Life as a Lewis

Rory woke up perky and feeling 100% yesterday, but Camden and I both have sore throats. I'm hoping it doesn't last long! I've been reading Parenting With Love and Logic the last several days. The whole premise of the book is teaching your children that there are consequences for their actions by using empathy instead of frustration and anger with them, but by immediately doling out the consequences and no second chances. They talk about finding a key phrase such as "uh-oh, it's so sad that you chose to disobey. It seems as if you need some quiet time in your room." Or things like "feel free to keep all the toys you pick up" (and you quietly gather up the ones they don't and they can earn them back with chores). Well, I tried it yesterday and found that it is very difficult to change the habit of just getting onto them and nagging them! Rory did very quickly pick up on that key phrase and I heard her around the house singing to herself, "uh-...

Our weekend was fairly uneventful; busy enough to be fun, but quiet enough to be relaxing. We had family movie night Friday night and watched Nim's Island (which was really cute). Camden was enthralled as usual when the TV is on, and Rory is learning how to ask a lot of questions. We heard "what dat guy doing" and "why she crying" and "who is dat?" all night. Watching TV with her is starting to be alot of work! Unfortunately, Rory's got a little cold and we ended up staying from church yesterday. She has been quite cranky and most definitely a mama's girl the last several days. Well, she's always a mama's girl, but especially so when she doesn't feel well. I thought she was doing better, but she started running a fever yesterday afternoon and then coughed her way through the night. Hopefully, she'll be on the mend today. A few random things from last week/weekend: "Have you ever had a ladybug poop on your Bible, daddy?...

Rory likes to pretend she's playing the Wii. She always gets the same little box of pretend food to use as her controller. In this video, she's showing me how to play. I particularly like how she keeps telling to me look at her - clearly, something she hears alot. :)

This is one of those weeks where I'm struggling to find blogging material (not to mention my insomnia is back in full force and I'm too tired to form coherent sentences) so I'll just leave you with the pages I've scrapped this week (apparently, I've felt creative since there are so many!). Dani Mogstad: Pop Goes the World Dani Mogstad/Libby Weifenbach: That's How We Roll (available tomorrow at SSD ) Credits: here Lauren Grier: Rock On Chicks Rule (available tomorrow at SSD ) Lauren Grier: Rock On Bad Boys (available tomorrow at SSD )

You Are Twitter You are energetic to the point of being hyperactive. You are the ultimate multitasker. You don't have much of an attention span for anything. You like things short and sweet. You can't help but let everyone know what you're doing, even if it's just what you're having for dinner. You are big on sharing what's going on in your life. If anything, you share too much! Are You Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter? You Are Chocolate You are dramatic, charming, and downright addicting. You have a strong personality, and and people are drawn to your fabulousness. You are stimulating and exciting. It's hard to get tired of you. You are incredibly likable and popular. You live a glorious life. Are You Chocolate or Vanilla?

Just a few silly clips of the kiddos. Rory is copying the last pose of a singer on American Idol. They were a tad wound up right before bedtime. We're beginning our first full day of Rory wearing big girl underwear (cause I'm sure you were dying to know that). I'm not complaining because this has been very easy so far, but the child either has a bladder of steel and holds it for 6 hours OR she goes every 10 minutes all day. We may never be able to leave the house again. On that note, I'm off to make scrambled eggs for breakfast. Enjoy your Thursday!

We had so much fun at the zoo yesterday. The weather was perfect, and the kids loved it. I think Camden enjoyed being with the other kids as much as he liked seeing the animals. One of the mothers brought along two friends with her: the girl is 9 and the boy is 13. They were the most responsible, well-mannered, helpful, sweet kids I have ever seen in my life. It was amazing. The 13 year old boy helped corral the babies, was a good friend to the bigger boys and was just incredible. As I was telling Brian about it last night, I told him that the mothers were all asking where we could get one just like him, and Camden piped up and said, "Good news, mommy. You've got one when I grow up." The whole group: two almost 2-year olds, a 2 year old, a 5 year old, a 6 year old, a 9 year old and a 13 year old. We are quite the entourage! Caden and Rory (the little boy who was with her in Korea) Enjoying her corn dog We made it home yesterday afternoon just in time to crash for a little...

