My Ebenezer

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I’m going to start by saying that I will definitely not be winning the mother of the year award for some of my responses:

Carter: Do you know baby Moses?
Me: Yes
Carter: Baby Moses died on the cross
Me: No, remember it was Jesus who died on the cross….and was he a baby when that happened?
Carter: No, he a biiiiiiig man…like daddy
Me: yes. Do you remember why Jesus died on the cross?
Carter: yes
Me: why?
silence.
Me: So we could go to …………
Carter: FLORIDA!!!!!

During “rest time”
Me: Carter, are you obeying mommy?
Carter: No
Me: What are you supposed to be doing?
Carter: Stay in bed
Me: And do you know why? (wanting him to answer because I need to obey mommy)
Carter: Da Lawd said “STAY IN BED!”
Me: who said what?
Carter: DA LAWD!

In the bathtub tonight…..i was REALLY tired people. REALLY TIRED. And I must first explain that my nephew calls his testicals peanuts. So that’s kinda what I was thinking about.

As Gracey pinches Carter’s wee wee (guess they shouldn’t be bathing together much longer….)
Carter: NOOOOO! I need PRIVACY, sissy!
Gracey: noooooooo Graceym maahhh
Carter: Mommy, is this my shell for my wee wee? (pointing to his uncirc’ed wee wee)
Me: yes. It’s time to wash your hair now.
Carter: And is this my real wee wee? (figure it out)
Me: yes. okay, let’s lean back and get your hair all wet….(can you tell I was in a hurry?)
Carter: What are these? (pointing to his testicals)
Me: (without thinking) Those are your nuts, now please lay back so we can wash your hair.
Carter: (giggling) My NUTS?
Me: What? Oh, no. Peanuts. They’re called PEAnuts.
Carter: No, mommy. These are my nuts. My BIIIIIIIIG nuts.

Awwww, nuts.

Gracey: wah wah
Me: we’ll be home soon, Gracey
Gracey: WAH WAH, momma!
Me: when we get home I’ll get your wah wah
Gracey: Tank you momma
Me: you’re welcome, princess

a total of thirty seconds goes by

Gracey: wah wah
Me: we’ll be home soon, Gracey
Gracey: WAH WAH, momma!
Me: when we get home I’ll get your wah wah
Gracey: Tank you momma
Me: you’re welcome, princess

In Academy the other day…

Gracey: Tweeet Tweeet Tweeet Tweeet!!!!!
Me: yes, Gracey, a bird says tweet tweet.
Princees, pointing: TWEET TWEET! TWEET TWEET!
Me: oh. yes, there is a tweet tweet over there. What does a bird say, Gracey?
Gracey: neee oowwww

I give up.

For those of you keeping up with the poop, I cleaned poop off of the floor today for the first time in a really long time. sigh.

Well, we went to Target today and bought 3 big bins to pack all our stuff for the beach. Since we’ll be traveling in daddyo’s truck, we figured that would be easier than suitcases.

I’ve already filled two of them and haven’t put any clothes in except for bathing suits. But we aren’t planning to take many clothes anyway – who needs clothes at the beach? :O

By the way, please pray for a special friend of mine who is today at 7:30am going in for the first major step in an IVF treatment. For those of you who are not from the land of the infertile, she and her husband are trying invitro fertilization. I don’t even know if I spelled that right. Geez, how things change. Anyway, just pray, will ya?

Also, LindaL, how the heck are you? I can’t find your email address anywhere.

Yes, I’m alive and well in the San Francisco Bay area. I’ve been here two nights and I fly home tomorrow, hopefully. The weather is pretty nasty at home right now so I’m hoping I won’t have a problem getting back.

Meantime, stupid hurricaine Dean is attempting to ruin my vacation. Expected landfall is WEd evening and we leave Friday for vacation. Is it wrong to pray it goes to Mexico or just far enough west of us to not interrupt my travel plans?

I’ve really enjoyed my time here but it is the same as the last time I came. First two nights are glorious but by the third night I am really missing my babies and ready to get home. The center of my chest has a little ache in it.

Last night.

7pm. Carter is tucked in for the night, or so we thought.

8:30pm Carter is crying and fussing quite a bit so we go in there and comfort him, talk about his “scawy dweam” and leave him to go back to sleep.

8:45pm Carter is screaming and crying again so I lay down with him and he just can’t get comfortable. Finally seems to settle so I leave again.

9pm Carter is using his blood-curtling scream voice and it finally dawns on me to ask if anything hurts. He says his ear hurts so we give him a double dose of Benadryl and some ibuprofen and ear drops. He dozes off again.

