My Brain is Fried

My sister thinks I've been taken by body snatchers since I haven't been posting as often as I usually do.  But I reassured her I am still myself by referencing my last comment about having lost my oomph this week. Which I have. I should have blogged about last weekend's small road trip to my parents, but there just wasn't much to say except that it happened and it went ok.  While we were in Alabama, we did go to a wonderful get together with about 5 other families of friends from our old church there that Saturday night, but Anna's sickness quickly overshadowed that.  I ended up making a frantic midnight run to Walmart to get some medicine to bring her sudden fever down - and even that was less unsettling than the choking and screaming she was doing when I left. Croup. Ugh.  The ride home Sunday was just as eventful with Noah and myself not feeling quite right and having to make several stops on the side of the road.  Ugh again.

Since that trip, I've had just enough energy to wipe noses, administer breathing treatments, watch TV, and watch the calendar for other upcoming things.  And I've done laundry and cooking and such, but that is just plain boring to blog about.

For the record, Noah and Anna still have nasty coughs, but as far as coughs go, I think they sound better than they did Monday and Tuesday.  Noah was bad enough Tuesday for me to keep him home from school, drug him up, keep fluids in his hands at all times, force him to sit still watching a ton of TV, and giving extra breathing treatments. Speaking of TV - I make no apologies for the shameful amount of it my children have watched this week.  It keeps them still and resting ... and therefore healing faster.  Right?  Someone please say right.

I love a rainy day and that is just what today is - RAINY.  There is a river in the street in front of us.  But I am a consignment warrior and no wet feet are going to stop me from hitting my third consignment sale of the season in about an hour.  Wish me luck.  Josh is coming with me though, so I feel a little more energized about this one.

Tomorrow I fly to Baltimore to spend the weekend with 3 friends from high school (one also from college) and another old friend from college after they leave town.  I'm really looking forward to the getaway, the girl time, and even the quiet and alone waiting time in between airports and hotels where I will read, read, read. I get home again Monday night where my brain will immediately shift back to consignment business.  Next weekend I get to finally unload my giant mass of consignment stuff at my favorite consignment sale where I will also work a shift so I can shop before all the consignors.  And THAT should mark the end of my consignment scouting for the season.

The next big things after all this stuff is getting to see some of Josh's family for a good sized visit, around my birthday no less (c'mon 32, I'm not scared of you!).  I scored them some well-priced tickets to the Grand Ole Opry so I am really looking forward to that for them and any other Nashville fun we make happen while they are here.   By the time all that is done, Spring should be here in full-swing and my blogging might just follow suit. :)

See ya next week, friends - lovely Baltimore pics in tow.

Unsolved Mysteries

Someone Please Tell Me: 

- How I can convince Noah and Anna that it is NOT necessary to completely remove their pants when they use the potty.

- Why it is so terribly complicated for most drivers to merge without slowing down traffic completely.

- What the heck those oval-shaped 13.1 and 26.2 bumper stickers mean.

- What they mean when they say to use a cool iron - how would that work?!

 - Where my oomph went.

Seriously Slackin'

I have seriously been slackin' on getting Noah more time doing fine motor skill activities.  Josh says that's alright because working with the Legos like they do involves a lot of fine motor skills.  He has a point!  I'll go with that and let myself off the hook this time.

But last week on a snow day, Noah DID ask to do a craft.  I put him to work cutting out the letters of his name with zig-zag scissors....

practicing with a mini-stapler...

and punching dots with a hole-puncher.

We wrapped up this poor excuse for a craft with glue and yarn, but I guess I checked out of the documentary picture taking by then.  I'm gonna blame my serious case of slacking on all the snow days we've been having the past couple months.  It's a good thing Noah is taking to reading so well, because if it's left up to me his coloring/handwriting may never be up to par!

2 Years, 5 Months

Random piece of Brown family trivia:

 Anna is the same age now

 

that Noah was when she was born.  Wow.

Just Wow.

That baby boy with the paci there is nearing 5 now, starting to read (OMIGOSH!), and  - for the first time in his life - needing bigger hangers to hold his clothes (WHAT?).  Oh, my heart.

