Soccer practice

I never understood why parents would make their kids start playing sports at such early ages. Until I had my own kid! Nate LOVES anything that involves hitting, kicking, or throwing a ball. So he's playing spring soccer for a YMCA team. He had his first practice last night. Here are the pics:

 I put Nate's shin guards and cleats on early and told him to go run around to make sure they fit well. Evidently they do. He couldn't stop running!

 Nate was supposed to put his arm around Evie's shoulder for the picture. 

I think he confused her neck for her shoulder.

 At practice.

Showing off his skills.

Scooter games

Yesterday, while I was fixing dinner, Nate came riding into the kitchen on his scooter with a book in hand. He sat down on the scooter to "read," but Evie had a much better plan. She came up behind him and started pushing - most likely in an attempt to torment him - but it turned into a fantastic game! I think you can tell how much fun they had by the looks on Nate's face. AND I got to finish fixing dinner to the tune of laughter instead of the normal whiny meltdown. Thanks, Evie!

I think you should know

We found out I was pregnant a few weeks ago, but unfortunately the news I'm sharing is that I lost the baby. We hadn't told that I was pregnant yet, and because of the bad weather last week my doctor's appointment was canceled. I suspected that something wasn't right, though, because I was having a lot of cramping and spotting. So I wasn't surprised when I miscarried Saturday night.

I've missed my mom a lot this past week. This is one of those times when moms know what to say and do. And my mom also miscarried between her second and third children, so I've wondered how she felt and how she'd comfort me. But I'm still learning that God knows best how to comfort His children and that there is no greater comfort than His.

Throughout the past week Stephen and I have talked about my first miscarriage and how the Lord was so near to us and how He guarded our hearts. The coolest part of that was that my mom just happened to be flying into Istanbul for her first visit to Turkey on the same day that we were flying into Istanbul for me to have a d&c. So she was there the whole time. And after the procedure we got to spend a few days in Istanbul showing her our favorite sights until I was cleared to fly back to our city.

Even though we can't see all that God is doing now since we're still in the midst of it, I do know that it was really good of Him to allow Stephen to be home all week last week while I was cramping and spotting and nervous about what was going on. AND my sister is pregnant! I could not be more thrilled and excited for her! We have so much to rejoice over and be thankful for that it really is hard to be sad.

So, because I can't blog without posting a picture, here's one from that visit with Mom. This was taken after we flew back to our city. That's Mt. Ararat in the background - one of our very favorite sights!

Snowed In

I was kind of dreading this week because Stephen was going to be working long hours and getting home late every evening. But, what a surprise! We had an ice and snow storm Monday night that closed school for the rest of the week. Instead of him being gone all week, he was trapped inside with a rambunctious preschooler, a whiny toddler, and a hormonal wife. I feel kind of sorry for him. But selfishly I'm SO glad it didn't turn out to be the long week I was expecting. And we've had some good family time. Here are a few pics from the week.

 Nate making a snow angel in the driveway.

 Evie couldn't move very well with all her layers.

Nate has been riding his scooter in circles around and around and around the house.
He stopped to pose for a picture.

 Finger painting.

ESPN

Downtown Fort Worth is ESPN's production headquarters for the Super Bowl, and the host city for the AFC champions, the Pittsburgh Steelers (Boo!). They began broadcasting from there this morning. On Saturday we spent the evening downtown walking around and looking at their setup. Downtown Fort Worth is very cool anyway, so seeing all the ESPN stuff was a lot of fun. Nate loved it and kept talking about going "up downtown."

I think this is where the "Mike and Mike" show was broadcasting from this morning. We weren't sure what would be going on in each place.

Nate and the football field where the broadcasters pretend to be the players.

(I don't know what you call it). 

Texas: The Cradle of Champions 

(Just telling you what the sign says.)

Crazy Texas Weather

January 29th. 75 degrees and sunny. What do you do? No question about it:

 Throw down a blanket and picnic Turkish style - minus the chicken, bread, salad,
and tea. Well, maybe it wasn't so Turkish after all.

