Bathroom Jail

"Help! I'm stuck in the bathroom, and I can't get out." These are the words Graham would have told me the other day if he could only speak in complete sentences. You see, Graham has this fetish with doors and has had one ever since he started crawling around the house. He loves to go into a room and shut the door. But his love ends there. After a few minutes, he starts crying because he also loves people, and the door that he can close but cannot yet open keeps him separated from people.

Well, one day Graham went into the bathroom and closed the door. He started whining, so I went to open the door and let him out. Plus, who knows what he could get into in the bathroom? About two seconds later he did the same thing- walked into the bathroom and shut the door. I heard him whimper, but told him, "you're just going to have to wait a second while I find my shoes." I quickly found my shoes and went to open the door, but there was one big problem. I couldn't open it. At first I thought G was holding onto the knob preventing me from opening the door, but soon I realized he wasn't that strong. I turned the knob and turned the knob but...nothing. Somehow my little boy can go into a room, shut the door, and lock the door, but he cannot unlock the door or open the door. I started to panic, but caught myself, slowed down, and made a call to Jeff. Jeff told me to go get a coat hanger and try to unlock the door. Now why didn't I think of that? I got a coat hanger and put it through the tiny hole in the door knob, but still nothing. So then I knew the only other option I had was to take the door knob off of the door. I got the screw driver out and finally got the knob off the door. But the door still wouldn't open because I couldn't get the knob off on the other side of the door. I told Jeff the bad news, and he said he would head home to try and help me. In the meantime, Graham was starting to cry a little more. I went into the playroom and found a coloring book. I ripped a page of Charlie Brown's Christmas out of it, grabbed a few crayons, and slid the page through the crack between the door and the floor. Maybe this would occupy his time? (I'm sure you all are well aware that 15 minutes in bathroom jail is like a life sentence in the penitentiary.) But, every time I slid the paper under the door, G would bend down and slide it right back to me. And I thought it was so clever of me to send him coloring pages under the door! Finally, I decided to try and open the door again. I grabbed some pliers, jiggled the other side of the knob like crazy, and at last was able to get the door open.

Whew! What an afternoon. I had hoped Graham had done a little cleaning while he was in bathroom jail, but the floors and bathtub were just as dirty as when he first went in. Maybe before I teach him to unlock and open the door, I'll teach him how to clean the bathroom. You know, just in case it ever happens again.

Lightning Bugs and PJ's

At 8:15 last night I was just about ready to put Graham down for the night when Jeff came into the room asking for a mason jar. He came back from the kitchen with one in hand and said, "Let's go catch lightning bugs!"
"It's kinda late," I said while looking down at G in his dinosaur pajamas. I myself already had on a t-shirt and pajama bottoms.
"He's just a baby," Jeff said, and to that I smiled and we headed out to the backyard. Graham squatted down in the grass and stared at his parents running around like crazy people grabbing for the air. Once we felt like we had a decent light show, we headed indoors. Jeff turned out all the lights, sat down on the floor, and began giving Graham a science lesson on why lighting bugs really light up. It was apparently a science lesson for me as well as I had never really contemplated the phenomenon. Graham just sat down on the floor next to his Daddy watching and pointing to the bugs in the jar. It was just about the most adorable thing I've ever seen. I wanted to take a picture, but the house was completely dark. So I'm writing about it now, so I'll always have that mental picture. Graham even learned a new word while he was sitting there last night. It was "bug" of course! Lightning bugs and pj's...such a sweet way to end the day.

The Dollar Tree Pregnancy Test?

The night before I found out I was pregnant with #2, I didn't sleep well. That's when I knew something was up. I always sleep well unless of course I'm pregnant. I decided that morning that after the gym, I would swing by the Dollar Tree to pick up some pregnancy tests. A friend of mine who recently had a baby told me they worked, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm not one to hold things in, but I decided to keep my planned trip to the Dollar Tree a secret from Jeff.

So that Friday morning I made my way into the Dollar Tree. I grabbed a baggie of quarters I had in my car and plopped Graham into the shopping basket. I wasn't quite sure where to go. I surely didn't want to ask someone what aisle the pregnancy tests were on, so I quickly browsed the store. I thought about buying a few items so it didn't look like I was only buying pregnancy tests but realized that was ridiculous. Plus, these people didn't know me anyway. So I finally found the tests. With Graham, I would have never dreamed of buying a pregnancy test from the Dollar Tree. If someone told me they worked, I wouldn't believe them. No thank you. I'm sticking with my $13.00 a pop EPT or Clearblue tests. But my how things have changed. One being that we're on a stricter budget these days and buying a pregnancy test for $1.00 sounds like it's worth a try. As I've mentioned before, we are doing the Dave Ramsey envelope system. My dilemma was that we'd never discussed what budget pregnancy tests are going to come out of. Well, it wasn't really that big of a dilemma, but I thought I'd just use the bag of quarters that had been sitting in my car for months.

