Some thoughts on fasting

This happened a little while ago and I want to write it down so I don't forget.

Fasting is hard for me.  In fact, I don't usually do a typical, 24 hour, no food, no drink fast.  I have blood sugar issues and headaches and other problems that make it so I physically collapse if I don't eat for several hours.  So, I try to modify my fast to either skip one meal, or forgo something I like, like treats that day, etc.

Over the summer, I was visiting my family in Oregon, and while we were at church, a woman made a comment about how she hadn't been fasting for years because of migraines, but then she felt prompted to pray the night before Fast Sunday and ask Heavenly Father to bless her to be able to fast.  Since that time, every time she did that, she was able to fast the next day with no problem.

I was floored.  It had never occurred to me to pray to be physically able to fast.  But as the next Fast Sunday approached, I decided to test this idea out myself.  I expressed my desire in prayer to be able to have the strength to fast, and I went to bed.  I continued that prayer in my heart the next day, and miraculously, I was able to fast the whole day until dinner, even with wrangling my kids at church and doing everything I needed to do- and no fainting, throwing up, dizzy spells, or headaches.  Wow.  Not to mention the other blessings I was able to receive by fasting.  That tells me that Heavenly Father wants to help us obey and receive all the blessings He has in store for us.  (Not that we can't modify our fasting when medically necessary, but if we have the desire to do it, I think Heavenly Father will help us to make it work.)

Oh, Hi!

Oh yeah, I have this blog.  Sometimes I forget about it.

Anyway, I need to do better about remembering it, because everyday I think to myself, "I should write that down... I'll probably remember it though.  Hmm, what was that funny thing that happened yesterday?"

Nothing extremely funny happened today... just the usual types of stuff, but I had better write that down in case one day I can't remember what was normal when Gabe and Luke were 3 and almost 2.

Luke got very upset with me today as soon as he realized he was hungry, and started "bossing" me around: "Mommy, I want to eat!  I want wunch.  Wight now Mommy!  Stand up now!  Go!  I wanta eat wunch!"

When he needed a diaper change, I asked him if he was poopy, and he said, "No, I don't want a diaper change, I just clean, Mommy.  It's play time."

When I handed Luke a toy he was struggling to reach, he took it and said, with gusto, "Oh, tank you, Mommy!"

Gabe is also very good about saying thank you, and he will often add "Good job pouring the milk, Mommy, you did that so great!"

When I told Gabe it was almost naptime today, he at first said "No, I don't want a nap!"  But then started saying, "Mom, is it night time?"  I told him it wasn't night time, but it was sleep time, to which he responded, "Oh, ok Mom, but I a-better eat a snack first, and then take a nap.  Maybe playtime first."

Gabriel is especially fascinated with my sewing machine and serger, which are off limits, but he gets into anyway.  If (when) I catch him opening little doors and turning little dials, I give him a little reminder by saying "What are the rules?"  and he will say "Don't play with Mommy's 'chines!  But I just want to close this door, Mom.  Can you close it for me?"


We just got back in town from Tayler and Heather's wedding.  We were so glad we could make it.  It was a crazy trip, but we all had a good time.  We didn't actually get to see much of Tayler or Heather, but I guess there will be time enough for that.  Heather is "Hedder" to Gabe and "Heddow" to Luke, and a princess to both of them since they saw her in her wedding dress.

While we were in Washington for the wedding, we were able to stop by and visit BJ's grandparents.  We only had about 2 hours with them (plus 4 hours of driving) but we made the most of it, the kids were pretty good, and I am so glad we were able to have that time with them.

Speaking of that trip, I wrote about the crazy part of the journey and the tender mercies we experienced as a result on my other blog.  Read about it here.

October 2011

I haven't written in months, and I'm not even going to try to recap what has happened right now, but I need to record some things about the kids so we can remember all the funny things they do in the future.

Gabe
3 years & almost 4 months

I asked him what his favorite foods were last week, and here is his answer: "Cupcakes, fruit loops, chocolate, cheese sticks." Funny, we don't give him much of that stuff... at least he listed one semi-healthy thing.  He actually eats pretty much everything we give him, as long as it is room temp and not spicy.

