Growing Up Riggs

Some Dates

2012-01-28T15:45:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my due date. With Cate. I remember that day coming and going and there being no sign of her arriving anytime soon. I wasn't dilated. I wasn't having contractions. It would be 9 more days before I would finally get to meet the little girl I had already named. The little girl I was already in love with. That little girl got her very own library card this week. She turns four a week from tomorrow. At our library, you can get a card when you can sign your name.
At Cate's age, she is allowed to check out three books at a time and thankfully, doesn't get a fine if they're late.
I love that my girl loves to read. Just like her mama. ;-)
Three months from today, I hit a kind of milestone birthday-- 30. I'm not freaked out about it. It's not sending me into some weird sort of crisis. I've had the advantage of watching quite a few friends pass this milestone before me. Some with quiet celebrations. Some with big parties or nights out on the town. I have no idea how I want to celebrate-- but I have three months to think about it. I'm thinking a pedicure or a massage would be nice. Lunch or dinner out with Eric and the kids. Graeter's Ice Cream for dessert. Maybe shopping for a new outfit-- splurging at a store I normally can't afford. Maybe some gathering of other family and friends. No presents, just their presence. Although I'd be totally okay if Eric got me some photography lessons. Or even one of the few books I want in print instead of on my Kindle.

The end of April is funny here in the Midwest. Some years I have been in shorts or a sundress. Others have been spent sipping hot chocolate and waiting for snow to melt. It will be interesting to see what it brings this year. Given our mild winter so far, I'm holding out for sunshine, but am prepared for a blizzard.

My 30th conveniently falls on a Saturday, so I don't have to worry about work. I'll have the day to mark my movement into another decade. It's weird to think that I traded the latter half of my twenties for toddlers...
...and that I'll be trading the latter half of my thirites for teens.

~Melody :-)

A House Guest, Painting Guitars, and Bad Shrimp

2012-01-22T13:02:00.007-05:00

As soon as I walked in the door on Friday, my spirited, sweet girl nearly tackled me before I could get my wet shoes off. "Mommy, I got to bring home Mr. Bear. Mrs. Norris choosed me, Cate, to bring Mr. Bear home."

Mr. Bear is Cate's class' bear. The kids all get to take a turn bringing him home and then writing about their adventures with him in his book. Cate felt extra special since she got him for the weekend. And not just any weekend, but a weekend in which she was spending the night with Grandma and Poppy (Eric's parents). My mother-in-law arrived about 15 minutes later to pick up the kids, and Cate tackled her to tell her the news as well. We got the kids packed and loaded and enjoyed a quiet house before date night.

Date night was fabulous. We had a Groupon for a favorite local eatery and then we were meeting up with some friends at Cheers to Art, a local paint studio. If you've ever done pain-your-own-pottery, this is like that, only better. They had a date night special where the guys got to paint free. The painting of the evening was a guitar, which fit both us and our friends well as both guys LOVE to play guitar. We donned our aprons and sat before blank canvases.
They guided us every step of the way, playing awesome music while we painted (my favorite was when the whole room busted out to the chorus of "Sweet Caroline"), and slowly, our paintings took shape.
We made ours mirror images to hang together. We'll most likely put them above our bed (we even painted the side of the guitar that matched the side of the bed we sleep on-- and no, that wasn't planned) since the colors in the paintings match some of the colors in our bedroom.
Afterward, we had appetizers with our friends at a local pizza place. The ice storm that was predicted for the night was just starting as we said our goodbyes. Unfortunately, when we got home, Eric and I both had horrible stomachaches and nausea. While neither of us got sick, we felt pretty crappy the rest of the night and attributed to bad shrimp at the restaurant where we ate dinner (either that or bad ranch dressing since those were the only things we had that were the same). Needless to say, we took yesterday morning easy, waited for the ice from the storm to melt a little, and then headed to pick up the kids. Clearly they had fun.
Eric's step-dad is just really getting into digital photography. I'm envious of his awesome dSLR (not that I'm complaining about mine though). He used to do a lot of regular film photography-- weddings, senior pictures, etc. In fact, he took our engagement shots and wedding pictures. They turned out wonderfully. He had some fun with Cate, one of his backgrounds, and his new flash.
By last night, Eric and I were feeling pretty much 100% better. Cate worked on her Mr. Bear page for her class book.
We snuggled and watched a movie.
My boys read books-- Brennan has a few he is starting to prefer now.
Today has been pretty quiet since we got home from church. My sweet girl and handsome hubby are at the Children's Museum on a daddy-daughter date. Brennan is sound asleep and will hopefully stay that way for a bit so I can do a little knitting and reading in this quiet house. Once Cate and Eric return, I'm off to my typical Sunday early evening restorative yoga class-- a class that helps me feel so clear and focused and ready to start the work week.

I hope you all have had lovely weekends, too.

~Melody :-)

How Jury Duty Made Me Thankful

2012-01-19T19:01:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I was officially released from jury duty. In our county, jury duty lasts two weeks, but you don't have to go every day. Last Monday was my first day and was mostly orientation stuff. I didn't have to go last Tuesday, but did have to report on Wednesday and Thursday. Both of those days I pretty much sat in the juror waiting room (large room, a few TV's, free coffee, couches, chairs, and tables) until the court rooms cleared. Basically, the county has to have enough jurors in the waiting room to fill the jury should any case goes to trial that day. On average they call in 100-150 people per day. Once you get to the courthouse you wait. If your name gets called, you're going to be interviewed to be on a jury. If you get picked to be on the jury (they have to make sure you don't have any personal prejudices, know people on the case, etc.), then you stay in the courtroom and come back every day until the trial ends. If you don't get picked, you head back to the waiting room. My jury duty officially ends tomorrow, but they dismissed anyone who started last week, yesterday afternoon.

While I was kind of hoping to be on a trial-- mostly because I thought it would be interesting-- the "me time" I got in the waiting room was nice too. I knitted. I read. I wrote. I read and knitted some more. And I learned a few things despite never even going through the interview process (just luck of the draw, nothing I did or said).

1. I am thankful I have great friends. There were some women in the waiting room who would talk to anyone who would listen and who would give you every last intimate detail of their lives if you let them. I'm all for making small talk with strangers. And I don't doubt that some people make friends in the juror waiting room. But I think on some level, it takes someone who is a little lonely to reach out to people in a group of strangers. Strangers that don't have the best attitudes because, let's face it, not too many jurors want to be sitting there essentially doing nothing when they could be at home or at work doing something productive.

2. I am thankful we have good health care. I had no desire to mess with parking downtown, so I rode the bus. The express line stops at the end of our street during rush hour. It makes 2 or 3 more stops and then gets on the highway and heads straight downtown (as opposed to taking back roads the entire way as regular buses do). Two of the days Eric picked me up downtown when I was dismissed. One of the days though, he was in the middle of lunch time at home when I got dismissed. So I hopped on the bus home. As it wound its way out of downtown, a young mom with two kids got on. The older kid sat next to me. The mother sat with a baby on her lap across the aisle. The baby had a horrible sounding cough. The older sister fell asleep leaning on me. They got off in front of the city health clinic. While the clinic provides good health care, I'm thankful that I don't have to rely on it. And I'm thankful that when my kids are sick, I can put them in the car and head to the doctor instead of loading them onto a public bus and enduring cold stares from strangers who are probably dying to get home and sanitize their hands and wash their clothes after hearing that cough.

3. I am thankful I have hobbies. Some people just sat there. Doing nothing. I'm glad I know how to knit and that it's portable. I'm glad I enjoy reading. I'm glad I like to write. I'm thankful God gave those things to me to keep my hands and mind busy-- that He gave me those things for my enjoyment.

And so jury duty is over and we'll see how long it takes before I'm called for it again. Hopefully not anytime soon.

Tonight, my kids are playing a funny chase/crawl game in the hallway. They are learning to become friends. The age difference is still a struggle (Brennan doesn't have a lot of words to communicate, Cate doesn't like when Brennan "wrecks" her stuff), but I love the moments like this. The moments that tell me a year from now, a decade from now, they'll be friends. Oh, there will be moments when they're ready to kill one another, but they'll be friends. I have no fear that either of my kids will go looking for friendship in a disinterested juror waiting room .

~Melody :-)

Five Days Ago, 10 Years Ago

2012-01-12T18:27:00.002-05:00

Five days or so ago-- last weekend and at the beginning of this week-- the weather was unseasonably warm-- weather I would've killed for this time last year when I was pretty much snowed in/rained in/cold-weathered in with a newborn and an almost 3 year old. It meant that we could walk to the park this week. Yes, in January.
We had some fun on the swings. Cate showed off her mad tight-rope walking skills.
Then the sun did this:And the moon did this:
So we walked home. Today, about 5 days later, the view from my front porch looks like this: Funny how quickly things change, huh? In fact, this made me think of how, 10 years ago around this time (I don't remember the exact date, nor do I feel like digging up my journal from that year to find it), my heart was breaking. A guy that I thought I was destined to be with forever dumped me. We had been together for a year and a half. I had a lot invested in that relationship. I was convinced I was doomed to be single forever. Little did I know, that about 6 weeks later I'd meet Eric for the first time and that by the end of the semester, we'd be dating. Little did I know that about 15 months after that horrible breakup, I'd be in Central Park in New York City with a man asking me to be his wife. Little did I know that 10 years post-breakup, I'd have built a marriage, bought a house, become a mom, and changed in so many ways. Funny how quickly things change, huh?

We don't always know what changes are coming. Some take time (like relationships) and some surprise us (like quickly plunging temperatures and rain that turns into snow and hopefully might mean a delay tomorrow morning). And sometimes change is just downright painful. But many times, in the end, the change is worth it.

~Melody :-)

PS...Speaking of change, weaning has gone smoothly. Brennan doesn't miss it at all and aside for feeling crappy for the first couple of days post-weaning, I'm starting to feel much better now. My kids need a mama who feels 100%, which trumped feeling 50% all the time just so I could feed Brennan a few ounces once a day. My body is still changing and adjusting-- it's been less than a week-- but once it adjusts, I'm looking forward to feeling GREAT!

Bittersweet

2012-01-06T18:39:00.004-05:00

Tonight is bittersweet. My sweet little man, now with 7 teeth (number 7 popped through today, and I have to tell you, with numbers 5-7 you wouldn't have even known he was teething-- he was that good), is growing up. And tonight is the last night I'll nurse him to sleep.

Truth be told, it's been several weeks coming. I hesitated to blog about all of this, but decided I would, mostly because I want any other woman going through something similar to know she is totally normal.

I blogged last month about how I really hadn't felt well since I'd had the flu at the beginning of November. A couple of different doctors ran lots of different tests and the conclusive result was that every unpleasant symptom-- from nausea to dizziness to insomnia to breaking out in a sweat to headaches-- was due to the hormonal changes of weaning. A weaning that went fast because of the dramatic decrease in milk supply brought about by the dehydration during the flu.

I've only been nursing before bed for about 3 weeks. Most of my symptoms have subsided and are manageable. So I decided to keep nursing before bed for as long as I could. Cue weird rash cropping up earlier this week. Yup, hormone related too. And that's pretty much when I knew. To feel totally normal again, I need to go easy on myself and give up the night nursing. And to be completely honest, he's really not all that interested in it either. Probably because there's not much there. We made it 11 months on breast milk as his only liquid nutrition (other than the formula supplements we had to give him in the hospital), he had morning and nights on mommy milk for most of December, and now, at two weeks past his first birthday, we're stopping for good. It was my own personal convictions that kept me going and I make no judgements on women that choose to nurse for longer periods of time, shorter periods of time, or not at all. Every woman is different.

I'm happy I was able to give him that much and I'm happy to get started on making a full recovery and feeling fully normal again (and not feel like my skin is crawling).

I'll leave you with a video of my cute little guy playing with the kitchen timer, which he couldn't decide if it was a phone or a teether (no small parts, promise). I love watching him play and pretend. That boy can "zoom" some cars, too! He's really starting to enter a fun stage of babyhood. That stage on the cusp of todderhood. He has his 1 year checkup on Monday and I'm hoping it shows a weight gain as well as brings some suggestions for helping with the gagging/tonsil issue (he still gags on chunky food, but since the antibiotic to reduce his tonsil swelling, he hasn't actually vomited).

I love my little man! Cheers to our last night!

~Melody :-)

Welcome 2012

2012-01-01T11:47:00.004-05:00

Despite it's ups and downs, 2011 was a pretty good year. And really, a lot of those things we thought were "downs" turned out to be blessings in disguise. We rang in the New Year quietly. My sister-in-law, her fiance, and her fiance's daughter came over for dinner (yes, in 2012 I get to become Aunt Melody to one adorable little girl-- the brother I'm gaining is pretty cool too). The soon-to-be cousins played and wore their matching jammies (thanks, Grandma) and made it up until midnight to see the ball drop.As if on cue, they both started to lose it about 5 minutes into the New Year. We said our goodbyes and Cate was asleep before her head hit the pillow. Little man had crashed at 9:30.
I had nursery duty at the 8:30AM service today. There were two of us working and two babies to rock. The rest of today will be spent playing with my kids, knitting a bit, attending a yoga class with a friend, and snuggling with my man after the kids are in bed (which will probably be early tonight). My husband has graciously let me sleep in most days during this break, but tomorrow I need to set my alarm to get up at least by 7, so that 5:15 doesn't quite hit me like a truck on Wednesday.

I have high hopes for 2012. It will be the year that Brennan will learn to walk and will transition into full on toddler-hood. It will be the year that Cate will go to school all 5 days (she'll do 5 half days starting in the fall). It will the year Eric and I will both turn 30 and begin a new decade. February 2012 will mark 10 years since we first met. The 2012-2013 school year will be my 9th-- my last year in single digits-- weird.

I'm keeping my resolutions simple again this year since that's what helped with my success in meeting last year's:

1. I'd like to once again branch out in my knitting and make something new. Eric bought me all of the fixin's to make these (expensive yarn included). I'm kind of obsessed with their cute-ness and retro-ness.

2. I want to really learn how to use my camera. I've had it for nearly 3 years and Photoshop Elements for nearly 2 and I'm not even close to using either to their full potentials. I've gotten great shots, mostly by luck, but I'd like to take a class on learning to use my camera and delve back into my PSE book to learn how to use it in editing. A friend of mine recommended this class, taught by a local woman, but all online so I don't have to physically drive to the class. I think it would make a lovely 30th birthday present, hint, hint, hubby.

3. I want to (and need to) unplug a little more. I love my iPhone and my Kindle and our Mac, but I love a good game of pretend with my kids or an afternoon at the park or a movie with my husband. And to be fully present in those things, I need to be fully unplugged-- not browsing Twitter or Facebook while I sort of watch the movie, not playing a word in Words with Friends while Cate waiting for Cate to find me when playing hide and seek at the park, not surfing the internet while Brennan plays with his toys next to me.

4. And once again, I want to continue to grow and cultivate my faith. I experienced such growth last year and I want it to continue. I'm thirsty for more. I'm hungry to be closer to God. This isn't something that's always come easy to me. I don't always want to get out of bed and go to church. I don't always want to be in community with others. I don't always feel like praying. But I know those things help me grow and I will continue to pursue those things as I grow in faith.

New Year blessings to you all. I hope 2012 is wonderful!

~Melody :-)

Year End Reflecting Pt. 2

2011-12-31T13:33:00.005-05:00

Hey, It's Papa E. I felt led to share some of my reflections here as well, during one of the most turbulent years in my life. As you've been reading from my wife's posts, from the birth of our son, my loss of employment and a shakeup of our family dynamic, I've been forced to wrestle with some big questions. Here are some of the answers I've found.

What does it mean to provide for your family?
As head of household, I'd heard several biblical references as to what my role was, and that often centered on a theme of providing. This idea troubled me for a while, until I was encouraged by some friends that providing can be in the form of taking care of my kids, keeping our house in order, and being the spiritual leader of our family. I can't say that I've mastered even one of these, but I am doing my best to provide in this way, and know that God is blessing it.

What's my next move?
This one probably bothered me more than any other question, and lead me into a rather dark period for almost a month. I felt angry with God, betrayed, let down by people in my life, and all for very selfish reasons. I felt that I had essentially wasted so much of my life on training and things that didn't matter. I felt I have no real marketable skills or assets to highlight on a resume for if and when I am able to get a job again. I was angry at the people who told me to "follow my passions," since following my passions lead me into retail and many other things I didn't particularly enjoy simply out of necessity. I was really waiting for my Job moment when God would essentially tell me, "Ok. You've questioned me enough. Strap on your boots, and answer me. Where were you when I formed the world? ..." This moment never actually came. God instead showed up at a candlelight service at church and simply said, "I'm still here." It was all I needed. Over the next few weeks, I felt rather foolish for my anger and lack of gratitude, and spent the rest of the holidays simply thanking God and others for all the blessings I've been given.

