Tis the busy season

Tis the season for busyness. And the stomach flu. And colds. And late-night crafts. And last-minute Christmas shopping. And family time, and laughter, and snow, and stress, and Christmas goodies, and extended family visits, and less sleep, and crabbiness, and Christmas movies and lights and music, and a warm home. 

I love this season.

Here are some things we've been up to over the last week or so.

Tis the season for Henry learning to climb stairs!

Tis the season for carefully examining a Christmas tree!

 Tis the season for food!

Tis the season for FOUR generations of Hille men getting together!

Tis the season for cousins in matching Christmas pajamas!

Tis the season for Gabriel's hotel-pool-birthday party!

 

Tis the season for cousins having "coffee" in bed together!

 Tis the season for Hannah's birthday party!

Christmas movies

I love the Christmas season. Leading up to the actual day, I truly enjoy the music, the lights, the decorations, the food, and the movies.

It has been particularly fun this year to get Adele into the holiday spirit and bombard her with Christmas songs and movies. She makes me both laugh - when she giggles at a song said root-toot-tooting in it because the song said "toot", and cry (or at least tear up) - with rendition of the song "Small One". Youtube this sweet little old Christmas movie and try not to cry. And then imagine Adele softly singing the song and good luck holding back tears!

So 'tis the season for Christmas games, right?

I've come up with some notable quotes from some classic (and some of my all-time favorite) Christmas movies. Good luck coming up with the movies. They are listed at the end if you get stuck.  :)


-Francisco! That's fun to say! Francisco.. Franciscooooo...

-I believe...I believe...It's silly, but I believe.

-I'm gonna give you to the count of 10, to get your ugly, yella, no-good keister off my property, before I pump your guts full of lead.

-HEY! HEY! Unto you a child is born!

-Are you afraid of staircases? If you are, then you have climacaphobia. Maybe you have thalassophobia. This is fear of the ocean, or gephyrobia, which is the fear of crossing bridges. Or maybe you have pantophobia. Do you think you have pantophobia?

-I lost mine.

-We evil magicians have to make a living too!

-Hey, what do you say we both be independent together, huh?

-Ohhh, ohh, oh, Scotch pine delicious, but Douglas fir give me heartburn. Burp! Excuse me, ohhh, oh!

-I need a gentle donkey to carry my wife to Bethlehem

-That's right. That's right. Attaboy Clarence!

-She falls down a well, her eyes go cross. She gets kicked by a mule, they go back. I don't know.

-Thank you. That will be nice. Yes is being my answer. Easy question.

-Well um, you realize if you give money to the poor they won't be poor anymore, will they? And if they're not poor anymore, then you won't have to raise money for them anymore. And if you don't have to raise money for them anymore, then you'd be out of a job. Oh please, gentlemen, don't ask me to put you out of a job. Not on Christmas Eve.

-There's children throwing snowballs / instead of throwing heads / they're busy building toys / and absolutely no one's dead!

-Mother always taught me: "Never eat singing food."

-Listen, Lucy, when I told my mother I was getting married to my wife, her intestines exploded. You tell them the truth now, you may as well shoot grandma.

-In the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.

-You ought to be horsewhipped. First you, and then you, and then you again.

-The thing about trains...it doesn't matter where they're going. What matters is deciding to get on.

-I have since heard of people under extreme duress speaking in strange tongues. I became conscious of that a steady torrent of obscenities and swearing of all kinds was pouring out of me as I screamed.

-If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!

-My, those are your hands? Those are your hands! What happened to you? Where are your parents? Um...your mother? Your father?

-All right, you guys, just permit me one sentimental moment here, will you? I have something to say. Christmas: it's not the giving, it's not the getting, it's the loving. There, I said it. Now get outta here.


ANSWERS:
Elf
Miracle on 34th Street
Home Alone
Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Charlie Brown's Christmas
Claymation Christmas: Carol of the Bells (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMALk-i3TA8) watch this over and over and you may laugh more every time!
Frosty the Snowman
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
Sesame Street Christmas
Small One
It's a Wonderful Life
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Love Actually
Mickey's Christmas Carol
Nightmare Before Christmas
Muppets Christmas Carol
While You Were Sleeping
The Holiday
White Christmas
Polar Express
A Christmas Story
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Edward Scissorhands
Garfield Christmas Special

'Tis the Season

I love the saying "'Tis the Season". It cracks me up. I have found, that with proper intonation, you can use this saying for anything during the Christmas season. If I'm out in public, I try to say it to as many people as I can in every possible situation.


