FOR REAL THIS TIME! I didn't get to see it but I was informed when I arrived home today - SHE'S WALKING! At only nine months I know we're in trouble, there's no stopping her now... Watch out world!
More pictures, click here to view
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Sunday, October 28, 2007
55
Congratulations Grandma/Nana & Grandpa/Papa on your 55th, it sounds like you had a nice lunch with your family and it must feel good to have each other and a loving family after all this time, to know that you can count on your family to be there through everything. Way to go, love you guys!
Surprise!
We have a new computer, yaay! I really miss posting more often so I'm going to try to catch up, but work is still wild (but getting better) so I don't know what the schedule is going to be. More importantly,
here's the latest pictures, click here to view
here's the latest pictures, click here to view
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Drought
It has been SOOO long since I've been able to write and I really mjiss it. I truly enjoy writing about what's going on in our lives and posting new pictures of the kids. It feels like a drought to me!
So I'm back, let's see what's new. I just discovered a new tooth in Shelly's mouth, she now has four on the top, along with the first two on the bottom, and I think its right around this time that we stopped counting for Archer - when they've got this many its really dangerous to stick your finters in there to feel how many they have. And they're too opinionated to let you just look inside their mouth anymore.
I swear, she's "this close" (imagine me holding my thumb and finger a half inch apart) to walking, its going to happen ANY MINUTE now. She not only stands up without holding onto anything, she also bends and straightens her knees, like she's dancing.
And, believe it or not, she is TALKING! She says Dada, and she says it when she sees her dad, its amazing. She also knows sign language. When she wants a bottle she shakes her hand up and down, the same way we do when we're making a bottle for her and shake it to mix up the formula.
Archer and Shelly spent the night with Mom & Dad last night and even after only 24 hours away from him, Archer seemed to sound so much older. Time just slips right on by. I must say that a lot on this blog, but I'm constantly reminded by my kids not to let a minute pass without paying attention, because I'll miss so much.
So I'm back, let's see what's new. I just discovered a new tooth in Shelly's mouth, she now has four on the top, along with the first two on the bottom, and I think its right around this time that we stopped counting for Archer - when they've got this many its really dangerous to stick your finters in there to feel how many they have. And they're too opinionated to let you just look inside their mouth anymore.
I swear, she's "this close" (imagine me holding my thumb and finger a half inch apart) to walking, its going to happen ANY MINUTE now. She not only stands up without holding onto anything, she also bends and straightens her knees, like she's dancing.
And, believe it or not, she is TALKING! She says Dada, and she says it when she sees her dad, its amazing. She also knows sign language. When she wants a bottle she shakes her hand up and down, the same way we do when we're making a bottle for her and shake it to mix up the formula.
Archer and Shelly spent the night with Mom & Dad last night and even after only 24 hours away from him, Archer seemed to sound so much older. Time just slips right on by. I must say that a lot on this blog, but I'm constantly reminded by my kids not to let a minute pass without paying attention, because I'll miss so much.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
SHE'S WALKING!!! (Ok, not really, but almost!)
9/27/07 Shelly stood up all on her own FOR A WHOLE FIVE SECONDS!!!!! Ok, so I might be exaggerating a LITTLE, but it was AT LEAST three seconds! Isn't it funny how things that are a huge deal right now will be just normal every day stuff a year from now? I guess that's why people like babies so much - they do lots of things for the first time, and we get to experience those things with them and watch them learning and growing. And, its easy to make them smile and laugh, another reason to like babies.
10/17/07 Its funny because what I wrote above was just a couple of weeks ago and already Shelly can stand on her own for at least a minute, she seems so close to walking and then running and then who knows...
10/17/07 Its funny because what I wrote above was just a couple of weeks ago and already Shelly can stand on her own for at least a minute, she seems so close to walking and then running and then who knows...
War Zone
"I'm going to shoot you!" he screams at me as he comes running through the kitchen. I turn and run away as quick as I can but I can't stay ahead of him on the tight turns through the hallway and living room - he catches up with me and pulls the trigger and a thousand (ok, not a thousand, more like ten) little foam darts come flying at my back, at point blank range, and stick to my shirt and shorts. I turn and aim my gun at him and fire a big foam ball which shoots past him and bounces off the wall. We both run around screaming, trying to grab up our amunition and re-load for the next round. Its complete anarchy and we're all screaming, running, diving for cover and trying to pump up the guns to be the first to take aim again.
