more about the potty-kind of.

so...you just have to hear this story. or maybe you don't. maybe this is funny to me because it's my child and no one else will think this is humorous. hmm...either way...

keep in mind that froggy is nolan's "lovey." froggy has slept with nolan almost since his birth. froggy is one of those square, little blankets with an animal head in the center. you know what i'm talking about?

alright, so it's about 6am and nolan persists on his new habit...coming to my room, waking me--and telling me he has to go potty--when all he really wants is for me to get up with him. he is not supposed to get out of bed until the sun is up. being the genius he is, he knows The Potty will get him what he wants.
and i give in again. because i just have no defenses at 6am people. you want me to agree to something? wake me about then and start asking. i'm yours for another good hour...
we are in the bathroom and he exclaims, "no, mommy, this potty won't work."
excuse me?
"this potty won't work, mommy; we have to go to the other potty."
sigh, walk to the other potty...remember, NO defenses.
upon arrival he tells me that i need to go first. no problem, 33 wks pregnant, third child in less than three years, i can go at any second.
when i'm done, i demand that he goes so we can get back to bed (i started waking up a little--but still, demand is probably too strong a word. it's still only like 6:07am)
at this point, he starts toward the toilet with froggy in his hands. i ask him to give me froggy so that our little, green friend experiences no natural disasters. nolan says,
"no, mommy, froggy gotta go."
"nope, nolan, i will hold froggy, you go."
we repeat.
finally,
"no, mommy! froggy gotta go POTTY!"
sigh again. give in again as i finally understand. froggy going potty was one of our desperate first attempts (several months ago) at getting the boy interested in the toilet. we'd hold froggy up to the seat and pretend he was going.
thus, nolan's idea that froggy now has to go.
very seriously, he takes froggy from me. with a purposeful lift of his chin, he holds that frog at just the right angle and waits patiently.
i mean seriously, like a minute goes by.
all of sudden, he hands me the frog and looks at me with a less serious, somewhat silly expression (as if this whole froggy charade was my idea), and says,
"oh no, mommy, froggy not going potty. froggy don't have a booty!"
and with that observation/exclamation, he climbs up on the toilet seat and completes his original plan.

it was kind of worth it though, 6am and all. thank God for the funny stuff. that's the fuel for motherhood isn't it? that and the sweet stuff. love those babies...

My vote is for the poop ;)

I am currently debating something of great importance.

Was I more excited at seeing my son's first steps or at the realization that he (for the first time), of his own volition and unbeknownst to me, ran to the potty and pooped?
He's been peeing and pooping by himself now for about four days (on the condition that I leave him naked all day...details, details...). He's peed and pooped at my in-laws. He peed and pooped for my mom when she visited. I even checked on him tonight, a while after he went to bed. He was laying there awake. I saw his pants and wondered why I put them on backwards and didn't notice. And then he tells me that he went pee pee. And I believed him with all of my heart.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT I AM SAYING TO YOU?????!!! (And yes, I am well aware that all caps means I am yelling.) DO YOU, DO YOU???!!
MY SON MIGHT ACTUALLY BE ALMOST (and now i'm totally whispering because i don't want to jinx it) p o t t y t r a i n e d.

Anyway, I can't talk about it too much because I just cannot believe it. I REALLY was preparing myself for having three children in diapers. I mean, when we officially have three children in our arms, they will still all be under the age of 3. And the oldest, well, he's my emotional one. Very emotional about all things, including relieving himself in a diaper vs. the toilet.
Until now.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All of this to say, I believe I have been more taken aback, more in awe than I was when he walked for the first time. Is that like total mom heresy? Sorry to disappoint anyone. I'd love to know your vote--have you had children that learned to use the potty? Where do you stand on this debate?

