Wisdom for Husbands

Today while we were driving to church, I had to mend my skirt (which I was wearing at the time). So I had my needle and thread out and was concentrating on getting it done quickly.

As I was finishing up, Andrew said that he was surprised that I was able to sew in the car. I often complain of motion sickness and am always telling Andrew that I can't read or do other things in the car that prevent me from looking forward. Andrew proceeded to tease me relentlessly about how I must be faking the whole motion sick thing so that I don't have to do anything while he's driving, etc, etc. blah, blah, blah (this is where is gets good...)

As he is teasing me and throwing out accusations of false witness, I look up and realize that I really am not feeling so great. In fact, I interrupt his teasing to tell him that he needs to pull over right away. When he does, I run out of the car and puke on the side of the road. Normally such an event would cause me great distress and some embarrassment (I haven't puked from car sickness since I was about 6 years old). However, instead I felt such a sense of triumph and I sort of grinned as I got back in the car.

Let this be a lesson for all husbands out there. If you tease your wife about something that seems unlikely to ever happen, it WILL happen just to put you in your place. My throwing up on the side of the road as other church-goers passed by, was a small price to pay for the satisfaction of knowing that for the next 5 minutes, Andrew was thinking to himself, "how the heck did she do that?". And I don't think he will be expecting much out of me during car trips in the future.

How to: Diaper & Wipe Containers

My sister-in-law, Marika, is the best.

Not only is she fun and spunky, but she is also one of the most artistically talented and creative women I have ever met (check out her painting in the background of the video). Months ago, she was telling me how easy it is to make little diaper & wipe containers to give away at baby showers. As she was explaining it over the phone, one of us joked that she should make a youtube tutorial for people like me that REALLY need detailed instructions to make anything remotely crafty.

Because she is the most thoughtful person around, she actually remembered and took time out of her BUSY schedule to make this hilarious tutorial for me.

A New Year's Special

I have been avoiding posting any pictures because our news has been obvious since about week 6...

Baby No. 2 in the beginning of January!

Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if it is twins but my doctor keeps telling me there is only one. I know that people say you show sooner after you've already had a baby....but this is ridiculous. I had people figuring it out around 6 weeks and I really haven't had to make any announcements because it was plainly obvious by about 9 or 10 weeks. I guess I just carry my babies on the outside only (or maybe it was all those trips to McDonald's to avoid throwing up but you'd think that all the vomiting would even things out a little).

We're very excited! And very glad that the first trimester is over!

Intervention

This was Luke after I replaced his regular peanut butter, with a peanut butter that has 1/3 less sugar:

He screamed for about 5 minutes straight until I scraped his tongue off and washed his mouth out with water. He continued to moan so I let him chew on a towel and sit on the couch for about 20 minutes. I imagine he felt like he suffered the ultimate betrayal.

I think its time for an intervention.

We have a little sugar addict in our family (or maybe two, but I promised the other one I wouldn't say anything)

Live on ESPN. Really?

[Andrew]

Dear LeBron,
Thanks for the birthday present.


I will never fault him for what he did, but I will never forgive him for how he did it. Never.

Guess who is 28 today?!!

Yup, he finally caught up to me (its so hard to be the older and wiser one in the relationship).

Andrew, you are the finest man I've ever known and I mean that in EVERY possible way.

So please remember to wish this man a Happy Birthday (unless of course you are in labor, because I think about 40% of my friends are overdue to have a baby right now).

Good Book for Moms

Have you read this book? I'm almost done and have really enjoyed it. Truthfully, I'm not a mother in a hurry. I sometimes wish I was. Besides the time I get to spend playing with Luke (which is really quite fun) my life is full of the mundane. I feel like I spend so much time cleaning and organizing spaces that will return to disarray within only a few hours or trying to think of something somewhat healthy that Luke will eat (multiply this process by 3 for breakfast, lunch and dinner) only to end up throwing it away. These are the parts of mothering/homemaking that I struggle to appreciate. I finish the day feeling exhausted, like I have been fiercely busy, only to look around and realize that I seem to have accomplished very little.

I read this book with a hope that maybe I could learn to appreciate my unhurried life a little more. I certainly will get more busy as the years go by and, maybe, the ordinary boring day will be something that I crave at some point. Although I don't know if all the good thoughts and ideas in this book will ever really fly with the personalities in our family (including my own), I do feel like they are concepts that are necessary to think about and try to incorporate in our own way.

I'll confess, I usually avoid reading books about parenting because they stress me out. There are too many ideas with too many do's and don'ts....I can't even keep them all straight. Perhaps I need to change my attitude, but I often finish and feel overwhelmed and completely confused. This book, however, makes me feel rejuvenated and peaceful....like I really don't need to make things so difficult all the time. I highly recommend it. It is a quick read with very short chapters...perfect for mothers who are actually in a hurry. It is helping me appreciate the small things and not deplore the mundane so much.