How do I lead my family?
In Humility. That has been a hard lessen to learn, especially through my daughter's rebelliousness and mischievousness, and trying to time manage with preschool, feeding schedules, cleaning and the like. My temper has far too often gotten out of control, and my words have not always been encouraging. But when I am able to accept criticism and think clearly, I can be humble, and apologize for my faults and get us back on track. That has lead to some great moments with my children and my wife.

What is worth writing about?
This seems like a trivial question, but if you look back at some of my posts in this blog, you can see that I liked to make broad social commentary. I think I had a compulsion to honor God with my thoughts and somehow enlighten people. In retrospect, many of my comments were not only ignorant but entirely conceited. The only thing I have any authority to write on is my life and the life of my family. I will focus on them.

Now that I feel like I've got some answers to some questions, I'm going to be open to new questions this year, and be honest about them here. A few quick things I would like to resolve to do this year (mostly inspired by and stolen from my wife):
1. Grow Spiritually - I witnessed my wife grow closer to God this year, and would like to emulate that.
2. Be more creative - My daughter has become engrossed in music and I want to foster that. I'd also like to write a couple of songs, and maybe start working on another choral piece.
3. Be more thankful - from new friends and new beginnings to family and physical blessings, I want to express my gratitude whenever possible.

On that note, I think I'll go hang out with the fam. Happy New Year and Cheers!

- Papa E

Year End Reflecting

2011-12-30T10:02:00.009-05:00

2011 was a year of change. Physical changes in my children were perhaps the most noticeable.
Brennan went from snuggly, smiley, newborn to not-quite-a-toddler.Cate lost the little bit of toddler she still had left in her face and is a full-on kid now.
She's one tall, lean, drink of water and I'm fairly certain she's going to be the object of many a school boy crush. Other changes were obvious too-- Eric's change in work, my 8 months as a stay-at-home-mom (which I think made me both a better mom and a better teacher, if that makes any sense), Cate starting school, Brennan starting to crawl, the physical changes as I dropped some baby weight and then A LOT of weight with all the crap I dealt with in November and the first part of December (mostly under control now-- I wouldn't mind a redo of November and part of December though).

Eric's job change gave us the blessing of being able to spend the summer at home together. We spent a lot of time at the pool in summer of 2011.
2011 was the year that Eric learned to brew his own beer.
It was the year Cate learned to write her name, and the names of others since she knows her letters.
Brennan learned so many things, it's a whole other post in itself (well, actually they're all mostly documented in various posts on this blog).
I learned to knit something other than scarves and dishcloths.
I found beauty in the silence before the kids get up and I have a hot cup of coffee or tea in my hands...or in the silence after they go to bed, when Eric and have taken to watching DVDs and playing games (like real Scrabble, not Words with Friends on our iPhones).
I found peace and focus of a gentle yoga practice (I'm really, really, loving yoga right now).

We explored art with Cate.We explored our neighborhood.
We camped.
We canned.
We read.And we loved. Oh my, did we ever love. My heart is full to overflowing with the love I have felt this year-- for my husband, my children, my family, my friends. I laughed hard and cried hard this year. I played hard and prayed hard. And I left no room for regret.
I'm excited to see what 2012 has in store for us. I'm ending this year feeling incredibly blessed and lucky. I'm ending this year feeling hopeful.

Wishing you all peace and blessings this New Year!

~Melody :-)

PS...Here is a link to the resolutions I made last year. I'm happy to report that I've gotten much better at being more "present" in the moment, did learn how to knit more (still kind of sitting on the same set of sewing skills though), and experienced tremendous spiritual growth through prayer, study, and following a read-through-the-Bible in a year plan. Not sure yet what I want to resolve to do in 2012.

Love is All You Need

2011-12-27T15:36:00.008-05:00

I'm not going to lie-- there are times when I really wonder what in the world we were thinking when we decided to live off of one income. I really start wondering this when I browse blogs of perfect strangers and see elaborate birthday parties thrown for their kids. Or when a picture pops up on my Facebook feed of someone I haven't seen or spoken to in years enjoying some expensive, tropical vacation over Christmas. And I'm not even saying that I would do those things if we had the money (I mean really, hundreds of dollars on a one-year-old's party that he/she won't remember-- not very practical, no offense if you're someone that would do that though, I'm just practical--on the other hand, I'll take the tropical vacation). But still, the fact that I couldn't throw some elaborate birthday party for my kids even if I wanted to, sometimes gets under my skin, despite the fact that I know that even if Eric were working, his entire paycheck would be paying childcare for our two kids. So instead of an overwhelming amount of presents, I watched my little guy tear into a few simple things that he's been playing with non-stop since he opened them.
Instead of paying hundreds of dollars to rent out a space and have someone else entertain the kids, we crammed into our house, snacked and visited, and the kids made foam robots (he had a robot-themed birthday).
Instead of spending a lot of money on a cake, I made a cake, did my best frosting it, and watched my little boy cautiously poke his finger at the frosting and lick just a little bit before deciding he'd rather have some banana puffs. And afterwards, we watched him tear into a few more presents.
And really, two days before Christmas, I was overwhelmed with the amount of love shown for my little guy. I was so afraid that only Brennan's grandparents, great-grandparents, and aunts would show up. But friends stopped by too and made his (and our) day.
Then there was Christmas. Our house is cozy and you can still barely walk through it despite having moved many toys out of the living room and to the basement playroom. But there is no doubt in my mind that my kiddos are loved (by us, by family, by Santa).

(Cate playing with a magnetic dress up bear set that my grandmother made for her)

I deliberately didn't take any pictures of Christmas morning as I wanted to be in the moment and not behind a lens. Pictures above are from Christmas Eve and later Christmas Day.

I say all this, because the lesson I've been reminded of these last few days has been this-- sometimes, love really is all you need (I love The Beatles).
Expensive birthday parties and exotic holiday trips are nice if you can afford them. But as I cuddle up in my new pajamas while Cate really gets into playing Playmobil and Brennan zooms his cars on the floor and my hubby listens to some new vinyl, I find that I really can't ask for much more. I've kind of got it made, really. A loving husband who is a fantastic father, two beautiful children who light me up with their smiles, a home full of love and history that comes with a mortgage cheaper than the rent we used to pay, family that is there for us in any situation, friends that laugh and grow with us. That's a whole lot more than most people have. That's a whole lot of love too, if you ask me.
That love may not buy a whole lot, but really it's priceless. Besides, we're saving up to take that awesome, exotic trip in 2014-- when we celebrate 10 years of marriage!

Love and peace to you all! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

~Melody :-)

My Sweet, Sweet, Boy

2011-12-23T04:13:00.001-05:00

Dear Brennan,
Your presents are wrapped.
Everything is waiting for you to wake up.
I've scheduled this post to publish at 4:13AM, the minute that I met you exactly one year ago.
I never thought another boy would steal my heart. Up until now, your Daddy was it for me. But then you entered the world after 21 hours of labor that resulted in an emergency c-section and you had my heart from your first cry.
You were a perfect early Christmas present. You made Cate a big sister.
You showed Mommy and Daddy just how possible it is to love two kids so much!
Your smile and laugh are infectious!
You are such a smart boy. We've already heard you say "Mama," "Dada," "doggie," "cat," and "fish." You are curious. I'm pretty sure making car noises is a skill you were born with. And man, do you have an arm!
Thanks for being patient with us as we learned to use cloth diapers. And to make your food. And as we figured out that it wasn't a sensitive reflex, but big tonsils that caused you to gag so much.You were a great roommate for the entire year that you bunked in with Mommy and Daddy, not even stirring when we'd giggle to 30 Rock or Modern Family.
You crawl fast and cruise the furniture. You point at everything and want to know what it is. You are pure joy and delight and blessing all rolled into one perfect package. We love you so much! You are my sweet, sweet, boy! I'm excited to see what year 2 brings!

Love,
Mommy

Ordinary Miracles

2011-12-22T08:52:00.004-05:00

While I wish I had enough spare cash in the bank to be one of those layaway angels who anonymously provide Christmas miracles for people, this year I'm thankful for the ordinary miracles in my life.

Like Brennan's antibiotics working wonders to heal him. He's sleeping better, eating better, and seems happy. Hopefully he's gaining some weight too since he barely weighed 21 pounds with clothes on when we took him in a week ago for all of the crud he's been dealing with. In fact, he's sleeping so well, that Eric and I reclaimed our bedroom last night. Brennan has been our pint-sized roommate for the last year. It's really been fine as he sleeps through anything. But our intention from the beginning was to have him and Cate share a room.
However, our little guy liked to breastfeed at night and then at 5am once he dropped the night feeding up until about 3 months ago. And then every time we'd plan a weekend to move Brennan in, something would happen-- Cate would be up all night coughing with a cold, Brennan's tonsil issues/gagging issues set in, we'd go out of town, etc. So we decided that this little break of mine would be a good time to do it-- two weeks to adjust before I have to get up for work again. Last night was night one. And my kids rocked it! Brennan didn't wake up when Cate got up to go to the bathroom. He woke himself up a couple of times and hummed himself back to sleep, never waking Cate up.
I'm thankful for the ordinary miracle of sleep. And of the breaks in the academic schedule so I can spend time at home hangin' out with my kiddos. I'm also thankful for the generosity of others. My team of students sponsored a local family for the holidays-- six kids and their mom. Earlier this week, we delivered a trunk full of presents.
And when we found out upon delivery that one of the kids we shopped for was listed as a girl but was really a boy-- well, I'm thankful for the ordinary miracle my colleagues performed as they all braved various stores with less than a week to go before Christmas to get boy clothes and toys. And yes, the boy has a sister one year younger than him that can use all of the stuff we mistakenly collected for a girl.

I'm thankful for the ordinary miracle of the magic of Christmas. Cate is so excited and can't wait for Santa to come. I'm thankful for the ordinary miracle of doctors and nurses that bring life into the world (a year ago today I was in labor with my sweet boy).

The only ordinary miracle I'm holding out for? Being dismissed from jury duty-- I'm supposed to have it for two weeks beginning 1/9 and I really don't want to miss school. We're beginning literature of the Holocaust and our study of the book, Night. Depressing as the topic is, it's really one of my favorite units.

What ordinary miracles are you marveling in this season?

~Melody :-)

Angels We Have Heard On High

2011-12-16T18:40:00.008-05:00

Today Cate had her preschool Christmas program. I don't think she expected me to be there because this is how she looked when she walked in and saw me.
I had planned on attending because her program luckily fell during my lunch and plan time at school. However, I had a doctor's appointment today (everything's okay and no, I'm not pregnant...just checking on some stuff). So instead of having to rush back to school, I was able to enjoy her program, the reception afterward, and lunch out with my family before going to the doctor.
Girlfriend sang her heart out. Her class dressed as angels. The two classes of older children were shepherds and wise men. The class of younger children were dressed as sheep. The preschool director and the pastor of the church where Cate attends took turns reading the Christmas story. They would pause for breaks and let each class sing the song they worked on. Cate's class' song was "Angels Watching Over Me." I thought you might enjoy a little video of her. She's second from the left in front.

After it was over, we enjoyed socializing with the other preschool parents. Cate also gave me a tour of her classroom and showed me her latest piece of artwork. Her lead teacher (who also teaches the extra music class that Cate has stayed for on Wednesdays all year) told us that Cate definitely has her dad's ear for music. And she invited Eric to bring in his guitar and play for the kids sometime. I'll have to be sure and take a personal day for that. Even Brennan gets into music now-- boppin' his head and bouncing on his bottom any time he hears a melody.
The countdowns continue-- 2 more school days, 1 week until my little guy turns one and 9 days until Christmas. Our Christmas shopping is DONE! Now we just have a few last minute first birthday party things to take care of.

Brennan's first year book arrived in the mail today.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Photo books are the perfect gift for any occasion.

I'm ready to snuggle up with Eric once the kids are in bed, look through it, and then work on wrapping some presents.

~Melody :-)

Temporary

2011-12-14T17:11:00.004-05:00

The countdowns are in single digits (almost)-- 11 days until Christmas morning, 9 days until my little guy turns one, 4 more early mornings until break.

On the health front, I still don't have a lot of news to report-- for me, anyway. One thyroid test came back abnormal, but a more specific test was normal. I'm having my gall bladder checked Friday. Honestly though, I think it's all related to weaning. I have to keep reminding myself to give myself grace, to give my body grace. I carried a baby for 9 months, nursed a baby for 10.5 months before we started weaning, and weaning has been a quick process as opposed to the period of 3-4 months that I took to wean Cate. It's temporary. And I will feel better eventually. Today, I actually felt the best I've felt in awhile. So good that my typical lunch of late-- 1/2 of a PB sandwich, saltines, some fruit, and a Sprite-- didn't sound appealing and I went and got a burger and fries instead.
And then there's Brennan. Yesterday he got to the point where he just flat out screamed when we tried to feed him baby food-- still stage 2, mind you. I took him to the doctor who finally gave him some medicine for a sinus infection (we've either been to the doctor or called the doctor at least once every two weeks since all this nastiness began with him at the beginning of November). She looked at his tonsils though and described them as "generous." Once we clear up the sinus infection, we'll take a look at his tonsils again and see if they need to come out. So my sweet boy may not have a sensitive gag reflex after all. His large tonsils could be causing him pain when he swallows thick, lumpy food. As a result of not eating a lot of solids, my guy has only gained about a pound in 3 months. Again, it's all temporary and I have to remind myself that once he's taken all of his antibiotic and if it comes to surgery, that afterwards he'll be better.

All of this will pass.

And no matter how crappy I feel or how crappy my kids feel or how crappy Eric feels (though thankfully he's been a pretty perfect picture of health lately), we're there for one another and we all make each other smile. On a totally random, other topic--A couple of weeks ago, Cate had parent observation night at dance class. She has made huge improvements! I'll leave you with a picture of her concentrating hard and a short little video from my cell phone.

Peace and blessings to you,
~Melody :-)

Darkness Into Light

2011-12-11T20:32:00.004-05:00

For a variety of reasons that I won't get into right now, I've been in a bit of a funk. A lot of it is that I haven't felt physically well since Thanksgiving. And a lot of that has to do with weaning Brennan-- partly because I'm ready to be done and partly because the flu that knocked me out at the beginning of November depleted my supply and I really didn't want to put the effort into getting going again (I had enough stock in the freezer to get my boy to his 11th month). So now we're down to pumping/nursing in the morning (pump on school days/nurse on weekends) and nursing before bed. And my body is pretty much in hormonal hell. Which has left me pretty much in a funk.

I talked to my doctor about this on Friday, opened up to some family and friends later that night, spent some time at a restoration yoga with massage workshop yesterday, enjoyed a candle light service at church this morning, and had a wonderful friend pray with me this afternoon. And you know what? I'm starting to feel better.

I know my doctor still has tests to run. I know my body still has some healing to do. I know I have a long way to go to feel totally better. But I'm confident that this is the beginning of the end of dealing with all of this. I know this funk is temporary and that these physical symptoms won't last forever. I wrapped some presents this weekend, worked on addressing Christmas cards, and am catching more of the spirit. My funk seems to be lifting and I can only give credit to God for answering my prayers for healing. Because He's brought it through family, friends, the wisdom of my doctor, and time to relax this weekend. And I know He'll continue to heal me as I work through all of this.

I've got seven teaching days left until break. And I'm really, really looking forward to that break. I'm looking forward to presents under the tree (yup, we have to have a gate with little man around). I'm looking forward to the joy I'll see on this girl's face come Christmas morning.
And I'm excited to see how this little guy reacts to all of the holiday festivities. And to his first birthday. I'm looking forward to days spent entirely in pajamas, some knitting, some vinyl (my husband has quite the growing collection), coffee, family, friends, and maybe, if we're lucky, some snow.

Merry 2 weeks until Christmas!

~Melody

Santa Baby

2011-12-04T18:58:00.002-05:00

Cate...
...loved Santa as a baby.

Last Friday, Brennan put on on the same outfit his big sis wore the first time she met the man in red. I realize it's not his first Christmas-- but he was two days old on his first Christmas last year and we were still in the hospital due to jaundice. Anyway... the outfit may have been the same. The reaction was not. Brennan pretty much cried the whole time he sat on Santa's lap. Sorry for the poor picture quality too-- there were no pictures allowed "on set" like there have been in previous years. We had to commemorate the moment though, so we bought the overpriced 5 x 7 and this is a photo from my phone of that photo.

Oh well, maybe next year.

And on a random note, the song "Santa, Baby" came on the radio the other day-- on one of the stations that's playing all Christmas music all the time until December 26th. We didn't think Cate was paying that much attention, but then she asked us why the singer was calling Santa a baby. Ummm....

