Fall

Very slowly, but surely, we are getting ready for the season. I love the fall... the colors, the scents, the landscapes, the crispness in the air... everything! To top it all off we're having a baby this fall! Could life be any better?

This little world of mine

:: There are now two twin beds set up in the girls room. One toddler bed has been taken apart and will be thrown away (it was a second hand one that wasn't going to last that much longer when we got it) and the other one still sits in the room waiting for a final decision. There are piles of clothes all over the place, a dresser crammed up against a wall and a rocking chair temporarily unaccessible.

:: The girls are having way too much fun with this sleeping together thing. We might still try to push it, though because Adriana didn't come to our bed until 4:00 this morning. So we'll try to give it a few more days. The giggles, laughing, talking, playing, etc., are proving a bit difficult to control right now but we'll try for a while longer.

:: Adriana is quite anxious to "go peep on the toyet". Bless her little heart, she hasn't yet quite figured how to hold it until she reaches the bathroom. More often than not she'll ask and run to the bathroom, take her diaper off and sit on the toilet only to say "It's not working, Mami!" because her diaper is already holding most of it. Tonight, however, she did the same thing and ever faithfully Ben helped her get on the seat. Lo and behold, she went!!! Much to our and her own amazement. The only problem is that after having put her to bed she felt the urge to go, ran off the bed, took off her diaper but couldn't work past her pj bottoms and I already had to change her. I haven't pushed it but if she wants to be off diapers before this baby comes, I'm up for it!!! I'm not letting my hopes get too high, though.

:: Did I mention that my mom has a ticket for November 01? Oh yes! We are having a baby before the season is over!

More little nothings

Browsing through craiglist today I found a set of twin beds/bunk bed for only $50. So a day that was supposed to have Ben gone in the morning, back in the afternoon and then all of us gone to church at night turned into Ben gone all day, rushing back to get to church and a very late (but fun) bed time for the girls.

We knew that we were going to need twin beds soon to replace the toddler beds the girls had been using and also serve as extra guest beds as the holidays approach. Of course, I wasn't expecting us to find a good deal this weekend so I have all the seasonal clothes all over the girls' bedroom floor as I sorted out what stays for next Summer and all that fun stuff (this is my excuse for the lack of pictures tonight). But upon returning from church Ben got to work and set up one of the beds and we put both girls to sleep together. Partly because we only had room and time for one bed, partly because we weren't yet ready for two twin beds and had sheets only for one, and partly because I am hoping that by having a bed partner Adriana will sleep longer in her room and not need to come to bed with me. I would like to wean her from that before the baby comes.

I am thrilled to have the beds and am so grateful for my husband's dedication in accomplishing this tonight. The poor guy, you have to wonder how tough it is to live with me lately when he jumped at the chance to make me happy and, literally, did not rest or eat until at least one bed was put together! I'll show you pictures later!

Tidbits of everything

:: I am very happy to report that Elena's medicine is going down without much of a battle after all. I owe it mostly to my amazing husband, but in the end, she got the whole little chart down and eventhough it still takes her a few minutes to finish it, she is very excited to go draw her happy face on her chart. At the end of the day, she (and her sister) get however many skittles match the happy faces on the chart. So even when the first day a headlock was called for and so much medicine was wasted, since the second dose it has been going down much easier! thank you Lord!

:: Usually I forget how raw this season of pregnancy can be. It is so ridiculous that I have to struggle so much with my hormone loaded flesh and I end up frustrated at being so unsuccessful at the end of the day. I am very short of patience with the girls. I find myself annoyed at the most ridiculous and pathetic things and I'm just getting so tired of it. Sometimes I think the more I sleep the happier humanity will be... but I do know that is very unrealistic and it just ignores a problem. I have to remind myself that this is a circumstance that only raises an awareness of things I need to bring to the cross. I have to learn to submit my will, my flesh and my all to Him. I need to let myself die and Him grow in me. And I ultimately get so discouraged by finding that more often than not I have to repent for the failure instead of celebrating the victory. One day at a time... right?