The Motherland Adventure

**There are actually pictures included in this post! Read on...**

so, hi…it’s been a while…blah, blah, blah.
For today’s blogging entry, I promise not to whine and complain about not being able to download pictures from my camera. I won’t even mention my sweet but memory-challenged mac mini. But since I have brought that up, will you pause while I take care of something that has been weighing on my mind?
Dear Mr. Steve Jobs and your entire Mac world staff and friends,
Could you please, please release your new Macbooks to the civilians? Didn’t the rumor leak that it would be the end of September? Aren’t we getting dangerously close to October? Any closer and those numbers on the calendar are going to run right into one another! I’ve been saving up for one for a really, really long time. In fact, it took birthing two children and the IRS check we earned for pushing them into the world to save up. That IRS reward check is practically disintegrated in my hot, little hands and I need to use it now! Please understand my concern.
Sincerely,
Your growing-more-impatient-with-each-passing-day-but-faithful-Mac-customer.
p.s. Macs forever

Oh my gosh, I feel better. Thanks for pausing.
Like I was saying,
In the spirit of not complaining, I’ve taken matters into my own hands. I used my handy new phone (b/c YES another phone of mine broke—the LCD display just decided to heck with all of these numbers and went out. I had NOTHING to do with this and NO I don’t have your number. Again.) to take pictures and email them to myself. From email, I can snag them like Swiper (what-you don’t watch Dora? Weird.) and post them on my blog without my computer memory ever knowing. So sneaky I am.
Ahem-what I’m trying to say with all of this is, we’re not going to complain today. We’re going to talk a little Texas history, folks. Yep. Things you should know about this state. Texas history was one of my favorite subjects. And while Ms. Boone wouldn’t have guessed it, I particularly loved reading about early Czech settlers (my family). Did you know that, at some point, the Czech language was the third most spoken language in Texas? You care. I know you do. Anyway, I wasn’t planning on being able to share the next story with you but it became an adventure. I am delighted to have something to blog about, pictures to accompany the post, and to share a piece of my own family’s history!
You see, my sister in law moved with her family to Costa Rica…their next stop for a few years or so. Someone is coming to Yoakum today to load the car to be shipped. The car had more gas than the company would allow, and, after a few attempts at getting people to siphon gas from the car (would have done it myself like the guy at the full-service station suggested, but my siphoning techniques are underdeveloped, to say the least) I decided we would take advantage, spend some gas, and go on an adventure. One diaper/wipes/triscuits/cheese/sippy cups/sonic tea-with-lime run later, we were on our way to the Motherland…

My husband grew up in Yoakum. The cool thing about that, not to mention what made up the jist (sp?) of our first-ever conversation, is that my family helped settled land not too far from Yoakum in an area called Moravia. The subject of our day’s adventure!

My great-great grandfather came to Moravia (named after the REAL motherland-Czechoslovakia--it's not a city or even a town really. my grandmother used to say, in its' present state, it's more like a community) in like 1887, or 1870 something…help me familly! In helping to settle that area, he (my family) helped build a Catholic church among a few other things. The church is still there, with an attached cemetery, of course, and still holds masses from time to time. Sometimes, they even have polka masses. For all of my non-Czech friends, that means that they sing the songs to polka tunes and if the priest can do so, he’ll speak in Czech.
So, I decided my children needed to see the ol’ place. And they wanted to see it too, I’m just sure of it. I had to stop once and check my directions at a gas station in Halletsville, and with one more assurance from a TX D.O.T. guy on an old FM road, we drove up to this.

Ascension Catholic Church in Moravia. My grandmother (as I’m sure many other members of my family) was born here (okay, maybe not IN the church but somewhere really close by…), baptized here, sang in the choir here, taught school right around here, married here? (help me again!)

