Linky Love

This past week of not posting I have been reduced also to lurking on my regular blog-reads. I mean to comment, I really do, but I just get side tracked. ARG. I don't want anyone to feel unloved, or that I am not thinking about their posts, so I've decided to create one big linky blog to say not only have I been paying attention but I love you all! (In a platonic, blogger-to-blogger way of course.)

My lovely friend Angela at Becoming Me is always very stirring and inspirational and is the deserving recipient of many awards recently. She continues to be in my thoughts and prayers as her grandfather goes through his health struggles.

Erin at Fully Alive and Ready To Smile has received a lovely package from Italy, full of nothing less than pure Italian air. Her writing, as always, makes me smile.

Sensai blog master Helen has disappeared, most likely due to her terrible wrist injury while kicking major butt. Still, her blog is the type that you can go through the archives and read everything and not come across a bad post. Love love love her (blog).

DeeDee's daughter graduated Kindergarten, and she mused on her page about how quickly babies grow up. Her blog is so relatable, and she is hilarious even while being sentimental, and I feel like she's going through what a lot of us mommies seem to be going through lately-feeling our babies growing up faster than we care to think of.

Allison at That's What She Blogged wrote a cute and funny blog about the delicate politics behind stealing office supplies, and right before it wrote a touching post about her 'little sister' that she mentored when she was younger. She also wrote about her favorite books as a kid....I feel like I finally found someone who loved to read as much as I did as a kid! Except I'm sure she was significantly less nerdy than me.

As I read Suzy's blog at Up the Hill Backwards I can almost see her children. Because they seem so much like my beloved brat-lings. The combination of overwhelming love, a desperate amount of sleep deprivation, and utter chaos rings true with me and comes out funny as heck on her page. I'm laughing with her, but not at her!

Genny at My Cup 2 Yours, a recent addition to my must-read blog list (who will, soon, be on my blogroll as well) recently wrote about those gut feelings you get to reach out to others in need. I too have those feelings sometimes, and the story she told about her experience was very sweet and inspirational. It is great to know that there are people out there like her.

Lastly, but not leastly (Oh yes, I am making up words. Deal.) Wifey asks us what we think is sexiest about our (respective) husbands and how we tell them we think they're studly. She is always posing great relationship questions and cute, relevant relationship advice/stories. I will definitely be posting on this question later. I promise to keep it PG. (Okay, PG-13)

I love reading all of my blogs, even if I am reduced to lurking in my busier times, because I feel like I have my own little blog-world community. The people that I have come to know through their blogs inspire me, make me laugh, encourage me, and entertain me. That is no small feat.

I can't wait until I can actually re-de-lurk myself on everyone's pages!



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6 Little Words

Recently I have been enjoying several different projects. My major project is getting the Baby Bug to sleep through the night by manipulation, trickery, or sheer force of will. None of those things work on a three month old, by the way.

I have also been spending a lot of time writing, though not here obviously. I have been encouraged many times in my life to write a book about my life, but I have always been hesitant. Those who know me personally can appreciate the size of that undertaking. It also requires a lot of thought and emotional review...some things are just too personal to write anywhere. I have compromised with myself and am writing it as a semi-autobiographical work of fiction. I don't even know what I'm going to do with it once I'm done. Maybe nothing. Maybe burn it. Maybe keep it for the kids to read when they're older. Maybe publish it if I can. We'll see. Still, I feel as though I need to write it mostly for myself.

Even though my writing has been intensely focused elsewhere recently, when I got the invite from Genny to do this meme I really wanted to participate.

Write a memoir in six words. About you, your life, parenting, whatever. It doesn't have to be a sentence. Include a picture if you would like.

Intriguing.

Sometimes I am able to say things in very few words, but usually I am compelled to follow up those very few words with a long and wordy explanation. Most people need the explanation to make sense of what I just said because I tend to be random-except my husband because we pretty much share a brain.

So here are my six words:

Unconventional lives will create unprecedented beauty.

Wow, you know what? That really sums it up. I don't even think it needs an explanation.

I normally don't tag people for memes, but I would love to see Helen, DeeDee, Chris, Emily, and Suzy do this meme if they haven't already. I think they'd have some really interesting answers. Of course, anyone who wants to can feel free to steal this as well. Linking back to me if you do this meme is nice but optional as far as I'm concerned...but maybe leave me a comment so I can go check out your post? =)



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Time Flies

I can't believe that our little Baby Bug is already 3 months old! Then again, I have a hard time believing that Monkeypants is going on FIVE. The thought of my babies getting so big makes me proud-but also a little ill.

This morning Monkeypants crawled in bed with me and snuggled up and fell asleep. He hasn't actually slept next to me since the last time he was sick, over a year ago. Normally, he will come in and play with me until I am fully awake, but the sleepy snuggles are now so rare and precious. He curled up against me just like he did when he was a little baby (well, except the nursing part-HA!) and it was so sweet I just breathed in his little boy smell so that I could remember it forever...the way I remember his baby smell so clearly.

