November in pictures

This is a picture of my Puffed Apple Pancake, created for brunch in honor of Ryan's parents visit to Augusta in early November. Taken from one of my Junior League of Savannah cookbooks, this recipe was DELICIOUS! (Jill - very WASPy, I know). Ignore the ugly blue salt shaker the the nasty dog toy under the table. :)

Janelle and her new husband, amid a sea of bubbles!

Fast-forward to Thanksgiving - Rachel, Megan and I ran the Turkey Day Ten Can run in Savannah. It was only a 5k but it helped me accomplish half of one of my '05 New Year's Resolutions!

Charlie with Aunt Caroline (my 15-yr old sister) and my cousin Grace

Charlie with his great-grandfather, my Papa.

Isn't his bib cute? :)

OK, you don't have to eat more Turkey!

And finally, a few shots of our half-decorated home. The rest of the decorating will be done this week-end, including the purchase and set up of the tree (at which time the presents will be removed from the hearth and put in their proper place).

Thankfulness

"Oh Thou who has given us so much,
mercifully grant us one thing more: a thankful heart."
- George Herbert

My thanksgiving post is coming a little late this year and that is due to the fact that I have been feeling very overwhelmed...overwhelmed by all the blessings in my life and yet ashamed that I, to some extent, do take them for granted. I have also been challenged and convicted about my utter disdain for and fear of suffering. So I have spent the last several months, and the last several weeks in particular, wishing with all my heart that I could arrive at the point where I am perfectly grateful for all the joys that life has presented to me thus far and be at peace (thankful even!) about the current hardships we are experiencing now and will undoubtedly experience in the future. The challenge for me now though is that I know in my head that this state of being is ultimately unattainable…I will never be as thankful as I could be or as willing to suffer as I must be while living on this side of eternity. So I’ve been struggling with feelings of restlessness and fear, not knowing how to live with the reality that I am not what I want to be, yet being hopeful that one day this part of me will also be redeemed (and is being redeemed right now even). So with George Herbert I’ve been praying, “Lord, make me thankful.” And these are just some of the things for which I want to be truly thankful this year:

1. Ryan – need I say more? I couldn’t ask for a better friend or husband.

2. Charlie – what a blessing it has been to become a mother – words cannot even describe it. Yet suffering with and for Charlie as he struggles with developmental delays and other health concerns has been so raw and painful for us. Charlie’s health has definitely been a source of suffering for which I’m trying to be thankful…I’m thankful that his health issues are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things AND for the opportunity to enter into suffering and rejoice in it, as Paul did.

3. Our families – we both have parents who are still married to each other, who love and support us. And my plethora of siblings is such a blessing – built in friends!

4. Friends – I honestly have some of the best friends anyone could ask for, sniff, sniff. So thanks to you all…and I miss those of you who I don’t get to see often (which is actually like, 99.9% of my dearest friends, unfortunately!)

5. My job – what a blessing to be able to work from home, contribute financially to this family and use the skills God has given me while still having the opportunity to be Charlie’s primary caregiver. An amazing blessing. Yet another source of suffering in many ways…how can I do it all and do it all well? This will undoubtedly be one of the most memorable tasks of 2006! :)

6. Health – We are healthy and have no physical limitations. My sister beat the odds this year and did not have cancer (even though preliminary tests indicated otherwise), our immediate families are all healthy...how often do we all take that for granted? Hhhhmmm…

And of course, I'm ultimately and most thankful for a Savior who saved me once and continues to save me daily. And man, do I need saving!

So Happy (late) Thanksgiving everyone and may the Lord grant us all thankful hearts!

Need I say more?

I'm DYING for one of these babies!

By popular demand

Here is the recipe for the Szechuan Green Beans and Pork...

1/2 pound lean ground pork
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 teaspoon peanut oil
2 1/2 cups (1-inch) cut green beans
1 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 cups hot cooked white rice (I used whole grain brown rice)

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture, beans, and garlic; cook 3 minutes or until pork loses its pink color, stirring to crumble.

Combine hoisin and next 3 ingredients (through soy sauce) in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add hoisin mixture to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently. Serve over rice.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup pork mixture and 1/2 cup rice)


I can't take credit...this is from Cooking Light.

Stay tuned for a cheesy, mushy thanksgiving post.

Habits

Every month flylady challenges her audience with a new habit. One recent month it was "a load a day keeps the chaos away!" which challenged us to do one load of laundry per day. I have implemented this habit and it has indeed made my life much easier. This month's habit is meal planning which not only results in a happy, well-fed family - it helps keep the grocery bill under control. So I took her up on the challenge and created a menu template. This menu template includes breakfast, lunch and dinner Mon - Thurs as well as a slot for week-ends, special occasions and snacks. In my new found Domestic Goddess state, I have tons of recipes just waiting to be made so menu planning will facilitate my culinary creativity while saving money.

On this week's dinner menu:
- Monday - Szechuan pork and green beans (DELICIOUS!)
- Tuesday - Pumpkin Black Bean soup (Ryan is a little "iffy" on this one so last night's leftovers are the back-up plan)
- Wednesday - Lime chicken and roasted potatoes
- Thursday - leftovers

Snacks for this week include blue corn chips with queso fresco and spinach dip with reduced-fat wheat thins.

