Quick Birthday Post

Today was supposed to be filled with Thunderstorms, but alas, it was not and the party went on without a hitch. Everyone seemed to have fun! We laughed on the way home that there were more dads there than moms, I can't imagine that 30ish years ago for either of our third birthdays! I tossed some pictures into a random slide show(I learned a new trick!). They are in no order and I couldn't get most of my favs up because they are vertical and this thing was not working on anything that was not horizontal. So, I'll be back later, hope you're all having a great weekend!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Praises...

Great Friends (yeah, I know I throw this one out there a lot, but it seems I'm grateful for this often!)

Sunny Days of playing outside. (today was not one! Yesterday, however, was very nice)

Three smiling children, sometimes I forget to say thank you but I am truly, truly blessed to have these little people in my life

The "I love you" phase. Dax told me so many times yesterday that he loved me and followed it with hugs. There is not much better than that.

Being in this period in my life. When I think back to 11 or 12 years ago or 5 or 6 years ago, I remember those feelings of longing, of wondering, of sadness and disappointment. I am so grateful to know what I know now, to have learned those lessons, but I'm sure glad I'm on this side of it!

It seems I've really felt this ache for those around me in the real world and in the land of blog who have lost a child or are waiting for a child. I am grateful that God has given me that heart, and grateful that one day you will know all that God has in store for you!

A husband who will take care of the kids barricaded in our bedroom so I can have grown up time with friends in my own house.

A little shopping trip where things were actually purchased for my three favorite munchkins.

Tossing all rules aside every now and then and being lousy, yet fun parents, taking our kids to Chuck E Cheese at 8:45 pm. I did pray no one we knew would see us loading them back in the van at 10:30 when they are usually in bed at 8.

Above mentioned fun zone not being crowded allowing Mom & Dad some enjoyment too.

Happy, sleeping children, think they'll sleep in??

Late night praises and the freedom to share them with whomever I wish!

Sadness after Praises...

After working on my own praises, I did a very small amount of blog hopping and landed at Journey to Hannah Claire where I found the latest blog post just took me totally off guard, kind of like a kick in the gut. Sometimes there are moments where you just feel sadness and praises seems so far out of reach. I'm guessing is where the Chapman family is right now. The song Cinderella has played a real role in my own grief lately and their adoption stories played a huge part in our, once upon a time, decision to find our second child in China. My heart breaks for them and my prayers are going up for their family tonight.

Praises...

Babies who are feeling better, sleeping later, and giggling more than they have in weeks!

Picnic lunches with hundreds of kids, even if my own would rather be at recess.

A husband who will drive home from work a few towns over for a school picnic even with gas prices topping $700(ok $4.00, close enough)

Little boy hugs that come with pats on the back

Brunching with good friends

Spending my evening in deep discussion with jr. high girls

Watching their minds work and their souls search and knowing they have the right stuff brewing in those minds. I love their questioning.

Stopping at Kmart for a brief moment and finding myself in the middle of a musical interlude. I only pray that the video surveillance did not catch the little dance moves I could not control upon hearing this treasured piece of '80's music nostalgia. I hate to admit, I knew every word and could even remember the video!



Coming home to an almost quiet house.

Mom being able to converse with me without spilling the beans since I had to tape the finale of American Idol.

Yes you know my guy won, so how could I possibly not add this to my praises! He's been my favorite since the beginning. I was a pleased puppy this evening!

100 Posts! 1st Tag....

So, I'm still learning about this blogging thing. 100 posts ago this was simply a praise journal, now it seems to be more, but I still want to make sure I don't lose track of why I started! So, when I haven't praised for a bit, shout at me. Stomp your feet a bit. On that note I will start with praises....

A 10 year old that came home from school in a good mood (a rarity lately!)

A 3 year old that woke us up this morning with this quote, "Dad! Dad! I poooopppped!" My husband in a slightly terrified voice, remembering that Dax went to bed in underpants without rubber pants replied, "where?" Dax yells, "In the potty!! Come and see it!" "Can I have a sucker now!!" Sure, why not, every three year old needs a sucker at 6 am!

Finn's speckles are fading! He seems to be feeling a little better today.

Spending phone time catching up!

