Harper Turns 2!

I know she turned two almost two weeks ago, but Todd and the kids went to Kruger and another friend had a party last week and... I may have been prolonging it because I wanted to keep my little girl smaller for longer.  Just maybe.

Saturday, we had a combined braai (BBQ) to celebrate both Harper and Todd on their birthday occasion.  I'd asked Harper what kind of cake she wanted and her response was "Elmo."  As much as I wanted to spend hours making an Elmo cake, I decided to go a slightly easier route with cupcakes for kids and Todd's favorite, Boston Cream Pie, for the grown-ups.  Harper really liked all her Elmo cupcakes but (ironically) didn't like the marshmallow eyes or the fondant nose... that's my girl!

When did she get so big?

Harper and Mr. Chris apparently have the same technique for eating cupcakes.  :)

Not sure how my sleeping babe got frosting on her forehead, but every child in the whole place swore up and down it wasn't them.  There was an Elmo revolt of all the left over cupcakes?  I highly doubt it, but guess that's what happened.

When everyone had left, and the other three were tucked in for a nap, Harper opened her gifts.  

I LOVE this face!  Wish I had more time just her and I.

And thanks to GG (Great-Grammy) we got a new dress up tutu and a birthday crown (sent in the mail!) to wear.  She thought life couldn't get any better until...

Grandma and Grandpa gave her a play pram.  Girlfriend still thinks she's in heaven two days later!

Home

When we were back in the U.S. last year Em lost it on some poor older lady at a church in a state I don't even remember now.  We were maybe halfway through four months of solid traveling and speaking in churches.  Needless to say, even Em's outgoing nature was starting to show the cracks after so many new places and faces.  The plan was for us to have a(nother) church potluck dinner, which was soon to be followed up by Todd and I speaking.  This nice woman, standing across from us in the line, with the best intentions, asked Em, "How do you like being home, sweetie?"  Out of nowhere (to the woman, though I'd seen it coming for weeks), Em plops her plate down, stomps her foot and folds her arms emphatically while shouting, "THIS IS NOT MY HOME!"   Being missionaries, Todd and I accept that "home" will be a transient sort of thing... it will be a few books, a couple of pictures and some other nick-knacks.  But to a now-four-year-old, the cliche "Home is where the heart is" is rather hard to explain.

In June, when we got back to South Africa, I made an effort to make our home our sanctuary.  I decided that while there are a few books and such that are really important to ME, the kids may want things that, no matter where we live our lives, represent them, where they're from and what's important to them.  I also wanted to surround them with encouraging words, quotes from their name-sakes, and Bible verses.  Last night, I finished one such project.  Three of my babies have been born in Johannesburg and we have lived here as a family longer than we've lived any other place in the world.  In honor of where we live, I found a great quote from Nelson Mandela, who has impacted the face of this country tremendously.  I also found a way to display the city and this country.  After all, as Em less-than-graciously told the grandmother in the buffet line in a church auditorium, South Africa is her home.

I finally chose curtains and thus, some color for our home back in August.  The walls on each side of them were rather bare but when Todd got his hands on some old pallets, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the wood to fill in these spaces.

 Yeah for Joburg!

This thing took forever, but in the end, it was worth the soar fingers and 3 trips to the shop to get a paint brush that was the right size. 

And because she's now 6 weeks old, there was no way to post without a picture of my newest favorite kiddo... this is her trying on her, "Yeeeeessss?  You want something???" face.  I know in a few years, I'll be over it, but right now, I think its too cute for words!

Introducing Miss Zora Lyn!

