Guck!

It's the new universal phrase. In John's vocabulary it could mean "dog", "cat", "goat", "pig", "sock", or "balloon". We always knew what he was talking about because he would be looking at or pointing to whatever he was saying. Sometimes he would surprise us and say a few words very clear, but for the most part everything is "Guck."

Picture Post of Toddler John

This post could also be titled "my trip in reverse." I always forget that Blogger posts pictures in a backward order and it takes too much work to think backwards to begin with, so it is what it is!
John loves to fingerpaint! The hand prints on his face are actually the result of my brother putting John's hands on his face, but John did manage to get quite a bit of paint on himself by the end of the experience. I love how he sticks his tongue out to paint!

Ann drops the paint on the paper and John gets to spread it however he wants to!

John and ZuZu were playing tug of war. I was bummed that I didn't video tape it because John was laughing hysterically during the whole thing. ZuZu is really good with John and let him have the rope several times. She was not pulling with all her strength either.

When I would play tug of war with her she was often stronger than me. It was quite the workout to hang on to the rope!

Chris got a pair of handcuffs for his birthday and John had fun playing with them.

Peek-a-boo was a favorite game.

This is where John goes when he has done something wrong! : )

Just kidding. ZuZu is wondering why John is in her bed.

Here is ZuZu. Isn't she so cute!!!

Toes taste yummy!

I don't know what he was doing here, but isn't he cute : )

Happy Birthday to John! He wasn't quite sure about the cake and actually never ate any. He was even less sure about the hat. It stayed on long enough to take this picture.

Hello?!

Practicing walking. And smiling for the camera. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. Oh, and aren't the overalls adorable!

27 pounds

We are all thankful today that no one was too sick to enjoy Thanksgiving!

My brother, who apparently loves turkey leftovers, requested two turkeys this year. Ann accommodated that by buying the biggest turkey she could find--a 27 pounder. No, that was not a typo. 27 pounds of turkey. Mom says probably 6 pounds of mashed potatoes. A double helping of green bean casserole. Carrot souffle. Stuffing. And for dessert... pumpkin pie, apple caramel cake, carrot cake (which is actually Chris' birthday cake), pumpkin bread, and kolachis (a cookie that we make most every holiday).

Did I mention that there were only five of us eating. Three of whom were recovering from the flu. After the end of the meal, most of the dishes barely looked touched! Have I also mentioned that I don't really like Thanksgiving leftovers. Did I mention that we found out the neighbors were having 20 people over for Thanksgiving and only had a 13 pound turkey.

27 pounds, I am not joking.

Flu Bug Strikes Household

Well, half of the household has been down with the flu. Luckily, I think it's only a 24 hour thing, although mine is creeping along to the 48 hour mark. I woke up feeling a lot better, but as the day goes on, I get worse and worse. Luckily, no more gross bodily functions are happening (I'll spare you the details and let you fill in the blanks!). So, I've had to postpone Chick-fil-a for two days now. I don't want to eat it until I can fully enjoy it! John went to the doctor yesterday and seems to be doing better also. Just poor little me holding out!

Persistence Pays Off

Thanks to several friends who informed me that Dr. Pepper was giving away a free Dr. Pepper, I was able to finally get on the website and sign up for my free coupon! It wasn't easy! But after much trying, I am now anxiously awaiting a coupon in the mail in 4-6 weeks! : ) I almost gave up because I decided one free Dr. Pepper wasn't worth that much work. But, my persistence paid off.

I am at my brother's house surrounded by family. We had John's birthday party yesterday followed by poker night once he went to bed (an odd combination, I thought, but that apparently was the plan all along!). I did not participate in the poker game. I'm not quite confident enough in my ability to tell what beats what!

My mom and I arrived on Friday to warmer weather than Illinois, but unseasonably cool weather for Georgia. We must have brought some of the cold with us! We pulled into the driveway and my brother announced he had to go in the house for a second and to stay outside. I turned to my mom and said, "Did they get a dog?" to which my mom thought I was crazy. But sure enough, my brother comes out with a 7 month old shepherd mix on a leash. She is adorable. Her name is Zuzu. She and John get along great. He can even almost say "dog". However, the cats, Tabitha and Bucky, are not so excited to have a dog in the house. They will all adjust, Zuzu has only been in the house for a little over a week.

Pictures of the whole kit and caboodle will come either when I get home or if I download pictures to Chris and Ann's computer.

Happy Birthday John

It's hard to believe that it has been a year, but it has! One year ago, my nephew was born. Here are some picture highlights. I get to see John in two days, so that means I'll post lots of one year birthday pictures!

