In Case You are Wondering....

It's amazing how many people have asked us if we are going to "try for a girl." Even after we had Tennyson the question began to surface, but now it's like people just assume that since we have 2 boys that we want or need a girl.

The short answer to the prying question is "NO!" I am already so miffed at being asked that it's starting to go something like this, "So...are you gonna try for a girl?" My response, "WHY would I do that?" Besides that, I don't think it's right trying for a boy or girl that you may or may not get and ending up with more kids than you intended to or can afford.

Truthfully, I always wanted boys. I am so not a girly-girl. I hate shopping for clothes and shoes (just ask Tom). When I was growing up I spent more time playing with my brother's G.I. Joe's and climbing trees than playing house. And besides, should I need some girl time I have 3 sisters, 3 sisters-in-law, and lots of friends.

I am not one of these women with a burning desire to have a daughter. I love, love, love having little "Toms" around. To see the bond Tom has with his sons is indescribable. It's great having trains, trucks, and Hot Wheels cars all over the house! (And for the record, I would not deal well with a Drama Queen. There's no chance of that with sons!)

I realize that at 31 I don't have to make a decision about baby #3 right now. But always in the back of my mind is the fact that I would have to have a third c-section, and after the difficult time I had with Raleigh I am not sure I want to go through that again. Deciding to have a third would be based on us wanting a third no matter what the gender. Sometimes it's easy to think, "Oh, let's have another. All my friends are pregnant!" (I think I have the most fertile friends in the world! Haha!) But I really want time to enjoy and nurture each child individually, especially in the early years. My parents did lots of things right, but I rarely got one-on-one time with 6 brothers and sisters around, so I don't want to have that "problem," no matter if we have 2 kids or 3.

So yeah, lots to think about. But thankfully, I am not in a hurry. I am just enjoying these days raising my 2 wonderful boys! I'm sure gonna miss it someday.

Cathing My Breath

Oh my. Where do I even begin? There are so many posts I have wanted to do, but finding the time to sit and write is nearly impossible. Even now after the kitchen is spotless, dishwasher is running, and the bathroom is cleaned I am fussing at Tennyson for destroying his slinky and Raleigh is waking up from his nap. I really am loving being home full-time, raising these boys, and cherishing every moment. But.some.days.....

As you can tell I haven't even had the time to post about our hasty move out of the only home we've known since getting married. Or about our wonderful Christmas with my family. Or about the sad, devasting news of my dear brother-in-law's cancer diagnosis 3 days after Christmas. Or about Tennyson.....oh Tennyson. I could write a million posts about that boy! And Raleigh just turned 6 months old. Just so much to write about.

I wake up each morning and essentially do the same thing: nurse and change Raleigh, change Tennyson, get his breakfast, get him dressed, clean something, try to answer e-mails, more housework, play Playdoh, more diapers, snacktime, stories, tv, blessed naptime, etc. etc. etc. I tell you, if I ever get a shower 2 days in a row I think I'll explode with excitment!

Sometimes my mind drifts back to those days of going to the office every morning, working with numbers, helping people buy a house, business trips, meetings, conference calls, lunches, and constant adult interaction. I do miss the 50Gs I used to make, but I still wouldn't trade my life for anything in the world, even on the toughest days.

I know most of you reading this can probably relate to the Career Woman Turned Mommy syndrome. Ah, so good to know I am not alone.

Like I have Time....

My husband asked me last night if I ever blog anymore. I gave him that "Are you kidding me?" look. Sure sometime in between changing diapers on two kids, frequently breastfeeding, doing laundry, vaccuming, cleaning bathrooms, dusting, mopping, doing bookkeeping, managing the finances, babysitting Monday through Thursday, trying to maintain friendships, not lose my mind, take a shower once in a while, building my jewelry business, planning meals, grocery shopping, and on and on and on I'll find time to write memorable and sometimes poignant blog entries.

