Wildflower Pedicures

Wildflower Pedicures

Not long ago, my friend Brook and I were laughing about how easy it is to entertain kids with simple, household items.  You know, the "box is usually cooler than the toy" type of things.  For several weeks this winter, the girls colored the outside of a giant white cardboard box (Santa must have left it here by mistake when he brought their presents) preparing to make it a fort.  Likewise, Brook suggested this summer we send our kids outside with sponges or paint brushes and a bucket of water to "paint" the driveway.  Then when it dries up, they can "paint" some more!  Genius!  Just as much fun as sidewalk chalk and much less mess!  My girls, however, had another plan.

Don't look too closely, though, or you will see how badly
I need an actual pedicure!

We were outside a few weeks ago enjoying the weather when A & C came to show me their great new idea, "Mommy, we want to paint your toes!"  Hmmm...I paint their fingers and toes fairly often and I was worried they thought it was time they got a turn with the nail polish.  But before I could come up with a clever way to weasle my way out of that adventure, they clarified their intentions.  "We're going to paint your toes with these pretty flowers!"  The pretty flowers they were referring to are actually the white wildflowers that grow in places nothing else can.  Far be it for me to pass up a pedicure of any kind - so paint away girls!  They went to get water from the inflatable pool so when they painted my toes they would "sparkle" in the sun.  Daddy even let them paint his toes a couple times!  He was a great client :)  So we spent last Sunday, once again, giving each other wildflower pedicures...and some manicures too! 

Making my toes "sparkle"

We couldn't finish without doing manicures too!

Tale of Many T-shirts

Getting dressed for my run tonight, I grab a pair of shorts and a t-shirt off the top of my pile of running clothes in my closet.  They never actually get put away; why bother?!? I often wonder which neighbors I will see out on my run and what interesting tid-bits I will learn along the way.  Tonight, however, for some reason I wondered the opposite.  What do people think when they see me run by?  Often I am curious about the neighbors regularly I see along my path. 

First, I consider what they might see as I pass them by.  I usually wear my wedding rings when I run, so if they are looking closely enough, they would know I am married.  My hair is always up in a ponytail and I'm sporting some solid color knit shorts (unless I need to do laundry, then I am forced to pull the black mesh "UCA cheerleader" shorts from high school from the depths of my bottom drawer) and tennis shoes.  Not much to go by so far.  All relevant "information" they could use comes from my t-shirts. 

So what do my t-shirts say about me?  A few are Colts shirts that I just don't wear much anymore, including an AFC Champs shirt from 2007 that my husband rendered "useless" after we won the Super Bowl that year.  (Who cares?  We beat the Pats for that title!  A great memory regardless.)  A couple are from other 5K's, including (and my favorite!) the one my friend Kristen designed for the 5K I organized in Ava's honor last August benifiting Peyton Manning Children's Hospital.  Some are Comair shirts from my airline days and others have Hanover College written across the front. But most of my "running shirts" are old Chi Omega or Sigma Chi shirts from college - one even has Gilligan's face on the back!  Another one is simply white with a giant black skull and crossbones on the front.  No greek letters or other indicator that this shirt actually had a purpose once (I think it was our sorority IM shirt one year) just a large pirate symbol across my chest. 

Seriously, what are my neighbors thinking?  If they notice me as often as I notice them, they might be a little worried!  The couple down the street who is usually arguing with the windows open, I'm sure they couldn't care less.  But my retired neighbor across the street or the doctor on the cul-de-sac who routinely tend to their lawns during my run or any of the three police officers who live along my route (Brownsburg, Speedway and IMPD...I guess this is a pretty safe neighborhood!) - what do they think about this Colts-loving, skull-and-crossbones-wearing, sorority girl and one-time cheerleader who happens to be their neighbor?  Maybe one night I'll stop and ask!

To My Tresses: Welcome to 2010

So after coloring my hair last month, somehow I still wasn't totally over my "transformation" phase.  Don't get me wrong, I *love* my new color!  But I felt like something was missing.  Enter my search for a new styling tool.  Yes, this hair thing has become a bit of an obsession.