With a somewhat embarrassed face, I put my 2 pregnancy tests on the counter. I knew if one said I was pregnant, then I wouldn't believe it. I needed two to be sure. The cashier told me the price and I started digging in my quarters' baggie.
"I'm sorry. I know it's annoying, but I'm paying you in quarters."
"Oh honey, we love quarters here," she replied.
I was glad to hear those words because I felt cheap. I felt like a 15 year old who sneaks away from home to the dollar store to buy a pregnancy test with the change she found in the couch all the while hoping her worries will be put at ease by seeing one red line, not two.

"I'm at the Dollar Tree buying pregnancy tests in change," I thought. Being insecure about the whole situation, I wondered what everyone around me thought.
"Look at that poor girl. Too young to even have one baby, and now she's about to have two. Must not know what birth control is. Heaven help her."
But I wasn't that person. First of all, I'm not that young and second of all, this was a baby that we really wanted. Not an "Oops I Did It Again" kind of thing.

Well I hoped I could leave that trashy feeling behind in the store, so I stepped into the parking lot with G in one hand and the fate of my next 8 months in the other. I loaded Graham into the car and wondered if I should really take the test or just save it for another month. "After how long it took to get pregnant with Graham, surely I can't be pregnant now," I thought to myself. But I gave in. I put Graham down for a nap and took the test. "No way," I thought. So I took the 2nd test. Surely two tests couldn't be wrong. I called the doctor and they confirmed it that afternoon for the third time. At least I did better than last time when I took 5 pregnancy tests before going to the doctor.
I thought I was going to go crazy that afternoon waiting on Jeff to come home. I wanted to tell everyone who called me that I was pregnant, but I knew I needed to tell Jeff first. I made a video of Graham as I told him he was going to be a big brother and I made Jeff watch the video of G "doing something super cute" as soon as he got home from work. Finally I could tell some other people! Well, all this to say that yep, we've got a little baby on it's way due December 8th, and yep, those Dollar Tree pregnancy tests really work. Stop wasting your money on the expensive stuff. $1.00 can tell you if your suspicions are true or not.

Caviar, Anyone?

A couple of weeks ago, my parents picked up Graham on their way from my sister's graduation in Knoxville back to Memphis. I was heading to Memphis the next day, so I thought a few hours away from him wouldn't kill me. Plus I was exhausted and could use a break! When I got to Memphis the next day, there was my little boy walking around the house with a rubber snake around his neck. He would come up to you and try to "get you" with the snake and other times he would just roam the house with the snake on his shoulders. It was a little scary looking, but he loved it, and I couldn't take away something that his Nattie had given him! A few days later we were in the car on our way to the zoo. G of course had his snake with him! One minute he was biting the snake's head and the next minute I heard a loud POW! My eyes quickly shot over to Graham, and it looked like this 16 month old had suddenly developed a refined palate for caviar. He had tiny black beads pouring out of his mouth. It took me a minute to figure out what had happened. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. The snake broke!" I yelled as my sister found a place to pull over. Graham started crying a little, but I needed to quickly dig out all the beads from his mouth! Finally I got them out, although I was sure he swallowed a few of them in the process. Thanks to phones with Internet, we quickly discovered the beads were not toxic and continued on our way to the zoo- sans the snake around Graham's neck. Lesson learned: If you have a little kid who wants to play with a rubber snake, you better watch out. Those fake snakes just might come to life! That's all I'm saying.

That's the Way She Got the Baby Bump!

*note* please sing the next 5 lines to the tune of "The Brady Bunch"

Until this one day when this lady ate some tacos
And she knew it was much more than a crunch
Her belly really started growing
And that's the way she got the baby bump!
The baby bump. The baby bump. That's the way she got the baby bump!