This is our 4th baby, so I figured given the amount of data from the first three, I could make some generalizations about this kid.  First, this baby would be within two days of her due date (January 11, give or take).  Second, that I would go into labor in the morning.  Not early morning, but morning.  Third, that this baby would be as big if not bigger than the previous kids given how each baby is supposed to weigh more than the last one.  Well, given those assumptions, I made a plan for cleaning and packing and getting "ready for baby."  Friday the 28th of December, Todd's last "Friday off of work," I had him help me take down all the Christmas decorations (which normally stay up until Epiphany) because I wanted to get my house back in order, wanted to vacuum up the fake pine needles, and wanted my coffee table back so I could fold laundry again (it was holding the tree out of Harper's reach during the month of December).  Then, on Saturday, I got all the big kid's things ready- washed all the clothes so that the kids would have clean underpants (it had become a serious issue in our house), got all the new Christmas toys sorted and organized, fresh sheets on beds, etc.  Then, I finally remembered that when you're getting ready for a baby, you have to actually get things for THE BABY.  At that point, I sent Todd out for a small package of disposable diapers/nappies and had him get the crib/cot out of the garage.  I was so proud of myself by the time dinner rolled around.  I had the house sorted and that meant I had two weeks to get mentally ready and get all the "stuff" for baby ready and two whole weeks to pack a bag for when it was "time."  I should have known better than to rely on any of my children doing what the others have done.  They are, after all, MY children and thus, by sheer definition, want to forge their own path, every time.  Each one.

That night, the whole family ate dinner outside.  I was too tired and too hot to cook, so we had peanut butter sandwiches for dinner and called it finished.  By the end of the meal, I felt odd.  Not in pain per say, but like I'd been doing too much all day and needed a long shower.  By the end of the shower, I thought it might be more, but as history has proved, my girls don't really give me 'labor' so much as odd twinges that just feel different.  By 8pm, our midwife told us to just come on in since the last two were fairly quick and the last thing we wanted to do would be driving like maniacs in the middle of the night.  So we called some neighbors to sleep with the older kids and I jokingly said, "We'll be back in a bit, no worries, this is probably just gas."  This was the third time I was in active labor and didn't think it was anything.  The movies really don't depict an accurate picture, do they?  I should know better, but I didn't.  I was trusting the "system" and going into labor at night wasn't the routine.  We showed up at the clinic and I fully expected to be sent home.  Those of you who live in the US, this won't make much sense because you show up and the hospital has everything for you.  Here, your bring the things you need.  So here we are showing up at 9:30pm with no paper work, no baby blanket, none of the things on the list of "what to bring to hospital to have baby."  I felt like an idiot when the admitting gal would ask, "Do you have..."  The answer was always no.  This was my FOURTH baby, I should have had these things!  I should have been prepared!!  Long story short, and a rather long night of being bored (really, not joking) come 8:07am local time, little Miss Zora Lyn made her way into the world, all 3.44kg/7lbs. 6oz.  Longest labor but easiest, most uneventful one and she didn't even seem to mind that Mommy forgot her diapers and had to borrow. :)

I knew all along that this was a girl, not because of any sonogram but because I just knew.  We chose her name based on one of my favorite books, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston.  I went to two high schools and ended up reading this book twice, sophomore and junior years.  I loved how it's written in the same style as Mark Twain's novels, with the local vernacular.  One of my favorite quotes:  “Two things everybody's got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin' fuh theyselves.” Em was named after Todd's side of the family (his grandfather) and then Cooper and Harper were after mine, so it was back to the Leslie side for a middle name.  We actually used a shortened version of Todd's mom's (Marilyn) and aunt's name (Lynnette).  Hence, the odd spelling.  

We waited around the clinic until Zora was cleared by the pediatrician (around 1pm) and then headed home.  Now most people think this is the most insane move but the point of staying in a hospital or clinic longer periods is for rest, right?  Well, neither Todd nor I sleep well in those settings, thus "rest" would not be had until we got home.  So why not just leave and go get some much needed rest and enjoyment of our family?  And that's exactly what we did.  We were home in the afternoon and the kids, fresh from the pool, posed for our first family photo.  

We loved the experience of taking newborn pictures of Harper, so we did that same thing again with Zora.  These are two of our favorites.

 Girlfriend is as sweet as they come and has just sort of blended into the family rather seamlessly.

 Our first "family outing" was to church, or rather our district Nazarene Missions International convention.  Dr. Nina Gunter was the speaker and even though Zora was only one week, we didn't want to miss her preaching.  That, and we really had no reason to not go.  Zora eats famously.  She sleeps too much at night (I know that doesn't seem like a problem, right?) and the older kids have taken right to her.  No sibling rivalry, no issues.  In fact, my two biggest fears were Harper rebelling (didn't happen) and Cooper's toilet training derailing (if anything, he's done an even better job with her around).  I know there are many, many people out there praying for our family, and I'm telling you, I have felt every prayer.  There is no other explanation for how easy the last two weeks have been.  

