Book of Ruth

My daughter is in love with fairy tales, and apparently the Book of Ruth is no exception.  Although it is no fairy tale...it is real life!

I had a sweet experience with my 4-year old daughter this weekend.  Just before we went to church I told her that we were starting a study on the book of Ruth in 'big people church' today.  She looked at me and said, "Mommy, you have to read it to me.  Now."  Then she went and got my Bible for me.  I smiled and opened the Bible (New King James Version) and began to read chapter 1.  When I finished chapter 1 I closed the Bible and told everyone we had to go to church now.  She said that we had to finish reading after church.  Of coarse I had my doubts and wondered if she even understood what I read considering the version I was using.

Go to church.

Come home and make lunch.

All sit down to eat lunch.

My daughter grabs my Bible and asks me to finish reading Ruth.  OK, so I read chapter 2 thinking she will not make it past that far.  But when I was done she said, "Is that all?  What happens to the boy?" (Boaz).  Wow, she was listening and understanding.  So I read the last two chapters and she was so excited that Ruth and Boaz got married!  So cute and amazing!

Which Princess Are You?

I'd like to lighten things up for the weekend and ask, "Which princess are you?"  or "Which princess is your little princess?"

Having a 4-year old daughter, princesses are often the subject of talk around here.  As a 3-year old her favorite princess was Cinderella, but not that she is 4 she has graduated to Sleeping Beauty's Aurora.  If she had her way we would watch Sleeping Beauty all day long while she wore high hills and a frilly dress, and occasionally she would ask her little brother (18 months) to dance with her and be Prince Charming.  We did go through a short fairy and Tinker Bell stage, and although she truly adores Tinker Bell, the princesses win out!  She may like Aurora, but I think she looks more like Rapunzel with her green eyes and long hair.

As a child I also loved Sleeping Beauty (actually, she was my favorite), but if I am honest I think I am more of a Pocahontas or Snow White in person (for different reasons, obviously).

My little princess (and prince) twirling before church.

So, leave a comment below and let us read your princess (or prince) story!

Bluebonnets

One of the things I look forward to every year is taking my kids out to have their pictures taken in the bluebonnets.  Mackenzie has taken some really beautiful pictures in the past, whereas this year she wanted nothing to do with it.  So much so that the only pictures I was able to capture of her were of her back (Motherly sigh).  My son, however LOVED having his picture taken this year.

Here is what we captured!

When Someone You Love

It was 9-years ago today that my Dad passed on to be with the Lord.  We affectionately call it his 'Graduation Day' as it is the day he graduated from this life into eternity (which I do not believe everyone goes to heaven, but rather that you have to place your faith in Jesus Christ as God, Lord and Savior).  I had only been married one year earlier, and had just celebrated my 1-year anniversary; it had just been my parents 30th anniversary! 

My Dad and I had a great relationship and I loved (and still love) him very much.  I was proud to have him be my father, and truly enjoyed him being my hero on multiple occasions.  I have a lot of funny stories I could tell about him being my hero, but I won't go into that here as I do not use this blog to embarrass others (as the stories quite possibly would do).  Anyway, I was not done with my Dad yet.  I still had years ahead where I both wanted and needed him in my life. 

So many things have happened since his 'graduation' that are so wonderful they make me cry for missing him.  Things like the birth of my nephew and my own two precious children, family reunions, other family and friends also passing on to heaven, accomplishments, holidays and just the little moments in life that remind me of him or that make me long that he was here with me now.

I remember when my daughter was born how I wished that he was there (I have wonderful home births with my babies, and it would have been completely appropriate to have him in our home with her birth), and with the birth of my son I wanted him there even more!  We even gave my son's middle name the name of my father, which is a very unique name, and when he was born he looked just like my dad.

