One is Silver

Did y'all sing that song in brownies?

Make New Friends

But Keep the Old.

One is Silver

and the Other's Gold

Today I am missing the crisp fall in Erie

but I am thankful for the covered playground we enjoyed this morning in Fort Worth.

Today I am missing loyal friends in Erie

but I am thankful for new sisters I am spending time with here in Fort Worth.

Today I am missing the past four years in Erie

but I am thankful to see the Lord's faithful leading of us on this new adventure in Fort Worth.

Already I can see that God is working so many things together here in Texas and I am humbled that he cares about details in my little world like playgrounds and heart friends. At the same point, the missing my dearies in Erie is catching up with me. I have missed new babies and fire pits (you know, because it's fall up there!) and all kinds of shenanigans. The older you get in life (and the more you move around), the more people you get to miss. I sometimes wish that i could just transport all my favorite people onto a big commune and we could all live together and all bring vegetables to the giant cauldron and make stone soup. (No?!) Hope for heaven, hope for heaven...well, minus the stone soup...I think the food will be better than stone soup.

Working On the Night Train

Adam back in 2009 with baby Henry

...or working on the night shift at the hospital. Whatever.

The month of August has been a month of 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. shifts for Adam at the hospital and, I gotta be real honest, I'm not a big fan of night shift working. By the time Adam gets home (between 6 and 6:30 a.m. usually) and gets into bed, the kids are up and breakfasting and Adam then needs to sleep until like 2 p.m. The fabulous thing, though, is that next month (which begins in three days, aaaaah!) Adam will be on a super nice schedule- Monday through Friday, 8-4. What?! No call? No weekends for September? I will eat it up with a fork and spoon and chase it with a nice cold glass of marital bliss.

In other happy news, I looked at weather.com today and for the FIRST TIME in I don't know how long, there is a day in sight without a three-digit high. That's right, on Friday, the high is reportedly only 93. Praise the Good Lord! We haven't had a two-digit high since June, I might need to get out my shawl.

Fry-Day.

cheering on Dada before he takes Step 3 of his medical boards tomorrow


Finally got his hair cut at a place with tiny cars to sit in and a t.v. two inches from his face.
Bliss.


has two bottom teeth now

Clear Eyes.

Well, on Friday, I took Elliot to the Pediatric Ophthalmologist and they dilated Elliot's eyes and we went to kick it in the dark waiting room for 30 minutes (Which is difficult for a 10 month old who wants to crawl out of that room and there's no door to stop him...). But the doctor came and saw him and we went ahead and did the procedure for his blocked tear duct while we were there. That was unexpected but I was happy to get it done with.

Basically, bind Elliot to a papoose board and stick a probe into his tear duct and then flush it with saline. I sat next door and he screamed and it was sad but, luckily, it only lasted about a 9o seconds. I came in afterwards and was able to nurse him and he passed out asleep as soon as he was buckled into his car seat.

Prayerfully, this procedure works and we won't have to go into the hospital and have a stint put in!

Shadow Dancer

I love two-year-olds. Today, Henry & I were swimming and the sun was just so to where our bodies and the raft were making shadows on the bottom of the pool.

"What's that?"

"That's a shadow."

"Shadow get you?"

Then, we had to talk about what shadows were and made shadow puppets in the pool with our hands and waved to our shadows while our shadows waved back. (I don't want him to be scared of his own shadow, after all!) It was a fun experiment and I love the curiosity and wonder of two-year-olds.

Elliot is getting his first tooth today- I feel that little sharp thing poking through and I am glad that he won't remember this. Almost 10 months old and his first tooth. Now he can start eating jawbreakers and gobstoppers!

Elliot does have an appointment with the ped. ophthalmologist on Friday morning to investigate the clogged tear duct. My pediatrician told me that we would want to have the procedure done before he is one because, after they turn one, the doctor will use anesthesia.

aaaand, I'm out.

Pressing Matters

Here's a question on my mind today...How do tattoo artists get their start? I mean, I know that they are artistic but how do they learn to give actual tattoos? It's not like beauty school- hair may grow back but skin, once marked with permanent ink, can't be fixed quite so easily.

