Saturday, March 24, 2012

Explosive Weekend

Sounds fun, yes? No no no. It was explosive in all the wrong ways. Try to imagine how Aurora could be fully clothed--diaper, long-sleeve onesie, and pants, and she could have a poop-xplosion all over the kitchen floor, her, me, and the changing table. Today it managed to get all over the living room as well. Truly impressive. And then throw in Sky and I experiencing all of the weight and glory of a 12-hour, knock-you-out flu. Poor Aurora didn't know quite what to do when Mama was throwing up. She just had a look on her face of "that's not right!!" and I couldn't agree more. It is the definition of "backwards" when the food is on its way out the way it came in. Not right indeed.

I was proud of the fact that in the midst of it all, I could still count my blessings.
1) Aurora was the least effected of all of us--she managed to laugh her way through much of the experience. Couldn't ask for anything more in such circumstances.
2) Sky and I caught it about half a day apart, and so I was just well enough to care for the baby by the time he turned pale and needed to lie down.
3) We will always have the memory of Sky asking me, while I was at my very worst, with his charming smile and playful gleam in his eye: "I know you said you don't want to talk right now, but how about I make you flashcards so you can communicate...things like 'water' and 'food'?" GET. OUT.
4) It is pretty sweet to have such great relationships between the three of us that the only thing we really wanted was each other when we felt every kind of awful. (To be honest Aurora did favor me a bit, which I properly soaked up because some day soon she will be all about Daddy, I just know it.)

Sky is currently napping with the little one, and I am grateful for how quickly this illness-bomb came and went. I even had the wherewithal to clean up the house last night before heading to bed... so now I have a few quiet moments to myself, with no poop or shrapnel in sight. Aaaaaaah. The victory of surviving is sweet, even if we came out on the bottom of a lot of nasty.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The Adventure of Aurora and the Toilet Paper Roll



#1: La de da, I am just innocently wandering...

#2: What is this in my path!?! I must investigate.

#3: Mama can you BELIEVE this guy? Look at him all pretty and raveled... I think he's MOCKING how unraveled you are today!



#4: I'll take care of this...

#5: The texture is like nothing I've ever seen. It must be rare.



#6: Mama you don't want me doing this? But it was all for you...







#7: Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat, of course I'm not gonna do it again!

#8: I'm here because this lever asked me to come in and pull him a hundred times.


Disclaimer: Formatting this mini-story was near impossible, so please have grace with its absurd structure.



Sunday, March 18, 2012

To Begin

I have been debating whether to start a blog or not, and as you can see, I've decided to go for it. There were a few things holding me back:
1. My terrible follow through with things like this
2. Lack of desire to be on the computer more than I already am for school work
3. Not enjoying writing all that much
But, my "go get um" list won out:
1. I have lots of thoughts running through my head each day that would be fun to get out into the world (maybe it will help me to not talk Skyler to death when he finally gets home from work each day)
2. It will give me a better distraction on the computer than facebook when I am on it supposedly doing schoolwork
3. Lots of the people I love are far away, and I'm terrible on the phone--there is a good chance this will help us connect and little better

There you have it... and here is my first entry into this quazi journal online. (sidenote: when I buy things off the internet, I say "I got it offline"...which I didn't know made no sense until Sky pointed it out a little while ago. I think it really depends on the way you think of it though. You decide for yourself... and DON'T all side with him, your MY friends and family!)

I'm going to try really hard on this blog to not insert disclaimers everywhere, and just trust that you get my jokes and don't secretly think bad things about me. We will have to see how that works out, since I haven't been able to do that with my spoken conversations yet...but I think its a goal worth striving for.

So now a thought of importance. I went to a seminar for school held by Rick Hohn, an inspiring man who has overcome incredible obstacles in his life, including cerebral palsy. His ability to triumph and overcome were astounding, and he truly lit up the room when he would laugh and joke during his presentation. (For more information on Rick: http://www.voiceforliving.com/authors/rick-hohn/). During Q & A I asked him what the best thing his parents did to support him through his rough childhood. His answer was not what I expected--"When they read the bible every morning." The implications of that hit me hard--it wasn't any action that they did for their son, but the character that they developed through seeking God that he was grateful for. It was what helped them be good parents to a son that they couldn't understand. Reading from this book of love made their child feel ultimately loved. Not a cool toy, or kraft mac n' cheese (as their commercial campaign would have you believe), or even story time every night... although I'm sure he enjoyed all of those things too. It was something bigger, WAY bigger than those things. And yet so accessible at the same time.

I regret to say that since hearing that I have not read my bible every morning in order to be the best mommy I can to my precious little Aurora. There are so many reasons why: I think it will be boring, or repetitive, or feel like a chore. I tell myself I don't have the time, or I don't know where to start, or I just simply would rather turn on the television and zone out in my few minutes alone before she wakes up too-soon from her nap. But ultimately, those are lame reasons to not be the best mama I can be. And truly, I should tell those voices to shut up and sit down for a good read that will nurture my soul and evoke some important thoughts. Transformative thoughts. One's that my soul will appreciate and my whole family will benefit from. Yes, there are so many reasons why I should pick up that book each day, and hopefully I can remember them in the coming weeks so I don't get detoured by the fear of heavy-lifting. I'm sure you'll be able to tell based on the ideas that come pouring out of me onto these pages... or that don't. I told you at the beginning that I'm not very good at following through with these sort of things.

Goodnight,
Bri