V-Day: A Song and a List

This weekend while I was gone to a baby shower, Josh and the kids made me valentines.  My favorites are Anna's unpredictable message- "Yellow," - and Noah's drawing of me, him, and Anna.  ♥

Josh is out of town today and the next few days, too.  Doesn't exactly make for a special Valentine's Day ... except it does.  Sweet treats in surprising places saved the day.  Josh slipped little Kit Kats in my make-up bag, under my pillow, in the cabinet, in the car, and he tells me there are a few I haven't found yet apparently.  The card he left named day-to-day things married couples do and then summed it all up with, "There's no one I want beside me besides you."  This made me grin because it's so us.  And it's so the exact same message I had in mind for dedicating this song to him today. 

I Want You With Me
by Leann Rimes

When I'm walking down the street

on a quiet afternoon

Or when I hear our favorite song

and it gets me in the mood

When I don't know who I am

and the world is not my friend

When I fight my way back up again

Oh, I want you with me every move I make

I want you to see all that I see

Through the laughter and the madness

And every moment in between

Oh, I want you with me

When I tell my daddy bye

for the very last time

Or when I learn a whole new love

in our babies' first cry

When you can tell I've done it all

by the lines on my face

When I start regretting my mistakes

Oh, I want you with me every move I make

I want you to see all that I see

Through the laughter and the madness

And every moment in between

Oh, I want you with me

Back when Josh and I were dating, I listed a bunch of things I liked about him. I can't remember if it was for Valentine's Day or not, but he keeps it in his wallet to this day (at least last time I checked it was still there).  So in honor of another Valentine's Day, I added some more stuff I love about Josh - some of the "real-life" romance that I would take over a flashy fancy holiday dinner date any day!

Stuff I've loved and still love about my man:

• How he checks on the kids before he goes to bed every night
• How he is King of the kids' bath times
• How I don't have to tell him how to pack the kids or what all needs to be done to put them to bed
• How he takes one of the kids with him to do a grocery run for me - double blessing!
• How he reads every bit of our blog
• How he always makes hearty breakfasts 
• How he picks up my slack when needed
• How he loves and genuinely enjoys our babies
• How he is just plain and simple my best friend - I am completely myself with him
• How we laugh so hard together remembering specific commercials from years gone by that we liked
• How he can fix anything
• How he always cures my computer woes even though I am an impatient customer
• How he sews buttons for me and cut, ironed, stitched, and finished oven mitts for Anna
• How when he empties his pockets there are coins, trash, receipts, wallet, and little pink barrettes
• How he made a light sabre out of a stick and painters tape so he could Jedi spar with Noah
• How he gets pummeled as he walks through the door by all 4 of us
• How it continues on til bedtime 
• How he knows why Anna's being 2 years and 5 mos. old is significant
• How he knows my unspoken pet peeves and laughs at them with me
• How smart his Lego-selling idea was!
• How he is such a stickler about Noah's breathing treatments
• How he is not lazy - like, ever!  (only highlighted by the fact that I am)
• How he laughs (me, too) when I growl "Aggravation!" cuz it reminds us of his dad
• How it is so important to him to be available and active within our family
• How he surprised the kids with valentines in their car seats today

Happy Valentine's Day, Josh!  I ♥ You always. 

School Valentines - Check!

The Extent of the Damage

We let Noah's curls go until we just plain looked like bad parents who were not tending to their boy's health and hygiene.  (ok - that's a little dramatic, but it was really starting to look unkempt and unruly ... especially around the back and sides)

So I sent Noah with Josh to get a cut with strict orders to tell the hairdresser that we WANT the curls, we just want them in a little more order.  I'm pretty happy with what came back home.  Still curly on top, trimmed up but still bodified around the sides, and not near as short as we keep it in the summer.  Still one handsome little boy!

Handsome, yes, and tough to boot - a bonus shot of Noah's busted lip from earlier this week after he was playing like he was a bucking bronco (Bullseye from Toy Story, probably) and fell flat on his face:

Praying the Names of God

I am reading again through a book called Praying the Names of God written by Ann Spangler.  This week I am on El Olam (the everlasting/eternal God).  With that in mind, last night I was especially challenged by Spangler's reminder this week to "confess our tendencies to live as though this world is all there is."  Hmmm.  What an interesting way to put it - a tendency to live as though this world is all there is.  What does that look like exactly, I wondered?  I think for me it looks like any of the following: my selfishness, my impatience, my judgements, my fears, my desire to be satisfied, my control of things.  They are all just expressions/extensions of that very thing - a tendency to live as though this world is all there is.  As though my good things come now and are for me.  Silly me.

