Just call me Picasso

This weekend I finally finished painting/putting together Travis' room, and we love it! It is camping-themed, complete with a tent, camping chair, glow-in-the-dark stars, and trees on the wall. I think Steve was a little doubtful that the trees would turn out looking okay, but they're not bad!(?) Travis showed lots of excitement every time a new element was added to the room, especially when we added the final touch of the stars. He kept bringing me in the room with him, turning off the lights, closing the blinds, and laying on the bed to look at the stars. So sweet. Oh, and he's been sleeping in his tent for every nap and every night. I'm glad he likes it, because we plan on sticking with this decor for a while!

Adding several "small touches" really added to the overall theme...here is a set of 3 bear pictures I found at Ikea for $4 (on the closet wall, for those who know his room), and he also has two bear paw towel hooks, a bear (piggy) bank, and a lantern that Steve will hang from the ceiling.

The kids playing in the tent.

And she's off!

On Saturday, July 19th, Jayna started walking! She's been so close for so long, but this weekend she really took off! In many ways, Jayna is still very much a baby, but more and more all the time I am seeing her turn into a little girl. It's bittersweet for me, though more sweet than bitter. It's so much fun to watch your kids accomplish new things. Anyway, here she is! Oh, and for the record, as soon as I turned the camera off, she did in fact say "Hiiiii, mama". Stinker:)

P.S. I'm super annoyed that this video is sideways. I need to either figure out how to turn it or start remembering not to hold my camera vertically!

The end of my rope, poo, and laughter

It all started when I went in to retrieve a squealing but very stinky Jayna from her nap. Realizing that there were no wipes upstairs, I took her downstairs to get her changed (with, I might add, a very whiny, "I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and nothing can make me happy" Travis in tow). So I laid Jayna on the ground, stripped her clothing since some of it was wet, and proceeded to undo the thingies (I can't for the life of me think of the right word here) on her diaper. Here's where everything thing went quickly downhill on a very steep slope.

I swear, in the 1/2 second it took to reach over and open the wipes container, Jayna reached down, grabbed her diaper, and pulled it directly on to her face, poop side down. With a look of sheer disgust/horror/urgency, she then flung it face down again, this time on the carpet. I should explain here that we're not talking the nice, solid poop that is relatively easy to clean up. We're talking....okay, you probably don't want the details. But you get the idea.

This all happened so quickly that I sat dumbfounded for what seemed like a minute. Do you ever have one of those times where somehow a hundred thoughts flow through your mind in what turns out to be only a matter of seconds? I didn't know where to start with cleaning things up. It was everywhere....her whole forehead and right cheek, her eyebrows, some of her hair...then when she put her hands in it, she smeared it on her belly, arms, legs...everywhere. Then there was the carpet. Again...everywhere. I'm ashamed to say that one of my thoughts was to first clean up the carpet, but that thought was quickly smothered by the reality that while I cleaned it up she would just be smearing more. So, after wiping some of the larger globs off her body, I carried her a foot in front of me to the kids' bathroom upstairs to get her into the bathtub.

Meanwhile, the whole time that I'm dealing with cleaning Jayna while she is screaming (not crying, screaming...hey, you would be, too, if your face was covered in poo), Travis is in the background whining about whatever he can think of. "Mommy, don't want to come downstairs". "Mommy, me thirsty". "Mommy, need a cup". "Mommy...mommy...mommy.....". It was constant, and incredibly grating on the nerves when the Jayna situation was obviously a bit of a higher priority.

Okay, so I get the bath started, put her in, cover her in soap, and scrub. And she's still screaming, louder by the minute. We're still trying to figure out ways to make her enjoy bathtime again....this ordeal definitely did not help. I really had to scrub. I finally get her clean, wrap her in the towel, and take her to the changing table. She's still screaming, Travis is still whining despite my telling him to stop, and I'm doing some serious deep breathing. And while I'm trying to wrestle her into a new diaper, Travis decides to slam a toy airplane into my ankle.

And that was it. I didn't even get mad, I just started crying. Partly because he really hurt me, but partly because that was the last straw. This situation was certainly stressful, but I had had a somewhat frustrating day to begin with, and I felt defeated.

But now, when Travis sees me crying, he covers his face with his hands and starts crying, too, saying in a hysterical voice "I'm sorry, Mommy, I'm sorry!" Can you picture it? All three of us, crying our little eyes out. And at this, I admit, I had to let out a small giggle.

Thankfully, the story does end. Travis bent down to kiss my ankle, apologized again after I told him that he hurt me, and Jayna settled down. And though I still smelled a hint of poo in parts of her hair, I was not about to put her (or myself) through another bath. Oh, and I spent a fair amount of time cleaning the carpet. We were thinking about having some of our carpets cleaned sometime next month...this event solidifies that plan!

Steve got home shortly after I had cleaned everything up, and I was still a bit disheveled. I told him the story and could see the smile forming, but he was kind enough to stifle his laughter (or at least most of it).

In the midst of it, this was one of those moments that makes me wonder if I could actually handle any more kids. It seems like the crazy stuff always has to happen all at once. But looking back, even I can't help but laugh a little bit. I suppose sometimes it is the laughter that keeps you going!

Jayna's one year pictures

For each of our kids' one year pictures I've decided to go a little bit nicer than the usual JCPenney or Sears. I took Travis to Yuen Lui when he turned one and loved how they turned out, so I decided to take Jayna to the same place. The bottom picture got a little cut off when I scanned it into the computer. Anyway, I love the pictures! It's so fun to see how she changes as time goes by. I know, I'm completely biased, but she really is beautiful! I know you other parents know what I mean when I say I could eat her up!

