Random

I have yet to join the Facebook crowd. Yes, I am aware that I am probably the lone holdout, but I am not going to do it! I would be totally addicted, I'm sure. And right now, there's no time for it. But I do get on Facebook under my sisters names so I can "spy" on all my old peeps!

But even though I am boycotting Facebook, I have decided to take part in its latest phenomenon. I have been asked (by my sis) to compile a list of 25 random things about myself. Here goes:

1. I go by my middle name – Lauren. My first name is Elizabeth.

2. My second toe is MUCH longer than the first.

3. When I was young, I would bribe my sister to tickle my back at night. I would tell her that I was setting the timer on the microwave in the kitchen, but I wouldn’t. So she tickled me forever!

4. My younger sister witnessed my very first kiss (when I was 15) and she told my parents. I got grounded for a month!

5. I got a spanking from my teachers every year in elementary school except for 6th grade!

6. I had an ovary removed when I was in tenth grade. (None of my friends even knew what an ovary was!)

7. I was born in Germany.

8. I really want twins. (Am I crazy?? See my previous post…)

9. My dream job is White House Press Secretary.

10. When I was in junior high, the older guys called me Goosebumps. I’ll let you try and figure that one out. But I hated it! (If they could only see me now!)

11. I used to be addicted to General Hospital (gave it up when Robbie was born)!

12. My favorite movie is Ever After

13. I think Josh Duhamel is HOT!

14. I think my husband is HOTTER!

15. I love the new self-checkout lanes at grocery stores because I always wanted to work there!

16. I’ve never had braces.

17. I do not like coconut. I think it tastes like fingernails.

18. My first car was a Ford Escort hatchback. (And no, it was not cool even back then).

19. I met Peyton Manning and had my picture taken with him. My dad has it on his office desk and tells people Peyton is his son-in-law. (Sorry, honey.)

20. I’ve been on TV twice.

21. I always wanted to play Liesel in a performance of Sound of Music (and I used to practice).

22. When I heard the story of Jessica falling into a well, I thought she had falled into a whale. I know that is ridiculous, but I was very young and had heard of Jonah in the Whale. I figured they lived on the ocean and she had fallen in. But I couldn't figure out how they knew which whale it was...

23. I can play any song on the piano with my eyes closed.

24. I am the biggest Michael Jordan fan ever. Growing up, my pink room had Jordan posters all over it, and I never missed watching a Bulls game.

25. I'm going to nag my husband until he does this!

Adjustments

It seems that our lives are made up of adjustments. We get used to a routine, schedule or system just in time to see things get mixed up, and we are forced to adjust.

I don't really like to adjust. Once I convince myself that I am content with the way things are, that is how I want things to stay! But they don't!

This is especially true when it comes to life with small children. I get used to their nap schedule, feeding times, snack and toy interests, and then I turn around and things have completely changed. They no longer will eat goldfish and detest raisins even though I just returned from Sam's and stocked my pantry full of those items! Oh brother! But this is what keeps life interesting, right?!

With the addition of little Caleb, we are all being forced to adjust. I am having to adjust to no sleep. Remember, little Eveley is our sleeping beauty. From the time she was 4 weeks old, Eveley has been a wonderful sleeper. I can probably count on one hand the times my sleep has been interrupted by her.

Caleb is a different story. And let me say, I really can't complain. He is not a bad baby ... just a typical baby. He is 7 weeks old today and sleeps pretty well. But that still involves getting up a couple times a night.

At the beginning of last week, I was exhausted. I just didn't think I could do this for much longer. And I didn't think anybody really cared or thought it was that big of a deal. So, I was reading my Bible Monday morning (after a few cups of coffee) and I started chuckling. Bob asked me what was so funny. This is what I had read:


As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

II Cor. 6:4

"Finally," I said aloud to my husband, "someone understands." Paul puts "sleepless nights" in the same category as beatings and imprisonments. I agree!

Okay, so I am being a little dramatic, but I know you moms out there understand what I'm saying. Things have gotten much better though. Caleb had several very good nights last week. So, I'm staying positive!

Eveley is also being asked to adjust. She is no longer the only little munchkin in the house. And I'm not sure how she feels about that. I think she loves Caleb. She wants to see him all the time and is very upset when she discovers he has gone "night night." But this is how she shows her love:

I returned from a quick trip to the potty to find Caleb "on the phone."

And as I was trying to get a picture of Caleb in his bouncy seat, this is what I got -- the big bouncy ball in his face, courtesy of big sis!



And as for those goldfish she no longer likes . . . I pulled 2 out of Caleb's mouth the other day. Oh my!! She was just trying to "share"!

Oi!

Our Week in Pictures

WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES!




Caleb is 6 weeks old today! Isn't he a cutie!





The kids and I spent this past week with my mom in Tennessee while my husband went on a "man getaway" with my dad and brothers. We had a fabulous time and Eveley made many memories. Here are a few snippets of the fun!










My brother and his wife and two daughters (Layla and Anna Lea) live beside my parents. It was so much fun to see Eveley get to play with her cousins. These grandbabies are stairsteps. Robbie was born the summer of 05, Layla summer of 06, Eveley the summer of 07 and Anna Lea the summer of 08. Caleb mixed things up by coming winter 08 and they have another boy due the summer of 09. We are rabbits!!

My mom helped the girls "dress up"! Hysterical!!







Do you want to take a guess at what Eveley was getting ready to do?? More on that later!

The girls were eating soup. Layla insisted on feeding Eveley, and Eveley did not complain!