By the end of this same day's entry, Spangler offers a way to approach this problem or to perceive the challenge:

Perhaps the challenge is not only to believe that those who belong to Jesus are destined for heaven but to live in a way that expresses heaven as your deepest longing, your true home.

Being aware of heaven as my deepest longing would look like this on me - generosity, energy, peace, contentment, joy, gentleness, and patience.   And my word, don't those things sound so much better than my way, my attitude, my voice, my indulgences, my convenience, my whatever.  Ick.  No thanks.

Thank you, Lord, for the reminder to live with an eternal and heavenly perspective.

Trauma According to Anna

Trauma:  

An emotional wound; an event or situation that causes great distress and disruption

Oh, my sweet Anna is so much fun.  I delight to know her more every day.  But living with her is like living inside a dramatic play.  She goes from comedy to tragedy within minutes.  Giggles to tears, laughter to fury, independence to neediness all within the span of half an hour.  Maybe I'm too suspicious, but I do believe she is trying to manipulate - playing the "poor baby" card to get her way or to garner sympathy.  Behold - a list of the sorts of things that make her jut out her bottom lip and whimper, throw her head back to wail in rage, or fake cry with pitiful weeping sounds as she runs to us with her arms lifted so we'll pick her up.

Trauma according to Anna:

• When I choose the wrong sippy cup for her
• When I make her wear matching socks
• When Tupperware lids won't snap on
• When her TV show ends
• When her napkin rips
• When she is cold
• When Noah wears a blanket and calls himself a ghost
• When she gets marker on her hands
• When she can't find her sippy cup
• When I take my chap-stick back
• When she doesn't want to eat and whines, "I can't do it!"
• When a tube of wrapping paper won't stop rolling back up
• When her teapot won't make its pouring sound
• When I won't let her wear her shoes inside
• When I wouldn't let her bring the umbrella in the house
• When her M&M's stained your hands
• When I startle her by catching her in some disobedient act
• When her Lego tower falls b/c she built it too high
• When we put water in her cup
• When Noah uses her name in songs 

And my personal favorite:

• When she asked for a napkin and I gave her a napkin - but what she really wanted was a paper towel!

I kid you not, it was enough to make her melt/dribble out of her chair and run from the room in agony.   Oh, the drama of it all.

Awhile back, I laughed at FB banter between my sister-in-law, Amy, and her daughter.  I commented that I needed a teenage daughter of my own to match wits and crack up with.  Amy answered back with a line that got me a little choked up.  She said, "Just blink and you will have one."  Oh. So true and aching, I know.  I DO know what she means.  But I do believe in a way that I did blink and do have a pint-sized teenager.  I tell Josh that living with Anna's daily emotional whirlwinds is like dealing with PMS preschool style.  That girl is a trip!

Taa Daa: Coupons/Jack

I hit the grocery store today.  Saved a little over $40, spent about $100.  I do like that.  But my goal is to get so good I save more than I spend.  Til then, I will keep practicing with my latest couponing weapon - the binder and its baseball card holders.  :)  It's so pretty.  And organized.  And fresh plasticky-smelling.  Ahhhhhh.  I stopped turning the pages and admiring/inhaling it long enough to snap a picture.

And when I stopped to look around me today at the other shoppers, I was REALLY surprised how many others had their own binders of coupons open in the front seat, too.  How have I never noticed this before?

Anyway, moving on - It has become a tradition for Josh and I to make letters for all of my sister's babies' names.  With baby boy Jack on the way in just a few short months, it was time to get cracking this week!  Instead of having Josh scroll the letters from wood like we did for Brooklyn and Natalie, I wanted to put MY touch on this one and use my new favorite toy - Mod Podge.  I picked up some paper mache letters at Joann's and simply traced them and pasted and sealed a strong navy blue paper on each one.  I was tempted to decorate them with orange touches to go along with the nursery's Auburn theme, but I showed some self-control and just left them a clean and simple blue.  I did tell Emily to hang them with some sort of orange string or rope, though.  That should really pull it all together.

Come on, baby Jack!  Aunt Kimmie wants to love on a baby boy again.  I bet I cry.  I have a soft spot for a certain baby boy of my own.

