Amazing Gifts part 2

In the previous post I mentioned my love for hand-made gifts.   But I must also profess my love for gifts that help my boys expend their energy...outside!

In July, my parents drove up to celebrate Oliver's entry into the Terrible Terrific Twos.  And with them came gifts and the enthusiasm to create an impromptu party. 

Mima and her sous chef, Jayden, baked delicious cupcakes.  Oliver ate about 5. 

And Oliver became the proud owner of his very own tricycle! 

I have enjoyed watching him speed around the yard with his brother and sister.  

But I have greater enjoyment seeing his exhausted little body sound asleep in his crib!

Hand-made Love

  Oliver turned 2 years old this past July, and although we didn't throw a raging party in his honer he did receive some wonderful gifts.

Marty's mom is abounding with creative inspiration, and without fail produces something unique and personal for the kids on their Birthday's and at Christmas.

This year to stir Oliver's imagination she made him this amazing Safari Landscape, complete with hand-stitched boulders.  Then she filled it's pillowcase-like pocket with a dozen plastic animals.  The whole thing rolls up for easy storage, which was her gift to me!

I love these type of gifts, handmade labors of time and love, because as the years go on they will escape the give-away bin and be kept with other childhood treasurers.   

Long after my kids have out-grown the wonder of playing with them, each home-made gift will serve to remind my kids that their Grandmother loved them dearly and invested her love with every stitch.

Recycling Fun

This September I will be leading Tamara Kirby, Meagan Jones and Heather Peloquin, on an overseas expedition to meet my Great Aunt Esther, encourage the 9 Pastors of the Literacy Mission Center, and present the Gospel by pouring out love on every person we meet regardless of religion, economics or caste.

To help reduce the financial burden of this trip and specifically to raise funds for the Medical Mission that we will supply, set-up and work at, we have created a recycling program called  
Trash 2 Treasure.
Our friends and neighbors have been setting aside their CRV goodies which we take to SA Recycling Center for fist-fulls of cash.  

It has been a fun process for Malia, Zach and Ollie --- knocking on neighbors' doors, sorting cans and bottles, praying for God to open up His recycling store-houses to supply for our needs :)

  Twice now we have had so many bags of 'treasure'  that Tamara has borrowed her brother's truck to help me transport the cargo to recycle it.  

Last week she brought along her nephew Kaeden to keep Ollie company. The 2 of them had the best time stomping around together.

Firsts

First day of VBS....Pandamania!!

 Jayden's crew is filled with almost all of her besties: Isabella, Zoey and Paul (whom she is going to marry apparently).

 Zachary also found himself with his best buds:  Charlotte, Morgan, and Ryder.

 First day of Swim Lessons!  I was amazed to see my rambunctious Oliver respond so well to his instructor -- following directions! A.M.A.Z.E.D

Brave Bunny

There have been as many as 6 bunnies feasting on our grass in the early evening.  And they have become quite comfortable with Oliver; allowing him to sneak up on them, wildly chase them, and shout at them with gusto.  This particular day I thought he may even get close enough for a tackle.

Where's Ollie?

Task completion:  an activity that {{never}} occurs due to pint sized boy who climbs, investigates, meddles with, and terrorizes a household.  Feats of adventure most always accompanied by great danger (no picture of small tot chewing on his mother's razor!).  Yummy 2 year old has adorable, messy locks and a smile that melts hearts, rendering a mother's anger null and void.

Hand-me-Downs

I'd never have dressed my daughter in a pair of manly, blue boots.  But she was my first child and received many frivolous benefits as such; including fury pink boots.

Little Oliver is my third and I've become very practical over the last 5 years, so buying new boots for his growing feet seemed foolish when we had a perfectly good pair in the garage.  And yesterday he was thrilled to stomp around the snow in them, confident and proud.

Welcome Home

The plane landed safely into the LAX harbor yesterday, after soaring 22 hours above land and sea.  Marty and my Father spent one week back in Bangalore with the LMC to celebrate Great Aunt Esther's 97th birthday.  They had a tremendous celebration and even accomplished a few business items for the mission. While they were gone my 3 kiddos passed around a 105* F fever that is still lingering, so the sight of their Daddy's big strong arms brought hope and relief to us all.

Where's Ollie?

Where's Ollie?

I must ask over 100 times a day, "Where's Ollie? or What's Ollie doing?". A couple of weeks ago Zachary answered "he's out front running to the street". That's when we learned that Oliver could open the side gates! Barricades have been erected and the backyard is now an escape-free zone. Yesterday I asked myself the where's Ollie question and here's where I found him.

Ouch!

Oliver took a spill last night while building trains with his Dad and brother. We all tried to ignore the screaming for a bit (he can be dramatic), but then he came toddling to the kitchen crying "mama" and I saw his bloody eye.

A tiny freak-out moment.

A dose of Tylenol.

