For the Ladies

Here I am on the blog again. Been some months. But, that seems to be my M.O. these days. Blog like crazy, not blog. Only when I am truly filled with some sort of overwhelming emotion do I feel the need to share my innermost thoughts with the world. I promise, I am not this cynical. Both babies did not nap today. It is 4:49, to early for bed. Of course-I know! But, we do have to make it till 6:30. They are grouchy, I am grouchy. Poor babies. I promise to write tomorrow when we are all a happy shiny family again.

I am 3.5 hours into the start of my “grandma coming to town”. If I did not have a huge belly and abnormal feet, I would guess I was going into labor. Oh the fun of this first day. Of course the labor pains are a welcome feeling next to the psychosis of the past week. Recently I have developed a drop in my progesterone levels and therefore have strong urges to cry, scream, not do laundry…oh, wait that MIGHT have something to do with my strong aversion to laundry the other 3 weeks of the month. But, who knows? I have piles hidden all over my house.

Is anyone else hot? Because now I feel like I am in menopause?

An Ode.
Oh crazy where are you?
Here you are right in my mind.
Friend of mine you are my bed. Two kids, one dog, husband.
Where is my escape? The shower when will me meet? Tonight you say, sorry to tired.
I will rendezvous with you at 6:30 with the two screaming in my ear, the one rushing for work, the dog sniffing past the curtain.

GET OUT DOG!

Hanita

And then there is Hannah. Hannah is my blood sister. I do not I know anyone that is cooler then she. If you are interested in how ultra-cool she is, check out her blog. (I have the link under Cool People I know).

Hannah and I have been through every high and every low a sibling can know. We know each other in ways no one else could comprehend, and then many times in our journey as sisters, we have been complete strangers.
She is what could be said as, polar opposite of me. She started building houses out of manila envelopes when she was only 4. She is currently an architect. She started that journey while still in high school. I have aspired to be about everything that involved creativity, never comminting enough time to any one passion to make it my own.
In 7Th grade, the entire year, she made straight 100s. I am NOT exaggerating. She has spent as much time studing as she has sleeping. I am no schlep at school, but studied just enough to get the A. In Utopia, where we went to High School, that did not require much studying. We were not the best of friends at that point.
She lived in Paris for a year and just got back from a 5 month stint in London. She has traveled all over Europe and I think, given the opportunity, she would settle in Paris for the rest of her life.
Most important of all her great qualities, she LOVES the Lord. She is an amazing sister in the Lord. She sends us great scripture at least everyother day. She works 60-80 hours a week, yet still always finds time to encourage us in the Lord.
Today, things are so great. We have such a great time together. We have found a place where we share many things in common, politics, art, I wish I could say travel, lets just say, she does travel and I would love to travel. It is funny because growing up, I think we all thought I would be the one living in New York and she would be the one at home with the kids. (She was pretty shy growing up...yea, not anymore!) She is so articulate, and smart. We have the same facial expressions, the same voice inflections and the same laugh. I love being her sister. I am going to go visit her in New York. I am so thrilled.

She came to visit 2 weeks ago. An interesting, but good visit.

Lola loves "Tita", even though the kids have not spent that much time with her they LOVE-LOVE-LOVE her. Lola thought for a long time Tita lived on an airplane, now she thinks she lives in Central Park, New York.
Moses is not inclined to let anyone but Mark and I hold him, by the 3rd day she was here, Moses was all about Tita. Now he asks to talk to her on the phone all the time.
We have always looked alike, Hannah is ultra tiny, so that kind of gave away who was older. We wore our hair the same for years, in those days people always asked if we were twins.

Crossbridge Cronies

My friends in my last blog have known me all of my adult, some longer. I have been blessed to find a new set of sisters at the church Mark and I have been attending since January. There are some amazing woman that have crossed my path in the past few months. (Some of them I feel like I have known my entire life) I look forward to growing these relationships into life long friendships that are based in something greater then just similar personality traits.

Cody, very dry, very funny! Could not live without her. Loves a neat house. (Her own, not mine thank goodness.)

Mandy and Amber. Best friends, very sweet. Would like to get to know them better.

Sarah Beth (SB), and Eden. We could have been raised in the same home. Artist, definitely a soul-sister.

Last but not least, Zuzzanna. Cezch. Crazy, has spiced up my life in a great way.

Sisters

Recently I heard our pastor say he gets weirded out when Christians refer to each other as Brother and Sister. I totally disagree. I was weirded out that he thought that. SB explained that in the Babtist church it is a formality, not a endearing term. Well, it has always been an endearing term to me. It separates my friendships from my family. My family in Christ. My sisters in Christ are linked to me in a way no friend could come close to. I am so blessed to have many of them grace my path on a daily basis. Laura knows me best, she is my person. But, she is hardly the only one that can hold the title best friend. What does that mean anyway? Each of these woman know me in their own "best" way. I would never be me without the relationships of these sisters.

