Fun Times

Our little friend Eli had his 1st birthday party this weekend. Jeremiah helped pick out a small gift for him and was taught an important lesson in giving to others.

Jeremiah watches Eli eat his cupcake. Yum!

Nathaniel chills out with Katie.

Jeremiah and Levi play ball in the kitchen.

Aaron took Jeremiah to see the new Veggie Tales movie in the theater. It seems like he had a good time and is talking a lot this morning about seeing the veggies on a big screen.

A Bath in the Sink

Nathaniel is at that in between age where bathing is getting abit tricky. He is too big for the little baby seat that fits in the sink but too small yet to be in the big tub (especially with such an exuberant older brother). So for now he sits in the sink while I try to hold his slippery, wiggly little body and get him clean at the same time. Jeremiah has entered a real "helping" phase and so feels the need to be a part of the evening ritual as well.

Nathaniel adores his big brother.

I love how this picture shows the expression on his face whenever his brother is around. He constantly watches Jeremiah and usually always smiles when he hears Jeremiah's voice.

Jeremiah helps wash Nathaniel.

The look on Nathaniel's face translated: "This is fun right?"

Trying so hard

Nathaniel has finally decided that it is time to try and start rolling over. This acrobatic feat involves him sticking his legs directly up in the air, throwing them to one side, and then letting his body roll in the direction of his feet. The action stops there as this little laid back guy then seems perfectly content to lay on his side and see what he can see. One thing I am learning about Nathaniel, he is not really in a hurry for anything and will do what he wants to do in his own time.

Exersaucer

Finally

About 7 years ago our church started building a new sanctuary. Our church leadership was committed to not going into debt to build our new building and so for the past 7 years we have been adding to the new building one step at a time as money was available. Yesterday we celebrated God's goodness and faithfulness as we worshipped in our new sanctuary for the first time!

There will be some things to get used to. I am used to being in a smaller building which tends to lead to more of a feeling of closeness. You were forced to sit next to people (because of the limited number of seats) and it was almost impossible to avoid visiting after church because everyone had to exit through the same small foyer. Yesterday I realized that building and continuing relationships is going to take a concerted effort in the new building. Now that there are so many seats available people naturally tended to spread apart. I also realized that due to the size of the building I didn't really stop to make conversation on my way out the door.

It felt abit weird to be attending a Highlands worship service in such a nice, clean new building. Part of me missed the old overhead projector. And it was kinda strange to see Travis walking around with one of those head microphones. And I am not sure how long Travis will be able to keep people from bringing their coffee into the sanctuary, some habits are just too hard to break. But I loved being able to go feed Nathaniel in the "cry room" at the back of the sanctuary where I could actually sit on a chair, watch the service through the one-way window, and hear the service on the speaker.

But having a larger sactuary and using our old sanctuary for Awana's and fellowship events will help us reach out to the community more. So my hope is that as we enjoy this new building our congregation will retain its distinct family feel that is what drew me to this church in the first place.

Celebrating January Birthdays

Jeremiah enjoys being with Uncle Chad & Aunt Cherise again.

Caleb & Moni

Moni poses with Nathaniel

The birthday ones

Another family picture

Jeremiah plays cool. Aunt Cherise teaches Jeremiah hand motions to add to the coolness.

Yum Yum Yum. Chocolate cake!

Lullaby

I have stumbled upon a naptime routine that helps Nathaniel go to sleep quickly and deeply. Since I have never been able to let my babies cry themselves to sleep Nathaniel needs me to nurse him abit then hold him before transferring him sound asleep to his crib. He is such a good baby that this process doesn't take much more than 10 to 20 minutes but sometimes I resent the extra time it takes to do this. Usually the resentment occurs when other things (or another child) are calling for my attention or when I am longing for quiet in the house so I can get a few minutes to myself.

But in the past couple of days I have started using those few quiet moments to pray for Nathaniel and just enjoy those few fleeting moments with him. I have also been playing a CD in the background, Sleep Sound in Jesus by Michael Card. The lullabies are quiet, soothing, and contain loving, Biblical lyrics. Yesterday the lyrics of one song struck me in the honest expression of how I feel about my children.