Today, God gave me a special moment and reminder of how great HE (God) is through my daughter.  But before I go into that I just want to say that I believe that God allows things that we may not know about.  I think God may allow my Dad to have seen my children's births or a special moment in time without my knowledge, and there is no telling what else God may allow.  As I mentioned above, today is 9-years since my father's passing on, but I have not mentioned it even once today.  I went on with life as normal.  We had a play date at the park where my son busted his lip (oops!), we had lunch time and nap time and play time and snack time; all very normal.  Then, we got in the car to run an errand and my daughter opened her mouth and spoke words that surprised me, made me smile and made me want to cry.  This is what my 4-year old said, "Mommy, do you remember when I was in your tummy?  Well then I was out of your tummy.  Then PawPaw hugged me and kissed me and said I love you, then he gave me to you.  Remember?"  Yes, my jaw dropped!  She is 4 and he left this earth 9 years ago; he was gone 5 years before her birth.  So I asked her, "Who is PawPaw?"  She said, 'Mommy (giggle giggle), your Daddy."  I then asked her what happened and who he was two more times just to see if her story would change, but she said the exact same thing three times.  WOW!  I do believe that God allowed him to be there for her birth and to hold her and kiss her and tell her that he loves her.  I don't know what you think or believe, but either way this was a neat thing to happen today.

F O U R

In just over three weeks my little girl will be 4.  Yes, F O U R.  Four Years Old! 

I am really excited about this birthday mostly because she is really excited.  She finally understands birthdays and growing older.  She realizes that she is turning four and wants to have friends at her party.  When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday she replied, "Four girls.  Mommy make the biggest cake in the whole wide world.  Pink and purple presents.  Balloons."  OK.  So that is a party according to Mackenzie.  I hope she is not too disappointed that we are going to have a park party with a lot of family, and probably four girls, and some boys too.  I also hope she doesn't mind that I am not making the biggest cake ever!  I am going to try to make the personal Oreo cheesecakes and maybe some cake pops!  Both of which I can make without artificial food color, and have actually found all natural sprinkles in chocolate, pink and yellow!  As for everything else...who knows???  I suppose we will just celebrate!

How Do You Grow?

This morning I decided to pull out my baby book and have fun looking at old pictures of me when I was a tiny tot; like my own children are right now.  I wanted to read what my Mom wrote about me when I was my kids ages.  And I wanted to compare my height and weight with my precious little ones.

It was really fun!

First, can you guess what age I was when I weighed what Mackenzie is now?  And when I was her height now?  She is 41" tall and 41 pounds (perfect BMI according to the doctor, just ahead of her age).  She has practically been the same size for an entire year now, so not much has changed from her 3rd birthday to her upcoming 4th birthday; except she looks older and more mature.  So, have you figured it out yet?  How old was I when I was 41" tall and weighed 41 pounds?  I was six.  Yup, six years old.  I was average; but she will be tall! 

Next, let's do Micah.  Micah is 15 months old and is about 30" and weighs right at 22 pounds.  How old do you think I was when I was 30" and 22 pounds?  If you guessed 15 months then you are right!  Micah has been tracking almost exactly what I tracked as a baby.  Does that mean he will only be 5'3" and 103 pounds?  No, actually he will probably just continue to grow past junior high (when I stopped growing) and will most likely outgrow his sister; as boys typically do!  But even if he is tiny we love him that way.  I rather enjoy being small ;)

Other interesting things about my baby book is all of the notes my Mom wrote about singing and dancing.  Both of my kids LOVE, LOVE, L-O-V-E to sing and dance!

Mackenzie Phrase

Don't you just love hearing what little kids say?  I do, they can keep you laughing all day long.  I keep trying to write Mackenzie's phrases down in her baby book, or blog them here, but as a busy mom of two...I forget. 

Here is one from yesterday.  I am always asking Mackenzie if she shut the door because we don't want to let the air conditioner escape.  So when I asked her if she shut the door she said, "Oh No!  The furniture is getting away!"  Super cute :)

She most often refers to her brother as Baby Brother, So Cute, or Micah, Micah Wayman if he is crying or doing something she does not like.

Both Mackenzie and Micah seem so much older and bigger to me.  I view Mackenzie more as a big kid or child lately and not a toddler (she is 3 years old), but in my mind I think she should be a toddler.  Well, she is growing up on me.  Micah can stand on his own, crawls the big boy way (still prefers to army crawl), pulls up on everything, tries to climb on stuff, and is trying really hard to walk on his own.  I'm really not ready for my 8-month old to be walking, but if I were to guess I would say he will be walking some time in his 9th month.  He is really happy and LOVES his big sissy.  I think I hear him saying phrases also.  The phrase that is the most clear is "I like it."  Which I think he picked up from me asking him if he likes what he is eating and his Sissy when she says, "I think he likes it".  He also says, Mama, Dada, Kiss, Did it and a few more I can't think of right now.  So far he has NO INTEREST in signing like Mackenzie did and does, and hates television.  He wants to play and get into EVERYTHING.  So very curious.