When standing in the back of a long line, roll your eyes and say to the person who comes up behind you next in line "'Tis the season."

When you show up at a Christmas party to have a good time, exclaim "'Tis the season!"

When you are looking at your busy full calendar, mumble to yourself "'Tis the season..."

When you turn to 5 different radio stations and Christmas music is playing on every one, shrug your shoulders and say "'Tis the season!"

When someone cuts you off in traffic, grumble "'Tis the season..."

When you can't help but take advantage of sales and buy too many things for yourself, justify it by saying "'Tis the season!"

When you are tired from not getting enough sleep, make a cup of coffee while you tell yourself "'Tis the season".

When your husband makes a comment about the house in a constant state of disaster, smile sweetly and say "'Tis the season!"


Try it out - here's to a few more weeks of busyness, good food, irritable shoppers, kid-like excitement, and little sleep. Because 'tis the season. :)

Days of Thanks

So life is a little busy these days...but I wanted to do my own 30 days of thanks. There's no way I could have kept up with doing a post a day on facebook or on this blog (hence the December post...) so here they are. In no particular order.

My husband. David is my other half, partner in life, my bestest friend. He keeps me striving to be better, keeps me grounded, and keeps me laughing.

My kids. They are awesome. I have a hard time believing there are better kids than mine. They are smart, creative, active, and sassy.

Fall/early winter in Oklahoma. The nice weather makes up for the other three seasons here (Unbearably Hot, Tornado, and Ice season).

My sisters. Emily, with whom I get to share this motherhood adventure; Rachel, with whom I share good conversation and quirky personality traits; and Katie, with whom I share environmental ideas and social justice passions.

Costa Rica. The country where I studied abroad, met my husband, gave birth to my first child, learned the majority of my Spanish, broadened my world view, and met great friends.

My parents. They show me extreme generosity, as well as continued love and support, and pass that love and care on to my kids.

Christmas music. I love it. It makes me happy and I shamelessly say I will randomly play it all year long.

Pinterest. It inspires me and draws out any creative juices that flow through me.

My in-laws. They have always welcomed me into their family, accepted my quirkiness, and treated me like a daughter.

My sisters-in-law. Jordan, who is the most selfless person I know; and Jenna, who lives vivaciously and passionately.

Old friends. Jane, who I will always feel a connection to as my oldest friend from Kindergarten. Angie, my forever friend and no matter how long in between conversations we go, we always reconnect on a deep level. Theresa, who is like my sister - nuff said. Laura, who has a worldview even bigger than mine. And many more.

Our church. They welcome us, and never stop looking out for us.

Skype. Allowing my kids to stay better connected to their extended family, and helps us stay in close communication with David as he does his research in Nicaragua.

Our home. After some crazy times renting from a not-so-nice lady, we own this house. And it is small and comfortable for our little family.

Northwestern College. Gave me a great college experience, met some lifelong friends, and made great memories.

Project Free TV. Allows David and me to unwind from the day by watching our favorite TV shows on the computer, rather than sticking to the nightly scheduled TV programs.

Local businesses. Those that are still able to survive without being overtaken by big-boxed stores.

Coffee. Some days I'm not sure I could live without it. Most days I simply love being able to sit for 5 minutes and truly enjoy it.

Our car. After a long search, we found a great used car that we could pay cash for. We get excellent mileage, at times getting 49 miles to the gallon.

Slippers. I learned to love and rely on them while living in Costa Rica and having only tile for the floor, and continued my love for them upon returning to the States.

Fair-trade businesses. They look out for the people who are truly MAKING the product you are buying.

Work. I am thankful for the opportunity to use my Spanish to interpret for those who need assistance at a doctor's office, a psychiatrist appointment, or in the mental health hospital. Not only does it provide some much-needed income, but I love the chance to connect with Spanish-speaking people.

David's grad school experience. Sometimes we wonder what in the world we are doing in Oklahoma...and then we remember what brought us here in the first place and I am thankful David has such a great advisor and school experience at OU.

Tuesday Girls. A group that meets once a month, gives me the chance to hang out with a group of girls, eat good food, and hear some share their stories.

The library. Our library here is awesome. It's got an entire LARGE section blocked off for kids, with tables full of educational toys, puzzles, computers for kids, and programs that Adele loves.

