Sisters

November 1, 2008September 29, 2009 | Mommakisses

S is big on “you sit by me” like most kids her age… different people different days, but someone MUST sit by her… except what she means is… almost touching by her… not the normal sit-in-the chair-beside-me. No, she means the chairs must be RIGHT by each other… so if she is around the corner of the table, she must move her chair around to your side.

Today it was K she want to “sit by me.” Only for her to be happy, K’s high chair had to be almost touching her seat AND with K facing her. That made it tough to get the food on her tray fast enough and still make sure it wasn’t too hot and get it cut before little hands were after it.

Then, in a moment of Mommy’s-sleep-deprived, I moved the chair to face me… oh goodness! “NO, K sit beside me!” She is beside you, Honey… I need to have her this way. “OH, I don’t mind,” she huffed and crossed her arms… clearly she minded. So I pushed K a bit closer to S, while keeping K facing me and asked if that was good enough.

“Yes, now I can blow for her!” Ah… S just wanted to feel like she was helping K. Sisters are a good thing!

A teenager in the house?

October 21, 2008October 21, 2008 | Mommakisses

Not yet, but sometimes I feel like it… or at least a 3 year old going on 13… oh so sassy! Sometimes it’s a growl when she’s not happy about something, sometimes it’s just being stubborn. With the new floors, I thought it might be good to get the kids house slippers… sometimes even simple tasks are NOT easy!

I found the ones for S first. She just HAD to have them, and for whatever reason, it took some convincing for her to understand we WERE buying them, but I needed to pick out the boys. This required her to sit… I guess that’s too much for a 3 year old. By the time we left, I was grumpy!

Since then she has told me how much she loves them and thank you several times. Yesterday morning was no exception… until she started asking where we got them.

“At a store Honey.”

“No, at the mall,” she put her hands on her hips…

“Yes, in a store at the mall.”

“No… AT the mall. Momma.” and she turned around and left… apperantly in her mind there is NO store at the mall… it’s just the mall… Walmart and Target are stores… but the MALL is something else, and she was having NOTHING to do with any other thought.

Then this morning, standing in front of a closet FULL of pretty things… S said, “I have nothing to wear!”

My only hope is that since she’s 13 now, in ten years she’ll be 23… Right???

Can you hear me now? Good!

October 15, 2008 | Mommakisses

Just a quick note to let you know that S can hear… 😉 For the most part things went real well… I mean really, how easy is it to get an active 3 year old to sit, look at you, listen for a beep, and let you know she heard it? Not very.

As the mommy, I had to “be the chair.” This means I had to sit and hold her on my lap. She started off strong, repeating everything she was asked to as she was asked to… this means when she was asked to speak normally, she did. When she was asked to whisper… well, mostly. The dr. was just a bit concerned with her volume level when she spoke quiet… there’s not much quiet about my S!

After a while though, these games were no longer fun… so getting her to finish the task was a chore. This means there is one range we are not totally sure about, but the dr. is not concerned about it. And he wants to see her back in 6 months… guess we’ll go from there.

Thanks for all the prayers… I am so grateful for friends and family who will knock on Heaven’s Door and seek the Father for my family.

Did I Hear You Right?

October 9, 2008October 9, 2008 | Mommakisses

I know it could be worse. I understand it’s not the end of the world. I know there are LOTS of people out there dealing with MUCH harder issues… All that knowledge doesn’t make this easier to stomach.

My sweet S has been saying “What?” when I talk to her a lot lately… I figured it was a 3 year old goofing off. One who didn’t want to put her toys away, or pick up her clothes. Then she started telling me she couldn’t hear whatever we were listening to in the van… well, it was kind of low… Next she started standing in front of the TV… I started to wonder if she was having vision issues… Yes, I can be kind of thick…

Then earlier this week it was, rather off-handedly, “my ears hurt.” She’s got her second set of tubes in… when she’s got an infection, I know it because of the “drainage.” Again, I just though she was messing around. Then (really how much should it take before a mom starts paying attention????) a couple of days ago she started jacking the volume on the tv up… and I would make her turn it down… “But I can’t hear it!” You can hear it just fine… I’m sitting right here and I can hear it, so I know it’s not too quiet…

Yesterday, after yet another tv volume jacking, I called her pediatrician’s office. The nurse on call (the one who answers parent’s questions and helps determin if a child needs to come in or if there is something that can be done from home) suggested one of those tubes might be blocked and she should be seen.

