And a Child Shall Lead Them...

Friday I got the pleasure of taking care of two boys (Tornado 4 yrs. and Little Bear 17 mos.) that I used to babysit for on a regular basis. The youngest of the boys, Little Bear, was actually born while I was still caring for Tornado and his older sister, Princess-with-a-Smidgen-of-Dirt (now 7-years-old).

The mom, Her Awesomeness, called me in the middle of the night and said, "OK, Baby is coming (They had yet to find a name for him). You ready to come over?" I was the 'go-to' girl and had agreed to come over to watch Princess-with-a-Smidgen-of-Dirt and Tornado, no matter what time of the day, when the mom, went into labor.

BTW, I walked in at midnight all frantic, concerned that it had taken me 8 minutes to get there and afraid I'd find her on the floor pushing Baby out and it'd be my fault. However, Her Awesomeness, smiled and ushered me in the door while she was having a contraction. That kind of calmness happened for the next 30 minutes while her husband got things all packed and ready. She'd be talking and say, "Oh, hold on," walk over to a piece of paper and right down the time and duration of the contraction, and then say, "ooo, that was a strong one. OK, anyway, I was saying...." CA-RAZY! Make a note, that I was 3 months pregnant at the time and thought, "Man, labor's not so bad!" HAHAHAHAHAHA

So, anyway. Her Awesomeness asked me if I'd come to the rescue once again and keep the boys before MDO started this week. Of course, I said, "YES!" right away. (I am very naïve and will jump at taking care of kids...no matter how many.) She asked me if I need to pray about...insisted actually, but I knew my answer would still be 'yes.' I didn't know what it would be like with two babies (one walking, one crawling) under the age of two and one very energetic little boy.

So, I headed off to her house at 8:00AM after a 7 o'clock appt. with the chiropractor...I'm naïve, but not stupid! Of course, this meant that Ham had been up since 6:45AM. That's really early for her. By the time we got done at the chiro. she was ready to go to sleep. However, once we got to Her Awesomeness's house, Ham was excited and wanted to play.

Within an hour of Her Awesomeness leaving me with Tornado and LB, my chest began to tighten. LB could not contain his love for Ham and was tackling her every chance he got. Ham would crawl about two feet and LB'd be crawling right behind her and then tackle her legs in a bear hug. Ham would lay there, immobilized, arms splayed out and probably staying as quiet as possible to make LB think she was dead. It didn't work...he only tightened his grip and then Ham would let out a whimper.

This went on all day. Poor Ham. She was no worse for the wear, but she was exhausted from playing 'dead' all day.

Anyway, when it was time for Tornado and LB to take a nap, I put LB down and Ham and I went to read Tornado a story. I asked Tornado to pick out a book and at first, he wanted his Bedtime Bible stories. But then, he said, "No, no. I want this one. This is the Bible." Before handing me his Bible, which was a pocket-sized one with the tiny writing, he said, "Here I'll pick out a story. Please read this one." Tornado was instantly transformed to I'm-the-Calmest-Boy-Ever.

When I looked at the story he was pointing to, I almost said, "Let's read a different one," but decided, it's the Bible. It's really OK to read the Bible. :) It was the story of Pontius Pilate sentencing Jesus to be crucified. As I began telling how the Jews were yelling, "Crucify!" I'm-the-Calmest-Boy-Ever (a.k.a. Tornado) said, "I know what happens." I asked, "Yeah?" He said, "Yes. They take him up a mountain, to a cross, and these soldiers play a GAME to see who gets Jesus' clothes and then Jesus DIES." I was astounded. I said, "Yes, you're right, baby. And Jesus forgives them." He nodded and said, "I know dat. And he came back to life in just two days." I said, "Three days." He said, "I know dat." :)

As I laid him down and covered him up, holding Ham in my left arm, I wanted to weep. How incredible. He gets it. At least, he knows it to the extent that a four-year-old can. And he is not questioning it to be true. To him, it's fact. It's not a fable or a story of a good teacher. It's Jesus, the Son of God. Who died for us because we need him. We do things like gambling for a dying man's clothes. We're mean sometimes. And Jesus wasn't like that. He was always good. Tornado knew that it was preposterous that Jesus 'DIED' while men mocked him.

I love children.

Sister's Birthday

My sister is the best! Her birthday was on Sunday. I wanted to give a shout out to her because I love her so much.

Reasons I have the best sister in the world:

1. She is always honest.
2. She is always sincere.
3. She gives the best advice.
4. She is hysterical.
5. Even though she lived through exactly what I did, she maintained so much integrity and didn't get into half of the stuff I did.
6. She is such a great mother to her three beautiful children.
7. She loves her husband with deep passion.
8. She supports those around her with unabashed love.
9. When she commits to something, she goes all-out.
10. She has always cheered me on with my art and writing.
11. She cared enough about me to witness to me even though I didn't want to hear it.
12. She was the reason I heard about Christ's love on a daily basis when I was at the end of my rope.
13. She has always told me (and been right) to stay away from certain boys.
14. She has an incredible voice and she's the only singer that can make me cry.
15. She and her husband are doing the hard thing of getting out of debt and doing a great job!
16. She knows what is important in life.
17. She's my sister!

I love you my Big Sis!

BTW, I don't know how it happened, but I am really sorry that the cake was chocolate and the icing was kinda like the whipped icing. It was supposed to be yellow or white cake with REAL chocolate or white icing.

