The Doctor Is In.

Tomorrow is Jakob's 4th birthday...I know...I'm in shock, too!  More about that later.  I am working on cleaning the house really well, praying for the rain to hold off until 2 pm tomorrow, and stuffing party favor bags.  Jakob came to me with his stethescope on and said, "Mommy, the doctor will see you now."  Reluctantly, I went with him to his bedroom where he asked my what the problem seemed to be.  I told him my arm was sore from vacuuming, and he gave me an ointment from a plastic corn cob...said that would do the trick.  Just as I thought the appointment was over, he said he need to listen to my heart.  After double checking with me where exactly my heart was, he listened carefully and said with a very concerned face, "Uh-oh, Mom.  I don't like the sound of that.  I think there's a problem.  YOU HAVE ITCHY-ARM-ITIS!!!!"  There is no cure according to Dr. Jakob.  His recommendation is to rest during his naptime.  Classic, buddy.

Thanks for the Kudos!

This morning, Jakob and I were sitting on the couch playing Memory on phone when he looked up at me and asked where Lily was.  I told him I had laid her down for her morning nap.  He politely patted my knee and said, "See mom, you are a good mother!"  Thanks, buddy.  I didn't know I was under question, but I'll take the compliment any day!  Good grief, I love this kid!

Sometimes...

...you just seem to find yourself in an unexplainable situation.  Word.

The Big One?

Yep.  I am turning thirty years old in a mere 30 minutes...1:21 am, to be exact!  Leading up to this day, I have really anticipated being very sad or solemn or whatever.  That, unfortunately, is just how I work.  You see, in my mind, I am still the 20 year old leading worship and playing Kookie Kickball at church camp all summer long in a much smaller jean size and with straighter teeth!  That's just how I see myself.  Now that the 'big one' is actually here, however, I am closer to the proud side of the spectrum and further from the dread side.  I am so blessed in my current state of being...saved by a perfect, sovereign God; loved by an incredible man who just happens to be my best friend; adored by these two beautiful little people who share my nose; handed a legacy of godliness from my parents who have become my true friends; befriended by a group of people who share in my life (the good, bad, and ugly) as we seek the Throne together; gifted with my honest-to-God dream job with the most glorious students and co-workers I could dream of; and challenged to surrender.  Wow.  I can promise you that the 20 year old in my mind thought nothing of these things.  She couldn't have even imagined what was ahead.  If she only knew, she would have hurried along because the ride only gets sweeter!  Although there is much that I wish were different about myself, tonight I am choosing to think about the things that have been molded and shaped over these years.  What a difference a decade makes!  Hopefully one day soon, I'll have time to think on and write about the things that I have learned in each of my three decades, (ouch.  okay that one did hurt a little!) but tonight isn't that time.  Nope.  Tonight is just me saying, "Thanks, Lord. How about a few more?" 

Yes, I know this was a TON of pictures, but I've been alive for THIRTY YEARS!!!  A lot has happened!

Wordless Almost Wednesday!

Y'all don't need captions, do you?!

Happy Easter! 

The 'Real' Meaning of Easter: Jakob Style!

I have been saving this story until this weekend...it melted my heart.  Jakob has become quite the eager learner and is starting to really understand how things work, why things work, and what things work together.  But, let's face it...he is still 3, and things can get a bit confused!  Jakob has learned his five senses and loves to point out whenever he is using one of those senses.  Love it!  A few weeks ago, my mom and dad were here on a quick visit, and my mom was telling Jakob the story of Easter.  In her telling she said, "Jesus came and died to take away our sins."  Jakob looked obviously concerned and quickly asked, "But, Nana, will Jesus give our senses back?!"  You're good to go, buddy.  You will still be able to smell, touch, see, hear, and taste but with a forgiven spirit!  Praise be to our God for His most gracious gift this Easter weekend!

Backfired

Jakob has struck again.  This morning as I was trying to wrestle my strong and overly-dramatic three-year-old into getting his crazy thick toenails trimmed, I looked around our living room, gazing purposely over his head and asked, "Is there a big boy in this room?  I'm looking for a big, tough boy."  Immediately and without hesitation Jakob mimicked my actions and cupped his hand to his mouth, "Is there a mommy in the room who will just hold me?!"  Point taken. 

