Surprising Jim & I and her Awanas teachers, Elizabeth said her four verses tonight earning her vest! I really didn’t think she’d tell them since she will barely talk away from us. At the end of the evening, all the kids gather on the back lanai to receive awards. When she came walking out with her vest on, she looked SO big. When we walked up to get her afterwards, she was jumping up and down (surprise, surprise!!) and was so excited to show me her vest. Her four were “God loved us and sent his son” (their key verse), “Jesus loves me” (their motto), “all have sinned” and “”While we were sinners, Christ died for us.” She memorized them much more easily than I thought she would. She really enjoys Awanas and I know she’ll be sad when they let out for the summer.

*sigh* Where does the time go?? How can my baby be big enough to be saying Bible verses?? Probably goes the same place my mom is thinking “How can my baby have a baby big enough to say Bible verses?” I don’t like this growing up thing.

We had about a month where she was having crazy sleep issues (I think I blogged about that) which meant crazy behavior. I think that’s over now, thankfully! She’s sleeping until 6:30-7ish every day. Afternoon behavior has gone back to normal 3.5 year old. Who knew I’d ever be thankful for her normal 3.5 year old behavior??!!?

Her speech continues to improve. Her vocabulary grows at an exponential rate, it seems. Her apraxia continues to be an issue and I really expect we’ll have to get speech therapy through our medical center come the fall. She is completing more words but she probably only says the full word for 20%, if that.

We had little doubt that she would love having a baby brother. And she hasn’t let us down there! If she could spend her entire day holding him, she would. She wants to know what he’s doing at all moments of the day. And she has eagle ears for his crying. She’ll hear him even before he’s crying sometimes.

She’s getting close to outgrowing her car seat, so I’m ordering her a new one tonight. Its the new Graco Nautilus and I am so excited to get it! She can stay 5pt harnessed until 65lbs which is more than 30lbs away! She can then use it as a high-back booster to 57″/100lbs. I’ve spent months debating which seat to choose and I’ve decided just to go with this one. I hope its here when we get back from our trip to Indiana.

I’ve been thinking a lot about church & children.  I’d love to hear what others have in their church that they like/dislike and what they had growing up.

At the church we went to until I was in junior high, they had a traditional church service for the kids but at kid-appropriate level.  It was divided K, 1-3 and then 4-6.  First we had a Sunday school lesson and then we’d move from the classrooms to the worship area.  K had little pews with arm rests/dividers (I can still vividly remember sitting in them) and the others had chairs.  I remember K having a piano but I don’t remember for the others.  We’d do lots of singing and dancing.  Plus a “sermon” of sorts.  We’d pass the offering plates.  And I even remember passing the communion plates (in 4-6, at least).  I loved the style we had.

I really like the church we’re attending but I’m also not confident its *the* one.  Being in the military adds a different dimension to church than I ever planned–church theology v. worship v. church family. I always thought I’d place theology as #1 and then a mixture of the other two for secondary importance when finding a new church.  But I’m finding that the differences in theology within the Protestant churches aren’t all THAT different as far as the bigger picture and, what is different, I can mostly ignore.  Worship style and church family are really winning out when picking a church. As we look ahead, what they offer for children will also be a big factor.
Since being in the military, the churches we’ve attended the most regularly have been a Southern Baptist (in WA), a Nazarene (in GA) and now a non-denominational.  I chose the church in WA because I liked the preacher, it was large (a preference for Jim) and the worship style was a nice mix of what Jim prefers and what I prefer.  In GA, since he was gone most of the year, I chose a church that was much more my style (lots of music, smaller family, not a formal service, etc.)  In our area, I couldn’t find a church that fit all the criteria I wanted.  (Before we came, I church shopped on the internet and through sermon podcasts–life in the 21st century!!!)  This church is larger than our last (125ish in service v. 60ish).  Lots of music.  A good preacher who delves more deeply than our last (last church sermons were roughly 15 minutes long–not much time to get into anything too deep!).  Definitely NOT a fire-and-brimstone type.  Church family is very welcoming.  And they all say how cute my kids are.   They have several opportunities to get involved outside of worship service.  I think it’ll be a church and church family that I will fall in love with, just not a love-at-first-visit type.

After two crazy weeks, this week should be a bit better. As far as he knows, Jim will have normal days–home in the morning after PT, possibly at lunch and then by 5:30! I’m so excited!!

My goal tomorrow is to read blogs! I haven’t read blogs, really, since before Ben was born. Stopped in on a few but haven’t left but a couple comments anywhere. So tomorrow, that’s my goal!!

One of my 2008 goals is to learn how to dress–how to put full outfits together, how to better purchase clothes that suit my body, etc. I have been putting money back to accomplish this task. Anyone willing to help me long-distance (or hop a flight and do it locally??!)?

