Joining the Ranks

Marvin and I feel we've finally been initiated in the the parenting club, we experienced the middle of the night cleaning up vomit/hold your child while they get sick thing. I have a whole new appreciation for our moms. Just want to say thanks for taking care of us when we were sick growing up. Marvin and I are grateful. I also learned how much love it takes to clean up that nasty stuff at 3 a.m. (Thanks honey.)

After a long night the sickness continued into the day. The poor thing was miserable yesterday, he spent most of the day in my arms, or laying on the couch. Thankfully our sweet teammates brought us some food for the little man, Marvin had to go out of town before any stores opened and of course I had planned on a grocery run later in the day, which meant I didn't have much in the house. I am so thankful they brought a few items over. They seriously rock.

We're just about through with all the laundry that were casualties from the stomach bug, now if it would only dry. Every available cabinet is open and holding sheets and blankets that have been washed.

Thankfully Calvin's back to his old self, he's been quite busy today playing, playing, playing. His appetite starting is coming back, and I'm thankful I haven't heard "Mama my bummy (tummy) hurts" all day long.

Help....from all my cloth diapering fellow moms

So our cloth diapers were wonderful in America, you know the place with dryers that aren't ridiculously expensive. Little did I know that one wash here and they would turn into sandpaper. Part of the reason we pushed toilet training was that it was becoming impossible to change Calvin's diapers, he flat out refused to wear his cloth diapers, and I don't blame him. I've tried all sorts of things to soften them up, fleece liners, extra rinses, vinegar rinses, etc. and after they line dry they turned out with the same sandpaper texture. It's frustrating because I really like them. Anyone have any other suggestions?

Since getting a dryer is not an option right now (for one the heavy price tag and two where in the world would we put the thing) we're looking into ordering some new diapers for this next little one. (Really cloth diapering isn't too bad, this is coming from a girl who swore I'd never use them.) So we're stuck trying to figure out what we should order. I'm looking at the all in one/one size diapers. I've narrowed it to two diapers.

Bum Genius or Fuzzi Buns One size. Any suggestions? Anyone use these? Here are my thoughts:

I like how the bum genius seem to be more compact and from what I've read clothes tend to fit better. I like the velcro, but I also don't like the velcro. It's a pain to remember to close it when washing and if you don't all your diapers stick to each other and sometimes sticks to the diapers or wipes too. Also velcro isn't as durable and they may not hold up to another child. And they look a bit on the small side. I tried one on Calvin and it still fit him but he's also not a large child for his age, he still fits into size 4 diapers and he's 2 1/2.

What I like about the fuzzy bunz diapers is that they have snaps instead of the velcro. They seem bigger so they might fit longer. They seem soft when line drying since they are lined with fleece. Can anyone attest to this?

So there you go, that's what we're pondering as we think through things we need for this newest little blessing. Thanks for helping and if you know of someone with an opinion about either one people send them over and have them give us some advice. Thanks WFMW for the help.

and P.S. I must confess I totally gave up on potty training Calvin, my stomach just couldn't handle it, we'll wait till I stop gagging all day long. We're totally doing disposables right now and I'm okay with that.

The big 30

Nope not what your thinking, Calvin finally hit 30 lbs. I picked him up yesterday and thought oh my goodness you're a chunk, I immediately went and weighed him. We have noticed he has grown but since I can't remember how tall he was at his 2 year check up I don't know how much he has grown. He's currently 35 inches tall (or 89 cm.). He's certainly turning into a fun little boy.

He's at that stage where he is starting to get jokes. We received an email from a friend who suggested Phil if it was a girl and Laura if it was a boy. He just started laughing and said, Mom Laura is a girl's name. It's been fun to joke around with him lately.

His language is exploding right now (one of my favorite developmental periods) and he busts out with words we didn't know he knew. Today after lunch he was playing with the magnets on the fridge and told me they were his passport and tried so hard to get his passport in his pocket. Too funny, guess it goes to show what's relevant in his world.

We were able to get out of the house yesterday and visit some friends in town we haven't seen since February. Calvin had so much fun playing outside and trying to figure out how to pedal a bike. I know he'll have plenty of time this summer to figure it out and we're hoping to go shopping for one tomorrow.

And since it's been a while since we posted a video. Here's some live action from our little veggie tales lover. And yes this is his stage that he must have in this exact position any time he listens to veggie tales.

Oh and speaking of veggies, the little man now loves GREEN BEANS. I never thought it was possible or that I'd hear him ask for more green beans at dinner. Funny how those taste buds change, glad we were persistent and keep giving him things he normally doesn't touch.

