Our Weekend in Pictures

Saturday morning: helping Daddy clean up the yard.  All those pesky pugs lying around need to be moved! 

Taking a walk with a friend Saturday night in downtown Campbell at the Christmas festival

Sitting on a police motorcycle at the festival.  Tommy wanted to drive it.  He actually talked to the police officer, which I was very surprised at because he is normally too shy to talk to adults.  But police officers are just that cool.

Snow!  The Boy Scouts had a small hill of snow set up that kids could sled down. The boys loved it! 

Christmas season tradition: Sunday night we loaded the kids up with hot chocolate and drove around town looking the Christmas lights.  Tommy says, "Oh look Daddy, more Christmas lights!!" while Ben says "Big big lights!"  We saw this incredible house along the way.  It's like the Griswold house, but with elegance.

Why the New Blog?

We've had several homes for our blogs over the years - first we were on Blogger, then on Typepad.  When we got our Macs, we decided to switch to the blogging application called iWeb, that came with our computers, and so that's where our blog settled for about 2 years.  However, we started building up a list of grievances with that application, but still stuck with it because it wasn't bad enough to switch blogs again, and it was nice to have an application that worked with our other media applications (like iPhoto).


But this past weekend was the final straw when iWeb refused to publish our blog.  It would just shut down every time I tried to publish.  There is no fix for it that we can find, so this finally pushed us over the edge to find a new home for our blog.  So we compared blogging sites and decided that Blogger was the spot for us.  Good thing, too, since it's completely free!  


One major benefit of Blogger is that we can print a book of our blog.  This means that our blog can become the journal of our life that we can keep as a book.  This also gives me motivation for keeping our blog up to date, since it will serve as our family history.


I hope you'll check in with us often!

Ben at 22 Months

Photo courtesy of Tommy

You turned 22 months on December 1st; that's just two months away from your 2nd birthday!  You are developing quite a little personality and your vocabulary has exploded in the past few days.


Some of your favorites:
Color - Green.  Everything is green to you, and if I ask you what color you want in something, you'll say "Bean!"

Book - Goodnight Moon.  This has been your favorite book for months now. You also like the Gossie series by Olivier Dunrea. You won't sit through too many other books. 
Food - You still love all things meat, but you are starting to eat some vegetables. Just today at lunch you ate all the sliced baby tomatoes on your plate!
Shows - Bambi.  You only watch about 30 minutes of TV a day, a few times a week, but you are in love with Bambi right now.
Toys - Anything that builds. You enjoy Legos, wooden blocks, and anything you can stack otherwise.  Daddy thinks you're going to be an architect when you grow up.


Some new words/phrases:
"No, no, Mommy!" (I'm not liking this new phrase)
"This?" - as in, "What is this?"
"No, mine!"
"Hi, Mo-mo!" - Hi, Nemo


You are cruising slowly into the Terrific Twos and I'm happy to say that this time, I'm one step ahead of the game!  I remember from my Terrific Experience with Tommy that this is a relatively short phase that we both have to get through, so that you can be a joyful and obedient child by the time you reach your third birthday.


You are generally obedient (thanks to early training), but a few times a day you'll decide you want to do things your own way and will throw a fit, complete with red-faced kicking, screaming, and rolling around on the floor.  Case in point: The other day we were at a friend's house and you purposely spilled your juice on the floor because you didn't want to sit down on the chair to drink it like I asked.  I did what I normally do when you spill and handed you a towel to clean it up, but you refused. I gave you a few chances and minor chastisement, but still you resisted.  So we paid a visit to the bathroom for a formal chastisement and then returned to the spill. Still you resisted.  We went back to the bathroom and again returned to the spill. Finally you wiped the spill!  It was a ten minute ordeal, but well worth the effort if it meant that you learned that tantrums don't get you anywhere.


Back to happy things...you are "all boy", as some like to say.  You love to climb as high as you dare and you dare to jump off of things as high as 3 feet tall.  You are also learning to climb more challenging venues - just this morning I found you sitting on top of counter in the kitchen and I have no clue how you got there.  You can climb things on the playground that your big brother doesn't dare do yet.  You like to wrestle, though you have a hard time finding a willing partner.


