Little Prayers

Ali: Thank you God for all the things God gave us. Amen.

Jilli: Thank you God for making Ali get healthy and make Daddy happy forever. Make Mommy happy forever so she will not give us spankings. And thank you God for not letting the trees die or anything.

While I was blogging

Ali comes over wearing two beaded necklaces. She says "Mom, I love you. Would you like a necklace?" I say " That would be wonderful Ali. I would love a necklace." So Ali takes off one of her necklaces and says "Hold your hair up." and she fastens it around my neck. Then to top it off, she says "This means that you are special Mom. God made you special and I am special too because I have one. Jilli is mean. She has been mean to me all day long." and off she goes.

And don't let anyone tell you that an 11 month old doesn't know right from wrong. I busted Suzy in the kitchen with a bag of crackers she took off the girls table. Jumped a mile high when I said her name (just a sing-songy name, not even a "hey what cha doin" name) and began to shove the crackers in her mouth hand over fist.

Tootie Bum

It's the girls new insult. They made it up all by themselves. You're a tootie bum. Try it the next time you get in a fight with your hubby. :)

Sparkly World

There are a few small differences between growing up in the country and growing up in the city. When we had the girls, we naturally assumed we would move someplace more "country" since Mike and I both grew up in rural areas. Being a kid growing up in a city is something we know nothing about and as the parent, one wants to feel quite confident in their "all knowing" status. It's funny how God's plans differ from our own sometimes. We are beginning to appreciate the "city" side of living, and the girls are showing us the perks from their point of view as well. My favorite so far is "Sparkly World" (which is actually pronounced Spark-a-lee World). Whenever we are driving in the evening or in the dark, the girls are in awe of all the city lights in the distance. We never actually arrive in Sparkly World because city lights look their most sparkly from a little bit of a distance. But you are guaranteed at some point in the drive to hear "Look Mama! Sparkly World!" with just enough excitement to remind us that God has great blessings in store for us wherever we are.

where are you hiding?

Jillian comes into the kitchen and says "MOM! Ali put chapstick on something!" alrighty then.... guess it's time to figure out what the children have been up to. "Follow Me!" says the daughter who is in the right at this moment. so we wander into my bedroom where I see that there is a certain gleam to the bedside table which we all know has not come from my dusting or waxing of the furniture. scanning the room, one notices a certain lack of the defendent. "Ali! where are you hiding?" I call into the emptiness. and a very very small voice calls back "in the closet"so I head to the hall closet and sure enough on the second shelf up, curled into a tiny ball is my middle child. needless to say, she was not punished, but simply explained the proper use of chapstick (even though her hiding proved she knew right well how to use the chapstick in the first place) but some things are too funny to take seriously.


As I sit typing this, my Suzy is gleaming all over with the sheen of butter as I have decided she doesn't get enough fat in her diet and forgetting the slickery side effects of adding butter to her peas, I went ahead and did it. Now she is shiny from head to toe as 10 months old are wont to be as they eat by rubbing food into their pores vs putting it in their mouths. I am thinking of setting her on the ground and offering the twins a chocolate cookie for whoever can catch her first. aaaah the fodder for therapy when suzy is older.


and since it has been forever since I blogged, I will add one more story and press my luck with my attention elsewhere from my children for an additional moment. Last night we went for a walk around the neighborhood. One of our new favorite pastimes in the warming weather in the new neighborhood. The girls go on their bikes with their training wheels, suzy gets pushed in her comfy stroller and mike walks the dog. it's a nice arrangement, or so we thought. The girls have been pretty good about staying close, even though they are getting braver and going faster on their bikes. Last night however was a new story. We went down a new street which is very short and a culdesac. so we let the girls ride ahead of us as much as they wanted. (since there really was nowhere for them to go). Ali likes to ride fast. Jilli prefers to ride with "the rest of her family". Ali did well. she stopped at the end of the street and we let her ride back to the stop sign and she stopped and waited for us when she got there. she did the same at the next street as we headed toward home. the next street was cavalier and it turns left into Doepke which is our street. we all turned right together and headed off. ali started going a little faster and was soon about a half a block ahead of us. we assumed when she got to the end she would stop and wait. however, we neglected to remember our daughter's thought processes. There is no stop sign when the road turns left, so Ali did not stop. As she turned the corner and kept going, Mike started calling to her. We decided he would run after her and I would stay with Jilli. as mike sprinted off after Ali, Jilli became a little confused as now the "rest of her family" was split up. so she started following Mike. We became quite a long parade. Ali leading the way with Mike about 1/4 block after her and Jilli 1/4 block after him and Suzy and I pulling up the rear another 1/4 block behind Jilli. The thing to remember is that the training wheels on the bikes are Exceptionally Loud. So Ali never heard Mike yelling for her, at one point she did stop and look back only to discover that there was a great race going on and she was in the lead. This compelled her to go even faster much to Mike's aggravation. Needless to say Ali won. she lost her bike for 3 days as her reward (safety reasons required a punishment for this caper, no matter how funny I thought it was - please note that I had not sprinted the last two and 1/2 blocks home.)

well, i promise more Jilli stories next time. Ali's been on a run the last few days, but Jilli does hold her own I promise. Love you all!!

