We celebrated Mother’s Day this year with my mom and both my grandmas. What a treat it was to be all together on that day! Since there were three people there that went by the name of "grandma", you can imagine it got kind of confusing sometimes! :) Some of the highlights of the time included Bethany showing off her new walking skill, great-grandma Stevens telling about the day my dad was born, and getting a multi-generational picture taken. We missed my only living great-grandma in the photo shoot, as she lives too far away to be able to come. The day was very special, and I will treasure the memories!
Last week Bethany made the transition from sleeping in our room at night, to sharing a room with Michael. Some dear friends of ours gave us their old crib, so now we have a total of three cribs--two large ones, and one cradle-crib that is the size of a porta crib. Michael is still sleeping in a crib, and we are planning on keeping him in there as long as he can’t climb out! It is nice to know that after you put him in his bed, he stays in there until you get him out in the morning. When he starts climbing out by himself, we will convert his crib to a toddler bed. In the mean time, the room looks like a little nursery with Michael and Bethy’s two cribs in there! The other little crib we have stays in our room, and we’re planning on using it for our new baby. The first night that we put Bethany to bed in her new crib, we were expecting a hectic night, as we figured that she and Michael would be keeping each other awake. To our surprise, they both slept the whole night without a peep, and entertained each other from their cribs the next morning until we got them out! Bethany still takes her naps in the small crib in our room, but we are going to make that transition slower. Right now, we are just happy that the nighttime routine is working so well!
Yesterday, Tom and I were laughing about what a strange and funny couple we are in some ways. When we were still getting to know each other (before we got engaged), the subject of flowers and trees was quite embarrassing to me, because Tom knew so much more about them than I did! He did more gardening than I did when we were single, and knew the names of all sorts of different flowers. At that time, I only knew the names of the most basic flowers--roses, daisies, geraniums, impatiens etc. I was frustrated that I didn’t know more--after all, I am a girl--shouldn’t I know these things?! Though he never made me feel stupid, I was annoyed at my ignorance! Since being married, we’ve realized what I was learning all the years when I "should have" been learning the names of flowers. I was learning...bug names. Yes, you read that right. What can I say--I grew up with a whole bunch of boys! The other day I found myself identifying a spider that Tom had never heard of before, and just yesterday I was telling him the name of a certain type of caterpillar that was eating our flowers, and he asked, "what’s that"? We got quite a chuckle out of this last night! I guess we compliment each other in this way--even if it is kind of "backwards" from the norm! :)
My darling sister Becca is staying with us for a couple of days, and is rescuing me from drowning in all the projects I have to do! She either does the projects herself, or she cares for the children while I do them. What a relief! I can breathe again! What would I do without her and my sis Rachel?! I’m sure they’ll be taking turns coming more and more often now that I am getting a heavier and heavier bulge out in front. :) Somehow, this last trimester is always particularly exhausting for me! I am so grateful for my sweet sisters, and for my family who loans them to us, and then takes up the slack! :)
A very happy birthday to my little brother Philip, who has reached that two-digit number today! :)
Below are several photos from Mother's Day, plus one of Bethy in her new bed.
Becoming a mother has caused me to learn a lot of things. I never realized before how many things my mom did for me that I never even thought about or knew about. Can anyone truly understand how much mischief a two-year-old gets into, unless they have a two-year-old themselves? Being a mother requires a tremendous amount of patience, perseverance, love, and a sense of humor!!!
I needed an extra dose of the above qualities today, as Michael was in a very mischievous mood. This morning as I was busy with projects, I would frequently stop and check on Michael, as he seemed bent on getting into trouble. I was on one side of the room with my back turned, and he was on the other, so it was easy to be aware of what he was up to (or so you would think). About 1 minute after rescuing him from trouble for the 20th time that morning, I turned to check on him again, and saw he was at the desk, holding a pen in his hand. That is a no-no, so I went to get it from him. I looked down at his "artwork", and sucked in my breath with horror. He had just completed scribbling on two uncashed checks that we had received for over $200 each!! The next part of the morning was spent writing apology letters, and enclosing the scribbled checks. I am still mortified about it, though I have recovered enough to get a little chuckle. Now I’m just hoping that the people who receive my letters will understand and have a sense of humor!