Remember, this was taken on an iphone!
I’ve been here before but was unable to go in. They don’t just leave special, historical places unlocked y’all. But this time, even though the doors were locked, they left the inside doors open and we could see most of the church. I can’t believe this picture came out…I was holding my phone to the glass.
Look closely. REALLY closely. See that chandelier hanging in the center of the aisle? My great grandparents donated that chandelier to the church. The crystal chandelier was brought from Czechoslovakia; my grandmother told me once that the crate in which it arrived was what she used for a closet as a girl. Isn’t that cool?
Next on the adventure list, we needed to go find the headstones of our ancestors buried in the attached cemetery. I did my best to keep my children off of people’s gravesites. I really did. And when Lori started picking up pretty flowers from tombstones, I also did my best not to yell too loudly or act too brashly among those peacefully resting. But, as it turns out, a graveyard

is just not suited for children to whom death is not even a concept. I decided to skip the lecture on respect and allow them to throw rocks. But only on the sidewalks. They finally complied. Sweet, respectful children.
Okay so here was one of the areas marked out for my family.

And you thought my maiden name was tough. This side of the family only got one vowel! And, if I remember another story correctly, this vowel was included only after the typical insertion as new immigrants got off the boat and became Americans. When I got married, I kept the vowels to a minimum like my maiden name. Good job, Michael, for helping me keep it close to home.
We found all of the rest of our family in that cemetery and I decided it was time to record this historical moment. After all, here I was, generations later, with my own children. It was time for pictures.
My sweet, respectful children tried to cooperate. Their little toddler hearts wanted me to have this memory to treasure…but this was about all I could manage.


Lori has decided that looking at the camera is just not in her contract anymore.

this one got a little closer.

at this point, long past lunch time and bordering on nap time, I figured we’d had enough. My children were champions though, and after changing a really nasty diaper of Lori’s, we were back in the car for the ride home.
And then, it hit me. That 32 oz sonic-tea-with-lime. My, only 11 weeks from delivering, heck of a pregnant belly rested oh-so-heavily on my bladder, ensuring that I needed to do something quickly. (Did I mention that Moravia is an AREA...not a town with public restrooms?) So...for decency's sake and for respect of the motherland, I will leave out this next part of the adventure.
As we turned to get back on the FM road I first mentioned, I realized we couldn’t leave without passing by Moravia Store. Another Texas historical marker. Read about it…





This place is famous y’all. And here is where the high profiles enter—a side entrance so as not to be confused with the regular folk.
Hee hee, I just took this as a tribute to my husband. Playing in halls like this is how he honed his musical gifts. He knows all about those side entrances, oh yes he does…being high profile and all…

And thus, as we drove home toward the sunset, filled with the memories of how "they became us", our adventure ended…after one stop at a feed store, of course, since I decided to go home a different way. I couldn’t have called it an adventure if I didn’t do something risky, right? And besides, the empty gas light on the way home was proof that all of the driving was worth it. The car can be shipped now! Thank you, my in-laws, for sponsoring this adventure!

please...

dear friends,
would you join me in a few prayers?
first, thanking God that my family is well after hurricane ike--michael rode out the storm with a friend while we were in yoakum. my mother and stepfather (and aunt, cousin and 2nd cousin) had a scare as the flooding came close to entering their home. my brother and sister in law had only a little damage (and they already have power!). my sister and her fiance were able to leave town, my dad and stepmother are well, all of my mother's family live on the coast and are well, and finally, our close friends (they literally live in the exact spot where ike entered land) were able to evacuate safely and find shelter elsewhere!
as far as clean up, we'll be praying that my mom's water and power are restored quickly-that they can continue to clean the yard/uprooted trees and the area surrounding them, that my mom's family and our friends, who all live on the coast, return to reparable damage, and that energy/work crews are able to sustain all of the hours/setbacks, etc that they will encounter.
we have a good God--i am so thankful that, just as He allowed this hurricane, He allowed many of the mercies that we experienced in it as well.

thanks so much for your thoughts!!

guess what?

guess what we're having!?



we found out mid-july but have been a little slow sharing the news with you...

