I managed to meet my goal of finishing Hannah’s bean bag chair (for her birthday) this week.  Yes, it was just a few minutes before mid-night, but I did get it finished.

Alright, the cat’s eyes are rather bizarre, but by the time Andrew told me that I should have done them differently, it was too late.  I’m thinking Hannah will like this anyway.  Also, I did not want a white cat.  However, the only fur I could find was black, dark chocolate brown, and leopard spotted.  I really wanted a nice gray.  My theory is this white cat will soon be gray anyway!  Also, Andrew calls this cat “Kitten Bin Laden” because he says the ball of yarn looks like a bomb (with the string as a fuse).  Sigh.  The ball of yarn part is stuffed with poly-fill so it is puffy.  I don’t have the bean bag filled yet.  I have to go pick up the packing peanuts sometime this week before Thursday.  (Does anybody know where I can get some?  The place I normally get them had just given away a whole bunch to someone else, and they might not have very many for me yet.  I plan to just use what they have, and add more as they get more.  It takes about 5 trash bags of them to fill a beanbag chair.)

Here are the patient people who have been eating
lots of leftovers and quick foods, and living with the
laundry in baskets and the house in a wreck while
I sew.  Andrew even bathed the kids and washed
the dishes for me this evening!

…of not having a TV are incalculable.  I have never missed the TV, I’ve never wanted one, and that is something that we agreed not to have (at least for the present) before we got married.  We’re still in the present and we haven’t missed it, don’t want it, and still don’t have one.  I can’t imagine that it could add a single element of quality to our lives.  I’ve lived all my life without a TV (my parents finally got a TV and video player when I was about 20 years old so my sister and I could do a Spanish video course), and I find them to be a nuisance most of the time.  (I do enjoy good videos/DVD’s and so on, but I have a pretty narrow range of those that I like.)  And, maybe most importantly, I am so busy, and there are so many things that I want to do, when would I ever have time to watch TV?  My theory has always been, why would I want to watch life being lived by someone else (on TV)?  I want to live it myself.

And here is a glimpse into the rich lives of our kids without TV.

This morning, Paul & Hannah were having a little trouble finding their equilibrium (meaning they were scrapping, fussing, whining and crying).  I was cooking a lunch because we had invited the guys to eat with us, so I couldn’t read books and do school with them like we do most mornings.  After they settled down and things were quiet and calm, I started one of their children’s songs CD’s.  Hannah got her doll baby and stood at the window watching snowflakes fall and listening to the music.  I brought her a little chair to sit on.  Soon, Paul brought a stool and joined her.  They both sat there quietly and listened to the music and watched the snow fall for at least one time through the CD. (Now, would they have done that if they were used to the flashing, fast-picture-changing, headache-inducing streaming of TV?)

Yes, I know I have been very slow in coming with these, but I am still planning to do 28 of these Valentine posts!  Hang in there with me!

One of the things I am really appreciating about my husband is that he is doing nearly all of the painting in the closets of our addition.  (I say nearly all because my sister Gail came and painted one morning, and Andrew’s brother did a little bit one evening also.)  And it’s not easy painting–lots of shelves, tight places, very high shelves and very low shelves.   And the paint is sticky and gets on his skin, his clothes, and in his hair (he’s not graying–he’s whiting!).  On top of that, he doesn’t even like to paint!  Neither to do I, but I’m the one that’s pregnant.  When it was time to paint the closets (we opted to paint them ourselves to try to help out our budget), Andrew insisted it might be harmful to our baby for me to paint while pregnant and that I should call the OB doctor and find out.  Well, ha!  They said to have the area well-ventilated with the windows open and only paint for an hour at a time and then take a break.  Fat chance of all that, especially when it was about 10 degrees outside!

Andrew has plodded away at the painting (and we’re not done yet) on the weekends and is working at proving my fears of having unpainted closets wrong.  And, he hasn’t even complained about it!

Thanks for all your hard work, Andrew!

You’ll probably be able to tell that I actually took notes in the past week so I wouldn’t forget the content for this post.  It’s so amazing what our kids say!

