Posted on Monday, December 29, 2008 Miles and Asher have had a tumultuous relationship. Asher’s colic and hydrocephalus forced him to be…well…not so much fun to be around. Miles has struggled through the last year and a half, trying to be two and then trying to be three with a wailing baby soundtrack filling his every moment. He became resentful and angry, understandably. Not only did “the new baby” come in and steal the attention, he pretty much turned life upside-down. After Asher’s surgery, things have slowly started to change. I’m finding myself more rested and at ease as Asher improves, crying less and acting like a typical one and a half year old. I’m enjoying the moments more than I’ve had the energy to do so in a really long time. (That was a weird sentence but I’m not fixing it.) I’ve been holding both of my boys just a little bit […]
You know it’s cold when your husband goes to warm up his car and the door is so frozen, it stops working. It becomes a non-closing door. Then you have to bundle up your kiddos at nap time and drive the needs-to-fly-away-for-work-again husband to the airport. And even though it’s totally annoying, you know it’s not his fault. You graciously forgo naps so he doesn’t have to drive away in a car with an open door, freezing wind blowing across his face. This surprise trip to the airport does cause a missed nap for the youngest, so you spend the cold day indoors while he does this: And this: (He’s actually feeling much better these days, by the way. We’re all so relieved for him. He’s more content and playful. At least when he’s had his nap. So we’re pretty sure his noggin is adjusting to the shunt. (Why does that have to […]
(Melanie J, that is. If not for her amazing winning abilities, I could not have written this post. So Miss J, if this post wins me some kind of millionaire-making ‘post of the year’ award (cause that could totally happen, even though it’s not that good) I promise I’ll split the cash with you.) Yesterday the boys and I set off on an adventure. On foot. Well, on MY feet. The boys were in the stroller. I knew it was going to be a long haul, walking to the post office. I didn’t really know how long though, or I maybe would have driven. But we were off to mail the Sara Groves Christmas CD to giveaway winner, Melanie J. And I was excited! Being excited always makes me experience lapses in judgment. (I know, I know. Wasn’t that giveaway a long time ago? Yes. But both winners are patient. And I am….slow.) […]
It was a crazy-busy whirlwind weekend for the EO family. You see, my Dad turned 60! So we had a visit from Nanny and Bapa. We went places and did things. I only made a complete fool of myself once (that I can remember). I’ll get to that in a moment. First, I must say Happy Birthday, Dad!I love you like crazy, even if I did make that joke. You know, the one where I said I needed to practice feeding you, now that you’re 60. That was uncalled for. Please forgive me.But try to remember that I must have gotten my sense of humor somewhere…Look how young this man is! He can’t be 60! (say that in the comments, he’ll like it.) Miles got to ride with Nanny on this way cool carousel.Watching made me want to puke. Am I 60?___________________Then we were off to Cousin O’s 4th Birthday party.Or no, wait.We […]
I pick him up from his crib and he says “Hi,” dragging this one beautiful word out with a tender tinge of baby-talk sweetness. He puts those chubby little arms around my shoulders and he squeezes. We breathe each other in. Then he lets go, tilting his head back to look at me, as if he’s checking to see if I’m the same. His Mama. And I answer “Hi, sweet baby, how are you?” He chuckles a deep, throaty little chuckle, and smiles into my eyes. I feel as if my heart might burst with love. Surely it could. But instead, he rears back and BAM, head-butts me square in the nose. I nearly drop him as the pain screams through my face, racing under my eyes and ringing in my ears. I set him down on the floor and check for blood. I’m shocked! There’s no blood. But oh holy cats, it […]
It’s fine to put one of these and one of these in one of these: But that’s it. Just those two people. update: this is not my tub, just a flickr photo. sorry for the confusion :) If there were a tv in my bathroom, I’d surely get too pruney. Two boys in a tub. Totally company. But if you add one of these: Three (very quickly) becomes a CROWD! “Everybody up! Everybody out! Now! Now! Now! UUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!!!” Me-“Honey, did you accidentally poop in the tub, or did you do that on purpose?!?Miles-“I did it on purpose.”Me- Silence. Nice. Everything was bath-time bliss until the dreaded,“Um…Mom, I just pooped.”And then,(as I quickly removed the peoplefrom the poop-tainted tub) “Mom, can I touch it?” Um….NO. So yeah, I’ve drawn the conclusion that very often, three really is a crowd. (I’m truly so sorry that this lame post is my final submission as I host […]
