Mister Man Meets Rice Cereal

A couple of days ago I let Jack Ryan try his hand at solids. I have been hearing from the beginning that starting him on rice cereal might ease his reflux symptoms, but I kept putting it off. I think subconsciously I have not wanted to start him on solids because that means he is growing up. Sigh.... why must things change? I would be content for him to be my not so tiny, cuddly baby forever. Anyway, enough was enough. After all, he has to learn to use a spoon sometime, right? The boy loves to eat (as evidenced by his round cheeks), so I thought he would love filling his belly with something new and a bit tastier than formula. I was wrong! He was much to impatient to enjoy using a spoon! Overall, he did a good job. He ate the entire bowl and managed to keep most of it down, but he got so very frustrated! He was hungry and wanted a constant flow of food! I simply could not keep up. Our feeding session went something like this: SCREAM, swallow, SCREAM, swallow, SCREAM, swallow. You get the idea :). I wish I had videotaped it! But we will keep trying to get the hang of this over the next couple of weeks before we make it a daily part of our routine. Something tells me that soon enough eating solids will be high on his priority list of things to do!

Remembering Grandpa

* He used to have red hair.

* He was in the Air Force. That's where he met my Grandma.

* He LOVED to give his grandchildren wagon rides.

* You could often find him eating an apple and a snickers bar for lunch.

* His favorite ice cream was plain old Homemade Vanilla.

* He grew up in the depression and took saving money very seriously. He saved quite a bit.

* While he rarely spent money on himself, he was very generous with what he saved when it came to others. VERY generous.

* On many Christmas mornings he would fill the tree with a $100 bill for each grandchild.

* He was always fair with his love and affection. He did not play favorites between the five of us cousins.

* He enjoyed being right :). I think that runs in the family. If he disagreed with you he would say, "I appreciate your opinion, but you're wrong." Ha!

* He called me his little big hugger. His hugs hurt! He loved to pat your back when he hugged you and he hugged hard!

* He loved watching basketball, men and women's.

* He was most passionate about God's church.

* He enjoyed keeping a garden and working with his hands outside. Until his last stages, he was never one for sitting around.

* Grandma hated chewing gum and would not allow it in the house. He always kept a stash of it on the top shelf in his closet :).

* He loved going to lecturships and always went until he was physically no longer able.

* He had a hearty laugh.

* He will be remembered.

Today I...........

* Woke up and had a snuggle with my handsome, squishy little boy. Thanked God for another day.

* Had cereal with my daughters.

* Got everyone bathed and ready for the day. Scratch that. My mom came over and got everyone bathed and ready for the day. I supervised. Thanks mom! I got ready for a meeting.

* Had lunch with co-workers turned friends. Discussed the girls in our care.

* Visited one of my residents in Juvenile Detention Center. It was my first time visiting a JDC where I was allowed past the reception area. I saw her cell. It was intimidating. I talked with her about the choices that she has made to land herself there, told her I was praying for her, and told her I would be waiting for her to come back to the house. Prayed as I left that God would give me a fresh attitude towards her.

* Came home and had snuggles with my hubby.

* Got ready to go on a date with same hubby.

* Went to Target and Old Navy on our date to buy the children coordinating outfits for an upcoming photo shoot. We have a new friend. He is a professional photographer. Sweet.

* Ate dinner at Chipotle with hubby. Discussed the pros and con's of starting our children on an allowance system and the fact that Kate is starting preschool soon.

* Picked all three kids up from my parents house. More snuggles. Except from Kate. She was moody. :)

* Came home and visited with neighbors outside.

* Went on a bike ride with Emma.

* Put children to bed. More snuggles.

* Updated this old blog in keeping up with my Writing to Remember Challenge for the month of August.

* About to head to bed feeling blessed. Thanking God for another day.

Another Year Older

Last week I celebrated a birthday. Someone told me it was my golden birthday, since I turned 28 on the 28th. Well, I don't know whether it was golden or not, but it sure was blessed. I feel like my life is so full these days. Full in a good way. It feels like it is overflowing with love, purpose, and contentment. I know I am blessed to even be able to write those words.

Birthdays have always been really special to me. I love having any excuse to celebrate something, and I used to dub July my birthday month, and force my whole family to celebrate with me for 31 glorious days. You know, like if my dad asked me to take out the trash on July 16th, "I can't Dad, it's my birthday month". You get the idea. Then came Emma. Sweet, little, stealer of the birthday month, Emma. She was born on the 8th of July, and suddenly I found myself having to share my birthday month. Good thing I love her so much, because I would not be willing to share my month with just anyone. But seriously, I love birthdays. Love them. And you know what? While the hoopla surrounding my special day has died down the older I have gotten, the joy of my day has only grown. After 28 years on this earth I have much more to celebrate than I did, say, after 8 years on this earth, or 15.

This year I spent the day with my most favorite people on this planet. My little family. Boss let me sleep in and take my time getting ready (LOVE that!), and then we loaded up the kiddos and went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, per tradition. Emma gave me a special birthday card that said "Hapy Berfday, Mommy. I love you. Love, Emma", and the waiters sang to me per Boss's request. I pretended (as I do every year) that I was embarassed and did not like it, but secretly it makes me happy when people sing to me on my day :) After lunch we went to the mall. Boss watched the kids in the play area while I got a fancy pedicure. My toes are now Berry Berry Pink. To finish off the day we went to Kings Island before returning home to the big kids. Once home, my most favorite neighbors (really, I LOVE all of my neighbors) brought me over a birthday cake and sang to me once again. This time I didn't even pretend not to like it. See how I've matured since turning 28? Seriously, it was a great day.

I am amazed when I look back at the path that God has led me down over the past 28 years. Sometimes I feel as though I have experienced so much, yet really I know the past 28 years are just a drop in the bucket (Lord willing). I am so thankful to be married to Boss and to be sharing my days with him. I am blessed to call three great kids mine. I am excited about the future. Life doesn't get much better than this.

Writing to Remember

"We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection." ~ Anais Nin

I recently read this quote on someone elses blog and fell in love with it. Writing to remember is the whole reason that I bother to keep up with this blog at all. It is my scrapbook of sorts to pass on to my children when they are grown. To help them piece together the early stages of their lives. To capture their life stories as they unfold on a daily basis. I think I got part of my passion for writing to remember from my grandpa.

Many of you know that my grandfather passed away a few weeks ago. He was a man who believed in writing to remember. When I was a kid he made all of his grandchildren life journals, as he called them. For the life of me I cannot find mine, but I remember that it was bright green. He would tell us all to write down anything and everything that we could think of, because as we aged we would forget. He even offered to pay us for writing :). That's how passionate he was about writing to remember. As he himself aged and began forgetting more and more, he started carrying around a pocket sized notebook and he would jot down anything that was important to him throughout the day.... stuff on his to do list, somebody's name, a phone number, questions he needed to ask someone. And whenever he would forget, he would pull out his notebook and all of the information that he needed would be right there. We used to joke with him about that, but writing to remember was important to him.

It is never easy when someone you love passes away. At one point or another your mind always drifts to the "what if's" or "I should haves", but there is a sense that it is easier when the someone that you love is older and they have lived a full life. For me, my grandfathers passing has truly brought about a deep sense of thought and respect for a life well lived. It has caused me to think about all of life's moments, and who I want to be at "the end" of mine. What will people say about me? What will my marriage represent to others? Will I have been an example that my children chose to follow? Will they have been proud that I was their mom? Did I spend my life focusing on the things that mattered? Did my life matter? All of these thoughts just floating around. So in the midst of all of these thoughts, I have decided to write. Not just about the big, momentous things in our lives such as trips and birthdays, but about the little, mundane, everyday stuff as well. The stuff that makes up a life well lived.

I have decided that the month of August is going to be a month of writing to remember in honor of my grandpa. Everyday I will write. Maybe about childhood memories, or a note to my kids, or a memory from the day that I don't want to forget. Because if He taught me anything at all, it was that life is in fact fleeting, and I want to taste the goodness of it over, and over, and over again. Miss you Grandpa.