An evening at Mamaw Jo's house.

Last Friday night we went over to spend a few hours with Jamey's grandparents. Here are a few shots. They need editing (hello weird-eyed baby) but I am too braindead from all the rain to do it. Can you get rain induced ADHD? Because I have it. I can't focus on any one specific project right now.

Anyway - here ya go.....

What happens when you get VERY bored waiting for the dr....

Ansley had a doctor's appt this past Friday. Dr. Mayer, her cardiologist, is ALWAYS on time. Well, apparently not always always. We waited and waited this past Friday. We played on the phone, the Ipad and the Kindle. Then the silliness started in....

The photobooth app on the Ipad provided at least 20 minutes of distraction.

A little check-in

Here we are sliding right out of summer. I could say all those cliche things like how fast it went, how hot it is...those sorts of things. It has gone fast - but that is old news as a parent. It just does. Time passing fast is the norm.
Tonight we are eating french bread pizzas and watching the Olympics. I already know who wins what tonight, but Ansley does not. It is fun watching it with her. Stephen is not so interested. Last night he suggested that the Olympic officials release a shark into the pool so that the swimmers were required to race and watch out that they were not eaten. When I suggested that someone might get hurt with a shark in the pool, he simply shrugged his shoulders, thought for a moment, and then added, "Well, if they want, they can swim with a sword." So there you go.

Stephen received his Welcome to Kindergarten letter. He was interested enough to open it and ask Ansley to read it to him. He listened carefully and then was on his way to another activity. (These days spy games take up most of his time.)

We have had a bit of a time convincing him that he is absolutely fine in his bed at night. Some nights are better than others. He simply does not want to sleep alone. And by alone, I mean in the bunk bed UNDER his older sister who is obviously in the same room with him.  When we questioned him about it, he kept telling us he dreamed about a fire. It is a little strange because he has never come to us in the night about a dream and he can't tell us anything about it. So we reassure him of course. And encourage him. But we all give in a little on the sleeping arrangements. He sleeps with Ansley up top some nights and some nights he will fall asleep in our bed and then Jamey will move him. He is wise to this moving though, and has begun to ask if he can sleep in the bed with me the whole night through. A few times we have let him. Sleeping with Stephen though is a bit, I imagine, like sleeping with sort sort of octopus. Arms and legs flail out, kick back, reach up, flop around and, well, you get the idea. Ansley will cuddle right up and sleep. Stephen sleeps just fine too, but not without the constant movement.  A few times I have woken up in the morning after a night bed sharing with Stephen (and a few hours with Ms. Molly James as well) feeling a bit like I was tossed about in a clothes dryer. But we deal with it. It wont last forever. And we are hearing about this fire dream less often these days.I imagine he will be back to normal quite soon. My brown eyed, blonde (???) haired little boy.

Ansley's new obsession is the Olympics. I can't imagine where she gets her excitement. The poor child asked the other day if she, too, could one day be a beach volleyball player. I think my parental obligation is to encourage her in whatever her pursuits, but lets be honest, in the word's a friend, Ms. Chris Burrell, she is a tiny tail. In both weight and height. So beach volleyball might not be her thing. And after watching the agony of a mistake, hearing the awful tales of separation, financial struggle, and watching your child's dreams crash in but a moment, I have no desire to push her into being an Olympic gymnast. Nonetheless, she is happy to walk along the back of the couch (balance beam) and cartwheel across the living room floor.She is 100% ready for 3rd grade to begin. Good Lord, third grade?? My blue eyed girl with light brown hair who has recently begun a love affair with accessories. Jewelry, scarves, hats, sunglasses - she loves them. Of course, she also is happy to have a good bike ride up and down the street.

And finally Ms. Molly James. Quick to smile but also quick to tell you she is tired of whatever she is currently doing or not doing. More likely you will get a fuss, rather than a full out cry, but if you don't move quickly enough, she is not afraid to unleash the tears. Her bottom lip will poke right out when she is sad or when a noise startles her. Jamey's personal mission to capture the lip out on camera has not yet been successful but hopefully we will catch at least one shot of it. Cuz, dang, its cute!!
Molly James has not shown much interest in the Olympics quite yet. She has rolled over a few times, but not consistently yet. She sure can kick around in the bathtub though and will grin up at me the entire time. Sweet, soft little blue eyed baby girl.

I do love these three. 

Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar;
But never doubt I love.
(Hamlet, 1.2.123-6)

Snapshots of July

 

her eyes

You forget lots of things once you move out of the baby stage. The constant state of tired, the amount of diapers you go through, the constant bouncing, walking, patting that you do as a parent. I am in full-on baby stage right now so there is no forgetting for me yet.
One thing I had forgotten about, or maybe I am just appreciating this more this time around, is the almost constant eye contact between mama and baby. This tiny creature who cannot tell me what she wants or what she needs through her words. We spend all day trying to catch her eye, to make her smile. To connect with her through her eyes. You hear people talk about this when visiting other countries. Two people may not speak the same language, but someone how they communicate through facial expressions and most especially through eye contact.

Molly James and I spend much time with our eyes locked on each other. During diaper changes, nursing sessions, cuddle time. We just simply look at each other. Of course, I whisper to her constantly and she is beginning to make sounds back to us (in fact, she can get pretty vocal these days) But I love how we still communicate through our eyes at this stage.

We have been hunkered down today at home. The heat is a bit much for us all. We enjoyed grilled cheeses for lunch and now its Chamber of Secrets time. I am a bit sad at this whole Chickfila business. It seems that ugliness is coming from both sides of what has become a huge issue. I read this blog http://jenhatmaker.com/blog.htm recently and I am encouraged that others also feel the same way. She of course, says it much better than I ever could.

What I wish is that Christians had been spurred to as much action in other areas as they (some of them, not all) seem to be today. Perhaps manning and stocking food banks, volunteering at local nursing homes and low income daycares, picking up trash, reading to their kids, writing a real letter to a friend. My friend Ellis recently did this. Celebrated a family member's birthday by random acts of kindness. I am going this evening to hear from another friend who spent her own money and time off from work to spend a month in Romania working with orphans. Shouldn't that be what we celebrate? What inspires us to get up and get moving for Christ? It is not us versus them. It is not Christians versus the rest of the world. Seems as though we are drawing lines in the sand, and we all know what happens to anything written in sand. It's temporary. Things written in sand DON'T LAST. 

My kids are happy. And that is what I want. For them to be happy as kids and later as adults. Whatever else comes and whatever else they choose, I want them to be happy. I want them to love other people. I want them to choose to look into the eyes of other people and connect with them. Not in a spirit of right versus wrong. But rather in a way that helps them find kindred spirits among us, from all walks of life.

I do not pretend to be a political expert and I don't pretend to be perfect or to have any of the "right" answers. And I hope today's movement will spur conversation instead of name calling and Bible verses typed out in anger. I don't know. I do know people are hurting. From loneliness, a scary diagnosis, a job loss....and that we need each other to help us shoulder our burdens.

If we do choose to eat somewhere or not eat somewhere, maybe we could follow that decision up with a commitment to reach out to someone. To invite them across the lines we have drawn in the sand and to look into their eyes.

Yes, Yes I did... Or, my Top 10 thoughts on flying with kids.

Did I actually fly from Mobile to Dallas to Colorado by myself with three children?

Yes, yes I did.

And I survived! There is hope for many of you out there should the opportunity arise for you to fly somewhere with kids. Several people have asked how it is done, so here goes.

1. Ok, I will be honest here and say that it probably does help that my kids have flown quite a bit in the past. So it wasn't as "new and exciting" as it might be to another child. They quite like to fly. Layovers, not so much, but flying they enjoy.This is not so much a tip as it is just a fact. On to #2.

2. Let them know what will happen before it happens. My kids have flown before,  but I still took the time to remind them about how we get through security, how we behave at the gate, how to find our seats on the plane, where to put their things once seated. Those sorts of things. The good news is that children  and those over 75 are no longer required to take off shoes to get through security. Of course, while we were going through security, I was "randomly chosen" to have my hands swabbed for explosive residue. Thankfully all that was on my hands was diaper cream and hand sanitizer, so I was good to go. While I was being screened, Ansley and Stephen sat at the end of the security area with our stuff - within my eye sight. Have I said before how awesome my kids are at traveling? I don't know if they somehow understand the seriousness of following my directions perhaps - I am not sure what it is - but they were shining stars.

3. Where was Molly James during all of this? Molly James and I were as one unit. I wore her in a Beco baby carrier that I am currently borrowing from Melia. Super comfortable for both baby and me. It was like an instant sleep inducer for Molly James and I was free to use my hands for whatever I needed to do. Like have them swabbed for explosive devices. If you have a baby, I strongly suggest wearing your little one over dealing with a stroller in a crowded airport. Especially large airports like the Dallas airport where you will be going up and down escalators to get to the train that allows you to change terminals.

