It Won't Be Like This For Long

Turn your speakers up and listen to this song! Have you heard it? If you listen to country music, chances are that you have because it is on the radio all the time. It makes me cry everytime I listen to it! It is so true.

I remember when Evan was born. He slept like an angel in the hospital. In fact, I could hardly wake him up to eat. The nurses and doctors said he needed to eat every three or four hours. Well, I would start trying to wake him after about three and it would be four to four and a half many times before he would eat. Just a word of advice, this is not a good schedule for establishing a milk supply. No one told me this. So, we took our angel home after about 3 days in the hospital and I still didn't have any milk. Around 9:00 that night Evan woke up and he was HUNGRY! And what I had was not cutting it. He cried, scratch that, screamed nonstop for HOURS. I had no idea what was wrong with him. I would try to nurse and he wouldn't. It had been about 6 hours since he had eaten. I began to worry he was getting dehydrated. I couldn't tell if his diaper was wet. I thought tear production might be slowing down. The inside of his mouth felt dry (well, whose wouldn't when it was wide open screaming for 6 hours). Nothing I did helped. Matthew was beside himself, pacing the floors. He kept insisting he go out and buy formula. I kept insisting that no, I couldn't give him formula because he would never breastfeed (brainwashing, not a good thing for a new mother). We actually had formula in the house that I had been given at a baby shower, but I didn't tell Matthew because I was so convinced that giving it to him was the wrong thing to do. Finally at 2 a.m. I called the after hours number for the pediatrician. After asking me a million questions, they determined that I'd better bring him to the ER at Children's since he was so little just to be on the safe side. So, we packed up everything we owned (all of Evan's care items and mine since I was still recovering from childbirth) and headed to Children's Hospital. I think I would have been more upset, but honestly I was just so exhausted I was numb.

I was sent to the hospital around 4:30 p.m. on a Monday afternoon to have my labor induced. I had been up since about 7:00 that morning. Evan was born at around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday morning. After he was born and we were all cleaned up and all that visitors started arriving around 7:30 that morning. And the hospital I delivered at has a room-in policy. In other words, the babies don't go to the nursery for mom to sleep. It was honestly the most tired I have EVER been in my entire life. I had not had more than 2 hours of sleep consecutively in like five days. Turns out that he was fine, just mad because I didn't have any milk. They had us to give him a little pedialyte at the ER and the next day at the pediatrician's office they had us to supplement a little with formula. My milk finally came in couple of days later and all was fine. But I will tell you, that at the time I thought that I would never survive the newborn stage and I know Matthew felt the exact same way. It was my mission to get him on a good schedule so he would sleep through the night. And it worked. He was sleeping 12 hours at night without a peep at 3 months and on a strict schedule during the day. And then a month later he started eating every 4 hours instead of every 3 and everything had to be readjusted. The rest of the year was similar... just about the time I'd think I had everything just perfect something would change.. he would start teething or get an ear infection or something.

And what I learned from all that was the first year is a period of constant change. Whether the phase is a good one or a bad one, it won't last long. What seemed at the time to be never-ending was over in a blink of an eye. And it didn't stop after the first year. Although the changes might not be as noticeable as in the first year, he changes every single day. So quickly. One day he'll be "reading" Brown Bear, Brown Bear to me and my heart just melts to hear him say "purkle tat, purkle tat, what do you see?". Matthew and I talked about how sweet it was and how we had to get it on video and the next thing I know he says, "Purple cat, purple cat what do you see?" Just like that the baby talk is gone. I remember him going to his first day of preschool last year. He was such a baby! Off to "sdool" like "Ta-yor". When he got home he told us how he cried because he wanted his mommy and daddy in little short 2 to 3 word phrases. By the end of the year he was telling us all about his friends Zach and Hadley and what he ate for snack and what Miss Teresa and Miss Carole had said that day in complete sentences!

