Imagination

At the beginning of the summer, Hannah had a hard time learning to play by herself. She always wanted to be playing a game or to be read to or to be played with outside. As the summer has progressed, her imagination has blossomed. She is constantly playing "baby bop," "baby doll house," "mousies," "bears," "little red hood," or her latest, "puppet show." Puppet show is what kept her busy for a good portion of the afternoon. Here she is sitting among her "baby dolls" so they all can watch the puppet show. I love this picture. She looks so sweet and so grown up!

Even Maranda got in on the fun when she got here this evening. Hannah adores Maranda and latches on, to quote Josh, "like a tick" once she arrived.
Sarah was the first to be the puppet show....

but soon Hannah got Maranda in on that fun too!

I am so glad to see her imagination bloom. I remember when I was a little girl pretending like she does, and it has really cut down on the time that she wants to watch TV. My baby is growing up to be a little girl!

Some Rainy Day Fun

It rained most of the day today, but we had fun anyways!

It started with Hannah inviting some of her "friends" for lunch!

Then we went to Nanny and PawPaw's house to see Donna and Stephanie and new little baby Noah, and Darlene and Kristin and her beautiful boys, Josiah, Benjamin, and William. Hannah was outnumbered by the boys (a first, I think, for a Stone get together), but she made a new "best friend," in Benji!
Maddy and Hannah playing with William--the happiest baby I have ever met!


Hannah sharing her Paw Paw with Josiah. They were both engrossed in Tom and Jerry--cartoons that I used to watch when I was a little girl!

Maddy with baby Noah. She rocked him to sleep and then held him for about 30 minutes. So sweet and so tiny...I don't think Hannah was ever that small!

Benji and Hannah, best buddies, after Aunt Donna told them to hug each other for a picture. I'm thinking they didn't get the concept!

Cousins (minus Noah). Hannah had such a good time having other kids to play with and getting to know her cousins in a somewhat smaller setting than usual. The girls had a good time getting to know their cousins and holding the baby. And momma had a good time just being with family and people who actually have little kids! Not one person said to me, "I'm so glad it's you, not me!" or recoil in horror when thinking of adding to their family.

And just a little funny picture from the ride home. Hannah had originally brought her "scary teeth" to scare her cousins, but left them in the car. Here is a very tired, but very scary don'tcha think, Hannah on the way home!

Fourth of July Fun!

Sarah and Maddy all ready to go shoot off some fireworks!

and Hannah too...though she refused to be a part of their picture
Ms. Lynell, Ms. Dana, and Amanda enjoying watermelon while we were waiting for it to get dark

Maddy and her sparkler

and Sarah too...though it's hard to see her, you can see her "creation."

and that folks, I'm afraid, is it for the pictures of our celebration. Why? You may ask? Well, as of the first Kaboom, Hannah was a shaking, crying mess, and we spent the rest of the night playing in the nursery. Maybe next year.

Countdown to Normal

55 Days Left
I have had such a hard time this week with sleeping issues, anxiety, panic attacks, and as a result of the first three, depression, that I am ready for this pregnancy to be over with. All of the girls came at 38 weeks, and Josh at 37 weeks, so I am hoping, praying, and keeping my fingers crossed that I have a little under 8 weeks to go....55 days, to be exact.

I realize that everyone's definition of normal is different, relative to them. For me, it is a day without a panic attack. A day without being so stuck inside my head that all I can focus on is how bad it is going to be at bedtime. A day without a racing heart and a sense of dread. A night I sleep. And I had normal, with an off day or two in there, until Sunday. I'm not sure what happened, or what triggered it, but it's here, and if the past is any indication, it is back to stay until I deliver this precious little one.

Last pregnancy, it hit me like a ton of bricks at 22 weeks. Incapacitated me. Totally interfered with my life and the ability to take care of the children. I went to my OB, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, and a Christian counselor, to no avail. And maybe, just maybe, that is what has me so off kilter right now...knowing that there is nothing that can be done. I just need to pull up my big girl panties (which are really really big at this point!) and deal with it. I do remember it getting better at one point...maybe when I was hospitalized and put on bedrest at 31 weeks and realized that I could lay in bed and be miserable all day--for I had no choice.

I think it will get better when I go back to work. I need to get out of my head, focus on something else, to be so intensely involved in preparation as you are at the beginning of the school year, to get back into a routine. But then again, maybe not. I do not know. I only know that I have to use this time to realize that this is a season of my life through which God uses my frailty, my weakness to build my character, to bring Him glory. I have to believe in and cling to the promise of Romans 8:28.

And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Fun in the Afternoon...

Two posts in one day...wow...that hasn't happened in ....well...never! But I took some pictures today that will honestly not fit anywhere else, and were too cute (or strange) to not share.

