"If the God you believe in as an idea doesn’t start showing up in what happens to you in your own life, you have as much cause for concern as if the God you don’t believe in as an idea does start showing up. It is absolutely crucial, therefore, to keep in constant touch with what is going on in your own life’s story and to pay close attention to what is going on in the stories of others’ lives. If God is present anywhere, it is in those stories that God is present. If God is not present in those stories, then they are scarcely worth telling." ~ Frederick Buechner

24 August 2014

Things are revving up...

Little Lady had her six-month well baby visit on Friday. Due to somebody's lack of attention to detail, she had gotten dropped off of our insurance plan over two months ago, so we missed her four-month appointment. I am so thankful that we all remained healthy in that period of time. In fact, I think the only sickness we had was a minor cold a couple weeks ago that B picked up at church.

Our pediatrician has a new nurse on staff, and he's a great guy. He's gregarious and knows how to talk to kids well. Plus, he's a daddy to a young baby, too. We saw him for the first time when we went in for B's shots a couple weeks ago. Obviously, the visit was still fresh in B's mind, because when he caught a glimpse of him on the other side of the glass door, he said to me, "That's the man that gave me my shots. I didn't like that."

I'm really glad he said "that" and not "him."

Anyway, when B realized that the nurses were going to give his baby sister shots, he grew alarmed, and shouted, "Stop! No! Stop that! Don't do that!" at the nurses.

(She cried for maybe fifteen seconds before calming down and nursing.)
Not that THAT stopped big brother from giving her lots of kisses to "help her feel better."
Thankfully, we had a play date lined up with friends right afterward. Both kids took terrific naps afterward, so after dinner, we went out to our neighborhood park so B could ride his four-wheeler. He hasn't had a chance to ride it hardly at all this summer, because the battery/charger N bought for it off Amazon was utterly useless. Customer service was useless, too, as they didn't respond to N's messages regarding a replacement. So, eventually, he just went out and bought a separate, fancier charger, and lo and behold! A fully charged battery that actually holds its charge!

He wanted me to "chase" him, but he was so busy laughing and looking back to check how close I was that he wasn't going very fast. And of course, then it all got silly when he laughed so hard he fell off the four-wheeler.
That night was Little Lady's first night sleeping through the night! And by through the night, I mean 10+ hours (I don't count anything less as through the night for an infant). And then, after a quick 5:30 feeding, she went back to sleep for a couple hours until N got her up (he didn't know she had woken up and nursed earlier so he got worried). She did an equally good job last night. We are seeing the light at end of the tunnel!

(On a separate note, every time I say or hear that phrase now, I think of Third Day.)


On Saturday morning, the boys and girls went separate ways as N took B to a kids' workshop at Lowes and took the four-wheeler out for another spin while A and I went to an essential oils class with my friend, Rachel. That afternoon, we went to a birthday party for a little buddy. I stayed up late doing chores, because I actually wanted to take a full Sabbath day today after such a busy Saturday.
Such a goofy boy!
We had a pretty relaxing Sunday overall. Today was A's first time in the church nursery, and she did a great job. When we picked her up, they said that she was a "smiley baby and as happy as can be." Once home, N and B visited with Mr. David and then got to work on a project while I put A down for a much-needed nap (girlfriend was apparently too busy checking things out in the nursery to take her regular morning nap). 
Cardboard boxes are great building materials!
Hard at work with Daddy
Such a happy girl!
During afternoon naps, I mowed all our grass. N's shoulder has been giving him a heap of trouble and then some lately. He has been working with our chiropractor on it for a couple weeks, but the pain is getting worse, so he's going to start PT on it. In the meantime, our house was starting to look like Those People lived here. And since we seem to have new neighbors moving in across the street, I thought it would be courteous to mow our grass. You know, so when we show up at their front door with cookies later this week, they won't be all, "Oh. You're the ones."

B is starting AWANA this year. N will be taking him, as well as serving as a leader (not with B's class, though), and he had a training/info meeting this afternoon. B had had a rough latter portion of the morning and woke up cranky. I knew I needed a good source of distraction while N was at his meeting, so I took the kids to the pet store. It was the perfect time killer. It was Cat Adoption Day, so B got to walk around petting some of the kitties. He has told me in the past that he prefers cats to dogs (ugh). When we walked by the rodent cages, an employee was feeding the guinea pigs. B was staring so intently at him, watching his every move, and the man was kind enough to take out a guinea pig for my little boy to pet. 

The weeks seem to fly by these days. This morning, as we headed out the door to church, I said to N, "I can't believe it's already Sunday again. I feel like it was JUST Sunday."

And tonight, I'm sitting here making list after list of first-day-of-school-related things I want to do. I'm trying to strike a balance between making this a fun and memorable start to B's school year while intentionally keeping space open and available for him to express any concerns he may have. I don't want to just bludgeon through the next couple days, insisting that this is all "Fun! Fun! Fun!" because I know that transitions are tough. 

I'm saying extra prayers for all our hearts these days! Our niƱos are growing up way too fast!

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