No Longer a Baby

*Alternatively titled, How to Get Your Child to Beg for Bedtime! 


I guess it's official now: you're not really a baby anymore when your baby teeth start falling out.

Guess who couldn't be more excited!!

It was relatively drama free compared to all that we've gone through with Emma Lee. Kerri was just chewing some gum and out popped her tooth! No bleeding, no tears, no tooth. Well, no baby tooth - you can see that her "big girl tooth" is already coming in!

About every five minutes or so she asks if it's time to go to bed or if she can please go to sleep. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day! On the other hand, I think I could get away with a 7:00 bedtime tonight!  

My Springtime Flowers

are my favorite flowers of all.

Reminder (Just in Case I Forgot)

I don't miss wiping a stinky little bottom - not one little bit! 

This should have come along with a disclaimer: Warn child when taking her "special" medicine that things that might normally just result in rude sounds will possibly have another effect and should only be done while sitting on the toilet . . . just in case! I'm just glad it happened after we got home today!

*The name of the child has purposefully not been disclosed to avoid the chance of her renouncing me at a later point in her life. However, you'd probably only need one guess about which one it could possibly be! ;)

Strawberry Season

We set out on Friday night to do a little strawberry picking (it comes early here in GA)!

Here are some of the highlights from our little outing:

• Someone forgot to let the girls in on the fact that picking actually means putting them in the bucket...not in their mouths!

• Multi-tasking at its finest

• Fun family togetherness

• Good time with a sweet friend on her first strawberry picking experience

• Big, juicy, sweet berries

• And the whole picking-one-and-seeing-an-even-better-one-that-you-just-have-to-pick problem that resulted in over 10 pounds of berries!

 

4-11-11

Just realized that today is the 11th, so here's my monthly challenge post!

Accomplished Swallower

I don't know what age is "normal" for kids to be able to swallow pills. I just know that for me, it has always been a struggle. I couldn't do it until I was 18, and even now they can't be too big. For Emma Lee, it just so happens that she is able to do it at age 6 (and almost a half as she will quickly let you know!) She's been having a lot of allergy problems, so we're going to see if this helps her - at least until everything stops blooming around here!

Andy coached her through it first, and then we caught her first attempts (and success) on video. I guess her swallowing her tooth wasn't too much of a fluke after all!

Accomplished Swallower from Michaella Johnson on Vimeo.

(Mommy's happy because it seems like such a great accomplishment. Daddy's happy because you can get 40 pills to swallow for the same price as 12 pills that dissolve!)

Adoption Update

I've been putting this post off for quite a while, despite the many requests and questions about how things are going. It's hard to get excited about writing about waiting, waiting, and more waiting, which is what we're still doing. I heard from our program coordinator yesterday, and the MOJ is slowly (but surely?) plodding away. They're meeting, on average, about three times a month.

We do have some things to work on at the moment. It's time for us to begin working on our CIS I800A  renewal. We need to update our home study before we can file for an extension, so we're in the process of finding a local home study agency and getting that done. Also, at the end of the summer, we'll have to complete our yearly declaration for Bulgaria to let them know that we still want to adopt. Welcome back, paperwork.

That's the specifics. The real update is on what I'm learning through this journey. This whole process has definitely strengthened my faith and my relationship with God more than any other experience in my life. Recently, I was reading through Habakkuk (obscure place I know, but I'm going through this awesome study right now) and some things really jumped out at me. Here's what Priscilla Shirer writes about it:

We don't know how long Habakkuk had been calling out to God, but when it appeared that He was not answering, Habakkuk pointed an accusatory finger at God (read his prayer in Hab. 1:2-4). Habakkuk became increasingly discouraged and started to lose confidence that the Lord would answer him. God finally spoke up and answered the prophet in verse 5 - "Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days - you would not believe if you were told." With these words, God gave Habakkuk a spiritual vision. The prophet received encouragement to look around and observe. While Habakkuk waited on God to answer, God was already answering! . . . Even though the prophet wasn't seeing God respond in the way and timing he expected, God was speaking and moving. He always is - even in His silence.

 Wow, how nice of her to write this whole book just for me! She continues to point out:

Habakkuk's second prayer is completely different from his first. After seeing his circumstances through new eyes, his level of anticipation increased.

Along with this, I'm making David's prayer my own: "In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch." Psalm 5:3

There's my challenge, and I'm assuming that it just might be yours too! Aren't we all "waiting" (read complaining) about God not doing things according to our plans and timing far too often?

Things I Find Myself Saying

My friend did a post about the things she catches herself saying throughout the day, and I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd do the same thing. It's funny how many things I say that just pass for "normal" around here. Here are a few of the things I've found myself saying lately:

1. "Your toothbrush is only for your teeth. Please don't scrub anything else with it!"

2. "You're a girl, and you sit! How can you miss the toilet?!"

3. "Do you really think that right here in the middle of the sidewalk is the best place to scrape all that poop off your shoe?"

4. "Please stop playing with the cheetos and look at me when I'm talking to you so I know you're listening!"

5. "I don't know how old you will be when you get to have your own cell phone. I do know it's too far away to talk about now though!"

6. "Umm, you know what happens to the things you swallow don't you . . . ."

7. "No! You may NOT have oreos for breakfast!"

8. "Ok, you were right....this time." (ouch!)

9. "Yes, you're right. I could probably say that a little nicer." (double ouch!)

10. "Umm, those are boxers and they go on daddy's booty, so I don't think I'd put them on my head if I were you!"


And the thing I just can't say enough: "I love you more!"



For those of you just dying to know - here are the "answers."
1,3,5,7,9, 10 (you probably guessed it) = Kerri!
2 ("funny" story) and 6 = Emma Lee
4 and 8 = Andy

6 at 6

The tooth fairy is about to go broke around here! Not only does Kerri have a loose tooth, but Emma Lee lost her second tooth of the week today.

That's 6 total for her! Is it just me or is that not crazy for a six year old?!

She actually swallowed it at some point during dinner without realizing it. (Guess she's not taking after me in that area! Little known fact - I have the hardest time swallowing pills. My first one wasn't until I was in college and even now they have to be little and I have to wash them down with a carbonated drink.) She was so upset when she realized it was missing. I assured her that the tooth fairy would still come, and she wrote a note right away explaining what happened.