Daddy/Daughter Stuff

I made an impulse purchase on Amazon the other day for Josh.  It's a book for dads about raising girls called Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.  Josh started reading it this weekend and has been overcome a little by more than one emotion.  I am so thankful it has turned out to be an intelligently written and helpful book and one that is interesting enough for him to want to keep reading.  Also, I love observing the affection and protection grow for my daughter from her daddy. Oh, steal my heart. What little girl doesn't deserve a hero?  I melt watching Josh become Anna's. Likewise, I melt watching Josh adore/get protective of our baby girl.

Yesterday Josh said the book was getting him worked up.  How so, I asked.  He answered it's making him pretty angry at our society as a whole and that he's pretty sure that by the time the kids can work the TV by themselves that we need to quit cable altogether.  Yikes. (Probably would be for the best, but still.)

And then tonight, Josh emailed me from a dinner meeting he is about to do.  He said, "Waiting outside restaurant, reading my book, a little choked up..."

Oh, steal my heart.
And make sure to mark that page so I can read it, too!

Over the Weekend...

Anna held a double roll of wrapping paper to her eyes and said, "Binoculars."  What?!  That is a big word for a two-year old if you ask me.  It's even more impressive to me because she pronounced it better than Noah!

It's too soon to say anything specific, but in reference to Josh's moving back into education in the near future, Josh got some news on Friday that left him (and me) saying, "Pinch me!"  So excited about the way things are looking like they will work out.  Thank you, Lord!

As well, I got my TN teaching certificate in the mail on Friday.  I am good to go in terms of getting a teaching job between now and 2015.  :) I have no idea if I WILL, but at least I have my ducks in a row for when I ever do.  Isn't it pretty?

I met up with Kristin for Chick-Fil-A on Saturday morning and then we headed over to Goodwill where I KILLED it scoring great clothes at incredible prices.  Josh and I laughed at the ridiculous amount of name brand stuff in great (if not new) condition that I came home with.  My receipt, if this paints a little picture for ya, was taller than me.  I also snagged some good stuff for future crafting.

Speaking of crafting, I tested the waters with my new Silhouette and some more Mod Podge and crafted a less-than-stellar bathroom sign.  The actual sign is my bad, but the lovely letters come compliments of my new digital cutter.

My sister finished up a little home decor project I suggested and helped her out with over the phone and I love how it turned out.  Great job, Emily!

Josh sold a ton of Lego Sets on eBay and, likewise, we packed and shipped a number of them today.  And yes, I left the mail carrier a piece of chocolate to butter her up for having to come to my door and pick them all up.

The kids' dress up storage situation has been one that sends me into a crazy cycle on a daily basis.  So, after finding a rack of hooks for $1, I had Josh screw that bad boy in and now there is some semblance of order in our dress-up world.  {sigh of relief}

We ate out at Qdoba.  We love Qdoba.

We got all our stuff together so Josh can start and finish our taxes this week.  We were both surprised to note that we got by this year on HALF as much income as we had last year.

I tried two new recipes: YumYum Brownie Muffins and Broccoli Salad.

We went to a Super Bowl party with a handful of new friends from the Young Marrieds small group we've been attending the past few weeks at our new church - which by the way, I may not have ever actually named here - First Baptist Church of Gallatin.  It was a such a nice time, not the least of which reasons is because we so enjoy being a part of a community of believers.  We've really missed having that sort of small/large group fellowship until recently.

This morning, I found Anna covered in marker ink - shirt, pants, hands, belly, face, etc.  I tried to be dramatically upset about this development but Anna was not going to jump on my bandwagon.  She giggled as I wiped her face, neck, and belly because it tickled, she suggested that I give her a bath, and she decided we should buy more clothes to rectify the clothing deficit that she created.

Anna got her own crafting/creating on ...

Other than all that, we just chilled out.

Beautiful One

It's stuck in my head and I'm quite OK with that.  :)  I believe Chris Tomlin does this song, however I am partial to the Jeremy Camp version.  This song also reminds me of our days at The Brook church in Alabama.  Lookin' forward to seeing a number of you in a couple weeks!

Beautiful One 

Wonderful, so wonderful
Is your unfailing love.
Your cross has spoken mercy over me.
No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
No heart could fully know
How glorious, how beautiful you are.

Beautiful one I love,
Beautiful one I adore,
Beautiful one my soul must sing.

Powerful, so powerful;
Your glory fills the skies.
Your mighty works displayed for all to see.
The beauty of your majesty
Awakes my heart to see
How marvelous, how wonderful you are.

