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Happy Birthday, Sophia

I'm posting late because today is my oldest child's seventh birthday. It hardly seems possible and yada yada yada... I mean, I could write all that. I could write about how quickly time flies and how I remember when she was just a wee babe in her diaper (or more often not, because she went through this wonderful streaking phase.) I could write about all the things I miss about those toddler years, like the way she couldn't say the word "girl." It always came out "gore." I could, but I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna because it'll make me sad - and frankly, I'm not big on feeling sad. So instead, I'll tell you all the cool things about Sophia. My birthday girl:

• I love that when I come into her room to pray for her and tuck her in, she's always ALWAYS reading. Usually Ramona Quimby or Judy Moody books. She reads them at the speed of light and tells me all about them when she's done. I love that.
• I love that today while I was doing just a half an hour of work, Ethan came into my office, his voice loud and serious: "Mommy! You've got mail!" I open up this little piece of paper to find the following: To: courtneycrops@msn.com From: softballgirl@msn.net (not her real address, just a variation on the address of one of our friends). I (heart) you so much your the best mom ever! Love, Your Secret Admierer. (The heart was actually a heart, not the word 'heart)
• I love that Sophia doesn't take herself too seriously
• I love that Sophia doesn't get her feelings hurt too easily
• I love how I now have this little helper to make everything easier
• I love to hear her sing - even when she goes off key. I love that now she's learning the national anthem and she thinks 'at the twilight's last gleaming' is 'at the starburst's last flying.'

There are MANY things I love about this girl. She is very special to me. Sometimes I think back on things that have hurt her in the past. It's rare, and I think she's had to grow a bit of a thick-skin, but in the end, it's good. She's better for it. Stronger.

This weekend, we took 14 kids to see "Horton Hears a Who." Seriously cute movie. The girls had a ton of fun. Our new theater has a party room, so afterwards, we dove in to this bad boy:

(Yes, I will be updating my weight loss blog on the mad crazy effects of birthday cake and how it can veer you uncontrollably off course with reckless abandon. The title of that post will be Birthday cake is from the devil.)

Sophia loved it. She has such a great class of little girls. They are all really good girls. I almost wish she could have the same class all the way through grade school.

After the party, we went to my parents' house to pick up Sam and to let Sophia open the presents from Grammy and Poppy. This was the big winner:

Yes, along with the webkinz, we are officially American Girl obsessed.

Overall, the weekend was a hit. We are all on the mend - no more strep throat. We're all almost done with our antibiotics. Sam is sleeping like a champ again (this morning he slept til 6:15!). We're back to normal. Thank God for my mom this weekend. She came up on Friday when I was feeling horrible. By the time she got there, I actually felt a little better, but it was so nice to be able to rest. (Thank you Mommy!) This shot is for her:

(Notice the onesie?) Sam is officially huge. He weighs almost 18 pounds and is really long. Everyone comments on how big he is. I love it. I love that he's solid! He absolutely makes us so happy. He LOVES to watch Ethan and Sophia play - and he really officially out loud laughs now. :) (Who can resist that sound - seriously!) The other cool thing about Sam is that he sucks his thumb. He has since we were in the hospital, but it's getting more pronounced now. I'm okay with it, honestly, I think it's adorable. :) (Don't tell me it'll ruin his teeth - can't it just be cute for now?)

Here's another one just because I love it:

And while I was taking these, Ethan was behind me making him smile. Of course, he needed to get in on the fun, so here he is in like, the most un-scrappable photo ever unless it's converted to black and white - I mean, look at  the colors and patterns on these clothes and blanket! lol He's hanging upside down on the beanbag here:

today was (finally) a good day for Ethan. I think with things going back to normal and Sophia going back to school, he was able to relax a little. He's been hard lately.

Anyway, I've got to run make bottles and veg out on the couch for a half an hour before that final feeding.

Have a great week!

So...

...Sam's eardrum ruptured.

I guess that accounts for his screaming, though it doesn't make it easier to listen to. He's had two good bouts of screaming today - both of which left me staring at him, lying in his car seat, little tongue waving as he got the last of his air out - wondering what in the world I could do to help him. I've given him Motrin and the antibiotic, but he still screams. And screams.

In spite of that, I have seen little glimpses of the baby I've gotten used to, big old smile with his hands perched up by his chin. I love it. Even when he doesn't feel good, he reminds me how blessed I am to have him in my life. :)

In other news...

I overheard something today that made it 100% certain my children are pastor's kids. Ethan and Sophia were playing in the living room and I was cleaning up the dinner dishes when I heard Sophia say, in reference to some shape she'd just created on the floor out of pillows or blankets or something:

"Hey! Look! It's a cross!"

Ethan: Yeah! It's a cross! And I'm Jesus! And I'm dying on the cross!

