Happy Birthday, Faith!

Faith turned 4 on Friday!  Bob took the day off, which was really nice.  After he took Nathan to the Pentagon DMV to take his test for his learner's permit, he took the girls and Micah to Wegman's so that I would have uninterrupted time to frost the cake!  If you have read this blog for awhile, you may have thought that this cake looks familiar.  It does!  I used the same dog as a model for Grace's 2 year old birthday cake, back in 2009!  That dog was Grace's special stuffie that she loved and slept with.  Faith was 3 months old when I made that first cake!

Well, apparently a few months ago, Grace bequeathed the puppy to Faith.  And so when I asked Faith what she wanted for her cake, she picked the pink and white puppy, even though there is no way she could have any recollection of me having made a cake of it before!  There just must be something about that dog that screams "birthday cake"!  Grace's cake was actually cuter, but I had way less time this go-around.  I did the ears differently, which was easier, but not as cute.  Oh well! 

Faith is so happy to finally be 4 years old.  She was so funny the other day though.  She told me she felt like she was still 3 because she still sucked on her finger, LOL.  She does it less, though.  We're working on it!  Faith is a sweetheart, and we're glad to have her in our family!  And we never forgeet that she is there, because she is just SO loud, and she always is making some sort of noise!  I usd to worry about having 3 girls--would one always be left out, especially since Anna and Grace are so close in age?  Not to worry!  Faith's personality does not lend itself to being left out, and that has definitely not been a problem!  The Lord knew exactly who to put in our family!

Curly Girl Faith

"There was a little girl,

Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,

She was very good indeed,

But when she was bad she was horrid."

 

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

 

 

Another Birthday Season Kicks Off!

Of the 10 people in our immediate family, 9 of us have birthdays from February through June (and then Caleb gets all the hype and attention when he has his birthday in November). So yesterday we started our time of birthdays with my birthday! Since it fell on a Tuesday, we spent the day at Rivendell, where there was a lovely party for 3 of us celebrating birthdays this week--Monday for Emily H., yesterday for me, and today for Faith. Quite a special week!
Our party had balloons for each of us, and not one, not two, but 3 different cakes! I made a castle cake exactly like this one I made for Grace's 3 year birthday for Faith. I wasn't as careful this time, because I was making it at 10:00 PM Monday night, LOL, but it was fine. Then Emily's sister Amanda made a yummy big frosts chocolate chip cookie, and Christine made a delicious flourless chocolate cake! So for someone who doesn't even really like regular cake, I had wonderful options!

The weather was absolutely beautiful yesterday, so we were able to eat the cake outside, which I'm sure saved a ton of wear and tear on the church's vacuum. I love it when the weather is nice on Tuesdays and the kids can really run around outside. We had a very special treat in that my other friend Christine and her 2 daughters were able to come by for the party! Look at these 6 beautiful little girls! So fun!

After we got home, the kids ate leftovers, and Bob and I went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. We split my favorite, a Chinese chicken salad, and then we split a piece of Hershey's chocolate cheesecake. It was so good, although I would have to say my favorite is the chocolate mousse cheesecake. Still, no bad options there!

I got some fantastic gifts too! My brother and sister-in-law sent me a book off my Amazon wish list that I've been dying to read ever since my friend Johanna recommended it--Amelia Earhart's Daughters. I also got a Baby Blues book and a CD called Hymnworks, which features hymns, played on a piano, interwoven with classical music pieces. It is absolutely beautiful. I have it as a cassette tape from way back, but there is never a tape player around to play it anymore, you know?! I've already listened to it, and it is so relaxing and enjoyable. I highly recommend it!

Faith's birthday is today--hard to believe she is already 3 years old! I barely made it to the hospital to have her, and she continues to grab life by the horns--she's not afraid of much, except for anything that lives and breathes and is not a human, LOL. She is not an animal lover! her favorite things are her "bear blanket" and her Cedarmont Kids DVDs. She adores those and will watch them as many times as I will let her. And if she's not listening, then she will sing the songs--loudly, and over and over. It is really sweet to hear old Sunday school songs being sung again, like "Climb, Climb Up Sonshine Mountain", and "Do, Lord". She's a lot of fun!

Here she is with the shiny pink "princess" balloon she got yesterday. She loves the balloon and drags it around everywhere, but when I tried to take a picture of her with it, she got all shy and uncooperative. So you'll just have to take my word about how happy she usually is! I guess she only cooperates with the dentist!

Cavity Filled!