Eight Months and Three Years

Yes. Eight. Months. Old. Seriously. I am telling you, it seems like as fast as Jakob grew/is growing, Lily is leaving him in the dust!  It seems like this is flying by faster than it did with Jakob, and I do not like it!  Lily's six month appointment was Friday.  That's right.  Her SIX month appointment was two days before her EIGHT month birthday.  I am that mom, and I am okay with it.  Lily weighs 17 lbs 5 oz and is 26 inches long.  She is still wearing most of her newborn or size one shoes.  Her feet are crazy small and petite which means we are way getting our money's worth in the shoe department!  She is sitting unassisted very well and standing while only holding on to one adult finger.  She is so not interested in crawling or being on her tummy.  She is rolling quite nicely from front to back but would never in a million years choose to roll from back to front, thus putting her on her tummy by choice!  Never.  She finds her red-headed temper quickly when put on the floor, or on the couch, or in her high chair, or in her bouncer, or in her crib, or...you get it.  The girl likes to be held.  A lot.  As much as I may not like my hip attachment all day, everyday, I must admit that I love it at the same time.  I know now that this time is all too fleeting, and I am trying to soak up these times with her.  She is incredibly happy and will smile for anyone.  Still no teeth and no swollen gums, but lots of slobber and chewing.  Lily is still stuck on only saying 'da-da' and 'bye-bye,' but is making all kinds of sounds and loving to 'sing along' with the choirs at school.  Jakob may very well be her favorite person on the planet right now.  She watches him with such interest and will laugh on cue at his magic tricks she has seen three thousand times.  She is better with a three-year-old's sense of humor than I am!  :-)

Speaking of that three-year-old, he is as funny as ever.  He has changed so much in these last few months.  He is increasingly thoughtful, responsible, and grown-up.  This last week he was asking me about relationships in our family.  Here's how it went:  "Daddy is your husband, and you are his wife.  (wrinkled eyebrows and finger tapping on pursed lips.)  hmmm...very interesting."  It is so funny and rewarding to see him really start to take ownership of himself.  From things as little as washing himself in the bathtub, dressing himself from head to toe, and opening his own car door to major things like saying prayers with specific requests, cleaning his room when asked without argument (not everytime!), and desiring to learn anything and everything we will talk with him about.  He LOVES to cook.  He will help measure, pour, crack eggs, stir, and of course, eat!  He asks to wash dishes with us, sweep the floor with us, make the bed with us, fold laundry with us...are you catchin on that it is all 'with us'?!  It may take a lot longer to get my tasks accomplished, but I am praying that God continues to give me patience in the timing in order to spend that time with Jakob and teach him all of these things.  He is SO ready to learn to read, write, and do math.  He is forever counting fingers: "2 fingers plus 3 fingers is FIVE FINGERS!"  Love it.  He isn't coloring in the lines or writing legible letters, but he is trying.  He will sound out every word.  On some days, I feel like we talk in syllables all day long.  "Mommy, say but-ter.  Say Lil-y.  Say Jak-ob.  Say...."  You get it.  It is so much fun to see him hit this stage of life.  I just worry that Jared and I don't keep up!  He will go to preschool in the fall for three days a week, and he is more excited that anyone.  We 'practice' having preschool several times a week at his prompting. 

This post (after reading over it) could seem a bit 'braggy', but please know my intent is to make a record for myself, not to throw out a comparison stick in any way.  One of the things God is teaching me right now is just how perfect His timing is in all things.  Just take a gander at Ecclesiastes.  Enjoy whatever 'time' you're in today!