Then he paused for a second and the excitement was gone, replaced by an assuredness that can only be imitated - not described in words - "But it's okay, because I rise from the dead."

I bust out laughing because seriously - what four year old plays "Jesus Dying on the Cross"?

Anyway, spring break has been a lot of fun so far. I've planned a girls' movie night for tomorrow. Sophia and I, along with my awesome mom, my sister and her little girl are going to watch a movie (Enchanted) and eat something that I've yet to decide on. I am really looking forward to it.

Most of this break, my living room has looked like this:

Sophia in her nightgown. This was taken about 1 p.m. ha. This was not a fort (how dare you make that mistake!) It's a cave. And they are bears who hibernate and play with legos. and watch "Charlie and Lola." and play "Jesus dying on the cross."

Of course, once I brought the camera out, I got the "Take pictures of us doing silly faces, Mom!"

and I had to oblige:

I think Sophia's is especially silly. (Notice how Ethan has FOUR stickers on his shirt in case you forget who he is.) Then, they decided they wanted to take picture with the three of us. I of course thought this would be a nice picture... until they tackled me:

That was probably the highlight of my day. My day has been relatively wretched. The screaming. Oh, the screaming...

But, otherwise, things are good. I'm ignoring the sore throat coming on and the fact that I've got to weigh in in the morning (fear. see my weight loss blog if you really want to hear about my scale terror).

Best get the wee ones in bed. :) 

If you're not a spiritual person...

...best not read this post.

This is a post about my latest spiritual battle, and while I am not into preaching at people, this latest revelation is something I have to share.

I think I've posted on here about how bad things have been going lately. lol - that's uplifting, isn't it? But, it's true. Things have been terrible. To recap:

• Ethan had croupe, which nearly landed us in the ER in the middle of the night. He was barking his cough was so bad and he couldn't breathe. (Thank god for antibiotics!)
• Our basement flooded. (I don't want to rehash it. It was just ugly.)
• We are knee-deep in rehearsals for the Easter service, which is absolutely awesome, but seriously stressful at the same time
• Adam is still writing curriculum for Wednesday nights (I cannot begin to explain how time consuming and awesome this is at the same time. It's just amazing what he's doing...)
• Adam gets involved in Christian Youth Theatre (Wizard of Oz, he's intern directing to help get a foot in the door so in the future we can do some directing. It's AWESOME as well, but again, time consuming!)
• Easter Egg hunt cancelled due to snow. (This actually is a positive at this point - what a load off! Kids will get bags of candy Easter morning instead. I've never been so happy for snow!)
• Ethan and Sam are both up in the middle of the night crying. Ethan complains of an ear infection. Further inspection (by our doctor) and we discover a 'nasty and very painful' ear infection and a blister on his ear drum that we can expect to burst. More antibiotics.
• Adam cannot swallow. Another doctor. Strep throat. More antibiotics.
• Courtney is in excrutiating (how do you spell that?) pain - headaches. Or rather, one headache that has lasted nine days. Go to chiropractor for adjustment which loosens my shoulders and neck but doesn't help the head. The next day, head to dentist to see about a mouth guard because of my TMJ and grinding teeth.
• Get teeth cleaned (why does this hurt so bad?) and get impressions made of my upper and lower teeth. (Okay, seriously - ew. It was so gross.)
• Can't get mouth guard for another week. (I want to cry at this point.) Instead, I go to Wal-mart and get one of those sports mouth guards you boil. I should seriously take a picture with it in my mouth. It's hysterical. I look like a monkey.
• Sam gets sick.
• Sophia gets sick.
• Ethan is acting up horribly - seriously issues with his behavior leave me feeling like a new mom all over again, wondering how in the world to handle this?

This is about Thursday of last week... and it finally dawns on me. I went to our Easter rehearsals both Tues. and Thurs. and it was the only time in over a week I didn't have a headache - when I was in those rehearsals... it's so clear. And I should've seen it before, but this whole mess was all just one big fat attack of the Enemy on our family.

See, I hate to be one of those people who gives the devil credit for every little thing that goes wrong in our lives. Very often, it's my own stupidity or whatever that leads to the messes... but all of this... this big long, bulleted list of horrible awful things that were happening all at once... No way. This was not coincidence.

When we first started in the minstry, we had a similar week and one of the other pastors at the church said, "Well, you're in ministry now, you've got a target on your back." It's so true. Others have said, "If the devil's leaving you alone, you're not doing enough."

I guess I was looking at the Easter service as work. In terms of a checklist. "Gotta get this, this and this done by such and such a time..." You know... multi-tasking every little detail to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks.... but I forgot to look at it for what it was - a chance for God to move. I had underestimated what God wanted to do in that evening.