You may recall that back in September we discovered that Faith had a cavity. Well, this morning was her big day to get that taken care of. I was nervous, but she was excited to go back to the dentist, so she went back with the nice hygenist with no problems.

I productively used my waiting time to calculate grades for the physical science class, as well as keep an ear on the DVD playing on the screen in the waiting room--"Diary of a Wimpy Kid". I thought it was annoying as could be, and I was delighted when it was finally over. If that is really how schools are these days, then that would be the strongest argument ever for homeschooling. How miserable! And don't get me started on the teen brother. Gah. Not a movie we'll ever be watching here, that's for sure.

It wasn't actually too long, maybe 30 minutes, before the hygenist appeared, carrying Faith. "Can we keep her? She was AMAZING?!" is what she said, which was a huge relief to me! She again said how cooperative Faith was, sitting there with her mouth open, not moving at all. So funny, since "cooperative" is really not the first word that comes to mind when I think of Faith, LOL. When I went back to pay, the dentist herself came out to tell me that in her 10 years of practicing, she had never had a 2 year old act as well as Faith. "Best 2 year old EVER!" were her exact words. Yay, Faith! So now the cavity is gone, and hopefully no more will appear.

Since Faith did so well, she got to pick out a "special" prize, out of a different box. She came out with this big stuffed elephant, which she has carried around the rest of the day and is sleeping with tonight.

She also came out with that slightly glassy-eyed look, along with the open mouth, LOL. She was not sure what to make up that numb lip feeling! When we got home, she watched a video on the couch while everyone else was eating lunch. But when that was over, she came over and asked me to make her a burrito (we were eating leftover taco stuff), of which she ate all. I thought she'd be really tired, but she ended up not even taking a nap! I guess the laughing gas didn't affect her too much! We had ice cream after dinner to celebrate her being such a big girl, and now she's sound asleep. Whew--I am glad that is over!

Tooth Troubles

Not from Micah, for a change, though! Anna and Faith had dentist appointments Monday morning. Anna had a small cavity on one of her molars where she went for her cleaning a few weeks ago, so she was getting that filled. Faith had never had a dental cleaning. To be perfectly honest, I don't usually start taking my kids until they are at least 3, if not 4. (Bad mom! And I actually have gotten better about this--Nathan and Luke were the latest to go for the first time!) But Faith has been eagerly awaiting her first visit, since Anna and Grace love the dentist and are always talking about how they can't wait to go back again. So I decided to make an appointment for her while Anna was getting her cavity filled.

Faith did really great! Anna was called back first, and when the lady came for Faith, she walked back there like a big girl, holding the lady's hand! I brought all those leaves to cut out, so I worked on those out in the waiting room while I waited. When the lady brought Faith back out, she was singing her praises about how she was so obedient and quiet (?!?). I was glad to see that Faith has this other side, LOL. But anyhow, the hygenist said the dentist needed to see me, so I went on back. It turns out Faith has a cavity between her 2 front teeth. Ack! You know, the boys have never had a cavity, none of them, and now Anna and Faith have each had one?! Hmmm. Ironically, Grace didn't have a cavity in her check-up, so she was entered into the "No Cavity Club" drawing, along with the names of al the boys--and she won! She won a ticket to a movie. Ha! I guess we'll just drop her off someday so she can use it. Kidding! Not sure what exactly we'll do with one ticket though. I guess Bob and I could go on a date and just buy one ticket, but I think the last time I actually sat in a movie theater was when "Jonah:A VeggieTales Movie" came out. I think I was chasing a toddling Caleb up and down the aisle, LOL. Meh . . . movies . . . they don't do it for me. Anyhow, I thought it was funny that Grace won.

So the dentist told me that usually they want patients under 3 to get oral sedation for fillings. That costs a TON, if you can imagine--like $300 extra, and insurance doesn't pay for it. BUT since Faith was so amazingly quiet and cooperative (?!?), they felt like they could try the laughing gas, which is only an extra $50. None of my kids have ever had laughing gas, so I have no experience with that at all. I guess she has to keep a mask on the whole time? So now my fervent prayer is that this obedient, cooperative Faith will again be the one who shows up at the dentist's office on Oct. 20! And believe me, toothbrushing and flossing supervision for the girls has taken on a much higher priority!

I Can Finally Say . . .

. . . that Faith is potty-trained! Yay! Back down to just one in diapers!! What I can NOT say definitively, however, is that girls are easier to train that boys. And that is a very valid point--if we had stopped having kids after Anna, I would have been certain that girls were a piece of cake (if you did it right, of course--just as I did it, you know . . .). Grace was more difficult than Anna, and Faith was QUITE difficult. Now watch--Micah will be really easy, just to prove some boys are really easy to train (please, please, please, Lord!! LOL).

