Announcing the Tour!

This is why we've been so busy recently. (Well, one of many reasons!) This is why our blog has been somewhat neglected lately. This is the exciting new project we've been hinting at!

"Visit the infamous site of Ft. Moultrie, take a walking tour of remarkably beautiful historic Charleston, peer into the impenetrable cypress swamps of the low country, examine significant battlefields with renowned historians, trespass into the lair of the ghost-like “Swamp Fox,” visit centuries-old plantations, and discover how the Revolutionary War history of the South presents timely lessons for Christians in our day and age."

Join renown historians Bill Potter and Marshall Foster for five days next April in Charleston, SC, for an exciting tour and study of Revolutionary War history in the South!

Visit www.HistoryTour2012.com to learn more!

"Like" our facebook page, The Valley Forge,
and share with your friends

Sign up on our e-mail list for exciting updates,
prizes, and historical trivia

RSVP on our facebook event page,
and invite your friends

Sign up for the tour!


See you in April!

When You Run Out of Diapers in Alaska...

...You use duct tape, of course!

With Tait at work, no car, and town 20 miles away, I was left with two diapers for Matthew for the day. I stretched those two diapers as far as I could. But, we didn't quite make it. After that second one leaked, I figured it was time to get creative. :D

Thankfully, I did have diapers for the big boys. They wear size 6, and Matthew's in size 2. After folding those size 6's down about 3-4 times and slapping on a bit of duct tape to hold them up, Matthew was good to go!

With three in diapers right now, I have just two things on my mind:

Cloth Diapers and Potty Training

We've been going so much recently that potty training has been difficult, and we haven't gotten very far. (Any tips on potty training, by the way? What's worked for you?)

Cloth diapers really have been growing on me recently. (Not literally; just figuratively ... though I do feel like I have disposables coming out of my ears....) I just need to take the plunge, get some, and use them! My sister-in-law is using them very successfully with her little guy, and as soon as we get back from our East Coast excursion, I plan to join her.

On a different note, the weather's been beautiful today, for the first time in weeks, so outside the boys went! I can feel Fall in the air already, so we're trying to enjoy these last few weeks of warm weather to the fullest! I'll leave you with a few pictures of them enjoying their lunch of peanut butter & cream cheese sandwiches with apple slices in our front yard....

To all you moms out there....
What potty-training tips do you have?
What cloth diapering tips could you share?

Marveling....

Marveling today, among all of the incredible busyness, at:

The love of God and our adoption through Christ
The blessing of children
The blessing of a husband who loves the Lord even more than he does his wife and children
The greatness of our calling to advance God's kingdom
The privilege to read God's Word and discover the guidance He has provided for us

What a wonderful life the Lord has given us to serve Him
and bring Him glory!

Taken on a recent road trip
We live in a beautiful state!

Oh, and the recent dearth of posts is due to
the aforementioned busyness. :D

Stay tuned for the launch of an exciting new project!

2 Months Old!

We've entered the beginning of the "fun stage"

... the interactive stage!

Sure, those first two months are definitely some of my favorites, with all of the sleepy snuggles and quiet bonding. (In fact, it's right about this time that I start missing the newborn stage and feeling ready for another baby!) But it's always so exciting when those sleepy little baby dolls become interactive, interesting little characters ... when they make eye contact when you speak to them ... when they smile when you play with them ... when their big eyes follow you across the room as you walk away ... and when they start those first sweet coos of baby babble.

Matthew is normally a serious baby, with a furrowed brow and concerned expression, so those smiles are extra special little gems. I wasn't able to get any smiles from Mr. Serious during our 2-month photo shoot yesterday, but I did capture a few on my iPhone! Enjoy!

The beautiful, preppy blue blanket was handmade just for him by his great-aunt Chris!

And my two favorites....

Tait Jr.: Builder, Big Brother, and All Boy

He asked me to "build tower" with him. He said he wanted a "big tower." And he wanted the Lego man on it too. And he wanted to use all the "Wego's."

So, even though I'm desperately trying to clean the house and fold the laundry in between toddler meals and snacks, diapers changes and potty training, baby feedings, husband helpmeeting, work on one of our new ministry projects, and a million and one other things...

... we did.

And he was proud. So we took a picture to show Daddy, with the tower we built together and the tower he built all by himself.

Little Tait has grown up before my eyes! He's learned to talk (and utilizes his new-found skill quite often), learned to dress himself, learned to somersault.... And yet, it seems like almost yesterday he was in the hospital, struggling just to breathe. On the other hand, somehow it seems like he's always been here with us, that there was never life without him. I guess that's almost true, since we'd only had 6 months of married life before he surprised us 3 months earlier than expected. It's hard to believe that, come November, he'll be 3 years old already!

Just in the last 7 weeks, he's learned to be a big brother, too.

It was note quite 8 months after his due date that his first little brother arrived, and Little Tait and Miles have grown up more like twins than big and little brothers. So, in a way, this is his first experience big-brothering a baby.

Little Tait loves Matthew. Devotedly. He brings him toys, tries to comfort him when he cries ("Happy! Happy, baby!" or a gentle "shhhhh"), and asks to "holdum" at every opportunity. He's learned how to be gentle (well, most of the time)....

He thought the flash in his eyes was "punny" [funny].

He suggests reasons why his little brother might be crying - "Miss Papa? Miss Papa, baby?" (when Papa was out of town recently), "Tummy hurt, Mom?" "Eat, Mom? Wants milk?"

He's fascinated when I lay Matthew on a blanket on the floor and set up books for him to look at; he even recreates the setup for himself later to lie on the blanket and look at books. And he reads books to Matthew, showing him his favorite objects in the Richard Scarry books. "Pickle car, baby?"