Numbered Days

I always hoped I'd be one of "those" girls.  The ones who were cute pregnant and loved being just that. The ones who adored every movement of their kid and all that comes with carrying an extra around for 9 months.  But when I got pregnant with Em, it didn't take long for the excitement to wear off and for a feeling of being taken over by an alien parasite to settle in.  I disliked every part of pregnancy and tried very hard to forget I was even growing another human being.  These attempts would always come to an end in some dramatic fashion such as when I'd open a door and nearly knock myself out because I'd slam it into my gut (true story) or I'd be in the middle of playing volleyball and remember, mid-dive, that I couldn't land properly and have to maneuver out of the predicament I'd gotten myself into (another true story).  I resented not being able to see my shoes, let alone tie them myself and worst of all, I loathed the American mandate to stay away from deli meat.

I wish I could say that throughout the pregnancies I've gained a more mature and deeper appreciation for this time, but in general, I haven't.  I'm still just as freaked out when my belly moves like something from a Sci-Fi show.  I still get irritated when the ground seems to be an eternity away as I try to navigate bending over with another living-being growing in my belly.  And, worst of all, I still get irritated when I can't order  a cup of normal coffee without my ribs getting pummeled for the caffeine treat.

I only had a few weeks to go with Em when a friend dragged me to the local photo studio insisting I'd one day be glad I'd captured on film "these precious moments."  I thought she was nuts and, for the most part, I'm still in a space that screams to have every memory of being as big as a house erased.  However, there was a moment after Cooper was born, when Em walked into the room and I had two children on the outside and I realized I should have taken the time to remember when it was just her.  And I was sad when I forgot with Harper as well.  Not so much to celebrate the wonderful miracle growing inside, but to celebrate the space my family was at just before the miracle arrived.  My kids are in a great space.  A few months ago, I couldn't have said that but I'm so delighted by where they're at.  Harper is gaining 10 new words each day, and it's just amazing when she pulls a new one out and I have to ask myself, "when did she learn that?"  The battles of the last few months with Cooper seem to be (slowly) fading.  He's not as whiny or willful.  I'm finally able to reason with him and best of all, independent thought processing is happening that is so sweet.  His train of thought doesn't always make sense to me, but he can now tell me what he was thinking and why he arrived at the conclusion he did. It's fabulous!  And Em seems to have grown into a proper girly-girl overnight.  She loves dresses and princess things, but her dress-up no longer looks like some Hallmark commercial of a toddler in her mother's wedding dress and is more like a girl trying on prom dresses.  I don't particularly like her girly tendencies, but it's her thing, so I'll keep my mouth shut., and as long as she's wanting to use her imagination for fantasy worlds, I'll let her have it.

So to celebrate what will surely be some of the last few days of us being a family of just five, Todd decided to get some pictures.  I opposed them as much now as I did in 2008, but I see the value in them much more now.  I begrudgingly agreed and we went to our favorite local nature reserve.  It was a great afternoon and I must admit, we had a lot of fun.

It's been a long while since Todd was able to do any real photography.  He's generally so busy and I hog the camera so much of the time... I don't like being on the other end of the lens, but I have to say, he did an amazing job!

Baby Girl has been really cuddly the last few weeks and her two favorite sports are on my back (which is great for helping even out the weight distribution at the moment) and sitting on top of my bump.

Harper has also finally figured out kisses... she no longer tries to kill you with her head and now knows how to gently give kisses, so she does it all.  the.  time.

I found my feet... but Em still had to get the shoes for me.  I'm telling you, the ground is just too far away sometimes!

Cooper, and all the kids really, are fascinated with the bump and love giving kisses.  Em gets a bit freaked out every time she gets kicked but the other two think its just fabulous.  The both tell me to "do it again" as if I can make their sibling move on command.

I don't enjoy this part... the part where people say things like, "So when are you going to POP?" (sorry, not a balloon folks)  or "Are you SURE its not twins???" (Trust me, I'd be one of the first to know that).  That said, I'm also not ready to be a mommy of four... at least not today.  Today, I'm going to keep enjoying my baby still being the baby, and my sweet little boy arguing with his big sister about whether they get a brother or a sister.  So I'm going to enjoy my days, even if they are numbered, with this crew of mine, just as it is.  I'm going to enjoy the fact that I can fit (barely) the folded laundry in stacks according to child on our coffee table.  I'll enjoy garlic and as much dairy as I want and I'll continue to enjoy having room in the grocery store cart/trolly for things besides just an infant carrier.

