Caturday 9/27/2008

Another guest cat from Mikey...


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"My Best Day"

On my best day, it's my birthday,
Made a new friend at school and I'm getting all A's.
I come home to a birthday surprise:
My sister has been evicted and now her room is mine.
My lucky day! Got money in my pocket,
It's snowing whipped cream and raining chocolate...

Okay, maybe today wasn't quite that epic, but I got to have a great time with Mikey today!

It all started at 1:30am when Hannah woke up crying her head off. Cathy and I hadn't quite fallen asleep yet, so I got up to go see what was wrong. She had actually rolled over from her back onto her hands and knees and she was in hysterics. She was so upset that I picked her up and took her back into the bedroom with me for her to see Mama and hopefully calm down.

Cathy was able to get her back to sleep... at 3:30am! Hannah had the snotties and a fever and she was crabby as can be. Cathy would rock her in the chair until Hannah fell asleep, but then as soon as Hannah hit the bed, she woke up crying. One time I tried to rock her in the rocking chair, and you know what Hannah said to that? "Ma ma ma ma MA!!!" I got the message!

So we finally got to sleep, all three of us (thankfully Mikey never woke up, even though Hannah's room is right next to his). Cathy had given Hannah some baby Tylenol and that apparently took the fever down to the point where Hannah was comfortable enough to sleep. Four hours later, right on time, Hannah woke up again... this time I was the only one who woke up with her, though, so Cathy got a little more rest. I gave the baby another dose of medicine and she calmed right down and we both went back to sleep.

I figured Cathy and I would be total basket cases today... turns out she was and I wasn't! Cathy's been congested herself for I guess a week or two now, and losing out on that amount of sleep sure didn't help. We actually had planned to go to the first birthday party of our friends Chris and Courtney's little boy Timothy, but we decided that neither Hannah nor Cathy really needed to get outside today (they needed to stay home and rest), and besides, we didn't want to risk sharing their cold with the other babies at the party. Mikey and I went for a little bit... we couldn't stay very long, though, because Mikey's new soccer team had their first game starting just one hour after the party! Here's Mikey hanging out with a couple of the babies at the party:



So we arrived at the party about 15 minutes early, knowing we would have to leave a half hour later to go to the game, but we really wanted to be there for at least a little bit of the party! We hung out as long as we could (Chris was like, "Well, thanks for coming out and only getting to watch us finish setting up!" I told him we didn't mind... we just wanted to get to be there as long as we could!) and then we went off to the soccer game.

The game was really terrific. The team has only practiced together two times, so playing a full game being relatively out of shape and out of practice was visibly hard on them, but they played really well. Unfortunately, they happened to be playing quite possibly the best team in the league, the one hand-picked by the league owner! Even so, they kept them down to I think five points, and even scored one on them. So we lost, 1-5. Here's a picture of some of the action (you can see Mikey off on the right, next to the goalie):



After the game we rushed home and Mikey grabbed a bath and changed clothes... we had tickets to go see the "Family Matinee" concert of Trout Fishing in America! These are two guys who have been playing together since the 70s, playing folk rock type of music, and since the early 90s they've also been making "Family" (fun kid-friendly) music. My friend Ann from work knows Ezra from TFIA, so she told me about the concert a month or two ago and got me interested in the band. I checked out their It's A Puzzle and inFINity CDs from the library, and Mikey immediately fell in love with the highly silly and fun songs. So we've been listening to those two CDs in the car for weeks and weeks, and we were incredibly excited about the concert!

