Yesterday, the two oldest enjoyed a snow day.  We got 13 inches of snow courtesy of Winter Storm Saturn.  It's a shame that Gary wasn't here to enjoy it with us.  I thought about buddling up the littlest member in the carrier, and wearing her out under my coat, but decided that there was no way I could keep my balance and help the kids, with her in tow.  So, after I fed her, I wrapped her up in the swing for a little nap, and out we went.



Now, you all know I'm from Alabama, and if you add up all the snow I've seen in my life time, it wouldn't equal 13 inches.  Tramping around in it was fun, and it was really fun to laugh at Ruth falling in it, and Britt doing nose dives, and trying to explain to me how it is that his snow pants are like a swim suit.  (Don't ask, I'm still not sure what the connection is.)  I pulled the kids a little bit on the sled, it was easier than I thought it would be.  However, I'm still sore enough from birthing the last one, that I wasn't up for it long.  I was relieved when Britt said he was ready to go inside, get a cup, and play on his leap pad a bit.  (This decision might have been hastened along a little by his Momma putting her old batting gloves on him, instead of his mittens, so that Ruth could wear his mittens, since her's were in the car with Gary in Maryland.)


Kita of course is loving the weather.  She's either running in circles on her line, tossing sticks to herself, or circling up in the snow to nap with her nose tucked under her tail.  I wanted to hook her harness to the sled and then put her on her leash to let her do the work of pulling the kids, and burning some energy, but alas, she chewed through her harness last week and I've not replaced it yet.

"I a doctor.  I cut hair.  I give pokes.  I a doctor.  I doctor Momma and Ahna wiff Britt's doctor tools."

Gary has had several job interviews since Thanksgiving, a number of them in person.  He was able to meet with two agronomy coops in Iowa and Illinois.  He interviewed with Monsanto in California, and a strawberry farm in Florida.  There have been even more phone interviews.  We keep applying to anything with in a couple hours driving distance to a Primitive Baptist Church, and waiting to see what turns up.  We trust that as we continue to apply, and Gary continues to have good interviews, that the right position will turn up.  We just keep doing what we are able to do, and pray for guidance from the Lord, after all that's all we can do.  (Can you tell I'm handling this much better this go round?)

My family left Sunday afternoon, and Gary's is coming in on Friday.  However, Gary is going for a job interview in Pennsylvania Wednesday through Friday of this week.  I'm going to be on my own for the first time with the kiddos this week.  I'm not not sure that I'm up to it yet, but Gary is convinced that we'll be just fine.  And for some reason, he doesn't want me to call every time that Rebecca wakes up for a night time feeding.  Not sure why he wants to miss out on all that fun.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Rebecca,

Today you are one week old.  It's been a pretty good week, thanks to all the good help from Ahna.  You still don't have much of a routine yet, we've had a couple of nights where you've had a good 3.5 to 4 hour stretch and only eat about 3 times between midnight and morning.  Then there have been a few nights where you are eating every hour and a half.  On average you have been more alert in the evening, and sleeping your longer stretches early in the morning.  I think your internal clock is off about 5 hours, since you seem to sleep better from 3 on to 7, and then another longer stretch from 7:30 on to 11.  You have slept alot with me or Ahna holding you.  We've had mixed success on getting you to sleep in the cradle at night, but that will come eventually.  You do seem to prefer to sleep on your side, and unlike your brother and sister, you seem to like being swaddled.  Britt never liked to be swaddled, and Ruth was only liked it as long as she could get her hands up and into her mouth.  You seem to like the whole tight burrito thing, especially when it's up around your face.  Even though you aren't sleeping when your Daddy wants you to, you are eating well.  At your check up yesterday you weighed in at 8 lbs, 7 oz.  We are suppose to come by next week or week after for a weight check, to be sure that you hit birth weight, but we don't have another regular appointment until we both go back when you are a month old.  You also passed your hearing test yesterday.

Your siblings are excited that you have finally arrived.  Britt asks daily if you "can talk, now?"  He has started your lessons on which dinosaur is which, and he is eager to show you how his leap pad works.  He wants to share his juice and food with you.  He asks to hold you, but fusses at you when you cry.  He sounds like Unca Benji complaining about your crying.  He tries to sing to you when you are sad, and you seem to enjoy it.  Ruth doesn't want to hold you, she says you are too heavy.  However, she does like to hold your hand, and help by bringing us new diapers, and throwing away the dirty ones.  She's very proud to be a big helper. She says that she is going to teach you to dance.

