An Award - Plus My Nephew, the Souvenir

I came home this past Friday night to the nicest surprise. My friend Kate over at Southern Belle Simple had bestowed upon me a blogging award. If you have not had the chance to visit with Kate you really should. She is the sweetest gal and, best of all, a Tennessean like myself.

Do you remember what it was like when, as a student in grade school, you were assigned a pen pal from another school, city or state and you would anxiously await letters from them. Well, that's a little what it's like meeting new friends through blogging, except that you aren't graded on the 5 parts of the friendly letter, which is waaayy better.

To thank Kate and honor my award, I am passing it along to a couple other gals. If you get the chance stop by and check them out. I think you'll be glad you did.

Angela @ SlaughterHouse Rules
These are just some of the sweetest posts you'll ever read. They'll bring a smile to your face and, possibly, tears to your eyes. A case in point is her post from today about a special locket.

Vanessa @ Southern in My Heart
I've just recently begun stalking Vanessa but one pretty neat thing about this gal is she married a homeless guy who proposed to her. Just kidding. It was actually her boyfriend dressed as a homeless man holding a sign that read "Wifeless - will work for marriage". How cool is that?

Ladies, according to instructions from Kate, you are free to pass this along or keep it all to yourself.

This past Sunday after a family lunch my husband took the boys (my son and two nephews, ages 5, 6, and 9) on a hike around the farm. This has become almost tradition. Anytime they are all together here they must go on a hike, an adventure always. This time as they walked they were listening to stories about pioneers, settlers, cowboys and Indians and each chose what he would want to be. After one boy proclaimed he was a pioneer the six-year-old proudly stated "Well, I'll be a souvenir then."

For My Friend

Seth with little brother Caleb

Today, a friend was not at work. Instead, she and her husband had taken the day off to move their oldest into his college dorm. I know this is a bittersweet day for her, as it is for all parents moving their children into dorms and apartments for the first time. It wasn't too long ago that this little blonde-headed boy was sitting near us in church looking through the sticker books and such his mom always made sure to pack. In another day or two, he will be looking through engineering texts. It reminded me of the poem I read years ago and posted just a few months back. Forgive me, but in honor of my friend and her new college freshman I am posting it again today.

He used to call her mommy at the tender age of four.

Then it changed to momma as he grew a little more.

Later, it was mom - with a tone of disrespect.

And now away at college he only calls collect.

So long, mommy! I'm off to TTU.

Seth, call your mom often!!!

What a Boy Wants

You wanna know what makes a boy (in the age range of, oh, let's say 4 - 8) happy?

THIS!

A GINORMOUS PILE OF DIRT!

A little boy and his piece of Heaven on Earth.

Like most little boys, John-Heath has always thought it to be a pretty cool thing to have a big dirt pile in which to play. So I told John it would be nice if we could get him one of his very own.

Now, of course, it only made sense to take advantage of such a big hole in the yard . Hmmm. What to do? I knooow. A pool.

The water in our newly erected pool. Feels soooo good. Well, at least it feels good to our hands. That's all we've had in it so far.

I am SO GLAD I have a little boy! Just think...if John-Heath had been another little girl there would not have been a need for a big pile of dirt. And, thus, no pool. :>)

"I'm the king of the world!!!"

At least until dad has all the dirt removed from the yard.

P.S. Guess what? After an exhaustive search I finally found my dear, sweet battery charger. Guess where I found it? In the kitchen cabinet drawer with all the mixing spoons. How it got there? Your guess is as good as mine. I suppose if we ate at home more it would have been found a little earlier.

A Fairytale

Once upon a time in the Kingdom of Dunroamin there went out a decree from the king and queen that each day, following the noontime meal, children far and wide should retire for a periodic state of rest. And this time, during which consciousness of the world is suspended,would forever thereafter become known as naptime. And child-bearers all throughout the land rejoiced, for they saw that this was good.

And nowhere was the law more adhered to than in the royal household. For you see, the young king and queen were of a new, more modern era and unlike the former king and queen, and his father and mother before him, there were no house servants to tend to the daily burdens of the castle. All was now left to the king and his wife to undertake.

Now the youngest heir to the throne was the apple of his parents’ eyes and, as such, he was much beloved. Tis true he was sweet. No child in the kingdom was known to be more friendly and loving. A stranger he never met. Nevertheless, he was also untidy and generally a child underfoot. And this made the duties of the queen hard to achieve.

So each day following his tiffin Prince John would be taken first to the loo for an expeditious washing and then to the royal bed chamber to slumber. And after a story, a kiss, and the tucking of the covers, the little prince would drift off to dream.

And his mother, the queen, was happy. Yea, she was filled with joy!

How You Would Know a Little Boy Lives in My House

A most tiny selection from a much larger collection of fire trucks, dump trucks, and caps.



A classic sign that you have a little boy living in your house. Actually, this pair is not in such rough shape as compared to some others hanging in the closet. Why, these are like new!



The legs beneath those jeans - rusty knees, bruises, and bug bites. I swear this kid gets a daily bath.


And, of course, the gifts of nature that are brought into the house on a near daily basis.

Aren't little boys neat?

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!

Birds of a Feather

One of John-Heath's best little buddies is a fellow named Cooper. He and John-Heath have been together at the same babysitter's/day care since they were one. Theirs is what we have defined as a "love-hate relationship".

This is how that looks in flow-chart style.

...and so on and so on.

Yesterday when John arrived at the pre-school to pick up our son, Cooper came running. This was the little conversation they had.

"John! Hey, John."

"Hey, Cooper."

"Hey, John. Hey, John-Heath got his name today."

"He did? What did he do?"

"Yeah, he got his name put on the board. (pause) It's up there beside mine."