Catching Up

We've been struggling around here the last two months.  Since we got back from the US the beginning of April, the household has gone through two rounds of the 24-hours tummy bug and a 7-day tummy bug.  Todd has had three work trips and we've had various birthdays and other celebrations thrown in the mix.  Then, in the last two weeks, we've had another couple of rounds of actual influenza/flu, one of which put Zora and me completely out of commission for 5 days.  So, yes, I've gotten behind, but in light of everything else, I feeling rather okay with the state of the house and life in general.

That said, I have been desperately wanting to catch up on "life" here in blogland.  So many things have happened in the last few months, which means this will be a picture montage of sorts.  Hope you enjoy!

Over the last year, our family has been on a journey to really discover who we are and what we stand for.  We realized that there was a lot of junk cluttering life.  As a result, we donated, garage-saled and will donate again a number of items from the entire house, not just the garage.  The kids have fewer toys out, but we rotate boxes in and out regularly (such a great idea!).  One Sunday, as I was getting more and more angry with trying to brush my hair, it occurred to me that I have long hair but it's eternally wet and in a ponytail.  So, after some discussion, I had it chopped and sent this to Locks of Love.  Hopefully, someone else will find a use for it since I wasn't.  

 Todd had a number of business trips recently, one of which was to Ethiopia.  His trip was very near Father's Day and so the kids and I took the opportunity to give Daddy something he would love:  a fire pit.  And yes, he LOVES it.  Gotta be honest, it wasn't the easiest to dig into red clay, but so worth it and the winter fires around the fire pit with hot tea instead of watching TV or some other random activity have been simply fabulous.

 Right before everyone got sick, we had taken an afternoon in the park.  This was my favorite of all four kids.  Sorry Harper, looks like you got stuck with your mommy's "smily eyes" (as Daddy calls them).

The kids were sick, really, really sick, for a solid 6 days.  That meant every DVD/downloaded show we own was watched no less than half a dozen times.  Mommy and Daddy could only do so much and since we had time on our hands and couldn't go anywhere, we made the most of it and got some of the organizational projects on my Honey Do List done.  We bought some dog tail hooks at IKEA when we were in the US a few months ago, and I had Todd put them up to hold the kids' backpacks.  It's worked out really well.

 And after much fussing with the layout (via newspaper representations of pictures), I also got our gallery wall sorted, complete with the kids' silver baby cups!  I've been wanting to display these since Em got her's at 5 weeks.  It took me forever to figure out how to get them up, but we managed it and I'm so pleased!

 Em recovered from illness just in time for her first Daddy-Daughter date.  I'd purchased tickets to go see the Russian Ballet Exhibition months ago.  I didn't think she's make it through a full ballet at 8pm, but this was shorter, with individual dances and such, in the middle of the day.  She and Daddy had an amazing time.  Daddy bought her flowers, took her to a nice restaurant, and then went to the ballet.  Can't believe my girl is old enough to be going on dates with the best guy in the world, but I guess its time I started to share.

 All ready to go!

 In the midst of all the chaos, the two littlest girls have decided that they are going to assert their independence and chaos or not, achieve major milestones.  Harper firmly and emphatically insisted she was going to use the toilet.  Zora let her voice be heard that she wanted food.  Real food, like what everyone else gets at the table.  Good times all around :)

 After days and days of just laying around watching TV, the girls had had enough.  They put on their dress-up clothes and ventured outside.  It was possibly one of the happiest sights I've seen as a mom.

 Em's favorite:  Making her dress "big and poofy".

And not to leave anyone out, Zora, in all her big-girl glory, showing off her sitting up skills.  They grow too fast.  I'm just not ready for it all yet.

Happy 5 Months!

All my girls are sick, which is rather tragic.  I despise sick babies.  I'm praying Cooper and the grown-ups can manage to stay healthy.  However, even in the midst of not feeling so great (Zora) and sanitizing ever surface and toy in the house (me), we still managed to catch a few smiles and celebrate five fabulous months with this beautiful face.  So incredibly blessed by this treasure of girl!

We Went Walking

A favorite book in our house is I Went Walking by Sue Williams.  The kids love the pictures, the rhythm, the simplicity (as they can easily memorize it) and so, we routinely will use the book to make walks more fun by playing a game based on the book.  Saturday morning, we'd been almost a full week without Todd and the kids were done, I was out of ideas, and then, mercifully, a friend invited us over. It was a properly cold, grey, autumn morning and I therefore dressed the kids accordingly.  Em, my consummate girly-girl, wanted tights, which meant Harper wanted them as well and when all was said and done, the kids looked like the Crayola Crayon factory had just melted onto them.  On the way over to our friends' house, I realized just how sweet and adorable my rainbow children were and decided on an impromptu photo shoot at the nature reserve.

The kids saw the gate into Kloofendal and immediately, Em starts in with, "I went walking!!!"  The whole thing was so much fun and I know what most of you are thinking, "Really?  Fun??  Four kids on a damp, grey day by yourself???"  But honestly, the kids were having a blast just running up or down the hills, and it felt like Fall, my favorite season!  We don't get many fall days here, it seems to tend more towards the straight-from-summer-to-winter.

 I mean, honestly, how can you not have fun with these three characters?

 Absolutely cannot believe she turns 5 this week.  F.I.V.E!!  What?!?  Where did the time go?

 These two are (usually) best buddies, I love them dearly for it.

 And these two, well, let's say I caught them both in a moment of weakness :)

Three kids, one camera and they'll never all be looking... oh well.

 Gotta love this hair and those rosy cheeks.

 Only a boy's-boy would look at a long wooden log and think, "SLIDE!"  Go Cooper, go.

I love this girl!

Sickies, Sinks, and Singleness

Sometimes, you just have a day, know what I mean?  One of those days where you know, waking up, it'll take everything you've got just to get through the full 24 long hours of it.  I recently had one of those days and I promise you, sleep is totally wasted on the young!  Cooper and Harper woke up in the middle of the night sick.  Really sick.  Em complained of a tummy ache but the other two spent the next two days unable to be trusted with food or water.  We'd already scheduled the plumber to fix my sink (finally!) so that the water would go down, not down and then back up.  I wasn't about to reschedule because of a few sick kids!  The plumber came in and started to look around, only to find that another problem was afoot- he literally picked my sink up with his hands.  Awesome.  

So a few hours later, some silicone caulking and a new facet which means I can wash a decent pot in my sink (wahoo!!!), the plumber was gone, the water was back on (yes, sick kids and I was without water for hours... always fun times) and I'd managed to get a cup of coffee (from a neighbor) and some reinforcements (otherwise known as peppermint chocolate).  :)

One thing I hadn't counted on was the difference in sealing the silicone caulk.  Here, they put weight in the sink while the caulk dries, which translates to an unusable sink because it's full of water for
24-hours.  Well, at least the kids weren't wanting any real food.

Then, in the midst of the kids slowly recovering, Girlfriend #3 decides it's going to be HER day.  She sat up for the first time!  Apparently though, she has some kind of inner-mouth issue because as soon as the pacifier/dumby leaves her mouth, she topples over.  I always thought this problem was for ears only but you learn something new every day.

And just as I was prying myself away from my precious little girl for a much needed shower, Cooper woke up and was so sweet with his littlest sister (after I'd scrubbed his hands raw for fear of germs) that I figured I could be smelly a little while longer and just enjoyed my Big Boy being a great Big Brother. These kids are growing too quickly :(

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.