Recent Moses-isms

I've been cherishing these last few days-- each day I wonder, "Will this be my last with JUST Moses?" As excited as I am to finally meet ZuZu face-to-face, I know I will miss being able to give Moses all of my attention. And I know I will miss him terribly when I am in the hospital.

Not a day goes by that he doesn't have us laughing so hard it hurts. Take this, for example:




And lately some of the things he has said (and more specifically, sung) have had us rolling:

* Moses is REALLY into Bob the Builder right now (or "Bob-a-Builder," as he says it). Part of the theme song goes, "Lofty and Wendy, join the crew." But Moses sings it like this: "Lofty and Winter, join Peru."

* The following word isn't a word we EVER use in our house, so he doesn't know what he is saying. But that is what makes it so innocent and funny. A Veggie Tales song says, "A grateful heart is a happy heart." Moses' translation: "A grateful fart is a happy fart." Oh, Moses. Please don't sing that one in public...

* And our personal favorite: He LOVES Third Day's version of "Joy to the World." But instead of "He rules the world, with truth and grace...," Moses sings, "He rules the world, with truth and grapes...."

Oh, I love my baby boy.

And one more story that must be recorded here for posterity-- or at least to remember it so I can embarrass him later in life. One morning we were sitting at the table for breakfast, when Moses went to the refrigerator and got out the mustard. He insisted on seeing my tummy and touching the mustard to my tummy. Then he took a crayon and touched that to my tummy. It was Kurt that caught on first-- the mustard = sonogram gel, and the crayon = the sonogram probe. Oh, Moses. What an imagination. Now this is an almost-daily ritual, in which he declares that the baby "Sounds good!"

Don't worry-- if you come to our house for supper, we won't serve THAT mustard....

Finally getting some things done...

The attic is still not finished-- the insulation got pushed back once again-- but we are moving right along on some other things! I thought about posting our massive "to-do" list here, but I knew no one had the time to read it. But we did get some fun things done today.

Like, hanging the mobiles I made for the kids. Here's ZuZu's:




I made 3D (double-layered) butterflies and hearts for hers, tied with different colored ribbon. I made it this way so they will be interchangeable later.

I made 3D shapes for Moses:

I wish the pics were better! I REALLY was happy with them!

We also got the initials hung that I painted for the kids. ZuZu's is a chocolate "Z" with white and pink polka-dots, and holds her hair things:

I'm a little ashamed to say that that is NOT all of her hair things...

And of course, I knew Moses would want one of his own. So I made him a blue "M" with yellow polka-dots, with a ribbon to hang sunglasses on (he picked these out at Walmart himself):

And of course, he had to help. :)

That's "all baby" you're seeing...

That's right. That's "all baby," according to the doctor. Which will be good post-partum-- I'll "shrink" really fast, he says. Not so good for labor and delivery, though.

Because, at 36 weeks, I am measuring at 40 weeks...

ZuZu is already approaching 9 pounds, and I am still 4 weeks from my due date....

SCARY.

But the good news:

I am already dilating! Even the doctor was outwardly excited about this. In his words, 20 percent of my labor is already over. Now I just need to wait for the regular contractions to kick in....

He wants me to make it one more week so that she is full term, then he is hoping that things progress quickly naturally. Otherwise, they might induce.

She's almost here!

And, as you can imagine, we are getting a little panicky! There is so much to do!

Just musing...

The little widget at the right says that the average baby weighs 5.5 pounds at 35 weeks, and will gain a half pound a week from this point on...



Moses was 9 lbs 7 oz at 39 weeks. If he gained a half pound a week from 35 weeks, that means he was already 7.5 pounds at 35 weeks....



And this baby is measuring bigger....



She SO needs to arrive, like, tomorrow....



Here was Moses, the monster baby, shortly after birth:


YIKES.

For Better or Worse

August 9, 2003

I don't normally get all gushy around Valentine's Day.

In fact, our little family has a tradition: we spend the evening together and order a heart-shaped pizza.

Romantic, huh? :)

Don't get me wrong-- K usually does something really special. Just not necessarily ON Valentine's Day.

Anyway, I can't let this one go by without proclaiming just how special K is. I love him with all my heart-- but in the last few months, he has been so good to me that I can't help but love him exponentially more every day.

April 16, 2006

It is really true that trials prove someone's love. What a refining fire! And we have had several in the last few months. Let's start with my contractions beginning at 21 weeks. From that point on, K has pretty much worked from home every day to accomodate me. To make sure that I don't overdo it. To make sure I can get Moses in bed for his nap. To make sure that I have plenty of time to get my own work done in the day.

He has always been more of the "cook" of the family, but now he is making almost every meal. He practically waits on me (and Moses) hand and foot. He makes sure that every need is met before he leaves the house for anything.

Summer 2006

How did I ever get so blessed?

And then there is the bat situation. How he has remained strong through all of this, I have no idea. No, actually, I do have an idea. It's God. There is no one I know who has a walk with God like he does. His committment puts me to shame.

November 2007

And watching him work amazes me. The things he has to do sometimes-- like telling a woman in the hospital that she was dying-- I can't imagine ever having to do. The weight of the world must be on his shoulders at times-- but he never lets that weigh down his family. My needs and Moses' needs always come first.

It makes me feel a little selfish.

