Global Warming my butt!

**the following is NOT a rant against the Global Warming Situation.
So I just thought that I should point out that it is nearly July and we have our windows open. They have been for over two weeks solid. Can anyone tell me when it has been this beautiful in Indiana in June? I am NOT complaining. It is awesome!!! Yay for Sunshine and low humidity!!! Thank you God for this beautiful weather.

Reason Number 9764

...that I love my new floors. Max threw up today, and clean up involved paper towels!

In other less disgusting news...
Another great weekend with the Mills Family. Friday, Everette took off work at 3:30 and we went swimming with my sister-in-law and my nieces and nephew. It was a great time and Jonathan lasted in the pool the whole time. Minus a snack break. He made it two hours and more! We finished off the evening with a cookout at our house. Saturday we had a lazy morning, Everette installed a garage door opener in the third car port. Because, after a year we finally figured out the best garage set up so that Everette can get his enourmous truck in the garage!! At 4 we left for the Taste of Tippecanoe, by brother's band, SmallTown Heroes played on the Americana stage. My parents took Jonathan home, and Everette and I had a great evening out alone, we stayed until after the fireworks. Sunday was relaxing around the house with a trip to Menards and Sonic for a Blue Powerade Slush.
So my camera has been out of commission for a while (i.e. downstairs) but I have some pictures from our last few days of swim lessons-with daddy and a few from the Taste
My favorite thing that Everette does with Jonathan is put him on his stomach and swim around with him. Jonathan hangs on and kicks his little legs and Everette looks like a sea otter. Very Adorable
We worked on floating with Daddy! It is not natural to just lay your head back in the water.

I am not sure who had more fun Daddy or Jonathan!

Jonathan totally doesn't mind being dunked. I wouldn't say he loves it but it doesn't bother him at all. He just keeps swimming and splashing!


I forgot Jonathan's hat when we went to the Taste, I also didn't bring sunscreen-it's a wonder they let me parent!?! Thankfully gramps had a hat he could borrow. Also a great picture of Gramps!


Jonathan is sitting here wathing STH play. He also hated the loud music. He gets that from his Dad. I am glad we decided not to keep him for the fireworks.
Too much Taste!

Blackout

Our power went out about Noon today. It was kind of pleasant. The windows were already open it was warm but not humid and as always there was a breeze. We basically live on a prairie (ok I am trying to "glam" up an old cornfield) so it is almost always windy. It was out for about an hour and a half. There are varying stories as to the reason for the outage flying around the neighborhood. When Everette called to report it (he was the first--imagine that!) they seemed surprised, but later other neighbors in a dither told us that they were told that it was planned and that we received a phone call as well as a report on the news, radio and newspaper. We consider ourselves fairly informed, but had heard nothing. No one else on our street had heard about it either.
No matter the reason, Everette couldn't work so we lounged in bed for a while (Jonathan was sleeping). Let me aside. I LOVE laying in my bed with the windows open and a cool breeze blowing in the middle of the day. It reminds me of when I was growing up and I used to lay in my parents bed and watch TV, and often take a nap after an afternoon at the pool. Big fluffy pillows and a cool sheet. Almost heaven.
Ok so it was lunchtime and I had delicious stir fry leftover for lunch (yes I am a rebel and I reheat my bacteria ridden rice-so far I have survived). But we had no power, a.k.a no microwave, no stove, no toaster oven (my own personal hell). Actually only a limited supply of water-which explains why I have yet to take a shower today. So I thought we would be stuck with PB&J. But Everette had a great idea of taking the leftovers and putting aluminum foil in his new (for Father's Day) Grill basket and reheating them on the grill. So we all enjoyed a pleasant lunch on the back deck. played on the grass and Everette munched on some sugar snap peas growing in our garden. We contemplated going swimming but unfortunately the power came back on. Bummer.
It's funny how so many people were in a tizzy without power around us; and while I acknowledge that a reliable power supply is essential for Everette to work from home, I secretly was thrilled when it went out. It is like a freak snowstorm when you have no choice but to stop what you are doing and enjoy yourself. It was a wonderful afternoon treat, topped off with a trip to Sonic for a powerade slush and a cherry limeade.

update

Today at dinner we were able to get the sippy cup into the mouth without using force. It now seems like a game, he will put it in, then pull it out and then smack his lips with the tiny bit of juice that dribbled out! He is the cutest little booger.

Cup of Poison

Jonathan is an amazing eater. Once we switched to formula, he now eats like a champ. The transition to cereal and other solid foods was super easy. He got the hang of the spoon and to this day has not met a food he doesn't like. I mean we have tried a lot... asparagus, red pepper (not his favorite, but he still gobbled it up), zucchini, sweet potato, blue berries, banana, Cheerios, Sweet Potato stars, etc. He like every other baby, likes to explore things with his mouth. He puts everything he can in there. So imagine my surprise when he refuses, I mean arched-back-mouth-clamped-shut-face-turned-flat-out refuses to put the sippy cup in his mouth. I have tried formula, water, juice. I've tried different types of sippy cups. Nothing works. He won't even open his mouth to get it in to see what it tastes like. You would think I was trying to poison him! I am not necessarily worried, I am sure we will conquer this eventually, it hasn't been that long really. I just find it amusing that this is our road block. I never would have thought the sippy cup would be so rejected. Oh well!

