I tell you, he's at it again. Every time you think he's done with his sneaky tricks, he discovers a new sneaky trick! I recently wrote about the eldest's escape tactics, and now he's adding a dose of nursery mayhem.
We turned the back of the cribs to the front so they would be too high for him to climb over since he'd mastered the climbing out of the crib technique. Then we pushed all the cribs together and then pushed his up against the wall ensuring his confinement. Problem solved, right? Surely he won't escape now? But we've only presented him with an interesting challenge. So we've created the Bed Bandit. The Moonlighting Man. The Slippery Sleepthief.
He crawls over the side of his crib into the little lady's bed. After sufficient disruption, he'll keep going onto the little man's crib. And then back the way he came. He started off harmlessly. A foray into her crib next to his where he cuddled up & nabbed a pacifier. But now it's a sport. How many cribs can he leap in a single bound? What's his fastest time from one end of the row of cribs and back? Last night, when I left him in the little lady's crib and moved her into his crib, moments later I found him wrestling his sleeping younger brother. Poor little baby, he was exhausted & suddenly the Bed Bandit lands on his back. I called Bray one night last week when I'd be home late and he said, "Well, he's already made the rounds. I went in and he'd gone from his crib, through hers, to the baby's, and when I came back 10 minutes later, he was back in his crib." We both cracked up, but then when I checked on him after arriving home, he was BACK in the baby's crib, and they were sleeping head-to-toe.
What mayhem is next? I shudder to think.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
Topless
"Oh my gosh, I can not believe this - I am leaving!"
Our anniversary trip was almost without blemish. The one blot on the whole celebration was an incident Friday night. A woman and her boyfriend walked into a piano bar and were seated at the table next to us. She had a signficantly medically enhanced chest and a little black dress that barely covered her top or bottom. She was noticably inebriated and kept standing up to dance in front of the audience. Throughout this display I primarily felt sad for her. Saddened that this was her life and the only way she knew to get attention. My sadness quickly turned to ire when she allowed her boyfriend to pull the top of her dress down. Leaving what little was left to the imagination to vanish. I was equally angered by the fact that no one else seemed outraged. There was a nonchallance that this is what happens in New Orleans when people drink. I got up, notified the manager, and she was removed, but I couldn't get past my mix of anger and sadness for the remainder of the evening. I was mad that she had so little regard or respect for the other women in the room. And sad that she had so little regard or respect for herself.
This is a post I didn't plan to write. Mainly because this is my soap box issue, so I avoid it like the plague. I get so exercised about it that I often don't make any sense. I initially drafted this post on Saturday on my blackberry because I was so angry and sad and frustrated, but God wisely had me accidentally delete it when I was trying to send it instead. So that very impassioned draft is gone and in its place came a draft more deliberate and thoughtful. But then Blogger deleted that draft from my blog the day after I posted it. How can that even happen? Is someone trying to tell me something? I'm going to try one more time - if it disappears a third time, I'll stop trying to write it.
That isolated incident last weekend highlighted how desensitized our culture has become to the image of a woman's bare breasts. It is de rigeur. Playboy magazines and worse, pornography, topless bars, movies and television shows, emails, internet, you name it and there they are. And it seems as though since that incident occurred, I've been barraged by the widespread acceptance. Signs and screams in the streets of the city over our weekend away. In a hospital waiting room, as I waited for my mom to be released from surgery, a husband waiting for his wife was regaling his parents with the story of how his boys at prom had seen a topless woman at a party and he had encouraged it. Sharing the story of this weekend with a female co-worker this week and her being completely perplexed that I'd been bothered in the least by the incident. An email from mainstream TripAdvisor touting the world's best nude beaches.
I heard on the radio recently, "thought is Father to the deed." So it isn't bare breasts that offend me. It's what it represents and what results. It represents the oversexualization of women and our society - one in which my 19 month old daughter will be raised. It represents the dismissal of anything sacred about seeing a woman unclothed. It represents the degradation and objectification of an entire gender. And it results in sexual additions. Adulterous relationships. Increased violence against women. Sexual trafficking. Unrealistic perceptions. Lust. And everyone, men and women, are responsible for changing the course. Men must be willing to stand up and speak out against this disrespectful pandemic. And women must take responsibility for their actions and their attire. Unless we take affirmative steps to stem the tide, it's only going to get worse.
It's not just about being topless. It's about becoming soulless.