Yeah right! When I do get 2 minutes to myself blogging is not the first thing that comes to mind. I can't even go to the bathroom without being interrupted. Blogging is the least of my worries......

I've Been Tagged...

...by Kristen D. to share 7 personality traits about myself. I agree that these are not best described as personality traits, but rather things about myself that make me.....ME. Enjoy!

1) I can not stand to wear wet clothes, especially socks. If there is even a drop on them....they get changed as soon as possible. I'm not kidding.

2) I am a little OCD about certain things. For example, whenever I eat gummy bears I have to eat a pink one and a white one last. It's weird, I know.

3) There are many pet peeves I have (I probably need prayer for it or something), but here are a few: people driving below the speed limit in the left lane, people talking on their cell phone as the stroll through Wal-Mart like it's an amusement park, and people who don't use their turn signals.

4) I am an introvert, and I get uncomfortable in large groups of people.

5) I really don't like to travel. A short trip now and then out of town is okay, but otherwise I'd rather be home than anywhere else.

6) My least favorite personality trait in someone else is self-centeredness. You know, when you're trying to talk to someone and all they ever want to talk about is themselves. Yeah, can't stand that.

7) I am really good at procrastinating on certain things. Sometimes it may seem I am procrastinating, when in fact I forgot to write down what it was I needed to do and subsequently forgot. My short-term memory is not so great.

So there you have it, 7 things about me you probably didn't know. And if you did, well I am impressed!

Happy Birthday to Me

Well, I guess I am officially "in my 30s" now? At least it feels that way since I turned 31 on Sunday. It's no big deal to me though. Maybe it will be harder when I turn 40?! It's just kind of sad the older I get the less my birthday has that "special day" feeling like it did when I was a kid.

I came down with some funky virus on Friday the 15th and as the following week progressed I got increasingly worse, Tuesday being spent almost entirely on the couch. Then Wednesday Tennyson woke up at 4:00am with a high fever. I was so bummed for him, but also because I began to picture my birthday weekend being sick and having to take care of a sick little one. While Tennyson and I still have a nasty cough and a runny noses it didn't slow down the birthday festivities.

Once again Tennyson somehow knew it was a special day and slept all the way until 8:30am on my birthday! Since we were still under the weather we couldn't go to church. (You are not supposed to leave a child in the nursery who has a cough or runny nose, though parents do it all the time, I am a rule-follower.) So instead Tom, Tennyson, and I went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Yum! It was nice to have a hearty, warm breakfast when my usual fare is cereal. :-)

Though it was the first time all week I didn't get to take a nap, I did relax while Tennyson napped. Well, I kind of had to since Tom kept saying, "Sit down. Stop cleaning. It's your birthday." Tennyson woke up about 10 til 5:00 so we rushed out the door to meet my parents, sister, Dawn, and her 2 youngest at Hank's Smokehouse for dinner. I forgot how long it takes to get there, but the food was yum-my! Then we headed back to my parents' for mom's homemade carrot cake. Also de-licious!

Me and my boy at Hank's

Helping me blow out the candles

The BIG family party was Monday night though, since several of my family members were gone over the weekend. Almost all my local fam was there to help me celebrate. We had a good time! The best part was that all 6 of my siblings chipped in and bought me a Western Digital 1TB harddrive. That's right, baby! It can store up to 285,000 photos and 400 hours of video! It's nice knowing that Tennyson's entire documented life will be safe now!

Thanks to everyone who remembered my birthday and helped to make it a special day! I felt the love!

A Day for Me

I so enjoyed my second Mother's Day this year (2007 was more of a Mother's-to-Be Day for me). I LOVE that Mother's Day pertains to me now! Even after almost 22 months it's still surreal sometimes. That I am actually someone's mother!

Tennyson gave me a great gift and slept until 8:30 that morning, well past his usual wake-up time of 7(ish). I had told Tom earlier that week all I wanted were flowers, Mexican food, and a nap. Yes, I really am that easy to please! No high-maintenance girl here! Tom bought me some beautiful flowers the day before Mother's Day and I just threw them out about 4 days ago!

