27

For my 27th birthday today, I decided to share some random tidbits about me that you may or may not know. Hopefully I can come up with 27 of them!

1. My birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving.
2. Dean and I were born in the same hospital in Fort Lauderdale. Actually my brother and his brother and sister were born there too.
3. I once had a dog named Penelope.
4. I've been camping in Alaska. In a tent. In August. Still very cold.
5. I'm afraid of bees because I've been stung in the tongue.
6. I've also been stung on the inside of my left lower eyelid.
7. My favorite Christmas song is "O Holy Night"
8. My favorite movie is "A League of Their Own"
9. My dad is one of the only true Florida Marlins fans I know.
10. My grandmother used to make chili while wearing a helmet (random story, you'll have to ask about that later)
11. Dean and I met on a blind date.
12. We dated long distance for almost 2 years (except summers together)
13. My dad worked for Delta so we never went more than 3 weeks without seeing each other because I always flew up to where he was.
14. I have had 3 dreams that I've driven off a bridge into the water and died. Yes died. You really can die in your dreams and not die in real life.
15. I have almost a phobia of driving over bridges that curve or are very high, especially bridges that go over water.
16. I played alto saxaphone in 5th, 6th, and 7th grade. I wasn't bad at it either.
17. I've tried 3 different times but I can't play the guitar.
18. I can't play Rummy.
19. I used to do cartwheels everywhere I went. I even did them with a broken wrist.
20. Our high school gave us an extra week off for Christmas break my senior year because that was when all the computers in the world were supposed to crash due to Y2K. Like a week would've helped.
21. I was once the driver for someone mooning. It wasn't Dean.
22. A few days before we got engaged, Dean convinced me that he wasn't ready to get married until he was done with his Masters and Ph.D. program, which he figured would take another 7 years. It was our first (and one of the only) fight that made me cry. He then proposed two days later and we got married that December. He had the ring all along.
23. I'm still good friends with Jamie, whose mom and my mom were pregnant with us together. Now our kids will be friends too. 3 generations of friends!
24. My first piano "recital" was when I played for the judges at FSU to get into the School of Music.
25. While we were in the Keys one time, my dad did a u-turn in his truck and the boat we were hauling didn't make it and flipped over in the road. It actually gouged out a chunk of the road.
26. I am addicted to Sudoku.
27. My favorite food is probably pizza.

Thanksgiving Highlights

Well, we had a great Thanksgiving. A little quieter than normal, given that Dean's brother and sister and brother-in-law were all out of town, but still great. Some highlights:

We may have gotten our Christmas card picture. Not sure, I'll have to see what I can do with the ones we took. Taking a picture of a two-year-old smiling is like trying to grip a slippery bar of soap in a bathtub.

When Dean's grandmother (Tommy calls her Mumuh) arrived and needed people to carry her up the front stairs in the wheelchair, Tommy stood at the top and clapped, saying "Yay Mumuh!!"

He gave the nutcracker (the one he's afraid of) "knuckles". That's a big step for him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As I sit here watching Curious George, anxiously awaiting the start of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, I figured I'd share some things that I'm especially thankful for today. And every day.

1. My salvation
2. My family
3. My friends
4. Tommy waking up only to come snuggle on the couch with me this morning
5. The huge smile I got when I opened my eyes and he was smiling at me saying "Happy Thanksgiving!" (or something like it)
6. Dunkin Donuts coffee on sale for $2.00 off per pound
7. Seeing the steam rise from my coffee when I walked outside this morning
8. My brother spending the night, possibly giving me an excuse to make sour cream pancakes for breakfast
9. Quietly planning my Black Friday shopping route
10. Having my 80-year-old grandmother pass on her coveted cranberry sauce recipe to me this morning

Obviously these are just 10 of the millions of things I could have written, but they just happened to cross my mind as I was sitting here. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, I'll check back later!

Peace

My parents are going to a funeral today. A relative of mine was killed in a tragic hunting accident on Saturday. He was 15 and his father and two brothers (one older, one younger) were in the boat with him when it happened. Since I got the e-mail on Saturday night, I haven't stopped thinking about it. About the father who had to watch this surreal scene involving his son. About his brothers and the therapy they will surely have to undergo. About their mother getting that unexpected, but most dreaded phone call. About the unexplainable loss they will all feel. And about Thanksgiving tomorrow.

I don't know what the state of their faith is, but I do know that the mother sent an e-mail to everyone asking them to pray like crazy for their family. Yesterday I was in the car and was listening to an awesome CD, "Together" and the first track is a remake of Michael W. Smith's "Agnus Dei". As I listened I thought about this poor mother (I can identify with her most, being a mother), and as I began to cry, all I could pray was that one day they would come to the place of healing where they could praise God with the words of that song "For the Lord God Almighty reigns... You are Holy... Worthy is the Lamb..."

And one of my favorite verses came to mind "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

I know that may be the last thing on their minds as they go through today and tomorrow, but I pray that somehow the unbelievable peace that is found only in Christ will guard their hearts and their minds. Peace that is beyond their understanding. And that tomorrow for Thanksgiving they will be able to thank God for giving and taking away and for providing that immeasurable peace once He has taken away.

