I’ve been so busy catching up, I’ve not said anything about what my 2 little busy-bodies have been doing lately.  It’s been a busy summer, and they’ve been a lot of fun. 

Josiah… Today was a little traumatic, as we had a minor surgical procedure to clip the skin under his tongue, because he’s been "tongue-tied" since birth.  This means that the under part of his tongue (his frenulum, actually) is connected too far forward.  His pediatrician has said all along that it’s obviously not causing problems with eating so he didn’t think it needed to be done.  But two speech therapist friends of mine said that it was pretty noticeable, and since it’s such a simple procedure, it would be better to do it before he developed speech problems.  So today was the day.  It was really quick… he was gone from us for less than 15 minutes, and the doctor came in less than 5 minutes after they took him back.  He’ was a little tipsy from the anesthesia earlier, but he ate well and didn’t complain at all today, so I think he’s healing quickly.

He’s been full of chatter lately, with one word "da" for dog, duck, down and Dad, and "do" for Dora and door.  I know we said his first word was "waffle" a few weeks ago – and both Brian and I still swear he said it! – but we haven’t heard it again.  Yesterday, though, Brian and I both thought he said "amen" after we prayed for our meal.  We’ll see if he starts making more letter sounds with his new, longer tongue. 

He’s definitely turning into a little busy boy, and he’s into all kinds of trouble.  He’s climbing on stools and using them to climb on the couch.  He wants everything on bookshelves and counters over his head, and he’ll reach his little fingers up there and try to get them around anything that might be up there.  He’d rather pull things off bookshelves, empty our DVD cabinet, un-organize my tupperware shelf and bang on pots and pans than play with any of the toys around here… unless Analise is deeply engaged in something, and then he wants to be in the middle of that, which of course, she’s not happy with.  I’m doing a lot of referring and trying to distract him from her little block/people adventures and puzzles. 

Analise is doing really, really well.  I feel like in the last couple weeks, we’ve entered what I call, the Age of Reason.  She’s very compliant, and much more understanding of our no’s and compromises.  We’ve decreased the crying fits from 3 or more a day to less than 1.  The change is amazing, and I don’t have to hold my breath waiting for her to unravel when she doesn’t get her way.  If she asks for something, and I say no or give another time or option, she’s ok with it.  Her patience has improved tremendously, even with Josiah trying to play with her more.  The two of them have sweet little times of playing at the small table and kitchen area, Josiah sitting on a chair, and Analise serving him play food for dinner.  He LOVES it when she plays with him.  Some of my favorite phrases of Analise right now are: "That would be a PERFECT idea!" when I suggest something she likes, for example playing a game after I put Josiah down for a nap; "That would not be a perfect idea," when she’s not in full agreement of something.  It’s amazing how she sounds like a little adult so often. 

They’ve started romping around more, bouncing on my bed and testing out the couch as a jumping/bouncing apparatus.  We’re curbing that, but it is fun to see them playing together on the bed, rolling around laughing and giggling.  I’m definitely getting less done around the house because Josiah’s into more trouble!  And between the two of them, they can make a huge mess.  Analise, though, is really great about helping get things cleaned up. She’s amazingly good at puzzles, so we’ll spend lots of time on the floor putting together complicated puzzles, up to 48 pieces.  She also really likes to help me do things around the house, like putting the silverware away, putting things on the table for dinner, taking her clean clothes to her room and sorting socks.  It’s nice to have a little helper! 

Analise’s preschool orientation was today.  She’ll start school again next Tuesday, 2 days a week.  She’s still taking ballet, and she loves it.  She’s getting quite good at her ballet moves, too.  The other evening, Brian came in to find Analise putting on a dance show, with his parents watching from the couch.  Josiah was walking around the "stage" clapping for Analise.  Her personal cheering section:)  The other evening as I was cleaning up the kitchen, I came into the living room to find Brian playing the piano, Analise singing loudly, and Josiah standing on a chair clapping for everyone.  The Little Looney Toones in concert. 

Ok, I’d better call it a night.  We’re reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell in our church Life Group, and I’ve got a little catching up to do before tomorrow night.  Good read!  I highly recommend it!  I hope to share more eventually, when I get my thoughts all sorted out about it. 

Today’s message at church was so very simple, yet it struck a chord deep within me. In a nutshell: Apart from Christ, we can do nothing of value for the Kingdom of God.

