The Geek Squad

Let me begin this post with one very important statement which I have made before -- all children are different. Even if they are from the same parents, each child is unique. I saw this firsthand growing up as the oldest of five children. We each had different strengths and interests. Some are artistic. Some are musical. Some are athletic. Some enjoy working with their hands. Some would rather use their minds. Some like to read while others hate the thought. Some do math just for fun (ok, so that is just me...)

Anyway, you get the point.

Rewind 5 years. I was pregnant with Robbie. Trying to stay involved in my pregnancy, Bob would sing the ABC song each night to my growing tummy. Immediately after Robbie was born, they swaddled him and handed him to his daddy. When Bob started singing the ABC song to him. Robbie immediately stopped crying and stared intently into Bob's eyes. So cute.

I've written about it many times before, but Robbie had an affinity for letters. He loved books and flashcards and quickly learned his ABCs (around 17 months). He would eagerly point out letters in the grocery store or as we were driving down the road. This is definitely one of our favorite memories! He was very sturdy for his age and began walking at 9 months! Very early.





When Eveley came along, I reminded Bob that each child is different and we can't expect our children to all have that same interest or eagerness. Eveley is different from Robbie in some ways. But she too had a love for letters and books. She began talking very early and now will not be quiet. She was sitting at the table soon after she turned 2 and drawing in a notebook. We asked her to come into the other room and she responded, "I can't come right now. I'm crunching some numbers." Not sure where she got that...

Then came little Caleb. So far, he has been our little runt. He was the smallest (7 pounds, 1 ounce) and has stayed small. While the other 2 consistently stayed above 75% in their height/weight, little Caleb is around the 20% mark despite his ravenous bear-like appetite. I have said that he seems to be about 4 months behind Robbie. In pictures, they look similar at those different stages. But during this heavy winter, Caleb got a little bored and finally decided to walk at 14 months. He's everywhere now.

Caleb was not very verbal. He was content to just squeal or whine until we understood his point. He said mama pretty early but didn't care to learn any other words. I was pretty sure that sweet Caleb would not follow in his brother and sister's footsteps.

We have many different sets of flashcards that have barely survived these 3 little boogers. Caleb loves to sit down with the box and pull the cards out randomly and make some sound as if he knows what they are. We would sit down with him, just as we did with the others, and show him the letters and repeat the ABCs over and over and over again. He would watch our mouths intently and try to mimic the sounds.

Then it stuck! Last week, we were going through the normal routine and he began pointing at the letters and getting them right. My little, squirt, 14-month-old Caleb knows his ABCs. Seriously. It is the cutest thing ever. And I had to get it on video because I'm sure there are some people who wouldn't believe me. (I'll put it on the blog once I can figure out how to upload it from my Iphone). So Mr. Caleb now holds the record for the ABCs!

We are very aware that we will most likely have a child who will cringe at the ABCs or cry when we pull out the flashcards. But for now, it's pretty interesting to see the continued love that they have for learning. I'm sure big brother Robbie is so proud!

Valentine

I love my hubby. He gets me. Really gets me. Even when I don't get myself. He's my best friend and his children adore him.

I love my children. LOVE them. Robbie, Eveley Joy and Caleb. I will love them forever!

They don't really understand how much I love them...even though I tell them quite a few times each day. The other day, I said, "Eveley, your mama loves you lots and lots."

"I know," she said as she rolled her eyes. "You keep telling me that."

Well, at least she's listening.

Yesterday, my hubby gave me the ultimate gift. Ultimate! He kept the kids the entire day so I could do whatever I wanted. Anything. My choice.

I left the house around 11 and went to the salon and got my hair cut. Just sat there. Read a magazine. And just sat there. I hope I didn't appear rude to the lady cutting my hair but I just didn't want to talk. I wanted to sit there.

I shopped, browsed, read, sipped some coffee. It was wonderful.

Then I met up with a girlfriend and we went out for a late dessert downtown. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, we didn't think about it being Valentine's weekend. So we sat at a candlelit table for two in a dimly lit restaurant amidst the love birds. We were cracking up. But it was so much fun. I got home at 11. Yes, PM. That was 12 whole hours to myself. It was wonderful.

But I will admit that I received numerous phone calls from Eveley asking me when I was coming home. I didn't mind. I missed my little monkeys a lot.

Love is patient and kind.
Love does not envy or boast.
It is not arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way.
It is not irritable or resentful.
It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,endures all things.
Love never dies.

Diary - Part 2

Well, we are surviving this historical and momentous winter. I think when it's all said and done, I will have had my taste of snow for my lifetime. All of those years I spent wishing we could have more than 2 inches of snow have been redeemed.