He's becoming a wonderful little helper, running lots of little errands for me throughout the day and helping with the care of his younger brothers.

I look forward to what God has in store for this young man as he continues to grow and learn! And I thank Lord that He has entrusted us with the daunting and humbling task of raising and training little arrows for His kingdom!

Why, hello there!

Note the dirt and grime on that grubby, boyish face. : )

6 Weeks Old Today!!!

I can hardly believe it's been 6 weeks since we were introduced to the newest member of our little family! Matthew is turning out to be a little chunk, just like his big brothers! (Chubby babies are, I think, about the sweetest sight in the world!) His weight gain of about 1 1/2 ounces a day since he got back up to his birthweight 5 weeks ago has brought him to nearly 10 pounds!

Since I am now 6 weeks postpartum, I can pick up more than 10 pounds, for the first time in over 5 months! Somehow, these two toddlers of mine seem heavier than they used to be. :D









No smiles yet, but we're enjoying his sleepy smile previews! Looks like he'll be a pretty adorable smiler! : )

- Posted using BlogPress from my Super Handy iPhone

On the Air at 3:00 PST!

We will be going on the air at 3:00 PST (6:00 EST) on Sandra Beck's (of Motherhood Inc.) radio station talking about Little Tait's story and the Little Tait Foundation for Preemie Aid! To listen in, go to the livestream at www.toginet.com. The show is Motherhood Talk Radio, hosted by Sandra Beck, Christy Holly, and Rick Swanson.

We'll also post a link to the recording when it's available.

"Outwitting Future Regrets," by Momma Bug

Analene, over at Momma Bug's Blog, just kindly reminded me in her post today what a blessing these children are. She tells a humorous and witty story of their lunch at a deli with 7 little ones, and shares one old man's biggest regret.

Click on over to Momma Bug's Blog for the whole story!

And to think how many people told me today, on my first shopping trip alone with three little ones 2 and under, "Wow! Two was all I could handle!" Really and truly, it's all worth it.

(Just don't desert our blog for hers;
Analene is a much better blogger than I am. :D)

Boys, Blood, and Staples

It was kind of ironic. We were at the hospital visiting some out-of-town relatives after their appointment, when "it" happened. Miles is known for his unique ability to trip on anything, and is our especially accident-prone one.

I had just told Aunt Chris that, if I wasn't busy nursing Matthew a little distance away from where the boys were playing, and if they hadn't had a kind of rough day cooped up in the car and running errands, I probably wouldn't allow them to climb and play on the bench and footstool in the empty sitting area there. Not 30 seconds later....

He was sitting on a cylindrical wooden footstool/table thingy and somehow fell backwards. Of course there was a handy corner on a nearby table that made contact with the back of his head on the way down, splitting it open nicely.



Since we were already at the hospital, all we had to do was walk across the sky bridge to the emergency room. : )

An hour and 3 staples later, he was as good as new!



I was amazed at how calm he stayed through the whole thing - crying just a couple minutes after he fell, sitting on my lap and crying just a little while as they numbed and stapled him.... Quite a little trooper!

We're thankful there were no internal injuries, and that it was a nice, quick, convenient fix! Something tells me that any future emergency room trips won't be as simple as walking calmly across the sky bridge. ;D

(Many thanks to all of the moms who gave feedback on my last post! I'll be writing a follow-up post soon!)

- Posted using BlogPress from my Super Handy iPhone

1 Month Old! ... And Some Questions for Moms

Well, my computer is still eating any pictures that get edited, so here are some more iPhone pictures! : )

At one month old, Matthew is 9 pounds, a 2 1/2-pound gain from his 6lb, 9oz birthweight! Probiotics just arrived yesterday for his slightly upset little tummy; hopefully they will help with his small spit-ups, tummy aches, and regular fussiness!

He's a good baby though, and I'm cherishing our special times snuggling together! They don't stay this small for long! I really can't believe he's one month old already! It seems like just yesterday we were discharged from the hospital and brought him home! He's lifting up his head to look around quite a bit, and is quite the strong little guy!

Moms, please see my question for you after the pictures, and respond in a comment if you're able!

Not sure if we've gotten any smiles yet or not, but this is what they'll look like when we start getting them! I love the little sneak-peeks of what babies' smiles will look like!

Question for all moms out there: How have you handled feedings with your newborns? Scheduled? On-demand? A mixture?

I lean more towards scheduling myself. It all makes perfect sense to me in books and on CD, but when it comes to the practical, daily application, there's some kind of breakdown. Matthew had himself on a pretty regular 3-4 hour schedule coming out of the hospital, and we've pretty much just stuck to that. Most of the time, if he's crying less than 3 hours from his last feeding, I'm pretty sure he's not hungry. He almost never eats well when I finally cave and feed him 2 hours from his last feeding. He usually just takes a small snack and goes to sleep.

But if I don't "cave" and give him that little snack to go to sleep, he just sleeps fitfully and cries off and on for quite awhile. But, sometimes he does that even with a snack.... :-/

I'd like to go ahead and get him on a very regular 3-hour schedule (letting him sleep as long as he wants to at night) and see if that helps with the snacking and unpredictability. But what if he eats, is awake for another hour-and-a-half, fusses a little, and then falls sound asleep? Do I really wake him up after just 30-40 minutes to feed him again?

I guess I just get terribly confused over when to follow a schedule, and when to deviate. I want him to have the good, full feedings and the regularity that comes with a schedule, but I don't want to not feed him if he truly does need to eat after 2 hours sometimes. And how do I tell if he needs to?

Any feedback would be appreciated! : )

- Posted using BlogPress from my Super Handy iPhone