After church today she made a little box that had some straw, a piece of fabric, a small plastic pacifier, and a small plastic dog. The point of making the box was for her to use it to understand and tell the Christmas story-- that Jesus was God's gift to people and he came as a baby. He was born in a barn with animals and as Cate said, "wrapped up like a burrito" because the hay was itchy and he needed to stay warm.

Needless to say, we are in the Christmas spirit around here.

~Melody :-)

Out of the Slump (and Thankful for It)

2011-11-27T15:22:00.005-05:00

We've been in a little bit of a sickness slump. Two weeks ago, I was so proud that I had both kids fed and ready to take Cate to dance class on my own when Brennan decided to puke all over himself and his high chair 5 minutes before we were to walk out the door. He'd been coming down with a cold, but I wasn't sure if this was stomach bug puking or his sensitive gag reflex puking. I erred on the side of caution and we skipped dance class. Cate. Was. Ticked. But she got over it. It ended up being the gag reflex as Brennan didn't puke again until Wednesday morning when he choked on some more snot. I will be so thankful when the kid learns to blow his nose.

His cold progressed from a deep, barking cough, to a wet cough. Couple that with lots of eye gunk (and a little pink eye), diaper rash, and a runny nose that just wouldn't quit, and suffice it to say, my little guy was a hot mess. He graciously passed his cold onto me, just in time for Thanksgiving. But I could take Nyquil (yes, he still nurses, but the benefits of Nyquil far outweighed any small risk to him). Nevertheless, we headed to my parents-- snotty noses and all for the holiday.

Brennan turned 11 months old the day before Thanksgiving.
I can't believe he'll be a year old in less than a month. This year has been the fastest year ever!

Thanksgiving morning we took it easy, watched the marching band from our alma mater march in Santa for the Macy's parade, and snapped a few photos before we headed to my aunt's. I wish Cate would have had the smile from the first picture in the second picture.
And here she is trying to pose Brennan:
We enjoyed great food and even greater company at my mom's sister's house. Brennan took over the remote as his new favorite toy.
After dinner, we had our annual viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I'm not sure we even need to watch the movie as we all have the movie memorized. And no, we're not staring at a black screen-- the flash makes it look that way.
I actually went out with my mom and sister on Black Friday. I helped them pick out a few toys for my kids for Christmas and then my sister wanted a Kindle that was on sale at Target. It was organized chaos. Thankfully, my wonderful husband let me sleep in that morning. I met up with one of my favorite teachers from middle school and high school for coffee in the afternoon. Then we indulged in a White family tradition-- paintbrush cookies!
Friday night we watched The Blind Side. I can't believe I'd never seen that movie before. My mom picked it up for $3.99 on our midnight Target run. I bought The Time Traveler's Wife and a season of 30 Rock. Little man spent a lot of time looking cute.
Saturday was pretty low key. I finally finished Brennan's alpaca wool hat.
Now it's time to start Cate's. Thankfully she at least has a store-bought hat to hold her over until I finish hers-- which may take me all winter at the slow rate I move with knitting projects.

Seeing as how every college kid who lives in NE Ohio and attends college in Columbus or Cincinnati travels down I-71 the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we decided to head home after dinner Saturday night. Plus, the Browns played the Bengals today in Cincinnati, so we didn't want all of that traffic. And it's rainy today. Our drive home was uneventful-- just the way I like it. No stops, no traffic, and both kids fell asleep.

Today we're glad to be home. We caught up on some housework and laundry, decorated the tree a bit more, and relaxed. Brennan's nose isn't quite as snotty, I'm feeling better, and it looks like Eric and Cate are going to be spared. We seem to have pulled out of our sickness slump just in time to start getting ready for little guy's birthday and Christmas! And for that I am very thankful!

~Melody :-)

Thankful

2011-11-22T21:26:00.007-05:00

Tonight, I am thankful for a flexible and understanding boss who allowed me to leave school during my plan time so that I could attend Cate's Thanksgiving Celebration at her school. And I'm thankful for the paraprofessional at school that watched my class for a few minutes when I was late getting back due to an accident on the highway.

Cate brought in her canned goods...
...and took them up to the front.
Next, she took her seat for the program, which consisted of all of the kids singing 2 songs and a short message by the reverend at the church where Cate attends school.
Little guy sat happily through the program.
After the program was over, Cate showed us the cornbread (pilgrim food) that her class made.
One of her teachers drew this turkey! Isn't it amazing?!?
Kids were able to write things they were thankful for (or draw pictures of things they were thankful for) and then put them on the turkey. Yesterday in class, Cate told her teachers she was thankful for her Christmas tree. Yes, we do have ours up. No, it's not even close to decorated-- it's mostly the tree, lights, and a few ornaments. Cate is in love with Christmas. But first...Thanksgiving! Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day!

~Melody :-)

Christmas Card Pictures

2011-11-16T18:07:00.004-05:00

I love, love, love sending (and receiving) Christmas cards every year. Seriously. I know for some it's a chore, but not only do I love showing off the beautiful family God has blessed me with, I love, love, love hearing what all of our family and friends have been up to since the last Christmas and seeing their beautiful, smiling faces.

Several weeks ago we took a Saturday morning walk down a gorgeous street in our neighborhood. I don't know why I had never noticed it before, but a church on that street has the most amazing bright red doors. I told Eric we'd be back to take Christmas card pictures there. So that's what we did last Saturday morning. Armed with my camera, remote, and tripod, we took a few shots. The winner?Thankfully, Shutterfly had several card options for multiple pictures. So here are some that made the inside:

The tree pictures are from a park just outside of our area of town, French Park. The tree had low branches, perfect for posing in. These last few didn't make the final cut for the card, but it was close.

I love Brennan's face in that last one.

I have no aspirations to be a professional photographer, but I don't think I did too bad either. What do you think? Do you send Christmas cards? Like getting them?

~Melody :-)

PS: I am so very grateful to Elizabeth for hosting a Shutterfly giveaway on her blog (which I won). With the 25 free cards from her, 10 free cards from another promotional email, and a discount code, I got our 50 cards for $30-- a steal for the folded 5x7 cards that allow you to write a little update about your year inside.

Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

2011-11-10T20:53:00.007-05:00

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!
So vote now, get your coupon, and get shopping!

We love Melissa and Doug toys here at this house. From blocks...
...to chunky puzzles...
...to grocery carts...
...and more (I can't tell you how much of their pretend food is stocked in our play kitchen)-- their sturdy, classic toys are crowd-pleasers in this home.
~Melody :-)

Note: For writing this post, I was given a $25 gift certificate to MelissaAndDoug.com. But seriously, we do own a lot of Melissa And Doug toys. And we do love them. I wouldn't promote them here if we didn't.

Healing and Randomness

2011-11-06T18:17:00.006-05:00

(This post could alternately be titled, "In Which I Dump a Bunch of Cell Phone Photos from Our Phones"...just sayin--you've been warned)

Just when I thought I was over the bug Brennan gave me last weekend, I ended up with the plain old flu on Wednesday this week. Chills, aches, fever, the whole nine yards. Yes, I had a flu shot. Yes, I got my flu shot while on antibiotics for strep throat. Yes, I was told there was a slight risk that I could end up with the flu as a result. And well, I did. It was awful. I missed Wednesday-Friday of school and didn't really feel normal again yesterday. I still don't have a huge appetite and a cough still plagues me, but I'm way better off than I was a few days ago.

The worst thing about being sick, was that instead of chaperoning a field trip with Cate's class on Friday (I had already taken off work to do this), I stayed home buried under the covers. Cate's class visited a local earth center. Eric took some pictures and gave me the play-by-play when they returned. They had a presentation first. Then they headed outside to learn about trees and birds in our area. Cate was apparently smitten with the nature guide and wanted to be right by his side as they walked around.
She acted like a bird. And Eric said this kids' field guide to birds was really cool. We might have to buy a copy to put in her stocking.
While they were on the field trip, my fever finally broke! I took it easy the rest of the day though. Cate had been invited to a birthday party on Saturday and I wanted to make sure I could go with her.

The birthday party Saturday afternoon was at a local working farm. Yup, a farm, right smack dab in the middle of the city. It was actually really cool. The birthday party had a farm theme that was excellently done by Cate's friend's mom. The kids made cow ears and cow bells upon arrival.Next, they took a tour of the gardens and the farm.
This was Cate in the "taste" garden. While growing season is over here in Ohio, during growing season, they grow a ton of produce. This mini-garden is full of things kids can taste. She loved hunting for eggs in the chicken coops. Unfortunately, she didn't find any. They had already been collected for the day. The miniature ponies were her favorites for the day. I swear, if I told Cate we were moving to a farm tomorrow, she'd have her bags packed in seconds. This girl loves to be outside, loves animals, loves nature. Girlfriend even picked up some goat poop with her bare hands (she didn't know what it was and yes, we thoroughly washed and sanitized afterwards).

Treats followed the tour and then it was time to go. Eric's sister and her boyfriend picked Cate up about an hour after we got home. Kristin's boyfriend's daughter is about 6 months younger than Cate. They went to Chuck E Cheese, dressed up in princesses dresses, and then had a sleepover. Eric and I used the Cate-free time to play Santa. Our local toy store is having their annual sale. Cate has talked about this and this since we got the Playmobil catalog a few months ago. I can't wait until she opens them Christmas morning. We went to church last night, headed out to dinner, and watched a movie before snuggling into bed to enjoy that extra hour of sleep. Thank you Kristin and Josh (and Emmy) for keeping Cate for the night.
And with that, I'll conclude my insanely long update. I'm feeling much better and am ready to take on the week. Our trimester ends in 8 school days. It's hard to believe I'm 1/3 of the way through the school year already!

~Melody :-)

Trick and Treat

2011-11-01T17:38:00.005-04:00

Trick-- after she finished trick-or-treating, dressed as Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street, she helped pass out candy. She started giving kids handfuls of candy. The result? We ran out of candy at 7:15. Oh well.
Treat-- despite a little eye infection (pediatrician thinks it's a clogged tear duct), he made one cute giraffe. While Abby Cadabby and Daddy were off gathering candy, he had fun emptying the candy bowl and then putting all of the candy back in.
Little Man was part of Daddy's Halloween costume for a party we attended over the weekend. Hangover anyone?
Mommy didn't get in on too much Halloween action as she was still recovering from the virus that Brennan so lovingly passed on to her. No worries though. I'm finally starting to feel normal again.

Happy November!

~Melody :-)

Walking in Beauty

2011-10-26T19:16:00.007-04:00

Last Saturday we headed south to Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky. It's just over 2 hours from our house. My great-aunt (at whose home we have many of our family reunions) lives nearby, so we dropped by for lunch-- an amazing beef stew, colonial corn bread, and buttermilk coconut pie. My grandmother (my great-aunt's sister) came with us and stayed with her sister for a visit, while Eric, the kids, my sister-in-law Kristin, and I headed to the Bridge. Sidenote: We asked someone to take a picture of all of us, but it didn't turn out.

To say it was beautiful would be a bit of an understatement. The picture below is of the Bridge, just before you head up to the top of it on the backside.

The trip up to the top of the Bridge and back is about 1.5 miles. Cate walked about halfway up before she started asking to be carried and we put her the back carrier.
Finally, we got to the top and enjoyed some breathtaking views.
We stayed up there for about 15 minutes, mostly taking pictures, and then headed down. I passed off Brennan in his back carrier to Eric; Cate walked the whole way down. After picking up my grandmother, we headed back home-- just in time for a light dinner, baths, and bed.
It was such a fun fall day trip! I wish I could say that the rest of our weekend and beginning of this week were as peaceful and beautiful as Saturday.

Unfortunately, our sweet boy threw up his dinner at the end of our block party on Sunday. He seemed fine, but 24 hours later, threw up again. He's been getting sick off and on all week. He seemed better today, but threw up after we tried to give him some fruit. Thankfully, he manages to keep breast milk and rice cereal down. The pediatrician has pretty much said that needs to be his diet until he goes more than 24 hours without vomiting. Then we can slowly start re-introducing baby food. I just want my happy guy back. He turned 10 months old on Sunday!
Cate seems to have avoided this little virus, praise God. She was excited to wear her Halloween costume to dance class on Monday night. She makes one cute Abby Cadabby.
Tomorrow night we have a Mommy/Daughter date at Disney-on-Ice (I couldn't resist the CincySavers 2 tickets for $12 total--$6/each-- deal). Here's to hoping little man feels better by the weekend so we can continue to enjoy this beautiful fall season.

~Melody :-)

Fall Break

2011-10-18T21:20:00.005-04:00

I've been noticing a theme with my posts of late-- fall. I think it's because we're so enjoying this season. There have been lots of pumpkin spiced lattes, caramel apples, fleece jackets, and boots around these parts. Last week I had a fall break (Friday off). However, my break got an early start when I was out of school Wednesday and Thursday with a bad case of strep. Once the antibiotics kicked in though, we were able to head to Hudson to visit my parents on Thursday afternoon, as planned.

We spent the weekend relaxing with my parents, brother, and sister. My mom and I went shopping. I don't think we've really shopped like that (both of trying on clothes for ourselves) since I was in college. It was wonderful. And I came home with three cute dresses-- two winter-ish ones and one for spring (I couldn't pass it up, it was $9.97). And of course some clothes for the kids too. When we visited last year around this time, we took Cate to a local farmer's market to get a pumpkin. Brennan was still very much a pumpkin growing inside of me. This year, we went again for some fall fun. This was the only time I really took pictures while we were in Hudson. Here are a few of my favorites:

I'm back in the swing of things at work and feeling better. My next break isn't until Thanksgiving. We've got a lot going on between now and then, so I'm sure the weeks will fly by. I'm savoring the fall because I know snow and cold are just around the corner.

~Melody :-)

Farm Fun

2011-10-12T13:27:00.007-04:00

Over the weekend, we got together with some good friends of ours who just moved back from Nashville (they're originally from this area) in the spring. We met up at Young's Jersey Dairy Farm for some fall fun, despite the fact that it ended up being 80 degrees out-- a jump from the weekend before when it barely hit 70.
We spent quite a bit of time feeding the goats. Cate loves feeding animals-- at the zoo, at home with our own pets, anywhere she gets the chance. I swear this girl is going to grow up to be a vet or zoologist or something. She loves animals.
The goats just made my little guy smile. Which makes me smile too.
One goat tried to eat Anna's shirt. She got away.
After eating our picnic lunch, Cate and I launched a pumpkin. This mama, with the help of her sweet girl, totally got it in the basket and one a free homemade ice cream (I chose cow-paddy ice cream-- double dark chocolate with Oreos and toffee).
Next up was a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch.
We finally found the perfect pumpkin to bring home.
We stopped by Jimmy, Jenny, and Anna's new place on the way home for a diaper change and down time. As soon as we arrived home, we repacked the diaper bag, fed Brennan, and headed out for another farm, east of the city. Some friend's of Eric's parents own the farm and have a big Halloween party every year. Cate went with just her grandparents last year. This year, we joined in. She checked out the horse with Emmy (my sister-in-law's boyfriend's daughter).
And she had to check out the chickens too.
After the sunset, we piled on for a hayride.
This one was a non-scary one. The kids all yelled "Boo" to the monsters to scare them away. At the end, we heard a Halloween story about how the Jack-o-Lantern came to be.
It was a busy day, but so much fun! Eric's parents kept Cate overnight so that Eric and I (along with little man) could come home and just crash.

Our temperatures have dropped around these parts again. It's wreaking havoc on my sinuses. I wish the fall weather would just stay steady for a few weeks instead of these drastic weeks of 80 degrees one day, 65 degrees the next. Ah...such is life in the Midwest though.

~Melody :-)

Taste of Fall

2011-10-06T18:46:00.006-04:00

Last week and weekend, we had temperatures in the low 60's/high 50's (and maybe even a little cooler at times). Saturday arrived and appeared to look gray and dismal. However, no rain was actually in the forecast. So we headed to the zoo for the Zoo Grass (bluegrass) Festival.
We did have to bundle up a bit. The dreary looking skies kept the crowd away though.
We walked right onto my sweet girl's favorite thing-- the train. When the weather is nice that train line can get long (and try the patience of Mommy's and little girls alike).
Someone was pretty excited to sit on the bench by himself (with Daddy's arms nearby).
Cate got to pet a miniature cow.
We took in the bluegrass bands.
We watched a lumberjack show.
And to really make it seem fall-like, I enjoyed a caramel apple before we headed out. Yum!

This week we are back to temperatures in the high 70's, getting up to 80 some days. Good thing I left some summer clothes out for the kids. Our Halloween decorations are out and this weekend we're heading to a farm with some friends and then to a hayride/fall party with Eric's parents.

In recent milestones, Brennan has learned to get himself back to sitting (something he did last Tuesday, 9/27 for the first time) when he's been on his back or tummy. We're pretty sure crawling will be coming soon. He gets up on all fours, but then doesn't really move.