Visiting new blogs, it's almost like meeting new friends!

And of course, American Idol. Although there is always a little let down when we get to this point in the season. It's like you want to get here, but you're not quite ready to be at the end! If you haven't followed my blogging you may not know that I am a big David Cook fan. So 4 reasons David Cook should be the next American Idol...

1 He is incredibly better looking (extremely shallow, yes, I have my moments, but wouldn't it be weird if I was attracted to a 17 year old?)
2 He is an individual, he's not playing to crowd, he's doing what he feels is right for him
3 He can take anything and make it his own
4 I would actually listen to the album he released

Now on to this Tag thing. I have never done one of these but Traci at the Sullivan Sitcom seems to think my time has come. So, so I don't disappoint my 12 readers, I'll play along!

4 things I was doing 10 years ago (1998)

• Mike and I had been married 3 1/2 years & were living in our Ohio hometown
• We spent every Friday & Sunday night at my parents house laughing, talking, playing games, watching movies, and the top 20 GAC country countdown ( I didn't say it was a life of glamour!)
• I was a new stay at home mom to a beautiful almost one month old baby girl
• I spent my days in awe of her amazing beauty and intellect carefully coordinating all of her outfits and accessories

4 Things I was doing 5 years ago (2003)

• Finishing my school year at a cooperative preschool
• working toward my preschool certification
• dwelling on how Lily was now five and I still hadn't had a successful 2nd pregnancy
• still spending my Fridays & Sundays with my family just like five years before, same house, same husband!

4 (or 5) Things I did Yesterday (Monday)

• Woke up at 5am to a screaming baby and a 3 year old bouncing around talking at high volume
• Took Finn to two different doctors appointments, one planned, one not
• Learned what a rash from a penicillin allergy looks like and that my darling little Finn will never be on penicillin again
• Said goodbye to my mom and sister in law as they made their journey back to Ohio after spending a long weekend with us.
• Spent sometime being grateful that I had time with my family (and a little sad that they were leaving) and that my kids are overall healthy, beautiful little blessings from God!

4 Shows I like to Watch

• American Idol
• Grey's Anatomy (maybe it's more the company than the show!)
• Lost
• One Tree Hill (yeah, I know I'm too old)

4 Things I love to do

• take pictures
• snuggle with my whole family in my bed on a lazy Saturday morning
• spend Thursday nights with friends
• Go to the movies with my husband, my mom, my Lily, or my friends, whoever is ready and willing

There! I have completed my first tag! Because my pool of readers is limited to those without blogs and those who have already done this I will refrain from tagging anyone else. If you have a blog and you haven't already done this, go for it! You'll be my forward!

Something to say good night with....

A sampling of the studio versions of songs David Cook has done on American Idol. I was slightly bummed that I could not find the studio version of "Hello" but this I'm sure will be more than many of you can handle! Ok, I'm going to vote, again.


Mariah Carey

Andrew Lloyd Weber

Neil Diamond

Dolly Parton

The Beatles

Michael Jackson

Aerosmith

Duran Duran

For Your Information....

These are some answers to recently asked questions and some stuff I'm just throwing at you in case you might be interested!

The ability to turn my blog into a book is honestly the only reason I started blogging. With three kids the thought of doing journals, scrap books, and photo albums for each of them was overwhelming, then I found this site and I thought, blog, I can blog! I hope to print a book each year. I think that will really give the kids a good glimpse into our lives one day!


This book has been wonderful! If you're like me, one of those in the middle parents who want to make the best choices but don't want to be over the top, you just want to understand as much as you can and know all your options, this is a great book! I thought it was easy to read. I did it in a weekend before Finn's 1 year well baby visit. I knew I didn't want to vaccinate on the regular schedule. I knew I had questions, but I didn't know where to get the info to make the best decisions. I tried googling, oh Lord, don't get me started on the terror that can envelope a mom googling anything medical! There is also a website that ties in with the book. There you'll find continued updates on the research being done. No matter where you stand on the whole vaccine thing, or even if you're saying, what vaccine thing? I think this is well worth reading!

