The playroom!

A few weeks (maybe months!) late...here's a look at our living room transformed to a playroom.

The kids have a little art table along one wall. You'll notice one of the differences between a firstborn and a second-born in this picture: getting to use glue when you're a year and a half. There are so many things that Havilah gets to do simply because we are already doing it with John.

A box of art supplies (more art supplies, games, puzzles, and pretend food items are in the drawers behind Hava):

The beautiful thing about a room devoted to play is that it can also be devoted to the messes that play brings, and it doesn't bother me. Everything belongs in this room so clean up is easy.

One of the book corners, complete with puzzles. (-:

The other side of the room has duplos, blocks, bats and balls, and a couple couches (for jumping on, not usually for sitting!).

This is not in the playroom at all; it's my $12 thrift store find--an orange dresser that's actually quite solid and sturdy. John loves it!

Oh cheese

Me to Havilah (who was throwing a fit or something dramatic): Geez, Havilah!

John to Havilah (one second later, and in the same tone): Cheese, Hava!

(-:

This week's sewing projects

A dress for Havilah...the fabric was less than $3 so I couldn't resist it on the remnant stack at the fabric store:

I didn't use a pattern, so that's why it looks a little homemade. (-:

Another project without a pattern: a pincushion to replace the sad little one leftover from my high school sewing class days. Ahh, much better!

The fabric underneath will become a baby quilt...I'm starting to cut out the pieces and trying to decide on a fabric for the back.

Last week I finished the kids' Easter basket sewing projects. Pictures of those to come at Easter!

a name, etc.

Well, we have a baby name: David Samuel. Having that figured out alleviates a lot of tension for the namers! John can say it, too, which is an added bonus. John is very conscientious of "small baby"'s wellbeing; we'll be driving to church or the store or wherever and John will suddenly gasp "Where's small baby??" Um, right where he's always been, John. It's sweet to see him taking the big brother role so seriously. 

The other thing John takes very seriously right now is his responsibility to dig holes in our side "yard" (ahem, rock yard). He asks me constantly "Mom, dig a hole?" It's right under the kitchen window, so he often gets to go outside by himself to complete his responsibilities of moving those rocks from one spot to another.

 

John's trusty sidekick, Hava, takes his job seriously, too. Watching the two of them dig side-by-side is about the cutest thing I can think of.

Next time, I'll have some pictures of the newly updated playroom and the kids hard at work on their art projects. (-:

It's a...

boy! wow!!! I had an ultrasound on Wednesday--just to determine gender--and I must say that he looks more like a baby at 16 weeks then he did at the 9 week ultrasound. We saw him waving, kicking, and squirming...and I have started to feel him move!

Billy and I both felt like this one was a boy, but it's a change to think back to when John was a baby instead of our latest experience with spunky Havilah. John was such a sweet, cuddly baby! 

Obviously I have no idea what this baby's personality will be like, but another boy...oh boy! There's apprehension on my part because of John's struggles. I wonder if this boy will have the same sensitivities and if he'll have a speech disorder. I wonder if he'll need to take the scenic route everywhere he goes (more on this in a minute) or if everything will come easier for him than it does for his big brother.

We're excited that he appears to be healthy and we are now moving into the dangerous waters of naming him--John and Havilah were so easy!--now...it's another story. Good thing we have 5+ months to think about it (oh, and the seven huge baby name books from the library may help too). We really do want to have a name picked out soon. Seriously, you can pray for us that we will find a name that suits him, our family, and our picky (and separate!) preferences.

Without further ado, here he is--baby boy Honeycutt (the top is a profile; the bottom is a shot of his back and arm; sorry no maleness pics for the blog):

On a different note, I wanted to share a poem of sorts that I heard from a lady at our church who's four-year-old son has some very serious, undiagnosable developmental delays. The poem is "Welcome to Holland" by Emily Pearl Kingsley:

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this . . .

When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, Michelangelo’s David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.” 

“Holland?” you say, “What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy. I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.” But there’s been a change in flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland, and there you must stay.

The most important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It’s just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for awhile and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland has Rembrandts. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”

The pain of that will never, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Of course, John's needs are so much less than many, many that I personally know. The therapy office alone is a humbling place--all those mamas and daddies with children who have needs that they can't meet. 

But still, I identify with this. I like to think that in Italy I had a car rental arranged. Well, here in Holland I'm getting everywhere by bicycle. It's good for me to bike, and the scenery isn't too bad, but it's so s...l...o...w and I can't visit all of the places I would like to go.

So you see, I worry for this little babe. It's the same feeling I've had for the first 16-18 weeks of my last three pregnancies, because my first baby's life ended there. I know worrying about his future won't get me anywhere, and really I'm trying to just leave this baby in God's hands where he belongs, but still I can't be wholeheartedly--and naively--excited. I'm going to work on that though, because this child is his own person, even if he does have delays or disabilities. 

And at least this time...I know my way around Holland.

Right now...

...I'm working on new sewing projects, which I'll have pictures of soon. One is a birthday present, so I'll have to wait until it's been received by my niece; the other is waiting to be completed when I know a gender for this babe (next Wednesday, hopefully!).

...I'm enjoying John and Havilah more than ever. They are so different, but both so much fun. 

....Havilah is good at playing by herself, loves to hide and crawl into small and/or awkward places, and is imitating many words (go, Hava, go!). She is covered in bruises and bumps which highlight her daring personality and her almost non-existent perception of danger. oh Havilah! She still loves to read, eat, and will even snuggle for a moment if I bribe her with chocolate.

...John has learned how to chew gum ("dum") and how not to swallow it. Gum chewing is his homework from speech therapy--it's easy for me (ok, effortless) and he loves it! He has had a new spurt of words this last week but the most encouraging change is that he has reached a new level of confidence and will try almost any word I ask of him (alligator! swish! butterfly!), including prospective baby names. He is diligently working on potty training and loves his undies (sorry John, tmi) and sometimes I think we're 99 percent there...and then we take a step back. He loves board games these days so we've been breaking into Chutes & Ladders, Connect Four, puzzles, and Memory (3-year-old style).

...I'm looking forward to going to Portland in April for a chance to see our parents, all of my siblings, and my Portland friends. Hooray!

...I have a belly full of homemade bread and have vowed to not go back to store-bought. It's cheaper, healthier, fresher, and oh, oh, oh so delicious.

...I'm wishing I could have a huge vegetable garden this year but it's just so difficult in this climate (something about lettuce + 115 degrees just doesn't work for me). I guess my veggie days will have to wait until we live someplace cooler.

...my stomach is protruding and catches me off guard whenever I see myself in the mirror. Wait! What's wrong with my abdomen? Oh yeah, a baby! I keep forgetting. I should start feeling the baby next week...maybe that will help me remember what's going on.

...I'm reading Carpe Diem by Tony Campolo. Good stuff. His point is that we can go through our whole lives without really living. Like I said, good stuff.

Here's to enjoying life, whatever it is you're doing right now!