you'd never imagine. I can see already that life with boys, while rich and blessed, will also be full of destruction to personal property.

Oh well! How could I resist a face like this?!

I love this kid.

Souces say I'm Gool!

click pics for a better view

Rienne wanted to get a jump start on my birthday celebration so she made me a card a little early (my b-day is next Sat). The back says "My mom is Gool!".... which I'm pretty sure is a HUGE compliment.

I love the inside, especially the don't sleep, wake up part, and the no ice cream, let's get cake part. :-)

- I LOVE being a mom!!!!!!!

Video Update

Here's what Jonas has been up to lately.

Birthday Girl Allyse

When I asked Ally a couple of days ago what she wanted to do for her big day she told me, "Go to a salon and have my hair done, then go to a hotel and stay overnight with you, mom." Wow, I don't know where she gets that from? ;-) I was thrilled to have my child's request for her birthday be to spend quality time with me. So that's just what we did. We spent time. Our day started off with Allyse selecting my clothes for our "date". She made me wear some red heeled sandals that I haven't worn in forever. They hurt my feet so much but I wasn't about to argue with my girl. She knew what she wanted and my job on this day was to say yes as much a possible.

Lunch would be at Chick-fil-a. Then off to pick up a bottle of nail polish in any color she fancied. We'd be doing nails later in the day. She chose a lovely vibrant purple. Then we made a stop at Justice for Girls. A girly girl store which unfortunately doesn't carry anything under girls size 6. Ally got a purse and a small hairbrush to go in her purse. Old Navy was the next door down. Ally had asked for a dress as her gift and I knew she'd have success there. We found a darling little sun dress for $8.00. That left enough for a new pair of sunglasses. Whew her day just kept getting better!

I had told her that we'd spend the whole afternoon together. We still had a couple of hours to burn so I told Ally of a candy store in the mall. We drove 30 mins only to find the store had closed down. What to do? Head to Johnny Rockets for shakes.

Heading out the door of the mall toward the car with Ally sucking on her strawberry shake now poured into a to-go cup she looked up at me and earnestly asked "Can I drive?" My eyes grew wide and a smirk came over both our faces just before we both burst into laughter. "You've been getting everything you want today, haven't you? Might as well shoot for the moon kiddo! Well, it never hurts to ask.... but NO!" HAHAHAH That kid cracks me up. I love her!

Her new shades didn't come off all day. Indoors and out of doors they were a fixture on her face.

We HAD to sit at the counter and play Alley Oop on the jukebox



Taking a little siesta on the way home from the mall

Rory took this photo. I thought it was pretty good.

Ally chose this cake and carried it through the store with head held high. If you know our Ally you know she has a certain confidence in her stride that is just the cutest thing. She always walks with a bounce and her nose tipped slightly up. All the staff in the store ate up her cuteness as she carried her prized cake.

Happy birthday Allyse!

Hello Bloggy Friends

I haven't had as much time as I'd like to post here. Though, I have been keeping up with my regular blog circuit, so I know what you've been up to ;-) I'm just hopping on to give a quick update.

Jonas has been doing so well lately. Operation Chubby Buns in in full swing. I am really hoping we post some high numbers when he returns to the doc on the 21st. Jonas also learned to crawl last week. He still prefers his army crawl on the wood floors but on carpet he'll crawl for quite a while. He's pulling up and cruising furniture as best he can with his twiggy little legs. He's too tall for his bouncer but he still needs some strength conditioning. His pampers pad a lot of his falls. It's pretty funny to watch his pull up and have his legs wobble all around. If you try to help he becomes indignant. He wants to run with his big sisters. I'm confident he'll be walking in no time. For now, I'm glad he's still limited in his mobility because he gets into everything!

The girls have been huge helpers while the kitchen is torn up. This morning Rienne washed dishes all by herself without being asked just to help mommy. What a loving girl we've got! Rory has been busy tinkering in the kitchen with us. She's a very hands on girl and mechanically inclined like her father. Ally is a WONDERFUL big sister. She's taken lots of responsibility for Jonas. She's extremely loving.