Heavy Heart

There is so much in our world that can weigh our hearts down, and recently my heart has been very heavy. I've had moments of pure brokenness lately, maybe it's due to the changes of hormones, but recently I've been brought me to tears in an instant.


Recently Calvin's been working on saying his name. For a while he was convinced his name was cowboy. Now he only says it when he's trying to be silly. But how that one word has brought a heaviness to my heart, Cowboy. My grandpa used to call Marvin cowboy, because he was a farm boy. When we left the states our first term I never imagined coming back to my American world changed so much. A few days before we returned my grandpa died, he never was able to meet Calvin. Though we had discussed such things happening my mind never really went there. So it was bittersweet when I heard our sweet little guy call himself cowboy.



There are things that we've choosen to give up because we believe with all our hearts that what we are doing is what we are supposed to be doing and as I think about my grandparents and family it's hard to think of the what ifs.



Another silly little thing that has been hard lately has also been thinking about our next little one and family. We want our family to know our kids, one of my big motivators to keep this little ole blog going. But part of my heart is a little sad that my mom and Marvin's mom will never feel my big pregnant belly. That they may never get to share in the experience of holding our newborn babies. It's silly really but it's something I have been grieving.



There are many more things, watching the older grandmas and grandpas dig through the dumpsters in search for recyclables. Staring into the eyes of beggers at the market. The sin in my own life, tragedies, etc, etc.



I honestly believe that Father has given me such a heavy heart for a reason and it's been sweet to have such sweet times of crying out to Him for all these things. I do hope that Father burdens your hearts for something. Today I found a song I had long forgotten about in my itunes library. It started playing right in the middle of lunch, it was a fun time of worshiping Father. Calvin even joined in and sang too. This is my prayer today.

" I will not forget you you are my God my King, with a thankful heart I bring my offering and my sacrifice is not what you can give but what I alone can give to you."

The BIG Offenders

I’m trying so hard not to complain. I am thrilled to have this little one growing inside me, but man I am ready to not be sick all the time. My heart truly breaks for sweet friends who would give anything to feel this sickness. So I’m bearing through it, thankful that one day it will end, and we’ll get to meet this little blessing.

Our latest doctor’s appointment went well and I was able to hear the results of my blood work. Everything was normal except my thyroid test, apparently I have an overactive thyroid, which my doctor told me is fairly common in pregnancy. For many women this leads to a lot of nausea and weight loss. Here in a couple of weeks I’ll have another blood test done and hopefully it will be back in the normal range. So this can explain part of the reason why the sickness is more intense this time around. Thankfully I haven’t gotten sick for almost a whole week. I don’t think anyone enjoys getting sick, I certainly don’t and can’t wait for it to stop. I cannot imagine those who have it much worse than this pregnancy, I'm so sorry!

The biggest things that set me off are smells and tastes. Some things just send me gagging in an instant. One smell that usually does it is clean laundry smells. This would not be so bad if we had a dryer, but we hang our clothes up to dry inside and some days it’s just overpowering. I’ve already cut back on the soap but the dilemma now is go without fabric softener and have stiff clothes that almost stand up, or become overwhelmed by the smell. Both not fun options, because I HATE putting on stiff socks, it seriously makes my skin crawl.

So for now I’ll continue to try to eat, I’m really tired of bread & crackers, and I hope this passes quickly. I’ve made through 6 weeks of this and hoping I have only a few more weeks of not feeling well all day long. This week is my last week in the 1st trimester and I'm really hoping things turn around soon.

Hold the awards

Well this week I had one of those days where I certainly was far from winning any mom of the year contests. We had been couped up inside for several days due to rain, and since it was just overcast and barely sprinkling I decided it would be great to take a little walk. I should have known better to have a purpose for our little walk, since Calvin was just dying to get outside and piddle, so our walk was far from ideal.

The whole time Calvin just wanted to play and I had another agenda, get to the store and back home. So we slowly made our way to the store, poor Calvin endured the wrath of his mama's tongue the whole way there. Here's what you would have heard, "Stop picking up rocks, stay out of the mud, don't splash in the big puddles, hurry along, we don't have time to "fish" right now, come on hold my hand a car is coming, Calvin keep moving." Get the picture, the poor guy just wanted to play.

Once we got home I was looking forward to resting during nap time. I hadn't been feeling so great and finally fell asleep and guess who woke up early, with a stinky diaper. Nice. My attitude was far from sweet and was seriously annoyed.

