Author: Tricia

Here are a small collection of quotes by both Abigail and Jonathan which we thought were humorous enough to merit sharing with a larger audience:

Abigail, while helping Mommy put the turkey in the oven for holiday supper:
“But Mommy, I want to see the turkey’s face!!”

Jonathan, exhorting Mommy with words from Romans 12:
“Do not be overcome by evil!”

Abigail, giving us some help with our family planning:
“Daddy, next time you and Mommy get married, I’d like a baby sister!”

Jonathan, greeting Mommy first thing in the morning (keep in mind he’s only just two years old):
“Good morning, Mommy! You sleep well?”

Abigail, after interrogating her Uncle Andy about his ex-girlfriend:
Abigail: “But isn’t Miss Candice ever coming back? And aren’t you and Miss Candice going to make a baby together?”
Andy: “Abigail, understand this, Miss Candice and I will never, never, never, never, never, NEVER make a baby together!”
Abigail: “But why not? Isn’t it fun?”

Okay, we have no idea where that last one came from. Nor are we completely certain how she came to correlate marriage and babies in such a tight, one-to-one relationship.

During Christmas vacation and into the New Year, we were delighted to have my youngest sibling, Andy (or Andre as I like to call him), stay at our house with us. The kids absolutely love it when Uncle Andy visits; he is young, full of energy and has tremendous capacity for playing, roughhousing and entertaining them with his guitar and singing.

While he was here, Andrew accompanied me on a grocery trip or two and even did the shopping for me one week as I was preparing for the birthday party. Very helpful of him, and we really appreciated it, except for one thing. It seems Andrew has a taste for the finer things in life. No not caviar or champagne; well, maybe he likes those but they are not my primary concern. No, Andy had the audacity to introduce Jay and I to Borden milk.

Ok, Tricia, we know you are tired from the holidays and birthdays immediately following and have now come down with a nasty cold, so you are bound to be a little fuzzy in the head…WHAT are you talking about?
Continue reading “Thanks a LOT, Andrew!!”

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged…the holiday has been busy and festive, plus having a broken computer doesn’t exactly help!

This week is momentous around the Horne household because all of our children have birthday milestones. Sunday the 29th our son, Jonathan became a big boy of two. Today, Jan 3rd, Nicolas is six months old. And Sunday the 5th will be Abigail’s 4th birthday.

There are both benefits and downsides to all of this happening at once. Admittedly, it is rather exhausting to come off Christmas and immediately celebrate two birthdays on either side of the New Year. I feel badly for both the kids and the family members who have just celebrated Christmas. It seems Abigail’s and Jonathan’s birthdays are going to always be rather overshadowed by the “most wonderful time of the year”!! Thankfully, no relative has yet done the “here is a combined birthday and Christmas gift” move we hear so much about!! (Thanks to all of you!)

On the upside, conveniently, we get to take all three kids at the same time to the pediatrician for their 4yr, 2yr, and 6mo checks. Is that fun or what? Thanks to Jay for going along on this family outing!

Also on a positive note, since Jonathan and Abigail are still young enough to really appreciate it, we held a combined birthday bash for them again this year. They chose Thomas the Tank Engine as their party theme and despite tornado warnings a few hours before start time, all the guests (and the cake!) made it for the festivities. Click here for a few more pictures of the fun.

Thank you to everyone for making A&J’s birthdays a wonderfully fun time again this year!!

Early on in our marriage, before we had kids, I used to spend tons of time decorating and beautifying our house in preparation for the Christmas season. I made wreaths, strung popcorn and cranberries, and one year fashioned an entire tree’s worth of pine cone ornaments for our humble Home Depot pine, as we had very few store-bought ornaments of our own. Jay used to tease me about bringing dead things into the house to make it look more alive!

Now that we have three children, my time allotment for such activities has grown smaller but the time we do spend preparing for this season seems sweeter and even more meaningful. We now have the privilege of seeing Christmas through the eyes of an almost 4 and 2 year old. Abigail knows that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday and I can remember last year when she was very concerned to hear that when He came to earth He was not given a “comfy bed” to sleep in. Jonathan is just now learning about the Baby Jesus and spends lots of time begging to hold the little Jesus toy in our fabric “creche”.

This year the acquisition of a tree was especially important to both Abigail and Jonathan. Jay and I, after 7 years of bringing home a freshly cut tree, made the very difficult decision to go “artificial”. I say difficult because the romantic in me loves the smell and feel of the real tree, yet the practical side says the pine needles are a pain to keep up with.
Continue reading “O Tannenbaum”

Friday afternoon as Jay and I were preparing for our first date night out together since September Jonathan started throwing up in his crib and all over his bedroom rug. We cleaned him up and brought him downstairs with us. He continued to get sick that evening and all night (meaning Jay and I slept in about 15-20 minute increments for a total of not very much), seemed to get better during the day (Saturday), but after a few Tablespoons of Pedialite got sick again. Several more hours of nothing, then more throwing up. Every time we offered him anything but water his tummy would reject it. All the while he was whimpering “more water please”, “thirsty, please!”. He’s very good about using his polite words sometimes even when he is not happy with life. Sweet boy. After a chat with the on call pediatrician Saturday night, when JonJon had been throwing up for more than 24 hours, we received kind of an ultimatum: either Jonathan’s body would handle a 1 tablespoon of Pedialite every 10 minutes regiment over the next two hours, accepting the fluids, or we’d have to head to the Children’s ER for IV fluids to prevent dehydration. It was about that point that we realized we wouldn’t be participating in the Christmas program Sunday night at church (I was to sing in the choir, Jay was a reader).