4. Involve your kids in the process of getting where you need to be. If your kid has learned any numbers or letters, give them a job. Stephen especially enjoyed looking for our gate number or watching for our Terminal on the Skytrain in Dallas. I took a few moments and explained to Ansley (who is reading pretty much everything these days) how the departure and arrivals screens are read. It was a great lesson for her and she very much enjoyed reading them in the airport. We also played a little math game and figured out the length of delay time for certain flights. Molly James passed the time by nursing and napping.

5. Another good tip for flying with kids is to remind them of their space on the plane. I know the man who sat in front of us on one flight was dreading it after he saw a row of little Dukes behind him when he sat down. However, I had reminded the kids that their chair was their island. Where do they stay? On their island. This prevents little legs from kicking the seat in front. Once we were settled, entertainment chosen, seatbelts buckled, the kids really did well. Stephen does enjoy looking out the window, but Ansley was happy to read or play her DS. Molly James was happy to nurse and nap. (do you see a theme with Ms. MJ?)
At the end of this one flight, the businessman complimented the kids on their behavior. "I thought this would be a nightmare of a flight with all of you behind me." he said. "But your children did very well."
"Um, thanks." I said. (Nightmare? Really? Good grief)

6. Did you know kids fly alone all the time? Of course you did. And of course I did. But they are not MY kids. People turn their kids over to airline employees constantly and fly them from one part of the country to another.So, surely this means they are trustworthy? can you think of a news story where this turned out badly? I can't. I didn't google it, so don't tell me if you do. I say all of this for a reason - twice while flying I had to leave the older two in the care of airline employees and guess what? It turned out just fine. The first time a lightening storm in Dallas meant all of our gate checked items were stuck under the plane for a good 30 minutes. We did not check any baggage, but the  baby seat was gate checked so we were forced to wait for it at the gate. When they brought the carseat up, there was a giant surge of people trampling each other to get down the gateway and then back up. There was no way I could get all of us down there with our bags, get the carseat and then fight the crowd back up to the terminal. Enter two airline employees who offer to stand with the children. They had badges. They wore uniforms. They had been working the gate the entire time we were there. They looked nice. So I said a quick prayer to God for guidance, felt that is was safe (aka - there was no panic in my stomach), and Molly James and I took off after the car seat. Sure enough,Stephen and Ansley were right where they were supposed to be when I returned. I also had to leave them one more time on the plane while Molly James and I ran like crazy people back up to the gate when I remembered my cell phone was plugged in up there and not, in fact, in the diaper bag where it should have been. The phone was still there. The plane did not leave me. (Stupid phone battery!)


7. Allow your kids to pack their own little backpacks. But here is the key - only let them pack it as heavy as THEY can carry it. So no heavy books and toys. Because if it is too heavy, guess who ends of carrying it? Yep, the grownup. Even if it is a rolling bag, don't pack much in it. They will tire of it quickly.  So paperback books, a few small cars, a cloth doll...these are the things you want to pack. Also a light jacket as it is cold on some planes. (not on any of our planes this time however). Stephen and Ansley carried their own things this entire trip. Made things much easier.

8. Have gum for your older kids to chew on takeoff and landing. Stephen wont chew gum, so I simply asked the flight attendant for some water and he sipped it during takeoff and again during landing. Helps their little ears. It doesn't bother Ansley to change altitude, but it does my Stephen. Molly James nursed through takeoff and landing. She was good to go.

9. We used Priceline this last time to purchase our tickets. Which meant we bid on them and were not guaranteed the time of the flights before we purchased them. Since it didn't really matter what time we got there this worked for us and saved us a TON of money. We probably would not have been able to go had we not bid as opposed to paying full price. If you are flexible in your times and maybe even by a day or two, check out priceline. Don't be scared of it. We saved close to $1000 by using Priceline this time. Side note - even though priceline asks if some of your passengers are children, they apparently don't tell the airline that, so at checkin we had to do a little paperwork, but it didn't take long. And because I always checked in early at the airport, there was time to change our seats around so that we all sat together.

10. Last but not least, do not feel bad if your children require a few extra minutes to complete whatever task is at hand while you travel! When we first began traveling, I would mumble apologies to those around us as little ones struggled to put shoes back on or a backpack on the conveyor belt for xray. But what I discovered is that 99% of people simply don't mind. I can't remember getting one frown or scowl from anyone on this trip. I got lots of "you have your hands full" or "are all three yours?" but never once did I get any ugly or impatient remarks. I think people are generally very nice. Most people, anyway. People offered to get our bags from overhead, offered to hold something for me while I fiddled with the baby, told me their own stories of children or grandchildren. Even in Dallas, that was crammed full of people due to delayed flights and thunderstorms, people were kind. Kind with their eyes and their words. Patient with little ones and patient with their mama.

Colorado in Pictures - Part Two