You are a very social boy. You are attracted to other children, even if they are considerably older than you, and you try to talk to them and get them to play with you.  You make me smile and laugh about 128 times a day.  :)


Some boring stuff, so Mommy can reference in the future: 
Shoe size: 6.5
Shirt size: 3T
Pants size: 2T

Decking the Halls

We put up our Christmas tree up last night, after much anticipation from the boys.  Tommy and Ben were so excited to have Grandpa, Grandma, and Great-Grandma join us for the event.  This was the first year that they were halfway helpful putting the ornaments on the tree and seemed to understand the concepts of fragile and gentle.  They enjoyed looking at each new ornament they unwrapped from the big box and finding a place for it on the tree.

 

We have a system that seems to work for us where we place unbreakable ornaments on the bottom part of the tree (at kid-eye-level) and put the fragile ones up higher.  We also have a "one-finger" rule, which always takes a few days of heavy enforcement.

After we finished decorating the tree and drinking our warm apple cider, Grandma, Grandpa, and Great-Grandma joined us for our first Sunday of Advent celebration, with candle-lighting, songs (kid songs and traditional carols), Bible reading, and more songs.  It was amazing to have four generations of our family gathered to worship God and join in the anticipation of Christ's birth.

Flashback from December 2006 

Beach Friday

One of the wonderful things about creating a new family is being able to create your own traditions.  Traditions are a thing of trial-and-error; sometimes you try something that seems like fun and turns out to be a disaster that you never want to repeat.  But sometimes you try something new that seems like a fun idea and actually is a lot of fun.  That’s what happened today.

Instead of herding out the door this morning at 5am to take part in the American phenomenon of Black Friday, we decided to pack up our Thanksgiving leftovers and head to Monterey.  I had just been there two weeks ago with some friends and had such a great time that I wanted to go back with my family soon.  So the Friday after Thanksgiving seemed like a great time. 

So this morning we headed to our bagel shop for breakfast (another tradition - we always go there on the morning that we head out for a family adventure) and then drove southwest to the beach.  It was foggy, rainy, and cold, but we decided to go anyway.  One of the things we love about road trips is that it gives us time to talk during the day that we don’t normally have with kids around.  So we had great conversation while the kids listened to books on CD piped in the back of the car.

We drove down 17-Mile Drive and stopped at lots of beaches along the way.  The kids had a good time climbing on rocks, exploring sandy nooks, finding iridescent shells, and chasing seagulls.  Then we had a picnic lunch of Thanksgiving leftovers - Thanksgiving wraps (mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, and cranberry sauce), nuts, pumpkin pie, and cookies.  By this time we were chilled to the core and decided we’d had enough beach and it was time to head home.  We tucked the kids into their car seats with their blankies and headed to town to find some hot chocolate.  Ben fell asleep almost the moment we got back on the road, so only Mark, Tommy and I got to enjoy it.

What a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving weekend...making great memories with our family while being filled with wonder at God’s glorious creation of the ocean.  I can’t wait to have Beach Friday again this time next year.

Tommy's 3rd Birthday

Tommy turned 3 this weekend!  As in previous years, we decided to keep gift-giving to a minimum and so came up with other ways of making his day special.  On Thursday night we went to the grocery store to pick out his “Special Happy Birthday Cereal” (his words).  He chose Cap’n Crunch Berry.  Sugary cereals are a rarity in this house, so this was a huge treat to him.  When he woke up on Friday morning (his  birthday) the first thing he said was “Is it time to eat my Special Happy Birthday Cereal?”  So we got right down to business and munched away on our partially hydrogenated treat.

After breakfast it was time for a Mommy-Tommy date.  We went to Peet’s to get a kids’ hot chocolate and a pumpkin spice latte for Mommy, another rare treat for  both of us.  Then we went Barnes & Noble to pick out a Happy Birthday Book.  Despite many good book suggestions (dare I say ‘pleadings’), he picked out a ‘junk food’ book that contained four pages of holographic images about trucks.  Sigh.  But it was his birthday, so the book was his choice.

