Our Persisting Memories

I thought it was time to do a post about Phoebe. Most of the posts lately have been random rants or about things Sophia has done. Phoebe has been doing a lot too so I thought I would share. Plus, she just turned 18 months last Tuesday so what better time to give a life update! Phoebe now has 5 teeth, the 5th was a molar. She is defintely a Mama's girl and prefers me over anyone else (most of the time), but that can be very exhausting for me too! 56068|350 She can climb up and (sometimes) down the ladder of the bunk bed by herself. Very scary for her parents! She fusses and screams at me when she wants her juice cup or food and is noisy until the moment I put it in her hand. She can be quite an impatient child! 55488|350 She LOVES fruit snacks and would probably live off them if she could. Phoebe likes to give kisses and hugs and will do 'fish lips' when you ask for a kiss. 56116|350 She knows about 15 or so words/phrases including: bath, blankie, thank you, juice, cup,...

I have done my good citizen deed for the day. I went to Stonebriar Mall for a new water filter for our fridge so I parked just outside Sears, not where I typically park when I go, but it is where the filter was. Upon walking to the front I see a car parked in the first handicapped space of the lot. It did, in fact, have a handicapped license plate so I at least knew they parked where they should, BUT the driver's door was wide open. The engine was not running, no one was waiting in the car, there were no signs around the car that something was wrong, just an open door. I walked slowly to see if anyone would come to claim this car, when I walked in the store I stood at the door watching it for a moment to see if anyone would come, no one did. So I found an employee, told them what was going on and to get security. Well, she had me follow her all the way to security so I could tell them what I saw and then security had me walk him to the car (which we ended up walking half way...

44842|360 I find something very endearing and sweet about a child calling their mother "mommy" or "mama". After all, when children begin speaking it will usually come out as mommy or mama and will stay that way for quite some time. About 2 weeks ago I became "mom" to Sophia. I feel like a chapter has closed in our lives and that she is growing up. "Mom" is what teenagers and adults call their mothers, but not an almost 3 year old! I still see her as my baby and whenever she calls me "mom" I am reminded in that moment that she is definitely NOT a baby anymore. Not only am I just "mom" now, but quite often I am "Hey Mom!" I don't know where this came from, and this is how the whole "mom" thing began. I am guaranteed to hear "Hey Mom." 10 or more times in a day before she proceeds with the next thing she was going to say. *Sigh* I guess all I can do is try and welcome my new role and sta...

I try not to bemoan my own existence very much but this morning I woke up with a migraine. I haven't had an actual migraine in years. When I was younger, pre-teen - early teens, I would get them frequently but over time the frequency subsided to the point that I hardly ever suffer from an actual migraine. Right now I should be at church with the family, but due to the lingering pain I'm sitting at home typing out how much I appreciate my wife. I slept until 1:30 PM when I should have been up at 7:00 AM. Heather doesn't work well with little sleep. With at least 8 hours of sleep I'm pretty sure she can handle anything the world throws at her but if you edge her closer to 7 hours she becomes volatile. Last night probably wasn't her best night of sleep but she got the kids ready herself and packed them off to church because her wuss of a husband couldn't handle his little headache. Thank you. I had forgotten how terrible migraines were. It's like someone...

There are many things that make each family unique: Traditions, food, sayings, inside jokes, and a host of other things that come and go. I'm going to start making small posts about little things our family does that make us a little bit different. If you can't find it at Wal-Mart then I'll post about it here. I'll try to respect closely held tradition (like the family Hot Chocolate recipe) but I'll eventually get around to posting our tangy rib sauce recipe and other little items that are our personal favorites. This one is unique to me. The girls aren't old enough for me to let them try it and Heather doesn't like seaweed. Instant Ochazuke. Google it if you want to know what it is. It's essentially rice soup. You'll have to hunt down packets at an Asian grocery store unless you live in an area with a high enough Asian population that they stock in in normal food stores. You can also buy it at places like maruwa.com . Put about 1/3 - 1/2 cup...

Yes, it's a toy. Yes, you can buy it for your children so they can learn about the security checkpoint. Yes, there are a ton of hilarious Amazon reviews for this toy .