The rest of the afternoon he was literally begging me to play with him. Coming over and giving me hugs and kisses, bringing me books. I felt awful in more ways than one. It's amazing how much love that little guy can give in a day. I was literally about two seconds shy of getting sick and he comes over and just pats my back. Seriously I wanted to cry, he had already forgotten how ugly I was to him in the morning. I'm learning a lot about what forgiveness means from our sweet little two year old. I also have been learning a lot about what it looks like to love a two year old and how selfish my heart is. I do treasure this time in our lives and want to be a mom to builds our kids up. I have so much to learn and I'm thankful for the wisdom of Father to guide me in this precious task.

P.S. Our walk today went much better!

Easter 2010

This Easter was a bit different than we had envisioned it, but it really was a beautiful day. Since we were still stuck out of country without visas we tagged along with another group to celebrate. It was such so fun to look around the room and see all these people that Father had brought together for that day. Some of us were just passing through and others actually lived in the city, but it was neat to see how different we all are, we've come from different parts of the world, grown up in different homes yet we're family.

Our Easter service was a bit different from years past, for starters we met on Saturday evening. We enjoyed our living room time of singing, speaking to the king and learning from the Word. At the same time little ones played below our feet or snuggled in our laps. It was fun to just truly worship. After our time together the big kids hid a few eggs for the little ones. It took Calvin a while to catch on but after a bit they all were pretty pumped to find an egg. It was such a gorgeous evening and we were able to hang out outside and play before heading home. I'm a little sad we forgot our camera.

On Easter Sunday we headed out to a park so that Marvin could play a little ball with some friends. Calvin and I enjoyed the park with another young mom and her son, and to our surprise a tulip festival had begun at the park. Tulips were in bloom everywhere. It was simply gorgeous. Part of this festival also included music and Calvin enjoyed watching them "pay tar" (play the guitar). There even was a guy out painting, which was so much fun to watch for a while. I know Calvin was just dying to paint too, but he did well and controlled himself. With all that excitement he barely even played at the playground. We ended our exciting morning out with an Easter lunch at Papa John's, and boy was it tasty.
That night we had fun going through a hymnal we found at the apartment we were staying at and singing together as a family and reading again the truths of why we were celebrating. Calvin found a little musical instrument and accompanied us. It was pretty special. I hope you all had a great celebration too.

Excellence

I had the opportunity to go to a women's tea here in the city we are in. It was such an encouragement to my heart. Something I really needed. I was surrounded by so many amazing women, some of whom have traveled this road a while and have so much wisdom for us in this season of life.

The speaker was able touch the surface of Proverbs 31 in a way I had never really thought much about. How do I a woman, be a woman of excellence in a culture so different from my own? I've really been thinking about this a lot recently and if there are any parts of my own culture that have been in the way of relationships. She touched on many aspects of how different our lives are, learning new cultural ins and outs aren't just so we can blend in, or so we don't step on any toes, but can if I refuse to embrace this culture how hurtful it can be to friends.

Another area that I really became more aware of is my attitude toward certain cultural things that really bug me. Honestly I think one will never love everything in a culture. In fact I can think of several things about American culture that bug me. I've really been convicted to be cautious in how I speak of these things in our home. We have a sponge of a little boy, who pick up these things and honestly he's doesn't know the difference. In his world right now waiting in a line don't exist, mayo is a food group, black is not just a color but the color all clothing should be, and stopping work to visit with a friend takes precedent. I would hate for my words to shape his attitude of the culture we live in.

So there you have it that's what's been going on in my heart recently. I'm excited to see how Father shows me more areas in my life that need to be molded.

Our Favorite Park

Last weekend we hopped on a bus and headed to one of our favorite places in the city. A park along the water. It was such a beautiful and clear day, we even were able to see the Islands, a place we hope to visit sometime when it's warm. Calvin had a blast and of course the day was defined by the juice we let him pick out for our picnic lunch.

It was a cherry juice kind of day!

A day to fall asleep on the bus ride back home.

Oh how I missed warm weather!

What's new with us.

Well our documents arrived this week!!! We can't wait to get back home, to a place we can actually communicate. But it's been absolutely goregous here. I could seriously just sit in the sun all day. I plan to enjoy every spring day we have here because spring isn't really spring back home. We're looking at just a mere two more weeks in this city!!!

Other news is that Calvin's art skills are improving. He drew this little picture for us. Can you guess what it's suppose to be? Anybody????

??????

Give Up?

Let me help.

He drew it right after we showed him this picture.

It's a pretty good understanding of what's going on in his world, those two year old eyes are always learning, and I love these little peaks inside his brain. Our newest little baby is expected to arrive late October! Grateful is just the tip of the iceburg! I just can't wait to be past the icky sick part.

Our little observer

Calvin's always been an observer, from day one. He takes it all in. So when he found a scarf in one of the toy boxes here, guess what he did with it?

