Happy 2nd Birthday to Talia

Talia's birthday celebration was quite the drawn-out affair this year. With everything else going on this month, we sneaked in a special moment for the birthday girl whenever we could. Here are a few of the highlights:

The "day of":
We always go in the kids' room on birthday mornings singing, "Happy Birthday to You." Talia LOVED this! She was grinning from ear to ear. All day long she wanted to sing it again and again.

Daddy & Talia just after she woke up on her birthday morning

Benj helped me make a rice krispie treat "cake" for a birthday treat (since that is something the whole family can eat)

A couple of gifts came in the mail after her actual birthday so we had a second session of "open pehsants!" This pop-up tent came from Uncle Phil, Aunt Vicki & Talia's Tennessee cousins. It was an instant hit!

Papa & Mima sent Talia her first tea set. Here she is perfecting her hospitality skills by pouring some tea for Benj & Mama.

Talia's Teddy Bear Tea Party:
Talia hasn't been quite as prone to obsession as Benjamin, so coming up with a party theme was a bit more difficult this time around. We finally settled on teddy bears, since she does have several bears she dotes upon. We decided a teddy bear tea party would be fun.

The kids were invited to bring a special bear with them to the party. After they all introduced their bears (in attendance were: "Bear," "Pink Bear," "Pink Bear," and "Buddy") we had a pretend tea party for these special friends.

After the bears had their tea, the kids moved to the kitchen for their real treats.

Talia's teacup cake

Talia loves to dress up. Here's her new chef "look." (We're still working on getting her to wear the hat.)

Who needs sleep anyway? :)

12:30am I get in bed late. Just one of those evenings....

1:00am I'm trying to settle into sleep with the baby doing somersaults in my tummy and Benj starts whining. I investigate and find out he's mostly still asleep and having a bad dream. I wake him up enough to interrupt the dream and assure him it's ok. He is nodding back to sleep as I leave. I think all is well.

2:15am Seth comes to bed. I haven't fallen asleep yet as Benj has continued to whimper, whine and cry out.

3:00am Benj comes out & has to go potty. (Bless Seth for taking him.) After this I am finally able to fall asleep until...

4:45am Benj comes out & wants a tissue. I sigh, go get him one, tuck him back into bed, return to my own bed and fall asleep again until...

5:45am Benj starts crying loudly. I go in, hug him, and tell him to lay down. The minute he does he starts coughing and in my thoroughly groggy state I think he's going to get sick. My reaction startles him and he starts crying again. I take him out into our room, but not before he wakes up Talia. Seth and I question him, "does something hurt?" "Yes" (but he can't tell us what.) Finally he says he is crying because he wants a hug and his knee hurts. {grit teeth} We send him back to bed with promises of discipline should he wake us up again.

6:00am Talia is singing in her bed. I go in to tell her to go back to sleep. Benj is sleeping.

6:15am Talia is talking and banging in her bed. I go in to tell her to lay down, be quiet, and go back to sleep. Benj is still sleeping.

6:50am Talia is screeching and laughing in her bed. She is disciplined and cries long and loud in protest. Benj remains asleep.

7:15am Talia is crying because she has taken off her jammies and can't get them back on. I decide, "Never mind, who needs sleep anyway?" and take her back to the living room where she boisterously zooms her pink LittlePeople minivan up and down the coffee table while I curl up on a chair holding my pounding head.

Ah, the joys of motherhood.... Being up all night is not one of them. :)

The latest on the dissertation...

We received some bad news this last Friday from Seth's advisor. He will not be graduating this May. Seth had turned in some work earlier last week and received an email Friday saying there were some major revisions that need to be done and that there is no way he can meet the deadline in two weeks. He did say that Seth could probably get the revisions done this semester and graduate in December, but at this point there's too much work left to do for a May graduation.

Needless to say it was discouraging and disappointing news. The last thing Seth had heard was that there would just be some minor revisions to do eventually, but there were no major problems. Things really seemed to be lining up for him to graduate in May, so it really took us by surprise to hear, all of a sudden, that there were concerns. Despite this setback we remain confident that God has a plan for us. We know this abrupt turn of events didn't take Him by surprise.