The only trouble we have is when he tries to play with Mackenzie's toys...she is not sharing very well yet with him, but we are working on that.

Oh, last night Mackenzie didn't want to go to sleep, so when Daddy put her in her bed he told her to sing.  We could hear her singing for over an hour from the other room.  It was really funny and sweet!

Jesus Visits

Usually Wayne goes in to get Mackenzie in the morning, but this morning she was not ready to get up and wanted to stay in her bed, so he left her to get ready for work and later I went in to check on her.  As soon as I walked into her room I asked her if she was ready to get up and she nodded yes and sat up on the side of her bed.  She looked at me and said, "Jesus touched my shoulder" as she pointed to her left shoulder.  I asked her if her shoulder hurt and she said, "No, Jesus made it all better."  I then asked her if it had hurt before Jesus touched it and she said, "No, Jesus touced my shoulder and make it all better."  I asked her if she saw Jesus or if she just felt Jesus and she said, "I saw Jesus and he touched my shoulder."  I said, "What did he look like?"  She said, "He looked like God."

Very cool!  Looks like Jesus had a visit with Mackenzie this morning and He put His hand on her shoulder.

Stuff, Stuff, Stuff

We have been really busy lately.  I have had so many moments where I thought 'I need to blog about that', but just never did.  Why?  Because I am busy and then forget what it was I was going to blog about :)

Mackenzie is getting to be such a young lady.  Whenever I look at her I no longer see my baby girl, but rather am viewing her as a child.  It makes me want to both cry and smile.  Cry because I miss my baby, but smile because she is such a joy.  The past few weeks have been really good with her not throwing those tantrums.  I think her tantrums are a 3 and 4 fold thing, so I am working on taking care of one or two of those items, and the other two will naturally work themselves out in the next month or two.  By then we should be pretty much tantrum free!  Other than her tantrums she is such a sweet and caring young lady.  I just want to squeeze and hug and kiss her.

Oh, and she is now in BIG GIRL clothes.  Yup!  Although I still put her in some of her toddler 5 clothes (like shorts and shirts) she has officially moved up to XS (4/5) and S (5/6) in the big girls section.  She is now 40 pounds and over 40 inches tall, and her hair is down to her waist.  Recently she decided that the only thing she will wear (other than pajamas) is a dress, and since she only owned one casual dress that was handed down by her big cousin we were having clothing problems.  My Mom and I went out to get her some new casual (and a couple not so casual) dresses that she ABSOLUTELY LOVES.  She even wants to sleep in them at night, so it looks like we need to get her a night gown so she can sleep in a dress - lol.  My girlie girl!  Oh, and now she like to wear hair bows again - Yesssssssss!

As for Micah, he is growing also.  At almost 6 months old he is now around the 18 pound range, and I need to measure to see how long he is.  He is trying desperately to crawl AND walk.  Yes, you read that right; he wants to walk.  He is teething and wants those first teeth to come in soon, but we will see about that.  Big sissy makes him laugh, and he is just so precious.  He only gets upset with Daddy.  Yes, he is a Mamma's boy for now.  Don't worry, Mackenzie went through that same stage, and now she LOVES Daddy.

Well, bye for now.

Mackenzie Milestones

Mackenzie has met some major milestones lately.  Actually, they were all met before Micah was born, but I wanted to make sure they stuck before posting.


Milestones:
Jumping with both feet off the floor
No more bottles
Staying dry all night


That first milestone was a big one!  We had trouble getting Mackenzie to even attempt to jump, and when sh would neither of her feet left the ground.  The doctors said it was because she was so tall at such a young age, but they really wanted her to pass this milestone.  One day I checked out the Disney movie Jump In from the library.  This is a double dutch movie, and Mackenzie LOVED it.  Before we knew it she was pretending to jump rope and you guessed it...both of her feet left the ground.  Now she jumps all the time :)