We were definitely NOT disappointed. I don't think I've ever had that much fun at a show for kids... not even the big spectacular ones like Sesame Street Live. It was fun and funny and Mikey had a blast. When they played the first riffs of "Alien In My Nose," which is among the most disgusting kids' songs I've ever heard (but it TOTALLY ROCKS DUDE!!!), Mikey was like, YEEEEAAAAHH!!!!! He was dancing and grooving and having a great time, and Ann was sitting behind him and I think she was watching him as much as the show! Here's the picture I took at the very beginning of the show. I took this one and an usher came and told me I wasn't allowed to take pictures (they did not announce that during the pre-show "Welcome to the show, please observe the exits, blah blah blah" blurb, or else I wouldn't have taken even this one):



Afterward we hung around for a few minutes to meet the guys. We got all three of them (the two "official" members tour with a friend of theirs who helps to fill out some of the arrangements) to autograph a CD and got a picture with Ezra and Keith. Ann even clued us in on who Ezra's wife was, and we told her how much we enjoyed the concert, too. All of them were SUPER nice to us! In fact, we watched them interact with a bunch of other children, and they were so pleasant and friendly to all of them. They look like the nicest guys in the world, and it isn't just a look:



OK, so maybe it wasn't my birthday or Mikey's, and maybe it wasn't raining chocolate on us. But we did get to go to a birthday party anyway, and we got to spend all kinds of time together. Poor Cathy and Hannah didn't get to have very much fun, but I'm so thankful that I got to spend some time with my boy!

Caturday 9/20/2008

A guest Caturday post from Mikey... and a guest "cat," too!


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Elizabeth - we love you!

I almost didn't blog this because it's not technically a "family" thing, but Elizabeth is so close to being part of our family that I think it's important to document what we found out last night.

Elizabeth Sheehan, who has been the Worship Arts Department director and has led worship at Grace Church for 4 years is stepping down from the position. There's nothing scandalous going on; in fact, Elizabeth is actually staying around as a volunteer. We don't know all of the "why"s, and I wouldn't post them publicly even if we did, but I know in my heart that it's a decision that was made with a lot of prayer and not made lightly.

Elizabeth was almost singlehandedly the reason that Cathy and I got back into the choir at Grace when we came back from a year at another church. Cathy saw things in Elizabeth... particularly her kind heart and open attitude... that made Cathy feel comfortable with the idea of joining back up. I would not have joined without Cathy. And boy, are we glad we did! Our lives would be so different now if we hadn't come back into the choir; I can't even hope to be able to enumerate all the ways. Most of our closest friends now are from WAM. My renewed interest in songwriting happened because of our involvement, and one of my songs has actually been used in an actual service! Elizabeth rejoiced with us when Hannah was born, and cried and prayed with and for us when we miscarried before Hannah and when we lost Cathy's mother a few years ago. Mikey almost treats her like a favorite aunt, and although Hannah is kind of little to say what she's thinking, I think she loves Elizabeth too. Cathy and I both see her almost like a sister; definitely as a treasured friend. We have such respect for her as a Believer and as a musician, and if she does ever eventually leave Grace for good, we will sorely miss her. I think Cathy is already steeling herself for not hearing Elizabeth's voice leading worship every Sunday.

Elizabeth, we love you very much. We know you have GREAT things in store for you!

(Below is the bio of Elizabeth from the church Web site before it disappears to make way for the new directors' information. I just thought we'd like to preserve it for posterity!)

Elizabeth Sheehan likes to call herself a “product” of Grace Church. She has been a member of Grace Church all but the first 8 months of her life.  After graduating from Grace Christian School in 1999, she acquired a bachelor degree in international business from Oklahoma State University and a diploma from School of the Local Church (now GSM) with an emphasis in music ministry.  She began her volunteer ministry in the fine arts areas of the children’s ministry.  From there, she became actively involved in music in Edge Youth (formerly Frontline) in secondary school and stayed involved as a youth leader throughout college.  During this decade of her life, her love to see the world won to Jesus grew as did her “addiction” to short-term mission trips, particularly to Spanish-speaking countries.  She continued volunteering until God called her into leadership in the Worship Arts Department in the main service.

Shots - 2 kinds

A quick entry... yesterday I went with Cathy and Hannah and Mikey to Dr. Ross's office for Hannah to get some immunizations. She was a good baby and although she cried a lot when she got the pokes (three of them... OWIES!) she calmed down pretty quickly. I came along this time because last time Cathy was a ball of nerves after the shots... this time she was calmer because I was holding Hannah still and helped her to not be quite as hysterical. Mikey had to leave the room after the second shot; he was starting to cry too! But he went in the hallway and the nurses let him have a set of wind-up chattering teeth from their treasure box, so he was cool after that!