I know when I look back on this time, these early years.. baby, toddler, preschool… will seem like a blink of an eye. They are going by so fast. Too fast. Way too fast. I wish I could freeze time. They are so sweet and so precious just like they are right now. But, I've also learned with Evan that each new stage brings a whole new set of rewards with it. The pride you feel as you watch your children reach new accomplishments, the feeling you get when your child can verbally express his/her love for you, the thrill of watching them learn among thousands of other rewards fill your heart with joy as your child grows and changes. But it is a little sad, too. When Evan took his first steps it was bittersweet. I was so proud and elated for him and I loved to watch the pride he had in himself for his accomplishment. But I knew that every step he took would be one that took him a little further away from me. Further away from my protection, further away from my control, further away from wanting to be held in my arms and that was both sad and scary for me, too. Every day of your child’s life they move a little farther away from you and a little more toward independence. And that’s the way it should be because our children are not really ours. We’ve been entrusted with their care and guidance from God, but they are here for His purpose, not our own. But, I’ve also learned that not only do those wobbly little steps take them away from you, but they can also turn around and come back toward you. And when they do, when they run to you and fall into your arms, it is by choice, and that is a wonderful feeling. And it is as it should be. Just as God gave us free will, we must allow our children to grow and learn and make their choices as well. How easy it would have been for God to make us to be unequivocally obedient to Him. He could have made it so that all our lives the only thought we have is to live our lives for Him and His purpose. But, if He had, then He would not know the joy of His child choosing Him.

So, as Chloe grows I am much more relaxed about her “phases”. I know that it doesn’t matter what she’s going through, it won’t last for long. Up until last week she pretty much wanted Mommy to hold her nonstop. I mean sure, she’d play on her own a little bit, but after a few minutes she wanted Mommy. Instead of getting frustrated with this, I tried to embrace it. I knew it wouldn’t last long. And it didn’t. It’s already changing. The other night she was so fussy even with me holding her. If I put her in her jumperoo she pitched a fit, but if I held her it was like she was fighting me. Matthew suggested I put her on the floor. I did and she played for over an hour, happy as a clam. When she cries out at night and I put her in my warm bed, the thought crosses my mind that I need to break this habit. But as I look at her all snuggled up, peaceful, and happy, I think, “It won’t last for long.” It will be over in a blink of an eye and before I know it, she will be having slumber parties and sleeping with mommy will be the last thing on her mind.



BTW- As I read back over my post I noticed I had used the word further in one place and farther in another in my post. Neither got picked up by spell check which led me to believe that they were both real words and one had not been made up by East Tennesseeans which sometimes is the case. So, I googled to see which one I should use. I found this site if you are interested, but the short of it was that Grammar Girl says that you use farther to talk about physical distance and further to talk about metaphorical distance. I decided either one would be correct in my post, since I was talking about my baby both physically and metaphorically moving away from me. So, there's my nerdy moment for the day. And the next time the question comes up (since we know it does everyday ;) you will know the answer!

This Week's Top Ten

My Top Ten "Just Hanging Around" Pictures from this week:

Chloe's favorite new toy... Evan's Power Ranger. Surprisingly, Evan accepted this pretty well as long as we wipe the slobber off when she's done.




















Chloe working on her laptop while Mommy works at the computer scoring tests.










Evan and Taylor playing on the computer at Grandmother's. Poor Taylor had her tonsils out the week before last, so she was home with us for a few days while she was still recovering.




















Taylor and Chloe. Chloe is still unsure about people she doesn't know VERY well, but she has finally warmed up to Taylor. She loves her and laughs and smiles at her alot.




















Evan and Granddaddy taking advantage of the warm weather on Friday.

























Little Miss Priss playing at home. She has gone from a baby that LOVED to be
held to one who fights to get down on the floor to play. She loves being FREE! She is also getting around very well. She rolls and scoots all over the floor.















Top Ten Evan-isms From This Week

10. I asked Evan if he wanted a waffle for breakfast and he answered, "Well, how about flying flapjacks instead. You know how to make flying flapjacks, don't you, Mommy?"

9. Evan asked if we could go to Dollywood next week. I told him that it was closed right now, but we could go when it opened. He said, "That's what I meant. I am going to ride the REALLY BIG roller coaster and it will be SUPER FAST and the MOST fun ever!" I said, Great! In literally the very next breath he said, "Well, I think the BIG rollercoaster might be too scary, so I better just ride the regular one."

8. Evan told Matthew that he didn't want the deer to drink out of Granddaddy's pond because they might drink all the water. Matthew told him his selfishness knows no bounds.

7. I asked Evan to "pick up Chloe's paci that she dropped". Evan looked all over and said, "I don't see any Chloe drops."

