Katie S. 28

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  • Archive for July, 2008

    Getting to Know You

    Sunday, July 27th, 2008

    At three months old its kind of hard to determine what kind of personality Bennett is going to have. So I enjoy taking the few things that I do know about him and parlaying them into a working personality profile. The breakdown is as follows:

    He never cries unless he has a legitimate need, and even then it is more grunting than crying- I interpret this to mean that he is a generally laid back individual who has his Daddy’s pleasant disposition and servant heart. He is also somewhat reluctant to let his own needs be known lest he inconvenience anyone.

    He smiles every time that he hears his older brother’s voice and when you talk to him he makes little cooing noises as if he is answering you – He is a very social person who greatly values interpersonal communication.

    He tires of riding in his car seat quickly – He is a homebody.

    He is borderline obesely fat – Like many seemingly laid back individuals he has a tendency to internalizing some of his darker thoughts and feelings and sometimes turns to food to drown his sorrows or ease his anxiety.

    He enjoys grabbing and chewing on the hippo toy that hangs from his play mat – He has a great love for wildlife and aspires to one day become a veterinarian. Or a zoo keeper. Or to eat a hippo.

    He farts constantly and has been known to wake himself out of a dead sleep with the sheer volume of his own flatulence – This means that he is uninhibited and self confident.

    He’s Nuts!!

    Friday, July 25th, 2008

    I’ve been writing a lot about Corbin lately so I promise to put up a good Bennett post really soon, but for now I just have to share the crazy thing that my son said today as we were leaving his friend Gracie’s house. I left Corbin in the house for a minute to put Bennett in the car and while I was gone Corbin looked at Gracie’s Mommy and said, “Um, this is my house. I’ll see you later though!” He then invited Gracie to stay at ‘his house’ with him. When I came back inside and told my precocious first born that it was time to go, he argued with me for several minutes saying that he couldn’t leave because he lived here.  The argument ended when he eventually became so exasperated with me that he said, “Hey listen, we have choices, …and I’m staying here!”

    Seriously. That is a direct quote. I’m kinda scared to ever say anything in front of him again, because clearly the child is listening!

    Awesome

    Saturday, July 19th, 2008

    First, watch the clip.

    You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

    OK, now I would just like to say that the only reason I was recording was to try to capture some of Corbin’s crazy voices (like scary voice and stroke voice, which you hear a little of in the beginning) on camera. The fact that I find the ending totally hilarious can only be attributed to the fact that I was raised on America’s Funniest Home Videos. But for those of you who weren’t, please do not report us to child services. Corbin is just fine and this has already become his favorite home movie to watch.

    Its Innate

    Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

    Sin, unlike so many other things in life, does not need to be taught. Its just there in each and every one of us, waiting to rear its ugly head at the first opportunity. Even my sweet little first born son apparently needs no instructions on how to be deceptive. The other day he was playing with a pen that he had been told not to touch at his Nana’s house. When she asked him what he had in his hand he quickly hid the forbidden item behind his back, put on his best Eddie Haskell smile and said, “Nothing Nan!” (yes its an outdated reference but I can’t think of a modern day equivalent so just Wikipedia it if you don’t know what I’m talking about). And recently Corbin has taken to telling lies when he doesn’t want to go to sleep. He sits up in his bed for a while crying and screaming, and when that does not accomplish his goal of sending mommy or daddy racing upstairs to rescue him from the terrible confines of his bedroom, he begins to tell tall tales about the various items that he sees in his room. “Mommy” he pleas frantically, “the giraffe tried to hit me!” “Daddy,” he complains loudly, “The firetruck hurt my feelins!” Last night he even went so far as to say that he needed one of us to sleep in his bed with him because he had had a bad dream and was very scared. That would be a fairly compelling argument if not for the fact that he had not even been to sleep yet!! At the end of each night I am left wondering how he could possibly know exactly what to say and do in order to activate my mother’s guilt and cause me to lose my resolve. I’m starting to feel just a teensie bit manipulated here, and my biggest fear is that I will soon be outsmarted by a terribly cunning two year old!