It should be noted that I am one of 10 people on the planet who still use a curling iron on a regular basis.  I'm not talking about fancy up-do's or special occasions.  Nope, every morning that I actually fix my hair, (which is about 2-3 times /week) I heat up the curling iron.  My stylist still teases me about it, practically begging me to at least try a flat iron but, as I mentioned in my last post, I am a creature of habit.  So it only took 10 years and my beloved curling iron actually falling apart for me to give this whole flat iron thing a try.  First I tried a hairdryer-roundbrush combo that sounded too good to be true...and it was.  Dry my hair and style it at the same time - Awesome!  How efficient!  Well, unless it doesn't actually dry your hair.  Disappointed, I return it and decide I'm going back to my curling iron...except there's this great-looking, resonably priced flat iron next to the curling irons I was checking out.  Now, I understand the CHI iron is the best there is, but seeing how I am new to the flat iron game, I am not going to shell out $130+ for something I have no idea how to use.  So this flat iron compares itself to the CHI iron and is a fraction of the price, so I decide to give it a go.  After a little experimentation and deciding I need to become more ambidextrious to properly use this thing, I have successfully used the flat iron to style my hair the way I thought only celebrity stylists knew how!  Now, it took much longer than my daily routine allows but for a special date night or girls night out, I'm set!

A Change Will Do Me Good

Now I am a creature of habit, but even I have to admit that sometimes change is good.  Now that you inevitably have the Sheryl Crow song in your head (at least I do) let me explain.  I turned 29 a few months ago and it hit me harder than I expected it to.  Suddenly I was faced with the possibility of leaving my 20's behind me with some regrets. 

Before I proceed, I need to mention that anyone who has the urge to remind me that age is just a number and 30 isn't *that bad* need not respond.  I was driving a mini-van at 27, I know it can't get that much worse!  Like so many women before me, I'm not looking for you to "fix it" I just want to vent!  :)

I digress.  Before my birthday I started thinking about all the things I wanted to do in my lifetime.  Traveling, lots of traveling, was at the top of that list along with other things like Colts games and road trips to new places and spontaneous adventures!  In the past 4 years all the spontaneity has been sucked out of me (kids will do that!) but the others remain.  Somehow, my approaching birthday brought all this to my attention. 

First, I came to terms with the excess baby weight that refuses to go away (still 5 lbs to go) and decided to give running a try.  Turns out, I love to run!  I have tried running many times in the past, but not since high school have I actually enjoyed it.  I even took a running class in college (yes, and got credit for it!) because I thought that would give me the motivation I needed...nope, I  just needed 3 kids to truly appreciate the 30 minutes of complete silence running outdoors provides.  

Running my first 5k - July 4th in Greendale.

Next up, a makeover...I wish!  Sadly, "What Not To Wear" is not coming to my house anytime soon and a shopping spree isn't exactly in the budget.  So what's the one thing I haven't changed once in 29 years?  My hair color!  Yes, it's been some shade of blonde my entire life, which suits me really, but I've always wanted to be a red-head.  So auburn red it is!  Seriously, everyone should experience the kind of mini-thrill I got when she took the towel off my head to reveal my new hair color...it was amazing!  I loved it from the moment I saw it :)  As my stylist told me while she was coloring it, "Not everyone is sassy enough to pull off red!"  I know it's her job to make me feel fabulous, but I like to think I am just sassy enough to pull it off!     

I have also been able to convince my less adventurous husband that a little couple time is good for the soul.  We road-tripped it to NC last November for a friend's wedding and will be cruising the Carribean in the spring for our official birthday celebration.  And there's still plenty of time to travel Europe and maybe take in a few more Colts games before we're *gasp* old!     

My sassy new 'do!

Old Habits Die Hard

We've entered into a new baby phase...Baby Food!  Parents everywhere know this means that, instead of spending $75+ per month on formula, we're now redirecting some of that money to the baby food budget!  (In my head, this is supposed to cost less, but given the prices of organic baby food I'm not sure it actually is!  By the way, I know I *could* make my own, but seriously, who has time for that?!?)  

So last week I head to the grocery store with a cart full of kids (the girls, for some reason, really wanted to ride in the cart that day though this is highly unusual) and just enough room for a couple nights worth of dinner and a lot of baby food.  Though it has been nearly 3 years since I have purchased baby food, I started doing the math in my head as soon as I started down the aisle.  You must understand that buying baby food for the girls (who have always been big eaters, despite their size) was an expensive event, so I was preparing myself for how many jars I was going to need and how much it was going to cost. 

I start filling the cart with jars and jars of pureed fruits and vegetables.  It's not long before I have to kick the girls out of the cart.  They were ready to get out anyway, they tell me, and they think it's hilarious that their seats of 2 minutes ago are now covered with these tiny glass jars that make "fun sounds when you click them together."  Thankfully there would be no Clean Up on Aisle 4 today! 

Once I get home and am putting all of these entertaining little jars away,  I realize that I bought everything in two's!  Yes, I had two or four of nearly every kind of jar on the shelf.  Which would be fine if this was the third or fourth time I had purchased baby food for Baby Drew and I already knew what he liked. 

I was so used to buying baby food in twos (one for each girl) that I never stopped to consider that Drew might not like half of this stuff!  Unfortunately, he had not tried any of these 2nd foods yet.  I knew which 1st foods he preferred, so I had gotten more of things mixed with apples, pears and sweet potatos...but the multiple jars of peas and brown rice turned out to be a mistake.

