"Got a question for you..."

I answered the phone this afternoon, surprised to hear Ellis' voice on the other end (clinic days are usually too busy for him to call). He said, "Hey, I have a question for you."

"Yeah?...."

"Want to be a pregnant model?"

"What?!!!"

Oh boy. Did I hear that right? "You mean, for Front Royal Family Practice?" I pictured myself draped in some hospital gown in the middle of a room while a bunch of residents were learning on me as a model. "Is that what you mean?"

"No, I mean pose with Dr. Westfall and be a model for us to advertise our OB services."

Oh man. Another picture came to my mind. There is this huge wooden stork (at least 5-feet tall) in the entrance of the building holding a fake baby doll wrapped up in a sheet. (You mean that advertising method wasn't getting the job done?) Anyway, I suddenly pictured walking into my future Dr. appointments to see a huge cardboard cut out of myself posing there for all to see, belly and all! "Ummm, no thanks." I mean, have you seen our attempt to get a pregnant picture of me?

Well, Ellis convinced me that it would just be maybe a picture on the website or something. I agreed. But then I realized I had about 15 minutes to get the kids out of bed, on the potty, shoes on and out the door to get there in time for the "photo shoot." Okay! Let's do this kids!

Then I looked in the mirror. Doh! Even by Front Royal standards, I was in need of a little touching up. Maybe a hairbrush, a toothbrush, and definitely an outfit change (the striped moo moo and Ellis' slipper socks - way too big for my feet - were probably not going to attract many more patients than that stork did).

Well, we pulled ourselves together and we got there as the office door was closing for the night. We don't have the official photo shoot pictures yet (very professional - done with some lady's iPhone), but Ellis did take some pictures while we there. The real ones have me and the doctor pretending to be conversing about important things, but the ones Ellis took are just of me.



And then me and the kids. This is why checkups get a little hairy sometimes...they both always try to climb on my lap when I am on the table.



The best part of the whole deal was that we got to go out to dinner together afterwards. Hooray! Got some pictures of that, too. "Hey guys, say cheese!" Well, the only one who actually looked at the camera was Mac. And what in the world is he holding?



"I found a treasure mommy!" Well, what is that? "It's a tiny purple balloon that will grow big and make the house float!!!" Yep, that's Mac.



Best burgers in town. That is actually a Jr. size burger I am holding.



And then there's Corrie. She demolishes anything Ellis is eating if she can get the chance. If it were on her plate, would she want it? Of course not!

Please

"Give me one pure and holy passion
Give me one magnificent obsession
Give me one glorious ambition for my life
To know and follow hard after You

To know and follow hard after you
To grow as your dicsiple in your truth
This world is empty, pale, and poor
Compared to knowing you, my Lord
Lead me on and I will run after you."

*One Pure and Holy Passion, -Mark Altrogge

The Mac Cam

The real reason I am writing this post is because I can't stand the thought of those pictures from the last post being the first thing anyone sees on this blog. Pregnancy exhaustion/delirium will seriously hinder your rational thinking.

Anyway, as the title to this post says, we have a web security camera in Mac's room that we got for him as an infant to make sure he was sleeping safely at night. We decided to hang on to the "Mac Cam," and it has been worth its weight in gold for naptime surveillance. 

The Mac Cam has certainly seen a lot, and I think is one of the sweetest moments of them all. Mac and Corrie have started playing in Mac's room together, and they think it so fun to run in there and go absolutely crazy. 

Usually, one of them will start running down the hallway yelling, "follow me!" And then when they are both in the room I hear, "shut the door!" And then I usually hear laughing followed by crying, with some other mystery noises in there somewhere. 

But the other day it was quiet. "Uh oh. Better check the Mac Cam!" I was sure they were up to no good. 

What a sweet surprise. I watched for a while as Mac read Corrie various Winnie the Pooh books, which he has pretty much memorized. 

The Bump

Well, I had another request to post a picture of the bump on the blog today (thanks Jessica), so I thought, "oh alright, I guess we might as well give it a try."

Then I found my mind wandering as I imagined what a really nice baby bump picture might be...

