Four Months

Since yesterday was Tobin's official four-month birthday :), I've got to jot down a few things about him.

He is at an absolutely delightful stage where he loves to look at people and break out in huge grins...and besides that, he's started to laugh. April 29 was the first day he laughed, and he did it while I was changing his diaper and clothes. He tends to be quite the communicative little guy when he gets on the changing table! He also laughed the following Sunday, May 4, in the nursery, according to the testimony of the women in the nursery; I didn't hear it because I was in Sunday school, but they were all delighted by it! Last Tuesday, he laughed again when Josiah was paying attention to him in the morning. There is nothing--absolutely nothing--like the laughter of a child. I'd have to say that it's probably my favorite sound in the whole world.

I've been realizing recently that compared to his big brothers, Tobin hasn't traveled very far at all in his young life! Josiah went with us from California to Israel for vacation when he was 2 months old, his first--but by no means, last--big trip (it was so funny planning that trip while pregnant and doing things like getting plane reservations for him before his birth...because he was our first, it seemed so unreal that we would actually have a child with us when we took that trip--and strange to have a ticket for "Josiah Fisher" before he was born!). David was born in Israel, of course; but by the time he was 4 months old, he had been to the country of Jordan for a conference, to England for vacation, and to California to visit family and friends before we moved to Virginia. Tobin has been to...well...West Virginia...Pennsylvania last Saturday...and today (much later today, since I'm writing this in the middle of the night) :) we're heading to the Virginia Beach area because Jeff surprised us by taking the day off so we could have a family get-away (which I'm completely thrilled about!). West Virginia and Pennsylvania aren't exactly Israel and Jordan, but that's OK. Tobin's day will come when we finally get him a passport and actually travel a little further from home. But oh my, it sure is harder--and more expensive--to travel with 3 little ones!

My favorite nickname for Tobin is "Little Bear," although I call him all kinds of silly stuff. Sometimes I hear Jeff crooning to him, "Tobin, Tobin, ata ben tov," which means "Tobin, Tobin, you're a good son," and is a play-on-words because in Hebrew if you switch the syllables for Tobin's name, you get the words for "good son." Recently, Jeff mentioned that Tobin is an "angel child," and I couldn't agree more.

The level of adoration that I have for Tobin astounds me. I shouldn't be surprised by it because I experienced it with Josiah and David, but it still is somewhat shocking to me how much I love Tobin...how quickly that love flowed from me...how deep the sensation of the mix of pleasure and pain that love is...how satisfying it is to me to simply look at him...how the laughter bubbles up in me sometimes when I hold him--laughter from the sheer joy of being his mother and having him as my son. I know this "honeymoon period" eventually ends, but I'm enjoying every bit of it and am amazed by how, out of all the babies in the world, my heart overflows with love and admiration for him...because he's mine. God knew what He was doing when He made these maternal instincts. They are powerful. :)

~ Tobin with his Aunt Lori

Pennsylvania Pictures

Here are a few more pictures from our visit with my brother and his family on Saturday. I had fun experimenting with natural light for these photos, due to Lisa's inspiration...and Pete's inspiration...and the book How to Photograph Your Baby by Nick Kelsh (recommended by Lisa). I'm absolutely convinced that natural light photography is superior, but I sure do get a lot of blurry pictures. Oh, well...I'm working on it...having fun in the process...and rejoicing in the fact that I have a digital camera and can shoot 50 pics to get a few decent ones without the expense of developing them all!

~ Jacob playing a soccer game with Josiah and David...Jacob is SO GOOD with his younger cousins!
~ Grandma and Elizabeth at the piano...in case the picture looks like it's not straight, you can blame it on Lisa...she said we should try shooting pics at an angle, so I did...she also said we should never, ever use the flash, so I didn't, and my mother's clapping hands are blurry...she also tried to teach us things like shutter speed and ISO (whatever that stands for!) which would probably resolve the blurry hands issue, but I haven't gotten that far in my free tutorial from her ;)~ I love this picture (even though it's not technically the greatest) because it captures a sweet moment when my brother came upstairs to lean against the half-wall behind the piano and listen to his daughter and his mother play the piano together
~ Isaac in a quiet moment
~ I always like to get a picture of the two Davids together...here, Uncle David helps my David get the wrapper off his cupcake...
~...this cupcake, which David thoroughly enjoyed!

Just One...

...picture tonight before I fall into bed, exhausted but very happy after our day trip to Pennsylvania.