A quick trip to the Urgent Care down the street.

When the Dr. asked if there had been any bleeding from Oliver's ears, Marty realized that Ollie's condition was minor. Ear bleeding from an eye injury? That's craziness.

And from now on when the boys take a tumble, we will gauge the seriousness based on the "is he bleeding from his ears scale".
Yes = hospital.
No = lollipop/ popsicle/ sugary distraction.

Ollie's Birthday Party

My sister-in-law is an awesome blog-Mama and has put up a sweet post about their visit with us this past Saturday.
So I guess I can say "I've been featured on 'degphasefive'." Now I just need Kelly to create a super cute widget so I can have a 'button' that links up to their blog. :)

check it out.

and to learn how their blog got its name click here

365 Days

Friday, July 9 2010

marked the 365th day that I got to

hug and squeeze,

adore and cuddle,

nurse, dress, and feed,

put to bed,

sing to,

pray for,

and LOVE with all my might

a little guy we call

Ollie-gator.

Happy Birthday Oliver Josiah!

10.5 months

8 Weeks

Oliver Josiah

Oliver Josiah

July 9, 2009

7 lbs. 7 oz

19 1/2 in

Our morning began as planned. I hadn't slept but an hour as the anticipation of a scheduled induction had me busy as a bee with last minute organizing, lots of time praying, and the most joyful of jitters. At the crack of dawn I roused Marty from sleep and he donned the "lucky" yellow Fox sweatshirt that was his attire for Jayden's and Zachary's birth, and we were in the car for our 5:15 check-in at Simi Adventist Hospital.


By 6:30 I was attached to a friendly IV that was slowly dosing me with Pitocin and Marty was reclining in an adjacent chair hoping to reclaim some Zzz. The hospital was calm; I was calm, and ready to wait patiently for the hours to pass until our son would make his voyage into my arms.


My OB strolled in at 7:40 to break my water and then leisurely sauntered out of the room to assist in a C-section. As he left the room he surmised that I'd be receiving my heavily anticipated epidural once the anesthesiologist arrived in 1.5 hours and he hoped to be delivering the baby by noon. Sounded like a plan to me...

But less than 30 minutes later I had Marty studying the computer output to determine the time between contractions -- some were only 45 seconds apart! I was definitely feeling the intensity and made a comment to the nurse that I just might start moaning. She decided then to go ahead and set up the room for the delivery, but wasn't too hurried about it and continued to assure me that my epidural was close at hand.

10 minutes later I could barely breathe and asked for a little narcotic assistance to help me wait calmly for my numb paradise. But before administering the Stadol she gave me a quick exam to see how I'd been progressing.

I will never ever forget the pale, apologetic look on her face when she said "Oh honey, I can't give you this. You're 8 1/2 cm and you're gonna have this baby right now."

Some collection of thoughts and yes, a bit of panic, ran through my mind like this:
"Huh? But I'm just waiting here for my epidural and then I'll have the baby..around noon remember. And i can't have him NOW, my Dr is in surgery, and my mom is at Panera getting breakfast for Marty ..and I'm waiting for my epidural...and we don't have the cameras out, and I'm waiting for my epidural...and HELP!"


Marty called my mom to have her ditch the bagel and hurry! The nurse sprinted out of the room yelling for someone to get Dr. Murphy out of surgery STAT. While she was in the hall I curled in a ball, looked up at Marty and yelled "I'm gonna push him out! He's gonna come out!!" Marty had his moment of panic right about now as he tried to picture himself delivering the baby because had been abandoned with me in the delivery room.

Moments later at about 8:35 Dr Murphy flew into the room with 2 nurses in tow. The next minutes were a blur, but I definitely remember screaming very loudly (as does everyone else in the hospital), chomping down on what I thought was Marty's yellow sweatshirt (see pix below), and as Marty describes it being put in a "time-out" by Dr. Murphy because I was so very loud and decided I didn't want to push after all. But at 8:40 I pushed with all my might and out flew our little boy. Just a fraction of time past it seemed and I was experiencing one of God's miraculous designs for child bearing: the pain is easily, quickly, completely forgotten (and worth it) when a mother's arms are full of the warm, tiny flesh of her child...womb empty, heart overfilled. Dr. Murphy forgave me for my hysteric display of lung capacity. And my husband forgave me for biting his arm -- he even joked about having it tattooed as a keepsake :)
My mom, dad and Zachary arrived to hear Oliver's first cries.
Marty's mom and Jayden wheeled Oliver to my recovery room.
And Jude wheeled me...she was the nurse who cared for Jayden right after her birth.




Uncle Andrew was the first of our siblings to meet Oliver.

Aimee came with flowers for me and chocolates for Jayden and Zachary.

After 2 wonderful nights just me and Ollie I was wheeled back into the reality of our busy life.

Proverbs 19:21

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."