Tyler and Piper's June Photo Shoot

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

"Date" Night

Tyler and I had our first "date" night. It was awesome. We were both so excited. Tyler got dressed up (which means he put a collared shirt on and combed his hair), and we were off. On our way to the party store to pick out his birthday party supplies, we listened to Tyler's Bible songs CD which he loves to sing along to.

Luckily, he actually decided on a theme this time....firetrucks. So we joyfully spent entirely too much money on paper goods and decorations for his party. We also found Daddy a Lego Yoda Pen at Party City that we couldn't pass up. I thought we'd save it for Father's Day, but Tyler's just like me and wanted to give it to Daddy as soon as we walked in the door.

After Party City, we headed over to Chili's. Here was my big mistake of the night. I should have scheduled date night for an afternoon or an evening other than Friday. Chili's was packed, and Tyler gets a little stressed out in crowds. As soon as we walked into the noisy restaurant, Tyler said, "Let's go home." They seated us immediately, and once Tyler saw the ketchup bottle and the childrens menu with crayons, he was good to go. We shared an entree and some chocolate chip molten cake. Mmmmmm. Cake was definitely the best part of the evening for Tyler, and I soaked up every uninterrupted second we had together. Definitely a tradition we will continue. I love my little guy more than I ever knew possible.

Mother Hen

I am a mother hen, and my feathers have just been ruffled. We had some "friends" over this afternoon, and Tyler was just not in the mood to play or share or frankly, to be nice. It was his nap time, and he was most definitely acting out. He threw toys, argued with the other children, poked them with his guitar, hit me when I told him no...you get the idea. I spoke to him, warned him, swatted his butt a couple of times, but he was determined not to change his ways. His behavior was nothing more than a typical 2 year old's who hasn't had a nap. I even begged Mark to stay home from work this afternoon so he could help me with our little monster. I knew a nap would fix everything, but a nap was out of the question until our friends left. Tyler eventually decided that playing nicely was actually in his best interest, and the playdate continued on.

Unfortunately, my "friend" made underhanded comments to her own children about Tyler's behavior, and she couldn't look at Tyler without a look of disgust on her face. I am fully aware that Tyler was being a stinker, but don't you DARE look at him like you could kill him. I can't even imagine looking at a child like that. Honestly, it's usually her children who are the ones causing problems when we get together, so I'm not real sure why she was so judgmental. All the while, I'm trying to be salt and light to this lost person when all I really want to do is slap her and tell her to get out of my house. Yes, my feathers are ruffled. My house is now quiet with two sleeping children, and I'm trying hard to forgive, even though I don't want to.

Traditions

I've been vigilantly reading Noel Piper's Treasuring God in Our Traditions, and I'm so excited about implementing some of the traditions that she suggests for families. I'm not finished reading yet, but here are some of the things we are going to try to incorporate in our family from now on.

- Once a month Tyler and I will go on a "date" (I'm looking for another word for date, but for now, that's what we're calling it.) and when Piper's old enough, she'll go on a "date" with Mark. Treasured time together.

- One of us (probably me) will write a poem or letter to each child every year on their birthday.

- Some of the traditions we were already doing are daily reading the Bible as a family and praying together at meals and at night.

- Added to our daily routine will be a special "quiet time" where Tyler and Piper will have their own individual time with God. While they are so small, they can color a picture about the Bible story we just read, look at a Bible picture book, or quietly listen to Bible songs.

- I'm also in the process of choosing a hymn for each child that we will try to sing daily. Noel Piper did this during the bedtime routine, but I don't know if that will work for us. Singing seems to arouse my children rather than calm them. I'll fit it in somewhere though.

Tyler

Tyler says and does the funniest things. He makes me laugh and makes me crazy. Here are a few things he's said over the last couple of days. My precious boy.

- Tyler is sick with 103.4 fever, laying on the recliner. I hover over him, rub is sad little face and ask him, "Can you please bring back the wild and crazy Tyler. I like him better." Tyler looks up with sunken eyes and quietly mumbles, "no." You know Tyler doesn't feel well when he's not climbing the walls.

- I got the shihtzus groomed last Thursday. Tyler saw Captain America (with very short hair) sitting on the couch and asks, "Mama, what's that dog?"

