Back from the Edge

Well, it has been quite some time since my last blog. What can I say? Every time I have been online, I have been trying to do my Christmas shopping (which I have found to be oh so fun). Shopping in the midst of a million people at the malls with Caleb in tow just isn't appealing to me. However, there have been a few hiccups in my holiday season.

About a week and a half ago, Caleb got a wicked cold which led to a double ear infection. Now we have weathered a couple small colds but this one kicked us in the butt so to speak. Ty ended up being out of town for the worst day but Caleb was completely and utterly pitiful for about 3 days. We finally went to the doctor and found out he had a double ear infection (and I thought I was being a silly parent for taking him in with just a cold). So our first adventure with the pink medicine ensued which definitely got easier when Caleb decided he liked it. During this time, I got pretty run down and got sick for a few days as well. Luckily, a very thoughtful friend, Sherri, helped me to keep everything in perspective and gave me daily doses of "medicine". I followed her instructions to the letter and found that "me time" to be most helpful. Thank you for being my "joy with skin on" last week, Sherri!

So now I am nearing the end, but still not done with my shopping (hopefully by Tuesday). And now I am just stressing out about my online purchases which have yet to be shipped but said they were guaranteed by Christmas Eve. Let's hope so!!!

I feel like I am back from the edge and can now look forward to Christmas with illnesses and shopping craziness behind me. Yeah!

Fun Food Family Friends

i am always unsure as to how the holidays will play out. i leave home a little anxious each time. my family situation is weird but i am convinced there is really no such thing as normal. dysfunction it seems has become the norm in regards to extended family. i wish it weren't the case.

in all honesty it wasn't that bad. in fact it was pretty nice albeit a little awkward at times. caleb is a great buffer. you just have to love him. anyway, we drove in a blizzard (which we will probably not do again), had adventures with "old" friends, met "new" little friends, ate good food, hung out with the fam, and did some shopping. i can handle it once or so a year.

it was also my 10 year high school reunion this past weekend. i didn't go. we had to come back home because ty was preaching and we still had his family's thanksgiving. now i'm bummed. since i talked to mags earlier today, i've been thinking about people and wishing i could have seen them and talked about where life has taken them in the past 10 years and where they are now. ya know i really did care about these people and even though i've changed and they've changed it would have been nice ....

Birthday Week

Alright, everybody should have a birthday week, some should have a birthday month and others a birthday year (or decade-according to kelli). Now, i am willing to honor and celebrate others for the allotted time frame, so how come i get all the crap for wanting a birthday week (tyson)?

I did have a very nice birthday and my husband and son are great gift givers, thoughtful, loving, caring and all that. But when monday was over that was it. I feel like the rest of the week has been like a long hangover. Not bad really, just a let down. I get so excited about my birthday-yes i'm 28 not 4 but i enjoy having a special time each year just for me. You see, it's not about getting older, i don't really care about that and i don't feel that old. it's just about me. it's the only time when i don't feel particularly selfish to focus on me, pretty much the rest of the year that would be the definition of selfish but not at birthday time.

I was informed this year that my husband and caleb may not even be around on my birthday in the future because it is the opening day for gun hunting deer season. I just think that is silliness. hunting season is longer than i am asking for my birthday season to be- the choice seems like a no-brainer to me.

Oh and i must say, i did have a birthday weekend this year, but is it too much to ask for a week?

Yeah God!

people often say that blessings come in small packages, well sometimes they come in big ones too. last week the little red Honda (which was a blessing for 2 1/2 years) finally pooped out. ty and i looked at each other and said alright God, we trusted you with our finances this year. we knew we would make it if our cars were fine and mortgage stayed the same and we didn't eat out on a regular basis. now we were faced with a dilemma. so, ty was sharing this with a friend from school and to make a long story short, this friend's incredibly generous father offered to sell us his wife's 2003 buick century for not a lot of money and no further payments. Yeah God! And thank you incredibly generous Mr. W!

i think this is one of the few times where i have actually placed my finances in the hands of God, more because i have to than i am choosing to. and we have been so blessed by believing that God will honor our decision for me to stay home with Caleb. He is an amazing God who likes to give good gifts to His children!

stir crazy :@#!

it has been three days since i have left the house. you see, the red Honda (as opposed to the black Honda) has finally bit the dust. it has been good to us, don't get me wrong, but it is time for a new vehicle which (thank you God) is in the works (that's for another blog). in the meantime i have been stuck here while Ty has been gallavanting all over the place (primarily to school and back but i wanted to use the word gallavanting). so caleb and i have been homebound since saturday afternoon.

i am mostly a homebody but when i can't get outside and walk with the little man and go to the park or just sit in the backyard, i start to go a little stir crazy. oh, i find plenty to keep me busy. i am not sitting on the couch eating bonbons and crying over dr.phil, but it is time for me to drive a vehicle and leave the immediate premises. caspian and caleb need a break from me as well so soon and very soon i will hit the open road, but until then i will be blogging because it is proving to be a great catharsis.

No Sleep Til .. ..

If you are unfamiliar with the Beastie Boys song to which I am referring to, I am merely saying that I have had very little sleep recently (at least uninterrupted sleep). Caleb is now cutting his second tooth, I discovered yesterday and has had a weird sleep schedule for quite some time. And try as I might, I cannot seem to find any rhyme or reason. Is it the teething? Or perhaps it is too much napping? Or not enough napping? Maybe something he ate? Maybe he's just being bratty? Or is he uncomfortable? Too cold? Too hot? These are the questions that inevitably go through my head at 1 AM and again at 2:15 AM and so on. Some time after I realize there are no answers to these questions that I can figure out, I start singing songs (in my head, of course) and making up new words to them. The other night it was, no sleep til.. .. peekaboo. It sounded perfectly sane to me at the time. However, the light of day sheds some light on the silliness that is my middle of the night brain functionings.

So, if I am to keep score I would say it is Caleb 53,922 and Me 2. It is a good thing I love him madly.

there is a first time for everything

today is a day of firsts. first time blogging. first time winning at scrabble. first time that caleb's poop leaked down onto his socks. all in all i have enjoyed most of the firsts and especially look forward to experiencing more of the blogging phenomenon that i have been introduced to.