I also decided to host a Southern Living at Home party in a couple of weeks and have begun menu planning for it as well. I need to create a new menu template for parties. Perhaps I'll do that during my 4pm conference call, which will undoubtedly bring this post to a close. I know for sure that I'll be serving Paula Dean's gingerbread trifle. I'm salivating already.

One more tidbit before I go...today I got my hair COLORED FOR THE FIRST TIME. And not because I wanted to but because my gray hair has finally gotten out of control. And I've developed a bald spot from plucking out too much hair. :( So I found myself at a very redneck but cheap establishment and proceeded to explain to the very dyed beautician that I wanted "subtle coverage." Amazingly she understood and my coverage is indeed very subtle...so subtle in fact that my grays are STILL visible. *sigh* I guess it's back to the drawing board...I will be calling her tomorrow for a "touch-up."

In other news, JANELLE'S WEDDING IS THIS WEEK-END! HOORAY!

Ouch!

How he slept through this, I'm not sure. But he did. As Ryan Moody always says, "Never underestimate the power of a Moody to sleep. " :) And he managed to somehow free himself - when he woke up an hour later, he was no longer stuck in the crib.

We are about to leave for a quick trip to Savannah. This week-end Christmas Made in the South, a big regional craft fair, is in Savannah and I always try to go with my mom and sisters. I'm so excited...but too bad it is going to be 80 degrees...so much for beginning to feel like Christmas!

Things I really don't like

Perhaps it's the weather (dreary, cool) or my hormones or, most likely, the election results, but regardless of the reason why, I'm feeling very grumpy and negative today. So here is a list of things that I really don't like:

1 - Democrats

2 - My job (today anyway)

3 - Spending about 6 hours a week on Charlie's therapy (and that's just the clinical part - what we do at home isn't even factored in!)

4 - Daylight Savings - I am so tired ALL THE TIME now

5 - Nancy Pelosi

6 - All the strip malls in Augusta

7 - Ryan's pager. He's back in the ICU this month which means every other night, he gets paged all evening and all night long.

8 - Democrats finding out about a scandal that could put children at risk and then sitting on it for MONTHS so that they could break the story a few weeks before the mid-term elections. Dirty dogs!

9 - The disgusting republican who sent provacative emails to children.

And just to not be too negative...here is something I do like.

Good thing our troops still have a sense of humor. And I also REALLY LIKE the fact that John Kerry is not our president!

It's a bird, it's a plane

Our first halloween with a kid was a lot of fun! We went trick-or-treating in our neighboorhood with a friend from church (who also happens to be a neighbor) and then went to another friend's house to eat chili. Charlie looked adorable in his Superman costume, chosen by his father, of course. I would have picked something cutesy, like a pea or a frog but I appreciated my son's cuteness in the costume of his father's choosing. :)

I decided to dress up at the last minute, at the request of my friend Leslee. I was Ryan Moody and she was a cowgirl...with a Strawberry (her daughter Lexi).

On a different note...I made a carrot cake (including icing) from scratch yesterday for the chili party and I was very proud of myself. Here is a picture of my masterpiece. The recipe was from one of my Junior League of Savannah cookbooks and I even decorated it myself, with help from my favorite magazine Real Simple. I cannot stress enough how much I love this magazine. It makes me want to become a domestic diva or a stay-at-home WASP (for a definition of WASP, see my friend Jill's blog). So if you're bored, you really must peruse realsimple.com. I also can't recommend enough Martha Stewart's holiday magazine with instructions for homemade gifts - I'm definitely in the mood for crafting now. :)

Brides and babies

Many, many years ago when I was a blushing bride, one of my bridal showers was shared with a pregnant co-worker. It was a funny mix of people and emotions...I remember opening a gift, suprised to find lingerie inside, and then a few seconds later even more surprised when my co-worker said, "That [pointing to my lingerie] leads to this" as she brandished her new bib. Not what I wanted to think about four weeks before my wedding...I remember thinking, "I'll die if I get pregnant! That would be horrible!" My how times have changed...

I took this trip down memory lane as an intro to this post which will largely focus on brides (Janelle - my best friend from college) and babies.

First Janelle -

Two weeks ago my other best friend from college Katie and I hosted a lingerie shower and bachelorette party for Janelle in Charlotte. We had a blast and it was a) my first night EVER to not put Charlie to bed and b) my first time "out" since becoming a mom. I was definitely a little rusty - I wore a turtlenck and jeans (as compared to Katie and Janelle's cute little tanks tops); a man walked by, apparently looked at my um, "bottom" (according to Katie) and I panicked, backing furiously into a wall; I only ordered 2 drinks for the entire 9 or so hours we were out; I complained about the smoke all night long and I began yawning at promptly 10pm (I didn't get to go to bed until 2am). Katie and I came up with some "tasks" for Janelle to perform throughout the night, my favorite being the one where she was supposed to jump in and play an instrument with a band. Since we ended up at a club with a DJ, Katie and I had to "help" her with this one - we coerced the DJ to play "Like a Virgin" and announce her name. Oh - and the 3 of us danced in the cage during the song. :) Don't believe me? See below...