You might need a PhD...

Or a brain, or at least a Master's degree. Both of which I have, by the way (just not the PhD). What might you need all of these things to accomplish, you might ask. Laundry. I just went to get clothes from the dryer and switch clothes from the washing machine to the dryer. Not a hard task, I understand. But apparently the simple task that I have completed successfully a million times (well, except for the rare occasion I realize I forgot to put soap in the washing machine) I could not accomplish tonight. This time I forgot to even start the washing machine. The sad thing is, I grabbed a few things to throw them into the dryer before I realized that none of them were wet! I need a nap which calculates to I need to go to bed at a decent time tonight! Except now I'm behind on doing laundry, so I'll be up until at least 10! I'm just glad I have a sense of humor and can laugh at myself!

Superb Saturday

Yesterday, I again was able to take the day off of work. I slept in and did some reading in the morning. Then I met Jill, my discipleship leader, for lunch. We just started reading a new book, The Discipline of Grace, by Jerry Bridges. A very interesting first chapter. It talked about the good-day/bad-day mentality of Christians. On our good days, we believe we have done enough to merit God's favor on our lives. But on our bad days, we do not feel worthy to approach Him. Bridges says that even on our best days, we should not feel worthy to approach Him, but through God's grace, given to us when we become believers, He has allowed us the privelege to approach Him through Jesus, not through anything we have done.

Then I did some Christmas shopping and went to get a haircut. Then I hung out with Kari at her new house for about an hour. Then I got to go babysit Tyler! We had a lot of fun. I had forgotten how much I enjoy babysitting until I have been able to do it twice in the last month.

Today was another fairly lazy day. I slept in, read in bed for awhile, spent some time with the Lord, cleaned my bathroom (which even included mopping the floor!), mopped the kitchen floor, and vacuumed my room and the living room. Then I finished a puzzle I had started last night. Now I am laying on the couch, snuggled under a blanket, and as soon as I finish this, I will continue to read a book that I've been reading all week. I'm also contemplating what I want to wear ice skating tonight. It's always a dilemma because I'm always warm once I start skating, but cold if I'm not moving. What to do, what to do...

Stolen Baby Pictures

I don't know why the first two pictures are so small. I guess that's what I get for stealing them off of Facebook! But they are of Danell and Ken, the very proud parents of Clare and Lucy!

I'm at least 98% sure that Clare is on the left and Lucy is on the right. Clare was about 1 1/2 pounds bigger than Lucy. Mom and babies are doing well. Danell either got to come home today or she will be home tomorrow. I got a text message from her at 4am yesterday, so I'm pretty sure she's not getting much sleep : ). I wish I could be there to snuggle with them!!!

It only happens one time a year

I woke up this morning to a very distant beeping noise. I came groggily awake to throw the pillow off my head and hit the snooze just seconds after the alarm clock started beeping really quickly. As I lay in bed half asleep I started thinking about my evening. From all my recollection I cannot remember waking up even once throughout the night. That is reason to CELEBRATE. I am not exaggerating when I say that this may be something that happens only once a year.

My time with clients today consisted of taking two siblings to Fired Up to paint a plate. It was fun. It was even more fun to call it work.

Third times a charm

I have not blogged three times in a day in a really long time. Can you tell that I am having a pretty uneventful, calm, relaxing day? I LOVE it! I was reading through some old emails. Before I started an official blog, I "posted" to a friend for a while. Partly because I wanted to see if I liked it, partly because it was oddly therapeutic, partly because it just takes me time to commit to do something. Anyway, here is one of those "posts." I read it and laughed and thought everyone else would enjoy it too.

Today's title: My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Morning!

So, I woke up with a lingering headache from yesterday. I had to wait to get into the bathroom to take a shower. While I was getting ready for work, my brush broke (in my 28 years, I don't remember that ever happening!) Then, after I finished doing my hair, I was picking up my chocolate milk to drink it (which I manage to do every morning without mishap) and it slipped out of my hand and spilled all over the bathroom counter. Amazingly none got on me, so I didn't have to change my clothes! And that was all before I had been awake for 2 hours! Needless to say, things could only look up from there! The rest of my day went fairly smooth and I even managed to get home from work at 5:00 (wonder of wonders, since I haven't done that in weeks). Looking back at my morning, I can definitely laugh now, but at the time, I only wanted to crawl into my bed, have a good cry, and sleep. Sometimes it stinks to be a responsible, bill-paying adult, who needs to work for a living. Where's the rich husband when you really need him?