I sure do love to cuddle with you, while we are resting.  Daddy and I are all so thankful that you are here and healthy. You were a great surprise, little girl.

We love you,
Momma

"We have a new baby.  Her name is Bay-ya.  I like her, alot, alot.  I no hold her, she heavy. I hold her hand. I clean my baby up.  I good helper."

The new baby is a girl baby, but she needs to be a boy.  Her name is "Abecca."  The baby is still a girl, and she's never going to be a boy ever, ever again.  It will be a girl always.  I like her.  I take good care of it.  I can put her to bed, and I can get her in the bathtub, and I can probably I can help alot.  I can hold her hand when she cries, and she can walk.  But she can't talk or drink juice or eat candy.  Her just drink milk.  She looks like a girl, and a baby.  She looks like a dinosaur, or maybe a sea monster.  No, she has a little brown hair.  She is pretty.

She arrived February 22, 2013 at 1:37 pm without waiting for the doctor to arrive, even though I asked her nicely.  They broke my water this morning, to augment the 3 weeks of on again, off again contractions, but we didn't have to have anything else.  Labor went really well, up to the last hour where I went from almost a 5 to delivering while the nurses scrambled for gloves.  She weighed in at 8 lbs and 10 oz, and was 20 inches long.  In between Britt (20.5) and Ruth (19.5) in length, and outweighing them both.  She has dark hair, and what I think are dark blue eyes.  She nursed like a champ right off the bat.  She already "complains" more than the others, and always needs her fist in her mouth.  We've already discovered that she prefers to be held sideways  and doesn't particularly like to be up on your shoulder.  We are planning to leave the hospital just as soon as Gary and the kids get back from Church on Sunday.

This morning I finished up my reading in Leviticus, that puts me one day ahead of my reading schedule.  Which is probably a good thing, since I expect my reading to be a bit scattered post baby.  I will confess that I find Leviticus to be pretty heavy reading.  It's alot to slosh through, and try to make sense of, and I often have found my mind wandering while attempting to read it.  Back a few years ago, I took a notebook, and tried to break down the different sacrifices, their purpose, and what they pointed to in the work of Christ on the cross.    I know that all the law is given for our benefit.  That God gave it not only to glorify him, and not only to remind us that we can't live to the perfection that the law requires, but also, because it's good for us - for our physical health, for our peace of mind, for strong families and communities.  It's all good, after all He has never told us to do anything that isn't good for us.  However, we are no longer under the law, and most of the law no longer applies to us today.  For example, we aren't required to sacrifice (which takes up half of the book), we don't have to circumcised to follow Christ, and bacon is back on the menu.  The very fact that are no longer under the law is part of what makes Leviticus so hard to read.  I know all scripture is given by inspiration... and that it's all profitable, but Leviticus really is hard reading.

That said, there was something that really stuck out to me, reading it through this time around.  Have you ever noticed God's attention to detail?  I'm not sure that any book of the Bible points this out so thoroughly as Leviticus.  Throughout the book of Exodus, God is doing big, wondrous, majestic things.  But toward the end, he tells Moses, "...thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name." (Exodus 33:17)  It put me in mind for reading Leviticus.  After all, of those big and wondrous things he worked out, he still cares individually for each of us.  He didn't just lead the nation of Israel out of bondage, but He knew each of them by name.  God is powerful.  He is big.  His ways are above our ways.  We can't hope to understand Him or approach Him, He is so high above us.  But he doesn't only care for the big things.  He is a God with attention to detail.  And even this is very comforting.  He paid it all, leaving nothing undone.  He foresaw and took care of each minor detail.  All of the Old Testament prophesies were fulfilled, all of the law was upheld, in each small point, in spirit as well as in fact (Matthew 5:18).  He cares for each of us individually despite the fact that He is so great and we are so small.  He cares about our lives, and what we do.  He cares about our troubles, and is a High Priest touched with our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15).  His attention to detail is so clear in Leviticus.  The way beast are to be killed and where, the way the blood is to be poured or sprinkled, the direction east or west, the detail about how we are to act one toward another, the specifics of the feast.  It goes on and on.