I know you may think it's impossible, but I already have a baby bump. I'm only 8 weeks pregnant, and I'm wearing a maternity dress today. It pretty much happened overnight. On Sunday I was absolutely starving. I was sitting in church seriously contemplating going back to the nursery to swipe some goldfish from Graham's diaper bag. It would be embarrassing, but I thought it might be necessary. I decided to hold out. I know this is bad, but I was hoping that the communion bread wasn't already broken up into little pieces. I needed some nourishment...badly! Jeff got called in to a job, so it was just Graham and me at church. The two of us left, and I stopped by the closest restaurant, Taco Bell, and ordered a burrito and a taco. I didn't think my stomach would make it the 5 extra minutes it would take to get home and fix something. I gobbled down my food and noticed that the dress that I was so recently excited about fitting back into was getting a little snug in the midsection. Then, on Wednesday something drastic happened. I was at the gym working out when of course one of the mirrors caught my eye. I don't know why they have to have so many mirrors at the gym. Who wants to see themselves looking like a fool anyway? But they do, and I couldn't help but stare at my tummy. "Oh no," I thought. "I have a baby bump."
I got home and googled "can you be showing at 8 weeks." Most of the results said you can't really show until 10 weeks, but I'm here to tell you (show you) that it can be a little sooner. My sister came in town later that day, and I could tell she was looking at my stomach. "I've got a tummy!" I cried. "Well, I wasn't going to say anything, but you do," she replied. So there...it's official. Even my sister agrees. Can't wait to see what I look like in 7 months. I mean, thay say you start showing earlier after your first child, but come on! 8 weeks? And how did it happen in just a couple of days. One day my stomach just pooched, and I've tried sucking it in, but it just won't work. So here I go. I'm embracing the lovely baby bump. If you ask me when I'm due, just know it's probably a lot further down the road than you think. Like the Christmas season, like December 8th to be exact. No pictures for now, but if you're someone who sees me on a regular basis, I thought you might want to know how I got the baby bump. Steer clear of Taco Bell, or you might get one too.

Yay for Chick-fil-a!

Last Thursday I met my friend Bekah and her son at Chick-fil-a. I went up to the counter, placed my order for some yummy food, paid for the food out of my "eating out" envelope (check out the Dave Ramsey envelope system), and placed my envelope on the tray with all of my food. We had a good time at lunch. We talked, ate, and watched the boys smile at each from one high chair to the other. The Chick-fil-a employees came by and got us refills, brought us mints, and even took away our trash. How do they find such great employees? It's just like the people at Publix who are genuinely happy and excited to help me. I don't get it, but I sure love it. Anyway, we finished our lunch, and I loaded G into the car. I glanced at the diaper bag and wondered where my envelope of money was. I began looking everywhere but couldn't find it. Then, I remembered. I had placed the envelope on my tray. If I had thrown the trash away myself, I probably would have looked down and realized it was there. But when the Chick-fil-a worker came by, I was scrambling to get it together, and never thought about the money. Regardless, it was still completely my fault. I called Jeff because I didn't know what to do. I couldn't go back in the store and dig through the trash while trying to hold on to a 1 year old who can't sit still for 2 seconds. Jeff was nearby, so he said he would come help me. I informed one of the employees of what happened, and a manager immediately sent two workers to start going through the trash in the back of the store. I hadn't thought about that...of course Chick-fil-a would not make me do the work. They are just that type of company. So they searched through chicken nuggets, Polynesian sauce, and mushy french fries and found my envelope. When the brought the money back to me, it was in a brand new Chick-fil-a envelope. The manager apologized and said she included a few coupons for my trouble. My trouble? They were the ones who had to dig through the trash due to my blunder. I thanked her again and again. I was sooo impressed. I ended up leaving with more money than I had when I walked in if you count the free combo and free kids meal coupons they gave me. Now I should say, that is customer service!

Sunday's A Comin'

This week one of my friends got some tragic news...the kind of thing you hope you nor any of the ones you love never have to deal with. I want to wish away and pray away her family's pain. I want to make it all better for her, and yet I know that the pain is still going to be there. My friend has had enough pain over the past few years, so why does she have to go through something else? I find myself wondering what to do with sorrow like this. What encouragement can be found in the midst of such hurt?

And then I think about this week...this special week when we celebrate the death and Resurrection of Jesus. What if Jesus' life ended merely with death on the cross. What if Good Friday was the end of the story? Jesus was born, he lived, and he died. Ah....what depression would overtake my soul if it all ended on Friday. But, it doesn't. The title of a sermon I once heard was "Sunday's A Comin.'" How true it is. Our souls are uplifted by the fact that Sunday came and Jesus rose. We see the complete humanity of Jesus as he asks God to "take this cup" and spare him the gruesome death on the cross. Even Jesus did not want to bear such hardship. However, Jesus continues,"nevertheless not my will but Yours be done." As we read of Jesus' betrayal, flogging, and death on the cross, sometimes the only way to get through the verses is knowing that "Sunday's A Comin.'"

As believers we can have encouragement in our personal lives because Sunday came and Sunday will come. Sunday is awaiting those who are in Christ. Our death is not the end of life. There is something so perfect and beautiful awaiting us and that enables us to trudge through life's difficulties. Sweet Marth, "Sunday's a Comin.'" One day you will be where "sickness, sorrow, pain, and death are felt and feared no more."