photo gallery

We call this one: "a gymnast's hand" courtesy of Emily




This one is entitled "rough night"




This one is known as "mommy bought me my own sunglasses five minutes later, so she could get hers back"




"Hair that makes it through a gymnastics meet, a good night's sleep and roller coasters has a lot of bobby pins"





"Did you see what that just did? People are screaming...I hope you don't expect me to ride that"



"Did you take this picture to show me my tag was out? p.s. your hand is in the shot"



"mom freaked out and grabbed this straw when I wouldn't stop blowing through it"




"Girl meets penguin"





"A dolphin, a whale, a cat and a martian" also known as "dolphins aren't supposed to be furry"



"these trains make me feel gigantic"




"I'd rather ride with a stuffed monkey than my sister"



"This whale makes me feel....not so gigantic"



"Theme parks + car rides = silence"




"untitled"

Decluttered

I cleaned my office this week. It feels wonderful.

Organization does not come naturally to me. It was not hard wired in my DNA or in my training. Or if it was, other parts of me stifled it. Don't get me wrong, I have the ability to organize, I can make files, systems, put things in their place....but realizing that I need to assign a place, sometimes takes awhile.
I don't really notice the pile of mail and school papers stacking up on the entertainment center, or that there are shoes by the door, in my closet, on my dresser, in the bathroom.....I just don't realize.
My poor husband. That's all he does is organize. Yin and Yang.

But this week, I've been in a great mood, and I cleaned my office. Filed, sorted, purged. I don't know if the organization is the result or the cause of my lifted mood, but I'll take it. Either way, I'll take it.

With the clutter gone, I can focus better. I'm happier. More motivated.

All winter, and if I want to be honest, even before winter...I've felt cluttered. Tired. Overwhelmed. And I don't just mean by stacks of paper. My mind has been overwhelmed with all the details of life. It was messy and I felt ill equipped to do the job well.

Last night I lay on the couch. The show I was watching was over, and I could feel myself drifting to sleep. I thought to myself...don't fall asleep, get up, go to bed, get your alarm, it's a work night, have to do it right, can't sleep on the couch.

And then I realized I live my entire life on a schedule. The confines and boundaries of my time organization. Work is what I've been suffering through in order to live my life in the few hours between work and bed, and on the weekends. And that's not life. My life is all of it. My job included. It's not something to just get through. It's not a separate identity. Not work me and real me. It's something that I do during the day. It's still me, living my life during those 8 hours, my choice, my way, my life.

And that was incredibly freeing. Decluttering my office helped me to declutter my mind and what I found was liberation. Structure yes, regimentation no.
I slept on the couch.

O mother, thy teacher

Emily is reading Alice in Wonderland. The new movie is coming out this weekend and she totally wants to see it (as do I). Her only notion of Alice in Wonderland to date is the Disney version, so she's reading the book in an effort to be fair to the author, before seeing another adaptation.
She was reading on the way to school this morning and mentioned she was getting close to finishing.

"Wow" I said, "you read that pretty quickly"

E: "Yeah, although some of it is a little hard to understand"

Me: "I know, but it was written back when people spoke a little differently. It's good for you to get used to wrapping your mind around a different way of speaking. In high school you'll have to read Shakespeare and that was written like 500 years ago, so some people find it very difficult to understand"

Damien pipes up: "we get to read a 500 year old book!"

Me: "well, the words were written 500 years ago, but the books are reprinted all the time"

D: oh

Me: (getting back to the point) Like in Romeo and Juliet she says "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" which pretty much just means "Where are you?"

Emily: (laughing) "I'm going to start saying that.....Wherefore thou..

Me: Wherefore ART thou...

Emily: Oh yeah....Where art....what is it again?

Me: Wherefore art thou.... another one is at the end Juliet says "Oh happy dagger, this is thy sheath"....right before she stabs herself"

Damien: Weird

Emily: Romeo and Juliet is weird, she thinks he's dead, so she kills herself and then he sees that she's dead and kills himself

Me: Actually it's the other way around, he thinks she's dead, kills himself and so on.
Shakespeare wrote a lot of plays though, not just Romeo and Juliet. Another famous one is called Hamlet"

Damien: That sounds like a breakfast....like ham omelette


Haha, go to school my children, literary lesson is over for the morning. I can see how homeschooling would go in my house.

Reflection on a life created

Stats: Born 2/22/2002, 6:12 PM, weighing in at a whopping 11lbs, 1oz, 22 1/4" long. There were a few heart wrenching minutes, in which his head was born, but the rest was firmly stuck inside.....much like the story of winnie the pooh, but the pushing and pulling was being done by 5 doctors and nurses instead of Christopher Robin and his lovable pals.
Eventually though, he arrived, with a broken collarbone and a smooshed up face, looking more like a 3 month old than a newborn, but no worse for wear. He was alert and happy, ready to eat and take on the world. And that's the same Damien that's been with us ever since.
His dark hair was quickly replaced by blond, his collarbone healed, his smooshed and swollen face subsided and the sweet face that emerged would serve him well in the days of mischief to follow.


weeks old



5 months




8 months




ONE











TWO












THREE









FOUR











FIVE










SIX














SEVEN













EIGHT


To be continued.....


Happy Birthday little big man. I love you.

Five years

It was sunny, not too cold. We went alone. A twenty minute drive out in the country. We were quiet, contemplative. We held hands and just drove. It was a nice house on a hill, not too large, but with a giant fireplace and floor to ceiling windows. She was nice. Offered to take our picture. She used his middle name, and spelled my name wrong, but it was ok. It was still us. Holding hands, speaking those timeless words of devotion. We didn't need witnesses. We didn't need flowers. We didn't need a tux or a dress. We just needed each other. And five years later, that's all we still need. Happy Anniversary love.

guilty pleasure is my middle name

My weekend included

-pizza

-a trampoline

-champagne

-nintendo

-donuts

-2 baby bunnies

-licorice and caramel filled chocolates

-a ride on a harley

-mexican food

-great time.....in the bedroom...not sleeping....if you know what I....nevermind


Not necessarily in that order

It's Aliiiiiiiiiiiive

Remember my orchid? You don't? Well, then see here:

http://brandiwithani-b.blogspot.com/2009/02/he-does-this-on-purpose.html

This was a year ago. A year now that I've had this plant. ABout 6 months ago, all of it's pretty blossoms dropped off one by one and I cried. But then someone told me that they're supposed to do that. But I figured that was the end. It would no longer grace my office with it's beauty. It would forever be a green plant with two long stems sticking out of it.

But! That's not what happened. Last month it greeted me with a couple of little buds and I high fived it and did the Macarena.

Then this morning, a blossom! Isn't it pretty?




Aren't you proud? I kept a plant alive for an entire year, and it is pretty again! Maybe now I'm ready for a pet. And then someday.....children.