Early Birthday Present

My birthday is on Friday. Dean went shopping today. And gave me my gift the minute he got home (he's never been able to wait... it's so cute because he gets so excited). So I am the proud new owner of ... UGGS! They're not the boot kind, but more of the deck shoe type. And they're soooooo comfortable. I feel like I'm walking on a field of bunnies (but without the grossness that would naturally come from walking on a field of bunnies).

Food Fight

Tommy has officially developed an attitude. When someone asks him a question and he's in a sour mood, his answer is usually an emphatic "No-uh!" and I swear there's even a little eye roll in there. Food is the biggest struggle for us now. Not that he won't eat it. No, he eats us out of house and home. However, he's crazy about carbs. Bread, in particular. And until I get my wheat mill, what he's eating isn't going to be very good for him.

The other night we went with MeMe, BeBe (grandparents), Uncle Todd, and Sarah out to eat after church. We just went to One Fresh Stir Fry and I ordered him a bowl with brown rice, chicken, broccoli, spinach, and mushroms. A lofty pursuit, I know, but I figured now's as good a time as any to get him to eat this stuff. Well, he just picked at it and complained while we all ate and thoroughly enjoyed ours. Since it was my inlaws anniversary, they brought out a piece of oreo ice cream cake after dinner and six forks for us all to share. Of course, Tommy was all ready to eat the cake but I had to be tough mom and tell him absolutely not until he ate some of his food. Just a bite. And he finally did take a bite, but after he chewed it, he spit it out and gently placed it in my empty bowl. Then reached for the orea cake. And again I had to tell him no way until he ate a bite of food. At this point, I'm thinking all hope is lost because the rest of us are enjoying our cake and he's now starting to throw a massive fit. In the restaurant. But I held firm. And he ate a bite! Swallowed and all. So he got a bite of the oreo cake and was happy. But should it really be this hard?? I mean, we even watch Sesame Street where they sing about eating the colors of the rainbow (which always makes me hungry, by the way). Even Cookie Monster talks about eating Carrots and Cauliflower, which also begin with the letter C, instead of just cookies. Surely that would influence him. Not yet, though.

However, I do have some help. My family and I are all on JuicePlus , which is roughly the equivalent of 6 pounds of raw fruits and veggies in each serving. Just empty a capsule in his food, stir it in, and watch him get his daily dose of kale, carrots, tomatoes, barley, parsley, cabbage, beets, rice bran, and oat bran. And that's just for the veggie capsules. I believe that whole fruits and veggies are better, but when you have a child like mine who absolutely refuses and is as stubborn as a mule when he wants to be, you gotta do what you can.

Top 10

This is a fun month for me. Beginning on the day after Thanksgiving, Dean will allow me to go nuts and listen to Christmas music in the house, break out all my random snowman Christmas decorations, and clear a spot for the tree. Oh yeah, and that day is also my birthday. So here are the top 10 things I'm looking forward to in the next month or so (drum roll, please):

1. Decorating for Christmas

2. Carpenters' Christmas album... I'm a little sick of it, but there's too much tradition behind it to give it up (when Dean and I were first dating, I was over at his parents house and we were all decorating the tree. After listening to the Carpenters Christmas tape ...yes, tape... about 15 times, I decided to change it out for something else. There weren't a whole lot of options, so I put in an instrumental Christmas tape, and all activity froze in the house and they all acted like I had just kicked their dog. I haven't changed the music since)

3. Going to Oklahoma for the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State football game.

4. Taking Tommy to Dorothy B. Oven Park to walk around with all of the lights and mechanical light-up animals. Actually he might be scared, but we'll just have to face our fears.

5. Making hot cocoa from scratch (a new skill I've just acquired) and baking loads of cookies

6. Christmas on the Moon!

7. Christmas shopping at the mall, not online... gotta have the full experience

8. Family time

9. Dean's and my new tradition of watching a cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie every night in the month of December (except on December 7, when we'll be at Christmas on the Moon )

10. Our anniversary trip to Fontana Village, to relax and recover from a busy Christmas season

Now for some audience participation, what's your favorite Christmas movie?

Sunday Night Thoughts

We had another great night at The Well. I played in the band tonight, which is always fun for me. I thought we sounded great, although I think I spontaneously changed keys in the middle of a song, which is not something you want to do when you're playing with a bunch of people that aren't changing keys with you. But other than that it was a great time.

Dean finished up his sermon series called "Milli Vanilli, Ashlee Simpson, and You" based on the book of James. If you haven't heard these, they were awesome (not just because he's my husband) and you can listen here. Tonight he closed out talking about where our priorities are. It's actually not too difficult to tell whether you're "heavenly minded" or "earthly minded." How do you spend your money? What do you do with leftover money? Have you hoarded your money while there are people in your life that are in need? How do you handle trials? Where does your hope lie? What if it doesn't get better any time soon? The message was a great one, though a little more on the serious side.

