Mike and Drew

Well there's a couple of war heroes for you.

The guy on the left is actually Mike! Who knew? He prefers to wear a disguise while in the desert.

The handsome guy is my cousin Drew.

They met up in an undisclosed location in the Middle East. Oh no,... I shouldn't have said that on my blog, now people will know we have soldiers in the Middle East.

Mike happened by the location where Drew is and they arranged a picture on the plane.

Pretty cool.

Drew and Mike, thanks for what you do. We're all proud of you, don't think your work and sacrifice goes unnoticed. We miss you and will be excited to have you back home again!

Dear Hannah's Tiffany,

Congrats on the pregnancy! I hope you have lots of boys --but not all at once.
Friend me on facebook and we'll talk about what brands of baby gear you should look for.

Kids Dressing Themselves #5

At first glance it's not that odd. This is Texas. People wear Cowboys jerseys.

But the fact that Ty picked it out is unusual. He cares nothing about fashion and very rarely has an opinion on his attire. He brought it to me and asked if I'd take it off the hanger. (That's your boy, Mike.)

Jack's shoes complete the outfit.

A new bed

Seemed like a good idea.

Finally using the trundle bed thus, getting the big crib out of the tiny room.

Especially considering the boys new favorite use for the baby bed:

Storage.

So today, Feb. 22, 2010, Ty moved into a big boy bed.

It was taking up a lot of the room and we have an extra twin mattress anyway.

The second time I woke up this morning I woke up irritated. Second time? Yes, I'm getting up at 5:30 (it was 5:00 but I just couldn't hack that) to spend time with God before the day gets crazy. This morning, Ty woke up crying at 6:15 and so I went and got him out of bed and we went and hugged in my bed. Even though I'd already had a half a cup of coffee, I still went right back to sleep. I don't know if Ty slept or not. All I know is from 6:20-6:50 he was pulling my hair, sticking his finger up my nose and in my ear, complaining about not wanting any covers and insisting that his cheek was next to mine (otherwise he would tell me that I wasn't holding him).

So you can see why this time when I woke up, I was irritated.

Sorry, didn't mean to go into all that.

I go into the boys cramped room (I know, the room only looks small because I'm getting so big.) and decide the crib has got to go.

Most people at 5 1/2 months pregnant are not taking down cribs. I understand that, but don't argue with a pregnant woman. Just let me be.

I'm thinking: the baby won't be born till June: 4 months
The baby will be in our room till he is at least three months old: 3 months

I don't know where he will live after that : 1 month deciding

So it is going to be at least 8 months before I need that big crib --and I'm pretty positive it won't go in the same room with Jack and Ty.

So it came down.

I was hoping that the fung shway would help nap time go smoother.

Words like: tranquility, peace, calm and serenity were floating around in my head. They never made it into reality.

As you can imagine with little boys (and Hannah) a newly arranged room initiated excitement.

Ty did somersaults. Jack's eyes twinkled.

Warnings flowed out of my mouth: "Don't jump on the bed." "Don't run around the room." "Stop crawling on your brother." "Don't get all of the books out at a time."

Nap time came. Even with ample direction, examples and expectations laid out, the guys couldn't do it.

After 30 minutes of "issues" and after a discipline session, I nevertheless hear an angry voice coming from their room. I go and check on them --for the last time.

Here is the conversation between Ty and Me:

Me: Why are you standing up on your bed about to hit Jack?

Ty: Because. (looks away and pauses)

Ty: Because.... I need to... go lay down and go to sleep.

Me: (nodding) That's right.

It's backwards

Ali: after

Becca: before

(June '09)

Becca: after

(Feb. '10)

I thought words were not needed. I will give an explanation though. A few days ago I put on my facebook status that I was "Letting myself go."

I was expecting maybe an internal chuckle and an eye roll out of people. --That is usually the goal of my humor.

What I got?

Criticism of my low self-esteem.

Compliments telling me how awesome I look.

People being annoyed.

So here.

Here all of you "Becca you look awesome" people.

Take a look at these.

Me at the end of last deployment at 118 pounds (June 09) and me at my current weight 140.

Now I don't want any more of you to try to make me feel bad about feeling bad about myself --which I wasn't really doing, I understand the science behind carrying a baby.

