January 31, 2009 Tuesday Fiona WhittOctober 11, 2006-January 30, 2009 Comments for this post are off.Please continue to comment on the post belowto help Tuesday’s family. Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
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Posted on Friday~January 30th, 2009: 9:00am You’ve maybe noticed Miss Tuesday in my sidebar. This beautiful little girl and her family have been on my mind and heart since the day I heard about them and started following their story. Tuesday is 2. She has a twin sister and two older brothers. Tuesday also has cancer. I know there are a lot of hurting people, and we hear a lot of sad stories, especially if we’re connected to the internet world. But sometimes a certain person’s story will just stick with you, touching your heart in a way that seems impossible for never having met them. Tuesday and her family have done something to my heart. And I’m honored, because it means I’ve been moved to help in my own small way. Jessica Kate is Tuesday’s mom. Her latest blog post was an update with heart-breaking news: “My deepest fears were confirmed. Tomorrow […]
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Posted on Thursday~January 29th, 2009 On his 3rd birthday last summer, Miles received a bird bath from Grandma Mary.His favorite part, of course–filling it up. Speaking of Miles:I’m stepping out of the shower recently and he comes flying into the bathroom,stops short, stares at me and says,“I like your butt and your boobers. And your squishy belly.” Gee, thanks._______________For more pictures worth a thousand words, visit Cheaper Than Therapy.(click on the picture.) Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
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Posted on Wednesday~January 28th, 2009 Dear Katie, I am no longer fashionable. I don’t really know that I ever was. But I do realize you are a bit of a fashion icon, and I wanted to tell you we finally have something in common in this regard. I used to roll my jeans too! It started around 1985, I believe. (Were you born?) I would fold my jeans over at the ankles as tightly as I could and then roll them up, just like you! The only problem with this was trying to keep them that way. Do you struggle with this too? Like when you sit down, do they ride up a little higher on your calf and sort of pop open, leaving you to have to work really hard again? I hated that. You are so cute. I think I’ve been subconsciously trying to be more like you. I even colored […]
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Posted on Tuesday~January 27th, 2009 Asher with his “My Mom Rocks” custom made pacifier, courtesy of the lovely Charrette.(That lady totally rocks.)______________It’s been almost two months since Asher’s surgery! Thank you for continuing to ask how he’s doing. I don’t find it intrusive at all. We appreciate that our bloggy and real-life friends think of us. (If you’re new here, you can click on The Noggin under the labels in the left sidebar to learn more. Asher has hydrocephalus, a condition where fluid doesn’t drain properly from the brain to the spinal cord. He had a brain shunt put in recently.) At his appointment last week, the only “concern” was his language development. He’s falling a little behind there, but then again many kids do. When he’s six and talking our ears off, I’m sure we’ll think it was silly to have worried. So we’re choosing not to worry. Now that Asher has […]
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Posted on Monday~January 25, 2009 I have a confession to make. Sometimes I am VERY VERY mad at my husband for working. What? It pays the bills, you say? And I get to stay at home with my two favorite small people because of that whole income thing? Yes. I suppose that’s true. But if you’re a part of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Husbands (or if your husband is gone a lot for any reason) you’ll totally understand my irrationality. Sleep deprivation, tantrums, poop and vomit, making meals and over-loads of laundry all while flying solo will sometimes make a girl totally irrational. Go figure. But today I’m not mad at my husband for working. (I have my mature days here and there.) Ryan was home for all of Saturday and Sunday (yeah, TWO whole days) and he didn’t leave until like 5:30 this morning. He’ll be gone until Friday, but I’m […]
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Posted on Saturday~January 24, 2009 Asher and Miles both have a little blankie of sorts that they sleep with and need when they’re sad or hurt. I believe the experts call them “transitional objects.” We call them Guggies. This started because Ryan and I called Miles’ blanket a Snuggly, and when he started to talk it came out “Guggy” and it stuck. Now Asher has a Guggy too. Both of our boys are pretty much total Guggy addicts. We parents spend a lot of time making sure that these small comforts are available, searching before bedtime and car trips, throwing the Guggies in the diaper bag, making sure they’re available to be the good friends that they are if needed. The other night before bed, I walked around with Asher for a long while, looking under furniture and in piles of laundry, under toys and even in the cupboards. No Guggy. Even though […]