After the bookstore, we headed home for a hot dog and french fry lunch (Tommy’s choice of foods).  Mommysettheovenonfire* so we ended up going to a local hot dog joint instead.  Tommy got a hot dog and a WHOLE bag of chips to himself, another big treat, as the boys normally split a small bag of chips.

After a long nap time, it was time for dinner, this time pizza (Birthday Boy’s choice).  After pizza, he opened his present, which was a set of Automoblox.  To say that he loves these cars is an understatement...he is in love with them.

On Saturday we had our family party and got to celebrate Tommy’s birthday with the whole family.  Another part of his gift from us was a fire truck cake that I made.  I made it Friday afternoon and he kept asking to see it in the fridge every 30 minutes.  He was so very happy during his party when it was time to blow out his candles and eat his fire truck cake.  I think Tommy had a great time on both Friday and Saturday, and best of all (from a parent’s perspective), he felt special doing things, rather than getting things.

* The night before, I had put a few sticks of butter to warm up in the still-warm oven, then forgot about them.  So when I preheated the oven to 450 degrees, it caught the butter on fire and made our house billow smoke.  Mark was home and put the fire out with the extinguisher.  The extinguisher left a fine powder all over the house, so the Happy Birthday Parents had to spend nap time cleaning the house.

My Testimony

Autumn’s Testimony
Delivered at Mothering By Heart, Oct. 26, 2009

My Life Before Christ:
Up until recently, my life has always been very easy, where all my plans succeeded and nothing ever went wrong. This made it easy to solve my small problems by myself.

I was raised in Connecticut by a single mom. My mom accepted Christ when I was 4 and we started going to church. I went to a Christian school for kindergarten. I accepted Christ the same year, when I was 5. I don’t remember much about the experience, except that it happened at church. This didn’t turn me into a perfect child, but I did feel the Holy Spirit constantly tugging on my conscience.

I remember feeling horribly guilty every time I did something I knew was wrong, like talking about someone behind their back or telling a lie. I also remember feeling a distinct sense of injustice when another child was being made fun of and would (usually) do what I could to stand up for them. I know that if God’s Holy Spirit were not part of my life, I would have just shrunk into the background and not said anything. I remember praying a lot. I told all my non-Christian friends that they were sinners who needed to be saved by Jesus (I’m sure their parents loved that!) I really loved going to church and to Sunday School.

But as the years went on through elementary school, middle school, and high school, we went to church less and less until finally we never went at all. Then I transferred from my Christian school that I went to until 4th grade to a public school in a new city in 5th grade.

As time went on, I stopped praying and reading my Bible. I wasn’t surrounded by Christians on a regular basis anymore and I found myself mirroring the world’s attitudes instead of God’s commandments. I wasn’t “bad” per se, I didn’t do drugs, drink or party, and I was considered one of the “good girls” of my high school class. But I was very selfish, moody, disrespectful to my mother, and I just always felt unhappy. I remember only having happy days when everything went exactly the way I wanted it, which obviously was very rare. But I still had a pretty easy and uncomplicated life.

I graduated from public high school, went to college, and met my husband during this time. We courted and were married in record time. It was 6 months from the time we first spoke until we were engaged, and 3 more months until we were married.

Our first year was pretty normal as newlyweds. We lived in Connecticut while I finished up my last year of college. I’m sad to say that God was not the center of our lives or the center of our marriage. We prayed now and then, like if someone was very sick, or if we really wanted something, but not much more beyond that. We never sought God’s will or acknowledged that we needed His help. We went to church sporadically but never found a home church while we lived in Connecticut. We had the minor growing pains that all newlyweds have as they learn to live with a new person and learn each other’s quirks.

I graduated college in May 2005 and the same day we started driving our Camry westward to begin our new life in CA. Our second year of marriage brought my pregnancy with Tommy, who will be 3 later this week. Again, our conceiving a child came and went without a hitch and life was pretty good. Having a newborn was a very easy transition for me and I took to motherhood pretty easily.

When Tommy was only 6 months old, we conceived Ben (on purpose), and just a few months later moved to Morgan Hill from Santa Clara and started attending West Hills Community Church the second weekend we were in town.