Christmas Ambitions

Em got out of school a week ago.  I rather like that schools here let out so early since it means things don't have to get crammed together like it was when we were still in the States (a year ago this week!).  However, that also means weeks on end of kids asking, "Mommy, what are we going to do today?!?!"  It's less of a question and more of a demand for entertainment.  So I had sorted out some... projects of sorts.  We did mosaics with moong beans and lentils and other food products.  We made our 2012 Christmas ornaments.  There were other things in there as well, mostly baking that required a lot of math from Em (the teacher in me was rather happy about that).  Sitting down to the pictures though, this preggy mommy is just a bit tired by the whole process... and glad the rain has gone away for a few days and the kids can just go outside and play :)

All three kids are needing to work on fine motor skills and I found a project we can do, in various forms, over and over again.  This was our first attempt at mosaic-anything and I have to say, it was a bit too much by the end, but that's mostly because Harper started flinging beans that were sticking to her glue-ladden fingers.  Did I mention I'd cleaned the dining room just for this project?

When we do this again (in 20 years when I've recovered enough patience!), I'll do it at a time when I can take one child at a time.  Em was the most independent and hers turned out rather nicely, but even so, I felt like I couldn't properly "oooh" and "awe" over her crafty-work.

This was the point when Cooper decided eating the "left-overs" might be easier than putting each different type of bean away.  Needless to say, he didn't like raw lentils and reneged on that idea quickly.

There's been a lot of rain, so I've had project after project lined up so that when the kids get restless, we move on to the next thing.  We'd been slowly but surely plowing our way through cinnamon ornament making.  It takes a few sessions:  make the dough, wait, roll the dough and cut out the shapes, wait, color/paint, wait.  We were in the decorating/coloring/painting stage while waiting for a rather irritatingly slow drizzle to let up.  Harper decided to see what modge podge tasted like.  

She then decided that using it to paint was a better option :)

Cooper, having learned this lesson earlier in the day, was nervous to get anywhere remotely close to the glue-paste again... which led to many laughs from me because his faces were hysterical!

 The end result?  Our 2012 homemade Christmas ornaments!  Best part is they smell divine!!!

We also have a tradition of a cookie exchange around here.  For years (literally), I've been wanting to make those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey Kisses on them.  I'm not a fan of caramel and for some reason, most chocolate here has a carmel taste to it (at least to my palate anyways).  Todd loves it but it means that I generally avoid chocolate all together.  It's a rather useful weight loss technique actually.  But this year, my best friend came from the States for a few weeks and I had her pick up some Kisses for me.  Em and I spent a wonderful afternoon unwrapping and counting kisses and cookies into dozens.  It was a wonderful math lesson that Harper bored of so quickly, it felt like I only had one kid while baking.    

 The cookies are exchanged on an afternoon when all the kids gather and decorate the sugar and gingerbread cookies.  Here's the whole crew, complete with their decorated cookies.  We had a ton of fun, and the kids only started licking the sugar and icing off the tables when it was all over, so I say it was a COMPLETE success!!!

Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

There are many, many things that I enjoy about living abroad.  One of them is the fact that, without Thanksgiving to 'hinder' Christmas, people here decorate in September or October.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love, LOVE, LOVE Christmas?  So I try, to the best of my ability, to make sure not to start decorating too soon.  However, this weekend, I had a great time setting up the tree with the kids.  I have a few war wounds (apparently having a great big belly made of tissue paper instead of normal skin can be hazardous when assembling a metal tree) but there was no shouting, no screaming, and best of all, the kids seemed to genuinely enjoy the entire process!  

Em has caught on to the nostalgia that I get when unpacking all the ornaments.  She asked who gave us the tree, so I told her.  She asked about each ornament, so again, I told her.  About one quarter of all our ornaments are from my former students, and I have each child's name and year written so I will never forget.  The older two both couldn't believe how small their handprint ornaments from two years ago were.  And, of course, they liked to compare who had more ornaments than anyone else.  

