So much has happened since I last posted (hence the reason for no posting), I seriously do not know where to start. It seems ridiculous to go all the way back to Christmas, but to set the scene for where we are now, I feel I must do a brief overview.
Christmas was amazing. We stayed in Oregon this year and had a wonderful time with our family of 5. We probably got carried away with the gifts...ok we did get carried away with gifts. But it's not until you are a parent that you can really understand that to give is better than to receive. Pretty much nothing better than watching a gift be opened that totally hits a home run with the kid. We had several homers this year, and it was really fun to watch.
Also fun to be able to do things Bury style, meaning Jordan Bury style. On Christmas morning, Silas was the first up at 8am. We let him watch a couple shows in his DVD player on the floor in our room while we kept on sleeping and waiting for Jewel to get up....at 9:30. It was much needed rest to make it through the day after Jordan and I had been up into the early morning hours assembling gifts and wrapping last minute presents.
The best gifts were Jewel's baby doll accessories and Silas' guns. The bike was supposed to be the big hit, but because it was a little big for him, it took several weeks before he got up the guts to ride it. Now Jordan can barely keep up with him while he runs next to him, and Silas is very proud of himself, but we had to delete forever the video of the kids coming out on Christmas morning and Silas mentioning the bike briefly before helping Jewel engage with her new doll toys.
Even better than all the kids' toys...Jordan surprised me with a new computer, and it's a MAC! Yes, he broke free from his PC roots to indulge his wife. I was completely shocked and SO excited.
After gifts, we had a lot of napping happening. And, although this picture of Trey is not from Christmas day, it was shortly after Christmas that he found his sweet little right thumb. We have a thumb sucker here, and all binkies are now useless (well, useless to Trey...still a very hot commodity for Jewel). How cute is thumb sucking on this little guy!?!
The day after Christmas started one of the longest week of our lives...which is saying a lot for what we have been through in our 9 years of marriage. After much prayer and discussion, Jordan and I decided it was the best decision to move back into our house in Hillsboro. Our renters moved out and we needed to refinance the house in order to make the monthly payments low enough to be able to be covered by another renter. Well, you can only do that if you are living in the house. So, as we took down the Christmas tree, we took down our whole house. Unfortunately, Silas started getting sick Christmas afternoon. By the next day I made him a doctor's appointment to have his mouth checked out. It was covered in sores. Confirmed case of Hand, Foot and Mouth virus had taken hold. He had a few little red dots on his hands and ankles, but the inside of his mouth looked like bunches of canker sores. He ate nothing but applesauce for 3 days and was miserable with pain. Since it is a virus, much like pink eye, there is no medication to take (except motrin to help with the pain) and it is incredibly contagious. So, of course just as he started to get better, Jewel was taken out. She had the same horrible sores in her mouth, plus the virus also shows like a severe diaper rash in some cases...in our case, of course. We didn't leave the house for 6 days. We spent most of the day all piled on the couch. Baby nursing, 2 year old crying, 4 year old whining. Oh yeah, and we had our 9 year anniversary and we were packing boxes whenever I could distract the kids from their discomfort or they were all knocked out sleeping. I couldn't even send one to a friend's house or have anyone come to help me pack. Jordan and I prayed that we would be spared, and the baby, too. By God's grace, Trey did not get it. And on the 5th day, my incredible brother braved the germs and came to help me make packing progress. Two days later, he and Daniela sacrificed their Saturday (New Year's Eve) to make trip after trip from the Beaverton house to the Hillsboro house. The following week we tag teamed the kids. Jordan was home with them one night while I went to the other house to clean, then I stayed home and he went to clear out the garage and shed, and back and forth until we were finally totally moved out. We put just the essentials into the Hillsboro house...because the adventure isn't over. If you recall, the house in Hillsboro has no back yard. So, our plan is to refinance, do a few minor repairs and updates, and then move again and try to re-rent this house.
whoo hoo. In the midst of it all, I think we were running on a 'being obedient' kind of adventurous adrenaline. Sadly, the adrenaline has long worn off, but thankfully we are still able to rest in the peace and security of obedience.
Once we were back in the house, there were all kinds of new adjustments to make. Jewel had to learn the hard way that even if a fire is behind glass, it is still hot to touch.
She also refused to walk up or down the stairs the first month we were in the house. Many days she sat, with big dramatic tears, waiting for me to take Trey down the stairs, set him on the floor, go back up the stairs, pick her up, and carry her down the stairs. Same for going up. She also takes full advantage of the lack of supervision that occurs on whatever floor I am not on. We tried keeping her contained with a baby gate, but she figured out how to unlock and open it, and has continued on her destruction spree. For weeks we had boxes around every corner, and as I was trying to unpack in one room, she was either re-packing in another room or using my distracted moment to make a giant mess somewhere else.
We did, however, find some family fun in rediscovering our Wii. Silas can effectively kick all of our butts in bowling and even rolled a six pack one night (literally, 6 strikes in a row...did not there was a name for that). And, Trey started seeing things from a new perspective when we busted out the bumbo and the exersaucer.
We made the most of the disarray by making forts, arranging things in fun ways in the kids' rooms, and having a lot of pajama days. It was fun for the kids to have their regular things in a new environment. Almost all toys have a new sense of excitement when they can be launched down a flight of stairs.
Jewel also continues to increase her vocabulary. We knew this would have good and bad sides to it, and it does. What a relief to have a break from the pointing and fussing for things she wants, and yet, so exhausting to have to respond to every thing she says, even if it is totally non-understandable, it requires acknowledgement and response. Silas also keeps us incredibly entertained with his growing maturity and expressions of it. Jordan and I frequently use the age old trick of spelling things when we don't want the kids to know what we are talking about. Silas also uses this feature to distinguish himself from the 'little kids' and identifying himself on the grown up team. At dinner, if Jewel is being silly, he shakes his head slowly and then says 'TRFJ, right, Dad?' as though we are all in on some secret that Jewel will never understand. A few weeks ago he walked into the kitchen with one of his guns and a US Marshal star that Jordan gave him. He looked me square in the eye and said 'Now this is what a real man carries, a badge and a gun.'
The main benefit of being back at this house is the close proximity to church and friends. Even though we don't have a yard to play in, we have several buddies to get together with...many in bike riding, if not walking distance. On our way to see my friend, Lisa, Silas remarked that he could count all the way to her house. Sure enough 39 seconds later, we were there. We have also been having fun revisiting all of our old, favorite parks.
So, if I have been neglectful in my communication with you, this is why. In fact, this isn't even all of it...more to come.
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