Family Reunion

Saturday, July 5th, we drove down to Quitman, MS for the reunion. Every time Genius (aka My Husband) and I go to the McLeod Family Reunion, I am blessed. It was a little smaller this year. About 50 people came instead of the usual 100, so it seemed pretty bare. Now that we have a baby, we got to sleep in a nice, cool part of the house instead of the South Room which reaches about 100 degrees during the day and a cool 90 at night. (I don't know the exact temperatures, but all I know is that it was stinkin' hot even when I wasn't 6 month pregnant.) We got to ride down with Genius's sister and brother-in-law...and Baby Bear (due in January) and it was really fun. Ham did great! She either slept or played peek-a-boo behind her poodle lovey (it was the first time she initiated the game by herself).

Also, anytime my SIL's MP3 played The Cure, Ham would start 'singing.' It was so cute. I am obsessed love The Cure and for her to like it too, was just icing on the cake of this already delicious child. We didn't have much time to see everyone because we then left on Sunday, but it was relaxing and fun. Ham got to see more fireworks and she did good. These were a LOT louder than Anthony's, so we just covered Ham's ears. She didn't really react at all. I think she was too tired to think much of anything. She was still up at 10PM at that point, only having napped once for about an hour since 8AM.

The hardest part of the trip, for any of us, was that Ham bawled manipulatively every chance she got slept in a crib in our room. It was the first time she had slept in the same room with us. Even after she was born, she went straight to her crib. No bassinet, no co-sleeping, just bundled like a burrito in her own bed. Since, she's had a hard time sleeping anywhere else. (With the next kid, I think we'll try letting them sleep in different places and in the pack-n-play so they can be more adjusted to sleeping outside of their crib.)

So this scenario made it interesting for all three of us. She cried for over an hour that night until she just passed out. I also nursed her in our bed until she drifted off (something I have never condoned because I don't want it to be a habit). She needed her sleep, though, and I knew it would work. Though, once her head hit the crib mattress, she was up again, crying.

However, Genius and I took it well. We knew it was going to be hard, so we were mentally prepared. We were hiding our faces behind our pillows to muffle the laughter and pretending to be asleep as she kept hanging on to the side of the crib, crying pitifully, and trying to stay awake as long as possible. I felt so bad for the other people in the house.

Please don't think we're terrible parents for laughing, but we knew she was OK. She would lose her grip on the railing, fall down, and then we'd see this little hand come up the side and hear her grunting and huffing, exhausted as ever, trying to get back on her feet to see us and make sure we saw her. Then she would start crying again. OH, OH, at one point, she was crying uncontrollably and her flailing hand caught her attention. So she stopped crying and started looking at her fingers move around, then realized she had gotten distracted from her real goal, and began crying again. It really was funny. We LOST it.

The scariest part of the night was when I heard Ham smacking her lips and almost left it alone. However, Mommy instinct told me not to go back to sleep, and when I went over to her, she had a cotton ball-sized piece of batting hanging out of her mouth. There was a hole in the bumper pad and she had worked her fingers into it and pulled out the stuffing. It's one of those moments that, as a mom, you envision what could have happened if you didn't intercede. I don't like to think about it, but it's a reality. Of course, I took the bumper pad out...quite angrily. But, I was happy to hear her crying off and on the rest of the night. At least I knew she was OK. Her position of choice for sleeping? In the corner of the crib, in a sitting position, bent over double with her head on her feet. At one point, she grabbed her Bunny Bear and used it as a pillow. This was so she could get back into a standing position a little easier. Pitiful.

A place to learn and grow

So, this is a place I can call my nuthouse home. I seriously need a way to get out what I am thinking and also to make fun of myself. Blogging isn't new to me...well, I did a LiveJournal about 10 years ago and have misplaced what the name of it was. However, as I write this, I have the http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/ website open to help me along. (Hence the ability to cross things out. Woo-hoo.)

I am excited. This is a time of my life where I have about three hours during the day in which to relax do laundry, cook, clean, run errands, use the bathroom, shower, and if I am feeling really adventurous lazy, I can paint, draw, and now...blog!

The other hours of the day are mostly spent taking care of and playing with my sweet baby Ham. If you haven't understood where the three hours 'down time' come from, that is when Ham is sleeping.

I am 32 years old, a wife of almost 5 years, and a mother to a 9 month old little girl. I am also an artist and a writer, but those things have taken the backburner for years until recently. I am in the process of bringing those things back to life. It's very fun.

I love my family, I love my kid, I love nature, beauty, helping other people out, and my God. I am not very good at loving any of these things. I have trouble remembering to call my family, I get irritated at Ham's whining, I don't recycle, I eat too much junk food, read those dumb gossip rags, I don't help other's out enough, and some days I forget to talk to God all-together. I don't know why I use the word 'love' if I can't prove I love all these things.

I just know that I do and that I would be nowhere without any of these things...except the beauty part. However, I find beauty to be everywhere, not just in the conventional things like tan gams, rock-hard abs, celebriosity, and flowers. I think the homeless man is touching and beautiful. I find beauty in helping an elderly lady find Depends on aisle 3 of CVS so that she doesn't have to be embarressed about asking an 18-year-old male clerk, and there is something about my nephew coming inside smelling like a 5-year-old should and covered in sweat and dirt.

So, come join me on my jour....oh, Ham just woke up. Gotta go!