Adrienne and I in Memphis. June 2007.

Laura and I at the Beach. June 2007

My sisters, and also real sisters, Jessica and Adrienne. Been friends since 8th grade!







Charity and I, another of the Memphis crew.

Charity and Adrienne came to Texas when we were 19. My dad gave them each a house to bring back to Texas when they returned. Adrienne returned hers 3 years ago when she came for a visit. Charity still has yet to return, but she has her house!

!

My crazy best friend Michelle. Girls game night at my house.



















This blog looks terrible. But I am sick of playing around with it.

8 Things

I have not blogged in....to long. My Friend Mel tagged me to blog this, so here it goes. I am only putting down 8 for now, maybe add the other 2 another day.

1). I have read Jane Eyre about 20 times. It is my favorite book. I was nine the first time I picked it up. I think I re-read it twice right after that. I still remember how I felt when Jane ran into Mr. Rodchester long after the fire. I actually jumped up and down and sang Hooray!!!!! I am a hopeless romantic I guess.

This story also arose an early sensitivity to social injustice. I wept for the way Jane was treated by her Aunt. But was far more angered by the Head Master of the orphanage Jane was sent to. He was a supposed to be a minister of God. At the tender age of 9, I was being exposed to the danger and damage of using the Lord to gain power and hurt others. That is what reading will do for you. Not to mention the fact that the children did not eat or were not kept warm. You can see that I still feel quite passionately about it.


2) I have read Little Woman about 20 times, also my favorite book. My entire childhood I was seriously disappointed that Jo did not marry Laurie. I would even stop reading the book at the point she breaks his heart. It was not until I fell in love with Mark did I understand why Jo married the professor.

I have of course always thought of myself as Jo March. One of the times after I read it I went out and cut off all my hair. I think I was around 10. I lived in the lives of my books when I was in elementary and junior high. Homeschooling can do that to a person.

I cannot wait until Lola is old enough for me to read it to her. I wonder if she will have the same obsession about my favorite childhood books? Oh yeah, Narnia is another set that I read and re-read and re-read.

I also love both of the Little Woman movies. There is an old one, Jo is played by Katherine Hepburn. She is excellent, a more hyper Jo then I imagined, but still an excellent depiction of the character. The other Little Woman is my favorite. I have made Mark rent it three times. Josephine is played by Winona Ryder. I was slightly obsessed with the actress growing up, as I fancied I looked like her. The older I got the less and less I looked like her, a major disappointment. I completely identified with most of the woman or girls she played in movies. Reality Bites! Hello, could that be more me? Anyway, she played the Jo that I wanted her to be. I still love the movie, but I do not think Mark will let ever rent it again. He did not read Little Woman 20 times, or even once for that matter.

3) I like to go to bed late and get up early. (Ok, getting up early had to do with kids that I conditioned to get up early) At least once a week I stay up until 1:00 am. Just watching late night tv, reading or writing. I love this time. I can't do any chores since the entire house is asleep, all I can do is nothing. Usually I am ok the next day until around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, CRASH! But, now that Lola is taking naps again I lay down and am fine.


4) I love turning 30, I am finally at the age I think I was meant to be. I had the best birthday ever. Becca and Laura took me to Galveston the week before my birthday for a girls get-a-way. The next weekend Laura insisted she throw a party for me. I insisted it could only be Mark and I, Tom and Laura and my parents. I do not like being the center of attention. That may surprise EVERYONE. She made the most amazing dinner for me. Crazy good, crazy gourmet, cooking is one of Lar's passions as well. It was so much fun, and Amy, Laura's sister came in town, so it was even better! One of the best parts is in September I am going to go to New York to visit my sister! Yippee! That is the only thing I asked for, and my parents gave me a voucher. Yippee!

5) I despise hanging up our clothes. One time our hang-up cloths lay ed out for almost 2 weeks. Now I know that I have to hang them the minute they come out of the dryer, or else...

I do not like doing chores or cleaning in any way whatsoever. I get satisfaction from them being clean, but most of that is due to the fact that I do not have to do again for awhile. If I won the lottery, got a job or Mark hit the big time, a maid is the FIRST thing I would spring for. Most days I do not do the kitchen dishes until around 3:00. Usually I let the house go crazy until late afternoon before Mark gets home, then I make a wild dash to put everything in order. But, for some reason I slightly obsessed with having everything perfect when he comes home. Unless I am really sick, the house is always perfect when he walks in the door. I guess I do have a little Donna Reed in me!