One happy little guy!

The upside to this "oopsie" is that Drew has proved to be an even better eater than his sisters.  Easily taking down his 4-4.5 oz jars at breakfast and lunch...and even ate 6.5 oz at dinner last night!  So, though we may have a surplus of some things he'll just have to suffer through once or twice more at least it will last us through a couple of weeks.  With all the transitioning my brain from two babies to one, this humorous little event was a welcome change!  :)

The Tough Questions Start with "Why?"

"But Why Mommy?"  If I had a dollar for every time I had to answer that one!  Not long after the girls turned 2, the "why's" (and the "why not's) began.  Why do I have to take a nap?  Why can't I have chocolate milk 24/7?  Why do I have to pee in the potty?  Why can't I wrestle my sister to the floor if she takes the princess dress I wanted? 

This list could go on forever...but not all of the "why" questions are amusing.  For the past two and a half years, we've wrestled with some tough questions, but I have been able to mostly avoid them with simple explanations that I decided were good "for now."  I was caught off guard with another one of those last night.  "But why do I have to wear my boot, Mommy?" 

Since Ava's bout with meningitis and subsequent stroke in January of 2008, she has had different braces to support the weakness in her right calf muscle and heel cord.  She used to have to wear a brace all day but not at night.  Since she started receiving Botox injections last September, she rarely wears her daytime brace, but has a night brace that's supposed to keep her muscles from tightening up overnight.  She just had another Botox injection a couple weeks ago, so it's very important for her to be wearing her night brace, especially right now.  I tried the old "because it will help your muscles feel better" that used to work well enough but at almost 4, she knows there should be more to the answer. 



After a couple more attempts at skirting the issue, I finally tried to explain.  "When you were really little, your leg was hurt and you need to wear your "boot" until it gets better.  Just like when you get a scrape on your arm and you wear a band-aid until it gets better.  Your leg will take a lot longer to heal, though." 

Ava talking to Carli on the phone after her latest Botox injection

"Why doesn't Carli have to wear a boot?" I should have seen this one coming too... "Well, her leg wasn't hurt.  But remember your friend Evan?  He has boots too that he wears sometimes."  Thank Goodness for Evan, because she seemed to remember that she'd seen him wearing his boots before too!  She was still skeptical, and didn't end up wearing her boot last night.  (She had to wear her daytime boot today instead.)  But it took every ounce of my energy to make it downstairs before I lost it.

Once we settled into our therapy schedule a couple years ago, I made it my mission to never treat Ava differently than Carli and to make sure everyone else we came in contact with was following suit.  To the best of my knowledge, this has worked pretty well.  We don't make excuses if Ava doesn't pick something up as quickly as Carli might or ever let her say "can't."  But I sense we're moving into a new, tougher chapter of "why's."  With God's help, and several boxes of Kleenex, I pray we find the right answers at the right time. 

Two of the most amazing blessings I have ever known!

Birthday Bonanza Weekend

So many birthday's, so little time!  This weekend, my brother in law turned 30, my great-grandma turned 90 and my other brother in law is 28 today.  Not to mention my good friends Abby and Liz who joined me in the final year of our 20's last Monday and today, respectively...Happy Birthday to all! 

Saturday we set out for Jeffersonville OH to visit my great-grandma, Nana Muriel.  At some point during the marathon road trip (6.5 hours in the car, 5.5 hours eating, visiting and shopping) I realized that I was never lucky enough to have met any of my great-great grandparents and now all three of my kids have met two of theirs - my Nana Muriel and Nick's Grandma Redman, who turned 96 (I think) in April. 

Though I haven't seen Nana Muriel in 2.5 years, she is still as fiesty as ever - she was actually at the salon getting her hair done when we arrived!  I hope I'm still visiting the salon when I'm 90!  She told us she never watches the TV in her living room, which amazed me!  On the other hand, Nick has promised to get cable when he turns 90, so I have that to look forward to :)  Maybe ESPN Classic will still show reruns of the Colts-Bears Superbowl XLI!  (Classic only because it was the first Superbowl in the rain, not because it was a great game.)   

