2008 in Review

One of my interpeeps over at The Roost is hosting a sort of “year in review” picture party, and I’m joining in.    The funny thing is that I don’t have any pictures before May, because I didn’t know how to download picture before May.  Because I’m just that clever.

So, here is my 3/4 of the year in review, in no particular order…

10.   

 Tippy toes, pudgey nakedness, a tutu…C.U.T.E.!  I took this picture on one of the first warm days of the year.  She was looking for her daddy, who was outside mowing the lawn. 

9. 

 Our first trip to the pool!  Notice the two missing teeth, and the faint goggle marks around the eyes.  And the teeny tiny beginnings of summertime freckles.

8. 

Ella’s very first birthday.  I said goodbye to the baby girl, and hello to the toddler.  I miss that baby.  But I sure do love the toddler.

7. 

We celebrated Henry’s last day at Auditory Verbal Therapy with a trip to the ice cream shop.  I mean THE ice cream shop.  Yum.  It was strangely bitter sweet.  The closing of a two-year chapter in our lives.  And the beginning of a life-long chapter.   Oh, and check out those freckles!

6. 

William after his first base hit of the year.  (I don’t know who that guy in the background is.  Just ignore him.)  Look how happy he is.  His mom sure was happy, too.

5. 

Discovering a new friend.  What could be better?  (okay, I cheated a little on that one, but the series of photos says it so much better than a single photo would).

 4. 

Ah, yes, the trip to Blacksburg.  Who could forget that?  My husband and I vowed to never go anywhere ever again on the way home from this trip.  Good times.  And proof positive that parenting causes insanity, we have planned TWO vacations this year. 

3. 

Autumn at my house.  For some reason, this picture speaks to me.  The dappled sunshine in the woods, the leaves on the patio, the quiet stillness, the stone.  Autumn was especially beautiful this year.

2. 

Losing his first tooth.  And getting older by the moment.  And notice the freckles.  I have a thing for freckles, clearly.

1. 

And finally, here is Ella, redecorating the tree.  I guess I didn’t get it quite the way she wanted it. 

 

As I looked back, I noticed something.  We didn’t take any big vacations this year… 

We didn’t have any major additions to the family, like a new baby, or a new dog…

We didn’t have any major life changes…

But I realized that so much happened in 2008.  So many beautiful memories, and all of them were just in the day-to-day life we live.  It has been a year of first steps and first words…  last visits to therapy and last bottles given.  We have lost teeth, and gained gray hair.  We have learned to read, and ride a bike.  There was baseball, and soccer, and dance, and swimming and cub scouts.  Birthdays, and holidays and camping and football games and a spring break that we all survived, though we all — yes all six of us — had the flu.  I have so much to be thankful for.  

It is a wonderful life.

A Day (or Twelve) Late…

For more Wordless Wednesday photos, go to 5 Minutes for Mom, and 5 Minutes for Special Needs…enjoy!

The Writing on the Walls

And I mean that in the literal sense.

Mm-hm. 

Yep. 

Her again.

It’s a beautiful tapestry of scribbles, wouldn’t you say?

I believe this may have happened around the time of the phone call.

Ella has learned how to open doors, and knows where the writing implements are. 

I am contemplating the idea of just making this a sticky photo for the top of this blog, for it seems rather useful.

FIVE

Five years ago today, I sat in a delivery room, worried about my yet unborn baby.  Worried because I was being induced early.  This little baby failed to grow in any significant way for the last month of my pregnancy.  The doctors warned me that it could be nothing, or it could be serious.     

Henry John was born, perfect and beautiful and tiny.  One of the first notable things about him was his red hair.  I couldn’t help pulling off that scratchy hat they always put on the babies in the hospital, just to look at his hair, and smell his sweet skin.   

This baby grew, and grew and grew.  He became a round little cherub with ivory skin and blueberry eyes.  And that hair grew into soft, copper curls.  And he was beautiful.  And he was bright.  And he was happy.

