Making Pancakes

Making Pancakes

Six year old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor.

He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a floury trail on the floor which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten.

Brandon was covered with flour and getting frustrated. He wanted this to be something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad.

He didn't know what to do next, whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove and he didn't know how the stove worked!

Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor.

Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but slipped on the eggs, getting his pajamas white and sticky.

And just then he saw Dad standing at the door. Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon's eyes. All he'd wanted to do was something good, but he'd made a terrible mess. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking.

But his father just watched him.

Then, walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son and hugged him, getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process.

That's how God deals with us. We try to do something good in life, but it turns into a mess. Our marriage gets all sticky or we insult a friend, or we can't stand our job, or our health goes sour.

Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can't think of anything else to do. That's when God picks us up and forgives us, even though some of our mess gets all over Him.

Gardens are not made by sitting in the shade. -- Rudyard Kipling

We had one of these moments at our house this afternoon. I heard a noise from the dining room that sounded like something falling. I started to head that way and asked Kaitlin if she was OK. She said she'd had a little accident. When I got to the dining room, I saw her standing next to the shelf with my snowglobes on it crying. Next to her on the shelf was a broken snowglobe. She has always loved to look at the snowglobes and listen to their music. She's been told at least a hundred times not to touch the snowglobes and to ask for help if she wants to listen to them so I know she was expecting to get in trouble. She looked up at me through her tears and sobbed, "I broke it." I couldn't even be mad at her. I went over and gave her a hug and she wanted to know if I had two pairs of them. She was so upset! I noticed a little blood on her cheek and realized she had cut her finger on the broken glass so we went to the bathroom and cleaned it up and put on a band-aid. Then I put Ethan in the Exersaucer to contain him and Kaitlin on the couch (with strict orders to stay put) while I cleaned up the broken glass.

First Haircut!

As much as I hate to admit it, my little man is growing up. He got his first full haircut a couple weeks ago when MomMom and PopPop were visiting (PopPop trimmed around his ears before Christmas). We were very surprised at how quick and agile PopPop was while giving a very tired and grumpy one-year-old a haircut!






Here is the final cut; and he doesn't seem to be upset with PopPop at all!

"Just" a virus

I don't usually use this blog to vent, but I'm really frustrated this week because Kaitlin has been sick. She has had a fever since Saturday night. At first, it was just a low-grade fever, but when she came to our room at 2am Sunday morning, I quickly determined that it had increased since bedtime and sure enough, when I took her temp, it was up to 102. Now, I try not to be one of those parents who takes her kids to the doctor everytime they sneeze, so I waited until she had had a fever around 102 for two days before taking her in (this was the pediatrician's recommendation). Of course, by the time we got to the pediatrician's office, her temperature was 98.9 (with Tylenol) and she was bouncing off the walls. The doctor checked all the normal stuff including her lungs (for RSV), ears, and throat and didn't find anything wrong. So, he tested her for the flu. When that came back negative, he tested her for strep throat, just in case. When that came back negative he said "she probably just has a virus." I've heard this before, usually when she has had a low-grade fever for two or three days and it always bothers me. "Just" a virus? Really? Some viruses are very dangerous and I understand that it is difficult to diagnose every random virus out there, but I do get frustrated when my child's condition is minimized to "just" a virus. The flu is a virus, chicken pox is a virus, and then there is rotavirus. All of these are viruses serious enough for vaccines. In fact, the majority of the vaccines that my children are required to have for school, are to protect against viruses. So why is it that if the virus can't be specified, it is "just" a virus? I've come to the conclusion that this is what the doctor says when they really have no idea at all what is wrong with my child. Honestly, I wish that one of those tests he did on Kaitlin had come back positive so that we would know what we're up against and have some idea how to treat it. Instead, we just have to wait it out and pray that this fever goes away soon or that some other symptom pops up and gives us a clue what we're up against.

Sweet Siblings

I put on a video for Ethan while I was making dinner this evening and Kaitlin insisted on sitting with him on the bean bag chair to watch. It was too cute and super sweet!

 

 

Ethan wasn't really watching TV and smiling, he started smiling when he saw the camera - what a ham!

Ethan's One Year Checkup

I just came home from Ethan's 1-year checkup. He weighed in at 20 lbs, 14 oz and is 27 ¾ inches long. The doctor said he looks great and wasn't concerned at all that he isn't walking or using a cup yet. Ethan has had a couple incidents when he cried so hard that he couldn't catch his breath and his face started to turn blue. This freaked us out a little, but the doctor said it's actually very common for babies to have breath holding spells and eventually they grow out of it.

Here are a couple pictures of Ethan with his lion and zebra taken on January 15. It's getting harder and harder to get him to lean back and be still! He has learned to rock the chair by himself and just wanted to keep rocking himself.

Ethan's Birthday

Wow! What a great birthday celebration for our little Ethan. I still can't believe the little man is 1! My mom, sister, niece and nephew were able to make it into town despite the icy weather in Atlanta last week. It means so much to me that they drove all this way to celebrate the life of our little man, Ethan. Kaitlin had a really great time with her cousin Sarah and was very sad to see them go this morning. Robbie and Ethan aren't really ready to play together just yet, but I'm sure they will be good friends just like Kaitlin and Sarah! Here are some pictures from the party.

Toomer's Corner

Everytime the Auburn Tigers win a football game, it is tradition to roll the Oak trees at Toomer's Corner in downtown Auburn. So, as you can imagine, after winning the 2010 BCS National Championship last night, there was a lot of toilet paper in those trees!! And there was also tp all down the streets. We couldn't make it to Toomer's to help roll the trees, but we were able to stop by this morning and take some pictures to celebrate the big win. Kaitlin was hungry and grumpy and did not want her picture taken so we had to sneak it. Ethan was tired and grumpy so he wouldn't smile for any pictures. We actually all have Auburn clothes on, but it was way too cold to take off our coats!

Sharing??

A very rare occasion when Kaitlin actually shared one of her toys with Ethan.

December 14, 2010

Today, Ethan is 11 months old! He was wearing this super cute outfit so I just had to get his picture with the lion and zebra. He is such a snuggle bug!



Today was also Kaitlin's preschool Christmas program. It was very cute and quite funny! She got sick last year and wasn't able to be in the program, so we were very excited to see it! Her class sang "Baby Jesus, We Love You" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." She did well, but seemed pretty grumpy. Here is a picture of her with her class where she is actually smiling a little. She is in the back row, 4th from the left.



Here is the video (part 1):


Here is part 2:


Here is video while they were taking pictures (the many faces of Kaitlin):

Ethan's 9-month Checkup

Ethan had his 9-month checkup this morning and the doctor said he looks great! He weighed in at 18 lbs, 7 oz and is 26 ½ inches long. I was very anxious about this appointment because 9-months is when Kaitlin's weight started to drop off and we had to get a bunch of tests done. Ethan did drop from the 50th percentile in weight to the 25th percentile and from the 25th percentile in length to the 10th, but the doctor didn't seem concerned since his thighs are so chunky! Here are a couple pictures of Ethan from today. I tried to get one that would show off his thighs! He's not pulling himself up or cruising yet, but he will slide himself off a chair, couch, etc. and stand up while holding on (like in the second picture). I keep telling him that he's not allowed to start cruising before he crawls!