Graffiti Day

My church is building a new building. Work has finally begun at the new land and some of the building is framed. So, today we had a Graffiti Day. Members were encouraged to come out and write Scripture and blessings on the steel frames. I was excited about this because I read it in a book once where someone did that to a restaurant before they opened. The graffiti will eventually get covered up and only the Lord will be able to see it anymore, but what an awesome testimony to the construction workers as they work daily to build our building. And what a fun thing to remember as we serve in the building once it is complete! I decided to write one of my favorite verses (also to the side of my blog), 1 John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!" I chose this verse because the way God has worked in supplying our needs to build a new place of worship, to me, shows how He has lavished His love on Bethany. God does not have to supply us with a new building, but I hope that in doing so, we can return that love by using the building to glorify Him and make His name known here in Peoria!

Praying for a friend

Danell goes in to the hospital on Monday to have a c-section. I cannot believe it is time already, but I know that she is more than ready. I am praying that the doctors take good care of her and that everything goes smoothly and that the girls are healthy!

I had a few selfish moments this week (because obviously my best friend having twins is a time for me to think about myself!). I called Danell yesterday to tell her that I wanted to make sure to call before Monday because I knew that would be the last uninterrupted phone call I would have with her for a very long time. She understood, but I still felt selfish. I think she understands because no matter how many selfish things I do or say, she knows that those are fleeting thoughts and that I am deep down genuinely and amazingly excited for her and Ken.

And, yes, I stole this picture off of her Facebook. And, yes, that means that Jerelyn befriended her so that I could keep up with her through Facebook. : ) Jerelyn is a very good friend!

Playing Hooky

I left work a half-hour early today, which is really a moot point because I am almost 2 hours over in my hours for the week. Anyway, I had this really good excuse. At 4:00 I got on the computer to start some assessments that are due next week and the drive that holds all my documents was missing. I called the IT guy to say HELP, but he wasn't answering his phone and was probably gone already. So, I decided that if wasn't my fault that my computer wasn't working correctly and if my documents could "leave" early than so could I. Granted, I had plenty of handwritten paperwork that I could have worked on, but that is NOT the point! : ) Really I just wanted to tell everyone that I got off work early and actually made it home before it got dark out!

All About John : )

John recently got his first haircut. Here are the before, during, and after pictures.

And then I also got pictures of John on Halloween. I must say, he makes a very cute pumpkin!

I love how he is all chubby in this one : ).

Who knew pumpkins could crawl!

Dry, Boring, and Pointless

While my posts are not normally juicy, exciting, and filled with a point (couldn't come up with the opposite of pointless), I can honestly say that I cannot think of anything to blog about. Well, I had a picture post idea but I forgot to take the picture I needed, so that will have to wait.

I was going to blog about the weird weather we are having (should I actually be wearing flip flops and a t-shirt in November?), but others have already done that.

I was going to blog about some funny client stories, but then decided that keeping confidentiality meant the stories wouldn't be that funny and they might only be funny to other therapists anyway.

I was going to blog about how I am sleeping better, but what do you add to that statement.

I was going to blog about how I skipped the Mystery Dinner and used babysitting as an excuse. But then I would have to admit that I arranged the babysitting in order to say "I was babysitting." when asked, "Why weren't you at the Mystery Dinner?" which seemed like a better answer than, "I was sitting at home watching a movie because I'm a party pooper and don't like to dress up for things." In all honesty, I have been meaning to offer babysitting services to a couple of couples in the church and this seemed like a good opportunity. Let me just tell you, almost three year olds are very entertaining people. And I'm sure I had just as much fun as those at the Mystery Dinner. I bet they didn't get to listen to Veggie Tales Action Songs or play with Play dough or cuddle with a 4 month old or do puzzles or get a lesson from a 3 year old on why you can't feed a four month old pizza for dinner!

I was going to blog about the fact that my friend Danell is scheduled to have her twin girls next Monday, but again, that would be about all I could say. And to add that I wish I didn't live so far away from Texas and I have no idea when I am going to be able to go and visit.

I could blog about how I spent the evening (literally well over an hour) reading a blog of a woman I do not know, but wouldn't that sound pathetic. But it fascinated me because her profile says she is the mother of seven, soon to be 12. Her and her husband have 4 biological kids, 3 adopted kids, and are in the process of adopting a sib group of 5! If that wasn't enough, it went on to say that the sib group are ages are 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. Her three adoptive kids are 5, 4, and 2. When you do the math that equals 8 kids under the age of 5!!!! Needless to say, I got sucked in to reading more about her story. Turns out I had gotten sucked in to reading her blog earlier this year or late last year for an evening also. Fascinating reading.

Apparently I had a lot to blog about after all : )!