Please pray for us this week. We're settling in for the long haul once again. We were blessed with a free babysitter for Saturday afternoon and were able to reconnect and regroup. Seth will be adjusting his schedule so he can be home a little more with the kids and me. At the same time, there is still not much room for him to ease up if he's going to be able to address these new challenges. He is still going to have to put in late nights on a regular basis and persevere through this. Meanwhile, we both feel the wind has been sucked out of our sails. It's hard to keep pushing despite the fact that the light at the end of the tunnel has suddenly become a pin-prick again.

The next deadline Seth will be trying to meet is the end of April. If he can get a defense draft turned in by that date, we will avoid having to pay tuition for the Fall semester.

Meanwhile, we still have a baby coming May 19th, ready or not. We have to find and purchase a (reliable yet affordable) minivan before that date and take care of all the various logistics that come with preparing for a new baby again. You know, in all our spare time. :) Although, we have made the decision to put off moving to a bigger house until summer or early fall. After all, Talia slept in the living room...the kitchen...even occasionally the bathroom for several months when she was tiny and she's fine. :)

A new generation of Rodriquezs joins the lost cause...

Back in 2003 when Seth was was finishing his ThM degree he had some difficulty with the binding process. What was the problem? They kept spelling his last name wrong on the cover/spine. As a result the "important copies" (the library copy, for one) were finally corrected, but the copy on our shelf boast the author: "Seth M. Rodriguez."

Last night, in attempt to again help the kids understand what it is that has been taking Daddy away from us so completely for the past few weeks, I retrieved Seth's thesis from the shelf in the bedroom and began to explain, "This is a book Daddy wrote. Right now he's working on writing another book just like this one."

I showed Benjamin the last name on the spine, knowing he has begun to recognize our last name when he sees it written out. "Benj, what does this say?"

He scrutinized the gold stamped letters with a furrowed brow and finally poked a tiny finger at the latter third of the name and said, "Mama, that a G. G-U-E-Z."

"You're right! What if it was a Q? Q-U-E-Z? What would it say then?," I pressed.

He was triumphant: "My last name! Rodriquez!"

Answered Prayer

Since the ice storm, we have been praying that God would somehow return to Seth all the (dissertation) time he lost in taking care of us throughout that ordeal.

Last Wednesday, Seth went to a scheduled meeting for those in the PhD program planning/hoping to graduate this May. At this meeting Seth was able to express the setbacks he encountered as a result of the storm and asked for a possible extension of the deadline for those that were severely affected (he was not the only one). The PhD office was willing to grant an extension on their part, but indicated that each student would need approval from their advisor.

Seth emailed his advisor, laying before him all the facts, and requesting a 5-day extension. Seth heard back from his advisor this morning. He has no problem granting an extension and is planning to contact the PhD office to request a 7-10 day extension sometime today! We were not expecting this extra measure of grace, and are so thankful as it will make it even more possible for Seth to complete this project and put it behind him! We should have a better idea of the status by Wednesday or Thursday.

I have been reminded many times over the past few days that God is indeed a faithful and loving God. We are continuing to trust Him for the outcome and, in His strength, will continue to trust and praise Him no matter what happens. Meanwhile we are praying for and expecting Him to do big things!

Eavesdropping

While I was publishing the last post, Benjamin was sitting in my room starting his afternoon rest time, "reading" his Bible. This is what I overheard...

"This day, born to you, baby Jesus! Do not be afraid. I'm an angel. I come to you....(followed by some unintelligible jibber jabber in a story tone.)

I love those moments when they don't know I'm listening. :)

And since Benjamin is still on the Christmas theme I'll take the opportunity to post a post-Christmas picture.

Benjamin & Talia dressed up as Joseph & Mary :)

Ice Storm Visual

Ice-coated, snow-topped branches hanging about 5 feet lower than normal. It would have been pretty if you could ignore the visibly broken landscape.

Just a few days before the kids and I had gone outside on a mild day to play in the yard. I guess I should have put the toys away. :)

A sample chunk of the ice/snow coating on our car. Once Seth broke through the inch of solid ice he was able to just lift it off in huge chunks. (At this point, early in the process of trying to leave, he was having a GREAT! time.)

A view of our house from the top of the driveway. Underneath that branch on the roof is the kids's bedroom.