Seems I've found myself in many discussions lately about BPA free baby bottles and sippy cups. The question I've had lately is what am I gonna do with all my Avent bottles? For me, whether it was over protective or not, I chucked all my Avents into a box and started using Evenflo glass bottles (the only three I could find in the store!) back in November when I first read the stories about "bad plastics". What is funny is that I have friends who are still using the bottles, and I have friends having panic attacks about what harm they might have done to their children when they didn't know any different. The way I look at it, I'll do the best I can do to make the right choices at the time. If you are interested in cheat sheets for "safe" bottles and sippys here is a mama who has put together a site with that info.

I've mentioned in the past my slight baby name fetish. If you have one too you probably know who Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz are, if you don't have a fetish, you may not actually care! They are my favorite baby name book authors. They have written many books and update them every several years. For serious naming issues or just for fun, these make for a good read. If you have any favorites that I might not know about, tell me!

If you're looking for a good read, here are a couple of blogs that I think are worth your time. These are not funny, at least that is not their goal It's not where I go when I want a good laugh, I'm going to add those soon! If you haven't been following the story or the Lawrensons over at Confessions of a CF Husband their story and pictures are quite a treat! I recently stumbled upon Angie Smith and her family at Bring the Rain. I feel richly blessed to have found her site. she is extremely well written and so grateful for what God has given her. She is using something we all fear, the loss of a child, to show God's grace through the tears.

Hope you found something interesting! If not, maybe I'll try again another day!

Praises...

My mom. Yesterday was her birthday. What a gift God gave our family and the world when he created her. I feel so blessed to have her in my life and the lives of my children.

Mom and Carly being here to help me through a crazy morning.

Doctors who you can trust to care for your most precious little people.

Sunshine. It's dreary cold May days that make us appreciate the warmth of the sunshine.

Safe travels.

Everyone being in bed by 8:30!

One three year old I know being binky free for 4 whole days!

Praises...

Friends from far away

Friends close by

Encouraging words

People who don't think you're crazy when you reveal how your mind works

Birthday boys who think you are something special. Remember the whole "turn off the sun" stage we went through? Now we've moved on, he is asking me to "stop the wind". I think it's amazing how little kids see their parents, like super heros with no capes!

Little boys who search a room of moms and smile when they see you and say "you are my mom!" followed by a hug...I hope he always looks at me like that! Today he told me I was his favorite 3 year old so I told him he was my favorite Mommy, he found that very funny.

Medical professionals that you connect with seems you realize how important they are when they are no longer accessible!

Sick babies who can still giggle when they are hurting

Babies who still try to pick up chicks when they are sick in the doctor's office

Safe journeys

Having mom and Carly here

Sunny days when rain is predicted

A husband who does the shopping=)

My family and every moment I have with them

This is for Nicole...

Over at Life in Progress, my real world friend, Nicole wrote about her encounter with friendly neighborhood squirrel. I can't help that all I could think about was this song that my dad used to play for us, so I'm sharing, please forgive me!

Dax is 3!!

Lily was our gift, Dax it seems was our miracle baby. They are 7 years apart. Between them we lost three babies, two miscarriages, and one ectopic pregnancy. We had moved a long way from home and were settling into our new world. We started getting information on international adoption. We of course, fell in love with the Steven Curtis Chapman packet (it had music and pictures!) and started filling out paperwork. We frequented precious.org and I often tried to explain to Lily why they could not just box up a pair of twin girls and express mail them to our front door. We decided China was where our next child would come from. Then one day Lily said, "Mom, I've been thinking about this adoption thing, and I've decided I'd really like one of the home made kind instead." I laughed! I told her we tried that route and it didn't seem to be very successful for us so maybe God had other plans for our family. She said she would pray about it. I told her to go right ahead. One month later, I was pregnant with Dax.

I had been pregnant before but now I was in a new place without the OB/Gyn that I loved and without my mom. Wow, God, this wasn't exactly the way I thought this should play out! I was terrified. Thanks to some girls I'd met who have become some of my very best friends I found a doctor quickly. Each day I got more and more sick, throwing up at every turn. Taking Lily to and from school was about the extent of my energy some days. Well, that and watching back to back episodes of Dawson's Creek. Going into a store with any sort of food made me sick, so Mike started doing all the shopping. Driving past restaurants made me sick so I tried to avoid it at all costs. I never felt like that with Lily or any of the other pregnancies. I think it was God's way of reassuring me everyday that he was still there, I was still pregnant. This lovely reminder lasted about 24 weeks. Then, I guess I started to relax and realize that this one was the miracle, this one just might make it!