After the immunizations, we went to Skelly Elementary School for Mikey's first practice with his new soccer team, the Outlaws (on the schedule they are signified as "(WHITE)" as I write this). I'm really liking Coach White; not only do I like what he told the parents about his coaching methods and philosophy, but last season his team had an undefeated record... so clearly he knows how to get results! Mikey got to make a few pretty good "shots" of his own in practice. We're excited about soccer this year!

Broken Glass

Sunday night something happened that gives some insight into Mikey's character, and at the same time reminds me of how careful we have to be with what we say to our children.

There are a number of items that we keep on top of our refrigerator. Much of what is up there is snacks... chips, granola bars, whatever. Then there's the breakfast cereal, and then I also keep up there the cup I use for getting myself a drink... I'll get myself a drink of something and then wash out my own cup and keep it up there. It keeps me from having to look for a fresh cup six or seven times a day, and it keeps Cathy from having to wash six or seven cups a day! So anyway, last night Mikey and Cathy got a hankerin' for some crackers & Cheez Whiz. With permission, Mikey got one of the chairs from the dining room table and climbed up to get the good stuff down. All of a sudden I heard a CRASH! and the sound of broken glass. "Mikey!" I shouted, "Stay right where you are! Don't move!" I learned a long time ago that when glass breaks, the most immediate danger is cutting your feet. Sure enough, Mikey was barefoot, but he was on the chair and all the glass was on the floor, so he was fine. I was barefoot too, but I put on some shoes and carried him to safety to clean things up.

He was almost in tears! I couldn't figure out why at first. "That was your favorite glass!" he said, then I realized what had happened. Instead of a plastic cup, the glass I had put up there was one that we've had for a long time... probably since before he was born... but it wasn't valuable or anything. It was one of those glasses that's really a jelly jar that you can reuse as a glass when you finish the jelly. Do they even do that any more? Anyway, I used to use the jelly jar glass pretty often, but it wasn't an ancient relic or the Holy Grail or something from my childhood or anything. It was from jelly I ate in like 1998 or something. But Mikey was crying because he thought it was my favorite glass in the world! And probably because I had shouted at him, too... he must have immediately thought I was furious. But he hadn't done anything at all wrong... he was just getting the crackers for his Mama. I couldn't believe how hard he was taking it!

So I of course stayed with him for a few minutes to get him calmed down and reassure him that I wasn't angry at all, and that it wasn't my "favorite glass" and that I wouldn't miss it at all. And then I swept up the "other" broken glass and got it out of the way so the family would be safe. I was lucky this time; Mikey showed his grief outwardly so I had a chance to deal with it directly. As a former (?) kid myself, though, I know that sometimes kids get ideas like that in their heads, and they just kind of stay there for sometimes years and years before the child ever shares it with someone who can show them that it's not true. sometimes those things stay there so long that they last until adulthood, and by that time they are so ingrained that there's no dislodging them, even with the logic and common sense of an adult mind. I guess part of my strategy as a parent is to try to minimize those things for my kids, so when they grow up there won't be a bunch of broken jelly glasses in their subconscious keeping them from becoming all they have the potential to be (or becoming the Achilles' Heel that brings them down and destroys what they've worked for).

Mikey... I know you read this blog sometimes. Mama and I love you, and it's the truth that the glass was no big deal. But even if it WAS a big deal, if it cost a lot of money or something, we would still love you, and you wouldn't be in trouble for an accident that happened while you were doing what you were supposed to be doing. OK? You just keep doing what's right, and things will turn out OK!

Hannah Playing

Hannah, like all babies, is totally into playtime. You already know that she likes to play on our computer:



But did you know that she also plays piano?



Then after getting done with her email and her etudes, she chills out with a little GameCube:



But you know what her favorite thing to play with is?

YOU!!!