Ice cream queen

We had Rebecca's birthday party on Saturday at one of many parks near our house. When we got to the park, she said, "I don't want to go to the party; I just want to play at the park!" And I thought, "I picked the right place for her party!" The weather was beautiful, though very windy, and the dozen helium balloons broke free of the table we had tied them to, but got caught in a tree, and Steve rescued them using a long tree branch. The kids just played and ate a picnic lunch and had ice cream.

Later that evening, Rebecca was recounting her day, as she often does. She told Steve excitedly, "Hey, Daddy, I got to eat some ice cream with sprinkles and candles and a cherry!" Steve asked her, "Why did you get to eat some ice cream?" (He was trying to reinforce the idea that ice cream is only for special occasions, and she doesn't just get it anytime she wants it. He expected her to say, "because it was my birthday.") Rebecca's response was, "It's because Jesus made plenty of ice cream for me to eat!" (Well, at least she has the concept down that God provides her food!)

Congratulations...

...to my baby sister (on the right) who just turned 18 and has been awarded some nice grants and scholarships to the University of Michigan's Schools of Art and Music. We are so grateful that God made her so talented and that He has provided the means for her to get a good education in her fields of interest. And thanks to my middle school band director, Ms. Stribling, who suggested that Emily play a double-reed instrument so she could get some scholarships!

Potty-training success!

Rebecca has been wearing panties since she turned three eight days ago, and has done a much better job than I expected her to. The first seven days, she wet them only once a day, with the exception of twice on day two. She has been wearing pull-ups whenever we are not at home, and has wet those a few times, but not always. However, today we were gone almost all day (church, birthday party for a friend, annual church picnic), and she kept her pull-up dry the ENTIRE DAY!!! She told us twice when she needed to go to the potty, and the two other times when Steve suggested she go (he got stuck babysitting while I was talking to all my friends), she was able to. She still wears a diaper at night when she is sleeping, but I'm still thrilled with her progress. Just a few weeks ago she was saying she didn't want to sit on the potty. I'm so glad she changed her mind!

JK

Just kidding! Okay, so I wasn't really kidding when I wrote a few weeks ago that I had been feeling better. It's just that, well, the feeling-better feeling only lasted about one more week after I posted, and I'm not feeling better anymore. I mean, I guess I'm feeling better than I was a year ago, but not any better than I was four or five months ago, and I am discouraged that I am more tired now that I was a month or two ago.

Part of the problem is that some of the chemistry that my doctor is monitoring takes three weeks to get the results back from the time the sample is submitted, and by the time the doctor gets the results back, I am feeling completely different than I was three weeks ago. (Remember, I fluctuate daily, if not hourly.) Anyway, it's hard to make changes in supplement levels when 1) it takes so long to get test results back, 2) there is such fluctuation in how I'm feeling, and 3) when I have seventeen (this is not an exaggerated number; it might be understated) different things wrong with me, and when I say I'm tired, it's hard to know which ones of those seventeen things are not being managed like they need to be. I just want to crawl into bed and stay there for a week. Or a month. :(

One piece of good news is that the thing I have been taking to remove toxic metals from my body is actually working like it is supposed to. I mean, I still have elevated amounts of mercury and lead, but they are down significantly from what they were four months ago. The test results were actually so good that I was wondering if there was some sort of error!

My baby is three today!

Okay, so everyone tells you, but you never believe how quickly three years can go by until it happens! I can't believe a full one-sixth of Rebecca's at-home training is already complete. I wish time would just stop for awhile. I truly think that the age she is at right now is the cutest!

3-year stats:

height: 38.5 inches

weight: ~33 lbs.

clothing size: usually 4t

shoe size: 8.5 XW

Bible verses she can recite if given the reference: 5 or 6? (I think we need to work on adding more, although the number increases if you count Bible verse songs that don't include the reference.)

words she recognizes by sight: ~50

songs she can sing: too many to count

number of times she wet her panties today: 1 (not bad for first try in several months!)

favorite activities: reading books, doing puzzles, playing at the park, going on errands, singing, coloring, playing with stickers, toys, etc.

favorite foods: bread, pretzels, fruit, ice cream (but also likes an amazing number of different vegetables, of which carrots are her favorite)

quote of the day: "Mommy, I want a lot of people to come to our house to see me." (Very typical of her extroverted personality.) Her party is not until next week, since I was at our church's women's retreat all day today, so she will just have to wait for that.

most endearing qualities: sparkly eyes, cute laugh, big hugs, and life-of-the-party personality

Six-year Anniversary

Steve and I celebrated our 6-year anniversary today. I liked having our anniversary on a Sunday (for the first time!)...it just made it seem more special. We picked this up yesterday and finished eating it this morning. The picture does not do it justice.

Steve also made me waffles and brought me a tray in bed (we went to the second worship service at church so we were not rushed). He took a picture of the tray but hasn't downloaded it off of our camera yet.

We are also looking forward to more celebrating this week.

What's on Rebecca's mind

Things Rebecca says frequently these days:

"Mommy, would you like to read a book to me?" (Love to hear this! Usually one of the first things she says when she gets up in the morning.)

"I don't want to go home; I just want to go somewhere else." (This one breaks my heart! I know she enjoys being out and around lots of people, but how do I make home a more attractive place to her?)

"I just want Mommy to be with me all of the time." (I love this one, although it makes me feel slightly guilty whenever I go somewhere without her, like the upcoming church women's retreat on her birthday, for example!)

"I want Mommy and Rebecca to play together." (Usually when I really need to be doing something else, and she has noticed the lack of attention.)

"Mommy, what are you saying?" (When I am talking to someone else and she wants to be included in the conversation.)

"I don't want Mommy to help me." (Usually when she is trying to put on clothes, or get some food.)

"Mommy, can I call someone?" (Let me know if you would like to be called at a random time during the day by Rebecca.)

"Mommy, can I work on the computer when you are done?" (She likes to play around in Word.)

"Daddy had to go to work today." (She is disappointed that Daddy is not home all of the time to play with her. I've tried explaining that Daddy has to (or gets to!) go to work so that we can live in our nice house and have our nice cars and have food to eat and clothes to wear. I don't think she really understands.)

"Ice cream is my favorite!" (I don't know what brings this to her mind, since she only gets ice cream on special occasions, no more than two or three times a month.)

"Red is my favorite!" She preferred blue for a really long time, but ever since we went to Disney World and she got a red t-shirt with Pooh and Tigger on it, she has been saying her favorite color is red.

"When I turn three, I'm going to wear panties." (We've been talking about this a lot recently; we'll see if it works or not.)

the opposite of whatever is true (She knows she is being silly, likes asserting her independence, and likes getting a reaction.)

And by the way, she is finally pronouncing "j" and "ch" correctly. (Before, the word "juice"sounded like "goose", and "Aunt Rachel" sounded like "Aunt Rakle", etc.)

Bluebonnet beauty

Next to Tex-Mex food, I think the thing I love most about Texas is the bluebonnets. We took these yesterday about 45 minutes from our house. It was a little on the sunny side (hence the shadows on the face), but otherwise perfect weather. I can't decide whether I like the one of Rebecca standing or sitting better.

Update: I just found these last two pictures (somehow they didn't make it off the camera with the first batch, even though they were taken at the same time). That big grin best captures her personality!