Zumba. The chance for me to work out, sweat, and have fun.

The USA. It has provided numerous opportunities, including the chance to get a good education, and travel to many countries around the world.

Organic products. They help take care of our land, and look out for the health of the workers.

PBS. While we try not to watch too much TV in our house, I am still thankful for the kids' programs that help educate Adele and teach her valuable life lessons.

All the things I take for granted. Food. My sight. Healthy kids. Heat on a cold day; air conditioning on a hot day. My mental health. And so forth.....

I am truly thankful.

8 months

My boy Henry is funny. I wish everyone could spend time with him because you would undoubtedly be laughing.

He is now 8 months old. And on the move.

Months ago, I blogged about how I was looking forward to Henry crawling, because I thought he would enjoy being more independent and overall be happier. He's always been a very content, happy baby...but he seemed anxious to crawl.

Many people told me that I shouldn't look forward to having a mobile baby because it would complicate things. But I disagreed. The crawling I was looking forward to the independence and happiness. And as I anticipated, I enjoyed the crawling just as much as Henry did.

What I didn't anticipate was that within 2 weeks of crawling, he would start pulling himself up on everything.

Babies pulling themselves up on everything ranks right up there with babies starting to eat solid foods. Two stages I really don't like!

Thankfully, Henry deals with injury well. He crawls smack into walls, pulls himself up and falls on the ground, crawls over something and falls on the other side...and hardly cries. Or if he does cry, he gets over things quickly.

Henry also loves people. He is an extremely social baby, and doesn't show much (if any) shyness at all. If you give him attention, he will want to be around you.

It also appears that Henry is trying to speak. His "ma-ma-ma-ma" sounds show up when he's cranky, and his "da-da-da-da" sounds show up when David is around and he is playing. And to get your attention, he most definitely says a version of "hey" until you look at him.

Henry has recently started clapping a lot too, and gets excited about finally making the clapping noise with his hands. He especially likes it when he hears someone say "yaaaay!" and then he looks up, smiles, and claps.

And finally, Henry is still a good eater. He thinks he's more grown up than he is and doesn't like to eat his baby foods with a baby spoon. So if I disguise it with a big regular spoon, he'll eat it then. But he likes to feed himself and will truly eat anything. On Thanksgiving, he ate a meal of turkey, potatoes, jello, cheese, and rolls.

Love you Henry!

Dear Adele

Today is Adele's 3 year birthday. I wasn't sure exactly how to write a blog that summarized who Adele is. So I decided to write her a letter instead.

Dear Adele,
Happy Birthday, my sweet daughter! You are beautiful, sensitive, caring, loving, helpful, respectful, obedient, energetic, spunky, and so incredibly funny.

I remember so clearly the day you were still in my tummy and I found out we were going to have a girl. I was thrilled, and so excited to see ways that you would be like your daddy and me. 

I remember just as well the day you were born. You were so tiny and fit so snug on my chest. I wanted to bundle you up and never let you go. 

I did have to share you a lot those first few months. All of our friends in Costa Rica couldn't get enough of holding you, and everyone oohed and ahhed over each new facial expression you displayed. Once you met your grandparents and aunts and uncles over Christmas, they too wanted to take turns holding you, bathing you, and taking naps with you. 

My heart melted the first time you smiled at me. And when you started giggling, I spent a lot of time making silly faces and trying to get you to keep giggling. 

You showed your energetic, playful self early. You loved it when we held you upside down. You giggled the hardest when Daddy would bounce you on his lap, or toss you up in the air. And you loved to dance. We spent a lot of time playing music loudly and dancing around our apartment. 

We also saw glimpses of your particular, independent self shine through. You hated to be cold, didn't like water to get in your eyes, and quit using any pacifier just because your favorite one had a hole in it.

I have been amazed at how smart you are. You learned quickly how to crawl, walk, and talk, memorize songs, recognize letters, and make up songs of your own. 

You are extremely loving and caring. You are gentle with animals, and look out for babies and kids littler than you. I was so excited for you to have a baby brother and see you adapt into the role of a big sister. You have excelled in this new role. The way you comfort Henry, make him smile and laugh, and let him love on you is so sweet. 

And you are the best daughter we could have ever asked for. You challenge the rules in a very appropriate way, exploring your independence. And yet you are very respectful and obedient, as you listen to Daddy and me very well. 