And isn't Janelle just so cute in her paper veil? For you Covenant folks out there, the big day is November 18!

All in all, it was a great night - the food was fabulous (probably the best mexicon food I've ever had), the club was fun (crazy '80's dance party) and the girls were really fun (some I knew, some I didn't). I enjoyed my time away from the demands of motherhood but I also found myself thankful for where I am today...being a wife and mom - cooking, cleaning, general caretaking - and realized that I wouldn't trade it for the wild and crazy fun of single life for a single minute!

Now babies:

Last night I spent an hour or so after Charlie went to bed searching boxes in the garage for my china. I am so sad to say that my beautiful Lenox Pearl Platinum china has been sitting in boxes in the garage since we moved, along with all my various other treasured kitchen "essentials." I did this because tomorrow I'm hosting a baby shower at my house for a friend in my small group. I am so excited to put my china to good use. And now Ryan can't say that I never use it. I bought a set of those china storage bags/boxes at Bed, Bath and Beyond today, and plan to use them to store the china in the linen closet, so hopefully I'll use my china more now that it's packed in boxes. I'll have to take a picture of my set-up before the shower tomorrow. I'm sure you are all dying to see.

Now I must get to work. Get to work on my "real" job, which is not party planning, unfortunately. I worked until 1am last night, am working now and will likely not be finished until 1am tonight. But that's another post...

Babbles and a time crunch

I have so many things on my mind and heart right now, many about which I'd like to share...insights from my reading of What is a Family? by Edith Schaeffer, pictures and tales from Janelle's fun bachelorette party, my thoughts on my career, and others. However, the business of my day and week in general does not allow time for such. So instead, I'll post a few pictures. These were taken last night, on our family outing to the local pumpkin patch. Perhaps I'll find a few spare hours in my week to carve it...I've never carved a pumkin before so it should be um, interesting (halloween and all its associations were of the devil in my childhood).

Perhaps later this week I'll be up for profundity (musings from Edith Schaeffer) or silliness (Janelle's bachelorette party) but for now, I'm off to cook dinner. Turkey tenderloin is defrosting now and there are baby limas waiting in the crock pot...

Prayer Request

I sent the email below earlier this week...some of you may have received it. But just to cover all our bases, I wanted to post it here as well.

Hi everyone,

I’m writing to ask that you all pray for Charlie. Our therapist and pediatrician have become more concerned in the past week or so about Charlie’s lack of physical progress (meeting milestones) and the slow progress of his therapy for torticollus. We spoke to his doctor this morning and he will getting a CT scan next week to check for possible issues with his head (big words I can’t say – check with Ryan if you are curious J) and he may have to be sedated for this test. Please pray that sedation won’t be necessary. Then the next day, we have to go to the pediatric neurologist to discuss the CT and his other developmental issues. Based on this meeting, we may likely be referred to pediatric surgery.

Our pediatrician is also working to get PT and OT scheduled for us in our home. Apparently kids sometimes respond better to therapy in their natural environment so please pray that this works out as well.

Also, please pray for Ryan and me as our hearts are breaking over this situation. Pray for Charlie’s healing, of course, but also pray that we will be able to trust God and praise him no matter what the outcome of all these tests.


Thank you all for being such good friends and for the prayers that I know you will offer up on our behalf.

Baby Gear

Babies require a lot of gear. Anyone with kids knows this firsthand. Charlie has so much gear that it's starting to take over our home. And now...we are in need of something else - a jogging stroller. Has anyone out there researched jogging strollers? If so, which one should I buy? :) I have tried to make myself do my own research but I'd much rather do other things (like read blogs :)). So if anyone one out there has any recommendations, please lemme know!

New Year's Resolutions

I'm sure your first thought after reading the title of this post was, "What is Emily thinking? It is most certainly not New Year's!" And you're right - it is most definitely not January (it is, after all, 88 degrees outside!). However, as September draws to a close I'm starting to look back over the year, evaluating my successes (giving birth) and looking for areas of improvement (not wasting so much time online, ahem) and I'm forced to evaluate whether or not I will meet some or all of my New Year's Resolutions. Unfortunately, it is looking like I will NOT be meeting my one professional resolution, which is to read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which incidentally was an '04 resolution as well (*sigh*). I am "iffy" on one of my big personal resolutions...to run 3 5K races by the end of '06. I made this resolution when I was 6 months pregnant and I thought that by committing myself to these 3 races, I would somehow become inspired to become the recreational runner that I am not and get back into shape while I was at it. So fast-forward to today (actually to about 3 weeks ago when I first started thinking about 5Ks), 6 months post-partum, realizing that if I am going to even come close to meeting this resolution, I'd better get on the ball!

