Caroline | Caroline Collie

Three is the New Two

Aug 18, 2011 | Baby Photos, The Parenthood

I suppose it’s hard to understand until you live it… the way it feels like time starts flying.

One day it’s this

and then this

and then it feels like overnight it’s this

and this

and a first birthday

and growing and changing

and learning

and suddenly there’s a second birthday

and even more growing and changing

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and before you know it, he’s spelling his name for strangers, and he’s figured out how to hold up three fingers and speak in full sentences and tell you “I love you Mommy, see you soon” when you put him down for a nap on his third birthday.

So you have to look at pictures to remember that this ever happened because the baby is gone, gone, gone.

What an honour and a treasure these three years have been!

Happy Birthday to our delightful Bear!

xCC

So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom. {Ps. 90:12}

Having a Bloemin’ Good Time (Again)

Aug 17, 2011 | Baby Photos

We’re back in Bloemfontein after the trip to the Drakensberg and to Durban! The baby’s passport *should* be here in two weeks or so!! More about our trip soon!

It was a good two and a half years ago when the Bear made his first trip to South Africa. He was a four month old little sprite when we flew from Edinburgh to Joburg, preparing to introduce the first grandchild to his Goo-Goo and Gammy here in Bloemfontein.

It was a hot Bloemfontein Christmas, and we treasured every special moment.

It just so happened that little man number two arrived in Bloemfontein for his first ever visit at four months as well. So we decided that it was a good time to start a family tradition.

Mind you, we couldn’t put the Tank in a diaper and nothing else this time around. It’s winter, ya know!

I think the four month old visit to Bloemfontein {complete with the re-re-staging of these specific photos} is a good family tradition, and when the next little one comes along (not that we’re expecting any time soon!) we’ll be booking flights to arrive on the four month mark!

Do you think the Bear and the Tank look like brothers?

xCC

The Parenthood Scout Troop

Aug 15, 2011 | Stories, The Parenthood

The idea occurred to me around one a.m. At least I think it was one a.m. — you reach a point when you stop wondering what unpleasant hour in the middle of the night it is that your children have you out of bed after a while. The Hubs, the Tank and I were asleep on a blow-up mattress in HH’s sister’s place, and the Bear was tucked into his tent at the foot of our bed.

He woke up with a frightful holler: Mom-muhhhhhhh! Mom-meeeee! And I got up and grabbed him, with the expectation that I’d be comforting him back to sleep because he’d had a bad dream. Instead, once he was in my arms he uttered two simple, but very profound words:

“I feel.”

He wimpered and then repeated them: “I feel.”

And before I had a chance to make sense of what it was exactly that he was feeling, I had an unexpected feeling: the feeling of his dinner of sausage and mashed potatoes, which made a second appearance on his shirt, all over my shirt, and in my hair.

Bummer.

Hero Hubs began the arduous task of tip-toeing into the master bedroom and giving the Bear a bath while I began the equally arduous task of rinsing all of the items that had been so gracefully baptized with bangers and mash.

We’d been in the Kruger National Park looking for game for a few days prior to this incident, and the only animal out of the Big Five we’d failed to catch a glimpse of was the lion.

The last article of clothing I was busy rinsing chunks from at that delightful hour when all is well if all are asleep, was the Bear’s little pajama top. That little pajama top was decorated with a little lion in his own pajamas. I felt certain at that moment, in the middle of the night, that it was some strange twist of fate — here is my lion, wild, and messy, and smiling at me with a knowing smirk, as if he knew all along we’d meet here, just like this.

Can I say I saw all of the Big Five in the wild on this trip now?

As I finished rinsing his murky mane, I pondered why it is exactly that these are the moments when I feel most like a mother. Some thirty-six hours before the Bear and I had our heads leaned out the window of Mr. Potato Head as his diesel engine grumbled us through the Kruger. We giggled as we tracked animals by looking at pawprints along the dirt road, and we felt certain that a particular type of poop we were consistently spotting was poop that belonged to a Gruffalo. It was a magical moment — a special memory.

