Words

This week my bible study has been focusing on toxic thoughts, and specifically toxic words.  What are the causes of toxic thoughts?  Why is it easier to think toxic thoughts than to focus our minds on the truth?  How are toxic thoughts and words infecting my life right now?  How can we guard against toxic thoughts and words?  I've come to the conclusion that although I haven't been the receipt of any toxic words lately, I can think of several instances when I have been the giver over the last week.  (Insert cringe here.)  "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."  (Proverbs 12:18)  I've been thinking and praying a lot that my words would heal and build up rather than tear down.  What about you?  How have your words influenced others lately?

One reason I mention this is because right in front of me, all day every day, is a little person who is full to the brim with words.  Little B talks from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep (literally).  He talks about members of our family, where they are, things that we did with them, what color their cars are (I know, random), when he's going to see them again, books he likes, songs he likes ("Dink-a-Dink" Song and Itsy, Bitsy Spider are his current favorites).  Have I mentioned that he has started calling himself Mr. B?  As in, "Mr. B go upstairs now" instead of "I go upstairs now."  It is a miraculous joy to hear what is going on in his tiny head!  At the same time, it's also worrisome sometimes to hear what's going on in his head.  When I hear him shout, "Go away Little D!  Go away!" I wonder how to teach a two year old a nicer way to say, "Respect my personal space please."  Or when he tells, no, commands Little D to blow on his nuggets or eat his muffin, I have to tell him that he doesn't need to worry about how Little D is eating his food, and to just let him be.  What a bossy little kid!!  I guess this is part of the deal when you become a parent, to walk with your kids as they grow and teach them how to appropriately express themselves. 

Phew, this turned out much more serious than I thought.  Oh well.  If you made it this far, consider this a challenge to think about whether your words are beneficial or harmful to others, especially the words spoken to your spouse and your children.  And if you can think of a more polite way to say, "Go away!", that a two year old would understand, please let me know:)              

January blues

Hello friends.  I hope you'll forgive my absence.  I've been living in a sort of January blues cold-induced creative-blog-writing-killing haze the last couple weeks.  There haven't been any big projects to work on to kick me into gear each day.  It's been way too cold to go outside, and even inside is pretty chilly since my maternity wardrobe is fairly limited.  The boys and I have been going on a lot of play dates and spent a lot of time breaking in all of Little B's Christmas and birthday toys.  We'll have some big news next week when we find out the gender of Baby, so in the meantime, here's a couple snapshots of what we've been up to, including 3 snowfalls in the last week!

Trains are awesome!

This train set-up lasted us through 3 rainy days!

Removing snow chunks from Dad's car - "boom!"

Hubby T is like a kid in a candy store - hockey is back!!

Silly Mommy - you can't hide art supplies from me!

You woke me up from my nap and dragged me out into the cold for this?!

Walking through the woods in the snow is extraordinarily peaceful

Enjoying hot cocoa after playing in the snow - just like Biscuit and Curious George!

Little B's 2nd Birthday

Two years ago, Hubby T and I were hunkered down in a hospital room staring unceasingly at this little bundle of joy...

This weekend we celebrated his second birthday, and what a difference two years makes!

We celebrated this year's birthday in very similar fashion to last year: a birthday lunch with all his grandparents, an aunt, and two great-grandparents, along with presents, cake, and much overall admiring of this beautiful boy God blessed us all with.   The unexpected highlight last year was Baby B falling asleep in his high chair in the middle of lunch.  This year he managed to stay awake but decided to use his finger to put out one of his candles instead of blowing!  (No damage was done, thank goodness:)  Guess we'll need to spend some time teaching the concept of blowing out candles before his next birthday!! 

Starting to reach for the candle

 Many thanks to everyone who sent gifts, called, visited, and sent birthday wishes our way.  Little B is very lucky to have such a loving community of family and friends around him.  In fact, he loves you all so much, I think he's willing to share his birthday cake.  Or maybe this is a stop-don't-you-dare-come-near-my-cake face.  You decide:)

Chocolate icing anyone?