Who is the guy who let's a tattoo artist draw his first tattoo on him?

Victory Over Bladder!

Be forewarned: this post may be over-sharing.

One of my college roommates was in town last week and she asked me if I still had the same nighttime habits. These habits are needing a completely full cup of water beside my bed and having a completely empty bladder. In fact, in August of 2007, I posted this on my blog:

Anyone who has ever slept in the same room with me can tell you this, I am obsessive about my nighttime water/bathroom ritual. I cannot fall asleep without water beside my head, and mind you, it has to be enough- half a nalgene or more. I cannot fall asleep with anything in my bladder. The result? I go to the bathroom, get in bed, take a sip of water. Minutes later, I feel the urge, I go to the bathroom, get in bed, take a sip. Sometimes I have to throw a water refilll in because my nalgene levels get to low. Repeat until asleep. Now, in college, I was AWFUL about this. My roommate, caroline, would always say "dribble, dribble" when I went to the bathroom because, well.. you can figure that one out.

Yeah, so this used to be a problem. This ritual would last like an hour or so, which is ridiculous, especially when my husband can fall asleep in 2 seconds flat (a good skill for a doctor with a weird schedule, though). However, it made me want to tweeze his eyebrows out because I was jealous that I couldn't fall asleep quickly, too!

Anyways, I was happy to report to Caroline (and you, too!) that I don't struggle with obsessive nighttime water/bladder rituals anymore. True Story! Yes, in fact, it became resolved during my first pregnancy. I was working full time and the baby was putting more and more pressure on my bladder and I was tired and frustrated. This nun who worked with me in student affairs (That's right, she was a nun), told me that everytime I gave in to the impulse to go to the bathroom, I was getting that habit more and more ingrained into my head. So, one night, I just decided...I will not sleep a wink, perhaps, but I am not getting up to go pee before I fall asleep!

And, boom, victory. Frequent Tinklers Anonymous success story.

Listen, Frequent Tinkling and Water-Refilling is serious business. But you are not alone and you can prevail. Admitting you have a problem is the first step.

Two Is Better Than One.

Henry between 9 and 10 months

Elliot between 9 and 10 months

Henry between 9 and 10 months

Elliot

I had a whole post in mind about some challenges with the babes at these ages (like Elliot crawling into the middle of Henry's cars lined up or trains or blocks and not knowing to not do that and the like) but I'll save that post for another day. I am too fried to do the thinking and typing and putting the words in the sentences for now. Elliot goes to bed before Henry and, when Adam is working, I really enjoy my sweet one-one-one time with him while we read books and play cars and build towers. I think that Henry kinda wishes he was an only child some days... (I'm glad he's not, Elliot is my sweet ham.)

Elliot has an appointment with the doctor in the morning so we'll talk about his clogged tear duct and see what's coming down the chute!

Hazy, Crazy, Lazy Days of Summer...

Were y'all worried since I hadn't posted in nine days? Were you scared that the Central Market people had come to take me away? Nah, all is well here in Fort Worth. August has just been a wild and woolly and hot month. Plus Adam is working nights all month so blogging has fallen into the ditch but I'm trying to resuscitate it.

What's been going on? Well, swimming at my in-laws is a given for the hottest summer on record in Fort Worth. Splash pads have been another new discovery. We visited the one in Crowley and we found the one public splash pad in Fort Worth. Adam, Elliot and I had a blast. Henry sat on the side, wrapped in his towel. This boy is sooooo two. He loves swimming in the pool, though, and all I can say is, thank the good Lord for floaties because that boy loves putting his head under water and blowing bubbles and jumping in and being totally reckless. (Incidentally, Adam calls them water wings. I have never heard of such a thing. Only heard of floaties my whole life).

Other than that, we've seen some friends in town and I've been refereeing Henry and Elliot's interactions. Elliot is full-out on the go these days, climbing up flights of stairs at his grandparents and cruising along the couch and crawling wherever his brother leads (which usually leads to trouble). I will post some more specifics soon but I just wanted to check in and say Hi, yes we are alive, no, I am not being held hostage by Central Market.

needs a haircut.