Home Improvers

We have been homebound for a few weeks and stretching our home improvement muscles. You need to know (if you didn’t already) that we are not handy people. Our standard line is “Four degrees between the two of us and we can’t...(fill in the blank: put together this grill, replace the furnace filter, put up a curtain rod)

I have a list of home improvements that I have wanted to do for years, and I finally got the nerve to try some of them...and they turned out great! We did some easy ones, like install a pendent light over our table, and replace our outdoor light fixture. Then we tackled the harder one: tiling the kitchen backsplash. We did pretty well, if I do say so myself. I watched “How To” videos for six months before we attempted it! I even got on a roll and bought a toy storage thing for Isabelle that was on sale...and put it together!

Next projects: Painting the kids bathroom (which Conrad did last night: purple, no less!), painting Isabelle's room, tiling the bathroom wall and installing hard wood floors. The last item, I’m still quite nervous about….

Peacful Waters

Life has been busy this month. Conrad has been marking the days since his Dad passed away with, “Wow, can you believe it’s been 40 days since…” And no, I can’t believe it. I think it’s always hard to believe that time marches on, in spite of our heartache.

The girls have both been sick with this and that over the past few weeks. Which means little sleep for Mommy…which means Mommy get’s sick with this and that too. My wonderful husband has, what I fondly like to call, the “Gift of Sleep” meaning he can sleep any time and any where. So the kids wake him up..no problem…he rolls back over and goes to sleep. Me? Not so much. He needs to catch up a little? No problem…he just goes to bed at 7:30 at night and sleeps all night…yes, I said ALL NIGHT. I would get so mad at him for this when I was pregnant that I couldn’t contain my spite. I would sulk around all morning and grumble about how he slept so much the night before…

But, the girls (and myself) are doing much better the last couple of days and we are looking forward to spending Memorial Day with my parents. Actually, it’s approaching Conrad and I’s anniversary and we are also looking forward to celebrating SANS children this weekend! Yeah! A date!

Grace Update

Grace is sitting up! She started a couple of weeks ago, but I’m a blogging slacker. I love this child. I know Number Two doesn’t get the fanfare that Number One gets, but she is such a joy. She’s sweet and patient and smiley, and she sleeps like…well, like a baby. Thank you Jesus for easy going children.

Tippy Toe

Isabelle has started dance class. Can I tell you how much we enjoy this?? Between her and I, we can’t wait for Monday nights! She thinks she’s as cool as a Russian ballerina performing Swan Lake and all of us parents sit at the sidelines and giggle and watch our little princesses with baited breath and a camera or two as the teacher tries to herd our little group of two and three year old girls. Have you ever heard the expression, “Like trying to herd cats?” She is doing a tap/ballet
combo. So far they’ve managed to practice tippy toe, tippy toe, and shuffle shuffle shuffle. Not to mention “Ballerina arms.” Her friend Addie and Addie’s brother Gage came in late and Isabelle starts shouting, “Gage, Gage, we doing Ballet Shoes” over and over again. We currently have Isabelle and two families with little girls who I assume are adopted from China, and Isabelle’s friend Addie is the only non-Asian in the group. They are all cute as buttons and I’m not at all sure who enjoys the class more, the parents or the kids…

The Great Outdoors

After being cooped up all winter long the girls and I are LOVING being outside. Everything is new for Isabelle again. Being so little last summer, she really doesn’t remember that much. Our daily ritual when I am home with them and it’s warm enough is to finish breakfast and head out to the yard to spend our morning. We blow bubbles, write with sidewalk chalk, ride Isabelles kiddie roller coaster her Oma and Opa got her, and ride her tricycle. We also pull Grace’s Baby bouncy toy out so she can have a little independence and enjoy the day.

We haven’t yet managed to get a fence, so my day also consists of chasing Isabelle down before she meaders too far from home. I have also created the “Invisable barrier” does anyone remember Les Nesman from “WKRP” and his invisible office walls? I take Isabelles sidewalk chalk and draw a line on the driveway. I told her that no matter what she isn’t to cross that line.
So she spends much of her time riding her bike to that line, and slowly crossing it with one wheel (only to be disciplined) or simply riding her bike to the line and starring at it. After a big rain the line disappears. She’s so excited to ride to the end of the driveway then! I get out the chalk and start to re-draw the line and she’ll give a devastating scream of “noooooooooo!”

Snapshots of India, Continued: Lord of the Flies

At times, there were so many kids at Conrad’s Mom’s house it felt like Lord of the Flies! They ran in packs. The Michael children seem to be born in two’s. So there is Arnold (8 years) and Alistair (7 years), followed by Alana (3 years) and Isabelle (2 years), then Grace (6 months) and Aaron (5 months).

So it went like this: Alana is used to being the little queen of the house. She runs things, and really has been the baby for all her years. Enter Isabelle. Isabelle is strong willed, and let’s face it, a bit of a bully when it comes to getting her way. These two were like oil and vinegar. There was constant confrontation from day one!