10pm Carter is screaming again. Daddyo sets up the trundle bed and goes to sleep in there with him, he finally settles back down.

10:30, I hear Carter crying again but he settles back down pretty quick.

11:30pm and now daddyo is getting frustrated with the crying and screaming and is fussing at Carter to lay down and be quiet. I’m laying in bed fuming because Carter is hurting and obviously fussing at him isn’t going to make him feel any better.

12am, Carter is fussing again and screaming and daddyo is fussing and I can’t take it anymore. I go get Carter and take him into the den and we snuggle into the big rocking chair and he still can’t settle down so I turn a movie on and he starts watching and forgets about his ear.

12:30am, Carter starts to doze off again but turns his head on the achy ear and screams. I take him back to daddyo and dig around to find matching pajamas. (why it was important to me for him to have cute and matching pjs in the middle of the night I have no idea.)

1am, I load Carter in the van and take him to the ER. I figure if we’re going to be up all night anyway, we may as well be in the ER so we can go ahead and start on an antibiotic.

1:45am, wonderful ER doctor looks at Carter’s ears and confirms infection but says it really doesn’t look that terrible. Gives pain meds and antibiotics. Nurse comes in and gives Carter the meds and tells him beforehand that it doesn’t taste very good and asks if he can be tough and drink it anyway. Carter downs the medicine like it is liquid sugar and thoroughly impresses the nurse. She gives him a lolly pop and tells him he’s as tough as Spiderman and he grins from ear to ear.

2:15am we drop the prescriptions off at pharmacy and run back to the house because I forgot my wallet.

2:45am meds are ready and I give Carter the first dose and we drive for about 20 minutes, hoping that he’ll fall asleep as the pain meds start to kick in.

3:00am I call the pharmacist and ask her to double check the dosage because it seems way too much. She confirms it isn’t right and calls back with the right amount a few minutes later.

3:15am I carry an awake Carter to bed and tuck him in.

3:30am I crash.

7am Carter starts to wake up and daddyo goes in there as Carter is shouting, “IT’S WAKE UP TIME! LOOK AT THE CLOCK! LOOK! IT’S AT THE RED SPOT ITS TIME TO WAKE UP!” (i made a clock for his room so he can tell when it is okay to get out of bed in the morning)

9am I get out of bed and send daddyo and Gracey off to church.

I count the minutes until nap time.

Thank you God for wonderful ER doctors and nurses and for wonderful medicine.

They just grow so darn fast. It doesn’t seem right. We finally got around to taking Gracey’s 18 month pictures yesterday – only one of each of them but they turned out really cute.

and the Carter:

Are they cute or what?

Wow. I expected to have “the talk” when my kids got older but I never expected to be on the receiving end of “the talk” much sooner.

That’s exactly where daddyo and I found ourselves this morning after Carter’s Sunday School class. Only “the talk” wasn’t the one you might have initially thought of. Daddyo was stopping to pick up Carter and I was walking away to go get Gracey when I noticed Carter’s teacher stepped out side and started to talk to Daddyo. Uh-Oh. I walked back over and tried to quiet the mama bear in me and listen objectively to what he had to say.

I know this may come as a shock to you but Carter has a very difficult time sitting still and quiet for storytime. *GASP! He likes to get up out of his seat and play and disrupt the whole “congregation” in children’s church. Let’s see, I think the words used were, “Carter can be a little rambunctious and we just wanted to make you aware…..and we’re going to try……..and need you to reinforce at home………” Then the lady who tells the stories in children’s church stepped out and added her two cents about Carter and offered up a couple of solutions. I tried not to laugh because I honestly don’t think having kindergarden girls sit on either side of him is going to make one bit of difference. If anything, I think it will egg him on and he’ll have those girls in stitches before the story is over. But hey, if they’re willing to try it – I say good for them, maybe it will surprise me and work afterall. She did tell me to remind Carter that story time is for sititng and listening and singing time is for singing….. DANG, you mean I shouldn’t be telling him to run around and act a fool during children’s church?

I know. She’s only doing her job and they were both very kind in their approach. There isn’t a way they could have said what needed to be said without stirring the mama bear in me. I mean, Carter is perfect. Sure, he’s got a LOT of enthusiasm for life but he’s so adorable and so smart that his enthusiasm is contagious, not annoying. UGH. My first instinct is to quit my adult SS class and start working in Carter’s class so I can manage his behavior but that really wouldn’t solve anything. I mean, I can’t go to every class with him for the rest of his life. I’d much rather him learn this lesson now than when he’s in first grade.

