A Couple of Conversations

As we left my soccer game last night, while driving:

Loumy: Mom, did you win your game?
Me: No. You were there. Weren't you watching?
Loumy: No. I was playing. Did the other team win?
Me: Yes, they beat us pretty bad.
Loumy: Hm...maybe you should practice more. I think you lose because you never practice.
Me: You're probably right.
Loumy: I mean, you really should practice so you don't lose all the time. You could just go out in the backyard with Dad and like, me, and SC could practice with you.
Deedle: I don't LIKE practicing soccer! All the kids are better than me. I HATE practicing.
Me: Deedle, don't say hate.
Loumy: Mom, do you want me to practice with you so you won't lose all of the time?
Me: Yes, that would be great.
Loumy: Okay, when the snow melts I'll practice with you so you can win some times.


A few days ago at the kitchen table:

Deedle: Mom, who do you love more, Haiti kids or Finn?
Me: Of course my own children are the most important people to me in the world! I love them more than anything else!
Deedle: Then Haiti kids next, right?
Me: Well...yes.
Deedle: What about the rest of your family?
Me: I love my family so much. I am so lucky to have my family!
Deedle: But you really really really love Haiti kids, right?
Me: Yes.
Deedle (knowing smile): Yeah, I know.

Li'l Teenager

String Cheese got braces today. We didn't think she would for several years yet but we took her in for a free consultation and they told us that we could either wait and do it all when she's about 13 (she's got quite an overbite and that will be the best time to work on her jaw) or we could do the first phase now. They said it was optional but that a lot of parents do it to avoid self-esteem issues. I kind of felt in a quandary. On the one hand, I am always trying to teach my children that it is what's on the inside that counts and that we don't have to fit a certain mold to be beautiful. On the other hand, SC is so confident right now and it breaks my heart to think of people teasing her because of her crooked teeth and possibly giving her a complex so that she's not comfortable flashing her beautiful smile. When I discussed it with Chancho, he was all for doing whatever we can to make her life easier. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof". You can't take away everything as a parent, nor should you, but if you can do something pretty simple to fix crooked teeth and avoid that...well...why not? Besides, she was begging for braces and has been reveling in the attention all evening.

As I sat on a little bench next to the chair SC was lying on in the orthodontist office, I surprised myself by feeling my eyes well up a bit. With her braces on she looks so much older. She's already so tall for her age and with braces, she almost looks like a little teenager. I love this first daughter of mine fiercely!!!

Here she is on the way to the appointment sans braces:

Here she is this evening before bed. First acting embarrassed and then giving in:

One more thing I should mention about SC is that she is turning into an amazing little writer. The stories themselves are a little crazy, but she's got a great imagination and I want to foster that. Also, I often find writing to be very therapeutic, so I'm glad she's enjoying it so much. More than the stories themselves, though, I'm absolutely amazed at her writing voice and maturity of the dialogue. I'll have to post some tidbits from one of her stories soon.

Pigpen

Look at his smiling face and happy, jazz hands despite the fact that he is covered in dirt and has puffs of dust floating around him. I wonder what kind of home life Pigpen had. Was he in poverty? Did he not have a mom that cared for him and bathed him? Or was he just a typical little boy who was always getting dirty? Anyway...I know how important it is to be clean and my life feels so much more chaotic when things are dirty. I want the Spirit in my home and I know it is so much MORE there when its clean. But I am tired. Haitian Roots feels like a full-time job lately. Being a mom to four kids under 8 is a full-time job, too. And I really want to just be able to focus on trying my best but not being too frustrated or unhappy if I feel like I'm living in a pigpen. So, if you come visit me, we'll have a good chat because a lot of really awesome things are going on right not. Just don't mind my dust.

More Birthday Fun

Here are Finn and his Daddy-o waiting for guests to arrive for the party. I love this picture of these two guys. It makes me laugh.
Uncles can only mean one thing...

When it was time for dinner and Chancho instructed the kids to fold their arms for the prayer, Finn did as he was told. He seemed so proud of himself when we all clapped for his good listening skills!

He thought that having everybody sing to him was the most awesome thing ever. He especially loves it when he gets attention from his siblings, so to have them surrounding him and singing to him almost made him burst with happiness.When I set the cake before him, he didn't know what to do so I gave him a taste of the frosting. He sat for quite some time, contemplating his next move. Eventually he used a dainty finger to try some of the frosting...then put a hand in...but tried to shake the frosting off. Still confused, he finally put his hands on either side of the cake and just went in face first.
It is such a rewarding experience to give Finn a toy because he loves them so much and will give one his undivided attention--carefully turning it over in his hands, or touching it and listening and patting, and shaking, trying to figure out just what it is that the toy does.

