Luggage

I was hopeful that this summer would be relaxing, easy, even (dare I say it...) boring! I was wrong, as always :) But I'm very grateful I was wrong. Summer has hardly started and I'm already carrying luggage underneath my eyes. I'm exhausted, but so full (figuratively and literally--seriously, someone take the food away from me). Last weekend was busy as we went to Belle Plaine on Friday night to stay with Corey's dad and step-mom. Gwen also got to hang out with her Grandma Peggy and read ALL the books she brought to her while we were there. She is very into her Bible right now, and it's fun how proud she is when she can tell me some of the stories. She loves to talk about how God made all the animals and explains how he knows all the stars by name. When she gets to a story we haven't read, I like to ask her what she thinks is going on. Sometimes it's close, other times it's amusing. Apparently, Jesus had a baby he was teaching to float in a basket because the baby couldn't walk on water like Jesus yet (this was the story of Moses' life--haha). At least she was making inferences and using prior knowledge to formulate that response :) She loves to read, but her Bible and "Demotional" (devotional) are her favorite books right now. A few days ago I was re-reading one of my favorite books by James Dobson and taking some notes, and Gwen grabbed her Bible and journal, and started taking notes over what she was reading, too. Here she is writing notes in her journal:

Both Dobson's book and Gwen imitating me in that moment were important reminders of her tender age and current developmental period, and it also illuminated the immense responsibility we have in raising her and instilling important values in her daily life. It's a huge responsibility, and one we don't take lightly. I strongly recommend Bringing Up Girls by James Dobson. He also has one called Bringing Up Boys if you have any boys.

Gwen is already growing into such a kind, polite, and helpful little girl, but we also hope to instill in her: truthfulness, trustworthiness, respectfulness, discipline, self-control, and generosity. We are currently working on teaching her manners and how to overcome our natural inclinations towards being selfish, demanding, etc. (all really humbling things to teach when we fail at them daily!). One of our favorite devotionals is one about how princesses always go last. We read it once, and talked about ways she could put others before herself, and over the next few days she continued to bring up how she'd like to go last and gave an example of how she let her friend play with a toy she REALLY wanted to play with before she did. I was so proud. I wasn't even very intentional about continuing to talk about it with her, but she's such a sponge that she remembers even the smallest conversations. (Note to self: watch my use of "dingleberry" when enraged on the road. *Insert sheepish face*). In additional to some of those morals/values, we also hope to teach her to think and learn and to search for Truth. She's at such a tender age, one I'm not sure ever really ends. Girls are so delicate and more easily wounded than their brothers. Their gentleness and emotional nature makes them vulnerable, and easily manipulated. She longs so much for connectedness and attachment--there is just something sweet and special about little girls. The more I read, the more I was convinced that good parenting will always require sacrifice. Sometimes I will go weeks just living my life and adhering to my routine, and I do this without really stopping to think about why I'm doing what I'm doing. My family is the most important thing to me, and I feel is my biggest responsibility in my life. I don't want to lose sight of my role in raising our children and creating a loving, peaceful and God-fearing home. I don't want to be too distracted, overworked, and stressed out to care about spending time (real time) with them. Not stressing myself out is mostly my responsibility. Saying "no" to extra responsibilities or never-ending school work is hard at times, but incredibly necessary. The essays never end, the worrying about kids never stops, and the lessons are never fully perfect in teaching. I'm getting better at it, but hopefully I will continue to grow in this area! While all ages are important in raising children, we know that these young years are so formative and important in terms of who our babies become in the future; we don't want to mess it up. I'm skimming through the book right now and found one of the hardest (but truest) quotes to swallow: "Kids thrive in an environment of order, vigilance, and close supervision, which is very difficult to provide by those who come home every night exhausted, distracted, and frazzled." Oh. -_- Jesus, take the wheel because I'm falling asleep at it! Seriously though, it was just another reminder of certain sacrifices that need to be made (sleep, patience, attention, physically moving when I'd rather melt into the couch, etc.) in order to raise our children well. Another point he made that I really appreciated was the idea that children need their parents to be their authority/parents. Our kids don't need us to be their best friends, and we really can't afford to be. I believe there will be an age, likely after adolescence, where our parents become our friends, but it isn't during those first 18 years or so. My mom and I were always close, and I felt like I could talk to her about most things, but she and my dad never failed to discipline me, say no when appropriate, and never apologized for doing what they thought was best (and always explained their responses/actions). My mom is now one of my best friends and still plays an important role in my life (often serving as a sound board and counsel in difficult times). Corey and I are thankful for such wonderful parents who made a point to instill respect, responsibility, kindness, etc. in us--we hope to emulate them as much as possible! Oh, on another note, another wonderful book I have read that's helped me both in the classroom and in parenting is Boundaries with Kids by Henry Cloud. He particularly speaks to the "strong-willed child" and the one that doesn't naturally want to please. Out of 180 students last year, I'm pretty sure about 140 of these would have been considered strong-willed. Ok, that was a HUGE side road that I wasn't intending on taking. I'll get back to our weekend. Saturday morning we woke up, got ready, and drove to Swisher for Corey's sister-in-law, Ashley's, Baby Sprinkle! She is due in August with a little boy they named Dierks David, so we got to celebrate them in the morning. Gwen and Avery embraced like it had been years since seeing one another, and proceeded to color everything, pretend everything, wear everything, and eat several things :) Here are a few pictures from the shower!