While we were at the beach, Faith was pretty much dry. She went in every public restroom the girls went in (our first child to not be scared at all of public potties!). Now back at our little bungalow in the evenings, she proceeded to poop in her diaper. Grrr. When we got home, she continued to be dry, but not to poop in the potty, so I left her in the diaper.

Last Saturday Bob took Jonathan, Anna, Grace, and Faith to PA, to the Idlewild amusement park. Each year the company his dad retired from has their annual company picnic at the park, and pretty much all of Bob's family tries to make it. We take up a lot of tickets, so recently Bob has been just bringing a select group of kids, which has worked really well. This particular Saturday Nathan and Luke had football weigh-ins, so it was a good time for them to stay here, and Caleb is a lot like his mother in that amusement park rides just don't do anything for him, so he chose to stay home.

I decided to put Faith in a pull-up for the day, figuring she would want to go potty like Anna and Grace, and it's a real hassle putting a dry diaper back on. I did pack a diaper and an extra set of clothes just in case! But I shouldn't have worried. She was dry the whole day, and when they got back to the hotel, she sat on the potty in the room and pooped! I find it funny that both of her big pottying breakthroughs have involved Bob taking her to PA. (She peed for the first time in the potty at WSS when Bob took Caleb to camp.) Must be something about those PA potties!

So she came home Sunday, and she was accident-free this whole last week. I kept her in a pull-up until Friday, just because she seemed to prefer that, but she was in panties yesterday and did fine. And I know it really has taken because she got out of bed last night to go poop in the potty! So over a month later, Faith is finally potty-trained. Seven down, one more to go . . .

Potty-Training Update

Well, I am sure everyone has been on the edge of their collective seats this past week, wondering how Faith was progressing with her potty-training. You know, the more kids I have, the more I realize that I don't have all the answers. I was such the expert when I just had one!

So . . . Faith did not pee one bit in the potty Saturday. VERY frustrating. Sunday was the day we needed to take Caleb up to White Sulphur Springs for his Camp Caleb week. Bob was going to drive him, and he very kindly offered to take all 3 girls, along with Nathan. I said no, but Bob insisted that I needed a break. (What a man! This was our anniversary as well--what a present!!) So off he drove, with Faith in a diaper. When they got up to WSS, they were early for Caleb's check-in, so they went up to the gorgeous new hotel so everyone could go to the bathroom. After Anna and Grace went, Bob suggested letting Faith try, since her diaper was dry. Everyone thought this was terrible idea, but Bob went ahead. And what do you know?! She sat right up there and peed! Wow!

After they got home on Sunday, Faith went again a few more times on the big potty, each time wanting her diaper on afterwards, NOT panties. And that is how the past week went--Faith peed most all the time on the big potty, and she wore a diaper the whole time. She only had maybe 3 (pee) accidents all week, so at least our diaper consumption rate has fallen way down. She still has not pooped once on the potty however. Maybe that challenge will be met next week? Who knows! I have to say that I have never had a child who did well with wearing a diaper while potty-training. And most have wanted to wear the big-girl panties! I'm not sure when to make wearing them an issue. Right now I'm just concentrating on her staying dry, and not pooping in them!

Faith--my easiest delivery, my most challenging child!

A Brief Reprieve

When we got home from Bible study last night, it seemed like a good idea to finally move Faith into the crib in Anna and Grace's room, and let Micah sleep in the crib in Faith's old room. Everyone slept just fine, except all the girls were up at 7:00, and shortly after that, Anna threw up all over the comforter. Great! Grace threw up a little later, but I'm not sure that wasn't a sympathy vomit. Grace has a "suggestible" stomach, just like her sensitive older brother Nathan, LOL.

Anyhow, in all the excitement, Faith peed in her diaper. Eventually we all got downstairs, Nathan and Bob went off to launch a rocket with CAP, Anna threw up again, and Faith sat on the potty for awhile. While I was on the phone, she started making weird noises and swallowing funny. I knew what that meant and shoved her head into the trash can, where she promptly threw up. We sat on the couch for a little while, and then Anna threw up again. At that point I put Faith back in a diaper, because I didn't want to be cleaning up 2 bodily fluids today. (And I'm not even mentioning the possibility of diarrhea. Wait, I guess I just did.) You have to draw lines, LOL.