Ryan and I took the boys and went to play tennis again yesterday. I don’t know why we don’t learn from our mistakes. We really should just give up pretending we can play like we did in high school. We can’t. We actually totally stink. But that isn’t my point. I’m not even that sure what my point is, except I might secretly want reassurance that I’ll have really really nice teenage boys one day. So if you can tell me that I will, please do so in the comments. I want a guarantee though. It’s nice that it will be in writing because it’s on a computer and in the comments. Forever. All Nice Boy Guarantees are appreciated more than words can say. Thank you for that. Oh sorry, where was I? Oh yeah. On the court next to us was a young man (teen) who I will refer to as Sassafrass. […]
I really do like the whole spa thing. I mean, I think people should go to treat themselves and relax. I especially liked being able to go on Auntie K’s dime (for the most part, which I’ll get to later) last Friday. My friend Mackenzie and I had a day away, spending time together and having an experience that’s rare. For us anyway. And unique. And sometimes very funny. We learned that we’re maybe not the classiest ladies, or all that smart. But it was still great. We’ll laugh about it for a long time.Because,First of all, I have a cold. I coughed a lot during the massage. Peggy the masseuse, who seemed a bit overly focused on rubbing my thighs for really extended periods of time, had to stop to ask me what was going on. Because you see, Peggy the masseuse was one of those ‘rub lightly’ massage therapists. (Which makes […]
I was going to post something serious today entitled Remembering Colic. Let’s just save that for another day and I’ll tell you about a childhood injury instead. Kristen over at We are THAT Family is spreading the hilarity around the blogosphere as people share stories from their past. (I discovered this through Our Little Tonnginator and wrote (read copy) the same kind of post as TonnguMomma’s hilarious one regarding childhood injuries)So here’s mine. Short and sweet. Or maybe not sweet. My sister and I were about, I don’t know, maybe 8 and 10? Me being the 8 year old, trying to keep up with her cooler, more adept older sister. We were in our downstairs living room, our parents minding their own business upstairs. We were supposed to be trusted for short periods of time on our own. But we were having sleeping bag races. If you don’t know what that means, it’s […]
You know those movies (Lifetime) or TV shows (soap operas) where someone is faking that they can’t walk? They’re pretending to be in need of others and getting lots of attention for it? Usually for money or something. And then you cut to the next scene, and they’re waiting for someone to leave the room. And after the person is gone, they slink right out of their wheelchair, over to the tray of crystal dishes and grab a quick brandy? Just as you suspected! Yes, I’ve seen enough of these shows to know when something’s fishy! Like the possibilty of this baby pretending to only be able to crawl, when he can actually WALK! Yesterday I rounded the corner to the kitchen, surprising Asher with my arrival, and lo and behold, what did I see? He was standing there holding on to… NOTHING! Uh huh. He was independent of assistance, appearing as comfortable […]
Going to Ikea puts me in a good mood. There are truly inexpensive storage containers there. And I really like to organize and store things. Like little boy shoes, games, puzzles, blankets, clothes, winter items, socks, books, toys, towels, outdoor toys…… So yeah. I was in a good mood after a trip there today. I was loading the boys in the car and doing what I normally do. Rapping. What mother doesn’t rap while trying to persuade her children to do things they don’t feel like doing? If I had the ability to vlog (is that what it’s called?) I would totally share this rap with you, since it works wonders. Or if I wanted to have myself seen on video over the internet, then I would show you via YouTube. But that isn’t going to happen. So instead you’ll just have to rap this in your head while imagining me trying to […]
Miles asked, “Why are you giving that man your money, mom?” I paused for a second, thinking of what to say. I wasn’t sure how to explain poverty to the three year old watching from my backseat. I didn’t know how to say that I was giving this man money because a turn in his life had resigned him to asking me for it. There are times when I have to be extra careful, choosing the right words to say. I have to figure out how to describe a person’s situation without taking a bite out of their already waning dignity. After all, this person is standing at a stop light; dirty clothes, unshaven face and a backpack. That’s it. Little dignity. Little pride. Just eyes darting away from my attempts at contact. A sheepish, “thank you, Miss,” after being handed the little spare change I could find after scrounging around, waiting for […]
