Eli and Jonah:

Eli as an infant:

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This afternoon, while the boys played outside, I grumbled to myself as I cleaned off the kitchen counter. “Why can’t anyone else in this house put things away?” I thought, as I shoved the Cheerios back into the cabinet. My sour mood continued as I slammed the syrup back in its place, threw the empty formula can into the trash, and put dirty glasses into the sink. I went to brush the crumbs off into my palm, when I saw Eli’s gift lying there, unnoticed.

He knew just where to put that dandelion and sprig of clover so that Mama would find it.

I couldn’t help it—that sunny little yellow flower made me smile. And I felt more than a little guilty for my bad attitude. I could have a clean house if it wasn’t filled with boys (including that 43-year-old one) messing things up. But if it weren’t for them, I’d never know how much joy could be hidden inside a lowly little dandelion.

When my husband used to buy me flowers—back when there was room in the budget for such frivolities—red roses were my favorite.

But now I think it’s dandelions.

The past five months have reminded me that the differences between men and women are rarely more evident than when there’s a new baby in the house. Let’s look at a few examples of these different approaches to parenting.

Wet diaper

Mom: Changes it right away to prevent diaper rash.

Dad: Feels to see if it’s squishy. If not, it can probably last another hour or two. Doesn’t that “8 to 14 pounds” on the package signify how much the diaper can hold? If it’s not within that weight range, Daddy ain’t changing it yet.

Dirty diaper

Mom: Changes it right away to prevent diaper rash

Dad (if mom is home): Pretends not to notice the odor—or if that’s impossible, passes baby off to mom with a pleading grin and a promise to do the dishes later.

Dad (if mom isn’t home): Changes diaper at lightning speed while holding breath and trying not to gag. Makes sure to give Mom a graphically detailed account of the experience when she gets home.

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(Before clicking the link below, let me add a huge disclaimer: Take seriously their disclaimer/content warnings! I only glanced through the story of Job before sharing the link, and I should’ve looked more carefully first. While many of the stories are free of potentially objectionable images for children, many do contain images you might not want your kids to see. The creators of the site have put in place a ratings code; please preview the tagged stories before showing them to your kids!)

The Bible illustrated with Lego!

This is a really cool idea, even if I wish they hadn’t felt the need to graphically depict some of the things they chose to include. Eli is a huge Lego fan and I hope to share the safer illustrations with him, because they are pretty cool. Especially the green and scabby Job—poor Job. I couldn’t help laughing at how he was depicted!

Speaking of Lego, did you hear that a Legoland Discovery Center is slated to come to Atlanta next year? Here is an article about it. I really hope it happens–Eli will be ecstatic!

The Discovery Center is a smaller version of the bigger Legoland Parks. At the moment, the closest one is in California. But I just saw that Cypress Gardens in Florida is building what will be the world’s biggest Legoland!

I foresee a whole lot of little plastic bricks in my future…

Oh, it’s been ages since I had a real haircut! The high-risk pregnancy, the husband’s unpaid furlough days at work, the adjustment to new motherhood again—all of it combined has meant that it’s been over a year since I had a real hair cut and coloring.

I am not by any means a trained cosmetologist, so a year of DIY coloring and trims had left me with a messy, heavy mop of frizz on my head. So it felt FABULOUS to go see my dear hairdresser Becky again today and let her work her magic.

I swear I feel ten pounds lighter!

The BEFORE pic:

And AFTER:

I love it!!!