Yesterday we got to spend lots of family time together. The highlight of the day was going to FSU for Sarah's soccer game. Tommy loves to see "See-ya" play soccer and always cheers her on and randomly spouts out "Good game, See-ya!" It was great to be there with Todd, Sally, and Benett, and we even saw some other friends there as well. We happened to be behind the knock-off garnet and gold guys, who of course never sat the whole game. The camera guys were taking pictures of them and filming them every chance they got, so I think we made it into the limelight a little. But best of all, the Noles won!!! Now they're heading to South Bend this week to play Notre Dame on Friday in for the Elite Eight tournament. If they win that, they're off to Cary, North Carolina for the Final Four and then hopefully the National Championship. Go Sarah, go!

My inlaws are celebrating their 29th wedding anniversary tomorrow. Shoutout to Tom, my number one (blog) fan! Happy Anniversary!!

So I'm Adopting an Elephant

Yesterday Tommy and I had a lot of one-on-one time. It's amazing how a child's vocabulary expands daily and they come up with all sorts of new ideas. For instance, Tommy's learning empathy. He has his stuffed elephant that he sleeps with (cleverly named "Elephant"), and now he brings Elephant everywhere with him. Yesterday he wanted to have a picnic in the hallway, so while we ate cranberry bread in the middle of the hallway, he was saying "Aw, poor e-phant. Poor e-phant! I sorry wittow e-phant!" I asked him what was wrong with the little elephant and he said "E-phant needs a mommy," and handed it to me and told me to hug him. I melted a little.

Uggs

I've always thought they were silly. Especially in Tallahassee or other parts of Florida where snow never touches the ground and they're usually worn with short skirts and short sleeved shirts. Doesn't make any sense to me. I mean, they're big and bulky, fleece-lined, which makes your feet sweat unless they're worn in less than 20 degrees (and who wants sweaty feet??), and they just remind me of the snow boots I used to wear when we'd go skiing in Colorado and my parents made me take ski lessons where we had to eat funny tasting chicken nuggets (I think they just sent me there so they could ski on their own. Can't say I blame them).

Now I'm reconsidering my opinion. You see, next week Dean and I are heading to Oklahoma City for the weekend, where I'm sure it will be on the chilly side. And then for our anniversary, we're spending a few days in Fontana Village in North Carolina. So I need to bundle up.

The disturbing factor in all of this is that I think I'm really starting to get old. I do check the weather channel almost daily and I get slightly worked up when threre's "extreme weather" approaching. Cold weather makes me want to go out and buy an impressive array of scarves, hats, and gloves, plus longjohns, thermal socks, and more. And that's just for temperatures in the 30's. I keep forgetting that I once lived in Louisville during the winter and I did indeed survive without all that stuff.

Then there's the occasional hurricane or tropical storm. Take Fay, for instance. Two days before it was set to hit, I was battoning down the hatches (yes, it was just a tropical storm), buying bottled water to tide us over (we still have some left), and keeping a close eye on the news. The day before it was supposed to hit, Lindsey Naitove asked me to go to lunch and I declined because there was a tropical storm coming. I realize this is silly and I feel like an 85-year old woman for being this concerned over the tropical storm. Especially since I have a very low-key personality and don't get this concerned over a whole lot. But it's who I'm turning into. And I'm beginning to embrace that.

So my question is, should this 85-year old woman buy herself some Uggs?

Happy Birthday Dean

My wonderful husband is 28 today. That means a few things to me. First, he's approaching 30 quickly. Second, I'm not far behind because my birthday is next Friday (although I'm a year younger). Third... we've kinda been together a long time because when I met him he was 21. Wow. Time goes by quickly!

So in honor of his birthday, I wanted to make a list of 28 things I love about him, in no particular order:

1. The way he makes sure to spend a good amount of time with us throughout the day.
2. The fact that he still takes me on regular dates.
3. How protective he is of Tommy.
4. How protective he is of me.
5. How he pretends not to like Dorsi and threatens to give her away on a daily basis but then I catch them snuggling on the couch at night.
6. When Tommy gets up in the morning and wants to talk in bed and I can't function because it's the morning, Dean just pops right up and starts a conversation. I don't know how he does it!
7. He's an incredible leader, both in public and at home.
8. His night time snack of choice is a glass of milk and a handful of pretzels. Weird.
9. Whenever we go to out of town football games, he makes it seem like we've gone to this city just to do stuff in the town and Oh, look, there just happens to be a football game as well!
10. He keeps in really good touch with his friends.
11. He calls to check in on me every few hours.
12. He has unbelievable confidence in me.
13. He can go to a college baseball game and sit all by himself. But he still invites me to go along.
14. His uncanny ability to talk his way in or out of anything.
15. The way he always knows people no matter where we go (we've run into people we know at a random football game in North Carolina before)
16. The fact that I'm no longer surprised when he talks his way in or out of anything or when he knows random people that we talk to.
17. His devotion to the Gospel.
18. His desire to see others be devoted to the Gospel.
19. His heart for his city.
20. His almost cult-like love for Leon High School.
21. His very unselfish love for me.
22. His very unselfish love for Tommy.
23. How close he is with his family.
24. How he always asks for either a cut up apple or cereal in a bowl with no milk for breakfast.
25. His random great road trip ideas.
26. He's always ready to drop everything and take a vacation with me.
27. The way he plays with Tommy, always devoting so much attention to him.
28. He's the best pastor I've ever had.

