Not-Me Monday

I did not escape cooking one meal all weekend long. We certainly did not eat delivered pizza and wings on Friday night, go out to dinner on Saturday night, and pick up hot ham sandwiches for lunch on Sunday. Oh, and I definitely did not let my Mr. Wonderful take care of making tacos for dinner last night. I do really love to cook and care about what my family eats, and so that weekend menu did not actually touch our lips. No, not me!

3 Reasons "Frydays" are still great ...

When I quit my job so I could become and then stay a stay-at-home mama, I was a bit sad that I wouldn't enjoy the excitment of a Friday afternoon. You know when you sit at your desk, and realize that you have the next 2.5 days to be at home or at play with your husband, planning lunches with friends, and just lounging at home doing nothing.

But, I realize now, I actually think I look forward to weekends more now! I'm so worn out by Friday afternoon after a weeks worth of chasing around a spunky, cuddly, 14 month old that when 5:00 hits and Mr. Wonderful walks in, I'm completely stoked for the next 2.5 days of fun, rest, adult conversation and family time. But, this weekend, I'll be more specific and name 3 reasons why this "Fryday"is bringing an especially, special weekend.

1. Chick Flick night with a fun friend - all inclusive, with Caramel Turtle Brownies, popcorn, and cranberry/sierra mist free/o.j. beverages. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II wasn't quite as good as the book, but let's be honest, are they ever?
2. Special contest hosted by my favorite Blog Princess and her charming, Royal MckFamily. I love her passion for photography, children, the Midwest and most of all, Christ alone.
3. Dinner date with my favorite husband. Yay, for babysitters :)

First Day at a new school

My first day riding the bus to a new school, and I was 8 yrs. old. The bus I rode serviced two different schools, and I got off at the wrong one. I didn't even know I was at the wrong school until I saw that my uniform didn't match the others waiting to go inside, and the bus had pulled away. Ugh, terrible memory!

Wow...Two is fun, different and exhausting!

Well, today I had the honor and privelege of watching my favorite neice, M! She and T are down napping right now, but to get them there was a hoot! My favorite snippet involves a toilet, a wet Dora pull-up, and a crawling little boy coming to see what all the fuss is about. He, of course, needed to sniff and taste the pretty, pink, wet, diaper. Yuck.

Holy man, two toddlers are a handful. It makes me wonder how some of my friends with 4 kiddos under the age of 5 ever do it. MckMama, for one is quite inspiring. By the Grace of a very Good God, I assume. And a lot of patience...yeah, that I should probably keep working on that.

The crazy thing is that M is actually the age that Anna would have been. I was due with Anna four days later than my sister-in-law was due with M. Anna, of course, came early but M was right on time. Every minute I spend with my niece is a gift, and I am so thankful that she was born a girl. I guess some might think that I look at her and greive Anna every day, but I don't. Is that stange? I look at her and think of how Soveriegn our LORD is, and ponder all the things I know I will never understand on this Earth.

Well, while I have a few precious moments of quiet in this house, I should do some laundry.
Toodles.

My name is....and I'm a nail-biter

As long as I can remember, I've had a wicked habit.
I never realized how disgusting of a habit it was, until I watched someone else bite his nails.
And then I realized how gross it is to watch someone chew on their fingers.
I do it when I'm bored, or nervous, or anxious or extremely uncomfortable.
It's an awful habit; but a comforting one, at the same, disgusting time.
My name is Jamie, and I bite my nails.

LT Walking!

My LT's finally learning to walk! He'll be 14 months this week.

How Ironic

Once upon a time, 7-8 years , I was a counselor at a camp out in Pennsylvania. During one of our "active" times (I was a cheerleader, leading a team cheer) I got an elbow smack, right in my eyeball. Later that evening we discovered it had actually caused a moderate concussion and went to the ER. But, the black-eye was the worst I'd ever seen. I had been dating Mr. Wonderful for going on 2 years, and upon my arrival back to the cities, he picked me up commented on my shiner and we went on a walk around one of the popular lakes nearby.

