Brett is taking a photography course in high school and had a project due this week; here’s two of my favorite shots from his portfolio – I think he did a GREAT job!!

I wanted you so badly,  I couldn’t stop thinking about being a mom.

Then I blinked, and the pregnancy test said yes!  My hopes and dreams for you began right away.

And then I blinked, and you were in my arms.  I remember holding you that first day, when we had to go home alone.  We laid together in bed and I just stared into your blue eyes, and thanked God for giving me such a perfect gift.

And then I blinked, and it was your first day in school.  I remember walking behind you because you wanted to be a big boy, but you still snuck me a big kiss on my cheek before I snapped your picture and left you to your first teachers.

And then I blinked, and I was in the stands in the school gymnasium, listening to you play the saxophone so beautifully, watching your eyes as you made such stunning music.

And then I blinked, and you turned 16.  This weekend we celebrated this milestone with friends and family, we laughed and loved.  You’re driving, you’re growing, you’ve become such an amazing young man.  I’m so proud of you.

And I’m afraid to close my eyes.

The next time I blink, you will be off to college and a career, off to having your own family, off to making adult decisions and living your adult life.  How I cherish the moments between blinks, and how I wish they could last forever.

I love you, Brett.  Happy 16th Birthday.

I forgot to post this on the 1st… but we’re still going strong!

Let’s see… I haven’t talked about Ayla’s achievements this year, now that I think about it.  Some of Ayla’s milestones over the past few months… she can now get up on the trampoline by herself!  She can get on the counter to get snacks like her big sister, too.  She has almost mastered her tricycle – she needs just a little more encouragement to keep her feet on the pedals.    She can scale the ladder to her slide, navigate the stairs almost the whole way, standing up; she of course has mastered the spoon and fork and eats anything and everything like a champ.  She is “behind” Autumn in talking, but “ahead” of where Autumn was in regards to her physical abilities.  No worries, it all will balance out in the end!

Autumn’s now writing all of her numbers and letters beautifully, writing her name easily and quite legibly, without help.  She will start Kindergarten in the fall of 2010, and I think she’ll be right on track with her skills.  She’s going to do great, I just know it.

Justus’ new medication dose has changed his life.  He is now a social butterfly!  He’s rarely here anymore, the phone rings until all hours of the night, and he has a girlfriend, Sarah!  Compared to last year, when he only had one friend (who is a carbon copy of him!), this is a welcome change.  I think he may be busier than Brett is!  Now he’s hounding me for a cell phone, which, depending on how often he’s gone, he may just get.  He sometimes leaves in the morning and I won’t see him for 5 or 6 hours or more, as he visits and travels the neighborhood and the neighborhood next to us.  I’m so happy for him, so proud of him, and so thrilled that he’s making so many good friends.  This will make the transition to the new 6th grade school so much easier – and there will be more new friends there to make too!

Brett finished the year on the honor roll – he was on it for every grading period.  I couldn’t be more proud.  He’s enrolled in some college prep courses next year to prepare him for medical school.  He still thinks he wants to be a GP – I hope he keeps that dream alive.  He has been hesitant to study for his temporary license though – I think he’s more nervous than he originally let on.  I’m glad – he SHOULD be nervous, taking control of a 4,000 piece of metal!  The insurance to add him is nominal, I told him I’d meet him halfway on that and he would have to pay for his own gas.  He’s cool with it.  He’ll be driving my van until he saves enough money to go in on a car.  I think he’ll do fine.

And that’s a brief summary of the kids.  All healthy, all happy, all doing well.  Have a great day!

I was biting it so hard this past weekend.

WARNING – RANT AHEAD RANT AHEAD RANT AHEAD RANT AHEAD.  I mean a BIG RANT ahead!

Okay, you were very warned.

So a gentleman came by to purchase some baby items we had for sale.  He had a new 7 week old baby at home, a precious little girl.  His first.   New parents are just the cutest things, aren’t they??

As this very nice gentleman started regaling us with the stories of his wife’s pregnancy, childbirth, and the baby’s first few weeks of life, as well as his observations of other parents and their children now that he is a daddy, I glanced over and watched my husband prepare… waiting for me to start correcting and educating this poor unsuspecting man.  I found it funny – my hubby knows me all too well.  And I behaved and didn’t say a word.  Rather proud of myself, and if I could, I would pat my own back.

The point of this story is that I am increasingly shocked at the poor information out there.  This man said his wife was a doctor.  Now, he didn’t say what KIND of doctor, and I didn’t ask.  So she could’ve been a veterinarian for all I know.  But he began by saying that when her water broke, she knew, as a doctor and based on her doctor’s instructions, they must Immediately Rush, Without Hesitation, Without Finishing Packing The Bag, To The Hospital… because it’s absolutely urgent that she lay down in bed right that second and start being monitored.  Just because her water broke.

I hate this myth.  But I hate it more because this is coming from a doctor.  This was her first baby, she probably could’ve labored at home for hours and hours and hours before she went to the hospital and started letting doctors interfere with nature.

But I forget – she IS a doctor, so she is going to believe 100% of everything her doctors tell her, no questions asked.

