Butterflies and S'mores

A nurse that Eli works with has a hatchery for monarch butterflies.  We had the privilege of acquiring two cocoons from her, then we waited patiently for a couple weeks while the caterpillars inside underwent metamorphosis.  Caleb liked sitting on the counter and watching the cocoons, which were "like the very hungry caterpillar!"  After watching and waiting and talking about the very hungry caterpillar over and over, we finally had a butterfly emerge!  It was the highlight of the week.

The boys were enthralled.  The butterfly had appeared like magic and it was just as magical to set it free.  They couldn't get it out of the bug box fast enough and could scarcely keep their little hands away until Eli carefully lifted it out to place it on a tree branch and let it get used to its wings.

The monarch rested on the leaf for awhile and fluttered its wings.  I imagine it's a lot of work to change from a caterpillar to a butterfly and it takes some getting used to being out of the cocoon.  It was quite exciting to marvel at this mysterious part of nature and share it with our boys!

What a marvelous mystery indeed!

After the excitement of the butterfly, we decided it was a perfect night for a fire.  We busted out the s'more supplies and indulged.  I was so anxious to have a s'more that I didn't even bother to get a chair first.  I assumed the "pregnancy squat" and roasted that mallow right away, then sat directly on the driveway to devour it.  I love s'mores and we simply haven't had enough of them this summer!

Caleb wanted to roast a marshmallow too, but "just pretend."  He loves pretending all sorts of things these days.  "Just pretend" is a favorite catchword of his.  So he used a pair of chopsticks with two tiny marshmallows on the end, pretended to roast them, and gobbled them up!  He was a happy boy :)

When Caleb tried an actual s'more, he instantly started freaking out and I thought the marshmallow must have been too hot and burned his tongue.  But he refused water when offered, and when I asked what was wrong he exclaimed, "My mouth is sticky!"  Well, yes, roasted mallows are sticky.   Geez, kid.  Get over it.  But he wouldn't take another bite till the end of the night, and only with much coercing.  Kai, on the other hand, couldn't get enough s'mores.  He wanted more and more and more!

So we had a lovely summer night at home, releasing a brand new butterfly and enjoying a fire.  The summer is quickly coming to a close so we're trying to maximize this time.  The summers in Duluth are some of the best around, and we're thankful we've had the chance to enjoy one more summer season here!

A Getaway and a County Fair

We were blessed this week with a night away by ourselves.  Sans children.  Sans the 5:30am wake-up call.  It was amazing.  Eli's parents graciously stayed with our boys so we could have one night to ourselves before this next baby comes.  We headed up the North Shore to Cove Point Lodge and had a lovely time.

The North Shore is our favorite place in Minnesota.  Lake Superior can't be beat, and the Shore has all the glory of the north woods without being overrun by people.  Basically, it's God's country :)

The weather was cool and cloudy, so it was perfect for walking out to the Point.  It was also perfect for sitting by the Cove.  I love sitting.  I'm 36 weeks pregnant now, and my favorite thing to do is sit :)

After sleeping in followed by finding a coffee shop to sit and play a game for hours, we ventured to the Lake County Fair where we met up with Eli's parents and our boys again.  Caleb and Kai were excited to see us, and Caleb was particularly excited about the fair.  It was the first night of this tiny county fair and hardly anyone else was there.  There were a few animals in the barn, though, and that was all the boys needed to be super happy.  Caleb also tried his hand at milking a fake cow, which he loved!

When we finally pulled them away from the animals, we headed toward the carousel.  Caleb had ridden one before and we knew he'd like to ride one again.  So Grandma Horn joined him as he chose to ride the goat.  He was a happy boy!

Caleb then caught sight of the giant slide.  He was adamant about wanting to go on it despite our assurances that it was big and fast and he probably wouldn't like it.  (He's our more cautious kid and he never willingly went down a slide by himself until just this summer - and that was just the little slides at the playground.)  But he was insistent and we chose the parenting tactic of letting him try something new and deciding for himself whether he liked it or not.  He was so excited to go that he practically bounced up the stairs, and he remained excited until he actually went down it.  Eli held him close and as soon as they reached the bottom Caleb was terrified and started wailing, "I don't like it!  I don't like it!!!!"  So now he knows :)

He was upset enough by the slide that we offered to let him ride the carousel once more before heading home.  It was just what he needed to recover from the trauma of the giant slide.  This time he chose to ride the rooster and forgot all about the slide.

