My sweet Elijah-bud

Elijah is my sweet sensitive boy. Most people say that when a boy is sensitive that he is a momma's boy but that's not true of Elijah. He got his sensitivity from John. And those that know me well know I fall short on the sensitivity scale. God is using Elijah to make me more sensitive.

He is my cuddler. He is a sweet helper. He is almost always thinking of others...well maybe except when he is hungry...which is starting to seem like all the time. He is tall and skinny. Really just muscles and bones. He is pretty tall for a 4 year old. He outweighs his older sis by 2 pounds these days and is taller than her too. Shhh...don't let Layton know that. She still thinks she is the biggest.

It is so cute even as a two year old when he would come to get his cup out of the fridge he would grab Layton's cup for her too. I suppose he figured if he was thirsty she might be too. He has always been a fan of Cheney. He has always cuddled and hugged her almost to the point of frustration well at many times to the point of frustration for Cheney. John asked him one time why he always touched and pestered Cheney and Elijah just said, "Because I love her, Dad."

He has often told me he loves me because I am soft and warm. He sometimes wakes up from nap and crawls up to snuggle with me if I am still trying to rest. He is a people person like his da. He doesn't like to go anywhere by himself. He doesn't like to play by himself. He always wants someone with him. The first thing he said when we found out we were having a little boy this time was..."Now I have somebody to share my room with!" He had been so concerned before we found out it was a little brother in my belly that he had offered to share his room even if it was a little sister.

He loves to have tea parties with his sisters and then run out and hit the baseball around the yard. He wants to be a ball-gamer when he grows up. And if you ask him what kind of ball gamer he will tell you, baseball, football, soccer, golf, and basketball. Any sport you can think of he wants to play. He has told John he thinks he could be the best baseball gamer in the world one day. How's that for confidence?

It is funny though he has hit this timid stage. He has stopped enjoying riding fast on his bike and he doesn't want to swing high on the swings. I am not too worried about it. Layton went through this same kind of thing about the same age and now she is trying to figure out how to swing over the top bar of the swing set. I really think if she could go completely over she would.

Elijah can't wait until Nathaniel joins us outside my belly. He finally got to feel his little brother move and kick him the other day. He got so excited. I wonder if Elijah realizes he is not going to come out with the ability to throw a football or wrestle on the Big Bed. They will be close to five years apart but I think Elijah is going to be a great big brother to his little bro. He will be a great example of how to be sweet and tough at the same time.

Cheney-isms

For awhile one of Cheney's favorite things was to say, "Me a baby." And if I replied,"No, you are my big girl," she very adamantly said, "No, me a baby." Her stern little tone was so cute. With Nathaniel due to arrive as the new baby in the family some time in the next 8 weeks, I was starting to worry how she would feel about sharing the baby role in the family. Fortunately she is changing her opinion on this... recently she has begun saying, "Me a putty pincess"-translated pretty princess. Already at 2, she has adapted the princess mentality with some help from big sisi. At first it was just when she had dress ups on but today she said it first thing in the morning while she was still in her pajamas. I have to say I was thankful to hear that her self esteem doesn't come from just what she is wearing. lol.

She is our most encouraging child...as far as using encouraging words herself. She almost always says "tank you" (thank you), and "pease" (please). She frequently offers up an "I yuv you" without being prompted. It is amazing to me how 2 year olds can comprehend love but they do.



Her most frequent phrase lately though is, "I have a toopie," meaning either she has wet or pooped her diaper. I think this is the beginning of potty training for her. She is actually realizing it is uncomfortable. This is a good thing. We send her to the bathroom to climb up on the changing table...since it is hard for me to lift her these days. She is quite the climber. When we change her diaper she often offers sound effects...like, "EEEEEWWWW", or "icky, mommy, icky."

She loves climbing the stairs. She has started climbing them backwards while pulling herself up with the handrail. It is so funny to watch. It takes her quite a bit longer than the normal way but she definitely seems to enjoy it. Today as she was coming down the stairs, she held on to the rail and jumped down each step one at a time. She looked so proud of herself when she reached the bottom. I wondered what was going through her mind.

I think her most favorite thing to do is going to the Big Bed. At least twice a day she finds me or John and says, "Let's go to da big bed." John established this time with our kids from the very beginning. It used to include the whole family climbing into the big bed(mommy and daddy's bed)...tickling, laughing, zurberts, kids jumping or a family pile. Now though I have moved out of the picture somewhat...this big belly makes it a bit harder to tolerate all that bouncing. All our kids love this time.