6) I am happy that my Lola is not 2 anymore. Everyone I meet is like, " They grow up so fast don't rush."
I did not enjoy the terrible 2's whatsoever. She is so insanely fun now it is crazy. I was just talking to Laura about this. When Lola was younger, everyone would say, it gets better. You know, it does get better! The Lord not only gave Lola the right Mother, he gave me the right child. I have grown years of patience and grace since she was about 14 months. I know she is such a wonderful girl, but she still has those moments. I rarely feel the anger and frustration I felt for what seemed like years.

Moses is no cake-walk, but I feel like he is amature hour compared to his sister. And I wonder, is it that, or has the Lord expanded me? I hope so.

I have 2 very active, brilliant, strong-willed babies, and I thank the Lord everyday they are mine, and not anyone elses. I cannot wait to see what they become. Can you imagine how much good energy they can put into the body of Christ? It is scary to think of the responsibility I have in raising them, but it is such a comfort to know they are the Lord's and there is not much more I can do but obey Him. So lets see what more I have to say over the years. I refuse to dread them becoming teenagers. I can only pray, wait and see what happens.



7) Sometimes I secretly wish I had a big fat diamond ring. But, then I remember that EVERYONE has a big fat diamond ring. Not to mention the deplorable conditions related to diamond mines in Africa. This is not a criticism to anyone that owns a diamond ring. I saw a documentary on the diamond mines after we decided not to get a diamond. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/transcripts/1209.html
Fact is fact, there is no pretending that there are horrible atrocities related to the diamond industry. If you are interested go to PBS.org and search diamond mines. There is a plethora of information concerning this subject.


8) I am terrified of getting my teeth knocked out. I also share that fear about the kids teeth. It just gives me the creeps all over to think about it. I threw a major fit when I was about 3 years old and was fitted with a tiny false tooth that fit like a retainer. It turned out to be a blessing because all of my top teeth grew in straight, I am pretty sure it is because of my retainer on the top. You should have seen my bottom teeth before I got braces at the age of 19. Very scary. Once this guy in high school told me my bottom teeth looked like an old grave yard. He was a mean kid, but I got braces about 2 years later. Phew! (Of course I am not to worried about losing my teeth in general because I never floss)

Blog Worthy

Here are some Crazy Pictures of our Super-Ham. It is starting to take everything in the world to get her to take a real picture. She is nuts, nuts I tell ya!

Joel David's birthday Party. She wanted to show me her chocolate cake tounge.

Taking a bath with her boys! Benjamin and Joel David, I think this will be her last "public" bath.

Memphis Zoo. Mark was trying to get a good shot of me with the kiddos. Not so much.

Jakers

I felt I must post this because Jake us such a cool kid. I love him!

A few weeks ago Laura and Becca, my sister-in-law, took me to Galveston for my birthday. For several reasons we took Jacob, Laura's youngest. He was a brilliant, perfect angel baby. I know that the Lord blessed Laura, and the rest of us, with this perfect child. He is so docile, that I was relieved to hear him throw a fit when he was forced to have a diaper change. That only happened once by the the way, and it was right before his nap.
I took some pictures of us ladies, but the ones of Jake are breathtaking.

Is it possible to be in love at 3?

This is Ben. He is the 6 year old son of my good friend Becky. We went to Utopia over Memorial Day weekend and Ben was there. Lola's only concern the entire time was keeping up with the whereabouts of Ben. If they were not swimming in the creek, taking a dip in the hot tub, or playing T-ball, they were curled up on the ez-chair watching Shrek 2.
The vacation in general was so delightful because it is the first time since we have had children that I really felt like it was a vacation. The first day we were were there I spent most of the day on the front porch reading my book. I fininished it! How great is that?
It has a great deal to do with the fact that the adult to child ratio was 3-1, there was the "great outdoors" the children were free to roam about, and hey, my kids are getting older!

Giving as much love as possible.

Do they look like teenagers or what?

I really do not think Ben minds the attention.

White Trash Splash Park

If you know me, you know that I have a best friend Laura. We have been best friends for 15 years.
I think if you have a best friend, I mean a real best friend, you can somewhat understand what Lar and I have. We are closer then sisters, but we appreciate the relationship that the other has with her sisters. It is interesting and complicated. Complicated in a good way, most of the time... I would not be who I am without the friendship I have with Laura. I think, I know it is the same with her.
We are totally different people on the surface.

Her ideal environment would be the county, with animals and stuff. She does not listen to the news that often, she can understand the lyrics to every song, she is so patient with her kids it is unreal. Most, nay all, of these things are not things we have in common. But, I think the person we are on the inside is very much the same. Plus, we now have the Lord to share. A wonderful gift from God to us both.

We go over to Laura's apartment at least once a week for Spaghetti night. Now, most nights we make spaghetti, some we do not. It is just now called spaghetti night. She lives in a great space, but in the summer when it is hot, we needed to figure out a way to entertain the kids and keep them cool. After my experience with ritzy splash parks I thought this was super funny. I know my kids, for sure, had more fun in Lars’s back porch then any swimming pool (Noah's ark the exception) I could have taken them to. Here are some of the GREAT pictures we captured. I did have to do some editing in photoshop, don't want any nuddy picts out there.

