It's not you.

It's me. And I think we need a break.

A blog break that is.


I need time to smell the roses. Time to catch up on the worsh. Time to experiment with homemade pizza crusts.

I need time to be outside. Time to focus on my studies. Oh wait. I don't have studies THANK GOODNESS.

Really the the truth is I have a major case of blogger's block. Not for lack of topics, but for lack of what to say about those topics.

I must be driving my dad crazy with all the incomplete sentences in this post. Did y'all know he texts me all the time with words I misspell on my blog? He's better than spell check.

Like the other day, I misspelled vitamin. He sent me a text telling me that "its vitamin not vitamen"

I'm a nurse and I can't spell vitamin! But that's beside the point.

Several days later I had still forgotten to change the spelling. He text me again and said "Did you correct the spelling of vitamin?"

See not only is he better than spell check, he is seriously committed to correct spelling on my blog.

I don't know what I'd do without him. He's saved me from so much embarrassment.

Anyway, I promise to be back soon.

Probably next week.

I'll miss you all.

Birthday Boy Discovers Love for Sweets

So I realize this is my THIRD consecutive post about my child's birthday. And I'm not making any promises that it will be the last. We still have his birthday party on Friday, and I will not deprive you of a full report on those festivities.

Anyway, on the DAY OF his actual birthday, I made cupcakes to celebrate and BOY were they a hit.


We lit a candle.

We sang.

I set his little birthday cupcake on his tray.

It was sweet. Just the three of us. Our tiny little family.

And then he proceeded to eat THE WHOLE ENTIRE THING! No, he INHALED it. In the blink of an eye.


Then he "worshed" it down with a sippy cup of Vitimin D WHOLE milk.

It was quite a happy day.

The day my boy discovered sweets.

I'm thinking I need to invest in a second cupcake pan.

1

This is the day that the LORD has made,
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 118:24

Stephen Small is 1 today!

We are thrilled.


He is the most precious gift.


And I do not have enough words in my vocabulary to describe the joy that he is.

We praise God for making him, for giving him to us, and our prayer is that he grows to be a strong man of God who knows and follows Jesus.

Happy Birthday our sweet Stephen. We love you.

M & D

Birthday Eve

Last year on April 19th I was desperately trying (without success) to deliver my baby boy.

Pictured here are the dear family and friends that came to be there for baby Spooner's big arrival. Bless their souls. They waited. And waited. And waited. I was seriously concerned for their kidneys because of such high amounts of coffee and Mountain Dew consumed. The photo was most likely taken around 7pm. Little did we know it was just the beginning with 7 hours down and 12 to go.

Not everyone stayed through the whole night. Nor did I expect them to. But a HUGE thanks to those that did...it was a long one to say the least.

Eventually my little one came (on the 20th). And he was perfect. I haven't been able to get enough of him ever since.

I leave you with a few reflections I have on the whole experience.

Childbirth hurts.
Anesthesia is wonderful.
It's totally worth the pain.
But I highly recommend an epidural.

Be back soon with birthday news!

Today

Today is Saturday.


Today is awesome.

Today we all ate Chick-fil-a for lunch (including Stephen Small).


Today I made a sham - many details coming soon.


Today is the anniversary of my due date last year. Note, not Stephen Small's birthday.

I worked that day. You can imagine the look of surprise when my patient asked "When are you due?" and I replied, "Today actually." My name was still written on the board when I was the patient in the room 3 days later!


Hope today is happy for you!

Things I Like Binder & E-mail Clean Up

I put together a little binder titled "things I like." It consists of magazine clippings, decorating ideas, & sewing projects I want to do one day, etc.


It felt great to throw away the magazines I've been hoarding and just hang on to the articles I like in them.


For some reason, I feel the need to tell you all that I'm really not a neat/organizational freak. But I do live in a home that was built in the 50's. And we all know what that means...very little storage space. I swear, people didn't have "stuff" back then. I feel forced to be exceptionally organized so the walls don't close in on us. A place for everything, everything in its place.

Another organizational task I completed this morning was cleaning up my e-mail account. What a cleansing experience! I responded to all that I needed to. I deleted at least a hundred and printed out recipes or anything sentimental.

It felt great.

And all the while, this was happening beneath my feet.


A woman's work is never.....never, never, never....never...done.

Have a great weekend!

The Park

The past couple of days we've gone to a near by park to play.

We have had a ridiculous amount of fun!

I'm so grateful for every single day with Stephen Small. We pretty much hang out together 24/7. And that's just fine with me.

Here's a sampling of pictures I took yesterday...

Enjoy your Wednesday!

And P.S. I enjoyed all your hilarious comments about your spouses drinking out of your glass. SO relieved to know I'm not alone. All us thirsty ones should get together and go out for a water.