We headed to church that morning and then to El Charros for some yummy Mexican food. I really wanted to get some good pictures of me with my little man, so when we got home from lunch Tom took a bunch of Tennyson and I together. Then it was Family Naptime. Ahhh, it was a wonderful thing. Then later that afternoon we headed over to my parents' for a cookout since that was what my mom wanted for her special day. Not all of my siblings and their families were there, but we still had a small crowd of 14. (Tennyson ended up coming down with a fever after his nap that day, so we cut the festivities a little short.)

So all in all it was a low-key but special day. I am already looking forward to next year when I will have TWO boys to celebrate with!

Decorations & A Christmas Parade

This is first year ever that I didn't decorate the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I don't know if I just wasn't a Christmasy mood or if I was just procrastinating because we happen to have one active and curious little boy. So.....I finally got around to it last week. I figured I'd do everything but the tree, see how Tennyson does, and amazingly enough he's been very good. Tom and I just love seeing his little face light up when we turn on the lights. He just gets so excited! So I guess we're off to get a tree tomorrow.

The village my parents bought me some years ago

Isn't Tennyson's little stocking adorable?

Tennyson's playing with the lights

I'm sure he was untangling them for me.

At the Christmas parade last Friday (12.5)

The Blue Ridge Christian School float took 2nd place in the Religious category

A reindeer on a motorcycle

The nice lady who offered to take our picture couldn't work the fancy camera. Oh well, at least we have it for memory's sake.

This is pretty much how Tennyson's face looked the entire time. I just wondered what he thought of it all?
The JMU Color Guard

Stressed.....but Blessed

This past week marked the official start of school for Tom and therefore the return of the full-time kids I care for. The first few days were really, really rough and the kids weren't the only ones crying. But the boys (both are almost 1-year old) got better by the end of the week. I just kept reminding myself that it would take them a little while to get used to a new routine, sleeping in a new place, and being without their mothers. And that got me thinking about why I was doing all this in the first place......for Tennyson.

Yes, I lost my job involuntarily and unexpectedly, but I often forget how God totally turned it around. Now I will be the first person to admit that though I am an organizational freak I sometimes procrastinate. And at this time in my life with so many interruptions from Tennyson and the shear strength it takes to keep up with him most days there is NO way I could have done office work from home. To tell you the honest truth, I decided to do childcare because it was the fastest way to make an income and so many of the work-at-home jobs take a long time to get up and running. On the rough days and weeks I just keep telling myself that this is just for a season. I won't do this forever.

Being a stay-at-home mom was always a dream of mine, but as time passed I just never thought it was going to be financially possible. Of course I figured I'd just be caring for my little one, not 4 one-year olds and an almost 3-year old, but.......The point is that even though things haven't worked out exactly the way I imagined I find peace knowing that I am the one that cares for my little boy every day. All I have to do is look in Tennyson's face and I realize that this is my dream coming true.

Over the River and Through the Woods

...To grandmother's house we went. You know how almost everything in life turns out differently than you expect? I was looking forward to finally having a mini-break, no housework, no one else's child to care for, and just some relaxation with my man and our little guy at my grandmother's house on the river last weekend. Unfortunately, it was anything but relaxing......

I woke up early Thursday morning around 4:00am because my legs were itching. This is followed by a nightmare that I am pregnant again. (Oh, not now!) I get a little bit more sleep and get on with my day, not noticing the itching, probably because I was too busy packing and cleaning my house before heading on the road. Right before we left I noticed red marks all over my ankles. Ah, good thing I have the motherload of anti-itch cream that was oh so useless last summer. I spread it on and down the interstate we go. We get about an hour into our 3-hour tour when I notice that the irregular bumps are spreading almost before my eyes and the itching is enough to make me crazy. Meanwhile, Tennyson, who had woken up 20 minutes into his afternoon nap at home is pretty much crying and fussing the entire time. (Very unlike him, you will find out why later.) So I page my brother -in-law for some free medical advice (yes, he's a doctor). I try to describe the rash the best way I can and we deduce they are some kind of crazy bug bite and he advises taking an antihistamine. Luckily, the "problem" is below knee level. There's something to be thankful for.....temporarily.