Gwen helped me put together a potty training kit for Dierks--complete with bleach, rubber cloves, pull ups, a potty scrubber, m&m's as bribery, and a urinal to attach to the potty! She was pretty excited about the urinal and thinks we better get one if we have a boy. I agree. While we were at the shower, Corey was riding his bike to Swisher from Belle Plaine. I'm pretty sure he went off course to get more miles in, but he arrived sweaty and exhausted (yet thrilled) around 2:00 that afternoon! After the shower, Gwen, Avery, and I went to Grandma Julia's and relaxed and played for a while before Uncle Brandon's Surprise 30th Birthday Party! Ashley organized a wonderful party for Brandon at Julia's, and he was genuinely surprised. We were so excited to celebrate Brandon; he is such a kind, fun, and thoughtful guy that there was no way we could miss an opportunity to celebrate him! While we partied, the little girls ran around, played with a bow and arrow, did lawn games with Grandma, played inside, and rode bikes. They were on the run the entire night! Here's Gwen being Katniss (and being pregnant):

She loves to pretend she's having a baby, lately. She told me a little later that she went to the dentist's office to have her baby, and that she delivered a healthy baby boy named Rajh. Here are the girls checking out the pond and some jumping fish with Grandma:

Here's a family picture! Soon this family photo will have 4 instead of 3! :)

The next day, we all slept pretty late, and before we left, Gwen and Grandpa Pete went fishing and caught several fish. The amazing thing was that Gwen threw SEVERAL back into the water on her own! We were so proud of her and pretty stunned that she was open to putting her fingers in a fish's mouth and throwing him back. That was all because of Grandpa's influence! Here they are spending some special time together:

We made it home relatively early that Sunday, so while Corey cleaned his bike, Gwen ran through the sprinkler. Later, Corey and Gwen had a water-gun fight! PS, how cute is this swimsuit? I got it for $4 at the Williamsburg Outlet this winter.

The next two days were busy as I had training, Gwen went on some field trips at day care, and Corey had his usual work days. That Monday night, Gwen and Corey made a fort and watched part of a movie before bedtime. She loves any special time she gets with Daddy. Also on that Monday, Gwen's newest cousin, Jack Ryan, was born! Audrey, Ryan and Evie welcomed Jack a little early, but he is now doing very well and came home yesterday! He's the cutest little guy and has a lot of hair. We are so thankful that there were very few complications and that he has been doing so well. We can't wait to meet him and snuggle him! This weekend, Corey and his friend, Casey, went on their annual 200 mile bike trip. They spend two days riding 100 miles (each day) around the Bettendorf/Davenport/Dubuque area. Here's a picture from last year, and one from this year:

Corey said they got a bit of a late start yesterday, but quickly made up time. I'm sure they're close to being done with day two as I write, and I can't wait to see him when he gets home! To pass the time, I ran some errands and did a few things on Friday, and then yesterday I went to Cedar Rapids to spend a girl's day with Julie (Corey's sister-in-law)! It was so needed for both of us--we hung out with my cute, cute, CUTE niece, Kenna, went to lunch, and then made a craft for our baby rooms. Here's Kenna, the cheekiest little shopper, and our "finished" products. Clearly, you don't get to know the letter we chose for the baby's name :) We still don't know what we're having, but coincidentally, our girl name and boy name both start with the same letter, so I was able to make something gender neutral for our nursery.

We also hit up several garage sales and both found great deals on baby goodies, and we hung out with Travis some before I left later that evening. It was so fun getting to spend time with them, and I'm thankful they let me come crash their Saturday! This morning, I went to church, talked baby stuff with some of my favorite people, and caught up with many friends. Coming up this week... On Tuesday, Gwen and I are headed to the splash park for some water fun and a picnic with some of our friends. On Wednesday, I'm hosting a bachelorette party at my house for my dear friend (Gwen's beloved Sunday School teacher), Stephanie! We are so excited. Then on Friday, we are headed to her wedding to dance the night away :) On Saturday, we are going to celebrate Corey's Grandma's birthday, and on Sunday (Father's Day), we are going to cheer Corey on in a race he has in the Des Moines area. Soon, my mom will be coming to help paint the nursery (and she gets to go to a doctor's appointment with me!). Before we know it, it will be July -_- July will be full too, with traveling for the 4th, a week-long AP training for me, a weekend at Clear Lake, our baby shower, and a weekend at the waterpark--it will be busy, and full, and blessed. We can't wait :) I'm also in awe of how quickly the baby will be here! Time will fly. My belly is definitely growing, and just yesterday the baby kicked me HARD in the ribs--that was a first to feel it all the way up in my ribs. It was a little painful, too. I've been so lucky with a very uneventful pregnancy, and I've been feeling awesome. I'm just now starting to feel "pregnant" as my belly gets in my way when I'm trying to do things! I've slowed down a little bit, too, but I'm sure my body appreciates it.