Normal

I loved Kristi's post about her normal, and I thought I'd give it a try. I'll opt for the list version. Left-brained, perhaps? Uh, yeah.

Changing diapers
Being in a hurry
Church
Ladies' Bible Class
Rehearsals galore
Finding childcare
Changing diapers
Nursing
Waking up at 4, then 7
Soccer practice
Blogging
Facebooking
Stepping on toys
Picking up toys
Changing diapers (did I say that already?)
Laundry
Running, when convenient
Singing gigs
Driving
Scrapping
Cooking (occasionally)
Laughing at funny kids sayings

I guess that's it in a nutshell. I'd love to see your normal, too!

Oh, here's the funny kid saying of the day:
Johnathan, playing the Wii game, Batman: "Mom! I need to buy this character, Bunny Girl!"
Me, half listening: "Uh-huh."
Johnathan: "Do you see her, Mom? It's Bunny Girl."
Me, still not even realizing he's talking: "Uh-huh."
Johnathan: "Mom! You gotta come see Bunny Girl. I need to buy her!"
Me, realizing that he's talking to me, and finally looking at the screen: "Ha, ha, ha! Oh, Johnathan, that's Catwoman!"
Johnathan: "Yeah, Catwoman!"

Vocabulary Explosion

Kalleigh's vocabulary is going through another growth spurt, which can be really funny, of course. The problem is, as all parents know, when they start saying the phrases that you say all the time ... the ones you don't realize you say all the time! Then there are the words that you have no idea what they mean, so you ask the four-year-old to interpret for you. Here are just a few examples that I can remember from the past two days:

In the van, Kalleigh: "Mommy, ahnna hear own-choo, own-choo nake."
Me: "You want to hear what?"
Kalleigh: "Ahnna hear own-choo, own-choo nake."
Me: "Johnathan, do you know what she's saying?"
Johnathan, in an exasperated voice: "She wants to listen to Don't you, don't you step on a snake."
Which is the first line in the Real Group's Big Bad World. Of course.

At McDonald's. Kalleigh is playing and John and I are talking about something very important that was demanding all of our attention. (I have no idea what it was now!) We hear Kalleigh say, "Hee I am! I kymed!" And she was up in the high chair how? She climbed! Oh, she's my child.

Then this morning I noticed that any time Kalleigh needed to get past someone who was in her way, she would say, "Watch out!" "Where'd she get that?" I wondered, and I told her that she needed to say, "Excuse me, please." A little later, Kalleigh was playing with the magnets on the front of the refrigerator. I needed to put the juice away, and as I reached for the handle, I said, "Watch out!" Good grief. "I mean, excuse me please!"

A new life stage

We've entered into a new life stage in our family. Soccer. Today was Johnathan's first soccer game. Ever. We're in a Christian league organized by one of the big Baptist churches here in town. I had heard so many positive comments about this program versus the Tyler city league, so we decided to give it a try. The teams say a prayer together after the game, and there is a lot of emphasis on being Christ-like out on the field. Then, of course, there's the additional bonus of learning the game of soccer and what it means to be a part of a team!

Johnathan had a blast out there and earned the "best defense" award for this game! That's my boy!

Ready to play!

Pep talk from Daddy.

He started and got to kick off!

Seeing some action.

Best Defense sticker!

One of the little girls on his team scored two goals during the game. At one of his breaks, I said, "McKinsey is doing really good, too, isn't she?" (J)"Yeah! She got to score!" (Me)"You should tell her good job!" He did his little grin-with-an-eyebrow-raise and turned to go tell her 'good job.' Then he stopped, turned around and said, "I'll probably just give her a high-five." Oh yeah; much cooler. :)

Sick baby girl

Kalleigh has her two-year molars coming in. New teeth are always accompanied by a runny nose, a yucky cough due to the drainage from said runny nose, and a low fever. It's sad when she doesn't feel very well, but ........


..... it sure makes for one very sweet little girl! So calm and cuddly!

I out-shuffled my dog.

No, really.

When I run (and I use that word in the loosest way possible) in the mornings, I always take my dog, Bison off-leash. He always stays right with me, with the exception of an occasional pee here and there. Bison, not me. Belle stays at home because she does not stay with me at all and I don't want to take her on a leash. Besides, she has hip dysplasia and can't go that far anyway.

This morning, Bison and I started out on our regular route. Our neighborhood has three parallel streets and two that connect them on each end. A figure eight plus one big loop is 2.1 miles. Well, less that a quarter of a mile into our route, we saw some friends. I guess Bison decided that he didn't feel like running this morning, because he went right over to them and sat down. I figured that he would catch up when he felt like it, but I kept getting further away and Bison wasn't going anywhere!

I finished the figure eight I had started and went back by our friend's house on the last big loop, and there was Bison. Our friends had left, but Bison was just sitting in their driveway. I guess he figured I'd be passing by again and he just thought he'd sit out for that figure eight. He rejoined me and we finished the big loop.

Crazy dog? Smart dog? You make the call!

Poor tired dog!

Pictures from yesterday

Jonas started grinning a couple of weeks ago, and this was my first successful capture! Who's he smiling at? Daddy, of course. :)

Sweet brothers!

Similarities

Keleigh took these while she, Kreg, Tami and Taylor were here. They swung through on their way to Harding to meet Jonas and be there for Johnathan's soccer try-outs back in August. See any similarities?!


Kalleigh and Mommy


Johnathan and Daddy

We did not pose for these pictures.

And a side note: Jonas slept from 11 until 5:30 last night. I hadn't gotten that much sleep in over a month! I felt fully rested! So I went jogging! I went two miles, though I had to walk about a half a mile of it. Whew, I have a long way to go to get back into shape. But, hey, it was the first step, right? I'm going to be so sore tomorrow (and the next day, and the next ...)! While I was pregnant, I had no way of telling the "Wii Fit" that my incredible obesity was due to the pregnancy. It kept asking me if I knew the causes of my weight gain, and pregnancy was not one of the options to choose! Now it is a little concerned that I've lost "so much" weight in such a short time!

Jonas photo shoot -- 5 weeks

Here's a shout out to my good friend Chelsea for taking these pictures this morning! Isn't she amazing? And these were just my favorites!

Enjoy!

15 minutes

I've never had professional lawn guys do our lawn before. Until today. A friend from church set it up for us as a baby gift! I was such a nerd. I was so geeked out about their heavy duty lawn equipment that I took pictures! I don't think they knew, because I just cracked the blinds open just far enough to snap the pictures!

The front yard. That thing is like a mini bush-hog!

The back yard. Here, they guy is moving the swing set. I guess there was some good that came from not bolting that down! And look at that mower! Way cool.

It had been SO long since the back yard had been mowed that the guys had to ask if these were weeds or bushes and what to do with them! No, they're not bushes.

It takes me about three solid hours to mow and edge the front and back yards. The four of them did it in 15 MINUTES. No joke. Like magic!

One month, really? (well yesterday, anyway)

Jonas, has it really been a whole month? (A whole month without a good night's sleep?!) I wouldn't trade it for the world! I love you my sweet baby boy!

Okay, maybe he's not quite ready for the Bumbo ...