Bins, Bins and More Bins

I thought I would write this post to encourage myself and anyone out there reading this with little ones.
I spent several hours Saturday going through 15 bins of children's clothes. I started this endeavor to get ready for a consignment sale, never anticipating how emotionally draining the task would be. That sounds a little extreme I am sure, but the process caused me to struggle on a number of levels.
First, the decision to add more children to our family was thrown in my face the entire day. I want more so badly, but I just don't feel a peace that wisdom would have us go down that road. We are almost 100% sure if we decide to expand our family it will be through adoption and yes that process has a huge list of questions associated with it. I won't go into those now, that is a post in itself. But, hypothetically if we answer all those questions and the outcome is yes we want to adopt then that leaves me with, "am I really equipped to have more children." If that answer is yes, then what age do we feel is ideal for the children we adopt. More than likely they will not be infants, which is partly my choosing. But there is another part of me that literally tears up every time I think I will never hold another one of my own little babies in my arms. Hence, the emotional issues sorting through tub after tub of clothes. As I was trying to part ways with their little articles of clothes all I could think of were the memories of my dear ones in those outfits. The outcome at the end of 12 hours of sorting was I could only send one box to consign and the rest are heading back to the basement to Cory's strong protest. So all that said, my advice and encouragement is get a bin to put in each child's closet. Get rid of anything that has a stain and each time they out grow something put it in there and when the tub is full label it with the appropriate items and then never sort through it again until you're pulling it out to put on that sweet new addition to your family. Or, when you are not looking have your husband haul them away for people who will actually put them to use before they are completely outdated. These solutions will help you avoid a long day of boring sorting and emotional melting.

Caleb's Four Letter Words

I would say most people who know me well would categorize me as a perfectionist. Therefore, it has been a challenge for me since Caleb started hitting the milestones to not wonder in areas that he is slow, is this something I am failing to do or normal and he is progressing just fine. At 2 his vocabulary was very limited and I felt like I was doing everything humanly possible to help him, so I called the child development people to come out and do an evaluation. All my friends thought I was crazy, but I just felt like as a mommy if I wasn't doing everything I could to help my child I was falling short. When the ladies came out they were very kind and communicated they understood my concerns, but Caleb was doing amazingly well and was right at his age in communication development. I remember thinking I am going to have to be really prayerful as he develops. I must seek the Lord, so I don't revert to my strong tendency to overachieve. I was reminded in this parenting thing I need to always be checking my heart. My job is to teach them who Christ is, not to behave better, so I look good. Anyway, it was a growing experience and his vocabulary brought much humor to the Ruiz household. Below are some 4 letter words that Caleb would say when trying to communicate a different word entirely.

We were at the science museum outside playing in the water and Caleb holding a stick said, "throw dick".

Caleb loved the fireworks during the 4Th of July and in his little gibberish he would ask to go see the "farts" (fireworks).

Caleb absolutely loves doing crafts and daily asks to do arts and craps.

Fork-well you can imagine. F_ _ _

Sheep watch the video and find out.

Ruiz's Top Tunes

We love to sing throughout our day. I wouldn't say we necessarily are making music as much as noise, but it really blesses my heart to hear Caleb memorizing the words to the songs I have been singing to him the past 2 1/2 years. His top picks currently are:

1. Shame by Counting Crows.


I know, terrible mommy letting her son be exposed to such a message. I'm not exactly sure why he loves it so much, but he does. Its disc 5 song 11 in the car and every time we get in he ask for “Chain, Chain”. The music starts and not long after he requests my phone to use as a microphone and before you know, we are rockin away driving down the road. I with a tube of toothpaste and Caleb with the cell phone. He actually knows the words and the tune.

2. Makaylee Isabella (Akelly Bella) I frequently make up random words to songs and when Sister was just a few weeks old we started singing this to her.

Makay Lee,
Makay Lee,
Makaylee Isabella
I love you, yes I do
Makaylee Isabella.
You’re so sweet
you are our sweet Makaylee Isabella
We love you, yes we do
Makaylee Isabella.

Caleb absolutely loves to sing this to his sweet sister and anytime she is fussy he calms her with her song.

3. Twinkle Twinkle (Tinkle Tinkle) I was so sick of the original we added a twist. I’m also trying, to no avail, to get my little guy to potty train.

Tinkle, Tinkle
little pee
please come out, come out of me.

4. Thomas the train theme song

5. My Friends Tigger and Pooh and Darby, too.

6. M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E (the 1950’s Mickey Mouse Club theme song)

7. Hot Dog (hot diggidy dog)

8. Oh You Can't Get To Heaven(On Rollerskates)

9. This Train

10. Itsy Bitsy Spider

And here is the list of songs that more often than not get “no sing song mommy”

1. Steve Green’s Hide Them in Your Heart CD usually gets x’d but more specifically
a. Honor Your Father and Your Mother
b. Children Obey your Parents in the Lord
I really can’t figure out why this is :).

2. The Caleb Song

C-A-L-E-B
C-A-L-E-B
Caleb that’s me.

I thought this would be a creative way to help him learn to spell his name, but I think he has figured out I’m trying to teach him something, and it is not just a fun sing along. Woe is me, this is just yet another instance of their natural inclination to rebel.