But seriously, it is... sad. At least what it does to your body. And to prove my point you have to see these two pictures.

Exactly

The more I think about Ty's answer to "Who took you potty at church?" The more I decide he is correct. His answer? Jesus!

He's exactly right. How much more like Jesus can you be then loving the littlest of children.

--the ones that don't go home and tell their Mom and Dad how much they love their teacher
--the ones that either do gross things in their diaper or are potty training and have to have their rear wiped
--the ones that don't cuddle
--the two year olds.

I agree. Someone who was acting like Jesus took Ty potty.

Ty saw it.

God saw it.

Thank you nursery workers for being Jesus to my kids week in and week out.

Things I never thought I'd hear myself say

"Please don't put cars down my shirt."

Who've they got working up there?

Me:
"Ty, did you go potty at church?"
(I immediately decide to ask a more specific question to try to get a better answer.)

"Ty, who took you potty at church?"
Ty looks up with bright eyes.

Ty:
"Jesus!"

The man your man could smell like

Mike, I asked Hannah if there was a way to edit the video and stick your head on this guy. She said she doesn't know how to do that. I'm sure you are glad she doesn't know how to do it ;-)

Apparently this was a super bowl commercial. I don't know. I tried to watch the super bowl, but I have two young children. Therefore I saw about 1/3 of the game.

Snoodle, since we couldn't get Mike's face on here, then I'd like to dedicate this video to you.

Playing in the snow

I just love having a live-in photographer

This is how it starts

Becca (from the other room): "Hey Hannah, you know how people make greenhouses?"

Hannah: "Oh gosh."

He loves me.

Mike loves me.

He knows me.

He sent me a card from the desert or dessert, whichever one means the faraway place with lots of sand in it. I've never known how to spell it. I've tried to learn several times but have not been successful enough to be able to retain it through 3+ pregnancies.

Anyway.

He asks me on the phone, "Do you want me to order you some roses for Valentine's day?"

translation:

(I'm pretty sure she would rather use the money on something else, but I'm not about to be the lame guy who doesn't acknowledge [to his spectacular and deserving wife] that it's Valentine's day.)

Me: "Nope, can we use the money to go on a date when you get back?"

Mike's thoughts: "I knew she would want to go out with me instead. She digs me."

Me: "Alright, well lets say we have $80 in the budget for a special date." He probably would only have spent $40 on the flowers, but in time with the accrued interest we'll call it $80.

New topic.

See how sweet he is?

Then the other day I started looking at this super nice ridiculous priced espresso maker on craigslist. I told Mike about it, hoping he'd bring me back down to reality and tell me it was probably something that wasn't necessary. I ask him if he thinks I'm crazy for considering this purchase. His answer?

"No, I don't think you are crazy. It sounds like an ok idea. You should think about getting it."

Sweet guy.

I email the lady.

She never responds back. I'm sort of glad and sort of disappointed. I tell Mike that she didn't email me back and now the post is expired. He tells me he is going to buy me a new one --which happens to be five times the "gently used" price. I talk him out of it. I told him I would be so embarrassed if my friends ever knew how much that thing cost. He reluctantly backs down.

I'm so blessed by how much he loves me and by how compassionate he is toward me. He has never been anything but supportive when I consider spending money on myself. He even requests it during deployments.

I'm looking up compassionate cause I'm curious if I'm using the word correctly. Turns out, I sort of am.

Webster says:
sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.
I don't think I'm ever really in distress. If you change that word to "discomfort" then it fits.

He's pretty much the best husband ever.

I miss him.

One month down, three to go.

Uninvolved? I think not.

It's snowing here. BIG flakes. More like clusters of big flakes. I got up at 5:30 and the ground was wet from a little rain, now it is covered. I just cleaned of 1.5 inches of snow off of the van so Hannah could see where she was going. She couldn't believe that Abilene ISD wasn't shutting down. "In Greenville we would not be going out in this!" Welcome to west Texas. I think this is the fourth time this season that snow has covered the ground. (I may be wrong, I am pregnant).

She and the boys just took off for MDO. I wanted to go. I just couldn't send them out in the blizzard without me.