Caleb didn't want to leave the fair, but it was nearly bedtime and Kai was falling apart.  So we packed up the kids and headed home.  Kai was so cranky that he never fell asleep in the car like he usually does when he's tired, but rather cried and fussed most of the way home, and we said a solid goodbye to our Getaway sans children.  (We discovered the next morning that Kai was cranky because he was getting sick - he woke up with a snotty nose and was upset enough to warrant ibuprofen.)  But such is life!  We're glad to be back home with our kids and all the exhaustion that goes with it.  We probably won't get a night away by ourselves again for, well, years to come.  We're grateful we had this last chance to do so.  Thanks again to Eli's parents for making it happen!

Maternity Photos

A few weeks ago, on one of the hottest days of the summer so far, we had maternity photos taken.  We went to Park Point, which has beautiful sandy beaches along Lake Superior, and we smiled and sweated in an attempt to capture this point in our lives.  The heat made my hands and feet swell, and the fun of the surroundings made Caleb difficult to coerce into posing for photos, and the sand and water made both of our children sandy and wet before we were done, but ultimately we are thankful we did it!

The photographer, of Christina B Photography, was fantastic.  She miraculously captured some photos of Caleb looking content despite his bitterness toward being asked to pose and smile for photos.  And she helped us pose correctly (by having us tilt our heads up or down, move our hands this way or that, etc.) which I greatly appreciated.  And she was kind and helpful the entire time.  Here are some of the photos she captured:

We're pleased with them :)  Now we just have to wait till this baby comes!  There are just over five weeks left (or more if this baby comes late like our other two).  I'm feeling super pregnant and growing more uncomfortable by the day.  But I'm taking it one day at a time, and somehow each day and each week passes.  We're getting close!

Beginning the Move

My husband and my father-in-law are somewhere in the U.P. right now, hauling most of our stuff to Michigan.  We sorted through the basement and cleared almost everything out.  The stuff we're keeping is in the truck and trailer that Eli's dad is graciously letting us use to transport it all, and later tonight it will end up at the lakehouse where we're moving in October.  The move has officially begun!

Caleb and Kai were "helping" despite having no idea what was going on.  The greatest stress in this whole process is wondering how they'll handle the multiple transitions ahead of us.  Our life will change a lot in the next year and they'll be in the middle of it all.  But we're hoping and praying their young ages will be an asset in helping them adapt well to each new change.  And we'll all be together.  As we've spent this year thinking about the changes ahead of our family, an adage we've created for ourselves is: "When we're together, we're home."  And this will be true, whether we're in Minnesota or Michigan or Africa.  Home is not just the residence we live in or the yard we play in or even the bed we sleep in.  Home, for us, will mean a number of things in the years to come, but mostly it will mean each other.  And for that we are grateful.

So we are preparing to move on from this house in a couple months, and move on to new places and new people and new adventures!  And our kids will get a front-row seat to it all.  Our stuff, on the other hand, which is headed to Michigan as I type this, will be sidelined as we venture forth.  Because our stuff can be here or there or anywhere, but as long as we're with each other we'll be home!

Potty-Training 101

We've been dreading this for a long time.  We knew he wasn't interested in trying, so we weren't motivated to start the process.  We also knew how particularly stubborn he is when it comes to transitions, so we still weren't motivated to start the process.  Furthermore, we knew we'd be traveling a ton this year, so...we weren't motivated to start the process.  We were completely unmotivated ourselves, so trying to motivate our 3-year old to tackle the chore of potty-training seemed impossible.  Yet, because there'll never be a good time to potty-train and because it had to happen sometime, we decided to start this week.  It has been...an adventure.

We pulled out all the stops: entertainment, rewards, praise and encouragement galore.  We tried anything to motivate him.  Some things have worked, some not so much.  Some things worked one day but not the next.  He keeps us on our toes.

We count every small victory.  The first day, with zero successes and half a dozen accidents, we rejoiced in the fact that he willingly chose to sit on the potty most of the day (after kicking and screaming and crying the first time).  We also counted the blessing that he doesn't like being wet. By Day 2 we realized he was holding it every time he sat on the potty, and then would have an accident within minutes of getting off.  It was frustrating.  But before the day was done, he had two successes!  These were HUGE victories!  It was a major hump to get over.  By Day 3, he only had one success but we still celebrated because every victory counts!

We're on Day 4 and this morning he told me in earnest that he had to use the potty.  It was the first time he's ever said that, and he told me while peeing his pants and making a watery mess on the floor BUT he said he had to use the potty!  Victory!  Something's starting to click and I rejoiced.  Every little step counts.

We take encouragement in the fact that every other parent we've talked to has commiserated with how hard this transition is.  So at least we know our kid is normal and that we're not alone in our exhaustion and frustration throughout this process.

Potty-training 101: It's hard, it takes a long time, and it requires a lot of patience, but eventually - someday, somehow - we will have a kid who can control his bladder and take himself to the bathroom on his own!