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Posted on Thursday~January 22nd, 2009 If you’re here for the first time because you’re perusing all the A Thousand Word Thursday posts, you may wonder why I chose this particular photo to share. (Opening your mouth and rolling your tongue does not give you the most flattering look for a photo, that is one of the lessons here). But this photo must be shared because it was taken the evening that a stylist tried to “fix” my 3-year-old’s hair after he shaved a chunk out of it. See? “Fixed!” His longer hairs are supposed to be covering up the big bald patch. It sorta works. If it were plastered down with gel, that is. But we don’t have gel, so most of the time he just walks around with the bald patch showing. I prefer this look over the fear I had that shaving his head would make him look like a light […]
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Posted on Thursday~January 22, 2009 I’ve just had a brilliant idea. There’s this teacher at Miles’ school that looks really, really good. Every Tuesday and Thursday when I come to pick Miles up, we pass in the hall as she takes her students to lunch. Every single day she looks REALLY great. High fashion kind of great, hair perfect and everything. She’s so well put-together that I’m starting to wonder if she has a nanny, a house-keeper, and three assistants. Because I’m THAT mom (haven’t showered, half dressed, mascara streaked under my eyes, old Levi’s and a huge sweatshirt…), I tend to shrink as I pass this amazing specimen of fashion perfection. Partly because I hope she won’t notice me, but mostly because I’m HER on the INSIDE. Kind of. I mean I do have SOME fashion sense. I’m usually somewhat aware of the trends and most of the time I even like […]
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Posted on Tuesday~January 20th, 2009 What you are about to see is all Daddy’s fault. I mean, the morning of the incident Ryan did spend a whole lot of time shaving his head while Miles watched in fascination. He also showed Miles how everything works, considering it a Father/Son kind of learning adventure. And then he did leave his razor out on the bathroom counter. What 3-year-old who wants to be like Daddy could resist such a temptation? Not ours. No, not ours… So that big bald area? Mostly Daddy’s fault right? I was innocently chatting with my sister-in-law in the kitchen, unaware that Miles had moved across the hall like a sphinx, leaving his cousins to play in his room. He simply moved too fast for me to have time to notice. I’m super attentive, so I KNOW this is not my fault. SIGH. Yeah, that’s pretty. When I took him to […]
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Posted on Monday-January 19, 2009 Some friends and I were working on a project, helping a church finish a banner to display in the hall. It had phrases on it like “Encourage each other” and “Listen to one another.” These sentences were repeated over and over down this banner made of fabric. We were enjoying this particular project since it gave us the opportunity to talk as we tried to color inside the lines. Our kids were in childcare, and there was a lightness to each person there, having a little free time and some listening ears. We put some big pieces of paper under the fabric so our markers wouldn’t bleed through to the table (we have a lot of practice at thinking ahead and preparing for disasters, we’re moms). When we finished coloring the letters in, we carefully lifted the banner, pulling it off the table. We looked down to find […]
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Posted on Sunday~January 18th, 2009 A week of memories at the House of EO (and pretty much nowhere else because who in their right mind goes anywhere but to work and school when it’s this FREEZING?) It’s no secret that we are experiencing some VERY cold weather here. And lots of snow. But it may have been a secret that we didn’t put anything away this fall.What is WRONG with us? Have I mentioned that it’s cold? Here’s Miles, ready to head off to school.Oh, how he loves his coat. This intriguing photo is my bed with a mountain of laundry on it. I wish this picture could capture how BIG that mountain really is. By the end of the day,I had climbed to the highest peak. I’m a conqueror! I emptied the dishwasher and came back to the living room to find the entire couch covered in blue streaks. Nice. Thank God […]
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Posted on Saturday~January 17th, 2009 I’m taking care of some bloggy business today. Please don’t click away! There are a couple of lovely things people are doing in the blogosphere that I want to be sure to share. So we’ll take care of that first. I love that we can use the blog world to help each other. So let’s do it! Secondly, I realize blog awards can sometimes be overwhelming. But I think they’re important. They are part of what keeps us connected, letting each other know we notice strengths and appreciate each other’s words. So C’mon, let’s GO: The Maxeys have a daughter who is three months old and has cancer, a tumor on her brain and spine. This family lost another daughter to cancer when she was also a baby. This project was created to encourage the Maxey family. You can learn more about how you can help by clicking […]
