It’s official. Natalie is mobile. She made her first forward motions a couple weeks ago while we were up north on vacation. While those first moments are exciting, it doesn’t even compare to seeing the look on her face every day as she’s cruising down the hallway or across the living room rug; she’s all full of smiles. She is accomplishing so much and she knows it.

For the record, she is now eight months old and a day. She is still ginormous. She’s just shy of 20 pounds and who knows how long. We estimate her to be around 29 inches. She’s growing out of her clothes very quickly and thank goodness it’s sundress weather so we don’t have to worry about the length of pants and such. Dresses work fabulous but they do make crawling a bit more challenging for her.

She is starting to show some personality and while very different from her big brother, they have some similarities as well. They are both pretty laid back, happy kids. We do not deserve this rich life we live. Thank ya Jesus! 

Luke has a new toy. His cousin gave him a really cool book for his birthday but it happened to be one he already owned. So we’ve been holding onto it all this time and finally took it to the store to exchange it for a new toy on Monday. For the past 30 hours all I have heard about is Buzz! Buzz Lightyear to the rescue! To infinity, and beyond!

This kid loves Buzz so much, he prayed for him five different ways last night before bedtime. And then he inserted his name into every other person’s name he prayed for: “Thank you Buzz Mommy, thank you Buzz Daddy, thank you Buzz Natadee…”

Luke talks to Buzz, and Buzz talks back. Buzz helps him find lost toys and rescues him when he’s falling off the couch. He’s a real friend, that Buzz.

This kid absolutely loves his new Buzz Lightyear doll action figure and he doesn’t want to go anywhere without it. Yes, just like Andy did in Toy Story. In fact, I almost think that Buzz has taken Blanket’s place in Luke’s heart. (Almost.)

I had a rough week last week. In short, I was stressed about money. In the past seven years we have learned so many valuable lessons about budgeting and living beneath our means and staying out of debt. Were it not for that, when Mike lost his job two years ago we would have been totally screwed. But we weren’t. We breathed in and out and then said to each other, “We’re going to be okay.” First of all, God has never let us go hungry. He has always made sure we have everything we need and more. Second of all, we have very little debt now and low monthly living expenses.

Mike has been working a part time job since April and that has been helping to cover the portion of our monthly expenses that my income does not. He’s driving for a limo company. It has been a huge blessing. He can take the jobs that fit around my schedule (nights & weekends) and it’s something he loves doing. He loves to drive and he enjoys meeting new people. We knew things would still be tight and we would still need to be careful to stay within our budget, but it’s been a good thing.

And then last week. Last week we were informed that our monthly expense was going up effective now. The short notice and the impact it is having on our household budget sent me into a tailspin. I have been running the numbers and looking for areas to cut and Mike is trying to get extra work, but on paper it still doesn’t look like it’s going to be enough.

There is no question that we need to figure out how to get our income up. And what I want to do is obsess about it and plan and scheme; basically I want to solve the problem. But I can only do so much. We as people can only do so much. God is the sovereign one. He knew this was coming and we have to trust that he has a plan to get us through it.

I get nervous that we won’t have enough money to provide my children the things they need. Then I sometimes regret that we won’t be able to also give them the things they want. God has a wonderful way of putting things into perspective for me and he sometimes uses my own children to do it.

This afternoon my son said to me with a smile beaming across his face:

“That was fun Mommy… I love you.” 

What had he just done that he found to be so fun? He rode the mechanical horse at the grocery store. How much did it cost us? Two cents.

“Mommy!”

(Pause)

“Mommy!!”

(Mommy rushes out of bed and opens the boy’s bedroom door)

“Where’s my blanket?”

He does love his woobie.

I have been trying to teach Luke that it is rude to lick a knife and then put it back into the butter, because other people will want to eat that butter and they would not appreciate having little boy spit (or anyone’s spit, for that matter) all over their bagel.

We had another lesson just this morning on the whole community food/utensil thing and it’s a good thing because…

Today a coworker brought in Homemade Chocolate Mini-Cheesecakes with a tub of Cool Whip for individual topping. It was like some sort of compulsion. Or maybe it was out of habit? We’ll call it a compulsive habit. Yes, I came so close; so close to licking that spoon. But then I remembered what I told Luke this morning about not licking the knife or sticking your finger in the butter, and I restrained.

Because I want to be a good example for my son.

Luke is officially three years old. Now he can stop saying he’s “almost three”. It’s been a long and glorious three years, but if you compare it to the seven we spent hoping and praying for a child, it has gone very fast. We are having so much fun with this guy. He makes us laugh out loud every day. He does like every other three year old and pushes his boundaries, but we relish the challenge to stick-to-our-guns and we are all learning as we go.