Jakob's Cat Like Ninja Skills

A lot of really great Jakob stories have passed us by during my time "away", but true to form, he provided us a doozy to come back to!  Some people in this little tail (yes, that is an intentional typo) will remain nameless so as to protect their identity!  Yesterday, the Hardy foursome had a few things we needed to do including going to a friend's house to visit for a bit.  While these people are precious friends, we aren't at their house often, especially with Jakob.  They have two cats who were not familiar with Jakob and with whom Jakob was not comfortable.  They introduced one as 'Monster Cat' and told funny stories of it being dropped down the stairs one to many times as a kitten.  Ha!  What a cute and funny story!  Jakob, in case you didn't know, is crazy afraid of animals...crazy.  We've come a long way, but he was obviously nervous around the cats.  (As a quick aside, these cats have been raised around kids, they are inside cats who are current on all of their shots, and they are loved by the most wonderful family...truly)  He was sitting on the couch next to Jared when the cat innocently hopped up.  Cue Jakob quickly standing to move behind Jared.  Prepare for it.  You know what's coming.  That sweet, slightly off kitty cat pounced onto my sweet Jakob.  Pounced might be putting it lightly.  It enveloped his torso.  Picture this:  the cat's belly was on top of Jakob's head and its previously assumed 'clawless claws' were going to town on Jakob's back, neck, and arm.  Wow.  Wisely, Jakob's reflexes took over and he crouched into a ball, protecting his face.  Jared grabbed a handfull of fur to pull the cat off of Jakob, our sweet friends were mortified, there were screams I think, and their beautiful lamp had taken its final bow onto their lovely hardwoods.  Jakob freaked.  Bless his heart, he was hurting really badly, scared to death, panicked, and embarrassed.  He has never held me so tightly in his whole life.  Our poor friends (who we are NOT upset with in ANYWAY whatsoever) were understandably beside themselves.  They had had the cat declawed, but in the way of all things 'Jakob Hardy,' there were still some claws left in there when that cat felt threatened.  Last night in the bathtub, Jakob said to Jared, "I think Miss ____________ is wrong.  Her cat does have claws."  Yeah, buddy.  I'd say so!  What a memory.   

Where does the time go?

Wow.  It has been a while to say the very least!  One way to tell when things around here have gone crazy is to see how long it has been since my last blog update!  Whew!  While the busy-ness has been so much fun and rewarding, it required that some thing take a backseat.  The blog got pushed to the rear-end for sure!  Since Christmas, we have had eight straight weekends of work-related contests, clinics, concerts, and commitments.  (like the alliterations?!)  One of these days I'll catch up on everything on here (yeah, right!) but in the mean time, let's just pick up where we are, shall we?! 

While thing have been quite exciting and successful professionally lately, the greatest accomplishment of our lives has come into fruition.  That's right...JAKOB IS POTTY TRAINED!!!  Eight months, 16 days.  Longest. Year. Of. My. Life.  God love him, he proved everyone right...one day, it just clicked.  Praise the Lord!  I know without a doubt that I learned a lot more during this journey in Jakob's life than he ever did!  I have been so embarrassed at the amount of time it has taken to reach this point.  "Jakob is so smart."  "Jakob could teach others how to do what he refuses to do."  "Jakob is just doing this to spite me."  "What have we done wrong?"  "What must people think of our parenting skills?"  Yep.  Thought it all and more.  God has really started a change in my thinking toward other parents/situations.  What a life lesson I should have learned a long time ago:  you just don't know the road someone else is walking.  Give some slack.  Give compassion.  Shut. Your. Mouth.  It has been a tough lesson, but one that I pray will stick with me and continue to revolutionize my thinking and my parenting.

Lily is 7 and a half months old.  Seriously.  We are having more fun with her.  She is so laid back until she gets hungry or tired.  Then, she goes 0 to 60 in no time at all!  Her hair is continuing to turn the most beautiful shade of red and her attitude matches it perfectly!  Just like Jakob, she is a late bloomer in the teeth-cutting category.  We have buckets of drool and no teeth to show for it.  Poor thing.  She said her first word on February 1:  'Da-da.'  You can imagine Jared's excitement!  Soon after, she mastered 'bye-bye' and the wave.  We are trying so hard to soak her up during these last non-mobile days.  Her laugh.  Her smile.  Her excited discoveries of her hands, feet, and tongue.  Just her.  I could eat her up!

Jared and I are just trucking along.  I realized that my Christmas cards are still sitting, unfinished, in the floor.  We may be sending St. Patrick's Day cards with a Christmas theme and Lily's birth announcements.  I am still the world's worst at actually sending things.  Sorry.  We are preparing for concert and sightreading contest on March 11 which is Jared's big day, but doesn't require any after-school work!  Halleluia!  5 rehearsals left.  Yowzas! 

I don't even have a new picture to add.  I'll work on that.  Now, where is my camera cord again?