God cares about even the small things, and as such we should remember that in everything we do, we should do it in a way that would be honoring to him.  In other words, we should do everything to the best of our ability, in the right way, no matter what.  I don't know that cleaning our bathroom is an act that is "honoring" to God.  However, if as a child I cut corners, and didn't do a thorough job, even when I knew what Mother expected.  When I didn't pay attention to the details, because no one was watching, and what did it matter any way.  Was that honoring?  When I didn't do my best, do you really think that was honoring to God.  I didn't do my best, I didn't do everything on the check list, and I lead Mother to believe I did a satisfactory job, when I knew she wouldn't agree if she had been watching me.  This may seem to be a silly example, but I think that if we are honest, we can all improve in this area.  I'm never going to get to  point that I get all the little things, or even sometimes all the big things right in life, AFTER ALL, the law points out our shortcomings not how good we are (Romans 7).  Despite the fact that I'm never going to get it all right, because I know that He is God and cares about the little stuff as well as the big stuff, I should never feel complacent like I'm good enough, and should always strive to do a better job, even in this little area.

Ruth had her evaluation through First Steps last Thursday.  Several have asked about it, and it's really way too much to write on facebook, and it's a long conversation to have 45,000 times so I thought I would just blog about it, instead of Ruth posting today.  While we learned alot, we won't know her exact scores and what all she will or won't qualify for until March 1st.  At that time they are going to come back out and talk to us, and let us know what options we have, and possibly set up a game plan if she is considered delayed enough.
They tested 6 areas - fine motor skills, gross motor skills, adaptive, cognition, social-communication, and social skills.  They told us that she was far ahead of her age for fine motor skills.  Britt got to test a little with her, since he wanted to play too, and she far out ranked him on fine motor skills, some of what she's doing they told me was at a 4+ year level.  For example, she managed to almost completely cut out a shape, and I've never even let her attempt something with sissors.  I still think that was a fluke.  She is spot on with gross motor skills (this is what her funny gait falls under), she can jump, gallop, kick a ball, etc.  With her adaptive skills, they looked at things like how she eats, just generally works with her environment, once again that was at her age level.  With cognition they were looking for how quickly she processes and figures things out.  She was ahead in this area as well, though they didn't tell me what level she was at.  Ruth's problem areas are particularly in the social-communication area and as a result of communications issues also a few problems in the social skills area.

Sprawling out is ok, in fact, it's perfectly normal for her to look a little knock kneed up to around 4.

Ruth had several red flags in her social-communication.  The first is that she uses almost no consonant sounds.  At this age they don't expect them to use the right consonants, but they do expect them to be using some consonants.  For example, I know that "uh-ey" means monkey, "ah-ul" means apple, and "uh ou" means love you, but none of those "words" have consonant sounds in them.  Secondary concern is that while she has a large vocabulary it is primarily nouns, she uses almost no adjectives, and very few action words.  Additionally when she uses action words, she doesn't attempt tenses.  For example, she would say "I run" not "I running," "I ran," or "I runned" all of which would be normal at this age.  She also never says things like I eat, but rather things like I hungry.  Which of course sounds more like "I uh-ey", and we only know the difference between monkey and hungry because we figure out from how she acts, or from asking several different things.  She had one additional flag in the social skills area.  In everything else, she rated above her age level, but since she is a social butterfly who has never met a stranger we aren't surprised.  Her one flag is her frustration level at trying to communicate.  She attempts to carry on a conversation, and she understands everything that is said to her, BUT when you don't understand her (which happens alot) she gets frustrated, and rather than showing you, or trying to rephrase what she wants, she just repeats the same thing over and over and over, until she's pitching a fit or you figure it out.

Ruth W-sitting.