:: Speaking of hormone loaded behaviors, the nesting instinct keeps hitting hard. My sweet husband has tried to please me as much as our strength will allow since our finances aren't allowing for much right now. Since we first moved to the apartment upstairs the kitchen-hallway linoleum has always made this "sticky" noise. We have attributed the noise to the age of the linoleum, assuming that probably it had become unglued in areas large enough to create an air pocket that led to the noise. That kitchen hadn't been a priority and we've often discussed the several ideas we have for it, but no final decisions have been made, mostly because of finances. This week, however, in an attempt to appease the monster (in me) and not break our finances Ben proposed a happy medium: the counters and linoleum need to be taken out sooner or later, so let's just get to it. He began yesterday and all that old linoleum began to come off. We thought that, if nothing else, we'd at least get rid of the sticky noise. Guess what? It wasn't the linoleum what has made the noise all along... it is the actual boards that the linoleum was glued to! So now we have no linoleum and still the sticky noise! Oh well, at least it looks now like an ongoing project!

Asking advice from the more seasoned moms...

We had to take Elena to the doctor because of a stubborn cough that had lasted for three weeks. She wasn't feeling too poorly, there was no fever, no shortness of breath, or anything else than that stubborn little cough. As it turns out, she has what they call an "asthma event", which is a one time type of thing. Whatever bacteria has caused the cough is causing an asthma like reaction in her lungs and we need to take care of it before it does become serious. She did an amazingly wonderful job at the doctor's office. Maybe because she's been going to each and everyone of my appointments she has gotten used to seeing the checkup being done so often that she was very comfortable with everything the doctor needed to do.

We left the doctor's office to go get her prescriptions. We are so blessed and grateful that she hasn't needed much antibiotics or other medications throughout her short life, but it is still not fun at all when she does need them. We told her what a good job she had done with the doctor and encourage her to keep up the good attitude at the time of taking her medicine. Immediately after getting home I made her a little chart with squares for each time she needs to take medicine every day. I made it in colors and drew little flowers on it and then we explained that each time she took her medicine without a fuss she'd get a happy face in the square and at the end of the day she'd get as many "skittles" as happy faces she'd got.

Long story short, everything was going great until the first 2 mls of antibiotic were in my hand ready to give to her. She began crying, covering her mouth with both hands and screaming that she didn't want candy anyway. A couple hours later, two doses of antibiotics lost, serious discipline and correction sessions and a very early nap time so as to allow us all to calm down I was at a loss. We have to do this three times for the next five days... I don't want to bribe her but I don't want to fight her every single time. How do we do this? Any words of wisdom out there?

Wordless season...

These aren´t the best of pictures, but then again, who can resist Elena´s genuinely excited face in pointing at the baby!
...and then posing in her usual quirky way! BTW, 31 weeks along.

The Awaited Video

More on the marathon

We are still making our way home, so pictures and video will have to wait until we get there. However, I can tell you more about the whole thing. The weather was really unbelievably hot and humid, if you read the article you'll see it eventually led to a premature halting of the race. However, although my husband did have to be checked by the medical personnel and slow his pace down to a walk, he had already passed the mile marker where racers were stopped and managed to finish.

He took off to a very good paced start and by two hours into the race he had covered a bit over half the distance. At some point, the heat did take the best of him and forced him to stop for about 20 minutes in an ambulance while they made sure he could keep up the race. This was his first marathon ever, he had every right to give it up because the weather and humidity really took a toll on every one racing, however, he told the medical staff he'd go to the finish line even if he had to walk. I couldn't be prouder of him.

A patrol lady was kind enough to lend him her phone so he could tell us he was way behind his goal schedule so we wouldn't grow weary or concerned when we didn't see him come within the hour. As an answer to prayer, she stayed with him on her bicycle the remainder of the race and kept a watch over him. Derek, Grace and myself began to walk into the track hoping to find him and encourage him to the end. Derek and Grace could run, so they did, I paced myself in a very slow walk and as I did I prayed... I was only walking and the heat and humidity were so unbearable, I couldn't imagine what he was facing.