Arnold and Alistair’s job was to keep the smaller girls safe and happy. So, Alana cries, Alistair gets in trouble, Isabelle cries, Alistair get’s in trouble, Alistair cries, Alistair get’s in trouble. Being the oldest is so unfair. I should know.

It also didn’t take Isabelle long to discover how to escape. Before any of us would realize, Isabelle would have slipped out of the house and up the outside staircase, up four flights of stairs and onto the roof. OR, better yet, she slipped the latch out of the outside gate and took off down the street…and around the corner!
The boys job was to chase her down, cajole her back, or as more often was the case, come back to tell Danielle Auntie that Isabelle refused to cooperate and to come and get her uncooperative child.

At one point, Isabelle actually BIT Alistair on the tummy! He had to go get a tentus shot. BIT HIM! To my knowledge, Isabelle has never bit anyone, ever…except Alistair. When we left the boys where like, “THANK GOD SHE’S GOING HOME! Bring her back when she grows up!” Who can blame them?

But we did have a good time with the kids. I brought a twister game which was endless fun for Arnold and Alistair and VERY entertaining for us grown ups, especially when Conrad and a few other adults got involved!

I also brought an egg decorating kit and had stuffed a few dozen plastic eggs with candy and packed it. I told the boys about it but wouldn’t show them the stash. They were chomping at the bit to do the Easter Egg hunt and LOVED it when we did it. Conrad had to literally hold the boys back before we let them go to search for eggs. They had never colored eggs or done an Easter Egg hunt! How fun!

Goodbye to Tata

This week has been crazy. For the two of you who aren't on facebook and didn't know, Conrad's Dad passed away. We got back from India on Sunday the 4th, we were home less than a week and we got a call on Saturday early morning saying Dad had passed away.

Luckily the night before Isabelle had gone home with my mom and dad to spend a couple of days and we had some free time to search for a quick plane ticket, pack, and get Conrad BACK on a plane to India on Easter Sunday.

Although he didn't make the funeral, he was relieved he could be home with his mom and family during this time. I think it's got to be really difficult to be so far from home during a time like this.

So, we, once again, talked my Grandma into coming to stay with us and help out, which made things MUCH easier! We are at my parent's now, dropping Grandma off home. We'll head home tonight and then pick up Conrad tommorrow! Yeah! We sure miss our honey!

Snapshots of Inda: Grace

Although I have been a bit delinquent I think it’s important to note that we started Grace on rice cereal, per the suggestion of Super Baby Foods, last month. She’s really groovin’ on food thing, and if you don’t get it to her fast enough, she actually cries. My happy baby cries! We so rarely hear her cry that we almost think it’s cute when she does. And we usually rush to soothe her and are quickly rewarded with another smile, in the midst of tears. What a pleasure compliant children are!

While we were in India, Isabelle dumped out most of the rice cereal I had brought for Grace, so we decided to introduce bananas into her diet. And she loves her some bananas too! Although she was constipated for several days AFTER her first couple banana meals, everything is now flowing as it should be and our baby is a happy eater.

Grace also cut her first two teeth while she was in India! Everyone kept calling her “laughing doll.” And since she is THE white grandchild, she looks like a vanilla ice cream cone in the midst of chocolate! It was so fun to introduce her to everyone, and especially to her Grandparents!

Conrad’s brother and sister-in-law, Alfred and Sudha are Grace’s Godparents. We asked Alfred right after Grace was born. In the course of conversation during our trip (nearly 6 months after Grace’s birth), Sudha came to find out that she was Grace’s God mother for the first time. Apparently, Alfred had never shared that fact with his wife. What is it with men and communication? We laughed about the Michael brothers and wondered WHAT they actually talk about when they talk.

Snapshots of India: Isabelle

Isabelle is my beautiful Indian baby. My Sister-in-Law, Sudha, put a bindi on her forehead while we were there a couple of days and boy, she really looked like a little Indian beauty.

Isabelle is also two. You should be able to read the implied in that simple sentence. Suffice to say, jet lag took its toll on her, hence on us as well! She didn’t stop getting up at 4am until about nine days into our trip. Not to mention, she had terrible two melt downs hourly. But, once we hit home, she mellowed out immediately. I think she was missing the routine and familiar. Actually, she was nearly comatose after 30 hours of travel. Grace? Still smiling, even after all of that travel!

During the first couple of days in India Isabelle discovered the auto rickshaw. Most of the auto’s you see are the bright yellow color of school buses here. The first time she really saw them was when the “Auto Uncle” came to pick up her cousins, Alistair and Alana for school. It’s a hired driver, who picks up kids, like a school bus. He patiently waits at each house for 5-6 minutes for each family to finish getting their kids ready for school! So Isabelle naturally thought these auto’s were school buses. Her Atta even took her out one morning and let her sit in the “School bus” with the other kids before they left. She was so excited!