~ hands on the piano: my mother's and Elizabeth's (my niece)...Elizabeth serenaded us with a few pieces this afternoon, and my mother joined in for a few grandmother/granddaughter duets...I was struck by the contrasts: obviously the white against black of the keyboard, but also the wrinkled aged hands and the smooth young hands...my hands were once smooth, but will be wrinkled someday...we women in my mother's family do not have beautiful hands, but they are strong and capable hands, with tender and gentle fingertips, full of compassion and love--and, like today, sometimes full of music

In the Night

I was so tired last evening. "Collapse Night" is what I call it when either Jeff or I has a night like that. Fortunately, we don't have them on the same night because if we did, the boys would have to get themselves ready for and into bed...and well...Tobin is just a bit young for that. :)

But seriously, last night over supper, I asked Jeff, "Can I get Tobin and David in bed and then just go to bed myself?" And of course, he said yes. So 8:30 p.m. rolled around, and I was in bed. Wonderful! I just knew I would wake up this morning after a nice long sleep, feeling so refreshed!

Until...

The first interruption was Josiah crawling in bed sometime after 9:00 p.m. and saying, "Every time I see the lightning, I'm afraid it will strike me." It's true, we were having a thunderstorm...and it's true, I wanted to help him feel secure during it...so sure, he could snuggle with me for a little while.

The second and subsequent interruptions are all muddled in my mind because I just wasn't thinking very clearly; but at some point, David was coughing and coughing and needed some cough medicine. At a later point, Josiah was doing the same and needed medicine. (Why couldn't they have coordinated their coughing spells so I could have dosed them up at the same time?) Another memorable event in the night was David calling to me; and when I came to him, he said, "I don't like crocodiles!" (as if I did and was extolling their virtues to him...). I asked him if he had had a dream about crocodiles, and he said yes, so I asked what the crocodiles were doing in his dream, expecting to hear that they were chasing him or biting him or something scary. He said, "Eating the grass." :)

Before that (I think around 11:00 p.m.) Tobin started crying hard, which is so completely unlike him because I normally don't hear a peep out of him for about 12 hours straight in the night. So I went into his room and found that the dear boy had rolled over from back to tummy (only his second time accomplishing that feat) and WAS NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT. He couldn't suck his thumb in that position, and he couldn't return himself to his normal back position, so he needed help. Well, needless to say, I was glad to do it; and as soon as I picked him up, he fell asleep in my arms and I savored the heaviness of his sleepy body. (It somehow feels different than when he's awake and alert and trying to take in everything around him.) Unfortunately, he was wakeful and restless at some point after that, so I ended up feeding him in the night, which I haven't done for weeks and weeks.

After some of these interruptions, it took me a while to go back to sleep, so all in all, it was a very unrestful night for me; and the 10 and 1/2 hours of solid sleep that I expected suddenly dissolved in a poof of motherly responsibility. Amazingly and thankfully, I actually felt pretty good when I got up this morning, and it's been a great day!

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And now some notes from the day:

It happened again. While I was driving by myself (did you catch that? BY MYSELF!...on my way out the door, my mother, who was babysitting the boys, said, "Enjoy your time alone!" and I sure did!) into town today to give blood, I was listening to the local country music station and heard a song that made me laugh and cry and resolve--again--to appreciate the simple things in each day of life. The song was "Don't Blink" by Kenny Chesney, and it was my first time hearing it. The music video is here. Is it just me, or is it impossible to watch this without getting all choked up? ;)

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Tonight we celebrated Josiah's family night. He chose for our dinner menu tri-colored spiral pasta with butter and parmesan cheese and, although he didn't ask for this, I threw in some home-canned peaches and he was thrilled (and literally ate the whole quart himself, with the exception of maybe 2 bites that David had). Fortunately for Jeff and I, we had some other left-overs from the refrigerator to have because we didn't have any peaches to fill up our tummies. :)

The entertainment of the evening was toasting marshmallows in our woodstove. It's been so warm that we haven't needed any fire in it for a few days, but tonight was a good opportunity to burn some trash and have enough fire for the marshmallows. Josiah toasted and ate 3 marshmallows--one all by itself and the other two squished between graham crackers. I didn't have any Hershey bars or we would have had the yumminess of smores without the messiness of camping out! The marshmallows were really good though, and I can speak from experience on that one. :) The first taste of my first (yes, I had more than one) toasted marshmallow took me back to being a girl...our family grilling on a real charcoal grill...using the coals at the end of the evening for marshmallows...my brother David and I running around the yard with toasted marshmallows on our sticks to cool them down before we popped them in our mouths so we didn't burn our tongues. Happy memories...