The kids both woke up in rare form yesterday morning (and early as well). We were all showered, had breakfast, had taken a walk, and were playing outside by 9:00! I wish I could say there were good moods all around, but the early morning combined with the late night before and no nap on Sunday made for cranky kids (and a tired mommy) by lunchtime. Rory cracked me up yesterday as she walked around the house talking about Mary Moose (a.k.a. Mary Ruth - a lady from our church who stays in the nursery with her and happened to be over at church yesterday). Rory, by the way, has not had a wet diaper since Sunday morning. Clearly, something has clicked in her little brain. We're headed to the zoo today with the little boy who was in the same foster home as Rory in Korea. We haven't seen him for a year so I'm sure he has grown alot! He also has a 6 year old brother, which should be fun for Camden. Tonight we're eating at Logan's (Camden's choice) to celebrate his 5 year...

Somehow, five years have passed since we went from a family of 2 to a family of 3. Let's take a walk down memory lane. Our first peek at Camden (ignore the bad scrapping - clearly, they're from my early days.) I remember so clearly standing in that airport thinking that after all the hurdles we went through to be parents, someone was actually going to walk through those gates and just hand me my baby? Didn't seem possible. His escort was so sweet. I'll never forget the tears in his eyes when he kissed Camden's head before leaving. Now that we've traveled to KOrea with Rory, I realize we weren't nearly grateful enough to this man who took care of an 8-month old on a 24 hour trip. Our first nap together - he was so cheerful, and then just dropped off to sleep. A few weeks after he arrived - I love those little fat cheeks so much. They didn't last long - he grew up so fast! Despite a few sleep issues in the beginning (which thankfully only last a couple ...

I hope that we never have serious medical issues with Rory because I'm not sure she'd survive the doctor's appointments. The child goes into serious panic mode as soon as a nurse or doctor enters the examining room. Our visit yesterday was not easy. I feel so bad for her because she is so upset - I'm talking screaming so hard that she is choking and almost throwing up, and she would only get louder every time the nurse or doctor opened their mouths to speak. Not fun for anyone involved. The good news is that she's perfectly fine and growing. She now weighs 23 lbs, 14 oz (7th percentile) and is 34 inches tall (19th percentile). She had to have a TB skin test so we go back tomorrow to have it checked and experience the fun all over again. I'm guessing the traumatic visit was the cause of her screaming at naptime and then sleeping less than an hour. She woke up crying and was very clingy the rest of the day. I'm tackling closets today in an effort to become a l...

I'm running late so I don't really have time to post this morning, but two funny things happened and I couldn't resist. First, I went to get Rory up this morning and she was jumping up and down in her bed saying, "I see Gram today, I see Gram today." Normally, she is VERY slow to wake up and quite cranky, but not this morning! Second, we're headed to the doctor this morning for Rory's physical. At breakfast, Camden prayed, "And please help Dr. Heil to figure out why Rory isn't listening very well." He was serious as he could be. Apparently, our pediatrician is going to straighten out all behavior problems today. Emily Powers: Nature Boy

I told Brian last night that it felt like a good day because I had balance - something that doesn't seem to happen often in my days. Not only was there sufficient time to play/sing/read with the kids, but I got alot done around the house, exercised, scrapped, had a good devotion in the morning, talked to a friend, visited with my sister, cooked supper, and still had time to watch American Idol last night. If I could just get that much done every day!

Camden : Every meal is his favorite. Every day at breakfast it's the best bowl of cereal/biscuit/poptart he's ever had. Every lunch and supper we're having his favorite chili/peanut butter sandwich/lasagna, etc. I guess it's a good way to live - enjoying every second. He's big into counting these days. For example, he had 2 pieces of pizza, 9 Pringles, and 20 M&M's yesterday at lunch. We've struggled with his self control pretty much ever since he turned 2, but he is getting so much better and learning to control his temper and tantrums. He loves baseball. Seriously loves it. Last night after practice Brian asked him what his favorite part was, and he said, "Just all of it. I love all of it." He can play for hours on end with a paper wrapper that he folds up into imaginary army men, or with a little set of magnetix that he sets up as a battle, or with playdough that he builds into an army. Do you see a theme here? This isn't always the case...

