Easter

I want to thank Sarah for posting the Easter recipe. We did it this evening and it was pretty neat. The kids were excited about sealing up the oven with tape. We did that and talked about how Jesus' tomb was sealed shut with a rock.

Scott said right away, "But it got moved. And the girl went to check on Jesus' and the tomb was empty!" It is so exciting and wonderful to hear your kids tell you something they actually know about the Lord. I can't ever tell for sure if he's paying attention when we're reading our Bible to him, or reading his Bible stories at bedtime. It's so reassuring to know that he is at least some of the time.

At the end we went ahead and talked about the Resurrection and Jesus' being in heaven waiting to come back. I told them that one day, when God's ready, and we're ready we could go be with Him in heaven forever also. I have found that I have to be careful how I say things like this though. Scott has gotten kind of upset a couple of times about how he would miss all of his toys and his room and he would be sad if he couldn't play with them anymore! Tonight I made it all so much more upbeat and like it would be in the distant future. And made sure to add the disclaimer to everything that God would be sure we were ready too. Anna was so excited that one day we could go to "Heaven's House." I love little children! The say the sweetest things.

The kids were fine at first about leaving the cookies in until morning. I explained how Jesus' followers were sad when He died and was placed in the tomb because they didn't understand what would happen. But it turned out o.k. because they got to see Him again soon. Scott and Anna seemed to get this were fine. Until I told them it was now time to go up to bed. Scott started crying on the way up because he thought we were going to have cookies tonight! I explained it all to him again and he seemed more upbeat about it. He is how hoping the oven timer will go off so early in the morning that it will wake him up. I didn't even bother explaining that I did not set the timer.

I am excited to finish up the project in the morning. I think it was a very fun way to teach a lesson. Thanks again, Sarah, for the idea!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!

Losing track of time

Wow, I meant to post over the weekend for Elizabeth's 4-month update and it's already Thursday. It's so easy to lose track of time. The good news is that today's post can be more informative since Lizzie had her check-up with the doctor this morning.

Little Lizzie is doing great right now. She coos and laughs at us (she is very ticklish--even laughing often during a diaper change) and can support her head very well. She has not rolled over yet and both Scott & Anna had by this age. I think this is due to the fact that she had minded quite a bit being put on her belly. She has only recently been willing to spend much time on her belly since she can lift her head up very well now. She has come very close to rolling a couple of times, so I'm sure it will be any day now. She can nearly roll from her back to her stomach as well. She's very funny laying down because she really prefers to be held sitting up or helped to stand up. So, when she is on her back, she does everything her little body will allow to try to get up. This results in little stomach crunches where her head and shoulders come up to nearly a 45 degree angle. It's very silly to watch. Doing these little crunches while holding her legs up in the air results in her being able to roll onto her side and if she could just figure out how to get her arm out of the way, she would be rolled over.

Her length has increased to 25 inches, which is in the 75th percentile and her weight is at 12lbs 6 oz, which is the 25th percentile. I don't worry too much about those percentiles because with my kids they are always changing. This is about what both Scott and Anna have been I think, most certainly with the weight. I have not yet had a baby reach 20 pounds until well after their first birthday. Anna was just at 21 pounds at her second birthday.

The doctor said everything looked good today and I hope it stays that way. I plan to be able to keep seeing this doctor for years to come so that will help him have a good idea of what to expect from my little babies. He just saw Anna for the first time at her second birthday and was concerned about her low weight and we had to bring her back two additional times over the subsequent two months to get her checked. Now that he can see that she does gain weight (albeit slowly) he is not concerned any longer. We had to go through the same thing with Scott when our insurance changed when he was a baby and we were forced to change docs. Because he didn't have much of a history to look at, he was concerned about his low weight as well. Hopefully, with two other smaller kids, and being able to see her doctor since birth, Elizabeth won't cause too much concern. But I still worry because I know at her next appointment, her weight percentile will probably be a tad lower. But, I never weighed much at all until adding baby weight and Chris barely weighed 145 (he's 6 foot) when we got married, so I don't think we can expect a lot weight-wise from our kids.

Sorry to ramble on so much. I can really get going on this topic. I just hate that all people are expected to fit into some mold that some scientists have decided is the definition of "normal", as if we can all really be expected to turn out exactly the same. When children are obviously healthy and active and content, I don't like to go looking for problems just because they're not exactly the same as their peers. We get so much information now as parents regarding our kid's health and behavior that we can be quick to label them for each little supposed or real deviation from a ubiquitous idea of "normal" that someone else has defined.

Wow, it feels nice to get that off my chest. I guess that's kind of what blogs are for....

I'll try to update again soon on our Easter activities. I hope you all have a joy-filled holiday!