week in phone pics..

i have never wanted a iphone, but i will say, i am very jealous of the camera on them! the camera on my phone is no bueno. takes like 3 seconds after you press the button! literally. but i still take lots of pictures on it, because it's so easy to just whip it out, rather than go get the big camera.

so here's some random shots from the week..

 we went on a family date to lowes and "chick a ay" for an ice cream cone, and jillie to play on the play ground. me and little brother hanging out while j and daddy play.

 i was sitting in the living room and j was in the kitchen, and i hear her say "mommy, i see you!" and looked over and saw this peeking over the half-wall.

a common sight in our house. jillie doing crazy things to entertain kade. although he looks a little scared here!

the weather was so nice, we got to go on a walk and play outside! j is a little high maintenance and needed like 5 toys before we could go.

kade's first time in the swings outside. papa built us a swing set, but the weather has been yucky so we haven't been able to use them, but now they will be getting a lot of quality time!

jillie loves to swing/spin on her belly, but she usually hits the pole then says "ohh, my pace!" (face)

jillie has two shopping carts, so we took one outside - she thinks it's the greatest thing ever to have one outside.

i don't even mess around when i'm shopping!

she never looks comfortable to me sleeping, but whatever works! i should have taken a pic of her whole bed, to show how many blankets and animals she sleeps with. whatever gets her to sleep! and when she wakes up, she has lots of friends to play with while i get some extra sleep!

we have started trying time out with jillian. i think discipline is a lot of trial and error to see what works for each child. this particular incident was for putting toys in the toilet. yes. so she had to sit there till i mopped up all the water and washed the toys off. having to sit still is super hard for her, so this may be an effective tool! when she got up we talked about what she had done:
me: ok, jillie, now why did you have to go to time out?
j: i pooped. (she did before the toy incident)
me: no, you didn't have to go to time out because you pooped, you had to because you played in the potty. do we play in the potty?
j: no!!!
me: that's right. now what do you say for playing the potty?
j: sorry kade!!! (and runs over to give kade a hug).
i guess it worked???

the kids were just being sweet laying next to each other on the couch. love both of their expressions here!

right now we are really working with jillie on cleaning up. oh my, it's not the easiest task. it would be so much easier and faster to just do it myself, but i want her to learn. this is the bookshelf after she worked on it for a solid 15 minutes. the funny thing is, there were only like 3-4 books on the floor and she picked them up in 10 seconds, but then she kept moving and rearranging the bookshelf to get it just perfect!

so convicting..

ok, so i rarely post anything on here that isn't a cute picture/story about the kids, but, i've been totally consumed by a blog i found this past week.

this sweet 2 year old boy, tripp roth, passed away last week, after battling a rare skin disease from birth (epidermolysis bullosa). the disease causes his skin to be soo thin and sensitive, that the tiniest bit of friction or even temperature causes terrible blisters and sores. his mom kept a blog all about the day to day life, caring for him, because the disease is so rare, very few people know anything about it.

 

tripp's mom, courtney is a believer, and her faith and trust in God is unreal. she truly believed tripp was given to her for a reason, and even though their life was so impossibly hard, if his purpose was to bring more people to God, that's what they had to fight for!

i just read and cried sad, happy, thankful, guilty and every other emotion tears.

it has seriously changed my point of view and attitude of motherhood. i love love love being a mom. since i can remember, all i wanted to do was be a mom. and i still know that is exactly what God wants for me, but i think everyone still has days, when you're just tired and discouraged at the same time. both jillian and kade have been battling terrible colds that they just cannot kick, and it has just been exhausting.

then i read about this sweet boy and his mom, and all they go through, and i realize i do not have a clue what a true "hard day" is.

so now on days when jillian is just being crazy, i have to stop and be thankful that she can walk, run, talk and laugh, even when she can test your patience like the best of them! and when kade is super fussy, i have to be thankful that he can even cry, smile, and giggle.

so yeah, if you want to read her blog, take a huge box of tissues! and just so you know, as tripp reached the end of his journey, his poor little body was so consumed with EB. it's so heartbreaking!