He delights in us

It happened last week. The question I've been waiting to hear from Emmelia with not a small amount of trepidation was asked. No, it wasn't about death - we've been talking through that topic quite a bit lately. It wasn't about the birds and the bees. She has a book that explains that a baby is formed when a sperm meets and egg. So far she's satisfied with that and hasn't asked exacly how they come to find themselves in close proximity.

No, Emmelia's voice piped up from the backseat while I was driving and asked "Why does God love us?" I steeled myself for follow-up questions to the answer I was about to give and said "because we delight Him." Thankfully, the follow-up question was manageable - "Why did He make us?" and I could just keep on the same theme - "because He thought it would be fun to have humans around. We make Him happy." Well, except when we're sinning... but even I realized that was too much to lay on a four-year-old.

It's a good thing I actually manage to follow through with one spiritual discipline in my life and read the Psalms regularly, or I never would've been able to field that one.

He reached from on high, he took me,
he drew me out of many waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy,
and from those who hated me;
for they were too mighty for me.
They came upon me in the day of my calamity;
but the LORD was my stay.
He brought me forth into a broad place;
he delivered me,
because he delighted in me.
Psalm 18:15-19 (RSV)

Monkeyballs!

Boy am I tired. Who knew turning 35 could make you feel so old? Geesh.

I'm finally getting my groove back with regard to digiscrapping. I did these layouts in the past few days. They show the dichotomy I struggle with in my scrapping - I love looking at simple layouts but when I make mine, somehow they get more and more complicated. I want to use as many of the cool elements and papers that I can. I'm hoping to work on "simple" a little more in 2006.

It is nice that I'm getting some of our photos from our vacation (last November!) scrapped, finally.

The journalling on the "Monkeyballs!" layout reads (in case you don't feel like squinting):

Maura met her Uncle Dan for the first time when he flew down from Massachusetts to spend the first few days of our Florida vacation with us. They hit it off right away and Dan seemed to have a special talent for understanding Maura's toddler speech. After she would say something, he would guess what she said and repeat it back to her - usually he was right. One day Maura said something and Dan said "Monkeyballs?" We all laughed because the rest of us all knew that she was saying "Peek-a-boo!" We teased Dan mercilessly for the rest of the trip - especially since it seemed so funny that he thought she would actually SAY "Monkeyballs". Even after we got home, when Maura would talk on the phone with Uncle Dan, she would automatically say "Peek-a-Boo!" which of course sounded just like... Monkeyballs!

What Barbie lacks

I had a choice of what to blog today: this or a rant about the state of our health care system since I was unable to get ear drops for Maura when her ear tubes started discharging some nasty stuff last weekend. I'll save the rant for later. ;-)

Meanwhile, here's a funny conversation I had with Emmelia the other day:

It happened - the pefect opening for that discussion about the non-reality of Barbie that I'd been waiting for with Emmelia... The other night she was playing with one and suddenly said "Mama, why doesn't this doll have NIPPLES?"

Okay, only a breastfed child would even notice that, don't you think?

Anyway, my answer was: "why would you expect her to have nipples when nothing else about her is realistic? She doesn't look at all like a real woman should look, does she?" Emmelia looked at me quizzically. But at least I didn't miss the opportunity to plant a seed (I hope).

I'm Still Here...

I'm here... coming up for air. January is always a busy month for me. Classes started again and although the second semester of Russian is going to be SUPER challenging (we're learning how to type in Cyrillic on a Russian keyboard, along with the regular curriculum), I'm enjoying it already. It's another 4 credit hour course, just like last semester. The only problem with that is I only get SIX free credit hours a year as a staff member. So... my professor and I worked a creative solution involving independent study.

Maura has a respiratory virus. Three of her classmates have tested positive for RSV, so we're assuming that's what it is. My doctor's office tends to avoid empirical tests like the plague, so we we will never know for sure. I think they just don't want to have to take the time to report anything to the CDC. Anyway, what's the one thing the Asthma/Allergy specialist said he hoped we could avoid this month while her lungs heal from the pneumonia? You guessed it. Last night the girls were running around the kitchen and Maura had a full-blown asthma attack. Scared both of us. Sigh. I really WAS hoping she just had allergies. This illness combined with the Deac's attack of gout have really sapped me of energy this month.

