Distraction

My cell shows that the Saturday night call lasted twenty-nine seconds. Twenty-nine seconds in which I said nothing but “Hello” and then Mom told me that she had driven herself to the ER and that she “almost called an ambulance and it was probably a mistake to drive myself but I was in so much intense pain and I threw up and I just wanted to get here and I’m calling to tell you to keep your phone on in case something happens.” She was panting as if she had just finished sprinting. And then she hung up. I didn’t get to say anything else. Just hello.

Read the rest here.

Flying Ponies

On our way in to town this morning, Sammy and I were talking about the clouds. We were winding along highway 35 between the Nathan Wolfe Memorial Wildlife area where Sam recently told me “things that suck your blood live” and the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge where Sam says “that funny duck with the big head swims.” A half dozen white egrets stretched their necks to fish near the wild celery, and a few others sat in the crooks of a dead tree that reflected on the water. As our Subaru slowed to let a train clear the tracks in front of us and the bright sunlight behind us created dramatic whites and grays on the clouds hanging over the bluffs, Sam told me you can’t move clouds with your mouth like you can the fuzzy tips of dandelions.

See the rest here.

My amazing friend Katherine who is taking some time off to welcome her new son and prepare for her book to be released in October, asked me to write a guest post for her, and I was honored.

Bouncing Genetics

When I was a child, my mother used to leave me in my room to nap and I'd bounce against the side of the crib, little-by-little moving the crib across the room. As I got older I would sit on the living room couch watching TV and throw myself against the cushions on the back. Our family termed this strange rocking behavior that caused strangers to ask if I might be autistic "bouncing." And despite my mother's best efforts to break me of this habit that would tangle my hair and destroy the legs of her furniture, I still did it even in college, occasionally bouncing my way across the state as I drove home for a weekend visit.

If the video I posted of Sam at this age didn't convince you that this is genetic, then check out his little sister:

Mommy, I Love Fireworks!

Yay, fireworks!

The show lasted 20 minutes, but the memories will last a lifetime. This was the first year Sam has actually been awake for the fireworks our neighbors shoot off in the backyard during their annual family party, but he'd been excited about it all day. He talked about it while we were in the pool and while we were eating burgers and while he and Ham were running around the yard shooting each other with water blasters. He shivered with excitement when I told him that he had to get out of the pool and dry off before the show started. He told me "this is a good spot" as he pulled his little blue adirondack up next to me on the porch when the first warning shot of the evening went off. And from the very first light explosion, Sammy was riveted. Wow! Whoa! Wow! That was a big one! That was a loud one! That one went really super high! Eva slept through the entire show, and I even went to make sure she was still breathing because I didn't think anyone could sleep through the mortar rounds just 50 yards from our house. But she'd had a long day in the heat, and she, like her big brother during previous years, was nearly comatose throughout the entire evening. When I attempted to put Sam to bed at 11pm (with friends still sitting in lawn chairs surrounding citronella candles and whipping glow sticks into circles), he laid down next to me and said "Mommy, I love fireworks!" He wanted to know if we could have them at his birthday party and why he had to go to bed when everyone else was staying up. So up he got, and I let him snack on cheese and chips and popsicles and show off his dinosaur toys and his Paper Jam guitar to the big boys in the kitchen until the last guests left around midnight. An evening I'll never forget.

Waiting for our friends to arrive

Cooling off in the pool

Eva rests in the shade

Stella's turn

Ham grabs dinner before the show


Ready for fireworks


One last dip in the pool before the show


Sam shares glow sticks after the show

Sarah and James enjoying their night out

Here are some brief snapshots of Sammy watching his first fireworks show up close.

Simply Impossible

Sarah, Sam, Ann and Zack at the La Crosse Loggers game

It's simply impossible to describe how much fun we had with TT and Ann and "the cousins" last weekend (and I'm too exhausted to try). In our four days together we hiked Brady's Bluff, rode carnival rides and threw darts and "fished" and ate cheese curds at Catfish Days, heated up at a Loggers game, cooled down at the beach, made and decorated and ate a birthday cake for TT's special day, and managed to find time for playing in the pool, harvesting the garden, battling with water pistols and soaping up the slip n' slide. And Grandma babysat while the two mommies ran in the Catfish Days 5K/10K. I'm still not sure how we did so much. It was a perfect weekend, and I present a few photos with a link to many more.

Catfish Days Snowcone

TT and Sam relax after dinner

Sam LOVES the beach

Sam loves doing whatever Zack is doing


Auntie Annie shows us how it's done

Eva and TT hang out while the kids play in the pool

Eva gets her turn in the pool

Auntie Annie and Sam look for blackberries on the way down Brady's Bluff trail

Cousins on top of Brady's Bluff

Eva and her favorite aunt

TT's PERFECT birthday cake decorated by her grandchildren

MORE Photos Here.

More Evidence

More evidence that two is worth it...

Sam and Eva dance to Brothers & Sisters from Free to Be You and Me...

Why There Are Two

For those who warned me that I was crazy to have a second child, I present evidence that it's worth all the chaos...