Family Pictures

Megan Pauls (megoo photography) took some fantastic family pictures during our Pauls thanksgiving gathering. I love these pictures!

So what is happening with us?

Trev has been really busy with meetings of all sorts lately. Our pastor, Wayne, left Boissevain a few weeks ago and so there are a lot of decisions to be made. Between youth, youth leader meetings, decon meetings, and council meetings he is a busy guy. Plus he doesn't want his visitation with the youth to suffer, so he's been working pretty hard. Last week I encouraged him to take a personal day to refresh so he went to camp Koinonia for the day. He said he had some good time of thinking about his priorities and direction. I guess sometimes it is a little too easy to just keep working withouth thinking about where you want to end up. Trev was also invited to join a group of men going to Mexico in March. They are going to be building a house I believe. All the details are not yet ironed out, but he is pretty excited. Ever since his MDS trip to New Orleans 2 years ago he has been really excited about helping with building projects, whether here or far away.

For Brook, being 3 years old is challenging at times. I don't think she even knows her own emotions most of the time. Since Jack has been more mobile over the last few weeks she has been a little ... stressed. She is not used to having someone climbing on her or taking her toys. I think having Jack crawling is more of an adjustment for her than when he was first born. They get along really well, and Brook is excited to see him do new things, but I can tell that it is a big adjustment for her. We went to visit Ryan and Jackie last week and she had a wonderful time playing with her cousin Kate. They got along so well. The sleepover went well, but there didn't seem to be much "sleep". I heard giggling at 10pm and when I poked my head in the door Kate was in bed with Brook. Very cute, but boy they were crabby the next day. She is starting to "make believe", which has been fun. We have had a lot of tea parties with no cups, horse rides with no horses, and phone calls with no phones. Yesterday we called Auntie Beth to wish her a happy birthday, and when Brook heard that Beth did not have a cake she was confused. How can you have a birthday with no cake? Where do the candles go? It must not be Auntie Beth's birthday if she has no cake. Lots of new adventures with Brook.

Jack has learned to crawl and stand up in the last 3 weeks. I guess he just decided it was time. He is 11 months and still has no teeth, but that doesn’t stop him from eating a few solid foods. We lowered the crib twice in 4 weeks, and the second time I just put it as low as it could go. Might as well admit that the boy is fully mobile and he will likely be trying to crawl out of his bed soon anyway. Since he has learned to pull himself up on everything he has decided he no longer needs to sleep. We have had some difficult (and long) fights at nap and bedtime, but it looks like I might be winning. He went to bed without a fuss tonight. I am amazed at the dexterity he has developed lately too. He is getting very good at feeding himself and picking up small objects. He’s learning to manuver his body around things rather than trying to bash his way through. He likes the little red light on the powerbar behind the TV. Brook does not appreciate his curiosity when she is watching cartoons. He started making “dada” sounds. He only says “mom” when he’s angry. He realizes that he can get himself from room to room to find people or things he wants. It has been an adventure the past few weeks. I’ve had to turn “the eyes on the back of my head” back on. I had forgotten how exhausting it is to watch a small child so closely, but so far so good. I have only plucked a few inedible objects from his mouth, none of which would have harmed him. (It’s just kind a gross to watch him eat fuzz off the floor).

As for me, I am done Christmas shopping. Stockings and all! All of our name picks this year were children, so a quick trip to toy r us and my shopping list was 90% done! So now what? I’ve got 4 weeks until Christmas and really nothing to do but keep the house clean, keep Jack from killing himself, and try to keep Trevor from finding his Christmas gift. I am trying to avoid doing my Christmas baking until a few days before Christmas. My theory is that I may then avoid the new years resolution to lose weight. I turn 30 in a few days. I have come to accept it and that is all I want to say about that. Trevor has something planned for my birthday and I am not permitted to know the details. I love it that way. J