Today we interview at the private school we'll be sending the girls to next year. Yes, it's been a hard decision but we believe it's the best one. It's been very difficult to educate them sice Jonas came home. It's not at the level that it was before. Many distractions make it difficult. Also, I think Jonas will do well with some one on one time during his day.

I will absolutely miss the fun and joy of teaching the kids and knowing so intimately where they are at in their studies- their strengths/weaknesses. I'll miss the morning snuggles on the couch for story time. But I'm super excited for them to have a new experience and I know this school will provide for all their needs. With a great staff and many good friends attending they are sure to have a wonderful 2009-10 school year.

Busy Girl

Allyse: "Mommy, I can't sleep." (Something I hear almost nightly.)

Me: " Well honey, sleep takes time and it can't be rushed. The longer we stay still the sooner it will happen."

Allyse: " I CAN'T sleep!"

Me: "Why do you think that is honey?"

Allyse: "It's like there's something going on in my body."

Me: "What's going on in your body?"

Allyse: "It's like a party is going on in there!"

Works For Me

You know all those wonderfully helpful blogs out there in the world where people share their insightful tips to help make life easier? Yah! Well I got one of those posts for ya, right here. That's right! I'm branching out here at beBOLDjen. Expounding on my spring cleaning theme I'd like to share my best kept secret for cleaning our windows. I would try to explain it to you but I figured a video tutorial would be more informational.

For The Grandparents

Cake pictures from yesterday.

The sugar buzz hit Jonas HARD (as shown above). He had a glazed over look and appeared to be a little nauseous. Although, as soon as we packed up the rest of the leftover cake he began screaming and crying. I guess he thought he should have been able to eat it all.

Happy Birthday Jonas

Here's our boy trying to get that sippy to his mouth as fast as possible thus the preparatory face.
Success!!

With his entourage. He's a chick magnet I tell you!

Jonas officially turns one today. Here's a quick list of his accomplishments thus far

- He's a speedy army crawler but hasn't gotten the concept that he can use his knees. It's all upper body strength for this boy

- Feels he's too mature for the bouncer. Once he beefed up his legs muscles he decided he was through with it.

- Has transitioned to a sippy cup and can drink from a straw if in the right mood

- Answers the question "Where's the baby?" with a game of peek-a-boo

- Blows kisses often and likes to give wet, juicy kisses when he's asked for one

- Waves "selam" (hello)

- Talks on his imaginary telephone (hand to ear)

- Gives Eskimo & butterfly kisses

- Pulling up on furniture

- Loves dancing to music

- Says "daddy"

Tenacious Like My Father

My last posts on attachment and bonding have been pretty positive because, well, things overall have been very positive. This post isn't a negative per se. It's more like well rounded :-) While progress is being made every day that's not to say we don't have our share of hurdles to jump and bridges to cross.

I've been keeping some pretty late hours with Jonas recently. It's been trial and error for me to figure out what he wants and what his true needs are. He's back to wanting to comfort eat through the night. He sleeping fitfully and waking up demanding a full tummy even though he will spit up all that food. It's just not good for him. I have come to believe through prayer and observation what Jonas is truly desirous of is deep comfort. Not the kind that comes from food, but the kind that comes from attachment. And I'm working on it. Though, attachment is not something I can say that Jonas feels toward me. Not yet anyway.

He's further ahead in the attachment process with Dustin. That isn't a bad thing. In fact, I am happy about it in many ways. It's so important for him to identify with His father. I am glad to see their special relationship being built. It's a joy to witness. But, it's a twist from my previous parenting experiences. I've always had that instant connection with the girls. I've been the sunshine of their infant lives and, while sure, I had to "work" to meet their needs I never had to work to gain their acceptance. Not in the way I'm working right now.

It's so very hard to explain. And, I wish I could do a better job of it. It's just that Jonas is hurt. As charming and funny, bright and cheerful, playful and resilient as he is there's a darker side there. Nothing freaky or alarming be assured. Only all that is natural from sustaining such deep losses as he has. He wants love and comfort but he's not sure he wants it from me. Sometimes he's more than willing to allow me to bring him comfort and satisfaction and other times he flat out rejects it from me. Like tonight as I was trying to soothe him to sleep, while he was crying he saw a long strand of my hair hanging down. His hand went up to reach for it but it was just outside his grasp. Oooh he kept a reachin' and a reachin' with all his angry might for that hair. It wasn't a 'just let me get a piece of her to love on, any 'ole piece will do' kind of reach he was makin'. No, he wanted to ring my bell and if he could have given a big yank on that strand of hair he would have. What I had to offer just wan't what he wanted. Not because it's me personally. I think it's just humanity.

