Wit by Amanda

Monday, August 22, 2016

July 2016

July was a fun month. We were home for most of July. Celebrated the 4th, had some house guests a couple days, and had quite a few people over for dinners. At the end of the month we took a road trip to Douglas, GA and stayed a few nights there and drove half way back and stayed the night in Atlanta one night and did some furniture shopping. My dad came to visit as well.

**Funny Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**
So we were driving down the road and Jack was in the car seat and randomly asked "What's Jen and Scott's babies name?" I told him that his name is Baby Aiden and he is going to be here really soon but he's in Jenn's belly still. And then he said "his number is zero he doesn't have a number yet."

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Favorite color - dark blue
Favorite number - 3
Favorite food - Pancakes
Favorite hobby - Play with his friends he says.
Favorite song - We are still enjoying the same songs from last month (A LOT!) Come People of the Risen King by the Gettys and He's Got the Whole World. We also are singing a lot of Christmas music for some reason...specifically Away in a Manger.
Funny quote - "Hey Dad did you have a good day at church?"
He's a genius - We have no idea what is working and what is not working you know. Sometimes we encourage him to memorize bible verses and say them to us and he does it for a reward. The other day we were going down the road and I heard him saying Psalm 95. I stopped and realized that is not one of the verses we have worked on....he has been in service every Sunday morning and he sits and listens to us recite that at the beginning of each service. We had no idea and were completely blown away!

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Highlight - had her first real boo-boo this month on 7/4 she fell on our pavement and scratched her nose pretty bad.
Her words - Hi, Bye, Mama, Dada, Jah (for Jack), and LaLa (for Lucy), Water, Hello, Whoa, book, baby, all done, and tons more
Sleep - Great sleeper still.
Clothes - She is in 12-18 months clothes. She wears size 4 shoes.
Diapers - Size 4 diapers!
Food - She has been a great eater pretty much this month. She kind of is on the way out of eating baby food.
Skills - One of her favorite things to do is the yoga position "downward dog". Its quite funny she will just randomly do it at the funniest places and time.
Crying - Still wants her mama a whole lot.

Until next time....here are some photos from life lately!

4th of July!

The house is coming along!

"Uncle Scott"

The coolest highchairs - bar height at 5 Points Pizza

Nonna and Papa time!

Playing zoo!

Annual Tradition of getting new shoes at the local shoe store in Douglas

4 generations!

Pool time at Nonna and Papas!

Toured an olive oil farm near Douglas

Ikea for to long!

Poppy comes to visit!

A really hot day at the zoo!

We have had quite a bit of Ice cream this summer!

We love Poppy!

This one!

I love my kids!

#Ilovemyfamily

Jack with his first big boy hair cut! We love it!

Storytime fun with William and Lydia

Francine is about to start Mother's Day Out so Jack is showing her the ropes of a napmat!

Pondering Thoughts

Outside my window...My beautiful backyard
I am thinking...about how I stayed up wayyy to late last night!
I am thankful for...my home
I am wearing...Madewell Tshirt and the most comfortable pants in the world from Anthro.
I am remembering...all the things we are separately and together doing this week in our family
I am going...to try to pull from my strengths and work hard and also find some time to play hard and rest!
I am reading...The Royal We and The Soul of Shame
I am hoping...that I can handle all that I have committed to this Fall.
On my mind...in doing this exercise I realize how much my thinking time is consumed by financial and organizational stuff. I am a future thinking person and so I am always thinking about the next step and the process to getting there most efficiently.
Noticing that..I need to choose joy and practice joy.
Pondering these words...contentment.
From the kitchen...well this morning it was a juice I made and coffee. Think I need another cup and something else to hold me over till lunch!
Around the house...its mostly clean and picked up and I think thats a great start to a Monday morning!
One of my favorite things...quiet time in some amount each day! Gotta have it!

Friday, July 8, 2016

June 2016

"This is my circus and these are my monkeys" - Uknown

June. It was good. Ok parts of it were bad...but we made it right? Christopher was in Japan for the first 10 days. My mom flew in for some of those days to help with the kids and take a trip to Indiana to visit some family. She was definitely a huge help. However, Francine for the month of June was a piece of work. She denied food for like two weeks, she was teething, she full on started walking, she screamed when I would put her down, and we stopped nursing. So there was a lot of good and a lot of bad. Definitely I didn't win a parenting award this month. I know that I am tough on myself and on my kids and usually I am able to get through the hard phases of kids growing up (in my 3.5 years of parenting experience)...however this month was maybe the most challenging of them all.. Man - I did feel like June was a circus but so far July has been a breath of fresh air.

Something else I read this month that has touched me and I have tried hard to do this with my kids is "warm hellos and warm goodbyes!" So good! Children should never feel like we are not happy to see them. When they wake up in the morning or when I drop Jack at school or when I get Francine out of her bed from a nap...it should always be warm. I gotta do this better! I will say Christopher does this very well. So I just need to look to him to make this happen more with me.

**Funny Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**
We were at church one Sunday and he saw the people that were getting baptized that morning walk up on stage in there white clothes. He said in a not-so-quiet voice "Mommy why dont they have shoes on?" It made me smile because it was such an innocent look at life.