New House

Ok, let's see. In order to catch up completely.... we sold our house in a mere 5 weeks. The buyer wanted to move in at the end of the month. We managed to talk her into two more weeks for us to pack and we began to look at houses. Long story short, we found a fantastic ranch in Finneytown. A mere 5 minutes from church, a wooded backyard with no chance of development, the sweetest little old couple who were so sad to part with their dream home (both of whom are authors and thrilled it's going to an English teacher) and a master bedroom with its own bath:)!! Poor cousin Kim who is staying with us while she subs to get into a school district had to move twice in 2 months (although she had decisively less stuff than the rest of us:)
A wonderful crew of friends and family helped us move everything. And as it turns out... we have a ton and I mean a TON of stuff. I really didn't think we did as we lived in a little house by the tracks, but apparently we were just good at hiding all our stuff. We have filled the bigger house- no problem!
The girls are doing well with the move. Since we still see all their same friends, it's not quite so tramatic for them. Suzy is doing great. She is the happiest and most contented baby ever. She still has Daddy's beautiful blue eyes.
We got to meet Ezra for the first time last week. Jeff and Lee and Ezra all came in from Portland. He is a handsome devil and he likes ME!! he did warm up to Uncle Mike, but Aunt Angie didn't require warming up to. It was great. He and Suzy spent some good time chatting and looking quite adorable.
here's a couple pics.....

Adventures in leaving the house

Yesterday I decided to leave the house. With all 3 kids. By myself. To shop at the mall. It was our first adventure of the sort since Suzy was born. I prepared the diaper bag, packed up the children and the front pack for Suzy and we were off. Chick fil-a called to us for lunch so we got some nuggets and fruit and I distributed food all around and sat down to eat a warm meal. "Momma, I have to pee". "me too". um, well, we can't pee because there's no one to take you to the bathroom.... we can't leave the food, you can't go alone, can you hold it till we eat? "nope" and the dancing began. ok great. I packed up all the food again and off we head to the bathroom. I cannot bring myself to set down the food on the bathroom counter, so I have a baby strapped to the front of me and a bag of food in one hand while trying to heave the children up one at a time to wash their hands. ok, finished in the bathroom, off to redistribute food and eat cold chicken. Well, at least Gymboree is having a sale and I've got store credit.
God bless the people who installed the little TV in Gymboree, as I get to shop in peaceful bliss for 30 minutes. I am at the counter to check out when my adorable baby (who has been admired repeatedly by the woman helping me) emits a very loud sound. The sound that a mother dreads to hear when she knows her child has not pooped for three days. The woman and I laugh and remark how funny babies are. Then something drips on my toe. UMMMMM...
Suddenly my baby is a little less adorable to the salesclerk. "Do you have any tissues or anything behind the counter?" the woman hands me 11 paper towels. It is not enough. Fortuneately they have a bathroom at the Gymboree where few get to go, but a leaky baby is a free pass. we dripped our way through the store and into the bathroom, where I discovered that miraculously, I was unscathed save my toes. Suzy however had a completely yellow leg. I cleaned her off best I could and we paid our 8 dollars left after the credit and high tailed it home. I do think leaving the house is a bit more risky than it used to be.

First Time Parent

So my youngest daughter was running a very low fever for a week. ok, it was 99 something. varying a little bit here and there but pretty much solidly in the not yet 100 range. well, for us that is a little fever as all four of the older becksforts tend to run around 97 something. So I finally decide I should call the doctor to see if it's something I should be concerned about because it had been a whole week. The doctor promptly conveys to me that I should quit taking her temperature. It's hot outside.

Bumboland

Well, we have joined our cousin Ezra in the joy of Bumboland. Suzy just loves her Bumbo too! and so does mom, as her arms are free and her child is happy to watch whatever is going on in the room. It's like always having a front row seat for the twin show.
We are so blessed, Suzy is such an easy going baby. She's a big smiler and loves to chat. She will fit right into this Becksfort clan of chatterbox ladies and their main fella.