Wordless Ones

In Your loving arms we lay

This wordless one so new

The incarnation of our love

We dedicate to You

-

Hopeless, yet so full of love

We make our solemn vow

Not knowing when the time will come

Not even knowing how

And though it seems we try to make

A promise that is true

We really only claim for them

The Promise that is You

-

The holy sleep which falls so deep

A blessing from above

Will now embrace our little one

In simple trusting love

We offer You this child

Who's only ours for just awhile

How could we keep it back from You

When you gave your only child?

-

In Your loving arms we lay

This wordless one so new

The incarnation of our love

We dedicate to You

Small Accomplishments

Yesterday was a day of small accomplishments that left me feeling more positive and like life can have some sort of order again.

I know these pictures can't be seen as difinitive proof so you will just have to take my word for it that when I took these both boys were napping at the same time!

We took out the play-doh and Jeremiah had a blast. Together we wrote his name. The first thing he asked for this morning was his play-doh.

I was also able to balance the check book, pay the bills, vacuum the floor, and do some work for MCC. I was even awake enough last evening to stay up and watch some of the New Hampshire primary results. And for the 3rd night in a row Nathaniel slept for 11 hours straight!

Everyday Life

Some quick pictures and notes from our daily lives, now that we are trying to regain some level of normalcy. :-)

Nathaniel is determined to watch tv. It almost doesn't seem to matter what we do. If the tv is on he finds a way to watch it. This morning I thought I had him in a position where there was no way he could see the tv while Jeremiah was watching Sesame Street. I was doing some work at the computer and turned to see that Nathaniel had indeed figured out how to position his head so he could watch Elmo as well. I fear for the development of his brain. :-)

On a positive note we had another night of uninteruppted sleep from 8:30pm until 5:00am! Yippee!!!!

I have been reading chat room discussions lately about how playpens are horrible and act as jails for babies. Well. All I have to say is that we love having some playpen time in this house. It gives Nathaniel plenty of room to practice his kicking and almost rolling skills while at the same time keeping him out of the reach of a well intentioned but sometimes overzealous older brother. Plus, where else would I pile all of Nathaniel's toys at night when I try and clean up the living room a little bit?

Sunday was Aunt Moni's birthday! We gave her a call to give her our birthday greetings and Jeremiah wanted to talk to her too. He really is quite the conversationalist when it comes to phone calls. Or maybe I should put it this way, he does all the physical parts of a phone call like holding the phone, nodding his head, walking around the house (that is what I do) but he will only talk by saying "Yes" to questions posed to him. :-)

But, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Moni! Moni is a great sister-in-law. I always appreciate her communication and interest in our lives. Her quick emails have encouraged me many times and I am thankful for our relationship not only as sisters but as sisters in Christ.

Completely Overwhelmed

It is Monday morning after almost a month of vacation. Aaron has left for work and I find myself sitting at the dining room table staring into space. Piles of mail lay before me. Piles of clean and dirty clothes that need to be sorted lay around the house. A to-do list for MCC has been started. A to-do list of household responsibilities (pay bills, make weekly menu, balance checkbook etc.) has been started. Two children with their different needs and schedules await my attention. The floor needs to be vacuumed, the dishes loaded, the yard raked.

I don't even know where to begin.

How can I be a good wife, mother, friend, and employee?

On mornings like this I start to despair. I want to just crawl into a cave somewhere and hibernate. This morning I am pushing back panic (and exhaustion) and trying to focus on just one thing at a time.

Breathe, Sarah, breathe.

I will finish my lists and sort things into piles. I will work on one thing at a time and not beat myself up for not finishing everything on all of my lists in one day.

I will put on praise music and ask God to grant me joy as I go about the day.

I will take to boys outside today since it is supposed to be in the 70's and sunny!

I will enjoy the LSU vs. Ohio football game tonight.

I will trust God to give me the strength and energy that I need to do the work that He has called me to do.

Jet Lag & Changes

Yesterday was a good day. We kept Jeremiah on his normal schedule and had to wake him from his afternoon nap. He seemed very tired at his normal bedtime so we went for it and crossed our fingers.

5:00am we hear rustling and talking from the boys room. Jeremiah is awake. His body is telling him it is 11:00am. He will not go back to bed. Aaron decides to get up too.

Nathaniel wakes up for his early morning feeding but is thankfully back asleep.

Today we will skip Jeremiah's nap. It may make him abit whiny this afternoon but hopefully will eliminate the need to wake in the wee hours of the morning.