Covered his head of course!

P.S. The scarf was rather patriotic, but I promise it was a bandana not a flag.

Oh the madness

This is one of Marvin's favorite times of year. Basketball craziness is what I call it. This season starts out with State basketball. He's been following our nephew for the past 3 years and it's unbelievable they came up with another amazing state championship. That makes 4 State Championships in the last 2 years, basketball and football. Crazy huh! We're pretty proud of him to say the least, but Marvin was thankful that it was over, so his sleep could resume to a normal persons sleep pattern. No more waking up at 3:00 a.m. to listen to the games, but I think a few more games will lure him out of his sleep.

Now we are about to start his favorite part of basketball craziness, March madness. He gets so excited every year. Every year I tease him about how much thought he puts into his brackets, while I just fill them it out in less than 5 minutes. This year we both are rooting for our alma mater, K-State. Marvin's picked them to lose against West Virgina and I have them getting beat by Kentucky (I think) in the finals. Should be interesting.

Now what was so fun this year is we had Calvin fill out a bracket. Marvin showed him pictures of the mascots and he choose which team he wanted to win purely on his favorite out of the two choices. Some favorites of his were a pirate which we thought would win the whole thing based on how exited he is about pirates right now but apparently the pirate didn't have what it took to win of the whole thing. Georgetown and Georgia State were also favorites because of his love of Curious George. The choo choos of Purdue highly impressed him and his favorite team of all was........Lehigh. We were proud of his bold move, picking them over big bird as he calls KU (and we let him), but we didn't imagine he would have them going the whole way. We got such a kick out of it and he loved the game too. I wish I could upload a video we took but for some reason the country we are in doesn't allow it. A picture will have to do.

Happy Madness!!!

Day at the Aquarium

This Monday we had to be out of the apartment for the healthy part of a day so the cleaning lady could come and clean the apartment we are staying in. So we decided to head to a new aquarium in town. It just opened this fall and is supposed to be the biggest aquarium in Europe.

It took us 2 hours to get there via public transportation (this city is HUGE)! But we finally made it. Calvin was pretty excited to see the sharks.

As soon as we walked in the door he was overcome with excitement as we meet a Star Fish. He shook Calvin's hand and boy did Calvin's eyes just light up. It was certainly one of the highlights of the trip. We heard lots of WHOOO, OHHHH, WOWs during our time there.

It was the perfect length for Calvin's attention span. In far as coolness the National aquarium was a little better in my opinion. They had more exibits and well it just helps when you can read the signs. I'm sure if we'd been studying about sea life it would be the perfect little field trip. One thing that really impressed me is how child friendly everything was. The staff was helpful to tell all the kids about what they were looking at, we just smiled and nodded. They had little food pellets that the kids could feed the fish with open tanks. In several tanks they had people in wet suits holding some of the sea life and even let the kids touch a few.

We were glad we took the time to visit and who knows maybe we'll visit again in the future.

Catching Up

A couple of days before we left Nineveh we had some friends come and visit. It was fun showing them around the city. They brought their youngest and Calvin was so excited. But like any child his size or smaller Calvin thought he was a baby. It was too funny watching them attempt to play, let's just say there were a few tense moments between a third child and an only child.

We let their little guy take Calvin's room, so Calvin got to sleep in his firetruck "bed" in our room and oh boy was he excited. We just set up some blankets inside this little firetruck tent our teammates outgrew. It actually worked out quite nicely and it was fun hearing his sleep sounds as we drifted off to sleep. It's a side of him we don't see too often. We were thankful for some good time with friends even if it was a crazy time to have guests.

My Sunday Date

Last weekend I took Calvin on a little date. We meandered to a playground where I used to push him around in his stroller as a baby to try and get him to take an afternoon nap. He actually got to enjoy it this time.

What I didn't factor in was how far it was from where we are staying. He was a trooper and walked most of the way there, uphill. I was very grateful for this because for some reason all 28 lbs. of him seem to be more solid now. The second we rounded the corner of the building that stands at the park entrance, his eyes got really big and this is what he said, "WHOOO WATER YEAH!! It was pretty sweet. He loved the water fountains and the bridges.

Since it took us a bit longer to get there we stopped for local food on the way home. Everyone is so sweet to children here. Our waiter even made sure Calvin got a juice that wasn't cold, for his health of course. What I didn't remember is how I don't care for lamb, so both Calvin and I barely touched our lunch. Marvin enjoyed our leftovers later. I was thankful I had some crackers in my bag that Calvin enjoyed while we waited.

The trip home was a bit longer, I almost thought about getting a taxi, but it was only 4 long blocks. But with a tired toddler and one big hill, it made for a long trip.