6. After taking the car through the 3 Minute Car Wash, Evan said, "That was an amazing ride!"

5. Matthew and Evan were playing with our Scene It game. Evan calls it the grown up game. They were mostly just rolling the dice and moving spaces. Matthew rolled a six and Evan said, "I'm going to give you a different number, dad. Here's a 1." Matthew said, I don't think that's the rules. Evan said, "Let me check the directions. (studied the direction sheet) Yup, here it is. See, it says it right here. (Points to the words like he's following) Evan can give Daddy a different number if he rolls a six. Sorry, those are the rules."

4. This morning I told Evan to take one more bite of his "flying flapjack" and he could be done. He said, "Moo-oom! One more bite, awww." I said, "Alright then, how about 2 more bites?" He said, "Three more bites!" I said, "Ok, three more bites." And he cheerfully took them.

3. One night Evan just kept insisting on playing violent games. Every toy he played with was trying to kill something or fighting. When he was making his Little People violent, Matthew said, "Just play something nice." He said, "I don't know a nice game." Matthew said, "Just have them walking around, smelling daisies, picking dandelions, and looking at deer. Doesn't that sound like fun?" Evan said, "Well, a little bit fun, I guess."

2. Evan told Matthew that when grew up he was going to change his name to "Daddy". Matthew told him that when he changed his name to Daddy that he (Matthew) would change his name to "Granddaddy".

1. Evan told me tonight as I tucked him into bed that when he was grown up he would have to move away and live somewhere else. I said, "Oh, but you won't move far away, will you?" He said, "I'll just move to Grandmother's house and you can come visit me all the time." I said, "Oh good." Then he said, "Well, how about if you just come and live at Grandmother's house with me?" I said, "Oh that sounds good." He said, "But I will drive my own car and you can just sit in the other seat. I'm not sitting in my car seat, ok?"

And as Evan would say, Now it's time for me to go to bed, of course.

Destruction Zone

Well, construction destruction has begun at our house. After the first week, I believe we just about finished with the destruction phase and next week should start some actual construction.

Here are some before pictures:

This is the living room where we are putting hardwood floor down.

And from above:

This is the foyer where we are also putting hardwood floor down, and it may get a new coat of paint. I don't think Matthew the professional painter has decided whether to leave it or to paint it when he paints the stairway. This view is from the front door looking in...

And looking toward the front door:

And this is our downstairs bath that we are remodeling. This is the project I said was hard to explain, so you will have to try follow along in pictures. A little background: this was the original "master bath" of the house so that explains a little bit of why it had two vanities and a door separating one of the vanities from the toilet/shower room, etc. But, my parents' added a true master bath onto the master bedroom when they lived here, so all that was not needed. So, we decided to remodel. I'll attempt to explain what we are doing.

Ok, this is looking into the bathroom from the hallway. The first part with the wood floor has a vanity in it and a fairly large linen closet directly across from the vanity. The doorway you see is leading into the second part of the bathroom where the tub/ toilet are. We removed the door when we moved in because there were WAY too many doors in such a tight space.

Here you can see the first vanity and then through the doorway you can see into the second part of the bathroom, vanity and toilet showing. We are removing both the toilet and the vanity in the second part of the bathroom and moving our washer and dryer into that part to make a more enclosed laundry room. We are leaving the tub, so that we still technically have 3 bathrooms, so if we ever decided to sell the house we could still sell it as 3 bathrooms and we could sell the playroom as a possible 4th bedroom since it would have access to a bathroom. Well, we are leaving the tub for those reasons and because I have no idea how they'd get it out and because I'm thinking I can hang some clothes to drip dry in there quite nicely. So, in that second part of the bathroom we will have a washer and dryer and a bathtub, follow me?

Here is another shot of the second part of the bathroom and what is being taken out.

Now back to the first part of the bathroom. What's a bathroom without a toilet, right? We are already have knocked the walls out where the linen closet is to open up that area. A new (white, not 80's almond) toilet will be installed there so that the first part of the bathroom is now a half bath. And the door between the two rooms will be put back so that the second part of the bathroom is now a laundry room (with a bathtub). We are also replacing the 80's Formica counter top and almond sink in the first part of the bathroom and the whole area will get a new paint job. Still with me?

Here are some pictures.
This is the first part of the bathroom again, in the mirror you can see the door to the linen closet that whole area has been knocked out.