 The kids were tickled that they could "make" a tree and loved the fluffing of each branch.  Em, as usual, took it very seriously.  Cooper (I'm sad to say I couldn't get a picture of it all because he was too fast) decided, having never watching the movie, that he needed to reenact the light saber battle from Star Wars to see if it might have been better with tree branches... and his sister.  Nope, the original still holds- whew, cause I was nervous.  

 Harper got one single branch half fluffed and then proceeded to beat each piece of furniture in the entire house.  So much for not having to vacuum a fake tree.

 But we had a great time and I have a feeling that future tree decorating events will have a very similar flow to them as well.  Glad we could establish roles early on in our family, no need to fight over who does what in a few years :)

 Em felt it was her calling, and duty really, to "save" all the fallen ornaments Harper put on but "just wouldn't stay up Mummy."

And blessings on this boy of mine.  The one who was only allowed to touch the felted or cloth ornaments... EVER.  May he find a careful and laid-back person to help him decorate when he gets bigger, because I'm taking bets that "growing up" may not be in the cards for him for a long, long, LONG time.

Church Dresses and Reptiles

This morning was one of "those" mornings where I was fed up by 8am.  The biggest issue (I think) is that the kids are rather manic the first bit when Todd is away.  He left for an overnight camping/rock climbing adventure with a friend.  I wish I could have gone, but with the belly being as big as it is, I doubt I'd be able to fit into a harness, let alone climb up a rock face!  So the kids and I decided to part ways and stick around the house for the weekend.  Thus, a morning where the kids were "just checking" to make sure Mommy could "handle" things on her own.  Thanks guys, always appreciate the votes of confidence :)  

So when the morning finally started to look up (as in, no one was trying to see how far they could dribble and drool their yogurt in the direction of their belly button) I got everyone dressed and headed out the back door so that I could tackle breakfast.  Harper is currently in between all her pants/shorts and t-shirts, so her only option at the moment is to wear dresses.  Many of them are too short, but she's got those pudgy little legs and bloomer-type covers, so I'm fine with it.  The problem lies in Em.  She doesn't think it's fair that Harper gets to wear "church clothes" and she isn't allowed to.  Thus, the girls got dresses and Cooper declared that he couldn't be their prince in a t-shirt.  I wish I was making this up, but who could possibly think of that kind of logic that early in the morning?!?  Fine.  Harper in a dress.  Em in a dress. Cooper in a polo and all to play in the muddy backyard.  Wonderful.  It was the squeals of delight from all three kids that brought me away from the yogurt-paste I'd been scrapping away at.  Normally, they don't go all-in, all at once, over anything so this was cause for investigation.  Upon arrival outside, it turned out that the kids had found a number of interesting bugs and what-not and were thrilled by their discovery.  I started to engage the conversation by asking questions when I saw something odd on Em's shoulder blade.  I popped into the house, grabbed the camera, and went back out.  Em was more than willing to have her picture taken, especially in her "church dress on a Saturday."

 Note, no signs of fear, worry or concern on her face... just her goofy I'm-posing-for-a-school-picture face she gets these days whenever a camera appears.  Also note the reptile on her arm which had moved from her shoulder blade onto her shoulder, and then down towards her elbow at a leisurely pace.

 I turned her arm to get one of the lizard I'd seen earlier and less than one second after this picture was taken (and Em looked at her arm), she FLIPPED OUT screaming like only a four-year-old-girl who has been startled by a reptile can.  The commotion caused the placid lizard, who had been perfectly content throughout this whole time (at least 5 minutes) to go racing around Em's neck and down her leg.

 It settled on her shoe just long enough for me to get Em to calm down and realize she wasn't going to die, which then brought another round of shouts and screams about how "mean" I was for not telling Em sooner, at which point I lost it laughing.  Nothing gets by this girl... except, apparently, a lizard on her arm  :D

Then Cooper pitched a minor fit because he hadn't been in any picture and he was in his "prince" shirt.  The three of them decided to make a train on the slide so Mommy could get pictures of them all together.  I think this means that we (officially) force them into too many family pictures when they know how to set up the shot all on their own.  That said, they were so cute and the pictures were adorable, so I'm not about ready to complain!