Job 31 - I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman? For what is the allotment of God from above? And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Is it not destruction for the wicked, And disaster for the workers of iniquity? Does He not see my ways, And count all my steps? If I have walked with falsehood, Or if my foot has hastened to deceit, Let me be weighed on honest scales, That God may know my integrity. If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart walked after my eyes, Or if any spot adheres to my hands, Then let me sow, and another eat;Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.
I Peter 5 - Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
Matthew 5 - You have heard that it was said to those of old,‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Our anniversary trip was almost without blemish. The one blot on the whole celebration was an incident Friday night. A woman and her boyfriend walked into a piano bar and were seated at the table next to us. She had a signficantly medically enhanced chest and a little black dress that barely covered her top or bottom. She was noticably inebriated and kept standing up to dance in front of the audience. Throughout this display I primarily felt sad for her. Saddened that this was her life and the only way she knew to get attention. My sadness quickly turned to ire when she allowed her boyfriend to pull the top of her dress down. Leaving what little was left to the imagination to vanish. I was equally angered by the fact that no one else seemed outraged. There was a nonchallance that this is what happens in New Orleans when people drink. I got up, notified the manager, and she was removed, but I couldn't get past my mix of anger and sadness for the remainder of the evening. I was mad that she had so little regard or respect for the other women in the room. And sad that she had so little regard or respect for herself.
This is a post I didn't plan to write. Mainly because this is my soap box issue, so I avoid it like the plague. I get so exercised about it that I often don't make any sense. I initially drafted this post on Saturday on my blackberry because I was so angry and sad and frustrated, but God wisely had me accidentally delete it when I was trying to send it instead. So that very impassioned draft is gone and in its place came a draft more deliberate and thoughtful. But then Blogger deleted that draft from my blog the day after I posted it. How can that even happen? Is someone trying to tell me something? I'm going to try one more time - if it disappears a third time, I'll stop trying to write it.
That isolated incident last weekend highlighted how desensitized our culture has become to the image of a woman's bare breasts. It is de rigeur. Playboy magazines and worse, pornography, topless bars, movies and television shows, emails, internet, you name it and there they are. And it seems as though since that incident occurred, I've been barraged by the widespread acceptance. Signs and screams in the streets of the city over our weekend away. In a hospital waiting room, as I waited for my mom to be released from surgery, a husband waiting for his wife was regaling his parents with the story of how his boys at prom had seen a topless woman at a party and he had encouraged it. Sharing the story of this weekend with a female co-worker this week and her being completely perplexed that I'd been bothered in the least by the incident. An email from mainstream TripAdvisor touting the world's best nude beaches.
I heard on the radio recently, "thought is Father to the deed." So it isn't bare breasts that offend me. It's what it represents and what results. It represents the oversexualization of women and our society - one in which my 19 month old daughter will be raised. It represents the dismissal of anything sacred about seeing a woman unclothed. It represents the degradation and objectification of an entire gender. And it results in sexual additions. Adulterous relationships. Increased violence against women. Sexual trafficking. Unrealistic perceptions. Lust. And everyone, men and women, are responsible for changing the course. Men must be willing to stand up and speak out against this disrespectful pandemic. And women must take responsibility for their actions and their attire. Unless we take affirmative steps to stem the tide, it's only going to get worse.
It's not just about being topless. It's about becoming soulless.
Job 31 - I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman? For what is the allotment of God from above? And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Is it not destruction for the wicked, And disaster for the workers of iniquity? Does He not see my ways, And count all my steps? If I have walked with falsehood, Or if my foot has hastened to deceit, Let me be weighed on honest scales, That God may know my integrity. If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart walked after my eyes, Or if any spot adheres to my hands, Then let me sow, and another eat;Yes, let my harvest be rooted out.
I Peter 5 - Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
Matthew 5 - You have heard that it was said to those of old,‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Five Years, and Still Cooking!
So I just returned from a fabulous weekend away in New Orleans with my husband to celebrate our FIVE YEAR wedding anniversary. It was our first weekend away since the triplets were born - 19 months! And of all the years, I feel like this was the best one to celebrate. It was tough. We had some seriously hard times - dealing with two jobs, three infants, different ideas on what our new family would take - and yet we came out on the other side stronger. I really do believe we are in a better place today and love each other more than we did when we said our vows.