How Christ drew me in:
It was when we joined West Hills and I starting attending Mothering by Heart that I heard a speaker talk about the huge responsibility we have as parents, and particularly as moms, to teach our children about Christ and to foster in them a relationship with God:

Deuteronomy 6:6: “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

This was the first time I read or heard this passage and it was the first turning point in my life that urged me learn more about God. I felt Him calling me to get to know Him better so that I could teach my children about Him. I knew the first step was to read my Bible, so I began reading through the New Testament, and most of the books I read for the first time in my life.

I started attending Bible study on Wednesday mornings. I read everything I could about how to be a godly mother and wife. Although I read a lot of good advice and learned a lot, it was difficult for me to apply what I learned in every day situations with my kids.

Trials of Having Two Kids:
By this time, Ben was born and now I had 2 children, a 15 month old an a newborn.
I never knew fatigue, frustration, and impatience like I did parenting two children under the age of two. For the first 6 months of Ben’s life, I literally had no free time for myself. This was very difficult for me to deal with. I remember putting one child down for a nap, and then hoping I had enough time for a catnap, would lay down on the couch, only to be woken up 5 minutes later by the other child waking up from his nap.

I was angry all the time, in a bad mood, and my home was definitely not a fun place to be in. I displayed anger and impatience I did not even know I had in me. I was not enjoying my children and I’m sure others noticed my impatience.  I was not living according to the Bible which says in:

James 1:19-20: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

Ephesians 4:2: Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

I definitely was not being humble or gentle, and I wasn’t bearing with my children in love. By this time Tommy was 2, Ben was 9 months old, and I found out I was pregnant with our third child, a huge surprise, and not a good one. I cried for about an hour when I saw that positive pregnancy test. I didn’t know how I was going to deal with three children, especially ones so young and close together when I could barely deal with the two I had.

Just before this point, Mark and I were pretty sure we didn’t want any more than two children and were even thinking of getting a vasectomy. When we found out we were pregnant, we signed up for a vasectomy right away, which we did this past February. I’m ashamed now to think about how I reacted to what I now realize was God’s blessing of another child and an opportunity to rely on Him for all my needs. Instead of leaning on God for all of our needs, we made sure we couldn’t have any more children.

Trusting in God through my trial:
My pregnancy went along smoothly just like my previous two. We heard the heartbeat and saw ultrasounds at 8 and 12 weeks and everything seemed to be going well. But at 16 weeks we lost that baby. My charmed life was over. This was a problem I could not solve on my own. I could not get through this on my own power. This trial literally brought me to my knees. I clung to God and to His Word like I never did before in my life. I told God that I needed His help and could not live without Him.

We were studying the book of James in Wednesday morning Bible study and my memory verse for the day I began to miscarry was from James 1:2:
“Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

I didn’t exactly know what that meant at the time, to consider this trial as ‘pure joy’, but God gave me the grace to do it anyway. He was faithful to fulfill the promise written in James and used this trial to grow me into a more mature Christian. I did not want this experience to go by without learning something from it, so I prayed for God to give me wisdom:

James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

One of the things God taught me was to rely on Him for EVERYTHING. Since then, I have been asking Him for wisdom for every little thing. I ask for daily wisdom and patience with my children and He is faithful to give me the strength to stay calm in even the craziest situations. I remember one day in particular when, in the space of about 2 hours, my 18 month old poured water all over the bathroom floor, stomped in dog poo outside and tracked it all over the house, poured juice out in the grocery store, broke a bowl, which he helpfully tried to put in the sink, and stomped blueberries into the carpet. Eight months ago that would have been enough to send me over the edge, but because of God’s grace I was able to laugh about it all and stay calm.

I ask for wisdom and discernment in my discipline. I even ask for wisdom about how to organize my time at home. Ever since I had children, I couldn't seem to find the time to get everything done I needed to get done: make nutritious meals, keep my house clean, spend quality time with my children. When I asked for wisdom about it, instead of trying to figure it out myself, God led me to a way to organize my daily schedule so that I get everything done and still have time to relax.

