Don't Wreck Your Head

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!

Vail Marriott Mountain Resort & Spa....

ERIC HERRING:

• Confirmation number: ----------- 
• Check-in date: Wednesday, December, 2008
• Check-out date: Sunday, December, 2008
• Number of rooms: 1
• Number of guests: 4

Thank you for your reservation.

SNOWBOARDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have so much travel coming up. We are in Forida right night for 2 and half more weeks. Then we go home and are going down to Galvaston for Eric's cousin's wedding. Then we go to NJ the first week of September. Possibly TN for Thanksgiving. Then Vail in December.

I really am thankful that my kids get to experience travel. See new states. Meet new people.

When I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of money at all. It was pretty meager a lot of the time. When I was in 6th grade though my dad got a great job in NYC and things were a little better. After a year or two He had to travel for two weeks and then would be home for the weekend and then back on the road for two weeks again. I think he did that for two years, maybe three. I don't really remember. I do remember that it was a brutal schedule and he hated it. In order to keep the family connected, he would take us with him. We would drive to whatever state he was setting up an office in and stay for a month are a few weeks. My parents would get our school work and we would do it in the morning and then head out. The afternoons were filled with that city's history. D.C. and Boston were my favorite and to this day they are two of my favorite cities ever.

Unfortunately, the market changed and my dad's company downsized and he got laid-off. That ended the travel. So, I made a decision that when I had children, I would travel as much as I could with them. I would do whatever we could afford. Jagger is at the age now where he will remember things and that's exciting to me.

I can't wait to see him in ski school!!!

Hee Hee

A Love of Reading

Books are a huge, huge, HUGE passion of mine (Atticus, Scout, Ishmael, Oliver, Olive, Ruby and Jurgis are potential names for us because of the literary lives they have lived). Every since I can remember, my parents have really pushed books on us. Not just reading, because that is different, but a love of books. The smell, the way they feel in our hands, the year they are printed, the stories they hold. I LOVE books.

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is my favorite book of all time. I have the first printing of it and it's so, so special to me. If I ever see it out in a vintage book store, I buy it. If you ever see it, txt me and I will tell you whether to get it for me or not.

Jagger and I have been reading The Lion, The Witch, and The wardrobe at night before lights out. I do about 3 chapters (almost an hour for the parents who are searching for the next book and wondering chapter time) and it's awesome. So, incredibly awesome. I didn't read to him tonight and my mom did his bedtime routine. She came out and she told me that Jagger told her a story about Mr. Tumnus. She said it was awesome. How fantastic is it to be a mommy?

It's a great book to start with.

Eric

Dear Eric Wesley,

   We miss you already and it's only been five days. Five days is chump change compared to what we have been through in terms of separation with your job. I know everyone of our friends in Texas is shocked that we are doing this. Everyone has a comment to make. The thing is, none of them have lived years with just seeing their spouse on the weekend. Well, Kareah and Heath have, but other than them....

We love, we miss you, and we are doing well. You and I talk a few times a day so there isn't much I can tell you on here that you don't already know so I thought I would post you a few videos of the kids.

This first video Jagger took on his own when Hazel was about 3 months old. So, 6 months ago. To me, yes, he has questionable taste in music. Ha! As long as he loves and appreciates Bob Dylan (and oh, does he), U2, Led Zeppelin, The Beastie Boys, The Beatles, The Stones, Heart, Band of Horses, Damion Suomi (his uncle) Death Cab, Travis, Coldplay (if it's only Yellow and A Rush of Blood to the Head then that is absolutely ok) and some obsucre French bands then we are ok. Of course, I am kidding, sort of, and the fact that music moves him is all that matters to me. My sweet sweet heart.

Here are two more of our girl. The first is in Shreveport, MS. The kids and I took Eric there for Fathers Day last weekend so he could play poker until his hears content (I flew to Florida Tueday and he has played every night since then so I am thinking it is never enough). The second is tonight. Hazel just woulod not get tired so we played around with each other until she did. She is my love.

A few things

I like cooking now. I don't know why, but all of a sudden it has clicked. I never, ever ate one meal from a box growing up and have felt like I need to cook the same way for my family. It's healthier, it taste better, and it just makes sense. I have loathed every minute I have had to cook for a long time. Lately, I have been LOVING it. I made Linguine tonight for me and my brothers (Elly was at church). It was yum.