I'll leave you with a picture of my little Daniel Boone. Eric's parents brought Brennan this coonskin hat back from a recent trip to the Smokies. ~Melody :-)

The Roof is in the Trunk

2011-10-01T16:39:00.003-04:00

My dad recently got a sweet, new-to-him, BMW convertible. The thing is, my brother is a BMW specialist. Like, as in part of his job is to read BMW forums and decide what the latest/hottest add-ons are for that brand of cars and then decide if his company should carry them. And on the side, he works for a friend. They find older BMW's (10-15 years old usually), give them complete overhauls, and resell them. Which is how my dad ended up with this awesome convertible. Despite it's age, the leather interior is in perfect condition. It has less than 100,000 miles on it. And my brother and his friend pretty much replaced the entire undercarriage along with belts and the A/C. The rain stopped long enough for Cate to try it out with Poppy the other day when he came over. She loved that the "roof was in the trunk." My husband just simply loved it. He's decided that when our beloved 10 year old Neon dies, we should get something like this. I told him we'd look a little funny driving around a sporty convertible with two carseats in the back. And we live in the Midwest, which means finicky weather not always conducive to convertible driving.
But I have to admit-- it was pretty fun to cruise around in. The jury is still out on whether or not our next car may have a roof that goes in the trunk. Hopefully the Neon will give us awhile to decide (because, hey, the Neon costs us $17 a month to drive + the cost of the gas, which isn't such a bad thing right now).

~Melody :-)

Wide Open Spaces and Other Ramblings

2011-09-25T15:36:00.005-04:00

First things first-- Brennan turned 9 months old on Friday. Nine months?!? I can't believe it. I still feel like he just entered the world as a wrinkly, bald, little guy with skinny chicken legs (which are quite the opposite now).
He's still not crawling, but little man can get to anything he wants with a series of rolls, kicks, scoots, and what not. I'm trying not to rush it. I know once he starts there will be no stopping him. But I'm also trying not to worry about it. A part of me feels like he should be crawling by now. And that is the part of me, that icky fear part, that I surrender to God with each day that he's not crawling. He'll develop at his own pace on his own time. Nothing else about any of his behaviors is concerning, so really, this shouldn't be a big deal. His nine month checkup is this week and I'm praying for words of reassurance from our awesome pediatrician.

Anyway... enough about worry and fear. On Friday, a fabulous friend, who used to watch Cate, invited us up for an overnight on the farm she grew up on about an hour and a half north of Cincinnati. While it's no longer a dairy farm (just soy beans now), it was still fun to get out into some wide open space and just breathe.
Cate took off immediately with her friends in search of the cat that roams the barn and the fields.
Later on in the evening, we had a big ol' bonfire.
The kids headed in to watch a movie around 10. Cate was the only one who was still awake at the end of the move. I don't know that she's ever been up until midnight before. Probably had something to do with the fact that she slept the whole way there (in other words, took a nice 90 minute nap at 5pm). Poor Brennan though. Our newly-turned 9 months old boy was up five times that night between midnight and 6:30 am. We weren't sure if it was being in an unfamiliar place, teething, an ear infection, or what. We had been looking forward to spending most of the day Saturday with our friends, but decided to quit while we were ahead and left at 7am since Cate decided to get up at 6:30 too.

I took Brennan to the pediatrician to rule out an ear infection. Thankfully, his ears looked perfect. Turns out little guy is growing some really big front top choppers. His gums are blistered and swollen. The doctor recommended Advil every 6-8 hours and pretty much just told us to let him cry it out if he woke up at night before he was due for another dose.

We got a bit of a break last night. My fabulous sister-in-law, her boyfriend, and his cute daughter (who is only 6 months younger than Cate) watched the kiddos so that Eric and I could attend my friend, Emily's, benefit that she put on for Hagar. Emily runs the online boutique, Stop Traffick Fashion, so I couldn't resist picking up a little neck candy for a good cause. I love this necklace! We came home to too tired kiddos. After quick baths, they were off to bed. Despite the chaos of being up with Brennan so much Friday night, we somehow managed to stay awake for the season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Brennan only woke up once last night. He cried for about a half hour before he was able to have another dose of Advil (after which he went back to sleep and slept until 8 this morning).

Today has been fairly lazy. I think we're all still a little on the sleepy side.

Happy Sunday to you all.

~Melody :-)

To Market, To Market (and to Two Parks too)

2011-09-18T15:59:00.007-04:00

We had not been to our favorite downtown market in awhile, so we decided it was time to go. Plus, I figured that making freezer jam had been easy enough, so why not get some tomatoes and make some spaghetti sauce to freeze (I'm tellin' ya, freezer "canning" really is easy). Cate strapped her Bitty Baby, Annie, onto her back since Mommy was wearing Brennan in our Boba, and we were off. She picked out a perfect fall goody.
Since we were already downtown, we headed to a great park. First, we walked along the river.
Then we played.
Then we took some pictures.
We came home for a nap and then headed out to another park, northeast of the city, for Eric's stepdad's family reunion. It was fun getting to meet some of his family members that I haven't met before. And of course, the kids loved seeing Grandma.
We ended the night with an impromptu bonfire. Our neighbors joined us for some marshmallow roasting-- yum!
I absolutely love fall! It really is one of my favorite seasons. I love a good, warm sweater or sweatshirt, my jeans, and some boots. I love falling leaves, football games, apple cider, and pumpkin pie. There's no snow on the ground and Christmas shopping is just beginning (ok, who am I kidding-- we started a couple of months ago). Don't get me wrong-- I have things I love about the other seasons too. Skiing in winter. Or snowy days spent first outside playing and then inside cuddled together and keeping warm. Flowers and rain puddles and spring break in the spring. The beach, lounging by the pool, and a nice long break in the summer. But there's just something about autumn that makes my heart skip a beat when the first leaves start changing and the temperature starts dipping into the 60's. Fall always reminds me why I'm only kidding in the winter about moving somewhere warmer. The changing of the seasons marks time for my family and helps us fall into different rhythms that spice up our lives with the uniqueness each season brings.

Welcome, fall!

Melody :-)

I Carry Your Heart With Me

2011-09-14T21:31:00.004-04:00

Cate had her first day of preschool today. After visiting a few area preschools last year, we know the one Cate is attending is the best fit for her. She picked out her Cars shirt with me last night. We loaded her "summer collection" bag into her backpack. Eric did a super job on her pigtails. And then...in she walked. I can't believe we are to this point in our lives. She came home and was so proud to talk about how she shared with other kids. And how she checked herself in (flipped her card around to show she was present). And how she got to play with new kids. It's a little hard to let go and accept that this is where we are now. That she's no longer baby or toddler, but preschooler. Kid.
But she's my kid. When my grandma asked her how many kids were in her class tonight, her response was "too many." So cute. There are only 17. And three teachers. Three very dedicated and very wonderful teachers.
And so today begins a new chapter in our lives. I hope she likes school and sees it as a safe and fun place to be. I hope she never loses her sense of curiosity and wonder. I hope she sticks her hand in the air to the point of it almost being annoying because she has questions or wants her comments to be heard. I hope she makes new friends. I hope she respects her teachers. I hope so many things for her and her education. Today is the beginning of those hopes.

~Melody :-)

Ten

2011-09-11T09:13:00.002-04:00

Ten years ago I was a naive, selfish college sophomore. After an 8am theater class, one of my best friends and I headed back to my dorm room. We busted out the mid-morning snacks, put on a DVD of Friends and settled in to watch until our next class. A few minutes later, the girl across the hall (we went to high school together too), knocked on the door and asked if we were watching the TV. She said that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I turned on the TV. I clung to my friend. The world seemed to stop.

The rest of the day I felt like I was going through the motions. The attacks were all that anyone talked about in class, at my physical therapy appointment, in the student center. I think we were all waiting for something else to happen. Miami cancelled classes that Friday. At only one other time in the university's history had they ever cancelled all classes (for a non-weather issue).

Thankfully nothing else happened.

This morning I nursed a sleepy Brennan as I watched the early morning news shows preparing for coverage of the remembrance ceremony in New York. I thanked God for those that keep this country safe. That keep my family safe. The thousands of military men and women, police officers, fire fighters, paramedics. And maybe a part of me is still that naive college sophomore. Because I also prayed that my children will only ever read about terrorism in their history books.
Praying for peace for all today.

~Melody :-)

Hello, Monday!

2011-09-05T19:00:00.003-04:00

Like a lot of people, I'm lucky enough to have had today off work. Hello, no-work Monday!

Hello, big sister in the crib with little brother.
Hello, cooler temperatures (it was 100 on Saturday; today we hit didn't quite hit 70) that warrant shorts, long sleeves, and a hat for a bald head.
Hello, $10 Ikea tent in the backyard for a nap. A nap that lasted all of 5 minutes, but whatever.
Hello, bowl of chopped strawberries ready for my first canning attempt.
Hello, freezer jam. You were oh so easy to make and will be oh so yummy to eat.
Hello, Monday!

~Melody :-)

PS...Totally copied the idea for a "Hello, Monday" post from this blog.

PPS...I'm lazy. All pictures courtesy of my iPhone today.

Cheap Family Fun

2011-09-04T18:05:00.007-04:00

We are t-minus 16 days and counting until I start getting a paycheck again. In the meantime, we're getting creative as we continue to stretch Eric's severance and our savings. We've had quite a bit of fun this weekend, on less than $20. First up, Friday night...
...indoor movie night. I had a free rental code for Redbox, so we rented Rio. A blanket on the floor, some popcorn, a few toys for Brennan, some cold beer for Mommy and Daddy, and we were set.
The movie was cute. I have the Angry Birds Rio game on my phone, which Cate loves playing. She loved pointing out the "angry birds" and "mean monkeys" in the movie. The music had us all dancing (and wiggling) to the beat.

Yesterday morning, our local children's bookstore hosted a Max and Ruby story time. Cate got to meet Max. To say she loved him would be an understatement.
Last night we headed up to our local Catholic parish's festival. Cate and Brennan both enjoyed the sandbox. Supposedly there were dinosaurs you could dig up in there, but we didn't find any. Brennan liked the sand, until it stuck to his sweaty hands and arms. Hopefully he'll like beach sand better next summer (this sand was gravelly).
Cate rode the Rocket Ride. She wasn't too sure about the ride at first, but loved it by the end.
Next we were off to the games. Spinning the wheel, playing Plinko, and rolling the skee-balls amounted to Cate earning enough tickets to come home with a small stuffed whale (named Spaghetti), a paperback book, a wooden train whistle, a pirate finger puppet, and a stuffed snake (named Meatball).
Someone is just itching to get to play games too. Next year, buddy.
Today has been mostly rainy. B and I napped together after church for a couple of hours while Cate and Daddy read several books and played quietly. I have another day off tomorrow-- yay, Labor Day! The heat is supposed to break and we'll only have highs in the low 70's tomorrow. I'm excited to hang with my trio again. I'm also going to try my hand at making some freezer jam.

In other news-- Cate's preschool teachers paid a visit to our house last week. They read her a book about going to school, talked to her about coming to school and what it would be like, and left some homemade play-doh for her to play with. This week she gets to visit the classroom by herself for 25 minutes while Eric and I conference with her teachers.

Eric's second week as a stay-at-home-dad was a great success. They had fun at the zoo one day and the children's museum another day. In between they went to the library, played games at home, and colored several pictures (okay, Brennan didn't color, they did that while he napped). It makes me happy to come home to three happy people every day.

~Melody :-)

A Way to End the Week

2011-08-28T08:36:00.002-04:00

It's official-- my first week back was a success and Eric and is settling into the role of stay-at-home-dad perfectly. Though my first week back was exhausting (that 5am wake up call is rough), it was also the best first-week-back that I've ever had in 8 years of teaching. I'm doing several things differently this year. And I like it. The first couple of days at home were a little rough for Eric, but by the end of the week, he had a rhythm going. It's so fun to be able to come straight home to kids that are dressed, fed, and happy because they've spent the day with Daddy. He even braved the pool on his own once this week (something I only did once when Eric was still working-- it's a lot). Speaking of the pool-- we decided that was the perfect place to park ourselves yesterday. They're still open for one more week, but they have reduced hours (so I can't really join my husband and kiddos after school), and next weekend it will be a zoo with all the events they have going on for Labor Day (private labor union parties, Navy day, classic car show, balloon race, fireworks, etc.). I think we'll be steering clear of the madness next weekend. Which means yesterday was probably our last time at the pool for the summer. Eric's mom and stepdad joined us for a fun day in the sun. Thanks, Greg, for the great pictures!
Poor teething Brennan. He chewed on this dolphin almost the entire time. His first tooth came in last Monday (my first day of school), and I can see that number two isn't far behind. We'll probably be seeing it sometime this week. Don't let her face fool you-- this girl loves time at the pool.
I think this is the only picture we have of all four of us at the pool, even though we all went multiple times this summer. Cate and Grandma!
Time out for a picnic. I love how the color floats make a cool background. And you should've seen Brennan eying Cate's Oreo. Soon, buddy, soon.
Our pool is part of a larger park that has a few "classic rides" (nothing big or exciting like you'd find at your standard amusement park, but fun rides for kids). Cate has her rides she has to go on each time we're there-- including the Frog Hopper (above). My girl loves the Ferris Wheel.
And with Daddy as driver, Cate loves a good bumper car ride.

My in-laws were gracious enough to keep Cate last night so that Eric and I could have some time with each other (and little guy). We'll pick her up after church this morning.

Today we have a parent meeting for Cate's preschool. I can't believe she'll really be going in just a couple of weeks. She's grown up too quickly.

To our beloved pool-- it's been a fun summer and we'll see you in 9 months when you reopen again.

~Melody :-)

Eight

2011-08-23T19:46:00.003-04:00

It has been 8 months.
He fills me with joy.

He got his first tooth yesterday (no pictures yet, it's barely through the gums).
Which explains why he kept getting me up the night before the first day of school.
The first two days of school have gone well. Both for me at school and for Eric and the kids at home. Praise God for that.
No crawling yet, but little man can get what he wants by rolling and scooting and kicking.

He's still super snuggly too. And a total mama's boy. Which I love. He can be squawking up a storm with someone else and just quiet down as soon as he is in my arms.

And with that, I'm gonna go snuggle him. And his sister.

Before I crash into what will quite possibly be one of the deepest sleeps ever.

Happy 8 Months, Brennan!

~Melody :-)

A Nice Distraction

2011-08-21T14:00:00.003-04:00

Last night we headed out to a park with some friends. It provided a nice distraction from the thoughts swirling in my head about the upcoming school year which starts-- gulp-- tomorrow. It's not that I'm not ready. As this is year 8 for me (year 9 if you count the year I student-taught and then subbed for the rest of the year), I know how to start a school year. I know things tomorrow will go fine with the 106 new students crossing the threshold of my classroom.

Friday was my first "official" day back-- our teacher work day. It was filled with a lot of meetings and I honestly only managed to print out my class lists and start working on a quiz the students will take the third week of school. Good thing I spent a few other days in getting everything ready-- my first two weeks are completely planned and copied.

But still-- there's always that little bit of back-to-school anxiety that clouds my thinking the last weekend before school starts. All of the what-if's that play games in my head. So yes, a picnic was the perfect antidote for all of those crazy thoughts. The view of the Ohio River was beautiful and provided the perfect backdrop. A couple of blocks up from the park-- an ice cream shop. Of course we stopped in to indulge in some cold, sugary goodness. Today brought a busy morning playing with babies (not my own) in the church nursery, followed by a great message about family during church, and lunch out with my three favorite people afterward. This afternoon, we've been taking it easy, getting a few things picked up around the house, and mentally and physically preparing for the week ahead: me for going back to work after 8 months off and Eric for his first full week as a stay-at-home-dad. Although, if the three days I worked at school last week and Eric stayed home are any indication of how things will go, he's going to be fine and our kids are super-lucky.

Happy Sunday to you all. And happy back-to-school time (if you and/or your kids aren't already back)!
~Melody :-)

These Last Few Days of Summer

2011-08-16T16:13:00.005-04:00

Summer isn't officially over for another month or so. But my summer, and my extended maternity leave, are coming to an end. This time next week, I'll be 2 days into the new school year, with 106 brand new students-- 106 young minds with which to share my love of literature.

But until then, I'm trying to drink in what's left of my time off. Cate and I painted rocks from our hike.
We've spent some time at the pool.
Our pool is really big-- it's hard for some people to grasp if they haven't been there. We used to go when I was a kid. The best part? No "adult swim." Today I saw a license plate that read: NJOY BN (enjoy being-- or at least that's what I took it to mean, even though my former Barnes and Noble employee mind wandered to a place where I briefly wondered if it was a license plate plug for my favorite bookstore chain). That's what I've been trying to do a lot of lately-- enjoy being. Be present. It's an attitude that's made for a great end to my summer. And I think it'll make for a great school year too.

