a little encouragement

Our lives are a little up in the air right now.  We are expecting a baby which along with the excitement also brings a certain amount of uncertainty.  I think this uncertainty grows with health care professionals and especially those like myself that treat and love kids with disabilities.  As much as I already love this child, there is definately some fear. 

On top of that, we are in a time that we're not sure about what to do with jobs.  I really want to stay working some but not as much.  So 1)do I stay at my job? Can I find another? Can we afford another job?  Could we still afford daycare?  All questions that I don't know answers too.  Put all of this uncertainty into Christmas when I LOVE to spend money to get good gifts for all of my family and we have quite a delimma.  So today, after talking to my husband, I was feeling really down.  I was contemplating who I should call to make the no gift agreement.  I decided to wait a little bit, pray, and enjoy the company of A.  As she was having her snack, I logged onto the computer and stumbled across this blog http://www.littlebitfunky.com/ with her entry entitle allow me to encourage you.  I"m encouraged.  Maybe this is the year for handmade gifts.  I don't know the answer but I do know that I just got a little bit more certain of our future.

a day of thanks

This Thanksgiving was different than any that our family has ever had. When B and I got married, we decided that we would do Thanksgiving with my family and christmas with his. That has changed over the past years, we no longer travel to Harrisonburg and spend hours with my Dad's brothers and their kids having the same conversations year after year ie. Heather is short, JMU is better at football than W&M and many more. We also don't eat more than one dinner traveling from home to home feeling so sick that we can barely feel thankful.

This year, we enjoyed the parade, made crafts with A, played Rockband with our great friends, and had more food than we could every imagine. This year, I was more thankful than ever to be in that place. This year we spent all day with our Maryland friends; we have endured a great tragedy this year with the loss of our great friend. However, we spent the day in our Christmas pajamas, courtesy of Mama Saint, enjoying each other and talking about how much our friend also would have enjoyed the day. We did what we do best eat, laugh, and drink wine (well some of us had to skip the wine b/c of baby bellies). I couldn't help but to look around every so often just to say thank you for having these amazing people in my life and for letting us to grow together more in the wake of such tragedy. So to the gang, here's to you... Happy Thanksgiving

Birthdays

Birthdays are a big deal in our family. My mom buys cheesy signage and hats galore. I whine about it but I do it for A too. My dad's birthday was Nov. 12. However, we haven't gotten a chance to see him yet. So, to A, it is still his birthday everyday. She has been working on his card since about November 1. It has now taken on a life of its own. She has cut shapes, taped ribbon, and colored with all types of crayons, markers etc. Each time she works on it, she sings happy birthday to him. Here's a clip of my little artist. Hopefully we'll see my dad soon b/c we really need to move on to Christmas cards. hehe

Friday Dinner

An evening at the Collins dinner table from B's view...

• A wants more potatoes. I tell A that to get more potatoes she needs to put some more green beans in her tummy. She stuffs greens beans down her shirt.
• We argue for 2 minutes over whether her chocolate is a Kit Kat or a Crunch bar. It is clearly a Kit Kat but she is still pretty persistent.
• A finishes dinnner asking for concoction (S drinks it every morning; 2 T of apple cider vinegar, a mug of hot water, and honey to taste) Instead of hot water, A drinks the same thing with cold water and says, "I like it, Daddy"

S's random info about concoction according to Earth Remedy: The reported cures from drinking Apple Cider Vinegar are numerous. They include cures for allergies (including pet, food and environmental), sinus infections, acne, high cholesterol, flu, chronic fatigue, candida, acid reflux, sore throats, contact dermatitis, arthritis, and gout. Apple Cider Vinegar also breaks down fat and is widely used to lose weight. It has also been reported that a daily dose of apple cider vinegar in water has high blood pressure under control in two weeks!

I learned about it from a yoga teacher. Its probably all in my head, but I feel more alert; its better than the 16 oz. coke that I drank before in the mornings!

a turkey day egg hunt?

Tonight B and A made a visit down to the storage closet aka substitute for no garage aka collector of all randomness. Their purpose was to find some tools so A could help with the closet reorganization in her big sister room. However, she found the Easter eggs and her little basket with her name on it that her daycare teacher made for her. So, B reorganized the big sister closet and A and I had an egg hunt. My first thought was to be somewhat educational and talk about how turkeys lay eggs and it's almost Thanksgiving when we celebrate everything good throughout the year blah blah blah. Anyway, she looked at me like I was crazy and told me to hide the eggs. Her 2 year old mind probably doesn't remember Easter and definitely does not remember Thanksgiving. So, we just had an egg hunt. I went first. I hid them in open areas where she could see them though she was peeking through her open fingers the entire time I hid them. As I predicted, she magically knew where they all were but had a blast counting all 6 eggs. Then it was her turn to hide them. While I closed my eyes, she hid all eggs... in one spot. I opened my eyes and she said, "look Mommy, I hid all the eggs right here." B now joins in the fun to help her hide them. I close my eyes again and when she's ready she says, "Mommy find the egg in the drawer and under Cooley's bed." The third try B thought he would be funny and hide 1 in my pocket of my jacket and maybe I wouldn't feel it. Maybe, if A then didn't hide the other 5 in my pocket laughing out loud as I covered my eyes and laughed as quietly as possible. We'll obviously need some more practice before Easter, maybe we'll hide paper turkeys next time.

how to start

I hate the blogs that I read that start with the entire history of the thought process behind blogging. However, I also don't like the blogs that jump right into a family story; it seems like starting a book in the middle. So, instead, I'll just start with the name and then move onto the story. It seems like a nice compromise.

If I had to categorize each person in our family, I would say that I am the organizer and innovator. My husband is the fun guy. He's just enough of a nerd to be a little quirky yet he is very social and always has something to say. A is just busy. That's all, just busy. So, when I told B that I wanted to do this, he threw out like 10 names using Collins in about 2 minutes. In the mean time, I was looking up blogs about how to name your blog. B, interesting... Me, not so much

Onto the story) This nice little tidbit occurred while getting ready for work/ daycare last week. Mom: dressing A in a simple pull over shirt and pants. A: I want to wear zippers. I love zippers. Mom: "OK"-- this is not a battle that I want to pick. Why not let the 2 year old pick out her clothes? A: "Mommy, you like zippers?" Me: sure, they're nice A: "Daddy like zippers?" Me: I'm not sure that he has an opinion on zippers. A: "text him Mommy" Let me pause here, first of all, how does a 2 year old know about texting. Do we really text so much that she has learned that phrase? So, I text him. "Daddy, A wants to know if you like zippers." A waits patiently in her car seat for an answer (yes, this conversation has lasted through getting dressed and into the car). His response, "Yes, very much. Much more than buttons." My satisfied little 2 year old is now ready for school.