It was a different kind of love that I learned about when I gave birth to you, and that love continues to grow in huge ways every day as we play, read books, work on crafts, hold conversations, and simply spend time together. 

I love you so very, very much.
-Mommy

Shots, stickers, and the power of suggestion

I hate shots.

That's actually quite the understatement.

When I was in college, I injured my back and had to quit track and eventually quit volleyball. Doctors never really knew what was wrong with my back. I tried lots of things - physical therapy, all kinds of prep before and treatments after sports practices, and even cortisone shots.

I went in for the cortisone shots knowing how much I hate shots, and hearing how big the needle is for a cortisone shot...so I never even looked. I turned my back and leaned over the table, lifted up my sweatshirt, and tried to mentally prepare for the shots. The doctor injected me about 10 different times, in order to spread the cortisone around.

After the shots, I attempted to stand back up...and don't remember much else as the world went black.

The next few seconds probably seemed like hours, at least for the doctor. In addition to him grabbing my sweatshirt to keep me from falling on the floor, he noticed a screech that came from the doorway with my mother yelling hysterically "you killed my daughter!"

Apparently an overly dramatic response to shots runs in the family.

I'm quite certain the doctor didn't know what to do with the two of us. I had to stay in the office for a couple hours because anytime I tried to get up, I felt woozy all over again.

I was told I have a condition that affects the way I react to needles.

I have had to get many shots since those dreadful cortisone shots. I've traveled to multiple countries around the world that required shots, and I've given birth twice and had to receive multiple blood tests and shots.

It hasn't gotten any better.

It's a mental condition. I know the shot doesn't hurt. Everyone tells me that in an attempt to reassure me, but I know. It's totally mental.

So it's no wonder that I apparently passed this trait on to my overly-dramatic daughter.

Adele has never ever done well with shots. Starting with her two-month appointment in Costa Rica, she has always reacted poorly to shots. It didn't help that in Costa Rica, the nurse would take her time in between each injection. Not like in the U.S., where the kid is injected with 3 needles practically at the same time. In Costa Rica, Adele received a shot, had to wait in agony while the nurse prepared the second shot, and so forth.

The "waiting in agony" might have been me. I was the one standing in the corner with my back turned, tears falling down my face, as David was the hero holding her down on the table.

Adele always had a fever that spiked after her shots as well. One time she even had minor convulsions because of a high fever.

Now that she's a bit older, she actually understands going to the doctor and getting shots.

It's worse.

The last time we were at the doctor's and she needed shots, it took 2-3 days for her to get over it. And we're not talking just mentally. The girl could hardly walk because she complained about her legs hurting from shots.

It was pitiful. We had to carry her around, and not touch her legs as best as possible.

Here's the kicker - Adele received a couple of stickers after getting shots, so she put them on her legs down by her knees. All it took was a few hours, and somehow she got a mental block on where her shots actually were. Somehow mentally, those shots had migrated and were now under her stickers.

The bandaids fell off easy enough...but the stickers were sticky.

My ridiculous daughter wouldn't let us touch her stickers and complained about the owies underneath them for days after she could finally walk again. The only way we could get the stickers off was to let Adele sit in the bathtub for a long time and eventually those stickers fell off.

So it's been months since Adele's had shots. And yet, stickers and bandaids have the same effect on her - with or without a shot or an injury.

Just the other day, she complained about her leg hurting, so David put a bandaid on it.

Ahh, the power of suggestion.

All of a sudden, within hours, that bandaid was covering a serious injury. It somehow grew astronomically in her mind. And that injury was so serious that Adele wouldn't even wear pants for a couple days because the pants would touch the bandaid and make her injury hurt worse.

It's a good thing the boys in our family aren't over-dramatic wusses...apparently Adele and I both need them to keep us grounded.

Some Spanish reflections

Along with my full-time job of being a stay-at-home mom, I work part-time as a Spanish interpreter.

I work day-to-day, and receive texts to see if I am available for any certain job. It works well, because I can coordinate jobs with David's schedule and only accept jobs when he can watch the kids.

I love it.

Speaking Spanish makes me feel like I can communicate with a whole new group of people. If language is a tool that helps connect cultures, I can be that bridge that helps someone feel more connected to our U.S. culture.