We're soaking up the warm sunshine while we can. Temps will be back in the 30s next week. Texas weather is insane!

Mess

We've managed to train another child to like plain yogurt. The difference? Mess! Evie is the messiest eater ever! "Mess" was seriously one of her first words. And at every meal or snack time she does her very best to be able to say "mess!" Nate was always a very particular eater and didn't like to get food on his face or hands. So I'm not sure whether it's because she's the second child and I haven't been able to control her eating as well, or if she's just a mess. I lean towards the latter!

You can see some pictures of Nate eating his yogurt here. And below are some pictures of Miss Mess eating hers.

Christmas

Stephen was off school for two weeks for Christmas break! I feel like I should be on top of things after such a long break, but one thing I've learned over and over since being a mom is that a break isn't really a break. Every day is the same whether Stephen is at work or not! It was really nice to have him home for a while though. And since we didn't travel for Christmas this year, we enjoyed waking up in our own beds on Christmas morning and just being a family.

We took the kids to their first movie in a theater on Christmas Day. We saw Tangled, and I loved it! We had the theater to ourselves, which was a really good thing since both kids were pretty antsy by the end. I forgot how nice it is to watch a movie in a theater. I think that was the second time Stephen and I have been to a movie since Nate was born. What a treat!

We also LOVED having family come to us. Stephen's brother and his family came to visit the week after Christmas. It was really good to have them here. Their kids (and dog) entertained our kids, so it was very restful - for us anyway! We're really bad at taking pictures when we're with family, so unfortunately we don't have much to show for their visit.

Here's a sample of what we do have from the last two weeks:

 Nate got a tee ball set from Uncle Nathan and Aunt Erica for Christmas.

 We didn't know we have a little Babe Ruth on our hands.
He can really hit the ball - with or without the tee.

 Our gift to Nate was this scooter. Since it was so cold the week of Christmas he mostly rode it around the house. His friend Jack has the same kind of scooter and Nate has been coveting it for months!

 Evie got these blocks from Uncle Nathan and Aunt Erica.
She loves blocks (and Nate likes them too)!

 The main thing Nate asked for for Christmas was a guitar. Aunt Liza got him a really cool one. Evie figured out how to use the microphone that came with it ...

 Nate, on the other hand, couldn't quite figure it out. The microphone is in his ear!

 Nate and Evie with cousin Camo.

 Kate helping open gifts. They brought more Christmas gifts from the Blans.

Evie got a baby and a little baby stroller from Nanna and Granddad. This was her face when she first saw the baby in the package. This little girl LOVES babies!

Merry Christmas!

We're not sending Christmas cards this year, but if we were this is the picture that would be with it. Merry Christmas! Love, The Blans

 

Thanks to my brother-in-law, Matthew, for taking this family photo after visiting the train display at Thanksgiving. It's such a rare thing to capture a family photo!

Christmas Pictures

The kids were sort of dressed up last Sunday, so we tried to take some Christmas pictures. They didn't turn out very well. A reference to herding cats would be very appropriate here! Bad lighting in the room where the tree is didn't help either. I think we'll try something different next year. Here's a small sample from the photo shoot:

Random

 This picture reminds me of these pictures of Nate when he was 7 months old. I'm so glad he has someone to share his laundry basket with now!

Nate has taken one more step towards independence. He can swing all by himself! For a while he still needed someone to push him to get started, but now he can start and keep going on his own. No more running back and forth between swings at the park for me! Evie likes swinging in the big swing now, but she still chooses the baby swing sometimes. This is the clearest picture I could get since they were both moving!

If I could, I would ...

... eat every meal just like this.

And I'd be this happy about it too!