As for her walk, best they can tell, short of doing xrays to confirm, there is nothing wrong with her walk.  Most kids walk a little pigeon toed before three, and the only reason that she's not growing out of it faster is that she does W-sit alot.  I didn't realize what that meant when someone asked me about it last week.  They were impressed with her ability to quickly get up from a squat, which is her favorite way to sit and play in the floor, and said that she had good strength and muscle tone.  W-sitting means that over time as her pelvis matures, that it might not line up quite like it should.  It's ok for them to do that, but she is doing it too much.  Additionally for Ruth she is not pointing her toes straight behind her when she sits but the foot that turns in, she points out perpendicular to her body.  They could verify that she sits this way too often, because they checked her flexibility.  When they laid her on her back and had her butterfly her legs (feet together, knees out) she couldn't put her legs flat to the floor, like kids under 3 should be able to do.  Additionally when they put her knees together and her feet out to the sides, she could not only lay them completely flat but she could actually pull her feet all the way up to her sides, making a V shape.  She was more flexible than she should be.  What that told them is that she keeps her hamstrings in the shortened position most of the time, and she's not working them enough (she has a little bit low muscle tone as a result, not much just a little low).

Ruth squatting.

While they couldn't tell us her actual score yet, I did overhear them discussing that she was borderline, and that they would recommend her for speech therapy.  Even if she doesn't qualify for the program, they gave us some stuff to do help her.  For the gait, we just encourage her to "sit like a big girl" and they gave us several ways to have her sit instead.  We won't completely eliminate W-sitting that's just her preference, and there's nothing wrong with that, just encourage her to not sit that way as often.  For the speech, play lots of singing-finger play songs (like itty-bitsy spider).  Most kids learn through singing to speak clearer, and since she loves to sing and dance, this one will be great for her.  Also, to pick a sound to work on so that when she drops it, we repeat it back to her, emphasizing the missing sound.  The key here is to do this often enough, that she begins to hear what she is dropping, and to encourage her to add it on her own.  She won't start doing it right way, it will take time.  The next milestone we are to be looking for is using more consonant sounds at the beginning and ending of words.  If she has had no improvement in 6 months, they recommend having a full hearing check at 3, just to be sure that's not an issue (initial test, showed that it's not though).  All in all, we got alot of information, and I'm glad we went ahead and had her tested.

Grumps taught Britt and Ruth a nursery rhyme while he was here.  He taught Britt "Hey Diddle, Diddle" back when he was Ruth's size, but he worked with Ruth on it, so that she can sing it too.

I had another non-stress test this morning, and everything looked good.  We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers, but I'm not going to be posting any more updates on the pregnancy, or answering questions about it.  Of course we will let everyone know after the baby arrives, but the 45,000 messages a day asking if we are in labor yet, have we had the baby, how do I feel, are really unnecessary.  If we had the baby, you would know, we aren't going to wait a week to announce it.  Right now, we just want to relax and enjoy our little family until baby decides to arrive.  I still plan to help the kids post this week, but you won't be hearing from me again until our little surprise arrives.  Have a great week everyone!

I've finished up reading in Exodus this week.  I think it might be one of the most exciting books in the Old Testament, maybe in the Bible, period.  Ruth is probably still my favorite book, but I really like Exodus.  I love history, and I have always felt like a good history is told like a great story, in a vivid way that you can picture what happened.  Exodus is that way, and boy do I love imagining the first 12 chapters in particular.  When I was a kid, Daddy and I use to love to rent or check out or watch "The Ten Commandments" all the time.  Charlton Heston as Moses was amazing.  It's a long movie, but I always thought that it was a great portral of the book of Exodus, and I'll confess, I still mostly see Heston, when I read about Moses.  When I was older and the "Prince of Egypt" came out, I liked that one too.  And I'll even confess when I was reading about the plagues in there this time through, I caught myself sort of humming the song from the movie.

Can you imagine what it must have been like to see the power and wonder of God on display in such an amazing way?  He proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that He Is God and that the Egyptian gods, were nothing.  He showed power over land and water, over the heavens, over beast and men, over health, over life and death.  Each plague showed His power over all areas of our lives.  How can we doubt that He can do any and all things that He so desires?  Then in the next several chapters, in less than 15 days, the Children of Isreal complain and grumble three separate times - first about the Egyptians coming to attack, then about the food, and finally about water.  I have thought before, how after seeing what they saw could they continue to doubt and complain.  But I have realized we are the same way.  How many times have we seen the Lord work providentially in our lives:  covering bills when we were unemployed and had nothing left, when we were sick and the outlook wasn't good, when we saw no hope in a situation?  Then how quickly do we forget, and begin to worry and fret and complain the next time we find ourselves in a situation that we don't have the answers too?  Why don't we skip the complaining phase, and go to our Heavenly Father?  As neat as it would be to have seen those things, I must confess I've seen him do great works in my life.  I hope to spend more time praising him like the Isrealites after they crossed over the Red Sea, and less time complaining by Marah's bitter stream.