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Speaking of my brother David, tomorrow is his 34th birthday, so we're off to Pennsylvania for a day trip to celebrate together. I cannot even remember the last time I was actually with him for his birthday. Josiah and David, when they realized that tomorrow is THE DAY, were yelling, "The cousins, the cousins!" tonight. I'm eager to show off little Tobin to his uncle and aunt, since they've never seen him yet. Should be a fun day...

My Spontaneous Husband

It's good to be married to Mr. Spontaneous. It helps me to break out of the ruts in which I occasionally find myself trudging along. :)

Jeff's latest spur-of-the-moment idea was to take a picnic supper to a local park; and since today he cut the hair of one of the local pizza delivery guys and got "paid" in pizza, it wasn't difficult to choose (or prepare!) the food for our picnic. I think it's great that Jeff sometimes gets paid in goods and not always money. We get our lawn mowed that way, as well as pizza from several pizza places in town...and Jeff even "bought" a bike that way.

Our time at the park this evening was a lot of fun, capped off by the unexpected chance to see some new friends from church who were there to watch their children play soccer. We stayed to watch the game for a little way...until a few sprinkles of rain fell and chased us into the minivan to have a leisurely drive home "the back way."

Thank you, Jeff, for this spontaneous outing...and for the joy that you bring to the hearts and lives of me and our boys!

~ although it wasn't that cold outside, I'm glad we took this blanket for Tobin because it came in handy as a cover for him while we walked back to our car through the rain...he was so contented tonight as we ate our pizza and the big boys played on the playground and we watched the soccer game, but that's not unusual since he normally is a laid-back little guy!

Best Load of Laundry All Day

Guess what we brought in from the clothesline in our laundry basket today? David was delighted by it...
...in fact, both big brothers were thrilled...
...by their baby brother Tobin, who got to relax on a blanket under the shade of our backyard maple while I hung out a load of laundry, then had his first laundry basket ride ever. Soon Josiah was clamoring for a ride of his own. Sorry, my boy, you're way too big for that. :)
And look who's peeking under the lilacs on our kitchen table while he eats a slice of orange?

The lilacs are in full bloom these days, and we cut a bouquet of them to fill our home with their heady fragrance. I absolutely love lilacs. I'll take a home-grown bouquet of them any day. Too bad their blooming season will soon be over...

Beauty in the Guest Room

With so many beautiful flowers in bloom at this season of the year, I knew I wanted to add a bit of color to the guest room before our guests arrived last weekend. But what flower(s) to choose? This orange-pink tulip caught my eye as I wandered outside, scissors in hand; and between the beauty of that (compliments of God Himself), the beauty of the vase (a woman with a jar on her head; Jeff bought it for me in Israel), and the beauty of the painting (done by Jeff's father who was an enormously-talented artist), I was well pleased.

Daily Digest

To begin with, these pictures have nothing to do with anything, except that they are of my boys; and that's what I'm going to write about. Wait, that's always what I write about.

You see, it's like this. I wouldn't blog so much, except that every day, stuff happens; and I think, "Oh, this is historic"...or "I don't want to forget this"...or "I've just got to write this down!" And since I don't journal in the strict sense of the word (meaning, actual pen and real paper), this is where all that gets stored. Why anyone else wants to read this is beyond me sometimes!!! :) But boy, is it ever fun to share this stuff in a community and have it turn from a monologue into a dialogue. Thank you!

~ Tobin in big brother Josiah's arms
~ David, during his day of sickness earlier this week

So...today...snippets of conversation in our family:

David said this morning, "When we get up to heaven, I will say to God, 'I love You NO MATTER WHAT'." And then David added, "When we get up to heaven, God will say to me, 'I love you, NO MATTER WHAT, David'." And I thought, "You know, that's one of the simplest, but most profound, expressions of the Gospel that I've ever heard." God loves us, no matter what. What a gift!