And those are just 28 of the reasons I love him. When we were engaged, I made him a gift of 101 cut-out hearts with a different thing I love about him written on each heart (we were apart for about 100 days and he could read one a day). So I have lots of other things but those are just a random 28. Happy Birthday Babe!! I love you!!

Wacky Wednesday

I love being a stay-at-home mom. It's not all bagels and tennis like I thought it would be (who am I kidding, I haven't played tennis in 15 years!), but it's more than I could have asked for. But this morning Tommy wanted Dean instead of me. All morning. Normally I would've taken advantage of that and gone right back to bed but for whatever reason I felt bad for Dean and got up with Tommy, allowing Dean to go back to bed. Then I promptly fell asleep on the couch. While he piled toys on me. Gotta love staying at home.

I've been listening to Christmas music a lot in the car, and Tommy's getting accustomed to all things Christmas. He asks to hear songs about Santa (even though he's really afraid of him), he sings "Happy Birthday" to Jesus, and he talks about "de-owations" (decorations). Meme and Bebe (Dean's parents) will have a winter wonderland set up in their house in two weeks from now so they're trying to ease him into the de-owations slowly. There's a Tommy-size nutcracker in the hallway when you first walk in. He's terrified of it. Could be a long December.

I love teaching piano! I have 14 students and a Christmas/Holiday recital coming up in 3 weeks and the kids are pumped. It's so cute to see them get all nervous and excited and talk about what they should do if they mess up. Why in the world have I ever worked a normal job? I get to stay home, work 7 hours a week, and use some of this music knowledge I've acquired. Can't beat that.

I have an 8-year-old student who was looking at my piano, which is made by a company called "Cable". She asked me when they started making pianos. I wasn't sure what she was talking about since my piano is like 65 years old. Then she said "I thought they only did TV, computers, and phones." Kids today.

And those are just some random thoughts for this Wednesday. Tomorrow I get the famous weekly "bagels with Kate". Tommy thinks she actually lives at Brueggers so we'll have to fix that one.

Following in My Footsteps

Lately Tommy's been really into shoes. He always wants to wear our shoes and walk around in them. Yesterday he put on Sarah's soccer shoes (which are almost his size) and tried to run in the yard with them. It was kinda cute. He also wanted her to wear his shoes.

The other night after The Well, I was cooking dinner and when he came into the kitchen I heard the familiar sound of heels clunking on the linoleum floor. I looked down and this was what I saw. Don't worry, I didn't tell Dean.

Weekend Recap

Last night at The Well was awesome. I love walking in with the last group of stragglers as the music is starting, just watching everything happen. I am more and more amazed each week by the faces I don't recognize. I'm bad with names (working on that one), so I usually tell people that I wind up meeting them twice but after two times I'm good. Well, I'm still on my first time with lots of people. That's a great thing!

Right on, Matt , I totally felt like that message smacked me in the face. And I knew it would. I was so looking forward to hearing it (in the way that you'd look foward to getting hit by a semi). Dean brought up this point last night, but since churches are made up of imperfect people there are lots of imperfect things that go on. And Satan wants to use as much of it as a distraction as possible. And I'm not immune to being used as a distraction. That's one thing God's teaching me to pray about now. Not being distracted and not allowing myself to become a distraction. This is a lot easier said than done.

Living with (and sleeping with) my pastor shows me the unbelievable amount of work and trust and dedication it takes to preach. I've never for half a second thought I could ever do anything like that and Dean just makes it look easy. I am never more proud of my husband than on a Sunday night when he is preaching something hard, something that speaks to him just as much as it does everyone else (I think that's every Sunday night). And I never love him more than when he is sitting on the floor with Tommy just playing cars... or whatever Tommy wants to play with at that moment. I'm so lucky!!

I'm so glad it's cold again! This Saturday was my first FSU game of the season, but it really felt like football. When I watch it on TV and see people wrapped in blankets in the stands shivering, I'm secretly jealous. Most of my football game memories are of wiping the sweat off my face, and standing for four hours straight. Lawton and Sarah were awesome enough to just randomly call a few days before and offer us their tickets so we could go to the game and they could stay here with Tommy. We jumped on that one, thanks guys! Just before the game a little kid threw up in our seats. So we moved over a section. As my father in law said, can you imagine out of 80,000 seats, ours got thrown up in?

107.1 is playing Christmas music again!!! My heart always skips a beat when I first hear it and I get really giddy. And Target and Publix are decked out. This thrills me.

Thoughts on the Pregnant Man

In case you missed it, ABC aired a 20/20 called "What is A Man? What is A Woman?" I missed it because I was out with the Well couples at Chez Pierre and I had such a great time! But I've read about it this morning.

To catch you up, Thomas Beaty, who used to be Tracy Beaty, married Nancy, who was 10 years older than him and already had two children from a previous marriage. Nancy knew that Thomas used to be Tracy but their relationship was a lesbian relationship. Are you following me so far? A few years in, they decided they wanted to start a family and since Nancy had already had a hysterectomy and they wanted their child to be related to them, it was only logical that Thomas inseminate him/herself (he had not completely removed all his woman parts) and carry the baby. Yes of course, it all makes sense now.