The second milestone was another BIG one for our household.  I know we should have stopped the bottle a year ago, but since she nursed and was not bottle fed she actually didn't start the bottle until she was about a year old (maybe older), and when she did start the bottle she fell in love with it and milk.  We went through this whole thing where she wouldn't drink milk from anything other than a bottle, and she would only use the bottle to drink milk.  Also, she went through like a gallon of milk every 2-3 days!  No matter what we tried we simply could not wean her.  Once her reasoning skills grew stronger I began telling her that when her bottle broke we were not going to replace it.  Broke?  Yes, broke.  She had this habit of chewing through the nipples, so we were always replacing them.  She was finally down to one last nipple and when that was gone we would not buy more.  Guess what?  It worked.  When she had chewed through I showed it to her and explained how it was broken.  She has not had a bottle since :)  Plus she only drinks milk once (maybe twice) a day out of her cup now.  Other side effects; she EATS LIKE A HORSE now.  That's OK by me :)

The third milestone I can't explain other than she is staying dry all night long.  I think part of it has to do with milestone number 2 and not drinking a gallon of milk every few days, and not waking up 3-4 times a night asking for milk in a bottle. 

Even though she stays dry all night she is still not potty trained.  I was told it is probably due to my pregnancy and now new baby.  OK, I will buy that for now.  Reason for not being potty trained?  She doesn't want to.  I would say she goes on the potty about half the time, but refuses to tell us when she needs to go.  I am sure this will change one day...at least before she is married or starts dating or something.

Running Away!

Good News: Mackenzie LOVES her little brother and wants to take care of him, kiss him, hold him and help when she can. 

Bad News: Mackenzie gets less one-on-one attention from me and notices (although she does not notice it is because of her brother - lol).

More Bad News: It takes me about 10 seconds longer than pre Micah to get to Mackenzie when she it doing something she is not suppose to do.  10 seconds is A LOT when dealing with a toddler.

Case in point.  The other day Mackenzie ran into her room and slammed the door behind her.  She loves to do that, but also knows that she can only be in her room alone if the door is open.  Why?  Because she climbs things or pulls on the blinds or other scary 'stuff'.  This time I was nursing Micah, so it took me about 10 seconds longer to get off the sofa and go open her door.  When I did get her door open she was STANDING on top of her dresser baning on her mirror.  Oh the horror and dismay that shot through my heart.  She could fall and break her neck or arm; she could smash the mirror and get all cut up; she could do both!  So, what did I do, I took her down and told her she could not climb on her dresser because it is dangerous.  I told her in the words that she uses that she could 'slip down' or 'be bleeding' that way she would fully understand.  Her response was, "I sorry Mommy."  To my relief she started playing with some other toys and I went back to nursing.  But just a few moments later I hear the door slam again and what did I find???  She was up on the dresser baning on the mirror, again!  So this time I take her down and make her come into the living room with me.  A full blown kicking and screaming tantrum ensues, and when she is done with that (about 45 minutes later) she tells me, "I going away!"  To which she then tried to go out the front door.  My heart sank :(  Seriously...you want to run away because I am loving you and protecting you and you are only two and a half years old?  I pray this is the single moment in her life that she feels this way. 

My Life Is A Sitcom

Now that Micah is 3-weeks old I can look back on the past 3-weeks and see that my life has become a series of short, funny, sitcom moments.

I suppose the very first moment was actually during my labor with Micah.  Mackenzie and I were home alone (Mackenzie is 2.5 years old), and she was taking pictures of me during the difficult stage of transition.  It didn't end there though.  When I was in the water and getting ready to push, Mackenzie got out her new toddler fork and proceeded to rub my belly with the prongs.  It did not bother me, but seriously?  Don't get me wrong, I loved having Mackenzie at the birth.  Actually, I think she kept me focused and grounded; not to mention feeling loved. 

(Picture of me taken by Mackenzie during transition.  I was thinking, "If someone does not walk through that door in 2 minutes I am going to cry."  Wayne and my backup Midwife walked in :)

The most recent sitcom type moment was last night.  For two hours Wayne and I kept trying to go to sleep, but one of the kids kept interrupting.  First of all, Micah went through 6 poop diapers in that time, but before he would poop he would spit up (outfit change), and after he would get cleaned off he would want to eat because he had spit up all his food.  6 TIMES!  Good thing he is such a good baby :)  But since we use cloth diapers and only have 8 of them for Micah we had to go do laundry since he just used 6 diapers and was wearing number 7.  We know he uses one in the middle of the night and one first thing in the morning.  And if that wasn't enough, Mackenzie kept needing Daddy.  First she wanted milk, then she was cold, then she wanted to get 'snuggly', then more milk. 