Later today, on our way home from running some errands (including a stop to show off Tobin for "baby week" at a preschool where some of our church friends work), David said, "When I am a daddy, I will drink iced tea...and read the blue book (our devotional book that Jeff reads to us before we eat supper)...with a beard...and have a nice, happy face!" I guess David has got it all figured out about what it means to be a daddy. :)

Over lunch, this is what I wanted to say (but didn't voice, of course), "Would you quit learning geography and just eat your lunch???" We have these map placemats, and David had at his place today a map of the USA and wanted me to tell him what everything was when he pointed to it. Which is great, of course...but after a few rounds of "Alabama...North Dakota...New Hampshire...Idaho" (spoken wearily by me) and the growing conviction that the real reason he was so interested in the map was because he didn't want to eat his banana, I was ready for the whole game to end! David did learn one thing today though: the state of Nevada is shaped like a piece of pizza, so he and Josiah are going to start calling it Pizzaland. Oh, and when Josiah grows up and can really tell everyone what to do, he's going to insist that Washington, D.C. become the 51st state...because, why isn't it a state already? (Uh, because it's too small???)

The real excitement of the day happened this evening when we were deep into the "piranha hour" right before Daddy gets home from work. Tobin was crying in his crib, so I went up to get him; and as I descended the stairs, I saw David sitting on the rug in the living room with the flyswatter saying, "Here's a bug!" Followed by, "It stung me!" (or maybe he said, "stinged," because his grammer is not perfect). :) Followed by weeping and gnashing of teeth. Well, David's first bee sting is history now; and apparently he's not allergic (like Jeff's brother is) because we didn't observe any side effects that were alarming...so that's a good thing. It was so sad though because as soon as I saw him and heard the word "bug," I KNEW it was a bee and wanted to yell for him to put it down! But there was no time.

We've been having bees, of all things, in the house the past two days. Yesterday we had...well...I don't know how many. Twenty, maybe? Today we only had three or so, but it was one too many, that's for sure. It's really strange since we don't normally have bees in the house! And we can't figure out how they're getting in so we can't figure out how to keep them out. We always discover them on our big picture window in the living room, and we're grateful that at least, they always seem to go to the same place--a fairly easy place to deal with them. When I saw the first several yesterday, I thought, "Oh, bees are nice. I'll just catch this one against the window in a plastic bowl, put a thin book between the window and the bowl to act as a lid, and take it outside to release it." So I did--a few times--and then all my compassion and love for bees went right out the window! Those bees got in the wrooooong place and threatened my boys, so no mercy for you, you little rascals!

Since David saw us killing them with a flyswatter yesterday, I'm guessing that when he saw the bee today, he got the flyswatter to try to do the same? And then, being curious, he simply reached out and picked it up? I don't know for sure, since I didn't see the beginning of the encounter; but I'm so very grateful that all's well that ends well. And fortunately, Doctor Grandpa, hurried up the hill to check on his little grandson and make sure there were no serious problems resulting from it. It's comforting to know that if there had been a problem, we were in good hands!

I Spy...

All mothers are, I'm sure, familiar with the "joy" of finding their children's "treasures" in unexpected places. It's like a delightful game of I Spy, right? :)

One day last week, I decided to just go around the house, camera in hand, and see if there were any such surprises lurking about. This is what I found:

I spy...

...a dinosaur on the bathmat, ready to nibble Daddy's toes when he steps out of the shower
...three little critters on the guest bed (and this was shortly before we were expecting guests, too!)
...a random piece of racetrack on Jeff's nightstand
...a toy dragster inside my garden shoe (it actually was much darker inside my shoe than this picture shows...I had to use the flash to even make the car show up...I am certainly glad I noticed the car before I put my foot in the shoe; I'm sure I would have shrieked, thinking that something (or someone?) was in my shoe, ready to bite me

I know someday I'll miss all this, since every older mother I've ever talked to has told me that. But sometimes I just wish I could put things where they belong and they would stay there!

On a related note (to the missing-your-children-someday aspect), the past few nights when I've been nursing Tobin in my rocking chair upstairs while Jeff is getting Josiah and David ready for bed, I've thought a lot about the future when they are grown. One time recently David appeared in the doorway of my room to tell me something (probably at a time when he was really supposed to be doing something else, like brushing his teeth or throwing his clothes down the laundry chute); and as I saw his small frame before my eyes, my inner eyes imagined his much taller frame filling that doorway in the years to come...and then--vividly--the emptiness of that doorway when he's grown and gone. It reminded me to pause...to hang on to these moments...to appreciate them before they're gone. The next night when David did the same thing, I wasn't nursing Tobin and didn't have anything in my arms, so I simply got down on my knees on the floor and opened my arms wide for David, who came and gave me the sweetest hug. Don't forget these moments, Davene...