Once I realized it, I started to really pray like crazy - to get the devil off of our back. I mean, he doesn't have the RIGHT to torment us, he can only do it if we let him. I sent out an email to several of our parents and asked them to pray for us. We were at the end of our rope and we needed help climbing back up.

Well, it was almost like I felt them lifting us up. The next day, we all started to see improvements. My headache dwindled (and it wasn't due to the monkey mask, which honestly hurt more on my teeth than my head originally hurt.) and eventually it went away. Adam's strep started to improve, Ethan started to get back to normal...

And then Sunday night.

The kids were absolutely amazing. It was sort of a service infused with theatrical elements - dance/choir/human video - lots of music. Adam preached a short (awesome) message. It went off without a hitch. People came forward for prayer. People got to see how amazing their kids were. People were ministered to and blessed and you know, we may never know the extent of how deep that night reached - we may never hear the stories of how God began to work on someone as a result of that night, and that's okay. I trust that God will take our hard work and bless it.

I guess my point is this. Sometimes you have to walk through the fire to see the blessing. You dont' have to sit in the fire. I mean, when I realized what was going on, I got rid of that mess right away. Doesn't mean the devil will automatically stop trying to mess with us, but it does mean that I'm aware of it now. It all sounds so 'out there' - the devil and all... but I believe there's a very real enemy who would love to take us out. The thing is, we have to stand up for ourselves and tell him where to go. He doesn't have the RIGHT to attack us. And he certainly didn't stop us. For all our suffering, we came through it and God was glorified in spite of him.

Be aware of the fire, but don't let it consume you. Find out how to put it out.

and now things can go back to normal!

Infomercials.

Ethan loves bananas. Every time I buy them, even though they are clearly green and not "dirty" (the brown spots make them "dirty") he asks me "Are these gripe?" (ripe)

"No Ethan, those are still green."

Well, tonight, instead of saying the typical "I don't care if they're green, can I have one?" Ethan said "You really need to get the 'Iyth-lene' green bag."

Me: Huh?

Him: You need the Iyth-lene green bag. You put your fruit in it and it doesn't get all dirty like you know, dirty... (points to the brown spot on the back of the banana) Like this...

After further research, I discovered SOMEONE saw an infomercial for a product not unlike THIS.

Ethan makes me happy. Today after church he decided the shirt was too much to handle and he stripped it off and ran around with nothing but khakis on all day. He's started reading - same way Sophia started, just recognizing words. I mostly credit Sophia with his progress so far. She needs students for her classroom and Ethan is typically a willing participant. When he ISN'T willing, it's not a pretty scene.

Friday we took Sophia to a speech meet in by Chicago. A few months ago, they did a speech meet at her school. The winners of that meet went to Chicago to compete, though it really wasn't a 'competition.' I mean, they didn't rank anyone, they just gave ribbons "Superior" - "Excellent" and "Good." We were pretty proud of our girl - she walked away with a Superior ribbon. She said, on the way home..."I am SUPER-IOR..." after her dinner we went out to lunch with her teacher and her family. The best part was just spending the day with Sophia. It's nice sometimes to just focus on one of the kids at a time.

This weekend is Easter - which means this week is stressful. We have a lot going on, but I feel like I'm prepared for it. I discovered the magic blanket - my sister-in-law makes these big old fleece blankets and when my sister's twins were babies, she wrapped them tight in the magic blanket and they slept like, well, like babies. ha. Anyway, Sam is a pretty good sleeper and since daylight savings time - seriously - he sleeps IN - like, til 6. That's HUGE.  But the naps. sigh. The naps. He is great for the most part, but he wakes up periodically needing the pacifier. So, enter the magic blanket. You better believe the little bugger is sweaty when he wakes up, but it's just so much like magic how well he sleeps all snuggly in the blanket. I love it. :)

So. I'm moving into a very busy week... I hope I can breathe by the end of it!   

Today. Quite possibly one of the worst days of my life.

Little things really. All adding up. Piling on top of each to make one big, long, cruddy day.

I'm literally heaving a sigh as I think about it. As if the flood in the basement wasn't enough. Sam woke up in a mood. Truly - ready to fight with someone. He was not having it. I took my shower and actually thought about all the things I had to do today... the list is long. We are busy - and for whatever reason, everything seems to want to pile up on the same days. Anyway, I thought to myself, "Well, Sam is always pretty easy, so I shouldn't have a problem getting everything done."

I shut the water off and I heard it. Screaming baby. I hurried up so as not to wake any sleeping corpses or call in the coyotes roaming around the back yard. And I sure didn't want him to wake the fish that have likely settled into the pool in the basement. By the time I reached him, the child was inconsolable. And it had only been minutes since he woke up. I assumed he was hungry. It was about time for him to eat. He REFUSED to take the bottle. Okay. I assumed he was tired. I mean, he HAD woken up a little earlier than I expected - I'll try and put him back to sleep. He REFUSED to go back to sleep. After about an hour of switching from rocking to feeding to laying him in his car seat, to the pacifier to the bottle I finally got a little relief when he fell asleep.