Our visit with Nana Muriel was a good one, but soon it was time to leave.  However, I was not about to drive all the way to Jeffersonville and not stop at the outlets before I went home!  This is not just any outlet mall - sure Edinburgh is great for my outlet fix, but Jeffersonville has the cream of the crop - Pottery Barn and PB Kids, kate spade, BCBG, White House/Black Market plus everyone's favorites like Coach, Gymboree, Gap and Banana Republic, etc.  Obviously, given our already hectic day, spending much time at the outlets was not an option.  I had time for ONE Store (so I was told by my driver :) )...and what did I choose?  PB Kids of course!  Scored some excellent deals on lunch gear, curtains for Baby D's room and an adorable baby book that matches the one's we got the girls 4 years ago!  And a very special cyber-space thank you to the employee who climbed the wall of boxes in the store room to find the *one* handtowel that I needed to complete the kids bathroom ensemble!!  I'm glad she loves her job :) 

Finally we were on our way home.  We spent all day recovering from our long day Saturday (4 of us even took naps!) but I'm so glad that we were able to visit with Nana Muriel on the day before her actual birthday!  What a fun family memory...and as soon as I figure out how to add pictures to my post, you will get to see pictures of my kids with their great-great grandma!

Happy 90th Birthday Nana Muriel!

Celebrating the Small Victories

Baby D is getting so big!

Today was one of those days.  This morning at breakfast I told the girls that we had some errands to run today.  Now, this doesn't sound like your typical bribe, but apparently a trip to the store can be quite exciting if you are (almost) 4 years old.  The "be good or we won't get to go to the store" line works about 75% of the time, and that is most certainly a gamble I am willing to take!  After we ate, I gave my son his bottle, cleaned up the kitchen and attempted to straighten up the living room (the last one was clearly a waste of time, as I knew it would be, but sometimes my OCD wins.) 

I'm helping the girls get dressed and my baby boy gets restless.  To calm him down, I lay him in the pack and play with God's gift to mom's everywhere - his pacifier!  10 minutes later,the girls are dressed and ready to go...and my boy's asleep!  No problem, the girls can color and play dress up for a bit until he wakes up.  He's generally a cat-napper during the day, so I'm thinking 20-45 minutes max. then we're off.  Alas, my little QB had other plans - like a 4 hour nap!  During this time, the girls have decided that every disagreement must end in either a screaming or wresting match, or both.  (Not exactly where it came from, but they love to "play wrestle" - oftentimes in their princess dresses!  What could this possibly mean??) 

At 2:30pm I had to wake him up because I feared for my sleep tonight!  Finally at 3pm we're ready to go...except that 30 seconds after strapping the last kid into her carseat, a monsoon is unleashed outside our garage door.  Seriously?!?  I try to explain to the girls that we can't do errands today but they won't take no for an answer.  I do need to go to the bank and drop something at the post office - so drive thru only errands today!  Plus the 30 minutes of calm in the car would be good for everyone...and as all three kids snoozed during our brief outing I realized that, even with the craziness of the day's events, there were some exciting things to celebrate too!

First and foremost, Baby D, who just turned 6 mths last week, sat up for a full 5 minutes today!  Bouncing, laughing, turning his head and staying balanced the entire time!  (Isn't it funny how the tiniest little things become so exciting!?)  The girls, through all their arguing, were still super-helpful today and I did actually get a couple of my errands run - which I had already chalked up to a loss when I saw the rain start.  It's all about perspective, I guess, but I'm happy to celebrate the small victories every day!

The girls "helping" their baby doll.

Dream Job

I've been running this phrase through my head for several months now and the writer in me feels compelled to share my thoughts with you.  Back in March I attended my good friend Sarah's baby shower and was catching up with her sister, Rachel.  Rachel asked me what I was doing (work-wise) these days and I, rather sheepishly, responded that I stay at home with the kids.  Before I could begin to process why I was embarassed, she surprised me with her response, "Wow, what a dream job!"  Really?  Did I hear her correctly?  We chatted a little more before the shower was over but her words stayed with me that day.  As I drove home, I went over our conversation a few more times. 

I know I'm fortunate to have been a stay at home mom for the past 4 years but I didn't realize until that day how blessed I truly am.  Most of my mom-friends work outside the home in some capacity and many days I envied their "escape" from a kid-centered world (this includes you, teacher friends!)  It wasn't until I tried to understand the meaning of Rachel's seemingly unusual response that I began to see my good fortune!  I have never missed a first: a first roll, a first scoot, a first crawl, the first time sitting up (and falling down), first babbles, first words, first trips...I was and am able to be there for all of them!  Don't get me wrong, I still dream of a career in broadcasting or PR or sports or, if I should be so lucky, some combination of them all...someday!  But right now I am happy to know I'm right where I belong. 

Let me not fail to mention, however, that without the support of my wonderful husband my life would be much different.  His hard work and sacrifice allow me the opportunity to experience motherhood in this unique way!  Love you!

I know every family has different needs and circumstances, so let me be clear - moms and dads  everywhere should be applauded for the work they put in every day for their families, wherever "work" might be :) 

And a special thank-you to Rachel for the valuable insight I'm sure you had no idea you were providing (until now!)