So I started the Couch to 5K Running Plan. My new treadmill makes this running plan very easy since it has one-touch speed control (I press the "6" and I'm suddenly running. I press the "8" and I am full-on sprinting, I press "4" and I can breathe again, you get the point). Now I am not my friend Maryanne who still runs daily in her 8th month of pregnancy. Nor am I my friend Amy Claire who decided to train for a triathalon while nursing a 9 month old AND growing Baby Number Two but so far, so good. I'm on Week 3 and am running more than walking for the 25 minute workout so that's good. And I'm not pushing myself to maximum levels of exertion during the workout, which is also encouraging. So after realizing that I could indeed run again, I began searching for 5K races. Given the fact that I've waited until October, I did not find very many options...so I-dum da dum dum dum-signed up for the Savannah River Bridge Run (picture above) on December 2. Now the curvature of this bridge may not be visible to the naked eye but this 5K run includes 1.4 miles of 5.5% grade. Yikes. So the plan is to finish the a Couch to 5K Running Plan, which is 6 weeks long, and then start to work on hills. This is going to be interesting...wish me luck! And if anyone out there wants to run with me, I'm looking for a partner! :)

New additions

Big news for this week is that Charlie is getting his first 2 teeth! It's the 2 bottom teeth...here is my attempt to capture it with my 2 year old digital camera with a 20-second delay. :)



Some miscellaneous things going on in the Moody household...

1 - Because of Charlie's Torticollis, it is really important for him to spend a significant amount of playtime on his tummy. But now that he can roll over, it is really difficult to keep him off his back. In fact, I think he learned to roll over because he hates being on his stomach. :) This picture shows me bribing him with a Praise Baby DVD and trapping him in the Boppy -















3 - This past week-end we had our friends Ryan and Megain over for dinner and took some pictures of our kiddies in their matching seersucker outfits (both were gifts from Ryan's mom).


Charlie cooperated with the photo shoot for a little while and then he was outta there!


4 - Tonight I get to go out for a rare few hours by myself. A friend is having a Southern Living at Home party and I am pumped about the free snacks. :)

5 - This week-end my sister, her husband and my nephew are coming into town. We're cooking steaks on the grill Friday night and going shopping on Saturday. I'm so exicted!

OK, I'm off to cook dinner...quiche is on the menu...

Happenings in our house

I just realized that it has been quite some time since my last post. My absence can be attributed to several factors:

1 - I have been sick! I have been all but down for the count since September 10th. I woke up that Saturday morning very ill. And then the antibiotics I took for that illness caused my to have stomach issues until last Monday. So I have spent this week catching up on all that I did not get done last week.

2 - Ryan. He has been working like crazy so I've been running this household alone for the past 2 and a half weeks. Thank goodness he's almost finished with this busy rotation in the Intensive Care Unit! Next week is his last week until November.

3 - Work. I nearly had a nervous break-down this week because once again I was called upon to travel. Now a night alone in a hotel sounds absolutely fabulous (and a night alone in the Omni Hotel in Cville sounds even better) and the free Charlottesville dining experiences are very appealing however Charlie is a very high-maintenance child right now and leaving would be difficult (see Point 4 below). So, after consulting with Charlie's doctor today, I had to tell my boss (once again) that I could not travel. We'll see how long I can stall.

4 - Charlie's health. We are still working on his Torticollis by stretching at home and going to physical therapy twice a week. He is improving, slowly but surely, but the physical delays that sometimes accompany torticollis are starting to be more obvious as he gets older. He was 6 months old yesterday and he cannot sit up yet - he has no trunk control whatsoever. Wearing a collar :( and surgery are both still on the table if he doesn't drastically improve in the next 6 weeks. But he did learn to roll over last week and for that we are thankful. He is also a very high-maintenance eater - still refusing to take a bottle and not too interested in eating baby food. So that makes leaving him VERY difficult. After talking with his doctor today at his 6-month appt, we decided to move him straight to the cup - she doubts he will ever want a bottle now that he has made it this long without it. So please pray for his neck, his physical development in general, his flexibility with eating and for my attitude about his special needs. I am so trying to be thankful that this is all we are dealing with and that we have an overall healthy child but sometimes I just feel so sad for him...and sad for myself that I feel like I can't give him all the attention he needs due to work demands.

On a lighter note, I did purchase a very cool kitchen gadget last week: a Magic Bullet blender. This is the greatest contraption! I bought it with the intention of using it make Charlie's baby food (jarred baby food is repulsive to me and quite expensive) but this thing can do so much more! This morning I enjoyed a blueberry smoothie that literally took about 2 minutes to prepare. It was fabulous. This week-end I'm going to make some broccoli soup and hummus...All in the magic bullet! I'm telling you - CHECK IT OUT! :)

Quote of the day:
"Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men! Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for power equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle for you shall be a miracle." Phillips Brooks, abolitionist minister

Expecting perfection

A few years ago I found this quote:
"If you expect perfection or nothing from human relationships, you will get nothing every time."

Being a perfectionist and somewhat of a control freak, I have always struggled with having too high a standard for others and expecting way too much from everything - friends, family, myself and life in general. So I found this statement very helpful in that it enabled me to put all my relationship struggles in perspective...family interactions, friendships, my marriage.

But for some reason, I have not applied this realization to my relationship with my child. Instead, I have spent the last 5 months expecting a tiny little baby to sleep on command, be hungry when I expected him to be hungry, play when I felt like playing and be content to entertain himself when I had other things to do. Now this may sound absurd but it's true - I really did expect these things to happen. I wanted to be in total control of this new parenting thing.