Susan Beaty was born June 29 and now Thomas is pregnant again.

The unbelievable thing is the great lengths these people are going through to be a "normal" family. Thomas said he was paving the way for more men to become pregnant. Is that odd and slightly sickening to anyone else? When he said that he just didn't think people were used to seeing a man pregnant, I wanted to scream "THAT'S BECAUSE MEN CAN'T GET PREGNANT!!!!" The effects of this are enormous. For Thomas and Nancy, it was an ordeal just getting the birth certificate to state the relationships that they wanted. By Oregon law, the person listed as "mother" is the person who gives birth to the baby (the nerve of them to generalize like that!). But Thomas wanted to be listed as the father and Nancy as the mother. So they finally listed them as "parent/parent".

I have to hand it to Thomas, he did go through 40 hours of labor (compared to my measley 28) and had the baby naturally, not via c-section. And now he voluntarily is doing it again. I must say, it took me about a year after Tommy was born before I wasn't afraid I might actually die in labor whenever I do it again.

My question is, will we get to the point where it's no longer the norm for a woman to give birth? Will the Women's Pavillion at THM have to change its name because it's sexist? To answer this issue biblically, I don't even know where to begin. Obviously this man/woman is hurting and has dealt with a lot of pain. But God heals instense pain. I think this also is a great indication of how much the Fall affects us today.

After reading the story and watching the clip, I'm still stunned and have a million questions and statements but can't find the words to express them. Confusion. Sadness. Bewilderment. What do you think?

The Storm

The thunder started at about 5:30 this morning. It woke me up, I'm sure it woke Dean up, and I knew it would only be a matter of time before Tommy woke up. He finally did, around 6:20. There was a huge thunder clap and he immediately started screaming. I ran in there and grabbed him, his fingers tightening around my neck. I brought him right back into our room, while he was saying "All done sleep!" and rubbing his eyes the whole time. The lightning was flashing like crazy and we got back into our bed. I cuddled him close and immediately his eyes closed.

He didn't make a sound for the next hour. The storm kept going, but I held him and it was as if he didn't even notice it.

Now of course I have a spiritual parellel here. When I look back at the various "storms" in my life, whether they were big or small, I reacted to them very differently based on where I turned for my comfort. In each and every situation, when I would turn to Christ and know where my true peace came from, the "peace that passes understanding" , it was amazing how my outlook changed. Did the situation change? Eventually. Storms do end, they don't go on forever. But in the meantime, I was able to weather it. And when things do seem to get overwhelming and I hesitate to trust God, I have to remember his track record in my life for getting me through these times (it's perfect, in case you were wondering). Mine? Not so good.

Lessons Learned

Today's been quite a day. And it's only lunch time. But I had quite a trying experience this morning and I'll just share with you the things I've learned about motherhood and just organization in general:

#1 - If you have a doctor's appointment, get a babysitter with enough time in advance.

#2 - If you can't find a babysitter, cancel your doctor's appointment.

#3 - If you can't cancel because the phones are down, go, but be sure to have lots of things for your 2 year old to do.

#4 - Don't bring your two year old to the doctor with you.

#5 - Don't worry if your child is loud in the waiting room. No one knows why you're supposed to be quiet in waiting rooms anyway. It's entertainining for everyone else.

#6 - Bring diapers and wipes with you. Don't leave them in the car. You may have to go to the 7th floor for your appointment and your toddler might poop in his pants minutes before they call you back so you don't have time to go to the car to get them (hypothetically speaking, of course).

#7 - When your child loses interest in the busy book you brought him, just pray for the doctor to call you back soon.

#8 - Don't take your two year old to the doctor with you.

#9 - Don't give him the random doctors' instruments that are on the counter to play with in the office while you're waiting for the doctor.

#10 - If your child still takes a pacifier, be sure to have one with you.

#11 - If you have to change your poopy child in the car after being at the doctors office for almost 2 hours and he's screaming because he wants his pacifier and it's at home, don't suggest going to get bagels with your friends. That only makes things worse.

#12 - Drive home as quickly as you can.

#13 - Don't take your two year old to the doctor with you.

Potty in the Tub

When I first heard Tommy was missing his corpus calossum , I read up on it and one of the possible (but odd) complications might be a lack of a sense of humor. I think we have a pretty funny family so I was pretty upset about that. Well, if you spend any time with him, you would see that's obviously not the case for him, as proved again last night while he was taking a bath.

He was sitting in his bubble bath and all of a sudden got quiet and concentrated while he was looking at me. If you have young children who are not yet completely potty trained, you know this isn't a good sign in the tub. Here was our conversation

Me: "Tommy, what are you doing?"
Him: "Tommy going potty"
Me: "Are you going pee pee?" (sorry to get graphic)
Him: "No, Tommy pooping."
Me: "You're pooping?"
Him: "Yes."
Me: "Really?!?"
Him: "Yes... (long pause)... NO!"