Rocket Ship

The girls have a new game. It is immensely fun to watch. They play rocket ship (or boat, but usually rocket ship) by spreading out a blanket on the floor (1-2-3-4-5 Spread!) and then jumping on the blanket and pulling some up over their laps (strapped in to be safe!) and then placing pants upon their heads (Helmets on! so we can be safe!) They usually zoom off to rescue their stuffed animals or an obliging grandparent. Sometimes there is mutiny onboard as one of the rescuers tries to steal more than their share of blanket for a pretend nap (This is not a sleeping boat Ali!)

Suzy's Poop

So here's the thing... Suzy poops permanent ink. Bright yellow permanent ink. With just a hint of orange to it.

She has blown out of every diaper she's worn for the past week. The diaper will not contain her.

Something in my child is grabbing ahold of something in the fabric of her clothing and refusing to let go. It is really quite frustrating. Especially when the poop occurs and immediately the poopy-clothing is ripped from her body and treated with stain-fighting chemicals and then appropriately placed into a load of laundry that was just started (there was no delay). Despite the immediacy of treatment and cleaning, the stain had already set.... HOW?

So if you see a small baby with gold-stained clothes or ones that look as though they may have been recently dyed deep yellow by her parents, you will know that Suzy has struck again and rather than fight the stain, mom and dad have just accepted defeat and gone to the laundry aisle of the local grocery and bought out all the appropriate shade of dye.

Little Mirror

Life with Suzy is wonderful. I can say that because Mike is still home on Summer break. The breastfeeding is finally going well, and I'm starting to appreciate the benefits of not fixing bottles more than the nervousness of not knowing if she's eating enough and all that. We called a realtor today. We finally finished all our home improvement projects yesterday, so that's only fitting. He's coming on Monday, so that gives us 2 days to clean the house. The more children we have, the more I revert back to my natural state of sloppiness. As an adult, I have managed to create a facade of order to my home, but this order takes time and I prefer to use what little energy I have these days on my kids. The hard thing is trying to tell your kids to clean up after themselves when 1/2 the mess is from the adults. At least cleaning is a family affair. The funny thing is that Ali and I work quite well in this environment. I remember quite clearly my father saying to me as a child "how can you find anything in here?"- refering to my room. Today I saw Ali say to Jilli, "We need to get the babies' blankets" and promptly crawl under her bed and retrieve two "blankets" (scarves) from the mass of items which have been stuffed under there. It was like looking in a little mirror. We just have a different type of organization.
Our talk about keeping her room clean (which I imagine will be as futile as my mother's talk with me) will at least not contain the phrase "how can you find anything in here", but probably more of "you need to have a path to walk" or "this is your side of the room, keep your stuff off your sister's".

Suzanne Elaine (ie baby Suzy)

She's here, she's wonderful. we're sleeping, will blog more after the jaundice is gone and we're recovered from our colds. It's been a crazy first couple of weeks.

The RunAway Pancake

The girls have a new favorite book and it comes with its own catchy song. John Lithgow is a brilliant man and the girls love his song, I hope that it is as easy to get out of my head as it has been to consume it. The good news is that the girlies have been very accepting of our limits to the book and song because they can always play ballerina. Or "bounce arena" as the girls call it. It involves kicking your legs and running in circles. The only hazard from the new game seems to be getting your sucker caught in your sister's hair. (It's been an interesting night) so as we continue to wait for Suzy's arrival, it's great to have such fantastic built-in entertainment around the house. I can only imagine how entertaining life will be with three.

The seats don't fit

Ok, so since I'm due in about 2 1/2 weeks, I guess it's time to start getting the house ready for Suzy to arrive. God bless those good parents who read their kids books about being big sisters and talk them through the whole process, our kids are just going to get their sister dropped in their laps. It occurred to us the other day that perhaps we had not prepped them enough when Jilli was talking about visiting Suzy at her house when she comes out. The look on her face was quite thoughtful when we explained that Suzy was going to live with us. Oops, and just when you feel like you're getting the hang of this parenting thing. So we decided it's time to put up the bassinett and get Suzy's car seat into the Jeep and all those little details that say "Hey, these people are going to have a baby soon!" vs the current "Hey, these people have had a tornado go through their house". This would be the time that our big carseat plan fell apart. Even my husband, whom we all know would knock the world off its axis for his pregnant wife should she request it, could not cram all three carseats into the back of the Jeep. Fortuneately they fit in the car, but I don't really fit in the car at this point, so I guess the girls will have a crash course in not probing the baby while mama drives after Suzy comes out and we can all fit in the car.

It's a Girl!!

