i am indulging myself this weekend.  it is the first weekend that i can remember us having absolutely nothing planned.  It feels good.  i am sitting under a blanket right now.  frank is nearby asking questions and talking continuously as i write.  all feels right and good.
Yesterday, i went to a coffee shop by myself and had an amazing quiet time and read my new book.  it was So good.  so amazingly good.  Even just a few hours alone seemed to reset my clock and make me like and appreciate all these boys so much more.  michael told me to do it every weekend if i need to.  he was building a Lego podracer with frank when i came home, and the little boys were asleep.  he is a good man.

major milestones occurred this weekend.  It feels like we just needed some quiet time with our boys to really relax and just be with them.  

1. Frank Put on, Tightened, and Tied his own shoes for the first time.  praise the Lord.  i think we will be a new family.  it has been a struggle with the shoes and laces this year.  i have lost my temper over those stupid shoes more than i can even admit to.  one shoe struggle actually led to one of the sweetest moments between frank and I this year.  i flipped out after about the 4th time trying to get his shoe on and him wiggling and moving and in general paying no attention to the process.  I believe I yelled at him so badly that he might have cried.  we were late for basketball lessons.  and I looked at his sweet little face, and i just sat on the floor next to him by my closet, and I apologized.  I explained that I absolutely do not want to yell at him about his shoes, but that sometimes i just make mistakes.  I know it isn't his fault he has cheap shoes that don't go on well.  But sometimes I do things I don't want to do.  I explained how Paul says in the Bible that sometimes he even didn't do the things he wanted to do, but instead would find himself doing things he didn't want to do.

then, frank looked at me with the sweetest most understanding expression on his face and said, "did Paul have a son that couldn't put his shoes on, too?"

2.   Fordy learns to use the potty.  Hallelujah.
He has avoided this for a long time.  i have avoided this for a long time.
Using the potty is so much more labor intensive for all of us.  but it is Time.  we ran out of diapers.

Last night, we filled him full of juice, water, and even a cup of Coke - because I have learned that a half a cup of coke is about equivalent to a cup of gold to my boys.  they have only had a Coke about 3 times and they are crazy about it.  He sat with me in his new batman underwear in his room while i read him books.  He came with me to the kitchen and watched a video on the computer in his underwear - drinking juice while i cooked dinner.  We all went to the family room after dinner.  we brought the potty and finally he couldn't hold it any longer and came running to us saying he needed to peepee.  it was wonderful.  his smile was so big after it was over.  michael came running in from the kitchen and we all cheered.  he did it three more times last night - he got bowls full of m&m's.  he is so proud. 

he also learned how to pedal his tricycle yesterday.  he has refused to learn this skill as well, but he got it quickly when michael taught him.  oh how i love that stubborn sweet boy.

3.  just shy of seven months old, John is finally Eating rice cereal, and he is also officially Crawling.  yesterday we decided it was for sure when he got up on his knees and crawled straight over to my shoe.  michael and I just stood there, looking down at him on the kitchen rug and said, "i guess that's it."

here is a video from last week, when he was still practicing.  please ignore my annoying voice.

my aunt betsy called john our, "Joy Boy."  i believe that's it.  he is pure joy wrapped up in all that Michael-looking-goodness, covered in a head of crazy brown hair.  he loves everything and just about every person that he sees.  he is perfect - minus the sleeping - but that is my own doing - not his.


i am a woman blessed beyond measure.  we may have a very uncertain future at this time in regards to where we will live next year and what we will be doing, but i am at peace, and not at all uncertain about the richness of my life.
A strange older man at the coffee shop asked me yesterday if I "worked around here?"  i just smiled and said, "well, i have three little boys."  some days it feels like work, some days it feels like pleasure,  but always i am thankful.