Missing

Lately things have been missing around our house.

Not surprising b/c Caleb has been able to open the trash can and loves to put things in. He will throw away his dirty diapers. Which is nice. However, I think that he has also thrown away a few other things. Like some of Nate's favorite cars. Oh well. I did catch him throwing away his shoe...not the cheap 5 dollar shoes...

..then Nate's crocs went missing. I thought that I didn't notice them being thrown away and that they were history.

Until I found them this morning.

In the dryer.

The load that I had washed and dried.

His shoes are very clean now.

I'm still not sure who put them in the washer. Oh well.

Park play

We decided to check out a park that was close to our house. We had a great time! There was a pirate ship where Caleb and I played hide and seek. He found me. I love this smile.

It also had some fun slides.

We did have fun, but we had forgotten the park phenomenon. For some reason being at a park makes Nathaniel poop. Unfortunately he had on underwear. Fortunately I did not throw up. However, that ended play at the park.

**This was the first accident that he has had yet! Woo hoo for potty training. Now if we can figure out how to avoid the park pooping thing we will be good!

Just like daddy

The much anticipated game. (at least for Pete) I knew that it would basically mean that Pete would desire to (but not always) play 24/7. Thankfully he beat it rather quickly. Trying to be just like daddy

And another gamer in the works.

Oh, and another hat wearer. :)

One of my favorite pictures of Caleb. He loves his daddy so much and when he comes home it is like all is finally right in Caleb's world.

Cape Girardeau

Well, not exactly in the right order....but it will tell the story anyway. We went to visit Cape Girardeau for Pete's birthday and so that I could go to a women's retreat! We stopped to let the boys run off some steam. They had a great time playing on this dump truck.

Nate reading in the library with a new friend.

And (below) Caleb ready to try whatever big brother does.

Taking a break

I have been thinking about time. How much time I have to "myself", what I am doing with "my" time. One of the things that God has shown me is that it is NOT my time. First, He has put me here to do His will. When I walk in my own strength with my own agenda I get nowhere...and sometimes I think that I actually take a few steps back. I am so thankful for His grace and for His love for me.
In order to accomplish these things I started looking at where all my time was going.
1. Sleep was one of the top things. Hopefully getting on a regular schedule of getting up early will help me to not feel to tired all the time. Getting to bed also helps. :)
2. Kids. I don't think that there is much that I can change here. Nate is still working on potty training, Caleb is still teething, and the baby is still growing inside me. I am sure that they aren't ready to be out on their own yet. However, when I am in the word my reaction to them is pleasing to the Lord and will help train them in righteousness.
3. House. This sort of goes along with the kids. Whatever I do, they undo in half the time. Discouraging. But I can make sure that under all the toys is clean. I looked at the guest bathroom today and couldn't remember the last time I cleaned it. Yuck.
4. Computer. I realized after taking a few days away from Facebook just how much time is tied up in reading about other people's lives. Yes, I care so much about these people but honestly I haven't seen many of them for over ten years. Do I really need to know that they are mowing their lawn? Or spend time looking at the 100 pictures they posted from a vacation? Really? I have also started looking at the blogs that I read and what is helpful to me and what is (like facebook) just taking up time and not really beneficial at all.
5. Reading. I could read four 300 page books in a week. (not a shocker that my bathroom wasn't clean).

As I think about the last two things that have consumed my time recently I realized that I have been using them as an escape. I still don't feel at home here in Indiana. But I think that part of the reason is that I've been living somewhere else "the Internet"..I can still feel a part of Delaware or Tennessee or Illinois or Missouri when I am facebooking. Which is nice to a point, I think that I have been living there just a little too much.
Then, when I am reading....I become that character that is facing the challenges of solving a mystery and I can forget for a time my challenges of teething toddler and boundary testing three year old.

All that to say that I am taking a break from Facebook. I am going to blog some. I feel like I can control that time better than I can with facebook. I am also *gasp* limiting myself to one book a week. I am more than halfway through the book for this week and I am already wondering if I am going to be able to keep my promise to not start another one till Sunday. Maybe I will clean my guest bathroom.

Testing

I'm just playing around with word and thinking that I can blog without really logging in. Wouldn't that be fun. J

Reasoning

Tonight Nathaniel was practicing his reasoning skills on me.

Nate: Caleb wants chocolate.
Me: Ok. (I gave Caleb a piece of wrapped chocolate)

Nate: Can I have chocolate?
Me: No, you already had some.

Nate: Caleb wants to share.

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Caleb is starting to get around. Not by crawling or rolling to his destination...he's doing a "butt scoot". He will lean way forward and scoot forward while sitting up. Creative movement!