~Melody :-)

Wednesday Night in the Woods

2011-08-11T13:09:00.007-04:00

Last night we went camping. With the kids. And the dog. A few weeks ago Eric was talking about how much he loved camping as a kid and he'd like to get us into it. I'd never really camped much before, and obviously never with kids and a dog, but I'm up for trying anything once. So when family started asking Eric what he wanted for his birthday, he said "camping stuff." And that's how we found ourselves in possession of a tent, four sleeping bags, an air mattress, a camp stove, a camp organizer, two new camp chairs, and a few other small items of camping goodness-- all of them ready for us to pop their cherry, so to speak.

We stuck close to home-- a state park about an hour's drive from our house and only a few miles from the college where Eric and I met and we both did our undergraduate work (and later where I went to grad school). We figured this way, if things got bad, we could pack up camp and head home. I was surprised at how well things went. We arrived around 4:30pm and picked a campsite by the playground and not too far of a walk from the bathroom.
We set up camp.
Brennan smiled a lot.
Cate loved the tent and made herself right at home with her books once it was set up.
We made a fire and cooked hot dogs and bratts for dinner.
Then it was off for a walk. A stop at the camp store for ice cream was a necessity.
We skipped rocks in a creek that feeds into the lake and enjoyed a beautiful view.
We came back and made s'mores. Eric played guitar for us. The kids rolled around on the mattress. We all were in bed and mostly asleep by 10:00. Around 11pm, Eric and I awoke to a raccoon fight. Zoey, our dog, had knocked over her food earlier in the evening. Apparently there were some stray pieces of kibble on the ground that the raccoons did not want to share with one another. Luckily the kids slept through it and the dog didn't bark (she was in the tent with us).

A half hour later Brennan started to whimper because he was cold. It was only supposed to be in the low 60's last night, so all I packed were lightweight footed pajamas for him. But it actually ended up in the low 50's. He kept trying to curl himself up into a ball in his sleep (in his pack n' play), so I picked him up and put him in between Eric and I, where he settled down immediately, warmed up, and slept until 6am. Cate slept through all of that. Next time, I'll pack him fleece jammies since he's still too young to have blankets in there (risk of suffocation, not that his being on the mattress was totally safe, but it was the only option we had since he was cold).

At 4am, Cate had to pee. She had a little accident trying to get her shoes on and walk to the bathroom. We'll bring pull-ups next time, just in case. Brennan slept through all of that.

And when Brennan got up at 6 to nurse, Cate remained sleeping until just after 7. I was surprised we all got as much sleep as we did. I was anticipating an all-nighter.

We packed up camp after breakfast, Cate took one last swing in the early morning light, and we headed home for showers, baths, and naps. We learned a few lessons (about dog food and peeing at night with children and bringing fleece jammies for babies). But we're already plotting our next outing into the woods (which might be within the week). Gotta squeeze in the last little bit of summer fun before the official start of school in two weeks.

~Melody :-)

Today I Went to Work

2011-08-08T22:07:00.002-04:00

And I was totally okay with it. I listened to NPR and sipped coffee on my drive. I filled out a bunch of papers (to re-enroll in pretty much everything, which is standard when you take a large chunk of time off). I put my classroom back together (we have to take everything down/put everything away at the end of each year for cleaning purposes). I caught up with some coworkers I haven't seen in awhile. I wrote some lesson plans and looked through professional resources for new ideas. Yes, I missed these two: But I was comforted knowing they were home with their Daddy. I realize that stay-at-home-dads aren't so common and I love that we're unique in this way. I love that my husband stepped up and said he'd rather just be home with our kids than working all day to bring home a paycheck that would go straight to childcare (non-profit work is noble, but the pay stinks). And I'm glad this decision was further affirmed for us when Eric ended up getting laid off. It's been a blessing to have him home all summer.

My first "official" day back isn't until the 19th-- our teacher work day. But with all of the meetings and "catching up" and long lines at the copiers, I don't get much work done on the work day. So I come in a day or two before the work day and get stuff done. The new school supplies, the new ideas I have for my classroom, the new class rosters-- they all excite and energize me. I'll probably go put in one more day before the work day next Friday.

The only downside to going back to work? I have to work a full month before my paychecks start back up (it's just the way the pay periods fall as the district finishes out the pay cycle for last school year). Sidenote: teachers are only paid for the days they work (lest you think they are paid to have summers off). The daily amount a teacher earns is multiplied by 185 (the number of days we are contracted to work) and then spread over 26 pay periods (so we don't have to go without a steady income for the summer). So since I haven't worked since December, I was paid out for what I worked last year and my paychecks don't start again until the new cycle, which falls late this year. End sidenote.

The last 8 months taught me that yes, I could be a stay-at-home-mom if I chose to be one. Previously, I thought I'd go crazy. And I won't lie- it was hard work. But the last 8 months also showed me that I really do like my job-- the one I do outside of our home.

Anyway, it's time to start squeezing in all the last little bits of summer fun we can handle.

~Melody :-)

Birthday Love

2011-08-06T19:48:00.008-04:00

Yesterday (Friday) was Eric's birthday. But we kind of celebrated it over the course of a few days. Wednesday we had dinner out with his parents, sister, and his sister's boyfriend. Cate enjoyed getting to see Grandma, Poppy, and Aunt Kristin. Grandma's birthday is today (happy birthday)!

Thursday we had part of our small group over (two families couldn't make it-- bummer). The kids all played outside and then we shared German Chocolate cake (Eric's favorite) and ice cream.
Thursday night, I wrapped Eric's presents.
What's inside? A John Coletrane vinyl (Love Supreme), the fixin's for making Irish Stout beer (he's lovin' the homebrew thing), and this (which he put together last night as soon as we got home from going out to dinner):
My husband has always been a bit of a stargazer. And a nature lover. Which is why today we went hiking. Brennan hung out in the Kelty Kids carrier that I scored secondhand from the fitness instructor where I've been taking classes. It's built for a woman's smaller frame, so it wasn't too uncomfortable to wear.
Cate brought along a bucket to collect "treasures." She picked up a lot of rocks and sticks (which we're going to paint tomorrow), but she also found a feather, some pinecones, and a few acorns.
Eric got a lot of camping gear for his birthday too. He enjoyed camping as a kid and wants to share that love with his family. The heat is supposed to die down this week, so we're hoping to head to a state park not too far away and camp one night this week. I figure we'll stay close to home the first night in case things get ugly and we need to drive home in the middle of the night. We'll see though. The blessing of Eric's not working right now while I'm still home on maternity leave is that we have the luxury this week of deciding on a whim which night will work best for us and then heading out. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm actually looking forward to it.

~Melody :-)

A Belated 7 Months

2011-08-03T09:06:00.003-04:00

In addition to July 23rd being the birthday of both my cousin and my uncle (her dad), it was also Brennan's 7 month birthday.

Days before he turned 7 months old (on July 19th to be exact), buddy started sitting up on his own.

He now eats fruits, veggies and meats. Most of them homemade (I'll do a post on that later, I promise). Like his big sister, Mommy, and Daddy, he loves books. Although he likes to eat them. Still no teeth-- we keep waiting. Brennan loves to be held and/or worn. He still hates it when he's left alone in a room (even if it's just for a few seconds). Sophie the Giraffe remains one of his favorite toys. That and the moon from his rocketship set. And his baby paper.

It's hard to believe he's closer to one now than birth. He's graduated to a convertible carseat (at 18 pounds, he was just too heavy to keep carrying in the carrier). He rolls all over the place and with some work, can usually get to what he wants. I'm sure it won't be long before he's crawling. But I'm not rushing anything.

More birthdays will be celebrated this week as Eric rings in the last year of his twenties and Cate officially turns three-and-a-half.

~Melody :-)

You Know I Like My Chicken Fried...

2011-07-31T18:43:00.008-04:00

I've blogged on more than one occasion about my great-Aunt's house in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky.
And how my mom's side of the family loves a get together-- so we have reunions at least every other year. Most of our reunions are here-- in the backyard of my great-Aunt's house. We come from all over-- Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina, other parts of Kentucky. We park on the grass.
We eat lots of fried chicken (thanks to my mom's cousin who owns a Lee's franchise). We eat lots of other food too. We laugh.

We sit on porch swings.

We rock babies on porch swings.
We quietly remember the one no longer with us who should be sitting right in the middle.

We blow bubbles.

We still find entertainment on the big tricycle.

We welcome back family that's been living in New Zealand for the past year.

We crowd onto that big ol' porch for a picture because goshdarnit that rain will NOT stop us from that big family photo.

And we still look like this after 8+ hours of fried food and cheesy food and chocolate-y food and rain showers and wet kids and sticky babies and messiness and conversations about everything and conversations about nothing.

We leave with a "Y'all come back now," plans for the next reunion (Myrtle Beach, next summer, that's the rumor anyway), and a renewed sense of what it is to be "family."

One generation melts smoothly into the next (I've been coming to this house for reunions since I was kid). The same stories are repeated and new ones are added. Sweet tea is consumed in mass quantities. All because over 8 decades ago, Great-Grandma Nellie gave birth to three beautiful girls (each 2 years apart) who turned into wonderful women who shared the value of family and who make the reunion possible each time.

(Nellie Meimann-- my great grandmother, with her three daughters circa late 1980s)

~Melody :-)

Come Fly With Me!

2011-07-25T08:51:00.006-04:00

Believe it or not, in the 7 years I've lived in Cincinnati (+ the 4 I spent in Oxford at Miami), I've never made the trek to the Air Force Museum in nearby Dayton. It's not that I haven't wanted to go-- I have. I've just never planned the trip. So when some friends called us and asked if we wanted to join them for the day, we decided to go.

So...there's an Air Force base in Dayton. And there's an Air Force Museum there. With free admission. It's housed in 3 large hangars and there are literally dozens of planes to see. Most of them are military planes. I was a little apprehensive when we first got there and feared that Cate would be overwhelmed and/or bored. Thankfully, she had fun running around from plane to plane with the other kids. I realize her face above is not one of happiness, but she didn't want me to take her picture. Even Brennan enjoyed having so much to look at. With Cate bouncing around from plane to plane, there wasn't a whole lot of time to actually stop and read about them. And there are several planes whose histories I'd like to read up on. The museum houses the plane that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki, for example. One of the planes (from the Korean war, I think) was open so that you could walk through it. Cate loved that!
My favorite part was the small exhibit they had about the Holocaust. I teach the novel, Night, every year and throw in quite a bit of Holocaust/WW2 history with it. This section at the museum primarily focused on the concentration camps being liberated by American soldiers, but they had some interesting artifacts, like one of the Star of David patches that Jewish Germans had to sew on their clothing. Eric's favorite part was the space section, where they house several old Nasa rockets. He's kind of a space geek and went to space camp as a kid. He had fun telling Cate about the different rockets and lunar modules. With the recent end to the shuttle program, we're both very curious to see where the space program goes in the coming years.

It's pretty safe to say we'll be going back. I saw quite a few little boys that were enamored by the planes and I'm sure Brennan will be too in a few years. I'd like to spend a little more time reading about the different displays too. Somehow I missed the B-17 bomber they have there. My grandfather worked on them in Italy and Africa during WW2, so I definitely want to go back to see that.

If you're ever in the area, check it out! It's a great place to spend a day. And since it's air-conditioned, we were able to beat the heat!

~Melody :-)

The Children's Museum-- Now Twice As Fun

2011-07-23T12:14:00.005-04:00

Someone started sitting up on Tuesday. All by himself.
It's been wicked hot here. Like 95-100 degrees (add in the humidity and the head index reads at 110). Cate does okay in the heat if we're out swimming or if she's got a big bottle of water. Brennan is a different story. For his safety, we've only been outside with him for 90 minutes or less at a time (that's consecutive time spent outside, like at the pool or park or something). My mom works for the school district I graduated from and is on summer vacation, so she's been spending a lot of time down here. To beat the heat one day this week, we headed to the Children's Museum. My mom hadn't been there before. Cate was excited to show her how she plays vet in the animal hospital playroom. We were at the museum pretty much all day. Now that Brennan can sit unassisted, he has a lot more fun there. There are so many more things for him to play with now.
We also discovered a sand play area that I never knew existed. Our Children's Museum is housed in a building with two other museums (a history of Cincinnati Museum and a Natural History Museum) and an Omnimax Theater. The sand play area is actually tucked away in the Natural History Museum.
It's much better than the sand table in the Children's Museum. I have to say, it was nice to stick my toes in the sand for a little while-- even if it was only play sand indoors and not beach sand. We're already plotting our beach vacation next year and we're hoping to spend two wonderful weeks there.

~Melody :-)

PS...Today, my little man is 7 months old! The pictures above are all from Tuesday. A 7 month picture will be coming soon.

Don't Blink

2011-07-18T22:04:00.004-04:00

I remember when my cousin, Stephen, was born. It was the summer in between 4th and 5th grade. Babies fascinated me and I grabbed any chance I could to hold anyone's baby. This weekend, that baby boy that fascinated me 19 years ago held my baby boy as we celebrated Stephen's graduation from high school. And 18 years from now, when we celebrate Brennan's high school graduation and Stephen has kids of his own, I'll look back on this weekend and wonder where the time went. In fact, on Sunday, we celebrated the opposite end of the schooling spectrum when we went to Cate's preschool to meet her teachers and classmates for this coming school year.

The Kenny Chesney song, Don't Blink, appropriately comes to mind.

Don't blink
Just like that you're six years old and you take a nap and you
Wake up and you're twenty-five and your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink
You just might miss your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads next thing you know your "better half"
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend, a hundred years goes faster than you think
So don't blink

I've really been making a conscious effort lately to be "in the moment" or simply "present." I used to be one who analyzed the past in order to better my future. And while it's important to learn from past mistakes lest you repeat them, I also think it's important to not dwell on moments gone by or yet to come so much that your focus on the present gets blurred.

Because spending too much time in any time but the present one might mean you'll blink and miss it all. And I don't want to miss it. ~Melody :-)

Lucky 7

2011-07-13T13:52:00.010-04:00

Sunday marked our 7th wedding anniversary. And can I just say, I really, really do love my husband more with each year we are married. He is an amazing man!

Last Thursday, we decided that since we were coming up on 7 years of marriage, it was high time that we bought a real dining room table (one that could seat more people and on which you could keep the food being served-- y'know, passing the dishes and all). We also decided it was high time to buy something to display the china in that we got 7 years ago for our wedding. So we headed to Ikea. And after a little bit of sweat, but no blood or tears, we now have this:

The table seats 8 right now, but has two leaves and could comfortably seat 12. One side is a bench, which Cate loves. I love the china cabinet and the fact that our china is actually out of the boxes!

On Saturday, we spent some time as a family at the City Flea (a once a month summer flea market downtown). Calling it a flea market really isn't fair as flea market sometimes denotes "crap" or "junk." There were vendors selling vintage and new goods as well as handmade items. Cate got a pair of Son of Gustav moccasins (she LOVES them) and a little hand-sewn bird. She picked a pair to match Brennan's, which means Brennan will inherit them in a few years. We found Brennan a vintage shirt for next summer (can't wait to pair it with khakis) and his own moccasins.

Saturday night, Eric's parents watched the kids so Eric and I could head to dinner at The Melting Pot. I'd never been, but my IRL friend, Mama Marchand, talks about it a lot and goes there with her husband to celebrate special things, so we thought we'd give it a try. It. Was. Amazing. We had a four-course fondue meal and I came home STUFFED. Eric even mentioned it was our anniversary when he made the reservations and they put flowers on our table that I got to take home.

We picked Brennan up since I wasn't quite ready to leave him overnight yet, and Cate stayed with her grandparents. Sunday, our actual anniversary, was pretty lazy. Eric got donuts and coffee and a Sunday times and we lounged around on the back patio before going to get Cate.
Cate went to bed early and Eric cooked a great shrimp/pasta dish which we ate on our china.
It was a dish he made for me on our first Valentine's Day together. We were in college and on our way to what I thought was a restaurant. Halfway there, Eric said "Oh, crap, I forgot my wallet at home." I offered to pay so we could keep going, but he insisted on turning around to get it. Little did I know that dinner was waiting for me back at his apartment and his awesome roommate had lit about 100 candles in the short time we'd been driving and then vacated the apartment while we ate. So the dish brought back memories.

And I have to mention this too:
This is Eric's anniversary gift-- a leather cuff bracelet from Lisa Leonard designs with our kids' birthdates on it. I love it. He loves it. I don't have a picture, but I got Brennan's fingerprint on a silver heart to match one I have for Cate. So now I have a necklace with two heart charms-- one with each kids' fingerprint.

It was a wonderful way to celebrate seven years. We also did a little bit of dreaming and decided that we'll celebrate years 8 and 9 quietly because barring a major financial crisis, we plan to spend our 10th anniversary here. Hopefully, in one of the awesome swim-up rooms. We've started saving for it already.