Little B Quotes of the Week

Little B: Nice to see you.  (Said while lying on the changing table.) 

Little B: Where's Baby?

Mommy: (turning body so he can see the bump) Where is the baby?

Little B: (pointing) Right dere.

Mommy: That's right.

Little B: (pause) I wuv Baby.

 Little B: I need muffin.

Mommy: We don't have any muffins right now.

Little B: (Nodding) At da moment.

Mommy: (Completely shocked) That's right, we don't have any muffins at the moment!

Little B, meet the Wii.  Wii, meet Little B.  He is shockingly good at bowling, already.

 As my younger sister will attest, I have been and unfortunately probably always will be, a rather bossy person.  I seem to have passed this trait onto my son, who let his true colors shine this week.  Poor Little D, at least he doesn't seem too annoyed...yet!

"Little D!  Little D!  Wake up wake up wake up Little D!" (Hollered in the car when we got home from errands to a dead asleep Little D.) 

"No snacks in da famy room Little D!" (Proclaimed while Little D walked around the family room with an unwrapped snack bar.)

"No sceaming Little D!" (Apparently Little B wanted a little peace and quiet when Little D wasn't feeling quite so peaceful.)

"No!  No Little D!  Go away!  Over dere!!" (Commanded when Little D got too close to a toy Little B didn't feel like sharing.)

Rascals:)

A few of my favorite things...

Although we're only six days into this new year, 2013 is turning out pretty good so far.  Instead of languishing in post-Christmas now-we-all-have-to-go-back-to-work my-house-looks-boring-without-Christmas-decorations I-miss-cookie-mania blues, I'm choosing to focus on some little things that have been making me happy.  Perhaps my list will inspire you to do the same...

My new family room: Once we took our Christmas tree down, it occurred to me that if I didn't re-center my couch I would have a huge (relatively speaking) new corner of my family room to utilize for Little B's toys.  So I had my parents bring up the bookshelf from my childhood room, tucked it into the corner and voila!  Now we have a neat little reading corner and a spot for some of Little B's numerous trucks and trains.  Organization makes me so happy.

"Mommy's candle": which is what Little B calls my new Kindle!  I waited what felt like a long time to get a tablet of any kind but it was the right time to get one and I am loving it!  I only have one puzzle game on it so far for Little B, which he mastered amazingly quickly.  And when he's not clambering to get his hands on it, I have my email, Facebook, blog reader, Glee Season 3, my book, NPR, and the weather all at my fingertips in an instant.  Totally awesome:)

My not new but improved kitchen: I got a lot of little things for my kitchen over the holidays that have made it an even better room than it was before.  There's a rack to contain my cookbooks, a colorful bulletin board to display Little B's artwork, new place mats, a new wall decoration, and a beautiful little butter dish that I've made part of my centerpiece just because I like to look at it:)

My new purse: You may roll your eyes at how ridiculous this is, but I've never claimed to be anything other than an extremly girly girl and this new overwhelmingly purple purse makes me very happy:)  Thanks again to the giver, you know who you are!

Maternity clothes: I'll spare you pictures, but I've passed the point of no return where none of my regular clothes fit except sweat pants, so I've fully embraced maternity clothes, new and old.  Hurray for feeling comfortable in clothes other than pajamas again!!

Art: Little B received a cornucopia of art supplies for Christmas and has been greatly enjoying getting to know his artistic side.  He knows that crayons are only for the white side of his easel and chalk is only for the green side (hopefully that concept will stick!)  I was a bit scared to venture into paints, but my mother-in-law suggested I wait until it's warmer then take him outside to paint and hose everything down when we're done...she's a genius.

Tonight: Tonight is the night I have been waiting for for approximately 10 months - the premiere of Season 3 of Downton Abbey!  Hubby T has a wonderful fire roaring and by 8:59 this bowl will be full of popcorn and the mug full of tea.  And yes, I will be exhausted tomorrow morning by staying up until 11 to watch a silly TV show.  But yes, it will be worth it:)

Hope your week is filled with happiness inspiring little things too!!