Monthly Archives: September 2010

The Flip Side

Not too long ago, some friends of mine started a fun little weekly photo link-up.
Most of us tend to find ourselves behind the camera and rarely in front of it,
So instead of just hiding behind your camera, you can take pictures of yourself hiding behind your camera!

(all pictures taken on my Droid)


Door Knob Follies

Patient Pup anticipating how delish that treat will be!


Always driving around town in my Stagger Wagon

Click here for more Flip Side pictures:

Weekly Winners


Harvest Moon


Both of my boys with their war wounds


Best cookies evah(recipe from Smitten Kitchen)


Lazy Lounging


21 weeks and scrub pants(all wrapped up with a bow)


Falling rains bring falling temperatures


Rediscovering Old Toys Together


Iron Ivy Lantern

Go find more Weekly Winners at iamlot.us

A Taste of Fall

I wish I lived somewhere that had four distinct seasons.
I wish I lived somewhere that didn’t leave you in short sleeve shirts on Christmas morning.
I wish I lived somewhere where fall lasted more than a few days.

But I don’t.
And I probably never will.

I have some friends (*cough*Sarah*cough*) who had to pull out the sweatshirts weeks ago.
And who are enjoying a true, crisp-air-apple-eating autumn.

But down here in the deep South, we won’t see real fall weather until probably November.
(That’s ok…I won’t be digging out from under eleventy-billion inches of snow in January.)

But there are a few trees around here don’t seem to know that it’s still in the 9o’s every afternoon.
And there’s that wonderful, magical, golden hour…right after the sun greets the day…
And the air is crisp and cool not sweltering,
And the leaves shine in majestic glory,
Filling me with warm fuzzies of epic proportions.

And if I can only get autumn for a few minutes each morning,
I should at least be enjoying it while I can.
I think I need these for breakfast tomorrow, don’t you?
You know, in the spirit of the season.

20 Weeks

The nausea is (mostly) gone.
The exhaustion is getting (a little) better.
The headaches have stayed away so far this week.
(Yes, I know it’s only Monday…but it’s a victory in my book!)

Things are going well.
I can feel Little Miss bouncing and kicking around.
I get to “see” her again next week at the big check-it-all-out appointment.

Today I am 20 weeks.
And I am finding that hard to believe.
I’m half way there.
(Over half way, if I follow my previous patterns.)

And I’m excited.
And I’m still taking it all in
And trying to revel in all the little moments
,
All the lasts.

I know that this is my last pregnancy,
And I am trying my damnedest to enjoy every minute of it…
But it’s hard for me not to mourn the fact that this is the last one.

I constantly finding myself thinking,
“This the last first time I’ll feel a baby move inside of me.”
“This is the last first time the big kids will press their hopeful hands to my belly, wishing to feel a little kick.”
“This is the last first time I’ll buy a cute little baby onesie for one of my own babies.”
And all the last first-ness?
Is killing me.

I want to savor each moment, soak it all in, breathe it all in deeply(while I can).
But finding the line between not looking too far ahead(like I am so apt to do)
And cherishing the moment(like I so want to do) is proving to be difficult for me.

I’ve always always always been one to plan ahead, be prepared.
And I’ve always wanted to be one of those live-in-the-moment people.
But now that I’m trying that?
It’s just stressing me out.

So instead of focusing on all that is passing me oh-so-quickly…
Instead of making every little detail a big one…
Instead of constantly thinking “last, last, last”…
I’m going to just take it one day at a time,
And enjoy each of those days and whatever joys it brings.

No looking back.
No looking forward.
(Ok, maybe a little of both.)

Casey said, “I’m not going to spend very many days of my life pregnant, so the ones I do have? I’m going to enjoy.

Yes.  Just yes.

My view of 20 weeks (decorated by Lydia)

Ten Things Your Pediatrician Wants to Tell You But Never Will

As a doctor’s wife, I hear one half of a lot of on-call conversations.
I also get to hear the things that my husband says after he hangs up the phone or gets home after a long day.
He is very, very careful about not breaking HIPAA regulations so I don’t get details,
But I have learned a few basic things along the way that other parents might like to know.

Ten Things Your Pediatrician Wants to Tell You But Never Will

1. I don’t mind if you call me on the weekend.  Really, I don’t.  But if your child has been having a problem since Tuesday and you wait until Saturday night to call me, there’s not going to be a whole lot I can do for you.

2. Before you call me at 2am, ask yourself: “Is (s)he going to tell me to do anything right now or just tell me to meet in the office first thing in the morning?”  Because if the answer is “meet me in the office first thing in the morning” then you can just call me early in the morning instead of waking me up.  (Also?  A great resource for parents that will answer a lot of usual questions is healthychildren.org by the American Academy of Pediatrics.  The information found here is sound and very helpful to most parents.)

3. It’s generally not a good thing if you page me and I recognize your phone number.  Call me if you need me, but sometimes babies cry for no reason and sometimes they just don’t sleep.  Learning when to worry and when not to worry is hard, I know, but please refer to #2 before you call me.

4. If you page me, I will do my best to call you right back.  Please do me the courtesy of answering your phone when I call.  It’s very frustrating to stop what I’m doing and call you back only to get your voice mail.

5.  Along the same lines, please get off of your phone when I am in the exam room.  Especially with small children, I need your attention and your input.  We are trying our best to stay on schedule and if I have to wait on you to finish a call, then I’m going to be late for my next patient.