Once she is seen, her dr. says those ears look clear… no fluid, no infection… and rather as almost an after thought suggests testing her hearing. Sure I say, thinking this is no big deal… she hears me just fine… after all she answers me, and is very clear when she talks.

His nurse came to take her into the room where they run the test. I packed the other three (the boys are off for fall break this week) up and follow… after all, the door to leave is right there by that room and we will be leaving as soon as this test is done…

G, being a goofy boy, does his best to make noise and be silly while we stand there waiting on the test to be done. I have to get onto him several times. He’s making too much noise and will mess the testing up… probably not, but he really making too much noise to be in the office.

The door opens and S bounces out, followed by the nurse, who looks at me with a straight face, “She failed.” What? “Both ears.” WHAT???? As we head back to the room, my mind fogs over with a million questions, and I can’t even think of one. I do manage to ask by how much, to which I am told they really don’t know. This test is just a pass/fail test. For more information, we must go to an Ear Nose Throat dr. Back to the guy who put the tubes in her ears.

I called them as soon as we got into the car. They have a specialist who will retest her hearing next week. I have to wait until next week to get any kind of answer… so until then I have to wait… and trust God.

This has made me want to hug on her a bit more tightly… and this was very evident this morning. She curled up next to me on the couch when she got up. “I want some milk, Mommy.” Ok, baby, I’ll get you some milk. I hugged and kissed her a bit more. “I want some milk, Momma.” OK, baby, I’m going to get you some. “Then stop hugging on me!” OK, some things just don’t change.

To My Door

September 30, 2008 | Mommakisses

Yes, to my door! They delivered to my door!

Maybe I should back up a bit… last week we got a flyer in the mail… I don’t usually pay any attention to flyers, but this one caught T’s eye. He handed it to me, “Maybe you should check this out,” he said as I was trying to get the child at my leg a drink.

This, was a web site for a grocery delivery service. I set it aside… I didn’t have time to run to the computer right that second. Sometime over the next couple of days, I pulled that flyer out and pulled up the site (www.plumgoodfood.com). It took me a bit to figure out where things were… sort of like walking into a grocery store for the first time… what isle do THEY put things in… each one is a little different, but you know the general area for most things.

How nice it was to sit in my house, in the quiet of an evening (ok it actually took me about three different sittings, but they saved my list each time), when children are SLEEPING, and I can THINK about what I need… and rather than writing a list (which I hate doing ‘cuz I either forget it at home or forget it’s in my pocket), I checked boxes, and added quantities. When I was done thinking of what I needed, I had my order ready. Not even once did I hear, “I want that” or “I hate going to the store” or even “I don’t want to ride in the cart,” no not even “I’ll obey you THIS time!”

I placed my order yesterday morning. I did not have to go to the store this morning, since I knew I had placed the order… I got to go work out instead. The best part is they brought it TO ME! When I opened my door to go pick up kids today, I had three big “totes” sitting on my porch. Now, this afternoon was NOT the best time for me to get such a delivery… I have to pick S up at 2:15, the boys up at 3:15 and soccer practices start at 4 and go to 7. I was running late (did I mention I got to go work out??? I also NEEDED a shower) so I headed out the door at 2… and back in the door at 8. I only had time to take the totes inside.

Yes, the milk, veggies, and frozen things sat in the totes on my kitchen floor for 6 hours. When T head this I got the “Now, Honey… that was NOT the best idea” roll of the eyes followed by a stern look, but when he opened the first tote he said, “This is colder than our fridge.” Seriously… the frozen things were more frozen then when I bring them home from the store myself.

OK, this is way long… but I must say, if you have the chance or need, this is a great way to get your shopping done!

