The Joys of SAHM-hood

Just posting a few pictures because it has been over a week since my last post. It's not that I haven't tried to post. I have thoughts and ideas and have even started typing and have saved a draft. However, I seem to have a hard time finishing anything these days. I am discovering that being a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) doesn't mean I am actually at home: I may be off teaching VBS or going to the zoo (see previous post) or grocery shopping or any number of other things that keep me not-at-home. When I am at home, it doesn't necessarily mean I am able to accomplish many, if any, tasks besides changing diapers, fixing meals (sometimes) and encouraging positive behavior from my three year old.

Sometimes, for a task-oriented person like me, this can be challenging or even frustrating. But there are some amazing benefits too:

1. Having Elisha fix me (in his exact words) "a beautiful dinner" out of play food and served on little dishes
2. Holding Madelyn as long as I want...even when I "should" have laid her down for her nap
3. "Snuggling" with Elisha at the start of his nap and hearing him turn over and whisper to me "You're my sweetie-peach" (I guess he has heard Jim call Maddie that on occasion.)
4. Watching many of Madelyn's "firsts" (and "seconds" and "thirds" too!)
5. Catching fun, everyday moments on film (or memory stick, actually) - something I could tend be too busy to do (see below)

Like I have said before, we don't think our child is a genius or anything; but we were rather impressed when we went into Elisha's room the other day and found an elevated train track that he had created entirely on his own. Okay, so maybe he is a genius...with trains, at least.

Madelyn sleeping in Dad's arms.
Now if he could just hold her like that all night...

The Zoo Review

Jim had last week off, so on Friday, we decided
to visit the Gas City Petting Zoo. Although the zoo is small,
it is also FREE (unless you count the 50 cents
we spent in the vending machine to buy food for the animals.)

They had goats, peacocks, goats, turkeys, goats,
sheep, and more goats.The deer are so tame;
below is one of the young fawns.

Oh, and they have llamas...here are Jim and Elisha after feeding it.

And here they are immediately after it sneezed on them!
Just happened to be taking a picture at that moment - way to capture a memory!

Bad Hair Day

Last week we had a couple of bad hair days...
fortunately, Madelyn and Elisha are too young to care
so we can share the photos with friends on our blog.

(The blurry effect on Elisha's pictures is because
he is a three year old who rarely stops moving.)

Wish I Were There

B: Becca, Jaena, Marcia & Shelli

F: Jil, Madelyn & Vickie

Jil and Madelyn

We went up to Pokagaon State apark to set up for KFC Camp (that's Kids for Christ camp, not Kentucky Fried Chicken Camp). After months of planning and organizing, it was finally here! Over 90 campers and 40 workers rolled into camp, ready for a week of great fun and spiritual growth.

Jim, Elisha, Madelyn and I spent Sunday night but decided it might be crazy to stay the entire week (5 days mostly alone with a strong-willed three year old and a high maintenance 5 month old might have stressed out even my amazing husband).

So I am at home, wishing I were at camp...wondering how things are going...looking forward to next year when - hopefully - I can be there too!

The Four Amigos

Elisha having fun with three of his favorite buddies.
Boy, would he love having three older brothers!

Two Cute!

Just a few pics of the kids. I know every parent thinks their kids are "the cutest (smartest, funniest, etc...) kids in the world." And while I am not naive enough to believe this myth, I do love to catch close ups of their little - or not so little anymore - faces.

I look at our kids and try to imagine what they will look like once the baby fat is gone and Elisha's jawline is more defined and Madelyn transitions from infant to toddler to little girl. It's scary to think about, and hopefully those days are far, far away...but from what I hear, it happens sooner than any of us think.


Have we mentioned that Elisha loves trains? He spends literally hours each day building tracks and reenacting stories from Thomas the Train videos. I tell myself that he is practicing "narrative skills" needed for kindergarten and beyond.



























Maddie is just a sweetie. She has outgrown her "colic" or whatever kept her screaming most evenings, and is happy and content. The first picture shows her umbilical hernia (not an "outie" belly button) that freaked us out for a bit. It was actually much larger, sticking out a good inch with an even larger circumference. It's shrinking weekly, and the doctor said it should disappear completely on it's own. Pretty amazing! We're hoping her original "innie" returns in the end. :-)