I'll catch up on Mattie's fun stuff!

Well, my Mattie-girl has gotten so grown up all of a sudden! She surprises me every day at how aware she is of her world around her! She is way more aware than Jacob is now, much less when he was 14 months old!

A couple of weeks ago I was using a permanent marker in the bathroom. She took the marker from the chair, walked in to the kitchen, opened the correct drawer and put it away!
She's also brought me her plastic cup with a matching lid and the valve that goes in it last week when she wanted a drink.
And she loves to bring me shoes, her pink sandals most often.
Last week I said something about changing her clothes and she walked right in to her dresser.
Then in the bathtub she tries to put the shampoo on her head by herself.
And two days ago she found one of Robert's Propel bottles in the Wal Mart bag. She went right to him, put it in his lap, and signed "eat."

I'm not saying she's a genius. It just cracks me up every day when I see evidence that this child doesn't miss a beat! There is definitely no pulling the wool over her eyes!

She's also growing up in so many other ways...she's saying uh-uh, paci, Daddy, dog, shoes, bite, bye bye, ni-night, and so much more we can't even begin to understand!!

She absolutely loves Silas (the dog) and any other dog who might come to play. Her new favorite foods are steak and cashews. (She's a protein girl...protein and crackers/pretzels!) She is by far the happiest when she's playing in a puddle of water. Silas' bowl in her favorite, though any puddle will do. Last week I was planting flowers and she was playing in the water like it was a pool! (I did start with fresh water for her.) And Robert found her yesterday wet from head to tow...forehead and face included! She was lying in one of the remaining puddles on the back porch. (Yes, gross!) Oh well, I guess she'll live! She definitely goes through many more outfits than Jacob did at this age. She ain't skeered! (of dirt or water or mud).

Here are some pictures of our last few weeks.

Mattie's first haircut. (I just cut an inch or so off the bottom of the back. It was looking kind of mullet-ish. She still has her curls.)


Mattie in her Easter dress that she didn't get to wear on Easter because of her strep. I tried an outside pic but I couldn't get her to stay out of the dirt, and we hadn't yet left for church!


I found this in the dollar bin at Target and I couldn't resist.


Partners in crime...Mattie and Caleb love to play together! Caleb says, "Ma-eee!" whenever he sees her. They seem to have a good time together and are way more interactive than Hannah and Jacob were at this age. It's very cute to watch!


Mattie helping me plant petunias last week. She loves playing in the water and dirt!!!




Well, I could go on all day. I just can't believe how big she's getting already. She's just not so much of a baby anymore. At least she still likes to snuggle.

Six Things...

Melissa Wiley is the author of some add ons to the Little House series, the Charlotte Years & the Martha Years. Anyway, brought to my attention by Candace, here is a list Ms. Wiley has created for her family. It's certainly a good guideline for enriching our kids' lives!

Six Things to Include
in Your Child's Day:
• meaningful work
• imaginative play
• good books
• beauty (art, music, nature)
• ideas to ponder and discuss
• prayer & [my addition] Bible reading

http://liltinghouse.clubmom.com/the_lilting_house/2006/10/its_funny_how_t.html

I have so much to blog about...

But it will have to wait until tomorrow or Thursday! I'm sure you all know I/we've been working during all waking hours to get our to do list done. I'd like to just burn it, but that won't do! I only have a couple of windows and doors left to paint, and a couple of holes in the wall to patch (from our old Nutone system, not any bad tempers!) , and a couple of other small things. I think we're actually coming to the end of it all so we can just LIVE! I know my kids are ready to have their Mommy back!

I'm ready to just school, read books, and play with them for a few days. I'm ready to bury myself in a novel just because I CAN! And I'm ready to get back to walking and rowing, reading my Bible while I can still keep my eyes open, and spending time in prayer. God has been giving me such a desire to just spend time with Him, which is an answer to prayer for me. I am looking forward to indulging myself!

And all the things I want to share some pictures of...my bathtub I tiled (and enjoyed!!), Mattie helping me plant petunias, Mattie and Jacob reading books together, Mattie and Jacob having fun together outside, the front of our house after landscaping and painting (woohoo!!), our mini botany unit things we've grown together, the shelf Robert built in the hole from an old window in the bathroom, Mattie's first haircut, and Mattie in her Easter + two weeks dress.

And all the things I want to share...all the new fun things Mattie is doing all of a sudden, our food allergy/sensitivity journey (not new for you guys, but I want to write it all down in one place because a lot of moms have been asking about it lately), a link to our listing on Realtor.com (in a week or so...

We have our appraisal Wednesday at 1:00. I feel really good about it at this point. With the exception of a few small things to do over the next couple of days, I feel really good about the house. We're not trying to sell something that will be a headache for someone else. It's a beautiful home on beautiful property; God just needs to bring the right buyer.

