Cuddling

I just wish that our camera didn't make all the pictures come out all orangey. I can't wait till Christmas, when we will get a NEW camera! Yay! Orange or not, I thought these were cute:

A Post Mostly About Chicken Nuggets' Birthday

Sunday was Chicken Nugget's birthday! She turned nine. I can hardly believe it. I can't believe it! I kept telling her the day before, "At this time nine years ago, you were trying to be born!"

Chicken Nugget is pretty predictable when it comes to her birthday eats. She always wants pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut. But this year, instead of a cake, she wanted brownies! Buffalo Wings was in charge of getting the brownie mix, so he got the one with all the little chocolate pieces mixed right in! They were a hit.

Chicken Nugget is totally into Webkinz, and she ended up getting three of them! She also got more cash than I can count! I imagine it will go toward some more Webkinz.

Because we have been losers lately, we didn't take any pictures of her birthday. So I've had to include all of these old pictures. There wasn't much fanfare on her birthday. We just hung around at home after church, gave her her Webkinz, and had her special birthday food. But she said it was the best birthday ever!

Chicken Nugget is still her sweet self. I told her just before she went to bed on the night of her birthday how glad I was that she was my girl. She told me how glad she was that I was her mom. She has such a sweet and generous spirit. She is always concerned about what is going on with others around her. She wants to make sure that all of us in the family are ok. If the little ones are hurt or upset, she's tries to comfort them.

Chicken Nugget is the best! I'm so glad that she came into the world nine years ago. We are so blessed to have her in our family. She is a wonderful gift from God.

I felt bad about CN's birthday, because I couldn't do as much as usual. I wanted to be more active, but I'm on doctor's orders! I have to rest more.

Yesterday I had my regular doctor's appointment. Before I went, I did my morning monitoring of my contractions. I was surprised when my home health nurse called me to say I'd had ELEVEN contractions in that one hour! I freaked out a bit. OK, I freaked out a lot. My pulse was also a little elevated, but the nurse still had me give myself a demand dose of terbutaline on my pump. When I got to the doctor, I was put on the monitor and had only mild uterine irritation. That was great news, and I felt so relieved!

However, the doctor prescribed me some procardia to go along with the terbutaline. She also told me that I can't go back to work. And that I have to be calm (in reference to my freak-out session) and rest a lot more. Poor BW is really pulling double duty these days with the house and the kids. Our wonderful Sunday school class is helping take up some of the slack by providing meals a few times a week and by sending some ladies to clean the house.

It is a new experience for me to be on almost complete bed rest. I like to be out and about. Baby Boy is the important thing right now, though. I have to stay pregnant! I want him to be big and healthy like my other sweet babies. My doctor said he's just already trying to make his way in the world by fighting for some attention! Bless his heart. I promise him I'll give him just as many hugs and sugars as his sisters and brother. I was thinking yesterday about how happy I will be to hold him for the first time and to know that he is ok.

God the Great Physician is taking care of Baby Boy and me. Please pray for us!

Sending much love to all of you -

This Is What A Third-Grader Looks Like:

At least, this is what our third-grader looks like. Only to me, she still doesn't look like a third-grader. For some reason, I'm really feeling like crying this morning! When did she get so big and third-grader-y? I tell her quite often that she used to be a tiny baby. And I'll tell you, it really wasn't that long ago. Eight years may seem like a long time in some respects, but when I look at my little third-grader, it seems like the blink of an eye.

Chicken Nugget appeared in my bedroom doorway this morning and announced: "Get up! It's time to get ready for school!" (Now, I do not expect these early-morning announcements to continue.) She dressed herself and popped out of her room, asking, "Well, how do I look?" with that sweet smile of hers.

I told her that she looked great! But inside my heart was breaking. Just like it is now.

She told me she'd feel a lot better if I walked her over to school and helped her get to her place in the gym. Before third grade, she just went to her classroom. But waiting in the gym is a whole new situation. I was happy to help her out, so we walked over to the school and found her teacher. We scouted out the line in which she was to wait until the bell rang. Chicken Nugget sat down quietly, cross-legged, all third-grader-looking, and she put on that same sweet smile. I could tell she was excited, anxious, a bit uncertain, but also ready. I waved to her, and she waved back, and there wasn't much fanfare; she just sat there, waiting to begin her first day as a third-grader, ready for mom to depart the building.

