Family Days

I've been pretty down the last couple days because my sister and her family. who had lived here in North Carolina with us for the past nine months, just moved away to Minnesota. It's going to hurt for a long time, but it did my heart good to have a morning with my man and my girls today. We went to the library, got way too many books, went to a new awesome cafe, and got some frozen yogurt.

Elyse Claire

On May 2, 2012 our little Elyse Claire was born. She has brought so much happiness to our little family. I can't help but smile when I think of the past year with our Lysie. 

She's chubby, chubby. She's still breastfeeding and I love that it makes her roly poly. She's full of energy, and she always lets everyone know just how she feels. She's happy most of the time, despite a rough patch with nursing and thrush and reflux in the first few months. Now she is typically content most of the time. She smiles when I put her to bed with her Pooh Bear and her dolly. She hugs them tight and giggles when I give them to her. She is so cuddly. She will often crawl up to me or Andy and lay her head on our laps, getting some snuggles before she continues exploring with her big sister. She babbles all the time but one of her only intelligible words is, "Hi!" She loves to greet EVERYONE she sees. And everyone just loves her and of course comments on her fat. 

I just adore her. I adore her chub. I adore her mostly-bald head. She doesn't keep headbands on long but I don't mind. I was bald as a baby and my mom always says how she missed my head when I got hair. I know I'll miss Elyse's. When she was younger and I'd lay in bed with her, I would just snuggle her soft, warm, fuzzy head under my chin and relish the feeling. Now when she cuddles up to me and lays her head on my shoulder, I stroke her head and the tiny tuft of dark hair on the back of her neck, and while I imagine what she'll look like as a big girl one day with long hair, for now I love her head that keeps her looking like my little baby. 

How in love I am with my sweet, loving, happy, lively baby girl. How blessed I am to have her and Norah Grace to play and laugh with every day. So thankful to God for these sweet little girls who I can call my own.

Redecorated Post-Christmas

So...once I took my Christmas decorations down, I was really bummed how empty the corner where the tree had been now looked. I wasn't sure what to do because I really didn't like having our "office area" in that front entryway as we had before. Just got too cluttered and didn't look nice there. I prayed, somewhat grudgingly, for some creativity, because I knew going out and buying new decor wasn't an option. Well, a couple days later I remembered some old Wal Mart mirrors I had laying around from our old house, and other little things that could just use some doctoring up and then might look nice in that corner. I got my spray paint out, and had a lot of fun! 

New corner where tree used to be. Table that we had moved to our room, and  I (very badly) spray painted the mirrors.

Nanny (what Norah calls Andy's mom) painted this adorable  rocking chair for Norah

spray painted the frame on the wall, and put some scrapbook leaves inside the frame on the table.

House Pictures

There's so much left to do on our house, but I thought I'd at least show you what it looks like for now. I really don't know how to post these pictures much better, so bear with me!

Welcome to our home!

Yes we still have a pumpkin even though it's Christmas.

                                                   

Our Christmas tree is in front of our door - has a lot more presents under it now!

Looking from the front door into our living room

                                               

This is my homemade advent calendar!

Closer shot of the advent calendar.
I spray painted these frames as well, and
the photos are shots from around the village
where we lived in Cape Town.

We got this little table at Hobby Lobby marked down to $20. Love all the colors!  On the wall above is our Africa plaque and pictures from townships and the village we lived in in Cape Town. I got the frames at the dollar store and spray painted them. Also here's a glimpse of our curtains - same print as in our bedroom but different color (both from good old Target). I love them!

Looking from the kitchen into the living room and entryway

 

Our dish display - Andy hates the color, but it's grown on me. What do you think?

 

View on dining room and living room

This picture was taken awhile ago but it shows the dining room from the living room, and the french doors to our back porch 

Another older shot, but it shows a bit of our back porch and yard. The porch is awesome so Norah can go out and play! See the awkward fencing in the yard? The previous owners had sectioned off a dog run. I hate that Norah doesn't have the whole yard right now (of course she just can go in and out of the fence but it looks so weird to me. Andy's big job for next spring is to move the fence out to border our whole yard instead of this one part!

Dining room from kitchen

Looking into kitchen from dining room. We painted the green, but I really can't stand the wood cabinetry. My plan is to paint it white as soon as possible! I'd love open cabinets, but that's a long way off.

Hallway from living area. The first closet doors on right open to the washer and dryer.

 

Family photos down the hallway.

Norah's bathroom/Guest bathroom. Equipped for potty training!