    Four Years Today

    Thursday, July 10th, 2008

    “Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.” Ruth 1:16-17

    This passage of scripture was on our wedding program exactly four years ago today. It is actually about a young woman’s relationship with her mother-in-law, but it is often used to illustrate the kind of commitment that God can create and sustain between two people.

    I’ve been a bit emotional all day just thinking about how much God has done in our lives over the past four years. We’ve had some obvious high points together, like graduating college, starting careers, buying our first home and having two amazingly wonderful children. But our marriage has also been marked by some less visible, yet equally significant events. These are the things for which there is no time line, no date on the calender that we can point to and reminisce. And yet in many ways they define who we are as a couple. We have gone through seasons when the vows about sickness and health that we spoke on our wedding day were quite literally put to the test. We have hit our knees in a state of sheer desperation, in total opposition with one another, and watched in amazement as God mended what only He could fix, and we have discovered the intimacy and understanding that God is so faithful to bring when we pray with and for each other.

    To me this marriage is a priceless treasure. It does not always come easy, it is so far from perfect, but if ever there was something in our lives worth fighting for, then surely this is it. I love my husband with a certainty and a ferocity that I can hardly articulate. He is kind and passionate, silly and stubborn, affectionate and infuriating. And as for me well, I am still completely stumped as to why the heck he puts up with the 24/7 crazy factory that is me, but for some reason he does and for that I am eternally grateful. We often joke about the fact that we have virtually nothing in common in terms of our personalities, backgrounds or interests, and yet that seems to have absolutely no bearing on how well we fit together or how drawn to one another we are. In my heart Chris Songer is absolutely, without question, mine. For better or worse. I just can’t help myself. I love him more this year than I did last year, or the year before that, or the year before that. Thank God that not everything has to make sense in order to be right, and thank God for the gift of a wonderful partner to walk through life with.

    July 4th

    Thursday, July 10th, 2008

    We had a wonderful July 4th weekend with our dear friends Luke, Alisa and Hailey Hamilton who were visiting from Atlanta. We had a picnic dinner of sushi (because really what else would you eat on the 4th?) and spent a relaxing evening blowing bubbles, kicking a soccer ball around and watching the fireworks together at the park. All three kids were absolutely enthralled by the show with the two toddlers yelling, ‘BOOM!” along with every explosion and the little one making delighted little cooing noises. It was such a relaxing and fun weekend, and as an added bonus Luke brought us up a Wii Fit which Chris and I are now totally obsessed with. Its the first video game we have ever played that has actually helped us to lose weight! No seriously, we’re both at -4lbs right now and counting. I plan on hula hooping and boxing my way back into those pre-pregnancy jeans by the end of the summer!

    Now and Then

    Sunday, July 6th, 2008

    When I was in high school I used to say quite pridefully that I didn’t care what anyone thought of me. I was convinced that it couldn’t matter less who I befriended or offended by the things that I said and did, and I readily passed judgment on anyone who I considered to be a ‘joiner’ or a people pleaser.

    When I was in high school I was riddled with insecurities. I was constantly terrified that something that I said or did would cause me to stand out and become the subject of ridicule. I was forever pointing out the flaws in the people around me because it was the only thing that made me feel any better about the horrifying flaws that I saw in myself.

    I’d like to say that that was then and this is now, and that the insecurities have all faded away as I have matured, but they haven’t. I am still riddled with insecurities as an adult.  Granted they may be centered around different issues than they used to be, but I doubt that makes them any more valid than the insecurities I had as a teenager. I think the only real difference between then and now is that I am now starting to learn the importance of owning my insecurities rather than projecting them onto the people around me.

    I’m sure that at some point most people wonder what it would be like to return to high school knowing what an emergence from the teen years has taught them. What kind of person would I have been if I had had even the slightest inkling that maybe all of those joiners who secretly intimidated the hell out of me were, for the most part, just as wracked with insecurities as I was? What kindred spirits might I have befriended if I hadn’t been so busy trying to figure out how I measured up? What wonderful experiences might I have had, had I not been so preoccupied with flying under the radar? I just don’t know. Sometimes I wish that there was a way to pass on a bit of adult perspective to our children so that they might never have to look back and wonder these things that I am wondering. But they are on their own journey, and there are some lessons that can only be learned by going through the process.