I’ll be honest. I’m not doing a very good job of "remaining" in Him. I’ve got the "pray without ceasing" part down, but mostly it’s frantic prayers for grace and patience in the midst of day-to-day struggles. Maybe if I was "remaining" a little better, there wouldn’t be the need for the desperate prayers.

Before kids, I was a bit better about taking some time in my day to soak up some of God’s word and spend some quiet time in prayer. But lately, my life is go-go-go, and I’m lucky to get 36 seconds on my own to go to the bathroom! Brian and I have both realized recently how much we need to bring the Word back to a place of priority in our lives. He’s setting a great example for us by starting his day out with the Bible during breakfast. I’m trying to do the same, but I’m not doing as well as he is. On the days that I do make God’s word a part of my early day, it definitely makes a difference in my spirit.

Here’s another excellent translation of these verses:

At this point in my life, my children are my biggest mission field. This is all the more reason that I need to be "making my home in Him", so that He’s living in me, through me, so my children see Him everyday. Apart from Christ, I can do nothing of value for the kingdom of God. I can be a good parent. And there are days that I feel like I’m doing ok. Doing ok on my own doesn’t make an eternal impact, though. But when I’m remaining in Christ, abiding in Him, making my home in Him, the promise is endless, and I can know that every moment of mothering and loving I do is making a difference for God’s kingdom in my children.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. This parenting thing is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But God’s grace is enough, and with Christ, my harvest is sure to be amazing.

Lord, today, I just want to pray for all my parent-friends. May they find themselves in You today. Draw them to a place of abiding so that their home can be filled with You. Amen.

Just one last post! Here are all the random photos from this weekend… We spent the first and last evenings of our trip at my Grandma Vivian’s house. She and Charlie seem to love having my lively kids romp all over their house! They’ve just gotten a puppy, named Susie, and Josiah loved playing with the dog.

You can’t see it because of the pacifier (which he really only has for nap and bedtime),
but he was giggling and laughing like crazy every time Susie ran towards him.

Josiah *LOVED* running up and down the halls in the hotel. He would run from one end to another, giggling with glee.

Uncle Hal bounced Josiah on the bed, and Josiah -though you can’t tell in the photo- was having so much fun.
He was making an "uhhhh-uh (bounce) uhhhhh-uh" drone the whole time, mesmerized by the sound and the bouncing.

For these photos, appreciate the food, not the faces, as none of us look good, except, of course, Anna. For Brian’s birthday, Friday night, my plans to go to the Cheesecake Factory and up the Hancock Building or Sears Tower didn’t come together, as we didn’t know that dining out in Chicago on a Friday evening involved a lot of time waiting for a table. Anna, Hal, my mom, Brian and I ventured out on the L-train… $10 for an entire 6 blocks, only to find we were still a few blocks from our destination (we looked like total tourists, not knowing how to work the turnstile and then ending up on the wrong train platform!). We enjoyed the walk, but found a long wait at the Cheesecake Factory. We headed to the Grand Lux Cafe. After a long wait, while my dad wandered around downtown Chicago for about an hour and finally found us, the 6 of us finally got seated around 9:15 or so. The menu is amazing, and the food was even more amazing when it arrived!

I got strawberry shortcake – wonderful. Anna had lettuce wraps – they were an amazing work of art with towering rice noodles on top. My dad’s fish and chips was even piled into a tower rivaling the lettuce wraps. My mom’s apple pie was voted the absolute best by everyone (‘cept me… I’m partial to strawberries and my homemade apple pie). Brian and Hal both had good meals, too, though not as photo worthy as ours:). It was a really nice dinner with my family, made particularly enjoyable to be without kids for a relaxing evening of adult interaction.

The Hancock building all lit up on Friday evening.

Josiah enjoying a cupcake (a treat my dad brought all the way from my favorite St. Paul coffe shop)
during our picnic before the aquarium on Sunday.
He loves his cupcakes…

The whole point of our wonderful Chicago trip was to share in my cousin, Natalie’s wedding.  They live in Chicago, and Bob’s family is Polish, so this wedding kind of took on a life of its own as it was being planned.  Weddings are even more of a big deal in the Polish community than they are elsewhere, so Bob’s mom stepped in and "upgraded" lots of areas of the reception.  This made for a VERY fancy, elegant affair, and we had a wonderful time celebrating their special day with all my family.  My Mom and Dad were both there, my Grandma Vivian and Charlie, my sister, Anna and her husband, Hal. 

The wedding took place in a beautiful garden.  Even though the wedding was at 5pm, it was still hot… probably 80 degrees.  The bridesmaids were in chocolate brown dresses, and the groomsmen and groom were in beige tuxedos.  The flowers were blue and white.  Very pretty. 

