Happy 2nd Birthday Brad!
I can't believe my baby is two. My body doesn't seem to want to recognize that fact either! He's fascinated with lights and he always wants me to put on his shoes. I remember like it was yesterday the first night in the hospital with him; they had lost power and I watched the heat lightning from my window. We had his two year check up and he is finally on the charts in the 25%. He weighs 26.4 lbs and is 33.25 inches tall and has approximately 25 words.
Brad picked up a dead roach the other day from the porch. I turned around and saw him holding it and I freaked out yelling "NO!" He got so scared that he threw it and started crying and ran over to me and clung to my leg. Oops, maybe I shouldn't have reacted so outlandishly but it was so funny to see that. I wouldn't even pick up a roach with gloves on. It gives me the willies.
Rhiannon got a new booster seat for use during our travels. It is much lighter and easier to carry around than the beastly Britax and she was so excited to get it. I had to explain to her that as soon as we get our stuff back in Germany she needs to go back in the big seat because it has more buckles and is a safer way to travel. I hope the novelty has worn off by then and she doesn't give me a hard time about it, but right now she is calling the old one a baby seat and now she is in a big girl seat. The first night we used it, coming back from our friend's house, I almost missed my street so I hit the brakes a little hard and from the back seat I hear, "Mom be careful, I'm in a booster seat and it's not tight!"
Tonight I was explaining to her how my mom is her grandma and she asked if I was a grandma and I told her not until she grows up and gets married and has her own baby. She said, "You know mom, I've been looking at boys a lot." I burst out laughing and asked her what kind of boys. She said, "handsome ones." I can't get over this child...
As we get ready to move yet again, and I sort out what's important in our lives from what can be given or thrown away I have had lots of time to discover anew and reflect on the many special pieces of paper that can collect in random piles but hold the key to what defines us as people. It is amazing where I have stored such items, only to be gone through later almost as an afterthought. I have found old concert tickets, one of my first designs to be printed, plane tickets and hotel receipts, cards from a loved one who is no longer with us, a first mother's day card, calendars with special trips long ago taken, the tarot cards I have forgotten how to read, pictures taken a lifetime ago but in an instant can bring back a flood of memories from a different time. In many ways, they remind me of who I was but also of who I still am buried under the day to day business of being a wife and mother, the two roles that have the power to take over one's spirit and redefine a purpose in life. I am so glad I have kept such precious tokens of my existence as it seems so easy to forget our lives and the things that have brought us to where we are today. Maybe I kept all of these things so that one day I would have a tangible time-line of my life, of stories to be told at just the right time and memories to share with a new generation. It's not all in the glamorous places we've lived and vacations we've taken, but in the first faded photograph of Jim and I together, the cards and letters that say all the right words, a newspaper clipping from high school, or a random Red Sox game with your friends that turned into one of the last good times you had before you left home to start a new chapter in life. I am so happy to have found all of these things because without each individual piece of paper collected together in their wrinkled and folded piles the path of my life would have been carved differently. Funny how we can place such value in these little slips of paper...
Our time in Florida is just about up. I think it's time to close out this portion of the blog so that I have time to have the book printed to bring home to Boston with us. Jim is still away and we're feeling his absence here especially on Brad's birthday. One more week and he'll be home and we'll be leaving but I'll keep the updates coming while we're traveling because we have a few exciting events on our agenda during our visit home. Thanks for allowing us to share our lives with you and we hope you all keep in touch while we are in Germany. Good-bye for now to all of our wonderful friends; I know we will see you all again someday...
Brad picked up a dead roach the other day from the porch. I turned around and saw him holding it and I freaked out yelling "NO!" He got so scared that he threw it and started crying and ran over to me and clung to my leg. Oops, maybe I shouldn't have reacted so outlandishly but it was so funny to see that. I wouldn't even pick up a roach with gloves on. It gives me the willies.
Rhiannon got a new booster seat for use during our travels. It is much lighter and easier to carry around than the beastly Britax and she was so excited to get it. I had to explain to her that as soon as we get our stuff back in Germany she needs to go back in the big seat because it has more buckles and is a safer way to travel. I hope the novelty has worn off by then and she doesn't give me a hard time about it, but right now she is calling the old one a baby seat and now she is in a big girl seat. The first night we used it, coming back from our friend's house, I almost missed my street so I hit the brakes a little hard and from the back seat I hear, "Mom be careful, I'm in a booster seat and it's not tight!"
Tonight I was explaining to her how my mom is her grandma and she asked if I was a grandma and I told her not until she grows up and gets married and has her own baby. She said, "You know mom, I've been looking at boys a lot." I burst out laughing and asked her what kind of boys. She said, "handsome ones." I can't get over this child...
As we get ready to move yet again, and I sort out what's important in our lives from what can be given or thrown away I have had lots of time to discover anew and reflect on the many special pieces of paper that can collect in random piles but hold the key to what defines us as people. It is amazing where I have stored such items, only to be gone through later almost as an afterthought. I have found old concert tickets, one of my first designs to be printed, plane tickets and hotel receipts, cards from a loved one who is no longer with us, a first mother's day card, calendars with special trips long ago taken, the tarot cards I have forgotten how to read, pictures taken a lifetime ago but in an instant can bring back a flood of memories from a different time. In many ways, they remind me of who I was but also of who I still am buried under the day to day business of being a wife and mother, the two roles that have the power to take over one's spirit and redefine a purpose in life. I am so glad I have kept such precious tokens of my existence as it seems so easy to forget our lives and the things that have brought us to where we are today. Maybe I kept all of these things so that one day I would have a tangible time-line of my life, of stories to be told at just the right time and memories to share with a new generation. It's not all in the glamorous places we've lived and vacations we've taken, but in the first faded photograph of Jim and I together, the cards and letters that say all the right words, a newspaper clipping from high school, or a random Red Sox game with your friends that turned into one of the last good times you had before you left home to start a new chapter in life. I am so happy to have found all of these things because without each individual piece of paper collected together in their wrinkled and folded piles the path of my life would have been carved differently. Funny how we can place such value in these little slips of paper...
Our time in Florida is just about up. I think it's time to close out this portion of the blog so that I have time to have the book printed to bring home to Boston with us. Jim is still away and we're feeling his absence here especially on Brad's birthday. One more week and he'll be home and we'll be leaving but I'll keep the updates coming while we're traveling because we have a few exciting events on our agenda during our visit home. Thanks for allowing us to share our lives with you and we hope you all keep in touch while we are in Germany. Good-bye for now to all of our wonderful friends; I know we will see you all again someday...
1 comment:
Happy y brad!! Good luck with the whole move thing can't wait to see pictures of Germany
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