John-Heath Dives In

John-Heath enjoying Jon and Jessie's pool a few days ago.

I really miss having a pool. When we moved in to Nannie's house after she passed away we thought we would be there for a few years or six or seven so we bit the bullet and had a very nice, very large above ground pool installed.

Now, I am generally not a fan of the look of above grounds and, truth be told, I am envious of all of you with in-grounds. I would looovvve to be able to install a large patio area with a nice, big in-ground pool just off our bach porch. However, that is way too cost-prohibitive for us right now. Besides, with an above ground if you get tired of it after several years you can just tear it down and haul it off. That doesn't sound too tacky, does it? Anyway, back to my story.

One of the perks of working for the school system is that you have vacation days at the same time your children do. And as such we thought putting one in would give us -meaning Ren and myself- something to do during the summer to keep from being bored out of our minds. Well, yes, since I decided to gain enough weight to make a whole other me I also liked the idea of not having to take Ren to public pools. That was another selling point.

So, we put the pool in, I found out I was pregnant with John-Heath and within two and half years we had built a house on the back of the farm and moved, leaving behind the pool to be used by the people who rented Nannie's house after we moved out.

I was told we would move the pool over once we got settled. I guess we are still unsettled because there is no pool in my backyard.

Finally, this summer John asked us to decide if we would rather take a trip somewhere or buy a pool. The vote was unanimous - 3 to 1 (John's vote reeeally didn't count anyway, that's why we can say unanimous). We chose the pool. So now we are out pool shopping.

A couple days ago we stopped by Pool and Spa in BG, Ky. This is where we bought our last one. While there John-Heath managed to stick his hands into all the above grounds on display and flick enough water into the air to get his hair pretty much soaked. But the creme de la creme of the shopping trip came when he, while trying to position himself just so in a patio chair set up next to the in-ground pool display, managed to get himself dumped out accidentally from the chair and right smack dab, head first into the pool.

So, from that point on, I began my attempt to stall the salesman on the inside long enough for John to squeeze out the excess water from our son and get him, undetected, to the car, as if he's the only kid to ever fall in a pool at a pool store.

But, like John said, one day we'll look back and laugh, remembering the look on his face when he came up out of the water. I wish I had had my camera with me.

They Call Me Barney

I really like my little boy. Don't get me wrong. I also love him. I carried him for nine months and gave birth to him. Of course, I love him. But I just dig this kid. And do you know why? I could name a laundry list of reasons but I'll just give you one tonight. I dig how he loves watching The Andy Griffith Show. To me, that's just cool. I mean, how many five year olds can quote from episodes of a television series that originally aired fifty years ago?

"That was your husband's name? Why, that's my name. They call me Barney, but that's just a nickname for Bernard"

"In other words, ladies, you got gassed"

"It's me. It's me. It's Ernest T."

"You ain't seen the last of Ernest T. Bass"

His appreciation of this classic began at the ripe old age of two the week we moved into our house in late August 2007. As it happened, we moved in before the satellite had been reconnected. So for the first two weeks the only entertainment we could get on the tube was via a DVD player. We had on hand a couple discs of the show and that is how we spent those first evenings - watching episodes like Aunt Bee's Medicine Man, The Loaded Goat, and Barney's First Car.

Then we noticed that, like some teenager in the years before cell phones, he would beat a path to the phone whenever it rang, making sure he was the one to answer it. And his greeting was always the same..."Sheriff's office". He was between 2 and 3 at the time. Like Little House did for Ren, the show brings out the best of his creative side.

Best of all, the series lends itself to some pretty good teachable moments and the phrase "What Would Opie Do?" is often heard in our home.

It may seem hokie to some but in an age where many children, even some as young as John-Heath, spend much of their time plugged in to mindless, even violent, video games and cartoons I welcome each and every time I hear that familiar whistled tune start to play.

My Daddy

Years ago at a yard sale my family was having at my sister's house I overheard my mother talking to a neighbor lady who had stopped by to browse our fine, bargain-priced castoffs.

At some point the conversation turned to relationships between parents and children and my mother described how my sister and I felt (and still feel) about our dad in the following way. Pointing at a backyard building she said, "If their father said that building could fly they would see the wings on it."

My mother wasn't too far from the truth. There have been few times that I have doubted my father and most of those times were as a teen when I wanted to doubt him, but somehow knew down deep he was probably right.

My father is, as my husband has said to me many times, my moral compass. And as the Bible is his moral compass I feel I am being led in the right direction, not that there haven't been times in my life when I have set aside this invaluable tool.

"Remember, God loves everyone the same. Don't ever think you're better than someone. You are no better than anyone else. You're just as good as anyone too" AND "Be nice to everyone. You never know when that person you think you don't like is there to help you out one day" OR "At least it's paid for" are just some of the mini lessons taught to me at various stages of my life - that last one referring to a 1956 two-tone brown Chevy truck he purchased new of which I was morbidly embarrassed to be seen in when I reached those teen years. It wasn't so new then.

