We're expecting*...

* We're expecting a visit from the tooth fairy sometime. Don't know how long loose teeth sit in the mouth before finally falling out, but this morning Elizabeth came into our bedroom and said her tooth hurt. I took a look and saw that the two bottom front teeth are loose. The ones next to them are rock solid, but the two in the middle have just a teensy bit of a wiggle, the one on the left a teensy weensy half of a bit more than the one on the right.

My baby's growing up!!

I never thought this would affect me. Her going to preschool didn't cause me to bat an eyelash. The idea of her going to "real school" in the fall doesn't bother me (yet). When she was first learning to crawl or walk, I was just excited that she's hitting this milestone, but I wasn't sad that my baby's growing up. But this loose tooth thing! My baby's growing up!

*snif*

House rules

I wonder, sometimes, if my rules are too strict, and prevent my girls from making enough mistakes to learn from them and doing things "outside the box". What do you think?

Some of my non-negotiables:

• Hold hands when walking anywhere that cars go: streets, intersections, parking lots. This rule is to be followed even when there are no cars to be seen for miles around.
• Stay within sight of the parents. No running too far ahead, no lagging too far behind.
  
• No jumping on furniture unless it's a trampoline or inflated jump house.
• No throwing anything heavier than a balloon inside the house.
• Naptime is to be strictly enforced.
• No TV before naptime, and even then, not too close to bedtime, and certainly no more than one hour of it. Preferably just one half-hour episode of a short list of approved shows: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, Electric Company, Between the Lions, Sesame Street, VeggieTales. Absolutely no Tom & Jerry, Spongebob Squarepants, Pingu, or Hanna Montana. At least for now.
• Sweets (candy, cookies, ice cream) are to be eaten only on weekends, and only once a day then, unless a special day is declared by me or my husband, either because of guests, a birthday party, or just because it's Tuesday and somebody wants to go out for Baskin Robbins.
• Milk is to be the beverage of choice. Next is water. Juice and soda usually don't exist at home, unless we have had guests recently.
  

Am I too strict?

Pictures from July, finally.

Swimming lessons
Ballet class
So.Cal road trip: the beach, my souvenir, and Legoland

July

Where is the month of July going? Whooooo, it's supposed to be the middle of the summer and I feel like the end of summer is already approaching. This is how our month of July looks:

swimming lessons
drawing camp
dance classes
a college church friends reunion, complete with spouses and kids
a road trip to Thousand Oaks and San Diego
VBS
a No Doubt concert (A date with the hubby!? No way! Way!)
more dance classes
more swimming lessons.

No wonder I haven't been writing much.

Anyways, I'm trying figure out how to get pictures onto here more reliably (I tried to upload a few minutes ago and had too much trouble). Hopefully it'll happen soon.

thoughts

I just realized that Kate McRae is less than a month older than Elizabeth. Just makes it that much closer to home, you know?

Ugh. I hate the fact that she's got this brain cancer. I hate the fact that she's had to spend so much time in the hospital. I hate the fact that she's suffering so much. I hate the fact that her family's suffering so much. Why does cancer have to exist?

I can't imagine what her family's going through. I wish I could give some kind of comfort, some kind of wisdom, some kind of something... just anything. But nothing. Our family prays for them, we also pray for Kate specifically, but I wish we could do something tangible, something immediate, something to make it just magically disappear. Relying on God's timing is so hard. Relying on God's wisdom is so hard. And Kate's cancer, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't really affect our family on a day-to-day basis. I mean, they live what, 500? 600? miles away from us? The last time we saw them was a year ago, and it was quite coincidental. We now live in a different place from when we knew them. They now live in a different place as well. So why is it that I'm thinking about her constantly? Wondering how she's doing, wondering what she's doing, wondering if she is finally able to speak fluently the thoughts going around in her heart, wondering if she is finally able to get her right side moving? Why is it that I personally feel so affected by Kate's cancer? Does it offend her family that I feel this way? Does it offend them that I'm even thinking this out loud, in a (somewhat) public forum?

I don't know. I feel like a dork for thinking these thoughts. But oh well, they're my thoughts, and they're my blog. Take them or leave them. But whatever you do with them, please please please continue to pray for her and her family. Keep checking the Caring Bridge website for updates so you'll know how to specifically pray for her.

Please pray for my friend's daughter, Kate McRae

Kate is just a few months older than my Elizabeth. Her dad was a pastor at the church we attended when Elizabeth and Abigail were born. This just hits too close to home.