Parked at the 1/2 mile marker before the finish line I got a hold of the lady that was riding with Ben and when I realized that Derek and Grace were about to meet them and that they were still about 3 miles from the finish line I began my walk back to Heidi, Susi and the children. We waited and prayed.

I can't begin to describe to you what it felt like to see him turning that corner towards the finish line. The culmination of so many months of preparation, of such intense hours of his body's struggling against the elements, of so many prayers, all wrapped up in these last few minutes of adrenaline. There weren't many spectators at that point, but it wouldn't really have mattered because everyone around us disappeared... it was my man, my hero, running towards his goal. This was his moment and he was all that mattered. Even the girls forgot the acorns they had been piling and proudly stood next to me to cheer him. In a mixture of tears and laughter we ran with him for a few seconds and then got split by the "tunnel" he had to go through for the official timing. We met him at the end and we were all on the ground celebrating his victory.

It wasn't until this morning that we found out that the race had come to an official stop barely a few minutes after Ben crossed the 20 mile marker, that so many runners had to be rushed to the emergency room and so many others did drop out of the race. That only added to our pride in his finishing his very first marathon, strong. He wasn't necessarily stronger than he'd been that morning, but in his spirit, he is a much stronger man than he was a year ago, when he made the decision of running a marathon.

Pardon the rambling, I just wanted to write down what I could while the feelings were still fresh.

Marathons

**UPDATE 3:00 P.M.**

We are home (Derek and Heidi's)! It was long, it was hard, but he did it!!! I couldn't be prouder!!!

*********************

I guess I have to say I don't like marathons. Don't get me wrong, but it is just too nerve-wrecking to be in the dark as to where he is and what he is doing. This morning, he got up at 4 a.m. to begin getting ready. I got up about an hour later to sit with him for a while... that is while he walked around because he wasn't sitting. We took a couple pictures and off he went.

I know the race began at 7.30 a.m. it is now 9.45 a.m. and I have absolutely no clue as to where he is and how he is feeling. Nor do I have a way to find out. Unless I was following the route alongside him (which is obviously against the rules), I have only to sit here and wait.

In a few minutes we'll be off to church. We'll sit through worship and then we'll leave to catch him at the end of the marathon. We have no idea of whether there will be a place to park close enough to the finish line or not... so many unknowns... I don't like it.

I just pray he is doing well and keeping his pace and his strength...

Sigh...

I feel like it's so hard to catch my breath. This third trimester is really weighing on me more than the previous times. I really have to remind myself that it is only a season and my energy will eventually be back and the house will be back in some kind of order. I have an amazing husband who has pretty much taken over the laundry for me and two little girls who are eager to help (even when they seem to make more of a mess, bless their dear hearts!).

We are excitedly preparing for Ben's marathon this Sunday. Unbelievably it is here already. He has prepared so much and it has been such a fruitful process for him and us in many more ways than we imagined. I am nervous as I know that this is something he has to do on his own. We drop him off at the beginning and there's not even telling if we'll be able to see him at any point through the race but at the very end... Now, if you know me, you'd know that I'd want to run it next to him making sure he has water and encouragement when he needs it, but that is not how marathons work. I'll tell you all about it when we get back! Keep him in prayer please, he'll be running on Sunday morning.

In the meantime, off I go to prepare for our church's 30th anniversary tonight!

Instant belated birthday party!

An outing to Sacandaga lake with the Moores afforded for the last picnic of the season, an instant belated birthday party for Adriana and an awesome closing of the Summer!

Little girls enjoying the day.

Adriana got to blow out the candles on a last minute made chocolate cake. Her original party had to be canceled due to her falling sick with some tummy bug.

The beach was a beautiful scenery for the blowing of her candles.

and the children absolutely loved wearing their bathing suits and getting kissed by the sun one last time before we move on to the next season.

Today has been devoted to some serious furniture moving as I feel pressed by the nesting instinct to change my surroundings!