Takes one nap, in the afternoon.  Learned how to pedal his tricycle this summer, and can mostly keep up with us when we go for a walk.  Loves to collect sticks on our walks.  Loves to go on walks and visit his friends Kimberlee and Ethan.  He's very friendly with all kids, although if it came to sharing his Thomas train, that would probably be a no-go. 

Says "okie-dokie-a-chokie".  Has been calling me his "baby mommy" and "little mommy".  Regularly says stuff like "What are you doing, Mommy?"  Oh!  Uhhhh... dat's cool, Mom."  Gabe knows mouth, nose, eyes, head, hair, ears, hands, tummy, and fingers in Spanish (our neighbor came over and did Spanish lessons for a while during the summer).  He also knows a few animals and random other stuff.

Gabe's teachers at daycare (he goes just a couple of hours each week) are always impressed at how smart he is.  He knows all his shapes, colors, counts to 20 sometimes, can accurately count objects (less than about 8), knows his ABCs, can identify all of them and most of their sounds, and knows tons of songs. 

Sings Thomas the Tank Engine songs and always requests them at bedtime.  Actually sings a lot of songs, all day long.  Loves Thomas shows, Dora, Caillou, Blue's Clues, and even "the purple dinosaur".  Yes, I let my children watch shows (on Netflix).
95% potty trained during the day, nighttime and naptime are another story.
One day at naptime I gave him his Thomas the Tank engine train and he said "Thomas is my best friend!"  Another day we had played and I gave him lots of hugs and kisses at naptime and he said "Mommy, you are my best friend!"  Melted my heart.

Naughty stuff: Gabe recently dumped a whole roll of TP in the toilet.  A few days later, he unrolled a whole roll all over the floor.  Not to much later, he pulled out every wet wipe from the wipes box.  He sometimes likes to chew on the wipes. (yuck) He and Luke are partners in crime and they like to shred wipes, TP, napkins, anything they can get their hands on.  They like to drink their drinks and spit them out- sometimes on each other (this is mostly just Gabe).  They like to pull things out of the kitchen drawers and cupboards, sometimes the garbage.  I have locks on the cupboards and the garbage, but they always manage to find something semi-dangerous that isn't locked up, so the kitchen is off limits, and we have a gate that closes it off. 

Luke
18 months

Sings I Am a Child of God and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (somewhat intelligibly) on his own.  Loves music and loves to dance.
Goes to sleep really easily most of the time, as long as he has his binky, blanket, drink, and a stuffed animal.  Starting to take only an afternoon nap and not his morning nap.  Loves all stuffed animals, but especially his zebra, cow, & blue teddy bear.  Cuddly, but he's a screamer- he has an ear-splitting scream that he's not afraid to use at any time if he wants to get his point across.  Started nursery last week- ran right in, played, no screaming at all.  What a relief for all of us, because church has been... not fun... with him for several months (maybe 6).  Hopefully nursery will continue to be a good thing for him.

Blows kisses and waves when daddy leaves every morning for work.  Loves cheese, bread, bananas, apples, applesauce, yogurt, all cereal, all sugary stuff (but usually not ice cream), most fruits, all crackers, pizza.  Sometimes likes broccoli and carrots (in ranch), beans, mexican food.  Currently hates noodles and rice (texture thing), usually peanut butter and most other sandwiches.

Luke loves to give kisses, but this time he was almost eating my cheek!

Says: Peeaboo (peek-a-boo), dit-de (binky), a-wight (alright), ok, ah-done (all done), ah-keen-ow (all clean now), poopoo, bum, eye, nose, mow (mouth), eah (ear), Babe/ Babiel (Gabe/ Gabriel), baby, Guke (Luke), mommy, daddy, Paw (Grandpa), Cah-kin (Collin), Ca-ya (Cara), Sessa (Marissa), Anna, Gook (book, drink, milk), eat, see-yal (cereal), nah-nuh (banana), be-ba (zebra), see ya, hi, hey-o (hello), bye bye, Ay-yuh-you (I love you), safe, don't, mine, want it, nie-ie (night-night), teeeee (teeth- wants to brush teeth), cah (car) goowuck/ cahck (truck), ah-side (outside), no, yes, yeah, uh-huh, uh-uh, no-way, icky, suuuuum (as in- I want some), lion, goggy (doggy), ti-tat (cat/ kitty cat), eh-pane (airplane), tain (Train), wow-ow (flower), messy, one-two-tee (1-2-3), sooooo (show- as in I want to watch a show).