Paul and Hannah were writing and coloring one day.  Paul drew a big oval on his paper and wrote a jaggy line through the middle of it (it looked like V-fib, actually, if you know that that looks like).  He told me what it was, “A funny letter U with a lot of languages in.”  I asked him what languages were.  Paul said, “Languages are letters that spell things.”  At least he has the word in the right general category.  I think that is a new word in his vocabulary.

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Paul and Hannah were watching The Jungle Book one evening.  In the beginning, Mowgli is a little baby and crying in the basket.  Hannah stated, “That’s Shere Khan’s baby.”  Hmmmmmm…

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We’ve been reading a lot about Moses, and of course that includes when he was a baby.  I asked Paul, “Who pulled Moses from the river?”

Paul confidently answered, “Moses’ wife!”

I think he has some things to learn about relationships and age.

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Hannah bumped her head and was crying while I was fixing supper one evening.  I asked, “Where did you hit your head?” and was about to ask if she wanted me to kiss it.

Hannah immediately replied (through tears and crying), “On the ceiling!”

(She did very soon correct herself and say she bumped her head on the counter, but her first answer was so funny!)

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While I was bathing Paul and Hannah recently, Paul blurted out, “My skin is staying on!”
And we are so glad, my observant son Paul!

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The other evening, Andrew and I were sharing a hug at the kitchen sink and Hannah came running up saying over and over again, “I want to love Daddy too!  I want to love Daddy too!”  So we lifted her up and had a 3-way hug.

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Last evening Andrew went down in the basement to search for something.  Hannah saw him going down there and stood at the top of the steps repeating, “Where you going?  Where you going?” multiple times.  (I don’t think he could hear her.)  Finally she said, “Answer Hannah!”  Ahhhh…I wonder where she learned that from?

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This morning when I was getting Hannah dressed, she said, “I want to love you!  I want to love you!” and she came over and gave me a hug.  That was really special!

And now for some pictures of the tiny talkers.

Hammering just like the men.

Hannah has learned how to draw circles & lines!

It’s not that cold in our house!  He was just playing
with gloves on.

Andrew says Hannah really looks like a Vogan
in this picture.

Isn’t Liberace the one who played the
piano with gloves on?  Hmmm…did
he sit on a yellow chair balanced on
the piano bench too?

Paul is going to bed with a cat and dog
in the cradle right beside his bed (and he
insisted that I put covers on them so
they would stay warm).  Is he going to
be a great parent someday or what?

Well, that’s all for right now folks!  See you next time!

Yesterday evening, as I was sewing a zipper in Paul’s special blue car pajamas, I thought about that these are some of the richest years of our lives.  Paul and Hannah at that time were both sitting on the piano bench, both playing the piano, and both singing.  They were having the time of their lives playing so nicely in the living room while I ripped out the old zipper and sewed in the new one (all of which took about an hour).  They were so happy!

Earlier in the day (or else it was another day entirely) they were both out in the 8′ wide hallway of our (unfinished) new addition, and they were holding hands and facing each other and “dancing” all around.  It largely amounted to hopping around as they held hands and burned off energy.  It was neat to watch.

I just rolled through a few pictures, and here are some that show more of our rich, abundant life.

One day, Paul told me that Hannah didn’t know her letters.  It happened to be the day I was very busy baking and preparing for my mom’s birthday supper.  So, I suggested to him that he could teach Hannah her letters.  They both willingly worked at it for a while.  He would hold up a big letter and ask her what it was.  She would say a letter name, but it would be the wrong one.  Paul would correct her and then ask her the sound of it.  When she made the wrong sound, he would tell her the correct sound, and she would repeat it.  Later in that day, they both sat on rugs in the dining room and he “read” books to her (saying the words from memory).  That was so sweet!  They were happy that day, and adorable.

I don’t know what’s happening here, but this is
Paul and his Uncle Luke.

This is Paul and Hannah playing on the shelves
in a closet of our new rooms.

Hannah enriches are lives by simply
being our beautiful Hannah!

Hannah always finds a way.  She is quite
accomplished at playing in the water/
washing her hands at the bathroom
sink.  She stands on a stool in order to
step up and grip the knobs of the bath-
room vanity cupboards with her little
toes so she can reach the water spigot.

In the evenings and on the weekends when the
men are not here working on the rooms, Hannah
and Paul enjoy riding bikes and running around
in the new rooms.