So I hope to have many more fun dates like this with my little man in the future, but hopefully better planned.

The new face

Calvin picked up making faces from his little buddy back home. So everytime the camera rolls out guess what face we see????

This one.

Not sure I like it, I miss that sweet little grin of his.

Perfect book/movie weather

It's been raining here the last few days and a bit chilly too. We didn't pack well for this type of weather and I've been getting a lot of use out of the one sweater I brought. Since I was getting so much use out of it, I decided to buy another one. We're loving the sales right now on winter wear.

I devoured a book in one day and I was reminded why I don't read very often....I'm consumed by fiction books when I pick them up. Everything else around me just gets pushed aside till I finish the book, and I mean everything like eating and sleep. Unfortunately being a mom this doesn't go over too well, but it seems like we have nothing to do most of our days so I indulged myself and was enveloped in a book for a day.

Last week Marvin picked up several movies and it's been good to help the time pass. I just adored Julie and Julia, it was refreshing how a movie can show a husband in such a positive supportive light. However I wish they left out a little of the language, really wasn't necessary. Hate it when they do that.

We watched Precious the other night. Talk about a heavy movie. So heartbreaking to know that her story is many women's story. Sometimes it's easy to forget about the sin of our world, when it's not effecting you. I cannot imagine hearing such hateful things from your mother. It was painful to hear, can't imagine how much more painful it was to receive. It's got me thinking more and more about how I can interceed for those around us. Abuse is very common in the area we live in, I can't imagine how freeing truth is for women who've suffered years and years of such pain.

This week we also ventured out sans Calvin for a little date. It's always nice to be alone in the middle of the day, no intruptions, not constantly bombarded with questions like "what's that mama? what's her name?" And I got to hold Marvin's hand which makes me happy. We went to see Invictus. Another great movie and lots of great themes and stuff to talk about. I cannot imagine living in South Africa during this time period, talk about some serious healing that had to happen and is still needing to happen.

We're still waiting on paperwork so we can apply for our visas. This feeling of stuck is not new, just trying to get some study hours in during the week to feel a little productive. I had some moments this week where I was itchin to get back home, but for the most part just trying to be content in where Father has us right now. There are many positives to being in this city right now and we'll try to stay focused on those.

Week One of The Waiting Game

So it's been fun being back at our home away from home. This city is familiar to us, we feel comfortable getting around town, know where stuff is, even know a few shortcuts to get places, and bump into people we know. Unfortunately we still don't know much of the language, which really stinks. When you can't communicate it's rough. It may seem crazy but before our next trip here I'd like to learn a little more.

So far our first week here we've just settled in, done a little food shopping and visited IKEA and the shopping center near it. It's funny experiencing this city with a toddler, we're trying to keep him busy and not bored, and we're trying to do the same. I do think I have reached my mall limit already. It's just not as much fun to shop when the prices are ridiculous and you can't even entertain the thought of buying anything.

So just for fun I thought I'd make a list of a few things that have made our days recently more enjoyable!

• The ferry docks! We only spent a few minutes there yesterday but Calvin loved every second of it we can't wait to go to our favorite dock and enjoy a beautiful morning, and probably even take a picnic lunch.
• The WEATHER, hello spring oh how I missed you. We're enjoying the warmer weather and don't even mind the spring rain. Glad to say goodbye to the snow suit for a while.
• Carrots. I know it sounds silly but they have taste, and boy are they tasty!
• Playgrounds within walking distance. Calvin already knows where they are at and begs to go play every time we leave the building.
• Friendly people, although I have no idea what they are saying, who just adore children.

So while we're waiting we hope to get out a little bit and enjoy the weather and the city. But this afternoon I better hit the books and study a bit. I have high goals while we are here and it looks like I have a long enough time to meet them.

Starting to figure these things out.

We've been working on potty training Calvin. For the most part we've had dry days. Recently I've been proud of him, when he catches himself having to go he'll stop and kind of waddles around to the toilet, sometimes a little has escaped. I think we're making progress!

Now here's my question for all you seasoned moms. Here's our current problem. Whenever he gets mad or we put in him in his room for timeout and he works himself up he almost always has an accident. Any thoughts on how to curb this or what we need to do? I'm pretty stumped on this one.

Repurposing

Being away from my sewing machine makes me dream.

I'm so excited to turn this shirt

into this 90 minute shirt!

From the moment I saw this I thought about making one but didn't have any extra fabric, now I have some.

Using those lemons for lemonade!

P.S. If you've never checked out Dana's blog you should. She just finished a month celebrating the boy. There are some seriously cute ideas there.