Before, when I needed wisdom about a childrearing issue, I would do online research or ask moms on parenting boards what they thought I should do. Now I go to God first and ask Him what He would have me do, and He is faithful to guide me to the right path.

God shows me His faithfulness:
Most recently I came to God for wisdom on how to expand our family. I felt He placed the desire on my heart to have more children which is a miracle itself! Since Mark had had a vasectomy and was against having it reversed, I asked God for wisdom about adoption. I researched adoption and learned all I could about it, but the closer I got to making that first step towards it, the more uneasy I felt about that decision. I felt this was God leading me away from this option.

I still felt strongly that God wanted us to have more children, so I began asking Him earnestly to change Mark’s heart so he would want a reversal. I never talked to Mark about it, but only went to God in prayer. After a few weeks, one day out of the blue Mark told me that he wanted a reversal and that he had even done research about it and had chosen a doctor to do the procedure! Mark’s reversal was 2 months ago and now we are waiting on the Lord to bless us with another child.

Gospel message & Conclusion:
I have no doubt that I accepted Christ when I was 5 years old. He changed who I was. But being so young I did not have the maturity or the support I needed to grow as much as I could have. And so two decades later, God gave me a trial that presented a fork in the road as a follower of Christ. I could have chosen to blame God for my tragedy. I chose to trust Him.

We live in a sad world that we cannot control. Christ is the only way to find true peace. Christ can give you peace. But first you need forgiveness and a relationship with God. I realized that I was a sinner who needed to be saved from God’s judgement when I die.

If you don’t know Christ, there is nothing more important than accepting that His death and resurrection have paid the penalty for all your sins. If you would like to talk to someone about your relationship with God, your table leaders would love to help you. Since realizing that I am nothing without God and cannot do anything without His help, my life has such incredible peace. Every day is a happy day. My happiness flows from this peace and grace that God gives me, not from whether everything is going the way I like it.

Tommy at 33 Months

You are so close to becoming a 3 year old!  In many ways, you are already there.  We’ve noticed an increase in, shall way say, challenging behavior, that lets us know the Terrific Threes are on their way.  


You just started telling stories in the past few weeks.  They go something like this:  Yesterday, I saw the farmer, and he went up the ladder, like this [imitates climbing].  And then he fell down.  And he got a big ow hurt.  And then he went up the ladder, like this, and he fell down.  And then he played trucks.  They’re so entertaining and we can definitely see a lot of your daily life in them!  


Your favorite books:  I’m Dirty!, I Stink!, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!, and Green Eggs and Ham.


Your favorite food:  You’ll eat almost anything except meat and fish.  Your favorites include strawberries, blueberries, cheese, tomatoes, and broccoli. These are things we can put on your plate, look away for 10 seconds, and find them scarfed down. Of course, you also love crackers, pizza, and hot dogs, but what kid doesn’t?


Favorite activities:  Playing legos.  You like to build “tall tall towers” and then carry it around the house to show Daddy and me, at the risk of it being knocked down by Little Brother.  You also like to color with markers and crayons.


New things in your life
We’re working on memorizing simple Bible verses and you’re very good at remembering.  This week’s verse is “Even a child is known by his deeds.”  I explain the verses as best I can in 2-year old terms and I’m hoping someday it will all sink in and help you be a good boy.  


You also have a new Habits Chart.  Each morning after breakfast and each evening before bedtime you have a series of ‘habits’ you complete on your own with very little help from me.  In the morning you clean the table after breakfast, brush  your teeth, use the potty, and then dress yourself.  You’ve always been resistant to learning to dress yourself, but lately you’ve been insisting on doing it, I think because it helps you complete your task on the chart (sounds a lot like Daddy!).  In the evening you clean up your toys throughout the house, brush teeth, use the potty, and put your PJs on.  You seem to really like following a series of ‘habits’ that you can do all on your own.  

You’re also starting to do chores.  Each day you have a chore that corresponds to my own.  While I’m dusting tall furniture, you are dusting the shorter furniture.  You also help with sorting your laundry while I’m folding.  