Right now everything seems calm. We'll see how things shape up after naptime for Faith. Judging by the temper tantrums, I'm thinking naptime is going to come early. We might try panties again after nap. Yesterday was actually a fairly good day. It took a lot of coaxing and pressure, but she sat on the potty a lot and peed on it a lot. She did not have any accidents, (yay!), which was impressive because we had 3 little kids over to play. So I think we are on the right track. We just don't need any stomach bugs to mess things up!

1 Step Forward, 10 Steps Back . . .

Yes, we've started potty-training Faith. We ran a ton of errands on Monday so we wouldn't have to be gone much the rest of the week. Over the course of the past few months, Faith has had opportunities to sit on the little potty, but she has only actually produced anything on very rare occasions. I knew we would have to go cold turkey, so I put her in panties Tuesday morning, fully expecting lots of accidents. Good thing I was expecting them, since she had several big ones that morning, LOL. She'd sit on the potty for awhile, get up and walk away, and promptly pee a huge puddle all over the floor. Sigh. And since we were all drinking apple juice (pushing those fluids for lots of peeing opportunities), 2 cups also got spilled all over the floor. I spent a lot of time on my hands and knees, mopping up messes of one sort or another. Faith did not produce one drop of pee on the actual potty. She also pooped in her panties. Grrr.

After lunch Tuesday, Faith got it in her head that she would like a piece of gum. Ha! I told her she could have a piece of gum when she peed on the potty. I called everyone else in the kitchen and asked them if they had peed on the floor that day (the answer was unanimously "No", you'll be relieved to know). So I ceremoniously passed out gum to everyone except Faith, who had a rip-roaring temper tantrum while I ignored her. Eventually Faith settled down, went over to her potty, sat on it, and *voila* peed in it. Yay! The rest of Tuesday went by very well, with no accidents. I was cautiously optimistic.

Yesterday went well also. She peed on the potty the whole day, with no accidents (no poops either, but hey--none in the panties is good). Bob came home from a business trip, and he was enthusiastically positive about her pottying success!

Today, however, we took all those steps backwards. Good thing I was only cautiously optimistic, LOL. She had accidents all day long, starting with a huge one in the laundry room while getting oatmeal. Nothing like cleaning your laundry room before even eating breakfast to start the day out right! By 1:30, she had 4 accidents, plus one poop in her panties, and I was tired of it all. I put her down for a nap, even though that is very early for her, and she slept until 5:00, which was lovely. When she woke up, I told her she could go outside if she peed, and she sat down on the potty and peed like a champ. She went again in the potty later, although then she went outside, ran around for a bit, and promptly pooped again in her panties. Sigh. Baby steps . . . I'm still waiting on the child who just trains himself. I'm not holding out high hopes for Micah, either, LOL. Bob took me out tonight, and we split a piece of cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory. It was so nice to get away!!

Tomorrow's another day. Have I mentioned how much I dislike potty-training?!? More cheesecake may be in order!

Faith's Well-Baby Appointment

So I just posted on Wednesday that I didn't have any more appointments scheduled until my OB one the last week of March! But yesterday morning I was thinking about how I had never scheduled Faith's 2-year well-baby appointment, and how it would be so much better to get that out of the way before the baby comes. So I called the appointment line, and miraculously they had a well-baby appointment open for 1:00 today! I took it, and Faith and I got to spend some "Mommy/daughter time" at Bethesda this afternoon!

We had the absolute nicest doctor. Actually, he was a third year (resident? intern? Can't remember which, and I get them all confused), so there was another doctor in there for part of the time, but eventually she went off and did her own thing. This guy was also the 7th of 8 children! How cool! His family's pattern was "3 boys, 1 girl, 3 boys, 1 girl". Anyhow, he and his wife have a 2 year old, and his wife is 8 months pregnant as well. She is thinking she wants to homeschool, so we had some talk about how that worked for us, how the older ones help, etc. You know how sometimes you can just tell that a person is in line with your choices and doesn't think anything you do is weird?! That's how this was, and it was such a pleasant appointment!

And Faith is perfectly healthy. She is 25.6 pounds, which puts her about in the 30th percentile--pretty chunky for one of our babies, LOL. I think she is going to pass Grace up! She was smiley and happy, but she was not very cooperative, as far as saying anything or pointing to anything, like her nose, when asked, even though she definitely knows that! Oh well--she wasn't going to put on a show, LOL.

