My Ebenezer

Noah:  "I'm glad we didn't watch Cinderella at Kellie's house last night." Me:  "Why don't you like Cinderella?" Noah:  "Because I'm not a girly person--I'm a boyly person and Cinderella is not for boyly people."

I have begun the initial round of medications for our IVF cycle.  If you can't remember from  last time , this pill makes me extremely nauseated.  Upon finding this out, a lady from church recommended that I try Sea Bands; just these little unimpressive-looking elastic bands with a protruding button that presses into a nerve in each wrist. "How could this help?" I asked myself as I sat in the CVS parking lot, putting them on. But they do.  Oh, how they do! Call it Dumbo's Feather if you want, but I promise you they are making life much more bearable for me right now.  Thank you, Susan! Two weeks of these yucky pills, and then Lord-willing on to the next round of meds (shots! gasp!).  Right now it's looking like an end-of-February retrieval and transfer.  You know me.  I'll be posting more! Please keep praying.

No, I am not the next big Pinterest fan.  Being the mother of all time-sucking websites (sorry, but it's true), I do not intend to join, but I was looking for a fun and easy cheerful Valentine's craft for Noah and me to do on Monday, and I found one on there!  Here is the link to how to make our Valentine's  wreath  that we did on Monday.  It's so cheerful and fun!

My sister Leah called me the other night, and I knew the second I saw her number pop up that it was Not Good News.  My mom lives with her, and being as I'm such a phonophobe (a word I made up, meaning I-can't-stand-the-phone-to-the-point-that-I-avoid-most-phone-calling-situations. Sad, but true.), my sister and I just don't communicate that much by phone.  Well, anyway, I answered it and found out that my mom had fallen in her room on Monday night and hurt her knees badly.  She was in the hospital, and would be for a while. Leah was using words like, "bone chip" and "foot dropped" (you know how if you're sitting on something high and your feet just hang pretty parallel to the floor, and you can flex and point your foot at will?  My mom's is currently pointed down at the floor and there isn't anything she can do about it. She can't flex it upward at all.) I'm sad for my mom, hurting and going through therapy and rehabilitation until ...

Here are 3 of the deep ponderings and observations made by Noah, age 4, over the last few days.  (I NEED to start writing more of these down) "Everything is good for you if you eat just a little bit.  (thinks for a second) "Except concrete and walls and caulk and glue...." "Bagels hurt my hands to pick up--they're so wide!" (holds up a scroll-like object) "This is JUST LIKE what they used in Bible times when they didn't have any paper: a squirrel !"

Noah has about 4 Favorite Shirts.  (You can tell they are his favorites by the various and sundry stains on them. Because to a boy, "shirt" and "napkin" are synonymous.)  Perish the thought that all 4 of these shirts would be dirty at the same time! Laundry day for us is on Mondays.  This means that Noah wears a Favorite Shirt each day from Monday through Thursday, and then spends Friday through Sunday asking if I'm doing laundry because none of his Favorite Shirts are clean.  Repeat cycle each week. :)  Today being a Monday, Noah was so happy to be able to wear a Favorite Shirt when he got home from school.  He was crestfallen when he discovered his drawer devoid of said shirts, but perked up when I told him they were clean in the dryer.  I sent him out to recover one, which took a while.  When I went out to see why, this is what I found: Because Favorite Shirts are just that worth it. :) That's all.

I took this video on Saturday while we were cleaning up the yard and Noah was wearing the backpack leaf blower. No, wait.  Maybe IT was wearing HIM!  See for yourself: I'm sorry I didn't keep recording.  Just after I shut off the camera, Noah lost control of the leaf blower and it spun him around!  :)

Noah has decided he LOVES chapter books.  Since finishing Runaway Ralph in October, we moved on to Charlotte's Web in November, which he loved, by the way.  The part at the end where Templeton got strings from Charlotte's egg sac stuck in his teeth had Noah in stitches!  In December, we read The Boxcar Children (which he endearingly kept calling, "The Caboose Children.") and Noah enjoyed that one too. So far his favorite--as judged by the frequency and loudness of his laughter-- is The World of Pooh , by A. A. Milne.  I'm loving it too!  The cute childish thinking and dialogue make this one irresistible. It is such fun to curl up under the (electric) blanket with Noah and read before his nap.  I hope we can continue this for a very long time, even after Noah can read reliably on his own. In the adult world of reading, Josh and I have been enjoying Oliver Twist for the first time.  Plastered on the front of the book are the words, "Children's C...

Things are slowly progressing with IVF.  Lord-willing I should be able to start the initial meds toward the end of this month, with the actual procedure taking place in February or March.  I'll keep you posted!  Thanks for praying.  :)

Josh told me when we put Noah in preschool this year that he wanted me to start doing art projects again--he thought it would be good for me.  Well, the Fall slipped by and nary a sketchpad was brought out from hiding.  But the other day, in a fit of New Year's Resolutions, I decided to take Josh's advice and draw again.  Maybe paint. So today, while Noah was at school, I dug out my drawing pencils and drawing board.  Couldn't find any sketch paper, so I had to use Noah's drawing paper.  My drawing pencils yawned, stretched, and blinked in the light of day, which they hadn't seen for years.  And here's what they did for me in the 20 minutes I had: The proportions are off, of course, and I didn't have time to do any shading.  But for the first time in about 8 years it was me, my pencils, and Vivaldi (music is key!).  It was sheer bliss.  I hope soon to do another drawing of this same picture, taking more time to get it right. ...

This new year caught me a little off guard.  You wouldn't think so, since it's no surprise that after December 31 must come January 1.  How many times have I seen that happen?  I think it had something to do with Christmas and New Year's Day falling on Sunday this year.  As fitting as it is to attend church on those days (especially on Christmas), I have to admit it threw me a little off.  I've been scatter-brained enough on my own these days without adding date confusion! Anyway, enough about my quirks. Except I have to tell this story: Noah started back to school today, and while he was there, I went over to Jen's to do some planning for the ladies' meetings (y'all should come--they have all the makings of GREAT times!).  When we finished, as I stood up to leave, I headed over to Brianne's room to do the customary, "Ok, Noah, time to get your shoes on."  Only I didn't see Noah.  He's been into hiding lately, so I looked in Tit...