Right now our life-enriching, abundant-living little people are in bed enjoying abundant sleep–complete with a blankie and bear swap.  It was Paul’s idea.  He is sleeping with Hannah’s teddy bear and blankies, and Hannah is sleeping with Paul’s teddy bear and blankies.  They both seemed to like the idea, especially Paul.  This swap is a first.

I was giving Hannah and Paul their baths and Hannah bumped her arm.  I could tell it hurt, but she was being a big girl and not crying.  I asked her if she had a bumpie on her arm.  I was going to follow that with and offer to kiss it, but before I could continue she said,

“Maybe Jesus make it all better.”  And she went on playing.  Yes I think Jesus can make bumpies better a lot more than kisses can!

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Paul was pretending to be blind one evening as I was putting him to bed.  He said he was like Bartimaeus.  I feel so rewarded when our kids come up with references to Bible stories we’ve read, and that was one we hadn’t read for a while.  The stuff is going into the memory banks!

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My sister-in-law and her family were coming and bringing supper on Saturday evening.  She was bringing a casserole, and I told Paul & Hannah that as they started getting hungry close to supper time.  Then, Andrew asked Paul,

“What’s a casserole?”

Paul:  “It’s a kind of cake.”

Hannah:  “Wait until New Year’s!”  (That’s what we tell them when they want something special, like a new toy, and that’s what they also tell each other when they talk about things they want.)

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Last evening, after giving the kids baths, they were playing in the living room.  Out of the blue, Paul stated,

“Hannah has leprosy.”

Me:  “What?”

Paul:  “Hannah has leprosy.”

Me:  “No, Hannah doesn’t have leprosy.”

Paul (evidently trying again):  “Hannah has a skin disease.”

Me:  “No, Hannah doesn’t have a skin disease.”

Paul (not giving up):  “Hannah has bumpies.”

Me:  “Yes, Hannah does have a bumpie.”  So, he was trying to turn the fading scratch on her upper lip into leprosy?  I guess that’s what we get for explaining to them that leprosy is a skin disease that is bumpies all over your skin.

And here are some pictures of the Tiny Talkers eating bananas like Mowgli in The Jungle Book movie.  BTW, Paul goes around singing I’m the King of the Swingers and The Bare Necessities of Life. For the former, he is usually leaping and flying around on the couch while he sings it.  We have some video footage of it!

Isn’t Hannah as cute as can be?
In some of the pictures you can
see her “leprous” scratch.

Here’s the King of the Swingers, VIP,
(aka Paul).

Doesn’t he have a great smile?  I just
wish the shadow wasn’t there.

Our kids go bananas over bananas!  (I think that’s because I don’t often buy them.)  I got them some bananas instead of Valentine’s candy (and I got Andrew some apples).

My husband is still the greatest, even though I am about 15 days behind on my Valentine posts (it might take me a few months to get them all done!).

Today, even though I didn’t remember it, Andrew remembered that today is the 7th anniversary of our engagement.  And, he bought me a dozen long-stemmed roses!  Isn’t that really nice?  Not only that, but he also got me one of my favorite subs from Subway.  He said he didn’t know which one I would like better.  That’s about right–I like them both about the same.  I think he loves me!

The roses on a shelf that Andrew
painted in his new office closet.

The roses on a shelf in our new (blue–
can you tell?) bathroom.  Andrew
painted these shelves too.

…about why it’s been so long since I’ve posted here (and it will likely be a little while longer).
I was pouring every energy into working on Hannah’s bean-bag chair for her birthday that is so fast-approaching (March 11th).

Then, in the middle of that rush, we are at a point with our addition that we can do some of the work to help out on our budget.  And I thought I could barely find time to work on the bean-bag chair!!!!  This is stretching me beyond all limits, but hopefully we can pull through, get some sanding, nail-h0le-filling, and painting done (before I die of exhaustion), and then, I will catch my breath and try to sew on the bean-bag chair like mad.  Meanwhile, we may be eating lots of hamburgers and hotdogs and whatever food I have stashed in the freezer.  And, the blog is going to have to wait, as much as I don’t like putting it on hold.