But it didn't make since for me to deliver them as I need her to drive the boys home, I have another obligation. And the fact that I'm heading up there around 10:45 to deliver some sandwiches that I didn't make already cause we didn't have enough bread. So I'm sitting here at the computer by myself. I was thinking I'd go up to MDO and help out, you know, like a disaster relief effort. I could wipe runny noses, unzip jackets, wipe the melted snow (water) off the floor to prevent further injuries due to falling. You know those moms that work all the time at their kids schools? PTO, Book club, Room moms, paper copiers? I'll probably turn into one of them. My title will be the "tag-along mom." At least it's catchy. My poor sons will roll their big blue/brown eyes, take a deep breath and give themselves a pep talk: "Be cool, don't look right at her and maybe my friends won't notice."

I will wonder why they never talk to me at school. Maybe I can find some cool young college girls that will keep me dressing in stylish, momish clothes so my kids at least won't be embarrassed by my attire.

But whatever, they can deal. Life is tough.

I'm not going to sit here all day and watch the snow fall.

Dog lovers

Hannah:

"Mamie! I know you are there, I can smell you!

Where are you?"

Ty in the... trash?

Does the setting look familiar to anyone?



Also, for those of you who are counting. We've had tons of pictures of Ty up lately and few of Jack. It's because Ty smiles when you get out a camera. Jack frowns. I love them both the same.

Who's the box from!

In the middle of me reading aloud Heather's post about having mono, the dogs bark.

The dogs bark loudly.

It was an "INTRUDER!!!!!" bark.

I go downstairs assuming the mailman had gotten too close to the house.

After opening the door I find a box sitting on the step.

It's addressed to me! And I haven't ordered anything in a while so that means the contents are a surprise!

I head back upstairs with the box in tow.

Me:
"I got a box!"

Hannah:
"What! Another box!!! Who’s it from?!"

Me:
"It’s from Mike’s parents!"

Hannah:
"Oh."

I was nearing the end of this article so I decide to read the last paragraph before opening it.

I continue reading.

10 seconds later.

Hannah:
"Who’s the box from!"

Me:
"Mike’s parents."

Hannah:
"Oh... right."

Dear Bryce

Today Mike, my husband, mentioned to me how glad he was that Hannah (your former coworker) was under his employment. I must say, our gain is definitely your loss. I hope the ARC will be able to keep it's high standards of exceptional public relations now that Hannah is gone. Who knows, they may improve, with certain places like... FedEx/Kinko's....

Just today Hannah mentioned how she missed being at the expo. She misses y'all.

So what has she been up to here in Abilene?

Well...

We've decorated a birthday cake, learned how to poach an egg, built a planter box and are working on the bookshelf. She is using lots of lotion as she adjusts to this dry air.

Today she made some delicious toast and coffee for me, then she went and fiddled around on the computer. Her job hasn't changed that much. Right now she is playing Tetras in the other room. She got kind of mad cause I beat her score, so now she won't put it down till she beats mine. It really surprised me that she did so poorly, cause she says you and her played all the time while "working" at the ARC. --Just kidding Sherry. She says she played it in college during photoshop class because she already knew everything they were teaching.

She is really smart! I mean, she is educating me on things like photo shop, espresso makers, photography and moisturizing. Notice the vast improvement on the photography on my blog? Yes, much better than the camera on the iPhone.

I think this will be a really good experience for me. Sorry you don't get to see her happy face every day, but time to time I'll put a picture of her up here for you guys to see.

Tell the gang "hi" for her.

Sincerely,
Becca

Bookshelf progress

I can't believe it's turning out so good. A little every day and it's coming along nicely. It will be done in another week or so of nap times.

What I like about you!

John and Donna Kelso

I just got a package in the mail.

The contents?

* Gevalia Pumpkin Spice Coffee--one bag of decaf, one bag of regular
* A HUGE coffee mug (better brew the decaf)
* Two recipe cards--one for pumpkin bread, the other for Gevalia Whipped Cream
* A sweet note

Why?

Cause this is what John and Donna do.

But in order to "do," they first figure out how to love you. They are always interested in you. They look you in they eye and ask questions about your life, and they pay attention! They remember because they care.

Here is part of an email I received from Donna a few weeks ago :
...I also wanted to get your current "temporary" address. I've got something to send you!! Tell Mike "Hi," hope school is going well for him.

See how she seeks me out?