In my single years, one of my favorite activities was playing the piano. I went through streaks where I could barely stay away from it--I could play for hours. I never got very good, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Since getting married and having children, playing the piano has definitely slid way down on my priority list, and I’m afraid I have gotten rusty at it. When I do play, it is usually to accompany Tom as he plays his cello or violin. It is much more challenging to play the piano now, as Michael and Bethany often want to play, too, and are on either side of me banging on it energetically. Not only does this really restrict my arm movement, but the sounds that come forth are...err...not particularly soothing. Sometimes, I also find a child practically sitting on one of my feet and trying to operate the petals down below. At other times, when one of us is playing an instrument, Michael runs around the room in a big circle. The bouncier the music, the faster he tries to run, and the more excited he gets! He certainly gets a workout! The other day I was practicing without Tom (something that happens once every couple of months!), and I was keeping both the children entertained with the music. Bethany was bouncing, and Michael was running around the room in a dizzying fashion. I was relieved to not have them banging on the piano with me, so I tried to play the songs very energetically and about twice as fast as they’re supposed to go in order to keep the little ones busy with their bouncing/running. I’m afraid that doesn’t always make for a very melodious noise (especially if the fast pace causes me to mess up frequently), and I was feeling particularly grateful that we don’t live in an apartment anymore where the neighbors can hear us. At least it is a joyful noise! :)
Bethany has been really working on walking recently, and has taken many steps. Just today she turned 13 months old, and has celebrated that milestone by spending the day walking way more than crawling. It is so fun to watch! I guess our baby has turned into a "big girl"! Now if her hair would only grow long enough for me to put a bow in it. :)
I have been thinking recently about what a wonderful thing it is to be able to rest in God’s plan. When difficult things happen that are out of my control, my fleshly temptation is to ask, "why me?" and resent the difficulty. As a Christian, though, I don’t have to fall into depression and bitterness. Instead, I can choose to rest in the Lord, and take joy in the fact that His plan is so much bigger and better than mine! I may never understand all the "why’s" in life, but I don’t need to. When I do accept God’s plan and trust Him, I am filled with so much peace. I was commenting to Tom yesterday about how miserable life would be without knowing the Lord! There is joy in serving Jesus!
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." ~Isaiah 26:3
Last night we got back from a fun, two-day vacation. Michael and Bethy had a blast at Papa and Grandma Stevens' house, while Tom and I went on our annual anniversary trip--or "honeymoon", as we call it (since it has never been on our real anniversary yet!). :) We stayed in "The Strawberry Creek Inn"--a cute little bed and breakfast in the mountains. It was very refreshing for both of us! On Monday we mainly just hung around the inn, with the exception of going out for a very romantic candlelight dinner. On Tuesday we spent more time outdoors. I think one of Tom's favorite parts was a large hammock the inn provided. :) We enjoyed a pretty hike in the mountains around lunch time, and ate a picnic lunch. We had a wonderful time, and Tom says he thinks this year's trip was the best yet! We're already talking about where we are going to go next year. :)
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To celebrate Tom’s birthday last Saturday, we dropped the little ones off at his parents’ house and spent the afternoon together. After lunch, we went on a long walk in a beautiful botanical garden. The last time we were there was before we were engaged, about four years ago (wow--a lot has changed in four years!). I had forgotten how lovely this place is! We definitely don’t want to wait four more years before we go again. I just couldn’t take enough pictures of the flower gardens, which amused Tom.
After our fun walk, we went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant that Tom chose--P.F.Changs. The first time we went to this restaurant was shortly after we were married, and we went out of state on a business trip. I was pregnant with Michael at the time, and extremely sick with morning sickness. I was craving Chinese food so badly that I could barely sleep at night. We went to this restaurant during this trip to satisfy my craving, and I guess we’ve been hooked ever since. It’s funny to me that Tom likes it now, though, because he didn’t used to! The first time we went was just to please me, and now he ends up choosing it for his birthday dinner! :)
On Sunday we celebrated Tom’s birthday with his parents, which was fun. Since then, we’ve pretty much had a quiet week. That is a good thing, because I’ve been feeling more and more pregnant recently, and have been in a "hermit mode". Having completely normal days at home can just be wonderful sometimes!!
This morning my breakfast antics to cheer up my impatient children were not working, and they were being exceptionally crabby (probably because they both had full diapers, which I learned later!). We had already tried a balloon, a pair of kitchen tongs, a lemon, a very primitive form of juggling, a balancing act, and lusty singing...what next? Sunglasses maybe? I hadn’t worn my sunglasses in a very long time, and I knew the kids wouldn’t remember them. I went and put them on, and came back into the kitchen. Maybe now they would be amused enough to stop crying so that I could shovel their breakfasts into their mouths. It worked--yeah!! They stared at me, fascinated. After the excitement of that wore out, I tried to put them on Michael, but he absolutely refused to wear them. Bethany seemed to want to wear them, though, so I put them on her, and boy--was she thrilled! She could hardly stop grinning! :) It was hilarious! :)
Recently I’ve been enjoying taking the kids on walks in the morning around our nice neighborhood. They sit in the wagon facing each other, and have quite the conversations! Of course, it is all spoken in baby language, and I can’t understand a word of it most of the time. Michael usually does most of the talking, but this morning Bethany was laughing and jabbering back! It is really funny!
With all the birthdays we’ve been having recently, the phrase "Happy Birthday!" has become very popular! Michael usually says it whenever we use a lighter in the kitchen (because we used that to light the birthday candles). Bethany also enjoys saying "happy" and "birthday" now. She loves to try to sing it, too!
Early next week, Tom and I are scheduled to go on our annual "honeymoon" (as we call it), or early anniversary trip. We look forward to these trips the whole year long!
Below I have posted some pictures of Bethany with my sunglasses. A couple of days ago, I added some more pictures to the spring '07 photo gallery, too.
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