When he was two, we found out he couldn’t hear.  At night, I would lie down with him in his bed, and sing in his ear,  and sign to him, and soak in the warmth of him.  Tears ran down my face as I wondered how I would raise him.  How I would teach him.  Fearful that I would fail him.  And my heart would ache with pride and love for him.  I wondered what he would be like, this child of mine that did not hear. 

Now, three years later, I know this boy. 

This boy is a freckle-faced pack of dynamite. 

This boy is generous.  And helpful, and kind.

He likes to play football, and basketball, and baseball. 

This boy is friendly.  And funny.  He will be the class clown.  And I can picture him, in 15 years or so, at a frat party with a lamp shade on his head.  Lord help me. 

This boy likes to push his brother’s buttons.  After all, isn’t that what little brothers do?

He doesn’t always get the words right.  And he is often very loud.  Especially when his baby sister is asleep. 

He is confident.  He is always the first one to volunteer to try something new. 

He is a born leader. 

He can squeal at such a high pitch that it hurts your ears.

Oh, and he has the cutest buns you’ve ever seen. 

This boy is so different from the others.  But he is also just the same.

And today, he is five.  He is five beautiful, strong, wonderful, happy years old. 

Happy birthday baby boy.  This Mama loves you.

The Trouble With Ella, Part Two

Yeah.  So I just got off the phone with the 911 emergency people. 

I did not call them. 

They called me.

Because someone from my house called them.

And hung up.

Mm-hm. 

She had the phone in her hand when it started ringing.

Yep, it was her. 

That cute little smile is only going to last so long…

Sugar Plums and Throw Up

Imagine for me if you will…

The kids are tucked snugly in their beds, after a nice dinner out at a great restaurant with their Grandma (thanks Grandma!).  Bellies full, sugarplums dancing in their heads.

The Man and I have settled into our respective places on the new couch.  I still heart the new couch.  Soft, fluffy warm blankets envelope us, and the glow of the Christmas lights surround us.  Time to relax a little.

Then we heard it.  The sound of s.p.l.a.t.t.e.r from upstairs…and the feeble sound of a child calling our names.  Yep.  Y’all know what that means.  We have it again.  How many days until Christmas? 

I may not be around for a while…there is laundry to do and a child to cuddle…

Pray for me, people.  I beg you.

Christmas at Our House

Here I am, the umpeenth participant in BooMama’s 2008 Christmas Tour of Homes.  Kick back, and enjoy the few little decorations I was able to put out this year.  Perhaps next year, when our little pixie is old enough to “know better” I will have a larger display to share!  Anyway, welcome…this is obviously our front door. 

Would thou please excuse the blurriness, and also the lights that did not light up.  There is a blown fuse, according to The Man.  Whatever.  I just know they aren’t lit.  (Those little lights, they aren’t twinkling…)  That wreath is made entirely of pine cones, and tied with a winter white satin ribbon.  I got it at Target 2 years ago for about $30.  (I added the fancy schmancy ribbon because I’m clever like that).

This is a lovely little arrangement that I put together for our kitchen table.  I runs almost the length of the table, and it is terribly annoying to eat around.  But it sure is pretty when you turn out the lights and the candles are lit.

Here is our mantle.  I love this mantle.  There is a little collection of santas which you can’t see because of my artistic camera angle, and a trifle bowl filled with sparkley glass ornaments which you can’t see because of my artistic camera angle.  I made the garland…it has hydrangea, which you also can’t see because of my artistic camera angle, pine cones, fruits, some sparkley grapes and these gold spirally twigs.  I know spirally is not a word.  Oh, and there are lights.  The candles are there year round.  I love those candles. 

Directly to the right of the mantle is our photo wall…finally pretty much completed.  I may add a few photos from time to time, but for the most part, we’ve got what we want there.  For now.  Now back to the subject…I put some greenery on the shelves, and a few frosted glass ornaments to dress that display up.  Ignore the spacing of the frames…it looks off due to the artistic photography. 