Oh, I guess I should add that we gave up on the thumb sucking breaking. It was making Jacob way too anxious at night and we decide we have too many other things to be anxious about right now. I certainly don't expect to let Mattie have a pacifier until after she's five, which is a bit tough to reconcile in my brain, but the pacifier doesn't grow on her body so I think it will be easier to control. (I certainly don't think it's any easier to break, just easier to do a parent-directed breaking rather than a five year old breaking.) Anyway, he was fully cooperating at bedtime, but in his sleep, he was taking off everything we tried, which is what I've heard happens all the time. So for now, he's sucking his thumb, and said, "It's good to be a kid again, Mom, so I can suck my thumb."

Well, off to bed for now. Up tomorrow to wash windows inside, plant flowers in the front, and finish painting a door on my back porch.

Thanks, Matt!!

Matt got Eliana's picture added to the right!
Her surgery started this morning. Please pray with me and so many others today for her and her family...

Praying for Eliana

Well, I've been trying to figure out how to add this link to my blog for ten days. Since I can't figure it out, I'll just post this way. Matt, can you help me???

Eliana is a little girl born with Down's Syndrome 3 1/2 months ago. She is to have open heart surgery this Monday (April 16). She is the sixth child in a delightful homeschooling family I am connected to through a homeschooling message board. Click on this link to read her story if you'd like. If not, please pray for her and her family as they go one this tremendous journey!

Leslie Nelsen's Blog

I think the sweetest part of this whole thing is about her older sister. SHe is 11 and has felt impressed to begin making beaded bracelets and begin a charity called "Wholehearted." She has been selling these bracelets and earned $2174 to donate for other babies needing heart surgery! She is 11! Rebecca's story.

Please be praying for this family!

What a sad thing...

My baby is 5 today! I can't believe he's that big! I have birthday party pictures I'll try to post soon if I can get away from Mattie long enough to get to the computer!

Since December we've been talking about Jacob stopping his thumb sucking when he turns 5. Well, tonight was the night. It was so sad! First I put a sock over his hand and taped it on (gently). Well, he felt about that like he feels about shoes on his feet! So I took the sock off and he used sheer will power to not put his thumb in his mouth. Well, he did try hard, but it made me so sad for him!

At one point he said, "Can't I just go back to being four?" And at another point he came out to the living room and said, "It's just so sad to stop sucking my thumb." We did shed some tears, though I didn't reveal mine. (I don't think we would have recovered!) Then later he said, "When can I be a kid again so I can suck my thumb?"

So, not only are we trying to break a 5 year daily habit, but he's encountering MAJOR philosophical issues to deal with as well!! It does make me sad for him to grow up and be done (or trying to be) with that part of childhood. But it makes me sad that he's so anxious about it too. Mostly it makes me so proud of him for being such a good boy about it! He didn't argue or ask if he could suck his thumb, just shared how sad it was and how hard it was to not do it. We did pray and ask Jesus for help and thanked him for helping Jacob grow up into a healthy, big 5 year old boy.

And about five minutes after I left (after rubbing his back, praying with him, singing to him, etc.), I went back to check on him and he was asleep...with his thumb on the pillow about 8 inches away!! That makes me even sadder for him when he's so cooperative about it! It makes me want to reward him and just let him suck it after all! Maybe he can stop when he's 6...

Oh, why do we have to grow up and experiences the harsh things of this world? Why can't we just snuggle in mommy's lap and suck our thumbs with Joe (his beloved puppy dog) forever??

Happy Easter!!

Here are some pictures of how we celebrated our day! It was a bit different this year...Mattie has been running a temp of 102-103 for 24 hours, got a couple hour break Sunday afternoon, then right back to 103 again. Robert is sick too, so they both stayed home yesterday morning. Mattie has strep and based on the description of Robert's throat, the doctor thinks he does too... Jacob and I went to church, came home for lunch, then went to Peter and Val's for an Easter egg hunt for the kids!

This is what Jacob found when he woke up this morning... His and Mattie's Easter baskets, his Bible open to the part about the tomb being empty (we haven't read since Friday as we've been trying to line the story up with our calendar), and Jesus standing near the tomb (as opposed to inside it) in our resurrection garden with the stone rolled away!!



Here's Jacob enjoying his Easter loot! I ventured out on a limb this year and made him chocolates so he could have an Easter basket that was completely safe for him instead of having to limit the candy because the ingredients were questionable. I made chicks, eggs, bunnies, crosses, a big chocolate bunny and a train lollipop.



Here's my handsome boy in his Easter finery.



And Mattie girl in hers... :( Thankfully, I didn't buy anything new just for Easter.



Here's Jacob finding his first egg. He found lots of eggs this year, in spite of his anxiety that the girls would find them all first! (He definitely does not have the "looking" gene!!)



A few of the Crabtree cousins and one Burton add on.



Well that's all for now. I have some blogging catching up to do, but it's not going to happen until Mattie feels better. Since Friday she has wanted to be held non-stop, sometimes naps included! We got antibiotics this morning, so hopefully she'll have made a remarkable improvement by tomorrow morning.