But one a.m., at the gorgeous oversized basin of my sister-in-law’s guest bathroom, rinsing puke from blankets, a sheet, two t-shirts and my hair, why does this feel like motherhood?

I decided at that moment that Parenthood deserves its own system of special merit badges. The first badge that came to mind, of course, was the I Got Puked On in the Middle of the Night and Can’t Wash My Hair Until Morning Badge.

Screaming Child in the Grocery Store and Child Throwing Tantrum on the Floor in Public would have to be on the list. My Kid Figured Out How to Unlock the Bathroom Door and I Was Publicly Viewed While Sitting on the Toilet, My Kid Pulled Up My Skirt in Front of Strangers and My Kid Ran Off in Public and I Freaked Out Trying to Find Him have to make the cut.

And of course, there are many other Merit Badges we parents can aspire toward earning:

I Peed into a Diaper on a Long Road Trip Rather Than Stop the Car With Sleeping Kids

My Toddler Wailed Loudly From Take-off to Landing on a Three-Hour Flight (Extra merit: Longer Flight)

My Kid Used a Swear Word in Front of the Pastor (Extra merit: During His Sermon)

We Spent the Night In the Emergency Room Once a Week for Two Months Because of Minor Household Accidents

I’ve Made a Personal Apology to Every Woman in a Changing Room After Realising My Son Crawled Under Each and Every Door

My Daughter Pulled Up Her Dress and Flashed the Church During the Christmas Pageant

I’ve Pretended to Not Know Whose Kids My Kids Were to Avoid Public Embarrassment

My Son Punched a Public Figure in the Crotch in Front of a Large Crowd (Extra merit if it’s A Well-Known Celeb)

I Was Pooped On Just Before Boarding a Plane For an Eleven-Hour Flight (Extra merit: With No Change of Clothes)

I’ve decided a talented graphic designer should come up with the style and design of the badges, and like everything else these days, they’ll be printed as stickers and stuck to our cars. That way, friends and strangers alike can be impressed by what successful parents we are.

Don’t even try to steal this idea, I’m getting a trademark next week and stickers will be in print soon.

Got any badge requests?

xCC

You Get What You Need

Aug 14, 2011 | The Good Word

A few weeks ago, my mind was stirring with thoughts about parenthood one night — feeling hungry for wisdom and discernment, full of the desire to get it right and know what I need to know in order to partner with my husband and raise our children well. It occurred to me that somewhere down the line — a good twenty years from now, perhaps — I will look back at now and think about things that I wish I had known now, then.

Did that just make sense?

I prayed and asked the Lord, “Lord will you tell me those things now? I want to know the things now that I will wish I had known in the days ahead.”

And the thought reminded me of a different version of myself, from several years ago. The me that would’ve heard an amazing person give an incredibly inspirational message at a conference, and would’ve thought “If I could just hang out with that person once, for half an hour…I’d know my next step. It would change the course of my life.”

Have you ever wished you could rub a magic lamp or wave a wand and see the big picture? That you could look ten years into the future and then twenty and thirty?

As I brought these thoughts to the Lord and pondered them for a while, I realised that He instructs us to ask for our daily bread. He tells us not to worry about tomorrow. He says each day has enough trouble of its own.

I sensed Him gently reminding me that I can trust Him that I’ll have what I need when I need it. Whether it’s a simple loaf of bread to feed my family, or the wisdom and discernment necessary to guide one of our kids down the right path, as I continue walking with Him, I can trust Him. I may not have all the answers right now, but as a one song writer once put it,

You can’t always get what ya want…but ya get whatcha neeeed….

I’ve been reminding and re-reminding myself of this simple promise:

For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding;
If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord And discover the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth {come} knowledge and understanding. {Prov. 2:3-6}

Though I’m aware that there are no paths in my life that I’ll walk perfectly, and while I’m thankful that it is the goodness of God that I can daily count on Grace, still I’m encouraged that with the help of God, we can run the race well.

The Lord gives wisdom, and He provides our daily bread. And perhaps we’re instructed to stay in step with His Spirit because we need to take life as it comes, just one step, one day at a time.

xCC