August 2008

He works harder than I ever have in my life. He stays up until all hours of the night to make sure that things are done around the house. Even as I type (and it's about 9:30 pm), he is in the other room sanding walls to prep for painting. Things have been so crazy lately that he stays up until 3:00 in the morning working on his sermons.

All because he loves his family.

December 2008

And lately, that has just been a little overwhelming to me.

How did I ever get so blessed?

Throughout this journey-- both the good times and the bad-- K has truly been the leader in our family. I am so glad that I don't have that job. And now that I get to watch him with his children, it takes my love for him to an entirely new level. I don't know what is more precious-- watching him snuggle with his son, or watching him wrestle with his son. He is truly an amazing father.

And I love him with all of my heart.

Party Day!

It was party day at preschool today-- the kids were so cute. Mine in particular. :)

Enjoy the pics, MaMa. :) (and thanks for the perfect V-Day shirts!)

Perhaps the cutest part of the party-- prayer time:

My Valentines:

This will probably go down as one of my all-time favorite pics:

I don't think it gets much cuter than this:

He barely got through the door before he started going through everything:

Do you think he enjoyed what he found?

Moses playing with one of the Valentines he gave out (thanks for the tip, MaMa-- I heard one of the other boys asking for one of his own Valentines, and not understanding why he didn't get one):

I just love being a mommy!

Day Three!

Yesterday was day 3 of attic construction-- there was a change in schedule, so they worked yesterday but aren't here today (they are now waiting on the insulation guy, who isn't returning calls! grrr!).

Here was one of the attic spaces at the end of Day 3:




And below is the attic space I am most impressed with. It used to have a false wall right in the entry with a second little door in it, and you had to duck through it to get into it. That wall is gone, and they ripped out the false ceiling above to reveal an almost-normal sized room:


Moses and I had some fun of our own yesterday:




And today, Daddy took advantage of the construction-less morning and took Moses for a wagon ride:

Oh-- and no more bats have made any appearances, so the count remains at 9!

End of Day Two!

Here's where we are at the end of day two:




Each of the four attic spaces looks like this. The drywall will be finished sometime next week, but we have to wait for the insulation guy to come and blow in the insulation, so it will probably be the end of next week before there are any major updates after this.

One more winged rodent bit the dust today, bringing the total "removed" to 9... I was just thankful there weren't 20 or 30 hanging from the ceiling when they went in this morning. We have (er- HAD?) a "bachelor colony," which we're told can number in the hundreds. "Nurseries"-- where the females and babies roost-- can be in the thousands. BLECH.



Moses and I had fun watching the forklift unload and lift the drywall to the roof (where they were taking it in through a window).







The neighbors are probably watching all of this and thinking, "Wow, that's going to be SOME nursery." :) But no, ZuZu won't have her own room just yet-- we're ridding the house of bats instead (and I am trying not to think of what an awesome remodel we could have done with the upstairs bathroom for the money)....


Moses REALLY wanted to go outside to watch...




Can you tell it made him really happy?

Demo Day Update

What a day! I was amazed at how fast this crew works. Within an hour, they already had all the walls and insulation ripped out of the first attic space. By noon, all four attic spaces had been demo-ed (is that a word?). The dry wall starts tomorrow!

The total bat count for the day was 8 bats "removed," and 1 got away. Darn! If it had been nicer outside, I would have sat out there to watch if any came flying out through their little bat holes.... By the way, one of the guys asked a police officer if they could get in trouble for killing bats. The officer answered that you can kill them if they are putting your health in danger. I think the bats hissing at the guys is definitely is a "danger" sign...

Here was one of the attic spaces this morning (pre-demo):





And here it is now:

Just look at all the junk that came off/out of the walls (the back end of a pick-up was also full):

Moses and I had a good day together, and he let me get a lot of work done. But there were things that I did that I wouldn't normally have done-- like, I didn't fight him when he wanted to wear his Elmo pajama shirt to preschool this morning. Here he was before preschool:

And apparently, it was the twins' birthday today, because this is how he came home:

He was so proud of his crown, I didn't make him put his stocking cap on for the walk across the street...

And another thing I let him get away with: a doughnut and apple slices for lunch... Again, not worth the fight today...

When he got up from his "nap" (he didn't actually sleep), he was inspired by all the banging her heard upstairs (he's singing "Bob the Builder" while he bangs his hammer):

And random question: Do you think a work crew would be caught dead eating the "funfetti" cupcakes I made tonight? I was thinking about sending some up for them tomorrow. :)

Demo Day!

*BAT COUNTER-- So far, 9 bats "removed" (goodbye, suckas!)*

It's day one! The crew will be here in about 10 minutes. But I took a little video today of the current status of the upstairs:



And below is an example of one of the attic spaces that is being remodeled. It is quite large and goes around the corner, and we have four of these, in each corner of the house. There is some kind of false ceiling that will be ripped out, and the insulation is all coming out, too. They are going to put up dry wall, blow in insulation (to remove roosting space), and put in a new floor. GOODBYE BATS, and HELLO, giant walk-in closets, and a big family room we've never been able to use!



A few prayer requests:

• That the bats will be driven from the house and not bother the crew at all.


• That no bats will fly into the living space.


• That I can start sleeping at night! (between pregnancy and worry, I haven't gotten much lately)


• That my breathing improves. I've been having trouble lately. I think it is anxiety-- go figure!

Peace

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul!

--It is Well with My Soul

Rejoicing today in all the good that God has done for us, that we have a helpmate even when we feel at our most helpless.