in March she'll turn thirteen

Last night at the dinner table Julianna started telling me some story about school that day. 

But wait.  Let's back up and I'll set the scene for you. 

We've had our hands quite full this week with a two year old who already dislikes eating to some extent.  To top it off, he's been sick with a virus of some sort and obviously has a sore throat because he hasn't hardly eaten a thing since Saturday.  So there Jonathan and I are trying to force coax tiny bites of food into our son's mouth while simultaneously shoveling food into our own mouths and listening to our daughter's stories about school.  Quite the (ordinary) feat for exhausted parents, no doubt. 

The story was something about getting to spend their Bobcat Bucks on different treats throughout the day and so on.  It takes her like, a gazillion years to tell a story and out of the blue she did something that caught both Jonathan and my's attention like you would not believe.

Y'all, she used air quotes.

She said something along the lines of "We got to go in there and you know where there's a booth? We got to sit there and we got some candy."  When she said candy she used air quotes. 

I'm like, "Candy?"  Hoping they didn't give her an illegal substance of some sort.

When she just replied by repeating, "Yeah, candy" I asked her what that meant and she repeated her whole sentence about getting candy just like it was totally normal.  It was very obvious that she had no idea what the air quotes were supposed to mean, but it was hilarious nonetheless.

This is the second time it's happened like this and I don't know who around her has used air quotes that she could pick it up from, but it's still just so funny to me.

Also, I realize that this is one of those posts that will one day have to be removed before she starts reading my blog and responding like Stephanie Tanner.





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things that are necessary for a 2 year old with a 103 fever

Orange popsicle
Blanket
Laundry basket

twenty seven months

Dear Josh,

Welcome to twenty seven months, Buddy!  When you jump your feet finally leave the ground!  Certainly that's something to celebrate!

It was hilarious one night this past month when you cracked your own head on the coffee table.  I think we had been laughing at Julianna after she had done something ridiculously silly and hurt herself and then you bumped your head right after that.  I think you loved all of the attention and you went right over to the coffee table and said, "I wanna bump my head again!" and then proceeded to conk your head pretty hard and immediately start crying.  It was impossible not to laugh.

You can draw circles.  You can sing the ABCs.  You call the "tornado" at the drain to the bathtub when we water's going out a "cornado" and you affectionately refer to Jules again as Sister.  You know your street name, you adore Blue's Clues, and you've almost gotten the hang of the tricycle.  You're learning the Lord's Prayer, you ask "Why?" incessantly, and you are a sucker for lollipops (ha!) and gloves/mittens.

I can finally say that you now are daytime potty-trained and that makes me one very happy mama.  We worked hard on it the week after Christmas and when you went back to school your teachers encouraged you.  After a week they said you were ready for underwear.  Now you rarely have accidents and the funniest part of it all is when you poop in the potty you without fail declare, "It's a big one!"

With the potty training this month came the I Want To Undress Myself Quite Often Phase.  We find you doing all sorts of hilarious dances trying to get your pants off and then you'll say totally hilarious things like, "I want to pinch my BAH-MIN!" (your adorable word for bottom)

We're still amazed with your ability to learn the words to songs.  In the car you have us constantly changing the CDs to the various songs you request and when you hear a new song one time you already know how some of it goes.  Let's just say, you definitely keep us on our toes when we're driving.

We've had a very healthy month around here until yesterday when we randomly decided to take you bowling for the first time.  You came down with a fever and cough and kept begging to just go home.  Bless your heart.  Let's hope it doesn't last long.  Generally though, you are a much more pleasant sick kid to have around than your sister is (sorry Jules!) so we'll survive.

You still light up like fireworks when I walk into your room at preschool and you beg to go run with me when you see me getting ready to leave the house some nights.  You also still like to sit on my lap and cuddle on the couch in the evenings.

Joshua, I'm so glad that I can call you a Mama's Boy.  You do good things for my soul!  I love you and I look forward to spending every day with you this summer!

Love you bunches, Buddy!

Love,
Mama

the underside of joy

source

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I cranked out my most recent book in three days. I had Monday off for the MLK Jr holiday and I spent most of the day reading despite the massive pile of school work I should have been doing. It was one of those books I couldn't put down.

The Underside of Joy tells the story of Ella (a name I am quite partial to coincidentally), a woman unable to have children of her own, and her second husband Joe plus his two small children from his first marriage. From the very beginning of the novel (as in within the first two chapters) there is a twist that grabs your attention and keeps you wanting to know how the story ends.

I love these kinds of stories. Mostly I love them because I like to try and guess what happens along the way. There are plenty of chances to do that while reading Ella and Joe’s story.

While I can’t relate to the infertility issues or the conflicts often brought about by second-marriage situations, I can certainly relate to loving your family with your whole heart and that’s what this book is really about.

This book was just released this week so I doubt you’ve read it, but if you like sweet stories of family and love you should. If you’d like to read more about the book, come join the conversation at Blog Her’s Book Club page.

*I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are my own.

he's listening

I am not even joking when I tell you that my son looked at me this morning and said, totally straight-faced and in his best Taylor Swift voice, "Mama, why you gotta be so mean?"

I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.

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developmental stuff

While my daughter has been busy losing her eighth and ninth teeth (or should that be tooth? for some reason it doesn't sound right) my son has been busy potty-training himself.  I will admit that it hasn't quite been as easy with Joshua as it was with Jules, but he is more or less staying dry all day in the Big Boy Underwear he got for Christmas.