And I didn’t utter a word.  I’m still beaming with pride that I didn’t let a rant go right then and there.  Of course, I didn’t have his money in my hands yet, I wasn’t about to blow a $100.00 sale because I wanted to scream that his wife and her lousy doctors were WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG!

I didn’t even rant at the woman who called me and asked if I had a child leash for sale.  Well, lady, I have some for my dogs, because dogs belong on leashes… but that’s another blog altogether, isn’t it???

But then he made a comment about driving through a neighborhood and seeing children playing in their front yards alone.  ALONE??? GASP!!  THE HORROR, I was thinking!  He just couldn’t understand how any responsible parent could possibly let their children play outside without being within 32 inches of them At All Times!  I mean, if it happens on CSI Every Single Week, it must happen in your suburban neighborhood every single week too!!!

People really need to quit living in the land of make believe when it comes to their children and their safety.  I asked my husband how many scaremongering news stories we’ve heard in the past year or so about a child abduction that wasn’t committed by a mom or dad or their Uncle Bob.  We could only think of one off the top of our heads (and I’m not interested in being corrected – there hasn’t been hundreds or even dozens or even tens) and one we weren’t sure of the result of.  And the one we could think of was actually the child’s teacher or someone she knew, so still not a real stranger abduction.  But since two or three happen Every Night in prime time, people really get the lines blurred between reality and complete fiction.

I was even getting well-meaning but very ill-informed advice in another blog post about letting my children eat raw cookie and cake dough.  The chance of my kids killing themselves in a bathtub is about 60 times higher than dying from raw eggs.  More people die from venomous spider bites than eating cookie dough.  Licking the beaters is a rite of childhood, in my opinion.  Since walking across the floor and falling to their death has about a 1 in 6,000 risk, I’m not going to fret a 1 in 50,000,000 risk.  Yes, 50 million.  You’ve not even looked into the stats, or really researched the odds, have you?  Even without looking it up, I knew the odds were pathetically low and I was always a-okay with my choice.

But the naysayers are shaking their heads and shrugging “no no no – kids get killed daily by strangers and men in vans take girls from the schools weekly and it’s a bad dangerous terrible world out there”.  They look at their neighborhood map online with the sexual predators – so many then-18 year olds having sex with their 17 year old girlfriends and being on the list forever, to name a few things that totally discredit that list, IMO.  And of course, if it’s an old man, he’s waiting on his front porch with a bowl of candy, waiting to lure your children into the bowels of his vinyl siding home to do God-Knows-What to.  NO HE’S NOT!  It’s NOT a bad world!  You’re doing a horrible disservice to your kids sheltering them so.  They won’t know how to prepare for the world, because you won’t be there hovering over them.

You have to let them go.  You have to let them have their childhoods.  It’s not fair to them or you, it’s not beneficial, and it’s sad when I hear about a friend of my 11 year old son that doesn’t know how to navigate the neighborhood on his bike – he should’ve been riding in that neighborhood for years by now!  I’m so glad our kids are so safe in today’s world.

I warned you it was a rant.  I feel much better now!

sans mantle.  I don’t know why I don’t have a mantle.  I built the house and didn’t include one.  11 years later I still don’t have one.  I don’t know why.  I guess the benefit is it’s one less thing to dust.  But I digress…

(insert ominous music).

Brett wants his temporary license.

He could’ve had it February 8, but he got in trouble, and delaying his temps two months was the hugest punishment I could come up with, being the mean mom that I am.  Killed him, I tell you.

But I asked him what the Easter Bunny should bring him this weekend, and he said, “My temps”.

… and so it will be so.

I will take him later this week to pick up his testing package and pay the fees.  I’ll have to help him study then take him down for his vision and written test.

And then it happens.  I have to give him 50 hours of my time, driving my van.  I don’t even let my husband drive.  I’m too much of a control freak.  I would’ve driven to the hospital when I was in labor but he won that battle.  I’m serious.

I’m not sure why I’m scared, he seems like he’ll be fine.

 

 

 

 

I guess I’m more scared that my first baby, my number one miracle, the little redheaded boy that I cuddled for years, is about to be driving.

*sniffle*

I got a neat idea the other day, and realized how simple and inexpensive it actually will turn out to be.  I probably should wait until I’ve actually completed it to blog about it, but I wanted to show off pics so I’m posting prematurely.

Anyways, I picked up a couple of packages of teeny magnets (about 1/4″ diameter round) at Michael’s Craft Store the other day.  They came in packages of 6 for about $2.00.  Then I picked up some heavy gauge jewelry wire for about another dollar.  The magnets are much more powerful than they seem, and they stick to the wire like, well, a magnet. 

So I did a shoot last night with my four kids, and wanted to get a series of five shots of each of them with different expressions and looks.  Now I’m going to print the pics up as 5″x5″ squares, laminate them, and attach them to the wires with the magnets.  I’ll string the wire taut vertically, one right above the other, with about a 7″ gap.  It should make for a very interesting “work of art” and conversation piece, especially with the fun pics!  So I wanted to share the pics, and as soon as the project is done I’ll be sure to post the final result.  I’m very excited to get started.

I’ve posted my favorites, the ones that show the personality the most, in “large” format.  I put the other in a gallery, if you’re interested in looking!

 

 

 

 

from her teenage son – especially when it’s the third time in a row:

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