Sweaty, Sunscreeny Babies!

We’re on holiday…or I am. I’m still working out of freelance commitments and it feels sooooo good! I just finished a newsletter and a little stationery project…I’m checking them off and I cannot believe the freedom I feel.

T3 and I read several books yesterday while MW was at VBS…her first time to go here at our home church. She had a BLAST! Although, “only one boy was nice” to her the entire week…hmmm…

Wednesday night she spent the night out with a friend. This was the first time she’d done this! She had so much fun! She and her friend wound up playing with her big sister and their cousin…four girls all night! I understand they went to “sleep” at 11pm, but were found playing with Lincoln logs around 12am! What do little girls do at a sleepover? They watch movies, play “littlest pet shop,” dress up, oh did I mention they dress up? I also heard they had a giant tea party in the bathtub!

Thursday afternoon we ran by MW’s friend’s house to pick up MW’s bag. The house had been turned upside down. Those little girls got out EVERY TOY in the house! I got MW’s little rear end out of the car and made her help pick up. I’ve seen the damage two little girls can do…I had no idea what it looked like after four had “played!” Mom, thanks for all the times you let us have spend the night company!

T was off Monday through Wednesday. We’ve had the most productive week! His parents came Sunday night and stayed until Tuesday night. What a HELP they were! JJ kept the kids while T, GJ, and I jack hammered out about fifty tons of concrete. (By the way, that is JJ jack hammering!) I don’t really know how much it weighed, but it was back breaking work! It took us all day. I was quite proud! T worked off nights Monday morning, so he worked until about 12pm and then just couldn’t take it anymore. He went to rest and gave us instructions to wake him by 5pm…so GJ and I took to jack hammering and loading up concrete in our little work horse wagon, and then pushing and pulling it to the street (it usually took two people – one pushing and one pulling), and then we unloaded it, making a HUGE pile! By the time T woke, we’d almost completely busted out and hauled to the street the rest of the concrete that needed busting out. You can imagine – roughly 425 square feet of concrete, at least four inches thick. It was a lot! And the difference is amazing!





The pile of concrete was so huge, in fact, that when the city came to pick it up, they did not believe that we’d done it ourselves. They insisted a contractor had done the work. T and I were like, “Seriously, we did it ourselves.” The pick up crew had to call their supervisor and agreed to do it for us ”just this once. It’s a one time thing.” We were like, “whatever, just haul it off.” Their moods improved with a glass of sweet tea, a granola bar, and a little tip!


After busting out all that excess concrete, we had to spread two pick up truck loads of dirt to fill in…and then we laid sod…450 square feet of sod. It looks amazing! We even had a few extra pieces to fill in some bare spots in our yard.

T created one side of the forms for the new sidewalk that we’ll be pouring. We wanted to brick the walk, but oh, the thought of busting out all that concrete! The cost of the bricks – that’s a funny story…when we bricked the porch we got this great deal on Old Chicago bricks…because the kind of bricks our house is made of aren’t made anymore, Old Chicago’s were the best match. Coincidentally, someone had left exactly the number of Old Chicago bricks beside the train tracks, where they’d been unloaded. So…we got a great deal! Well now, they aren’t such a great deal! But we wanted things to be consistent…so T is going to cut pavers out of the Old Chicagos and then he’ll take whole bricks and cut the center out of them, so that they look like the letter L, and we’ll line the edges of the sidewalk with those so that from the side, the walk appears to be made of whole bricks. That way, we cut our brick order in half and we don’t have to bust out the rest of the sidewalk! I’ll have to post some pics when we finish.

Our summer goal is to finish the exterior of the house. It’s been “in motion” for three years, now. It’s time we wrap it up! I can’t wait to see! I’m so excited! This is another HUGE difference! Relocate front door from side to front of house, off with the vinyl, repair and paint shingles beneath vinyl, out with the ramp, and now out with all that excess concrete! Next, we’ll have a sidewalk that goes to the front door! Hooray!


