Oak and Pines

we started this week out by throwing away ben and sam’s size 5 diapers. for anyone who knows me, they know that i like to do a lot of research before a transition.  so i had prepared myself by reading the ezzo’s book potty training 1-2-3.  i really recommend this book.  it is practical and easy to follow.  and i think that success shows.

now my expectations were high…i do humbly admit that i have a great amount of pride when it comes to my children…a great friend told me that it only gets worse the older they get…so i’m in trouble! but the boys are pretty smart, ok, let’s not be silly, they are brilliant!

so i thought, after reading about people having this training done in a matter of hours, i just knew that by lunch monday my children would be done with all training and i would be sitting down wondering what i was going to do with the extra $50 a month that i used to spend on diapers.  not that easy.  don’t get me wrong…it wasn’t the worst thing i’ve had to do.  but take in mind that i am putting two 2 1/2 year olds in underwear and letting them loose in my house.

they caught on quick.  the basic principle is to reward them for staying clean and dry and when they go to the potty the get the double reward.  they love candy, but never really get it…so starbursts and m&m’s were my bribe of choice.

the ezzo’s use the principle of letting them teach a doll how to potty and reward their doll and then they will want to do it too.  no dolls are allowed in our house (they creep me out) so we used puppy and lion that cindy strickland bought them for their 2nd birthday.  they loved this! they caught on to pee pee quick…still had an accident here and there when they were busy playing.  the #2 thing they don’t have…they are scared.  so jason bought them 2 diego toys and set them up over the toilet.  “if you go in the toilet you get these”  kinda thing.  i tell you…ben sat on that toilet red faced!  he wanted that diego.

i thought by wed that they were golden.  no pee accidents.  i took them to the potty at least every hour.  they did great at preschool too.  they are 100% in underwear…night time they are dry and ask to go potty in the morning. naps are dry too.

then we had a girls night last night and they were at the church…it was like total relapse!  when i came to pick them up sam had his change of clothes on and ben had had an accident.  so far today no accidents.  so we aren’t where i thought, but we aren’t too far.  but diego still stares at them through the box…and they stare back.  i know they will get it.  and when they do i will be the happiest out of the crew!

i will keep everyone up to date on our progress…hopefully good news to follow….until then look at this accomplishment by our younger, yet equally as fabulous jack stack:

today is september 10th.  3 months ago our family lost a pretty significant part.

i can’t believe 3 months have passed since that horrible day that we lost Tania. Jason’s mom, Ben, Sam and Jack’s MawMaw.  i still sit here today in total confusion, still wondering how it can be true.  her laugh is still so resounding in my ears.

i was talking to the ben and sam today about their papas.  they said “we have 2 papas” and i agreed with them.  then they said, “we have 2 mawmaws”..i choked.  and had to correct them.  “no” i said. “you only have one”  then they remembered that their absent mawmaw was gone.  “mawmaw with jesus” sam said.  then ben chimed in,  “mawmaw got us new books!”  and he was right.  3 months ago today tania had come over to babysit them and as most times had brought them presents.

3 new books.

That day we lost her, as i was leaving for my appointment i heard her reading from one of them.  it was “where is spot”.  and she was so animated looking for the infamous main character under every flap in the book.  it was as if the item found under every piece of the board book was leaping out at them as they stared intently at every turn of the page.

as if the date wasn’t hard enough i thought about all the things that have happened in these 3 months that i know she would enjoy hearing…1st day of preschool, ben and sam mastering the english language, jack cutting 2 teeth, potty training stories (that is another blog).  today jack sat up by himself.  he can now sit and reach for toys, balancing and reaching everywhere.  he also had a doctors appointment.  his 24 week visit.  he is 6 months today.

i would always call her and my mother to tell them the weigh in and all the facts.  i sat in the lobby of the office waiting to be called with tears welling up, thinking about all these things.  i know that i said i don’t share many “personal” and private things in these blogs, but she was so much to everyone.

i just thought it would be ok, just this once to break my rule…

we are home.  home from our 4 day cruise around tropical storm hanna.  i am so happy to be home.  i missed my 3 handsome little men so much.  i missed my bed and my house. but now, as i sit here blogging, i miss eating delicious meals made my someone else, brought to me by our fabulous waiter, sedrak. which were also cleaned up by someone else.

i guess that is one reason why we had cereal for dinner tonight!

we had a very relaxing time, which was so needed.  this summer has been a very hard one for jason and i.  it was good to be able to be with each other with no schedules pulling us in different directions.  to get away from life.  we slept a lot.  and loved it!  i read some of marley and me.  got some sun.  and we got to spend some time with our great friends:  mike and erin denny and jessie and bekah boldin.

being on the sovereign of the seas with these guys made it more fun.  something about being chased by a tropical storm with a major hurricane behind it makes it a little exciting too.  the seas were rough the first night going out-i guess from gustav-then the last night on the way back from hanna.  jason had to take all the hangers out of our closet b/c we were rocking so bad.  it sounded like the ship was bouncing through 30 ft. waves.  i am still swaying a bit.  at times it seems like my house is floating!  but worth it all.  i am relaxed.  ready to move forward with some energy.  we want to go again.  soon.