In my dining room is one of my very favorite Christmas decorations…the creche made for me by my aunt, in memory of my grandmother.  Each year I buy a new piece to add to the display.  Haven’t figured out what to get this year…maybe I should get right on that, considering Christmas is 9 days away. 

Of course, here is our little elf friend, Buddy.  Yes, he is named Buddy after the elf in “Elf.”  We are that original.  He appears the day after Thanksgiving and every night he flies back to the North Pole to report what he has seen to Santa, and returns to our home with a new hiding spot each morning.  The first thing the kids do in the morning is try to find him.  Then, they all fight over who saw him first.  Good times.

And finally, our tree…

Here is a close up of our angel…I bought her because I loved her face.  Isn’t she pretty?

One note…  Do you notice how the bottom of the tree has no ornaments?  Mm-hmm.  Want to hazard a guess as to why?  Mm-hmm.

 

“ooooo…pretty!” 

She just can’t help herself.

Ella, you’re not touching the tree, are you?

“Who, me?  Touch the tree?  Let me just distract you with my cutie pie smile…”

Merry Christmas!

What She Does All Day

Just so we’re clear before I start this, I do feed her.  Moving right along…

After breakfast today, I was cleaning up.  In the amount of time it took me to wipe down Ella’s tray, load the two dishes into the dishwasher, and put a load of laundry into the dryer, she had apparently become hungry.  Even though she had just eaten breakfast.  Five minutes earlier.  This is what I found…

She does this routinely.  Mommy?  Who needs her! 

So I let her eat what she had put in the bowl, and then I cleaned it all up so we could head out the door to run some errands.  I put on her poncho, and decided I should make a quick potty run before we left.  Here is what I found when I returned less than 1 minute later…

Seriously?  In less than one minute she had time to get the Cheerio box, take the bag out, bring it to the family room, grab a handful and fill up her bowl? 

And, so, I cleaned all that up again (can you begin to understand why nothing gets done around here?).  Anyhoo, we left to run our errands, and then returned home. 

I got Ella out of the car and brought her inside, took off her poncho and returned to the garage to unload the groceries.  You’ll never guess what I found when I got back inside…

Really?  You’re that hungry Ella?

I decided to just watch for a while.  Because it was entertaining. 

Can you tell I don’t get out much? 

She tried some Ritz next. 

It’s no wonder she never eats lunch.

A Good Day

1.  Virginia Tech wins back-to-back ACC championships.  It was a “rebuilding” year.  I can’t say how proud I am of my Hokies!  And to all you fans who didn’t turn the t.v. off when we were losing a game this season…we did it!!!

2.  Lunch with my good friend, Jenny, for her birthday.  We had a wonderful lunch…butternut squash ravioli in a wonderful white sauce for me…buffalo shrimp wrap for her.  YUM!

 

3.  Cars in my dining room. 

4.  A four — F. O. U. R. — four hour nap for Ella.  Did I mention she slept for FOUR hours?  We actually watched the entire ACC Championship game without interruption.  Except for bathroom breaks.  And, like, to get a beer or something important like that.  Woohoo!

Yep.  It’s been a good day.

An Open Letter to the Tooth Fairy

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I understand the enormous pressure you are under to visit each and every child that has lost a tooth each night.  And that it must be hard to do all that flying around that you do with those teeny tiny wings you’ve got. 

That said, let me just say that last night, you messed up.  You messed up bigtime. 

You forgot my Kate.  (Or Kathryn as she now wishes to be called.  Because she’s all mature now.) 

I had to pick up the pieces for you this morning. 

I had to assuage her frustration with you, after reading the angry note she wrote to you, wondering why you left her “nothing, not even a penny.” 

I had to assure her that you would be sure to come tonight, and that I am certain you did not forget her, you were just really busy.  Do you know how sad it is to look in the face of a little girl that wonders why she was forgotten? 

Now, again, I realize you are busy.  However, I would appreciate it if you would not forget Kathryn tonight.  Or ever again for that matter.     

Sincerely,

one sad mommy