Prayer request

Youssef is looking for a second job that he can do on the bus to and from the reporting job (he's gone for 12 hours five days a week, but only works 8 hours a day), and he'd like to not have to sell plasma anymore (especially after a stupid nurse almost ruptured his vein.)

He has found a part-time writing job that he applied for that would pay $500 or more and it sounds like it would be perfect, but of course God knows what would be the best so we'd really appreciate prayer about this.

Youssef and I are also starting to really miss each other and Lily misses her daddy (she's been staying up later at night so she can play with him more), so it would be nice if he was earning enough to make all the time away more worth it, and especially to not be gone even more because of plasma.

Lily's Two Year Pictures!

I finally have an opportunity to post these! I took her on her real birthday and she didn't like having her picture taken so much, so some of the pictures are a little teary, but I'll include them anyway. We got the pictures taken in the mall so I let her ride those coin things more than usual afterwards and we had a smoothy together.

Well, here are the pictures!

And if you happen to be a grandmother of said two year old and want to order prints (or if you just want to see the rest of the pictures!) you can go to http://www.smilesbywire.com and enter the following:
Customer Name: LYNNE SLEIMAN

Access Code: LTPP0560105303JCP

Question of the day

If you were cloned without your knowledge (and didn't want to be) would it be all right to kill your clone?



Youssef and I don't agree about the answer as of yet. :)

The Great Change...

At least for us.

Now our living room looks like this! Hardly any toys at all and looking oddly mature and neat after being a play room for so long. I did almost the entire move alone and now I'm pretty tired, but it was worth it and a lot easier with just one child to "help." We have a load to take to a thrift store, and we threw away a bunch of stuff. I'm still doing some organizing--mostly closet and cupboard work. I still need to organize all of Lily's old clothes too for Renna's coming. (Lily got a princess crown for her birthday and thought it looked good on her pony... upside down.)

Lily's room is now where our room was. She takes her naps in there and is easier to keep an eye on when she plays (without being in the living room.) So far, she likes to play with her toys more because there's more room and everything. It's so nice to have all her stuff in its own place!

This is the little room off of her bedroom. When we first moved here it was an office, then it was a nursery, then a toy cupboard, and now it's sort of the craft/office. An office because there are filing cabinets which you can't see, and craft because I have my spinning stuff (wool/wheels/books etc.) and sewing machine (and dress form) in there. The theory is that I can set up my sewing table in there and leave it up if I want to (rather than trashing the dinning room every time I need to alter some clothing.) You also can't see the baby gate that is ready to be put up if need be. Lily can climb over it now, but it will be nice when more kids are hear just to set the limit.

Our room is now in the back room of the house which we never really used before. When we were first here it was going to be Lily's room, but I found that it was just too far away from the main part of the house to work well that way. Then it was Youssef's office when he was working from home. Then it was a craft/junk room that I didn't really use because it was just too far away to make watching a toddler convenient. Now we are actually using it well--even if it is just to sleep in. Lily has a little mattress by my side of the bed as she's still pretty clingy. When I tried to get her to sleep farther away I only succeeded in helping her be more afraid of the dark. And after buying several different night lights to help her not be afraid (which were all too stimulating to sleep), we are just going to let her move at her own pace.

(The picture is of Lily playing with her new twin babies. Lily still brings her toys into the living room, but it's nice to have just a few at a time.)

I feel like I'm talking a lot, but I think after you've been sick you kind of want to get out and do things and talk to people. It's super cold outside, but it's been so sunny lately that I want to go somewhere! :)

Siiiiiick....

Sorry no pictures this post. Youssef's editor said he looked like *&%$*@#* ... in other words, pretty terrible. Needless to say, he took a couple days off this week.

Well, between my staying up late to make birthday things for Lily, fighting off a cold all last week, being pregnant and tired, and being awake for 2 or 3 hours several nights in a row because of a teething toddler, I caught a cold. Youssef's cold is worse though, probably due to his plasma selling and that we were out in the snow a lot on Sunday and Monday. I'm not sure about Lily. Half the time I think she's just teething, but then she'll start coughing and have a runny nose, but then she'll act achy and want her teething stuff and when I give it to her (after it starts working) she runs around the house and jumps with both feet all over the place acting as happy as a clam! (She hasn't let me feel her back gums lately to see how her teeth are coming though.) Maybe Lily's been doing better because she will drink and eat most of the things that I give her (she's been asking for chocolate though and I have to keep telling her no or direct her to something else, "No, you can't have chocolate, but you can have a carrot!" It's not quite the same, but so far it works.) Youssef on the other hand has complained the most and will hardly take the things that I give him. I know what my mom meant now when she always told me to drink lots of fluids and so forth when I was sick. It is a little frustrating to try to help someone get well and for them to not listen. (Again, another instance where my Mom was right and I didn't realize till I became a wife and mother myself. I have been taking your advise now, Mom! Lots of fluids, rest, good food, herbal remedies, sanitizing my toothbrush, washing my hands a lot, etc. :)

I've been cleaning most of today (besides shopping for fruit and so forth). Showers are wonderful things. Between several steamy showers and GSE I've been breathing freely. Also, Lysol is quite extraordinary too for all the types of germs and viruses that it kills (I had no idea till today when I read the back label at the store). I've been spraying absolutely everything with it. Toys, remotes, light switches, dvd covers, etc. have all been sanitized. There's something about being pregnant too that makes you want to clean and organize everything. I wish I could give our house a good spring cleaning. From scrubbing the appliances to washing the walls and getting rid of about half of our junk. I'm thinking I should wait until the end of February to really spring clean so I don't accidentally go into labor too early.

The hour is waining, and since I don't want to take a fifth shower today, I'm going to drink my tea and go to bed. Hopefully, tomorrow we'll all be better! :)