So, here's a few lines about the man I know as Daddy.

Married my mother May 31, 1951.

Yielded his heart to Jesus many years ago and never looked back.


Daddy to two girls, grandpa to five, and great-grandpa to two more.

Always there for me, even when it would have been easier not to be.

Driven to do good.



Generous to a fault.

Eyes of blue (something passed on to my sister)

Navigational beacon in our family.

Eater of all things sweet (something he passed on to me unfortunately)


Happy Father's Day, Daddy! I am thankful, honored, and proud to be your little girl.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

While meandering through Facebook today I saw a phrase of which several people marked as having "liked". It went something like this...

Hi spider...nice spider...let me pet you...with my shoe...good spider.

I, too, am a fan of this sentiment. And all the more so since seeing a cute little brown recluse crawl across my bedroom floor last night. As I was typing the post for my blog I eyed the little booger creeping from the corner of the dresser toward my bed. I almost conducted an on-the-spot execution but something told me I should probably let John have a look at him first. So I covered him with a large jar from my vanity (after emptying out all the cotton balls) and commenced with typing.

In all of about 4 seconds John identified our visitor as a recluse. He then did a search of all the nooks and crannies in our bedroom and closets. All appeared clear. We were hopeful this was just a rogue, you know - like Jaws was for Amity Island, and there would be no more.

And then I did something I probably should not have done prior to bedtime. I surfed the WWW for information on spiders - particularly recluses. Words like "infestation" and pictures of bitten people splashed before my eyes. If any of you are looking for a really good case of the heebie jeebies then I have some sites I would recommend for your viewing pleasure. I might as well have watched Arachnophobia.

Today, I went to Wal-Mart and spent $152.00 on glue traps (used to verify infestations), foggers, fumigators, a highpowered flashlight, and a few plastic storage containers. Because even though we only saw the one and are hopeful that it was a loner, I can't help but remember that Jaws kept coming back.

Could You Loan Me A Cup of Codeine?

Well, I have only sneezed 27 times today, which is actually an improvement on more recent days. I am at that stage now, though, where most all the head gunk has settled, via a little condition known as post-nasal drip, right smack dab in my throat. This, of course, makes for really sleepless nights as all I pretty much do is cough.

I do miss the days when you could go to your family doctor and say, "Could you please prescribe me your strongest narcotic?".

I remember once when I was student teaching I came down with this terrible cold (of course, as a student teacher I had not yet developed an immunity to many of the nasty little things brought to school by my students) which itself wasn't as bad as the cough it loaned me. Oh, that was horrible. Night after night of nothing but coughing.

Finally, a trip to Dr. Carter was in order. I remember it like it was yesterday. For the cough he prescribed me this sugary, thick, concoction that was slightly creamy-yellow in color. Why it was like liquid gold! All I know is that it included some highly potent form of codeine and that upon taking a teaspoon of it and feeling it coat my throat on its way down I would soon find myself in dreamland with nary a cough.

What I wouldn't give to score (isn't that what they call it?) another bottle of that stuff right now!

Goodnight. How I envy you sleeping people!

A Birthday Party

Getting ready to blow out the candle while everyone sings to him.

This past Saturday we celebrated John-Heath's birthday. He turned the big FIVE. He actually turned 5 on the 10th. June 10th. He knows this date well. You can ask him anything you want about his age and his answer is most usually given as "June 10th".

"How old are you, John-Heath?"

"June 10th."

"Hello, little boy. How old are you?"

"June 10th."

"My, you're a handsome little thing. How old are you?"
"June 10th"

Now, don't get me wrong. He's a bright boy and he does know his age. With a little coaxing you can finally get him to say it. However, a few years ago when we first started teaching him things about himself, i.e. telephone #, address, birthdate, etc., I supposed we emphasized June 10th a bit too much.

Opening his Cranky the Crane with Pa Gene, Dylan, Weston, and Jonathan looking on.

My mother, once she finally got over the initial shock of my pregnancy and came to look forward to the arrival of a new grandchild, had hoped that the baby would be born on her birthday of June 8, which happened to be a Wednesday in 2005. However, my doctor was off that day and so my planned c-section had to be planned for another day. It would have to wait until Friday, June 10.

I had thought about celebrating this milestone with some of his little pre-school buddies. However, I decided that I would wait until his 6th one to do that. This would be our last little "family only" celebration.

The guest list included the usual - everyone in my immediate family and everyone in John's immediate family. John served up his wonderful bbq. It was, as usual, deeelish. And, of course, after dinner and presents and cake John took the kids on the traditional family hike on some trails he had cut through the farm.

Heading out on the hike. Weston and Dylan take along the Nerf shotguns in case they run in to any wild animals. John-Heath took something more important than that...a Diet Coke.