Sometimes He Still Surprises me

So after almost five years of marriage, I like to think that I have Everette pretty much figured out. Maybe not always why he does what he does, but at least when and how. I know, pretty arrogant of me. Pretty stupid too, I mean considering that I have known myself for 26 years and I still don't have that one figured out. Amazing that I could so confidently break down one man into a multiple choice of responses. So here's what happened. First of all, I am so learning to appreciate the weekends. Especially as of late, because they haven't been booked solid. Saturday, Everette and his dad assembled the deck rail in the rain. I know, doesn't that sound like fun?! We then went to a wedding reception in the afternoon. Sunday was marvelous. The weather was beautiful. After church, we went outside to finish the deck, and then Jonathan woke up so we filled up the kiddie pool and we all had a GREAT Time! In fact I think he would have stayed in there forever, if I hadn't dragged him out because of the sun. Then he played in the shade, in his little red wagon, while I planted flowers. He had a great time. It was quite a fabulous day. Now to the point. It was getting late and Jonathan was reaching his limit, of course I was only half done with planting the flowers, totally grimy and not really at a good stopping point at all. Everette had totally emptied our garage (he can now park his truck in the garage) and was in the process of reorganizing. However he was not nearly as dirty as I was. So I trucked the little red wagon, with Jonathan in tow around to the front of the house. I was pretty sure that I would have to "convince" Everette that he needed to give Jonathan a bath (I was hoping to avoid that since our pool adventure-but the wind blew dirt and peat all over him and ground it in to his sweaty skin) and put him to bed, since he was less dirty. I was prepared for a small battle of wills. I knew that I had a good case, but I was certain that he would be grumpy at having to stop what he was doing to put Jonathan to bed.
To my surprise he simply said ok. I could tell that he wasn't happy about stopping, but it was clear that he was definitely in "daddy" mode. All of my arguments I had formulated in my mind were unnecessary. I didn't have to remind him that Jonathan was his son too, and he had some child rearing responsibility too even when it isn't convenient. None of that. He stopped what he was doing and he took him in and put him to bed, and I was able to finish planting the flowers.
Surprise!
The evening finished with Everette and I eating Chinese on our newly finished back deck in the cool of the evening. That will give you an idea of how late we ate, considering it is still bright daylight at 8:30 PM.

Swimming!!!

So my mom went with me to Jonathan's swim lessons, that was wonderful. Swimming lessons are another item added to my growing list as to why God gave children two parents. But another bonus is that she was able to take some actions shots. Today was a great day, because Jonathan was really into it. The previous two days he was more fascinated with the jillions of things that were going on around him. He could have cared less if he was in the water. Today he was kicking and splashing, he laid on his back, he went under the water a bunch of times. He was talking and making all sorts of noises. He is the only boy in the class. Hopefully daddy can come Thursday or Friday.

He's an expert kicker!!

Eventually he even laid his head back and relaxed his feet!


He was great at dunking, he held his breath everytime, and he never choked, he did always come up with eyes wide!

Hand Check!

So I have learned the importance of the hand check. If your baby has recently learned to eat cheerios or Gerber Sweet Potato Puffs all by himself (Jonathan's Latest accomplishment), it is important that you check his hands when you lift him out of the high chair. If you don't common sense would tell you that what ever may be in his hand (a partially dissolved sweet potato star) would find itself mangled and matted in your hair when you pick him up and he naturally grabs it.

Yes, I learned this the hard way!

I think my brain is falling out

So I know that I have always been a little bit scatterbrained, but here is something new I am dealing with in my life. I have been doing my laundry probably since Jr high, or at least since high school. In high school my rule of thumb was, if it came out of the drawer or off the hanger or sat on my floor clean until I had to clean my room it was dirty and needed to be washed. You can imagine my mother not so willing to clean my clean clothes. Up until now I have had very little problem with doing laundry. Two or three (or four) times now I have filled the washing machine with clothes, soap and water, and then walked away. WITHOUT CLOSING THE LID. Who does that. Imagine my surprise when I come into the laundry room with an armload of clothes to see a the washer full of water and well soaked laundry. I find this incredibly annoying. I am annoyed by the fact that my laundry schedule is waylaid and I am annoyed at myself for leaving the lid up. I am beginning to understand what happens to your brain after you have a kid.

New Blog

I just returned from a Women's Leadership Conference with my church. It was very interesting. I went to several sessions about ministering to women in crisis. Taught by a woman who opened one of the first Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the nation. It was awesome. Crisis Pregnancy is something I have been interested in for a long time. I am only just now trying to figure out what God wants me to do about it (I should probably start by filling out the volunteer form for LifeCare). Anyway, this woman was working writing a book about "grey" issues of being a Christian woman. She is gathering her research by blogging. It is way interesting, and I have already posted twice.
I encourage you ladies to check it out.
THe title is....
Are Pantylines signs of Godliness: Should Christian Women wear thongs?


On another note... I am truly thankful for Everette. I am thankful for his confidence and unyielding determination. These two traits in particular made it incredibly easy to leave this weekend. As I talk to other women, I realize how fortunate I am. When I left, all I had to do was to make sure that there were clean clothes, diapers, and food for Jonathan. I didn't have to write any instructions, lay out any clothes, make any food ahead of time, describe the bedtime routine. I never once got a phone call about how something is done, or what to do in a situation. Everette handled everything beautifully. I knew he would, but it was nice not to have to stress to make sure EVERY little detail is tended to. Other women were amazed that Everette was even taking care of him alone. Many talked how they would have never been able to leave their husbands with their small children. I did have to wonder how much of that was because of their husbands, or their own desire to control and not let go of things. At any rate, it am grateful, for the weekend away that wasn't so much prep work that it seemed hardly worth it.