Just a Thought

Some thoughts just seem more complete on a Post-It.

Through the Eyes of a Child

Not long after our miscarriage, Nathan, my 4 year old, approached me and asked "Is the baby still in your belly?". (I hadn't told him yet since I didn't know how much he would understand.) So I answered him, "No, Honey. Something happened. I had to go to the hospital... Mommy and Daddy are sad because we couldn't see the baby or bring the baby home." Then Nathan asked, "Is the baby in heaven?" "Yes", I said, "Jesus is taking good care of our baby."

With his new knowledge, Nathan made some quick plans. "Let's go to heaven and see our baby!" I had to tell him, "We can't go to heaven until Jesus comes to get us or until we die and go to heaven." Not a problem. Nathan fit that right into our schedule for the day. "First we'll go to Grandma and Grandpa's house then we'll die and go to heaven."

Nathan is such a delight.

And He said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. " Matthew 18:3

Big Plans

He didn't walk a mile... but he did try a few steps. Being big is a lot of work.

Encroachment

Josiah, is there not enough space in this house designated for your toys?

Must they take over my counter too?

Perhaps you need some shelves....

It looks like Bike Night around here.

I wonder if that Lego man is just a little bit nervous.

Ponytails Are Safer!

Some young, single, fashionable women may wonder why it is that mothers with young children tend to wear their hair in ponytails. Well, I'll tell you...

Once upon a time (exactly 48 hours ago) in a place very close to here (approximately 8 to 10 feet from where I now sit), I attempted to take a quick shower. Now I only had two young ones in the house and I let them play in the fenced-in backyard thinking that perhaps there would be less screams of bloody murder if they had more room in which to entertain themselves. Well, I was right on that account.

As I am enjoying the warm water washing away the tiredness and dirt and stickiness and, well, you get it, I get so far as to finish shampooing when Nathan knocks on the door. (No surprise there.) "What?", I ask. Nathan's voice comes through the door, "Noah got out the gate!" "WHAT?!", I repeat. "GET HIM! GET HIM!" Yes, I did sic my son on his brother. I hurriedly rinse off and grab a towel hoping to God that I don't have to run out front in this state or that the neighbors are gone or inside or something, anything other than outside to witness this spectacle that is unfolding.

I rush to the side door and, thankfully, am able to stop short. Noah is in my car. No, he's not allowed to play in my car but he's not in the street and the neighbors can't see us! I tell Nathan to shut the car door. Yes, I did. I had Noah shut inside the car because he doesn't know how to open the doors from the inside yet. Now with Noah under wraps, I commanded Nathan to stand by the door and keep an eye on his brother.

With my children once again contained, I could rush through getting dressed before promptly retrieving Noah from the car, yelling something about never leaving the backyard without permission until enough loud words had been spoken to satisfy my angst.

Then I took a dog leash and tied that gate shut.

The end.

P.S. My hair just had to go without conditioner until the next available shower. No hair was damaged during this story.

A Love Letter

My Sweet Little One,

I have loved you from the first day I learned of you. I have dreamed of you and made plans for you. I've wondered if you would be another little gentleman or my first little lady. I wish I could have held your gaze, touched your tiny fingers, and counted your little toes. To have met you face to face was my heart's desire.

I wish you could have been here longer with us.

Now we must wait.

Though my heart breaks with longing for you, I know I will see you one day on the other side of eternity. I love you.

Spiteful Sofa

Dear Couch,

I hate you. Let me be clear. You are supposed to be "a piece of furniture on which several may sit or one may recline; also, a bed, or any place of repose". Apparently you haven't read the dictionary OR you are so hateful yourself that you certainly let me "recline" but did not allow me to sleep comfortably. All I required of you was a place of rest so I could avoid the germ-coughing husband. Instead, I was mostly sleepless and my back and hip hurt. I concur that if I plastered my back against your back, things were greatly improved but I have a need to move sometimes. So was that some kind of power trip to keep me close? That's no way to cuddle.

Feeling spiteful and a little sore too,
Sarah

P.S. I did go to Bed and it was delightful!

P.P.S. Josiah spells your name "calch". So there. I hope your offended... until I need to sit on you again. This letter is all about the sleeping aspect. I know, I know. You make a fine seat especially with the help of pillows.

Robot Wives are Mostly Nice

The boys are watching Dave install a new screen door at Grandma and Grandpa's house. (They wanted a new door just because the old one started locking them out all the time. Whatever.)

During this time, I have learned that Nathan has a wife! A robot wife. He built it himself. (Yes, he does watch Phineas and Ferb. No, I don't think they have ever built a wife on the show.) His wife doesn't let him have sawhorses but she does let him have a tractor. His wife also wants him to touch the toolbox.

This is all news to me. He has kept this under wraps until now. I'm just glad that I'm not the only one enforcing some restrictions around here anymore. Maybe he'll listen to his robot wife since he built her and all.

The next time he doesn't like what I have to say... I can just "remind" him that his wife says "You have to eat your vegetables."

I can work with this.

Let Me Sum Up - Post It Style

If you would like to make your own post-its, you can click on SupahMommy's Post It and play along!

Questionable Phone Manners

We were having a family discussion about April Fools Day. Okay, I was telling my kids about April Fools and I was laughing about one particular joke I and my friends pulled off but when the joke was revealed the jokees didn't think it was funny. In fact, they were downright mad about it. But we still thought it funny and we laughed and laughed. You remember the one, Heidi?

At one point I told Josiah,who didn't even fall for the "your shoelaces are untied" joke (Smart Alec.), that our good friend loves to fool people on every April 1st and will come up with elaborate schemes to pull them off involving multiple people. Then Josiah started asking me all about the schemes and the hows and the whys and the whos and the *sigh*. Let's just say he has a lot of questions. After trying to answer some of the questions, I came up with a brilliant idea.

"Do you want to call Becky and ask her if Randy fooled anyone today?"

Josiah must have thought this is a good idea too because he agreed to it so I dialed my cell phone for him and handed it to him. *whew* Mission accomplished.

His phone conversation goes like this: wawawa (That's Becky. Imagine the Charlie Brown cartoon's adult voices, please.) "Did Randy joke anyone today?" wawawa? "Did Randy joke anybody today?" wawa. wawawawa. Then Josiah pushes END.

I am incredulous. "Did you just hang up on Becky?!" Yes, he did because obviously I have failed at teaching my children phone manners. *hangs head in shame* So I did the only thing I could. I called Becky back and talked to her for a few minutes ... until we drove through a "dead zone" and my phone hung up on her AGAIN.

So I called her again. And this time I said both "Hello" and "Goodbye"!

I'm so sorry for pestering you, Becky. It may happen again.