The snow started early Friday morning and ended late Saturday evening. Fortunately, we only lost power for a few hours on several occassions. But nothing horrendous. I know many friends were without it for days. That would have been miserable! So I am counting my blessings that we must have a head honcho from the power company who lives down the road. The service was incredible!

We got a lot of snow. A lot!

Here is the view from inside.

This is the view from inside my jacuzzi bath. Not as luxurious as it may look. Inside the jacuzzi, you would find five thousand plastic toys and 2 monkeys.


Then Bob decided he should start shoveling our driveway just in case our power went out and we had to evacuate to a neighbor's house. We have a long driveway, so this was no simple task.




And this was what the driveway looked like a few hours after Bob returned inside. :)

We stayed warm, painted Eveley's bedroom and sewed some new curtains for it, made some goodies, and played a little Mario.

NOTE: Marty, I think about you everytime I hear the Mario music. Good times! I remember saving up my money so I could go to the Kelly Mart and rent Mario for the weekend when you came over. And I'm so surprised how much I remember! =)

Sunday, the snow stopped and the sun came out.

We waited for the temperature to climb above 20 and then took the kids out. They loved it! And I must admit we have one totally awesome sledding track. We had a blast.

I apologize for the pink mittens, Caleb. We hadn't gotten around to getting you any snow mittens and you had to borrow your sister's.

And I'm still keeping up with Project 52! Check out our shot for this week in the sidebar.

Oh, and did I mention that another snowstorm is heading this way? It is supposed to snow from noon today until Wednesday evening.

Diary of a Mad White Woman

I'm a southern girl. I think I've mentioned that before. Nothing against yankees (I married one...), but I have purposefully chosen to live in the south. I love the 4 seasons - hot summer, gorgeous fall and spring, and mild winter.

For us, snow is always an exciting event. It usually happens once a winter. We stock up on bread and milk, lose power, get out of school for a week, slide off the road, and make tons of fun memories. But it happens once a winter.

So, what is going on?!?! You may remember our huge snowstorm that we received in December. We got 30 inches. Yes, I said 30 inches. It was crazy. But, again, that made for some fun memories, and Eveley got to experience her first real sledding run.

That was nice.

But, we had another snow storm last weekend and got 11 inches at our house.

Then, another storm came on Tuesday. We only got 4 inches.

Now, the mother of all storms has moved into my beloved southern territory. At first, they said we would have 3 to 4 feet of snow. WHAT???

It is a small band of crazy snow that is heading right over our neck of the woods bound for D.C. I'm not sure if this is some sort of Snowpocalypse (as some people are calling it), but I think Mr. President needs to come out once and for all and denounce this global warming thing before I have to move to Barbados.

I don't think I would be this put out if it hadn't been for sick kids and a long week. But we went a whole 8 days without getting out of the house, and I'm sorry to say, I was a mad white woman. Everybody was getting on my nerves. We finally made a mad dash out of the house yesterday to stock up on the essentials:

Here I am. Sitting in my warm house with my beautiful family (who is still kinda getting on my nerves) and watching the snow fall. Again. This can be fun as long as we don't lose power. I don't think Mr. President has to worry about that.

As of 7:30 a.m., our house looked like this.

I'll keep you posted.

Week in Review

It started off as a normal, good week.

04/52 ~ January 24, 2010

We made it to church on time (big accomplishment) and remembered to pose for Project 52.

I went to my Bible Study on Tuesday. We are in our second week of Beth Moore's Believing God study, and it is awesome. I'm sure I'll be talking about it more.

Then things took a major turn.

To try and prevent myself from whining too much, I'll just summarize my week in numbers.

2: the number of sick children in my house

24: the number of Dora's we have watched

165: the number of apple juice requests...I mean, orange juice. No. Chocolate milk. I want Water! Where's my milk???

40: the number of forced medication episodes

11: the number of times I've had to clean up puke (sorry, mom)
4: off of myself

6: the number of bedsheet changes this week

0: the number of uninterrupted, sleep-filled nights
********
EQUALS

1 tired mama

Let's just say Miss Ev is not the sweetest sick patient. Bless her heart!

My sweet Caleb still finds the strength to laugh at the kids' new favorite show -- America's Funniest Videos. (at least it's not Dora...)

We did venture to the doctor on Friday. Eveley has bronchitis, and they both have ear infections.

I hate winter.

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On the bright side

My hubby came home from work on Friday with a surprise.

He knew it had been a long, tiring, and hard week.

So, what did he bring?

Sherbet?

A pizza?

Chocolate?

Nope.

My awesome hubby brought this home

We put the kiddies to sleep

and bowled,

golfed,

boxed.

Now, I'm tired ... and sore.

Pathetic.