Oh I could so identify with my son in that moment. How many times have I had a need, a deep seeded need, that could not or would not be fulfilled? Maybe I wanted something more than any human could offer me and refused to go to the Lord for His provision instead. And, because of the anger over not having that need met, how many times have I lashed out to those closest to me? Too many times to count I'm afraid. How many times has my heavenly Father been standing over me offering comfort and love while I struggled to accept it from Him?

A long time ago God spoke something into my heart. He spoke to me about my own personal adoption as His child. As his adopted daughter I need to learn how to function within the family of God. God has always taught me but I haven't always made the choice to accept what He's offered me. It's my choice whether I accept or reject my place in His family. From time to time I may or may not feel like I belong to Him, that He loves me or that His methods of raising me as His own are effective. At times I feel like rejecting the Lord's brand of parenting and other times I do reject his parenting. That doesn't mean I don't still have a place in His home, or that God isn't loving me just the way I actually need to be loved. The problem is sometimes I don't even understand what my needs are. It becomes a battle of the wills at that point. Then, the question begs to be answered: Will I be stubborn and push Him away or will I relax my arched back into the embrace of my Heavenly Father just like I'm asking Jonas to do with me?

Yes, I can identify in some small way with how my son feels because we're not so different, the two of us. My prayer for him is that he will see the loving arms of his Heavenly Father extending to him through my imperfect embrace. I pray that Jonas will learn to accept my love for Him and be comforted by it and that he grow to find security and satisfaction in his place in this family as well as in the House of the Lord.

As far as my prayers for myself, I am so thankful for the comfort that comes from knowing that my God is a loving God and a tenacious Father. If He wasn't so awesome I'd be tempted to feel I could use up all the tenacity and patience He's got. I'm so thankful that can never be the case. I need to learn from my Daddy well so I can follow in His footsteps. I've got a son who's just like me and I'm going to need all the tenacity I can get!

Family Photos '09

My friend Brooke was kind enough to offer up her talents to take the first pictures of our family as a group of six. I am so thankful to her for taking time out of her very busy life to snap some shots of us. Thanks Brooke!

A New Way To Pray

I'm reading Celebration of Discipline again. I've been chewing on the first chapter, oh, for a few months now.**

First, I read about meditation and now I'm digging into prayer. Something of which I've been doing A LOT lately. It's also been on my heart to teach my children to pray. Not that their prayers need improvement necessarily (I am not the prayer police) but I want to give them a tool box filled with skills. Also, I've noticed they tend to pray the same things over and over again. I wanted to help them think outside their "box", so to speak.

So Dustin and I tried something with them. On pgs. 30 &31 of Celebration the author shares an exercise called "palms up, palms down." Basically it's an exercise of turning over those things which may be agitating or distracting you in order to better receive the things of God in preparation for meditation of scriptures, or in our case prayer.

For our version we sat in a circle with eyes closed, palms down and went clockwise letting go of our burdens and distractions. When one person was finished they would tap the person on the right (I can't believe we've never used the "circle tap" method for all our kids. Every nights it's a "can I go next?" fest. This cures that!). Next we flipped our palms up and took turns again receiving help from Jesus. Then we folded hands and entered into prayer. I could not believe how enthusiastic the girls were about this. It really brought up some surprising "throw aways" as they came to call it. They opened their hearts before the Lord and in our hearing "threw things away" we didn't know they were feeling. Things like their burdens over their disobedience, their sickness, their fears. It was amazing! They truly enjoyed throwing them away and then, in turn, "filling up their empty places with Jesus." Their smiles beamed (with eyes closed) while they raked in peace and forgiveness from the Lord for the palms up portion. Then, most rewarding of all, I noticed their prayers were turned to others. Their focus was able to extend beyond themselves and toward others with their burdens lifted having received the gifts Christ offered them.