And then he bursts out laughing. He really had me going there and he knew it!

Dorsi

I've now been in the blogosphere for roughly 3 weeks. It's time to devote a post to Dorsi. She's my 24th birthday present from Dean, who knew I wanted a dog, but I don't think he realized how much of a dog she'd actually be. Dean picked her out when she was about 3 weeks old and continued to follow her growth from there. We have really cute pictures of her as a puppy sitting in a water bowl, curling up on a corner of our fireplace, snuggling with us on the floor.

90 pounds later, she knocks over her water bowl with one swift nudge of the nose and fills up the entire fireplace and still has to have her head hanging off the side (we don't light it anymore). She still cuddles with us though. In bed. Dean started that one when she was a puppy and we're paying for it to this day.

Most people have never met Dorsi and I usually get a "You have a dog?!?" when I mention her. We hide her well. You see, Dorsi is a litle wild. That's putting it mildly. Have you read "Marley and Me" ? I think it was actually written about Dorsi. I swear that's her in the pictures and she's huge and equally as nuts (if you haven't read it, it's on my top 3 favorite books... you need to read it!)

When she was 8 months old and I was 6 months pregnant, we decided it would be a good idea to put her through obedience school. Dean quickly began to dread Monday nights at Mojo's Backyard . There were 3 other very well-behaved dogs and a trainer who took her calling in life very seriously. We always showed up a little late, just after all the other dogs had been seated calmly. Then Dorsi would bound in and get everyone wild. She would literally run circles around each dog until they got up and chased her. Keep in mind that all these dogs were on leashes and so this quickly became a tangled mess. Much to the trainer's dismay, Dorsi was always able to do everything we taught her, she just did it with a little extra flair. I think she thought we must have done something terribly wrong to have such a nutty dog and she probably feared for our little bun in the oven as well.

But six weeks passed and it was time for the graduation ceremony. Dean conveniently had something to do that night so I went by myself with Dorsi to collect her diploma and give my congratulations to the other 3 dogs. When the time came, the trainer switched on a boom box that played a rough version of "Pomp and Circumstance" while she handed out the diplomas and said kind words about each dog and family. It was touching, really. All the dogs sat nicely in a row and seemed very proud of their achievement. When it came time for Dorsi to graduate, she was given the superlative of "most enthusiastic" (read: worst behaved). I had to take her diploma for her because she was rolling around in a puddle in the back of the room... now that I think about it, I'm not sure what that puddle consisted of.

Needless to say, she's forgotten everything she learned.

But with as crazy as she is, she's amazing with Tommy. Any other dog would have bitten him or at least packed their bags and called it quits living with this little guy. He fears no dog and shows it by pulling her fur, her ears, her tail, the whole nine yards. Of course we stop him and tell him how it makes her sad and hurts her and tell him how we don't hurt animals. But she just sits there and takes it. Not even so much as a growl.

We've adopted the appropriate nickname "Dorsi the Horsey" (as Matthew Robinson can attest to), and even though Tommy knows she's a dog, he's convinced she says "neigh" too. We're trying to correct that one.

So that's Dorsi. She's big and crazy, but she's my second "child". And if you're lucky enough to meet her one day, you'll grow to love her too. Maybe.

Monday, Monday

I'm back. I'm tired. Even though I went to bed at 9:30 last night. You know your child is sick when you sit up in the middle of the night because you hear a dog barking about 3 blocks away and you swear it's your kid's cough. Yes, that was me last night. But we're going to the doctor today so hopefully we'll be all better.

Vacation was great! Had so much fun with my family and got to see some old friends that I grew up with. It's weird because our parents have been friends forever and the kids (my age) have been friends forever and now we all have kids too. 3 generations of friends! Crazy!!

I had to miss The Well last night for the first time since our very first service (which happened to be the day of my grandmother's funeral). It was really weird being home, I'll watch the service later. Thankfully Sarah and Todd came over to bring us food and play Memory with us (which is a very intense game, might I add!).

So New Leaf. Haven't gotten to go yet, not sure when I will. But I'm making strides in that direction. I'm going to a health and nutrition seminar at Wildwood this Thursday at 6:45 given by Dr. Richard Dubois. Should be really great, let me know if you're interested!

And now I'm off to get Tommy a doctor's appointment with Dr. Walker (or Dapo Wato, as he calls him... ask me about Luke Skywalker sometime, that's a great story).

Sicky

Company and fish. They both start to stink after 3 days. While I don't think we're stinky company (my parents have reassured me of that), Tommy's been sick and tired and so he's beginning to stink. But of course we still love him.

We've packed our days out down here. It's been fun and quite a trip down memory lane. Apparently my mom has saved everything we've ever done as kids and even gave Tommy one of the old McDonald's hats (think a way oldschool Burger King crown) that I used to have. Maybe I wore it? Not sure. But he loves it.

We've been wearing out our welcome at the duck park and I really showed my true colors this morning when we were feeding the rabid ducks. At least they seemed rabid to me. Then there were all these white stork looking things that kept following us. I do confess that at one point when they all started coming out of the water like a bad Alfred Hitchcock movie and running towards us, I threw the entire bag of bread crumbs and ran down the path. I may have knocked Tommy over in the process. So maybe I don't like big birds following me.

