Dear Evie,

It is wise, generally speaking, to not quickly turn your head as I'm trying to kiss your cheek. Because then, somehow, I simultaneously kiss your slobbery open mouth and poke you in the eye with my nose. And then you cry.

So don't do that.

Glad we could clear that up.

Love,
Mom

It's better to just avoid it altogether

We were on the way to my folks' house this afternoon to eat dinner and it just so happened that one of my mom's friends was eating dinner with us tonight, too. In the car, on the way there, I was reminding the boys to use their manners. "Remember to say 'yes, ma'am' and 'no ma'am' and look her in the eye when you are talking or when she's talking to you. And don't forget to say 'Hello, nice to meet you' when she gets there."

Zachary, worried that he might forget his manners, said, "Mama, I just won't talk at all."

My new reads

I've updated my "blogroll" as I like to do from time to time, and as I also like to do, here's a post highlighting some of my new additions.

I'm sure I'm the last in the bloggy world to be reading Kelly's Korner, but in my defense, I've been reading her since she had Baby Harper back in January. It's a fun blog and she seems to be a sweet Southern girl. She also has a "bow head" baby, which I enjoy. I secretly study Harper's bows and outfits when she posts new pictures. Kelly also has an amazing heart for God and for women who are struggling with infertility, have a sick child or are wanting to be married but haven't found the right guy. She also keeps a prayer blog for those that send her prayer requests.

I ran across The Chronicles of Wendy several weeks ago while looking up some stuff about the Miracle Blanket. She was one of 30 moms participating in a contest for MB, and I found her blog then. Coincedentally, she's got a little boy born the day after Evie, so I love reading about what's going on with them. She's also very real about life and she's hilarious. I don't know how many people read her blog regularly, but it should be many many more.

Finally, my dearest and oldest friend has started a blog, Memories and Meanderings. If I were 15, I'd say she's my BFF, but I'm not, so I'll just say she's pretty awesome (although, in a few more years, I'm not sure I'll be able to handle the word "awesome" either). She's got 2 precious little girls very close in age to Marc-Adam and Evie that she blogs about. I love being able to keep up with their goings-on this way since I can't be part of their daily life due to our geographical distance. My friend's also in her last year of seminary and shares a bit of her wisdom in that area....which is good, because I'm sure she's tired of me e-mailing her or calling her and saying, "What do you think about this???" I'm glad we have the opportunity to keep up with each other's blogs, because the e-mails and phone calls never seem like enough. Anyway, she's new to the whole blogging thing, so go on over and show her some love.

Do you have any blogs that I should be reading, but don't have listed in my sidebar?

Science AND faith

This morning, the boys and I were reading a book about the solar system. We read about how the universe was formed and how the sun came to be. The book talked about the gases compressing and exploding and all the scientific ways it came to be and I asked the kids what they thought caused all that to start happening. Stephen said that "God caused it because he got all the stuff together and squished it together in his hands (because his hands are HUGE!) and then let it all go and there was the solar system".

:)

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Baptism

Genevieve was baptized yesterday. It's such a wonderful occasion to welcome a baby in to a congregation and into the body of Christ. We just love our church family so much and we are often overwhelmed by their love for us.

On to the pictures.

I got this one of the 4 of them before we left for church. The best picture I've gotten of all 4 of them since Evie was born.

Our sweet girl in her baptism dress.

I joked that this one looked like my 3 little convicts all ready for their court date.

The baptism.

A verse of the song the congregation sings to each child being baptized. I also sing it to the kids quite a bit at home.

The pastor and our family.

And this is what Sweet little Genevieve did to her baptism dress five minutes before the baptism. It's also the reason why she's wrapped in an ugly blanket for the actual baptism and why she's in different clothes for the pictures afterward (including the one just above with the pastor).

Other than the huge blow-out, she did great. We had lunch with our family afterward and it was really just a wonderful day. I think our church really needed that yesterday since a beloved member of our church passed away this week and his funeral was today. Many people told me how wonderful the baptism was and it was just what they needed to help with their sadness. For me it was a great reminder of God's promises and that not even death will separate us from His love.

I can't wait to see what plans God has for our little Evie. All I want for Evie, and for all of our children, is for her to love God and to want to serve Him with all her being. Yesterday was just the beginning.

The world according to Zachary

Zachary has said some really cute things lately....the other day he was telling me about his love for "butterskwatch". I had no idea what he was talking about until he said something about them being like chocolate chips and then it hit me...he loves butterscotch.

He also loves "TV screens" that he eats once in a while at his grammy's house, which are actually very much like the meals that you heat up in the microwave and eat while watching TV....TV dinners.

And the other day he came to me wearing a bead necklace (like the mardi-gras kind) over his ears and told me that he was a little old lady. I guess the necklace was supposed to be like the things that ladies attach to the glasses so they can wear them around their neck. The next day, he used a water blaster/pump thingy as a cane and pretended to be a little old man, complete with a hunched-over walk and sound effects.

This morning, he requested a banana snoozie for breakfast.

Finally, this last thing isn't so much something cute that he did, but something that made him my hero. For a week, I've been looking for my driver's license, insurance card and discount cart that I last had in the back pocket of my jeans. The sad thing is that I've driven, been to the doctor AND been shopping when I could've been using the discount card. Anyway, this morning, Zachary caught my attention by saying, "Hey Mom, look what I found!" The discount card! I asked him where he found it and if he found any other cards....he came back a minute later with my driver's license and insurance card. They had fallen in between the footboard and comforter when I laid my jeans over the footboard (that's what I get for not putting my laundry away). I called him my hero and gave him a huge hug. He walked around with a huge grin on his face for an hour after that. He's such a sweet boy!