We started Jagger on Ritalin this past week. They have been trying to get us to do it for 2 1/2 years and we have refused and fought and tried a million other things so that he doesn't have to be on medication. I mean a million other things. It's just not fair to him to have to live the way he has been so we are trying it out. It's looking good.

Hazel had her PT eval last week. She did well on some areas and not well in other areas. I had thought she had scored a little higher on her gross motor and had thought the PT told me that it was higher, but on Monday she showed me that her gross motor was at 5 months. She will be fine I am sure. She gave me the exercises to do and told me to do them for 20 minutes everyday. If we were still in TX, she would need to go to the center 3x a week for an hour. We went over every exercise at the appointment and watched her doing them with Hazel (who screamed the whole time) so that I could do them with her while we are here. I'll start them when she is feeling better.

Going to Jersey in September and I. CAN'T. WAIT.

Daisy has a kidney stone bigger than a golf ball and it's being removed tomorrow. My poor baby girl.

I made apple dumplings for my brother tonight. They were delish.

Hazel has a virus I think. I woke her up yesterday at 5:00 am to get ready for our flight and she felt warm. She had a fever so I loaded her up with Motrin and Tylenol since we had to fly. Diarrhea kicked in on the plane. Today the fever was up to 103. She woke up this morning at 8:00 and fell back asleep at 9:00. She slept until 2:30 pm. That is the longest she has slept in her life.

Cooking dinner for the fam tomorrow.

Flipping Out is back on and I am Thrilled. Thrilled I say!

Turning into my hubby...

I have been having a hard time sleeping lately. I am not sure why. There really isn't anything weighty going on in our lives other than the normal. Jagger is doing well and seems to be getting a better handle on some things. He has been so fun and so funny lately. I have been enjoying our time together more than ever. The other day he stopped and kissed me and said "your the best mom" and then went back to doing what he was doing. It was pure magic to me.

Hazel is a breeze also. Not much to report here. She hasn't started PT yet because we (and I mean her doctor and I) are having some issues with the place she is supposed to be going. In the meantime I have been doing some things with her that her Pediatrician recommended and that I had read online. Who knows, maybe they will say she doesn't need anything if what we are doing does the trick. She also adores her brother and the dog tremendously. Her face lights up when Jagger walks in the room, but the dog? She laughs when she comes strolling by. The other night Hazel was laying on the bed and Daisy was next to her. Daisy flipped onto her back and started twisting herself back and forth. Hazel just got a kick out of that and started pushing Daisy with her feet. Then Daisy would make a little growling noise (playful) and Hazel would crack up. Eric, Jagger, and I were on the bed just laughing at what was going on. It was so funny to see Hazel playing.

I'm turning into my hubby though. I had a dream the other night that I had another baby. In my dream, Hazel and I were laying in the bed with the baby and talking and cuddling together when a big group of people came in the room and there was a flurry of activity. I am not quite sure what was going on and then they were gone. After they were all out of the room I realized the baby was gone and I freaked. I grabbed Hazel and tore around the room trying to find the baby. I threw my bedroom door open and ran over to Eric who was sleeping on the couch/watching TV. I yelled where is the baby? He looked at me and said, "in your arms." I said, "no,where is the baby?" He said again, "She is in your arms." I said, "No, not Hazel, the other baby." Then I said, "I'm dreaming and sleepwalking aren't I?" Eric said told me I was and sent me back to bed.

I had grabbed Hazel out of a sound sleep and ran around the room with her looking for a baby that doesn't exist. Then I threw my bedroom door open and ran over to the couch frantically trying to find this baby. I asked Eric the next morning if Hazel seemed OK, because even though I can remember what happened, I was still pretty out of it. He said that when I ran over to the couch and was asking about the baby, Hazel was looking at him with the biggest smile on her face and laughing. I have no idea what kid does that. I would think that most babies that were abruptly grabbed out of a sound sleep and then thrown on your hip and then jostled around while you swiftly searched a bunch of rooms, under the bed, and a closet, would cry or at least would be thinking "WTF" and look a little confused. Not my girl. She laughs.

Anyway, I thought I was pregnant the other day. I had that dream and then out of the blue, a friend of my mothers had a dream that I was pregnant with a girl. No one had any idea that I thought I was pregnant so it was strange for her to have that dream. I haven't even gotten my period back yet, but I know that doesn't mean anything.

Life is good. Kids are great. We leave for Florida on the 17th and I can't wait.