Make it, he did! He was supposed to be born May 14, 2005. That would have been my grandfather's birthday. He was going to be named after my grandfather, it would be perfect. Yeah, we don't do perfect well! Induction started at 7 am and he decided to make his appearance at 1:17 am on the 15th after the c-section threat had been made. They handed him to me, I checked him out, then handed him back and threw up everywhere. It was by far the most fun labor and delivery I've experienced! But he was here, and we were so, so blessed.

I dreamt about him before he was born. I dreamt he was running around the room knocking over rocking chairs. I knew he'd be a mover. I think God knew he had to mentally prepare me for that! He had jaundice. It completely broke my heart when they kept sticking him and then locked him in the box. He is claustrophobic. I guess I don't know if he was then or that had something to do with it, but now there is nothing worse you can do than cage him. He always hated playpens. The nurses had to pad the sides of the incubator because at one day old he could crawl/wiggle/scoot himself off the edge of the platform and they were afraid he'd get his head caught. I heard them whispering about him they said something about that one being extremely active for a newborn. See, God gave me a little glimpse in ahead of time, he knew I liked to be mentally prepared!

7 pounds 9 ounces, 20 inches, the bluest blue eyes, and a full head of dark auburn hair, he was beautiful. He was all boy. He needed a name!

We started with 132 choices, seriously. I have a slight, ok severe name issue. We would edit the list with a survivor type game every so often. We'd battle it out. We had scoring systems and weighted votes so Lily had a say too. By the time his baby shower rolled around we had it narrowed down to 10 and we let our friends and family vote, not that we actually took their advice! In the hospital we were down to three. Ty, Dax, and Hudson. I have a brother named Dosh. To me when I saw Dax I immediately thought of my overachieving, athletic, friendliest in his class, confident, happy go lucky, positive little brother. It sort of stuck with me, and grew on people. But, that night after he was born, none of the names fit. I grabbed the original list, yeah, the 132. Mike said "No way! It has to be one of those three!" So Dax was it, because we'd never met a Dax, so this must be what a Dax looks like. All my kids have 4 names. The first is their own, even if it's connected to someone or something and the middle two are after people. His is Dax Henry Bender longhardtospelllastname. Henry was after my grandfather, great grandfather, and uncle and Bender was after my grandmother's family.

So, there he was, baby Dax. It took me a month or so before I started to really put he and the name together. I kept worrying I'd made a mistake. Now I can't imagine and better name for him!
He is full of life, laughter, exploration, motion, amusement, discovery, and wonder. I love this little boy more than I ever thought one could love a little boy (I was planning on all girls!)

He makes me laugh daily. I can't even imagine life without him!

We are so blessed and God's timing is perfect.

If I was more computer savvy I would have put these into a slide show in the post. I haven't yet figured out how to do such a thing and I could have gone on for days with the pictures, so enjoy the show!

6 months

Our first Christmas

We put this picture on a deck of playing cards for Uncle Ryan

This picture is the day the praises truly, memorably began, Here is the dog licking up the splashed and the beautiful little boy would made me laugh, cry, and see the blessings in each moment.
1st birthday
Chicago for Dosh's Graduation from Boot Camp


18 months

2nd birthday

First day of big boy Sunday School with his buddy, Max
2 1/2

He saw this picture and said "wow, I was handsome!" Think his confidence is ok?

Christmas 2007
3rd Birthday on his new climber

And of course a birthday post wouldn't be right without music! Dax has songs. The first one was his before he was ever born, when I knew he was a boy I started singing this one...

I know this one is a love song, but for me I just cried when I heard this version. I'd heard the song a million times, but I a week or two out of delivery and I just felt like the broken road did lead me straight here. Without all the heartbreak I couldn't have known this joy. Honestly it still makes me a bit misty thinking about those other little starts that broke my heart and pointed me to his little arms.


And finally, when I first heard this one I cried like a baby, the same way I did with I Hope You Dance for Lily.