BJ and I watched an old Bill Cosby sketch a few weeks ago. It seemed like half of his skit was about being married, having kids, and how life is like being a husband and father. It was hilarious though! I mean, laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes hilarious! Part of why I found it so funny was because it was also so true. The longer I am a parent I am sure I will find even more of his 'jokes' to be fact. One of the things he mentioned was that his kids would say "I don't know" about almost everything. "Son, why did you cut your hair?" "I don't know....." Bill said he figured it out too---children, all children, have brain damage. It sure can seem that way sometimes. How suiting that I saw that skit only less than a month ago, because this is how it has been at our house the last few weeks. Bill Cosby KNOWS what he is talking about! 55633|360 "Sophia, why are you crying?" "I don't know......" snif...

Sophia likes pretending to be a cat. Normally this just involves prefacing everything she says with "meow" and terminating phrases with the same "meow". Oh yeah, she licks things too. Random things. Everything. It really depends on her mood. As I was putting her to bed tonight she was again pretending to be a cat. "Meow, Meow kiss?" I kissed my daughter. As I was walking out she says, "Meow, Meow lick?" I could imagine what she was going to do, but being curious, I walked up to her. At which point she stuck her tongue out and tried to lick my face. I avoided the cat lick with lightning reflexes and laughed, then gave her a hug and a big kiss. Watch out.

Todd, my brother-in-law, has posted a list of his favorite 75 songs released by different artists during 2008 . An impressive list to say the least. I poured over my last.fm rss feed to locate what new material had crept in in 2008. I've found 50-60 new releases to evaluate for the best songs. This is going to take a little while. Here's the artist breakdown. Agalloch, Amon Amarth, Amon Tobin, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, Autechre, Azam Ali, Behold... The Arctopus, Between the Buried and Me, Blockhead, Buckehead, Candiria, Conor Oberst, Cunninlynguists, Deerhoof, Devildriver, DJ Zinc, Dream Theater (Greatest Hits), Estradasphere, Faun Fables, Final Fantasy, The Flaming Lips, Fleet Foxes, Fleur, Gnarls Barkley, God of Shamisen, Gojira, In Flames, Isis, Kamelot, Kronos Quartet, Laura Marling, Loreena McKennit, Lustmord, Meshuggah, Minus the Bear, Mr. Lif (Collaborations), Nine Inch Nails, Niyaz, Okkervil River, Opeth, Orishas, Ozomatli, Portishead, Psycroptic, Puscifer (Re...

Sophia has watched Disney's Aladdin for only the second time in her life this week. It was the last few minutes of the movie and I was standing near Sophia to stabilize her while she stood on the office spinning chair. Out of nowhere she grabs me (I thought as if to hug me) but she forces my face to come near hers. Her head is tilted to one side and she has her mouth hanging open in this strange way. I thought "What the heck is this child doing?! This is new!" In a split second it hits me, and I burst out laughing while I pull her away from me and tell her "No way!" I am still totally laughing my head off when BJ comes in and asks what is going on. I ask him what he remembers happening at the last part of Aladdin and he doesn't. I rewind it a bit and let all of us see this again. There is Jasmin and Aladdin embracing each other. First looking into each others eyes and then both their mouths hang open and they lip lock. I tell BJ "THAT is wha...

713 My sister, Tiffany, is in town from Austin this weekend. We went out to eat tonight and got on the topic of dieting and losing weight and she asks me--ME!--if I am still eating candy. I give a ridiculous look and in an "are you kidding me" tone I tell her "Yes, of course! I can't believe you even have to ask that!" So here's the thing--I love candy. I have always loved candy, particularly fruity candy. Heck, one year for Valentine's Day BJ shows up with tons of candy--and my favorite stuff too--and I was so happy and loved him. I have to say, if given the choice I will decline one of women's best friends, chocolate, and go for the fruity stuff like Starburst or Sour Straws. This same sister has even teased me (very seriously though) that I will make myself diabetic form all the candy I eat. I must admit though, in my quest to lose some weight, any weight, I have cut back quite a bit on my passion. My mom has told me of my first 'real...