So add: 1 load of laundry + 2 milk runs + 1 extra blanket + 1 snugly + 6 diaper changes + 6 spit ups + 6 feedings all in 2 hours = 23 separate things! 

Wayne's comment to all of this was, "Why do I even try to go to bed?" 

Hey Daddy, we have 2 kids that mostly sleep through the night and this was hopefully a one time thing, and only lasted 2 hours.  Try staying home with them all day and see what type of sitcom moments take place. 

Anyway, I ended up laughing out loud more than once last night, and when we all finally went to sleep at Midnight we slept pretty good, so no complaints; but couldn't you see that scene in a movie or something?

Blogging At Last

Sorry I have not been on here in quite some time.  Our home computer has been having great issues, and suddenly today it decided to work, so here I am.

A lot has been going on, but I'm not sure I can remember everything or put it into words. 

First, my Mom got married!!!!  It was really exciting and wonderful and I am so happy for her; and us for getting such a great guy added to the family.

Second, my Mom is moving, so we have been crazy over here doing some furniture swapping and stuff like that.  Yay and Ugg all at the same time.

Third, Mackenzie now wants say her prayers out loud instead of me or Daddy saying them.  All of her prayers consist of the following phrase with other 'stuff' mixed in, "Dear God please heal (insert word here) and make him/it/her all better.  In Jesus Name, Amen."  So if we are praying for dinner she asks God to heal her food - very funny some of the things she says.

Mackenzie has also become quite the sports buff.  Baseball or T-ball being her favorite and soccer second, football third.  She wants to play all of them.

Another new thing for Mackenzie is that she now likes to sing.  About two weeks ago she started singing the Veggie Tales theme song, only her version is a little different; along with her versions of the Alphabet song (all letters are in the correct order she just changed the ending) and her version of Old McDonald.  She still prefers for me to sing all of the "Jesus Song".

My heart melted the other day when she looked at me while taking a bath and said out of the blue, "Mommy, you love Jesus?"  When I answered yes she said she loved Jesus too.

She asks to see most of her extended family every day; asking for each one by name.  It is hard to believe how many names she remembers in our family!

Oh, and now that we are setting up the nursery she has the big full/standard size bed.  The day we put it in her room (her crib converted to this large size) she said, "Mommy, I love to sleep all the time now."  If I had known that I would have put her in it the day she was born...ok, not really.  I must admit that bed is the most comfortable one in the house.

What other news?  Micah is getting bigger and more ready to meet everyone face to face.  You may remember that I was measuring 33.5cm several weeks ago (which was HUGE for where I was in the pregnancy).  Well, I'm shrinking...not really; Micah is just dropping and getting settled lower.  My belly looks like it is down around my knees.   About 3 weeks ago I measured 31.5cm (exactly on track), and this Saturday I measured 29cm which was 3cm smaller.  Thank you Micah for making me measure smaller...even though I am still gaining weight.  He is VERY BUSY in there practicing soccer or some other sport.  And every time I listen to Praise Music he stretches out as far as he can and kicks around.  We start them young in the Sherwood household.

I don't know what else to write, so blog at you later.

Dinner Conversation

This was part of our dinner conversation the other evening.

Mackenzie: "My tummy hurts."

Me: "Your tummy hurts?"

Mackenzie: "And my head hurts too."

Me: "Your tummy and your head hurts?"

Mackenzie: "The top of my forehead."

Me as I look at her forehead: "The top of your forehead hurts?"

Mackenzie sounding as if I don't get it: "The top of my mind!"

Wayne: "Are you thinking too hard?"

21-Weeks

I am 21-weeks pregnant today; which means we are just over half way there!  Time really has gone by quickly with this pregnancy.  Wayne felt Micah kicking for the first time last week and has felt him a few more times since then.  Micah is a really strong little man.  I think he is already practicing for some type of sports team.  So far we like the name Micah Wayman Sherwood, but reserve the right to change his name upon arrival.  Micah is a Biblical Prophet whose name means "Who is like the Lord".  Wayman was my Dad's name and it starts with a W like Wayne and also has the same meaning as Wayne which is "Builder".

