Born in a barn on the snowy eve of a new year...

“Be Silly. Be honest. Be kind.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

There really is quite a lot to be learned from man’s best friend. They love unconditionally; they are loyal to the ends of the earth and can make the worst day melt away with a slobbery kiss and frantically wagging tail.

Today (tonight actually) our Honey is 3 years old (21 in dog years), and MY how life has changed for {us} since we first brought her home as a puppy…

We’ve bought a house (with a nice big yard!), added and subtracted another dog (tears), worked long hours (sigh), taken vacations (mhmm) and had an actual baby (oops!).

Really, SHE was our first “baby.”

She…

Showed us early on the possible parenting “kinks” we may have to work out should she have been a “real” child….

Held me accountable for miles and miles of walks and runs in all seasons…

Kept me warm in bed when Gary was working offshore…

Was there when I was alone,

Is a GREAT listener,

Has absorbed many of my tears in her wispy, fluffy fur,

Made me feel safe when I felt uneasy—whether it be a strange noise at night or jog through a sketchy neighborhood…

Saves me a few seconds every morning by licking out my oatmeal bowl…

And she waits, ever so faithfully for us to return home…no matter how long we are gone.

She’s snuggles on a rainy day, a goofy smile in the backseat of the car, and a laughing tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth, glancing back to make sure I’m still there on the path, running behind her.

She will forever have a piece of not only my heart, but Gary’s—and I can tell by how Kai turns his head to the jingle of her collar, and how he flashes her his gummy smile when she pops into sight that she has been embraced by his sweet spirit, too.

Happy Birthday, Honey!!!

For Mama...


 

"Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers, and sisters, aunts and cousins, but only one mother in the whole world."  

-- Kate Douglas Wiggin

Tonight I celebrated my beautiful Mother's birthday.

I remember how much my love and appreciation grew for her once I left for college and was forced to do things on my own like laundry, feed myself, grocery shop and scrub the showers and keep random things like razors and kleenex stocked....as I learned to do all of that, my heart swelled with gratitude for all that my Mom had done for me...

I really didn't think I could love her any more.

Until I held my own baby in my arms.

With each sleepless night, exhausting day, story I read, song I sing, silly face I make, tear (and bottom!) that I wipe I love her more....

For the amazing Mama that she was to me and my sisters and brother....and for the Mommy she, in doing so, taught me to be.

It's true, "you only get one mother in the whole wide world."

And I am so blessed to call her mine.

Happy Birthday, dear Mama!

 

Our highlight of 2010: Baby Kai!

We can't even imagine life without him now. The other night while we were taking turns cooking dinner and entertaining Kai, Gary remarked "What did we do before him?"

Gosh, what WAS life like before baby boy? It's only been five months, and I can't even imagine him not blessing us with his sweet spirit (maybe i'm just reeeeaaaalllly tired...).

Kai Quincy was born July 30th, 2010--8.5 lbs, 21 inches.

I had to be induced because he was NOT wanting to leave Mommy's tummy (AND Gary only had two weeks home before he had to head back down to the Gulf of Mexico for work for a month or so).

I was nervous and SO excited heading into the hospital, and labor was surprisingly, dare I say...not that hard...(I had an epidural, thank GOD for those!).

Kai arrived around 1:00 pm on that hot July Friday, and changed our lives forever.

My favorite moment of the whole experience was when the nurse brought him up to me and we looked into each others' eyes. WOW. I'll never forget that--he wasn't crying, and had the most satisfied smile on his face, like he was saying "Hi Mommy, it's me that was living inside of you this last year."

Kai was born with an incomplete cleft lip, which has made life a bit more interesting than most infants his age. I won't go into all of the boring details, but pretty much, until he is 18, he will have to pay visits to a craniofacial specialist at Doernbecher's Children's Hospital.

However, I am elated to say that I do believe that the worst is over.

No more taping his sweet little face, no more dreading the date of his surgery, no more cleaning out swollen sutures, no more arm restraints...