I know the feeling of being overwhelmed in a country that is different from my home culture. With different ways of prioritizing values. Different humor. Different "unsaid" rules that are understood without having to be spoken.

Sometimes I interpret for a person going for a doctor's visit. Sometimes it's for a family who is dealing with their child having developmental (mental or physical) delays and needing assistance with therapy appointments. Sometimes I interpret for a patient at a mental health clinic or hospital.

I love the feeling of being useful. That my Spanish education, and the time spent practicing it in Costa Rica is worth something more than just personal growth.

I understand that there are problems with immigration. I have no answers, and honestly don't really have much of a clue as to how to begin to solve those problems.

But I do know that people in this country who speak Spanish really appreciate it when someone helps them out. No, we don't have to. Yes, it would be easier if everyone in this English-speaking country spoke English.

But that's not the case.

Even though I spoke Spanish pretty good, I came across many situations in Costa Rica that were difficult for me to communicate. Sometimes it was hard to understand a person. Sometimes my brain was tired. Sometimes I just simply didn't know the vocabulary needed. There were many times I really appreciated the patience of a Costa Rican, rather than sensing their irritation of me not being able to express myself as clearly as I wanted.

Sometimes the "press 2 for English" option was very appealing when making a difficult phone call!

People who live in the U.S. are here for many reasons. Without being able to speak Spanish, it's difficult to understand their situation and what brought them here. It's easy to pass judgment. Easy to stereotype.

But it could be just as easy to speak in kindness. To smile. To be welcoming and helpful.

By learning Spanish, by traveling, by being immersed in another culture, by interacting with a variety of people here through their native language...all of this continues to teach me who I want to be as a person. Would I have come to the same conclusions of who I want to be without these experiences? I know I would see the world differently than I do now.

Everyone has a story, and I am glad to be a part of helping people tell their own.

A political post

I grew up around politics. I mean, I am from Iowa. Political campaigning in Iowa begins about 10 minutes after the election is over when the president for the next 4 years is announced.

We caucus for the primaries in Iowa. It's strange, really. And oddly cool. No secret voting there - stand in a room and gather around the candidate you want to win. Majority rules.

Most of my adult life I have lived outside of Iowa. So when Iowa pops up in the news about presidential candidates visiting and polls and caucuses, I take a bit of pride in that. Those that live in Iowa usually feel the opposite. They are the ones bombarded with phone calls and inundated with political commercials.

Politics has always been somewhat entertaining for me too. Not only all the hype in Iowa, but it served as entertainment while we lived in Costa Rica too. We obviously didn't get the political commercials, so we searched the internet and read websites to keep up with the election.

This year is a bit different.

With the rise of social media and the ability to communicate with the entire nation, politics naturally dominates conversation as the election draws near. Not the sit-down-and-discuss-political-issues face-to-face type conversations, but the passive-aggressiveness that our social media allows (or even encourages). The few words or sentences people write as their statuses, or tweet, (or even blog about!) shows their opinion loud and clear. Often intended to resonate and connect with people, sometimes with the intention of ruffling feathers or even flat out offending people.

It seems as though to support one candidate means to slander the other candidate. Why is it so hard for the politicians to simply state their positions on issues, instead of pointing out problems with the other candidate's stance? Why is it so hard for us as voters to simply state why we are voting for one candidate without speaking maliciously against the other?

I read an article that started off saying that come Tuesday, there will be many, many people on their knees praying for their particular candidate. And after the results come in and a candidate is declared the winner, regardless of the winner there will be people praising God for the outcome and others weeping.

My hope is that regardless of the outcome...we all will continue to pray for our country.

And support our president.

Halloween

In a very strange way, Halloween makes me proud to be from Des Moines, Iowa. Halloween is done differently there. Of course, I never knew it was different because it was normal for me growing up. 

In Des Moines, we trick-or-treated the night before Halloween. And named it Beggar's Night. And in order to actually get candy, each kid must have a joke they tell at each door they visit. Why, you ask?

I don't actually know.

Thanks to the surge of social media, on October 30th my facebook blew up with pictures and status updates having to do with trick-or-treating, costumes, and silly jokes. I was flooded with memories of my younger days of trick-or-treating. My mom would actually only give out candy if she didn't know the answer to the joke the kid would tell. Cruel, you might think. But kids loved the challenge.

I enjoy being from a place that's different. I like not being able to explain our traditions to people. Or somehow justifying the joke-telling by saying "kids have to work for their candy!"