So I left, and now I'm here at home, working on chores, taking care of the little ones, trying to choke down the fact that the little girl who came into the world, all of 6 pounds and 11 and 3/4 ounces, is now a big ol' third-grader. And I'm afraid time's not going to slow down much from here on out.

Security

Poor Chicken Nugget. It seems she has the gift of frequent pottying, just like her mommy. Last night as I was going to bed, Chicken Nugget, who had been sleeping for a few hours, got up to use the bathroom. It is annoying not to be able to sleep through the night for having to get up to go potty. But, it gave Chicken Nugget and I an opportunity for a little hug and sugar before she headed back to bed.

However, like an episode of the Simpsons, the first five minutes of this story have little or nothing to do with the rest of it.

I thought Chicken Nugget was headed back to bed. But thirth seconds later, she emerged into the doorway of our bedroom. Very groggily, she kind of walked around in a circle, blinked, and headed to our bed, halting every few steps.

"What are you doing, sweetie?" I asked her.

"I'm getting up here," she mumbled, and it was scarcely audible.

Buffalo Wings was already mostly asleep, but when she got into our bed, he looked up, put on a silly face, and looked into her sleepy face.
"What are you doing?" he asked, in his silly daddy voice.

"I'm sleeping in your bed," she answered, settling in and pulling covers around herself.

We shrugged and settled in ourselves.

It's been awhile since Chicken Nugget has gotten into bed with us in the night. But as I snuggled next to her, I was happy about it. Our eight-year-old feels safe enough to get into bed with mom and dad for no good reason. There's not going to be any trouble for her to snuggle next to us. She just wants to get into our bed, so she does it.

As I drifted off to sleep, I thought about children who live worlds apart from the world my kids live in. No, I'm not a perfect mom. At times, I'm not even a good mom. Sometimes a really terrible mom! But at least . . . I'm a safe mom, and my kids think that being with mom (and dad) is a safe place to be. I know that many children out there don't have that sense of safety, that crawling into mom and dad's bed would be the last thing on their mind, that fear might be a way of life. I'm thankful that BW and I can offer a safe place for the kids God has given us.

As we are considering becoming foster parents, as I drifted off to sleep, I also thought that maybe God will let us help someone else feel safe someday. Maybe there's a little girl out there who really wants to crawl into bed with mom and dad . . . maybe one day she'll stumble into our bedroom some night and find safety and comfort there. I hope so.

Sweet Girl

Today, BW got home early enough to go over to the school and pick up Chicken Nugget (the little ones and I usually walk over). I heard CN crying even before she and her dad walked in the door.

"What's wrong?" I said.

"CN got two marks today," said BW.

Marks are the disciplinary system used at CN's school, and each mark has a letter that indicates what rule was broken.

I asked BW what he had said to CN about the situation, thinking she might be upset by something he said (CN cries if you look at her cross-eyed).

BW said, "I didn't say anything to her. All I said was, 'how was your day, CN?' and she immediately started crying and told me about her marks."

CN was sobbing as she put away her bag and jacket, and I called her over to me. Without a word, she dissolved into my arms. She told me about her marks.

"It's OK, you had a bad day, but you're home now," I said, "it's over now."

"OK," CN said, "I prayed to God to give me a good day and I tried to make it happen but it just didn't happen."

I felt so bad for her!

I said, "Well, sometimes we just don't follow the rules and make mistakes and have bad days, but it's over now. Tomorrow you can tell your teacher you're sorry you didn't follow the rules, but you're home now and everything's OK. You just need to pray to God that He will comfort you now."

She was still crying, but nodded. A little later, she kept coming down on herself.

BW said, "It's OK, CN. We all have bad days sometimes. But I think what we are going to do with you now is take you down to the barber shop and have your hair cut like that guy on TV."

On TV, there was a guy that had a mohawk. She made a face and giggled a little.

CN is by no means perfect. But it's hard to even punish her when things like this happen. She's so hard on herself, I think that's just about punishment enough. She was really in pain over what she had done. I think that BW and I could never be as hard on her as she is on herself, and I pray that she'll ease up on herself and learn not to take herself so seriously as the years go by. That sweet girl.