They woke up requesting to do it again. So we did. I think they plan to make it a daily practice.

** I actually went back to a post where I was last reading the book and I realize it's been a WHOLE YEAR since I've picked up the book. WOW! That shocks me. Can time really be moving that fast? **

The Kind of Day I Had

Today is an eat chocolate buttercreme frosting straight from the tub kind of day. And, that is exactly what I am doing as I type. Not one of my finer moments but I don't really care!

My day today actually began at 12:45 a.m. with a screaming child who was sweating profusely with a 103.7 temperature. Jonas. He had a hard time being comforted. What was pretty funny though is our little glass half full sweetheart couldn't stay mad at me long enough to reject me entirely. In between being spitting mad at me for not knowing how to make whatever was ailing him go away he'd play a little pat-a-cake and give a smile and snuggle back into my chest.... then remember he was really not feeling well and get mad all over again.

Here's my day:

I call the pediatrician's office as soon as they open (9am) and am able to get an 11:45 appointment. It takes me the whole morning to get myself and the four kids ready for the doctor appointment and for the ice skating lessons the girls would have that afternoon since we won't have time to stop back home for their gear. Also, I spent more time than I would have imagined was needed looking for the right outfit to camouflage my heart monitor. I arrive at the office at 11:45 on the dot. I find the nurse to be... uncheerful. Next, I get my first "Are they all yours?" Wow. How did I not see that one coming?

The Nurse Practitioner introduces herself to me by asking why my kids aren't in school. "We home-school." I replied. I notice the smug little look on her face but chose to ignore it.

I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Even arrogant ones. I am pretty young to have as many kids as I have. People just don't understand that I am a genius- a home schooling genius! How could they? And certainly they must not comprehend the insane amount of self sacrifice it took for me to venture out into this strange, new-to-me world of home education. They couldn't understand the pressure I feel from choosing to take on so much responsibility for our children's educational foundation. All of this is joyful but that doesn't mean that I've got it all figured out. They don't understand how sometimes all the challenges that come with this lifestyle can make me wonder if I've got what it takes. And, how more common than uncommon the questioning attitudes are that wear on me so. They have no clue how often I pray over this decision for the kids' sake.

No, she's not going to put herself in my shoes today. She only wants to stare down her glasses at me. And ask me if Jonas is adopted. "Yes. He just came home from Ethiopia."

"Oh," she says turning to the girls, hand on her hip, "And what do you all think of this?"

Blank stares and crickets chirping.

"They really are such wonderful big sisters!" Pause. LONG pause. "It's very different having a baby in the house, huh girls?" Again the crickets. Can I at least get a little help from my kids please?

She probes for more information. Wants to know his history. And not his medical history.

I politely explain that we have no medical history to share (that should have been in his file since I covered all that with his physician) and that we have limited personal history for him. Then stare her down in silence challenging her to go on and ask me something personal about him again. That shut her up. Pretty unprofessional, me thinks. I;ll just go ahead and file that one in the Con column for this office. Right under being asked every time we go there if I am his mother by every new nurse that sees us. (Would someone please make a notation that "mom is white" in his file!?) It's a good thing I LOVE LOVE LOVE the doctor. He's the best. I don't want to give him up. Even if some of his staff leaves a bad taste in my mouth lately.

So we leave the doctor's office and head to lunch. A treat. Mom's day out with the kids. I figure since we have a good amount of time to burn while we're waiting for ice skating lessons to begin I'll take 'em to lunch. I'm feeling brave despite that small little voice in my head warning me that my first major venture out in public with FOUR kids shouldn't include a child with a double ear infection. Oh well. I can do this! This ain't my first rodeo anyhow. The old me would have panicked if, say, the baby would have knocked his head into the table and split his lip open 5 seconds after sitting down. But not me! I don't mind a little blood. Even when it's floating in my ice water after I share my glass with the baby in hopes that the chill would help stop the bleeding. It does. Crisis averted. Man I'm thirsty. Haven't had a drink ALL day. Que decision to drink from same cup I watched traces of blood dissolve into. Yea, I know I'm gross but thirst will do that to you. It makes a gal desperate. You just gotta put your mind over the matter. Does this mean that maybe I could hang on Fear Factor as contrary to my previous assumption?