I can hardly believe you’re almost 3 years old!  In so many ways you still seem like a little toddler, but in many other ways you are a very big boy.  I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of a 3-year old you will be. 

"Mommy, Can I Color?"

Tommy’s latest interest has been coloring.  He lives to color.  As soon as he wakes up for the day and after naps he asks, “Mommy, can I color?”  I usually let him color as often and for as long as he wants because I’m happy he finally has an interest outside wheeled objects.  


Side story about Tommy’s life-long obsession with cars/trucks/trains:  We were at Aunt Cameron’s house the other morning, where because it is a girls’ house, there aren’t many cars lying around.  I kid you not, the boy started driving the Etch-a-Sketch around the floor because the knobs looked like wheels to him.  How’s that for obsessed?  Finally Aunt Cameron took pity on him and pulled out her small stash of cars she keeps on hand for when the boys visit.


Here are some of Tommy’s recent coloring creations:

Church Boys

Here are the boys before we left for church this morning.  I’m just so happy I got them both smiling and looking at the camera...at the same time!

Answered Prayer

Here’s the quick news:  Mark is getting a vasectomy reversal next month, on August 12!!  This means that we can start trying to get pregnant again starting in September! Read on for full details...

Disclaimer:

I know this is a very long post, but I felt I couldn't cut any of the details out without defeating the purpose of it, which is to glorify God. So if you want to read about God's work in my life and how He has changed, uplifted, sustained, and been faithful to our family, keep reading!

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I scarcely even know where to begin. Let me try to begin by telling you about my prayers for the past 5 months since my miscarriage.Not knowing what to pray about at first, I simply prayed that God would give me wisdom and show me what I could learn from the experience.Besides learning the obvious, which is how to care for people going through a miscarriage experience, He began changing my thinking about family size.  He seriously changed my thinking.  


You see, before the fatigue of pregnancy ever graced my body, I always thought I wanted four kids.  It just seemed like a good number.  After we had Tommy, we didn’t even wait three months before decided the little guy was so great that we wanted more.  The plan was to have two children close together, wait a few years, and have two more close together.  


Then Ben came along and my world came crashing down.  I never knew fatigue, frustration, and impatience like I did parenting two children under age two.  For the first 6 months of Ben’s life, I literally had no free time for myself.  I don’t mean I didn’t have time to get a pedicure or browse the bookstore, I mean I couldn’t sit down on the couch for 5 minutes to catch my breath and read a few pages of a book that wasn’t about parenting.  I displayed anger I never even knew I possessed.  As the months wore on, things got a little better.  With God’s help, I took control of my anger and reconciled my lack of free time.  And as the months wore on, the boys got a little more independent and I established a solid routine, life got a little easier, but was still very difficult and energy-draining.  I began thinking that I never wanted children again, because it would only be more of this.  


I went off my birth control pills (long story) and began searching for alternative, non-hormonal forms of contraception.  There wasn’t anything we felt comfortable using, so we began talking about taking permanent measures to ensure we could never get pregnant again.  We talked seriously about a vasectomy, but never felt like it was the right way to go.  Then I got pregnant with Samuel in December and we thought that was the confirmation that a V. was the right thing to do.  We prayed about it now and then, but did not wait for an answer from God that it was indeed the right thing.  That was our first mistake.  


Fast forward to after the miscarriage in March.  I was down to only two children again just when I was beginning to get used to the idea of three children. This is when God started to change my thinking about the burden of children.  I began to pay closer attention to larger families (4+ kids by my definition) at church whose children were polite and well-behaved, and whose mothers did not seem to be the frazzled mess I always envisioned would be the case with so many children.  Mark and I heard a mother and father of four grown, God-fearing children talk about the joys of raising a large family and the harvest of blessings so many children bring later in their lives.  We felt our hearts desperately desiring more children.  


No longer did more children equal messiness, disarray, impatience, less time to ourselves, less ability to buy nice things, a cramped house, and unstable finances.  Now, more children meant relying on God for our needs.  