- I put on a little sundress today and was feeding Piper when Tyler woke up. He saw me and walked straight to his room saying "Gotta get dressed. Go to church with Mama." (It's Monday!)

- Tyler had a fever between 103 and 104 last night even after taking Motrin. His fragile little body does not handle illness well. He was talking 90 miles an hour and nothing he said made any sense. Poor little guy. I mentioned this to the doctor today, and he looked at me like I was crazy. Seriously?

- Tyler wanted so badly to wear Piper's purple socks to church yesterday, but I wouldn't let him. He was so sad. Maybe I should have let him wear the socks. What does it really matter?

- I pulled my hair back into a ponytail (and a tiny ponytail it was), and Tyler joyfully said, "Mama got haircut! That's nice!!"

- On the way to pick up Matthew and Hannah while Mom was in the hospital, I prayed aloud with Tyler for "Nana" to be healed. A few minutes after we finished praying together, I looked back to see him with his head bowed and hands folded whispering a prayer for Nana.

- Even with 104 degree temperature, Tyler refused to take off his babylegs. (legwarmers for babies and toddlers) last night. We at least got him to take off his shirt and shoes, but he was ready to fight to the death to keep those babylegs on. I even tried to slip them off in his sleep, but the babyleg monster awoke with great strength and determination.

- We drove past a dump truck on the way home from the doctor today, and Tyler quietly said, "mama, Tyler ride that tomorrow?" Uh...Tyler, you know I'd do anything in the world to make you happy, but I don't think I can pull that one off.

- Finally, Tyler pulled out a children's book about Christmas traditions around the world and saw a Christmas tree. Pointing to it, he asked, "Tyler have this?" "you want to put a Christmas tree up?" "Okay!" exclaims Tyler. We're putting up a few lights around his window instead.

Piper's hair

I used to have a beautiful baby doll with thick brown hair that covered her head like a real baby. Everyone loved how life-like and adorable this doll was. What they didn't know was that her hair was only sewn in at the top of her head. It wasn't attached anywhere else; the 2-3 inch strands just fell perfectly around the baby's face, and no one ever knew any different.....except me. At first I was a little freaked out by the bald head under the flap of hair that covered it. Actually, I'm still a little freaked out by it, but that's okay. I'm aware I have issues.

Well, I recently discovered that my precious daughter (I love saying "my daughter") has hair very similar to the baby doll I just described. It's hilarious. She's rubbed off most of the hair on the back of her head. Peach-fuzz-looking stuff covers the back of her scalp now except for a nice patch of hair that flows from the top of her head down to her neck. Every time I comb her hair, I can't help but think of that baby doll that used to look so real except for her hair. I had no idea that the baby doll's hair was actually quite "real" looking.

Sunday Fun

Yesterday, we all went to church, out to eat with friends, and then we hung out in Keller and Southlake for the afternoon. The Northwood band played at Kellerfest, and I knew Tyler and Piper would enjoy being outside and hearing their daddy play guitar.

After a week with a sick mom and a sick baby, Sunday was the perfect reprieve. We had a blast even though neither one of the babies took a nap and it was smokin' hot outside. I kept Piper cool at Kellerfest by soaking a rag in my ice water and smoothing it over her face...then I let her chew on it. ;0) Tyler wouldn't let me put anything cold on him, so I encouraged him to drink, drink, drink, and prayed that he wouldn't get overheated. (See next post - turns out Tyler didn't handle the heat so well.)

We all enjoyed the time outside listening to the band, and we were all really happy to finally get home at 5:30 too.

Titles

Well last week, God was my Comforter and Healer. With my mom in the hospital for 3 days and Piper fighting 103 fever for 24 hours, I prayed a lot for healing and comforting. Piper has an upper respiratory infection but after the first 24 hours of antibiotics, she seems to be bouncing back pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, now Tyler is fighting 103 fever, and he's so much more fragile than Piper. We'll have to take him to the doctor today. His little body has a hard time healing itself. He's been talking nonsense 90 miles an hour since he got a fever last night. My poor little man.

So I'll continue to pray for healing and comforting. Luckily through all of this, I've still managed to be able to spend time alone with my Father everyday. I'm always amazed at how difficult that has become with little ones in the house. :0)