WELCOME LITTLE MAN!

daddy's little man

just had to share...
my mother-in-law sent this picture to me. we have all but camped out at michael's parents' house, celebrating the fact that michael's oldest sisters and their children are in town! this is a once a year occurrence and we're thrilled to be here for it.
especially thrilled because of moments like these...caleb and nolan rocking out. (i need to get a picture of ALL of the grandkids).

don't think nolan has missed one beat (hee hee) of what his daddy does. every time we ride in the car he asks to listen to daddy's music. he accompanies himself on the drums (vacuum cleaner attachments) while singing "jesus loves me," among other favorites. he also likes to play the piano and hammer out the rhythm of whatever he sings (often "abc's" on piano).
you can only imagine one proud daddy on the receiving end of this music!

a celebration

hey everybody. still here. i've been trying to think of creative ways to say hello after such an absence-- but after going through this thought process once each month (for about 12 months now), my ideas are a little stale. there's always..."back from the blogging dead!"...while it's true, it's just not the impression i want to leave. "there's just so much to write..." is always tempting but too plain and too common for us all. i've considered "how do i start?" and "you still there?" in the end, i should probably just stick to, "we've got news." because that is ALWAYS the case and, no matter how often the title is used, it remains somewhat intriguing. i can't tell you all of the news this time, though. yes, very mean of me but...not yet. all i can say is that we are on a ride that, if it were written down, i don't know if people would believe it. the armstrongs kind of exist in transition and it is safe and accurate to say we're still there. and keeping up with the everyday (or the "not-so" everyday that happens when you live in transition) has taken all of my reserve creativity, leaving my blogging ideas...well, like i said, stale.

SO. tonight, to enter back into the blogging society, i'm taking advantage of our recent holiday. you're getting a quick thought and a few july fourth pics. i still don't have enough memory to download any pictures from my camera. BUT, my wonderful mother-in-law has emailed me her pictures. with a little dragging action from email to iphoto, i can finally share!

july fourth is one of my top 3 holidays...i love seeing our flag, thinking about what it took to become the United States, imagining life or living with the mindset of being a brand-new country. our church totally catered to my patriotism and celebrated God's birthing of our nation this past sunday. i have to admit, i was a little concerned--even though i love a celebration, i'm not big on "shows" during church. God's word carries enough show for anyone and is more than sufficient. of course, my amazing husband feels the same way, and since he and his team were in charge of many things, they worked to remain God-honoring and to produce a grateful-for-God's work-in-our-nation worship service. the Lord completed their efforts; it was beautiful. the church also welcomed colonel oliver north as a guest speaker. i know that colonel north is a controversial figure...some doubted whether it was appropriate to have him there or not. i was completely impressed as he spoke to everyone, listing his most important title as "child of God." he had WONDERFUL, biblical things to say and of course, the way he wove in true stories about current and past soldiers left me in...well, awe.

now to my thought. i was able to sit in the front row of the service b/c of a seat michael saved for me. in fact, it was right next to colonel north. again, i know some of you may not a fan of his, but my very high respect for the military was in full force. i was "starstruck" by the real-life colonel in the united states armed forces, who has breathed war all of his life and currently gives air to soldiers doing amazing things RIGHT NOW in battle, sitting very humanly :), in the seat next to mine. he's not even tall! isn't that a requirement of a colonel? i was too chicken to shake his hand even though some people behind him were teasing him about the lint on the back of his jacket. and he was laughing with them. anyway, still chickening out, i pinched myself with a little pep talk, reminding that, ultimately, all of this was about Jesus. and then, i thought about Jesus. and i thought about sitting right next to Him in those chairs. and i thought, not only would i not have to be scared to talk to him, this amazing, awe-inspiring SAVIOR OF THE WORLD would turn to me, call me by name and totally let me hug Him. in fact, He'd probably hug me first! and for the rest of the service (and now), all i can think of is how little ol' me can know Big Time Jesus. i am baffled. and, more than most things, i really hope you know Big Time Jesus too. because in the midst of all that we have going on that i still can't tell you about, knowing Him and being known is an irreplacable feeling.

lori and "doe" are working on some of the best strawberry ice cream i've ever eaten in my whole life. turns out lori likes salted ice.


"doc" definitely had the right idea.

amazing the difference a year makes. until recently, nolan ran from sticks with flying sparks.

good job on all of the explosives, daddy.