Then we went to get shots. She only needed the second hepatitis A one, and we went ahead and got a flu shot for her. Now I need to remember to take her back after 30 days for the second one. Apparently 2 years ago we got one flu shot for her, but not the second one, and you have to have 2 the first time. Then, whenever you get another flu shot, you only need one. We rarely get flu shots, but I figure this way she'll be set. It's not like I won't be in several times getting shots with the new baby, so she will just tag along! Anyhow, she was a real trooper while getting the shots. I wished I had brought certain other family members *ahem* to see a demonstration of an appropriate amount of crying (about 20 seconds, LOL). By the time she got to pick out a sticker, and I gave her a lollipop, she was way done with the tears. So nice!

So Faith is healthy, and I still don't have any appointments lined up for next week! But things could always change . . . I'm sure there are plenty of other things that I need to get done, and maybe something else will jog my memory!

Bad Mom Award

Yesterday was a busy day! Caleb and I made what is hopefully our last trip to the commissary before the baby comes. Now Caleb has actually come down with the cold I have, so we were a snuffly bunch, and we brought a ton of kleenexes in with us!

Actually, our main challenge came when we drove up to Ft. Myer and realized that the gate we usually enter was "closed for repair". That did seem like a good plan, since the gate was a pile of rubble, but nonetheless, it was a total surprise to us! That particular gate had been completely remade not long after we moved here, so maybe 5 or 6 years ago. I never dreamed it would be redone again so quickly. Since it had been closed awhile back, I knew there were other gates, but I was stuck in the van with no map, no GPS, and no real memory of how to get to these other gates. And the problem with being down in Arlington is that you pick the wrong road and suddenly you are headed somewhere you really don't want to go with no possibility of recovering, so I was quite hesitant about trying to wander around and find the gate on my own. I told Caleb we'd try one thing, since I had vague memories of a gate being off of Rt. 50. Indeed, there was a gate there, and it only took a few missed exits (and lots of prayer, and a phone call to Elizabeth L.) to get to it, LOL. It's technically off of Clarendon Rd., just for my future reference . . .

So eventually we got there and got all our stuff. This was indeed a big trip--almost $900--and we are hopefully set to eat for awhile, as well as have this baby! I got a ton of newborn and even some size 1 diapers.

We arrived home around 2:30, and we started unloading. Finally all the stuff was out of the minivan (although not stowed away), and I was working in the garage to put away to freezer and extra fridge stuff. I heard Faith fussing away by the van. She was upset because I had closed all the doors, and she wanted to go back in there. I left her there and went back into the garage. Finally I finished up and collapsed on the couch for a few minutes before our afternoon Latin class. Luke and some of the other kids were playing outside, but eventually they came in and Luke shut the garage door. (Do you see where this is going . . . ?)

After resting about 15 minutes, it dawned on me that I should put Faith down for a nap . . . she had been getting crabby, so why wasn't I hearing her anywhere? I asked where she was, and no one knew, so we all leaped up and started looking. I went out the front door and some of the boys went out the garage just as the McC's were pulling up for Latin. Fortunately, Caleb happened to glance in the minivan window. There was Faith, who obviously did manage to open the door for herself at some point, sound asleep in her carseat. She had even buckled herself in! Whew! I think I lost 10 years off my life in those few minutes! She ended up napping for a good while during Latin class, while I sent boys out to check on her every few minutes.

I was already a candidate for the Bad Mom award earlier this week, as I left Grace's little Beanie Baby puppy, the one I used as a model for her 2 year birthday cake, in Philadelphia. Ooooooops! Thankfully it was found and is supposed to be on its way back to us. We've been praying every night for safe travels for Grace's doggie, LOL. She has actually been remarkably philosophical about the whole thing. Luke was generous to let her have his old Beanie Baby elephant that he used to sleep with, and that has helped.

So I have definitely not been on top of things this week! Less then 5 weeks to go . . . but unfortunately, as others have so rightly observed, those brain cells that turn to mush during pregnancy never really return!

Faith is 2!!

Wow, I can't believe Faith turned 2 today! It seems like just yesterday that we were speeding to Bethesda, not sure we were going to make it in time!

She's getting to be such a big girl--she definitely thinks she is, anyway, LOL. She is talking a lot more, and she is really playing with Anna and Grace now. She has become quite enamoured with one particular baby doll, so she has started even sleeping with this babydoll. She does not want to be left out of anything--she wants to be in the middle of all the action! Her big brothers take such good care of her, and she definitely adores them! The picture above is of her in the ballerina leotard that I used as a model for her cake.

We had our big co-op day today, and then Bob and Nathan went to Civil Air Patrol this evening, so we decided to celebrate her birthday tomorrow night, with presents and ice cream. Faith is enjoying being the birthday girl, so I am sure she wouldn't complain about extending the whole celebration one more day, if she even understood time, LOL.

