The Daily Life of Sweetpea[s]

Um...this is awkward, but I'd love to hear some people's thoughts on circumcision. Not really something I've ever had to think about before...

This is fairly accurate...

Stephen has a week off before his final year of grad school so we did a little thing we like to call "pregger camping" up in New Hampshire's White Mountains. It's full on car camping (as opposed to hiking with packs to your camp site). We brought our largest tent, air matress, snoogle pregger pillow, lounge chairs and lots and lots of yummy food and snacks in coolers. (We also stayed in campsites with a short walk to flushable toilets.) We took a tram car to the top of one of the mountains for a very light hike and beautiful view, made dinner and s'mores over the campfire, and we swam in a crystal clear lake surrounded by quiet and beautiful mountains. The weather was perfect (50s-70s) and our trip was lovely...

You have to read this Ebay post. You will cry it is so funny.

My new car is a pre-owned Passat. A little light appeared on the dash Sunday afternoon so Andrew took it in to the dealership yesterday morning.

When I told Ethan that we thought it had something to do with the gas lines, he said, "maybe the gas you put in it was too spicy."

Yesterday, Katie and I beat our own time and ran the 5K in 36:16. **We obviously are not the fastest runners. Improving our time is our next challenge.***

We had a great time and are already looking forward to our next run!!

Tomorrow is my 5K and I have to admit, I'm a little nervous. We have run the distance a few times now, but I know nothing of race etiquette.

So wish me LUCK!!!

Suitcase #2 is found!!! We're still waiting for suitcase #1 to arrive via Fed Ex, but #2 arrived last night on a flight from DFW. Stephen got to wear his missing shoes to work today. I'm hoping my baby stuff will arrive in the next few hours. =)

Have you seen these new CAKE bags by Petunia Pickle Bottom. They cost $325!! But they are oh so beautiful. ***I do enjoy window shopping for bags***

I kinda like this bag made by Fleurville. Their bags are super cute and they seem to be a great company.

After much discussion over breakfast, my boys have named our school.

The Wolfsbane Grammar School

I think that will work.

A woman called yesterday from DFW to say that they found one of our two suitcases--the one with the baby shower gifts!!!!!!!! I was so excited I started crying. We'd started to lose hope after talking to a lot of rude and unhelpful airline people. Ugh.

Thanks for your prayers!

In a few weeks we will be flying to see the premiere of Shake Hands with the Devil at the Toronto Film Festival. It is about the Rwandan genocide. Why are we going, you may ask?? Because its executive producer is our own uncle, Laszlo Barna. (Distant cousin actually, but being a small family he was upgraded to uncle.)

He has been an award winning filmmaker and producer in Canada for 25 years. He does not do this all alone. His wife/partner is a quiet, behind-the-scenes force in all they do. Recently their top rated show in Canada, Da Vinci's Inquest has been playing in the U.S.. They have also produced Megabuilders on the Discovery channel and shows for the National Geographic Channel. But Shake Hands with the Devil is by far their biggest film. We are very proud of him!!

We were thrilled when he called and personally invited us to come and attend the premiere. So along with brushing up on my Canadian celebrities, I'm trying to figure out what to wear. Yikes. The premiere is at 2:30pm. Any ideas??

As many of you know, my son Sam, is severely dyslexic with general Learning Disabilities. Some days you would never know it, but others days his thinking is unclear and he aggravates everyone within a ten foot area. We call those LD days or SI days. (SI-sensory integration disorder-we have that to.)

Despite this we have successfully completed 1 week of school. We follow a classical tract so we have jumped into studying the ancients and specifically Egypt. Next week we will be mummifying a chicken-I will let you know how that goes. ***Once a week, drain the fluid out of the bag.*** Huh?!

But the BIG news is that Sam has begun to read. For one week of school I feel like we are overachieving a bit. In the midst of ordering the best dyslexia materials and waiting for help in teaching them I gave Sam a Primary Phonics workbook 1. It has no bells and whistles, nothing fancy. Its just been around 30 years. Every word is introduced with a picture. ***Lizard has an a ha moment*** While I was trying to fill in time, the kid has started to read. Yesterday I ordered the rest of the Primary Phonics materials. The picture above shows the very first two sentences that I dictated to Sam. He was very proud.