6. When getting a shot or fingerstick, your 17 year old should not out-scream or out-cry the 3 year old in Room 1.

7.  I love informed parents and I heartily believe in parental intuition.  I also know that you researched your child’s problem on the internet and that Dr. Google is telling you that the diagnosis is _______.   I don’t think I’m better than you, smarter than you or anything like that…but I don’t tell my plumber how to fix my pipes, and I hope that you won’t tell me how to do my job.

8. Being nice to my staff can sometimes be to your advantage.  (*hint*hint*)

9.  Your one appointment for your one child with one problem really shouldn’t turn into one appointment for three kids with multiple problems.  I don’t mind working with you on each of these issues, but adding extra problems or extra children to an appointment makes me run behind.  Let my scheduler know ahead of time how many children you want to be seen and which issues you’d like to discuss and we will try our best to set aside ample time to address all of your concerns.

10. Sure your kid is cute, but my kid is cuter.  (Just kidding.)  (A little.)

The real 10.  All pediatricians are different, just like all teachers or mechanics are different.  If you are uncomfortable with your child’s pediatrician or worried about her/his practice methods, it is okay to find another pediatrician who “fits” your family better.  But please don’t doctor-hop.  Continuity of care is very important and can only be developed over time.

Special thanks to Marshall and many of our pediatrician friends for their input on this list.

Weekly Winners{Quote-able Edition}

Find more Weekly Winners over at Loter’s place.

I am never alone

I am never alone.
And yet I crave aloneness.
I yearn, oh how I yearn for stillness and quiet…
For a moment of not being needed, not being called, not being.

I love it.
I love the chaos.
I love the noise.
I love being needed.
Usually.

But sometimes…
Sometimes…
Sometimes I just need to be alone.

Sitting in the sunshine.
Hearing the wind blow.
Closing my eyes and seeing infinite darkness.
Stilling my heart,
My mind.

I know I will miss it one day.
I know I will miss being called “Mommy”,
And watching Mickey Mouse,
And fixing milk cups.

I try, I mean I really really try to live in the moment-
Soak it in, remember it, revel in it.

But sometimes-
times like now-
I just need silence.

I need to not be needed.
I need to sit…
Alone…
And just be me.

But you know what happens when I am alone?
I find that I’m not really alone.
I close my eyes; I still my mind.
And there they are…
Precious little faces, little voices
Nosing their way into my thoughts.
So much a part of me that I can’t seem to separate myself from them.

I am a mother.
And I am never alone.

And no matter how old they get,
Or how much they change,
Or how far apart we are…
I will never be alone.
And for that I am grateful.

From the mouth of (geeky) babes…

Carter:  Mommy, I’m tired of writing the same sight words, so I’m gonna do ’em different, ok?

Me: What do you mean by “do them different”?

Carter:  I was thinking maybe just a different font, ok?

What’s in a name?

So we’re having a girl.
Girl names are supposed to be easy.
But for me the boy names always flowed, coming almost effortlessly.
(Although I’m pretty sure that Jesse disagrees with me on that!)

With girls it’s a whole new ballgame.
You want a name that’s strong, yet light.
A name that can sound official enough to be president,
But gentle enough that it fits if she decides to open a bakery.
You want it to sound tough enough to shout at softball games and sound fierce,
But feminine enough that it will fit if she’s a bread-making-baby-wearing mama one day.

You want it to roll easily off the tongue,
And fit well with the other names.
Carter, Lydia, Asa and…

Yet the name I keep coming back to is different from all my other kids.
It’s been in my mind for such a long time, but never shared with anyone but Marshall.
It’s a double name…and I’m not generally a fan of double names.
But it haunts me, whispers in my ear.
Put together it means “Gracious Old Friend”.
What a wonderful, beautiful meaning.

I’ve never, ever heard of anyone with this name.
I even googled it to no avail.

I think it’s perfect,
But I doubt myself.

It’s different.
It’s unique.
(But not weird.)

If she decided to use just one of the names,
She could pick either the traditional one
Or the more unorthodox one.

But…what if…
What if she hates it?
What if she hates being different?
What if she just wants to be like the other girls with names like Maddie and Addie and Ellie.
(For the record, I like those names just fine!)

Naming a baby is hard work!
And it stresses me out.
I need a nap.

Getting What You Wish For

From the moment we decided to go for baby #4, I wanted a little girl.
I’m a sucker for patterns(boy, girl, boy, girl).
And while I love my little boys, they don’t like it when I put hairbows in their hair.
And there are few things cuter than a little girl with fantastic hair accessories.

But now that we know(with 97ish% certainty) that she is actually a she,
I’m getting a little sentimental about my boy stuff.
There are plenty of things I’ll be getting rid of, but things I will keep.
Like the teeny tiny little blue outfit that both of my boys wore home from the hospital.
And a handful of other things that will be packed up,
Saved for another lifetime when I will open up the boxes,
And close my eyes and remember holding my boys,
And breathe in the smell of happy, sweaty little boys-
A smell that’s long gone from those clothes, but forever in my mind.

I got what I wished for…and I’m happy.
But even in happiness, there’s a tinge of sadness.
A little “oof” moment that takes my breath away.
And I am so grateful for the boys I have.
And for my girls.
And I wonder if life gets any better than this.