I have to say, I am a hundred thousand percent against toy guns for kids, but they pretend that everything is a gun anyway, so why not go along with it and get some guns that are at least mostly safe? And plus, they're so much fun, I don't now if kids realize how much fun their parents can have playing with their toys.
I have to say, I am a hundred thousand percent against toy guns for kids, but they pretend that everything is a gun anyway, so why not go along with it and get some guns that are at least mostly safe? And plus, they're so much fun, I don't now if kids realize how much fun their parents can have playing with their toys. And so we resume, Archer re-loads, I pump up the gun for him, grab my gun, and we're off! (Calm, peace, and quiet are DEFINITELY overrated!)
Sunday, October 14, 2007
War Zone II
10/8
Its been hard to write lately, so much crazy stuff is going on and time is flying by like a big blur outside the window, my foot on the gas pedal without any way to slow down. A little like the movie Speed, if the bus slows down everything will blow up. Work is so hard lately, a four person operation down to two people with experience and one picking up experience quickly, sucked into working with us because he wants to help and doesn't want to see his daughter and son-in-law drowning, or suffocating, or whatever, under the work load. Thanks Dad. We really couldn't do it without you. But still, its so hard, and the family/work balance has been even more precarious. Its easy enough to say family is more important, let the work go and go home, but that's not so easy when for every minute earlier I leave, I know my husband will have to stay that much longer. So do I stay at the office and help him finish, then we both come home fairly late, see our kids just in time to put them to bed? Or do I leave earlier, knowing he'll have to stay much later because he's on his own, and I probably won't even see him come home because I'll already be in bed. Mostly I just hope to see him on the weekend, when maybe the highlight will be going grocery shopping together. Or spending five minutes on the couch together before one of the kids comes along to climb between. I really could not have guessed how much kids come between their parents. And I'm not saying this because I'm unhappy with my kids, I just really had no idea. Parenthood is supposed to be about putting up a united front to the kids, and childhood aparently is all about testing and pushing and trying to break down that alliance between the parents. A different, more subtle, war zone, I guess.
Its been hard to write lately, so much crazy stuff is going on and time is flying by like a big blur outside the window, my foot on the gas pedal without any way to slow down. A little like the movie Speed, if the bus slows down everything will blow up. Work is so hard lately, a four person operation down to two people with experience and one picking up experience quickly, sucked into working with us because he wants to help and doesn't want to see his daughter and son-in-law drowning, or suffocating, or whatever, under the work load. Thanks Dad. We really couldn't do it without you. But still, its so hard, and the family/work balance has been even more precarious. Its easy enough to say family is more important, let the work go and go home, but that's not so easy when for every minute earlier I leave, I know my husband will have to stay that much longer. So do I stay at the office and help him finish, then we both come home fairly late, see our kids just in time to put them to bed? Or do I leave earlier, knowing he'll have to stay much later because he's on his own, and I probably won't even see him come home because I'll already be in bed. Mostly I just hope to see him on the weekend, when maybe the highlight will be going grocery shopping together. Or spending five minutes on the couch together before one of the kids comes along to climb between. I really could not have guessed how much kids come between their parents. And I'm not saying this because I'm unhappy with my kids, I just really had no idea. Parenthood is supposed to be about putting up a united front to the kids, and childhood aparently is all about testing and pushing and trying to break down that alliance between the parents. A different, more subtle, war zone, I guess.
Ten Thousand Days
Things a person can accomplish in 10,000 days:
Learn to talk, walk, get dressed on your own, learn math and reading and writing, go to school and get a high school diploma, a college degree, a job.
Meet the love of your life, get married, have children, and live the dream.
See people pass away, see new people born, see things that are difficult and no one wants to ever experience but see how those things bring people closer together.
See wonderful things that are shared between friends and family, make memories that last a lifetime and tell stories that will live on past a lifetime into the next generation.
Today I am 10,000 days old.A lot can happen in 10,000 days and its impossible to list it all. All the good and the bad, all the things learned, accomplished, experienced, enjoyed.
I wonder what the next 10,000 days will bring? I hope only more of the same - some hard times which cannot be avoided, but overall good things, and I look forward to it. Watching my children grow up and learn, expeirience their own first 10,000 days of life.