I can only hope we have so many more years together. These first seven have been great. We've had our share of ups and downs, but I wouldn't trade them for anything.

~Melody :-)
PS... Some of my formatting got messed up. Sorry. Don't know why some stuff is underlined and everything and I don't have the time to mess around with it to fix it. :-)

Alpaca Encounter

2011-07-11T22:43:00.005-04:00

When we visited my parents over the 4th of July weekend, my sister took Cate on a fun expedition. Catherine's friend from high school lives on an alpaca farm. Hudson isn't a rural community, but there are a few farms still thriving.Cate loved getting to see the alpacas and feeding them treats.
She thought it especially funny when "Aunt C" kissed a llama. Domino, the one and only llama on the farm, is a close cousin to the alpacas.
The family that owns the farm raises them for their wool-- which makes great yarn (I even got a couple of balls of alpaca yarn while visiting, which I intend to use to make a winter hat for Brennan). They had recently been sheared.
We're hoping to go back to see the alpacas next time we visit Hudson. The day we were there, there were several mama alpacas within a week or so of giving birth. So we want to go back and check out those babies. This four month old one was pretty cute though:
My animal-lovin' girl loved those alpacas. I think she'd be in heaven if we ever moved to a farm-- which we'd never do because keeping up with our small house, small yard, 2 children, dog, cat, and fish is quite enough thank you.
But we can visit often. Cate made another friend at the farm too-- Ravenna, the barn cat. Thanks to Sam and family for letting us visit with your alpacas! You made Cate's day!

~Melody :-)

Red, White, and Cute-Ness

2011-07-06T09:31:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago, we were planning to stay in town for the fourth because Eric was scheduled to staff a workout on Saturday, July 2nd. But since, y'know, he's not working now and all, we decided to go ahead and slip away to my parents' house for the weekend.

My hometown shoots off fireworks a couple of days before the actual 4th (since the bigger cities of Akron and Cleveland both have firework displays on the holiday). A park less than half a mile from my parents' house plays host to the display, so Saturday night we walked up the street and sat and watched fireworks. I thought Brennan would be freaked out, but he just sat and watched them, mesmerized.Bonus-- we ran into my IRL friend, Ms. Rose, whose parents live a street away from mine. They had walked up to the fireworks too! Ms. Rose has been kickin' some weight-loss butt and looked fabulous!

The rest of our weekend was spent being lazy, going on a date with my husband, doing a little shopping at Ann Taylor Loft (they were having a great sale and my dairy cow duties for Brennan have necessitated a few more forgiving tops to start the school year next month), and just being together. Bonus 2-- we took a walk one night and stopped by another friend from high school's parents' house. She was visiting with her just-turned-one daughter. It was great to see Katie and meet Alexandra. I don't think I've seen Katie since one of the summers we were both home from college.

Anyway, on the actual fourth, we donned our red, white, and blue and walked around downtown Hudson. Most of the shops were closed, but I happened to have my camera with me and an impromptu photo shoot ensued. I'm not a pro by any means, but I think these turned out quite well. In fact, the one of our whole family is getting blown up for our living room (hopefully I can Photoshop the people out of the background, but if not, no big deal). Enjoy the cute-ness!

~Melody :-)

Backyard Love

2011-06-28T11:07:00.009-04:00

Apparently I've been so embarrassed about the state of our backyard that in the 6 years we've lived in our house, I can't seem to find a picture that showed our backyard in its entirety. Maybe embarrassed is the wrong word. For the first few years we lived here, we didn't use our backyard that much. We had the occasional bonfire and we grilled out, eating our hamburgers or chicken on lawn chairs.

Once Cate became big enough to use the backyard, my pictures seem to be selective in what they actually showed. In the pictures below, you can kind of see the old red brick patio. It was full of weeds that would pop through every spring. We'd spray weed killer and pull them up, but they'd come back. To truly rid ourselves of the weeds would've required pulling up the bricks to dig out the weed roots. We never felt the urge to do that. You can also see a lot of backyard overgrowth in this picture from Cate's first fourth of July: And when Cate turned two, we bought a cheap $150 metal swingset for her to enjoy:
It was a piece of junk though. Not terribly sturdy and not much for her to play on.

Anyway, we've always liked our backyard. We just haven't loved it. We never put much time into making it pretty because we weren't sure how long we'd be here to enjoy it. Remember, this was supposed to be a five year house. Or a forever house sans kids (because there was a period of time in our marriage where kids weren't on the agenda). But we ended up having kids before we were here five years, the real estate market went to $%@&, and here we are now-- almost six years (6 in August) into our house and more in love with it now than when we bought it. We refinanced, committed to at least 5 more years in this house (we'll re-evaluate then and decide if we're moving toward an addition or a new house), and we're doing a bit of sprucing up around here.

We started with the backyard. Since Eric will be home with our kiddos and I'm home with them every summer, it seemed the logical place to start. While we have parks and playgrounds close by, there are days where even loading up the stroller with some diapers and water bottles and then walking 4 blocks to the park seems to take too much effort. So we ditched the crappy swingset and put in one of these: Eric pulled up the old red bricks and put in a beautiful new patio. It's not quite done (we have a few paver stones he needs to cut in half to put on one side), but it's like 90% there and done enough to be able to enjoy it. We've been dining al fresco a lot lately. The furniture we now have on the patio was my parents' old set. They had it for 25 years (cushions are new though). It's iron and it's sturdy and we love it. Sidenote-- we didn't have cushions on two of the chairs when I took this photo, which is why the kids' pool floats are there. And the little playhouse and pool have been moved elsewhere. The bonfire pit is just out of the picture. If you "zoom out" in your mind, it's in the top right corner.
Eric and my dad also cut back a lot of the overgrowth in our backyard and enlarged our fire pit. We had our first bonfire last Friday with some friends. It was actually cool enough that night to justify a bonfire.
Cate was all about the bonfire and keeps asking when we'll build another. She pulled her kid-size lawn chair right up to it and sat and watched it for awhile. Brennan just got loved on by my awesome friend, Emily. Eric bought giant marshmallows at the store...
...and we made s'mores as big as our faces.
So with the new patio, the new swingset, plus our old favorites (the pool, the house, the bonfire pit, and the sand/water table), our backyard is now a place we really want to be. We don't have to load up diapers and water bottles just to go swing or slide (though we still walk to the park often). I love that I have the freedom to run inside and grab something if I need to do so. I also love that since our kitchen looks out over the backyard, Cate can play out there by herself while I make lunch or dinner. The other day I ran in to grab some water. Brennan was secure in his baby swing and Cate was playing on the swingset too. I came outside to find this sweet moment, which I managed to capture the first part of without Cate's knowledge.

I just love how Brennan is smiling at his big sis when she gives him a little push.

Welcome to our new outside space, friends. You're all invited anytime to cookout, hangout, and enjoy the sun (it's sunny back there from about 10am-2pm) or the shade (from sunrise until about 10am and again from 2pm until the sun goes down).

~Melody :-)

Half a Year

2011-06-25T20:10:00.002-04:00

Someone turned 6 months old on Thursday!
Holy cow, where did half a year go already?

Not to brag or anything, but my little guy can:

roll over both ways (he prefers to sleep on his tummy now)
play independently in his exersaucer
eat rice cereal, apples, bananas, pears, yellow squash, sweet potatoes, prunes, mangoes, and avocados (we tried peaches but their tang makes him gag)-- Mommy and Daddy make all of his food, which has made feeding him so much cheaper-- green veggies are up next, then meats
nurse like a champ (even in public when he's covered-- he doesn't get distracted)
reach for things and grab them
babble like there is no tomorrow
turns toward people when they call his name
sit assisted (with a Boppy or in the high chair or with anything else to help prop him up on the sides)
splash when we play at the pool
laugh when tickled
smile ALL the time

He is seriously one of the mellowest, happiest babies I've ever met. If he cries, it's because he's really hungry or something is really bothering him. He had his six-month checkup today and didn't even cry when they gave him his first shot. His second shot brought literally 4 seconds of crying and no tears.

As for six month stats, he weighs 18 pounds, 1 ounce (65th percentile) and is 27 inches long (75th percentile). Our pediatrician was incredibly pleased with how well he's doing and with his happy demeanor.

We are so blessed to have such a wonderful little boy in our lives! It's hard to believe that in just six more short months, we'll be celebrating his first birthday!

~Melody :-)

It is Well with My Soul

2011-06-22T14:34:00.004-04:00

When peace like a river attendeth my way(The Ohio River about to overflow it's banks-- May 1, 2011)

When sorrows like sea billows roll,
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

(rainbow-- April 28, 2011)

The words above are not mine, but from a favorite hymn of mine, penned in the 1870's. Charles Spafford wrote the words to It is Well with My Soul when he crossed over the spot in the Atlantic Ocean where all four of his daughters died in a shipwreck. Part of the lyrics were also inspired by the great Chicago fire of 1871, which ruined Spafford's family financially (prior to his daughters' deaths).

I feel like it's my theme song lately. First there was Eric getting laid off from work. Right now it just feels like he's on vacation. I haven't slept well since Friday. You'd think a company that had to lay people off would hand a person their severance check on his way out the door. But there's paperwork. And more paperwork to cash out the small annuity. And things that have to be notarized. And faxed (which costs $2.50 at Kinko's because we don't have a fax machine). And then waiting. We could be waiting up to a month for this stuff. So I agonized over every thing I put in my cart at the grocery store last weekend because I didn't want to overspend. We may have 4 weeks to get through before we get some breathing room. And before I finally get some sleep.

Then there was today. My great aunt passed away. This is the second great aunt I've lost this year. The first, my great Aunt Barb (my dad's aunt) passed away in April. She was in her 60's and I really didn't get to know her until I was an adult because she lived in Tucson and didn't come back to Ohio often. But she was an amazing woman. Today, it was my great Aunt Mickey (not her real name, just what we've always called her-- my mom's aunt). She went in for surgery on her tongue, came out of the surgery okay but in pain, asked for pain medicine, and then coded. They couldn't get her stabilized again. She was 87. And because she only lived across the river in Kentucky, I saw her more often growing up.

I'm glad she got to meet both of my kids (with Cate above)-- meeting Brennan most recently when my mom, grandma, the kids, and Aunt Mickey trekked down to Stanton, Kentucky for the day to visit my grandma and aunt's oldest sister (they are all pictured below-- Aunt Mickey is on the right).
And all I can do today is echo the words that "it is well with my soul." I know my great aunt is in Heaven today. But I am sad that she is no longer here on Earth and that she'll miss our family reunion this summer.

I know that things will be okay with Eric and I and the whole work thing (seriously, he's fine about losing his job, it's just the whole getting his severance and annuity that are stressing me out). I know we'll make it through this and that next school year will be great with him at home taking care of our two precious treasures and that God will provide whatever we need in this weird in between time when I'm still on unpaid maternity leave. I'm happy to have Eric home and these next several weeks are a blessing for our family to have so much time together-- even if it wasn't exactly how we had planned for things to go.

And I love the last verse of the song:

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Because in the end, God is good, and that's all I know. Even when the storms are raging and "sorrows like sea billows roll." Because whatever happens, it is well with my soul. I'll be in Heaven one day too and oh what rejoicing there will be!

The psalmist wrote, weeping may last for the night but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5). I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some joy around here.

~Melody :-)

Pouring my heart out with Shell today.

The Post That Shouldn't Have Come Until August

2011-06-17T15:39:00.006-04:00

I know I said I was going to be less wordy and post less frequently in an attempt to bring balance to my life, but the balance was totally thrown off by today's events. Let me start at the beginning though.

Last fall, we really started thinking about childcare for Cate and Brennan after my maternity leave ended (which is with the start of the coming 2011-2012 school year). We lucked out with good care for Cate, and we really wanted her to go to preschool. But preschool registration happens early around here, so we started looking into various schools around here last fall. A half day program would require that a sitter do some of the driving. A full day program meant either finding a place that also did infant care or putting Brennan somewhere totally different. In the end, after a lot of prayer, we decided the best thing for our kids at this time is for one of us to stay home. It would be a one-year trial and we'd see where it would go from there. And after more prayer we discerned that the parent staying at home should be Eric. I won't go into all the details, but our salaries were fairly comparable as teacher and non-profit worker, though I make a little more. However, I had better hours (even if I have to bring work home and do it after the kids are in bed), better retirement, and a little more job security. His insurance is better, but there would've been compromise either way.
We share in a lot of the parenting and household duties. I'm being seriously honest when I say that because I know I'm lucky and I know we're not the norm. We each equally grocery shop and cook. He does more dishes while I do more laundry. We split other cleaning chores. He does mow the lawn though (being honest again, I don't even know how to work our lawnmower). And we both play games, play pretend, read books, dress kids, wipe bottoms, clean up spit-up, etc. equally as well (some days are more lopsided than others). We both felt like we could be the one to stay home, but when weighing the pros and cons of each of us leaving our jobs, it made more sense for him to leave.

So he was going to turn in his notice in August, work until the end of August, and then stay home. I was going to blog about it all in August. That was the plan. Until today. After being at work for a couple of hours, he was called in to see the boss. As the most recently hired (three-ish years ago) in his department, he was the first to be let go due to budget cuts. It had nothing to do with performance. He'd get a severance, some help with insurance, and could apply for unemployment. His work was happy to write a letter of recommendation.
At first I was TICKED (hence the WTF reaction on Twitter/Facebook). I cried. I about wrecked the car since Eric called me while I was driving to tell me he had just been let go. I still want to cry about it. Mostly because I am scared, but partly because he didn't get to leave on his terms. Hello! I'm on UNPAID maternity leave right now. I don't get benefits or a paycheck again until September. I prayed. I'm still praying. And once Eric and I both got home, my prayers were already being answered.

His severance and withdrawing the little bit he has in a retirement savings account will hold us off until I start getting paid again. His insurance is still effective until the end of the month. After that, we'll have Cobra, but the plan we'll stay the same and his company will help him pay for that for a couple of months. In fact, the timing can only be God's. The day Cobra would start costing us into the 4 digits per month is the day we are officially covered again on my insurance. We're going to be just fine.

Shocker? Yes. Will I sleep tonight? Probably not without the aid of a Unisom or Tylenol PM or something. But God is in control. We are praying for wisdom in regards to our finances. Thankfully we have an emergency fund too, but we shouldn't have to dip too far into it. Neither of us has any ill-will towards his now former employer. Hopefully we'll both get to return as participants to their fundraising program once the kids are a little older.

I'm trying to see this time as a gift. From now until school starts, my kids have the awesome privilege of having two parents at home with them. We can head north to visit my parents another time or two this summer if we want. We can start going back to Findlay Market on Saturday mornings (a tradition we stopped when Eric started having to staff workouts every Saturday morning). I don't have to stress about taking both kids to the pool on my own (which I've only done once, but just for Cate's swim lesson). We'll be able to enjoy time out on the new patio (pics to come later) together more.

And hopefully we won't want to kill each other.

I'm sure it's not the way my husband wanted to start his Father's Day weekend, but we're making the most of it and smiling again. Happy Father's Day to all of the dad's out there. Happy weekend to everyone.

~Melody :-)

The Catalyst

2011-06-15T15:59:00.005-04:00

Thanks for the kind responses on this post.

Everyone has different ways of bringing balance to their lives. I was choosing to make blogging (and other social media) a burden-- putting unnecessary pressure on myself and not enjoying it. Posting less or posting shorter (or wordless posts) is my attempt to bring some balance back into my life and to be more present than I have been lately in the lives of my husband, daughter, and son. It's a temporary change as far as I can tell. But we'll see.

The catalyst that got me thinking about this? Well, April and May were quite rainy and gross. I spent a lot of time online, breaking my own self-imposed rule of no more than 15 minutes on the computer while the kids are awake and in my sole care. At lunch one day, Cate remarked that when she grew up, she wanted to work on a computer like Mommy. Ouch. To be fair, I was working on a lot of Power of the Pen and school stuff at the time (despite being on maternity leave), but still, ouch.
So with that, I turn off my computer, look forward to reading your blogs and tweets (love my iPhone and the many small moments during the day I can use it to read your blogs and tweets and stuff, like when B takes forever to nurse or the water for Cate's mac and cheese just doesn't want to seem to boil), and am off to enjoy a sunny day in our little corner of our state.

~Melody :-)

To Blog or Not to Blog...

2011-06-15T08:51:00.002-04:00

...it's not really a question. My blog isn't going anywhere. But, I've been thinking a lot lately about the role it plays in my life.

When I first started this blog, my intent was simply to keep out-of-town family and friends up to date on my pregnancy with Cate, her birth, and all things "growing up" in the Riggs household. I averaged about one post a week at first-- more once Cate was born. I didn't know much about the blogging community at that time and only knew one other person in real life who kept a blog. As I discovered more and more of this online community and as more people I actually knew started blogging, I began to get really into it. At one point I thought I could be someone who was paid to blog. After all, I do enjoy writing and I am an English teacher. But I don't always have interesting things to say. And my intent is still to just allow family and friends glimpses into what we're up to around here.