So yesterday, I had a "bad" day - Charlie wanted to eat more often than usual and that got in the way of my job, my cleaning schedule, my workout plans and the music class that we are doing together. I was highly inconvenienced by his larger than usual appetite and complained to Ryan about how "hard" my day had been. [Side note: last night was one of those RARE occasions in which I get to go somewhere ALONE. I went to a very WASPy dessert meeting for the MCG Women's Auxiliary (basically the wives club at MCG) and kids were not invited. So I slipped out for a brief 1.5 hours of glorious alone time, leaving Ryan in charge of Camp Moody.] So back to my day: as I was driving to this dessert party, IT hit me: what do I expect from Charlie? Whatever it is, it's WAY too much. And that is not fair to him, Ryan or myself. The kid sleeps 11 hours straight at night and takes like 3 or 4 naps during the day. What do I have to complain about? So he is hungry from sleeping so long! Big deal, Emily - let 'em eat as much as he wants to because those 11 straight hours of blessed sleep and peace are SO worth it. And then I started realizing that that this truth applied across the board to parenthood - Charlie and our other future children will not come into the world knowing what to do and they are little sinners. It will be up to us to patiently love and parent them with appropriate expectations. And I know that I didn't come up with this on my own - God is totally using Charlie to change me and for that I am thankful.

So yes, I grew up a little bit more last night during that brief 10-minute drive. I felt TOTALLY different when I came home to my crying child. I felt more patient, much happier and much, much more at peace. I'm sure I'll forget this again (likely later on today) but for now, things are much quieter inside my heart and my head and I feel ready for today...and tomorrow...and the next day.

And I also realized that I DESPERATELY need some time to myself, time to distance myself from all the demands of my job, family, dogs, etc and just be still. I turned off the radio, just thinking and praying during that 10-minute drive and it refreshed my soul more than any other period of time since Charlie was born. My friend Marlo posted this verse on her blog earlier this week and it spoke to me then and again this morning:

Is. 30: 15 - For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,"In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."

Just some new pictures

I don't have anything to say. I honestly can't think of a word to say. But here are some new pictures, courtesy of Ryan's parents high-quality digital camera.

Thoughts on Women

The Today show featured a segment this morning on which I just cannot resist commenting. I don't have much time right now but you all must immediately checkout this article on forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/home/2006/08/23/Marriage-Careers-Divorce_cx_mn_land.html. The first paragraph gives you an idea of the subject of this article: "Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career." And women with careers are defined according to this standard: "a 'career girl' has a university-level (or higher) education, works more than 35 hours a week outside the home and makes more than $30,000 a year...We're not talking about a high-school dropout minding a cash register."

Yikes! I have many, MANY comments about the above and this entire article but for now I'll just say 3 things:
1 - I am a "career girl" based on the standard above and I have a wonderful marriage.

2 - My husband finds my job and my success outside the home fascinating, stimulating and he is proud of me. He is equally proud of my accomplishments at home and is eternally grateful for my caretaking of our home and our son.

3 - I have respect for the women who are not fortunate enough to have blue collar jobs yet still take pride in their work, their careers, if you will. And I find it offensive that this author so demeaned these women.

OK, I lied. I have 4 things to say... :)

4 - This author does not take one important factor into consideration: Christ. As Christian women, we have an anchor stronger than workplace temptations, ego factors or "falling out of love." We are committed to our marriages and our homes because our God has called us to our men, our children and our homes. And no matter what we do in our free time, we know with whom our allegiance ultimately lies and by whom our priorities and subsequent actions are dictated. I tried to copy some relevant versions from Proverbs 31 the Godly woman working diligently inside and outside the home…and being praised by her husband for both but blogger didn’t like it. But do read Proverbs 31 again, even if you’ve read it may times before. http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/search/?q=proverbs+31

Praise the Lord that our successes in our marriages and our work in our homes (or outside our homes for that matter) is not dependent upon us NOT having the opportunity to meet other men, earn a salary or take pride in a skill learned or job well-done!

[Now for the stay-at-home moms reading this post - I am not in any way saying that career is more important than our tasks at home. I 100% believe that a woman's primary responsibility is to her family so let's not even "go there." :)]

True Confessions

I have not gotten dressed for work since Charlie was born. There it is. My secret is out. I have attended phone conferences and delivered presentations in my PJs since I returned to work in May. I sincerely hope that none of my co-workers are reading this blog. In any case, I divulged this information because it is relevant to my newest endeavor: keeping my husband feeling loved and satisfied, my child fed and entertained, my house clean, my clothes freshly laundered, my personal interests/needs indulged, my work requirements met and my sanity intact. Now this is not really a new endeavor - I've been working on this feat (and posting about it) since May however, a new discovery (or rather an old discovery resurrected) has made this goal much more attainable: the flylady.

I was first introduced to the flylady by a friend in Charlottesville. This friend was a Domestic Goddess, if you will, and I really thought that, due to the personality of this friend, the flylady would never work for me. I never even gave her a chance because I thought, "I'll never be this anal; I'll never have a need for such a structured life." WRONG. Yesterday I was sitting at my desk, thinking about to get everything done, so overwhelmed that I couldn't even "do the next thing" as my hero Elizabeth Elliot recommends. Suddenly I remembered hearing about this website that helps women get organized and decided that I definitely had to try it out. But I couldn't remember the name of the site. All day long I tried my hardest to pull the name from the recesses of my brain but no dice - I could not for the life of me remember it! But then last night, as I surfing the net, I made my way to my friend the Marlo's blog and in one of the comments, someone mentioned the flylady! I could not believe it! I took that as a sign that I should immediately begin investigating the FLyLady's goods. So first thing this morning, I joined the group.