Happy Birthday!!

Friday night we brought a birthday cake to Bible study to celebrate my birthday (Feb. 7) and Faith's birthday (Feb. 8).
Although you can't really tell here, Faith was actually very excited about being sung to! She did not, however, know what to do with the candles. Luke had to come over and help her blow them out.

The cake was modeled after a little pink leotard she has that she loves to dress up in.

It was not my finest work. I forgot to texture the "sleeves" to make them look more like the skirt (because they are tulle, like the skirt), and I also didn't proportion it right. The bodice should definitely be skinnier. Oh well. It's all gone now!

The Leaves Are Changing . . .

. . . the bruises are fading . . .
(One day after the 3 hour test)

(This afternoon, five days later--and no, I don't know the results yet, LOL)

. . . Ah, it must be fall.

I think football ended not a moment too soon. We bundled up for Nathan's playoff game on Saturday. Isn't Luke's reflective jacket nice?! He won't get hit by a car playing in the snow, if we get any snow, that is. Nathan's team lost, and I was sad for them . . . but happy to have our evenings and Saturdays back!

Sunday we had our annual time of fun at Chuck E. Cheese with our Friday night Bible study group. The kids all had a blast! I enjoyed the fact that they could all run around without me, while I sat and visited. Next year I'll be dealing with a 6 month old again . . .

When people ask me about what we do for Halloween, I like to point out that our kids dress up all the time! That's nothing special! Going to Chuck E. Cheese, however, is a once-a-year thing, and they REALLY look forward to that, LOL. I did have to run to Walmart Monday, so I did pick up some half-price Halloween candy. We discovered over the weekend that Caleb likes Twix bars, when a neighbor girl down the street gave him one. The first chocolate thing he has liked! So I bought a bag of those, and I'll put one in their lunches for co-op day for the next little while.

And in the spirit of dressing up . . .

. . . here is Grace, as a lovely ballerina, although I think her leotard is actually on backwards. This is another one from Bob's sister Rose and her 2 girls. I tell you, Anna and Grace have LOVED the stuff they have passed on to us!

And lastly, here is a picture of Faith, fresh from a nap. She is eating a Tootsie Roll that Luke bought for her out of his Chuck E. Cheese winnings. (He got 301 tickets, and everyone else combined got 318 tickets, LOL. Of course, Jonathan drove the average down, as he seems to have spent all his allotted tokens on things that take pictures. He has 13 pictures from Sunday night! Ah well, the prizes you can buy are nothing to get excited about, so whatever makes him happy!)

Happy Fall!

Faith

Faith had a well-baby appointment this morning, and she is indeed still a well baby. She now weighs 21 pounds, 7 ounces, putting her over the 10th percentile, so she is a real chunk, as least as far as our babies go! Everything else seems all on track as well. Faith was full of righteous indignation at the 3 shots she received, and she started crying again every time she looked down and saw the bandaids, LOL. On the way to Bethesda, Nathan and I had been discussing the military medical school there, USUHS, so it was very timely that we had a resident do the exam, as well as the regular doctor. We asked some questions about the committment (7 years not counting any service academy committment). It seems like a great deal! Both doctors were very nice.

Faith also has quite curly hair, not that you can really see it in the picture. It's all around the bottom of her head, the only place where her hair is "long". She is also the first of my children where I really can't say whether she is right or left handed by this age. She is at the least, very ambidextrous. Jonathan and I are lobbying for the left hand and are secretly tying her right hand behind her back . . . just kidding! It does seem funny to me that I, a strongly left-handed and curly-haired person, would only have, out of 7 kids, one child who is left-handed, and who might have sort of curly hair if I ever let it get anything approaching long (never!). So maybe Faith will come over to the "sinister" side with us . . . or maybe not.

Happy Birthday, Nathan!

Yesterday was a very momentous day in our family. Not only did Bob retire from active duty, our oldest son Nathan turned 13! Nathan was very gracious to share his special day with Bob! This in turn made his birthday more special, since Uncle Paul and Brandon were here for dinner and ice cream! (We had his cake last Friday--the Penguins jersey.) Nathan really wants ribs for his birthday dinner, but that just wasn't feasible with us being out all afternoon for the retirement ceremony. So we're having the ribs tomorrow night. We're the champs at stretching out birthday celebrations!

