No, the circus is not in town, its just been a bad week over here at Club Maddox.
The Tiny Acrobat: Mary Aplin is a little over 6 months old. She is sitting on her own for brief periods, babbling here and there, and cutting teeth all over the place. She is still standing like a champ, and today I put her in a high-chair for the first time to eat her breakfast. As you can see, she was pumped. I wish I could report her height and weight, but we’re running a little late on that 6mo. check-up. Last appointment (4mo) she was in the 90th percentile for height and the 60th percentile for weight, so I know she is not in any kind of danger, but she just looks skinny to me. Give me some rolls, some sweet meat, a rotund belly, and several chins!!! Pace was a chunker and I just can’t get used to my light-weight. So, don’t tell the LaLeche League, but I’ve started doing a little supplementing once a day while also trying to nurse for longer periods (and hopefully build my own supply).
The Naughty Puppy: That picture shows Pace acting all sweet and innocent with Avery, Brett and Ashley’s new puppy. Don’t be fooled! On Tuesday, she received not one, not two, but FIVE spankings. You know how many pets will act out–strewing the garbage, chewing up your new shoes–if they aren’t getting enough attention. Well, apparently Pace got a little too close to that puppy and picked up some similar behaviors. She pulled out half a box of garbage bags and scattered them all over the kitchen, sprinkled some of Mary Aplin’s sticky baby formula on the bags and the floor, unloaded a cabinet in the breakfast room and broke a picture frame in the process, tucked several wipes under the sheets in our bed and made a nice wet spot, and then came to me with chocolate around her mouth, on her fingers, even in her molars, and when I asked her repeatedly if she was sure she hadn’t eaten any chocolate came back with a very staunch “NO.”
The HIPpopotamus: That would be me. I tried to put on a dress this morning, that I wore for my college graduation, and as my Easter dress after I had Pace (that’s it in the picture). I got it zipped, but it was so tight on my hips that I felt like I was listening to a clock tick away a count-down of how long I had before the seams burst open. The butt cup was just, well, WAY too cupped. It was depressing. After much consideration, I have decided to blame the weight on the Tiny Acrobat. If she would nurse more I could burn some more calories 🙂 
Since I didn’t know the words for that last quote, I thought I’d make it up to you by writing one of my favorite quotes that I DO have all the words for. It’s from Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge:
I don’t even know what the rest of that quote is supposed to say. Maybe that is the whole thing, “From the mouths of babes…,” and we’re just all supposed to assume that that means that some really amazing things come out of their mouths. I don’t feel like googling it, but if anybody knows the rest, then let me know. Mary Aplin had something new come out of her mouth this weekend…She said MAMA!!! Of course, she had no idea what she was saying, but it was amazingly sweet to hear it anyway. She usually chants it while she’s crying. I get so tickled and excited, that she stops crying, looks at my funny, smiles back, and then starts wailing again. Anyway, I was reading one of your blogs, and you talked about your little girl saying sweet things about Jesus coming to live in her heart. It was precious and reminded me that I keep meaning to blog about the things Pace has been saying about her Bebe (that’s Mom).
Jeremiah and I have both talked about how when kids say something, it suddenly seems prophetic. Just last weekend Pace told me she was going to meet her new best friend Georgia tomorrow (that is what my friend Lauren is planning to name her little girl), and I called Lauren (who is due any second) all excited–like that really meant something. Pace has said three different things, so far, about Mom that seem eerily true. They just came completely out of nowhere.
1) I asked her what she thought Bebe was doing in heaven, and she looked at me and said very matter-of-factly, “She’s dancing in the grass.”
2) She asked me if Bebe was wearing pajamas in heaven, and I told her I wasn’t sure. Then she said, “No, she’s wearing a party dress.”
3) Another day, I was asking her if Bebe was still wearing her party dress, and she said, “She’s wearing a CROWN Mommy!”
There are also little things she says that help me know that she really remembers Mom, and not just what we say about Mom. That’s one of my biggest fears, that she’ll just forget.
1) One day, I was trying to make her wear her pink tennis shoes and she wanted to wear her Crocs. In the middle of our little debate she yelled, “But Bebe didn’t wear tennis shoes, she wore flip-flops!” That was so true. Mom almost always had on flip-flops.
2) Every time she gets out of the bath tub at my parents house in Dothan, she runs into my parents room to get her lotion and pajama’s on while screaming, “Bebe’s Room!” Then she walks over to Mom’s side of the bed, peers over the top (like she’s just checking to make sure she’s not there), and then she looks at the night stand and asks, “Where’s Bebe’s medicine?”
3) Almost every time I tell her we’re going to Dothan she says, “Is Bebe going to be there or is she still in heaven with Jesus.” I tell her she’s still in heaven and then she says, “But she’s going to come see me soon, OK? I miss her.”
4) Tonight, I was tucking her in and I told her we were going to Dothan tomorrow. After the conversation above she said, “Last time Bebe was here at my house she came and woke me up. She had a necklace on with her dress, and she let me play with it!” I just started balling. She’s so right! I didn’t even remember that until she said it.
I am very grateful that God seems to be etching Mom’s memory on her little heart, and I hope she is a prophetess….It seems very likely to me that Bebe is up there, wearing a party dress and a crown, dancing in the grass.