The thing is, when Cate was a baby and napped a lot and went to bed early and was content to sit on my lap while I typed and stuff, I had more time to blog. Now? She rarely naps, goes to bed a little later, and I can't see over/around her to type a blog post. The weather outside is beautiful, we just put in a gorgeous new patio (well, it needs a few finishing touches, but it's pretty much done), we had a great swingset installed, Cate enjoys playing board games and pretend, and she's actually starting to get a little more involved in things-- like swim lessons and more frequent play dates. Not to mention caring for Brennan too. I've been trying really hard to post regularly, but at the end of the day when the kids are in bed, the last thing I want to do is sit in front of a computer and try to think of something to say. I want to have a glass of wine on the patio with my husband or read a book or knit or something that nourishes me. And during the day I'm finding myself nourished by games of Don't Spill the Beans or coloring or swinging or playing peek-a-boo. Writing my blog is great nourishment for me sometimes (it was nourishment I needed and craved in the months following Cate's birth), but lately I feel like it's filling me up less and less as I'm being filled up more and more by things away from the screen.

That's not to say that I have anything against bloggers who do it for a living or people who like to blog a lot and connect with an online community. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's just me personally and the way I've been feeling lately. I'm bad at time management and was starting to feel addicted to blogging. My blog is here to stay though as we still have several family members and friends out of town. It's a great little record of day-to-day goings-on in our family. It's fun to share. It's great to reference when I'm putting together Shutterfly scrapbooks for my kids and need to remember all we've done in the past year.

But the posts may be a little less frequent as I spend a little more time outside on the swings or on the floor playing Candyland or reading some books or drinking wine with my husband. As my life as wife to an amazing man and mother to two wonderful kids evolves and grows, so does my blog and the way I view it/use it. At this season in my life, I may have weeks where I post a lot if I feel I need it/have a lot to share, and weeks where I rarely post or just post some pictures of the Riggs' kids cuteness (for the sake of those out-of-towners who need regular doses of chubby cheeks, curly hair, gummy grins, and bright blue eyes). And who knows how long this season will last?

But for now, I hope you'll keep reading when I do post. Your patience and grace are appreciated. And just because I'm not writing as frequently, doesn't mean I'm not reading. I do so enjoy reading blogs.

I'll leave you with some of the awesome-est bubbles ever! I bought them at a toy shop when visiting my parents.
Yes, they smell like the flavors. Although sadly, we've ~~spilled~~ blown through the original scents and are just using generic bubble soap to refill. Because blowing out of ice cream cones is more fun.
And my little guy likes them too.
~Melody :-)

Pouring my heart out with Shell today.

They were

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, Nope-- It's Just a Bird

2011-06-13T09:37:00.000-04:00

Last week we took a day trip over to Pittsburgh, a little under 2 hours from my parents' home. After lunch with one of my oldest (oldest in terms of how long we've known each other, not in terms of age) friends and her wonderful husband, we headed over to The National Aviary.

If you've been around this blog long enough, you know that my sweet girl has a thing for penguins. She loves them. Is obsessed with them. Would be one if she could. Ask her right now what she wants to be someday and she'll tell you, "a zookeeper that takes care of penguins." Some days it's just, "a penguin keeper." The Aviary has a great penguin display. We spent quite a bit of our time there. I like birds. To look at them. Or to decorate/accessorize with (not real ones, but bird accessories or birds on things). I don't want to own one. I'm not afraid of them either though. I think they're beautiful. My girl loves them though (she pretty much loves all animals-- I think she'd live at the zoo if she could). She was eager to help feed any bird that was scheduled to eat while we were there (they keep them on a schedule so the birds are actually hungry during feeding time and you can have a close encounter with them).
My budding Dr. Doolittle also made friends with an eagle. She'd put her hands up the glass and this guy would tap the glass right back at her.
It was a perfect way to spend an afternoon. We headed back to my parents' house after leaving the aviary, but we're hoping to go back. Eric didn't get to come, so we'd like to spend a day, or even an overnight, getting to know that city. My friend, Jenn, tells me they have a fabulous conservatory and children's museum, as well as plenty of green space to run around in with the kids. We're thinking either a fall or spring trip might be in order (Pittsburgh, like many Midwest cities, has horrible winters).

If you're ever in Pittsburgh, stop by the aviary. We really enjoyed it and our Cincinnati Zoo pass got us in for half price!

~Melody :-)

The Naked Crib

2011-06-10T09:02:00.002-04:00

*Using pics from Instagram today-- one of my favorite free apps for the iPhone.

These two kids are the apples of my eyes. I'd do just about anything for them. My goal as their mommy is to keep them safe and healthy, make sure they're educated and clean (most of the time), love them so much I want to burst, and hopefully one day, when they're adults, become their friend.
Right now, my sweet girl is putting some stickers in her sticker book (I found a Sandy Lion one-- the good kind-- on eBay and we put it in her Easter basket). She is so my daughter. I remember trading stickers with friends during indoor recess when the weather was too nasty to go outside. I remember the store at the mall that used to have rolls of stickers and you could buy them by the sheet for about 10 cents. I loved stickers as a kid and so does my sweet girl.
Right now, my winter wonder man is napping in his crib. He's still our roommate at night as his sleep patterns don't quite line up with his sister's. But we think they'll be happy roommates by the end of summer, if not by next month. He naps in his crib though. And we're trying to teach him to self-soothe and not swaddle him as much, especially now that he's rolling over (yup, both ways, did them both on our 11 day trip to the northeast corner of our state).
The other day he gave me quite a scare and put the whole "keeping safe" rule of mothering to the test. I put him down for a nap, but swaddled him because he was inconsolable any other way. He. Was. Tired. I went to check on him about an hour later because he's normally a cat-napper (three to four 30-45 minute naps/day as opposed to two 90-120 minute naps a day). Despite being swaddled, he had wiggled himself over to the edge of the mattress and had his face turned right in toward the crib bumper. I had a mini-panic attack seeing his face smushed up against the bumper like that. I moved him quickly and quietly away (thankfully he was breathing just fine). I couldn't take the bumper off while he was sleeping, so I let him sleep (he slept for another hour!). But I was peeking in on him every few minutes-- he didn't move or wiggle anywhere else, thankfully.

I didn't buy a video monitor with Cate. I was afraid it would make me paranoid. I wake up to every little noise on the monitor as it is. I'm not going to buy one now either. Instead, I removed his adorable crib bumper, and we now have a very naked crib. Once he's older and I don't feel like he's in danger of getting himself up against the bumper, I'll put it back on. It's not like he's moving to a big kid bed any time soon. For now, I'd rather a plain looking crib with a safe baby in it than a cute looking crib that's empty.

~Melody :-)

The Short Version of a Long Story

2011-06-07T22:22:00.004-04:00

Told ya it'd be quiet around here. I'll post more specifically later, but here's the short version:

Thursday, May 26th, we loaded up ~~about half of our house~~ a lot of stuff and headed northeast to my parents' house (3.5 hours away if you don't hit traffic or make stops; so usually 4 hours for us).

Friday, May 27th, I spent the day with Eric and Brennan (since I'm kinda his main food supply) at the College of Wooster for the Power of the Pen State tournament. Four of my twelve writers made it to this elite level. Impressive! Cate enjoyed hanging out with her Nanny, Poppy, Aunt C, and Uncle Jeff for the day.

It was Memorial Day weekend, so we just stayed in town, enjoyed a date night (free food b/c they lost our order in the kitchen or something and we waited almost an hour to get it), and just visited.

Tuesday morning, May 31st, I kissed my husband goodbye. He drove back down here with my dad since they both had to work (my dad works in Cincinnati Monday-Thursday usually). I stayed in Hudson for reasons that will later be disclosed. The kids an I had an uneventful day.

Wednesday we celebrated the beginning of June with a day trip to Pittsburgh to see one of my best friends. We visited the National Aviary where my animal-lovin' girl did this:While my friend, Jenn, protected my little man:
Thursday we went to the Cleveland Zoo with another high school friend and her son (a couple weeks older than Cate) and daughter (a few months older than Brennan). Cate and Logan took a couple of train rides together.
By Friday, the kids (and Mommy) were exhausted, so we just decided to lie low. We walked to the park some, hung around my parents' house, and ran a few errands. Eric left for Lake Tahoe (for work, poor guy I know) Friday morning. And that's why I stayed. I figured I could be home alone with two kids or stay a few extra days at my parents with lots of hands to help. It was easy to get Cate to bed when there were willing arms to hold Brennan (and even bathe him and get him ready for bed) while I did so. My sister has twin beds in her room, is home from college, and like a champ got up in the middle of the night if Cate needed her and helped her out. I actually got 8 straight, uninterrupted hours on a couple of occasions.

We returned home yesterday (Monday) afternoon. Eric got home last night. We're all a happy family again. Incidentally, that was the longest time span Eric and I have spent apart since before we got married. And this was installed in our yard today:
I'll write more specific posts about different aspects of our stay in NE Ohio as I have time (our weeks are filling up fast with all kinds of random fun and goodness). We're busy enjoying our new playset (so worth it to get it installed-- it took 3 guys with all kinds of tools and who do this every day 4 hours to do it-- it probably would've taken Eric and I all summer), getting Cate to swim lessons, and just plain kickin' off summer.

I stayed relatively unplugged (only doing a few things from my iPhone and getting on the computer every few days) while gone and I kind of liked it. But I did manage to win a giveaway from Mama Marchand's blog and read a couple of blogs (though not always getting a chance to comment).

Anyway, welcome back. That's the short version of my long stay and I'm stickin' to it.

~Melody :-)

P.S. We're busy this week. I'll probably be taking a week off from a couple of my favorite linky parties. We'll see.

Memorial Day

2011-06-01T08:06:00.002-04:00

I'm skipping Pour Your Heart out today as I'm heading with the kiddos on a short day trip to visit one of my best friends. She's known me since middle school, was the maid of honor (I was the matron of honors in hers) in my wedding, and even though we can go months without a conversation, we always seem to pick up where we left off. I'm excited to spend some time in her city, introduce her to the newest man in my life (I was still pregnant the last time she saw me), and just spend the day picking up where we last left off.

And when I get back to Cincinnati, another dear friend will be in town, staying for almost two months with her family while her husband is deployed with the Air Force. I'm thankful for all who serve, and their awesome families. So...check out how cute my kiddos were as we watched the Memorial Day parade in my hometown. Thank you to my mom for the awesomely cute red, white, and blue outfits.

Anyway...off we go. My longest solo day trip with two kiddos is about to commence.

~Melody

Inspiration Workshop

2011-05-30T17:25:00.007-04:00

Trying a new blog event today-- the inspiration workshop with Gussy Sews (you must check out her blog and her shop). I so want one of her totes (hint, hint hubby since I know you read here). Maybe a back to school/end of maternity leave present?

Anyway, the inspiration workshop is all about finding and sharing inspiration while meeting other bloggers. She even gives you almost a whole week to think about the prompt. Today's prompt-- handmade.

I grew up wearing a lot of clothes handmade by both my grandmother (dad's mom) and my mom (who actually started learning how to sew when she took my dad's mom's class in high school-- my grandma was a home-ec/sewing teacher). I've loved crafty things since I was a kid and I'm not too shabby when it comes to unleashing my inner creative beast and crafting some things. I've made Cate several cute dresses/skirts, like this one:

I managed to sew this apron together for myself (I love aprons and this was an easy kit from JoAnn's--incidentally JoAnn's headquarters is pretty much in my parents' backyard; I can walk there; I used to nanny in the summers for a JoAnn's buyer):
And I knit Brennan's baby blanket: A quick click on the sewing or knitting category on the left of this blog will give you a taste of a few of my other creations. But I can't do (or make it all). Here are some other handmade things I find inspiring:

These cars are from the Etsy shop, Birdy Boots. I actually already ordered a truck, tractor, and helicopter for Brennan from their shop. He'll get them on his birthday.

And when he gets older, I totally plan to make him this:

I want to make my sweet girl a memory game (a use for my fabric scraps):

And I can use my ribbon scraps to make these (fun for back to school):

I weirdly collect stickers off of the produce we buy (if it's cool looking and doesn't have a barcode). I think I need to make this to store them in:

I so love this idea-- making a little mini-scrap book using a deck of cards as the base:

Now it's just finding the time to get creative and get my handmade juices flowing. Looking forward to finding even more inspiration through today's linky party. Head on over for some inspiration.

We had a blast in Pittsburgh with my friend, Jenn, yesterday. My animal lovin' girl seriously enjoyed feeding birds at the National Aviary and was crackin' up over the penguins. Pics to come soon.

~Melody

A Day at the Lake

2011-05-30T16:47:00.004-04:00

It's been quiet around this blog because we've quietly been enjoying some time away from home. While on maternity leave, I'm still coaching our school's Power of the Pen team. It has been a nice way to stay "in the loop" and use my teacher brain before school starts again in August. The state tournament was on Friday, about an hour away from my parents' home. Our team didn't place in the top 5 (which are the only ones they announce), so we won't know how we did overall for a few weeks. But, we did have an 8th grader place 13th and a 7th grader place 10th. Not too shabby. Being only an hour from my parents' home, we decided to make a weekend of it all.

We enjoyed Saturday brunch at my Aunt's house before my cousin's high school graduation. Sunday got hot and we decided it was high time to introduce the kids to Lake Erie. We're not going on our typical beach vacation this year as the thought of driving 10ish hours with a 5 month old is not high on my bucket list (or on it at all for that matter). He eats every 3 or 4 hours during the day. It takes him a good half hour or so to eat and get changed. A 10 hour drive would quickly become a 15 hour one with all the stopping we'd do to feed him (not to mention our fairly newly potty-trained girl). Still, it was a beach.

The water was cold, but the sand felt great. Little man didn't mind having it between his toes. Cate enjoyed splashing around and hunting for rocks. We had to be careful though-- the recent downpours of rain left higher than normal levels of bacteria in the water. Thankfully, it didn't affect any of us.

The sunshine peeked out through pockets in the clouds, which meant no one got sunburned either. It could not have been a more perfect day to head up to the lake. We're hoping that on future visits to my parents we can head to the lake some more. Maybe when the water isn't so gross or cold and we can dip our whole bodies in.

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all who serve. Pictures from our morning parade experience coming soon.

~Melody :-)

PS...Sunday also brought a milestone for my little man. He rolled over-- tummy to back for the first time!

Life and Death

2011-05-25T09:48:00.004-04:00

Explaining life to Cate was easy: I had a c-section with Brennan and so she assumes that's how all babies get here. She's three. I don't care to get more technical than that for now. She's seen my scar and is quick to point out that "that's how the doctor got Brennan out." When she's a little bit older, we'll give her the real low down on how babies get here.

Death is a whole other story. About 3 months ago we attended the calling hours for my cousins' grandmother (not a grandmother we share). The casket was open. Cate asked me what the lady was doing "in that box." I had to make a decision in that moment-- go "there" with the whole death thing OR say she's just sleeping. I chose the latter. I realize some mothers may judge me for that, but hear me out. Cate had only seen this woman on one other occasion. No one we are close to has passed away (thankfully) since Cate's birth so we haven't needed to have this conversation. Telling her that my cousins' grandmother was asleep satisfied her curiosity and we were able to move on. Our shared grandmother tried to step in and told Cate, "no, she's dead" (not kidding, that's how she said it), but we kind of walked away and reinforced the sleeping thing.

(ETA: After reading a few of the comments on this post, I should point out that we did not equate sleeping with death as in "she's dead, it's like being asleep." We described my cousin's grandmother as sleeping because that's what she looked like and it seemed good enough for Cate-- she never asked anyone about it again. BUT I'm glad a commenter pointed out that you have to be careful with the whole death and sleeping thing so as to not make kids afraid to fall asleep at night).

Then came Easter. We started talking to Cate a little more about death because of Christ's resurrection. She didn't really "get it," but she didn't ask a lot of questions either.

Then came the bird. My girl has a bleeding heart for animals. She loves her dog, cat, and fish. She loves other people's dogs and cats. She loves the zoo. Heck, when we went downtown last week for lunch she shared half of hers with the pigeons (they like hot dog buns and shredded cheese).But before we went downtown, we were getting in the car. And she picked up a dead bird that was on our driveway. We didn't know she had picked it up, but she was cradling it and brought it to us and asked us what was wrong with it. After disposing of the bird and thoroughly sanitizing her hands, we tried again to explain what death meant. Again, we don't think she really got it, but she did tell people that she found a bird and "it was dead because it flew too fast and it's heart stopped." FYI: We didn't tell her that it flew too fast-- not sure where that came from.