Our present, as well as that from Grandma and Grandpa B., is a season of football, along with cleats, mouthguard, and several sessions of conditioning he's been doing with a group Sunday evenings. That all doesn't come cheap, you know, LOL. Nathan was very happy with this, since it is what he really, really, wanted to do this year, his last year to be eligible to play for the county league. My parents gave him books by Alex and Brett Harris--Do Hard Things, and the companion book, Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are. These are books written by 2 teenagers, challenging our cultural norm that teenagehood is a time to coast by, with very low expectations. They encouarge teens to do 5 kinds of hard things:

1. Things that are outside your comfort zone.

2. Things that go beyond what is expected or required.

3. Things that are too big to accomplish alone.

4. Things that don't earn an immediate payoff.

5. Things that challenge the cultural norm.

I am looking forward to how the Lord will use Nathan, and I hope these books will help him think through his next few years. I'm also looking forward to reading them myself! You're never too old to do hard things for the glory of the Lord!

Here is a bonus picture of Faith. She is also enjoying Nathan's birthday ice cream. She had chocolate--I bet you couldn't guess! We had spaghetti for dinner, so that combined with the ice cream, led to bathtime immediately following! And since she made it through the entire day with only short naps on the way to and from Bob's work, she then went promptly to bed!

Proof in Pictures

This morning Bob took most of the kids swimming at our local rec center. Luke and I stayed home, and we tackled the garage. We made some serious progress (sorry, no "before" pictures, LOL), and we wanted to be sure to record that progress because I am sure before a day or two goes by, the garage will somehow fall out of order, and everything will be strewn about all over the floor. But for right now--look at all that floor!
In fact, if it weren't for the lovely red pole in the middle of the garage, and the fact that we have 2 doors, we could actually park a van in here! But since we can't park in the middle, we instead have a set of shelves and all Bob's tool stuff there. It's like the tool corral at Home Depot.

Speaking of the 2 garage doors, Bob came up with a brilliant use of that space awhile back. He made a plywood box with rubber on the bottom to fit in the space between the 2 garage doors. This is where the boys put all their hockey sticks (theoretically of course. In practice, they dump them on the floor wherever they happen to land, until Luke and I clean the garage . . .) Then he screwed a green kitchen trashcan (our old one before we got our lovely stainless one) to the box, and this is where their Rip Stiks go. Then in front of that is a 5 gallon Lowes bucket with a circle drilled out of the top, which is lined with a piece of a pool noodle. That is where the lacrosse sticks go, as well as the big plastic hockey sticks for Anna and Grace. Isn't that nice?

Not all of our storage is high-tech, however. We have boxes full of bike helmets, wrist and knee pads, and roller blades. And since no one can immediately find their pair, the whole box inevitably gets dumped out. Grrr. So we need a better system, but 6-7 pairs of roller blades do not take up a trivial amount of space! Clearly we need, at the very least, a bigger box!

Here is one last bonus picture. Faith is eating yogurt and demonstrating her ability to make a huge mess. You should see the garage once she's had a shot at it! She does have a lovely strawberry on her forehead. This is a result of a faceplant she did on the street during one of our nightly walks. She wanted to be out of the stroller and walking with everyone else, but she went a little fast and tripped. She still didn't want to be in the stroller though, LOL. Anna and Grace are always glad to take her place for awhile.

Pictures!

I finally took the girls to get pictures yesterday. I usually try to have pictures done of my babies before they are a year old. Well, Faith is now over 13 months old, so I figured I really had better get moving on this! I went to Portrait Innovations, and we had a VERY good experience there. I was very pleased. We used to go to Kiddie Kandids, but when I looked them up online to make an appointment, I discovered they had filed bankruptcy and gone out of business! Well, their loss was our gain, because Portrait Innovations was even better. I think Kiddie Kandids problem was that they had not gone digital. Portrait Innovations is all digital, so the photographer snapped a ton of pictures--115--with none of the "Well, you have to pick if you want this picture before we can move on, or it's lost forever". Also, the camera is a regular one that the photographer can move around, not like the old ones that hang from the ceiling. Maybe all the places are like this now--I really try to avoid portrait studios as a whole, so it's been over a year since I had pictures taken of the kids, LOL.

When I put Faith down on the backdrop thing, she immediately started crying and crawling away as fast as she could. I had flashbacks to a photo session at Pennys not long after we moved here. Jonathan was about 16 months. The very first picture the girl took was of Jonathan, and he looked like he was smiling, but actually he was gearing up to cry. Even with treats, he never smiled again, and I did not get a picture of all the boys together, which was incredibly frustrating. The girl was terrible, though. She had absolutely nothing in the way of tricks to jolly him out of his bad mood and scared-ness. This photographer was MUCH better, and he as well as another girl worked diligently to get Faith to smile. It worked! We got some really cute pictures of her.