So. Cross one goal off the 2012 list.  Only 6 more to go and I'm making great headway on a couple of the others.  So far 2012 is starting out to be a crazy good year!

How are you?

Why Women Need Fat

So many people make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight or eat healthier and I am often one of those people.  In fact, I think I’ve resolved to lose weight every year since I graduated from college.  Now I think I understand why weight gain has been a problem for me and I’m glad that my body has held on to the necessary fat and DHA for my babies.  My perspective has changed a bit since I just finished reading Why Women Need Fat by William D. Lassek and Steven J. C. Gaulin.  I really have (at least for the time being) found a new way to look at the foods I eat and today I resolve not to lose weight, but to slowly change my “set point.”

Source

I found this book fascinating, which is not typical of my thoughts on self-help type books.  Mostly I was intrigued by how much of the changing weights in America have to do with our consumption of little omega-3 fats and lots of omega-6 which we’ve been adding to foods when we purify vegetable oils.  It makes sense because our country has been increasing production of corn and soybean oils and it makes sense that we should just be able to eat more natural foods rather than foods with these hydrogenated oils in them and reduce our fat.

Another thing I found really fascinating was the encouragement of the authors regarding natural weight gain in women during childbearing years.  It really made me feel so empowered by my body and by nature and the way I’m made to know that my body knows when I have low levels of omega-3 and it pushes itself to store additional fat so that I can provide DHA for my babies’ brains.  There were no references to Christianity in this book and plenty of references to science; as a matter of fact, I don’t even have a clue if the authors believe in God or not.  However, as a Christian I can’t help but believe that God’s creation in our human bodies is simply more amazing than I could even fathom.  To create a being that is able to regulate itself so magnificently is incredible. 

It also makes me elated to think that I’m supposed to be fat right now and that there is hope in returning to a lower weight.  I love how the book includes ways to evaluate what we’re eating.  The later chapters include tips on what to eat and what to avoid.  I made a nice little list I’ve been carrying in my lunch tote each day just as a reminder.  I love the idea that I can change my “set point.”

I can’t tell you how many diets I’ve been on that tell you not to diet.  This is yet another couple of people preaching that.  But when they say, “the best way to achieve this weight loss is by making a permanent change to a better overall diet rather than by dieting to lose weight,” I can buy into that (p. 124).  Of course “moving back toward the lower weights that young women have had in the past by changing to a natural diet should be beneficial for the health of everyone” (p.107).

If you find yourself thinking about your fat frequently this time of year and you’d like to try to change that I’d urge you to give this book a try.  You might find it a tad too “science-y“ for your liking and you might question whether or not the authors have anything new to offer but I think it’s worth the read.  There’s just enough science to make their message believable but not so much that it bores you and I believe they’ll provide at least one or two insights into the faults of our diets today versus the diets of our ancestors.

Check out what others are saying about this book (and butter) on BlogHer's Book Club page.


This is a paid review for BlogHer Book Club but the opinions expressed are my own.

 



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and it's only Tuesday

So far this week

• a student brought a bb gun to my classroom
• several students got me in trouble by being after school to "work on a project with Mrs. Tucker" and instead goofed off around the building
• my work laptop won't boot and needs system files repaired
• my cell phone stopped receiving texts

What's next?

On the other hand

• my son is pretty much daytime potty trained
• my parents voluntarily rescued me from a case of having-to-be-in-too-many-places-at-one-time
• I found out I will be observed in the next ten days but I already have my lesson plans done through the end of January
• I'm staying on track with my reading and running
• and I still know a secret and secrets can be fun!

How are you?

 

this makes my heart happy

stories

Jonathan sings this song he calls "Old Josh Tucker" to Joshua every once in a while.  At the end of one verse it says, "had a toothache in his heel" and tonight during bathtime Josh asked him to sing it.  Jonathan asked Josh if he knew where his heel was and Josh happily replied, "in the mountains."

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One morning this week on the way to school Josh was crying and whining about something or other so to distract him I said, "Look out the window! There's the lake!"  So he looked out the window and immediately stopped crying.  He quickly said, "I wanna dip my toe in it! I wanna dip my toe in the water, Mommy!"

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I was tucking Julianna in before bed one night recently and was saying our bedtime prayer.  In the middle of it Julianna offered up, "Also please God, help me to stop chasing the boys at school."

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last week in numbers

11 games of Hedbanz played
14.87 miles run
7 spaghettio's cleaned out of my son's belly button, yes, HE PUT THEM IN HIS BELLY BUTTON
8 Harry Potter movies watched
1,413,782 Christmas decorations put away
156 m&m's eaten
5 hours spent on lesson plans
4 Nerf gun wars
1 gingerbread house assembled

and

1 giant temper tantrum when the candy was taken away

I hope this week is half as much fun as the last!

inspiration board

I saw this over at Fitnessista and I thought it was a great idea.  When I saw her post about it last year I kinda zipped past it and didn't think much about it, but this year when I read what she wrote... Well, just read it yourself:

Pinterest is awesome and everything, but there’s something to be said about physically making the board and having it in a place where you’ll see it every day. I truly believe that if we’re constantly reminded of our goals, we’ll be more mindful to make little steps along the way to accomplish them.

Something about that really clicked with me and I decided to do a little arts and craft project with some leftover magazines and poster board we had.  Here's my finished inspiration board for 2012.

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My mom and sister joined in the fun and Jules and Josh even made one of their own.  I was quite pleased with the finished product and now I just need to figure out where to put it.

I love how Julianna titled hers "What Jules will do in 2012"

Have you made an inspiration board before?
What are your hopes and plans for 2012?