"My baby brother Michael Rushforth"

Eva loves her little baby brother and likes to hold him - sometimes a little too much! I am enjoying having a boy and a girl - I feel it was perfect for me to have the dramatic girl first and the calm boy second. After having Eva, I have to admit, I was scared to have another child just in case I got another dose of drama because sometimes she is a little much for me to handle. Eva brings a lot of spunk and spice to my life. She and I are having some control/power struggles lately and I am not sure how to solve them but we will work it our with God's help. Eva doesn't want anyone to control her so she obeys only about 1/8th of the time which frustrates both mommy and daddy. We love her though and don't want to crush her independent spirit but at the same time, she needs to be repectful and do as Mommy and Daddy ask. We will find the answer to raising Eva soon - I hope! :) Spencer is only 3 months old so I can't tell yet what his personality will be like but his baby blessing said he would be a calm and peaceful person and that he would help others to find that same peace in their lives so that sounds like he will be a peacemaker - a gentle kind of soul. He seems to be like that already - holding him brings much me much peace and joy. Every time Eva says talks to or about Spencer she calls him "my baby brother Michael Rushforth". She almost always leaves out the "Spencer" and she has to call him the entire line - don't know why but it is cute! :)

Eva tries her hand at counter finger painting!

February 25, 2008: Mommy finally got adventurous enough to let Eva use the fingerpaints she was given by her great friend Sally. Mommy really hates messes and was a little worried about it but finally let her. Eva had a good time I think - and so did I, amazingly enough. After we were done, I wiped the counter down and much to my chagrin found that the purple paint had left a stain - luckily chlorox disinfectant spray got it out but unfortunately, my little 3 year old found the spray bottle and decided to disinfect her entire bathroom and her bedroom door - which ran onto the carpet. Needless to say, mommy was a little upset! I had to keep repeating to myself that my purpose here in life is to raise a child and that child will do things like this and I just need to take them in stride - I did pretty good, considering she ruined the new carpet. :) I will be more careful about putting the bleach right back from now on - you live and you learn, I guess. I just hate learning the hard way!