Ben is growing like crazy. He’ll be seven weeks in about 12 more hours. He’s about 13 pounds! Elizabeth didn’t weigh that much until she was around 6-7 months old (can’t find her chart). And she was only 17.5 pounds when she turned a year. Mama milk is filling him up (and out!) well. We laughed yesterday–I was holding him on my lap while I ate dinner. All the sudden he let out this grunt/bark type sound and made a move that appeared to be a face-dive for my dinner plate. And then he smiled and laughed. LOL We think he’ll be much more into food than Elizabeth has ever been!

When people talk about having lots of pictures of their first child and then very few of subsequent children…I now understand! We have so few of Ben. I really need to be taking more.

I also now understand why people like to have an adult beverage while cooking dinner and/or a nightcap. Seriously. These past two weeks have just been so long.

Last Monday Ben gave me a 10.5 hour stretch of sleep!! He didn’t get a good nap at all that day, so I think that was mostly it. It was SOOOOOO heavenly.

Pizza night has been a mostly-weekly tradition since we got married. The night has changed at various times. Since we got here, I hadn’t chosen a night. Holidays, then Jim’s parents, Ben’s birth, blah, blah, blah. After much deliberation, I decided on Sunday nights. And we’re going to incorporate a family movie into it too. So pizza in the living room (E will be thrilled!) and a movie. First night tomorrow night and we’re going to watch The Bee Movie. I’m looking forward to getting back into that weekly tradition.

As of last Saturday night, every moment until deployment are new baby moments for Jim. I took him to leave for Iraq about 10pm the night prior to E turning 6 weeks old. I love that he’s getting all these new baby moments. I look at Ben and had forgotten just how tiny she was when he left. 6 weeks old and then he came home just a few days before she took her first steps. So much he missed.

After everyone else is in bed and I have some quiet computer time, I’ve started soaking my feet. Wow! I didn’t realize the power of a warm foot soak. I love it.

Burnt my fingers tonight. I had my stoneware baker out of the oven to stir the potatoes. Without thinking, I picked it up. Without potholders. Then dropped it. On my glasstop stove. OOPS. Thankfully, the stove didn’t crack. My fingers, not so lucky. Three hours after I did it, I was finally able to take the ice off without pain. But I have a few nice blisters and the rest have that shiny burnt appearance.

I’ve found a great new online store. Diapers.com In addition to diapers, they also have baby care products (including California Baby & Nature’s Baby products which I adore) , pacifiers, baby food, wipes, etc. You can mail in your coupons and they’ll store them in your account so you can use them on future orders. I think that is pretty cool! I’m not sure how their prices look overall. They seem pretty good to me but I’ve only purchased a couple packs of disposables with Ben and those were from the commissary. If you spend at least $49, you get free shipping. If you haven’t already ordered from them, you can use me as a referral to get $5 off (and I get $1 credit). Referral code is happygrl. No pressure or anything. (Hannah or any other CDing mamas reading this–they have bumGenius 3.0.)

And because of the total randomness of this, check this out, courtesy of my dear friend Ruth. Lisanne, did you know about this?? (Columbus, one of the towns mentioned in the article, is my hometown.)

We’re so glad you’re here.

Benjamin James
January 27, 2008 at 9:47am
19 1/4″ long and 7lb 9oz

Welcoming Ben–the story of his birth
A few pictures

My baby girl,

As I put you to bed tonight, I couldn’t help but think that this may be the last night I do so as a mother to just you.  A whirl of emotions, for sure.  For 2000 nights, I’ve been the one to put you to bed.  And to parent you back to sleep throughout the night.  Many nights I’ve dreaded it.  But every night I can stare at your sleeping body and be amazed that I am your mama.

I say that I worry about how you will adjust to your new brother.  And that is true.  You are such a nurturer, I know you will love him.  Things will change though.  Truthfully, I really worry how I will adjust to you having a new sibling.  I know that I won’t be able to do for you all the things I can do now.  And that makes me sad for you.  And for me.  You have changed me to the core.

You & I have gone through a lot.  So many nights I worried that we wouldn’t make it through until Daddy came home from Iraq.  Or that we wouldn’t make if he didn’t come home at all.  Similar feelings while he was away at school.  And many days even when he was home!!  I imagine our “clashes” will continue…we’re too much alike.   But a team we’ve been.  In your littlest form, you taught me a peace I hadn’t known.  And forced me to find strength that I had forgotten was there.  And helped me to find more smiles & laughter than I ever thought possible.  I’ve been forced to learn to handle myself better.  If I do it or say it, I know there’s a good chance it’ll be coming back to me!!

Soon we’ll be adding another person to our team.  I look forward to seeing how he fits into our family.  All the things you’ll teach him.  How Daddy will be with a son.  How I will mother a son.  You will be an amazing sister, of that I’m confident.

Please don’t fear that you’ll be replaced or displaced.  You’re my first born and that can never be changed.

Sleep tight, my baby girl.  Mama loves you.