Eveley and Layla are, shall we say, good eaters! And their Marmee did not waste any time giving them a few treats.






We had pineapple upside-down cake one evening and Marmee gave the girls a squirt of whipped cream. Layla was pretty bummed when her mother told her she couldn't have any more. She seemed to get over it pretty quickly. Then we found her hiding in the living room!







Because this was a longer visit than usual, we were able to spend some good time with the family. Here is Eveley with her namesake "Gram" - Evie's great grandmother, my mother's mother.





Caleb and Eveley with their other great grandmother "Mimi", my father's mother.





I was able to visit my good friend Shana who lives nearby. She's the one who gave me this special gift. We had a great time catching up and Eveley loved playing with their new dog.

Home Sweet Home

Today is Robbie’s second "heavenly anniversary." It has been 2 years since I held him, kissed his plump cheeks, stared into his big eyes, or heard him say Mama. In his short 19 ½ months on this earth, I did not spend one night away from him. We were inseparable and he was my little buddy. I miss him very very much. I miss getting the chance to see him grow up, learn new things, and seeing how different our family would be with him still here.

The first year, I truly dreaded this day. It was an anniversary of nothing good. It only marked a day that was filled with shock, pain and intense grief. But our friends, the Gilliams, who are going through a very similar situation, told us that they referred to this day as their son’s heavenly anniversary. Now there is a bright thought! If my eyes could have only seen what Robbie saw that day, I couldn’t help but celebrate this day.

I cannot believe it has been two years. And, I cannot believe that we are still surviving. Many people say, "I could not do that," or "I don’t know how you do it." I concur! It is only a testament to the awesome power of the Lord and the beauty of His promises.

I have not discussed the "details" of Robbie’s homegoing on this blog as they are too personal, and truthfully, are too difficult to talk about. So we try to focus on the things that are unseen - which, as I’ve mentioned before, are too great for me to even imagine.

This sums is up:

For we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. Because we know that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us into His presence. So we do not lose heart. For this slight and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

II Corinthians 4:7-9,14, 16-18

I don’t believe I could say it much better than my husband did at Robbie’s memorial service. If you care to read that, click here.

10 Things I Forgot about Being a New Mom

1. Coffee is Amazing!
2. Sleep is overrated.
3. Hot baths are underrated.
4. Baby poop smells like buttered popcorn - which is why I always opt for Raisinettes at the movies. The Movies?? Who are we kidding...
5. Don't try and change a baby boy's diaper in the dark in the middle of the night.
6. Microwave dinners are really tasty.
7. It's very dark outside at 4 a.m.
8. My pain tolerance level is phenomenal.
9. My noise tolerance level is pretty amazing too.
10. Regardless, I would do it all again...

Special Gift

Shana, my sweet friend from college, sent me a special gift yesterday.



This teddy bear was made from one of Robbie's onesies.





The tag attached says:

Once I warmed the body, now I warm the heart.

Isn't that beautiful?!


Here is Caleb with the little bear. It's hard to get pictures of him awake. He sleeps a lot!

Again I'm reminded how I am able to make it through these days because of my wonderful friends and their response to God's prodding. I have heard from several different friends that our family was specifically on their minds on December 8 or other dates that have been significant to us. It is simply amazing how the Lord uses different tools -- His Word, His Spirit, and His children -- to encourage us and strengthen us on this journey.

And these two little boogers help keep me going too!

The Gift of a Name

As I discussed earlier, I believe the naming of our children is a very important task. Bob and I put a lot of thought and prayer into it and take it very seriously. After finding out that this last baby was a boy, we began to tackle this task yet again. We soon decided his name would be

Caleb Robert

As you can imagine, Robbie continues to be a part of everything we do. I explained it to someone as though his picture and all of those thoughts and emotions are tacked on my forehead. Everything I see or think about is filtered through those memories. We wanted this child's name to reflect our family story.

One of the very first names that we discussed was Caleb. We both liked it and began to read more about Caleb from the Old Testament. He was an amazing guy! As you may know, he and Joshua were the only two men who accepted God's mission and believed they could accomplish it, which is no small feat considering that they had to literally fight and overcome giants. As a result, they were the only two permitted to enter the promised land. They were fearless and knew that, with God, they could do anything.

Caleb is constantly referred to as a man who "wholly followed the Lord."

"But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it." Numbers 14:24

And Caleb says: "So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then." Joshua 14:10-11

That is our prayer for baby Caleb. And, while we have a blue million Roberts in our family, Caleb is named for his big brother Robbie.

Because we recognize the great significance in naming a child, you can imagine how overwhelmed we were when our great friends announced that they would be naming their son after Robbie!

Meet Bennett Robert!

We have known Brian and Jenna since law school. They were married with no kids and were urging Bob to ask me out which is a post all on its own. The rest is history!


Bennett Robert joined their other 3 children - Lauren (not named after me!), Cade and Cooper. We do not live in the same state but vacation together as often as we can! Our Robbie and their Cooper were just a few weeks apart and played together on a trip to Gatlinburg in October 2006.





This past summer, we all went to Florida. The kids were so sweet to Eveley.







While we were in Florida, I found out I was pregnant with Caleb. And a few weeks later, Jenna discovered she was pregnant with her fourth. This was a MAJOR surprise, but we were all excited!

Bennett Robert was born on Christmas Eve. He is a cutie! I'm sure he and Caleb will be great friends.

We love this family! They have stuck with us these past several years -- good times and bad times -- and constantly remind us that they are praying for us and remembering Robbie.

We need to plan another vacation!!