Here are a few pictures that mark our journey this past five months...

Kai around a week old...

 Kai around 6 weeks...just the start of the taping.

 Kai around 4 months...both Kai and Mommy were finally used to the tape--it was normal, and definitely how we were used to seeing him!

 Kai sportin' his new "no-no's (arm restraints)"with Daddy in hospital the day after the big surgery!

 Kai right after his post-op appointment....it was all good news from the doctor (hence his fingers in his mouth and no arm restraints!!)

We got through it, and I believe more than anything that our little family is now even stronger because of it. It continues to completely amaze me how God takes tough circumstances and uses them to bless, grow and definitely teach us.

While we hope that we have crossed the biggest mountain towards Kai's recovery, we still have to get evaluations from the Craniofacial Dental specialist as well as the speech therapist there at Doernbecher's. We will have appointments bi-anually and then once he reaches 5 years of age he will have to undergo an intense evaluation to determine whether or not he will need any additional surgery.

But I'm not worrying about all of that now. I have a sweet, smiley baby (who is trying to crawl!) to attend to.

And I plan on savoring each second of every day that I am blessed to be his Mommy, and trusting in God to take care of the rest.

2011:Resolving to...blog!

I read this blog title to Gary and he stared at me through the rear-view mirror for a few minutes with and intrigued/puzzled look on his face and then said “read it again slow.” So I did. He shrugged and looked out the window and sighed, “sounds complicated. But, don’t listen to me.”

That is why I love him so much.

As we embark upon a new year, I, as usual have spent the days of December contemplating the year that has unfolded so quickly since the last. I am a big fan of the “New Year’s Resolution.” I am also a fan of a Spring resolutions, summer resolutions, fall resolutions and holiday resolutions. Yes, I admit, I’m a functioning goal addict.

Last year I had 2 resolutions: 1) floss more AND 2) forgive. Not just the “Yep, I forgive you,” but REALLY DEEPLY FORGIVE others. I’m happy to report that I have developed a successful flossing habit, but am still working on the forgiveness piece…that is a life-long resolution.

So in order to stay true to form, here are my resolutions for 2011:

1.       Take better care of my skin (am I getting old? I've never had a facial!).

2.       Be thankful—and do a better job of thanking and {blessing} others.

3.       Blog! Even if I’m my only follower!

So….here I am, attempting to "blog."

I don’t know it just seems like the right thing to do. I mean, I enjoy writing, I enjoy documenting my life and I enjoy sharing with others in hopes that something in my story connects with something in theirs and yields some form of inspiration, encouragement or joy.

My goal is to write an entry EACH DAY all year long. Some days I may write two, who knows? (if Kai’s naptime allows).

So, why now? Why start a blog now, what’s the point—I have a Facebook account, isn’t that enough?

Well, Facebook is great. It’s where friends find friends. But I want to do more than scroll through status updates and click through photo albums of friends’ babies and vacations.

I want an outlet to hold me ACCOUNTABLE to {attempts} at daily reflections of thankfulness and joy…in good times and in bad times. I have also found that I am much better about documenting Kai’s milestones and memories electronically than I am at doing it longhand by the light of the fire like my Mother so earnestly did (just kidding Mom, I only sarcastically poke fun because I will never be able to live up to your stellar efforts poured into my incredibly detailed baby book).

So there you have it. 2011 starts now, and I plan to document it—in all its glory (and lack there-of). And because at times my life is seemingly common and uneventful I also plan on incorporating a mish-mash of random recipes (which is a stretch for me, if you know my cooking), good quotes, Bible verses and other random notable (according to Whitney) tidbits.

So here we go!

Cheers to a brand new year—and to me getting better at snapping pictures with my barely-used expensive digital camera instead of my blackberry…and learning more about this whole blogosphere thing….It’s kind of intimidating because I feel overwhelmed at all I have to learn, but I will set out to give it my best college try!