Also, for those of you who didn’t get the significance of this post, it was a sneaky way to announce that our new baby is due to arrive in August (you’d have to remember pictures from before Paul was born to know the background of this that makes this picture capable of bearing such a message).  Yes, that means we’re expecting a baby (not adopting, or getting a goat, or anything like that).  Hannah is very excited about it and wants to hold the new baby.  We are all excited about it.  I am doing fine, have been doing fine, and so on, in general.  I can tell I’ve got less energy and want to sleep  more.  I think I’m pulled down about 3 gears.  I have skin problems like I’ve never had before, whether that’s due to the pregnancy or just the way it is (these started a year ago, it’s just worse now), who knows.  And, because the OB doctors like pregnant women’s blood sugars to be lower than when they’re not pregnant, I’m back on my diabetic diet.  (Mine are always just a little high, my HBA1C was 6.5.  They want it under 6.)  That seems to be doing the trick for now, and I don’t need to take any insulin at this point.  So, I think things are going great at this point, and we hope and pray God keeps it that way.

So, be patient, and hopefully in a few days or a week, I’ll be back to more regular posting here.

I love our Hannah more than anyone ever loved a daughter, I think.  She makes me so proud!  Not to mention she’s so cute it’s nearly unbearable.  And she’s got brains.  She’s as smart as a whip, and she doesn’t always use her sharp mind to think up how to pester Paul.  She figures out some really neat stuff to do, as some of the following pictures testify.

The latest thing that makes me so tickled with our cute, smart Hannah is that she is potty-trained!  And that’s at 1 month shy of being 2 years old.  She has so impressed me.  A little while ago, I decided it was time to get serious about potty-training her.  (She’s been bowel-trained for a long time, starting about when she was 9 mo. old, with one period of relapse in there when she was about a year old, I believe.  But after that, no problem, she always told me when she had to go.)  Through December and the holidays, at times she would tell me “potty-potty” when she had to pee, but it wasn’t every time.  So, after the holiday hustle and bustle, I started taking her to the potty about every hour.  She usually stayed dry between times, and she would even tell me when she had to go.  That lasted about 2 weeks.  I was using the Pull-Ups training pants.  Then, she quit telling me when she had to go.  When I would take her, she nearly always had at least a little wetness in her paper underwear.  It was getting frustrating.  I wondered if she just wasn’t ready for this, and considered going back to diapers.  However, with Paul, I never went backwards if he showed some new ability in potty-training, and I was still wondering what had happened since she had been staying dry, telling me when she had to go, etc.

A couple days ago, I was getting them ready for baths.  I always have Hannah sit on the potty when I draw the water, or inevitably we end up with a puddle on the floor.  I had her sit on the potty.  I drew the water.  Then, she got off the potty and was walking around in the bathroom.  In a little bit, she said, “Oh no!”  There was a puddle on the floor.  She was surprised and I think a little horrified at what she had done.  I made a big deal over that it was a terrible mess, and asked her where she should put her pee-pee.  “In the potty,” she said.  We proceeded with the bath.

After the bath, I got Hannah out and put on her shirts.  I left her to roam the bathroom like that because Paul was crying that he was cold.  I was dressing Paul when Hannah voluntarily walked over to the little potty, sat down, and peed in it!  I was so thrilled!  I lavished on the praise and she got two miniature marshmallow treats (our potty treats).  I realized that she did indeed know when she needed to go, and she knew how to put it in the potty.  Ummmm-hmmmm.

The next day, I didn’t put any underwear on her whatsoever, just a pair of sweatpants.  I explained to her that she didn’t have on any underwear, and if she pee-peed it would run down her legs and onto the floor and make a terrible mess.  That was yesterday (Wednesday).  I was slightly nervous that I might have puddles all over the floor, on the carpet, and go through many pairs of sweat pants.  I reasoned that if we kept having puddles after several days, I would quit the program.  You  know what?  She hasn’t had a single accident.  She always tells me when she has to go, and she gets right into the bathroom and puts it in the potty.  She even didn’t wet at all during her 3-hour nap this afternoon.  I am so happy!  And she loves going to the potty too.