Joy of Joys, we get another girlie! We were a little nervous that Jilli would be upset, as she had us all convinced it was a boy. She accepted the news with an "oh, ok" and that was that. Now she's having a baby sister.
Even more fun news... my sister is having another girl at the end of June. So Leanne is due in March, me in May, and my sis in June. Oh the busy, busy grandparents.
Last night was the first time in a long time we left the girls with a babysitter. Mike and I went to a valentine's dance with some friends, which was fun, in it's own special memory kind of way. (not that there was any dancing, or even romantic music) Jilli didn't do too well with our leaving. It was really hard because she could say things like "I don't want you to leave" and "please can I come with you". Just broke our hearts!! In reality of course she was fine after a while, but the knowledge of reality and the tug of a mom's heartstrings are not related at all:). Sam (our babysitter) told us when we got home that Ali would look at Jilli (while she was still crying) and say "I think she's still crying". This morning when we asked the girls if they had fun, they said yes. and jilli added, "I cried for you. I said 'wah, wah, where did you go?' and then I ate my pizza".
Today, sadly Jilli is running a little fever, so we are going to stay home from church and watch the olympics and rest. Jilli did crawl in bed with us last night for the first time. She curled up next to me and I fell asleep again for a few minutes. She has some congestion so was having a hard time sleeping, but she laid very still and rested, and tromped happily back to her own bed when I told her it was time. It was the perfect snuggle time (I needed) to comfort her after having left her in such a sad state earlier in the evening.

Pregnant!

Yes, it's true! We're expecting again. May 22nd is the due date. There is only one in there this time, we had an ultrasound and made them look around really good. With the first trimester ending, I am feeling much better. I find it ironic that I was more sick with one baby than I ever was carrying two. Jillian is telling everyone she is having a baby brother, so we'll see. There is special joy with this pregnancy because I get to share the experience with my sister-in-law, Leanne. She is due March 26th and is carrying Mr. Ezra Vander Becksfort.

Jilli's story

Today Jilli decided she was going to read her little new testament to me.
"I read you the Bible mommie". Sounds good to me so I sit and she settles in my lap for story time.
"Once upon a time there was Jesus." At this point my mommie heart swells with love and pride, my girl is so smart. The story continues... "Once upon a time there was upon a time" and "Once upon a time there was ......(made up words, made up words)...." Eventually we get to some plot again "Once upon a time there was baby Jesus and he was in... (my mind races to "manger" and I'm feeling good about our progress with the meaning of Christmas for this year until she continues) ..... the store". :) She goes on for a little bit and so then I stop her and say it's time for quiet time so how does it end. "If you're good, you get a green sucker. The End"

Who's coming over

Today I turned to my children and I said "Ok girls, it's time to clean up. Can you help me clean up?" and Jillian promptly says "Who's coming over?". I guess it's pretty obvious how often we do a clean up:)

One other story worth noting is how ingeniously sneaky my children have become. With my current state of exhaustion, the girls have been wonderful about getting up and asking me if they can play in the living room while I rest a little more in bed. It's been a great system, they usually just color or read books and I get another 30 minutes or so of rest before facing the day.
Monday however was an entirely different morning. I awoke to some small scuffling sounds and then a little "uh-oh", promptly followed by "Moooommmmiiiiiieeeee, I need help". So i jump out of bed and head down the hall. When I got to the doorway to the dining room I had to stop. Both of my children were up on my kitchen countertop and there was the sound of splashing as they tromped about.
"Nobody move!" came out of my mouth as if I were the arresting officer.
I head into the kitchen to find my countertops covered in the water that was once the lifeline of my starter plants in the window. Their little carcasses strewn all over the countertops. I turn my attention north to see my children both holding suckers, their faces covered in chocolate. (The homecoming parade that we attended the Friday previous had proven to be an excellent candy score.) While we had been handing out pieces for dessert and occasional treats, the girls decided one big gorge fest while mama slept was a much better plan. I promptly lifted both soggy little delinquents and sent them to their rooms while I stood in amazement at the mess.
It's their biggest to date and one can't help but wonder how we got so lucky. At least it was water:)

Frittata

My girls continually amaze me. I was a picky eater as a child, but praise the Lord that my children follow Mike's tastebuds more than mine. This evening I experimented with an asparagus, wild rice and goat cheese frittata. I thought it was ok, Mike loved it. The amazing thing to me was that Ali ate it. I totally expected to be dishing out the leftover mac-n-cheese with peas for the girls. I offered them a choice after a few minutes of hemming and hawing over dinner and Ali, after careful consideration, said "I'll eat the ta-ta" and she did. The meal was further blessed by Jilli's conversation contributions from the bathroom. "I'm going to poop!", "Just a toot!", "Now I'm pooping!", "Hurry! I pooped! I did it!" -anything to get out of eating a ta-ta:) I couldn't help but smile to myself during our dinner. To top our meal off nicely, Ali congratulated Jilli heartily on her accomplishment "I so proud of you Jilli" and gave her a huge hug and kiss. What did you all talk about during dinner?