Lizards, Goose Eggs and Other Summer Festivities

The more Eliaya grows up, the more Jarrod I see in her. She may look like me, but her little adventuring heart is 100% daddy.

Example:
This past weekend Jarrod headed to the office to get some work done (somehow our house is just never quiet... hmmm). E and I were going about our day, breakfast, dressed, dishes... the usual. As we packed up the diaper bag to head to the grandparents, E picked up her shoes then stood, very focused, by the front door. I tried calling a few times, but what ever had captivated her was not letting go any time soon. Getting my own stuff together and wandering to see what was so fascinating, I screamed. Lizard. On a shoe. In the house. Meanwhile E is all smiles and waddles over in attempts to catch the crawler. She misses, of course, and the little guy scaled up the blinds. While I frantically call Jarrod in hopes he'll have some miraculous ability to speak and have the lizard leave the premises, E is picking up the other shoes. Long story short... Jarrod did not have any wonderful advice but did have quite a good laugh at my predicament. With the front door open we managed to "shoo" the reptile out the door and E handed a shoe up to me with what else.... another lizard on top! Poor guy went flying through the air as I hurled the show into the grass. In retrospect... the throw was probably unnecessary, but it made me feel better. When we finally made it outside to leave, Eliaya squats right next to the grass and starts chatting, I think she was telling her friends to come back later :)

pushing the watermelon around the room

We've had a walker on our hands now for a few months, and she's gotten pretty good. E can go over pillows, backwards, spin in a circle- her resume abounds with talent. But for some reason, the past 3 days have been accident city! Yesterday afternoon I was making lunch in the kitchen and she was singing to the radio. I heard her coming towards me so I peered around the corner and WHACK. Head into the corner of the wall. She's made this turn a thousand times, and the corner hasn't moved... Regardless of reasons, she got her first goose egg on the noggin. Perhaps this is a dual reminder from the Lord that I'm not a perfect mom and E is still a bit clumsy. She didn't even cry really, just hung out on the floor till I came and picked her up. When I had a small ice bag on her forehead, she thought it was a game and would push it off an hold it on her stuffed animal's head for a second too.

Another way she's like daddy: while Jarrod was sitting at the kitchen table reading for school, E crawled through chairs to get to the bookshelf. She picked up a good book (Michael Crichton, can't go wrong), opened it and started talking as she turned the page. She just wanted to be doing what daddy was doing. Sweet.

we LOVED playing the pool with cousin Emma!

 Moment of confession: I've had a really grouchy past few days. If you've tried to call me and I avoided you... sorry. I'm not 100% sure what my deal is, but I've definitely been in a funk. I think it's feeling like I'm in a constant state of transiency. Not knowing where we're going to be or what we'll be doing this time next year. I need to be okay with not knowing. I've been reading Acts and I can't ever imagine the sense of loneliness / transiency that Paul must have felt. Never being in one place "permanently" and not being entirely sure where he was heading next at times. I think the Lord is rooting out an idol of comfort in me. Growing in hard, but I know the end product is so worth it. So, again. Sorry if you've had the unfortunate opportunity to be in my rampage path.... things will get better because the Lord is good and He will finish what He starts. Amen!

   

Definitely a water baby :)

4 Highlights of Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! I hope all of you had a great time celebrating with the mothers in your life. I had an especially good day and wanted to share just a peek of the best parts:

1) Breakfast. With working nights.... I am even more so not a morning person anymore. At all. I really would prefer for my day to start around 9, but with a 1 year old that's nearly impossible. So, I woke up yesterday around 7 to clanking coming from the kitchen, "aw, how sweet, Jarrod's cooking" I thought, then promptly hit my internal snooze button. 730 rolls around and I can hear E stirring in her crib, and this delightful smell wafts up the stairs.... mmmmm, Jarrod's cooking something good! We headed downstairs and had a feast of pumpkin pancakes and fruit. Delicious. He knows all my favorites

2) Celebrating with family lunch. We had 4 generations around for the afternoon and it really hit me that this is no small deal. How rare is it to get 4 generations in one place, and for us to do it often??? We're very blessed. I learned that E really likes laying in a hammock that afternoon too. We swayed back and forth under a canopy and birds flitted from branch to branch. With eyes half closed she would reach her hand up and wave to the birds, then snuggle back up beside me and we just enjoyed listening to the party and being close. She's so active, inquisitive and talkative now that moments of snuggling are few and far between. I will remember and treasure this one.

3) New friends! We had dinner with new friends from church, and as silly as it sounds were reminded that everyone, myself chiefly of all, likes to be liked. I'm not quite sure what the sociological term is, but in a group more often than not everyone feels they are outside of the "cool kid" group, waiting to be invited in. Even those who others would say they are the leaders of the cool group feel like outsiders sometimes. It's so so important to be intentional, to be perceptive, to care about others. Even in a smaller church where one could realistically know everyone, making an effort to spend time with some one, to show them that you want to invest in their life and vice-versa, is vital.

4) Crossing off one of my man-this-would-be-awesome-someday's. Jarrod hooked up one of those rainfall shower heads and while I'm fully aware that it is entirely frivolous and one can easily get just as clean with a traditional shower head..... whoa. Best shower ever. I'm sure I racked up the water bill on that first one, but it was quite possibly to most relaxing 15 minutes of the past year. Can't wait to take another one. Thank you Jarrod!

Embracing the Corners

I will finish this post... I will finish this post... I will finish

Not sure if it's being pregnant, having a little one, working nights, or some combination thereof, but man oh man have I been tired!! But now I'm determined to finish this post, even if it means missing nap time.

So, recently a friend told me about a personality test she and a group of friends took. The "types" were square, circle, triangle and figure eight. Squares are those who do things a certain way, every time and that's the only way to do things. They're great with details and hyper organized. Circles are a muted version of a square, they like things done a certain way but can be flexible.... if they have to. Triangle's main concern is getting everyone in the group to reach an agreement, they work to build morale. Figure eights are those who are very creative and always willing to try new things, but have a hard time staying focused on one task.
Well, I kept thinking about those types, and mused on how I so long to be a figure eight. I want to be the creative, fly by the seat of my pants, easy going, unpredictable one. It sounds like so much fun. I can work really hard and am actually growing in my "crafting" ability (thank you pinterest).
Then came Friday.

Friday night if family time in our house. We were all going a bit stir crazy because it had been raining for 3 days straight and there's only so many laps Eliaya can do in the living room before she gets bored. We decided to clean up our little porch and make another play room. After sweeping up a good inch of pollen and wiping down all the chairs, it was ready. She had so much fun! Throwing tennis balls, trying to catch lizards though they were on the outside of the screen, and watching the rain were so much fun she didn't even want to come in for dinner! (If you know E.... this is a big deal, haha) After dinner, I was able to vacuum the whole house, clean the kitchen and disinfect all counters. Then a wave of joy just welled up inside me. I was so pleased. Then it hit me......

I am most definitely a square.

Despite all my best efforts and deep desires to be fun-and-fancy free, I am a girl who loves structure. When the whole house is clean at once (a rarity) I can't help but smile. When I save more than I spend at the grocery store, same result. Honestly, I was a bit sad. Being a square just seemed so... dull.

The days following, the Lord has been so good to show me that it takes all types. A room full of squares.... definitely a disaster. But the same could be said for a room full of figure eights. As a square, I help keep a group on task, help to work out the details to make big dreams feasible, and get joy out of doing some of the mundane tasks (ie, sweeping the pollen covered porch). So, I'm learning to embrace my corners. I can 'fake it' as a circle to be a team player.... but deep down, I really am a square, and that's okay.