Thankfully, we didn’t have to make the trip to the ER, as Jonathan finally held down the Pedialite. We were tired but exceedingly thankful. We settled him in bed around 9:30 p.m. and spent a couple hours just catching up on stuff, then Jay went up to check on both the older kids before we headed for bed. As he tucked Abigail in, she sat up and vomited in her bed. Jay, thinking quickly, used her two favorite blankets to catch most of the yuck (sparing most of her bed), then carried her into the bathroom and called for me. Unfortunately in the confusion he thought I’d gotten to her while he went back to the bed to perform triage. I did reach Abigail but as I tried to help turn her toward the toilet in case she were sick again she pushed away from my hands, yelled “NO!” and threw up on me, the bathroom floor, walls, shower curtain, you name it – she hit it. What a mess.
Continue reading “A Hard Weekend”

There have been several momentous events (well, momentous to us) in the last week so I thought it would be nice to spend a bit of time recounting each of our children’s latest achievements. Isn’t that something parents should do?? 🙂

Nicolas:
Our 4 month old enjoyed his first taste of cereal and so far seems to enjoy having “supper” with the rest of the family. He gulps down his Baby Rice very well for someone so young and we hope it may help him to get some needed extra calories. Nicolas smiles not only during his feedings, but through most of life in general. We say often around here that he is the happiest baby we’ve ever had the pleasure to know. His warm little smile is one of the most beautiful sights in the world. How thankful we are for this delightful little fellow and how blessed we feel to have the privilege of being his parents.

Jonathan:
Has just turned 22 months and for a while now has enjoyed “playing” at using the potty. He often makes the request to “Go potty” so I have indulged him and allowed him to sit even though he doesn’t ever really do anything. I figure it can’t hurt, it’s practice for the real thing, and at any rate, at least it is good exposure. Heh-heh!! One night this past week before his bath he asked to go and so, as usual I let him. However, this time we were rewarded with some liquid in the potty. How proud of himself he was. “I did it!!” he yelled over and over. I presented him with an M&M for his troubles. He has since used the potty twice more and though it could be many months I suppose before he is actually potty-trained, it is clear that he has made a connection now and we are all very excited and proud of him. And, no, we won’t post a pic of him on the potty!

Abigail:
Who has been wanting to see the dentist ever since the Barney episode about “tooth care” (Who says Barney isn’t a worthwhile diversion?) went to see “Dr. Bob”, a pedodontist on Friday. His real name is Robert Morgan for any of you in the DFW area who might be interested, and he comes highly recommended by several friends as well as our pediatrician, who takes his own kids to him. How grateful we are for wonderful doctors who specialize in children’s medicine. Dr. Bob had us into his office for an interview, gave me a business card with his home number on it (for emergencies) and obviously enjoys his work caring for children and their dental interests!
Dr. Bob seems to have a delightful bedside manner with kids. He spent time talking in his office with Abigail, and then she headed off for her dental adventure. To begin with, Abigail was given the choice of watching a movie, getting a balloon animal made, or playing with toys. Her first dental visit included getting her teeth brushed with chocolate toothpaste (hey, they didn’t have that flavor when I was a kid!), having pictures taken of her nose, cheeks and mouth (so she says), and taking home an alligator balloon animal.

Today we enjoyed a rare and special treat: “A Day Out With Thomas”, an event where children and their grown-ups are able to enter the world of Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends. Hosted by various US Railroads around the country, they represent an opportunity for kids to take a ride on board a train pulled by Thomas. There are many other activities such as storytimes, live music, train exhibits, etc. Here are some photos from our day.

A & J were quite enthralled with the lifesize Thomas Engine and Abigail especially wanted to give him a hug after our ride. Jonathan, who has balked at train rides in the past (he’s very tentative about things that won’t hurt him, yet over-daring in more dangerous situations) was quite brave and also seemed to enjoy the train ride. Though they got pretty tired midway through our day, a trip to McD’s for lunch and “playplace time” seemed to recharge their engines (pun intended). They returned for more model train play, face tatoos and another visit with Thomas himself.

I strongly resisted the incredible urge to “shop”. You cannot imagine how much merchandise of every type they offer with a Thomas logo, some of it very enticing!! I passed over the little plates/forks/spoons and the “Day Out With Thomas” tees in favor of a CD of Thomas Tunes. Since I’d been looking for Thomas music for over a year, and since we all really enjoy listening to music at home, we figured that was a worthy buy. We enjoyed the delightful songs on the way home (during which the kids fell asleep!). I recommend the CD “Thomas’ Songs and Roundhouse Rhythms”; it is well-done music, simple but fun for kids without being overly loud or annoying. And the kids who perform the musical numbers have cute little British accents.

On a personal note of thanks, we are very appreciative of Mommy Horne’s kind contribution to our day. Jay and I were able to enjoy our Thomas outing with Abigail and Jonathan while Nicolas enjoyed “A Day in with Grammy” (as she aptly put it!). Thank you again, Grammy!! (by the way, is that spelled with a “y” or an “ie”???)