Baby back in high chair happily enjoying his first taste of french fries. Something I never would have let the oldest child do before her first birthday. Enter annoying waitress telling me "Boy you got your hands full today!" ( This statement triggers an imaginary laugh track in my head. You know. Like the ones they use for a sitcom. Only this one sounds like warped vinyl)

"Today and everyday" I say with a smile. (Note to self: try not to feel compelled to explain that your not babysitting your son to every Tom, Dick or Sally you meet. Get over it! And if you simply must speak come up with something better than that. Goodness sakes. It sounds kinda depressing. Is that the image you want to convey?)

Oh look at the time! We better get going. I still haven't really figured out how I am going to get the girls dressed and their skates laced while holding the baby. My quick mental calculations tell me I'll need at least 30 minutes.

30 minutes later I realize I hadn't taken into account the baby having a blow out and the girls getting fully dressed (tights and all) before realizing that peeing before they hit the freezing rink might be a good idea (despite my telling them so). Ooops. Someone had a little accident. I do understand. It's hard to get all those layers off (especially those dern tights) when your in a BIG hurry. I wonder how chilly that hiney will get when she hits the ice again. Oh well, she's only slightly damp. (Question to self: does this make me a terrible mommy? That I would sent that child right out in slightly peepee panties because I really don't want to undress her completely to get at them and then have to re-lace those ice skates one handed? Again. On second thought, I will address this deep maternal dilemma some other time....)

Okay the girls are on the ice and the baby is only half delirious from not having any nap at all today. Enter loud mother walking up beside me to startle him just as he was drifting off. She's "talking" to her her baby, "Would you hurry up and go sleepy already!" Funny, I think to myself, that's just what my kid was trying to do. She turns to me and kindly points out that I'm wearing my sling wrong. "See here and here." she embarrassingly calls to my attention, what must have been to the rest of the world, my obvious sling incompetency. "Thanks." I offer. Truly could I be any bigger a goober today!? I think not.

"I was in a rush and I just needed to get him in it so I could have my hands free." At this point I can't tell if the look that crosses her face means that she is identifying with me or thinking I am a complete.... well, you know what.

After the circus that was getting the kids out of their gear we finally left the building and loaded into the car. More accurately I feel like I slinked out of there. A little voice in my head asked me. Did I think I was super woman? What made me think I could do this? Again with the self dialogue: "Oh great now I gotta fight the battles in my mind too. Great!"

The car ride home was oh so special. The two int he back were trying their darnedest to wrestle while buckled. Several threats later I remind them that I am "SUPER SERIOUS!" about what's about to happen to them when they get home.

Pull in the driveway and send the two littles to their room. For. The. Night.

You know what's coming next. The teacher from Charlie Brown. What's her name? We'll the girls start channelling her.

"Yes you can have dinner."

(inaudible whining)

"You'll be dining in your room."

(inaudible yelling)

"I assure you this is not child torture. It's actually saving your lives at this point!"

.....Que chocolate buttercreme frosting.

The New Normal

I wanted to hop on and update you on how we're all settling into life as a family of six.

We've been quite busy with various doctors appointments. First for Jonas and then for me. Next week we have more of the same with trips to the dentist for Rienne, the audiologist for Jonas and the following week I've got a followup with the cardiologist for some tests. That will keep our afternoons quite busy.

Jonas has been adjusting amazingly. I was concerned about his eating habits when we first arrived home. He seemed to be comfort eating often but since that time he's mellowed out. He's been eating 3 meals of solid foods daily which has helped normalize his formula intake. He was waking up every 2 1/2 - 3 hrs throughout the night (this is due to his schedule in the orphanage) to take a bottle but lately he's even been stretching out his sleep patterns to 5 hours at night and when he wakes he doesn't eat more than four ounces. Before he had been polishing off 4 ounces and crying for more. He'd eat 8 ounces and then spit much of it up proving ot us that he wasn't truly that hungry but either used to eating that much or eating until he could fall back asleep no matter how full he became. Needless to say, we are so happy that behaviour has ended!!