The boys and I headed over to pick us up some tasty Mexican goodness from Chipotle for lunch today. Ryan is working out of his home office, and at one point he wanted to eat lunch. (I know, so demanding!) I had me a mad craving for the best take-out burrito with lots of guac yumminess. So I took Ryan’s order and off we went. You know what I think Chipotle is missing? A drive-thru. Wouldn’t that just be the best? No unbuckling of the car seats and no, “Miles, stay right here we’re in a parking lot do not move stay by the tire,” would need to be said. No unbuckling of another car seat and lifting of the 20+ pound baby onto the hip, while grabbing a tiny preschool hand and pulling it across the parking lot, hats flying off in the wind. No, with a drive-thru, there would be none […]
I had the best time last night with my friend, Lana. That girl will make you laugh until you cry. The way she spins a story is genius. She can take the littlest interactions we experience together and turn it into the funniest, most relatable piece of comic genious. I can’t stand it. What would I do without my friends? So last night our server walked up to the table to take our order. We ordered. Quickly. Cause we’re boring and we were only having chips and dip. So we said, “sorry we’re not getting much.” To which the nice young lady responded by saying she was glad we were only getting chips because, She got hurt when being pulled by a boat on a tube yesterday.Her hand was stuck in the handle, so she couldn’t let go.There was a lot of bouncing and waviness, which caused her to “pencil dive.”The driver couldn’t […]
Life is funny. On Saturday I went to a garage sale and saw a cute little boy that I recognized, but couldn’t think of how I might know him. I didn’t recognize his mom or the other older couple that appeared to be his grandparents. Then they asked where I live and when I told them, the couple said the mom and her son live here too. So I realized I must know them from the park near our house. Yup. That was that, not all that exciting. Just a cute kid that I remember stood out to me one day at the park because of said cuteness and his obsession with getting tiny rocks out of his crocs. Now fast forward to this morning when the boys and I are at the park. Oh, look. There’s that cute little kid from the garage sale and…well, I guess that must be his daddy […]
This is what I just overheard while Ryan was trying to work on getting Miles to bed:Ryan said something encouraging about brushing teeth while handing Miles his toothbrush. Then he obviously smelled an odor that wasn’t pleasant, so he said, “I detect poops.” Miles did not respond. He asked him if he was, in fact “poopy.” Miles still didn’t respond.Then my lovely, quirky husband said, “You know you can tell mommy and daddy if you have poops. Or if you think you might be about to have poops. Or if you just happen to be thinking about poops.”Miles responded by brushing his daddy’s face instead of his own teeth. We’re totally making progress on the potty training thing… Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
Lately Miles has been doing things like biting the wheels off toy cars. Boys are weird. I know it’s totally normal, but I’m trying to teach him how to take care of his things and especially other people’s things. So today when I saw he used something to puncture a hole in his new lunch box, I said I would have to take it away until he was ready to take good care of it. He was upset and said, while holding a random piece of paper; “Mommy, this (paper) says that the lunch box is mine and I should be holding it. It says I will be taking gooood care of it. Cause it’s mine. That’s what this says.” (Picture doe eyes, pursed lips and tilted little toddler head). I didn’t give in, but I sure wanted to. The break from the lunch box will be awfully short. I think he’s ready […]
Suddenly Asher is waving, saying ball and mama, and eating a lot of what we’re eating. How did that happen? With these two “new” people around me all the time, I find one of the best parts is how that makes me look at life like they do. Sometimes Miles will ask “why” about the simplest thing that I had forgotten to pay attention to and really take in, and it’s like it’s new for me too because I have to think through how I’m going to answer him in simple terms.These are the times when I think about how tiring it must be to be 2.75 years old. To be so new to everything and learning so much every day. And so much of it seems strange! Why DO people need to sleep? Why IS the stuff on trees called BARK? That’s what a dog does! I’m sure that’s why kids go […]