I think we hit the nail on the head this time.  I believe she just got lazy with the Pull-Ups, and didn’t bother to tell me when she needed the bathroom.  Now, when she knows there will be a huge problem if she doesn’t get there, she takes the time to tell me and use the bathroom.  Our next step is to get her some big-girl cloth panties.  (I would put some on her now, but I don’t have any.)  We’re going to try to find some pretty ones for her.

Hannah and her great-grandma

Hannah loves to put on clothes–
and she always puts both legs in the
same leg-hole.  I think she looks like
a mermaid!

One day when I didn’t see or hear Hannah
I found this.

And another such time, this (She was rocking her
bear and no less than 4 doll babies!  Is she a born
nursery-worker, or what!).

Looking out the window of one of the new,
unfinished rooms.

Frequently, Paul will cover up Hannah with
one of her blankies.

Another day when I didn’t see or hear her, this is
what I found.  She likes to be up high.

Again, Paul had covered her up, and I’m sure he
surrounded her with some of his favorite toys,
including the brown coconut that he is enjoying
(just like in the Mowgli movie) until I make it
into a cake tomorrow.

My Valentine doesn’t think I’ll be able to keep this up all month.  He said soon I will have to start complaining about him.  Well, I sure hope I don’t do that!

One of the things I really like about my husband is his willingness to eat a lot of different foods that I cook.  He likes good ol’ meat, potatoes, and vegetable; stir-fries, stews, Moroccan Beef with Couscous, Asian foods, Italian foods, soups, sandwiches, salads, eggs and his all-time very favorite–cold cereal.  He even willingly eats oatmeal.  He isn’t a picky eater, and he does eat leftovers.  I don’t have to make something entirely new and fresh each meal or else risk him running to Hardee’s.  When I try a new recipe, he’s very willing to try it and we both evaluate it and decide if we ever want to make it again.

Andrew is willing to eat a lot of things, and he has made my life pretty easy in the cooking department by telling me what he won’t eat.  That is zucchini or squash of any kind (no matter what it’s in or how well it might be disguised–and he has asked me not to “trick” him by hiding it in things.  I have promised never to do that, and so he trusts my cooking.), cream cheese (except there is one casserole that he likes that has it in–and he eats it with full knowledge of the cream cheese in it), and aged food.  If something is out of date, or starting to mold, or if it’s leftovers that have been in the refrigerator a week, they are to hit the trail, not the plate.  So, I just don’t keep more leftovers in the refrigerator than we’ll eat in a few days (if I have more, I move them to the freezer).  If I really want to make a stir-fry with zucchini or squash in, I know I’ll get to eat all of the zucchini and squash, and that’s o.k.  And, since I love cream cheese, I use it for myself, but I don’t make dishes for him with them in.  Pretty much everything else, he is willing to eat.  Some things are raving favorites, and some things are just standard fare.  We like to have our raving favorites often, but sometimes we just have some solid standard fare, and he’s content with that too.

Along the cooking line, Andrew has done an excellent job of teaching me how to make good pizza and good lasagna.  Soon after we were married, he showed me how to make pizza.  Not only is it the toppings (sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms, black olives, sauce, and cheese), but you have to layer them just right.  The brown and non-colorful things go under the cheese, and the pretty things (red pepperoni, green peppers, and black olives) go on top the cheese.  Another thing that Andrew says makes a difference is sprinkling the dough with Parmesan cheese before putting on any of the toppings.   The sauce is another important ingredient.  I had been having him taste each batch of sauce to tell me when it was right as I added a little of this and that.  Finally, I wrote down the ingredients and amounts of how he liked it, and I’ve been using that recipe to can up lots of pizza sauce in the summers.  And we have excellent pizza around here!  For the lasagna, the biggest difference he made to improve it (besides marrying me so we could eat it together!) was to have me add mushrooms and black olives to my existing lasagna recipe (which is one from my Grandmother).  We have some really good lasagna around here too.

Andrew loves pizza very, very much.  I think I could serve it 4-5 times a week and he’d be happy.  He often helps me make it when I am making a turn of pizzas (usually 8 pizzas–to stock our freezer), helping put on the toppings, which can be time-consuming.

I’m really happy I married a man who likes lots of different and good foods.

This is Andrew making pizza back in the summer
of 2006.  Doesn’t he look impressive?