Everybody's Doing It!

I am faced with the most nefarious but silent peer pressure at the moment. It's now official - EVERYONE I KNOW WHO HASN'T HAD A BABY IN THE LAST YEAR IS PREGNANT. (If you aren't and haven't, please bring it to my attention. I need to know I'm not alone.)

This comes at a time when I am vulnerable, as Sophie is almost exactly the age that Will was when I became pregnant with her. As much as I know I DON'T WANT TO BE PREGNANT at the moment, some basic, almost molecular part of me feels like I am missing out on something, as if pregnancy is an exclusive sorority I am snubbing but deep down want to be a part of.

In spite of the messages whatever biological forces deep within me are sending to my brain, said brain remains resolved in my decision to delay my next pregnancy. If I had three preschoolers simultaneously (and kudos to anyone out there who does), I feel sure I would go crazy and my enjoyment of my home life would be significantly decreased if not eliminated. For my mental health's sake, I will continue to follow the directions on the box exactly and religiously, and if by some Divine Providence pregnancy occurs, I will understand and accept that my will has been overridden by Someone immeasurably more powerful.

P.S. I am VERY happy and excited for you all and plan to enjoy all your little bundles of joy vicariously as my own.

Hero or Zero?

Today we closed on this gem. It was awhile in the making as much paperwork was required. I was out on a limb with some of the decisions I made in an attempt to see this deal through. If we were not able to close, these decisions would have made me seem like a moron. The most interesting decision I was faced with was "loaning" a sibling of the previous owner $80.

I told Kathy that whether this deal went through determined whether I was a "Hero" or a "Zero". She was quick to correct me that the options were actually more like "Hero With A Burnt Out House" or "Negative Sixteen Hundred Bucks".

Anyway, the deal is done now... just in time to sit around and accrue interest though Christmas, perfect!

Oh yeah, there was a small fire at the home which will make the rehab challenging. Home sweet Home: Whispering Hills Drive. And we've yet to sell the Southlake house! Yikes!

-Andy

A Holiday Trojan Horse

I'm coming to realize that things that previously brought our family joy and delight now cause huge fractures in our family unity. Case in point:

Andy received a huge Christmas basket of home-made sweets from one of his subcontractors. Wow! We dug in with glee, consuming white-chocolate covered pretzels and triple-chocolate cookies with relish (meaning we relished them, not that we added pickle relish). Of course, we shared with Will and Sophie, but there comes a time when you have to break the news to a three-year-old that he simply can't exist on Magic Bars and Chex Mix alone, especially not in lieu of the following morning's breakfast. It's not easy to be the bearer of such bad news. In fact, I found myself being howled at with indignation most loudly and disrepectfully, and at a distance of about three inches. This resulted in a small swat to the bottom and a three-minute timeout for both parent and child, which in turn resulted in many tears and much wailing.

Thankfully this kind of meltdown, while not unprecedented, is not the norm for us, so I found myself reflecting on whether the sweet roses of the candy were worth the thorns of the tantrums. Also with thanks I note that three minutes is the perfect amount of time for the tears to (mostly) dry and Mom to recover her temper and eat the remainder of her cereal in peace (discounting the faint wails coming from the bedroom).

Who Made God?

I know that we have to answer hard questions as parents, like "Where do babies come from?" and "Why do people die?"

I can't say I'm prepared for this, but I've come to grips with the fact that it is on the horizon. We all sign up for this when we decide to have kids. Whether dealing with these matters become a faith-building or faith-testing exercise, both, or neither is probably largely up to our own personalities and pre-existing levels of commitment and understanding.

I was, however, a little unprepared when tonight the subject of God came up with Will. I can't recall exactly how it started, but there was an initial statement that went something like, "God can't be our father; we can only have one Daddy." I tried to explain that while we all had our own "earthly" (try explaining the concept of "earthly" to a 3-year-old!) daddy, God was a Father to all of us because He made all of us. Logically, of course, the next question was, "Who made God?"

Woah. No one prepped me for this question. Did I miss some parenting review course that alluded to the fact that this would be posed early in my fourth year of parenting? (This means I'm a third-grader in parenting years. Aren't we getting a little deep for primary school?)


Mom: "Well, that's a very good question that a lot of people try to answer. But God was always there."

Will: "I think Heaven made God."

Mom: "No, Heaven didn't make God. God made Heaven."

Will: "I think Heaven made God."

Mom: "Hmm."

Yeah, that's pretty much how I left it. Isn't it a bit early to pick apart theology? At least he HAS some theology, right? And is thinking about these things? Or is that a good thing?

-Kathy

Clara Heaven

When we went to the beach last month, we went with our friends Doug, Shelly and Ava and THEIR friends the Butlers. We didn't know the Butlers before the trip, but we have so much trust in Doug and Shelly, we were willing to share a house with these strangers. As we figured, they are awesome folks. They have four preschoolers ranging in age from almost-5 down to... I don't remember... six months old maybe?

They're all sweet kids, but Clara Helen - their only girl, a few months older than Will - made quite an impression on our "nice red-headed boy". First of all, he promptly renamed her "Clara Heaven". Secondly, when he asked to share her crayons, she (being the well-trained second oldest of four) said "SHU-URE!" I'm not sure how to convey the intonation via blog, but if you smile really big and make sure the word has two nice Southern syllables, you've got the idea.

Now if Will asks me something at home and I say, "Sure," he corrects me: "No, say 'SHU-URE!'"

"Will, who says 'sure' like that?"

Little shy smile. "Clara Heaven."

I think the boy has a soft spot for sweet little Southern girls.

A Rare Joint Appearance

Yet Another Anecdote

I'm glad to hear some others out there appreciate Will's commentary. Here's another recent conversation:

Mom: This is the last book. (We have a big announcement about the last book each night to prepare Will for my upcoming departure from his bed.)

Will: I don't want that to be the last book. I'm going to find you another one. I want the one about Andy. (This is a book called Andy's Pirate Ship. It's a Spot-The-Difference book where you try to figure out what Andy's taken from each room. It's very difficult, even for grownups, but Will loves the story and ESPECIALLY that the little boy is named Andy.)

...[Much searching and disheveling of the already-chaotic room ensues]...

Will: But I can't find it. The trick-or-treaters came up to my room and took it away.

Mom: What???

Will [matter-of-factly]: On Halloween the trick-or-treaters came up to my room. They didn't have any books and they said let's take some books... they said let's take JUST A TINY BIT OF BOOKS from this nice red-headed boy.