As for me...at my last visit I had:
Gained 12 pounds total.

Measured 20 cm.

Still have slight nausea (awful nausea when I take prenatal vits.).

Wasn't sleeping well, but that seems to have resolved itself now that Mackenzie's teething has subsided and she is sleeping again.  Only one more tooth for her then we are DONE!

Waddle when I walk.
Feel Micah move ALL THE TIME.  Sometimes I think he is trying to break out of there.
No longer suffer from the fainting/dizziness issue.
Excited about meeting this little boy.

As for Mackenzie.  I think sometimes she remembers that Mommy is having her little brother, but most of the time she is oblivious to that fact.  We talk about him and pray for him and include him in our night time prayers.  She also gives my tummy random kisses for her baby brother, but other than that she just goes along with her normal day.  Also, we are potty training...STILL.  She is doing better.  Every other day she does AWESOME.  Seriously, she has no accidents and tells me when she needs to go, but every other day she REFUSES to us the potty!  Those days are much more difficult because she hates wearing a diaper but refuses to go on the potty.  Uggg.  I hope she decides to be fully potty trained way before her brother gets here.  That would be pretty wonderful.

Here are some pictures:

Again, please pardon how I look in the belly pic.  First thing in the morning!

20-weeks Preggo.

Breakfast turned into a Yogurt Facial.

Houston Zoo.

Mackenzie's Newest Phrase

Mackenzie has a fairly new phrase that she uses pretty much every day.  I have no idea where she got this because neither Wayne nor I say this...at least not this way.

Phrase:
"That's Totally Cool"

Other Phrases:
"OK, Let's do it"
"I don't like it right now"
"I need a diaper change" - instead of I need to go potty - at least she is telling me
"Are you wake up now?"
"I so tired"
And yes, she still says, "Ypu're the best" from karate kid

Mackenzie Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of Mackenzie.

Enjoying Ice Cream

Big Slide

Baby Pool

Bluebonnets

Toddler Bed (the sheets were in the dryer)

15-weeks

I turned 15-weeks pregnant on Monday, and again forgot to take a belly picture.  Yesterday my belly really seemed to pop out there, so the next pic I post should actually make me look pregnant.  I'm serious.  A lady even commented in the store about hoping my baby #2 is a good sleeper.

I saw my midwife for our monthly check-up and everything looked great.  Well, almost.  My blood pressure is really low (it was 88/62) but there is nothing you can do about that.  The low blood pressure issue causes many women to faint throughout pregnancy; and is very common if you already have a naturally low blood pressure.  The reason it can drop even lower in pregnancy is because your blood volume is ever increasing through 28 weeks and sometimes your hemoglobin just doesn't catch up quite fast enough.  Oops!   Hopefully I will not be faining throughout this pregnancy.  Actually, I hope I won't faint again, at all.  But; it is altogether harmless to both me and baby.

Baby was kicking and flipping and swimming around like (s)he was having a lot of fun in there.  The heartbeat was strong 152bpm and I am measuring 14cm.  I have also gained 6.5 pounds since this pregnancy started.

I also have pictures of Mackenzie to post if I ever get around to it.  She is looking so grown up all of a sudden.  Potty training is going much better.  She is only patient enough to potty train half a day, so she gets to run around naked all morning.  Then when she starts to act tired for her nap we put the diaper back on.  That is when the potty accidents and grumpiness starts, so we just stop for the rest of the day.  This method is working really well; and the fact that she likes to sit backwards on the big potty.  I know she is only 2, but she seems so grown up.  Her personality is so sweet and she is very opinionated.  I hope baby #2 is just like her...I just love her so much (except for the sleeping thing; baby #2 can sleep through the night).

We are trying to get our diagnostic ultrasound appointment set for Friday, June 4th.  That is the one where they check all of the organs, measure the baby, estimate the due date (again) and check the gender if you want to know.  I want to know, so hopefully in just over 2-weeks time we will know if baby #2 is a boy or a girl and we can start calling him/her a him or her or by name or whatever seems appropriate.

I will try to post pictures tomorrow and update blog soon.  Bye for now.