Weary

This week has been a rough one. It started with Elisa getting sick, then Jonathan. We had two nights that Jonathan cried and needed to be held most of the night (it's so sad to see your small baby who hardly ever cries be inconsolable). Then I got sick. Then Greg left for the weekend. We were all feeling a lot better by the time Greg left (thankfully). But we're still not totally better, so we couldn't go to church this morning. Elisa is still contagious and can't be in the nursery. This also meant that while Greg was gone this weekend we couldn't spend time with anyone who has kids... so we've been pretty isolated.

I've been in a pretty okay mood about all of this... but this morning I feel really discouraged and down.

This morning God impressed this verse on my heart:

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

My mantra as a mom of a two year old...

I will not squelch her creativity and individuality just because I want her clothes to match.

I will be consistent, even when I don't feel like it.

I will not expect too much of her, keeping in mind what is developmentally appropriate.

I will not expect too little of her, keeping in mind what is developmentally appropriate.

I will let her do things by herself, even when it means extra stain remover later.

I will not apologize or feel bad about the times that Jonathan takes me "away" from her, knowing that a sibling is one of the greatest gifts I can give her.

I will take time to sit and play with her, even when it means the dishes go undone.

I will help her learn to express her emotions in appropriate ways; it's not okay to scream and throw a fit, but she doesn't need to hide her feelings and put on a smile either.

Okay, so I guess the above items can't really be considered mantras. They're too long. They are just my goals. My real mantra is "Just make it to nap time!" and my constant breath prayer is "God, give me patience!" :-)

She's a Genius!

Okay, maybe not a genius... but I'm still really impressed that Elisa can sing the ABC's. This video was taken a couple weeks ago, after I first noticed her singing all the way through the ABC's.

Locked Out

Let me just start by saying that Elisa can reach and play with doorknobs. Sometimes she can open doors. But not always.

Now that I've said that, you all know where I'm going. I've just ruined the ending for you. But bear with me.

On Wednesday of this week we had our first nice day in quite some time. It wasn't really warm... but it was sunny. And it wasn't freezing (it's been quite cold here recently). So I decided it was the perfect day for a short walk. I took the stroller outside to get it set up at the bottom of our steps. Then I went back to the front door and found it... locked! I had closed it so that Leesi wouldn't follow me outside, but I had left it unlocked. Leesi had reached up and locked it. I could hear her on the other side of the door - she was trying to turn the doorknob. So I tried to explain to her how to unlock the door. "Turn the inside part" I yelled through the door. I heard her fiddling with the doorknob. "Elisa, can you turn the inside part and open the door." "Yes." More fiddling with the doorknob. After a little while I gave up on this tactic. She wasn't going to be able to do it. So I said, "Mommy will be right back. You stay there, okay?" "Otay."

I ran as fast as I could over to the Student Development offices. Greg was in a class that he helps teach, and I didn't know where his class met. But I figured I'd get one of the secretaries in Student Development to help me either locate Greg or Campus Safety to let me in. So the secretary called Campus Safety, they happened to be off-campus at the time (don't ask me why), but they said they'd hurry back as fast as they could... and that we should call the building RD... which is Greg. So then the secretary called someone over in the building where Greg's class was taking place to go get him out of class. I ran back to my apartment.

My two biggest fears were: 1. that Elisa would figure out how to open the door while I was gone and then wander out into the parking lot. 2. that Elisa would pick this opportunity to bounce Jonathan... I had left him in his bouncy seat without the seatbelt fastened (bad idea)... and Elisa LOVES bouncing Jonathan. But she bounces him a little too exuberantly sometimes.

So I peeked in the window to see what Elisa was up to. She was sitting at the table happily coloring. When she saw me at the window she laughed and said, "peekaboo!" At this point Greg showed up and let me in. Elisa ran around the house shouting "peekaboo!" and laughing. This had been a grand adventure for her.

No harm done... I decided we should go for our walk. I made double sure that the door was unlocked and then we headed out. A little while later we returned and, guess what, the door was locked! I know I had left the door unlocked... but Campus Safety must have come by to let me in, found the door unlocked, and locked it back up again. Greg wasn't due to be out of class for another hour, and I was way to embarrassed to go back to the secretary and have her call Campus Safety again. So I decided that we would just stay outside for the next hour. Unfortunately a few minutes after I made this decision Elisa tripped and hit her head on the cement. She was hysterical, there was no way that we were going to be able to stay outside. So I headed toward Greg's class. On my way there I ran into Greg's boss who has a master key for all the dorms, and he let me back into our apartment.