If we felt we couldn’t emotionally handle more children, that meant we needed to bring our needs to God and ask for help.  If my current children were not behaving in a way that made me want more children, it meant I needed to be more diligent in my discipline, and rely on God for patience and wisdom in this area.  If I was worried more children would mean less free time for myself, I need to change my priorities.  After all, the world tells me that everything is about me...I need me time, I need to do what makes me happy.  But that is not what God tells us.  He tells us that we find our strength in Him alone. He is our rock. He is our fortress. We find our rest in HIM. 


Now that my heart had been changed to want more children, the next step was to figure out where these children would come from.  A reversal was out of the question because Mark had such a traumatic experience with the first surgery.  We briefly, but very seriously, considered adoption.  We talked with families at church who had adopted and thought this was the best route. But this door was closed quickly and I was heartbroken at first, thinking my chances of having more children were gone.  


So I began to pray.  I prayed for miracle to happen in Mark so that we could get pregnant.  I prayed that either his vasectomy would miraculously reverse or that he would change his mind about the surgical reversal.  I prayed like my life depended on it, many times throughout the day.  And God answered my prayers.  


Without me knowing it, Mark started to research reversals and learned everything he could about it.  He even learned about the doctors and narrowed down a short list to contact. When he told me he wanted to get the surgery, I was thrilled, but I can’t say I was surprised.


So now we are getting a reversal.  The surgery is scheduled for next month, August 12, which amazingly is the same week I was due with Samuel and also two days before our 5th wedding anniversary.  It will be done in Oklahoma by a Christian doctor who charges very little for the surgery because reversals are his ministry.  The doctor himself has a very high success rate, and Mark’s reversal is very likely to be successful because the first surgery was done so recently.  The earliest I could possibly get pregnant is probably October, so keep a lookout for a pregnancy announcement!

Summertime!

Summer has officially arrived with the introduction of the home water slide!

Pick-Yer-Own Berries!

Note to self: do not take toddlers berry picking.  Wait until children are old enough to understand the concept of not squeezing the life out of the berry to get it off its stem.


On this glorious Saturday morning we decided to go berry picking at Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville.  We learned a lot about berry picking, mainly that toddlers and berry picking don’t really mix.  Ben spent most of his time picking berries to his heart’s content, most of them unripe, and stuffing them in his mouth as fast as he could.  I counted it lucky when he would actually pick them off the stem, but there were some unlucky occurrences when he picked up discarded berries from the dirt...yuck!

Tommy, bless his heart, was an earnest berry picker, but his technique was really lacking.  He would grab the strawberry and yank with all his might, only to make toddler-sized finger holes in the berry.  No amount of “Look, darling, pinch the stem like this and pull gently....see?”


would change his method.  We didn’t even want to tempt fate by picking the very delicate olallieberries with the boys. [An olallieberry is a cross between a loganberry and a young berry, each of which are crosses between blackberries and other berries...so, very squishy and juicy.]   We decided to just buy a few pints of olallieberries and call it a day.


After our adventure of berry picking, we ate a picnic lunch at a peaceful site on the farm.  They had an old tractor and haystack that the kids enjoyed playing on.  After we ate the food we brought, we indulged in some of the goodies the farm had to offer:  an apple cider slush, a slice of lemon meringue pie, and a slice of olallieberry pie.  A good time was had by all.

A Monday with Daddy

Mark is taking off from work Monday through Wednesday so we can have a stay-cation.  Today was our first day of stay-cation and we had a lot fun this morning.  We ate a donut breakfast at our Cal-Train station and watched the big machines move dirt around.  Tommy and Ben were fascinated watching the excavators, wheel loaders, backhoes, and bulldozers all buzzing around.  I think we’ll be having a lot more weekend breakfasts here over the next few months to watch construction.  


After the boys got their fill of  watching the big machines, we went to the playground to burn off all the sugar they’d just ingested (to be honest, Ben just had a bagel with butter & honey, but it looked enough like the donuts big brother was having that he didn’t protest.)  Both kids ran around the playground climbing, jumping, swinging, sliding, and see-sawing until Daddy said “Time to go to the car wash!”    So off to the car wash we went. 