He probably says more but I can't think of anything else right now.

Luke responds to most things we say to him- he understands and follows commands (if he wants to) and replies to questions.

At 16 months he:
Weighed 22.3 pounds (now he weighs about 25 lb.)- the 15th percentile.
Was 30.5 inches tall- 22nd percentile.
Had a head circumference of 19.2- the 86th percentile, down from the 96th when he was 9 months old!

oops

I don't know why I can't seem to get my act together with the blogging lately.  I think it is a case of letting too much time pass so that the prospect of "catching up" on our family's doings is just overwhelming and I am not motivated to do it.  It could also be that the only time I really have to blog and have "personal time" is during naptime or after the kids have gone to bed for the night, and there are just so many things to do and catch up on that blogging drops down on my priority list.  Whatever the case may be, I have been feeling guilty that I am not recording the things my kids are doing and how they are growing.  So, I am repenting!  I have some photos, videos, stories and things that I have been meaning to post forever, and now I will actually do it.  But not in this post.  I will do a post for Christmas, and each kid, and maybe one for BJ and I.   But probably not all at once.  (!)

Funny Stuff

The other night I went to check on Gabe and he was talking in his sleep.  He kept saying "Hlay. Daddy! Hlay!"  "Hlay" is how Gabe says play, and he says that to me many many times over the course of a day; i.e. "Gabe, do you want to eat some lunch?"  "No! Hlay!"

I went to an exercise class this week and I put on a brightly colored headband.  Before Gabe went to bed, he said, "Mommy!  Cool hat!"  He also loves to wear his hat I made him this week.  It is a big boy hat. 

Gabe is finally starting to speak in short sentences at times.  When BJ leaves in the mornings to go to work, Gabe usually says "Bye Daddy! I love you! Daddy bye-bye- car."

Luke has been laughing more and more this week.  He thinks that blowing rasberries/ the elephant sound is especially funny and he tries to imitate.  He blows bubbles and gets drool all over himself but he just grins so big like it is his favorite thing in the world.

 We put Luke in the baby gym thing with music and toys and lights.  Just like with Gabe at first, it was a bit overstimulating.  He was so excited; with his gasping and kicking and flailing he looked like he was going to fly away.  Luke has also started grabbing toys with purpose.  He has some spinning toys on his chair that he bats at over and over.  Gabe tries to get in on the fun too.  

I have had a hard time getting Gabe to eat new foods this week.  However, he sometimes brings a toy or stuffed animal to his chair when he eats.  I have been able to get him to eat something after pretending to feed it to his monkey or bear or cat first.  He laughs and laughs and opens his mouth to eat it.

Bumbo seat: Is it worth it?

Photo from http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3433615

Has anyone used a Bumbo Seat for their baby? Luke is 3 months old and wants to be sitting upright most of the time, but the baby seats we have for him are reclining.  I did not have one of these with Gabe, so we have never tried one out.  They cost around $40 which seems like a lot for a baby seat that will only be used a couple of months.  I guess I am wondering if it is worth it? What are your thoughts?

Teeth!

It makes me want to cry that my almost- 3 month old is cutting teeth.  This didn't happen with Gabe until he was almost 6 months old.

It is also weird to me that my 2 year old has 20 teeth.  And has for a while.  I guess I have toothy kids. 

Wah.

Most Common Words

I made this word collage on www.wordle.net.  It shows the most common words I use in this blog... I guess Gabe is on my mind a lot!

Happy September!