Well, as he left to pay the meter, a cop stopped me. Asked me if I was alright, and gave me a card with the number of the police station if I ever "needed help." I was so angry at the time, and tried to defend my wonderful, gentle, kind boyfriend, but he just gave me a look like he knew I was trying to cover something up! Looking back, I laugh and think how kind it really was of this officer to offer help...

So, a week ago, when I developed my second major facial contusion, I knew more questions were coming. Let me explain.
T had fallen asleep in the car, and I tried to keep him that way as I traveled up the stairs. I had forgotten, however, that I had just recently put up the baby gate at the top of the stairwell, since T has been so mobile and quick as of late. Before I realized what was happening, I began to topple forward over the gate. I did my best to maintain balance, but T's "hard as a rock" forehead cracked right into my upper right cheek bone. No padding there, trust me.
Amazingly, T remained unhurt, and went right into his crib for a long afternoon nap. I fought off tears, and watched my cheekbone balloon out of my face (literally, I could see it growing) as I ran down the freezer to grab a bag of frozen blueberries.

So, once again, I have received concerned calls about this nasty bruise and some just pretend they don't notice it, so not to make me uncomfortable. But if this is anything like last time, this shiner will be around for a full 2-3 weeks before it'll fade away.
Isn't it ironic that, my hubby, the most gentle, kind & loving man on the earth married the most bruise magnetic woman? At least those who know him at all will know that he wouldn't have hurt me, even if I asked him to.

Veteran's Day

My Dad.
He wasn't drafted, but served in the Vietnam war. He was a Naval officer and is the best Dad for me. His generous heart is bigger than mine will ever be. So, thanks to Dad, for serving our country and for being a great "Papa Jim" to my Tommy.

My Favorite Place In our Home

Definitely the kitchen Table.
1. I love to cook.
2. I love to eat, even more.
3. I love entertaining.
4. Good conversation always happens around good food, and good friends.
5. It's one place I can count on to have all of my family gathered at least once a day.

’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
And to take Him at His Word;
Just to rest upon His promise,
And to know, “Thus says the Lord!”
Refrain

Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him!
How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er
Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus!
O for grace to trust Him more!

O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
And in simple faith to plunge me
’Neath the healing, cleansing flood!

Baby Malachi

I'm terribly upset.
I wanted to know more about President Elect Obama's historical views and stands on abortion so I began a search on the internet to learn. I found myself on a pro-life website that had pictures of an aborted child, 21 weeks, available for viewing. It took me to precious memories of the few, brief minutes we had to hold our baby, Anna, who we lost in-utero at 26 weeks. We delivered her in a stillbirth the following day, and she was beautiful and perfectly formed. She was not much bigger than Baby Malachi, and it angers me that this awful destruction of life is being promoted from the head of Government.
I am so saddened. I miss my baby girl.

Jeopardy

Jamie: "Well, Alex, my dad was a pilot for Delta Airlines for 32 years, and while he was flying to Europe, I would tag along on his layovers. I spent 36 hours in Paris, 24 hours in Panama, and 36 hours in Venice, Italy all in one summer while home from college."

November 6, 2008 1:50 PM

RIP: "Stripes"

Truth: Prior to this incident, I had never hit an animal while driving.
Truth: I have hit a number of vehicles (albeit at a slow speed) while driving.
It was the night before Halloween, I was driving home on a country-ish road, when an orange blur ran accross my view. I knew instantly that my clean, no dead animal record, was permanently altered. I decided to stop at the home where the cat hopped off to, and in a panic, described the cat that I had hit, hoping that they wouldn't have any idea what I was talking about. But, when the little boy yelled, "Oh, no, STRIPES!" I knew I had done something awful.
The woman thanked me for stopping, and the family went over to Stripes to be with him for his last dying breaths.
Ugh.
In memory, I carved my Halloween jackolantern to resemble a cat, and it actually turned out fairly well.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Stripes.