Language Begins...

Shelly's first two words. Take a guess. Daddy and Mommy? No. Lots of babies start with the word no. Shelly? No. How about bottle? No.

Owie. Whenever she's unhappy, she cries OWIE in the most pitiful little voice you've ever heard.

And her other word?

Yeah. Whenever she's happy, whenever you say something she likes, YEAH YEAH! Do you want a bottle Shelly? YEAH YEAH YEAH!

Go figure! Yeah!

Shelly's First Birthday

First Girlfriend.... First Breakup

Today Archer brought home his girlfriend for me to meet. I'm not sure if I can call her his FIRST girlfriend, since he's been telling me I'm his girlfriend for a few weeks now. I guess he moved on from me because his new girlfriend is cute, wears a green dress and scatters pixie dust wherever she goes. Her name is Tinker Bell. Archer calls her Tinker for short. She's a helium filled balloon that stands as tall as Archer and he's been walking around the house holding her hand ever since he brought her home. He came to me and said, "This is my date. Table for two please!"

Unfortunatley, about an hour ago I witnessed my son's first breakup. He told her they were breaking up. And then he fell asleep for a nap. He must have forgotten their conversation, and she must be very forgiving, becuase they're dating again now.

Ahh... young love!

Lord, I'm looking forward

Lord, Thank You
For each heart beat in his chest
That keeps the life flowing through his veins.
For each breath inhaled
That lets her chest rise and fall with life continued.

Lord, Thank You
For each night I sleep next to her
And for each morning I wake up to hear his sleeping voice
Sighing with contentment.

Lord, Thank You
For the husband that provides and loves and supports
And the children that bring sunshine, even in the middle of the night.

Lord, I do not understand
The gift you give that takes away as well
The life that brings joy
But ends with deepest grief.

Lord, I trust you but still don't understand.
Lord, I have faith by choice and not emotion.
Lord, I look forward to the day when life's limitations will be overcome
And you will wipe away our tears
And you will reunite us with the ones that we've been longing to see
And you will give us peace and joy and we will know your everlasting love without doubt.

Lord, this life we're in offers so many limitations
And I look toward the day when you will take those from us,
Let us see your fullest glory
And let us know the full power of your love.

Happy New Year!

I've been a little behind on writing lately. Shelly's been sick. What we thought was a 24 hour bug has lasted for four days now, and I'm not sure when she's going to come out of it. Puke and diharrea. Yuck. This morning at 6:00 I woke up to a strange smell and realized there was a large pool of puke right next to my face.

Another parenting revelation - when one kid is sick and requires a lot of extra attention, the other kid gets extra naughty, because he isn't getting as much attention as his sister and starts looking for ways to be the center again. The parent's only hope of surviving the illness is to hope that the sick kid sleeps a lot so there's time for the other one to get one-on-one attention. I thought that since we already had one, Shelly would be easy to figure out as she went through her growing stages, but I was wrong. The added dimension of the interaction between the two still keeps me on my toes.

Health Food

"Health food makes me sick." Today's quote. At work I recently had a conversation with some people about addiction to fast food. And also how much easier and cheaper it is to eat junk food. Food that's good for you is just so expensive... and requires so much extra planning and work. No wonder we're a "Fast Food Nation." Its a constant fight to keep my kids eating healthy. I just hope that we win more battles than we loose, because even though we should be the healtiest country in the world (we're educated, we have money, we have government programs for those that don't have enough money to feed their kids), I wouldn't be surprised to learn that our kids will have shorter lives than we do, because of all the junk they're eating. Even if we mean well, its still so hard to feed them right.

Funny Stuff

Completely unrelated to the kids, but I really enjoyed this... (I do like Christmas decorations, when well-done, but these homes are a little OVER done!) I especially like the manger scene at the North Pole, and the snow globe that's bigger than the house, and Babe the Ox without a head, and well... there's lots of funnies!

http://tackychristmasyards.com/

PS - A Confession

To keep the kids occupied long enough to transcribe Archer's conversations, I gave them each some popcorn. My confession is - when stuff gets dropped on the floor I don't bother trying to pick it up or sweep, I brush it under the edge of the cupboards with my foot and plan on getting to it later. There's a little pile of popcorn next to my feet right now... How things change when the kids come along!

I'd better sweep now because Shelly just found the little pile...

Conversations between Archer and Mom

You know what Mom?
What
I think you will make me chocolate milk. Or a malt.
Oh really?
Yeah.
***********************
Mom, come on. MOM!
Yes, Archer
I said follow me! I'm the leader.
Leaders lead by inspiration, not by demand.
PLEEEEEAAAASE
Ok, that's inspiration enough for me (a three year old saying please, who knew that would be what would inspire me!)
************************
Mom, see my glove and see my cane? (He was carrying around a stick)
Yes Archer, very nice
Do they make me look fat?

(Where in the world does he get this stuff? Wait - don't answer that, we all know the answer. Even the Disney channel isn't safe.)

I just like to be loud!!!

But Mom, I got tell you supping (something) (stalling for time when I tell him to do soemthing)

But I have no one! I need someone in here with me. (every time we leave the room that he's in)

We don't have one of those. We need one of those. (in reference to EVERY SINGLE TOY he sees in the store or on tv)