I pictured myself outside with the beautiful Fall trees and mountains in the background. Maybe my hair could be gently swaying in the pleasant afternoon breeze and I could be wearing whatever people wear for these kind of pictures, and I would have a beautiful expression of peace and elegance on my face...

Or, I could be standing in the kitchen after a long day with the dirty dinner dishes in the background. My hair could be matted down by the Ranch dressing the kids had on their salad and I could be wearing the same outfit I have been wearing just about everyday for the last six months, and I could have this expression on my face:

 

Nope. That's not gonna work. How about if we get a picture from the other side?

 

Hmm. Well, the expression is a little better, but now that stain from dinner landing on the baby belly is showing. You know what, let's just scratch the whole idea. I certainly wouldn't want these pictures posted for the world to see on the internet or anything!

But you know what is kinda nice about the baby bump? It's an automatic hand rest wherever you go. When I am standing and talking to someone, I don't even need pockets - I have nice built-in spot to casually rest my hands upon.

I was getting a drink of water this afternoon and I looked up to see that Corrie was watching me. I guess I was resting my other arm on the belly because when I looked at Corrie she was copying me and resting her free hand on her belly too. 

 

Another thing about the belly bump is that special day when you wake up and find that your bump has quadrupled in size over night. All the sudden your feet are missing when you look down. And then you notice that your kids are missing. Corrie? Is that you down there sitting at my feet? Is that your knee sticking out down there from below the belly?  

Well, I guess that all in all, it's kind of fun having a baby bump. The best part is feeling that sweet little one moving and kicking around and thinking about seeing him or her soon. 

Love you little one. I will miss us always being able to be together wherever I go like we are now. Thank you Lord, for this very sweet season.

Dory Update

Against all odds, Dory is still alive. 

It's fun having Dory around. I know Dory is just a fish, but I like watching him swim around. He's my friend. 

It's fun to see Corrie interact with her first real fishy friend, too. For example, if Corrie builds a block tower that she is really excited about, I might say, "Cool! Wanna tell Dory about it?" And she runs over waving her arms in the air (probably with a little squeal of delight in there) saying "Dory! Dory! My tower!"

As for Mac, I am not going to say it is "fun" to see Mac and Dory together, but it is entertaining...in a "poor Dory" sort of way. 

I noticed on the second day after Dory's arrival that anytime Mac went up to the tank, that fish knew it was time to hide. You literally cannot spot that fish anywhere if Mac is nearby. (Turns out there is a great hiding place behind the filter). 

This scene from Finding Nemo pretty much represents Mac and Dory's relationship perfectly.

Praise and Worship

Here is Mac, singing the songs in robot voices.

Awana

I was pretty happy when I heard that our church had an Awana ministry on Sunday nights. I remember going to Awana as a little girl and learning Bible verses, playing fun games and hearing stories about missionaries that had me mesmerized.

I clearly remember sitting in a circle with the other kids while we heard the story of Amy Carmichael praying as a little girl for God to change her brown eyes to blue, and how she learned that "No" is a loving answer from God just as much as "yes." I remember being astonished to hear that God had answered "No" to her prayer because He had given her brown eyes for a very special reason: He would later call her to India to minister to the mistreated temple girls, and she would not have been given access into the temples if her eyes were blue.

Wow! This God I was learning about was amazing to me.

Thank you, Dad and Mom, for putting in the time and effort to get me there each week. You gave me a really special gift.

Well, it's hard to believe, but now I have a little guy who goes to Awana once a week. It's been pretty funny to hear stories about how Mac has been doing...not that anything I hear surprises me. After the first night, I heard he had the time of his life in the gym for game time. He had no clue how to play any of the organized games (nor did he care to learn) and apparently he just ran around like a crazy man the whole time.

Yep, that's Mac.

Each week we are supposed to take time learning verses together at home, and this week is the first week that mommy and daddy have had it together enough to give it a try. Our verse for this week is:

"...God is truthful." John 3:33

We started saying the verse together at lunch the other day, and Corrie had the verse memorized in about 30 seconds. I start the verse for her "...God..." and she excitedly finishes it by saying: "is foofool!" (truthful), all with a huge smile that melts your hearts to pieces.