I lost one of my grandfathers before I was two, so I don't remember him. My mom tells me I told her that he had gone "night night" after seeing him at the calling hours. The next close relative I lost wasn't until 5th grade, when I clearly understood what it meant to die.

So how do you do it? How do you explain the whole life and death thing to a three year old? Or do you? I don't feel like we did a very adequate job in any of the above instances. And I know our pets aren't getting any younger (and not to be morbid, but neither are some of the elderly members of our family).

~Melody :-)

Pouring my heart out with Shell today.

PS...We're coming up on some busy times. It might be a little quiet around here with just a post or two over the next couple of weeks. I promise we're all okay. And while I'd love to tell you we're going on vacation to somewhere cool, the reality is, we're just plain old busy.

Five

2011-05-23T22:24:00.004-04:00

Five months ago, Eric, my OB, and I decided it was time to cut Brennan out. He was stuck and inside my body was no longer the safest place for him.
And now my big guy is eating cereal and apples and pears (pears were new this week, and so much fun to make...seriously). He LOVED the pears when he tried them for the first time yesterday!
He tries really hard to eat Mum-Mums too. He likes them when he gets them in his mouth. Sometimes he misses though since his hand-eye coordination is a work in progress. Then he just gets ticked because he's poking himself in the eye or jabbing his nose.
But mostly, he likes them.

He's turning into quite a hunk. I hope he doesn't break too many hearts one day.
He charms just about everyone with his smile.
Even his big sister, who really is quite in love with him now.
Happy Five Months to the only man other than Eric to completely steal my heart!

~Melody :-)

Side note: We had a tornado warning here tonight and some bad thunderstorms. My dog hates storms. She hid here:
That's right...climbed by herself onto the kids' toy shelf and is still there now even though the storm has passed. Weirdo.

Baby Pro

2011-05-20T10:22:00.000-04:00

Meet my new friend, the Baby Pro babyfood maker. A fabulous gift from my mother in law.
This bad boy steams and purees fruits and veggies all in one convenient place. It makes making baby food easy. I've been itching to use it, but I don't want to wish away Brennan's babyhood either. Alas, he is turning 5 months old on Monday. So now that he seems to have cereal down, we decided to try apples. First though, I got him a new bib. Appropriate, no?
Although I think if it said "co-star" it would be better. Anyway, Monday night I peeled two apples (sweet, organic, Fuji's) and diced them up into 1/2 inch (approximately) cubes. I stuck the cubes in the steamer part after adding water and waited for the light to go off. After that, I transferred the now soft apples into the processor, pushed another button, and it pureed them to a nice little apple sauce. It was enough to fill an ice cube tray. I froze the cubes (it was late so I wasn't going to attempt to feed any to B that night) and decided we'd try apples the next day. So on Tuesday we did.
He wasn't too sure of them, but ate an ice-cube sized (thawed, of course) portion. Not much ended up on his bib-- which is great!
Wednesday he moved onto two ice-cube sized portions and liked them so much better. This weekend, I'm making pears.

And in co-star news, it's been gross here again so we're stuck inside. But Cate got to paint a puzzle.
That picture is deceiving though. We've actually been in long sleeves and pants this week. Cate just happened to have a tank top on at one point since the heat is back on at our house.

It turned out like this and is now her favorite puzzle to do.
Happy Weekend! Our sun is supposed to come back. Woo hoo!

~Melody :-)

If Only Part 2

2011-05-19T08:08:00.001-04:00

Yesterday's post got me thinking about 2 things:
1.) Based on a few comments and emails, it seems like a lot of people around my age have some sort of debt they are working to pay off. Eric and I joked that paying off the mountain of debt was like a rite of passage. But in all seriousness, it shouldn't be. The more we talked about it, the more we realized that we, like a lot of our peers, felt some sort of weird sense of entitlement post-college. Entitlement to a lifestyle like the one we had when we were still in our parents' "nest." So we took on car payments and rent payments (in neighborhoods that were desirable and expensive) in addition to our student loan payments, and our paychecks may have covered those expenses, but we felt entitled to clothes and dinners out and movies on weekends, etc. Living in a smaller apartment or a different (cheaper) neighborhood, making the cars we had work for us, and saving up for the clothes, movies, and dinners out instead of charging them would have made our mountain into a molehill. Or maybe it would have made it disappear. Who knows? And yes, I do realize that not everyone gets into debt because they feel they need certain luxuries. Sometimes we accrue debt out of necessity-- because we have medical bills to pay or groceries to buy during a time of unemployment, or other uncontrollable circumstances. I'm talking mostly about debt I chose to take on for no other reason than I wanted certain "things" though. But there is no point in wallowing in regret and instead we go forward and let it be a lesson. Which brings me to the second thing I thought about:

2.) The movie Sliding Doors. If you haven't seen it, the essential premise follows the main character through two realities. In one, she misses her train home and takes a cab instead. In the the other, she catches the train. In one, she catches her husband in the midst of an affair. In the other, she just misses walking in on that. And while I won't tell you exactly what happens as the two realities play out, in the end, she ends up in pretty much the same place. I'm not a "fate" kind of person. But I really do think I probably would be in pretty much the same place I'm in now whether or not I would've fallen for the first credit card offer to come in the mail when I was 18. Maybe we would've made more of a down payment on our house if we didn't have to dedicate a portion of our income to paying off debt. Maybe we wouldn't have a car payment now. Maybe my student loan would be paid off already. Maybe we'd have our kitchen remodeled. Those are nice maybe's, but I'm happy with where I am now. And I'm pretty sure I'd be in pretty much the same place no matter what. A place I wouldn't trade for anything-- even erasing my "if only."

~Melody :-)

Also, if you've ever wondered what happens when you put a top rack item in the bottom rack of the dishwasher, here's what happens:

If Only

2011-05-18T09:31:00.005-04:00

Today's topic is one I hesitated to blog about mostly because it's embarrassing. But the more conversations I have with people and the more blogs I read, I realize I'm not the only one. Linking up with Shell today.

While I'm not one to dwell on past events or regret things (frankly, I find it a waste of time to sit around thinking "if only" although sometimes it's necessary if we want to learn from our past), there is one thing that I sometimes wonder "if only I had done things differently."

IF ONLY I hadn't signed up for that darned credit card with it's 20ish % interest and $200 limit and shiny Starry Night print on the front when I was 18. Because with that card, I learned to use credit and got in the habit of buying things I couldn't necessarily afford. I'd run up the card, work hard to pay it off, and then run it back up again. The limit always increasing because I was the credit card company's dream with all the interest I was paying.

This spend, pay off, repeat cycle continued for 7 years and was something I brought into my marriage. In 2007, my husband and I decided we were done with credit cards. We cut them up, made a plan to pay them off, and promised we'd close the accounts once they were paid off. We started attending a new church in the summer of 2008 and in the fall of 2008, we took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course through our church. While we don't religiously follow all of Dave Ramsey's advice , we have found most of his principles to work for us.

It's been so liberating to pay cash for everything-- from the not fun stuff like car repairs and our roof (the deductible) to fun stuff like vacations and books and even my iPhone. Don't misunderstand me though, we're not "stuff" people. I hate clutter. And paying cash for everything has meant that we have a lot less "stuff" because we don't buy what we can't afford (or we sell things we're done with to pay for new things we want/need or we just give stuff away because there are so many people in need). We're down to our mortgage, one car payment, and my student loan (which is under 15K now and wasn't all that large to begin with). I'm not against credit. Just against irresponsible credit use.

So sometimes I let myself go "there." Go to the place where I wonder where we'd be if I hadn't signed up for that stupid card. If I'd started paying cash from the beginning instead of using credit irresponsibly to purchase things I couldn't afford and didn't need. I'm happy with where we are now for sure. And our plan at the moment is to continue saving (we want a nice 10 year anniversary trip in 3 years and a nice trip to Disney for the kids around that same time-- they'll be old enough to remember it but young enough for it to be "magical"). In a few years we'll be deciding if we want to put an addition on this house or purchase a new one, but either way, we want to pay off our home before Cate starts college (a realistic goal since we bought at the bottom of our price range and will do so again if we decide to buy a new house). But I wonder if maybe that Disney trip money would already be in the bank or if we'd be able to start an addition on our house right now "if only."

What about you? Do you have that one "if only" wandering around in your mind?

~Melody :-)

Tiny Dancer

2011-05-16T21:56:00.005-04:00

The dance recital Saturday was fabulous. Friday night I just kept praying that Cate would simply be true to herself and have fun. She still did her own thing on stage and she delighted the audience. At times her "thing" looked like the dance the rest of the girls were attempting to do (a few froze in front of an actual audience). Even her teacher said that Cate did better than she thought she would. I am one proud mama! My heart swelled as I gave her a hug and some flowers (now in a vase in her room) after the final curtain call with all of the dancers (picture blurry because it was with my phone). I refused to watch her recital through any sort of lens-- video or camera. Cate keeps asking when she can dance again. We're taking a break for the summer, but if she's still asking in the fall, we'll give it another go.

I'll post a video when I can and if I can. My cousin and Eric's stepdad both took videos and we ordered a DVD so I'm hoping one of those will find a way to transfer here somehow, even if it's through YouTube. You'll crack up, I promise. But you'll be proud too.

~Melody :-)

And in case you were wondering...she gets her mad dance moves from her mommy.

(me, at my first recital when I was 3.5)

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot

2011-05-13T21:27:00.004-04:00

There's a joke in the Midwest that if you don't like the weather, wait an hour and it will change. Last week, we were in long sleeves. And it was raining. This week? Three days of temperatures near 90. So we got the Step 2 pool we inherited last summer out of the garage and holy cow does my sweet girl love it!
We ate lunch poolside all three days.
And played some more.
Mommy wore her new bathing suit (one of the first bathing suits that I've really enjoyed wearing b/c I look good in it) and sun hat (a Mother's Day gift from my kiddos).
Little Man dipped his toes in on day one.
On day two of hot temperatures and pool fun, Brennan put on his full trunks/shirt/hat outfit.I blew up Cate's old baby float for him:
And I was quickly reminded of how alike my kids look b/c here's Cate at 4 months old in the same float. I also tried out my new mesh sling. I bought it for the pool we joined this summer (which opens in a few weeks), but wanted to make sure it was easy to put on. I want to be able to have my hands free when we're in the water in case Cate needs some help. It has zero lumbar support, BUT it is mesh and will dry quickly, so I can wear it in the water. It'll also be good on hot days when Brennan wants to be worn but the Boba or Moby are too hot. Although, given that it has no back support, I won't be able to wear him long in this when we're out of the water. No biggie though. Brennan clearly thinks it's a winner.We got a third day of swimming in today before we had to hastily put it all away as a thunderstorm blew in late this afternoon. We're supposed to have off and on showers and storms all weekend. Next week it'll be mid-high 60s and sunny. Perfect late spring weather. Not hot enough for the pool but perfect for the zoo and the park.

Tomorrow is Cate's recital. I'm both nervous and excited for my girl. I know she'll do her own thing when she gets out there, but that's her spirit and there's no sense in trying to quell it. As long as she's having fun that's all I care about.

~Melody :-)

I apologize that some of these pictures are of poorer quality than others. I had my camera out for a bit, then I took it inside so it wouldn't get hot. Then I took some with my iPhone, but I had to take it inside when it got hot. So you know....

I Have THAT Kid

2011-05-11T08:44:00.004-04:00

I'm linking up with Shell today to tell you about how yes, I have THAT kid.

Cate started dance class in February. She loved to dance around the house and we thought she'd like the class. Plus, it was a way for me to get out of the house once a week while on maternity leave. We've had kind of a love/hate relationship ever since. Some weeks Cate enjoys going and does what she's supposed to do (for the most part). Other weeks Cate tells me she doesn't want to go or will go and do what she's supposed to for the first 20 minutes and spend the last 40 in her own little world. It's important to note though, that she's the youngest in her class and her class has about 15 girls in it. From what I've gathered from the other moms in the parent waiting area each week, most of the girls, if not all, are in preschool or kindergarten. So they know how to listen and work with a large group of their peers. Cate won't start preschool until the fall. I think this alone explains so much.

Anyway, her recital is this weekend. She's stoked to get to be up on stage. We had the run through on Monday night and tonight is the dress rehearsal. The run through can be summed up in two words= hilarious chaos. While the other girls had moments of stopping their dancing to wave and call out to their parents, Cate just plain did her own thing the whole time she was on stage. While the video below is pretty crappy, you get the idea. She's the one not doing anything the other girls are doing.

My first reaction was that it was funny and cute. The other parents were laughing and smiling as they witnessed the pure joy Cate experienced as she performed on stage. But then I began to over-think the whole thing. Will Cate's dancing going to ruin the other parents' enjoyment of the recital? What if they don't think it's cute and think it's annoying? The other parents must think we don't discipline or anything at home because Cate is sure not listening or doing what she's supposed to be doing.

It's all in my head. I know this. I grew up in a church with children's choirs and loved it when THAT kid waved to mom and dad and called out to them instead of singing. I don't want to squish her spirit. I just hope the other parents find it as endearing as I do.

At the end of it all, come Saturday, we'll be taking a summer hiatus from dance, even though a summer session is offered. We're not big believers in over-scheduling our kids, on having a different activity for each night of the week. Cate will be taking swim lessons this summer because I at least want her to learn how to hold her breath and get herself out of trouble if she ends up face first in the water this summer. And we're considering a one week long soccer/basketball camp where they just do little drills and play little games as they learn the fundamentals for an hour a day. We want to expose Cate to some different things, but ultimately let her choose what she wants to do. In the fall, if she wants to do dance again, we'll revisit it. If something else catches her fancy, then we'll pursue that. No matter what, THAT kid is mine.

~Melody :-)

Skipping Spring and other Random Musings

2011-05-09T20:02:00.005-04:00

I feel like the last couple of years here in the Midwest, we've just skipped spring altogether. We go from cold and fleece to hot and sweaty. I'm washing sweaters and shorts in the same load of laundry. We have our moments of spring-- the temperatures in the 50s and 60s--but mostly it seems like we go from the 30s to the 80s with the blink of an eye. But this isn't a post about the weather.

It's a post about how I have a couple of pictures from Mother's Day to share. This was from the day before Mother's Day. We went to a brunch at my grandmother's (dad's mom) church. My mom's mom was also able to attend.My dad started helping her get her deck furniture out, so we snapped a quick picture there too.
My sister drove down to Cincinnati yesterday morning and joined my grandmother's, parents, Eric, the kids, and I at the bistro for lunch. She stayed with us last night. We went to see Something Borrowed while my awesome husband stayed with the kids. This morning we went to the zoo. Cate loved having her Aunt Catherine to play with at the zoo.
They watched a few of the animals, like the polar bears.
We saw the baby giraffe again. But mostly, my sweet girl just wanted to ride the carousel...
...and show her little brother how to ride the carousel (his first ride, we actually sat in a stationary cart in front of Cate's bald eagle).
Catherine and Cate went to see The Wizard of Oz 4-D show (it's only 16 minutes long) while I nursed Brennan. Cate liked the special glasses she had to wear. And no trip to the zoo during the warm weather would be complete without a ride on the train. Catherine and Cate shared the train ride together: While they were on the train, I simply lost myself in this boy's blue, blue, eyes:
It's weekends like these when I'm thankful that our out-of-town family isn't too far out of town. A four hour car ride is all it takes to get to my parents, brother, and sister (or for them to come to us). It was so nice to visit with my mom and with my sister and know I'll get to do so again when they're hear next weekend for Cate's dance recital. My parents are in a sort of long-waiting-for-the-housing-market-to-pick-up process of moving to Cincinnati. Hopefully they'll be here in the next couple of years. And my sister is hoping to move here after she graduates college. Now we just need to work on my brother. :-) In all seriousness though, it will be nice to have them here along with Eric's family, who already lives in town.

Happy Summer since it appears we're skipping spring again (it hit almost 80 today and will be above 80 tomorrow).

~Melody :-)

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T15:44:00.002-04:00

To all the mama's and mama's-to-be (whether you're currently expecting or not planning to be a mama for a few more years)...

Happy Mother's Day!

We celebrated today with a couple of cards and gifts before church (hooray for a cute sunhat for the pool this summer and a cute, currently in transit but I have a picture, pendant for me to wear but is safe for Brennan to chew/teethe on)! Then it was off to church followed by lunch with my mom, dad, sister, husband, kids, and grandmothers at Bronte Bistro. Bronte gave $10 gift cards to all of the moms that they could use at the attached bookstore. Hello cute Lilly Pulitzer purse-size photo album! Perfect for holding pictures of my babies on the go. And perfect because Shutterfly emailed me a code today for 50 free prints. Woo hoo! Tonight my sister and I are heading out to see Something Borrowed. I'm in need of a good chick flick!

~Melody :-)