Last week I finished reading Genesis.  I'm still behind schedule, but I'm telling myself that I don't want to rush through reading, and I want to only read when I can really focus on it.  One of the things that really struck me toward the end of Genesis, was the contrast between Job, and Joseph.  I already mentioned that I'm alot like Job, in that I spend way too much time over analysing and asking God why.  I'm trying to work on that.  I did notice that Joseph never seemed to complain and ask why all these horrible things happened to him - sold into slavery, thrown unjustly into prison, without his family in Egypt, and forgotten time and time again.  He just sought to do the best he could in every situation he found himself in.  Rather than spend time complaining and asking why (though I'm sure he did that at least once in the 13 years he spent as a slave and prisoner), he spent his time doing the best job he could, and trying to show the best character he could in each situation.  Both men were great and godly men, both endured great hardship, and we can learn alot from both men.

Baby Girl,

Today you are 2.5 years old. Last year I said, I was looking forward to the conversation where I can understand you, and I have to confess I'm still waiting.  There are so many times where you are trying to tell me something and I cannot interpret what you are saying.  Neither can your mother or Britt.  Then you get very upset with me, when I try to guess, and guess wrong.  I will say the one word that is clearest - is the word "No!"  In fact you seem to like sayingnNo better than you like to breath sometimes.  You will lean over to me, tilt your head, and with a smile say "Noooooooooo" as long as you can hold it before taking a breath, only to repeat it again, after getting that breath.  Your favorite saying right now is a toss up between "Uhhhh" and "Me too!"  Anytime I say no, or explain why something doesn't work, you say "uhhhh" not in an ugly way, but in a disappointed, I'm-breaking-your-heart sort of way.  It's some more of those feminine wiles in action, trying to get me to change my mind, or the laws of nature to make something work for you.  Whenever Britt asks for something the next thing that comes out of your mouth is "Me too!"  Whether he asks for a cup, cookie, toy, or something else.

I am Tarzan.  I like to sing, in nothing but my underwear.  For some reason, Momma insists that I leave at least my pants on though.  Momma still doesn't understand why I do everything that Tarzan does in the movie.  She says she would think I would just like to watch it instead of acting it out, but that has never been any fun.

Today marks 39 weeks.  I'm hoping to at least make it to the 14th.  I figure at worst Bro. Joe and Sis. Elin will only be on call for the one day until Mother and Daddy make it in around midnight - 2am on Friday night/Saturday morning.  There are tons of little things around the house that need doing, like cleaning out the fridge and the freezer, but the only big to do left on the list is to clean out the car, and put the baby's car seat in it.  We'll just probably throw it in the back for now, and not actually install it until the baby gets here.  After  all, as long as the baby isn't here, Mother can ride with us in our car, if we don't have the seat installed.  Besides, with as many times as we've had to put them in and take them out, and move them between cars, Gary is getting to be a pro at the car seat thing.  haha.

We are looking at a busy week, I need to do the laundry and clean house today.  It's Monday again after all.   We also, need to make a trip by the library, and probably do the grocery shopping again today.  Tomorrow, someone from First Steps is going to come out and do some paperwork and such so that we can get Ruth's "articulation and gait" evaluated.  On Friday I have my chiropractor appointment.  Mother and Daddy will be here by early on Saturday.  Busy, busy week.