it had been a while since we had been able to do something fun as a family.   my mom had offered to have a bonding day with jack (a sacrifice for her) so we decided to make it a “ben and sam” day.  we drove to columbia to the riverbanks zoo.  this is a relatively small zoo, but so great. it doesn’t take you 2 days to see everything and the animals are really up close and personal.  our old friend,  jonathon rhodes is a zoo keeper there.  he is part of the aviary team.  he got us in to the park for free (which the price is not bad even if we had to pay) and he took us back to see a few baby flamingos and we got to meet some rock hopper penguins!  the boys weren’t too thrilled about this because they were quite loud.  but i loved it!!

        it was great to spend the day with ben and sam without little jack jack…although we missed him my mom got to spend some time with him and ben and sam got to have all of our attention.  they love animals so much.  and they are getting more brave.  last november when we went to the zoo with my mom, aunt joyce and uncle russell they wanted nothing to do with the giraffes.  but this time they were calling to them and wanting to get close to them.  i think that was my highlight of the zoo experience too!  how many people can say, “i fed a giraffe today”?  they are pretty amazing creatures!  it’s awesome to be that close to some of God’s creation.  

has been happening lately.  i have thought often of so many “blog-able” events and happenings in my life.  but if i wrote about them all, it would be way to much…i would have to have numbered paragraphs like stufffchristianslike.blogspot.com.  so i will just write on the many first that have happened.  

jack is now a solid food eater!   he doesn’t really know if he likes it.  i know that life was a little easier when just a bottle of formula was enough to get him through the next four hours of the day.  now i have to really prepare to be 10 minutes late everywhere i go!  soon i will be donning the apron and making some baby food.  

 

 

ben and sam are now preschoolers!  tuesday the 26th was their first day of 2/3 yr old school at metro north.  they are the metro monkeys!

they were so excited.  we had visited the school and their new teacher twice already, so they knew the drill.  and they already adore mrs. kerri.  she had been judah’s preschool teacher, so we already knew that she was great!  i felt comfortable here.  it is still quite odd to think that up until this point, i have predominantly been their teacher.  i pride myself in the fact that they know many of their abc’s and they can count to 12…sometimes they can count to 5 in spanish and they know all their colors and shapes.  I am the one who taught them this. now they are in the hands of two people (mrs. marie is mrs. kerri’s teacher’s aid) that i really don’t know well and they are learning new things.  but it is all in all exciting.  i have already had great reports on how well they behave and how they are interacting with the other children.  ben even shared his little orange dinosaur today…that is huge!  here are some more first day of school pics:

 

       

they really didn’t care that we left.  they are so big!

so that is pretty much it in our world of firsts.  i have other thoughts and events i will blog about when i get more time…so maybe when ben and sam go to 1st grade!…no but here is a photo of someone i may blog about later tonight:

a younger sibling of twins…jack has no want for anything!  only 5 months old and has a bigger wardrobe than i do….

just in the last 2 days i have learned a couple things

#1 in having houseguest with small children in addition to our small children, the act of “picking up” is never finished.  and the “adult conversation” is only possible between the hours of 8 pm and 11 pm-unless you have some kind of crazy energy flow that i have yet to find…last night my adult time ended at 9:30-i was wasted.

#2-i always felt bad for my late mother in law, tania.  many times she would have a houseful of guests, working in the kitchen, grandchildren running a muck through her freshly cleaned house. having a smile on her face the entire time.  then it would be “boat time”.

my father in law and his love for his boat would make the announcement that the boat was leaving in 2 minutes and all would race to get their children shoed and life-jacketed up.  my mother in law, however, would offer to keep jack, or to “sit this one out”.  i always felt bad. i thought, she has done so much and can’t even enjoy a day on the boat. she is choosing to be stuck in the house.

but until yesterday, as i chose to stay at the house while our guests, their children, my husband and sam and ben set off for the beach, i didn’t realize what she had gained by staying back all those times.

peace. quiet. aloneness.

it was amazing.  little jack jack and i had some quality time, i got my house looking somewhat back to normal and i felt rest.  i thought of her often throughout this peaceful moment in my day and wished i could sit on the couch with her and a cup of coffee.  but i did learn to not take those times for granted and also, one of the last things she told me:  to not feel like i have to be everywhere and do everything.  to enjoy my children in this time.

just one of the MANY things i have learned from her.

it is finished….finally, i convinced my rebellious husband to shave his long locks of hair off. he looks amazing!!  with his haircut we also decided to shave ben and sam’s.  they have been complaining about their hair in their eyes and it gets a little crazy.

i loved their hair on the longer side, but they had been needing a trim for a while.  so we decided to take it all.

i cried.

