In one hour

In theory, you can do a lot in an hour. Sometimes an hour whizzes by. How many times have you thought, "Has it been an hour already?!" Other times it feels more like an eternity... My mind just recalled the fact that in less than one hour after pulling into the hospital parking lot to give birth to our second child, he was all swaddled up and sleeping peacefully in my arms.

I put Liv down for a nap this afternoon and had grand plans for what I wanted to accomplish in an hour. I had laundry to put away, bathrooms to clean, (not to mention two kids to entertain), etc., etc. I got an unexpected call from my folks and I launched into a familiar monologue about how there was too much to do, and how I was feeling overwhelmed by this, that, and the other. Tosh had been standing next to me (playing with our measuring tape) and a couple of minutes after he left the room, I heard a noise downstairs. It was one of those "uh-oh" noises so I ran down to see what had happened. I found that Tosh had broken his brother's magnifying glass and was gleefully examining some of the glass pieces in his hands! Thank heaven he was not hurt. I grabbed him and put him in the family room (we were both barefoot, of course). The glass had broken into just a few pieces and I was very careful to sweep and clean our tile to make sure I had gotten it all. Just as I finished, I grabbed an empty baby food jar to rinse out and I dropped it! Seriously? Unlike the magnifying glass, the jar shattered into tiny little pieces (still barefoot here), and so I spent the next however long cleaning this up while trying to keep my shadow (Tosh) out of the room.

As soon as I was finished I discovered that Tosh had grabbed my camera and was carrying it over to me saying, "I broke it!" Somehow he managed to jam the lens so it would not zoom or close. I set him at our bar and gave him some Play-Doh to play with so I could examine the camera. I wasn't really all that happy at this point, but was able to "fix" the lens although the back is all scratched up and I'm guessing he dropped it while he was taking photos because I found some evidence...

Relief swept over me that my camera still works, and then I looked up to find Tosh spreading tiny little pieces of green Play-Doh all over the kitchen floor and laughing (a devilish) "Wwwaaahaha" all the while. Okay, so maybe I didn't capture his laugh exactly right, but he was pretty happy with his naughty-ness. I spent the remainder of "My Hour" supervising a two-year-old in "time-out," and then we counted every little piece of Play-Doh that he was required to pick up. We counted 96 pieces (some of them hardly visible), in case you were wondering.

And that my friends, filled ONE hour of my day today.

In church on Sunday, a wise woman said that, "Feeling overwhelmed occurs when we don't believe we have the skills to handle a situation..." or something to that effect. I started the beginning of this particular hour by describing myself as "overwhelmed" to my parents. Although I finished the hour nowhere close to what I was hoping to accomplish, I did NOT feel as overwhelmed when I realized the following: I know how to sweep, I know how to push hard on a camera lens, I know how to set a timer, and I know how to count to 96.

The three brothers

Wearing their new souvenir t-shirts...

That's what they say, anyway

I noticed on Facebook today that several of my friends are posting photos of the "celebrity they have been told they look like." I had to stop and think about that one for a minute. So, instead of sharing this on Facebook (I rarely post anything on there), I chose this venue instead. I prefer a more intimate audience.

So there are two celebs that I have been told I look like (I think I actually mentioned this in a post a year or so ago). In my 20's I was often told that I look like Ashley Judd.

Once I hit my 30's I started getting told that I looked like Patricia Heaton. I have a brother-in-law that thinks I act a lot like Patricia's former character Debra on "Everybody Loves Raymond." I can see it a bit, except I don't call my husband names like she did...

This same brother-in-law thinks that Rob looks like Ray Allen! You heard me right. I think it's the arms (and b-ball skills) mostly.

Most people lately have told Rob that he looks like "the bad guy" (David Cross) from "Alvin and the Chipmunks."

What have you been told?

Home

at last!

My "spam" box

You know those people that have so many e-mail addresses you never really know which one to send to, so you end up sending your message to all three addresses? My husband is actually one of these people. I've noticed that he seems to only get about half of the family correspondence because everyone uses a different address for him and a lot of stuff gets sent to one of the old addresses.