It’s really so much fun to go through a car wash and watch the kids’ faces as they look at the arms, brushes, and water working on the car. They’re interested, but also a bit unnerved by what is going on just a few inches away from their faces on the other side of their glass.  Despite their slight discomfort, Tommy is always so excited to go through the car wash and this made his morning.  


The boys have loved having Daddy all to themselves today...and I can’t wait to have Daddy all to myself the next two days!

Bunk Beds

This is what we heard Saturday morning, around 6:15am: shuffle.... shuffle... THUMP.... shuffle.... shuffle....WAAAAHHHH!!!  These were the sounds of Ben climbing out of his crib, and then climbing into Tommy’s bed to wake him up.  Ben provided the THUMP, Tommy gave the scream.  Since we had nothing better planned for the day, we thought it was a good time to go get the boys a bunk bed and introduce Ben to the idea of staying in bed.  Ha!


Our trip to Ikea was pretty much what you’d think it would be with two toddlers...exhausting.  Tommy was in a sour mood all day because of the abrupt way he woke up, so he was incredibly whiney, clingy, and not fun to be around.  “Mommy, I want up!”.... “No, Mommy, I want to walk!”... “Waaaaah!”  Ben was a perfect angel.  


We set up the bed later in the afternoon after naps and the boys even helped Daddy put it together.  With their little toy hammers, they banged every square inch of wood they could find, and then some, and put screws in holes for Daddy.  We put Tommy in the top bunk for night time (we were too exhausted to handle bed training this night).  He loved it! 


On Sunday afternoon we took Ben’s crib apart and rearranged the boys’ room.  We put Ben in the bottom bunk for night time and began the training process.  After an hour of constantly popping him back in bed, he finally stayed put and fell asleep.  He only fell out of bed once during the night.  


I’m a bit sad that the crib part of Ben’s life was over so quickly and suddenly, but I have to remember that he’s a quick learner and a quick grower...he’s ready for this new step and he’s taken to his new bed quite well. 

Benji is 16 Months

Benji turned 16 months old today.  At his latest well-child exam two weeks ago, he weighed 25 lbs and was 31.5” tall, both around the 55th %ile.  For the sake of comparison, at the same age Tommy was 29lbs and 35”, over 100% for both height/weight.  He’s totally healthy and is on or ahead of schedule for developmental milestones.


His favorite books are Peek-a-Who?, Moo, Baa, La La La!, and Where’s Baby’s Bellybutton?.  It was last month that he started to bring me books and want to sit in my lap to read them and I’m loving it!  

He says cup (“bup”),  light (“ice”), peekaboo (“pi-boo”), hello (“ra-row”), apple (“appoh”),  up, and mama.  It seems like he really wants to talk but just can’t figure out how to form the words.


He’s using a fork with ease and is just learning how to use a spoon.  He understand how a spoon works, but isn’t quite able to keep the food on it and get it to his mouth, which makes for some messy yogurt and oatmeal sessions!  


Ben loves playing with his big brother and is always mimicking him.  The boys play well together and often go off into their room and play together for up to 30 minutes.  I can hear Tommy saying things like “Ben, want to play in my room?  Want to do cars, Benji?” and off they go.  It’s heartwarming to hear my eldest be so caring with his little brother. 

Buzz Cuts for Everyone

During a lovely outdoor lunch today, Mark and I decided it would be fun to give the boys buzz cuts.  So we did.  In retrospect, I think Ben looks better with longer hair because it balances well with his chubby cheeks...shorter hair makes his cheeks look so big!  The great thing about boys’ hair is that it will be back to ‘normal’ in just a month or so.  


Just looking at their cute little buzz cuts makes me feel summery and ready for a popsicle.

A Day in the Life of Benji...

Feeding himself oatmeal

Conquering Tommy

Handling important financial negotiations

Helping Daddy in the workshop

Eating apple...and spitting it out (favorite past-time)

Sick Boys

The boys were sick with stomach flu since Monday night until Thursday afternoon.  Mark and I also got it, luckily in different shifts so we could take care of the kids.  Even though they were sick, they made for some really cute photo ops.  Everyone is better now, so it’s time to resume normal fun activities!