This is the inside of the linen closet, and yes, all that junk is now piled up in other rooms of the house. And yes, again, that is my preserved wedding dress (who knew it would be preserved in such a LARGE box) and don't ask me why the dumbbell is in there. Ok, ok, it's in there because our scale was also in there and I use the dumbbell to calibrate it correctly :). But you can also see the wall to the left, and an opening with shelves which is where the actual linens old sheets, towels, and blankets that we really don't ever use are kept. All of that is coming out, so the first part of the bathroom will be one big square room. New toilet will face the vanity. Make sense?

And this is what our current laundry "closet" looks like. It is in the hallway, right off the kitchen, right across from the bathroom. And it will be turned into a much needed pantry so we can get our food that won't fit in the tiny kitchen pantry out of the garage and into the house. The only "bad" thing is that we have a laundry shoot from the upstairs bathroom that comes into one of those cabinets in the laundry "closet". This is pretty neat when you have kids upstairs. We don't use it much now, but I know we will when they get bigger. Anyway, we are going to leave it for now, we will just have clothes coming into a cabinet in our pantry, a little strange, but it will be ok.

And the last thing we are doing for now, is replacing windows and adding another window in our family room. We are replacing 7 windows including the 2 shown here. The new window will go right behind that leather chair, perpendicular to the one that's there.

Now for some "during" pictures:

First, Matthew and Evan playing basketball in our living room after all the furniture had been moved out. Evan loved the empty room!

A shot of the foyer from the front door looking in after the existing floor (have you noticed I've avoided spelling parkay? I have no idea, but I bet it is not spelled like the margarine!) has been taken up. The floor turned out to be SUPER hard to get up. It took much longer than expected and they ended up having to use our steamer that we bought to remove wallpaper with to get it up. That was some SERIOUS glue that was used to hold it down.






And the living room minus the carpet + the boxes of hardwood from above:

The second part of the bathroom minus the toilet and sink and one wall of sheetrock, which will be replaced after they finish with wiring and plumbing.

Hard to tell what you are really looking at, but this is the first part of the bathroom with the wall knocked down, you can see the brown strip is where the wall used to be.

Sort of "looking into" what used to be the linen closet.

And last, but not least, Evan driving his remote control car running from the camera in what used to be our living room while daddy and Chloe watch. You can also see one of the other windows we are replacing. We have 4 that size that we are replacing.

So we have been living in a destruction zone for a week. It has not been too bad. The hardest part is that the kids really can't be in the house while they are working. Lance, our contractor, doesn't want them in there due to the dust and such and it would be really loud as well. So, since Matthew was out of school 2 days this week and I'm off on Fridays it meant we had to go to my mom's and just hang out. I'm going to try to stay here Monday though. The electricians are coming and they are working on the plumbing and I'm thinking I can be here for that or at least for some of it. But then again, I guess they'll have to kill the electricity and the water... sounds like a shopping trip might be in order!

I'm not exactly sure what timetable we are looking at right now. I'm thinking two, maybe 3 more weeks on this portion of the project. I know next week they are doing wiring and plumbing, sheetrock, and hopefully tiling the new laundry area. I'm hoping after that maybe they can start on the floor, but I'm not sure. That is the part I'm most excited to see!

Even More Evan-isms

As we were getting in the car this morning... "Mommy it's so cold that my blankie is going to turn into a blue blankie cube!" (After a chuckle from me) "And if you stay out here much longer you will be a mommy cube!"

Last night as he was playing he said he was going to be a real Power Ranger. I said, oh really? And he responded, "Yup, Nothin's going to stand in my way. No way, man!" I hope he keeps that strongwilled determination and self-confidence, always.

In the same conversation, Evan informed me, "I've got power now because I ate all my food and took my nap at grandmother's and I'm ready to be a real Power Ranger."

Again, around the same time (while watching a new to us Power Ranger movie), "This Power Rangers movie is mighty cool, Mom!"

Last night Evan was arguing with me about something (what else is new) and I told him that he "doesn't make the rules, I do". He responded, "I don't need to make the rules because I own the rules. I took them from you and put them on my body so now they are mine." Um, ok, I guess.