Anna had almost the opposite problem. As soon as she was posed, she fixed this huge tight smile/grimace on her face, with her eyes all squinty, and nothing anyone could do or say made her relax it. Some of the pictures are hysterical! Nathan, Luke, Caleb, and I were totally cracking up when we were going over them after the session was over. I kept saying, "This really isn't how she smiles--although it's definitely how she looked today!" We tried to pick the best of the bunch. Oh well--it's just a phase. I remember my brother Dan going through a squinty smile phase!

So we got some good pictures, some of which I posted on Facebook. We will try to send some out soon, but I am not guaranteeing it being too soon, LOL. It was a very positive experience. I highly recommend Portrait Innovations!

They say Virginia is a southern state . . .

And it must be true, because here are two southern belles! Bob's sister Rose gave us dressup clothes from her girls back at Christmas, and Anna and Grace have LOVED them all. Grace's favorite is definitely this purple number, since she will tell you, purple is her favorite color. Anna likes any of the pink dresses. They don't usually wear the hats with them, though. That was a new touch. Sometimes they like to put on ballerina tutus (also from Rose) under these dresses, which makes a VERY big skirt. They love dressing up!

Here is a bonus picture of Faith, who is not a southern girl, but who does like being in pictures, LOL. Next year I think we'll have 3 in big pouffy dresses, though. She does like hats and shoes already!

3 Big Girls!

Faith had her 1 year well-baby appointment on Monday. Bob went into work late so I didn't have to take all the kids, which was really nice. Bethesda has actually moved things around, and now they are seeing well-baby patients on a completely different floor, in a separate area. This area had bigger rooms than the regular pediatric rooms, so we would have fit better, had we all gone!

We again saw Faith's regular doctor, which was nice. She knows us, and in fact, she told me that when she saw our name on her list of patients, she was excited to see us again! She said she tells everyone about this family with 7 kids, where the kids sit quietly in the office, taking turns giving the little ones snacks, LOL. Faith has plumped up to 18 pounds, 7 ounces, which is the 9th percentile! The doctor was happy about this, but she said usually babies lose a little bit in percentile between 9 months and a year. I said that was probably because many babies are just learning to crawl around then, so they become more active, whereas Faith has been crawling since 5 months, and walking for 6 weeks. She had her big fall off the charts back at her 6th month check-up--after she started crawling and being more active! Plus, now Faith is eating all table food and enjoying it much more than baby food. I can't remember exactly how long she was, but she was in something like the 43rd percentile for that.

The doctor started asking all these questions about how I shop for food, and whether I make a ton of food ahead of time or what. I told her how we shop at the commissary every 6 weeks, with stops at Sams, Wegmans, and local grocery stores in between for fresh produce, milk, and sale stuff. Since I had just gone to the commissary last week, I told her how Thursday afternoon I had cut up 2 round roasts in chunks for burgundy beef, cut up some meat in strips for stir-fries and put them in marinade, cooked and cut up a ton of chicken for casseroles and soups, and browned a ton of ground beef for whatever. All that meat I froze, and now it's ready for me to just pull out to put in the crockpot or to deal with in the afternoon. Having the meat all ready to go really cuts down on meal prep time. Of course, the night before our trip I had to sit down and make a list of all the recipes I wanted to have over the course of the next 6 weeks, and make sure all the ingredients for those recipes were either in the pantry or on my commissary list, so it does take a little bit of planning. But I can't deal with making the whole meal ahead of time and freezing it right now. I'd run out of freezer space, for one thing. It would just be so much food! Plus, that seems like it would take too much time. Just preparing the meat is a good compromise! The doctor thought it was all a great idea, so that was nice. We had a nice visit, and it was even more pleasant because there were not 6 other little bodies in the room!

Grace is a big girl because we can officially say she is potty-trained! Yay! She got her toenails painted Tuesday. While this was not a big incentive for her to become potty-trained, like it was for Anna, she was certainly happy to have it done! I ran to Target on the way home from dropping the boys off at their co-op, and I bought a new bottle of nail polish in a lavender-y shade, since purple is Grace's favorite color. Anna got her toenails painted as well (did you even doubt?!). Grace is having no problems with pooping in the little potty. She hasn't made the switch to the big potty, but I don't even care, LOL. It's all better than washing out poopy panties! She is peeing on regular public toilets as well, so that is a big relief. I am still going to put her in a pull-up for Classical Conversations tomorrow, since that is such a long day for her, but she was dry for it all last week, and that was without going on the big potty, even though she tried a few times!