--

We have made some changes since coming home. I know that all the parenting books say not to make changes in a child's routine or whatever when there are already changes in the air. But we have found that since our kids are experiencing some upheaval anyway we may as well get it all over at once.

Change number 1: the reappearance of the baby monitor on my bedside table. The boys are sharing a room as we try and get Nathaniel to sleep in his crib. It is going alright. He doesn't nap for very long in there but so far the night sleep seems about the same. The major challenge with this arrangement is figuring out how to get both boys down for the night without them waking each other up. Last night as we were going to bed Aaron said, "This feels strange." I asked him what he was talking about. "There are no kids in our room." He's right. A year ago we found out I was pregnant and we have had a baby in our room with us since. :-)

Change number 2: the highchair has made a reappearance in our dining room and Nathaniel joins us for dinner at the dinner table. He seems to really enjoy being at the table with us and last night ate his dinner with great gusto. Jeremiah thinks it is funny to have Nathaniel eating with us.

Final Pics from NL

I found the USB cord! So here are some final pictures of our wonderful vaction.

A family picture. It has changed a little bit since the last family picture about 1 1/2 years ago. God continues to bless our family. It was so amazing to have some time to catch up with everyone enjoying the every day moments as well as the special moments and deep conversations.

Below: The series of pictures below are of the train ride that opa took Jeremiah on the last night of our stay in the Netherlands. I think Jeremiah had a good time and I am assuming that opa did too. :-)

Below: Going Home

Jeremiah liked playing with the payphone in the airport. It kept him busy and in one place! In this picture he is talking to mama and telling me about going on the airplane.

Here we are on the airplane ready to go home. Again all the flight crew commented on how well behaved the children were. God is good and has given us children who so far have proven to be natural travelers.

Home Again

We are back.

We are exhausted.

We had a great plane trip yesterday. Both boys did great with Jeremiah even managing to calm down long enough to lay down and take a nap. We left opa and oma's house at 6:30am dutch time and pulled into our own driveway at 12:30am dutch time, that's a long day! Jeremiah promptly requested to be put to bed and Aaron and I were in bed by 8:30. We all had a good 10 - 12 hours of sleep. I am hoping we can keep today on as normal a schedule as possible so that we can get our body clocks set right again.

There is much to be done so we are just taking it all one thing at a time.

We had such a great trip with so many special memories and I am sure in the next few days I will start processing it more. But for right now despite how much we miss everyone it does feel good to be back in our home.

Oh yeah, I was going to post pictures of Jeremiah in the airplane on the way home, but I can't find our USB cable. It is probably still sitting up on dad's desk......

More New Years Fun

Papa and Jeremiah on Liedseplien

Jeremiah eats his first "oliebol"

Mama & Nathaniel watch the iceskaters

Uncle Ben & Jeremiah watch some pretty fireworks.

Jeremiah iceskates!

Papa & Nathaniel in the cafe.

I forgot that on New Year's Eve afternoon we went into Amsterdam with the boys. We met Ben at his and Ramona's apartment which is just a short walk from one of the main squares in Amsterdam. In the wintertime Liedseplien is lit with extra lights for Christmas and there is also the iceskating rink. On New Years there are also vendors selling the traditional Dutch "olliebollen". Jeremiah had a blast looking at everything and being part of the action on the square. We met up with my aunt & uncle and their 3 girls as well as Ramona and warmed up with some great coffee in a cafe on the square. It was a fun evening and I am glad that Jeremiah had a chance to experience the city that holds so many memories for me.

Happy New Year

There really is nothing like celebrating old and new, as the Dutch call it, in the Netherlands. It is a holiday that the Dutch celebrate with much enthusiasm and style. There is lots of good food and drink. But the highlight of the night is when the clock strikes 12, the champagne bottles pop open, and the fireworks start to fly. Almost every neighborhood and street is alive with the blasting of fireworks and it is a wonder to behold. We woke Jeremiah up at about 11pm and went over to some friends of my parents. We were not disappointed. For the better part of an hour we watched fireworks of all kinds being launched into the air. Jeremiah loved it!

Happy New Year wishes to all. We pray that 2008 is filled with God´s grace, peace, and blessing. We are of course hoping that 2008 is a bit calmer for our family than 2007 was! Hee Hee.