Like the rest of the country, we trick-or-treated last night. On Halloween.

Adele comments we heard were "Can we go to just one more house?" (after every single house), "This night is SO MUCH FUN!" and "I was just wanting another piece of candy" (after visiting a house that gave away small toys instead of candy).

We heard the occasional growl and squeal out of Henry, which fit his lion costume perfectly.

It was a fun night, filled with cute kids in costumes, candy that will last us for many months to come, and a very excited Adele.

But I have to admit...I missed the jokes.

Here are the kiddos:

Talking about their costumes

Ready to get candy!

Cute little lion...

A ladybug and her friend Charlie Brown (Adele and Jude)

Adele's favorite Halloween decoration - a giant Mickey Mouse pumpkin!

Funny Adele

My girl Adele is FUNNY. She makes us laugh a lot. The phrases she comes up with, the questions she asks...we spend a lot of time laughing.

I wish I could remember everything she says, or I wish I constantly carried around a pen an paper to record everything. Here are some fairly recent ones that I remembered to take note of:

~One day Adele started singing "Farmer and Henry, Farmer and Henry, hi-ho the derry-o, Farmer and Henry." I questioned her on it and thought about it for a second until I realized she apparently usually sings "The Farmer and Adele..." etc. (instead of Farmer in the dell...)

~Along the same lines, she finally started figuring out that same song better. So we thought. Last night she sang "The farmer takes the cheese, the farmer takes the cheese, hi-ho the derry-o, the farmer takes the cheese" followed by "the wife takes the bagel, the wife takes the bagel, hi-ho the derry-o, the wife takes the bagel".

~Not too long ago we were in the car listening to the radio. A news clip came on about the singer Adele just having a baby and talking about getting married. I turned it up a little to see if my girl Adele would recognize the fact that her name was being said. Sure enough, she was listening intently, and when it was over she said to me very excitedly, "Mommy he said I'm getting married!" (She is already excited for Aunt Rachel to get married in December.)

~Adele has been enjoying her nursery rhymes a lot these days, especially those she knows the tune to. And makes up tunes for the others. Even though she knows most pretty well, she can get confused. The other day she started reciting Humpty Dumpty and finished singing Jack and Jill. It went something like this: "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after".

~Adele will usually request to watch a little show before nap and bedtime. We almost always just put on a short you tube clip of a show she likes. It's perfect because she can watch 2-3 shows, 3-4 minutes each, and actually watch less than 15 minutes of TV. She often asks for Mickey Mouse or Jake and the Neverland Pirates. One day she saw My Little Pony and pointed to it so I asked "you want to watch My Little Pony?" and she said yes. So ever since then, whenever she requests to watch a clip of that particular show, she asks for "Mommy's Little Ponies". If David asks her "You want to watch My Little Pony?" she will always respond "No, MOMMY'S Little Ponies!" since I was the one who initially introduced her to "my little pony".

7 months

Henry is now 7 months old.

Not a whole lot of NEW information to report. He's still our cute, active, loud, and chubby little boy.

To elaborate: Henry is now mobile. The crawling is still somewhat slow, unless he spots something he really wants (like food spilled from the table) and then he is surprisingly fast. I've actually also caught him attempting to pull himself up on the table a few times now too...a feat I'm definitely not ready for yet!

Henry is also loud. He is working on pronouncing syllables so we hear a lot of "ba ba ba and da da da" It works well as he hits things to the rhythm of his noises.

He attempts to repeat sounds too. A couple nights ago he was wide awake in the middle of the night and I was trying to get him to go back to sleep by repeating "shh shh shh shh". All of a sudden I heard a noise out of him that sounded like his own version of "shh" right back at me. Smart aleck.

Henry is eating fairly well too, although he would prefer to feed himself rather than accept a spoonful from me. I try to distract him with his own spoon, but he often sees right through my tricks and demands a second spoon.

And finally, we are starting to see glimpses of what life will be like with Henry and Adele playing together. Henry is fully entertained by Adele and loves it when she makes him laugh or sits and plays with him. Adele loves to entertain him...but can't sit still with him for too long. Pretty soon they will be excellent playmates!

Here are some pictures of Henry over the last month:

Spiffed up and ready for church

Enjoying a breezy fall day

 Such a cheeseball

 Chilling in the laundry basket

Feeding himself

Love you Mr. Henry!

