Listen to Me

My heart bursts with pride when I look at her.
It's the selfish part of being a parent, yes?

We went for the audiology exam at school today. "Perfect" ears, our district audiologist said. A man I have come to know as he trained me to use the amplification system for one of my students who has a hearing impairment.

As I coach parents through the grieving they endure. As I tell them that their children are beautiful and wonderful and special (something I believe with every fiber of my being), I feel this pride. This embarassingly huge pride. For my own kids.

So I tell my B, "My heart bursts with love for you."
She says, "Me too."
It's the real thing.

Tomorrow is the kindergarten round-up. The Hubs will take her, I will pick her up. Luckily our home, church/daycare, school, and work are all within 15 blocks of each other. We have perfected this working parent dance, it all seems so easy sometimes.

Then I think of the day that the mom of my student got her news. Your son only has one ear. Your perfect baby boy has suffered strokes in utero. He'll need surgery immediately (and will survive 20 more in the next 15 years). The day she was told, "Hearing impaired."

How do I help her to that pride?
When will she see what I do?
I am proud of him. I tell him so.
I hope he will believe me some day.
The way that my B does.

WW

I decided in January that this must be the year. That '08 would be the year to lose the baby weight. I've gained 100 lbs. in the past 5 years (not collectively, but with the 2 pregnancies) and have lost roughly 70 of it.

I've lost 10 lbs this year so far.

I've got 33 lbs to lose. Give or take 5.

I feel better than I have in a long time. I don't feel panicked. I don't feel like I'm really dieting. I'm taking it slow and making permanent (I hope) changes.

I've fallen in love with the blog of a fellow WW points counter. A nice girl who counts her points and eats them too. Who takes gorgeous pictures of the delicious foods she makes and shares them with us. I live vicariously and dream of cooking such things, while I eat my turkey sandwiches and low fat pringles. Even if you are just looking for a healthy recipe, or a great food site, you should take a look.

I've started and deleted a personal health blog twice. I just felt like I was only whining, more than anything, so have decided to share those thoughts only in my personal journal. Only I know the internal joy that is always there. Only I know that a bad day is just that. So I journal the old-fashioned way. It's helping me learn about myself, and I find it's better that way.

It's all better.
Slowly.
Surely.

A Cruel Joak

I like to watch TV shows about keeping house. Home renovations. Buying and selling homes. HGTV and TLC have some great ones. House Hunters, Moving Up, and Flip This House are a few of my faves.

I was beyond bummed to learn this week, by watching some HGTV show about prepping a house for sale, that oak is out.

Considering that every piece of trim, every cabinet, every cupboard, door, and drawer in our home are ALL oak. We've even got some built-ins, a mantle, and a few beams to match.

Huh.

Guess we'll have to stay here until it's back in again.

Weekend Bits

March did not bring the inspiration for spring cleaning, as I had hoped.
My home is still in need of much TLC.
Org Junkie shared this great link about throwing out stuff, it's a fun read!

I haven't decided if this weekend is it or not. I'm a cyclical cleaner and must be in the mood to deep clean the house. It's sort of a manic thing, I must be very, very up to get into that mode. I'm still on my first cup of coffee, so not sure yet whether it's in me today or not. Do you do spring cleaning? Or are you one of those crazy clean-all-the-time people? Something about the change of weather usually inspires me to do a little extra in spring and again in the fall. It works for me.

We've got swimming lessons this morning and a high school musical tonight. Seriously, a high school musical. The Hubs has to supervise at his school and asked if I want to join him. It was quite sweet of him, actually, since he knows how much I love musical theater (and how little I actually get to imbibe). I'm just not sure about the show, since I've never seen it before. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? Ever seen it? Should I skip it? Anyway, it's a "date" if nothing else, and the Hubs and I rarely venture out alone. The 15-minute car ride will be a treat, being able to talked uninterrupted.