Josh wondered if his jean shorts were blog-worthy...and then posed for a picture.

Here is Sarah, our dessert chef for the night. She made buster bars for dessert...which were part wonderful, and well, part chewy. Something we did (and we did follow the directions perfectly!) was not right. But delicious all the same!
Hannah and her poo poo prizes. This is her basket of goodies that she gets to pick out of when she poops in the potty. Every day, she likes to look at all of them. Up until today, they were all treasure box cast offs from my classroom, but we ran out and had to make a trip to the dollar store. I meant to do this without her, but everyone was asleep or out working, so she had to come with me. That was an experience. She walked the aisles, loading her arms with everything that she saw that she wanted. (If you are old enough, you might remember the movie, "The Jerk" with Steve Martin. It reminded me of the scene where he was leaving his house, loading his arms with "just one more thing." )

This hobby horse is one thing that she chose that was not a poo poo prize...simply because it didn't fit in the box and it was too cute to pass up for only a dollar.

WARNING: The story behind this next picture is gross and falls under the category of Too Much Information. But as this blog was created to capture our family memories, and this was one I didn't want to forget (so we could torture her in her later years), I thought I would share anyways. Last night, Daryl asked her if she wanted sprinkles on her ice cream. She said yes, of course...who doesn't love sprinkles? Then after Daryl remarked that he wasn't sure that we had sprinkles, she replied, "I have sprinkles!" When we asked her where, she replied...straight face..."In my butt!" Since then, she has been purposely trying to make us laugh with her "Yucky Butt Sprinkles" that she wants us to put on everything!

By the way: We have told her that she is not to offer her "yucky butt sprinkles" to anyone outside of the house...so if you come over...beware!

A Work in Progress...

Yes, ladies and gentlemen...it is...a wall!!!!!

And the makings of another...
and this, my friends, is my sweet Josh...in some not so sweet cut off blue jean shorts...lifting the truss up. (For those of you as house building ignorant as I am...it's part of the roof)

And my sweet Hannah, looking out the window at her "daddy" and her "brubba". She wanted so desperately to be out there and be catching roly polies and playing in the sand, but Daryl was moving the trusses and big pieces of plywood, so she was not allowed. While in this picture, she looks quite content with that decision, she really was quite distressed!

And last but not least, her brand new roly poly catcher/cage. We talked at length about how the roly polies could live in the cage and we could put grass and rocks and sand, just like the tupperware dishes, and that she wouldn't have to carry them around in her hands anymore. I really thought she had captured the concept. Until she came in, cage full of roly polies, and emptied them onto our kitchen table, scooped them up in her hands, and took them to "play." Notice the one little roly poly that escaped her clutches!

It has been a week where I, too, have realized that I am still a work in progress. I had been so relieved and so proud that this pregnancy had been seemingly sleep problem and panic attack free. Remember the old saying, "Pride goeth before a fall?" Enough said, I think. It's been 4 days of inner turmoil, very little sleep--I think 6 hours for the whole 4 nights, and lots of introspection, crying, and general unhappiness. Able to function to take kids to and fro, make dinner, do dishes 246 times a day, and entertain Hannah, but barely at that. Last night, I succumbed to taking a sleeping aid that my dr. prescribed and got 6 hours of sleep, and feel much better today. Hannah and I have gone for a walk, I've gone grocery shopping, helped Sarah make a dessert, listed things on e-bay, done laundry, and generally had a somewhat normal day so far. So incredibly thankful, so incredibly humbled, so incredibly discouraged, all at the same time. I am hoping, praying, wishing that this is the last episode of it's kind of this pregnancy. But even if it is not, at least it's only 8 weeks to endure instead of the 18 of the last. And...a good, solid, decision making reminder that birth control....it's a good thing.

A frog, a mouse, roly polies...oh my!

It has been a roly poly summer here at the Stone house. Every day, Hannah goes out to be with "her daddy," and she comes back with handfuls of roly polies. She loves these things. I am quite sure that we have several roly polies--of the dead and live version--throughout our house. So, when on Tuesday morning, she arrived and said, "Surprise!" I was not expecting this! She does love the wildlife around here!



Then later, I packed up the kids and off to Chuck E. Cheese to meet Grandma and Grandpa. The big kids were beyond excited, and I'm afraid a little disappointed. Things had changed...as they always do...and things weren't quite as big as they remembered. Still, a good time was had by all. Hannah took a good hour or so to warm up to the place...the lights and noise and kids being a bit too much for her, but before long, she was playing with the rest of them!

Hannah wouldn't go near Chuck E. Cheese --the mouse in the title, by the way, not a real one in our house!--but climbed up Josh and buried her head in his neck. Where did this little scaredy cat come from?