New baby

Guessing how big Charlie would be. My guess was the closest: he weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz and 19.5 inches long! Charlie Wyatt is the sweetest and cutest little baby! Pam, Caleb and I drove over the next day to meet him.

So tiny and so sweet!

I think that they are going to have some trouble with the girls! (What girl wouldn't pucker up for those lips!)

Real Winter

Last night I drove back from Missouri. It was a great drive, the kids were fine (even though the DVD player is on the fritz...sigh) until we got about 20 miles away. Then we started to see snow, and more snow...and everyone slowed to a crawl. The heavy snow combined with the high winds made for some great white out conditions. It was ok as long as I was following someone. The GPS said that I should arrive home at 5:30 which put me about 30 minutes past Caleb's next feeding. I thought that it was worth it so that we could just get home. Little did I know.

The crawl never improved. It got slower. The snow picked up, the wind picked up and you couldn't tell where the lines on the road were. I was thankful for the rumble strip and the barrier. I spent the majority of the last twenty miles trying to keep the rumble strip between my tires. Then at 6:15 it was time to exit. I made it across three lanes of traffic and saw the first exit for Michigan City. I thought that I might take it because then I could finally pull over and nurse Caleb and let Nate run around in the van. I started to pull over and realized that I didn't have a clue where the exit actually was. I couldn't see the road and I knew that it was a ramp that went up so if I missed then I would be in big trouble. So, I got back on the road and decided to try the next exit five miles down the road. After listening to more screaming and more crying we finally made it to the next exit. Thankfully the snow let up enough that I could see the road and we made it safely off the interstate. It was so scary to see oncoming traffic and realize that there was no barrier! I was the first one in line and I didn't have anyone to follow...even more scary. I finally pulled over and let someone pass me. They were far more brave than me! I was finally in the home stretch! Only a few more miles! Caleb was still screaming and Nate was starting to cry just to keep him company. I didn't want to stop because we were so close to home and visibility was so poor. (It was about 6:50 and the snow was easily a foot deep) Finally my GPS told me that I needed to turn into my neighborhood. I missed one of the turns onto my street and I had to go up a pretty steep hill but my car couldn't make it so after we slid back down to the bottom of the hill I turned around to see if I could figure out the other way to get home. I knew we were only about a block from our house. (Pretty scary that I couldn't figure it out! What did they do before GPS?) We finally made it into our driveway at 7:15, I have never been so excited to push the garage door button!

Some pictures around our house this morning. I have a new respect for snow. I am so thankful to have made it home safely.

Fun with Family

Last week we went and visited Pete's parents while Pete went and watched movers pack up our house in Knoxville. Apparently winter weather likes to follow us. The night that we arrived they had an ice storm. It was pretty fun because we weren't out of power but Far Far (Pete's dad) was out of school for 3 days. Nate had a blast playing and sledding and helping. It is amazing to me how quickly he is growing up!

Nate's make shift boots. Regular shoes, cover with plastic bags then cover with thick socks and boot strap suspenders (from far far's time in the army).

Apparently Nate knew that I wasn't a very good driver and was not inclined to sled with me. I still had a great time!!! Notice my father-in-law's army boots that I am wearing!! I was not prepared for winter weather!

Nate observing how to make a scratching post for the cat.

I love how attentive he is to anything Far Far tells him.

Lake Michigan

One of the fun things about living so close to the lake is seeing the progression of winter. You can hardly tell that there is a lake there!

Catching up

Caleb is eating! He is pretty sure about what he likes and doesn't like. However, I have discovered that I can mix things together and he'll eat it. For example: pears and squash! Yum! He also LOVES bananas but they don't always love him and peas make him gag....but I am thankful that he is eating so well now! I didn't know that he would eat things mixed when I took this picture. (The idea of bananas and peas makes me gag...but if he'll eat it...)

**I tried to mix pears and peas and he still gagged. Oh well. Peas may not be his thing.

Caleb

Well, we have made great strides in eating for Caleb. First a few giant steps forward! He opens his mouth wide! He likes it! He takes more than five bites! He eats more than once a day!

Then a few steps backward. A NEW FOOD! Are you kidding? He won't open his mouth for anything. Not even if you go back to a tried and true food. Bummer. I had to give up for the night and know that I would be waking up in the middle of the night because he would be hungry.

Thankfully today is a new day. He will watch and study Nathaniel and I eat and decide, maybe he should try again. (And he did) I guess that we will just keep trying new foods...and maybe in the morning so that my nights won't be so bad!

This is Caleb's intense study of Nathaniel's eating habits. He will just open his mouth as he watches Nate. You would think that it would be the perfect setup for sneaking some new food in? Alas, my boy has a discerning palate and the moment a new food sneaks in he is concentrating on me and trying to fend off the offending food!