So fun highlights from the trip, and the (partial) reason for the title - an F and 3 Ms:
1. The Food! Oh my heavens. We ate like kings. I said I went into the weekend weighing less than I did on my wedding day and came out of it weighing more. Friday we ate at Bayona and MiLa's - delicious! Saturday we worked in Cafe Dumond for breakfast, Domilise's for lunch (hole in the wall w/scrumptious po boys), and K Paul's for dinner (there's a reason Paul nationalized Louisiana cuisine). Then we polished off the weekend with a yummy jazz brunch at Arnaud's. Wow! Seriously - I ingested a million calories.
2. The Music. We started off the weekend at Jazz Fest and managed to catch Kermit Ruffins, Eric Lindell, Greg Allman, Willie Nelson and Better Than Ezra. Then everywhere we went there was music. From the piano bars to the street corners, there was always a fabulous soundtrack accompanying our weekend.
3. The Moments. The funniest and neatest things just randomly happened. We boarded a streetcar with two musicians visiting New Orleans, and it was their first streetcar ride. They asked the driver if they could play and then they just camped out by the door & played the best folk music all the way into town. Then we were at this fun bar The Carousel (where the bar actually turns) and ended up being turned to this guy visiting from Florida. He was there with his son and his son's friends for a bachelor party and told Bray, "hey, she's got great legs!" To which I bizarrely responded, "I have three kids!" So he returns, "you should have another!" I think Bray & I straightened him out. We were boarding the plane to go home & a woman traveling from Amsterdam asked us if we were on our honeymoon - five years later & we were mistaken for honeymooners! Funny things all weekend.
4. The Man. The best thing about the weekend was Bray. I had so much fun just hanging out with him for the weekend. He used to spend a lot of time in New Orleans and it was fun for us to be there for the first time together. He was the sexiest man there and a lot of other things that I can't mention on my blog :)
So needless to say, I can't wait for 10 years to come when we top ourselves again!
So fun highlights from the trip, and the (partial) reason for the title - an F and 3 Ms:
1. The Food! Oh my heavens. We ate like kings. I said I went into the weekend weighing less than I did on my wedding day and came out of it weighing more. Friday we ate at Bayona and MiLa's - delicious! Saturday we worked in Cafe Dumond for breakfast, Domilise's for lunch (hole in the wall w/scrumptious po boys), and K Paul's for dinner (there's a reason Paul nationalized Louisiana cuisine). Then we polished off the weekend with a yummy jazz brunch at Arnaud's. Wow! Seriously - I ingested a million calories.
2. The Music. We started off the weekend at Jazz Fest and managed to catch Kermit Ruffins, Eric Lindell, Greg Allman, Willie Nelson and Better Than Ezra. Then everywhere we went there was music. From the piano bars to the street corners, there was always a fabulous soundtrack accompanying our weekend.
3. The Moments. The funniest and neatest things just randomly happened. We boarded a streetcar with two musicians visiting New Orleans, and it was their first streetcar ride. They asked the driver if they could play and then they just camped out by the door & played the best folk music all the way into town. Then we were at this fun bar The Carousel (where the bar actually turns) and ended up being turned to this guy visiting from Florida. He was there with his son and his son's friends for a bachelor party and told Bray, "hey, she's got great legs!" To which I bizarrely responded, "I have three kids!" So he returns, "you should have another!" I think Bray & I straightened him out. We were boarding the plane to go home & a woman traveling from Amsterdam asked us if we were on our honeymoon - five years later & we were mistaken for honeymooners! Funny things all weekend.
4. The Man. The best thing about the weekend was Bray. I had so much fun just hanging out with him for the weekend. He used to spend a lot of time in New Orleans and it was fun for us to be there for the first time together. He was the sexiest man there and a lot of other things that I can't mention on my blog :)
So needless to say, I can't wait for 10 years to come when we top ourselves again!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Kisses
The baby has struggled sleeping on and off since shortly before he turned one. The eldest and the little lady sleep like troopers, but not the baby. We've gone through weeks of sleepless nights because of it and have only recently "solved" the problem because of some advice given to us by our pediatrician.