Favorite verses

I recently adopted Romans 8:38-39 as my "life verse"--one that I want to embrace wholeheartedly and live by. It reads: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord". There is so much power in that verse...to know that there is absolutely nothing I could do that would make God love me any less. I am loved by the God of the universe, and His love for me is unshakable. Wow.

In trying to choose a verse, however, there were literally six or seven I was trying to choose between (and that was after narrowing down the list). And so, I am curious...what is one of your favorite verses? Please share!

Our new toy

A couple of months ago, we were SO excited to receive a bike trailer that was essentially brand new, as well as a new women's bike, from a man at church. (Long story short--the man just wanted to be rid of this and other stuff, and wanted it to go to a family who would use it...and we were the lucky ones who got the bike and trailer). This was really a huge blessing because we had our bikes stolen a couple of years ago and had been looking into buying new ones for awhile, along with a trailer...but it added up to more money than we felt we could spend. We were so grateful.
We've been taking the kids on occasional mini-rides around the neighborhood, but this past weekend was our first chance to go out for a "real" bike ride. So we packed a picnic lunch and headed on out to the Orting Trail. It was beautiful.

Fun on the 4th

We have some friends who live on a lake, and we joined the crowd at their house on the 4th. I love the 4th of July, and this was a great way to celebrate! Jayna braved the water, Travis played with friends, we all ate some great food, and the fireworks display was better than I expected it to be...better, in fact, than the show that the city of Klamath Falls puts on!

Jayna in her first bikini! (and possibly her last:)

You may have noticed even just through this blog that Travis does not like loud noises. At all. So you can imagine that the 4th of July could pose a problem. Sure enough, Travis had his fingers in his ears almost the entire time (I'm not exaggerating). When asked if he had a fun time, however, he says "yes!", and there were a few moments (such as above) where he was distracted enough that he forgot about his silly quirk.

I have no idea what they were laughing at, but this picture makes me laugh! Notice, also, the earplugs in Travis' ears...it worked for a little while!

Low tides

We have been very busy bees lately. Not crazy busy, but fun busy. I've found that with Steve not getting any days off this summer, and with our lack of "regular" activities of the school year (Bible study, MOPS, etc.), it really helps to get out of the house on an almost daily basis. Even if it's just a quick trip to the library or an hour at the park. Anyway, we are currently having some of the lowest tides of the year around here, so last week I packed up the kids to join some of our friends at Titlow Beach, where we did some exploring. Despite wearing the wrong shoes and forgetting how heavy Jayna feels after an hour of carrying her, we had fun! The crabs, starfish, and plethora of rocks were the highlights for Travis.

Happy Birthday, Travis!

I am feeling motherly guilt that I didn't get this posted in June, but oh well. Travis' birthday is June 29th, and we had a little birthday party for him on Saturday. He loved it! Travis has many loves, one of them being baseball, so we went with that theme. We invited his Bible study friends (clarification: not friends he does Bible study with...friends whose parents do Bible study together:) along with cousin Ethan and good friend Jenisa, and I think just being able to be with his little friends would have been fun enough. But we did throw in a little game, craft, and of course, presents. Highlights:
Travis and his pals, after they all decorated foam baseball caps. This is one of those pictures that we'll look back at 10 years from now and be amazed at how much they will have grown!

Thanks to "Miss Ladeliz" for the cool baseball cake and cupcakes!

"Pin the Ball on the Field"....so I'm not the most creative person when it comes to thinking of games...but the kids enjoyed it!

Jayna soakin' up the sun. I was thankful for the nice weather, as it would have been way too crowded if we'd been confined to the house.

Travis at 3 years old:

Travis is....so many things. He is as social as ever. When we're outside and he sees someone 3 blocks down the street...not anyone he knows, mind you...he waves and yells "hi!". Then he'll keep yelling it until the person acknowledges him. :) I do love the fact that Travis loves people, and he seems absolutely blind to all differences in race, age, gender, number of tattoos, disabilities...he greets and accepts people without thinking twice. The rest of the world could learn a lesson from him! Let's see...Travis is strong-willed with a capital S. I will be perfectly honest and tell you that he can be reeeaaaly difficult sometimes. As in, every day, many times a day. I pray, pray, pray that it is simply the age he is at and not an indicator that he is going to be a button-pusher and limit-tester for the rest of his life!

Travis currently has a love-hate relationship with Jayna. If he even sees her gazing at one of his toys from afar, he steps in instantly, in a "don't even think about it" kind of way. And he loves to be the boss over her. It can be exhausting. On the other hand, when we're riding in the car and Jayna starts to cry, he'll say "It's okay, Jayna Bee, almost home", in a high-pitched voice meant to comfort her. And he always wants to know where she is at and that she's okay.

He's turning out to be tall and skinny like his dad, and most people say he still looks like Steve. And he's still got the deep dimple in his right cheek that we noticed the hour he was born.

Some of his favorites: being outside (especially walks, going to the park), chocolate milk, books, watching movies (Toy Story's his fave right now), Super Why, yogurt, bubbles, games on the Sesame Street website, the zoo and animals in general, airplanes, baseball, singing songs, and daddy.

Travis,

You've had this idea in your head for the last couple of months that you wouldn't be "big" until you turned 3, and that magically, on that day, you would then be a big boy. Well, you made it! You are my big boy. You teach us way more than even we realize...lessons in acceptance, joy in the simple things, never holding a grudge...not to mention that you have built up your dad's and my patience levels like nothing else ever could! And even on days when you choose to be difficult, you make us laugh so easily. We take great joy in you and love you more than words could say!