One of the more interesting tidbits I read on the website really confirmed my decision to try the FlyLady:
"Since starting this group, I have continually harped on putting your shoes on your feet each morning. I want you to do this and you are not the exception to the rule...I see this problem more in the SAHM (Stay At Home Moms) because often they don't have to leave the house and it is not necessary to get dressed every morning. Only their children are going to see them. I want you to listen very close. You have the most important job of all, raising productive adults. NOW, do you want your children to remember that Mom didn't get dressed until it was time for Dad to get home? Or do you want your children to have to answer the door because you are still in your gown tail and bathrobe? If you would look at your day just like the Payroll SHE and realize that the jobs around the house will take as long as you let it (all day in most cases because you allow it) and get off your "Franny" and get dressed all the way to shoes. Because it is time to go to work."

So it's confirmed: I need to get dressed in the morning and organize my life around the flylady.

I bit the bullet

and bought a treadmill. I am so excited and yet I cannot believe that I spent so much money at one time! Thank goodness for free shipping and payment plans. :) I do consider this to be a good investment, considering we spent almost twice the cost of the treadmill on our Omni Health and Fitness Club membership last year.

I spent several days last week-when I should have been working, cleaning or doing laundry-researching online and I finally settled on the ProForm line of treadmills. I chose this line mainly because of the free shipping and the "hot summer sales event" which gave me several options under $1,000. After changing my mind several times, I decided on the ProForm Crosswalk Caliber Elite which "is more than just a treadmill" as it also has the Crosswalk Upperbody Arms feature, supposedly providing an optional upper-body workout. A built-in fan, well-lit console (??), iFIT® 8-Week Weight Loss Program (??) and a 300-lb weight limit make this THE perfect treadmill for me. :O) It will arrive within 2 weeks (no wonder shipping is free).

Now all I have to do is decide where to put it. The garage is not really an option, since I won't be able to run until the afternoon after I've finished my work day. I think I might die if I ran in my garage in Augusta, GA in the afternoon heat. And I'm not exaggerating. The master bedroom is an option, albeit not a good one since it really has the best furniture we own (besides the coffee table from Walmart, of course) and a treadmill would most certainly spoil my decor. Any suggestions?

Charlie at 5 months

This week marks Charlie's 5th month of life and I must say that he keeps getting more and more fun. Just when you think you couldn't love a little person that you haven't even known very long any more...

The doctor tells you to feed him prunes, because um, he hasn't "gone" in over a week. Now this is a kid who has never even had rice cereal. Prunes have been a disaster...and a really, REALLY big mess. The pictures prove it.


This one shows my cool lime-colored kitchen and Charlie's new toile highchair. :)



Here is my big 5 month old boy, smiling away on his blue shag rug.


And here's a final snapshot from today: Charlie with VERY red eyes hanging out in my office with me, likely wondering, "when is she going to get off that phone and put me to bed?"

Poor buddy, his head is getting better with therapy but we aren't quite there yet...

What am I supposed to do when...

...
1 - the baby has been crying all afternoon and has only slept for one hour since 2pm AND we have small group tonight so he'll be a real treat for that
2 - i've been working ALL day and the work just keeps piling up instead of going away. i wish my email would break - go away, LexisNexis!
3 - the house keeps getting dirtier and dirtier, in my spite of my never-failing efforts to clean it.
4 - i don't get any closer to my old self (size-wise) in spite of my best efforts...and i'm still hungry!
5 - the gymn that i pay $55/month to attend has a 15 kid limit on the child care and the lazy worker says flippantly "sorry, we're full" after i've nearly moved heaven and earth to: feed the baby, dress the baby, dress myself (which is a feat unto itself these days), deal with the dogs, pack the diaper bag and drive the 20 minutes thru evans, ga traffic JUST TO GET TO THE GYMN THAT COSTS $55 PRECIOUS DOLLARS A MOnth to attend (sorry for yelling!)
6 - the brownies that i'm supposed to take to small group are about 1cm thick and burned around the edges
and, after a lunch of blue corn chips and cheese nachos, hebrew national hot dogs are on the menu for tonight.

what am i supposed to do?

obviously i'm supposed to stop and listen to my son's praise baby dvd:
"We are the broken, You are the healer Jesus Redeemer, mighty to save..."

Hhhmm, mighty to save the broken. i definitely qualify today. wow - simple answer to a really, really frustrating day...

thank goodness it didn't say "Emily, you are to heal yourself" because that definitely wouldn't happen.

maybe, because of just stopping to listen to the dvd, by the time ryan gets home, i'll be smiling as i serve the hebrew national hotdogs. and i may even break out some veggie chili to celebrate. :)

Need I say more?