After the wedding, hord’erves and drinks were served until dinner started at 7pm.  The reception was held under a semi-permanent tent next to the garden.  It had fans and air conditioning machines, so it was actually a little cooler than outside, even as the evening cooled off.  There were pretty chandeliers, and beautiful hydrangea arrangements on all the tables. 

I don’t normally drink much, but we sampled a little of the "top-shelf" open bar, and the waiters kept everyone’s wine and champagne glasses filled.  My Dad and Grandma toasting…this picture’s one of my favorites:)

Dinner included a fancy salad and bread, tortellini carbonara (a cream sauce with peas and bacon – DELICOUS!), filet mingon with mushrooms AND chicken limone with green beans and carrots, and a lemon sorbet with assorted cookies.  There was also a huge delicious dessert buffet of chocolate dipped strawberries, mini cheese cakes, cream puffs, fruit tarts, biscotti and other delights. 

One table was set up with pretty containers of blue, white and brown candy so you could make your own little chinese-takeout box to take home as a favor from the evening.  A 7-piece band played throughout the evening, and they were really great.  Natalie was a stunning bride, and I hope she and Bob enjoyed the evening as much as we did!

Anna and my cousin, Nikki’s daughter, Mia, who was a beautiful little flower girl.

The weekend before we went to Chicago, we followed Brian up to Nashville for a bike race.  We got to visit our cousins, Richard and Christy and their 3 little ones, Lily, Luke and Levi.

Three-month old Levi just watched his crazy cousins dancing and playing. 

Luke, Analise, Lily and squirmy Josiah.  He never wants to sit still for a group photo!

Sweet little Levi.

I know these posts are in random order about the weekend, but I’m doing the pictures I’ve got handy:)  On Sunday afternoon, we headed to the Shedd Aquarium.  We sort of missed turning into the museum/aquarium area down by the Lake, so I was checking out a map, and I’d been giving updates on what we should pass on our way there.  As we were turning around, Analise said, "I need to see the map, Mommy!"  I handed her the map, and she said, "Ok, we’ll go through a tunnel, and then we pass Soldier Field and then we turn."  She was right on with her directions, having put together everything I’d just said over the course of 15 minutes.  Then she said, "Ok mom, here you go" and handed me the map. 🙂  She’s a smart cookie.

Fun fish fountain outside the aquarium.

They’ve got a Komodo dragon on display.  It wasn’t actually as fun as the one we saw at the Birmingham Zoo earlier this year.  But there was a huge inflated komodo dragon outside that you could walk under. 

There were so many people!  I suppose that’s to be expected of a Sunday afternoon in the height of summer.  The Aquarium is pretty expensive, too, $25/person (thanks, Mom!).  But Brian scored a free admission as an educator with his Samford ID.  Anyway, it was really hard to completely enjoy everything, as there were people everywhere.  The highlight was in the Oceanarium, a tank that goes right up to a big window overlooking Lake Michigan.  This is the ampitheater for the marine mammal shows in the Oceanarium.  Brian’s Dad saved us spots for more than half an hour, and it was standing room only when it got started.  The show featured the dolphins, and it was really cool to see how they’ve been trained to swim together, jump, and so other various things. 

The Chicago lakeshore and marina from the Oceanairum window.

The view of Downtown from the Aquarium.

Ok, I’m starting a couple different posts with pictures about our trip to Chicago last weekend. We had a great time. It was close quarters in Brian’s Dad’s car – Analise in the far back seat, Brian, Josiah and I (lucky me in the middle) in the center, and his parents in the front. We did watch Ice Age and the sequel several times, as I expected. But Brian and I enjoyed riding together doing logic puzzles. Josiah loved having me next to him. Here’s the first fun picture from the trip…

And we wondered why we couldn’t get him to sleep…

For over a year now, I’ve chatted with a group of moms online, and we’ve gotten to be good friends. Michele and I have a lot in common… both Analise and Josiah are the same ages as her kids, Emma and Michael. She lives outside of Chicago, and ever since we knew we were going up for the wedding, we’ve been looking forward to getting together.

Saturday morning, we met at a park so the kids could play. They had a great time! Analise and Emma are both big sisters, and we were a little worried that they might be a little too bossy for each other. But they hit it off immediately. Josiah and Michael are only 3 days apart in age, they started walking within a day of each other, and they’ve got similar personalities. They were so cute together, playing with the balls and "sharing" pretzels and lunch. (I say "sharing" because at this age, when one offers food to another, I’m not sure they really mean for the other to take it. But they did well together!)