Not Quite Sure

Mad has thrown out two good challenges this week. I'm still working/thinking on the 10-picture autobiography. The other, a six word autobiography. Worth a shot, I say.

Me:

Who am I, without my words?

Sabbato Sancto

We've spent March thus far hopeful for spring and then freezing cold. A few nice days have teased us outside. We've got freezing rain forecasted for Easter Sunday.

We are in limbo today. Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Sad, but excited. A time of year that has been filled with emotion since I was a child. The first movie that made me cry was one that showed Jesus carrying his cross. I was nine.

Today we prepare a trip back to my parents'. We'll be able to spend the day tomorrow with family that I missed out seeing at Christmas when I was so sick. I'm excited to see everyone! The kids are so excited they can't stand it. We've got to wait until after B's swimming lessons and it just seems like it's taking so long to them.

We've spent March mainly inside. Had a spring clothing shopping spree. Dyed some Easter eggs and hid them in the back yard last weekend. B has started her very first year of swim lessons.


Our Little Man is suddenly speaking in sentences. Shouting out demands and finishing them with a loud "OKAY???" He'll be two in just a few weeks.

I've planned out our fourth and final quarter of school. Now I'm thinking of summer, with our first family trip to the beach planned. With many trips to the zoo to come. I feel the darkness of winter beginning to shed. With the exclamation tomorrow morning. It comes every year, such a celebration. Such a renewal. He Is Risen!

Happy Easter to All!

In Like A Lion

It's March! Woo hoo!

I'm so happy to say goodbye to February.

So I've got spring cleaning on the brain.

Seriously? We actually took care of those dishes (honestly that was only after skipping one day!) yesterday. There are just so many areas in this house that need my attention.

But now I'm seeing all of those fingerprinted walls and dog nose-printed windows. The sunshine is pouring in and it's forcing me to look at what the winter has done to my house (the winter, not my two small children!).

I've also got a month of five Mondays to live through at school. That's lesson plans, field trips, a mock interview conference, two recreational field trips, and thousands of budding hormones. I've got to be on my toes!

I'm missing my friend, who was a friend to me in my daily life and in blogging. It's hard to keep doing this without her. This time last year was rough, teaching without her. I never could have guessed she would be gone a year later.

My nephew continues his fight. Leukemia. He will have his fifth and hopefully final round of chemo in April. We are expecting a full recovery, remission, cure. Right now, he is fighting off a nasty infection and is doing so with more courage and grace than I would expect anyone to be able to do.

I'm thinking ahead already to summer. To eight full weeks of being a stay-at-home mommy. It's twelve weeks away, but something fun to look forward to.

In April, there's sure to be an Easter post and also a letter to my boy, who will be turning two! I've also got a post roaming around between my ears about my baby boy and his first haircut (that he got this past week!) and how I can't seem to fathom a big boy bed and giving up his pacifier and potty training.

But for now...I think I should take a little break. Again.

I'll never forget when Mad was planning a break last summer and mentioned needing to remember a time when she experienced things without considering them blog fodder. I think I'm there.

So it's March. I'm taking a March blog hiatus. No reading (which I'm not sure I can do!), no writing. I'm taking my shortcuts off of my toolbar so they won't tease me daily. I'm not checking my reader. I'm not posting anything. For a month.

The thing about this plan that honestly freaks me out, is how freaked out I am to even think of a month off. No Beck? No Bub & Pie? No Alpha Dogma? No Swistle? Then there are my cousins that I keep up with via blogs.

What will I do?

But it's about balance for me. And I really need to find some in my home. With the computer off. As hard as it may be for me.

If there's something I should absolutely know, please email me. I don't want to fall off completely.

I'm just realizing that I do tend to "escape" when life gets stressful, when there are feelings I don't want to feel. When I was younger, it was movies or books. Now it's blogging. I need to handle what's going on here, so I don't miss one little thing.

I'll be back in April.
See you then.