This last ten minutes. Maybe.

Back to the drawing board. This time I started with the diaper and therein I found the problem. The poor kid has a terrible diaper rash (again.) As soon as I got that taken care of, he was fine - sleeping, still not eating. The problem was, I was going to have to get Sophia soon, and I didn't want him screaming.

Oh, and his car seat now smelled like the foulest most disgusting thing you can imagine. It took me a good 15 minutes to figure out how to get the pad OFF the car seat (Adam usually does this due to my hatred for inanimate objects.) I did end up kicking the dumb thing, I'll admit it.

Get him buckled in undisturbed. Drive to the church to drop off stuff for Adam. Halfway there, I remember I forgot Sophia's registration papers for school. Back home to pick those up. Out to Starbucks because I NEED A LATTE. Off to the school which is about when Ethan fell asleep. And it hits me. I have to get these kids out of the car and into the school and they're both sleeping, and the parking is jammed with traffic. Two wrong turns and turn arounds in the midst of that mess and I was shot. I'd had it. I get to the office to drop off the forms.

Sam starts WAAAAILLLING. Seriously. The second I get in there. The kid HAS to be hungry - he's refused to eat since around 8:30 a.m. and by now, it's almost 3.

grrrr.

Off to Sophia's class. Where is Sophia's class? They aren't there... hm... standing...waiting....15 minutes go by... still no sign. Turns out they had a field trip today. (Some things just don't make it into the permanent vault of my memory.)

We rush to the church for rehearsal. It's my rehearsal today - not Adam's, but for whatever reason Adam is up in front of the kids, who seriously look at him as a goofball at this point and who are completely unfocused (Typically he has great control over them, but they were loopy today.) The rehearsal adds to my frustration. Sam is WIDE awake, refusing to eat. Thank God one of the sweet moms took him for me (usually he seriously just sits there or sleeps - I have no clue what is going on with him today.) 

And then... it ends.

I get to go home. It's 6:00 by this point - I run through McDonalds because there is NO WAY I'm cooking and now here I sit in a relatively calm environment, Sam sleeping at my side. How everything that could possibly go wrong decided to go wrong on the same day is beyond me, but such is life. At least life today.

And while I would love to go sit down and eat a big hot fudge sundae, I think I might curl up on the couch and watch The Biggest Loser instead.

You should know that none of this is what I WANTED to blog about... but I guess it's what was on my mind. So, rather than leaving on such a sour note, I'm going to find something that makes me happy, namely some pictures:

Warning: Do not use baby Bumbo seat on elevated surface. But it's awfully nice on the floor!

Ethan and his "Super Bubbles." He's sort of a bright spot in my day... except for the last hour...this last hour his spot is getting darker.   

And finally... The Scarlet Lime. I have to be honest, after doing the book and feeling slightly overwhelmed with life, scrapbooking hasn't been high on my priority list. However, I have to say, when I get my SL kit in the mail, something changes. I took my kit to my mom's this weekend and did two pages so quickly - it was awesome. Easy to transport, and such inspiring stuff. I've said this before, but since I'm terrible at putting patterns and stuff together, the kit club is totally awesome for me. Here's my layouts for this month. (The main kit is literally one of my all-time favorites.)

flood.

Does anyone ever know a time when it's a good thing to have water raining in the basement windows?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

Last night after church, we were sitting on the couch when we heard what literally sounded like rain coming out of the gutter. We checked the back yard and then the front, but we couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then it hit me - it sounded like it was pounding on cement and it sounded like it was coming from the basement.

It was.

We went downstairs to find all this water pouring in from the window (melted snow + rain), getting sucked into our sump pump and then pumped right back into the window. It was nuts. I am so thankful we didn't have the basement finished already. I am not thankful that all of our Christmas decorations, an arm chair, a rug, a coffee table, a vacuum cleaner and several unpacked boxes were sitting contentedly, soaking up the rain at 4 a.m. when it starting pouring in the other window.

Sigh.

There is a man (Bob) outside right now, dressed in yellow overall thingies and boots, trudging through the mud trying to figure out the probme and hopefully fixing it. He's wearing a Cubs hat, so I'm sure he's a good guy, but seriously - he needs to get this taken care of. Our house is like, four months old.

Just losing the few things that we are losing makes me think of all those people who are really dealing with natural disasters - like in major proportions - the tornadoes and hurricanes and all kinds of crazy things that wipe away every shred of your life in one foul swoop. It stinks.

Today has been a nutso day and I could really use a latte, but here I sit, finally home after being gone since 9:30 a.m. I think I'll stay put and pray the rain away.