I've been using the same e-mail account for about 8 years now (since I stopped working for an employer). I do however have a second account that I mainly use a backup (?) or as a "spam" box of sorts. I give out this address when I am required to provide an e-mail address for random things and don't want to use my main one.

I decided to check on Number Two the other day and was a little surprised that it contained about 925 unread messages. They were mostly ads from the same 8 or so companies, and it took a great deal of time to sift and delete (see what you have time for with hubby out of the country for 10 nights?). In this tedious process however, I came across something that took me by surprise--blog comments from my brother! He has been sending direct comments to my e-mail instead of posting them on my blog (or sending them to the account that I actually check!).

And to think that here I was under the impression that none of my siblings have ever commented on anything I have written... Not only were they comments, but clever and funny, sweet and appreciated. And since this brother requested that I have my posts sent directly to his e-mail account, then I know that he'll be reading this. So thanks (and sorry)! Love, Tam

Me and my brother (and proof that I still get picked on!)

From the mouth of Hewitt

I was trying to feed Liv this morning and she was too busy smiling and laughing at (ever-entertaining) Hewitt. I said something to Hewitt about how she was too distracted to eat and he said,

"Well, I guess she's a girl and just wants to talk!"

Such an innocent comment, and the best laugh I've had in a long time.

My other blog

You may have noticed (or not) that I don't write on here as much as I used to...

I started another blog a few months back (more of a journal-type/mommy blog). It's a private blog so if anyone is interested then let me know and I'll send you an invite. Just send me an e-mail or leave a comment.

Only four more days till Rob gets home from Costa Rica!

Too tired to title this

I sat Liv down on the family room floor this morning after breakfast, gave her a couple of toys to play with and ran upstairs to scrub the toilets (she is at the awesome stage where she will just sit in one place, not able to crawl away yet). When I returned downstairs, I found her still "sitting," yet hunched over a doll and sound asleep!


This might be me at this computer soon. Seriously.

I'm starting 2010 off feeling somewhat exhausted! We took a whirlwind trip to Utah last weekend (drove up Thursday and drove home Sunday) for Rob's Grandmother's funeral. Dorothy was 96 years old and we had such a wonderful time celebrating her life with Rob's family; all of his siblings were able to be there and 20 of the 22 grandchildren/cousins.

I was too busy managing kids and visiting to take any photos at the family dinners and funeral luncheon, but here is one of Liv taking a bath in my mom's kitchen sink that I thought was pretty cute:

She's 8 months now. Doesn't the time just fly?

At the end of our short visit (wish we could have stayed longer!), we realized that it was the first time we were referring to Arizona as "home." It's always nice to return home after being away, don't you think? I'm thinking Grandma Dorothy is thinking the same thing in heaven.

Rob left yesterday for a ten-day business trip to Costa Rica. I told Rob that I'm going to try to have the perspective that the kids and I are on "vacation" while he is away. Our routine and schedule will remain much the same (honestly, I think I'm more productive with Rob away, which is kind of weird), but it just means that I'm making more time to be a "fun" parent, keep a happy and relaxed attitude, and not sweat the small stuff. You know, what Rob usually brings to the table. Two days down!

Merry Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful and busy Christmas break! Lots of time together and with family (Rob's youngest sister and bro-in-law for Christmas, and then my two brothers and their families for New Years) and I spent very little time on the computer or even taking photos for that matter...

I didn't want to get too far into the New Year without capturing a few things from Christmas.

The crew on Christmas Eve:

A priceless face:

Too busy playing with each gift to be bothered with photos:

Burke (age 7) and his favorite gift:

Which reminds me that this is me (age 7) with my favorite Christmas gift:

And exactly one year after finding out we were having a baby girl, here she is complete with festive slippers:

2009 was a year of BIG changes for our family and many, many blessings.

Happy New Year!