On Sunday, I brought down some khaki pants for Evan to wear. A little background: Evan is very picky about his clothing. I believe the experts call him a "sensitive child" with "tactile issues". It translates into... no tags in anything, nothing scratchy, itchy, binding, tight, poky, or that looks halfway decent. His wardrobe 99% of the time is athletic pants and a long sleeved t-shirt and maybe a pullover or hoodie if it is really cold out. And that translates into no fun for his mommy who would like to dress him up in stylishly cute clothing. But I do try to make him wear real pants and a decent looking shirt on Sundays. Here is the exchange that occurred over the khaki pants:
E: (spies the pants way before I ever get near him) I don't want to wear jeans. I don't like jeans, they hurt.
M: These are not jeans.
E: Are they my soft pants?
M: Weeelll, they are not jeans, they are much softer than jeans.
E: But they have buuut-tooons. I don't like pants with buttons.
M: But look they have pockets like you like.
E: But the buttons will hurt.
M:No, they won't.
E:What are these pants called?
M: They are khaki pants (as I'm putting them on and buttoning them.)
E: Ow! Ow! (flailing around the room dramatically) Ow! These "tacky" pants hurt. I can't possibly sit in church in "tacky" pants. I don't want to wear "tacky" pants! Ow! Ow! I can't possibly go to church in "tacky" pants. I don't like these "tacky" pants. These "tacky" pants are just awful. If you make me wear these "tacky" pants, it will be horrible!.... and the tantrum continued, but you get the idea.

During the "tacky" pants tantrum, you can rest assured that these threats were probably issued, as they frequently are during his tantrums:
"I'm not putting up with this."
"I'm not going to handle this very well."
"I can't take anymore of this."
"I'm going to cry soon."

Evan's vocabulary continues to amaze us, always. The other day he told my mom, "I went into the bathroom to go pee pee, but then I suddenly realized my underwear was still on!"

Whenever Evan sees something new, exciting, or just whenever he feels like it he might say one of these phrases:
"Now there's something you don't see everyday!"
"That's strange!"
"That's interesting"
"I haven't seen one of those in a hundred days!"

I hope you have found some humor in this version of Evan-isms!

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Watching the snowfall...

Riding his Gator in the snow

"Dad I need some snow chains for my tires!"

Evan's baby snowman.

Chloe's First Snow!

My Favorite Snow Buddies

We had a pretty little "dusting" of snow today! We knew we had better take advantage of it and get out in it while we could. Evan really wanted to go snowboarding, but there just wasn't enough snow ;) He settled for making a little baby snowman. Although it's still snowing a little, what's on the ground is now melting:(. Looks like we're all headed to school tomorrow.

Catch (Up With) Us if You Can

In no particular order, a recap of the last few weeks:

Sitting Pretty

Guess who is now seven months old, and sitting by herself for the most part, and starting to learn to use a sippy cup! Did you say, Chloe? You're right! How did you get so smart?

Chloe's First Christmas
I had to snap a few shots of her in the Santa hat before I took the tree down!

In case you haven't figured out, I like taking pictures of my kids in similar poses when Chloe is wearing something that Evan did to compare to see if they look alike. What do you think?

Rice Family Christmas

We went to Atlanta the weekend after New Year's to celebrate with Moppy and Poppy and my brother, Troy and his family. The highlight of the trip for Evan (and Daddy) was playing their Wii. I see one in our future, but hopefully I can hold the boys off a couple of more years.

My beautiful nieces, Hannah...

...Meredith, ...

.... and Maggie.
Uncle Troy and Aunt Diane.
Chloe in Daddy's new toboggan.
Evan and Daddy playing with "their" new racetrack. I say "their" because Matthew really wanted Evan to have one. It is for kids eight and up and I really thought it would be a huge frustration to Evan, but he figured it out within an hour and does great with it. We did hear him say his first slang words while he was learning though, he shouted out "dang it, Dad!" one time when he thought Matthew made him wreck and "da-gone-it!" (no idea how to spell that) another time. And there was some pouting involved. Matthew and I enjoy racing as well!
Evan pouting on the couch...

... and sensitive Daddy laughing his head off at him.

"Spiderman's in pajamas on the couch"... That should be a line in a Dixie Chick's song ;)! Evan is all tuckered out after not taking a nap at my mom's on my first day back at work.

The Attack of Chloe
Sure, she looks all sweet and innocent, but look closely, there's definitely mischief in those twinkly eyes!


Bath Fun
Evan loves playing with Chloe while she takes a bath and she loves it, too.

Here she is laughing at Evan....

And last, but not least, Chloe's 6 month pictures, now a month old...