Auto’s are the main mode of transportation in India. Just imagine…no car seat, no seat belts, no windows, no doors….45 – 50 mph. LOTS of insane traffic, no traffic laws. Good times. And my friends wonder why I’m so laid back about “car seat” drama in the US.

Home Again

Coming home from this trip to India was indeed bitter sweet. I was, personally, never so glad to see our little white house after 30 hours of travel, two and a half weeks of hot and humid A.C. free weeks, and a rather cranky toddler who never quite got over jet lag.

But, I don't think I can quite describe how difficult it was for Conrad to say good-bye to his father. While we were there he declined rather quickly and we are almost certain that this was the last time we would see him on this side of eternity. It was hard for me, but this is the man who raised my husband...and he's on the otherside of the world.

In the next few days I'll try to give a few snapshots of our trip to India. In the meantime, pray for Conrad's dad, and Conrad. He continues to decline, and we imagine Conrad will be making another trip to India soon.

Hot & Steamy India

I thought I would let you all know that we arrived safley in India last Sunday. It has been a steamy 100 degrees or so here. No a.c. I have decided that I am indeed getting old...in my Teen Mania days I would have said to my teens, "Please don't state the obvious. We know it's hot." Now I whine.."It's so hot."

We are having a good time visiting with family and spending some quality time with Conrad's dad. He's not doing too well, and we are praying for...well...for God's will to be done and that we spend well the time we have.

For those of you who follow me on Facebook, you'll be happy to know that we found the large chunk of change we lost...at the LAST minute. We were at the United ticket counter checking it and there it was!! God is good!

Off to India

Well, tommorrow we are off to India to visit Conrad's family and introduce Gracie to everyone. We are excited...but maybe NOT looking forward to the flight. Pray for us if you think of it...Isabelle is really excited and has been crying to go to India for the past seven days!

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The Run-Away Infant

I’m going to tell you a story that no one is to hold against me in the future, thank you very much. I’m also hoping that, in reading MY story, many out there are encouraged in their own parenting mistakes and that Grace won’t have to cash out her “therapy” savings for this one.

With that....

This week I took the girls to the zoo. It was a little chilly, but when the sun came out we were pretty comfortable and enjoyed ourselves. At one point, toward the end of our outing, Isabelle started to get a little restless. Since we were passing the rhino’s and the rhino was literally three or four feet from us, I stopped to try to distract her with the beast. We have a Sit ‘N Stand stroller and I picked her up out of the standing part to show her the animal.

In the meantime, my sweet little easy going Grace was sleeping soundly in her car seat, snuggled up in blankets and clicked into the same stroller. As we were enthralled in the animals a man called to me from a few feet away, “Ma’am?” I turned to see a guy pushing a stroller talking to me. Not anything unusual at the zoo, right? I asked, “Yes?” And he said…. “Uhhhh this rolled down the hill.” All of the sudden I got that moment of panic as I looked over and saw that MY stroller was gone along with my baby! Yep, Mr. Nice Guy had Grace at the bottom of the “hill.”

In my defense (again) it was ONLY a slight incline…and she was still sleeping peacefully!

And, with that, I believe my mom has been exonerated from the infamous event where she fell while carrying infant Isabelle down the street! Congratulations, Mom!

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Watching the Weight

I started weight watchers a week ago, and for the time being, I have enjoying counting points! I found a bunch of yummy recipes to curb my sweet tooth while staying safely within my point range. One of the most interesting has been Brownies, skip the oil and eggs and add black beans and water…don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!

Another favorite are these Czech Crepes…only 1 point each! Yummm! Does anyone have any great weight watcher tips or advice for me?

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Who’s coming to our House?

We have been talking to Isabelle more and more about Jesus and about God. The un-concrete-ness of God is a difficult concept for her to grasp. We were on our way to church on Sunday and she asked where we were going. I told her to church to see Jesus (okay, no theology lessons…I know my theology is erroneous in this statement!) But I was attempting to connect church with something other than snacks and toys.

Anyway, when we got in the van to go home, she told me, “I didn’t see Jesus today.” Hmmm….deep thought….but I’ll skip that for now…

A few nights ago I was telling Isabelle that someone was coming to visit this weekend. I asked her do you know who? She said, “Oma and Opa.” Yes, I told her. Then I asked her who else? She thought for a minute then asked, “Jesus?”

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Binky Thief

We really did have Isabelle broken of the pacifier before Grace was born. And although Grace really doesn’t want anything to do with pacifiers most of the time, we tried, especially during those first few weeks of sleepless nights…ANYTHING for a few minutes of shut eye!

After Grace was born, inevitably, we would find Isabelle hiding is some corner with Grace’s hot little pacy sucking away as fast as she could before we discovered her and took it away. Then add the trauma of a new sibling and a new baby sitter…the binky is back.
So yesterday we were cleaning out the girl’s daycare bag and found several binky’s. None of which are ours. It looks like Isabelle has been swiping them from all of the other kids at the babysitter’s house and hiding them away in her own secret little stash. I think we have an addict on our hands.