Well, I am trying not to scratch my legs bloody when about another 30 minutes passes and the bumps have only doubled and tripled in size. This...is...so...not...good. Thankfully, Tennyson finally fell asleep, just in time for me to have a breakdown. I was having flashbacks to being very pregnant and having that h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e rash all over my legs last summer. It was just too much to handle. So I get myself together and call my grandmother and get directions to the nearest emergency medical facility to her home.

We roll into the parking lot about 20 minutes before their 9:00pm closing time. I desperately wanted them to give me a steroid shot in the lobby, but alas, I had to actually see the doctor. So $90 and 20 minutes later they tell me I have hives and prescribe a steroid and an antihistamine. After all that we finally pull into my grandmother's driveway 4 hours after we leave home. What a long trip already.

Friday we take our time getting to Costco, a place I normally love, but they were apparently short-staffed or drunk or something because it took them 2 hours to fill my Rx. HONESTLY!!! It's not rocket science, people. Tennyson could have counted out pills faster than that! Due to the tappering-off schedule of the steroids I decide to start taking them the next morning. I have noticed however that the hives were much improved and I start to wonder why I bothered to get the Rx filled at all. Ah ha, the hopeless optimist.

We head out to my uncle's beautiful riverfront property for dinner on Friday and by the time we get there I am having a full-blown attack complete with new spots on my upper legs. Oh CRAP!!! After a few hours of food and visiting, we head home to put Tennyson to bed, noticing that he's been a little out of sorts, but not thinking too much of it. Finally my hubby and are relaxing a little on the couch, watching "Monk" and "Psych" when I realize that I am itching all over my lower back and stomach. So I go into the bathroom to inspect and sure enough I am covered in red bumps. I take 2 anti-histamine pills and call it night. Bad idea.

Tennyson had a rough night and I could barely stay awake to help with the situation. I spent most of Saturday morning in bed, trying to wake up. Don't worry, I haven't taken those pills since. I am on day #4 of the steroids however and so far the hives haven't returned. There's some good news!

We decide to leave late Saturday so Tennyson will sleep on the way home and all starts off well. He's asleep before we hit the highway, but we made a fateful stop for gas. He wakes up and literally screams and cries the rest of the home. Saturday, 10:30pm, home. I have no desire to ever leave my house again.

I will be posting some happy photos I took over the weekend. It hardly makes up for the trip, but there were some good things that came out of it. My aunt, uncle, cousin, and his wife finally got to meet Tennyson and we got to spend some quality time with my 86-year old grandmother!

We racked our brains trying to figure out what in the world caused the hives, but as yet it's unexplained. I hope and pray it was just an isolated incident.

Oh yes, I did say that I would tell you why Tennyson was out of sorts. We think after 51 weeks of life on this earth he is finally cutting teeth. Oh Lord, please give me the strength to see this through. Amen.

A Wonderful 30th Birthday!

For some reason I forgot to tell how my 30th birthday started off, a precursor to the rest of my great day! A good friend of mine sent me a lovely gift on Friday, a Willow Tree sculpture entitled "Happiness". It sits in my windowsill over the kitchen sink so I can look at it ALL day long! Thank you again! I love it! On Saturday I woke up earlier than I wanted to, but that's to be expected with a baby in the house. But my husband did convince me to go back to bed for an hour plus! Finally some much needed sleep. Then he (and Tennyson) woke me up with breakfast in bed, including my husband's amazing, made-from-scratch hashbrowns! He also bought me the new, live Josh Groban cd/dvd! I was oh so excited about that! Then in the afternoon we headed to the park for my birthday cookout.......