After that incident I've decided I need to start carrying my keys with me at all times. Even if I'm just running out to the car, or taking out the garbage. My new fear is that Elisa will lock herself or Jonathan into an inside room (which we don't have keys for). I guess I need to learn how to pick locks in case that happens.

Jonathan at four months part two

The stats:

Length: 27 inches

Weight: 17 lb. 6 oz.

Head: 17 1/2 inches

Four Months

Jonathan is officially 4 months old today. I'll go to the doctor this week and we'll find out his weight/length... but until then suffice it to say, he is a big boy! We've decided to retire his bouncy seat because he's so heavy. When he sits in it his head reclines lower than his feet. The picture above shows Elisa bouncing him in the seat. He loves it! But it makes me and Greg so nervous. We're afraid that he might just catapult right of out it.

Snow fun

I just got some pictures back from the last couple months (yes, we are still back in the old film days around here... we are saving up to buy a new digital camera after ours broke back in October). So I wanted to post a few pictures of Elisa in the snow...

Aren't they too cute? Greg is such great dad; I just love seeing them together.

Elisa really did not want to have her picture taken. She was too busy playing. Despite this we managed to get a couple smiles for the camera out of her.

A video for Greg

So like I said before, Greg is out of town. He's in Florida at a conference about College Student Values. He is actually going to present at it tomorrow morning along with one of the other RDs. I'm so proud of him. I know he'll do a great job. The conference ends tomorrow at noon and they'll get back late tomorrow night.

This is the description of their presentation:

Assessing Student Values Gained Through Residential Living This session will explore the methods recently employed at John Brown University to evaluate the effectiveness of the transference of core values to students obtained through residential living. The Residence Life staff developed an assessment tool based on student interviews that allowed residents to share their own values through personal narratives about their campus experience. This newly applied method came from a desire to have more qualitative data as opposed to just quantitative data from surveys. Greg Brock, Resident Director, John Brown University & Patrick Bergquist, Resident Director/Adjunct Professor, John Brown University

Tonight after Elisa had her bath she wanted to be wrapped in a ton of blankets. Here's a little video of her and Jonathan chillin' on the couch tonight. It's really not a very exciting video, but I figured Greg would want to see his little ones. I know he misses them.

Sick kid update

So this morning Elisa woke up at 6:00 crying. I went in to check on her. I took her temperature and her fever was 103.2! So I gave her more Tylenol and held her for awhile. Of course Jonathan had also woken up at 6:00 wanting to eat (why is it that they always seem to need you at the same time?)... so I held Elisa for as long as I could until Jonathan wouldn't wait any longer to eat. I took her temperature again, it had come back down to 101 something... so I laid her in her crib and went back to feed Jonathan. Then we all went back to sleep and slept in a little later than usual this morning (which was very nice!) Elisa's temperature has been back at a normal level since she got up. She's still not quite herself. But at least she no longer has a fever.

I've been pampering her so much this morning. It's noon and she's already on her 3rd video and 2nd cup of juice (these are once-a-day things at most usually). She still has her jammies on and her paci.... she's in heaven... except she's sick :-( We've also read a bunch of books together... she's actually snuggling with me while I read. That's how you know that she's sick or really tired... when she'll snuggle.

I think this afternoon I may try to think of some fun activities for her that don't take too much energy. I was thinking of making home-made play doh. She hasn't ever played with play doh, but I think she would really enjoy it. So that might be fun.

Sometimes you just need a movie...

So Elisa is sick. Yup. Greg's gone and Elisa is sick. Perfect.

Actually, I can't complain too much. She has a fever. But other than that she seems okay. A little clingier than normal... but I can live with that. The hard part is that we can't really go anywhere... at least not anywhere where there will be other kids. (And I was really looking forward to going to Mothering Matters today - oh well). And outside is nasty and cold right now. So that means we are pretty much stuck inside. Elisa doesn't do too well stuck inside all day. She likes to go places and do things. And I don't think she's quite so sick that her desire to be going places is gone.

All that to say, I am so glad I picked up a couple of kid's videos at the library. Overall I try to avoid having Elisa watch a lot of "TV", but sometimes you just need a movie. Y'know?

Nothing else to do...

Greg's gone for a conference again... guess I'll be posting more. :-)

Precious moments

No, not the little figurines.

Precious moments of sibling love. I absolutely love it when Elisa and Jonathan have positive interactions. It melts my heart. The last couple of days Elisa has started "reading" books to Jonathan. In this video she also shows off a little by spelling her name (you have to listen really closely - but she totally does it!) and singing the first little bit of ABCs.