My 35th birthday is coming up in another week. I feel positively middle-aged. 35 seems to be hitting me harder than 30 and I think it's because I feel like I need to make some changes to my life - and if I don't do it now, I may never be able to do it. Face it, I'm getting old. My body doesn't have the resilience it had when I was 18 or 25. In other words, I can't just continue eating poorly and not exercising. I'm getting closer and closer to a time in my life where my body might not respond for me in the way I would like (movement-wise) if I don't start training it better and taking care of myself now. So I've started exercising 5 days a week. I have a fully-stocked exercise room about 20 feet from my office - I really have no excuse not to use it. So Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I spend 30 minutes on the elliptical machine and I lift weights on Tuesdays and Thursdays. To sweeten the deal, the Deac said I could get the expensive iPod I want for my birthday (but couldn't really justify) after I follow this workout routine for one month. After extracting from him a promise that HE will ALSO have to workout for a month before he gets his birthday present, I agreed. You see, the sucky thing about having a birthday in January is that we always feel a bit over-extended from Christmas but by the time HIS birthday comes along in June all is well again. But I am grateful for a little external motivation to get my rear in gear, so to speak.

Pretty Boring Week

I've been busy at work this week - not a lot of time to blog. But that's good. I've almost gotten all caught up and am ready to start my Russian class again on Tuesday. This weekend? Finish putting away all the Christmas decorations and get some organizing done! Meanwhile, here's some scrapbook layouts I did find time to put together this week. The Deac asked me a few months ago to do more layouts with him in it - he might be regretting that now. ;-)

Ballet!

Emmelia, at this very moment, is starting her very first ballet class. Oh my goodness, was she ever excited last night when we (finally!) found some ballet slippers her size and she tried on her leotard, tights and slippers outfit. She was prancing around the house with actual ballet moves that I have no idea where she learned. I suspect there's been a lot of talk about ballet among the 4 year old girls at preschool. As soon as I even brought up the subject of a ballet class, she told me she needed slippers and a leotard. So she's not the neophyte in these matters I expected her to be.

I can't wait to get a full report from her! I think I might actually get one, too, which makes it more exciting. Until the past couple of weeks, every time I'd ask her how her day went at preschool it was always the same: "I played with my friends." Period, end of story. Lately, though, she's been getting into telling us full versions of events in excruciating detail. It's adorable for now, although I give it less than a year before I wish we could go back to simple descriptive sentences.

The only reason Emmelia's able to do this class is because the stay-at-home parent of a friend of hers is willing to pick her up at school and take both girls to the class. At first I felt a little angst at that - like I'm a bad mom for not being able to take my children to daytime classes. But then I realized that the only reason I'm able to afford this class is by working and I came to my senses. It does annoy me that so many music, gymnastics, and dance classes cater only to families with a stay-at-home parent. It's nearly impossible to find classes for preschoolers in the evenings or on weekends around here. But that's a rant for another time. Next Monday I'm off work and I'll be able to go with Emmelia to that class and do the "Mom" thing with the camera. And, frankly, she'll probably get more out of the classes if she's not distracted by having me around all the time.

New layout of Maura

I have actually gotten a lot accomplished this week. The resolutions are going well so far - I need to exercise, but what's new?

Although it was made without the use of the fun pen tablet I got for Christmas, here's my newest scrapbook layout. I haven't been particularly inspired to scrap lately, but most of that was the holidays... I hope.

Happy New Year!

My New Year's Resolutions for 2006:

- Get into an exercise routine and exercise regularly - at least 30 minutes 3 times a week.
- Eat healthier foods in smaller portions.
- Drink more water.
- Waste less - money, food, time, etc.
- Pray more - find time to simply be with God each day even if it's only 5 minutes.
- Spend as much time playing with my kids each evening as they spend watching television.
- Smile more - I spend too much time scowling. Make my default a smile.
- Be less sarcastic about people - actually, say only nice things or say nothing at all.
- Treat my husband and kids the way I would treat a valued guest.
- Forgive more easily - hold fewer grudges. Stop dredging up past mistakes (of my own and others) and old traumas just for the sake of proving I can hold onto things.
- Organize one space (work or home, large or small) a week.