However, after weeks of good sleep, he started his cries of desperation again last night. They started before 10 and would quickly return if we put him back into his crib (yes, I realize we shouldn't pick him up - but the combined fear of him waking the other two matched with the sheer abandonment projected by his cries necessitated some loving). After Bray had taken a few turns, I went into the nursery. I rocked him and then laid him down in his crib. I slid my hands through the crib slats to pat his back and kissed his little crying face pushed up against the slats at me. Then the sweetest thing happened. He laid his head down to sleep, and a minute later looked up to make sure I was still there, leaned his face forward, and kissed me right on the lips and laid his head back down. This must have happened three or four times. Lay down, rest, breathing calms, then look up, see me still there, kiss me, and lay back down. He was saying, "thank you." "Thank you for coming and rescuing me. I don't know why I'm sad, but I am and it helps to have you with me."
When I finally did leave the room, the wails began anew, and we finally caved and brought him to our bed for an hour until he calmed down. But he so wanted comfort that he wanted to sleep either laying on top of my chest (picture laying on your back in bed with the cutest 30 pound toddler you've ever seen sprawled out on top of you with his nose in your neck) or on top of Bray's. He wanted to be as close as he could possibly be. And I'll tell you, he's a little toot sometimes, but in that moment I thought my heart might burst out of my chest. Look at this little face and tell me if you could resist it even for a minute.
However, after weeks of good sleep, he started his cries of desperation again last night. They started before 10 and would quickly return if we put him back into his crib (yes, I realize we shouldn't pick him up - but the combined fear of him waking the other two matched with the sheer abandonment projected by his cries necessitated some loving). After Bray had taken a few turns, I went into the nursery. I rocked him and then laid him down in his crib. I slid my hands through the crib slats to pat his back and kissed his little crying face pushed up against the slats at me. Then the sweetest thing happened. He laid his head down to sleep, and a minute later looked up to make sure I was still there, leaned his face forward, and kissed me right on the lips and laid his head back down. This must have happened three or four times. Lay down, rest, breathing calms, then look up, see me still there, kiss me, and lay back down. He was saying, "thank you." "Thank you for coming and rescuing me. I don't know why I'm sad, but I am and it helps to have you with me."
When I finally did leave the room, the wails began anew, and we finally caved and brought him to our bed for an hour until he calmed down. But he so wanted comfort that he wanted to sleep either laying on top of my chest (picture laying on your back in bed with the cutest 30 pound toddler you've ever seen sprawled out on top of you with his nose in your neck) or on top of Bray's. He wanted to be as close as he could possibly be. And I'll tell you, he's a little toot sometimes, but in that moment I thought my heart might burst out of my chest. Look at this little face and tell me if you could resist it even for a minute.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Mercies
I watched two couples dedicate their baby boys to the Lord during a baptism yesterday morning at my church. And as the pastor prayed over each of them, and consecrated their lives to God, tears slid down my face. I remembered a similar service last spring as Bray and I presented our three for baptism and the pastor prayed for their lives to be holy and pleasing to the Lord. It seems like we stood on that stage mere moments ago. But just as keenly I remembered sitting in the very same pew a few years earlier and feeling hot tears sting my cheeks as I watched with great pain this beautiful dedication. My whole body ached for a child of my own, and after years of struggling to have a baby to no avail I couldn't bear to watch more beaming parents hold their gurgling cherubic infants before the congregation.
If you, dear one, are struggling to have a child, I am so sorry. I have not forgotten how bitter the pain or how keenly you can feel the absence when you least expect it. But know you are not alone. And know that He, your good and faithful Saviour, sees your heart and knows your hurt. He alone can comfort you in the deepest place that you are harboring sorrow. He will bring you to the other side. He will dry your tears.
I leave you with this passage from Lamentations - the author begins writing about how incredibly desolate and abandoned he feels only to remember, in the end, God's faithfulness. Please, no matter how isolated you feel today, remember His mercies are abundant and will provide for you, even in this dark time:
Lamentations 3 - He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day....He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD....
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
If you, dear one, are struggling to have a child, I am so sorry. I have not forgotten how bitter the pain or how keenly you can feel the absence when you least expect it. But know you are not alone. And know that He, your good and faithful Saviour, sees your heart and knows your hurt. He alone can comfort you in the deepest place that you are harboring sorrow. He will bring you to the other side. He will dry your tears.
I leave you with this passage from Lamentations - the author begins writing about how incredibly desolate and abandoned he feels only to remember, in the end, God's faithfulness. Please, no matter how isolated you feel today, remember His mercies are abundant and will provide for you, even in this dark time:
Lamentations 3 - He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day....He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD....
This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
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