Four Years Ago...

Four years ago I had no clue what I was doing when our unexpected blessing arrived and changed our lives forever. These days I don't have much more of a clue, but I sure am glad that Someone far smarter than us decided it was the perfect time to send us the most amazing gift of our little girl.

             July 31st, 2008                                                                          July 31st, 2012

And my, little girl of ours, how you've grown. Even when I don't have a clue, you seem to. You make your own bed, get your own meals, pour your own drinks, and clean up your messes. Sometimes you are utterly delighted with your independence, and other times it's a little much and you decide it's more fun to crawl around on the floor and pretend to be a baby instead. I understand. Some days I don't want to be grown up yet, either.

Niner! And Lots of Other Excitement...

My little buddy turned nine months old today! This means that Ethan has now officially spent more time outside of me than inside of me, and according to Peter, he's now lived half his life in New York and half in Colorado, which means that pretty soon he'll be a "real Coloradoan." It also means that in a mere three months he will be a one year old. As I'm not yet ready to process that crazy thought, so we'll just move on to the accomplishments this little guy has been up to in the past month!

The Contentment Project, Part II - If (Quality) Time is Money...

...My Investments Are Shot!

Well, I learned pretty quickly in Part I of The Contentment Project that when it comes to superficial stuff, it's fairly easy for me to ditch some of the habits that suck the joy out of life. This week, though, I'm diving into something a little more challenging: devoting some real quality time each day to the people in my life.

I know, tell me about it.

In our society today, time is money, and spending it in ways we don't want can be torture. How we spend our time is vital simply because there's so little of it. Though I get the heebie-jeebies when I think back to any of my college courses that involved numbers, I did seem to internalize two important principles from my economics classes: the more rare something is, higher its value, and the more valuable something is, the smarter our investment is in that valuable item. (Oversimplified, yes...but it works for my analogy. Econ geniuses please don't rip me apart).

More Tragedy...Still Hope

I don't normally like to jump on the social commentary bandwagon when it comes to my personal blog, but after hearing an extremely moving and honest reaction to our nation's most recent tragedy, which occurred less than 15 miles from our home, I think there are some things worth repeating.

We went to church as usual this weekend, but the service began quite differently when our pastor, a Deacon, asked us to stand and just join hands in solidarity for a moment of silent prayer. It was one of the most powerful moments of silence I've experienced, seeing arms outstretched, old and young grasping hands in intense sadness and prayer, but all the while forming an unbreakable circle of unity.

The Contentment Project, Part I: Want vs. Have

Let me start by saying that we live a very cushy life. It was already pretty cushy when we cut ties with the Army a few months ago. Since then we've embraced a lovely new life and the cush factor has reached an all-time high. We waved goodbye to our world of deployments and war and friends who've laid down their lives for us and stepped easily into the life we've been planning for years. I traded in my uniform for jeans and time at home with the kids; my husband traded in his for suits and ties and nine to five. We gained a house with nearly twice the square footage of our old one, and moved from an isolated community without a support network to a picture-perfect and kid-friendly suburb with grandparents right around the corner. It's priceless to know that we'll never again being separated due to Army missions; even on busy days we still get to see each other at the end of the day. We'd dreamed of this life for so long, and now, to be finally living it? Sheer perfection!
So why am I writing about contentment right now?

Well, it all started one day shortly after we arrived in our new little Utopia. I was happily driving home from story time with the kids in my well-loved soccer mom SUV. As we slowed for a traffic light, I suddenly noticed that I was literally surrounded by luxury: an Audi in front of me, a Lexus to my right, and a BMW behind me. As if to add insult to injury, a sleek Mercedes breezed by me on the left and turned swiftly into the gated community.

The Good Idea Fairy

Remind me again that I'm
buckled in. I dare you.

The Good Idea Fairy loves my children. So much, in fact, that she visits them almost daily. You'd think that with more than five times their life experience combined, I would be able to stay ahead of the crazy ideas that manifest themselves in their little brains. Apparently not. Thus I present to you The Ways in Which My Children Have Outsmarted Me--all true, with an overwhelming majority carried out in the two seconds I wasn't looking.

There are your standard good ideas, of course, like the pencil/crayon/marker that didn't make it back to into the Bin of Safekeeping and instead became a medium for the mural on the wall. I'm still erasing pencil marks which I continue to find throughout the main floor and stairwell. Thankfully the wall can be reclaimed; the hand-made embroidered white placemat from my mother-in-law which met its match with the orange crayon was not so lucky. The power of dirt is another common attraction. Regardless of how many times I issue the reminder that dirt is off-limits, I can count on Marie turning my flowerbeds into "ant homes" every time.  And shortly after outfitting our breakfast bar with some bar stools, the very same culprit who decorated the walls discovered he could reach my

Seven...er, Eight Months!

Just thought I'd stand on
the couch since I know
Marie and Erik
aren't allowed to!

Somehow time at home has been moving even faster than when I was working, and my illusions of basking in the glory of each little milestone have been short lived. I had just gotten used to telling people that Ethan was six months old when I realized I needed to up the number; apparently I'd been too busy to even pause and take note of my big seven-month-old's day. Now here we are at eight months, and I want to yell at someone to stop the clock already because my little baby is becoming a big boy and I just want a little more time to soak it all in! But even in such a state of bewilderment, my joy in watching him grow could not be more complete. He's quite the happy kid with a big personality and a knack for making sure I know exactly what he wants or needs, like being picked up now! Right now! And wanting that toy, no that one, and more (and more and more) food since he eats like a little horse. He's demanding with the snuggling, too. My does he love to snuggle and melt my heart in the process. His big milestones in the past two months have been crawling at warp speed, pulling up, dancing, drumming on any and everything, gumming on any and everything (particularly choking hazards and paper), blowing extremely loud raspberries especially when it's quiet in church, and saying "ma-ma," "da-da," and "ba-ba." Oh and did I mention the chompers that finally showed up? One at a time, too, so we had time to snap a few snaggle tooth pictures with which to embarrass him in the presence of future girlfriends. Plenty of obligatory proud mama photos and videos of it all below!

Like Father, Like Son

Happy Father's Day to my dad, my father-in-law, and my beloved husband! 

Dad, you're the greatest example of fatherly love out there, and I am beyond blessed that you gave me the childhood you did. Tony, I'm so glad that we have the chance to celebrate with you this year and for all the times the grandkids have gotten to spend with you recently! And Peter, thanks for being more than I could have ever hoped for as the father of our children! 

Turns out the kids are pretty keen on their dad, too; here's what they had to say:

My Beef With Thinspiration

I know you've seen her too.

Slender thighs, a painfully thin midsection, sculpted arms, and a gracefully arching back save for the ribs visibly poking through. The only variations are her face, her name, and possibly the addition of a six or eight pack that barely veils her ribs. But her name matters not, because these days she's simply known as Thinspiration. I, personally, call her a liar.

She taunts women constantly, her form plastered everywhere, convincing them with ease that they can look better, no--they must look better, and that she exists to serve as their motivation.

She is one of the many reasons I have long avoided buying a scale.

All Hail, Fairy Godmother!

Every little girl needs some Fairy Godmother in her life on occasion, and this past weekend Marie got just that when her magical Godmother flew into town! 'Tis true: for some reason my trusty partner-in-crime, maid-of-honor, and let's not forget her most prestigious title: Queen Dork (which she still answers to...try it sometime) saw fit to buy an outlandishly expensive flight from Alaska to spend time with us all over Memorial Day weekend. It's been almost three years since we last saw each other, so I guess she realized how dire my withdrawal had become. It should go without question that we had a blast, but in case you need proof, here's the rundown: