idontbelieveingrammar

My sweet Tess is just a few days over 7 months. She has one little tooth. I have yet to see her really crawl, but she can manage her way across a room. I swear she can say momma although some people might say she is too little to know what she is saying. She is at the age where she seems to be learning a “new trick” almost everyday. Owen is also learning all kinds of things. How to write his name, that blue and yellow make green and how to dribble a soccer ball. I am amazed at what they learn, but it also leads to expectations. I wonder when Tess will crawl, or when Owen will read, or when Tess will let me get a good solid night of sleep, or when Owen will make it through his soccer game without crying. I love my kids as close to unconditionally as humanly possible. But all these new expectations means that occasionally I am going to be disappointed. Or wonder if they are ok, or on track, or as smart or talented or ( fill in the blank) as the other kids. I hope that they will g...

The latest ailment in our house is pink eye. Yesterday Tess woke up with an oozy pink eye that was swollen up like she had been stung by a bee. On the way home from school that day, Owen had some quesitons about her condition. O: "Tessie gots pink in her eye?" Mom: "yes, Tess has pink eye. So be careful not to touch it." O: "Why not?" Mom: " Because it is itchy" O: "I don't want pink eye, I want blue eye." I laughed.......but if there is such a thing as blue eye, O is bound to catch it!

My rules for professional dress go as follows: 1. Sunday clothes = Monday clothes. 2. Iron, Smiron....it is just going to get wrinkled in the car anyways right? 3. Socks do not need to match. Don't waste your time trying to pair them up. If forget that their is an assembly and sit next to an actual grown up who happens to notice and comment on your Easter bunny sock on the right food, shock her speachless by flashing the St. Patricks day sock on the left. (those English teachers are so into details.) 4. Also completely unnessary to shave past the point of visibility. This is capri weather, so no need to go much above the ankles. But hey, no one is probably checking out your ankles so feel free to skip this rule altogether.. 5. When all of your clothes are dirty and you desperately need to do laundry...then and only then, break out the dresses and skirts. 6. Nice outfits mean you can skimp on the hair or makeup. blazer = ponytail. People are so distracted by the fancy clothes...

I think my children are allergic to the phone. Not the actual appliance. That they push buttons on, chew, gnaw, hide, slobber over and Owen has been known to use as a flashlight to scare away monsters. It is only when it is properly in use that the allergic reaction begins. The second someone answers on the other end or I attempt to leave a message, someone has a breakdown. Today, I realized that I never paid the credit card bill. It is usually due about now and I don't remember ever seeing it. I grabbed the mail basket, which Tess immediately emptied all over the floor and began to chew on some junk mail. I decided that a cd case was much more safe and seemed to occupy her for a moment. After sifting through some old Christmas cards, a few coupons, magazine subscription renewal pleas and mounds of junk mail ...I find what I had been searching for. The bill. The one that is due tomorrow. Any other bill and this would be no big deal. Credit cards however will have a late ...

Thanks Rhonda for sneaking us in. www.snapshotsonlocation.com

Lately that has been my mantra. I just need to get through this. This week. This current sickness. This icky stuff at work. This deadline. Through this period. Surely soon there will be rest. A pedicure, or at least a good eyebrow wax. A nice glass of red wine. A nap in the middle of the afternoon. An evening of 8 solid hours of sleep. A date night. The only problem is that "this" whatever it is that I am trying to get through keeps turning into something new. Some other "this" to get through. It has been a rough patch. But just getting through is not how I am supposed to live. Just getting through is not enough. The dangling carrot of a nap or some other simple reward should not be what gets me out of bed. This is not enough. Just drudging through means that surely I am missing the rewards. The coos and giggles in between the projectile vomiting. Memorizing all the words to Owen's new favorite book ( "I love you stinkyface"). Listening to Shaun read H...

Earlier today I was walking back from my car and a bird pooped right on top of my head.Besides the fact that it was disgusting and that I had to drive the 20 minutes back home with it in my hair before I could shower, it sums up how I have been feeling. Pooped on. Since Tess was born, our house has been one kind of sick or another. Mostly Owen. Yesterday we went to see the dr. with what I thought were hives or poison ivy and walked out with a shingles diagnosis. Shingles? Besides and icky oozy red rash over a good part of his face and head ( why not an arm or leg or something we could cover up?) he doesn’t seem to be too affected. Until he sees the neighbors playing outside, or I won’t let him touch Tess or even hold hands at the dinner table to pray. Kids with shingles can’t really give other people shingles……but they can pass on chicken pox. A vaccine that Tess is still too young for. So now we cross our fingers and pray that O’s rash crusts over quickly ( it takes 7-10 days...

As a teacher I realize the importance of words. I know that a careless comment can cause serious damage, and a well timed phrase of encouragement can change everything. I know the power of words. However, so often I forget. I don't put the filter on. I let things pour out of my mouth without deciding what should go and what should stay ( in my head!). The back of the book quotes that we use "30,000 words a day" and encourages us how to make them count. 30,000 is a lot of words. Sadly at the end of the day -- I can only remember a few of them. Too often, I am remembering words that wish I hadn't let slip out. I agreed to participate in this book tour hoping for some good reminders and encouragement to be more careful. The book came through in that area.....but provided much more. I was expecting this short little book to just be full of proverbs about controlling our tongue and plenty of examples where praise changed someone's course. I was selling my w...

I promise to hop back on the blogging bus this week. We have been sick and more sick in the last few months........and blogging got pushed to the back burner. So this is the official comeback tour. Brittany style, excpet no one will be cutting me in half and I won't be dating a backup dancer.