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Jack started a summer program two days a week at Community Bible Church. I think he has really enjoyed it. We have gone to the library a few times and been working on some summer reading. He loves books! We are definitely getting more comfortable with singing. The kid love music. This year he was still to little to attend VBS at our church but next year he will be 4 and thats when they allow kids to go. We did stay and listen to the openers most mornings of VBS just so he could see what all it was.

Favorite color - white
Favorite number - 3
Favorite food - Chocolate Chips in his oatmeal. Its changed breakfast!
Favorite hobby - Cutting. He has gotten really good at cutting paper
Favorite song - Come People of the Risen King by the Gettys and He's Got the Whole World

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Highlight - She is a full on walker and she is starting to blow kisses to people.
Her words - I cant believe I am writing this all down - Hi, Bye, Mama, Dada, Jah (for Jack), and LaLa (for Lucy), Water, Hello,
Sleep - Great sleeper still.
Clothes - She is in 12-18 months clothes. She wears size 2 shoes.
Diapers - Size 4 diapers!
Food - We are done with nursing. She definitely had her moments this month where she didn't want anything to do with food but she came back around.
Skills - She started holding up her index finger for showing us she is 1. :)
Crying - We have had some serious separation anxiety since about 3 months old. Its hard to help her sometimes

Until next time....here are some photos from life lately!

Friday, June 24, 2016

May 2016

May. It was definitely a busy month but not with huge things. A lot of little things like parties, strawberry picking with the kids, Mothers Day, zoo day, and lots of people over to the house for dinner. We definitely are in full on summer heat around here. We have really enjoyed our backyard so far. In the late afternoon the house shades the backyard so its not near as hot as it really is...at least it feels that way so that's nice.

I read something this month that inspired me. I want to make home more fun than any other place. I definitely have not mastered this but I try to make sure that we have a fun activity to do at home and that home is not a boring place. Right now, Francine is still taking a morning nap so that is when Jack and I have a "project" that we like to work on whether its puzzles, painting, coloring, games, etc. It helps to have that time to do older kid things. These days are long but I know the years or short. Its important to cherish the hard stuff and find spots of fun in the middle of it all.

**Funny Story's of the month (I remembered to write down)**
Jack asks this lovely phrase multiple times a day - "What can I do for you?" Its very sweet and it really means "mommy I want to be with you so how can we make that happen". I know he is not going to always say such cute stuff like this so I need to make sure and try and remember to write these things down.

Another one has to do with spanking. Yes, we spank. Jack was getting in trouble and Christopher said "Jack I am going to give you a spanking because you did 'X'"...and Jack responded "Is it a little spanking or big spanking?" We both smiled and laughed a little because it was so funny and sincere at the same time. Poor little guy. He

#Jackamadeus - BIG BROTHER update!

Jack got his toddler rail put on his crib this month! He also went to a really cool pediatric dentist for a check-up this month. One thing we decided it was time to give up was Jack was sleeping with a bid dog called "Frank". It was to big and bulky and for the summertime I thought it was going to be so hot in his bed. So we have officially removed Frank from nap and bedtime and it has not been such a traumatic thing.

Favorite color - dark blue
Favorite number - 3
Favorite food - Every morning he wants me to juice for him.
Favorite hobby - "mommy do you want to dig with me?" - In the dirt outside with his trucks.
Favorite song - Veggie Tales Theme Song right now or I Love you More by Harry Connick Jr...its a toss up this month!

#Francineclaire - LITTLE SIS update!

Two Princesses!

Highlight - We attended our first Mother Daughter tea at the church for Mothers Day. It was really sweet
Her words - I cant believe I am writing this all down - Hi, Bye, Mama, Dada, Jah (for Jack), and LaLa (for Lucy)
Sleep - Great sleeper still. We gave up her wubanub paci with the lamb on it and are only doing a paci this month. Slowly moving away from pacis before she is in kindergarten with it. :)
Clothes - She is in 12-18 months clothes. She wears size 2 shoes.
Diapers - Size 4 diapers!
Food - Went down to 2 nursings a day. She is really getting into smoothies this month!
Skills - She has taken her first official steps (may 14, 2016). Its about 2 weeks earlier then Jack did.
Crying - She has only had 2 teeth for her first 14 months of life poor thing (Jack had 12 at 12 months!!). So this month has definitely been dedicated to teething and getting quite a few painful teeth in.

Pondering Thoughts

Outside my window...No windows from where I sit right now.
I am thinking...about the ways I can choose joy over stress
I am thankful for...my husband
I am wearing...Madewell jeans and button up shirt and gold sandals.
I am remembering...the days are long and the years are short.
I am going...to cut myself some slack. My expectations are sometimes impossible to meet.
I am reading...To Kill A Mockingbird....a great summer read.
I am hoping...for success in finding some pieces for our house this evening shopping.
On my mind...how I want to buy so many things. So many things...so little time! (And $$)
Noticing that...I need to choose who to put in my world that brings me joy. small doses of the people who don't.
Pondering these words...inspiration.
Thought I am processing right now...gratefulness. I have a lot to be thankful for.
From the kitchen...well this morning it was two awful frozen waffles with almond butter and a to-go cup of Irish tea.
Around the house...I am thankful to be able to walk this afternoon into a freshly cleaned house!
One of my favorite things...holding my children!