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Posted on Friday~January 16th, 2009 I have a mind full of many random thoughts. I could spill a bunch of them now, but I’ve been trying to focus on the beauty of this season of parenting lately, so that’s what I’ll do for this week’s 7 Quick Takes. (Visit Conversion Diary for more.) ~1~ Asher, I’m trying not to worry about you. I’m more thankful every day that your hydrocephalus was caught at just the right time.People continue to ask if your development is (or will be) “normal” now that you’ve had surgery. The answer to this question is “I don’t know.” I’ve only been thinking about how amazing it is that you’re walking around, grunting out requests and doing little dances. I’m learning more than ever before that there is no “normal.” Wherever you land on the learning curve in your life, I’ll be cheering you on, believing that everything you do […]
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Posted on Thursday~January 15th, 2009 ~Miles and gal pal, Olivia~(This picture was taken when they were two.Now they’re big three-year-olds, practically grown-ups.)Some pictures really are worth a thousand words, no?Look at how she’s looking at him! I love it.There may even be a thousand captions for this one.Any ideas?“He’s just not that into you,” comes to mind.Or, “Wow. That boy needs a haircut.”___________ For more pictures worth a thousand words,head on over to Cheaper than Therapy: Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
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Posted on Wednesday~January 14th, 2009 If you’ve been around here long, you know I do things to embarrass myself quite frequently. Like that time I bonked heads with a man right after our cars collided in a parking lot. Yeah. Like that. But sometimes life just makes a fool of you, taking the lead in making itself interesting, just in case you don’t do it enough yourself. (TM, you’re going to love this.) I was talking to my brother-in-law (notice how I didn’t type BIL? I don’t know why I resist the acronyms. I just do.) Anyway, Uncle K had stopped by mid day to pick something up. It was nap time, so we were allowed the luxury of finishing sentences. We talked at length about family dynamics, where we are in life, and pretty much solved the world’s problems. As we were waxing philosophical, me sitting sprawled across the coach with my […]
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Posted on Tuesday~January 13, 2009 Many of you read my last post and might notice it’s gone now. I took it down because I didn’t feel right about it from the moment I posted it, and I woke up this morning ready to delete it, even before I read through the comments. I don’t think it was wrong for me to be so frustrated with judgment and arrogance in general (I didn’t link to the blog I was talking about because I wanted to keep it general). But I do think it’s wrong for me to judge the judgers themselves, and I did have a specific person in mind when I wrote that post. I appreciate that many of you understood it was a moment of frustration for me, one that led me to venting on my blog. I think it’s acceptable to do that, but in this case, I wasn’t comfortable with […]
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Posted on Monday~January 12th, 2009 If I had a quarter for every time someone said, “Now you should go take a nap,” after my boys are down, I’d be extremely wealthy. It’s not a bad suggestion. When I’ve struggled my way through half of a day that begins between 5 and 6 a.m., it would be refreshing to snooze a few minutes while my boys nap. It’s a very good idea. It makes a whole lot of sense that the people in my life would make this napping suggestion. They are the ones that have had to listen as I’ve gone on and on and on and on…and on about my sleep deprivation. I like the idea of napping. I just can’t do it. My husband could fall asleep on a donkey. Imagine it. A small donkey with a grown man slumped over it’s neck, feet dragging along the ground. That would be […]
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Posted on Sunday~January 11, 2009 Today I’m taking part in Sara’s Project 365. Every Sunday she invites fellow bloggers to link up and share pictures from the week. What a great way to have photos archived as memories! No more non-scrapbooking guilt for me! (If I actually follow through with doing this each Sunday anyway…which is a bit of a long shot, but I’ll try.)My good intentions are worth something, right? RIGHT? Okay then…Welcome to a captivating photo journey through our week. Miles and Asher getting ready for sledding. Don’t they look thrilled? Or maybe just cold? Asher has his very own little backpack. He must wear it every waking hour. Pantsless, of course. And Miles must wear his Halloween Spiderman costume every moment. The band-aid on the chin is a result of an incident involving Uncle K., a chair, and the garage floor. YOW. This is our friend Ellorie. As you can […]
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Posted on Saturday~January 10, 2009 I find blogging to be a fascinating study in human behavior. When I wrote my first post just over a year ago, I had absolutely no clue about the millions of blogs out there. I didn’t know blogging could be treated as a business. And I certainly had no idea that blogging is a popularity contest, leaving people to feel bad about themselves if their stats, comments, or followers are lower in numbers than the next person. In a way, this is like a virtual high school, or a playground, if you will. Complete with bullies and cliques, gossip and power struggles. Like I said, an interesting study in human behavior. I had been in a bit of a blog-related funk because of this as of late. As the blog world grows and changes, I was afraid the beautiful things that come with it were getting all covered […]