after the first swipe of the clippers there was no turning back…and i was already wishing i hadn’t done it.  they were both scared.  sam went first. the more we cut the older he looked.  i got nauscious.  no longer my sweet little boys…they looked older, and they looked like trouble!  with their long adorable locks gone they looked scrappy.

needless to say i still don’t know whether or not i like it.  they seem happier and the good news is they are still my loving little men.  as i tucked them in they still gave me the sweetest hugs and told me that they loved me.  i know i will get used to it…and i know it will grow.  the crazy thing is that they look so much different from each other now…at least i think so.

but back to my husband….he is soooo hot!  his hair looks FANTASTIC.

but one of my reader friends, whom i didn’t know read my little blogs, because she hasn’t commented until now, has prompted me to write another!

not much has gone on.  my husband is home from haiti.  i am very happy.  although, he has been fighting a sinus infection since he has been home making me a “mother” of 4 instead of 3….

we have wonderful house guest right now, nick and jacki kohfal.  it is always nice to reminisce with friends. nick and jacki have two children: ella, 4 and zane, almost 3.  sam and ben have had fun.  most of all because some new toys have been brought into their house.  not a whole lot of toddler interaction.  maybe by the time zane has to leave they will realize that it is more fun to play with the one who brought the new toys, not just bogart them all for themselves.  as for my house it looks like a category 5 hurricane has hit it.  but that is ok.  just for a time.

on a different…maybe a blog to come…note:  i think i have my husband convinced to shave his locks of hair off this afternoon!!!  that will be a subject i look forward to blogging about!  until then…i really have nothing neat to write about.

day 5 of being without my husband will officially be over in 2 minutes and we will start the 6th…hopefully with a little sleep.  the lovely art of technology i has allowed me to be able to either talk via cell phone, chat via ichat or even see a very fuzzy pixilated picture of my vivaciously haired husband via video chat. all of this b/c somewhere on the desolate island country of haiti, the poorest county in the western hemishpere,  there is a wireless router that he and the mac carriers along with him have been able to pick up.  what a privilege for me!  i love to hear his voice, know that he is ok, hear the great things that God is doing in/through him and our team there.

they have been to a couple of the many orphanages and schools around the region, playing with children, and handing out much coveted food sacks.  these food sacks are filled with lentils, beans, rice and seed packets.  they share the love of Jesus in a way that relates to the Haitian people.  providing for them, already there has been testimonies of people saying they had no food left and didn’t know how they would feed their family-then our team gave them a sack of food!

i love the fact that although i can’t be there i can get a day to day report from my husband of the people they have seen and what God has done that day.

i say all this for my point:  about 15 mins ago i had the last convo with him for 2 days.  tomorrow he and 8 others from the team will leave at 6 am to travel up a mountain-with a pretty tough hike involved to visit the people there.   preceding them up there is a couple of donkeys and a truck with food and 50 goats.  once they get there they will  scout out food drop sites and minister to the people teaching them nutritional skills and how to use there goats to the fullest potential.

this is such a blessing.   in Haiti goats are precious commodities for families.  not only can they provide milk, but they are also the most common dinner meat, their manure can be used as a fertilizer in vegetable gardens, and they can produce 2 or 3 kids (baby goats) a year.   this is going to be a great opportunity.

an unforgettable experience.  please pray for them and for myself as i wait to be connected again.

so i have decided that i won’t be contributing to the massive amounts of plastic in our landfills.  i ordered a number of reusable bags from store chicobag.com to tote along in the vehicle or purse when i do my shopping.  i do, however, need to have some of the non-biodegradable bags for the disposal of james and lottie’s compost, if you will….

i have never thought of becoming “green”.  my father thinks that global warming is just another way for people to make money, which to some crazy republican point, i agree with him.  but i do, with the onset of being a mother of 3, want to preserve this earth for my children.  God has put us here ultimately to praise him and to win the lost for him.  but along the way i do believe we should take care of his creation.  on the side of my dad, i wish this was more afordable to do.  i looked in to flushable diapers recently….yes, i was willing to pull apart a dirty diaper, use a swish stick to stir it and save the planet in the mean time.  but to my dismay the adorable and earth-friendly gDiapers-were not wallet friendly.  buying organic is the same.  i do purchase some organic produce and my sister-in-law Lindy has enlightened me on how important organic milk is to my children, but to go completely organic means to take out a second morgage.  so at this time in my life i think i am satisfied with being just a little green.  so i will pack my reusable chico bags and set off in my gas guzzling environmentally hating tahoe to do my grocery shopping…only buying 20% organic!!

so i thought i would try this whole blog thing out.  i have blogged on myspace before, but i thought i would try to do more of an online journal thing instead.  however, i am a pretty private person for the most part.  i complain only to my husband and a very select close friends. so i think that this may be a way of just letting friends and family know how this family of 5 is doing on a more day-week basis. not so much a “what is happening in the intricate parts of jessica burgbacher’s life”    i think i may enjoy this!