Jacob LOVES having water poured on him that is why he is getting splashed the most...

Water Boy.

Yikes-splash shot!

Taking turns at the water.

GET JACOB!

Stephen, thinking it would be funny to splash me...not so much.

Moses is not to crazy about being splashed.

He is such a sweet boy. He has been splashed about 20 times at this point and he is still happy.

And he STILL smiles for the camers. Your killin me Smalls.

Lola getting Stephen.

The Fearless Leader.

Goof-Ball.

"I love attention."

This was definitly a Spaghetti night.

A perfect picture of how we all felt that day.

Mother Goose Mamas

It has been a few weeks since the last blog entry. I have been consumed with our mini-vacation over Memorial Day weekend.
Before I start on that blog, I wanted to share photos of the New Territory Splash park a few days prior to vacation.
When I first moved to Sugar Land from Houston I was three months pregnant. I felt somewhat displaced and out of touch with the suburban life. To tell you the truth I was a city girl that wanted nothing to do with a simple pre-fab home in a neighborhood filled with snobby, rich, white people. I wanted my kids to grow up with every possible experience, every opportunity to know the city and to love the life of all cultures. As it has turned out, I was the snob.
In the beginning I tuned my nose at opportunities to be involved with the woman that surrounded me. I did not need them then. I had my ultra cool architect sister, my understanding mother and a city not far that was had the ballet, opera and museums to fill my children’s every cultural desire. This is how my puny non-child mentality worked out the details. Then, Lola got older, I had Moses and my “family only” world got turned upside-down.
When Moses was about 4 months old I started attending the Mother Goose story time at the local library. The women that were there seemed nice enough, but our life crazy at the time and I was in no place to make friends. Besides, I thought, they are going to judge me for being a liberal and shun me for my offbeat style. It was an assumption that I held onto, a crutch to assume that people would not like me, so that way if they did not, I was in the clear. After all I was me, and if you don’t like that, so what. Right? The only problem with that mentality is that it starts to get pretty lonely.
In the spring I started to attend on a more regular basis. One mother, Susan, asked me to come to lunch with a few of them. She said that they did this every week, post story time. To tell you the truth I was thrilled. I had been around these moms and I could see that they were cool. Besides, my "city" friends either had no kids, or they worked. After our first lunch, I was hooked. The women I have met are so unique in her own way I feel as if I have grown as a woman and as a person just from being their friends.
All of our kids are far too old to attend the Mother Goose time now. Now, most of us go to the toddler time. Some of the moms do not go, due to scheduling problems, attention problems or various other reasons. But, we are all here for each other. We have created something wonderful for each of us. There are various ethnic, religious and cultural differences between all of us. It is everything that I might want my children to experience anywhere I live.
Some of us are better friends then others; we have made deeper connections past our children, some not. But it has helped me more there any other single thing as a mother. To have the support of other mothers, to be able to talk about your kid’s problems for hours, what would I do without that support? Not to mention the distraction of not having to stay home ALL DAY with 2 toddlers, that can be more then the sanest person can take.
To give you an example of how diverse my group of friends is I will give you a breakdown of Lola’s third birthday party.
We Had:
The Over Educated Mom with her Masters
The Asian
The Muslim
The Divorce
The Handicap
The Older Mom
The Homeschooler Mom with 5 kids
The Liberal Democrat in suburban Sugar Land
The list goes on, but that was 8 months ago…
My point is, I have everything here that I could ever want in any big city. Not to mention all the things that I would lack, such as, a great park at every neighborhood, super awesome grocery stores that sell organic at a reasonable price, the big city is only a 15 minute drive, every possible ethnic group that one might want their children to be exposed to. It is all I ever wanted for my kids only cheaper real estate!
I say all this in the mindset that this is for me. My children love these kids. They talk about everyone constantly. If I mention that we are going to see Ally, Lola wants to know if Joshua is going to be there. Moses is obsessed with Eloise and Owen. I have seen Lola go from being extremely board with the kids a year younger then her, to becoming the surrogate mother to these kids when their moms are talking. She takes ownership of her friendship with everyone in this group. They have now become her babies They are building, what I hope to be, lifelong friendships.
The library is not having toddler time, so we have been getting together on Wednesdays and going to a park. Here are some pictures of last week. We went to the splash park first and then to the regular park.

Moses Enjoying the water!

Lola, my crazy girl.

Mary Evyn. A little princess.
Moses drinking the water...nice.

A good shot of the park.

Moses, checking our "O" Man on the swings.

Lola and Eloise, best buds, who wudda thought?

Our true Mother Goose.