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February 21, 2005

sir abel

This past weekend the boys and I traveled up to Indiana with my mother to visit family. The trip was planned on a whim with the intention of escaping the home that we have been trapped in since all of the sickness began a couple of weeks ago. My mom also needed to spend time with my niece, Abigail, at her home in Indiana. Friday was mostly spent traveling--with three children four yrs. old and younger, this is no easy task. At the end of a six hour drive, we arrived in Greensburg.

Mom had agreed to take care of Abigail and her brother, Alex, Saturday evening as my brother worked. After napping at the hotel room, the boys and I joined Mom at the apartment to "help." A small apartment with five children (Aidan being the oldest) and two women with OCD (one being myself and the other, my mother) amounts to a bit of chaos, but there were a few moments to remember in the mix.

When we arrived, Mom was on the couch watching birth stories on the Discovery Health channel. I am always fascinated by watching or hearing about the birth of any child, so I sat down to watch the end of this program. Being concerned that the show may not be appropriate for Alex and Abby, I noticed when they left to play in another room. What I did not notice was that my own children were standing mere feet from an extremely large television screen watching the birth of twins. Once the babies were delivered, Abel looked to me and said, "I DO NOT want babies coming out of my bottom!" He seemed a bit traumatized but began playing with his cousins soon after. I thought that maybe the graphic images had left his mind as quickly as they had been introduced; however, this morning when he saw his dad for the first time since returning home, he shared specific details of the birth. Explaining the truth about reproduction to a three year old just doesn't seem like a good idea.

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February 16, 2005

ollie

The last few days have passed slowly as another sickness passes through our house. Ollie has a severe ear infection and has spent most of his time trying to sleep in my lap or being carried throughout the house. I will say that these quiet moments alone with my youngest child have been wonderful.

I am reminded of this time two years ago when I began thinking about becoming pregnant again. I dreaded the reactions that I was sure to get from anyone hearing of a new baby and the looks that would follow me as I proceeded with my everyday life pregnant with one child and holding the little hands of two others. I cannot say what motivates this desire to have children, but I have come to rest in the idea that such a desire is probably from God. Mark and I ultimately decided to trust that He would care for our growing family and supply what is needed.

I experienced a difficult pregnancy but was continually blessed by the encouragement and support from family, friends, and neighbors. It seems apparent that God works through these circumstances. Ollie has been a blessing since he entered our family with his even temperament and love for each of us. He brightens each day. I enjoy watching my 3 and 4 yr. old in each of their stages while snuggling the chubby, white baby on my hip.

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February 14, 2005

name calling

When I picked Aidan up from Mother's Day Out last Tuesday, his teacher explained that there had been a slight altercation on the playground earlier that day involving Aidan and a little girl who was calling him names. Aidan responded by kicking the girl and running away. After witnessing the whole event, the teacher went to Aidan and said that his actions were wrong even if he had been provoked. She then had Aidan go to the little girl, apologize, and ask for forgiveness. Aidan complied and went about playing with the other children.

On the way home, I asked Aidan about the day's events. He quickly relayed the conflict, and said "she, she called all the children BABIES, and I kicked her!" He also explained that he was trying to defend his friends Wiley and "Faithy" from the girl's taunting. I asked if Aidan knew the girl's name, and he quickly responded "a-joke-a-why." I think that he might have been saying "Angelica," although I do not know of a girl by that name. I just thought that the pronunciation should be remembered.

I am thankful for these early opportunities for my boys to learn to admit when they are wrong and the importance of asking for forgiveness as well as instances when they can speak up and defend others. I am also thankful that God has called us into fellowship and community with other believers so that I am not the only avenue through which God can speak to and teach my children.

Posted by cooleys at 02:08 PM | TrackBack

February 08, 2005

a handmade valentine

You have to check out these great cards and gifts Amber made. She recently put together a selection for Nahdoka, the new gift shop in St. Elmo. She has always put so much thought and effort into gift ideas for those she loves and now hopes to help our family by selling what she makes. ---mark

Posted by cooleys at 11:41 PM | TrackBack

February 07, 2005

a season of discontent

What a rough weekend we had! Abel came home from school on Thursday sick with some stomach virus. He and Oliver were up sick all night and part of the following day--what a mess! I suppose I should have waited on writing that entry about us getting more sleep.

Saturday, we were all eager to get out of the house and play outside. We ventured up Signal Mountain and found a great playground, the Pumpkin Patch. It has all kinds of great things for the kids to play on, including the longest slide that I have seen. It is made of some green material that allows you to actually slide rather than squeak your way down to the bottom. Aidan was fearless and raced down the slide without a second thought. Abel, however, is our cautious one. He sat on one side of my lap while Oliver was on the other. We headed down the slide together and went a lot faster than I expected. I also began to turn sideways and landed on my back in a pile of mulch at the bottom of the slide still clutching both children--thank goodness. Aidan also amazed us with his ability on the zip line. He was able to catch the rope, pull himself onto the tire while holding onto the rope, jump up to grab on, and propel himself to the opposite end of the line--all of that from a boy who just turned 4. Mark and I were impressed. I do enjoy the tenacity of my little guys.

Family time can be so much fun...However, we returned home that evening unaware of what was to come. By 10:30 p.m., Mark, Aidan, and I were all extremely ill and heavily regretting the mexican food we had for dinner. That night was spent in complete service to everyone--baby, needy 2 yr. old, extremely sick 4 yr. old and husband--which amounts to NO FUN. I think that I have this multiple children thing down until I run across days like this. Meeting everyone's needs would be more manageable if I felt anywhere near decent myself, but that was not the case. Aidan has not fully recovered; I seemed to pull something in my neck (probably during my graceful landing off the slide); Mark and Ollie are now battling sinus troubles; and Abel is desperate for attention and actually tries to make himself sick. We will make it, though. Today is a better day.

Posted by cooleys at 04:06 PM | TrackBack

February 03, 2005

updates

There is more sleep to be had at our house these days. I would like to say that I was diligent in purchasing the parenting books suggested, read them, and am applying the techniques suggested; but that is not the case. Sheer exhaustion mixed with a good dose of frustration led me to move Ollie's pack-and-play into our decent sized bathroom so that he could cry out those moments when I know that he is well-fed and sporting a clean diaper...and IT WORKED! The first night he might have cried for a total of fifteen minutes but awoke the following morning bright eyed and still loving me. The effects of a reasonable night of sleep are amazing. Thanks to all who responded to my "sleep deprivation" entry.

Abel has also contributed to the sleep solution by actually making it to the potty at night and wetting his bed far less--all fun obstacles to overcome involving areas of parenting that I just did not think about before having kids. There just has to be some personal character development obtained after going through all of this.

Posted by cooleys at 05:20 PM | TrackBack