PHANEROO \fan-er-o-oo\Greek: to manifest in word or deed.


Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Two New Favorite Places

I found these blogs recently, and it looks like I'm a little late in finding them since they are both followed by a gazillion people already. Thought I'd share them anyway:

Making It Lovely - I love her style.

Pioneer Woman - She is a funny urban-professional-turned-farmer's wife with four homeschooled children out on a remote farm somewhere. Deep down, I'm a little envious of her. (More on that later).

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Vacation!

BJ is on vacation for two weeks, and that can only mean one thing...vacation for me too! We are already enjoying this extended time together and I've enjoyed sleeping late while BJ takes care of kiddos bright and early. (In comparison to a normal work day, BJ is sleeping late too. It's all relative). And I've actually gotten to do a few things I normally don't attempt without backup support, such as bake, grocery shop, get my hair done, and get a massage...yes, I got a massage on BJ's first official day on vacation. Wow! I have an amazing husband. He actually called and made the appointment for me. I guess he knew it would get our two week vacation started on the right foot. He was right! In addition to the adventure we had on Monday, we have some more family excursions planned. And BJ has some plans to spend one-on-one time with Lily (probably hiking in the Smokies) and with Schaeffer (probably an Ice Bears hockey game or something similar). I love it when BJ takes vacation.

By the way, Happy-Merry Christmas everybody!!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Say a Prayer...

Yesterday BJ was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. If you ask BJ, he is ok with the diagnosis because he had been expecting it. If you ask me, well, I'm not as ok. I don't like that my sweet husband will have to suffer, and has suffered for some time now, with pain in almost every joint in his body. I'm praying that God would take it away. If He does not, I pray that He will give BJ the endurance that he'll need to live with such a disease. Will you pray with us?

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Side by Side


Here's a fun side-by-side comparison of all my babies at around 7-8 months (L to R: Lily, Griffin, Schaeffer). Who looks more alike? Who looks like their daddy? Who looks like their mommy? Who looks like the mail man (hahaha!)? One thing is for certain, these babies definitely swam out of the same gene pool!

Griffin is 7 Months

Griffin turned 7 months on Nov. 23. That was the week of Thanksgiving. We were busy enjoying a full week with BJ at home from work while he was on vacation. Griffin is a sweet little boy. He is doing so well. Growing. Developing. Playing. Communicating. Smiling. Laughing.

Griffin started sitting up without assistance about a week after he turned 7 months. Sometimes he forgets he is sitting up on his own and that's when he topples over. He's also making some new sounds like "da-da-da" and a funny growling sound. They both get him attention and I think he likes that.

Even though we've had some difficult spells with his nighttime sleeping, he is now doing really great getting up only once to eat, and then he goes back to sleep until about 9 a.m. I can live with that schedule! Solid foods, well, that's another story entirely. He doesn't appear to care for solids. In fact, solid foods evoke projectile vomitting. None of my other children have responded that way with the introduction of solids. Schaeffer loved food of any sort. Lily just turned her head and refused to let you put anything in her mouth. But Griffin, he lets you put it in his mouth. And then the gagging and eventual throwing up occurs. I'm lucky that I can breastfeed because until 12 months Griffin will need nothing more. Introducing solids is a good practice to get him ready, but if he refuses to eat them he is not missing any nutritional benefits.

The ladies at church who keep Griffin's class say he is so easy to care for. They've told me that he hardly ever cries and that he is content to play. Whenever he gets fussy they rock him and he goes right off to sleep. I would have to say that sounds just like my little Smiley Wiley.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Funny Kids Sayings

Funny things my kids have said lately:

Schaeff: "I wanna go to Donald-Mc!!"

Lily: "That's not how Daddy do's it!"

Schaeff: "Sssnowman" (The "s" sounded thru his nose). I loved it when he said "I sssmell sssmoke." There's no letter of the alpahabet to properly depict how he makes his "s" sound.