Usually I only take the time to contemplate after an event, but on this evening, I just totally relaxed and truly thought about what it had been like to be in the hospital the year before, not knowing what would happen to my baby or to me. I felt such a peace and joy and appreciation for my life the entire night.

The next morning was Finn's "real" birthday, so the kids crept into his crib to sing to him again. I could hear him laughing and coo-ing. I tried to video it later, but, as you will see, there were the typical interruptions of an everyday morning. :)

Izzy's Jar

Some of you may remember a post about this little man. Izzy is an amazing little guy. A few weeks after the earthquake hit Haiti, I was over at his mom's house. His mom, Jamie, is a lifelong friend and I love her. She showed me a mason jar on the counter top. It had "Haiti" scrawled on it. After the quake, Izzy took the jar and put all of his money into it, set it on the counter, and began to dream about all the ways his money could help his country. A few days later, Izzy said to Jamie, "Mom, I think I'm going to need help filling my jar." So, Jamie decided to do just that. She approached the principal of Izzy's elementary school and began planning a fundraiser. They decided to proceeds would be given to Haitian Roots.

Last Friday the school had an assembly. The principal introduced the project called, "Help Izzy fill his Jar". Izzy spoke very briefly, we had a short movie, and then my friend, Max Laforet, spoke to the kids. One of the really fun things for me personally was that 5 of my nieces and nephews were in the audience.
The next morning was a big "Breakfast for Haiti" at the school. Jamie arranged it all with the help of a lot of family and friends. They distributed flyers to homes and left stacks of them at businesses in the community. The hung up 11 x 14 posters everywhere they could. Deedle and I even saw this one after the breakfast when we went to get gas. The breakfast was amazing! I couldn't believe how successful it was. There were a lot of familiar faces but also a lot of unfamiliar faces--just wonderful people in the community coming out to support Izzy and Haiti. The spirit of the whole thing was just amazing. A very talented photographer by the name of Dave Brewer was there and he documented the whole thing. This little video he made captures it really well. Enjoy!

Help Izzy Fill His Jar for Haiti Fundraiser Video from Dave Brewer on Vimeo.

Finn is ONE!

Fresh from Heaven...

One month...

Two months...

Three months...

Four months...

Five months...

Six months...

Seven months...

Eight months...

Nine months...

Ten months...

Eleven months...

ONE YEAR!!!

Loumy

Jason kind of ruined this because he already posted it on facebook (which he used to mock me about), but I wanted to save this cool little story for my blog book. Last night I went in to give Loumy his lullaby before bed and was surprised (okay, not actually that surprised, just a little exasperated) that there were dirty clothes and toys all over because we had honestly just cleaned his room hours before.
"Loumy," I asked, "why is your room already so dirty?"
"Well, " he frowned, "Its just really hard for me because I wasn't born here."
Oh man, he's already pulling out the Haiti card?
The story is made even funnier because earlier in the day Loumy had said to me, "Mom, I know of a good punishment for me."
"Oh yeah?" I asked, all ears.
"Yeah. We should make it so that I get NO playing unless my room is clean."
"Okay," I said. "If you think thats a good idea."
"I think that will be good."

Loumy makes me laugh all of the time. This morning I was driving him and our little neighbor, V, to preschool. They sat in the back together and V said to him, "Look at my pretty outfit."
He raised his eyebrows and said, "OOOooolaLAAAA!"

Loumy is also just about the best kid around. He has such an amazing heart. Recently his preschool teacher has been giving out special coins to kids who get "caught being good". He always gets one. He gave up his spot on the rug to make another boy happy, he shared a toy, he said something nice to make somebody happy. He is a peacemaker. Our lullabies at night have evolved over the past while. It started with me singing songs to him, to me singing a song along to a CD that he likes, to us just listening to a song on his bedtime CD while I massage his back to now...nearly every night he insists that I lie down so that he can give ME a back massage while we listen to our "lullaby". A couple of nights ago when I turned on the music, he said, "Turn it to number TWO. That song is SOOO awesome. I LOVE IT." I've never heard him have such a strong preference before so I quickly obliged.
"What do you like so much about it?" I started to ask as the first notes played. And then I almost started crying because the words were "Jesus once was a little child, a little child like me..."
"Well," Loumy said. "I just really like to listen to it when I'm in my bed because it makes me think about when Jesus was little like me and what he was like and if he had any friends. I feel sad wondering if he had a lot of friends. I just really like to think about what He was like when he was a little child (pronounced Lit-oh CHY-ode) and I want to try to be like that." Then he softly sang the words, "try, try, try."

For goodness sakes. I'm a lucky mama!