After playing for a bit, we headed to the Choo Choo Diner. This place is seriously fun! There is a bar area, with 2 booths on either end, and a train track runs around the rectangle and a little electric train brings baskets of your food out on the back of the train. So cute! Brian’s dad told them it was Brian’s birthday (well, the day before), so the train brought us a little sprinkled cupcake with a train whistle and a candle, and they played a Choo-Choo birthday song. It’s tiny, and we got there in the nick of time, just before the lunch rush. If you’re ever in the Chicago area, it’s worth the drive out to Des Plaines (beyond O’Hare airport) to have lunch there. You can also see the very first McDonalds just down the street. Oh, and the food was GREAT!

Looking from our booth, across the track to the counter area.  Looks like the train has already dropped off its cargo!

The girls enjoying their sprinkled cupcakes.

The two cuties… Michael would hand Josiah french fries.  Josiah loved that… I don’t give him many:)

Not a bad photo, considering how squirmy our cuties are! And this is the entire diner!

We had such a fun time! I sure wish Michele and her family lived down the street from us! We’re already looking forward to visiting them again, maybe next year. Here’s the pictures that Michele took…

The girls loved the old-style merry-go-round.  Josiah, on the other hand, got caught in the centripetal force and fell on his face.

My three favorite photos… "sharing" pretzels.

Wow, wow, wow… new sense of freedom! Brian just left with both kids for ballet. I’m almost ashamed to say this but this is the *FIRST* time he’s gone out with both kids on his own!?!?!  Yes, I have let him lead a sheltered life for 14 months… but he’s moving into real parenting now, baby!

We’re having his family over to celebrate Brian’s birthday (belated) for dinner tonight, so he’s taken the kids to ballet class (Josiah can play on the gym stuff during class) so I can get dinner ready.  I’m so excited to be in the house ALONE that I don’t know what to do with myself.  ‘Cept I have 4 loads of laundry to fold and dinner to make and cupcakes to decorate.  Gotta go!

Don’t you wish you were in Alabama?  Thank goodness for central air conditioning and a drive-in garage.  Even if we go out (rarely), we can still stay pretty cool.  We’re in Stage 3 water restrictions, which means no watering with sprinklers – hoses only, and only on our designated days (Tues, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) before 10am and after 6pm.  Whew!  Our beautiful zoygia grass in the front yard is brown and dying, and the only plants we’re trying to save in the yard are my hydrangeas… and it’s not working.  Here’s the weather statement from today…

I think I’m so far behind with the blog, I’m afraid I’m not going to get caught up! 

My mom left last Thursday :(.  We miss her.  It was so nice to have her here.  I sure miss my family after my infrequent visits with them!  I didn’t get pictures taken but here’s a short list of the things she did – created pretty metal baskets of flowers for Analise’s room, decorated Analise’s window treatments, put up an ABC border near the ceiling of Josiah’s room, hung Josiah’s rainbow baby quilt, sewed me a table runner, recovered my dining room chairs.  She was seriously productive!  It was inspiring!

It’s BLAZING hot and humid here – like 100 with a heat index of 110.  And yes, my crazy hubby is still riding in this weather.  He’s got an extra water bottle with him, though.

We’re laundering and packing today for a trip to Chicago this weekend for my cousin’s wedding.  We leave tomorrow at 7am with Brian’s parents – all 6 of us in their SUV.  Add in Analise’s favorite movie of late – Ice Age – playing over and over in the background, and I’m sure we’ll all be a little crazy by the time we arrive at my Grandma’s on Thursday evening. 

On Friday we’re heading to Chicago to our hotel – a lovely downtown Hampton Inn & Suites.  Friday is Brian’s birthday (31!), and so we’ll celebrate at The Cheesecake Factory, and maybe, just maybe, I can get my kids to bed early so Brian and I can go out and enjoy a little of Chicago in the evening.  Maybe the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel or the Sears Tower to see the sun set and the Chicago Skyline…  Saturday, I’m hoping to spend some time with my family and squeeze in a visit/lunch with a friend and her kids at The Choo Choo Diner.  Saturday evening we’ve got the fancy wedding, dinner and reception in Downtown Chicago.  Sunday we’re looking forward to seeing the Shedd Aquarium before driving back to my Grandma’s in Indiana for the night.  Then Monday we’ll make the long drive back to Alabama. 

Should be fun!  We’ll report back when we can!