And then it's Mac's turn. Here is how he recites the verse back to me...every time...with great passion:

"Robots are NOT truthful!"

Yep, that's Mac. Love that little guy.

Playing Together

I have so many great memories of Me and Jeremy playing together as kids. J-Man, you are still the best brother ever. (And Rachel, it was even more fun when you came along!)

When I found out that Mac and Corrie were going to be so close in age, I was excited about the chance for them to have a close relationship too. 

For a while, their relationship was one of pure survival (Corrie's survival, that is). Then things evolved to a state of ambivalence toward each other as they each played in their separate worlds. Unfortunately, the next stage was pretty much Mac tormenting his poor little sister 24/7. Sometimes it felt like my only peace was achieved by letting them watch TV. I felt like a pretty bad mom.

But lately, it's been really sweet. There is still plenty of arguing and hurt feelings, but they are learning everyday, by God's grace, how to love each other and be kind to each other. I say this is happening by God's grace because the changes I am seeing in their little hearts toward each other are so sweet; the credit can only be given to the Creator...the One who teaches us how to relate to others as He designed us to do.

They like to get the vegetable steamers out and pretend they are birthday cakes. Mac always asks Corrie to "blow out the candle!"

Playing together on the slide in Mac's room gets more and more dangerous by the day

The pumpkin patch is more fun when they are driving the big green tractor together

Ever since seeing the movie, "Up," they have been wanting to build houses. Here is a house in Mac's room.

It's a lot of fun to play inside their special house together. 

When someone goes poopy in the potty, they sometimes get to sit in their little chairs and watch the Baby Einstein Farm video together while they eat a lollypop. Corrie is telling me that the barn "is sooo cute!" You guys are pretty cute together too :-)

The Monkey One!

That's what Mac and Corrie call their new favorite place to give Mommy a heart attack (otherwise known as Monkey Joe's). Just picture a huge warehouse full of the biggest moon bounces you have ever seen, mostly (in my opinion) completely dangerous, and you will have an idea about what this place is like. Oh - and don't forget to picture the 20-foot-tall purple inflatable monkey that greets you at the entrance! (How does that not scare the kids to death?)

Add to that the fact that I can hardly keep up with them running around all over the place, only to finally find them up on one of the giant slides and about to take a heart-attack giving plunge. I did actually have to climb in a few of those things to either mediate an argument or drag one of them out for my own sanity (I just couldn't watch them trying to go down some of those huge slides or nearly get trampled by bigger kids around them).

And that is another picture I can paint for your imagination: me, in one of those things, trying to walk on the most unstable ground possible with a huge pregnant belly and surrounded by sweaty hot kids while trying to catch two wild little ones. And just for the record, getting in an out of those things is the most humbling experience. The "ramps" to get in and out are actually inflated. Most kids end up flying and tumbling down them only to skid across the carpet on their faces!

I am sure you can understand why I literally had Mac and Corrie hold hands with me before we exited our car while we prayed (fervently) for God's protection.

To keep from making a short story even longer, here are pictures and videos of our time. God did keep us all safe and the kids had an absolute blast. Thank you Lord, for loving us and giving us so much fun. I can say that now...it was fun :-)

Mac getting ready to go down the "Pirate Ship" slide

 Does this look fun to you? Apparently, Corrie thinks it is fun enough to do over and over again. 

A video of the "baby/toddler" slide. Totally safe and harmless! I will definitely be sending Baby Long down this one right along with the other 10 kids that get piled up at the bottom.

Here's one of the bigger slides. Thankfully I was able to recruit some help to supervise Mac and Corrie to slide down with them (thanks Hannah!) A few minutes later I looked up to see Corrie flying solo down this slide with her hair flapping wildly in the wind. Hannah came down a little bit later. I think Hannah saw the look on my face and said, "I don't know what happened - she jumped right out of my arms!"