We threw a party to celebrate. I will say for the record that at the moment I do not plan on ever having another children’s birthday party. I am just not cut out for it. However, I do know that as time passes I will come to my senses and I will just have to come up with creative ways to make the situation less stressful. I hate the stress but I do it for my kid. Luke absolutely loved having “the kids” all over to celebrate and I think his most favorite part was when they sang “Happy Birthday” to him. Twice. Fact: I overheard him in the bathtub singing that song to himself earlier that morning.

So Luke had a great time. His friends and family had a great time. Momma had a great time after she recovered from her meltdown (more on that later). All in all it was a great day and extremely fitting for celebrating a little boy’s three years so far on this earth.

Kids really do say some funny stuff. And if you don’t document it somewhere (like a blog perhaps?) they’ll grow up and you’ll forget it. At their high school graduation you’ll be asking yourself, “what was that he used to say?”. Well Luke makes us laugh on a daily basis with the stuff he says. And I certainly don’t want to forget it.

I love it when you ask him what he is doing and he replies, “What do you fink I’m doing?”

I also love it when he says “When I get big, I can reach the movies, play darts, drive, play baseball, use a knife, make food…” The list just keeps getting longer.

Or when he hears you pass gas and asks “You farp? You tinky, you need a shower!”

I DO NOT like it when he says “I waaant sumping!” or “I want fruit snacks, Mommy” over and over and over, but then he throws out his made-up word, “shrada-shray!” or tells us a story about That Farmer Guy and you just can’t help but smile a little.

Natalie is finally starting to offer some entertainment. She is six months old. She is still super tall (unlike her momma) and she is starting to do a lot more rolling and some scooting. She smiles a lot. If you give her even the slightest eye contact she returns it with a bright smile that lights up the room. You could say Joy is her middle name. Well, cuz it is.

I passed a big test today. It’s a huge load off my shoulders. I still have another test I’ll have to take to complete my goal of becoming an Enrolled Agent, but for now I can relax for a little while. It’s really nice to be able to come home from work and just spend some time with the kids without a task like studying looming over my head. And I am having so much fun spending time with them. Even with the standard age-2-boundary-testing Luke surprises me with how well he behaves most of the time. I don’t deserve for it to be this easy. Of course you’ll have to remind me I said that the next time I blow a gasket because he won’t shut up about the fruit snacks.

I went to the city farmers’ market today with a friend. We brought the kids and had a blast. It was a grand opening of a newly rebuilt market so it was crowded. We waited in a few lines, bought a few things, ate some stuff, and after about an hour we were ready to go home. So we got some ice cream to cap off the morning and decided to sit out at the river’s edge to eat it. We couldn’t see a real easy way to get down there with the stroller so we thought we would take a shortcut across the freshly planted grass. It looked like mud covered in hay so we thought it was safe. Three steps in we realized, simultaneously, that it was not mud. And the layer of hay was not all that thick.

Oh yeah, we are hardcore. Simply shopping at a farmers’ market does not prove one to be into using organic products, but this day we were literally Into. Organic. Products.

Luke has been potty trained for a few months now. He does great with #1 as long as he’s not severely distracted but he had been struggling with #2. We tried bribing him with “big chocolates” (mini-candy bars) but that only worked for so long. After awhile he decided it was easier for him to just go in his pants. He knows when he has to go and he’s not afraid of the toilet. He was just being defiant. It did not take long for Mike to get tired of scrubbing poo and he was desperate for a solution. A friend of ours had shared with Mike how she got her oldest son to stop soiling his pants. She only had to do it once and he never pooped his pants again. A Cold Shower. Desperate as he was, Mike gave it a shot. The next time Luke pooped in his pants, Mike turned on the water, left it set to Cold, undressed Luke, and put him in the shower. I am so glad I was not home to witness it. Mike said Luke just hated it. He cried and carried on as Mike washed him up and explained that this is what happens when you poop your pants. You need a cold shower to get really clean. Call it child abuse if you want, but Luke recovered just fine and he hasn’t crapped his pants ever since!

If you read this post then you know we’ve been talking about getting big at our house. Getting big enough to reach the movies! Luke is a typical toddler and wants to do all sorts of things that he just isn’t big enough to do. Whenever that happens, we just assure him that someday he will be big enough. It started out with getting big enough to reach the movies and the list just keeps getting longer. Now if you ask him what he can do when he gets Big, he will gladly tell you. “When I get big I can reach the movies play darts drive play baseball use a knife!!” He says it just like that and it cracks us up every time.