Pumpkins

It has been a fun craft-filled few days for us here. 

Sunday night we had a costume party at the church. Having kids is a great excuse not to have to dress up since they are cute enough no one pays attention to me. :) Here is my cute little lion!

My cute little ladybug joined forces with friends who were carving a pumpkin. 

She quickly realized that cutting into pumpkins is messy (that's my girl!) so she enlisted the help of Daddy to paint a pumpkin instead.

The holiday season brings out some sort of craftiness in me that apparently hibernates until fall. When hibernation's over, an obsession for Pinterest emerges. 

After Adele had so much fun painting a pumpkin, I decided to push craft activities this week. Last night we went to Hobby Lobby to build up our craft supplies. We started with these cute little spiders, made from pipe cleaners and googly eyes.

Here is Adele, scared of the spider that just landed on her shoulder. Yes, she is still in her pajamas because craft time simply couldn't wait for trivial activities like getting dressed.

Then we turned one of her small pumpkins into a spider.

Personally, I loved the spider-pumpkin. But Adele wanted to paint another small pumpkin. And craft time was supposed to be for her...

Here she is with her masterpieces. We have one more small pumpkin and I am rooting for another spider for our porch. :)

Craftiness

As soon as we moved into our new house, I knew we needed to get Adele's room set up right away. I wanted it to be her own space - comfortable, safe, with her own things.

Eventually, Henry will also be in that room. I'm not totally sure how, since they seem to wake each other up if they sleep in the same room...but eventually they will share that room. Though Henry's crib is set up in the room, he sleeps in the pack 'n play (or in my bed) in my room for the time being.

I have been very excited to do some painting in the kids' room. I wanted something fun and colors that tied together the crib bedding (green and brown nature theme) with Adele's bedding (blue striped).

I came up with this:

I'm thrilled with the way it turned out. I love the bright colors. And thankful I have a father-in-law who not only enjoys painting, but is also really good.

So then I wanted to do something in their room with the alphabet. I'm not sure why, but it seemed like a good nursery/toddler thing to do. After doing some pinterest-ing, I found these free printables that I absolutely fell in love with. (http://www.thehandmadehome.net/freebies/)

I printed them on shiny thick paper, cut them out and rounded the corners, and taped them down to this foam board that I found at Hobby Lobby. After framing it in with ribbons, they were ready to go.

And here is the final product. I love how the muted colors of the alphabet go well with the brightness of the room.

Perspectives

I'm not sure I've ever realized how much complaining and gratitude go hand-in-hand. Or rather, where one is present, the other is absent.

When we complain about something, it highlights the fact that we are not grateful for the current situation. And when we are grateful, we surely aren't complaining.

And I REALLY never realized how much this has to do with perspective.

Last night I went to a small gathering where a girl shared her story. Like me, she has an almost-7-month old baby boy. Unlike me, her pregnancy was full of complications - bleeding, hospital visits. And the result of it all was a smiley, happy baby boy...who has spina bifida. The gal who shared is an exercise fitness instructor. Her husband is equally as active. The two of them spend their free time rock climbing, bike riding, hiking, etc.

As the girl shared her heart with the rest of us, she spoke of real emotions like anger, confusion, resentment, fear, and most of all, sadness. The sadness was first for herself and her husband, but now her sadness extends to her son and for the difficulties he will face and obstacles he will have to overcome.

There was not a dry eye in the room when she finished sharing.

Of course, her story didn't end with her son being born with a disability. She continued to talk about her love for her son and the small signs of hope he shows with the progress he makes.

One thing struck a chord with me.

Perspectives.

This girl strives to live a life of gratitude. It was inspiring. She talked about how tough it is to hear people complaining about the amount of playing time their kids get in sports, when hers will not ever participate in regular sports. Others complain of even smaller things, and her son may never even walk.

However, his girl said as tough as it is to hear people complaining about what seems like trivial matters to her, she has realized she can't blame them. Or change them. They don't have her perspective. They don't know what her situation is like; they don't have her perspective on life.

Instead, this young mother spoke of all the things she was grateful for. There are many people who can't even get pregnant. Others who know the heartache of a miscarriage. (And, she joked, some who simply want a date!)

Gratitude vs. complaining. She has chosen to be grateful.

I know that my perspective in life is unique to me. My hope is that I can use my perspective to reflect an attitude of gratitude, and not one of complaining.