Dustin and I aren't as concerned about getting him transitioned off taking a bottle to fall asleep as we are getting him accustomed to our home and feeling safe and secure in it. Once we feel he's adjusted then we'll work and breaking those habits of his. We figure we gotta chose our battles wisely. At this stage it's all about attachment and bonding for us. We are working to transition him from formula to water in his naptime bottle since he relys on it solely to help him fall asleep. Hopefully after that we can just take the bottle away. For now, as soon as the bottle leaves his lips- if he's not fully asleep yet- he screams.

When we first got Jonas he wasn't able to grasp tiny foods between his pointer and thumb. Now he's doing a wonderful job of feeding himself his Yogurt Melts (his favorite snack) which he loves to mash between his two lower teeth and his recently split through top front teeth. This is generally a very drooly affair filled with proud smiles and head nods which seem to ask "are you seeing this!?"

Overall, Jonas is a giggly and happy child. His personality is such that he's always chattering or playing. One of his favorite games is to grunt and have us grunt back at him in a sort of "copy cat fashion. He really gets a kick out of it! Jonas enjoys sucking all over my face especially my chin. He particularly likes to make silly noises akin to elephant calls on my face. Apparently it's hilarious in his little baby world. He makes quite a mess but mommy obliges because well, she can't get enough of those baby kisses, and it's great for attachment. It doesn't end there, though. Jonas LOVES to BE kissed. I think he wouldn't mind at all if I just glued my face to his cheek. My boy certainly doesn't mind close contact! All of these things are such a testament to the loving care he received at the intake orphanage and the TH. It's a true answer to our prayers!!

Recently Jonas has taken to army crawling around the family room floor. If it's tummy time he's on the go. We can tell already that as soon as this kid is truly mobile he's going to keep us VERY busy.

Dinner Time

A friend was kind enough to bring a basket full of baby food by for Jonas. Mom and Dad were appreciative but Jonas didn't seem too impressed.

The Shoemaker's Children...

You know that saying? Well, in this house it's the hairstylist's children who wait the longest to get proper haircare. It's been a while since they've had their hair trimmed. Rory is by far the most opinionated of the bunch. She really loves her hair short. There's no arguing with her. So that's what she got. The other two just had trims.

Kids Pros/Cons List

Cons:
-Laundry
-Expensive grocery bills
-College tuition

Pros:
-Never a dull moment
-House full of love and joy
-Your own complete rock band

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Strangest Thing

I think I may be the world's cruelest mother. Why you ask? Because I laugh at my kids. I don't mean to but sometimes they do the funniest things. Things that make me go hmmmmm........ and then I bust up laughing.

Today Rory ran into the room in a semi panicked state. In a split second I noticed that something about her looked different. Hmmm, I thought, "She has a bit of an Asian appearance to her all of a sudden." Upon closer inspection I realized that, really, it was only her right eye which appeared more slanted than usual.

"Mom, something's in my eyelashes." she chirped while waving her hands,"and it hurts"

"WHAT happened?"

"I was making jewelry with Rienne now my eye hurts and I can't blink"

People, there is absolutely no way I can successfully describe the mess that she had gotten herself into....... but that won't stop me from trying.

The kids have this jewelry making kit which has a tool that spins in a circle with a brush on it for buffing items. It seems Rory had leaned her head close to get a good look at what she was doing when somehow her hair became caught in the tool which spun it around and around. The hair became twisted. After the hair twisted enough it began kinking back on itself and somehow it wound itself around a big bunch of the eyelashes on the top corner of her eye which then tugged at her eyelid pulling it to the side. Every time she blinked the hair would tug at her eye lashes threatening to yank a large clump of them out. HONESTLY, how does that happen!?

I began laughing out loud which upset Rory because she was still in quite a predicament and feeling panicked. I would have taken a photo to share with you (is that sick of me?) but I figured I should help her right away. I ran and grabbed my shears and snipped the hair. Then using my nails I was able to work the knot off the ends of her lusciously long lashes. Thank goodness she didn't lose those lashes or she would have looked really silly until they grew back in.

All throughout this ordeal I had to try hard to fight the urge to laugh uncontrollably. Rory would look at me with her wide eyes (well, her one wide eye) and a silly bewildered smirk on her face (she's always the one who has to join in when someone is laughing) and let a few giggles slip despite her discomfort.