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Posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009I’m taking part in 7 Quick Takes with Conversion Diary. (I love me some Conversion Diary.) I love this idea. I get to spout off SEVEN random things. I NEED this in my life. There is so much going on in this (newly brunette) head of mine, and it needs OUT. ~1~ A blog friend of mine wrote a post that has to be shared. I read it over and over and I’m thinking it needs to go no other place than PUBLISHED (like in a book). If you happen to be a mother (who at times feels like there is NO TIME) and you have even an inkling of a belief in God, you WILL NOT be sorry if you click HERE and read this post (over and over). ~2~ I laugh so hard when I watch Ellen and she does that thing where she puts a […]
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Posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009Miles was watching PBS before dinner the other night. The cartoon portion of the afternoon ended (GOODBYE, CLIFFORD!) and grown-up stuff came on. I was putting food on the table and Miles rushed in exclaiming, “I just saw O’Rock Obama!!!” _______________ (I will now refrain from going on and on and on about the STRUGGLE we are having with potty training. I will keep it short. NIGHTMARE.)I recently was following Miles around, trying to prevent another disaster by saying, “But I think I smell something.” He told me it wasn’t him. I said, “Then how come I smell something?” To which he quickly responded, “That’s just fresh air, Mommy.” (Let’s just say it turned out to be quite the opposite of “fresh air.”) _______________ Miles continues to impress the masses with his extensive vocabulary. He uses lengthy words in the right context and with the right emotion frequently. […]
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Posted on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 If you feel that you have a problem making decisions, I want you to know there is someone out there struggling with you. A kindred spirit of indecision. He’s my husband. (I’m not talking about him behind his back. I’m talking about him behind my back. He’s behind me as I type this, doing dishes. And I told him I would be doing this post. So it’s all good, I’m allowed to talk about his indecisiveness.) Ryan’s inability to make decisions is no secret. Just ask anyone who has ever gone out to eat with him. They will tell you they waited an extra ten to twenty minutes to order because Ryan kept changing his mind. Yes, I’m a patient woman. Sometimes. Ryan confesses that he spends far too long even in candy aisles, stressing and struggling over which candy bar to get. (Yes, it’s that bad.) […]
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Posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009I will focus my efforts on helping them build character. I will structure their lives to ensure that when they’re grown,they’ll be successful people. I will read them stories and play them songsthat teach them right from wrong. I will sign them up for activities to make sure they’ll be well-rounded,the type of guys who play sports and at least one instrument. I will take them to church every Sunday,dropping them at their classes and picking them up,to make sure they’ll hear how to live their faith. I will fight to get them into a school that’s just right for them,and then stay on top of homework and grades (and teachers). I will tell them what shows they aren’t allowed to watchand why, and I’ll monitor their computer time. I will feed them fruits and vegetables, whole grains and proteinsto help their bodies grow….. Yes, that’s what I […]
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Posted on Sunday, January 4, 2008Yes. I have Ice Ice, Baby stuck in my head. No idea why. It can be really annoying to have this song in your head, so I’ve been trying to use it to my advantage. Like when I want to get all impatient and frustrated with all the fussing and fighting between the boys, I say to myself “Stop!” Then I collaborate with the patient husband by saying, “LISTEN, you need to take over for awhile or I’m gonna hurt somebody.” This way, I don’t make a fool of myself by yelling and waving my arms around or bursting into tears. I just stop, collaborate and then I say listen. You should totally try it. Stop. Collaborate and listen. Ice is back with a brand new invention. Somethin‘ grabs a hold of me tightly….” Speaking of songs in your head. Miles and Asher and I were grocery shopping […]
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As we traveled to my parent’s house for Christmas, skidding along icy roads and coming across over-turned vehicles, I quickly became annoyed, jumpy, and irritable. I would snap at Ryan for nothing, and couldn’t handle any kind of fuss from the small people in the back seat. I was anxious, gripping my door handle and intently watching the road in front of us. As I sat there playing back-seat driver, I started to think about something a friend and I were talking about recently. My friend said that she’s sometimes blown away by how quickly we age, and yet how slow we are to grow up. We carried on then, laughing about all the physical changes taking place, scorning our naive presumption that we’d always have flat stomachs and zero wrinkles. Then we laughed at ourselves a bit more as we admitted how often, despite our sagging bodies, we feel like we’re still […]
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