We also saw Iguanas. Since I've left here, South Florida has been overrun with them. They swim in my parents pool, run across the telephone wires (they have those down here), and lay in the grass sunning themselves. Gross. Tommy was scared at first but then decided he liked the "big yozards" (big lizards).

So tomorrow we're back on the road home at 7 am. I will have been up for a while by then. I'm tired thinking about it.

Our first full day in Fort Lauderdale. Tommy's been up since 6:15 (I heard "Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Mommy?" all monotone, over and over again... it was kinda creepy) and he hasn't stopped moving since. After calling out every family member's name, almost all of us are awake (minus a certain someone he calls "Daddy").

Today it's off to Inserra field to take pictures by the sign and run around the bases (Tommy, not us). Then heading to the beach to play in the sand while trying to clear up his stuffy nose. And then lunch at my parents' new favorite spot on the beach, "Lulu's Bait Shack". Sounds so O.C., doesn't it?

I'm trying to get used to haveing a train go by the house again. This is the house I grew up in, but living in Tallahassee, I've forgotten all about the trains that go right next to the house (Random true story: before we moved here, there was a fugitive that was train hopping to escape and they found him so he ran away and wound up in our backyard. The helicopters were overhead and the police were outside telling the people who lived here to stay inside. Welcome to South Florida). We heard the train for the first time yesterday when we were almost here and had finally gotten him to go to sleep. We went over the train track and then the train whizzed by. It woke him up and he started to panic but Dean said, "That was Gordon, thundering by!" Now every time we hear it (roughly every 2 hours) he announces to everyone that Gordon is thundering by. So far, it's been a great trip.

We're Off!

There's a hustle and bustle around the Inserra house this morning. We're getting ready to drive to Fort Lauderdale in about 45 minutes to see my parents. I have the portable DVD player with 3 or 4 movies, some CD's and books on tape from the library, and lots of Sudoku (for me).

If all goes as planned, Tommy will get to go to the beach to play in the world's largest sandbox, and we'll go feed ducks at the Duck Park (affectionately named that by both Dean and I who used to go there as kids and neither of us knew each other... we didn't meet until we moved to Tallahassee at seperate times within the next 10 years. But that's a whole other story).

I'm sure I'll have stories and pictures, so stay tuned!

Wonderful Wednesday

Well maybe it didn't start out quite so wonderful. Let's just say I didn't vote for Obama. But we did have an election watching party last night with some of our fellow Well-ers. Matthew Robinson brought about 368 pigs in a blanket and a couple bottles of wine, Lindsey Naitove brought yummy rice krispie treats, and Kendra McCormick brought a patriotic flag cake (something our new president won't be wearing on his lapel. Sorry, I'll try to control myself).

Yesterday when I was reading to Tommy before his nap, he was in a good mood and called me a "funny wittow go" (funny little girl). He's so silly.

I took a picture of him smiling yesterday! I think that makes 4 total. He never smiles for the camera.

Matthew brought a Santa suit to the house last night and Tommy saw it. He's still saying "All done Santa costume!" Even just holding up the hat scared him. What's wrong with this kid?!?

We're heading to Fort Lauderdale tomorrow to see my family and for Dean to see his uncle. Mom already made cookie dough and is anxiously awaiting Tommy's arrival so he can cut out Thanksgiving cookies with her. We'll see how that one goes.

It's back to the library for baby time today! It's been on hold because of early voting for the past few weeks and Tommy is so excited to "shake your sillies out" again. So am I.

I'm attempting to go organic with our food as much as I can without going broke. Anyone tried New Leaf Market? It's kind of on the other side of town from us but I've heard it's got a great selection of produce at good prices. Let me know if I should check it out. Along with that, I'm really beginning to explore other healthy nutrition options, some that have been introduced to me by Tommy's middle namesake, Karen Knox . I'll keep you updated on that.

Dean's Secrets, Revealed

Real conversation between Dean and I this morning when I came home from the gym:

Me: Whatcha doin'?

Dean: Watching a documentary on how they make the creative characters in wrestling.

Yes, folks, this is what your pastor does in his spare time.

Election Day

Well it's finally here. The anticipation has been building for almost the past two years and tonight (hopefully) is the night we'll find out who wil be our next President. I'll be braving the crowds at my precinct today. I wanted to do early voting, but every time I drove by, the cars were backed up to the street and the line was wrapping around the building. So I figured everyone in Tallahassee has already voted and I shouldn't have a problem.

Because of all the emotion involved in the campaigning, I'm exhausted and I'll I've done is watch it on TV! I'm nervous, but I also know that the next person that gets elected won't be the savior of the United States. Too many people think the opposite. I do think things will be different than they have been before, Tommy will grow up in a different country than I did. Exactly what I mean by that, I'm not sure.

I do know that God is sovereign over all, even these elections. He is on his throne today. Tonight when the ballots are counted and people go nuts, God is on his throne. And tomorrow when things begin to blow over (hopefully), he'll be there. See where I'm going with this?