Things I wish I had accomplished in my first 10,000 days of life: actually graduting from college instead of just going forever and never getting a degree. Spending more time outside instead of inside, even if its just sitting on the porch listening to the birds. Spending more quality time with my husband instead of slipping into the daily routine and letting too many of our days together slip by without meaningful conversation. Learning more about things around me, like gardning and the best flowers to grow around our house and the best ways to take care of them. Learning more about the people in my life, instead of making small talk about the weather.
The beauty of the list of things I wish I had done already is that there's nothing on that list that I can't start doing right now, right this minute, so that when the next 10,000 days passes, I can look back and know that I did what I wanted to do.
Things that I will do in the next 10,000 days: Get my diploma. Make my time with my husband and children more meaningful and less routine. Plant more flowers around our house. Get to know the people in my life that I don't know very well, like grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins, and especially the people that are in my brother and sister's lives that are important to them. Go camping or hiking or playing in the sand on the beach or playing in the mud in the back yard a lot more often.
I know there are a lot of people out there who have accomplished a lot more in 10,000 days than I have, but I don't care - I've done enough to feel fulfilled and happy and I certainly can't ask for more than what I have today. I feel fortunate and blessed and there are a lot more things on the list that I'd like to do in the future (go to New York, see a ballet, go on another cruise, spend a week in Door County just driving around looking at the scenery), but those are side dishes to the main course, as far as I'm concerned. The main course - parenting my children and taking care of my husband.
What things have you accomplished this far in your life, and what's on the list of things to do in the next 100 days? Or 1,000 days, or 10,000 days? Are the things on that list main course items, or side dishes? And why haven't you done those things already?
I challenge you to really think about what you are going to do in the next 100 days - not just what you HOPE to do or WANT to do, but WHAT WILL YOU DO? Make a list, maybe even put just one thing on that list, and then really do it. What is life without direction and goals? And I'll put on the website here a new countdown clock - to 100 days from now. Write something you're going to accomplish in the next 100 days. And 100 days from now, write how you accomplished it, not WHETHER you did it, but HOW you did it. Because I know you will.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Carseat Cartwheels
So... Something really awful happened last night. Actually, it COULD have been really awful and luckily it turned out ok.
I was walking down the steps outside Mom & Dad's house, carrying Shelly in her carseat, with Dad and David following behind me. Suddenly, I missed the last step, started falling sideways and down, and in the process of trying to stay upright and not loose her, Shelly's carseat tumbled out of my hands and I saw it turn over as it tumbled the rest of the way down the steps around the corner and then land upside down in the driveway. It was one of those slow-motion moments, when you see what's happening and your mind screams "Stop! Stop what's happening right now!" But your body can't react, and all you can do is watch things unfold in front of you. Dad was walking behind me and says all he saw was me start to go down and Shelly in her seat completely disappear from view. He stopped behind me and I just started yelling, "Get Shelly get Shelly!" He rushed to the upside down carset (containing a now hysterical baby) and picked her up. "Is she ok?" I must have asked him 20 times in 30 seconds, I was sure she would have landed on her face and really be hurt and all because I can't walk down the steps without falling down!
Those stupid steps, that I've probably walked up and down a million times, and I still couldn't keep track of where I was and missed that last one before the landing when you turn and go down a couple more to get to the driveway. And that stupid carseat, so big and bulky and heavy and awkward, I HATE carrying that dumb thing around and can't wait until Shelly's old enough to give up that carseat. And at that moment - THANK GOD for that carseat and its big bulky protection around my defenseless baby. It tumbled completely head over heels and landed face down, but the handle was up and Shelly was strapped in and stayed in while the handle kept her from actually landing on her face. The poor girl must have thought the world was about to end, can you imagine just riding along, Mom carrying you to the car, and the next thing you know you're flying through the air all alone and left hanging inside that seat until someone finally comes to rescue you?
When David helped me up and I was able to get a good look at our daughter's face and see that she was scared but not scraped up, I was so relieved I couldn't do anything but laugh. And as Dad described it, one minute everything was normal and the next minute I was sitting on the steps and Shelly had disappeared and all **** had broken loose. Thank God for that stupid carseat.