Pretend birthdays

Since February, Adele seems to think that just about every other day is her birthday. I'm not totally sure where it came from, but I did think she'd grow out of it by now.

Often her birthday pops up in conversation when she's particularly happy. She'll mention the fact that her birthday party is coming up, or that she had a birthday yesterday, or that later today it will be her birthday. She's usually 4 years old at that birthday party too.

Adele is starting to figure out that in November she will turn 3 years old...but that hasn't totally stopped the comments of today being her birthday.

The birthday even pops up in random conversations at the grocery store. Last week we passed another mom with her young daughter in the cart. The little girl and Adele struck up a conversation about birthdays after the mom and I figured out that her daughter just turned 3 and mine was almost 3. The other little girl invited Adele to her birthday party (which took place a few weeks ago). Adele responded by saying she too was having a party "today" (I explained it would be in November) and that she is "4 years old" (I had to clarify she would be turning 3).

It's especially confusing for her when it really is someone else's birthday. This has happened many times since February - it will be a family member's birthday and we'll call them to wish them happy birthday, and Adele will expect them to wish her a happy birthday in response. If that person doesn't happen to wish her a happy birthday (obviously), Adele gets a sad face and says to me "but so-and-so didn't wish me a happy birthday" and I have to explain to so-and-so that it's Adele's birthday today too.

Last week, David's parents came to visit. Since we won't see them again until Christmas, they brought birthday presents for her and we held a "pretend birthday" for Adele last weekend. Adele was thrilled to have cupcakes and have people sing "happy birthday" to her and open gifts.

Today we finished off the last of the cupcakes and Adele waited to eat hers until David and I agreed to sing her "happy birthday" again. And when we started to sing, she stopped us and asked for a candle to blow out at the end of the song.

That girl loves her birthdays.

Here are some pictures of the pretend birthday and a few others of our time with Nanny and Popa Hille.

Getting ready for her gifts

Blowing her candles out

Trying out her new birthday gift

Helping Nanny paint her bedroom

 Popa teaching Henry to crawl

Reading books with Nanny

Henry vs. the bulldog

Henry is 6 months old today. I can't believe how quickly time flies, etc,...yada yada yada.

But seriously, it does.

Henry is now a pro at sitting up by himself (unless he turns to watch Adele too much and topples over). I never thought he'd be content just sitting, since all he does most of the time is try to move - bounce, crawl, you name it. However, I think he likes the independence he feels when he sits by himself.

And it doesn't mean he isn't trying to crawl anymore - he is getting so close!! He can scoot around, and now spends plenty of time up on all fours rocking as he tries to inch forward.

Henry now has more teeth as well. But not his top teeth - of course not, Henry has three bottom teeth and working on his 4th bottom teeth. If we could teach him to stick out his chin he might look like this:

Here are a couple of (cuter) pictures of what Henry actually does look like. As always, see facebook for more pictures from the last month!

Love you Henry!

Dinnertime!

There were evenings, long ago, when dinnertime was relaxing. Dull, some might say.

When David and I lived in Costa Rica, we had many nights during the off-season where it was a quiet time, just the two of us. We would take our dinner and sit in front of the TV, and casually watch while we chatted the whole evening. We had many quiet evenings, entertaining each other by coming up with interesting conversation topics - ranging from visions and dreams for the future of QERC to gremlins.

Times have changed.

We have two very different children, and both equally demanding and, well...loud during dinner.

On one side we have Adele. She's never been a big eater, and always been fairly picky. It is simply the best when she will surprise us and eat an entire meal. Half the battle is getting her to try the food. These days she is completely obsessed with eating crackers before nap and bed, so a consequence for not trying the food on her plate is going without crackers for the day. (Funny how it works, too. Over crackers.)

On the other side we have Henry. Equally as noisy, but in a different way. That little chubbers is obviously not lacking in food, and yet still can't seem to get enough. We have introduced solids simply because he was acting so desperate to get the food off our plates. As to be expected, he's done well.

The bonus of Adele not eating much as a baby was not having to clean up a huge mess. I really dislike messy eating. And Henry is messy.

Henry actually wants food so badly that if I'm not quick enough with the spoon, he results in sucking on his high chair.

Anyone who would ever think of our quiet dinners in Costa Rica as dull is a fool. I would probably describe an evening like that as peaceful. Or glorious.

Or heavenly.