SLOW DOWN!!!! July 26, 2009

One thing I have heard A LOT since I first found out Cameron existed is, “Just enjoy it, it goes by so fast”. I have heard this so much it is almost annoying, however I have taken it to heart. I have tried to just enjoy each day and the changes that occur since Cameron was born. Even the little things that drive me crazy or make me exhausted, I just think, “Someday when he is grown, thinks I’m completely embarrassing, and has that lovely teenage attitude I am going to look back on this time and cherish it.”

On Thursday Cameron will be 9 months old. Now I realize he isn’t packing up and going off to college anytime soon. And he’s not even reached that wonderful 1 year milestone, but he is just starting to seem so “big”. He has been trying to walk for about a month now. It started at the beginning of June when he took 2 steps on his own. We thought it was more of a fall in which he happened to move his feet so we got excited, but didn’t really embrace it as him “walking”. Afterall, he wasn’t even 8 months yet, it was WAY too early. Then we noticed that he was still trying to take little steps on purpose, he just couldn’t get the hang of it. Well last week I was sitting in the middle of the living room floor and Cameron had pulled himself up by my feet and the next thing I knew he was walking all the way up toward my arms. He took about 6 steps. I got so excited that I started cheering and screaming for him, he was so proud of himself. On Wednesday I kept practicing with him and praising him. When Mike came home for his “pit-stop” on Thursday night Cameron showed off for Daddy by walking back and forth between us (about 6-8 steps) several times. He is by no means walking as a main mode of transportation yet, but he is capable of taking quite a few consecutive steps on a regular basis. I didn’t expect him to do this so soon.

Now I realize every parent is extremely proud of their child and thinks that what he/she does is the most incredible thing, but I have been impressed with how quickly Cameron catches on to things. It seems that once we show him something a few times or if he just starts to get the hang of something, within one day he has it mastered. It is slightly overwhelming.

Another sobering moment occured today when I cleamed out Cameron’s closet and drawers. I was tired of going through everything trying to find something that fit him. I still had a lot of 3-6 month things in his drawers and even 0-3 month clothes hanging in his closet. It seemed like he had SO MANY clothes, yet I have been struggling to find him something to wear. So today I went through everything and packed away everything he has grown out of. I filled an entire 16 gallon Rubbermade. As I was packing them away I kept think “Oh I love this shirt!”, “He looked so cute in this!”, “I should have gotten a picture in this outfit!”, “I can’t belive he was actually this small!”. Thinking all of these things made me wonder, what is it going to be like when he is 19 and I can look back and think about his days playing little league, his first day of school, the day he got saved, his first experience liking a girl, and so much more. It made me excited for the future and all that God has in store for him. But most of all is reminded me to keep cherishing each moment because it is going by quickly.

I’ll end this post with a few pictures that show my growing boy!

Few days old

3 months old - Baby Dedication

6 Months

9 Months

 

Texas Heat July 24, 2009

Anyone that knows me well knows that I HATE HEAT!!!!! I am just one of those people that LOVES cold weather. My favorite seasons are Fall and Winter (which I have learned do not exist here in Texas).  When Michael graduated I prayed that we would be sent to a “cold state”, God obviously had different plans! I have been complaining to my mom about the heat ever since we moved here so today she sent me this e-mail. (***disclaimer – the original e-mail had some bad language in it so  I went through and edited it!)

Dear Diary,

Just moved to Texas ! Now this is a state that knows how to live!! Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. It is beautiful. I’ve finally found my home. I love it here.

June 14th:

Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this. I’m turning into a sun worshipper.

June 30th:

Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me.  Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th:

The temperature hasn’t been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat?  At least, it’s kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.

July 15th:

Fell asleep by the community pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body). Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do.  I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol’ sun in a climate like this.

July 20th:

I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita  had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water balloon. The car now smells like Baked Cat. I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat. Good ol’ Mr. Sun strikes again.

July 25th:

The wind sucks. It feels like a giant blow dryer!! And it’s hot as hades. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th:

Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and I can’t even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one. why did I ever come here?

Aug. 4th:

It’s 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.

Aug. 8th:

If another idiot cracks, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to strangle him. Stupid heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!

Aug. 9th:

Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts, and when sat on the seats in the car, I thought my butt was on fire. My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and butt . . . Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried butt, and baked cat.

Aug 10th:

The weather report might as well be a recording. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything
for 2 months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Doesn’t it ever rain in this state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the cactus can’t live in this heat.

Aug. 14th:

Welcome to HADES! Temperature got to 115 today. Cactus are dead.
Forgot to crack the window and blew the windshield out of the car. The installer came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? “Hot enough for you today?” My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Texas . What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here??

Will write later to let you know how the trial goes.

All I can say is COME ON WINTER!!!!!!!!!!!

Reading a Classic July 22, 2009

Ever since college I have become, what I would consider, a fairly avid reader. When we lived in Kentucky and I was teaching full time, I would come home from school and take a hot bath and read for about 45 minutes almost every day. I was reading about 2-3 books a week. I pretty much only read one type of book, Christian Fictionn – Historical Romances. I discovered this genre when someone introduced me to Francine Rivers. Once I made my way through most of her books ,my neighbor, who is an AVID reader and practically had a christian fiction library in her home, had received the first 25 books in the Gilbert Morris House of Winslow series. I would go down to her house and get 3 or 4 books at a time. I only made it through the first 14 books, I got pretty burned out on them. Then I discovered Tracie Patterson. As of today, I have read about 13 of her books (I”m waiting for 2 to be released this summer.) I am saying all of this to point out that I have gotten into a literary rut! I have settled in this one genre (with the exception, of course, of Harry Potter and the Twilight Series) and  can’t seem to break out.

Well, a few months ago I was looking for something to read. I didn’t want to go buy a book so I decided to go through some of the chapter books I have saved from while I was teaching, and see if I had any classics. I found the Little House in the Prairie box set and I thought about reading them but I just wasn’t excited about it. Well, about this time one of the students in our student ministry started talking about how she was reading Anne of Green Gables. I have always been curious about these books so I decided that I wouldgo for it. I went to the library and checked out the first book. Let me say, I HAVE NOT been disapointed. I can see  now why these books are “classics”. I LOVE it. I borrowed all of the books in the series from the before mentioned student and I am working my way through them. (I don’t get to read as much now that I have a 9 month old!)

I am so glad that I decided to step out of my Christian Historical Romantic Fiction (isn’t that a mouthful) rut. It has been a very welcome change. So I end this entry with a question, what genre would you suggest I tackle next?!?!?!?!?!?

Blogging Woes! July 21, 2009

I have to admit that I often feel inadequate when it comes to blogging. I have several friends that have a new post every few days. I look foward to reading their blogs and even if it is just about what they did with their kids that day, I LOVE reading it. Some of my favorite blogs are ones where people post serious, deep, spiritual, and introspective thoughts or questions. I absolutely love feeling challenged by reading someone elses thoughts and learning from the experiences they share. While I love reading these, every time I look at them I think, “Why can’t I blog like that?!?!”. I only post things every couple weeks and when I read back on them they don’t seem very interesting.

I say all of this to say that I am going to attempt to be a better blogger in the next few weeks. We’ll see how it goes…