I took a little blogging break (if you hadn't noticed). Both our computers had major virus issues last week, and we literally spent hours working on them, upgrading computer security, etc. I think we're finally about straightened out, but it's been a mess! So in the last 4 days, we registered Camden for kindergarten, applied for a passport for Rory, the kids got to see a baby goat being born, I got a haircut, I got to spend 4 hours at home alone while Brian took the kids on a "date", visited with old friends from Illinois, went out to eat with the grandparents, took zero pictures, watched way too many cartoons and read LOTS of books because of the crazy weather, missed a MOPS meeting because of the ice (yes, ice despite the fact that we broke heat records earlier this week), shopped a few kid clothing sales, and I think that about wraps it up. When we (or others) tell Rory that we love her, she will occasionally respond back but she is just repeating back to us -...

We've discovered a new hairdo, and I can't stand the cuteness. We had another nice day yesterday and took a long walk yesterday morning. It's so nice to have Brian home for spring break. The kids played outside quite a bit and Camden got to shoot his B.B. gun with Brian (don't worry - I kept Rory on the other side of the house). I also managed to get 6 loads of laundry washed, dried, folded, and put away. Unfortunately, Brian has to spend one of his spring break days going to a science conference (at the request of his principal) so we're on our own today. It's chilly and rainy so we'll probably take it easy. Random bits: During a commercial break on American Idol last night, I flipped to 17 and Counting, which is a show on TLC about the Duggar family. You know, the family with 17 kids and she's pregnant with the 18th. They were in a baby store and the mother oohed and aaahed over the hooded towels like they were a new invention. Seriously. The woman ha...

Even though I spent 2.5 hours in the waiting room yesterday in a gown that dragged the ground, sitting in a chair too high for my feet to reach the floor, it wasn't too bad. I learned my lesson the first time I had a mammogram and took a book with me so I got lots of reading done. I got to see Andrea and ran a few errands, came home and worked on house stuff, then finally collapsed on the couch when the kids went to bed. Rory and Camden had a good time with Brian. They ended up going to Gramp's house to see new baby chickens and got to see two baby goats being born. Thank heavens that hasn't led to many questions from Camden. I am completely unprepared to answer those sorts of questions to my 5 year old. Although he did come tell me that Oreo (another goat) was going "to lay a baby goat." We have nothing big on the agenda today. Brian is working on our taxes (never a fun thing since we NEVER get a refund, just a request for more money), and I'm having a laundr...

Well, it's day one of spring break, and I'm celebrating by leaving the kids with Brian and getting a mammogram. Fun times. Actually, I don't mind so much - not that they're alot of fun, but I'm happy to do preventive maintenance as I like to call it. I'm also going to stop by and see Andrea and Kelly (Christian's mom and sister) while I'm kid-free and in town. I've got a couple of errands to run, and I will relish every second of not dragging the kids in and out of carseats! The weekend's weather was so nice, and the kids played outside most of the day Saturday. Camden had baseball practice Saturday night so we made it a family event and all attended. I think in his fatherly pride and typical optimistic spirit it's possible that Brian overestimated our son's natural ability . He did do a good job of listening and his skills seem normal for a 5 year old boy (just not necessarily ahead of the curve - Brian had me expecting a little basebal...

Last night was Camden's first baseball practice, and to say he was excited would be an understatement. He's kind of a talker anyway, but when he's nervous or excited, he really talks so we heard all about it for hours before practice. Brian said he did a really good job of listening to the coach and a good job with everything he was teaching them. Actually, his exact words were, "either our team is sorry or Camden is way ahead of the curve." Seriously, Camden has looked forward to this day as long as he was even aware of sports - his favorite toy has been a ball from the time he came home at 8 months old, and he's wanted to play baseball since he was 2! One funny moment at practice is that he was very concerned with keeping his bat clean, and the coach kept drawing a line in the dirt so he would know where to stand at bat. Brian said Camden kept wiping off his bat before he'd get ready to hit. Yeah, that's pretty much been the same since he was a baby ...

I've had the idea in my head for quite a while of having a list of "house rules." Not rules like don't hit your sister, no backtalking, etc., but a more general list of principles with Bible verses to back them up that everything else would fall underneath. I want Camden and Rory to not just be able to follow a list of rules, but to understand why those words or actions aren't acceptable. I ran across this list several weeks ago, and I've been waiting to get started until I could come up with the perfect way of displaying them, teaching them, etc. (you'd think that part would be easy since we have an actual elementary teacher in the house). I've decided there's never going to be a perfect time so we're diving in this morning. I'm going to hang them on the refrigerator for now, but maybe someday I'll have them displayed in a more permanent way. Here are the "rules." Obey - Eph. 6:1 "Children, obey your parents. . . " ...