Please note the rules that Sam created on the board the first day of school. After a couple of days I added the last one.

Okay, friends, as M. and I work to finish up adoption paperwork, (actually, M. is doing most of it,) I am feeling the urge to start researching baby stuff!! Yay.

I would love to know your opinions on:

Strollers--Kellsey--I know you like McClaren (sp?) . But what model--are there some that are lots better than others? What about other brands? Should I buy one of those 3 wheelers?

Cloth Diapers--Kellsey, I've already forgotten the ones you liked other than Fuzzi Bunz. I invested in some chinese pre-folds a long time ago, so I need some suggestions for covers so I can get some use out of those, too. But I'm open to AIO's, etc.

Car Seats--I know this is an important one. Kristen?

.....and any other must-have products.

I do hope to do the babywearing thing, and we are planning on the baby sleeping in our room with a co-sleeper--both in order to promote healthy adoption attachment....so we don't need crib suggestions. Has anyone used the Didymos sling? I've heard good things.

So far, the only thing I really must have for my baby are organic onesies and babylegs. :)

WG--what are some websites you used for research? I know I could just start surfing the net, but I'd love everyone's opinions.

Yesterday, I attended a conference for a new curriculum we will be using in our children's ministry at church. During one of the sessions we were asked to do an activity that utterly surprised me. It was to name your 3 favorite words in the English language. I was surprised because 3 words instantly jumped into my mind.


Bubble......water.....smooth


What are your 3 favorite words???

I'm back in Boston this week from my 11 day Texas trip home to see family and friends. It was a wonderful trip (although a bit WARM) and last Saturday I had a lovely baby shower. Stephen and I were truly blessed by all the gifts and encouragement. We had a lot of family and friends that came a long way to be there. Sweetpea and her husband were there and came early to help my sister-in-law prepare for the shower. (Thanks Sweetpea!) Kellsey and Honor also attended and drove in from out of town to be there! (Thanks, Kellsey! It was so fun to meet you!) And Lizard sent a gift via Sweetpea all the way from California. (Thanks, Lizard!!!) I feel loved. =)

The bad news is that on Monday the airline lost Stephen's luggage on our way home and one of the missing bags contains 80% of the gifts given to us at the shower. There's still no sign of the bags. Please say a little prayer for us that we will eventually be reunited with our luggage. Even if they can reimburse us for the lost gifts there were a lot of personalized items that cannot be replaced exactly. *sigh*

I got to spend some time with the Bickles last night and Thomas is SOOOOOOOOOOO cute and totally brilliant. He has a birthday next week. He'll be two. As I left their home he blew me a kiss and my heart just melted. What a doll...

Please pray for Thomas tomorrow as he goes through surgery to remove another tumor. Check their blog (link on the sidebar) for more info.

I think I can hear crickets chirping.....HELLO....anyone in here????

So here is an update on my running. I can now run 30 minutes at a time without utterly heaving when I finish. The taste of blood has diminished and I now experience, all be them small, moments of pleasure when I am running. ***The cramp in my side usually snaps me back to reality***

I am not the most graceful runner, but I think I am a grace-filled runner. I am getting up 3 times a week at 5:25 am to meet my friend at 6am. My body automatically wakes up early on the other mornings and I really enjoy getting up and making my coffee...alone. I enjoy my children more in the a.m., when I have been awake awhile. Otherwise, I find myself grumbling that they are awake and happy at 7am.

The benefits have been remarkable. As most of you know, I experienced a deep depression last year which left me with chronic insomnia. For many months I used Valerian, an herbal supplement to help me sleep. I have not taken one since June. I have crazy amounts of energy and when I crash at night, I go to sleep instantly and the quality of my sleep is much better. I am now only sleeping 6-7 hrs a night, but I feel great. It is much better than 9-10 hours of pill induced sleep/insomnia.

My 5K is August 25th, so I will keep you updated!

So who knew what a little diet and exercise could do????