Kita is 5 months old today.  It's amazing how much she's grown.  I put her on the scale with me the other day to weigh her.  She's up to roughly 25 lbs.  She's still a bit mouthy and nips a bit when she plays, but she's still a puppy.  She is getting a bit better about that.  The only other big problem we have is that she doesn't mind being crated, except at bedtime.  For a while she would howl.  She's mostly quit that, but she somehow is rattling the cage at night.  She doesn't do it every night, and even those that she does she doesn't usually go on all that long.  Sometimes though, she just keeps at it, until we have to move her crate into the garage, to keep from going crazy and get some sleep.
She's learned alot.  She's very reliable with sit and come.  She was making good progress with lay down too, but I didn't really work on it with her over the Christmas/New Year's break, so she's not doing so hot with that right now.  We've also been working on "go to bed" which we are having some mixed results with.  She listens to me most of the time, but I also reward her at bed time with a treat.  She doesn't listen to Gary so much, unless she just wants to go to bed.  I'm also needing to start work with her to sit when someone approaches.  She gets overly excited (especially when she's on her line in the yard), and begins bouncing.  She's getting some real height now to her jumping.  One of the training books I read, said it's alot easier to teach a dog what to do instead of a bad habit, rather than trying to teach them not to do a bad habit.  For example, teach a dog to sit when someone approaches, instead of trying to teach them to not jump.

View from my hotel room in LA

Thursday I flew out to LA for a job interview.  By the time I landed and picked up my Dodge Avenger it was already dark, so I didn't do much that day but eat supper and head to the hotel.  I was able to "enjoy" a 2 hour drive (covering just under 50 miles).  Traffic out there really is that bad during rush hour.  For the first  hour and a half, I only covered about 15 to 20 miles.  The most annoying part was the motorcycles, who were all driving on the dotted lines in between other cars, instead of in the lane.  Turns out in California, it's legal for them to do that.  I've always wanted to try out the Avenger, and the rental place let you pick any standard car, and they had two a white and a black.  The hotel was very nice.  What was great about the hotel, was the check out was at noon.  That meant I didn't have to check out before the interviews.  I was able to come back, change clothes and pack up for the day.

My cool car rental

On Friday I had my interviews.  I had a two part job interview.  The first interview was with three people.  It lasted about an hour and a half, with situational questions that I got to answer.  At the end, I was able to ask them a few questions as well, to get more of a feel for the company, and what they value.  The second session was another hour long with the HR and some of the US and Canadian salesmen.  Mostly it was the same sort of questions, but a little more HR specific.  While we were talking toward the end, I mentioned that I intended to do a little sight seeing down the coast before flying out, since this was my first trip to California.  The lead US/Canadian Salesman, told me I should try out Neptune's Net on CA-1.  I tried a sampler plate, and it was pretty good seafood.  It wasn't really a sit down, so much as a biker swing through place, where you grab it, eat outside, and go.

Neptune's Net

I can see why some people would enjoy moving to California.  The small area I saw was very beautiful, and unique to anything I had seen before.  On one side of the road you could see the beach and the ocean off to the right.  On the other side, off to the left, it almost immediately climbed up into the mountains.  I will say, the beaches still don't compare to Anna Maria Island, but then again, I don't think many do.  Some of the beaches had primitive campsites, which I think would be fun for a day or two.  At the beach I looked for seashells, and didn't find a single one.  I was planning to get Britt a rock anyway, because that boy loves rocks, so I got both Britt and Ruth one.

A California Strawberry Field

I did swing by and look at a strawberry field or two out of curiosity.  I noticed they were using clear plastic, instead of black.  They had alot of bloom coming on, and seemed to already be picking very strong.  There's nothing to stop them now.  The market will be strong through Valentine's Day or so for sure, but after that, it might trail off with California berries coming in.    I was tempted to try one from the field, but I refrained.  I hated it when people did it in Florida.  However, I'm still convinced that Plant City has the best berries.

Britt's rock

The last thing to report was the marathon trip back.  So, basically I spent 18 hours getting from LA to San Fran, to Chicago, to Fort Wayne, and about 10 of that was layovers.  It was ridiculous, but I did want to get back home as soon as possible, just in case the baby decided to come early.  The only fun part of the whole trip, was being stuck in San Francisco.  I ran into four other poor souls who were taking the red eye from there.  To help pass the time (nearly 5 hours), we sat in a Chinese seafood place talking.  Two Canadians had changed vacation plans from the Northeast to a cruise out of Fort Lauderdale.  Two others were heading home to Washington DC.  It was kinda fun, to have all five of us stuck there until midnight before our flights out.

Danielle's favorite picture from the trip.