Wednesday morning T3 woke a little before 8am, but played happily until about 8:30 or so…amazing! How amazing! On T’s day off, the little man is content in the crib until 8:30am! That never happens when I’m home alone! So T went in to get him and what did he find??? Our little man, with a onesie on, had figured out how to fish poo from his diaper! Oh yes, he was (I’m sorry for the grossness of this!) eating it! T cleaned him up and left the bed for me to deal with…needless to say, I was very thankful he was home! And oh T3! The little man didn’t get sick…

Speaking of T3, he’s been quite busy climbing! He’s climbed the breakfast room chairs, the dining room chairs, on top of MW’s baby piano – which required he stand on the stool and then step up on the piano, from which he threw her cash register to the floor and then shouted with glee! He also pushed a chair up to MW’s Little Tykes vanity, climbed up onto the chair, and then stepped up onto the vanity, which toppled to the ground, leaving T3 in quite a mess! We played at a friend’s a few nights ago. T3 got accidentally kicked and fell face first on a sprinkler head, leaving him with two bruises under his eye. The little man is becoming quite a little warrior! I could just eat him up. I think I can almost see him growing. He’s getting taller and his chubby little thighs are thinning out a bit. I cannot wait to see how God works in his life. I pray his sins will find him out and that God will make him into a man after God’s own heart…that he will do all things to the glory of God.

I LOVE David (in the Bible)! A man after God’s own heart…a man who sinned BIG TIME! A man God redeemed and worked mightily through. He was a warrior, a King, a husband, a father, a BIG SINNER who served the living God! The living God who took David’s disobedience and redeemed him!

As I think of my little man, I so often think about David. I see T3 fall and I want to rush over and kiss away the boo boo – and yet, I want him to be a warrior. All those falls…all the climbing and tumbling to the ground…may God use those experiences to shape him into a man who will stand firm and fight for truth. I feel like I’m rambling and not making much sense – as I watch T3 being all boy – I realize that one day he isn’t going to be the cuddly little guy he is today. One day he’s going to grow up and move out of our home. He’s going to get older and make decisions on his own and for himself and maybe one day for his family. Already, I pray that as he lives his day to day life under our care, that God will use each experience to shape him into a Godly little man, who will grow into a Godly man. A wise man. A man after God’s own heart. A man who will fight for truth. A man who will, no matter the cost, honor his heavenly Father. A man who will protect his family. I see those things in T. I see those things in the life of David. I pray for those qualities in T3. May God grant us wisdom as we seek to pour God’s truth into his heart. May God plant those seeds deep, and may He grow them and make T3 a tree of righteousness, planted by streams of living water.

Wow…

So we’ve made several more trips to the pool. And each time has gotten better and better. MW won’t enter the big pool without some sort of floatation device strapped to her little body. T3 hasn’t even tried to get in the big pool again! Hallelujah! We’ve got our little routine down…we get there, head straight for the window where we get ice. I park the stroller beside my chair. T3 sits and eats ice for about twenty minutes while I am all eyes on MW, who is already in the pool. Eventually, the ice is eaten and T3 and I hit the baby pool. His favorite toy is a tiger. He walks circles in the baby pool, holding his tiger, and blowing spit bubbles, accompanied by a gurgling sound. This lasts thirty to forty-five minutes. Then we get out and eat more ice, giving us another twenty minutes, then back to the baby pool. It’s awesome! It did get better! Granted, my pride has suffered a bit. I look like a freak who’s moving into the pool each time we arrive. I have the stroller, a huge bag packed with towels and sunscreen, the cooler (we almost always go during a meal – so I pack a picnic), and our mesh bag full of pool toys…I look like a crazy woman, but that’s ok. My kids are happy and we’ve got our system down now! Yea!

Seems like there was something else I was going to post about…but it skips my mind right now. This one’s long anyway…
Hope everyone is having a great start to the summer! Fun, fun, fun! Happy day! I’m off to iron!