I really do love my children

I've recently started feeling kinda guilty about our choices of names for our kids. Don't get me wrong, we love the names and we feel we chose the right name for each child, but we didn't exactly make it easy on them.

I think Zachary is the only one that has a semi-common name with a very common spelling. However, there has been a handful of times since he was born that someone has spelled it Zachery (Although, to me, that spelling changes the pronunciation into something silly).

Stephen has to spell his name wherever he goes. Even when people get the "ph" right, sometimes they still misspell it Stephan.

Marc-Adam....well, let's just forget the hyphen for just a second. Even if that was a concept that everyone could understand, the spelling of Marc still throws people off. And people still call him just Marc. Which is weird to me. Add in the hyphen and I wouldn't blame the child if he hated me when he was older.

And poor Evie. Her name is more often mispronounced than pronounced correctly. We've gotten Geneva, Guinevere, Geneve....it's a beautiful name, just not common enough for people to understand.

The problem with giving names that aren't terribly common is that many people have no idea how to pronounce or spell them.

What have I done?

Ya shoulda seen the other guy

So by now, most of you have heard about the nasty fall Marc-Adam took on Monday. He fell off the bunk bed ladder that he's not supposed to be on. He hadn't climbed on it in a while, but he made the attempt again and quickly learned why I won't let him on it. He fell and busted his head on the nightstand.

So here's the battle wound.

If you look closely, you can see the huge bruise all the way around the cut. This is actually two days after it happened. We took him to the ER and they fixed him up with some Dermabond. It looks a ton better in this picture than it did the day it happened.

He then started throwing up on Tuesday so back to the ER we went. It's unrelated to the fall. He's still dealing with a nasty tummy bug and as a result I've seen things and cleaned up things in these last few days that I wish to never think of again. *shudder*

And that's why Evie's two month post was late again.

Two months!

Here we are again...Evie's two month post and I'm late again.

So. Our girl is just a dream. Since we've gotten past that six week mark, she's really opened up and mellowed out. Here's what she's up to:

• The smiles are coming freely and sweetly. She's got the most beautiful smile...she grins for a split second and then opens her mouth wide, wrinkles her nose and it's like her whole face is smiling. I'm pretty sure it's just the most wonderful thing to be on the receiving end of her smiles.

• She's a talker. She's been cooing at us for a couple weeks now, and just this week she's started making all different kinds of sounds. This is totally fun for me because none of my boys were this verbal this young. Even as older babies, they were never babblers or made noises just to hear themselves. I can tell Evie will be very verbal....she already is.

• When I'm holding her, but not paying direct attention to her, she'll make little gurgle and cooing noises to get my attention. And then when I look at her, she just grins at me like she's either so happy to see me again, or she's so proud that she controls me that way. :)
  

• She is SO STRONG. She's lifting her head up when she's on her tummy so well and just holds it there. And not only is she bearing weight on her legs already, but she will push up to standing when I sit her on my lap facing me. It's amazing. Oh, and she's turning from her tummy to her back pretty consistently, but I'm sure it's not on purpose.
  

• Sleep is getting to be pretty good. She's napped really really well the last two days, and the last week or so, she's been consistently sleeping 5-7 hours at night, wakes up to eat and then sleeps for another 3-4. I've actually felt more rested this week than I have since before she was born.

• Her 2 month check-up was Tuesday...she weighed 10 lbs, 5 oz and was 22 inches long. I forget what her head circumference was, but she was 50%ile for head, and 25-50%ile for weight and length.

• She likes her swing better these days and she loves to play on her play mat, but her favorite place is in a lap talking and playing with someone. It doesn't matter who, but a person is her favorite toy.

• I really can't find anything to say about her that's not a positive thing. Things are going really great with her these days.
  

So on to our tiara pictures. This month went about as well as last month only this time, I had 3 little helpers to make it better. :)

It's hard to catch her being still.

And the tiara is still too big.

And the funny faces pop out just as the camera takes the picture.

And she still has problems staying upright. :)

But we get halfway decent ones, I guess. It's the best Mommy can do. This one's kind of funny because it looks like she's slightly annoyed at something one of the boys is doing behind me.

July 4th!

These are for those of you that aren't on Facebook (MOM) or that I'm not friends with on Facebook yet.

The best picture I got all day of all 4 kids.


My sweet Evie in her first major holiday ensemble.



The bow I made for Evie, close up. And the bows I made for my cousin's little girl for her piggies.

The fight is over for the sweet baby I had asked you to pray for. He's no longer in pain or struggling. His mama and daddy got 2 precious days they didn't think they'd get with him. And now they begin healing--only with God's help, I can imagine. Thank you for praying for him, and please continue to pray for his mama and daddy and brothers, as well as our church as we begin to mourn the loss of this precious child.

Amazed

The baby I told you about in my last post? Well, he's still fighting. After a few unsuccessful trials at taking him off the machines keeping him alive, they decided to take him off the machines permanently yesterday. They said their goodbyes and no one expected him to live for very long afterward. More than 24 hours later, he's fighting and making improvements the doctors have never seen and can't explain. But we can explain. We have an awesome God.

Keep praying for this sweet baby boy and his family.

Heavy heart

I am burdened tonight with thoughts of a family at our church. I've never really even met them, but my heart is heavy with what they are having to face.

Their third son was born a few weeks ago, and he is very sick. Tomorrow they are having to make some terribly difficult decisions.

We are praying for a miracle.

Please pray with me. I don't feel comfortable sharing too many details since I don't know them personally, but God knows.

And I know God is big enough to change this situation.