As for presents, well he got several new Thomas the Tank Engine wooden pieces, including Cranky the Crane, a Buzz Lightyear Lego Set, and some books. But I think the gift he has enjoyed the most is the Slip and Slide my sister got him. He has received sooo much enjoyment from that. Although Sissy was a little disappointed in it's size. She thought it looked much bigger in the picture on the box. Tim pointed out that the price they paid for it should probably have been an indication of its size. Nonetheless, it is fantastic and he has had a ball on it.

Slippin and Slidin - the next day.

One of the funniest moments came when John-Heath, Ren, and Megan were trying it out after everyone else had gone. At some point Ren and John-Heath went down at the same time and this caused water to be splashed in his face. Without missing a beat, and practically in one long run-on sentence, John-Heath admonishes, "Ugh, Ren. You got water up my nose! Now I'm gonna have a nose like you!"

A Milestone

Today, my little boy, my sweet-as-a-pickle baby boy turned 5. I can't believe these years have gone by so quickly. Because everyone has been busy this week with VBS at church we're having a party for him on Saturday with family. He is soooo excited. I'll post pictures from that night for sure.

For tonight I just wanted to write down a very brief, somewhat humorous story from the day he was born.

During the entire length of my pregnancy with John-Heath the doctor was unable to detect his sex. And, due to some initial health issues, there were many opportunities. However, the kid just wasn't giving anything up. The closest we came was a time when a tech went somethig like, "Oh, wait. I thought I saw som...nevermind." That was it. Not really the evidence one is looking for prior to painting a room blue.

Of course, we wanted a healthy baby and its sex didn't matter as long as it was healthy. But, down deep, I was hoping for a boy. We had a girl. It would be nice to have one of each.

The day of the delivery, which was a scheduled c-section by the way, did not go as smoothly as I remembered from having Ren (who also ended up being born via c-section). For one thing, I don't remember the catheter being as uncomfortable in 1995 as it was ten years later. In fact, I remember thinking, "Heyyyy. This not having to get up to go to the bathroom is pretty cool." It was much less cool the second go around. Another thing - I was in a private room the entire time prior to Ren's birth. With John-Heath, because I was a scheduled c-section, they had me in some sort of semi-private prep room. And, because of some emergency deliveries, etc. my 10:00 a.m. delivery time got pushed back past 2:30. So there I sat... in a room that turned out to be less than private because they put another lady in there with me (a very loud lady, who didn't mind letting everyone in the entire wing know any time she had a pain) with a not so cool catheter that I wanted to yank out.

And, on top of everything, once I was taken in to the O R for the C-section it took FOREVER to get the spinal block to take. I don't know. Maybe it was my age but I was much more jumpy and nervous this time around. Of course, it could have also been that loud woman who made me more nervous.

But it all turned out okay and at the end of the day I had my little boy. And this is how that announcement went...

Dr. Caldwell: What did you say you have now? A girl?

Me: Yes. I have a daughter.

Dr. Caldwell: Well, now you have a son.

Me: Reeeealllly? A boy? -pause- Are you sure?

Dr. Caldwell: Well, he's got a penis. I'm pretty sure.

Happy birthday, baby boy! Mommy loves you!

A Recap

It seems like forever since I last posted anything and, well, I don't really have anything big to share tonight. To be honest I have not felt much like blogging lately. Mostly, I think, it's just because things get so busy at the end of a school year that when it finally comes to an end you just want to not do anything you were doing before - at least for a little while. So, I probably won't be posting everyday, just as things pop up.

Here's a rundown of what's been going on with our family over the past few days.

1. John turned 47 yesterday. I am told that when one reaches a certain age he or she doesn't really like to celebrate anymore. Therefore, the kids and I just took him to a simple little dinner at Cherokee Steakhouse. Being there made us want a boat in a very bad way. For those that are not familiar with this place, Cherokee is also a marina.

2. We are possibly refinancing our mortgage. If this happens it will get our interest rate down to 4.25%, which is a pretty good rate, I guess. Wouldn't it be nice to not even have a mortgage? Of course, not having a mortgage might mean not having a house. Therefore, we are thankful for every payment we make.

3. Ren has had what you might say is her first heartbreak. I won't go into many details right now. Let's just say she is finding out the young man she has liked for the past couple months is not the guy she thought him to be.

4. John-Heath's play set is almost complete and he is loving it.

5. I am not loving the sand John added to it. Said sand is being removed this week.

6. John-Heath will be turning 5 this week. I just can't hardly believe it.

7. I have been sick this week with what I think is the same thing John-Heath and John have already gone through. I have sneezed 321 times today. Okay, I wasn't actually keeping count but it was a lot!!!

Well, it's late (or early, depending on how you look at it) and I am off to sleep. Goodnight friends. I'll be sure to post again in a couple days.