it's the little things...

those of you who have followed me for a while, heard about the evolution of my kitchen. chuck spent nearly two years updating our kitchen, and i love it. even though it was "done" there were still a few finishing touches it lacked - mainly hardware and a curtain. recently, we added those finishing touches and i'm so pleased with the result.

here is the "original" finished kitchen...

and, now, here is my current kitchen... complete with a few changes.

there is no denying it. chuck does some good work. i am so pleased every time i walk into that room. ironically, when he's in the kitchen, all he sees is the ceiling - the only thing left to "do."

tucker's current state of affairs

aside from the last update, i feel as though my blog makes it look like i only have one child. i mean, really, do i even have 2 daughters? i'm very happy to care for any of my children in need of my attention, but lately, my life seems to revolve around a certain 3 year old. he's needed it. for now, though, i think he needs a break. i need a break. anyone who gets undivided attention for over 2 weeks is bound to have issues.

yesterday, i took tucker to his 2 week post-op appointment with the surgeon who performed his tonsillectomy. the good news is that his throat is healing right on schedule and tucker is free to return to his normal activities and menu. the not so good news is that our sleepless nights may not end any time soon. ever since his surgery, tucker has woken up screaming several times a night. yes, we adjusted medication. we've tried everything. the doctor informed me that the nighttime problem should be resolved in about six weeks. SIX weeks. SIX WEEKS? what the heck? i don't really know why he's having such a hard time... but apparently this is normal (?) following this procedure. great. last night i was up with him 4 times before he went more than an hour without screaming. and he's not even awake. how do you reason with a sleeping, screaming three year old? oh well...

as a way to celebrate his clean bill of health, we decided to let tucker decide what we'd eat for dinner last night. not surprisingly, he opted for mcdonalds (and, consequently got his mother out of cooking dinner, bless his heart). he was so excited for that burger and fries... til the first bite hit his throat. his eyes popped open and he grabbed his neck. "it hurts my throat!" he cried. chuck and i just looked at each other thinking, "huh,... maybe he isn't always making it up..." before we could swap his happy meal for soft serve, however, he was back in his seat taking deep breaths and saying, "i can eat this..." and he did. despite whatever discomfort it caused, he sat there and got every last bite down. either way, it was encouraging. it was good to see him eat, because the last few weeks has made our little boy even tinier than usual. it was also encouraging to discover that, although some foods may not feel great going down, he can eat them. so, the next time he comes to my dinner table, takes one look at my dinner, and dramatically whispers (after having gobbled up a bag of goldfish crackers) "i can't eat that. it hurts my throat..." i'll know he's full of bunk.

patrick's journey continues

last sunday, chuck and i had the pleasure of watching our oldest child be baptized. the whole thing was supposed to happen over a month ago, but it was postponed several times. our church performs baptisms every so often... as the need arises, so to speak... and because we don't have a baptismal, they perform them at a local creek. it's a fun kinda authentic way to do it,... except when copious amounts of rain flood both said creek and its bank causing the warm august baptism to actually take place at the chilly end of september... in a swimming pool. ah well, either way, it works, you know?

as children's pastors, chuck and i had talked with the kids at church about what baptism means and whether or not they were "ready." several decided they wanted to be baptized,... but by the time it actually took place, patrick was the only kid standing amidst all the adults. (the numerous schedule changes threw a few off, i think).

being the only child present, he opted to go first, but decided that keeping to the ladder was his best option. man, i love that boy. safety first.

i am really proud of his decision... and glad that he asked lots of questions first and then followed through despite what everyone else did. i look forward to watching him continue on this journey...