A Busy Glass of Water

I struggle to drink a healthy amount of water. Yeah, I know I have to have it, but I don't necessarily gravitate toward it. I prefer coffee, tea, coke, wine, lemonade....drinks with flavor.


Pregnancy sort of changed my relationship water. I craved it a little more...big glasses with lots of ice. The same with nursing...I drank more water, wanted more water, but still mostly out of necessity to stay hydrated. Overall, getting enough H2O is a chore for me. Although I'm very grateful to have access to such a large, clean supply.

To deal with my tendency to not drink enough, I'll fix a glass, fill it to the brim, and sip on it slowly throughout the day and night. In other words: I just make myself drink it and try to hold myself accountable. Having my very own full glass helps me measure and keep record of how much I drink. A couple of full glasses a day = sufficient water intake! Yea.

However, executing my plan to drink enough water is a challenge. My obstacles are my very own family members. For one, when I'm around my mother, she comes behind me, picks up, and pours out my glass if left unattended for more than 90 seconds. Thank goodness we don't live in the same city because I would be so dehydrated!!! But really the main culprit in thwarting my water drinking plans is without a doubt MY HUSBAND. Y'all know I love him, but GAH-LEE the man won't let his wife enjoy a simple glass of water without coming up and guzzling half (or all) of the water before I can get to it. This is a nightly occurrence. And the other night I had had about all I could take. It went down like this:

8:00 pm - we are watching TV.

Stephen Grande: Can I have a sip of your water?

Me (kind of yelling) : UUUUUGGGGHHH! Why can't you get your own water? There is a reason I fix my own water and I (only I) want to be the one to drink out of my glass. It's my system of measurement. I really have trouble drinking water.

SG: Sorry, I had no idea this was such a big deal.

Me: Yeah it is a BIG deal...get your own.

Several minutes later I begin to feel I was a little too harsh. After all, he is the father of my child. (Somehow getting up to get his own glass never became a reality.)

Me: Okay, here...you can have some.

9:45 - We go to bed and read. We are still passing the same water back and forth....

Me: Would you hand me the water?

10:02 pm

SG: Would you pass the water?

10:05

Me: Can I have another sip of water?

10:15

SG: Give me that water one more time.

Lights out....it ends up on his side (of course).

2:00 am

I wake up parched and highly irritated that the water (my water!!!) is on his side. I don't even hesitate in waking him up.

Me waking him up: Would you please hand me the water?

SG: That's a busy glass of water.

My thoughts: Yes. it. is.

Can anyone relate to this? It's a real problem. I might shrivel up if it doesn't stop.

A woman's work

is never done.




Please try not to be jealous of our green bathroom.

Happy Monday!

Planters, an Easy Gardening Project

I enjoy gardening, but have way too little time to really get into it. Every spring I try a new plant or flower.

For the longest I've wanted to put two planters outside my front door, an idea inspired by James Farmer. This week I bit the bullet and got the job done. I had so much fun doing it and it is a great little project for a beginner like me!

Needed supplies:

pots
good dirt
plants


I chose two inexpensive small terra cotta pots.


And bought some good dirt. I think this is important, only the best.


My front door faces east. Knowing the plants would only get morning sun I chose Impatiens (that actually prefer shade) and Coleus (which is the awesomest, heartiest plant I know).

Farmer approved and said yes these 2 plants can be put in the same planter!
Oh joy of joys. Seriously, I loved this project.


Here's a closer look at the plants I bought.

Impatiens, which are just lovely.


Magilla Perilla, which is not technically Coleus, but is in the same family and found in the Coleus section at Lowes. That purple is rockin.'


Coleus is the green plant and there are many varieties of it.


Thank goodness I had my little helper because I could not have done this without him.


Here's the finished product. Viola!


Here they are from the back side.


Turn and let me see that Magilla Perilla.


Okay, finally put in there place. And don't over look that cutie peeking through the door.



Happy planting!

Everyone Needs One (In Case of Fire)

This is my filing box.


It saves me a lot of stress. Despite how disorganized I might be at times, my valuable documents are always in order. I put this box together when I became a grown-up and had to do things like pay taxes and buy my my own car insurance....YUCK. I even gave one of these to my sister for a little wedding "happy." I filled it with all kinds of fun folders labeled tax write-offs, life insurance, utilities.

If you don't already have a system, then I hope this inspires you. Seriously, you need a system. The box is nice because in case of fire, you can grab it get the heck out of harm's way. All valuable documents still intact.


I file things in alphabetical order.


And every January I re-evaluate. Throw things out, etc.


Just this morning, Captain Steve asked me for a copy of Stephen Small's social security card.

I walked right to it...filed under IDENTIFICATION along with the pass ports and birth certificates. No stress. No worries. No searching.

Happy filing!