65th Annual Holiday Train Display

We're not really Black Friday people, so my sister had a great idea for something we could do instead. Friday was the first day of the 65th Annual Holiday Train Display in downtown Cincinnati, something we used to go to when we were kids. She thought Nate would love it, and that it wouldn't be crowded since most people would be crazy shopping. She was right about both! Our return flight wasn't until later that afternoon, so it was perfect. Here are the pictures:

 Nate with his cookie from Busken Bakery, a Cincinnati favorite. People from Busken were there handing out specially decorated cookies to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the display. Yum!

Mesmerized.

 They even had Thomas and the crew among all the trains.

It was a really cold morning, so Nate borrowed Uncle Matthew's sock cap. He wasn't used to that kind of cold weather, and I had to carry him every time we were outside. I, on the other hand, LOVED being out in the cold. It felt like home.

Thanksgiving 2010

 Watching Aunt Liza skim the fat off the Turkey drippings to make gravy.

Watching Uncle Matthew carve the Turkey.

We spent last week in Kentucky with our families, and we did a terrible job of taking pictures! We didn't take any while we were with the Blans, and we only took these two on Thanksgiving day. We had a really good time visiting with family.

Birthdays, Holidays, and Anniversaries

I heard someone say recently on a radio talk show that the only lesson you get in grief is a crash course. Isn’t that the truth? It’s been a while since I’ve written about Mom and life without her. Anyone who has grieved knows that birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries are the some of the hardest days. With Mom’s birthday coming up this Friday, November 19, and the holidays quickly following that, I think this is an appropriate time for an update.

I had a dream about Mom a few weeks ago. I was in the hospital in labor with our third baby, and she was sitting in a chair in the corner. She was her younger self. Her face and hair were like what I remember it being as a child. We were having normal conversation, as if nothing has changed. When I woke up I wasn’t sad at all. It was more refreshing than sad. I was so grateful to have had another conversation with her. It was that real. And no, I’m not pregnant.

Stephen and I have never had a Christmas tree or decorated for Christmas. Weirdos, I know. I haven’t wanted much to do with the holidays the last couple years, but I’m trying to make more of an effort this year. I bought a Christmas tree on Criagslist, and I even have ideas for stockings in my head.

On Saturday I went to the closet and pulled out two boxes of Christmas stuff that we packed up from Mom’s house two years ago. I don’t remember packing them. Our heads were seriously spinning then – Nate was a baby, we’d just sold everything for a second time and moved back from Turkey, getting ready to move to Texas, cleaning a lifetime of memories out of Mom’s house ... you get the point.

So I started digging. I pulled out a bunch of ribbon and tissue paper and uncovered a wooden nativity set that might be nice to put on the mantle. I kept going and found a couple candy bowls that I remember being on Mom’s coffee table.  And then I pulled out my “Sarah Noble” Christmas stocking that was embroidered by Mom when I was a baby and hung on the mantle each year. I wasn’t prepared for the emotion of that one. I needed to see what else was in the box, so I kept going. Next there was the box with the “Twelve Days of Christmas” glasses that we drank out of every year. And a shoe box filled with Mom’s ornaments. She had an ornament for each year starting in the ‘60s that we divided among us. And then I came across a large dead roach that had been in there for a couple years, and I called it a day. I’ll go back to those boxes on another day when I know what I’m getting into. And of course I left the roach in there. I'm not touching that thing!

As much as I don’t like having my house filled with memories of Mom, I absolutely LOVE having my house filled with memories of Mom. Like the books on our bookshelf that she taught out of for years, filled with her handwriting, her favorite passages underlined, and notebook pages with quiz questions and notes stuck inside. Her sewing machine and leftover scraps of fabric from the quilt she made for Nate. The ukulele and accordian that I’ll learn to play someday. I could go on. Treasures!

I’ve grieved hard, but as I approach this third year of birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries, they don’t seem quite as scary. I’m not dreading them. I feel like I can do more than just make it through them this year, but I can begin to really live them again. Life can be normal – the new normal. And I’m really grateful for the new normal.

 A tribute to Mom on our bookshelf: A picture of her during her early teaching days, surrounded by a collection of her favorite pieces of literature.