Looking into Norah's (and Elyse's!) room

Most beautiful sight - my girl reading by her window

Her other reading corner! I'll eventually change this room a lot more and add more pictures. We'll put Elyse in here too, so it'll change a lot when we add her crib.
The banner above the couch are all her family pictures on scrapbook paper, that I strung on a shoelace.

Master bathroom, off master bedroom

Bonus belly shot! 19 weeks in this shot

Here's where I show you all the things left to do. This whole wall is lined with books needing a wall to wall bookcase. We have in mind some rustic wood to mount, but just need to find the right thing.

my jewelry

This desk normally sits where the Christmas tree is, but I kind of like it here in our room. I love this table - we picked it up at the local art gallery.

Our bed and view of the curtains. See how much left to do! We need a headboard, bedskirt or something to hide the mattress underneath, new nightstands, and then I'll get around to more pictures or mirrors on the wall. 

 

 
   

Just wanted to show you our curtains. I love them.

Guest room for now - but going to be a study/3rd bedroom when we move Elyse into Norah's room.  

Thanks for coming along to see our home!

Books

I have been finding tons of great books at the library lately and I'm soaking them up - well at any chance I get that is! Lots of thoughts of book reviews and comments, but in case that doesn't happen any time soon, I'll just show you for now!

Fascinating perspective on the ways the hearts of true conservatives are changing in this country, and reaching back to their roots. Most of all, these changes come because of faith. I don't agree with everything, but for the most part, this book just made me think, "so that's why I feel the way I do!"

I've heard of this book for awhile and finally found it at the library.  It shares the plain and simple truth that kids don't play outside like the used to, and what a loss that is to their childhoods. This book makes me want to move into the country and let Norah run outside all day long.

In the middle of this one now. Very interesting and challenging objective perspective on homeschooling. The author spent time in 6 homeschool families' homes. Some of the atmospheres were wonderful, some were very disheartening. Making me think a lot!

Aha Moment: Don't Make Obedience an Option

So there's some blogs out there that just give me "aha" moments every time I read them. I've already posted an article by Maureen on Childwise Chat (on first time obedience) but am going to have to link to her yet again. The first few lines reminded me of something I'd just said to Norah. I told her she needed to take a good nap or she was going to miss out on her movie time afterwards. Whenever I make these sorts of "threats" I find myself desperately hoping she understands and complies. (I love her movie time - it kind of extends nap time, woohoo!) So I often wonder, would I actually be able to carry through with this threat if she chooses to disobey? But anyway, then I read Maureen's reasoning to NOT make these sort of "front-loading consequences" as she calls them. Wow - makes perfect sense! See what I mean:

In the spirit of explaining to our children what we expect of them, it can be easy to go too far. This comes into play when we front-load consequences. It sounds like this:

• Settle down at bedtime or you’ll lose some story time.

• Be quiet in the car or you’ll have a timeout when we get home.

• Speak nicely to your brother or you’ll have to do your homework in your room.

That “or else” is what gets us into trouble.

Weighing the odds:  

What’s wrong with warning our children of the consequence? It allows them to weigh the odds when they decide whether to obey. It makes obedience a choice. 

If a child is having a particularly fun time at bedtime, he may just decide that he prefers it, even if it means losing some story time. If he’s in a particularly bad mood, he may decide that it’s worth it to be nasty to his sibling even if it means having to go to his room.

Don’t make obedience an option.

Threats: When a parent front-loads consequences, it blurs the line between explanation and threat. It’s easy to threaten our kids with a consequence if we think it will improve their behavior. But most of the time, it won’t. Threats train our kids to ignore our word.

Spontaneous consequences: Consequences given spontaneously, without warning, are most effective. When we catch our children off guard (usually when they are expecting a threat or a warning), they pay attention.

When I do this, my kids stand up straight, immediately look into my eyes, and stop whatever it is they’re doing. It’s great that I’ve gotten them to comply, but I can’t not follow through. I have to issue the consequence.

Use this for infractions that the child clearly knows are wrong. If he’s bouncing around in his chair at the table, and it’s something you’ve been working on, send him into timeout as soon as you spot the behavior. There’s no need for a warning.

If you know the child knows it’s wrong and he’s still doing it (intentional or not), he deserves a consequence.

Incredible Words on Adoption

If you know us at all, you know that we plan to adopt someday, Lord-willing. Found this article today and it is the BEST spiritual perspective on adoption and orphan advocacy I have read. Incredible:
Abba Changes Everything