Just Tobin

I can't help it...I just have to post more pictures that Lisa took. This is the last batch, I promise. They're just too good to not share!

~ what are you looking at, sweet boy?
~ the typical clenched-fist look of a wee one
~ Mr. Bright Eyes...alert, curious, taking in so much about the world around him
~ his lovable, kissable hand
~ this is probably my favorite picture, although it's incredibly difficult to decide! Kristy knows what I'm talking about... :)

Grandma Love

In honor of my mother...and for her to enjoy while she's recovering from pneumonia...here are some special grandmother pictures.

~ this one came in an email that someone forwarded to me...I can't remember who sent it or what the context was for this picture, but I love it...it reminds me of my own grandmother who died in 1999 and was my last surviving grandparent...I remember grieving during my last visit with her because she would never get to see my children...I'm so glad my children know their grandmother so well
~ April 2005...my mother and Josiah at King David Hotel in Jerusalem...that hotel is the most special one in the whole world, in my opinion! :)...and I'm happy that my mom got to visit it when she was in Israel for David's birth (and in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover there)...and I'm grateful that on so many occasions, she has held my children's little hands in hers
~ April 2005...Mother holding newborn David

~ Mother holding David's hand...one of my recent favorite pictures...actually, the picture is not new; I took it on our way to the beach last September...but recently I tweaked it a little on Picasa, and I like the way it turned out

I love you, Mother, and I hope and pray you get better soon!!!

A Dedication, a Graduation, and an Illness

This past weekend was a full one, with two very happy things and one not-so-happy one. First, the good stuff!

Tobin was dedicated this past Sunday, right after we officially became members. We squeezed that all in during our pastor's last Sunday with us! It was a really special day for many reasons.

Here are the questions that were asked of Jeff and I during the dedication:
~ Do you receive Tobin as a gift from God?
~ Will you see that Tobin is nurtured in the faith of the church, in the decrees and commands of God, and by your prayers and witness guide him into the full stature of Christ?
~ Do you promise to gladly surrender Tobin to the ministry God has in mind for him, wherever that might be?

After the talking part, a hymn was sung; and my dad had the privilege of walking Tobin around the room to show him off to the church. (Get it? The people are the church.) Tobin was tired by this point and fussed a little, enough to prove that he's a real baby and cries like anyone else! And then a little comforter was given to us that had been made by the women of the church. I plan to take some pictures of Tobin on it sometime, and I'll post a photo then.

It was a joyful event (much more joyful for me personally than the last baby dedication I saw, when I couldn't stop crying for anything!). Even though Tobin has in fact been dedicated to God by us from birth (even before birth, really), it is significant to have a ceremony to honor that...and to feel the communal support for the upbringing of this child.

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The other wonderful part of last weekend was my friend Jackie's graduation with a master's degree from EMU. Because of all the events of Sunday--specifically, it being our pastor's last Sunday--I wasn't able to attend the graduation ceremony, although I would have loved to do that. But we thoroughly enjoyed having Jackie and her husband Pete spend the night with us on Saturday! David was so entranced by Jackie that he could hardly finish his supper. :)

I know Jackie from college days, when we were part of a group of 5 women that lived together during the last 2 years of college. I'm eternally grateful for their friendship (and so is my mom, who cried when she gave Jackie a graduation card on Sunday morning...I was upstairs getting ready and heard my mom's tearful voice downstairs...I thought, "What in the world is Mother crying about now? Maybe I should join in!" :)...in fact, my mom was simply crying from gratitude about how special it was for me to have this group of friends in college and ever since...most people probably wouldn't cry about that, but then again; my mom is not "most people!").

Jackie lived in Egypt for 6 years, and we had the privilege of visiting her there in Cairo and hosting her when she came to Tel Aviv where we were living. I forgot to take a picture of her and Pete during their time with us, so I'll throw in this old picture of them from 2006. :)

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And now, the sad part of the weekend.

Sunday evening, Dad was concerned enough about Mom's health to take her into the hospital to have her checked. The discovery? She has pneumonia. She, of course, had no idea; but she hid her sickness well because not a soul at the church service Sunday morning would have guessed that anything so serious as pneumonia was wrong with her! She is being forced to take it easy this week to recuperate...which is a very good thing. Wish it didn't take a serious illness though to convince her to let herself rest! ;)

This picture below has nothing to do with her current status; it's simply a fun picture of some good Grandma time when David was a baby and Josiah my little 3 year-old.