Lastly, here is one of the times that I dragged myself up the saggy, inflated ramp to get inside the big purple moon bounce. The ladder to get up to the top is super steep, and the slide itself is practically vertical...like sliding down a wall! After helping Corrie go down a few times, I realized it looked a lot worse than it was, and decided to get a video of it. Corrie, you are a fearless little one! Mac wouldn't even go on this one until he saw Corrie doing it first.

Daddy's little helper

Dear Corrie,

It's daddy for a change.  Yesterday you helped me change Marge's oil.  Changing oil can be an unrewarding task, but you made it fun.  It's not every day I get under a vehicle, cover my latex gloves in oil and then hear, "daddy hug me."  

When it comes to hugging my little girly I have very little restraint.  So I caved and hugged you with my oily hands.  I then put you down, gave you a 1/4" ratchet just like daddy's 3/8" ratchet, and we finished changing the oil together.  You were a beautiful distraction, and with your help I was able to finish a 15 min. job in just under an hour.  

And here you are pouring oil.  What other daddy would give his 2 year old daughter 5 quarts of 5W-30?

Here you are with my ratchet (your miniature ratchet wasn't good enough).

Happy Birthday Corrie!

Hey Corrie! Yesterday you turned 2 years old. We had a fun day and you and enjoyed saying "Happy Birthday!" to everyone you talked to. It didn't matter so much to you that it was your birthday...you were just happy that there was a birthday going on in general :-)

Turned out that it was mommy's day to watch some kids, which made a great opportunity for a cupcake celebration! 

Everyone was pretty excited to decorate their own cupcakes. After you guys had eaten all of your icing, you were all about done with the cupcakes...but you sure enjoyed your chocolate icing.

Later that night, you and Mac had a lot of fun making your own birthday pizza 

And then you got to make some birthday chocolate milk

After dinner and bathtime, we got to stay up late and have a pajama party while we waited for daddy to come home. Mommy picked your favorite movie, Finding Nemo, to watch while we waited. You sure love fishies!

When daddy got home, we had cake! After you and Mac blew out the candle, you kept saying, "where's the fire?" The sprinkles were very attractive to you and Mac...we could not keep your fingers out of the cake.

And then it was finally time to show you your birthday present: Your own fishy! You and Mac decided to name it "Dory" (after the blue fish in Finding Nemo).

You guys loved the colored lights in the tank and the reflections they make on the walls and ceiling.

It was fun to say, "Goodnight Dory" before you went to bed.

Mac stayed up a little bit longer and talked to Dory for a while 

   

This morning you guys couldn't wait to wake up and say, "Good morning Dory!" You brought your favorite cars to show your new fishy. They have been keeping him company today :-)

"C-mon Corrie! I must show you how to fly!"

Oh boy. That's what I overheard the other day from the kitchen. I came into the living room to find Corrie perched on top of the lego bin saying "I want to fly!," while Mac had just propelled himself off of the arm of the couch shouting, "To Infinity and Beyond!"

"Mac! You and Corrie may NOT fly off the couch!" 

"But mommy, we have to fly like Buzz Lightyear!!!!"

Sorry Buddy, but we don't have to make the chances of going to the emergency room any greater than they already are (just ask your buddy Jack about that!)

The thing is, I distinctly remember my brother and I doing the same thing when we were younger. In fact, I believe one of our favorite "flying" activities was jumping off of the back of the recliner chair and landing on the mini exercise trampoline. 

The thing is, we did things that were a whole lot worse than that. And we loved it! At least, I did. (I think Jeremy would have been more than happy just to play with his army men, safely on the floor).

So, I guess I can't bee too surprised to find Mac masterminding these dangerous scenes. I am just going to be praying a whole lot, and doing my best to convince him that such activities are unacceptable! (Even though I secretly wish I were doing them too).

How Mac "rides" his car down the hill. Watched him do this for at least a half-hour.

Arts & Crafts

As seen in the pictures below, Mac & Corrie approach arts & crafts just a little bit differently.

Giving Mac a crayon or paintbrush is just giving him a tool for destruction. My heart rate goes up just thinking about the energy required to supervise his "crafts."

Corrie, on the other hand, sweetly colors and paints with ease and grace....it makes me relax & smile to think about it.

Mac & Corrie, how wonderfully different you two are!

Movie Time