As I'm typing this, I was just interrupted by a chat pop up on facebook. Who was it? Uncle John. He was wanting some info about something I can't make public. Yes, another nice thing he is working on for someone... Here's what else he says:

"I saw a book at Lowe's last month I want to get for you."

Typical.

Uncle John was always after me to get him a schedule to whatever sport I was currently playing. He watched Caroline play tennis in high school. Hannah play soccer, Grant play soccer, then of course with his own children there was football, cross country, and basketball.

I'm trying hard to keep this post a manageable length. So I'll quit talking and tell you what others say about John and Donna.

Grant- [Uncle John] came to about every one of my soccer games all 4 years.

Emily- Donna mailed Claire and Ava princess paper dolls last summer. They play with them often! Donna also plays and talks with our girls a lot when she comes to visit our house. She really makes them feel special!

John and Donna sent us a Starbucks gift card as a thank you for having a graduation party for Grace. I think of them fondly and wish that we got to see them more often.

Caroline- Donna took Grace, Hannah, Caroline and Christa on shopping dates to the Frisco Mall and bought each of us a piece of cheesecake. Donna always got the Godiva dark chocolate cheesecake.

Stan- About two weeks ago I emailed Uncle John to ask about my knee hurting while I run and he wrote me back a long detailed message with that info and how to prevent it. Last week I got a letter from him that had 4 different articles in it about the knee condition. It really meant a lot that he went out of his way to find the articles, find my address and mail them all to me.

Hannah- Uncle John attended my college graduation in Denton. Uncle John took me and Grace up to Chicago to try out for the Amazing Race. The cheesecake from our mall trips with Donna was always delicious.

I've been so blessed to see and be loved by these two examples. It reminds me of how God loves --always there ready to pour blessing on us.

I'll stop here for times sake, but BELIEVE me if I wanted I could have a 20 page report full of testimonies of how they bless people. I'll end with one more quote...

"I'm pretty sure the list could go on and on with them." -Hannah

The coffee was delicious. Come over and I'll share.

They were delicious!

He likes muffins.

Tumble Books

Anyone ever heard of Tumble books?

It's a website that reads books to your kids.

Yet another job you moms can outsource.

Now just hire a cleaning lady and your only job will be replicating Paula Dean's recipes from the Food Network.

Just kidding.

When can it be beneficial to sit your kids in front of a computer to have stories read to them?

Well, tonight for example.

I started the bedtime routine at 6:30, read them a couple books on the couch and had extra time to kill. So, we move to my bed, get out the laptop and pick out 3-4 more stories.

I don't condone extra screen time, but I am a fan of saving your voice while still getting to cuddle with the kids.

Tumble books usually require a subscription of some sort. The Monroe Co. library has already taken care of that and by logging on to their website you can access Tumble Books without any fees.

When you arrive at their page, click on this:

I always go to "Story Books." I don't even know if I've explored the other options.

The narrator reads the books to your child --highlighting the phrases as it goes along, while showing illustrations direct from the book.

It's pretty cool.

Enjoy.

If my link doesn't work (as usual with blogspot) then just go here:

http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/childrens/index.html

What an honor!

While getting ready for the day yesterday, we found ourselves all in the upstairs bathroom.

The upstairs bathroom (not the master) is where the boys bathe and Hannah now uses as her bathroom.

We never congregate there, except for this once.

Jack, Ty and I ended up in there the same time as Hannah was doing her hair.

Want to know her response to all of us intruding on her precious alone time?


"Oh, Good! Has my bathroom become the party bathroom? :-) :-)"

What?

Doesn't the vast majority of the American population cross a prospective new home off the list if there aren't double sinks in the master bath?

And what sells a house?

The kitchen and the.... spacious updated bathroom(s).

Where do moms of young children lock themselves in when they want a little peace and quiet?

What doors in the house ALWAYS have privacy locks on them?

Yes, the bathroom.

But this mindset of "personal space" or "alone time" or "privacy" has not been ingrained in this middle child of eight.

It was like you had just brought a party to her on a Friday night.

"YOU MEAN!!!!! We all get to cram in the smallest room in the house and get ready together?? Hurray!!!"

That's Hannah for ya.

And yes, as you would guess, she is quite pleasant to be around.