What a difference a year can make! We spent some time out in the backyard today. Or the “back ard,” as Miles calls it. I couldn’t believe how different Miles is from my memory of hanging out back there last time it was warm enough to do so. Last year Miles was just saying tiny little phrases. This year he’s telling stories and expressing his feelings. He said things like “I’m glad we came outside.” And “That was fun to swing.” Then he golfed and golfed. We knew last year that he was pretty coordinated for his age. We put a club in his hands this year and were shocked at his ability! He had an adult right-handed club (he swings with his left) and he could still smack the ball! It was so much fun to watch.Then we came in the house for dinner. Miles said, “tell me up a story, daddy.” […]
Miles is getting more and more creative with excuses at bedtime. It started with needing water, hugs and more prayers. But now that we’re on to him, knowing he’s not dehydrated or affection deprived, he’s upping the ante. He’ll drop his “guggy” (snuggly little blanket) over his bed rail and call out, saying that he can’t get it. He’ll yell that his tummy hurts. He’ll say that he’s scared (that one worked really well for awhile, by the way). Then we started to get more strict, hoping the return visits to his room wouldn’t get too out of hand. He stopped coming up with the usual requests, realizing we weren’t going to give in, and has started to get creative. Like today at naptime when I said, “night night” and closed the door, only to hear, “MOOOOM, there’s WAX coming out my EEEAAARR!!,” over and over. Um, okay. He just kept it up […]
On Friday we passed through another parenting rite of passage. It was a tricky one, but not awful. Wanna know what it was? Let’s call it the, “there’s something up my nose” rite of passage. In our case, a nut. Now before you imagine a huge shelled peanut up Milesy’s tiny little nose, I will clarify that this was a nut of the “nuts and bolts” variety. Ryan and Miles came up from the basement and Ryan said, “I think we need to talk to mommy.” I initially panicked, but got it together quite quickly. Then we couldn’t figure out if we should call the doctor, or try to get the thing out ourselves. I kept an eye on Miles while Ryan looked for the proper extracting tools. I started to get pretty nervous at the thought of us trying to extract something from one of our child’s orifices so I called my […]
I love it when my calendar is full of activities. Each month, it slowly fills, week by week with things for the boys and I to do during the day. I cannot stand it when we are home, day after day without any real schedule. I guess for me, being a stay at home mom isn’t literal. Or I would be crazier than I already am! If we don’t have much to do, I find myself in my pj’s at 3pm, staring blankly at piles of dishes and laundry, unsure of what I should do with myself. If I then try to “make up” an outing, I do what I did today when I headed to the grocery store because I’m in charge of treats for tomorrow’s “Morning Blend,” a mom’s group I go to. I ended up buying heart candies (for me), a 99 cent box of gingerbread holiday cookies (for me), […]
Whew, busy weekend. Good weekend. Lots to say so take a deep breath….Saturday was the Sara Groves CD release concert. Lana and I went to Don Pablo’s for dinner and had our favorite – regular magarita on the rocks, extra salt and fajitas. Then we headed to Northwestern for the concert. (I had to laugh just now at the irony of margaritas and Northwestern being in the same story).Everyone knows I’m a huge Sara fan so I could have sat there for two days listening to her sing and talk (I love when she tells stories). But I wasn’t in the best of moods. I told Lana on the way that I was in a bit of a funk and felt bad that I might ruin her night. We’d both been looking forward to this night for a very long time. In her typical understanding and easy-going Lana style, she replied, “I could […]
So back when I was a case manager, working with folks struggling with mental illness, I had a favorite client named Paul. I’m thinking of him because I got a couple of emails in response to applying to be a Psych. Assistant at Fairview Riverside. I started thinking, “oh, I could really get this job and then I’d be dealing with a lot of craziness again.” The truth is, I like it. I’ve been working in the mental health system for most of the last seven years. Boy could I tell ya some stories. Some are too sad and too hard to think about. Others are seriously funny. But anyway, getting back to my friend Paul. He was about sixty-five at the time and the spittin’ image of Yoda. Only his head wasn’t quite as wide… but he was very short and super cute in an odd sort of way. His look was […]