Like Father, Like Son

September 25, 2008September 25, 2008 | Mommakisses

Music has always been a big part of my life. As a kid, I knew the words to all the songs on the radio. As an adult, I wrote music/concert reviews, and generally played around in the Christian music industry until J was born.

Music has pretty much been background noise for T. He loves the sounds each of the instruments make, but words? He’ll make up his own, thank you very much. Seriously… if he gets four words in a row it’s time to celebrate!

G falls somewhere inbetween. This became evident driving home the other day. “Again, again,” he would say every time a kids Bible song would end. This version of “Keep My Commandments” is a throw-back to the 80’s, very heavy on the keyboards. G is sitting in the back singing with the words… until he gets to the end of the line and he adds his own touch. What the singers sing is “keep my commandments and you will live,” while G’s version is “keep my commandments and you will win.”

Sometimes adding your own words shines a light on a great thought.

Sleepless in Nashville

September 12, 2008 | Mommakisses

I have now had two nights in five days where three of my four kids got me up…

Last Saturday was the worst… S climbed into my bed around 2:30, J came down at 3 to tell me he had thrown up again. S coughing too much, so breathing treatment for her and back into bed at 3:45… K up at 4, J back up at 4:15ish, I got back into bed at 4:45, K back up at 5… T got up with her, she was screaming… which means I can’t sleep… so I get back up at 5:20, and finally into bed about 6. Mom woke me up at 7 to say they were leaving (they had a 9 hr drive ahead of them), I couldn’t even get up to hug them bye.

Then last night K again woke me up… at 3:30, S opened her door about 3:45 to say “I hurt myself” (I can only guess she fell out of bed). I rocked both girls for a bit. S was so tired her head kept sinking lower and lower, so I helped her back to bed. On the way she asked me a question, but I wasn’t sure what I heard, so I repeated it, “You want me to play with you???” No was the answer, restate the question, and again I repeated it, “You want me to lay down with you???” Again the answer was no, “Will you PRAY with me??” I actually got it that time… so we prayed.

As I was praying, I felt another pair of hands that did not belong to either girl. I opened my eyes to “see” (not much seeing in a dark room) G. “Momma, I had a nightmare.” I pulled him into the prayer. Then I kissed his cheek, turned and kissed S, and by the time I turned back around G was up the stairs headed back to bed.

K continued to fight me. I finally had to nurse her to help her settle down and get back to sleep… or not quite asleep, but enough she didn’t cry when I left the room. Back into bed by 4:40… and up at 6:20 to get the boys ready to leave at 7:20 with T.

Ultimately, this is the call of mothers… to love her kids at all times. To nurse them back to health, to comfort when needed, no matter what time it is. No matter how much sleep she looses. To pray over them and protect them. This is what servicing your kids is. This is what parenting is. This is what love is.

VIP Votes

September 4, 2008September 4, 2008 | Mommakisses

Very Important People Know Who They Are… a very important person from my high school years and I used to say that to each other. It became our slogan… our mantra of sorts. It got started because someone else we (she) knew didn’t celebrate birthdays… it wasn’t important to mark the moment you came into this world… and we thought otherwise.

As a parent of four, I still feel it is very important. There is life, and life changing going on in that moment and it’s worth celebrating. And I don’t mean just the first one, either… each one of these babies has changed my life in a dramatic, beautiful and God granted manner.

Each one of these children, as they hit the milestones they are expected to in their growth, have helped me hit moments of growth of my own. I don’t feel like I will be 38 in a few hours (well… ok, so some days I feel more like 83, but that’s another blog). Sometimes I feel like I’m an eight year old stumbling in the dark, clueless in the steps I am expected to make. Then I see those eight beautiful blue eyes looking up at me… and suddenly I can change the world.

The reality is I know The One who can and I will do everything in my power to reach Him for their sake. They are a gift from Him, I will give back to Him. And it’s so incredibly exciting to hear someone on the political stage speak in the same thought patterns. Life, no matter how small, is worth celebrating.

And for the second time in my life, I will be voting for a V(I)P, rather than a President.

Momma Kisses

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