It's All About Winning

I've been a parent now for just over two years. It's nothing compared to most people, I know, but it's long enough to learn a few things. First, if you have a newborn boy, be sure you cover everything at all times when you are changing his diaper. Trust me on that one. Second, if they fall or bump themselves and are still deciding if they're hurt or not, clap and cheer and say "Yay! Wasn't that fun?!?" They'll usually agree and decide that they're fine.

The third thing: NEVER LOSE. I had heard that before I had Tommy and when he was little. I understood what that meant, but I didn't see how hard it was until the last year or so. Now Tommy's really cute and all, loves to give hugs and kisses, quite the little charmer. But the child is 31 pounds of sheer iron will! To Dean, this is a wonderful thing; he has said multiple times that Tommy has the personality to change the world. That's fine and all, but when he's two and you're trying to change his diaper, you would rather him not be trying to change the world at that moment. But I know to pick my battles with him and once I've chosen, I have to stick to it and never back down. I'm pretty naturally compliant, but since having him, I've had to have my will strengthened as well.

So last night was one of these moments. We had come home from church and I could see that he was tired, but he was also hungry. Never a good combination. I braced myself. I had made a pot of chili earlier (he likes it), and gave him a bowl of it. He took a few bites and then began to ask for everything else under the sun: "Cookie?" "Waffle?" "Banana?" "Breakfast Bar?" (Yes, he does ask for breakfast bars by name) "Candy?" "Bread?" You get the idea. Not far into that list he started crying and sounding really desparate. I just calmly made my salad and sat down next to him at the table. I continued to offer him his chili, and he continued to refuse, his tears just getting bigger. But I held firm. I just read the new Pottery Barn Magazine and tried to stay as calm as possible.

Then we had a breakthrough. I offered to get him out and give him a hug and his little arms went out so I removed his high chair tray. I hugged him for a second and then... HE ASKED FOR MORE CHILI!!! I was so excited! But staying cool, I gave him a bite. He wanted the tray back on his chair and he wanted to do it himself. I HAD WON! He took a few more bites and then said he wanted to go read in his room, which is code for "I'm tired, put me to bed."

One little victory, but it'll help me further down the road, I'm sure.

Repeat After Me

Tommy's vocabulary has increased tremendously in the past few months and it seems like every day he has some new words or phrases that he tries out. Some are great ("Tommy want a hug and a kiss?"), and some are not so great (asking for his "butt cream" when he's getting his diaper changed - totally my fault). Some are just bizzarre. The other day, he was watching his very favorite show of all time, Thomas and he heard the phrase, "Just then, Gordon thundered by." (Gordon is a train, for those of you playing at home) He ran up to me and started tugging on my shirt like he had to tell me something extremely important and said "Mommy, Godon funno by! Godon funno by!" I had no idea what he was talking about. It took a while before I realized it was just a line from Thomas. He'll still go around repeating that to people and they give him a blank stare.

I sometimes felt like that growing up. I was raised in church and I'm so thankful for that, but I think there are some things that just take a while for us to "get", spiritually. I had been taught things about salvation and God that were true, but I may not have understood the context of them. So when I went around proclaiming them, I confused people and then they in turn confused me when they'd challenge my statement!

These phrases like "God is good all the time, and all the time God is good", "Trust God", and even "Jesus loves me this I know" are all true and important phrases that we need to remember. But as I'm getting older, leaving my self imposed Christian bubble where it's like a controlled science experiment, and stepping out into real life, it's important to wrestle with those phrases. I always look to the Bible for my answers because I know that's the Truth, but I have to see God in the reality.

As I've grown in my faith, I realize that I have been afraid to question what God's been doing before. I've been afraid to be honest and tell Him that I have a hard time trusting right now and it seems easier to do things my way. I think maybe deep down I was afraid that He woudn't be able to handle it. But when I present all my mess to Him, it's amazing how He works. Sometimes it's really slow, sometimes it's immediate. But eventually it gives life to those "Trust God" phrases.

So as Tommy continues to learn these really odd phrases, we'll do our best to teach him the context behind them and then leave the rest up to experience. And we'll trust God to continue the faithfulness that's he's already shown him.

Maybe next year...

Well, Dean and I need to begin saving some serious money...

To pay for Tommy's therapy in the future. He had so much fun all day yesterday in his costume, going to the first grade Halloween party, making spider hats, the whole nine yards. We even went to Publix for their trick-or-treat special event (I think we were the only ones there trick-or-treating so it was a little weird). Then when the friends began to arrive, he was so excited! He played with his friends Dominic and Zeke, and he would have played with Caleb too, but Caleb got there around the time when... it happened.

He saw someone in a scary costume. Let me rephrase. It was a ghost, not a particularly scary ghost, but a ghost nonetheless. Let me add though, that on Thursday we saw two two-year-olds dressed as Tigger and Poo and Tommy just buried his head in my shoulder screaming "All done Poo! All done Poo!". So this guy could have been dressed as happiness and joy (whatever that costume would look like) and he still would have freaked.

Maybe Valentine's Day is more up his alley. I don't think he's ready for Christmas or Easter or anything like that. But we'll try again next year.