And then I wonder if he is even capable of sitting still for ten minutes and listening to a story. But he can sit longer than that and watch television. Or play with the same toy for that long. So I think he is capable, I think he’s just smart enough to know that his teachers aren’t going to do much of anything except make him sit back down. I just don’t know. I offered to go in and sit in the back and when he starts to be disruptive to take him out of children’s worship myself. But she wants to try the girls and the kindergarden thing first. She did also say that he may just need to go back to the nursery for 6 more months or so but that isn’t sitting well with me. I want to help him learn how to behave appropriately in that situation, not just pass him on to someone else where he won’t be expected to behave.

The only two ideas I have for handling this are A) Find a “Mable”. Get someone I know and trust but not someone I hang out with regularly to watch Carter during our Sunday School hour. Someone who will be mean and nasty. Not really nasty, but someone who will not laugh at him or let him have any fun at all. Not make him cry or anything, but definitely not play with him. Then, his options are to behave in children’s church or sit with “Mable” because Mommy and Daddy are going to go to Sunday School. B) Go to his service and sit in the back where he can’t see us and when he becomes disruptive take him out and spank him.

Ugh. I am not even sure either of those will work. He can’t continue to disrupt everyone. I think today must have been especially bad because the teacher said that there were a few “rambunctious” kids this morning and that Carter kind of fed off of them. I know Carter is a leader – I can see it already in his play time. He’s a little instigator and I can only imagine that if there are a few other kids who are borderline “rambunctious” (i think that’s a nice way of saying OUT OF CONTROL) that he will have them going in no time.

My sweet little Carter. I’m afraid you are getting close to being kicked out of children’s church. But don’t worry, mommy will always love you and will always think you are absolutely perfect. If you do get booted out, mommy will wrap the teacher’s house with toilet paper.

Dear Gracey, please don’t be “rambunctious” in Sunday School.

Make sure you are sitting down before you read any further.

I mean it. Sit down. Some of you who know me IRL should probably even lay down before you hear the following news.

I’ve been doing really well with my diet so I decided to take it to the next level.

Exercise. I know. It’s a nasty word but I have to say it. I joined a gym. *GASP!

I’m going this morning for my first workout in I don’t know, 7 years? I’m a little nervous. Someone is supposed to work with me for a little while this morning to show me which machines I should use and for how long. There’s a room off to the side where the kids can play and there is a babysitter in there with them. What I like about this place is that on every cardio machine there is a tv and you can put the channel on the kids’ room so you can keep an eye on the kids while you work out. There is also one monitor in the middle so you can watch while you do other stuff, too.

I’m hoping that knowing the kids can play while I workout will be motivation enough to get me there several times a week. It’s a break for me and they’ll have fun, too.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

EDITED to add:
The guy showing me what to do and how to do it was really nice. The kids did a great job and were the only ones in there at the time. I can’t wait to go back tomorrow.

but when I wake up tomorrow i may feel differently.

Why do I care so much about what Gracey’ napmat looks like for school? I went to FOUR fabric stores and three boutiques before I found fabric that I liked. I decided to make it myself because the ones at the boutiques were so expensive – four hours later I’m not so sure that was the best idea. Though really I only worked on it for 3 hours – one of those hours was spent trying to figure out how to rethread the stinkin’ bobbin. Anyway…..

I’m not finished yet but all I have left is the velcro for closing it and the little pillow. Oh, and one more handle. Oh, and the carrying strap if I decide to make one. It’s 1:30am – who wants to bet that Carter will be up at 5:30 instead of his usual 7 since I’m up so late?

-13

what to do with those left over noodles you don’t use in your spaghetti? Tonight, our left over noodles were fettucine and Carter had a blast with them. After dinner, I put the leftover noodles in a big bowl and put just a touch of oil in with them so they wouldn’t be sticky. He had fun putting his hands in them and playing. Then I thought it would be fun to add some color so I gave him a box of jello mix and he poured it in and stirred it all up with his hands. Then he wanted me to taste it. Our rule at dinner is that he has to taste everything but doesn’t have to eat it if he doesn’t like it. I had to follow my own rule. And I spit it out just like he normally does. Before it was all over he added some of his milk and then we added sprinkles to the whole concoction. I finally noticed he kept giving his sister noodles and she seemed to think they were quite tastey. It was one big sticky mess but the kids had a ball. And I got the dishes done.

When I read stories like this it makes me want to fight to make hanging legal again.

"Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer (Rock of Help), saying, This marks the place where GOD helped us."

1 Samuel 7:12 The Message

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