I was walking down the steps outside Mom & Dad's house, carrying Shelly in her carseat, with Dad and David following behind me. Suddenly, I missed the last step, started falling sideways and down, and in the process of trying to stay upright and not loose her, Shelly's carseat tumbled out of my hands and I saw it turn over as it tumbled the rest of the way down the steps around the corner and then land upside down in the driveway. It was one of those slow-motion moments, when you see what's happening and your mind screams "Stop! Stop what's happening right now!" But your body can't react, and all you can do is watch things unfold in front of you. Dad was walking behind me and says all he saw was me start to go down and Shelly in her seat completely disappear from view. He stopped behind me and I just started yelling, "Get Shelly get Shelly!" He rushed to the upside down carset (containing a now hysterical baby) and picked her up. "Is she ok?" I must have asked him 20 times in 30 seconds, I was sure she would have landed on her face and really be hurt and all because I can't walk down the steps without falling down!
Those stupid steps, that I've probably walked up and down a million times, and I still couldn't keep track of where I was and missed that last one before the landing when you turn and go down a couple more to get to the driveway. And that stupid carseat, so big and bulky and heavy and awkward, I HATE carrying that dumb thing around and can't wait until Shelly's old enough to give up that carseat. And at that moment - THANK GOD for that carseat and its big bulky protection around my defenseless baby. It tumbled completely head over heels and landed face down, but the handle was up and Shelly was strapped in and stayed in while the handle kept her from actually landing on her face. The poor girl must have thought the world was about to end, can you imagine just riding along, Mom carrying you to the car, and the next thing you know you're flying through the air all alone and left hanging inside that seat until someone finally comes to rescue you?
When David helped me up and I was able to get a good look at our daughter's face and see that she was scared but not scraped up, I was so relieved I couldn't do anything but laugh. And as Dad described it, one minute everything was normal and the next minute I was sitting on the steps and Shelly had disappeared and all **** had broken loose. Thank God for that stupid carseat.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Bug Festival
Last night I went out to get something out of my car and on the sidewalk there was a large gathering of potato bugs. Maybe 20 or 30 were all rambling around, it was like a family reunion of potato bugs. I guess it didn't bother me too much because they seem pretty harmless, they don't sting you, invade your house and eat it from the inside out, get into your cupboards and drawers. With other bugs you expect to see these sorts of gatherings, ants and bees and gnats. But potato bugs? That's just wierd.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Up & Down
Why is it that some days are SO GOOD and others are SOOOOO BAD? It seems like its one extreme or the other, with Archer really crabby, whining and crying about every dumb little thing and Shelly really clingy, wanting me to hold her and entertain her every second of the day. And some days are great, Archer going along with whatever's going on around him, agreeing to do what I ask, playing with his sister, and Shelly happy to just watch her brother running around, laughing at him as he makes lion noises or plays with his trucks.
A couple days ago I took Archer to the grocery store with me and he had a big fit and laid down on the floor and started crying (not just once, but twice). And yesterday, at his doctor appointment to follow up on the eye injury (which is doing just fine), he was PERFECT. I mean, really perfect, really amazingly well behaved and compliant with whatever the doctor wanted him to do. I suppose part of it has something to do with a stranger telling him to do things, and he probably felt a little intimidated, but its really amazing how he can be so difficult sometimes and other times what a perfect little angel.
Sometimes I try to figure out what the situation is that keeps everyone happy, and try to repeat that situation, but a lot of times it feels really random. (Ok, not the grocery store incident, because I wouldn't let him get the toy he wanted, but other times, when he's just randomly crabby.) So, another challenge of parenthood - trying to keep everyone happy, or at least not completely mad, and as soon as I figure out how to do that the whole dynamic will change because they're getting older and have different stuff going on. Only another 20 years to go...
A couple days ago I took Archer to the grocery store with me and he had a big fit and laid down on the floor and started crying (not just once, but twice). And yesterday, at his doctor appointment to follow up on the eye injury (which is doing just fine), he was PERFECT. I mean, really perfect, really amazingly well behaved and compliant with whatever the doctor wanted him to do. I suppose part of it has something to do with a stranger telling him to do things, and he probably felt a little intimidated, but its really amazing how he can be so difficult sometimes and other times what a perfect little angel.
Sometimes I try to figure out what the situation is that keeps everyone happy, and try to repeat that situation, but a lot of times it feels really random. (Ok, not the grocery store incident, because I wouldn't let him get the toy he wanted, but other times, when he's just randomly crabby.) So, another challenge of parenthood - trying to keep everyone happy, or at least not completely mad, and as soon as I figure out how to do that the whole dynamic will change because they're getting older and have different stuff going on. Only another 20 years to go...
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