Every September, I feel that mix of sadness at summer coming to an end, and excitement about all things fall. Thinking of all the things that were on my summer- to- do list, and exploring all the possibilities of fun activities yet to try. I am excited for the leaves to change colors and the weather to cool down a bit. I can't help but imagine the smell of crayons, erasers, and freshly sharpened pencils (I might just take a little walk down the aisles at Office Depot for fun). It almost makes me long for school days again. Almost. September also reminds me of canning peaches, immunizations, eating tomatoes, and packing sack lunches with apples and peanut butter sandwiches on homemade bread (notice a food theme there?). But I digress.
With the beginning of September, I have scaled back my work hours a bit, so I am only working 8 hours a week now. It is nice to be able to spend more time with Gabriel. Speaking of Gabe, he is cutting his 13-16th teeth right now, two of which are molars. Poor kid. He also has a cold this morning. In addition, he has to sleep in his pack and play, because we took his crib back to Target last weekend (it was recalled) and we haven't had a chance to get a new crib for him yet.
On the docket for today: naps, sorting through piles and piles of papers, sewing some new pants for Gabe, possibly even making my bed. Ha.

Baby Alert!

Someone should invent some sort of alarm that goes off when your child is about to get into something they shouldn't. I would buy one.
Gabe is only a year old, but he's at the stage where he is very curious, fairly mobile, and loves to put things in his mouth. Dangerous combination! It means that he needs fairly constant supervision. I am learning not to be lulled into a false sense of security when Gabe is quiet. A few times today I have looked up or around the corner after noticing that Gabe was being quieter than usual, only to find him getting into something he shouldn't. He knows it too, because he jumps when he sees me and puts the thing (whatever it is) down. Usually the "thing" I find is a piece of lint, carpet, kleenex (or what's left of it) or nasty old piece of food or dirt. How does he even find that stuff? Sometimes, though, I find him getting into my purse (why did I leave it on the floor again?), trying to chew on the power cord to BJ's computer or the vertical blinds on our sliding glass door, or reaching into the bathroom garbage. Why do these things hold such attraction to babies? I understand that they are curious and trying to learn about the world around them. I don't want to stifle that. Yet I want to keep Gabe safe and not let him get into things that are going to hurt him or make him sick.
Going outside is a whole different ballgame. Most kids love to be outside, but there isn't much out there that I am thrilled to see him put in his mouth. I've seen parents go to both extremes on this; some almost wont put their kids (babies/ toddlers) down when they go outside, others let their kids pick up, play with, and taste anything that isn't poop or poison.
My questions for you all are:
1. What are the strangest, funniest, icky-est things that your kids, siblings, nieces/ nephews etc. have tried to eat?
2. Did those kids eventually learn on their own not to put nasty things in their mouths, or did it take constant vigilance on the parent's part for the first several years of their lives?
3. Should babies be allowed to pick up, play with, and lick/chew anything that doesn't pose a threat to their safety, whether inside or outside?
Feel free to answer one or all of the questions!
Thanks in advance!

BJ and Rochelle in the 1980's

 

>Laughing<

 

Funny, funny, funny!
If you want to waste time, make your own at yearbookyourself.com I'm still laughing! I may have to post more of the pictures I did at a later date.

P.S.

Wow, sorry our blog keeps posting LinkedIn stuff. I have already deleted 2 different posts this morning. See BJ's previous post about accidentally inviting everyone in his address book (including our blog) to LinkedIn.

Minor update

We are not dead.  We are just without internet.  I'm doing this post from my office, and so it must be short.  But we are moved into our new place, and it may be a while before we get internet there for various reasons.  So until then, we will keep up with your blogs where possible, and post on ours when we get the chance.

Chow!

Do you dig it?

Maybe this will be one of those blogs that carries absolutely no interest to you. I imagine many of you may feel that way. But I just wanted to say that I found a cool little program that I like, and that I think you might like too (if you are a nerd like me... what was your nerd score?). The program I have found does something very useful for me... it allows me to use one program to sign in to many chat clients, and email clients. Now, honestly, I only use a couple of chat clients in the first place on a regular basis, but at least I don't have to look at adds from Microsoft and Yahoo every time I log in now. Google, thankfully, has never put ads in their chat client. I digress... so maybe it isn't the end-all app for all of you, but you may like it all the same, even if you only use one chat client. Some of you probably will say that you don't use any chat client. To you, I say "Good for you." I don't suggest you install digsby. ;-) But if you do decide to install it, it is in "private beta" right now, meaning that you can't install it unless you have a special code from them to install with. But they seem to be pretty easy to come by. I've seen two codes online, blueball and cnet. You can use them to download and install the program if you so desire.

