she's back!

things were a little cheerier in our house this morning as marit woke up with a healthy appetite and her usual chatter. she once again became the playmate to graham and my little prancing, talking, napless shadow. though she is still not at full-capacity, we are so thankful for the improvement.
from yesterday:

to today:

miles:"how am i ever going to fit in with these two goof-balls?"

she said: "i'm so glad i get to sit next to you!" they really missed playing together...graham was so out of sorts without her

helping me unload the dishwasher graham started pausing and throwing the plates (the plastic ones thankfully) into the cupboard as if they were frisbees or horseshoes. this boy makes sport of everything...

graham ever the giver of over-enthusiastic hugs to his confused baby brother



*side-note: adam has started another busy month and those are the ones in which i tend to document more life on our blog (a coping mechanism for me i've learned) as it keeps me in the moment instead of mentally living in the future and for the "normal" months (what does that really mean anyway?).

photos from the weekend

before we got struck down by sickness, we had a really fun weekend with family. my parents and my brother, wife, and kiddos all stayed saturday night with us. adam's parents joined us for lunch on Sunday after church.
adam and my dad losing their dignity

miles loves having extra laps in which to cuddle

art lessons with b-ma while the boys nap (always a treat for mar!)

story-time with grandma (from earlier in the week when we went on a DATE!)

miles sporting his rei performance-wear (handed down from graham of course)...you know it kind of wicks the spit-up

char was just there for a bit

slightly bigger than mr potato head to whom those spectacles belong

sometimes my just a little introverted child practices "self-imposed time-out"

kid-table



we played at the site of my sister's wedding come july...so fun
adam brought a net and helped the kids catch tadpoles in the creek...you have never heard/seen so many bullfrogs and tadpoles!

these girls aren't squeamish at all!


my brother and his adorable-soon-to-be middle child

got to love cousins

can't handle the cuteness

one of those weeks

in addition to the never-ending rain (which i know replenishes the earth and besides we have had SO much beautiful weather, there should be no complaining...)
it has been one of these weeks:


poor marit has been down with a stomach bug since sunday evening. everyone is sleeping simultaneously (seriously a rare miracle!) so i thought i would update this thing-a-ma-jig. so far the rest of us have avoided it, but instead have this weird congestion. could the same virus cause all that? who knows. anyway, mar has been pretty pitiful...awake and miserable and wanting to 'hold you' or just sacked out in various places around the house. i think it is the first time we have really been sick (besides runny noses) since miles was born-read:this WHOLE winter, so i guess we are due. it is a new dynamic though when you have one needy, sad, babe sitting on the potty for the gazillionth time (or puking as the case may be), the clumsy two-year old screaming because he just fell and hit his large noggin on something again, and the wee one is also crying because he wants to nurse. i have seen more of my sin in the last few days just pressed out and it is not pretty. today has been much better, not because anything has changed...marit is still sick and graham is still rambunctious. the Lord has used friends sending sweet messages and adam and His word to remind me of how "poor and needy" i am of His sustaining grace. my heart has been softened, adam and i were able to work through some potential resentments while the kids watched kipper after dinner last night. that's the other thing, we watch hardly any tv (we just watch net-flix on our computer if we want to see something), but this is the kind of week that makes me thankful for cute little shows like kipper the dog available to watch instantly on net-flix. rainy, sick weeks. end of advertisement.
note:bandaid on forehead...we have actually had some sweet time together doing simple things like tossing a ball back and forth, as he is lonely without marit to entertain him

marit fell asleep watching kipper, while graham tells me about the different animals


caught just a few minutes of outside time while the rain cleared yesterday and marit crashed on the swing

typical morning really

in which i drop nearly an entire box of cereal on the floor and always-hungry-graham tries to help clean up

5 months

i can hardly believe another month has flown by! miles is changing fast. he is such a sweet, laid back little fellow. he is getting chunkier by the day and still has no hair to speak of, but i love his peach fuzz. this week he learned to roll from back to tummy so now he can go both ways. we are thankful for what a great little sleeper he is at night. naps are getting better. i still haven't put him in the nursery at church yet, mostly because he loves the ergo so much that i don't mind him being with me. and i never even tried a bottle with him...there isn't time for pumping and all that jazz. miles is a gift of grace to us and we are so thankful! nearly every time i hold and snuggle him i wonder at the privilege it is to be this sweet baby's mama.
marit and graham like to be as close to him as possible for much of the day

great to have neighbors

your age to talk to through the fence while brothers snooze

debatable

whether more paint gets on the paper or elsewhere (people, sink, table etc), but a little creative time is worth the mess. at least that's what i always tell myself...

we got a whole bunch of bulbs for 75% off in december and got them in the ground just before the first freeze. now the kids are enjoying them popping up all over the yard...especially the pink tulips!

perhaps it is time

to wash some clothes?




load #1 is now in the washer...

need a cute table decoration?

...try a baby






thanks for letting us borrow the bumbo nicole!

confession

as we wrestle through some looming decisions, yesterday's confession was a bit painful, but oh so timely. i'm putting it here, so i can come back and repeat many times in the future.

Heavenly Father, loving King, You asked for my hands, that you might use them for your purpose. I gave them for a moment, then withdrew them, for the work was hard. You asked for my mouth to speak against injustice. I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused. You asked for my eyes to see the pain of poverty. I closed them, for I did not want to see. You asked for my life, that you might work through me. I gave a small part, that I might not get too involved. Lord, forgive my calculated efforts to serve you-only when it is convenient for me to do so, only in those places where it is safe to do so, and only with those who make it easy to do so. Father, forgive me, renew me, send me out as a usable instrument, that I might take seriously the meaning of your cross. Amen.

so i don't forget

just popping into the blog for a minute today to post some recent pictures so i don't forget all the antics of my dear little people. adam has been on a more "normal" schedule with less call (except the weekends still kind of stink) this month and the weather has been gorgeous so more time with adam and outside=less time for blogging and the internet in general. we are thankful.

i've been thinking and reading some about the whole rob bell thing. i am no theologian and my blog is not a place for intense controversial discussions, but i would say that the whole thing makes me sad and i look forward to hearing what people have to say after the book comes out.

a peak into rest-time today. marit never naps anymore (unless she is sick or something) and she struggles to rest for an hour or so. she has a hard time stopping our all-day-long conversation to rest quietly...lots of room for improvement here.

room for two

i can't believe he is big enough for this already!

graham still loves his afternoon nap. i was about to wake him up so i snapped a picture of his still, sweet adorableness. we are slowly working through some night-time/reeeeeaaaly early morning sleep issues for this two year old.

teddy bear or dog? don't be fooled by his snuggliness. pax did recently fend off two stray pit-bulls (no offense if you have one...i'm just wary of the stray ones) that came running after me on a recent run.

par for the course in group shots of these three

sweet boys!

lots of time in underwear and galoshes during these potty-training days. graham pretty much has the hang of it now and we are so thankful to be a one-in-diapers family again.

grandma and miles

melt me sweetness. he is such a pleasant little guy!