There are times that John and I wonder if the other kids were as cute as Cheney at this stage but I have come to the realization it is because of Layton and Elijah that she is so cute. So many of the things she does are because she watches her big brother and big sis. She thinks she can do anything they can. She loves to dress up with her big sis and she is a bit tougher than Layton because of Elijah's influence. Whenever John asks who is the funniest in our family, Layton and Elijah always say Cheney and Cheney raises her hand and yells, "Meeeee!"

Nasa websites

Nasa for kids
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/home/index.html

Video of the mission
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/live_tv.html

Uh Oh...She wants to be an astronaut...

Well, my mom called yesterday as she and my dad were driving over to Cocoa to watch the space shuttle launch. I hadn't even realized that there was a launch. I have gotten out of the habit of watching the news. I mean I can't watch it when the kids are in the room and who can actually stay up until 11:00 p.m. to watch the news. If I did watch it then I wouldn't sleep all night long because of all the icky stuff (icky is a cheney word) they talk about. AND let me tell you I have enough trouble sleeping without news stories adding to the problem. Well back to the reason I am writing this blog...

So after my mom alerted me to the fact that the shuttle was going to launch, I figured every good homeschool mom would be using this as a learning tool. So we went up to the lakefront...where we could get a clear view of the launch from our central Florida town and joined a small crowd of viewers. It was really cool...once we got past the first few minutes of Elijah's whining about not being able to see it. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't expected to launch for 3 more minutes but what is a minute to a 4 year old boy. The kids got really excited to see the shuttle break through the clouds and see the fire go up into space. We prayed God would be with them and keep the astronauts safe. We watched it until the little tiny white dot disappeared from sight. Then the kids started asking me questions to which I responded "...Um...um....we will have to do some research to find out those answers." We came home and watched replays of the shuttle launch on the news (OK, the news can be helpful...sometimes). The kids enjoyed seeing what it looked like on the ground. They were pretty impressed that Grandma and Grandad were over there and saw it go up. We also learned that 3 of the astronauts on the mission are women. The commander of this mission is a woman. Pretty cool. Then Layton said..."I want to be an astronaut when I grow up."

Now I know it is early to determine what path her career will take. I mean so far she has wanted to be a cheerleader...a doctor...then a cheerleading doctor...(John does a great version of a doctor doing spirit fingers and saying "Your healed.")...then an artist and now well we are discussing being an astronaut. This is where my "UH, OH" comes in to play. Can I teach an astronaut? I mean can I homeschool a child that could one day be an astronaut? I dropped out of college trigonometry in high school so I could take business math. I got an A in physics because my teacher said he needed at least one more A in the class and I had worked hard enough on my B to go ahead and give an A. I made it through college and got my master's degree on a public and private education. The goal for us is to prepare her for college...certainly if she can get to college and then decide if she wants to be an artistic astronaut...Can't you see her up there in space painting water colors of the earth?

So anyway my plan right now is to just teach Layton to read and add and subtract and stuff and then expose her to as much stuff as I can...like the links I have attached...live tv up on the shuttle and Nasa's Kids site. Certainly a homeschooled kid can become an astronaut if she wants to.

a little about Me, Myself and I

Just trying to figure out why when my house is really a mess, I am exhausted, and I have plugged my children into the T.V. for 30 minutes of their new favorite TV show - Word World...that I am compelled to come create a blog. I suppose it is my small effort to reach out to the rest of the world. I know some really cool people that have a blog and it helps keep them connected.

I want to express myself in some other way than walking around my house cleaning up after everyone. I want to be witty and creative like other moms I see doing this. Not sure at this point in my life thatwitty and creative can be words used to describe myself. I suppose I want to feel connected to something outside the walls of this home. Usually I am focused on the walls inside this home. You see right now I am 32 weeks pregnant. I already have 3 amazing kids ages 6, 4 and 2. I am at that stage where basically no position is comfortable....standing up...laying down...sitting ...it doesn't really matter, it seems like something always hurts. I am amazed at the size of my abdomen. It looks like this will be another big baby...our last was 9 lbs. 6 oz. Our heavy weight champion of the nursery. I have to remind myself often that this time of being uncomfortable is only a short price to pay for the amazing gift of a whole human life for eternity.

I am a 35 year old wife to a husband of 10 years. My knight in shining armor is a youth evangelist. He speaks God's truth into the lives of young people and adults. I am often humbled by that. I mean how did I get worthy to walk along side this Godly man. I am a mom of 3 currently...soon to be 4 and homeschooling. That also humbles me...am I worthy for these children to spend almost all their hours with me learning everything from how to read, write and hide HIS Word in their heart. It often sends me to the Lord...for I know I am not worthy of such a responsibility and privelege except that I think God is using it to change me. It seems as though this time is more for me than it is for them.