I probably don't need to say more but, being Emily, I can't resist. Thank you, dear friend Jill, for sending me this picture. It completely and perfectly explains a day in the life of Emily, except that: 1) I have 2 dogs, not one cat, 2) Charlie cannot yet crawl (thank goodness) and 3) My office is not in my kitchen!
And one more thing: my hair isn't straight.

I hear wedding bells!

Not my own, of course. Those are distant, faint, and barely audible. The wedding bells I'm referring to now are those of my dear friends Katie McKittrick and Janelle Bulicz! Janelle got engaged about 2 weeks ago and Katie just got engaged this past Saturday. Janelle, obviously in a hurry to tie the knot, has set her date: November 18. I just bought the bridesmaids dress on Saturday - a beautiful apple-colored strapless top and long straight skirt. Good choice, Janelle. This was my 8th bridesmaid dress purchase; Katie's dress will make 9. I'm shooting for 10 so I've nearly reached my goal. After these 2 weddings, I'm thinking of becoming a professional bridesmaid. I could sell my services on ebay. Just a thought...
Anyway, congratulations Katie and Janelle! I love you both and I can't wait for your weddings and all the festivities that will accompany them!

I've seen some blogs recently in which the writers briefly describe what's going on in their lives at the end of every post. I'll try to do that from now on, just because my life is just not that interesting and I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas for posts. :)

What I'm doing now:
Working! Life at the LexisNexis Augusta, GA office has really become quite hectic lately. I'm right now working on daily updates to lexis.com and preparing for a possible trip to Albany, NY at the end of the month to participate in a presentation for the gov't of NY. We are re-bidding on the contract.
Mothering: Charlie is doing really well. Still sleeping 10-11 hours a night and eating 5 times a day. He's starting to really change every week - he's about to roll over and is grabbing everything in sight. It's a really precious time in his little life and I'm enjoying every minute of it. He's still going to physical therapy twice a week for his head problem but we think he's improving. Keep praying if you think about it - he's not out of the woods yet. A collar, a helmet and surgery are all still possibilities.

What I'm reading now:
Before the Darkness Falls by Eugenia Price - the last book in the Savannah Quartet . Georgia just seceded from the Union so I can barely put the book down to do my daily activities. I wonder how it will turn out? :)
BabyWise II: Parenting your Pre-Toddler - I'm reading about how and when to introduce foods and what Charlie's schedule should look in these next few months. A fascinating read, let me tell you. :)
The Fruit of Her Hands by Nancy Wilson - I'm not the biggest Douglas (or Nancy) Wilson fan (I think he's a bit of a separatist and a chauvinist) but my mom (who is a HUGE fan of the Wilsons) gave me this book for Christmas so I'm giving it a shot. I have found good things in this book along with some things with which I simply do not agree. I think I'll do a formal book review when I'm finished with it so that's all for now. I'm sure you will be on the edge of your seat until that post is up. :)

Home again

I must say that at times like this, I'm reminded that I am definitely aging. We are back from our trip to Daytona, sunburned/tan, tired and happy. We had a great time but I am so tired and so happy that tonight we get to sleep in our own bed! I'm sure Charlie is happy about that as well, given the fact that he slept in the closet while we were in Daytona! :) His parents can't sleep well with all the moaning and groaning that comes from his little person (for those of you who haven't slept near a baby, they sound like farm animals when they sleep), and he requires almost total darkness and a white noise machine to get his shut-eye. So into the closet he went and he slept great, just like he does at home. What a trooper.

Some of the highlights of our trip:
1 - Parasailing! We went parasailing on Wednesday and it was so much fun! I expected more of a rush since it has always seemed to me to be such a daring and exciting thing to do but it really wasn't scary at all. Quite the opposite, actually - it was surprisingly peaceful and quiet a thousand feet above the beach. The speedboat ride from the beach out to the boat was fun and take-off was a blast (you just sit down, all hooked up, while the captain speeds up and then the wind just lifts you off the boat). But my personal favorite part of the adventure was when the pilot repeatedly dippsed us into the water as the flight was ending. But I am left wondering...whoever thought to suspend humans from a huge kite and let them soar through the air attached via rope to a boat?

2 - ME TIME! For about 4 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, I was able to sit by the pool and beach and just read. Ryan's parents stayed up in the room while Charlie napped and I had the best time. I realized that I have not had more than an hour to myself since Charlie was born - 4 hours seemed like heaven.

3 - The food! Ryan's parents treated us to all their favorite restaurants and we ate so much. I'm going to have to go to the gymn every day until 2009 to work off all the extra pounds I packed on but hey, it was worth it. Our favorite place was a seafood/ribs/wings place called Charlie Horse. Ryan ordered the all-you-can-eat crab leg special and consumed over 2.5lbs of crab in one sitting. Needless to say, he was a little uncomfortable for the rest of the night! As for me, I ordered the ribs and they were SO DELICIOUS! By far the best ribs I've ever had. We highly recommend it.










4 - You can drive on the beach in Daytona! And not like you drive on the beaches of the Outer Banks in NC. Daytona is a crazy busy beach with tons of sunbathers, walkers, joggers, kids, fishermen and...drivers! It's very bizarre to see such heavy traffic on a busy commercialized beach but it was still neat-o. The parasailing shuttle drove us right down the beach, directly to the tent where we signed up. Very convenient. One more thing: the icecream truck even drives on the beach!

