My parents rented a boat for the afternoon yesterday and graciously invited us along... and it was a perfect day for it!
Loving summer!
Well, it seems rather hard for us to believe still, but it looks like this little guy
may be a BIG brother soon! That's right... I'm pregnant. We're still kind of reeling from the news... totally unexpected, but we're also getting pretty excited.
In the Bible, Mary "treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." I treasure up all these things and write about them on my blog. So in that spirit, I thought I would share my initial thoughts when I first was processing all this. Here is what I wrote back on June 14th:
This week I discovered, to my great shock, that I am pregnant.
My first thought was that Pete and I clearly have no idea what we're doing when it comes to family planning. I think we must have been holding the family planning book upside-down when we read it. For a year awhile back we tried to get pregnant, and couldn't, and now, during the last few years when we've been trying quite hard to not get pregnant, we've ended up with 2 pregnancies.
My second thought was that this might be the end of a dream of ours to adopt a baby - or two or three. I guess we don't know anything definite about all that -- I still feel like I'm waterskiing blindfolded through life -- but there is a bit of grieving that happens with the realization that it will be indefinitely postponed. We had thought our third child would be coming from China. Turned out he was born in Matthews, NC. And we had thought our fourth child would come from Vietnam, or India, or Ethiopia or someplace like that.... but now we may have another Matthews baby on our hands.
And so my third thought was that I am VERY glad this is all in God's hands. Clearly He knows what He is doing, and He is building our family in just the right way. In fact, as I was grumbling about all my confusion and lack of control in all this, I sat down to do my Bible study workbook. I opened the study guide that I've been going through ("Stepping Up" by Beth Moore) and found that the passage for the day was Psalm 127.* Very weird. And very good for me to hear.
And my fourth thought was that it's so strange when a women discovers she's pregnant. It's not like any other event or occurrence in life. You instantly go from "mother of x children" to "mother of x+1 children," permanently altering your identity.
So, it's been a weird week.
* Psalm 127 includes:
Unless the Lord builds the house,
its builders labor in vain...
Sons are a heritage from the Lord,
children a reward frmo him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them..."
The daughter of some good friends of ours turned 15, and in the Spanish-speaking culture, this means it's time for a Quinceanera party! Over 100 guests came to this big event, which meant it was a fun time for all of us to party with a lot of friends. The dinner was very yummy, and the ceremony part was beautiful. Kathryn was honored and blessed by several different family members, and was bedecked with a jeweled necklace and a tiara, fitting for a Daugther of a King, as was emphasized all evening. I loved watching my friends go through this milestone with their firstborn... not sure how they got it through it without weeping the entire time -- they are much more poised than I am (who WAS weeping through a lot of it. :) ) Everything that was said was spoken in both English and Spanish, so the ceremony was doubly long, but as our friend Tim pointed out, it made for a good opportunity for all of us to try and increase our Spanish understanding.
All 3 of our kids were very excited to attend this party -- in fact we were all dressed and ready to go an hour early (unheard of for us, the family who is always rushing out the door 10 minutes late). Colsen kept chanting "PAR-TY! PAR-TY" and Rayna searched through her room to find some good "dancing shoes" which she eventually found (some Cinderella dress-up shoes). She did some made up tap-dance routines for us on the kitchen floor.... but then we were mean parents and made her wear shoes that actually fit to the real party. Unfortunately, we ended up having to leave before all the dancing got underway at the Quinceanera -- the younger kids were getting way too tired -- but we hear the dancing was a blast. Maybe when Amanda, the 2nd daughter of their family, turns 15 in a couple years, we'll all be old enough to party all night long!
Rayna started her first day of gymnastics yesterday! She had a ball, and it looks like it's going to be really beneficial for her. She says her favorite part was doing flips on the trampoline.
Meanwhile, the boys were doing their own form of gymnastics at home...
This past weekend Pete's parents came for a visit. The original intention of their trip was to help watch our kids while Pete and I went to California.... but since our plans changed, we all got to spend some quality time together.
The adventure for one of the days was going to the Charlotte Museum of History and playing with the visiting Toy Time exhibit. All 3 kids had a blast playing with the big toys.... Colsen's favorite was a push-toy that he kept using as a "vacuum." Afterwards there was a tour of the Hezekiah Alexander House, which everyone found interesting.
Other adventures included a trip to the par 3 golf course, a trip to the $2 movie theater, several neighborhood walks, an attempt to go to the Lowes Motor Speedway tour (sold-out :( ), a couple lunches out, and a visit to my parents' house. We enjoyed having the grandparents here -- and especially appreciated their help with the kids, and fixing the ceiling fan in our bonus room! Thanks, Bud and Jane, for making the trip!!
Colsen is definitely a product, not just of Pete and me, but of his siblings as well. It's been funny watching him try to figure things out and imitate all of us. For instance, he's recently started saying "Peeeeeease?!" after Pete and I tell him no for something. Guess where he learned that trick? He's also doing some other silly things lately...
Anxious to be a Boy Scout:
Even though he hasn't yet heard the scouting motto "Always be prepared," he has an innate sense that this is a good idea, I guess. He's always trying to anticipate what we will need next, or what is coming next. For example, when I tell him we're going somewhere, he almost starts hyperventilating saying...
"CAR! DRIVE! KEYS!!!! KEYS!!! PURSE! PHONE! GASSES (sunglasses)! PACI-- PURSE-- NACKIN!!! (This means, "wrap my paci in a napkin and put it in your purse") He certainly does not want us to forget anything.
Anxious to be an adult:
For the last month or two, Colsen has been occasionally referring to his Daddy as "Pete." Sometimes I'll go get him out of his crib after naptime and he'll hold his palms up (as if to say, "Where?") and says, "Pete? Rayna? Strider?" And now in the past few weeks he's taken to calling me "Amy" as well, especially when "Mommy" isn't working. I had to chuckle recently when we were at a party at someone's house, and I saw him come running inside and start threading through all the people in the room saying, "Amy? Amy?" Kind of weird to be called that my someone shorter than your knees.
Anxious to no longer wear diapers:
He often tells us he wants to go to "bathroom" and other such indicators, but we are going to hold off potty-training for awhile still. But last week he decided apparently to take matters into his own hands. He told me at one point in the afternoon that his diaper was bothering him, but I checked it and it was fine, so I just ignored it. A couple hours later he was outside with our friend Nelson who had come over for dinner. Nelson was holding him at one point and realized his shirt was suddenly getting damp (sorry, Nelson!). Upon further inspection we realized Colsen was not wearing a diaper! This was quite a mystery to us because his clothes were still on! We took him inside and said, "Colsen, where did your diaper go??" He promptly told us, "Trash" and showed us the garbage can he had put it in. Sure enough, there it was. We're still not sure how he got it off... or why.
Right now as I type this his little voice is calling to me from his crib, "Amy! Aim!" so I guess I'd better go get the little guy.... and pretty soon we'll start having to teach him that it is not respectful to call your parents by their first name -- even (especially?) if you're 1.
Lake Park's 4th of July tradition is to have a bike parade, for which the kids all decorate their bikes, wagons, scooters, etc. (and try to win prizes). It's mostly a test of endurance, though, because in the community's great wisdom, they always schedule the parade to start at High Noon... the perfect time for a parade in steamy North Carolina, right? Afterwards there is a big picnic in the park with 50-cent hamburgers and hot dogs, and other traditional treats.
So we were excited to participate again this year and the kids got very into decorating their bikes. Even Colsen enjoyed all the bright decorations, and his ride in the wagon (he definitely got the easiest trek of us all).
Here they are, all ready to go:
Here are a couple shots of the actual parade. It was kind of fun walking around the block -- they piped in loud patriotic music that made us all step a little more lightly:
And the picnic afterwards...
When they announced the parade awards, we were disappointed that neither Strider nor Rayna won (what???!!!) :) -- but a few of our friends did, so that was fun, too.
All in all, a very hot (and fun) way to spend a mid-day on the 4th of July!
To wrap up our festivities, we had the Cole's and Mr. Lee over that night for dinner and S'MORES! And our neighbors put on a fireworks show that, in Pete's opinion, was "better than shows at most county fairs!" It went on for quite a long time... pretty amazing. A very nice evening.
For several months now Colsen has been obsessed with the concept of talking on the phone. He mostly wants to talk on our real phones, but since that doesn't usually get a "yes" from his parents, he has resorted to making his own phones. For awhile he was happy to make any smallish object a phone that he would hold up to his ear and say, "Hello!?" But lately he's gotten more picky. Uncle Al heard about his obsession and kindly donated an old real cell phone to his cause. Colsen thought it was cool for about 5 minutes, but then decided that he couldn't like it because it was just a straight phone -- not a flip phone.
So that afternoon he absconded with some cards from one of Rayna's games and made himself several flip phones. (He folded them in half, so he can open and close them) Strider tried to point out that these card phones are not as effective as the real one because, as he says, "They don't have numbers to push, Colsen! Now you can't text anyone! And you'll have to wait until someone calls you, because you can't call anyone!" But Colsen was nonplussed by this argument, and thinks his flip phone is the mac-daddy. (Do people still use that term?) Plus, it can fit in his pocket, which he thinks is soooo cool.
And now those phones have become as important to him as his pacifier! Whenever he is transitioning from one thing to another now (going to bed, waking up, going outside, whatever), we hear, "Need paci! Phone!!" And he is rarely without either. A happy clam he is, when he has a paci in one hand and his phone in the other. As you can see from these pictures, it doesn't matter what he's doing, it's always a good time to have a phone chat with someone (usually, "Gee-Gee" or "Deuce" according to him). He's actually kind of rude at times about it. We need to teach him some phone etiquette. Yesterday we were outside talking to Miss Mary, but he stayed on the phone the whole time, even while having a conversation with her!
So, that's what's going on in Colsen's world. If you want him to give you a call, text him your number. It might be a short conversation, though. Here's how they usually go...
Gotta love summer!
Here are some of our highlights of this past week:
1. Summer Celebration
This is our church's version of Vacation Bible School, and the kids had a blast at it. This was our fourth year to participate, and I loved seeing how the very same teenagers in our church have been involved as helpers all along. Four years ago they were shy, scrawny middle-schoolers, but now they've transformed into strong, compassionate leaders. It was very cool to see how they taught the younger kids, played with them, prayed with them, etc. Our kids are blessed with good role models.
2. Cousins Camp
Rayna went on the inaugural session of Cousins Camp with Ava this week, and had a great time with my parents. She came home with this great photo book they made showing all their adventures, and she's been singing her new Cousins Camp Song for the last couple days. Looks like it was a big hit -- and Strider can't wait for his turn next month.
3. Game Night
And because summer is not just about the kids having fun, Pete and I arranged for some good ol' play time with some of our friends as well! We had some folks over for dinner and a rousing game of Balderdash.... entertaining and informative! :)
June has been a great month!
I (Pete) have only written twice on this site. And I just recently learned that my sarcasm does not translate well in this medium. My first attempt at blogging was this: "A FREE gift from the government" and this past week I've heard that some readers (even my very own family members) actually believed that I purchased the 50-inch flat panel tv I wrote about. Apparently my attempt at humor was lost on some, but note that my stimulus check was neither free nor frittered away unwisely on a TV.