And our little Bug is changing every single day. Today she was playing with one of her toys for the very first time. Actually playing. Her eyes were so bright as her little hands reached to grab Hedgie's nose and shove it into her little gummy mouth, and she laughed as the little beans made a jingling noise. Her little laugh is so pure and beautiful. Absolutely untinted happiness, and it melts my heart just to think about it. Yesterday she couldn't play with toys, a week ago she couldn't laugh, two months ago she didn't really smile, three months ago she wasn't even born. I think of all the things that will change in the next days, weeks, months, and years to come and I already miss her babyhood a little.

Times just goes way too fast. Before I know it my babies will be teenagers, and someday adults with children of their own. It makes me want to take every tiny moment with them and save it in a bottle to pull out when they're off living their lives on their own someday. I am so blessed to be a mommy, especially to my bright happy little babies, that sometimes I am just overwhelmed with happiness and love for them and I know that this-wifeness and motherhood-and they-my husband who gives me children and our sweet little babies-are the whole reason that I was born.



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My Wisdom Is Showing

So I pulled up my hair today into a braid and noticed than on my hairline I am growing a SIGNIFICANT number of grey hairs. Like BRIGHT GREY hairs.

There were at least ten of the stupid things. And those are just the ones I found in the front!

So far they are not obvious because they are hiding underneath the top layer of my hair, but they are there. Lurking. Threatening to show other people that I am getting old. I shouldn't be surprised though-every woman on my mother's side was COMPLETELY grey by 28.

In a way I like grey hairs though, because Hubby has them too. It means we really are growing old and grey together, and nothing could make me happier than that.

We will celebrate SIX YEARS together this November. A lot happens in six years. It's amazing (and wonderful) how much we've changed and grown together in this better part of a decade. The most lovely part is watching the one I love become the person I always knew he was. The boy I fell in love with has grown into a supportive and loving husband, a protective and playful daddy, the stable and mature head of our family, and provider for our household-I couldn't be more proud and honored to be his wife!

Every day, every year our life gets better and our relationship gets stronger and happier. If we're already growing happily old together after only six years, I can't wait for the beauty of the next 60!



..... I can't believe I haven't written a single blog in a whole week!

Okay, yes I can. There are a lot of things I've been slacking on the last week. For instance, my house is covered in laundry. I think I can tell which is clean and which is dirty, but I'm pretty sure I've washed Monkeypants' jeans at least a couple of times a piece but I can never really remember if I washed them or not, so in they go. Maybe I'm just fooling myself.

I just haven't gotten enough sleep to focus. Or even really care anymore at this point. I've only been getting one or two hours of sleep a night during the last week and when I do wake up from these "naps" I have been feeling like I was repeatedly punched in the face while sleeping.

Obviously, Baby Bug is largely the culprit in this scenario. She has decided she sleeps best during broad daylight, and perfers to use most of her 'active time' between the hours of 12am and 730am. Not that she's opposed to waking up every 45 minutes between 8pm and midnight for a good cuddle/nursing session. She's happy to do that, and help mommy make sure that she can never really close her eyes all the way.

Wouldn't want that.

Another surprise antagonist in this story is my husband. I might love that man waaaay to much (if there is such a thing). Hubby and I are very best friends, which is wonderful, but sometimes has the pitfall of turning our house into a continual slumber party-complete with staying up late talking about all sorts of nothing until we pass out. I just can't stop talking to that man. I am intellectually addicted to our conversations....and not just because my conversations usually only involve children 4 and under. He really is brilliant, and funny, and worth staying up late to talk to.

Too bad I'm turning into a zombie.

I've also had a LOT of morning appointments that I have had to make, which means staying up after Hubby gets up, when I would normally be sleeping. My normal goal is to sleep from 8am until Noon when Hubby has to start getting ready for work. But when I have these appointments (take the car to get tags, meet someone about a house we're hoping to rent, go to the doctor, etc) that means I have to do those FIRST and that's why this week I've been lucky to make it into bed by 11.

Hubby, in his gracious mercy, has looked kindly upon his poor bedraggled little wife and has let me sleep until the absolutely very last second (1pm) whenever possible, but we really can't afford for him to be late to work all the time so I usually take one for the team.

Of course, lack of sleep also has impacted my children. Mostly because mommy lays in her chair with one baby in her arms and another baby using the arm of the chair to jump up and down as hard as he can and yell 'mommymommymommy' at what seems the loudest possible decible. Of course, even if he were whispering it would still make my head feel like it's cracking over because I have had a migraine forEVER now.

It's situations like this that lead to waking up curled on the floor in the hall having no idea how long you've been asleep. Luckily for me Monkeypants and Baby Bug were both sleeping in their respective beds, so no children were harmed or neglected because of my appearant narcolepsy. The scary part is I don't even know if I fell, or hit my head, or passed out, or just got so tired I curled up in the hall for a quick nap. Having no appearant injuries I assume it was one of the last two--still, don't worry, I am seeing my doc about it.

Another morning appointment, and more hours of missed sleep.

At least all this makes it easy to decide what I want for Mother's Day. All I really need is a full 8 hours of sleep, which Hubby has said he would arrange for me-I can't wait for Sunday!!




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