And now for the pictures...I admit they aren't the most magnificient pictures we've ever taken and posted but I know everyone prefers pictures to written blog entries anyway. :)

Charlie in his SPF 55+ beach garb - isn't he a pale little guy?















Ryan "scaring" Charlie with his crab legs















Ryan, his mom, Charlie and I hanging out on the beach




















Dad and his little man















Charlie & Me
































Charlie chillin' on the beach in his car seat















See, I told you the icecream truck drives on the beach!

So long, Blog

Tomorrow we are leaving for our first official vacation as a family of three - we are going to Daytona Beach, FL with Ryan's parents. They own a timeshare down there and have been asking us to join them for years. So this year we decided to take them up on it. We're hoping for some free babysitting and maybe a date or two while we're gone. :) So don't get lonely, blog, we'll be back next week with lots of pictures!

Update

I'm so happy to report that my sister is doing well and while the official pathology report won't be back until next week, we have every reason to believe that this was a benign tumor. Below is the update from my brother-in-law. I couldn't have said it any better!

"Anna's surgery was yesterday morning. Everything went perfectly! Anna will be sore and have to take some pain medication for a couple of days and then should be back to her ole self! The surgeon said that looking at the tumor there is NOTHING about it that shows any signs of any cancer. They have sent it off the the lab to be tested to make 100% sure and we should know that some time next week. Basically the Doctor didn't want to go "on record" saying it was cancer-free, just in case, but that look in his eye to us, was basically saying not to worry at all, because it's not Cancer (just like all the biopsies showed)!
So many folks that we all have known & loved over the years have struggled, fought and battled with cancer... so we are overwhelmed with joy that God's sovereign plan for our little family right now was not to have to fight that battle. But what a comfort to know that that same
faithful God would have led us even if the news would have be bad!
Thank you all for your prayers. It's a true blessing to have so many friends and family praying, calling, and emailing... and having the 2 grandmothers cooking us lots of food is nice too!!! But hard on the diet!
Thanks Again, We love you guys,
Anna, Tyson & David!"

And in other news, I have a new phone! Whew - Nokia to the rescue!

July 4th

As I mentioned in my previous post, Ryan and I spent the week-end of July 4th with my family at Jekyll Island, GA. Jekyll is a quaint little island about 1 1/2 hours from Savannah. It is part of my childhood as it boasts the water park nearest to Savannah, Summer Waves. I spent countless hours during middle and high school riding to and from Jekyll in the IPC van, sunburned and car sick. Fun times. Anyway, back to 2006: Ryan and I drove down to Jekyll from Savannah last Sunday night and checked into the hotel. First order of business was to take the dogs down to the beach (yes, Tyke and Scooby went on vay-cay with us). They loved it, of course. Unfortunately Tyke drank too much salt water and got ocean water diarrhea but that's another story. After taking them to the beach, we went to a fabulous restaurant right on the water. It's basically just a window on the end of pier where you can order alcohol and various types of fresh seafood. We opted for the ever-popular low country boil (a.k.a. frogmore stew if you are from South Carolina) and margaritas. Yum. My fam joined us at the hotel on Monday and we proceeded to do nothing but eat, drink and sit by the pool for the next 2 days. Charlie enjoyed the time with his aunts, uncles and grandparents and we enjoyed all the free baby sitters. One last bit of info from the trip: we saw the space shuttle shoot across the sky shortly after take-off on Tuesday. Very cool experience. Everyone at the pool was captivated by the sight and we all looked on in awe together.

Here are some pictures...

Such is life

I've been "MIA" for the past week, unreachable via phone or email and (obviously) not blogging. There are 3 reasons for this:
1 - My phone broke last Wednesday/Thursday so I don't have anyone's phone numbers (I haven't memorized a phone number since I got my first cell phone in college). I can only call people that are on my speed dial and even then it works really unreliably.
2 - We just got back from a trip to Savannah and Jekyll Island, GA last night. And we didn't get cell phone service on Jekyll.
3 - A family crisis...I am still too stunned to really type much about this one so I'll paste an email that my brother-in-law David sent out this morning.

More on all of this later after I've recovered from the trip and the news below...


From David Gross:
"About 2 weeks ago Anna found a large bump on one of her breasts. About a week ago she had several needle biopsy samples taken to determine what the bump was. After 2 nerve-wrenching days we found out last Friday that the growth was benign (not cancer). All 7 samples that were taken were benign.
The bump is called a fibroid adenoma. It is already large, and the doctor said it more than likely would continue to grow. That, combined with the fact that Anna has a family history of breast cancer means that she will have surgery to remove it.
Her surgery will be next Wed. 7/11/06 at St. Joseph's. She will be put under, however, she will be able to come home that same night. So no overnight stay!
We covet your prayers that Anna's surgery & recovery would go well and that 100% of the growth is benign (they are 98% sure it's all benign, but they are never 100% sure until they take it out and examine the entire thing.)
Sorry for the mass email, but thankfully we have way too many family and friends to call everyone. Again, thanks for your prayers and thoughts, and I'll be sure to update everyone next week after her surgery. "