Beautiful one I love,
Beautiful one I adore,
Beautiful one my soul must sing.
Beautiful one I love,
Beautiful one I adore,
Beautiful one my soul must sing.

You opened my eyes to your wonders anew.
You captured my heart with this love,
Because nothing on Earth is as beautiful as you.
You opened my eyes to your wonders anew.
You captured my heart with this love,
Because nothing on Earth is as beautiful as you.

Beautiful one I love,
Beautiful one I adore,
Beautiful one my soul must sing.
Beautiful one I love,
Beautiful one I adore,
Beautiful one my soul must sing.

And you opened my eyes to your wonders anew.
You captured my heart with this love,
Because nothing on earth is as beautiful as you.

Worth a Thousand Words

Josh mentioned the other day that he wanted to text Tania again and ask her for a current picture of herself and Justin for Noah to have.  I liked the idea and figured it couldn't hurt.  Why not?  And sure enough, after a day, she texted a quick picture back.  We were pretty excited to see it.  We sort of scrambled all over ourselves to get the file emailed and opened on the computer. :)

Granted, it's a bit grainy because it's just a phone pic, but we are so glad to have it.  I kept staring and staring at it last night after Noah went to bed.  Looking so hard at those faces, letting their reality sink in again.  Tania is of course a very familiar face given how we have seen her in person almost every year up til now. The last time we saw Justin, however, was 4 years ago - so seeing him here meant a lot to us.  He looks a bit different; going from 16-20 will do that to a guy, I guess. : ) We didn't really explain to Noah who he was, though we did tell him his name and told him he once met him when he was a baby.  We focused more on Tania, whom Noah does have a working knowledge and memory of.  And besides, how DO we explain a birth father to a 4 year old?  Talking about how he grew in Tania's belly is one thing; talking about how he came from Justin is a bit more complicated ... Yikes.

Anyway, after Noah saw their picture and had a few things to say about it, he was off to bed agreeing that he would like to keep it in his room once we printed it.  We texted Tania back to say thanks, and then she made our night by her following responses.  After how low I felt given our last interaction with her, last night's texting dialogue just made my heart exhale and grin.  Apparently, we should have been texting all along!  I curse you, generational gap! : /

Josh:  Thanks for the pic.  Noah says getting your pic was like getting candy at Christmas.

Tania:  I'm glad you got it.  Can you tell Noah that I miss him and love him lots.  And thank you very much.

Josh:  Will do!  When we told him earlier that you sent him a picture he said, "She sent me dat cuz she wuvs me?"  He'll keep the pic in his room.  Thanks again.

Tania:  This has made my night.  I have been feeling a bit down because I missed him this year and I am really glad he liked getting that.  I am still waiting for the ones you guys sent but I am sure they will be here soon.

From there there was just a bit of housekeeping correcting what we had of her current address, so now we are straight.  We went ahead and overnighted her the last package of 15 or so pictures again, just to clear things up.  So frustrating.  BUT, she did also say she spoke to her dad in FL and he found the stuff we'd been sending her over the past year and was going to mail it all to her.  That's good news.  I'd really like her to have all that I wrote and detailed for her, especially since it made her so happy to hear even a few quotes from my boy just last night.

Anyway, so glad to share the encouraging update about Tania.  It's a good and reassuring sign.

In My World

In my world you cannot be relieved that Anna did not wipe her booger on the carseat.  When you ask where she put the booger she was yelling at, she will proudly say, "In my mouth!"

In my world, I share a living room with a strange concoction of characters.  No, I'm not speaking about my family.  I speak of Noah's scene setting and play: firemen, Batman, Jedi, medievil knights, and Lego men all battle on the same field.

In my world, I don't just put Anna to bed; I put Anna and her entire sleeping entourage to bed - Piggie, Teddy, Monkey, Pirate, Bunny, and Seahorse.

In my world, words are delicious.  My latest faves are bizarre, yikes, faithful, surrender, honeysuckle, whimsy, beware, machismo, cinema, rejoice, cityscape, dig, strumpet. homespun, and bonehead.

A Real Emergency

I reviewed 911 protocol with Noah tonight just to make sure he was familiar with what to do in case of an emergency.  And after I showed him what to press and explained what would happen when he pressed those numbers, I reminded him of the seriousness of using a number like 911.

Me:  Noah, remember - we only call 911 if something really bad is happening, an emergency.
Noah:  Yeah - Wike when Jesus up on da cross!