Oh, and I think the program looks pretty cool too, minus their weird icon, but I'll forgive them for that.

End of nerdy news for today.

Sue's Library

Mom's got a library! Click here: Sue's Library

There's a list of libraries on the right that I will add to. But I'd like to see everyone that reads this blog have a library. And I'll post it there. You can also see the most recent additions to Rochelle's and my libraries below that.

Work in progress...

Pardon the dust... this entry is currently under construction. Please check back when it is completed.

Thank you.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

So what shall I talk about today? Any suggestions? I am out of controversial topics to cover right now. I would love to go on a rant, and drag you all through it, but I think I have none that I haven't already covered. Dang.

What about my life you say? You want to hear about that? I can sum that up in one word: "Boooooooriiiiiiiing!" It really is. I'm doing work like normal, and am happy to come home every day. (It's not that I AM bored, just that the story itself is lacking... no plot, resolution, etc.)

So now what? I started looking around online to see if there was anything interesting that I could use to supplement this blog. Nope. Haven't read anything that has incited me talk about it here recently.

So.... I'll say this and be done with it:

I love you all, and enjoy reading your blogs, and am sorry that you have to put up with mine. But I'll work on it. I will go out this week and find stories to talk about so I can entertain you all! (Or at least those of you who are the most bored...) ;-D May the force be with you.

Mom has a new laptop...

...and I'm writing this blog on it. It's a nice laptop. It has a nice big screen (wide) and isn't very heavy. I like it. And it is much more comfortable to work on it while sitting on the couch than it is to sit in that hard chair and work on their other computer. ;-)

It's Saturday night, and I'm pooped. I don't know why I'm tired, but I am. I haven't worked particularly hard this week. I haven't done anything particularly extrenuous. I have done very little out of the norm. I'm fairly certain that anyone who is reading this probably has had a much busier week than I have, but I'm still tired. Maybe it's because I have time to rest now, that my body has decided that it needs to catch up on rest. I don't know... but I do know that I probably should get some exercise. Otherwise I'm going to end up like most programmers and techies (no offence to those of you who are...), and live on pizza, soda, and have a beer belly. Yes, even now I can begin to see the buldge. Ok, so I haven't got much of one, but I don't want one either. I think I need to start exercising. I'm going to try to get my coworkers to join me in that too. I've heard that some of them play racquetball, and I'm going to see if that is true. ;-) Anyways, I want to get them to go play basketball and whatever else they would do to get some exercise. I think that would help my energy level. Rochelle has been quite busy lately... she has been working and homeworking and nursing like mad and has nearly gone mad trying to do it all. But she has gotten much of it done, and is feeling a little less stressed now.

Anyways, I'm going to go to sleep now... goodnight!
BJ

In response to the Pirates in question

Well, I have to say, Marissa, and Cara, that Pirates was not as scary as you led me to believe! Oh, I admit, it was suspenseful, but I think the fact that you told me that it was so suspenseful made me expect things more. I enjoyed it, though. The ending left a lot of questions and speculation in my mind, as I am sure it did in others'.
Our routine lately has been mostly ordinary. BJ has his last class, his job at Novell, and The Job Search, which seems to be going well. I have research and TA work to do, and I have been doing various other things at home, such as TaeBo, sewing projects, card- making and scrapbooking projects, reading books (Right now I am reading The Hiding Place) and a bunch of other stuff. Currently I am also planning a baby shower for a friend. Last spring, two of my nursing friends and I ran a 5K, and the plan is to do another one in the fall, so guess who has to start running again? ME! And BJ will come with me for moral support. :) Well, it is now almost tomorrow, which is that one really cool day. I will have to write more about that later...