I have officially left behind the 20s and ventured in to a new decade! That's right, yesterday I turned 30! My family had such a beautiful birthday party for me at the park, and the weather could not have been better! It was the most wonderful birthday I've ever had and I wouldn't change any of it (except to have those family members and close friends that weren't there to share in my special day). Any party with fried chicken and southern sweet tea has got to be good! And my mother spent all morning making my favorite cake, German Chocolate! Too amazing for words!

I received lots of sweet and funny cards, a cookbook and a beautiful necklace from my parents, a spa gift certificate, that I am sure won't stay with me long, and a little plaque with my favorite scripture verse. But, I have to say, the most exciting gift I received was a new lens for my camera from my whole family! I can not wait to learn how to use it, which will be even easier since they also purchased a manual and a UV filter lens to go with it! Thank you! THANK YOU!

So far 30 feels just like 29. I just felt so loved and blessed yesterday having some of the most important people in my life around me on my birthday, especially my incredible husband and our sweet boy. I always wanted to have a baby by 30, so I just feel so fulfilled and overwhelmed with joy to have Tennyson in my life.

Thank you everyone who helped to make my birthday so memorable! I love you!!!

Click on the slideshow to see more photos of the day, including lots of Tennyson, of course!

Photo Shoot Pictures

I have been meaning to post these for some time, but am just now finally getting around to looking through all 187 photos that my friend Lisa took back on April 5th. She does amazing work, and I aspire to take pictures like her someday! (I have a link to her website, "Destination Photography", on the right if you'd like to check out her blog. She's amazing with her camera, as you can tell!)

Incidentally, I don't think I need to add any commentary. These photos of our family speak for themselves.....


Thank you, Lisa, for blessing our family and creating a way for us to hold on to the memory of Tennyson's babyhood.

7 Lesser Known Things About Me

Apparently I have been "tagged," thanks to Julie, to share 7 random or weird things about myself. As if I don't have enough to do......but for some reason I find myself doing it anyway. (By the way, I am not tagging seven others as the "rules" state. If you find the urge to share some random things about yourself on your blog, go for it!)

1. I entered college as a theater major. Yep, that's right. Though my parents were never crazy about my hopes to conquer the stage, in retrospect it was a good thing. I wasn't cut out for that life. (I ended up majoring in English and minoring in Political Science and History & Social Science.)

2. I am the third of seven children. No, we weren't Catholic, and yes, we're all from the same parents. My Mom made the comment the other day that they have been raising children for 40 years, and though they've done a good job, I really don't want to spend my whole life doing that. Being from a big family is fun, but it's impossible to raise a family that size without your children raising children.

3. I lived in Ireland for 3 months in 1998 with my cross-cultural group from college. We also spent time in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England. And when some of my friends and I went to London for a week and we saw the Queen during the opening of Parliament parade. Very cool!

4. While working at retail music store in Hampton, VA Jamie Lee Curtis came in and bought $300 worth of merchandise in about 5 minutes. I wasn't star struck in the least. When I asked her to properly sign her credit card receipt she was just a little put out. Sorry lady, you're no more special than the rest of us.

5. In college I was known as the "funny" one (oh, and the tall one, too). My friends would often come to me and say, "Make me laugh." Unfortunately, I think I've lost some of my quick wit over the years. Maybe some day when my "baby brain" is gone I'll get it back?

6. I married my first and only boyfriend. I had no interest whatsoever in casual dating. (That and the fact that most of the guys I did like weren't man enough to date a woman taller than them!) And before I would date Tom I spoke my mind about several things that we had to agree on, including that if he didn't think there was a possibility of us someday getting married I didn't want to start dating. Thank goodness that worked out! :-)

7. I went to 8 different schools (including being homeschooled) between Kindergarten and 12th grade. Let's just say I didn't enjoy being educated until my college years.