Hello World

We are still here. Busy little bees. Please excuse my absence. It's not that I don't like blogging because I really do love to share (vent occasionally), but time has not allowed me lately to give this here said blog attention.

I have been a little busy at work the last few weeks planning a big event. Now that it is over I will have a little more free time (ha ha this makes me laugh--free time with 2 little boys...yea right!), so hopefully I won't be a stranger any longer.

Daniel is working hard to finish his last semester of Seminary. He is a good student. I joke with him because in college when I had to write a paper that had to be so-and-so length...I would literally have to stretch to make it that exact length. Daniel on the other hand just turned in a 15 pages paper that he wrote upwards of 20 pages and had to trim it down. That's just madness to me. :)

We just took our last trip down south to spend time with family, friends & supporters. It was really great to catch up! We were delighted to see so many people, but are sad we missed some people too. It is hard to pack in so much in a week!

Okay now bullet points:

• 2 months from yesterday the hubs will be graduating!! I am beyond proud of him.
• I have about 6 weeks of work left.
• We are headed to France for 3 months this summer for Daniel to do an internship! We are praising the Lord for this AMAZING opportunity and are blown away to see God's hand even in the smallest details. Thank you to those who have prayed with us through this decision.
• Many have asked if we will "document" our time in France this summer. OF COURSE! We are techy people and so we have a NEW blog for our adventures :) Please add us to your blog roll as this will most likely be the blog that will be updated! www.sowers4france.blogspot.com
• It is hard to believe we will be saying goodbye to our life here in Chicago. 2.5 years flew by. We have made some incredible friends here. Eli was 4 months when we moved up here. I WILL NOT though miss the winters :)
• We are running another half in about 4 weeks--EEK! I feel unprepared, but I know we can do it.
• Eli is as active as ever. Some days I look at him and think--really? How can one child have so much energy. Then I bring myself back to reality and remember he is only 2.5!
• Caleb is sitting up (with assistance) and really wanting to crawl. No teeth yet!

Okay yours truly has to go be productive!

iphone dump

Valentine's Day Big Brother and I made a cake :) I let him have a piece before bed.

The hubs took me out on a date (YES A DATE--NO KIDS JUST THE TWO OF US!!) last weekend. Dinner and a movie...much needed time together!

We had a gift card so we made a night of it this weekend and Big brother and Little man came along too. Daniel and Big Bro split a dessert. Daniel had to eat pretty fast because Big Bro was moving quickly!!

Little Man had his 6 month check up (even though he won't be 6 months till tomorrow) on Friday. He is 18 lbs! I can't believe he is already 6 months!

And of course with check ups come shots. Little Man has been running fever and not feeling so well :(

So there you have it.

On a different note...less than 8 weeks till we run our half (yikes) and less than 3 months till we move!!!

Valentine's 2012

The Weekend

I wish I could say our weekend was as happy and snuggly as these two look.

But sadly it wasn't. I think I lost 5lbs (and not the good way). I've been sick :( Friday at work I felt like I was coming down with something. Saturday I woke up feeling HORRIBLE. I rested most of the day but mustered up some strength to take Big Brother to a play area to burn some energy and do our usual grocery shopping. (side note--not the best time to shop. I didn't care what was going in our buggy. I was ready to get home and get some shut eye).

Saturday night I took some NyQuil right after the boys went down and I was out by 8:00pm.

Sunday Daniel (thankfully) took the boys to church while I stayed in bed ALL. DAY. Seriously I slept a ridiculous amount and went to bed last night about 8:50pm. Whatever this is, it is no fun.

I think the boys passed it to me. You know how in the previous post I thought Little Man was teething? I think he had a combination of teething and being sick because Big Brother woke up a couple of days later with fever and not feeling good.

The only healthy one is Daniel. We are hoping he stays away from whatever this yucky stuff is!

Hopefully your Monday was better than mine. I need more NyQuil and my pillow (oh and Madie who loves snuggling when I am sick. That dog stayed at my side the whole time Sunday :)).

"I wuv you mommy"

A couple of days ago was our most difficult day with the kiddos that we have had since bringing Little Man home. You see our sweet, easy going Little Man is teething. If you have ever had a teething baby then I don’t need to explain any more. But for the sake of those who haven’t had the great pleasure (insert sarcasm) of going through this, all you need to know is two words –no fun! I know I can’t compare kiddos because every child is different, but to be completely honest, we really didn’t even know when Big Brother was teething. We saw the drool and thought to check his mouth, and to our surprise there was a sprout of a tooth. He didn’t really complain about his teeth. SO Daniel and I were completely surprised when Little Man got up at 11:20pm the other night screaming bloody murder till about 4:20am and then back up at 6:30am. Ugh it was exhausting (reminded me of when he was first born getting up so much!)

So there is one part of why these past couple of days have been hard for us.

The other part has to do with Big Brother. He is two. VERY TWO at that. And ALL BOY. Seriously he loves running, throwing, smashing and getting messy. We have a parking garage in our condo and when it rains or snows there are puddles when we walk to the car. This boy doesn’t walk around them. He runs full force and splashes as hard as he can into those suckers (sometimes even on the way to church…oh joy!) Anyway, like I was saying he is two. The terrible two’s I believe they call them. And on top of that we are potty training. I never knew how hard this would be. He refuses to go number 2 (that’s a whole different story for another time) but has become a pro at number 1. He even goes by himself. But the last few days he has just basically refused to go at times. → Insert the whole point of this post. I was at my breaking point the other morning. Little Brother had us up for 5 hours and was still not feeling better. Big Brother was not listening to a word I was saying. NOT. A. WORD. Big Brother don’t climb on that, Big Brother put the milk jug back in the refridge, Big Brother put the juice back, don’t step on your brother, no movie today…and the list goes on. I wanted to cry---with no one to help. In the middle of disciplining Big Brother, I sat on the floor, discouraged at my parenting when Big Brother walked up to me, grabbed my face with those chubby little hands, puckered his slobbery lips and brought them to mine. With a sweet little innocent kiss he pulled away and said four simple words every mommy wants to hear “I wuv you mommy”. My heart dropped. I remembered (as if I forgot) that I loved him too. No matter what. No matter how frustrated he makes me at times. Or when he does not obey a single word I say. I still love him.

And then I think about how my heavenly Father (just remotely) feels. How he still loves me every single time I mess up. And y’all I mess up a lot! I am as stubborn as they come. He continually shows me grace even though I don’t deserve it.

To quote John Piper in one of his sermons:

"To be loved by Jesus Christ is literally an indescribable thing. It is deeper than any of us knows."

Thank you Lord for this reminder and for your love. Thank you for a sweet Big Brother that you have entrusted Daniel and I with for our time here (and of course Little Brother too).